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Chapter 4
“Don’t be afraid. It’s all right. I’m here with you, aren’t I? I’m your sister, so if anyone tries to hurt you, I won’t let them get away with it.”
Even in the midst of everything, Caliona tried to reassure Liliope, despite the fact that she herself was anxious about the situation.
Seeing this, Liliope swallowed down the fear that was compulsively rising within her and tried to settle her churning stomach.
As she did, her mind became considerably calmer, allowing her to think about the situation rationally.
‘Who are you? What are you, talking inside my head?’
[That isn’t important right now. I went through all the trouble of turning back time for this body, so if you don’t want to die pointlessly today, get a grip.]
The lecturing tone irritated her, but that was a trivial matter compared to the shocking content of the voice echoing inside her head.
Liliope unconsciously stopped breathing.
What did it just say?
Turned back time?
‘Then… does that mean this isn’t a dream or the afterlife?’
[That’s right. This is reality.]
In an instant, a sensation somewhere between a shiver and goosebumps raced through her entire body.
Reality.
This was reality—the time when her sister was alive, before any of the tragedies had begun.
Even the Tower Master of the Southern Magic Tower, known as the greatest Archmage of the present age, couldn’t reverse time. From a common-sense perspective, such a thing was impossible.
Yet Liliope accepted the voice’s words almost instantly, surprising even herself.
Was it because everything she had experienced here had been far too vivid to feel like anything other than reality?
Or perhaps it was because she desperately wanted to believe those words.
Whatever the reason, Liliope instinctively knew that what the mysterious voice had just told her was true.
[Contractor, as you’ve probably already realized, the banquet cannot be avoided. So don’t cause any unnecessary trouble and behave yourself.]
But her exhilarated mood immediately turned cold, as though someone had poured ice water over it.
‘That’s impossible. You’re telling me to become a Bellegote magician again?’
If it was really true that she had returned to the past, how could this be happening?
She was being told to crawl back into this hell once again.
What kind of absurdity was this?
With suspicion and impatience tangled together inside her, Liliope hurriedly demanded an explanation.
‘You said you turned back time, didn’t you? Then why today of all days? You could have gone back to before I entered the Northern Magic Tower. Why did you turn back time to this exact moment?’
[I didn’t decide that. It must have something to do with the wish of the one who awakened me.]
The voice in her head seemed displeased at being interrogated and added rather coldly:
[Didn’t you wish to return to a time when you and your sister could look each other in the face and smile sincerely? This was probably the last moment when that was still possible.]
At those words, a storm erupted in Liliope’s heart.
The scene she had witnessed immediately after losing consciousness in that rainy forest flashed before her eyes.
Her sister’s face, smiling with pure happiness as she ate freshly baked bread in the warmth of the room.
The time just before undergoing the banquet and entering the Northern Magic Tower had been the sisters’ final moment of happiness.
And yet, even before Caliona became cold toward Liliope, there had been times when, despite their harsh days, she would smile maturely and reassure her younger sister.
Whenever she did, Liliope could forget her troubles for a little while and smile along with Caliona.
But perhaps Caliona hadn’t been all right even then.
Had she merely forced herself to appear composed in front of her younger sister?
Just as she was doing now.
“All right, go inside. Fortunately, it seems we’re not late. Go to the center of the ritual hall and stand with the other children. Once the banquet is over, you will be reborn as true Bellegotes.”
The female magician who had brought Liliope and Caliona there pushed them forward through a small door.
Liliope tried moving her mana, just in case, but nothing happened.
Her body had become that of a perfectly ordinary child, from before she had even developed a mana core.
Then again, even if she could use magic, what good would it have done? She had spent her entire life being called a halfwit, after all.
‘Then… really, I can’t change what is going to happen today? Do I have no choice but to undergo the banquet and become a Bellegote magician all over again?’
A faint sense of emptiness and resignation formed in her heart before quickly fading away.
No.
How pathetic was it to be disappointed over something as small as this?
So what if she had to live in this hell again as a halfwit magician?
The mere fact that she had been given this opportunity was already a miracle that would never happen again.
She knew roughly what the future held.
That meant she might be able to change Caliona’s fate, at the very least.
For that alone, Liliope would even have been willing to sell her soul to a demon.
[What…? A demon? Surely you’re talking about me? What an ill-mannered brat…]
‘Enough. If I can’t avoid it, I’ll accept it. I don’t know who you are or what your purpose is, but I don’t care. Even if what you want is my life—or my soul—I’ll give it to you. If one lifetime isn’t enough, I’ll gladly pay the price in my next life as well.’
Clatter—THUD!
As though an invisible fate itself had forcibly pushed them forward, the heavy door slammed shut behind them with a dull sound.
‘As long as I can save Caliona, nothing else matters.’
Inside the large room filled with an ominous atmosphere, the children who had arrived earlier were already gathered.
By coincidence, the boys who had picked a fight with the sisters in the dining hall earlier were standing near the door and spotted the sisters first.
“What took you so long?”
The red-haired boy grumbled in his usual irritating tone.
“If the banquet gets delayed because of you two, are you going to take responsibility? I deliberately didn’t fill my stomach too much earlier because I wanted to eat the better food later, but I’ve already digested everything while waiting for you.”
“The boss is right! Take responsibility!”
“Give our boss a piece of meat each later!”
The little boys following him also crossed their arms and barked at the sisters.
They weren’t threatening in the slightest, but their boss seemed quite pleased with the loyalty of his underlings.
“Hey, kid.”
Just then, one of the magicians who had escorted the children this far approached and patted the red-haired boy on the shoulder encouragingly.
“I’ve put my bet on you for this batch. So survive with some grit, and I’ll see you in the inner residence.”
The magician left after giving him a meaningful smile.
“What was that supposed to mean?”
The boy uneasily muttered as he rubbed the shoulder the magician had patted.
As though he had sensed an instinctive foreboding, an uncomfortable expression appeared on his face for the first time, replacing the confidence he had maintained until then.
“Everyone, pay attention! The banquet will begin now.”
At that moment, a middle-aged magician who had been looking up at the ceiling as though checking something finally drew the children’s attention.
“Today, you will be reborn as proud members of the Bellegote family. Unfortunately, not everyone here possesses the qualifications to do so. But this too is merely a necessary sacrifice and trial for the glory and prosperity of the great Northern Magic Tower. So please show us your determination, and I hope as many of you as possible survive today.”
“What does that…?”
Before the confused children could even ask what the magician meant, the magic circle drawn across the ceiling activated.
Vrrrrr—
An ominously pitch-black mass of mana instantly engulfed the entire room.
It soon opened its jaws greedily, like a living creature with a will of its own, and swallowed the defenseless children whole.
In an instant, there was a crack! from beside her, and the floor was splattered red.
One of the children who had been standing perfectly fine just moments ago disappeared without even having time to scream, leaving behind only a vivid pool of blood.
The child had been unlucky in that he possessed the worst aptitude for becoming a magician of the Northern Magic Tower.
But in another sense, he had been lucky, because he died without even knowing what was happening to him.
“Eek, eeeek…! D-Died… Guh!”
Someone let out a scream sharp enough to tear the eardrums and vomited blood.
Thus began the merciless process of selection.
