Ch.309309. Observation
by fnovelpia
Sullivan, the Chancellor, was in quite a foul mood.
There could be many reasons for this.
Perhaps it was the environment of this Demonic Spire, where nothing familiar could be found no matter how hard she looked. Or perhaps it was because she, who had been called a representative of the Empire, was spending most of her time doing absolutely nothing.
She was the Empire’s Chancellor, who had never been treated as such an “outsider” anywhere she went. It was only natural for her to be sulky.
But the biggest complaint was probably this:
‘…Why isn’t that man asking me for anything?’
With her cheeks puffed out, Sullivan tapped her crossed arms with an annoyed expression.
True to his nature of bringing chaos wherever he went, this time too, something seemed about to happen around that man inside the Demonic Spire.
The difference from usual was that she was completely outside the flow of these events.
‘…I don’t even know where that person is or what he’s doing.’
The Tristan Duchess, who should have been sharing this boredom with her, had been summoned by Professor Astrid and hadn’t emerged from the inner chambers for days.
In the end, this meant she was left alone in her quarters, spending her days in discontent.
“Chancellor!”
So.
If Darwood hadn’t suddenly burst through her door, she would have truly fallen into depression.
As her eyes widened, Darwood strode over and firmly gripped her shoulders.
“…Eh?”
Sullivan let out a dumbfounded voice.
Darwood’s eyes were burning with intensity. It was the look he often showed when pushing forward with a plan he had devised.
“Let’s merge!”
“…”
But she had no idea what he was talking about.
Chancellor Sullivan blinked with a half-dazed expression.
“…W-what?!”
And when she finally grasped the meaning of his words, her face instantly turned bright red.
Generally, such a phrase implied the explicit meaning of intercourse between a man and woman—
‘…No, get a grip, Sullivan.’
Sullivan barely managed to suppress the wild imagination running through her head and closed her eyes, pressing her temples firmly.
The speaker was Darwood, of all people. That wall of a man would never be the first to make such demands to a woman.
“What exactly do you mean—”
“I mean exactly that we should become one body!”
“…”
Sullivan took a deep breath.
Thanks to data accumulated over the years, she was able to ask one more question filled with disbelief.
“Could you explain in more detail?”
“…Was my explanation insufficient?”
“…”
How could that possibly be considered a sufficient explanation?
As she pondered this, Darwood opened his mouth with a “hmm” sound.
Complete with an irritating attitude suggesting he shouldn’t have to explain this.
“Well, Chancellor, you returned from the future, right?”
“…”
Of course.
With that attitude.
Compared to suddenly bringing up a topic that should be slowly understood through a long process of mutual comprehension, she wasn’t particularly annoyed.
“…”
Sullivan stared at Darwood with wide eyes, saying nothing.
Fortunately, this man seemed to understand that bringing up such a topic without any explanation wasn’t reasonable.
“You roughly knew where and how I would face mortal danger, and above all.”
With those words, Darwood expressionlessly pulled Sullivan into a tight embrace.
“…!”
Since it happened before she could even process what was going on, there was no time for emotional reactions like blushing or feeling embarrassed.
In fact, even if she’d had the time, it would have been difficult to feel anything romantic.
Because she could feel “something” dormant within her body responding to the seal embedded in Darwood’s chest.
“…See that.”
Still holding each other tightly, Darwood spoke with a bitter smile.
“It’s still there. Though it’s become extremely weak.”
She could feel the pulsation of that “fragment of the demon” that had lost its power forever as the price for “traveling back in time.”
The “Yellow” demon.
A demon that shouldn’t have been observed in the first place.
A demon that disappeared forever in the future after some kind of “incident.”
“—Darwood.”
Sullivan opened her mouth with a trembling voice.
Her head was spinning.
Of course, she had never thought that the other person would be completely ignorant about her “identity.”
“Chancellor.”
But.
In this way.
“…In the ‘future’ you came back from, what kind of relationship did we have?”
“…”
“I think we were the kind of people who promised to see each other’s end together.”
So casually.
Touching on the essence of the feelings she harbored for him felt somewhat inappropriate.
“…”
After a long silence, Sullivan pushed Darwood away from herself.
“…How—”
Sullivan, who was about to continue speaking, painfully bit her lip and cut off her sentence.
Her mind was in chaos with all kinds of memories.
“Do you know about the parallel universe theory?”
Those words dropped suddenly on Sullivan, who had her head lowered.
“Well, the idea that countless universes might exist depending on what choices we make at any given moment— I don’t know much about it myself, but I remember it being that kind of theory.”
