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AFTER dinner, Charles finally recounted his arduous journey to everyone else. At times, his voice caught in his throat, and Lille stepped in to tell the story for him. August raised and lowered his eyebrows at critical moments, the color drained from Leo’s face, and Ark kept opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something. Yet, in the end, no one dared interject. They listened to Charles’s experiences all the way through, silently reflecting on what they heard.
“…And then, Lille and I dived into my own memories together, and saw everything I just told you about. And, here we are now…” Charles concluded with a huge, long sigh of relief.
For a while, no one spoke.
“U-Um, Master Charlie was—” Lille started to say, unable to bear the silence. But, as soon as she began to talk, she was interrupted by August’s harsh voice.
“You fool!” he shouted, fists coming down on the table. Everyone—not just Charles—flinched at his sudden outburst. “Why didn’t you inform me?! You should have come to me the very first time you used that watch!”
“Well, you died in the sorcery war, remember? How could I tell you something like tha—”
“How dare you underestimate me. Ever since I took you in, I’ve made plenty of preparations in the case that I die! Would a man who wrote a will years ago really be hesitant to talk about death? Don’t be ridiculous. Your stupidity never fails to amaze me, son…” he growled, his eyes swimming with tears. He steepled his hands in front of his face so as to hide the fact, but Lille could tell he was trying to wipe his eyes with the sleeves of his robe.
“Master August…” Charles said apologetically.
“Hey, Master Charlie. Were you avoiding telling me because you didn’t want me to hear about the war? Or was it because you couldn’t talk about me going into a vegetative state?” Leo asked curiously. Charles’s expression clouded over in response. He had been keeping an eye on Leo the entire time he was talking.
“…Both, I suppose,” he answered eventually.
Leo breathed a drawn-out sigh. “To be honest, I was scared when you talked about how many people died, as well as how I ended up, but…you had to see those things over and over again all by yourself, didn’t you? Ever since the day you made me your apprentice, I decided I’d have your back no matter what happens, y’know,” Leo said seriously.
“Leo…”
“Also, Lille saw herself die, right? And she’s still here. As your top apprentice, I’m not gonna lose my nerve now,” Leo assured him.
“I always thought you acted like such a little kid, Leo. But I guess you grew into a fine young man while I wasn’t looking.” Ark grinned, ruffling Leo’s hair.
“…Are you trying to be nice? With you, it always feels like you’re just saying it to poke fun at me,” Leo accused.
“C’mon, I don’t do that,” Ark said. “I see you still need to learn how to take a compliment.” Ark looked over at Charles again, and his grin relaxed into a wide smile. His eyes were full of emotion, as if he were silently thanking Charles for telling them what was going on.
“Ark… You noticed, didn’t you?” Charles guessed. “That I was turning back time.”
“Yup. The first time I noticed something was off was when you took Leo in. It’s like…it was too much of a coincidence that you found him before the government or the academy caught wind of what he was doing. Not to mention, you used teleportation magic when we saved Lille from the tower. After you did that, I had a few theories floating around my mind,” Ark confirmed. Both Lille and Charles gazed at him in astonishment; he had realized very early on indeed.
“That long ago…? You really are quite perceptive…” Charles marveled.
Ark puffed out his chest. “Didn’t you know? Familiars can sense their masters’ emotions—to a certain extent, anyway.”
“Wait, really?” Charles asked, genuinely surprised. Even Master August had a look of shock on his face.
“Though that only goes for familiars with a great deal of magical power, apparently. That’s how I knew Master Charlie was having nightmares every night,” he explained.
“You should’ve told me earlier… I feel like an idiot for trying so hard to hide it,” Charles said, his shoulders drooping dejectedly.
“I could say the same thing. However, it’s common practice among familiars not to tell our masters about that sorta stuff, since it might bother them. So I’d appreciate it if you could all just forget I ever said anything,” Ark said stiffly.
