Magician Marigold

27.

Indeed.

The reason he hadn’t noticed anything strange until now, or hadn’t given it much thought even if he had, might have been the misfortune and unhappiness that had accumulated within Lancel over the years.

Perhaps this was the normalized world? Was everything he had suffered until now just bad luck?

Perhaps he had taken the wrong path, perhaps he was incompetent, ignorant, and exceedingly lazy, and that was why he had been ruining this peaceful world all along?

Perhaps it was actually a pretty good world to live in?

…Such self-deprecating thoughts occasionally tugged at his leash.

‘The regression is over. That’s good, isn’t it? Yes, it’s good.’

Therefore.

Lancel tried to simply accept the regression that had ended without any warning. He tried to shake off the unease in his heart.

But the moment the Emperor, who should have been dead by now, waved at him, the suspicion within him finally awakened.

Sunlight.

Cheers.

Festival.

Falling flower petals.

Each paused scene was as beautiful as a painting.

If he had a camera, he would have wanted to capture it as a masterpiece of his life.

‘I knew it was going too well.’

It was almost a shame. That it was all fake. That this dazzling world of The most beautiful moment in life was an illusion.

Softly.

“Lancel.”

Marigold linked arms with Lancel. She rested her head on his arm and closed her eyes.

“It was all for you, Lancel. Please know that much.”

Her voice was calm.

“Even if it’s fake, even if it’s an illusion, even if it’s a dream… isn’t it enough if we’re happy? Isn’t it enough if we can be together?”

“It would have been if I didn’t know. But I already know it’s fake.”

“I can make you not know.”

Marigold’s voice was sincere.

“I can take you back to a state where you don’t know anything.”

“Is that even possible?”

“I’ve lived only for this. It’s not difficult at all.”

“That’s scary.”

How much have you grown, Archmage Marigold?

“When did it start? I can’t even guess exactly when it became fake.”

Marigold was silent for a while. When she finally spoke, she gave an unexpected answer.

“This entire life.”

“……?”

“I’ve been making us return to the point where your and my memories first met. Every 30 years.”

“The first time… so, when Baron Jenis revealed the Airship?”

“Yes. You remember.”

Marigold’s voice sounded calm.

Marigold’s hands, which were holding Lancel’s palm, were trembling slightly. He could hear her heartbeat thumping. It was a calm but rapid pulse.

‘She created another loop within the loop?’

If the memories were reset every time, it wasn’t even a regression.

He and Marigold were just living their lives as NPCs in the loop, and every 30 years, they would repeat without realizing any changes.

—Are you Baron Jenis’s… disciple?

It meant that they had been infinitely repeating the return to the day they first met.

“But I didn’t lie. I made sure that my original memories would never return unless you realized it, Lancel. Until you became aware, the original me could never interfere in this world.”

So that’s how it was.

He had expected it to some extent. Marigold wasn’t good at acting. If she even tried to lie, Lancel would have caught on quickly.

If that had happened, Lancel would have realized the truth of this world sooner. Perhaps Marigold had even considered that in her plan.

‘Scary, so scary.’

How many times had the loop been repeated? Lancel didn’t dare to ask.

He was afraid that an unimaginable number would come back to him, so he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“Now that I know, let me go back.”

“No.”

“……”

The answer was a clean refusal.

“They say reality is better, even if you’re rolling in filth.”

“I’ve never heard that.”

“It’s a saying. In another world.”

“That’s a terrible world. How can such nonsense be spread around?”

Marigold’s grip on his arm tightened. He could feel her obsession, her desire not to let him go.

“You can hate me. I won’t let you go back. You’ll understand why I’m doing this, Lancel.”

Thump!

At that moment.

The surrounding scenery changed.

“Aaaaaaah!”

“S, save me!”

“Ugh!”

“Kyaaaaaa!”

Cheers turned into screams.

Flower petals turned into flames.

The festival turned into a scene of carnage.

‘War……’

The screams of the crowd assaulted his ears.

The acrid smell of blood, emanating from the blood splattered everywhere, floated through the smoke-filled air and brushed past Lancel’s nose.

The flower petals scattered on the ground had turned into pools of blood, trickling along the paved roads of the Imperial Capital.

A massive war and massacre, shaking Rodniss, filled his vision.

He saw familiar faces in it.

Baron Ibil Shen running away with a terrified expression, the maid Hesti, Professor Laura Cote with what appeared to be an injured arm, the Seventh Prince collapsing after being struck by a sword, and many faces he had seen at the academy.

The Airship flying over the Imperial Capital was engulfed in flames and slowly crashed. Baron Jenis, kneeling in despair, was looking up at the sky.

Following the trajectory of the tilted Airship, burning parts rained down. Baron Jenis didn’t even try to avoid them, waiting for them to engulf him.

His eyes, filled with despair, seemed to be waiting for death to end this moment.

Bang-!

Fragments that scattered sparks engulfed his figure.

Flames that soared to the top of the sky covered the area along the updraft.

“The first.”

Marigold’s quiet voice.

