The look in Drum’s eyes had changed, back to that of the guildmaster I recognized. That was enough to calm my anger a bit.
“You’ve always looked out for Alto, so I’ll believe you.”
I put away my sword and took a deep breath, then sat down.
Once everyone was seated, Halman said, “We heard your conversation with Drum, but I want to ask you one more time: Can you use Time magic?”
“No, I can’t. And honestly, I thought you’d at least explain why you’re going to such extreme measures in the first place.”
“If we can’t confirm you’re the Time sorcerer, I won’t be able to tell you anything.”
“So if I’m not, then I don’t even get to know why all this is happening? Do you realize how ridiculous that is?”
“I’m sorry, but that’s just how it works.”
“Do you really have so little integrity?”
“Setsuna, this concerns the very survival of the Adventurers Guild,” Drum stressed. “There’s no way we can share anything unless we’re absolutely certain. I’m not asking you to understand, but please don’t get angry.”
Halman’s earlier response had only stoked my rage again, after it was just beginning to settle. I took a deep breath, trying to control my emotions.
“If you really want to know all about me, why don’t you add a rule to the guild’s guidelines that says adventurers have to answer every question honestly,” I said icily, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice.
“We can’t add anything that contradicts our founder Master Shigeto’s core principle: ‘Respect the will of each individual.’ That rule still stands. It’s only right for you to criticize us when we act against it. We made the wrong choice in our rush to find a solution. I promise we’ll honor his vision from now on. So please, let’s just start over.”
The moment I heard Halman say that, fragments of information unfurled in my mind.
I’m shocked… Really shocked. I never imagined Hanai founded the Adventurers Guild. Is that why Kanade encouraged me to register as an adventurer?
I dug deeper into the memories that surfaced and discovered Hanai had also established guild facilities like medicinal clinics and orphanages. I didn’t know why he’d created these systems to support the world, but it was clear that despite being brought here against his will, he hadn’t spent his life idly.
He lived like a camellia.
“Is something wrong? You look troubled.” Halman had noticed I wasn’t responding and paused the conversation to check on me.
He was ordered around and bound so many times, he must’ve never wanted to force those things on anyone else…
The three of them gave me wary looks.
“I can use Time magic,” I told them.
Halman stared at me, a look of confusion on his face. “Why the sudden honesty? I mean, don’t get me wrong… I’m glad you’re telling us.”
“I merely remembered the founder’s words about the guild’s mission: to protect all lives equally. If revealing I’m a Time sorcerer can help uphold that, then I think it’s worth it. People’s lives are at stake, aren’t they? That’s what you said.”
My reasoning was actually even simpler than that: I couldn’t turn my back on what Hanai had built.
I stood up, reached for one of the flowers in a nearby vase, and cast a spell on it. “Time for the flower has stopped. It won’t wither anymore.”
I was recreating the effect of the flowers from the marriage proposal ceremony. It would be days before anyone could prove this was true, though, so I offered another demonstration. I turned to the crumbled wall and restored it with Time magic.
The three of them watched on wide-eyed as the wall repaired itself in reverse.
Drum and the others seemed too startled to speak, but eventually they exchanged glances and Halman stepped forward to talk. “I’d like you to take a look at this first.” He took a Cube from his pocket. “Master Shigeto created this Cube. It contains a permanent supply of mana that allows Void and Time magic to function within it. That said, we don’t fully understand the mechanism that keeps it charged.”
I could have probably figured out how it was made and how it worked if I searched through my memories, but I decided not to.
“There’s both Void and Time magic inside the Cube. Void magic needs to run constantly, so that’s the Cube’s default attribute. Time magic, on the other hand, only needs mana when a monster is placed inside the Cube, so it doesn’t need a constant supply. It has a store of roughly one year’s worth of Time mana, which is consumed as needed.”
“I see.”
As long as it kept affecting its target, Time magic would gradually expend mana. Basically, the user’s mana determined how long they could stop, advance, or rewind time, and as long as the Cube preserved the monster, it was constantly using up stored mana. But Halman was saying that the Cube started out with a year’s worth stored inside.
“The Cubes are recovered and recharged with Time mana before that reserve runs out. I can explain how we do that later. It can be done at any time during that year, but since you can’t tell how much power is left just by looking at it, we collect the Cubes six months after they’re handed out.”
“No one ever explained that to me when I got my Cube,” I said.