August nodded with a sage hum of acknowledgement. “…That’s a rather significant revelation, I have to say. I believe such information deserves to be studied, but…if you insist, I am willing to keep quiet,” he conceded.
“Thanks a bunch.” Ark nodded to him.
August wore a somewhat disappointed expression, but he seemed like the type of person to keep his word under any circumstances.
“At least Master Charlie has less to worry about now,” Ark added cheerily.
“That’s true,” Charles replied. “Now I just have to tell you about…,” he trailed off, struggling to tackle the matter head on.
August picked the sentence up where he left off. “Lille’s home country, no? I suppose you’ve been away from home in order to travel there.”
“…That’s right.”
“No wonder I never heard a thing about his whereabouts,” August commented, stroking his beard. Lille thought back to August’s letter, in which he’d suggested that Charles was “either doing a magnificent job of sneaking around, or visiting another country altogether.” He had been precisely on the mark.
“I dressed up as a traveling bard and tried to convince their leaders that no good would come of invading the magic nations, but they weren’t having it. They’re entirely convinced that they won’t ever lose to a magic artillery with the scale of their weapons,” Charles sighed.
“To be frank, this isn’t a matter of military strength. I believe we can bring things under our control without anyone on our side getting hurt, but the enemy won’t get off so lightly. Of course, we can do our best to reason with them, and hold back, but it’s entirely possible that a considerable number of people will die,” August said with a hard stare.
“But I thought you just wanted to save Lille. She’s safe now, so what’s the point of trying to save their people?” Leo piped up.
“Well…,” Charles hesitated.
It was a good point; Lille thought that was a little strange, too. Charles had no ties to her country, and he had terrible memories of being in danger there. Unlike before, it would be impossible to end the conflict with no casualties. Lille wondered if Charles hoped to avoid any death because of the catastrophic trauma he had regarding war, but the reason that came out of his mouth was one she could have never anticipated.
“If Lille’s family is still alive, they might get caught up in the chaos. If that news reached Lille, she’d be heartbroken…” he murmured, his eyes sorrowful.
Lille’s heart pounded, almost as if it were punctuating the fact that it wasn’t broken yet. “You’re doing it…for me…?” she asked in disbelief.
Why? How?
How could he still only think of others after everything he’d been through? How could he bear to keep suffering? Whether he saved people or not, no one would recognize his actions. No one would ever return the favor, so why did he keep sacrificing himself?
“Why…Why are you so kind?” she choked, the words thick in her throat.
“Lille…?”
Her eyes stung. She bit her lip in an attempt to stave off the urge to cry, but hot tears spilled through her eyelashes nonetheless. Like a toddler having a tantrum, she drummed her fists on Charles’s chest in frustration.
“You only ever think of others, and…you shoulder everything yourself…” she sobbed. “But I can’t…pay you back for what you did for me…!”
Charles stared down at her, utterly bewildered. He held both of his hands in the air awkwardly, unsure if he should try to soothe her, or simply take her blows in silence.
August coughed pointedly. “O-Oh dear, Charles. I have to say, I’m not impressed. Making young ladies cry is not what I expected of you. We will excuse ourselves, so you two can have a nice, long chat to talk it out,” he declared.
Ark patted Leo on the back. “Agreed. Let’s go, Leo.”
“Wh-What? Why me? I wanna stay with Lille!” he protested.
“Just do it, all right? The three of us have things to discuss in your room,” Ark said.
“Ugh… Why in my room…?” Leo complained.
Ark’s hands clamped down on Leo’s shoulders, steering him out of the room as he grumbled. August, meanwhile, cheerfully picked up the wine bottle and his glass to take with him.
Once the door to Leo’s room shut with a slam, the living room grew quiet. The only sound echoing in the stillness was Lille’s sniffles, and a sudden embarrassment overcame her.
“…Lille. I’m sorry for making you cry,” Charles apologized.
“No, it’s not your fault…” she said tearily.