Why does only my time pass as it pleases? (4)

…Tick.

…Tock.

Epherene opened her eyes.

"…"

She looked around, and she saw that she was in a strange place. It must be a cabin or a log house, as the ceiling and the floor were all made of wood. Epherene first raised her torso and-

"Are you awake?"

Quay's voice. Startled, she looked up.

"This is amazing."

Quay muttered while reading Casey's books.

"The photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, theory of relativity, gravitational waves, quantum mechanics, black holes… he expresses the providence of nature and the universe through human science."

Swish—

Epherene took the manuscripts with psychokinesis. She tucked everything into her robe pockets.

"…Where are we?"

Quay answered.

"It's a temple."

"Temple?"

"Yes. The temple where I worshiped God for ten thousand years."

He smiled. Epherene asked bluntly.

"Then, were you the one who brought me here?"

"You can say that. Why? Don't you like it? Deculein wanted to come here."

"…The Professor?"

"Yes."

It was too simple and quiet for Deculein to want to visit.

"…"

Epherene stared at Quay without saying a word until he raised an eyebrow.

"You asked where we are."

"…Yes."

"It's outside the world."

Outside the world. Literally outside the world in which humans live.

"It's not the underworld. The place where the soul lives are truly inside the world. This is neither the afterlife nor the other world. It is a space that is not a world. I am always here."

"…Why only you?"

Epherene was suspicious of Quay. He had a kind and gentle face now, but he pursued the mad hope of resetting the continent.

"I have stayed here for ten thousand years. Maybe not ten thousand years. It might be longer. I was repeating prayers in a meaningless time, and when I came back to my senses, I was here."

Ten thousand years. It was a very distant time for Epherene, which humans couldn't endure.

"They say you are the cause of this space."

"Yes. My prayers have reached God. He gave me meaning instead of death."

Quay laughed softly.

"So this is a space reserved only for my God and me. I am here, and the bodies and dolls I made are in your phenomenal world."

The term phenomenon referred to the world Epherene knew and the afterlife.

"And Epherene. You are no different from me. You will be wandering through your life indefinitely because time can no longer hold onto you."

Epherene clenched her fists.

"Let's see… if this is your life."

Quay drew a line with his mana, a horizontal straight line. In the middle, he drew a vertical line intersecting it.

"From the moment you received Sophien's regression to this day."

"…"

There was something suspicious about Quay's words. Why was it after Sophien's regression?

Quay smiled.

"You went to a different time with Sophien one day, right?"

"…!"

Epherene's eyes grew round.

"Epherene. There's no way anyone can time travel with you."

She remembered their trip and Deculein's death. The words and wand he left to her. A kind and warm look. And… a shooting star.

"A comet fell. With that, the time travel was over."

"Were you in that future?"

Quay asked. Epherene shook her head.

"I, and everyone who knows me, must not meet me who is out of time."

…She was not a person in their life anymore. A paradox would occur if they met like that.

"Yes. That's right. You are alone."

A paradox would endanger the lives of herself and whoever faced her. Unless it was a special space like Locralen — that is, a magical space that perfectly-acknowledged the coexistence of contradictions.

"…So. Are you telling me to join forces with you?"

Even while looking at Epherene, Quay's expression didn't change.

"You're not going to join forces with me now, right? But you will eventually come back to this place, to me."

"I'll have to try first to know."

"Do you think you can stand it? One year for humans will become ten years over and over again for you."

A blind spot in time deviation, the illusion that a day once experienced would never be repeated. However, Epherene's time would spread without a standard to abide by, so she might experience the same thing tens or hundreds of times.

"I know."

"Will you be okay, though?"

"…Humans only know if it's okay or not after trying. You wouldn't know."

Epherene replied.

"Yeah, that's stupid."

Quay nodded, but Epherene shook her head.

"No. It's a challenge."

─At that moment. The landscape changed.

"…"

First, the clear blue sky above.

Tick—

Tock—

The pocket watch was ticking. Epherene looked down.

"…Excuse me."

She spoke to the wooden clock.

"Can you hear me?"

