Ch.206Side Story: Time Reset – 2

# Nobel University

While it may not be considered the best, it’s a university that’s decent enough to earn a nod of approval when mentioned to others.

It has maintained a nearly century-long rivalry with Pia & Gorani University, and whenever school competitions take place, fierce psychological warfare ensues. Rumor has it that in the distant past, there were even a few occasions when blood was literally spilled.

However, despite this reputation, the balance of power had recently tilted heavily in favor of Pia & Gorani University.

This was due to a news report about the university president’s tteokbokki corruption scandal, where the media, in an attempt to protect his privacy, referred to the institution as “No-something University.”

No-something University Department of Uncensored Adult Video Studies.

No-something University Department of One-sided Hatred for Yoo Jae-seok.

No-something University Department of Mindless Worship for Noh Heung-chul.

And countless other variations.

After the news aired, students from Pia & Gorani University and other online communities created numerous fictional departments. With those taunts echoing during every competition, Nobel University naturally couldn’t put up much of a fight.

Anyway, what suddenly brought back these now distant memories was a message from Kang Yuna.

—What about university? It’s been a long time since you were expelled, but do you have any intention of going back?

‘Talk about bad timing.’

I’ve already prepared everything to leave this place soon. I sent a polite refusal.

—I’m leaving soon anyway. Not too long, just about 1-2 weeks.

—Leaving? What are you going to tell Mom and Dad?

—That’s for you to figure out, sis.

—? Have you lost your mind?

—I heard there’s going to be a hunter skill evaluation at the Eternal Guild soon. Aren’t you affiliated with them?

—You little shit…

Kang Yuna knew something about my relationship with the guild masters. After all, it was Lee Seo-ah, or Laura, who had informed her that I was alive.

Of course, she doesn’t know the true nature of our relationship. She only mistakenly thinks of me as some kind of exceptional collaborator.

—If you handle this and don’t say anything to our parents when I get back, I’ll ask them to give you an 800% bonus.

—You know I majored in humanities, right? Go ahead and don’t worry, little brother♡

My sister switched her attitude in an instant. I checked the message and turned off my smartphone. She’ll handle our parents well enough. They both think of me as some kind of secret agent anyway, so convincing them shouldn’t be too difficult.

“Look at what this person wrote. They’re asking if we summoned a demon? They say we should be raided immediately because we might be conducting human sacrifices in the building’s basement.”

“They must be upset because we didn’t give them an interview.”

Beside me, Rosaria was showing Priscilla the article headline and snickering.

We collectively refused interviews, saying we used too much power to defeat Leviathan and needed time to recover. Most people accepted this explanation.

They reasoned that if we had used enough power to defeat Leviathan in one blow, creating a mushroom cloud that reached the sky, then naturally the recoil and consequences would be enormous.

In reality, it was a much weaker technique than what we had used against Mahbat.

“You’ve arrived.”

As we headed to the basement where Latina had secluded herself, she greeted us with the same expression and appearance as always. The only difference today was the holy spear in her hand.

“Did you figure out why that happened?”

“I did. You mentioned that the holy spear seems to reverse time for surrounding objects. That’s correct.”

It all started by accident. While experimenting to see how the holy sword and spear would react to each other, an empty drink can on a nearby desk suddenly refilled itself.

Leona, who had drunk from it earlier, naturally assumed it was empty and carelessly picked it up, spilling it. But even the drink that had soaked into the carpet disappeared after a few seconds as if nothing had happened.

Stunned, Leona and I immediately gathered everyone else to conduct various experiments. We concluded that the time of objects near the holy spear was being rewound.

There was no other way to explain the phenomena that kept occurring.

Latina said she might know something and asked us to clear our schedules for about a week starting two days later. She then secluded herself in the guild building’s basement, while we defeated Leviathan to legitimately create some free time.

“The reason this happened is probably… because the time in our original world has finished restoring itself.”

Latina said this with a serious expression, laying the holy spear flat on her palms.

“You mean we can cross back to that world?”

“Yes. At least as far as I know.”

I wondered how she had acquired such knowledge, but I had more important questions to ask first.

“What’s the connection between us being able to return to that world and time rewinding near the spear?”

“Because now we—or more precisely, you, Mira—must choose a timeline.”

“Choose a timeline?”

Instead of answering, Latina held up the index fingers of both hands.

“Let’s assume my fingers represent time. Currently, the time in that world and Earth’s time are flowing separately. If we don’t interfere, they will remain this way forever. But you wouldn’t want that, would you, Mira? After all, our memories in that world don’t disappear just because we came to this world.”

“…That’s true.”

“So you need to decide which point in time to cross over to through the holy spear. Once you use the spear to pierce through dimensions and observe that world’s timeline—”

Her previously separated index fingers touched each other.

“The times will synchronize and flow together. This means you won’t be able to look into the past or future through the holy spear anymore.”

“Is that really possible?”

