So the reason he asked me not to reveal the child’s face was because he’d kidnapped him. If that’s the case, it automatically follows that what he said in the forest was a lie. I was fooled quite nicely.
As soon as I grasped the situation, I disrupted Scalane’s mana with a single stomp, breaking his attempt at teleportation. I then solidified the body of the child he was holding, excluding the child’s face. It was a delicate and precise casting, and I could see despair filling his expression.
After the succession of shocks, I finally looked around and realized where I was—the Belitent Duke’s estate. The ducal family crest was clearly carved into the wall; if I didn’t recognize it, that would mean my intelligence was low. Just as I was about to examine further after confirming the soundproofing magic covering the entire room and the locking magic on the door, a shriek assaulted my ears.
“Undo this! Hurry up and undo it!!”
“Scalane. Shut up for a bit.”
He opened his mouth as if to shout again, so I took away Scalane’s voice. Leaving him to open and close his mouth uselessly, I organized my thoughts.
I didn’t know why God had sent me here, but seeing Scalane kidnap what was presumably the infant Ruvlian, this seemed to be even further in the past than when I’d met the young Ruvlian. What confused me a bit was—if I stopped the kidnapping here, wouldn’t the future I came from be altered? If I prevented the kidnapping, Ruvlian would grow up receiving quality education at the Belitent Duke’s estate and become a duke.
As my thoughts spiraled like that, at some point I realized the truth like a bolt of lightning. Considering cause and effect, it was so absurd that a hollow breath escaped between my lips.
It was me. I’d wondered why Ruvlian and the parallel world Ruvlian’s lives were so different, and the reason was me.
This was a parallel world. I had saved the parallel world Ruvlian from Scalane, who was attempting the kidnapping. That’s why the parallel world Ruvlian could grow up at the Belitent Duke’s estate and become a duke. Unlike Ruvlian, whose childhood memories would be entirely filled with the forest. That would resolve what had puzzled me. By removing the factor that would derail his life’s trajectory through kidnapping, it followed that the future wouldn’t change either.
With complicated feelings, I ran my hand through my hair. To think that I saved the parallel world Ruvlian. To think that’s why the flow was so different from the parallel world. The feeling of knowing I was the cause of all this was truly strange.
I moved my steps and approached Scalane. Even though I’d taken his voice, his facial muscles and eyes moved constantly, making him feel noisy.
I extracted the child from his frozen arms and held him. Then I stepped back to prevent getting spat on and gifted him his voice again.
“Give the child back!”
As expected, a loud voice came back. My eardrums cried out in pain, but I asked without showing it.
“Scalane. Why were you trying to kidnap the child?”
“As a fellow mage, do you not understand that? On the day this child was born, an insane mana wave spread across the continent. None other than this child possessed an unprecedentedly outstanding talent for magic! Can’t you tell even after seeing the child’s enormous mana? This child should grow up as a mage, not a duke!”
Scalane, seemingly believing his actions were right, readily provided an answer to my question. In short, he was kidnapping the child to raise him as a mage rather than a duke. I struck the head of Scalane, who was making beast-like sounds with a face that said this was obviously the right thing to do, with my fist.
“Ugh! What do you think you’re doing!”
“Why are you the one deciding that, fuck…”
A curse I normally wouldn’t use flowed out quietly. I couldn’t help but curse. I wouldn’t say anything if it were his own future. But why kidnap someone else’s child and arbitrarily decide their future?
I knew that if Ruvlian hadn’t wanted to be Master of the Magic Tower, he would’ve quit. But the fact that he was still doing it meant he quite liked it, yet the surging heat showed no signs of calming down.
It was even more so knowing that the parallel world Ruvlian had become a duke. If he’d continued growing up at the Belitent Duke’s estate, he could have gained more education. It hit home that other professions would have been possible if he’d wanted them.
I was angry that I’d treated Scalane like a teacher in Ruvlian’s original world’s past. I should have just killed him. Kidnapping him and not letting him out of the forest until he was eight or nine years old was also absurd. I didn’t like that Ruvlian had lived confined for such a stupid reason. My blood boiled.
This was the problem with mages. Their social skills were zero, and they thought and made judgments entirely as they pleased.
As I just looked down at him coldly in my anger, Scalane struggled desperately to break the petrification magic. The sight was pathetic, so I placed my hand on his head and cast mental magic. As the magic was cast, he screamed in pain, so I took away his voice again.
Leaving the kidnapping bastard to suffer on his own, I looked down at the child presumed to be the parallel world Ruvlian. The child didn’t cry even after hearing the scream. He just blinked vacantly and looked up at me.
Should I say he was docile, or not childlike? The quiet side was more convenient anyway, so it didn’t matter.
Should I kill him?
I pondered while gazing at those vacant blue eyes without madness. It would be easy to snuff out this small spark of life. I could kill that full-grown moron over there right now. There’s no way I couldn’t.
