CH-27 : The Founder's Answer

 Chapter 27.1

"How long are you going to cry? Stand up Sasha."

She slowly turned to look at me, her eyes red and swollen from crying.

"It's still too early to give up."

"…Can you erase me instead of Misha?"

"If you ask if I can do it or not, I can. ｢Delt｣ was it? The reason you need to make Misha reject you is because you are inexperienced."

Now Misha turned to me with a begging look in her eyes.

"Not allowed."

"Don't worry. I have no intention of doing it."

Sasha pipes up.

"Please Arnos! Kill me! I've lived enough! I want to give the rest of my life to Misha."

"I never existed from the beginning. It's weird if Sasha is the one to be sacrificed."

Both Sasha and Misha appeal to me.

They both want to protect each other so much that they are each willing to disappear.

Yare yare. How brave and admirable of them.

Unfortunately, both of their requests are not my style.

"That reminds me. There was a question similar to this in the aptitude test."

I say while thinking back to the entrance exam.

"There is a daughter that is powerful but lacks the aptitude of the demon king and a son that has poor magic but a great aptitude to be the demon king. One day they both receive a gods curse and are fated to die together at a certain time but you are also given one holy grail to cure one of them. Which one should you save? Describe the thoughts of the founder at this time."

"The one with the high aptitude." Misha answers.

"Why?"

"The demon king will not reincarnate into a mazoku that is not suitable regardless of how powerful they are."

I see. That's the thinking of this era. Nowadays they lay emphasis on pedigree and aptitude so that's the correct answer.

"Wrong."

Misha looks at me.

"Reincarnates into the one with power?"

You could also look at it that the demon king would only reincarnate into someone powerful.

However,

"Also wrong."

Misha blinked as if she didn't understand.

"In the first place who's the fellow asking which one should be saved? When was it said the founder could only save one of them? A gods curse? When would I lose against a god?"

Turning towards Sasha and Misha I state in a grand manner

"The correct answer is to save both with the single grail."

They should understand what I'm trying to say.

Sasha stood up. It was without much force but she stood up.

"I'll help you both."

"…How…? It doesn't require much thought to see that it's impossible. Originally our body and soul are one. We cannot remain divided forever. Even if you prepare a new body for Misha, a soul cannot live a long life when cut in half. Even if you reincarnate it will still only be half a soul and will still die young."

Sasha arranges her logic to prove its impossible, however, if you know its impossible, why did you stand up?

Is she expecting it? Betting everything on a tiny sliver of hope? That I will overturn common sense like in our group opposition exam and replace her with Misha?

To that expectation, I will not answer.

"In all cases, you are still the original one."

"…So it is impossible then…?"

"No, not at all. There's a simple solution to this. Originally, there just needs to be 2 people."

Sasha's eyes open wide in surprise.

"Is such a thing possible? How?"

"Change the past."

Sasha was at a loss for words. Indeed, she probably thinks that the past cant be changed, however, true magic can transcend even time, to a light degree anyway.

At this level, even for me, I can't say that it will be easy.

"Time Manipulation ｢Lebaido｣ can trace back 15 years."

This time Misha speaks up.

"I won't be born if you change the past."

"…That's right. Misha was created by ｢Dino Jikusess｣. If we were twins from the beginning the Misha who is here now will disappear. Even if she is a younger sister it won't be Misha…"

If I change the past then Misha won't be born. It's blocked in all directions. A true impossibility.

However, the demon king is one that destroys even the impossible.

"2 divided souls. Due to its origin, it is destined to return to being one. Don't you think there should be another origin?"

"What does that even mean?"

"Originally there was a whole Sasha. Then Sasha is divided by ｢Dino Jikusess｣ and we get a Sasha and Misha whose origin is halved."

They are both listening to me with a half-stunned look.

"We simply fuse Sasha with Sasha and Misha with Misha. It's a simple addition and once done you will both have complete origins and will both be real people who were born."

"…..I don't really get it...…. If it was just me I can see it but is there such a magic to make the exact same person?"

"Sorry. No magic can produce the exact same person. There is only one origin for everything in this world."

"So it's still impossible then?"

"No, I cannot make another person who's exactly the same but I don't need to. We'll go and meet the other person ourselves."

"…What does that even mean…?"

"I didn't explain myself properly. I should have said I'll go into the past and fuse the current you with the past you."

Both Sasha and Misha have looks on their faces that say they still don't understand.

Origin magic ｢Lebaido｣. They don't know the time concept that occurs when using it. In the age of myths, I wonder how many mazoku could change the past by more than a few seconds?

"Basically, I will send the origins of the 2 people who are here now 15 years into the past to when you were born. There will be 2 origins each then. One for the past and one for the present. Misha and Sasha are the same person but past Misha and Sasha are also the same person. Both your origins will return to being one. Misha will fuse with Misha and Sahsa will fuse with Sasha."

"…What will happen then…?"

"You would both have bodies and would basically be born as twins."