After the short story of the Witch of Time came to an end.
“…”
“…”
Epherna and I fell silent, each deep in thought.
I had just learned almost everything about the Mythical Era, things I had never known before.
The reason Evergreen was born, the First Human, who is called the cult leader, and what his ultimate goal is.
I knew everything now. What I had to do was clear.
But—
“How do you kill someone who is immortal?”
To completely put an end to Evergreen, I knew I had to kill this person called the cult leader.
But I couldn’t think of a way to do it.
Whatever the cult leader’s circumstances might be, it didn’t matter.
Even if he was the First Human and the ancestor of us all, it didn’t change anything.
‘If the old man lived that long, he should have left gracefully.’
If he has lived since the Mythical Era, doesn’t that mean he is long past the age to have his life cling to the past?
Yet here he was, still longing to return to a time that had long since passed, unable to let go of his parents.
“Oh, you’re pretty tough, aren’t you? But he’s still your ancestor, isn’t he?”
“I’m half-dragon. And I refuse to acknowledge an ancestor who doesn’t act his age.”
It’s disappointing to realize that the distant ancestor of humanity is such a pathetic brat.
Epherna seemed to share the same sentiment.
“Is immortality the only ability the cult leader of Evergreen has?”
I didn’t ask any deeper questions, only exploring ways to take him down.
“Yes. The child doesn’t have the ability to control mana. No other special powers either. That was necessary to maintain balance.”
The Divine Kings had granted the child the power of immortality so that he would remember them for eternity.
But in return, the child lost the infinite potential that could have blossomed as a human.
To keep the world’s balance from collapsing, it had to be that way, and in the end, it was the right decision.
The child became a ruler, founding a religion with only infinite time and determination.
“This fact can be both an advantage and a disadvantage for you. It’s true that the cult leader of Evergreen is weak, but it’s also true that no matter what you do, you can’t kill him.”
In short, it’s impossible to destroy the very origin of Evergreen.
—But.
“Even if we use a wish?”
“…”
The power of immortality came from the Divine Kings themselves, so if we gathered their essences and used a wish, it might not be impossible to remove the cult leader, who was both the root and the heart of Evergreen.
“Hmm~ Well, it’s not entirely impossible.”
And the one-eyed god of time did not deny this.
“But it’s tricky~. If you use the wish, you can probably remove his immortality, but that’s all.”
In other words, while the immortality could be erased, killing him might still be impossible.
“You were planning to use the essences to erase the very concept of Evergreen from people’s minds, right?”
“Yes. Though my thoughts have changed somewhat now.”
At first, I intended to erase the concept of the Evergreen religion from the minds of all humans.
But after hearing the full story, I realized that might not be the best course of action.
“Even if you erase Evergreen from people’s minds, the cult leader won’t stop.”
Given enough time, whether it took decades or centuries, he would create another religion under a different name and start collecting the essences again.
“If I could only use the wish once, I would’ve used it decisively, but that’s not the case.”
You can only make one wish per century by gathering the essences of the Mythical Era.
While it may seem like a lot, it’s nearly impossible to collect the essences even once in a century.
The Leaf of Spring inherited by the shaman royalty, the Summer Sun managed by the Empire for over a thousand years, the Autumn Wind passed down by the barbarian king of the Urgan tribe, and the Winter Blizzard once held by the Demon King.
How could we realistically collect all of these?
The idea that you could make multiple wishes is absurd. It’s only understandable if you consider it an impossible mission unless you relive your life multiple times.
‘Besides, the scope of the wishes is so stingy.’
I thought you could wish for anything.
But what?
Even if I wish for the cult leader to die, it won’t work because of immortality?
And to kill him, I first have to wish to remove that power?
What a letdown. I had high hopes, but the more I learned, the more disappointment washed over me.
*****
As the evening sun started to set, the carriage paused in a nearby city to change horses.
We decided not to spend the night at a nearby inn since the capital was only a few hours away.
A short rest was all we needed.
