“I’ll bring Nikeh instead of Alois. Wait there.”
Why did he collapse? Is he going to be alright? Isn’t the brain pretty much the worst place you could be feeling a sharp, stabbing pain? Did something really happen to him in the past? No way, right? And is it so strange for me to panic just because Rockmann collapsed?
Indescribable fears appear in my mind. Wait, I mean, fear is a word for it, but, you know, there are different kinds of fears, and like, if something happens to Rockmann, how will that affect our group of friends? And even if that alone isn’t enough to shake it, I don’t know if that extends to the kind of situation where Rockmann collapses...
As I stand there making excuses inside my mind to no one in particular and holding my hands over my stomach, playing with my fingers in a fluster, something bluish purple starts twisting at the edge of my vision. Is that some creature’s tail?
“Are you okay, Nanalie?”
Facing the source of the voice, I realize that the tail belongs to Nikeh’s serpentine familiar—her ophis. Riding on top of it, she makes a landing nearby, a bitter expression on her face. Naturally, she’s wearing her uniform, as she was in a military exercise until now. On dismount, she takes off her coat and vest, leaving just her long-sleeved shirt.
“You got here quick!” I exclaim, recoiling slightly in surprise.
“Of course I would.”
I don’t think much time has passed since Satanás contacted the prince.
“It’s an emergency, after all,” Nikeh adds, bringing her hand to her cheek. “Are you okay?” she asks once more, seeing me frozen up.
Right, I forgot to reply to that.
“Sure.”
Though I say the word clearly and without wavering, I have to ask myself—in what way exactly am I “okay,” and why do I insist on claiming to be that way? Completely losing the ability to think properly is not normal. As I stand there, considering my current mental state as if looking at myself from above, Prince Zenon comes flying in next. He raises his hand to us from atop his phoenix, then makes a landing in front of us, his jet-black cloak fluttering in the wind.
“You got here fast! Sure you weren’t just killing time over there?” asks Satanás.
“I told you I was in an exercise.” Prince Zenon approaches me. “I’m sorry about what happened,” he says with a stern expression.
“See, His Highness was worried about you too,” says Nikeh with a smile.
“I-I don’t know if I’d make such a big deal out of it...” I reply.
I’m well aware everyone considers this a big disaster for me and wants to express their concern, but it’s kinda embarrassing. I feel pathetic having Satanás and the prince worry about me this much when Rockmann should be a close friend of theirs too. It’s twice as embarrassing, because it’s almost as if they’re saying the things I feel towards him are plain as day. But this is no time for feeling embarrassed about such things. I’m worried about Rockmann.
“So the doll really exists. Honestly, I didn’t really believe it until now,” says the prince, flicking his head with mild irritation to get his apparently overgrown bangs out of his eyes and making a difficult face at the gnomish old man.
I’ve never heard of magic or artifacts that let one impact the past. If there was ever a magician who invented such a thing, they should’ve become famous a very long time ago. The fact that they haven’t announced themselves kind of proves this Time Keeper is inherently dangerous. I was told Benjamine tried to ask in a roundabout way who made him, but didn’t manage to get a clear answer.
“The Time Keeper has grown attached to Benjamine, so he’s being extremely cooperative,” I explain.
“That’s good to hear,” replies Prince Zenon. “Oh, I should mention Alois said he had a headache and a really bad case of nausea. He’s rarely fallen ill before, though.”
“Did healing magic do any good?”
“Not really. If what Satanás said is true and something from the past is affecting Alois in the present, we must hurry and make our way there to stop Lady Treyse.”
“Ideally we could’ve gone back to the day she got her hands on the Time Keeper, but apparently we won’t find her in any other time unless we pull her out of that particular time in the past first.”
“The mechanism of time travel is pretty contrived, I see,” says the prince with a sigh.
I nod in agreement.
“If everyone is here, then I’d say it’s high time we got to it.” The Time Keeper, who was watching our exchange from afar, claps his hands to gather us around him. “There are several things you must keep in mind when traveling to the past. Listen closely.”
Though it sounds like he’s about to say something important, it’s a bit hard to take him seriously when he sits on Benjamine’s lap and has her arms around him. As I watch him rattle on breathily and at length as he leans the back of his head on Benjamine’s soft chest every now and then, I have half a mind to shout and call him a pervert. Satanás quietly listening beside me seems to have trouble containing his anger too, huffing and puffing as he glares at the doll.
“There is no harm in making contact with yourself in the past—your old self shall quickly forget it. And while there are no particular things you should not change, refrain from conceiving children in the past or the future. It creates heaps of trouble later.”
“Who the hell would do that?!” exclaims Satanás.
The two perverts lash out at each other for a bit, after which the Time Keeper snaps his fingers and we disappear from the forest.