LMHS 32

Chapter 32

I was in the middle of worrying about how to mediate between the two.

“Tania, want me to show you something interesting?”

“…What is it?”

“Watch that kid closely, okay?”

Elysion pointed at Raspi, who was running toward us at high speed.

Then, out of nowhere, he spread his palm wide and in an instant clenched it into a fist.

Crack.

At that moment, with a sharp cracking sound, the pouch containing Raspi’s egg was crushed flat.

As if he had crushed the egg with telekinesis.

Startled, I quickly turned my head to look at Elysion.

I had known Raspi wouldn’t stand a chance against Elysion, but I hadn’t expected him to lose so futilely before a proper fight even began.

No, Duke, that’s unfair. How is anyone supposed to win against someone who can burst your egg from long range?

“How’s my magic? Now it’s just the two of us left.”

He asked shyly, as if anticipating my reaction.

“Uh… you definitely crushed Raspi’s egg thoroughly.”

And probably his mental state too.

Raspi, looking as though he couldn’t believe it, dumped out the pouch where he had been keeping the egg.

But the egg was already so thoroughly crushed that its shape was unrecognizable.

I quietly turned my gaze back to Elysion.

“Sion, are you going to crush my egg too?”

“…You don’t have an egg, do you?”

“What are you talking about? Of course I’m still here because mine isn’t broken. If it were, I’d be in the safe zone.”

“…So I’m the only piece of trash here.”

He muttered something whose meaning I couldn’t grasp and rubbed his face with both hands, eyes tightly shut.

[Overlaying the current point in time onto Save Point 1.]

I saved the point in time while Elysion was off guard.

The reason I had been calmly talking with him until now was to wait for the right timing to save.

If persuasion failed, my next plan was to enter an infinite close-combat loop.

I was extremely close to him.

He wasn’t wary of me.

And there could be no better timing than right now, when his eyes were closed.

But then…

After finishing rubbing his face, he opened a subspace and took out an egg.

“…?”

Why is the egg coming out of there? That’s seriously cheating, isn’t it?

Beyond being dumbfounded, I felt utterly drained.

From the start, this had been a fight I could never win, no matter how many times I rewound time.

Holding the egg, he waved it around teasingly in front of my eyes.

“Tania, do you want this?”

It felt like if I struck quickly enough, I could reach it, so I hesitated between answering and attacking.

But as if he hadn’t asked in order to hear my response, he suddenly grinned and dropped the egg to the ground.

It felt as though slow magic had been cast on the falling motion.

With a dull thud, the egg hit the ground and shattered far too easily.

And then he said—

“Ah, my mistake.”

Mistake? A mistakeeee?

Anyone could see it was intentional.

The people in the safe zone stirred in shock at Elysion’s sudden action.

“Tania, let’s go down now.”

As if nothing had happened, he took my hand and slowly led me down from the rock.

Still blankly following him, unable to understand, I finally asked him directly once we were down.

“Sion, why did you do that?”

“Because I like you. I told you yesterday too. I want to be on good terms rather than be competitors.”

“For such a trivial reason…!”

Elysion tilted his head slightly.

“Then why do the twins help you?”

“Because I saved their lives.”

“Same for me.”

“What? When did I ever save your—!”

“You know the term ‘butterfly effect,’ right? Even if it wasn’t something you did directly, it could still have influenced me enough.”

…What could I possibly have done that would have affected him?

If it’s something in this timeline that could affect Elysion, the only thing I can think of is the raid on the underground auction house.

Or maybe telling the merchant leader about the location where magic stones were buried?

If it was something I did before the age of seven, it was so long ago that I couldn’t remember it at all.

While I was digging through every possible memory and wracking my brain, he pressed a kiss to the tip of my hair.

“That’s why I wanted to help you.”

“……”

“From the moment I first saw you, I was always on your side, Tania.”

Reflected in his blue eyes was a girl with rosemary-colored hair. His pupils were directed solely at me.

As a strange atmosphere spread between us, the safe zone began to murmur again.

Forcing myself to ignore the fact that others were watching, I asked him directly.

“What kind of influence did I have on you?”

“I told you. You saved my life.”

“That’s not what I’m asking…!”

“Beyond that is a secret.”

Elysion placed his index finger over his red lips and curved his eyes into a gentle smile.

“I’m an eliminated participant, so I’ll head to the safe zone now. Actually, the battle royale isn’t over yet.”

“What?”

Hadn’t Raspi eliminated everyone while we were talking?

“There’s one idiot who didn’t even notice the water rising and came running to the center too late. They’re hiding somewhere. I’ll leave that one to you.”

You should have your moment to shine too, right?

After adding that quietly, Elysion turned his back without hesitation and walked toward the safe zone.

By letting others see me eliminate someone myself…

He had even taken care of giving me a way to refute any claims that I had only won thanks to others’ help.

I blinked as I watched his back, feeling as though I were under some kind of spell.

“…Is this why they say you should beware of fox cubs?”

But I couldn’t waste the opportunity I had finally been given. I immediately saved the point in time again.

[Overlaying Save Point 1 onto the current point in time.]

The one remaining person was probably hiding nearby, waiting for the right opportunity.

They wouldn’t have dared to act while Elysion and Raspi were still alive.

But the moment Elysion shattered his own egg so meaninglessly, they must have thought it was their chance.

After all, I was someone who had only been the subject of rumors and hadn’t shown any abilities yet.

No ability to tame monsters like Raspi.

Not as fast with my hands as Rosemary.

Not proficient in magic like Elysion.

But I alone was given the opportunity that came equally to everyone—infinitely.

I didn’t know whether my opponent was an ability user or an ordinary person, but as long as they were within common sense, I was confident I could win.

“I know you’re hiding, so come out. You know my ability is foresight, don’t you?”

At that, a girl slowly emerged from behind a tree at about the nine o’clock direction from where I was standing.

She looked close to fifteen, the maximum age one could remain at the talent training institute.

Oh, for reference, once you turn sixteen, you have to leave the institute.

Usually, the common paths were getting employed by the Papiope ducal family, or finding work elsewhere with your certificate of completion.

Which meant that girl would soon have to leave the institute.

She laughed loudly, as if already intoxicated by the thought that she would become the duke’s adopted child.

“I don’t know how you won Elysion over, but you should’ve checked first to see if any survivors were left. Works out great for me, though!”

The girl stomped her foot and charged at me with such force that the ground trembled.

Every time she stepped, her legs dug hard into the earth.

Judging by her brute strength, she seemed to be a super-strength ability user.

She was so strong that in just a few leaps, she closed the distance between us in an instant.

[Overlaying the current point in time onto Save Point 1.]

The girl, almost flying through the air, didn’t slow down and crashed straight into me.

In an instant, I felt my body lift, and I was knocked backward.

The girl wrapped an arm around my waist and shifted so that she would be underneath me.

It seemed like an instinctive action.

Thud!

Still holding me, she fell backward and pinned me down, completely restraining my movements.

Her strength was so overwhelming that I couldn’t move at all in her grasp.

Worried that struggling might make her apply even more force and crush me, I stayed as still as possible.

She reached toward my right pocket, which was visibly bulging.

Crack.

A sticky, unpleasant sensation spread from my pocket. The egg had shattered.

“Kyahaha! I win!”

The girl released the arms that had been holding me and jumped to her feet.

So excited that she was intoxicated with exhilaration, she threw her hands up toward the sky in triumph.

I stared blankly at her, then, still sitting on the dirt, drove my fist straight into her own bulging pocket.

Crack.