Bonus chapter thanks to @Caw Caw and @Mnkeydude from Ko-fi!
“…Hello, Elodie.”
I returned her greeting.
It felt like it had been a long time since I’d said those words.
The monster burned, its form gradually collapsing. This was a testament to Elodie’s strong magic and, more importantly, proof that she had overcome her trauma.
“Hey, Frondier.”
Elodie spoke to me.
“When you said you were sorry, when you mentioned the ‘promise’.”
The moment, not long ago, when Elodie shed many tears.
“At that moment, I realized this was a dream.”
“…!”
Elodie pursed her lips, seemingly embarrassed.
“It wasn’t a certainty, but… I had this feeling. Like, ‘Frondier wouldn’t say something like that to me’.”
Ahaha, I laughed out loud.
Watching her, I thought.
“…I see.”
For Elodie, hearing those words from Frondier was more surreal than the sun and moon rapidly orbiting, more surreal than the Milky Way flowing across the azure sky.
“I knew it when I heard you say that.”
Elodie, still speaking in a calm voice, continued as if wondering what I was thinking as I remained silent.
“I realized I wanted to be forgiven by you.”
“…Elodie.”
“Even in a dream, I created you to hear those words from you.”
Elodie looked at me with a hint of loneliness.
She realized this was a dream and had overcome her trauma, but…
She believed that I, standing before her now, was also a fake she had created.
“What do you think, Frondier?”
Elodie turned her anxious eyes towards me.
Within that anxiety, there was a small glimmer of hope.
“Are you, standing before me now, really you?”
“…”
“In this world where everyone has forgotten me, did you alone recognize me and come to save me?”
For a moment, I was speechless.
It wouldn’t be difficult to be honest. If it meant fulfilling Elodie’s wish, I would do it without hesitation.
…However.
“That’s right, Elodie.”
No matter how sincerely I answered.
“I came into this dream to save you.”
No matter how true these words were.
“…Haha.”
Elodie eventually let out a bitter laugh and murmured,
“Right, you’d say that either way. Because that’s what I want to hear.”
Here, within Elodie’s dream, it was solely up to her to decide whether I was real or fake.
The more I acted and spoke according to her desires, the less she would believe in my existence.
‘Elodie fell asleep in the cabin to call for my help.’
It was the best choice she could have made.
A place connected to me, where her Mana wouldn’t be disturbed by anyone else. The fact that I was here now meant her choice was excellent.
But regardless, there were many mountains to climb if I truly wanted to be here.
First of all, I had to be the only one to realize Elodie had disappeared from the world.
I had to come to this cabin she chose, and somehow find Elodie, who was neither visible nor audible. And I had to be able to interfere with the ‘Eternal Slumber’ spell.
All these conditions were impossible for the Frondier that Elodie knew.
Because she was so wise, she must have realized it herself.
That the possibility of me not being a figment of her imagination was incredibly slim, despite wanting to believe otherwise.
“…Elodie, it’s time to wake up.”
I said.
There was no need to prove that I was the real me.
Elodie had unraveled the knot in her heart. She had overcome her trauma.
Trying to convince her of my authenticity was meaningless now.
Elodie was okay now.
“Yes, you’re right.”
Knowing this, Elodie smiled brightly. Her gaze shifted to the empty space where the monster had disappeared.
A door had formed there.
“If we go through there, we’ll wake up from the dream.”
I nodded. I also knew that the monster was the escape route for Elodie to wake up.
That’s why I asked her,
“Elodie, why did you use a spell like ‘Eternal Slumber’? It must have been dangerous.”
Wouldn’t it have been better if she had just waited in the cabin, in a world where no one knew of her existence, so she could receive help when I arrived?
That’s what I thought, but Elodie shook her head.
“It would have been more dangerous to stay still in that world,” Elodie continued.
“Osprey’s magic makes it so that after he leaves the world, it becomes as if he never existed. That’s why Osprey wasn’t worried about the dangers of this spell. He was already outside the world.”
“Dangers?”
“Yes. But if someone still within the world gets caught in his magic, the world starts to adjust causality to fit the spell. I exist within the world, but I’m treated as non-existent, so it tries to change things to match that.”
And when magic manipulates causality, it always chooses the smaller, simpler solution.
Erasing Elodie was easier than making the entire world recognize her existence again.
“I realized this after being affected by the magic, but a person can slip out of everyone’s perception even with just a one-second deviation.”
“One second?”
“Yes. Simply put, it’s like my body alone travels back in time.”
Elodie said that at the time the magic was activated, she wasn’t much different from her usual self.
She wasn’t in the form of a young girl like now, but as a second-year student at Etius. Yet, people didn’t recognize her.
And as time passed, she visibly became younger, and realizing it wouldn’t stop…
“The reason the magic is making me younger is to erase me. So, I had to choose the method that conserved the most Mana.”
“…That was ‘Eternal Slumber’.”
“From a magical perspective, it minimizes Mana loss and slows down the de-aging process. From a delusional perspective, I was hoping that since I was sleeping alone in a place with no one around, the world might just leave me be.”
Whether it was truly delusional or not, Elodie’s idea seemed to have worked. There wasn’t much difference between her body right before entering slumber and now.
“Then, if we leave like this, won’t you start getting younger again?”
“I think that’ll be okay.”
“Why?”
“Because you recognized me.”
I blinked at her words.
Elodie smiled awkwardly.
“I don’t know if you’re the real you right now, but I can’t escape this magic alone. Someone from the outside has to wake me up. The fact that this door appeared before us is proof that you’re at the cabin in reality. Since there’s someone else in that world who knows me, I should be fine for now.”
“…I see.”
“Of course, there’s the reckless method of using the same magic to enter this dream and escape together, but that’s too dangerous.”
Ahaha, Elodie laughed and muttered, “Thinking about it that way, I guess you really are just a figment of my imagination.”
…Wait a minute.
“Was there another way besides that method?”