Tick—

The pocket watch only ticked. Anyone would treat her like a crazy person, but Epherene persevered and stood while talking to the watch, no, to the old man.

"I know everything. It's you, old man Rohakan, right?"

Tock.

At that moment, the pocket watch stopped ticking.

"This was given to me by you. You ordered Murkan to do so."

A pocket watch without intellect could detect her feelings in a very wicked way and reveal Deculein's past? That was absurd.

Deculein designed the wood steel like that in the first place.

"…If you think about it, maybe I always wanted to lean on something and depend on it."

Words like sighs flowed through her lips.

"I must not have wanted to be alone."

'The attribution of an item might also be due to that habit. I need an item because I'm not enough. I need my father's help — the bracelet…'

"I don't need it anymore."

Epherene quietly stared at the pocket watch.

"So, you don't have-to-do-that, but- jeez, I can't speak properly. Why is it so cold?"

It was freezing.

Whooosh-

They were on the top of a mountain, so of course, it was cold.

"You don't have to answer, but can I ask for just one thing?"

Tick—

The clock ticked. Was he answering that it was possible?

Epherene continued with a soft smile.

"Then…"

* * *

Rustle— Rustle—

As if winter would arrive soon, the campus of Imperial University was covered in fallen leaves.

"…"

I had just heard from Allen that Julie had woken up. At the same time, Epherene disappeared-

"Professor."

Suddenly, a familiar voice called out to me from behind. Looking back, I saw someone in a hood chuckling.

"…Epherene."

"Would you like to have some Roahawk with me?"

"…"

It was a sudden suggestion out of nowhere. However, she hurried over with a confident look and held out a thick envelope.

"Here. The answer sheet for the screening test."

"…"

I glared at her and opened the seal. The contents were a hundred sheets of magic paper.

"So?"

I examined it quietly. However, I knew it the moment I read the first sentence, the process, of course, would be perfect. The more I read it, the more I felt it was redundant. All the logic was right.

"Epherene."

Did she become so smart instantly, or was it because of the phenomena I had recently felt? I put the answer sheet back in the envelope and asked.

"Time stopped for a moment."

However, Epherene didn't show any reaction.

"Really? How do you know?"

"…There is such a thing as flow. In an instant, I recognized that the flow of time had stopped."

"Um~, I see. But that's not what's important right now."

"What?"

I frowned, and she said.

"Roahawk. Ro. Ah. Hawk."

* * *

Sizzling———

Sizzling———

Sizzle——

"You can eat it now. P-Please enjoy."

Pig's Flower. As soon as we entered, the owner led us to the top floor dedicated to nobility.

"What, the quality of the meat is different."

Epherene glared as she watched the meat being cooked on the iron plate.

"…No way. Have they been giving me something like an intermediate level? And I spent so much money here."

I watched her.

"I want to discuss with Julia."

Epherene was enraged, but actually, this was my fault. I bestowed Midas' Hand to the Roahawk meat. It was the first time I had used it on food, and it didn't show much. Maybe something would change when I ate it?

"I feel so betrayed, seriously…."

Epherene cut into a piece while speaking of betrayal. She used her knife carefully, but she cut it all wrong. She was lacking in etiquette still.

Stab-

Epherene skewered a piece. Then she blinked and looked at me.

"…Professor, have some too."

"Eat first."

"Yes."

She didn't think twice before complying. And…

"…"

She lost her words. As soon as she put it in her mouth, the meat melted and disappeared, and Epherene's expression was gone in a haze of ecstasy.

"Wow… Julia."

Shaking and calling for Julia, she offered me meat again.

"Eat it, quickly. The taste doesn't make sense."

I nodded and moved my knife. With perfect etiquette, of course.

Epherene watched blankly.

"It is different."

I took a bite, ignoring her.

"…It's okay."

"Right? It's not just okay."

Epherene laughed softly. Then, I looked at my watch. There wasn't much time left. Eat it quickly… I was going to say that, but I didn't have to.

Chomp- Chomp-

Epherene had already given up on cutting and grabbed the chunk of meat with both hands and ripped it with all her might. In ten minutes, she had devoured half the beast.

Swooooooosh…

At that moment, faint mana sank low across the ground.

