Ch.228228. Variable (5)

As far as I know, in this world… or more precisely, from a mystical perspective, time is a concept different from what we refer to in the physical realm.

In the mystical sense, time is essentially a continuum of cause and effect. Event B occurs because of reason A, situation C unfolds due to event B, and situation C leads to result D…

Literally, it’s closer to a record created from countless intertwined causes and effects.

Transcendent beings like gods are the wedges of the world that observe and record these records, and they also serve as anchors preventing the mystical causality of this world from drifting in chaotic disorder.

And the conclusion drawn from this logic is that souls possessing power above a certain level can intervene in these records—in other words, they can use time like a special ability.

Of course, this is an extremely inefficient act.

Taking the hourglass necklace wrapped around nine-tailed fox Arisa’s neck as an example, that necklace is equipment that can rewind simple events to “before they happen” if you input magical power equivalent to dropping several dozen meteors.

This might seem like an insanely overpowered ability, but the problem is that the application range of this ability contained in the hourglass is extremely limited.

The activation range is only for specific targets. Since it can only rewind what happened to a single entity, it doesn’t prevent the causality from occurring in the first place.

Moreover, considering the amount of magical power consumed with each activation, even if you try to rewind a spell casting to save magic, you end up consuming more in the activation process.

At best, it could be used to heal difficult wounds or remove curses, but conversely, this means that such an overpowered ability as time rewinding is only used as a simple auxiliary tool.

Despite being made with expensive orichalcum, “sand of time,” and “crystal of fate,” and even containing the power of some transcendent being (demigod).

Also, as far as I know, among famous time-manipulating artifacts or equipment, there’s the “Time Anchoring Anchor,” a sacred object of the “Temple of Time” belonging to the pantheon. The effect of this anchor, the most impressive time-related equipment in existence, is… merely fixing causality to delay the occurrence of a specific event by just a few seconds.

It falls far short of powers commonly depicted in fiction, such as accelerating the entire world’s time by hundreds of times or stopping it momentarily.

Thus, manipulating time is never an easy feat, even for the most powerful beings…

‘…How did I come back to the past?’

Come to think of it, I should have had this question from the very beginning.

To be frank, if one could temporarily return to the past by using time-related artifacts and a baby nine-tailed fox going berserk, who in this world wouldn’t have tried this method?

So, belatedly questioning this, I came to understand the truth of this incident through memories passed on by my future self who began to coexist with me after crossing time.

First, the catalyst for this time regression event was an error in Talisa’s magical absorption ability—essentially a bug in the vast program that is the world.

Talisa, who could absorb any surrounding magical power regardless of its state, somehow managed to absorb the magical power of the clock, and just before being completely absorbed, this power used the magical energy gathering around Talisa as its driving force.

Of course, power without any controlling entity couldn’t properly manifest its ability, and as a result, that magical power ran wild, only drawing in the consciousness of Talisa herself and Lupin, who happened to be nearby.

Thus, the children’s consciousnesses, ejected into the past, inhabited virtual bodies created by the world’s constancy and appeared before us.

Meanwhile, the reason why I feel a kind of spiritual affinity or paternal love toward these children who appeared before us, and why Sophia feels maternal love, is also essentially an error in the program that is the world.

The “Will of the World” (tentative name)—which judges the world based on absolute mystical time rather than relative physical time—experienced a bug due to the existence of these two who shouldn’t exist at this time.

Especially since this concept I’ve arbitrarily named the “Will of the World” exists in a realm that transcends space and time, it couldn’t properly distinguish between that time period and this one, mistaking the current me for the me of that time period.

As a result, this phenomenon, where two completely identical souls from different time periods are connected, assimilated me with my future self, and the censorship of information that occurred during this process was probably some measure to prevent the timeline from becoming tangled.

The concept of fate is absolute once determined, but infinitely variable otherwise, and if something goes wrong, it’s clear that problems would arise from the occurrence of time paradoxes.

‘…Haa, what a relief.’

And after learning all these facts, I felt deeply reassured and immediately tried to comfort Sophia by conveying this news to her…

[That’s a relief, yes. A real relief.]

Only then could Sophia set aside her anxiety and feel at ease.

※ ※ ※

Right after it was revealed that what I had worried might be connected to some evil plot was actually just a natural occurrence.

“Daddy! Where are you~?”

“Hmm, I wonder where?”

As the inexplicable sense of closeness instantly transformed into familiar and heartfelt affection, I spent some time playing with the children, guided by this emotion arising from deep within me.

It was as if I was myself, yet not myself… It might sound quite strange to express in words, but nevertheless, it was in such a subtle and ambiguous state of consciousness.

And given the circumstances, I wanted to take time to explore the mysteries through this soul resonance, so I tried to let my future self take over my body temporarily to play with the children…

“Higher! Higher!”

“Kyahahahaha─!!!”

“Heave! Ho!”

“…Oh, this feeling is new.”

At that very moment, I felt as if I was being divided into two… a sensation of being split into an ‘inner me’ and a ‘surface me,’ established in a form similar to multiple personalities.

Of course, this was clearly different from multiple personality disorder.

Multiple personality disorder in this world goes beyond the simple concept of two people coexisting within one person’s mind; it felt like reaching a more advanced realm where two souls share a single body.

Each personality cannot share the other’s memories or state, and except for sharing the same body, they are essentially separate human beings.

But now, I was captivated by the strange feeling of having one person’s mind split into two.

The ‘me’ who is happily playing with the children outside my consciousness is me, and the inner me who is delving inward to observe this mysterious phenomenon is also me.

Memories and emotions are clearly shared between us, but my self, moving as if connected in parallel, was… in itself worth exploring.

The temptation of being able to use thought partitioning, something that only arch-mages who can use their brains like computers can occasionally do, was incredibly appealing.

Of course, even without this, during such soul synchronization, I could draw some power from my future self, making it possible to recreate some of the power my future self would possess.

Even within the upper rank, differences are extreme, and my future self has reached a level that can proudly be called upper-tier among the upper ranks.

And while the external me spent time playing with the children, and I seized an unexpected opportunity for spiritual exploration by investigating the inner spiritual space.

“…Oh.”

“Gregory, it seems it’s about time…”

While Sophia and I were happily smiling at the two children playing joyfully.

As the children’s bodies gradually transformed into something like golden dust, I recognized that my soul resonance was slowly dissolving.

It was time for the children to return to their home where their parents were waiting.

“Huh, are we going back?”

“Are we going back to our home?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

“It’s time to return to your original time.”

Although this could certainly be considered a kind of farewell, albeit in a different form, both Sophia and I accepted these situations and concepts calmly.

After all, they were just temporary visitors, and since it wasn’t an eternal farewell, we could meet again in a different form after some time passed.

“Oh, Daddy! Mommy! Goodbye!”

“See you soon!”

But the two who didn’t understand such concepts, who still couldn’t comprehend the relationship between the current me and the future me, treated us as the same person, and that sight touched something deep in my heart…

“…Ah.”

“They’re gone.”

Disappearing as suddenly as they had appeared, leaving behind a handful of “sand of time,” the children vanished after etching unforgettable memories in our hearts.

‘…Is this how causality flows?’

That very sand that was used to fill the orichalcum hourglass necklace, the cause of this incident.