Lyla fell into silence. Zich also didn’t ask her any more questions. An atmosphere that might be heavier than any other one they had experienced since they met flowed across the room. Lyla raised her head and looked at the ceiling for a bit and hung her head down again. Then, she gripped her head, shook it a couple of times, and let out a very deep sigh. Zich could understand her abnormal response.
‘She wants to deny that I am a kind guy no matter what.’ That was what he did when he was resting at Bambis, but in the end, he failed. Like Tim said, he carefully rethought his actions after the regression and realized that he was basically what people called a hero. As soon as he had this thought, Zich felt like throwing up. If he hadn’t skipped a couple of meals from his unrest, he would have vomited profusely. Thus, Zich cheered Lyla on.
‘Yeah, think harder! It doesn’t make sense for me to be a kind person! Quick, find evidence that I am a bad person!’ Even though he failed, Lyla might do otherwise. Surely, a genius mage like Lyla would—!
“Ha, haha, ha!” Strange laughter burst out of her lips, “Yeah, okay, ki…nd…person…Zi…ch….” It sounded like she was muttering her last will on the brink of death. If this continued, Lyla’s head might explode. As someone who had gone through this same suffering before her, Zich had a strong will to save her.
“Lyla.”
“Huh, yeah?”
“Let’s stop thinking about this topic for a bit.” If they couldn’t counter it, escaping from the problem was also a sound tactic. With determined eyes, Lyla nodded. The two drank tea and took some time to settle down their hearts. After a while, Lyla opened her mouth again with a light sigh. “Ah, I lost my mind for a moment after hearing something shocking.”
“Yeah, I agree.” Zich had responded just like Lyla at first. Furthermore, he had nobody who told him to calm down like he did for Lyla.
“Well, it’s true that Tim Platt makes some convincing arguments. A lot of people probably think that you are a kind or good person, and some might even look up to you as a hero.” It was understandable considering the deeds Zich had done. “But Tim might have overplayed things a bit. A complete villain like him might have thought you were just a kind person.”
“Tim used to be a good guy like Joachim and Evelyn.”
“Was he corrupted?”
“Yeah, by the robed guys. I think he also got advice about this incident from them too.”
“It was too late then.” Lyla was able to grasp the situation perfectly. “How unfortunate.”
“When I decided to take this path, I knew that something like this could happen. When I met Joachim and Evelyn, I was prepared to kill them if things didn’t go well. It just happened that I didn’t have to do that until I met Tim.”
“Yeah.” Like that, their conversation about Tim ended. At this point, their mood would simply get worse the more they talked about him now, so Lyla placed her head down on the table. She used her arms as her pillow to support her face and looked up at Zich. Then, she made a strange smile. “Anyways, it was an interesting suggestion—that you, Zich, are a kind person.”
“Stop it now. Whenever I hear ‘kind person’ now, I feel sick in my stomach.”
“If you fix some of your methods, you would be a perfect hero. Even better if you torment your opponents a bit less when fighting them.”
Zich waved his hand while shuddering. Then, Lyla got up asked, “Okay, so is the counseling session over? Why don’t we get some fresh air outside for a change of mood…?”
“No, not yet. I still have something to say.”
“What is it again?”
After Zich prevented her from carrying out her plans twice now, Lyla puffed up her cheeks.
“It’s about our knowledge of the future.”
“Knowledge of the future? Are you talking about the identity of our memories from the future? We still don’t know—”
“I don’t have knowledge of the future. I regressed from the future.”
Lyla blinked.
* * *
Zich told Lyla everything about what happened before the regression. After listening to him without saying a word, Lyla summarized, “So, to organize what you said, you don’t have memories of the future like me but actually lived through the future?”
“Yeah.”
“Right after you lost to Glen Zenard and his companions and were about to die, you counterattacked with an item called The Key that Distorts Destiny.”
“That’s right.”
“When you woke up, you found yourself at a time before you left the Steelwall family—when you were much younger?”
“Exactly.”
“…” Lyla pressed her lips tightly. She looked at Zich directly with harsh eyes. Her eyes were mixed with rage and a sense of betrayal, indicating the shock she felt “…You tricked me—the whole time until now.”
“I am sorry about that part.” Without saying any excuses, Zich hung his head. Lyla blinked a couple of times and erased the angry look in her eyes. However, her face was still plastered with displeasure and disappointment.
“Besides making sure of the information you just told me, why did you decide to tell me this now?”
“First of all, the reason why I hid this information from you in the first place was because I couldn’t trust you. You know, our first encounter wasn’t that great, and you doubted me from time to time too.”
“So, you think you can trust me now?”
“Yeah.”
Lyla’s face became a bit softer, but soon, it hardened again. Yet, it no longer showed the force of all the emotions she had before. She had the face of a pouting kid who still wanted to show others that she was still angry.
“The second reason I am telling you now is because the concept of regression could be the key to learning about Clowon’s identity.”
“Is it because of what happened to Tim?”
