[Side Story] Chasing a Butterfly (13)
People can never understand others.
In the end, only you can understand yourself to the end.
Because you are yourself, there are things you can imagine.
Lucy Mayril could easily imagine what it must have been like for her to lose Ed.
Therefore, it was possible to predict what kind of life Lucy in this world in front of her would have lived.
Imagine it.
How did Ed Rosstaylor survive in this place where he passed away?
If you are bound by the man’s will to survive at all costs, what value can you give to the life you live without being able to die?
All you have to do is ask Lucy of this world, who is crying in your arms, everything.
However, there are some things you can know without asking.
He hugs Lucy, who is in grief, and sniffles the tip of her nose.
As always, a ray of sadness blooms from a corner of the dull expression and seeps into my aching heart.
Even though Lucy in this world was alive, she did not tell anyone about her survival.
He abandoned Aken Island, which was turning into a hellish island, and went into seclusion, never appearing in front of anyone.
There must have been a good reason for that.
This is a much more important task than stopping Yenika from her grief and saving the people remaining on the island.
If you close your eyes, you can pretty much guess it. Isn’t it yourself? There were enough clues there.
– ‘After I decided to turn Aken Island into a sanctuary, no matter how much I searched the island, I couldn’t find Ed’s body.’
– ‘You took Ed’s body away, right?’
Yenika guessed that Lucy from this world took Ed Rothtaylor’s body.
The reason the speculation was given credibility was because even Lucy herself would have done the same thing.
If I had lost Ed, I would have tried to get him back.
What is lost is lost and can be dismissed as a past relationship because a long time has passed. That’s how I let Glockt go, but Ed can’t do that.
A teacher who taught me life and a companion who lived life together.
Although the two seem similar, they are completely different. Only then did I realize more clearly how much Ed meant to me.
He must have somehow cleaned out the open wounds, preserved Ed’s body, and continued to study aspect magic.
It cannot be dismissed as an empty goal.
This is because I know of one person who has studied aspect magic all his life and has actually implemented the lion revival magic. Professor Glast is no longer in the world.
The reason why Professor Glast’s aspect magic was not used to save Glokt was because Glokt was a person who considered breaking such a taboo a sin.
Trying to forcefully revive an archmage who has decided to live out his destiny would only be an insult to him.
But Ed is different.
To Lucy, this man had suddenly come to mean as much to her as Glokt, or even more than Glokt.
He was not one to be bound by taboos and was the only companion who understood Lucy and lived with her.
It was not difficult to imagine that he would have done anything to save Ed.
But Professor Glast is no longer in this world.
The entire academic legacy he left behind was burned down.
Although Lucy is overwhelming in terms of the absolute amount of magical power and application power, she will not be able to keep up with the old professor in terms of academic understanding and research on aspect magic.
Therefore, you must research aspect magic on your own from the ground up.
In addition, studying the resurrection of lions is one of the taboos in the field of magic. I can’t even ask someone to help me. Not only is it obvious that if you get involved in something like this, it will not end well, but the more people involved, the more people will get wind of it.
Therefore, Lucy Mayril would have needed an environment where she could study aspect magic for a long time without interference from anyone.
It is a sanctuary created by Yenika. This closed world called Aken Island would be the most ideal space.
Close your eyes and imagine.
The location… I think the western coastal cave where Glokt’s tomb was located would have been appropriate. This is a space that only Lucy and Ed knew about, and if you pile up a lot of research facilities and apply a lot of hiding magic, you won’t be discovered even after several years.
They preserve Ed’s body there and somehow scrape together research materials from the burnt remains of the academy to study aspect magic.
Even if he succeeds in saving Ed, he will be recorded in history as a wizard who broke a taboo and will become an enemy of the magic world. I’ll probably have to hide and run away like Zelan for the rest of my life, but I don’t mind that.
That’s why I carry it alone. He willingly accepts even if he has to devote most of his life to research, writing down all kinds of magic theories on hundreds or thousands of sheets of parchment.
It took Professor Glast his entire life to master the magic of lion revival.
However, Lucy is a genius both in her understanding of magic and the speed at which she learns magic theory.
Although it may be an academic achievement that he has devoted his entire life to, Lucy may have been able to achieve it much faster.
Even so… it is clear that a lot of time will have to be dedicated.
I don’t know if it will be 5 years or 10 years.
The years of perseverance will feel like eons.
Even though the outside is becoming more and more like hell and life is disappearing from people’s eyes.
Sitting in the middle of a dark coastal cave, scratching a pencil, he develops and develops theories of aspect magic.
The records of research theories filling the entire cave are growing sky-high.
When you can’t even feel the ticking passage of time… you will suddenly stop moving your hands and hang your head.
it’s tough. lonely sad. sick.
Before I knew it, I had transcended those feelings and lived for several years with only one goal: to revive the lion.
At some point, there must have been a moment when the dam of emotions collapsed, as if the strength in a fist was released… and tears came rushing out that could not be held back.
The emotional dam bursts intermittently and without warning.
When I saw Zelan, I realized why I felt strangely sad.