Of course, that just means such a theory exists; the idea that beings from other parallel universes could cross over and exert influence would be strange even in a world full of all kinds of miracles and mysteries.
The problem is.
It’s not like there aren’t beings with powers strange enough to make that possible.
The strongest beings that exist outside of timelines and worldlines.
Known as demons.
“…In the ‘future’ where you were, I think you and I had that kind of relationship.”
“—How, such things—”
When Sullivan barely managed to squeeze out a response, Darwood opened his mouth with an awkward smile.
“If you’re asking how I know these things… Well, once I ‘became’ it, I understood.”
From Darwood’s perspective.
Since gaining the ability to handle black magical energy, although he hadn’t reached the same level as a demon, he had come to understand the nature of that energy quite well.
That means he had gotten quite close to the “truth.”
What the “essence” of a demon is. What relationship it has with vessels.
And that means.
“I can roughly guess what sacrifice you made to come back from the future.”
Interfering with a subject whose “future is determined” across timelines would be a formidable feat even for demons.
To the extent of losing even that “power,” making such a massive sacrifice.
“…”
After a long silence, Sullivan finally opened her mouth.
“—This doesn’t seem like a topic we can finish with such a short conversation.”
“If you wish, I can explain for days on end. If we have the time.”
Sullivan’s eyes widened slightly.
“…Do you have some urgent matter?”
“Wouldn’t the fact that I barged in demanding we merge right away suggest that?”
“…”
Indeed.
Come to think of it, it feels like she hasn’t heard the most important explanation.
What exactly is this merging thing anyway?
“To explain that, I need to ask one more really urgent question.”
“Yes?”
“Chancellor, where are your erogenous zones?”
“…”
Anyway.
He certainly had a talent for keeping people on their toes.
●
“How many days has it been, Professor?”
“Three days.”
“…You’re saying she’s been in that state for three days without eating or sleeping.”
In response to Alpha’s words, the steel giant representing Astrid crossed its arms with a sigh.
Beyond their gaze, they could see Elnore sitting quietly in the room.
She was sitting silently in the center of a room filled with strange, intricate devices whose purpose was impossible to guess from the outside.
With her eyes closed, she appeared to be deeply concentrating on something.
“…Is it having any effect?”
“Let’s hope so.”
Elnore was in the midst of fulfilling a request from them.
A request to observe “something” they couldn’t see.
This room was a device created with all the effort of someone who was among the top scholars in the world, a member of the Demonic Spire that only the most elite could enter.
Its purpose could be described as a kind of “observation” device.
One that could see the edges of “possibilities not chosen” that could no longer be seen in the present.
“Do you know about the parallel universe theory, Alpha?”
“You’ve mentioned it countless times. That the world branches into numerous possibilities that weren’t chosen.”
“Yes. Originally, this device was made to investigate that, but…”
Now it had been modified somewhat.
Into something like a conceptual machine that could observe any “information” connected to a subject, not just what lay beyond parallel universes.
Astrid silently looked back at Elnore, who was sitting quietly in meditation.
She was the only person who shared the slightly strange fact that Astrid herself had observed through this device.
“My son, you see. There’s something strange about him.”
Of course, Darwood Campbell was a somewhat strange person even from a parent’s perspective, but what Astrid was implying was a slightly more serious issue.
The “strange thing” about Darwood Campbell that she had found while looking through countless possibilities wasn’t such a simple matter.
“…He’s hiding something very deeply. As if he was ‘someone else’ before being born as my son.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No. Even if he was born that way, he’s still my son. That won’t change no matter what.”
Astrid answered Alpha’s question decisively.
“…But it hurts my heart. That he’s keeping it all to himself and not saying anything. As a parent, I can’t even help him.”
Astrid continued with a bitter smile.
“…To begin with, I haven’t been with him that long. We’re not that close emotionally.”
That’s why she specifically asked Elnore to “observe” such things.
Observing the “essence” of a subject is easier the closer and more familiar one is with them.
It meant that the woman over there was closer to Darwood than herself, his biological mother, but sadly, Astrid couldn’t deny this fact.
So.
“That girl might be able to see it.”
Through that device, she was drifting inside someone’s “memory.”
The memory of a certain man called Darwood Campbell, beloved by all demons. All the experiences accumulated by the son of Armin Campbell and Astrid.
‘…But not just that.’
Perhaps.
Beyond that.
She might be wandering through a past that someone absolutely refuses to talk about.
The past of someone who walked through a different world before Darwood Campbell.
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