“I don’t regret killing him, but it’s true that I feel like shit. I feel worse than I did when I thought about how someone else might have manipulated my life. I have to screw those guys who made my mood drop a lot.”
“You are talking about those robed guys.”
“Before, I said that I would kill those guys if I caught them, but that’s no longer the case. My first priority is to completely kill those guys. Of course, I won’t let them have a peaceful death though.” A twisted smile appeared on his face. “I have to find out their main goal and crush it as thoroughly as possible. I need to kindly crush their dreams right in front of them.”
Lyla thought, ‘As expected, he’s definitely not a kind person.’ Even though she admitted that Tim’s words had a point, she still thought this anyway.
“I also thought about looking for different Demon People and hindering their plans, but I don’t know exactly where and how they’ll appear. I also don’t know the exact time when they’ll corrupt a person to become a Demon Lord. Most of all, those guys don’t open their mouths at all. Even if I kill and kill and kill them, it’ll just keep going. There’s no point in cutting the hell out of the tails when the head is still alive.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“So now that we’re on this topic, how is the deciphering work going? Have you made any progress?”
“Maybe.” Lyla’s reply was ambiguous. She put her hand on her chin and looked sulky. It seemed as if she was still angry that Zich had deceived her for so long.
Zich made a troubled expression and asked, “…You’re not going to get angry at me or yell?”
“Even I can tell the right time to do so.”
“Is that so?” However, Zich was being way more docile than usual. No matter how softly he reacted, Lyla expected him to at least show his annoyance at her ambiguous reply.
‘Is he backing down because he feels guilty about deceiving me?’ However, Zich was not the type of person to do that. There was probably a different and more important reason. At that moment, Tim’s death flashed past her mind.
‘Since he killed his past companion, Tim, did his current companions become more important to him?’ This was a reasonable hypothesis. Just thinking about this made Lyla’s annoyance disappear further—Zich truly thought of her as his companion.
“…Zich.”
“Why?”
“Since we’re on this topic, I’ll also be honest. I’m actually way more shocked about the fact that you regressed than you think. Thus far, I thought there was another person who could possibly be like me in this world.”
Zich tilted his head for a moment, and then he soon understood what Lyla was trying to say. Lyla didn’t know who she was. Moreover, they even witnessed a bizarre monster that was most likely related to her. Naturally, one would feel intense anxiety. Compared to most people, Lyla was doing an extraordinary job holding all of her complex emotions inside. Until now, Zich’s existence had been a huge comfort to her as someone who also had knowledge about possible futures. However, Zich’s confession had completely crushed this comfort.
“…You must have received a huge shock.”
“Yep, it’s huge.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I can’t believe I just heard two consecutive apologies from the great Zich. I’ve achieved quite a feat.” Then, Lyla shook her head. “I didn’t bring this up to get an apology from you though. If you think about it, we met quite abnormally. Although it was a misunderstanding, we first met as enemies, and the reason why we teamed up wasn’t because we thought of each other as teammates. The situation just turned out like that, and we had no trust in each other at all. Honestly, in the beginning, we constantly held up our guard and secretly tried to dig out each other’s identities.”
“Yeah, we were like that.”
“If you think back to our past, it’s strange that we’re talking so comfortably like this.”
“It’s because we experienced a lot of events.”
“Yeah, a lot of things really happened.” Even though relatively little time had passed since they met, they had encountered a lot of intense incidents together.
Lyla continued, “Yet, because of those incidents, we began to trust each other. No, for me at least, I trust you, Zich. I also think that you trust me somewhat, and that’s why you told me your secret.”
“Surprisingly, you immediately believed me when I said I regressed.”
“Why wouldn’t I believe in regression when I have knowledge about the future? That would be funnier.”
“That’s true.”
“So Zich, starting today, let’s re-establish our relationship. You want to find out Clowon’s identity, which would lead to finding out the identity of the robed figures, and in the end, destroy the robed figures’ organization, right?”
“Yeah. And you want to find out about your past and identity.”
“Yep.”
As close traveling companions traveling, they knew very well what the other wanted.
Lyla said, “The way we can achieve our goals is most likely the same.”
“It’s by finding out more about Clowon.”
“Yep.” Lyla nodded. “Maybe it’s for the better that we got this opportunity. We can end our ambiguous relationship thus far and establish a new, more collaborative relationship.”
Lyla’s clear eyes were directed towards Zich. However, unlike her confident speech so far, her eyes were slightly trembling. Was she afraid of rejection? As soon as Zich rejected Lyla’s offer, their relationship would definitely become awkward. Moreover, this was extremely terrifying for Lyla since she had no idea about her identity, and the closest person to her right now was Zich.
Zich met Lyla’s eyes. Even though there was a bit of insecurity in her eyes, they were beautiful and brave. Zich smiled; it was not his usual twisted or crooked type of smile, but a calm one. “Well, I didn’t expect this, but I’m looking forward to collaborating with you, Lyla.”
Then, Zich reached out his hand towards Lyla. Her face brightened up and she tightly clutched his hand. “Yep. I’m looking forward to it, Zich!”