Epilogue:
Causes and effects entangle.
Timelines converge.
Though most people cannot perceive it, they affected each other like a mass of invisible strings. Everyone follows their own path, each with their own will. They grow old and die because of a combination of causation and time.
—And yet, here, someone was gazing at these invisible strings.
*
He did not know what time it was.
Though his vision told him that he was in the dark, that might not actually be the case. In a room so quiet that he even wondered whether time was flowing in it or not, he made a sound like a zombie and raised his hands into the air.
“No~ That’s wrong, Professor! Zombies need to use bug glue, and the rubber band needs a fishing rod…”
“…Hello, you’re awake, aren’t you,” someone said.
The sound of that made the young man, who had still been asleep, bolt upright. He rubbed his eyes and searched his mind for a couple of seconds for the name of the caped man before him.
“Ah, right! I don’t know you, do I?”
“Hm. I have never introduced myself to you in my memory, so the answer to that question is yes,” said the man, nodding. “I didn’t know that you could interfere with the spell from that place. The Atlas Institute’s structure is completely different from the Clock Tower’s, after all. Though the topic at hand is hardly related to the skill of the mage, it’s undoubtedly beyond the normal realm of knowledge. Who are you? (TN: A more accurate translation, meaning-wise, might be ‘who the hell are you’, but I can’t find a politer version of that)”
“I’m Flat Escardos, and this is Le Chien-kun!”
“Oi, is this the correct time to do casual introductions!? Also, what happened to my name!”
The curly-haired boy behind him let out a roar of frustration.
“There’s no need to be like that, didn’t Professor say that greetings are the basics of etiquette? Also, if it wasn’t for Le-Chien-kun’s supply of magical energy, I wouldn’t have been able to pull off that kind of intervention!”
“I never gave you permission to do that! You just took my magical energy and did whatever you wanted with it! Don’t put it as if I was also involved in this!”
“I see, so it’s the rumored El-Melloi classroom,” the man concluded, watching the arguing teenagers.
“The two of you weren’t in the village then, so you are incompatible for the reenactment. My sincerest apologies, but I suggest that the two of you acknowledge this fact.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means exactly what I said it meant.”
As he said that, he turned around to look at the floating crystal ball by his side. The sphere reflected a dim scene, which the man had just been looking at.
Seeing the two blurry silhouettes there, Flat’s eyes widened.
“Professor! Gray?!”
“…Though, I never imagined that this would happen. Though I had prepared many scripts and endured many endings, I never predicted that such a scene would unfold.”
The man slowly narrowed his eyes.
“The mystery I have presented is extremely simple. If all goes according to plan, they will solve that mystery. They’ll investigate the girl that died there, why she died, and why at that time. They’ll also advance towards the ancient mystery buried in the underground graveyard. This is a common development in a detective novel. As long as the characters are assigned according to their specs(TN: capabilities? The original used the word Spec and I am confused), they’ll inevitably reach there one day. Though, that has nothing to do with whether they will succeed, as there is a rather high possibility that they will perish in the process,” said the alchemist.
“Oh yes, it could also be because of you. Just in case, you were wondering, I’m not blaming you for anything. It is inevitable that a play will change due to the accidents caused by the stage or the actors, and the audience’s reaction will only change with it. However, a play without incidents, though perfect, is completely lifeless. A show acted by living creatures and for living creatures should at least be alive.”
What he said was completely incomprehensible.
Those words were already complete in that man’s mind. They were not especially woven for others to hear, and there was no way for someone to perceive what it actually meant. It was unlikely that anyone who could understand what that man said would appear even in the next couple of centuries.
“Though... Ah… Exceptions, how nostalgic.” It was the voice of someone who had gotten carried away in something enchanting.
No matter when it was, Zepia Eltnam Atlasia was always gazing at [that].
*
The light emitting from Add dissipated quickly.
I was still frozen in place.
My mentor also held his breath because of what he saw. The figure that had suddenly appeared in front of us had that sort of an impact.
It was a knight in shining silver armor, almost like he was pulled straight from a fairy tale—
“…Oi.”
The knight raised his sword and sighed.
The blade flashed through the air.
The strike was fast and ferocious, almost like the claws of a beast.
Slashes of silver streaked through the darkness and knocked down the bone soldiers that had charged over in an instant.
“What a capricious guy. What was that, a forced summoning? There has to be some limit to how rude a person can be. Is that the reason why this spiritual core of mine is incomplete?”
His figure was very blurry.
I suppose he was some sort of Servant-like spirit. However, different from the Faker who we had met before, he could not properly materialize. Both his armor and his skin looked as if they were surrounded by a heavy haze.
“You could have called any one of those other knights(nerds), why does it have to be someone like me, who thinks that Heroic Spirits should all just go to hell? I’m not a hardcore knight, neither am I one of those employees-of-the-month.(TN: Not that he would have actually used that phrase, I just thought it conveyed the meaning best) I only have the strength of about three of these guys. Though, if you’re putting me up against some sort of brain-dead giant, I could cut his head off with my silver tongue alone,” mumbled the knight as he took out the bone soldiers one by one with skillful strikes.
He was strong. Though he didn’t have the unnatural physical prowess of Faker, he still had an incredible amount of skill. It was the sort of ability that only someone who had had formal training for years and had fought countless battles would possess.
“Ah, wait, did I get something wrong. So you’re the one who summoned me. Your structure doesn’t allow you to manipulate magical energy, but you still did it. What a devoted guy.”
The knight lowered his head to look at the scythe in my hands— Add, who was still asleep.
“…Who... Are you?”
In response to my question he shrugged exaggeratedly. “Ihihihihi! You’re asking who I am? Don’t be so mean, haven’t we been friends for ages, idiot Gray?”
Hearing that voice, I was stunned.
Because the one who said that sentence was not the sleeping Add, but the knight in front of me.
The knight raised one hand and patted his temples.
“Ow. I’ve slept for too long, so I’ve gotten a bit mixed up. I wasn’t always like this, but never mind. After all, there’s no need to be exactly like the original, and only natural to adapt to your surroundings as a human.”
The knight casually turned around and slashed with his sword, and more bone soldiers fell.
“And would you look at that, we look like we’re from the same generation. What a ridiculous turnout.”
As he said that, a strange feeling arose within me. It was a mixture of excitement, and a feeling of deja vu (??).
The only friend I ever had in this village. The one who always teased me and had called me “Idiot Gray” countless times.
Why did I get reminded of that when I saw the knight in front of me? Perhaps it was because every movement and every sentence that he uttered made me feel an indescribable nostalgia.
“Either way, I suppose you should remember the name Kay for now.”
A smile appeared on the hazy face of the knight.
Then, I remembered a legend.
One of the oaths that I took in the Seal of Thirteen.
Sir Kay— The name of the adoptive brother of King Arthur.
-End of Epilogue of Book 6-
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Originally Posted by Ubergeneral
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