Ch.234Side Story: Dragon Lord – 4

“Shattering causality, huh…”

“Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

“It certainly does.”

I gave a bitter smile. After all, among the things Olivia had done was completely erasing her own past, leaving only a single starting point.

While the present exists because of the past, and the future can exist because of the present, Olivia had utterly ignored all that and lived in her own timeline.

It should have been impossible. But Olivia was the kind of person who could commit such acts without hesitation, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised if those three did something equally impossible.

“The fundamental cause of this situation is because of that being. It was the first to distort the laws of the world, allowing the other children to take advantage of that distortion. If that being had properly disappeared, or better yet, had never been born at all, do you think those children could have gathered in one place like this?”

I shook my head.

In the end, it all came back to Olivia. I couldn’t fully grasp the scale of what Olivia had done or the extent of her abilities.

I only vaguely knew that if our memories hadn’t been overwritten after our defeat, she would have destroyed this world and created an eternal world where only she and I existed.

But hearing this explanation, I was starting to understand. So Olivia was the first person to distort the world’s causality, making it possible for others to exploit it.

Come to think of it, Serena’s ability to cut concepts, Charlotte reaching the realm of creation, and Christine’s ability to use divine possession—all these powers were manifested from their determination to kill Olivia.

So the explanation that without Olivia, the other three couldn’t have reached such heights wasn’t entirely wrong.

“No need to overthink it, child. You don’t need to accept that causality has become ambiguous or that it’s been distorted. You don’t need to understand or comprehend it. Just remember that what matters is that it happened.”

“No need to understand or comprehend? I’m not so sure about that.”

I put my teacup down on the table and leaned back against the sofa. I looked up at the ceiling. A gold-decorated chandelier and softly glowing pale yellow lights came into view.

“I can understand it intellectually. Charlotte, Christine, and Serena. It’s more convincing that our future selves distorted causality than believing that three children with such talent were coincidentally born and ended up by my side.”

Yes, this explanation was more convincing.

Not just Charlotte, but Christine and Serena too—they all had the potential to become far stronger than all other humans on the continent combined.

Not just one, but three people with such talent and potential appeared around the same time, and all three ended up by my side. Could that be dismissed as mere coincidence?

Absolutely not. It’s just that the inner workings of this matter involved a loop-shaped causality, which made things quite complicated.

“…Wait, what about Olivia?”

A sudden question came to mind, and I lowered my head to look at Ancient.

“How exactly did Olivia do such a thing? Is this also something I don’t need to understand or comprehend?”

“That is…”

The words trailed off. Ancient gently placed the teacup on the saucer on the table and uncrossed their legs.

“That’s actually something I should be asking you, child.”

The brilliant golden hair resembling Serena’s flowed behind the neck like Christine’s, and Charlotte’s blood-red eyes looked at me clearly. It was as if Ancient was representing the hearts of all three.

“Finding out what kind of being that is falls within your domain, not mine.”

“…”

I couldn’t know exactly what Olivia had done to the dragons, but from what I’d heard about her using any means necessary and from Ancient’s expression, it seemed clear that it was something serious.

“If you want to hear about the past, I’ll tell you. How Olivia and I met, and everything that happened between us. Honestly, I might not know why she did what she did, but I have no idea how she did it.”

At my words, not just Charlotte but Serena and Christine too perked up their ears in response. Of course, from their perspective, they must be very curious about what happened between us.

From Olivia’s standpoint as the perpetrator, there was no need to talk about it, and I had no reason to bring up old matters, so they could only make fragmentary guesses.

Since I hadn’t opened up, the three of them hadn’t asked about my past, but now that I was offering to tell them directly, naturally they would be interested.

“Let’s postpone the old stories for a bit, child. Though I’m very curious about what that being did in the past…”

Ancient rose from the sofa.

“We have something to do first.”

The blood-red eyes scanned Serena, Christine, and Charlotte in turn. Each of them showed different reactions as that gaze fell upon them. Especially Charlotte, who met eyes identical to her own.

“It won’t take long. Especially with children of their caliber, it will be much shorter. A day at most in human time should be plenty, so don’t worry too much.”

“A day? That long?”

“For an ordinary human, it’s something they might not succeed at even if they tried their whole life. And the time I mentioned means it will end within that period at the longest. If nothing unusual happens, it won’t even take half a day.”

Charlotte added a remark in her arrogant tone and expression.

“Set aside your worries, my lord. I shall finish within an hour and return to your side. Those fools might take a full day, but I certainly will not.”

Serena and Christine twitched their eyes at those words. I gestured to stop the two and shook my head at Charlotte as well. It meant not to create unnecessary trouble.

Charlotte seemed to understand the meaning of my head gesture and quietly closed her mouth. I couldn’t help but sigh. I wondered if the three of them would be able to avoid fighting even after following Ancient.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Are you sure?”

I didn’t bother asking what worry they were referring to. If they could say something like that, they obviously knew.

“They won’t even have time for that, so put your worries aside.”

The corners of their mouth lifted slightly, revealing a smile.

“It’s time to go now. Before that, do you need anyone to attend to you?”

“Attend?”

“I expect it won’t take long, but just in case. If you want, I can provide as many attendants as you need.”

“No, that’s not necessary. You said it would only be a day at most, right? I can wait that long without anything special.”

I flatly rejected the offer.

The truth was, I was afraid those attendants might be dragons in human form. Especially if those human forms were female.

If while they were away somewhere, I were to be attended by dragons who, despite being genderless in reality, appeared as women? The reactions from Charlotte, Christine, and Serena would be predictable.

“As you wish.”

With those words, Ancient waved a hand and led the three through a space made of mana, disappearing. I was left alone in the room.

I leaned back against the sofa again and organized my memories. I would need to explain when they returned.

Ancient reappeared with Serena, Charlotte, and Christine exactly three hours later. Ancient wore that usual faint smile, while the other three had complex expressions.

“That ended earlier than expected. I thought you said it would take a day?”

“I said a day at most, didn’t I? I also told you that was the maximum estimated time.”

“For something that ended quickly, they have strange expressions. Why do they look like that?”

“Why do you think?”

“Well, I wouldn’t know.”

How could I possibly know what happened in there?

“To resolve that curiosity, you need to tell us something first.”

“Tell you something?”

Ancient crossed their legs, rested an elbow on top, and leaned forward, resting their chin on their hand.

“The story of the past between you and that being.”

“…?”

Seeing that my expression was visibly strange, Ancient added with a smile:

“If you tell us that, your curiosity will naturally be satisfied as well. I guarantee it, so don’t worry.”

“So you’re saying the reason they’re acting like this is related to my past?”

Ancient nodded. I was full of questions about what had happened and why the three had such expressions, but it seemed that I needed to speak first to resolve the matter.

“…Well, if that’s the case, I have no choice. Where should I begin?”

As I opened my mouth, four pairs of eyes turned toward me. Even Serena, Charlotte, and Christine relaxed their complex expressions and focused on my story.

“Olivia… was an incredibly strong-willed person from the beginning.”

I recalled Olivia when we first met at the magic tower.

“Strong enough to pour boiling oil on herself.”