“Of course. It’s possible, which is why power is leaking out like this. If you prefer, we could leave it as is without returning, allowing the power to continue leaking. I’m not certain, but perhaps you might even gain the ability to control time with the holy spear.”

Controlling time—it was an intriguing concept, but not an ability I wanted badly enough to abandon that other world.

I’m already strong enough without the power to control time. My relationships in that world were far more important.

“No. I’m going.”

“I thought you might say that. Here, take the holy spear. Choosing the time is your responsibility, isn’t it?”

I took the spear. As Latina suggested, I closed my eyes to concentrate but opened them again. I looked past the puzzled Latina toward the four people who might not be happy with the current situation.

The four who were practically kidnapped to that world and had to suffer through repeated time loops.

“You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to. You must have many bad memories of that world.”

“It’s not like we don’t have good memories too.”

Elysier approached with an exasperated expression. The other three did the same. A long finger gently poked me.

“One of them is standing right here.”

Beatrice was dreaming.

Young Master had disappeared suddenly, and she couldn’t find him anywhere in the world. Despite the Crate family pouring money and using all their connections, not a single clue was discovered.

The entire mansion was plunged into grief. The head of the family and his wife abandoned even their business operations and fell ill, while Io, a mercenary who claimed to owe the Young Master a great debt, traveled throughout the empire without regard for his own well-being.

Beatrice was the same. She repeatedly cleaned the empty room over and over. A maid without a master to serve is nothing but a piece of flesh.

So she lay on the Young Master’s bed and slit her wrists.

As red blood spread like a flower on the white sheets, and strength slowly drained from her body, Beatrice felt the sensation in her fingertips growing dim and thought:

If only all of this were just a dream.

“—!!!!!!”

Beatrice jerked upright. Harsh, ragged breaths escaped her lips.

She looked at her wrists. They were fine. The place where she lay wasn’t the Young Master’s bed but her own—the bed in the servants’ quarters at Bellium Academy.

She examined her body. It was drenched in sweat. Wearing only underwear, sweat droplets rolled down her exposed skin, pooling briefly at her navel before flowing lower.

The moisture-soaked blanket clung to her buttocks and thighs, and her underwear adhered to her skin, adding to the discomfort.

“It was… a dream?”

Beatrice murmured weakly.

All of that was just a dream? Really? The sensation of the Young Master’s disappearance, the heart-wrenching feeling of loss, even the pain of cutting her wrists—it all felt so real.

“…Young Master, Young Master!”

Thinking of Mira, Beatrice hurriedly got up. Without even bothering to wipe away her sweat, she put on her maid uniform faster than she ever had before and began running down the corridor.

Normally, she would never have imagined running so indecorously in any situation.

But now she couldn’t help it. Only by confirming with her own eyes that the Young Master was safe would this maddening anxiety subside.

“Young Master! Are you there?!”

Beatrice flung open Mira’s door with all her might. It was completely lacking in etiquette.

“You’re late, Beatrice. The sun is already high in the sky.”

And there she found the Young Master, enjoying tea time by the window.

Mira smiled and waved upon seeing Beatrice. Beside him stood Yustera with her hands politely folded, looking impeccably neat in stark contrast to Beatrice’s disheveled appearance.

“I went to check on you when you didn’t come, but you were sleeping so soundly I couldn’t wake you. I don’t know what happened, but you must have been extremely tired to sleep so deeply?”

“……”

“You should rest occasionally. I’ll give you as much vacation time as you want. You’ve worked hard all this time.”

Beatrice, who had been staring blankly at that figure and listening to that voice, approached slowly. She didn’t care about the questioning look forming on Mira’s face.

Then, she embraced the Young Master preciously in her arms, as she had done countless times since he was an infant.

“No. I don’t need a vacation. Serving you is my joy, Young Master.”

“If that’s what you want,” came the muffled voice against her chest. Beatrice stayed like that for a while, then spoke in a trembling whisper.

“…I had a terrible dream. A truly terrible dream. You disappeared forever, Young Master, and I couldn’t find you anywhere in the world.”

“Disappear? I would never do that.”

“Yes. You would never do such a thing, Young Master.”

“They say dreams are the opposite of reality, so according to your dream, we’ll be together forever.”

“…Yes, Young Master. I will serve by your side for life.”

Beatrice tightened her arms around Mira. She was thankful that the dream had been nothing more than a dream.

‘…That really scared me.’

While being embraced by Beatrice, I was inwardly breaking out in a cold sweat. While looking at the timeline, I had seen what extreme choice Beatrice had made in a world without me.

Of course, it was now as if it had never happened, but the image of Beatrice lying on the bed with a blank expression and the red blood gushing from her wrists, staining the white sheets, was not something easily forgotten.

‘If I’m going back to Earth, I’ll definitely need to prepare an excuse.’

Or perhaps I should instill confidence in her with words of trust, as I did when introducing Nika, and take her with me.

‘I wonder what the others are doing.’

I don’t think there are any other people around me as extreme as Beatrice.