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(One thing after another… Seriously, give me a break already…)
On top of the absolutely horrible events that had made me want to die today, an avalanche of unknown facts had come crashing down on me. My head felt like it was about to explode.
And now, as if to deliver the final blow, the man who had appeared before Shion and me introduced himself with the same name as the figure known as the [Hero of the Fairy Tales] or the [King of Ability Users].
The things Shion had told me about my ability still didn't feel quite real.
But at the same time, there were far too many pieces that fit perfectly for me to dismiss it.
I recognized my ability as [Gravity Manipulation], yet that couldn't explain how I was able to perceive magical power.
Then there was my adaptation to the flow of time.
If my ability really was what Shion claimed, that would explain it too.
When I had converted to an enchanter in the Golden Dawn, I had been able to count time accurately without any difficulty, and I had never let the buffs on my allies drop.
Looking back on other moments I had never paid much attention to before, plenty of things suddenly made sense.
"You're both pretty slow to react. Did I say something weird?"
While Shion and I stood speechless from the overwhelming shock, August tilted his head in confusion.
"Are you really the [Hero of the Fairy Tales]?"
"…Huh. So in the future, I'm apparently called something as grandiose as the [Hero of the Fairy Tales], huh… That feels kind of complicated…"
August muttered with a wry smile.
(Wait, did he just casually say 'in the future'? How much does this guy actually know about our situation?)
"How much do you understand about what's going on here?"
Shion must have been wondering the same thing, because she asked August directly.
"Hmm… I can kind of tell that this is a different spacetime from both the 'world of art principles' and the 'outside world,' but honestly, there's a lot more that I don't understand."
August answered casually about the location.
His response actually lined up with Shion's hypothesis.
Still, what exactly were the world of art principles and the outside world?
"Then how did you know that this place, or rather that we, are from the future as far as you're concerned?"
Plenty of questions came to mind, but I asked the one that bothered me the most.
"That's simple. I was trying all sorts of methods to access the future. It was basically a long shot, but the next thing I knew, I'd been sent here. So it only makes sense to assume this place and you two are from my future, right?"
August answered cheerfully, without any deeper implications in his tone. He simply seemed to be stating the facts as he saw them.
"…You really are an unbelievable existence, just like the stories say."
Shion let out a voice that sounded half impressed and half exasperated.
"Well, there's no point wasting time thinking too hard about me. It'd just be a waste of effort. —Anyway, tell me about the future. In exchange, I'll teach you how to handle [Shinra Bansho]."
August's eyes sparkled like a child's as he asked to hear about the future.
The price he offered in return was incredibly tempting.
It was no exaggeration to say this was the thing I wanted to know most right now.
Even so, I hesitated to decide whether it was okay to tell him about the future here.
"—Ah, if you're worried about time paradoxes, you don't need to be."
August brushed off my concern as if it were nothing.
"Why not? If you learn about the future here and then return to your original time, won't that create a contradiction?"
"Well, there are various reasons, but the biggest one is that the place we're returning to is the world of art principles… I'll explain more about that later. So, what's it going to be? Are you taking the deal or not? We don't have a lot of time, you know?"
He was right. We couldn't afford to take things slow.
Even though his presence had reinforced Shion's hypothesis, once the time rewind finished, we would probably be sent back to our original world.
Since we had no idea when that deadline would hit, wasting time was a bad idea.
Besides, if we went back as we were now, we would just end up getting trampled by those people again.
In that case, the only choice was to move forward!
"I accept the deal."
"All right! Then let's get started right away. You can tell me about the future while we take breaks. —Oh, right. I never asked for your names."
Now that the deal was settled, August asked for our names.
"I'm Orun Dula."
"I'm Shion Nastasium."
"Orun and Shion, got it. Nice to meet you both, officially!"
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"All right, first tell me about your current situation, Orun. I can teach you about [Shinra Bansho], but abilities are something you're supposed to understand to some degree on your own anyway."
"That's a fair question. Actually—"
I then explained my situation to August-san. Shion chimed in with helpful details here and there, which made the conversation flow smoothly.
"I see… That's quite a troublesome state you're in."
After listening to everything, August-san murmured with a serious expression.
"Yeah, when I look at my own situation objectively again, I have to agree with you."
"Still, if that's the case, this is actually pretty simple. All we need to do is correct the altered recognition back to the proper one. To do that, I'll start by explaining what kind of ability [Shinra Bansho] really is."
"…Yes, please."
"[Shinra Bansho] is… an ability to 'comprehend all things and weave them together,' at least that's how I interpret it."
"'Comprehend all things and weave them together'… In short, once I understand something, I can do it? Whether it's a technique or an ability…"
Hearing my response, August-san's lips curved upward.
"You catch on quick. That quick understanding also comes from the ability. That's why we can become familiar with all sorts of things faster than others and learn them quicker too. But remember, it's only because we have this ability. We aren't true geniuses. Keep that in mind."
So the reason I could pick up magic and martial arts to a decent level just by dabbling in them was thanks to this ability.
Maybe it was actually a good thing that Aneli had called me a jack-of-all-trades. Without that, I might have gotten cocky.
August-san's words sounded like a warning against exactly that.
"…Yes, I understand. In the end, I'm just an ordinary person who couldn't even protect the things I wanted to protect."
"It might sound a little self-deprecating, but for people like us, that attitude might actually be just right."
August-san gave a wry smile.
I wasn't a god or anything special.
I was just a human being.
I must never forget that.
"…With that said, this ability lets you comprehend things far faster by seeing them than by hearing about them. You're looking for power, right? In that case, from here on out let's combine practice with actual combat. I've been wanting to move my body again after so long. What's your weapon, Orun?"
August-san asked with a battle-ready aura surrounding him.
In other words, he was telling me to watch and steal the techniques.
That was more than welcome.
It was what I always did, after all.
"This is my weapon."
As I spoke, I pulled Schwarzheize out of my storage magic tool.
"Oh, a sword, huh? Then I'll start with a sword too!"
Upon seeing Schwarzheize, August-san summoned pitch-black magical power and shaped it into the form of a sword, gripping it firmly.
"I'll be in your care!"
"Yeah, come at me!"
After that brief exchange, we closed the distance between us, and our swords clashed violently.