Lancel’s eyes finally caught sight of a familiar couple.

Lancel, wrapped in a blood-soaked cloak, was being held in the arms of the Wizard Marigold. It was his own figure.

His body was covered in wounds. He was limp, as if all his energy had been drained, and he looked like he would close his eyes at any moment.

He raised his arm and weakly brushed Marigold’s hair back. Under the full moon, a small horn protruded from her head as she shed tears.

“……Going back to reality.”

A hoarse voice.

Marigold’s body, clinging to his arm, trembled. Overwhelmed by a trauma-like fear, she was struggling to move her lips one word at a time.

“The second.”

And.

All the scenery returned to the beginning.

“Waaaaaaah!”

Screams, flames, war, death, the crashing Airship, the full moon in the sky, all disappeared as if they were lies.

“Long live His Majesty the Emperor!”

“Long live His Majesty the Emperor!”

“Long live the Phrygia Empire!”

What replaced them were cheers, flower petals, a festival, happiness, a leisurely floating Airship, and a dazzling sun. It was as if the world had been turned upside down.

“……I keep imagining happy things.”

The shock presented by the contrast between the two scenes was truly enormous.

“Do you still think the real world is better, Lancel?”

Feeling Marigold’s trembling, Lancel quietly lowered his head.

The sandwich basket was still at his feet.

Indeed.

Perhaps this wasn’t an illusion.

The sandwich that Marigold, suffering from a hangover in the early morning, had made while dozing off must have been her sincerity.

At least in this world, Lancel and she, the two of them, were not fake.

No matter how many times it was repeated, Marigold was Marigold, and even after living countless lives, Marigold was still Marigold.

Therefore.

“Mary.”

Lancel opened his mouth.

“You already know what I’m going to say.”

Because he was also sincere.

—I won’t let you go back.

“Let me go back.”

—You’ll understand why I’m doing this, Lancel.

“You’ll understand why I’m doing this, too.”

28.

It wasn’t difficult to guess why Marigold had trapped him in an illusion.

The ‘Lancel’s death’ she had just shown him was the reason.

“Even if you die if you go back?”

“Yes. Even if I die.”

Thinking about it, there was a simple way.

He could just reveal that he was a regressor. He could just say, ‘We’ll see each other again soon, so why are you doing this?’

But that wouldn’t work with Marigold now.

“We’ll meet again anyway……”

“I heard.”

The answer came back immediately.

“I already heard. The promise that we’ll meet again.”

“……Did I say that?”

“This isn’t the first time you’ve realized that this world isn’t real.”

“Really?”

“It’s the first time you’ve been caught this early, though.”

She already had the power and means to hold onto Lancel.

“I… I wouldn’t send you to your death with just such a promise.”

Lancel immediately closed his mouth.

“To me, you are only this moment. You and I can be happy forever in this world. There’s no reason to wake up from the dream. I know this is stubborn. But please just listen to this one thing. I don’t care about anything else, just this one thing……”

—Master, all the moments I’ve seen and heard while I’m with you are my last.

The Aspiring Swordmaster Merigold’s voice awakened him once again. Yes. To Marigold, this life was unique and irreplaceable.

No matter how many times the cycle was repeated, and even if the regressor Marigold appeared before him again, there was no guarantee that she from this life would return immediately.

But.

“Still, my answer won’t change, Mary.”

Lancel intended to make her happy in the real world. A fake is a fake.

Lancel wanted to prove that there was a better choice somewhere in this world than dreaming. That was all.

“……”

Marigold’s complexion turned cold.

Her blood drained away, and a moment of sadness passed over her.

“If that’s what you say, Lancel.”

At that moment.

Thump-!

Once again, the scenery changed.

When he came to his senses, it was a familiar space.

‘The academy?’

To be exact, it was the academy’s Training Ground. The very place where knights and Wizards used to spar.

The only difference was that Lancel was no longer in this place as a ‘professor’. He was holding a sharp sword in his hand.

‘Could it be.’

Lancel raised his head.

“Lancel.”

Marigold raised a large staff and faced him.

Terrifying Magic Power was subtly boiling around her. Dirt and gravel were slowly rotating around her like satellites.

It was like looking into the eye of a storm.

“Give me a chance to ‘persuade’ you.”

“Persuade’?”

Thump-!

Light flashed from the end of Marigold’s staff and spread out in all directions.

Kwakwakwakwang-!

Intense lightning struck, darkening the surroundings in an instant. A deafening roar echoed in succession.

Just by releasing Magic Power once, the surrounding area had been devastated. Marigold’s hair fluttered in the air. A Heatwave raged like a storm, and lightning crackled with intermittent sparks.

“Yes, persuade.”

Marigold’s emerald eyes emitted an eerie glow. It was an expression she had never shown Lancel before. She was truly intending to use all her power against Lancel.

“You were the one who told me that this works best for knights.”

Hmm.

Scary.

‘Can I win this?’

Marigold, the strongest Wizard on the continent.

Lancel, who used to be the strongest knight on the continent……

Anyone could see that the odds were in the former’s favor.