“…”
I glanced at one of the three gods of time who had stepped out of the carriage with us.
She wasn’t the childlike one-eyed god or the elderly witch.
She had introduced herself as a fortune teller, but her face was one I had seen before.
I had only seen her once, but her image had left a distinct mark in my memory.
“Why are you pretending not to know me?”
She took the long pipe from her mouth and blew out a cloud of hazy smoke.
Her aura was completely different from four years ago.
Even Epherna didn’t recognize her.
If you didn’t remember every detail, including the teardrop mark under her eye, you might mistake her for someone else entirely.
“Why are you pretending you don’t know me?”
“…”
“Didn’t you approach us as a rookie fortune teller merchant at the Magician’s Lake four years ago?”
She had read our fortunes under the pretext of wanting to earn some money.
At that time, she cried, saying we were her first customers, using cards and water to reveal our destinies.
The fortune teller chuckled.
“You recognized me well, didn’t you?”
“To be honest, I was a bit unsure.”
It was four years ago, and we had only briefly crossed paths.
When I smiled back, the fortune teller began to share her thoughts.
“Do you know how surprised I was? The royal bloodline is roaming around, bound, not even in the palace, and being accompanied by the child of the dragon. I thought my eyesight was failing after thousands of years.”
“Didn’t you know that in advance?”
“I’m not a god. How could I possibly know that?”
Weren’t you a god…?
Ah, she mentioned losing her powers.
“By the way, why have I come here? Judging by the fact that I’m alone, it doesn’t seem like a trivial matter.”
“It is a trivial matter.”
“…?”
“I’m just curious. I wonder if the future you foretold for us back then has truly come to pass.”
“Why does that interest you?”
“Just because.”
“That doesn’t sound right…”
The fortune teller flashed an enchanting smile and continued.
“Well, I’ll tell you. It’s not particularly difficult.”
She summoned a faint magical energy from her hands.
The gray light formed numerous threads.
“The future, in fact, doesn’t stretch out as a single thread.”
Among hundreds of threads, several combined into one large thread.
“However, there are certainly futures that have a higher chance of occurring.”
Finally, the still threads revealed ten possible futures.
While most had merged into a singular path along the way, there were indeed ten distinct paths when considering those that extended all the way.
“I simply told you the future with the highest probability.”
“So you mean our future is one in ten?”
“Well, I can’t say for sure. Fate is a rather illogical equation. It could mean that the left-hand side and the right-hand side might not have the same value. But based on the current standards… hmm. Ten seems to have the highest likelihood.”
I didn’t quite understand what she meant. The theories about the past, present, and future created by the gods of time were something even the royal court magicians couldn’t begin to comprehend.
So, let’s focus on one thing I could confirm.
“Is the future where I will cause trouble for Epherna among those ten futures?”
“Why do you think that? I never said your partner would be that child.”
“Because it’s such an obvious outcome.”
The fortune teller mentioned that those ten futures had branched out from the present.
And from the current standpoint, I was the man with the highest likelihood of becoming Epherna’s consort.
Of course, that was the objective situation, and depending on how I acted, a different future could emerge.
“Of course, there is. You will certainly, very much cause trouble for the child who will soon become the Empress. You will also pay the price for it.”
“What should I do to avoid that future?”
I was the one who would cause Epherna distress. I had no idea what that would look like.
Physically? Or emotionally?
I could only conclude that both were unlikely.
I would never attack Epherna, and even if she confessed her feelings, I wouldn’t do anything regrettable that would leave her heart wounded and force me to pay a price.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“…I see.”
I felt a bit disappointed, but I accepted it and turned away.
I anticipated that I wouldn’t get an answer to that question.
“But I hope you don’t take it too seriously.”
“…What?”
“What I mean by ‘cause trouble’ and the ‘price’ you’ll pay could be something lighthearted if thought of in a different way.”
“…”
“Honestly, if you had done such things, you should understand that being trapped for a few days is nothing.”
What did she just say?
I hadn’t heard it clearly because she whispered.