The appearance of the cutter Zelan… is very similar to the appearance of Lucy who lost Ed.
If she had lost Ed, she would have become like a wizard wandering through life aimlessly.
Because Lucy felt that fact intuitively, she could not get closer to Zelan.
“It was difficult.”
He quietly opens his mouth and pats the back of himself who is sobbing breathlessly in front of him.
I can’t comfort myself in front of me.
I have no idea how many more years I will have to endure.
All Lucy can do in this endless, unfathomable swamp of sadness is empathize with the pain.
The Lucy of this world was very different from herself.
He looks a bit more haggard, and has all kinds of research scrolls and books tied with twine here and there on his body.
Just by looking at that, she realizes that the ordeal Lucy must have gone through here may not have been much different from what she imagined.
However, it was so hard and tiring… I couldn’t bear it, so I called out the current Lucy.
The haggard girl speaks in a cracking voice.
“You are who I want to be.”
Even though it may be nothing more than a vain and distant goal now. Even if I stretch out my hand, it feels like I can’t get anywhere near it.
There is a possibility. I wanted to confirm that.
Life is never vain.
Everyone who struggles to survive deserves respect.
Life is full of valuable things, and just surviving each day shines.
The fact that he could speak so confidently and stand up to Yenika must have seemed too dazzling to this girl.
Anyway, he himself existed somewhere in this vast world of possibilities.
Then there is no law that prevents you from becoming the same.
Lucy nodded, hugging herself tightly as she lost herself in grief and sadness. There was no need to speak at length.
“huh.”
Someday all this sadness will end.
Even if it is a very distant and far-off goal, if you do not stop moving forward, you will inevitably achieve it. It’s like chasing a butterfly endlessly until you suddenly find yourself holding that beautiful butterfly in both hands.
So, close your eyes and imagine it together.
This is the scene of the day when Ed opens his eyes after constantly researching aspect magic and raising its academic level.
Ed, who came to his senses, opens the coffin and comes out to greet Lucy with a helpless smile.
Lucy shed tears, hugged Ed, and cried for a long time.
And then there is a lot of work to be done. There is still a long way left in the journey.
You will have to take out Yenika, who is trapped in the time prison, take care of Lortel, who is burning with revenge, and find Velbroke, who is taking a long rest and recovering somewhere on the continent, to finish it off.
Since they succeeded in cutting out most of the heart, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult. Still, it will be a very long adventure. And if it’s just the two of us, we will overcome numerous trials and make it happen.
After doing that, all you have to do is find a new home.
Ed, who is officially dead, and Lucy, who broke the taboo, will not live a life as brilliant as that. Still, it didn’t matter.
It’s okay to live close to each other in a cabin in a place like the Rameln Mountains, or it’s okay to live overlooking the sea while fishing in the coastal area of Clem. For two people, it wouldn’t really matter where it was.
“When that time comes, you too will be able to talk about how valuable life is.”
Lucy declared.
The Lucy of this world may seem very distant from the Lucy of today.
One day, you will be able to glorify life and see your current pain as a past scar.
Lucy tightened her grip on the arm holding her back and the tip of her wrinkled nose trembled.
“…Yeah, it’s time to go back now.”
Lucy from this world spoke while wiping away her tears.
But even if I wanted to go back, I don’t have the magic power to go back. Lucy, who used all her magic power to subdue Yenika, needs at least a few years to regain her magic power.
However, this world’s Lucy took out a gold-covered phoenix ring from her bosom.
“That… that…”
Glast’s golden phoenix ring was destroyed while forcibly using magical power to subdue the great sage Sylvania.
However, in this world, the Phoenix Ring remained.
Only then did I remember that Sylvania was not involved in this world. It would not have been surprising if Ed’s memento, the ring, was still intact.
Magical power blooms again from the phoenix ring. By drawing out all of that enormous amount of star magic, the Lucy of this world gives all of that magic power to the current Lucy.
Lucy looked in disbelief… and listened to the words in front of her.
“I don’t have enough horsepower. If you don’t concentrate… you may not be able to return to the world you want. So… now erase all your distracting thoughts.”
“…what?”
“It was nice to see your face. “Just knowing that you are so alive and happy and positive about life has been a great salvation to me.”
This world’s Lucy, who had wiped away all her tears, spoke through gritted teeth.
“Now you have to go back to where the person is looking for you.”
Lucy had a sad expression, but the Lucy of this world spoke with a brave face.
“When you return to the flow of that side of the world, concentrate your mind and find Ed Rosstaylor’s magic.”
I have to grab Ed’s arm again as he wanders around looking for himself in the space where hundreds and thousands of currents swirl.
“She would still be looking for you. “We have to go back before it’s too late.”
“You…”
“I have so much left to do. I’m so busy.”
Lucy of this world said that and smiled with difficulty.
Since Lucy was one of the few times in her life that she had ever smiled, she looked much more awkward in front of her.
It may be an uncharacteristic habit developed while walking through a thorny path.
“Thank you for being alive.”
With those words, a feeling of floating enveloped Lucy’s body.
The power of the magic power of the Aspect coiled around her entire body was at a higher level than Lucy had ever known.
