Chapter 94 – A Walk by the Sea
The moment Elias's clone read the contents of the Appendix Page,
the original Elias, standing atop the tower in the manor, instantly understood everything.
In truth, ever since returning to the estate, he had been standing guard outside Leiya's door.
Not a single step away.
At this very moment…
Leiya was inside the room.
Which meant—
Between Elias and Elias,
there stood only a single door.
All he needed to do was face Leiya and recite the incantation that would undo the seal.
Of course.
There was one more crucial matter.
Leiya's body did not house only Elias.
There was something else within her as well—something that warranted caution…
…Or did it?
——CRACK!!
Elias cleaved the door apart with a single horizontal slash!
Along with it, every layer of magic Serie had placed upon the door was severed in one strike!
Dense fog from the outskirts surged in with a violent gust of wind, whipping up Leiya's long hair!
And in the very next second—
When she saw the black silhouette emerging from the mist, her pupils shook violently.
The figure raised his right hand lightly.
Golden runes poured forth like a flood, instantly sealing the entire room!
The barrier solidified in an instant—blocking sight, sound, and escape alike!
Leiya exploded in rage.
"Elias!"
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"Last night at the hunting camp, you sealed my room for an entire night!"
"And now what is this supposed to be?!"
Elias ignored her.
He simply began reciting the incantation—
The very first sentence he had ever spoken to Robin.
"Hey. Are you trying to kill yourself?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Leiya completely lost it.
"Y-you—are you threatening me?!"
But before she could finish—
Leiya's pupils split wide as she collapsed to the floor, letting out a tortured scream!
Her head felt as though it were being torn apart, as if something was forcibly trying to break free from her mind!
A sphere of white light surfaced above her forehead—
And Leiya instantly lost consciousness.
Elias stared at the white glow.
For some reason, it felt… warm.
"Robin…"
"So this is your life's wish—"
"A spell named after me, meant to turn me from a demon into a human?"
Elias extended a finger.
And gently touched the sphere of white light.
In the next instant—
The light plunged straight into his mind.
...
Elias felt himself falling.
Plummeting through a bizarre, kaleidoscopic space, where countless fragments of different shapes drifted silently around him.
He could no longer tell whether this was memory or imagination.
Nor could he see the end of the fall.
In the end, he simply opened his eyes.
He was sitting on a boat drifting atop the sea.
Elias rose to his feet and looked around.
Endless ocean stretched in all directions.
Only a few lonely islands were scattered across the horizon.
"So… this is the Central Sea."
"Is this… my memory?"
In a daze, the boat swayed with the waves and gently drifted toward shore.
He stepped onto the fisherman's island.
That rocky, jagged beach.
Two thousand years ago, this was where he had met the girl who wanted to die.
Guided by memory, Elias walked toward the place where she had once collapsed.
Yet when he arrived—
There was no one there.
"What's going on…?"
"In my memory…"
"She was lying right here."
...
"—Because this is my memory."
A voice sounded behind him.
"More precisely, this is a mental space I constructed from my own memories."
Elias turned at the sound.
Robin walked toward him step by step.
She was still a teenage girl.
Still with short brown hair.
Still wearing that familiar smile.
"Elias. Long time no see."
Elias froze for a moment—
Then smiled back.
"Yeah. It's been a long time."
...
The sound of wind and waves washed over them.
Robin lowered her gaze to the sand beneath her feet.
"Elias, you remember it clearly."
"This is where I lay back then."
"Even knowing I wouldn't die easily, I still closed my eyes and gave up."
"At that time… I was a 'monster' whose death would bring no sorrow."
"Someone people might even applaud."
"…Until you appeared."
As she spoke, Robin stepped forward.
"Walk with me for a bit, Elias."
The two began strolling along the shoreline.
This time, Elias spoke first.
"Robin… you must have been through a lot."
"Even the way you speak sounds more composed."
"Haha…"
"You're as sharp as ever, Elias."
Robin smiled softly and looked out at the shimmering sea.
"Yes…"
"When I created this memory space, I was already an old woman."
"I needed magic dentures to eat, and a magic cane just to walk."
"As for my aging body and wrinkled face—magic could do very little."
"If I had appeared like that, you probably wouldn't have recognized me."
"So I chose to return to the voice and appearance of my youth."
"To meet you like this."
Elias suddenly recalled—
Someone else had said something similar before.
The village elder, on his deathbed.
But before Elias could ask more, the old man had already passed on.
So now, he finally asked:
"Robin… what made you choose to do all this?"
Robin smiled thoughtfully.
"Maybe it was greed."
"Even this entire memory space was forcibly bound to the spell."
"Everything I did before dying…"
"Was simply so I could see my benefactor…"
"One last time."
...
Faced with Robin's sincerity, Elias felt strangely at a loss.
Gratitude?
He had heard that humans and demons devoted their entire lives to a single spell—
To strengthen themselves.
Elias himself had spent three thousand years pursuing magic for his own sake.
But devoting an entire life—and one's descendants—for gratitude…
It sounded almost like a joke.
To the point that, when he parted ways with Robin at the harbor long ago, he never imagined she would live such a life.
Even knowing he was the object of that gratitude, he couldn't understand it.
"Robin, you were too reckless."
"I was just passing through, searching for treasure."
"I only happened to teach you how to control your magic."
"Over thousands of years, I've done many things like that."
"To give up your entire life—and your descendants'—over something done 'in passing'…"
"It's really—"
Robin said nothing.
She simply turned around and began walking toward the forest leading uphill.
Elias looked at her back.
"Robin, that way leads to—"
"Come with me, Elias."
...
Just like that day two thousand years ago.
Robin led the way, guiding Elias through the forest toward the village.
Before climbing the slope at the village entrance, Elias expected to see—
Charred ruins.
Burned corpses.
But the moment he reached the top—
What he saw instead was a living village.
People coming and going.
Laughter and conversation filling the air.
"Robin… this is?"
"—Another possibility."
Robin quietly watched the villagers.
And the smiles on their faces.
"Look closely, Elias."
"This is the world where you never appeared."