His loneliness must have been soul-crushing. He fell into despair countless times, yet stood back up again without fail. No one knew that a single sorcerer was changing the fate of the world all by himself. Apart from Charles—and Lille, who could witness those memories—not a single soul knew.
I’ll commit everything I see today to memory. I won’t let Charles bear his past alone.
Lille believed she had her own destiny, too. Ever since the day she met Ark—no, the day she was born—her mana had been guiding her to this moment. Everything led to her loving Charles, the man standing on the battlefield all alone.
When she reached out to intertwine her fingers with his, he looked at her in surprise. His eyes soon softened, however, and he responded in a whisper.
“…Thank you,” he breathed, squeezing her hand in return.
Gazing at his tearful eyes, it was everything Lille could do not to say “I love you.” Having seen the timelines that only Charles knew, she so desperately wished she could convey how much she loved him.
But she could never tell him. She could never let him find out…and keeping her secret would be far easier if only she could leave her feelings behind in the nonexistent worlds of the past.
“It’s a good thing the watch reverses change to the body, too. If it didn’t, I’d probably be an old man by now,” Charles remarked. Lille had long lost count of how many times she’d seen government negotiations play out by that point.
“This must be the final time,” Charles said.
The past Charles was kneeling in front of the leaders of the neighboring nation. From among the crowd of wary elders, one man suddenly came forward.
“No matter how many times I explained or tried to persuade them, they never changed their position. So, I let one of their leaders use the watch. I have no memory of doing it, but at this point, that man had listened to my plea twice. In my head, I was planning to let him use it, but I had no idea I’d already done so in the future,” Charles explained.
“I’ll believe you,” the man said. Murmurs from the others filled the air, and in the midst of it all, Charles wept. His long, arduous battle had finally come to an end.
“Because he knew it was possible to turn back time, he believed me when I said a sorcery war would begin, and he believed me when I told him what would happen. Well—it’s more like he had no choice but to believe me after using the watch himself,” Charles said, melancholic. “I should’ve tried that method earlier, but I was terrified to let go of the watch for even a second. Because of my failures, everyone suffered countless times. I still see the town in ruins and people calling out for help in my dreams.”
The leaders of the neighboring country agreed to draw up a pact with Charles, vowing not to leak any information pertaining to the existence of the watch or the awful future that would have awaited them. It was a means of preventing panic among the general populace and conflict with people who’d want to steal the watch to use it for evil. Destined to never be recounted by any history textbook, the hero’s tale thus came to an end. Or, it should have.
“This isn’t the end, is it?” Lille asked aloud. Although Charles had regained his sense of hope, Lille’s vision didn’t feel as if it was coming to a close any time soon. And they still hadn’t seen how he met Lille.
“…No. If it’s okay, I’d like you to stay with me here a little longer,” Charles said softly.
They watched Charles resign as a government official and settle in the woods. In the same place he’d made the pocket watch, he built a new house, along with the magic item shop. Neither Ark nor Leo had met him yet, and he lived there alone.
At first, he did nothing but sit in a daze all day. However, slowly but surely, he started working on more magic items, and Lille shed a tear as she saw him recover the will to live. Observing him, she felt she was watching over some precious treasure.
As though a gust of wind had lifted the pages of a book, Charles’s lonely, relaxed lifestyle suddenly became increasingly hectic. He took Ark as his familiar, and Leo as his apprentice. He was able to save Leo before the academy released any official warnings because he used the watch. Only once, that time.
“The first time around, I was too late. Both Leo and his sister ended up in comas, doomed to sleep forever… Even if their bodies had decomposed, their souls would’ve continued to wander that plane of existence for an unthinkable length of time—Leo’s stuck in a whirlwind of solitude and regret, and his sister’s stuck in an endless loop of suffering. I couldn’t bear to see two young children meet such a cruel fate. Even if that’s the price for committing a taboo practice, it’s unreasonably coldhearted to have two children pay it…” Charles’s lip quivered. “I used the watch again, even though I had promised myself I wouldn’t anymore.”
Charles’s memories became more and more current, until eventually, they overtook the present that Lille knew. It was the near future, just after they welcomed the new year. Charles received a notice from August, and in his letter Lille caught sight of the name of her home country.
“Oh no…” the future Charles said, reading it. Judging by his expression, it contained bad news.
“…August wrote to me, telling me that a country that outlaws sorcery was planning to invade the magic nations,” Charles said.
“What…?!” she yelped. Lille knew that her home country hated sorcerers, but not so much as to declare war. She had always assumed they were keeping her prisoner simply because they feared the unknown.
“They received worldwide criticism for human rights abuses against sorcerers, but still continue to persecute them. As there’s no chance of a compromise with that country, our government drew up an agreement with neighboring nations to overpower them before the invasion took place,” Charles said, summarizing the contents of the letter.
Had he been so busy because the same fate was still awaiting them? Was he trying to prevent war once again?
“I was worried about the sorcerer they had trapped in the tower—you, in other words. I thought it was likely they’d drag you into it, so I planned to get you out of there before that happened,” he explained.
“You came for me…” she murmured.
She lamented the fact that though Charles had saved her, she couldn’t remember a thing about it. His unconditional act of kindness felt bittersweet, and she was reminded yet again that she owed her life to Charles’s protection.
“Thank you, Master Charlie,” she said in earnest.
“…I don’t deserve your thanks in the slightest. In the end, I…,” he trailed off, making a pained face. “Never mind. You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”
He was likely referring to the reason he’d had to turn back time again. The reason he’d so profusely apologized to Lille in his dream. Whatever the reason was, his sorrowful words and distressed eyes instantly told Lille that the memory she was about to see wasn’t a happy one.
“Sorry… You must be scared,” Charles said apologetically, meeting her eyes. It was possible Lille was about to see herself die. Even after seeing the countless victims of the sorcery war, she was so afraid that her hands were shaking.
“Will you keep holding my hand?” she asked tremulously. His touch would give her the strength to keep her eyes open until the very end. She couldn’t let Charles shoulder his past alone—the past forgotten by everyone but him.
“Of course,” he agreed firmly, squeezing Lille’s hand even tighter. He hadn’t let go of her once since they entered his memories—he had even placed his hand on her back when she was throwing up.
The past Charles—or should she say the future Charles? Either way, the Charles in the memory left for Lille’s country as soon as he finished reading the letter. Teleportation magic could only be used if a sorcerer had previously visited the location, so he flew on Ark’s back instead.
“That’s why you could cast a magic circle leading to the tower, when Ark came to collect me,” Lille realized.