Ch.231[Chapter 231] Beyond the Past

“What is all this?”

Inspector Javert, who had rushed over after Sir Dominic’s report, couldn’t hide his smile as he surveyed the scene.

Recently, Inspector Javert had been unable to handle any proper cases due to inexplicable absurdities.

As an inspector full of righteousness, he wasn’t satisfied with merely issuing parking tickets or directing traffic, and dreamed every minute of returning to violent crime scenes where blood and flesh flew.

So when Sir Dominic’s emergency call came in, it felt like destiny. Inspector Javert was stimulated and rushed to the crime scene before anyone else.

Naturally, a smile spread across his face.

“As I understand it, attacking a Newbie is a serious crime under Gachaland’s laws.”

Sir Dominic said to Inspector Javert while sitting on top of the impersonator.

Perhaps due to lingering effects of the Cinematic, Sir Dominic’s face was shrouded in the alley’s darkness, making his expression difficult to discern.

“I see. Who are the victim and perpetrator?”

Inspector Javert took out his notebook and began writing down the facts of the case.

“I’m innocent! I was just trying to scare him! This is excessive force! Violence! I’ll sue!”

The criminal impersonating Sir Dominic struggled in vain, but Sir Dominic simply raised his shield and struck the impersonator’s neck.

The impact combined with the stunned status effect left the impersonator choking, unable to continue speaking.

“—I was startled by the mummified head and ran away. Then I got lost in this alley…”

“Ah! So what happened next?”

The Newbie, who appeared to be a necromancer, realized Inspector Javert was a police officer and rapidly explained everything that had happened.

All the while, he kept anxiously glancing at the subdued impersonator, who was glaring at him as if ready to strangle him the moment he was released.

Just as the truth of the incident was being revealed…

“Over there! That’s where the Newbie died! Sir Dominic went in that direction— Huh? Sir Dominic?”

From the other end of the alley came a man with a gun and a police officer.

The armed man had reported to the police that Sir Dominic had entered the alley, and predictably, this officer was also a corrupt policeman who had taken bribes from Mountain Bridge Marsh.

The armed man stared at his colleague who had been subdued by Sir Dominic.

His expression showed he couldn’t understand why the “real” Sir Dominic was here.

Then, as if realizing something had gone wrong, he sighed while rubbing his face.

“Why are you here?”

Inspector Javert addressed the pot-bellied officer who had arrived from the opposite direction.

“Didn’t you say you were taking a day off today?”

“Well, that’s…”

The pot-bellied officer rolled his eyes, seemingly at a loss for words.

It was obvious that Inspector Javert outranked the pot-bellied officer in both seniority and position.

“We’re screwed.”

The armed man lamented.

Their plan: Someone disguised as Sir Dominic kills a Newbie. Then the armed man pretends to discover the crime scene and calls a bribed police officer. The corrupt officer arrives at the scene and manipulates all evidence to incriminate Sir Dominic.

But the Sir Dominic impersonator had been captured by the real Sir Dominic and failed to achieve his objective.

The bribed officer was now helpless before Inspector Javert, a genuine policeman, and the armed man had appeared only to make himself suspicious.

The simple trap meant to frame Sir Dominic had backfired and was now ensnaring them instead.

“This looks suspicious. Everyone put your hands up. I need to interrogate you all.”

Inspector Javert took handcuffs from his pocket and walked toward the two men.

The corrupt officer and the armed man exchanged glances.

“I just responded to a report.”

“You were on vacation.”

“Yes, I’m on vacation, but I left something at the office. I just stopped by and heard the phone ring, so I secretly responded.”

The pot-bellied officer tried to hide the fact he’d taken bribes, pretending to be a dedicated officer to the bone.

Inspector Javert eyed the pot-bellied officer suspiciously, then nodded.

He had his suspicions, but occasionally, righteous officers did give up their vacations to rush to crime scenes.

Above all, Inspector Javert was such a person himself.

He decided to give his junior officer the benefit of the doubt.

While the investigation results would eventually reveal the truth, for now, he would uphold the presumption of innocence.

Instead, Inspector Javert turned his attention to the armed man.

“You were just saying something about a murder happening here—”

“T-that’s—”

The armed man rolled his eyes, trying to come up with a lie to escape the situation.

As he was desperately thinking of a plausible excuse…

The impersonator, wanting to reduce his punishment, sighed and asked Inspector Javert:

“Um, if I confess everything, will you take that into consideration?”

“You—!”

“That depends on how cooperative you are.”

Inspector Javert, sensing an opportunity, cut off the armed man and approached the impersonator.

The armed man grew increasingly anxious.

Finally, cornered, he decided to escape the situation in the worst possible way.

He tried to run away.

“If I escape and hide, then change my face and name, no one will know— Ugh!”

The armed man ran with all his might, but something suddenly fell from the sky, blocking his vision and causing him to crash into a wall.

“Ah, my hat. There it is.”

Sir Dominic said, looking at the hat that had attacked the armed man.

The hat he had thrown when subduing the impersonator had been spinning in the air, following the alley’s vortex wind…

While a scientific explanation might be possible, let’s just call it a miracle caused by Sir Dominic’s special skill [Cinematic].

“Damn it!”

“You’re under arrest for attempting to flee the scene. We’ll discuss the details at the station.”

Inspector Javert handcuffed the armed man who had self-destructed so foolishly.

Then he tied both the Sir Dominic impersonator and the armed man together like dried fish and put them in the police car.