Purge officers.

"The purge officers will come."

"I know. I can feel it."

"You know it. Did you come here to turn yourself in?"

Gulp-

Epherene swallowed another bite before answering.

"It won't work anymore."

"…What?"

"More importantly."

She put a wooden pocket watch on the desk.

"What is this?"

"It's from old man Rohakan. Please deliver it to him; I don't need it anymore."

I looked at it.

"I artificially stopped it for a while, but time will flow again soon."

"…"

Tick-

The second hand moved. The tip of the wooden needle trembled as if it might move again at any moment. Seeing this, Epherene's face became sad.

"…It was very delicious today. Is it because I ate with you? Can I take the rest?"

"If you can take it."

Immediately, Epherene grabbed the Roahawk and wrapped it in her mana.

"Haha."

She smiled at me; then, her expression morphed again. For some reason, her eyes were filled with longing.

"Thank you, Professor."

Like a puppy caught in the rain.

"And…"

She paused for a moment. Only her lips moved, then she spat out one syllable, eventually shaking her head and swallowing the rest of her words.

"…The rest later."

At that moment, three purge officers appeared as they passed through the dining room walls. Each wielded their mana whips violently.

Tock-

However, the second hand of the pocket watch ticked again.

In that instant, Epherene was gone. Of course, with the Roahawk.

"…Hmm."

I wiped my lips with a napkin. The officers were greatly astonished. Indeed, the whole area of ​​this Pig's Flower was blocked by a barrier.

"…"

"Everything you do is in vain, you guys."

The purge officers looked back at me. Their eyes were full of anger and embarrassment.

"If you had stayed still, she would have turned herself in."

I smirked and stood. One of the purge officers responded.

"That's not necessary. Only slaughter-"

"Is Epherene a pig? To be slaughtered."

She was half a pig, though. He shook his head.

"She is one of the most dangerous wizards on this continent. If a paradox occurs—"

"In our magic world, usually the most dangerous wizard-"

I put the napkin down on the table and tidied up my clothes.

"-are called Archmages."

The officer shook his head.

"Archmages can control their talent. A force out of control is a catastrophe."

"That's what I said. Epherene is moving into that class."

"…"

They went silent for a moment. I had no idea what these guys were thinking. They were the natural enemy of wizards, but they weren't flexible because they didn't live in society.

"You mean you won't cooperate?"

The officer asked.

"I will cooperate. It just means that whether I cooperate or not, you won't be able to catch her."

You surely lack comprehension. I muttered so and left the restaurant.

…

"Whew."

Meanwhile, Epherene looked around her new landscape.

"When is this?"

First, she pulled her hood up.

"I also got a mask…"

And the Roahawk. 90% of her mana was wasted to keep this guy. She took a bite of one leg, and it was delicious, but…

"…It doesn't taste the same."

It was tasty but not ecstatically so. After all, what you eat is just as important as who you eat with.

"More importantly. Where am I?"

Swooosh…

It was a beach with waves. It seemed to be near Hadekain too. Epherene looked to the distant horizon where there was an island wrapped in black mist.

"…Oh. It's Sylvia's island."

The Voice's Island.

"Jeez."

Epherene thought of something and smiled a little. Then she waved her hand. In an instant, a flat oval appeared. It was a space warping portal.

'If I step into it-'

'I will be on Sylvia's Island.'

Sylvia's Gallery, to be exact, the space where the paintings she drew were displayed.

"Sylvia. You said it, right? That I would steal it."

Muttering mischievously, she chose among the paintings of Deculein lined up there…

"Rather than being cursed without stealing, isn't it better to steal and be cursed?"

She chose the one she liked the most. It was a portrait of Deculein in a small frame. Looking straight ahead, a painting was identical enough to be mistaken for a photograph.

"…I'm not going to let the Professor die."

Epherene made a promise, and-

She removed the portrait.

Weeeeeee!

A siren sounded out, but Epherene only smiled.

"Thank you, Sylvia. I'll take it with me, like a talisman."

Tick—

The clock ticked in her heart. It was a sound to signal her departure.

"Bye."

And like that, Epherene began her endless drift in time…