If I killed the parallel world Ruvlian like this, the entire future would change. The incidents of Ruvlian getting hurt would disappear too. Nevertheless, the reason I was hesitating was because I still had humanity left in me and had to live in my original world, not Ruvlian’s world where assassination ran rampant. Also, the parallel world Ruvlian cradled in my arms, an infant, had done nothing wrong. He was just a baby who’d been born not long ago.
I had to choose what to do, but the decision wouldn’t come easily. Just when I thought killing him was right, looking at those merely blank blue eyes made me think this wasn’t it.
I bit down hard on my molars, then relaxed. I might regret this choice. But since I’d already made up my mind, I decided to go with it.
I released the petrification magic on the kidnapper and bound him who was drooling and crying out in pain with magic. Then I overlaid illusion magic to change my appearance, making my hair disheveled and wild, creating traces of a hard-fought battle like redness appearing on my cheeks. Here I had no identity, but he was the Master of the Magic Tower. The Master of the Magic Tower was a position held by the person with the most outstanding magic of that generation, so it would rather be suspicious if I subdued him easily—it couldn’t be helped.
After even fabricating a story and finishing all preparations, I forcibly broke the soundproofing magic and locking magic that had been on the room. Then I opened the door and ran into the hallway pretending to be filled with joy. I didn’t forget to deliberately fall with a thud while protecting the child, as if my legs had given out.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… The Master of the Magic Tower tried to kidnap the young master.”
I deliberately breathed in several times as if out of breath and spoke slowly. Then everyone moved in unison. I stretched out my arms toward the people who were obviously Ruvlian’s parents, holding out the child.
“I’m so ashamed…”
“The Master of the Magic Tower? Who are you to have saved our child?”
The heavy weight in my hands became light. It seemed they’d taken the child. I answered the question while pretending to tremble in fear.
“I am a mage of the Magic Tower. Tonight, I happened to overhear that he was going to kidnap a child… Since I lost my parents when I was young, I thought it wasn’t right to kidnap a child who still has parents, and remembering my childhood self, I followed the Tower Master and stopped him. I’m truly, truly sorry…”
I naturally spouted out the fabricated setting of making my parents, whom I’d treated as good as nonexistent, into dead people. Unfortunately, no tears came. That was beyond me.
As I kept my head bowed for a while, my shoulder was grasped.
“Raise your head.”
“No, no. How could I…”
“It’s not your fault, rather you saved our child. So I’d like you to raise your head.”
As the low voice concluded, I slowly raised my head. In their eyes, it must have looked like hesitation.
Thanks to acting every time I infiltrated somewhere with my companions as a Hero, it was easy to tremble and beg. There was also the experience from childhood of apologizing several times for things I hadn’t done wrong under my parents’ cold glares.
“However, I hear the Master of the Magic Tower’s authority within the tower is absolute, so having risked your life to turn against the Tower Master, do you have anywhere to go?”
I could read suspicion in those emerald eyes, different from Ruvlian’s. It seemed they intended to keep me close and monitor me. Well, the setting of a mere mage stopping the Master of the Magic Tower didn’t make sense from the start. That’s why I’d made another setting too.
“I don’t…”
“Since you’re a benefactor who saved our child, if you have nowhere to go, how about staying here? We Belitents do not forget kindness. We don’t forget grudges either, though.”
The leisurely words contained a warning. If you cooperated in killing the child, you won’t leave here alive. I pretended not to understand those words and fashioned an innocent expression before nodding.
“However, it’s a stretch to call me a benefactor.”
I continued, pretending to be unable to bear the guilt.
“What do you mean?”
“Previously, after my parents passed away and I was left alone, there was someone who took me to the Magic Tower. That person gave me a mana crystal. Just once, if I broke it in an emergency situation, they said they’d come to me…”
“You broke it this time?”
“Yes. They were someone who didn’t even tell me their name, so I was worried, but they came to keep their promise. After subduing the Tower Master, they immediately flew away with teleport magic.”
The person who was Ruvlian’s father stroked his chin, judging whether this was true or not. I smiled as if relieved while looking at the infant presumed to be the parallel world Ruvlian, acting as if I didn’t know about that. The problem was whether it wasn’t awkward since I wasn’t good at smiling.
“Wasn’t it you who called that nameless person? I can’t say you’re not a benefactor. Stay for a long time. Bay, show them the way.”
…Ah. That butler, I saw him in the parallel world. I bowed my head deeply, repeatedly saying thank you, and moved as the butler, Bay, guided me.
“If you pull that cord, a maid will come, so if you need anything, please pull it.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Then please rest well.”
With those words, the door closed. I lay down on the soft bed and thought.
As expected, not killing the parallel world Ruvlian was the right choice. By becoming a benefactor, I had a place to stay in the parallel world, and I’d be able to come and go from the library in this mansion. I just needed to find a way to return home.
My identity wouldn’t come up, so suspicion wouldn’t be easily lifted, but…