“Thank you very much, Sir Dominic. I’ll be counting on you next time too.”

Before getting into the police car, Inspector Javert shook Sir Dominic’s hand with a bright smile.

The police car drove away into the distance.

Sir Dominic watched it go with a subtle expression, then pulled his hat down and turned around.

With his hands in his coat pockets, he began trudging home.

Case solved, I suppose.

Sir Dominic muttered to himself.

The sunset was falling behind his back.

…

Sir Dominic returned home with a refreshed mind.

“Oh? You’re back? Did you find the people from Ferallant?”

“Ah.”

Only when Sir Dominica spoke did Sir Dominic realize he had forgotten something.

While fixing the past, he had completely forgotten about the visitors from Ferallant.

“I forgot.”

“Well, I thought as much. I didn’t think you’d be able to find them anyway.”

Sir Dominica nodded as if she had expected this.

At that moment, Sir Dominic felt a strange déjà vu.

As if he had experienced this before…

Ah.

Sir Dominic remembered the past before it changed.

He seemed to recall coming home and having this exact conversation.

Feeling this sense of familiarity, Sir Dominic asked Sir Dominica:

“Did Alice decide to stay overnight?”

“How did you know?”

Sir Dominica blinked in surprise, questioning Sir Dominic.

But Sir Dominic just grinned at Sir Dominica’s words.

“I have my ways.”

“Oh, Master!”

“Yes. Stay and leave tomorrow.”

“Can I stay for a night… What?”

Alice looked at Sir Dominic in surprise.

Sir Dominica and Alice stared blankly at Sir Dominic, who suddenly seemed able to predict the future.

But they didn’t know.

That Sir Dominic had truly returned from the future and had just changed the past.

…

“How about a board game later? That Cthulhu thing or whatever looks fun.”

“Huh? Master, you know about Cthulhu? When did you try it?”

Alice looked at Sir Dominic with a bright smile.

Just then, there was a knock at the front door.

The three in the living room simultaneously looked toward the entrance at the impolite sound.

Could this also be unchanged?

Sir Dominic stared at the entrance for a while before standing up.

“Wait a moment. It seems we have a visitor.”

“Ah, yes!”

“In the meantime, explain the rules to Sir Dominica.”

Sir Dominic said this and headed to the entrance.

Then he called out toward the door.

“Who is it?”

“Excuse me, are you Sir Dominic?”

A rather polite voice came from outside the door.

It was a courteous tone that seemed at odds with the rudeness of visiting so late at night.

“…Yes, I am.”

Sir Dominic replied to the man beyond the door.

But the man outside spoke even more gently, as if trying to reassure Sir Dominic.

“Ah! I see. I’m Officer Lupin, working under Inspector Javert. It’s nothing serious, but—”

Ah, could this also be the same?

Sir Dominic pressed his throbbing temples as if troubled.

However, what he heard from Officer Lupin outside the door was clearly a different future.

“I met some people who were lost on my way here. They said they were looking for Sir Dominic, so Inspector Javert asked me to bring them directly. Do you know these people…?”

Sir Dominic blankly replayed the voice from outside the door.

And when he unconsciously opened the door, he saw a face he knew well… or perhaps didn’t know at all.

“Hello, Sir Dominic?”

A pale girl with black hair waved at Sir Dominic.

“I, um, came to give you a wedding invitation. I’m getting married to him.”

“Hmm.”

Sir Dominic turned to look at the large man beside the girl.

He was a muscular man with a wild charm, resembling a bear.

“Actually, I was just going to send the invitation, but I realized I didn’t know your address. So I decided to come in person to find out.”

The black-haired girl handed Sir Dominic an envelope, grinning.

It elegantly read: “Slaughter King & Mary, Getting Married.”

“Congratulations.”

Sir Dominic smiled brightly at Mary.

“Why don’t you come in and chat for a while? I have many questions.”

Sir Dominic was curious about what had happened to them after he escaped the dungeon.

“Do you have jelly?”

Mary asked playfully.

“For some reason, I’m really craving jelly.”

“Of course.”

“Then, excuse us—”

When Sir Dominic nodded, Mary nudged the Slaughter King in the side and entered Sir Dominic’s living room.

The two sat down and drank the cocoa Sir Dominic had prepared, their bodies and minds visibly relaxed.

Sir Dominic poured out his questions to them.

“How did you escape the dungeon, and what happened to that artifact in the basement—”

“Artifact?”

Mary tilted her head questioningly at Sir Dominic’s words.

“What artifact?”

“…The time-rewinding sword. The one with the blade and hilt reversed—”

“Rewinding time? My goodness. What kind of cheating item is that?”

Mary looked at Sir Dominic with surprised eyes, as if hearing this for the first time.

“If something like that existed, we would have used it right away! We could have had this conversation much earlier.”

Sir Dominic sensed something strange in Mary’s reaction and examined the Slaughter King’s expression.

But the Slaughter King also seemed unaware of the artifact, merely blinking his eyes.

“…It’s nothing. I must have confused it with something else.”

Sir Dominic finally remembered what Mary had said in the past… or rather, in another future.

Many had used it, but not once had it been used.

For some reason, Sir Dominic could now understand those words.

“Anyway, how did you two end up getting married?”

“Oh, about that. It turns out I misunderstood—”

Sir Dominic smiled as he listened attentively to Mary and the Slaughter King.

Thinking that everything had worked out well.