Because of the appearance of the , Edelred’s fight with his uncle had naturally fizzled out. That was because the attacked and contaminated absolutely everything around them without distinction. When the land and resources people needed to live were all contaminated and, quite literally, an “apocalypse” had arrived, who would care about something like a fight over succession rights? Surviving each day somehow must have become everyone’s goal.
But how had such a great disaster come to the future? After thinking about it this way and that, I came to believe that the cause was most likely the one Edelred had called “the tremendous archmage on his uncle’s side.”
That had to be it. He had said that every time that bastard interfered, battles they had been on the verge of winning suddenly ended in defeat. If things suddenly led to an absurd result even though the bastard had not pushed forward by using some incredible magic, it meant he had tampered with “causal relationships.” Because of that, the order of the world must have gone wrong, causing the to appear in large numbers.
Ah, but...... this really was something that happened in the future, right? Edelred wasn’t lying to trick me into helping him somehow, was he?
At the suspicion that suddenly rose in me, I quietly looked at Edelred. He met my eyes with a serious face. Startled, I avoided his gaze, and thought that it did not seem like he was lying after all. It was not as if I were a master of mind-reading and had read his inner thoughts, but I felt something like sincerity coming from the desperation in his expression.
Well, apart from the world being destroyed in the future, this bastard also seemed to want to change the future simply because he wanted to save his young younger sibling...... so perhaps it would be fine to open my heart a little and believe him. Or rather, my heart was already leaning toward him.
However, the one thing that worried me was that I could not shake off the suspicion that helping Edelred might call forth another disaster and lead the future toward destruction. In any case, my helping Edelred was also an act of changing the future.
If I could simply unravel things carefully so as not to violate the order of the world, there would be no problem, but who knew where or how things might become tangled?
Around the time I was clutching my head after thinking that far, Edelred slowly unfolded his crouched body and rose.
“They are starting to move. Let us follow them as well.”
“Uh......?”
Oh no. Only then did I suddenly come to my senses and look around. I saw the two bastards who had received the little girl from the middle-aged woman - given the circumstances so far, they seemed to be a mercenary and a request broker - moving beyond the undergrowth with the little girl. The middle-aged woman had climbed back into the carriage and was returning along the road she had come by.
“What about that woman? Should we catch her?”
I asked, thinking that if we caught and thrashed her, we might be able to obtain something like testimony, but Edelred merely shook his head. His reason was that since we clearly knew who was behind this, there was no need to go out of our way to catch and thrash her.
“There is not even a need to remember her face. I already know who she is. She must be...... the royal palace maid who was assigned to Harriet. She is from a family with a fairly high status, so she is difficult to pressure politically.”
“Ah...... then if we carelessly caught and thrashed her, we might face a backlash instead.”
“Indeed. So let us leave that side alone and save Harriet first. If that child dies, everything will come to nothing.”
After finishing his words, Edelred began following the two bastards with a slightly fierce expression. As I hurriedly followed behind him, I could not shake off the anxiety lingering in one corner of my mind and fell into thought. That was only natural, since I did have to help this bastard, but I could not tell what kind of help would prevent a great disaster from unfolding in the future.
If I made even a slight mistake, the order of the world would go wrong and the world would be destroyed. It felt as though I had been thrown into the middle of a field buried with bombs. If I set even one foot down wrong, a bomb would explode and blow me to pieces....... No, how did I get caught up in something like this?
I had merely been living quietly alone. I had focused only on completing the research assignments added to Master’s Notebook, because of my promise with Master, and though I thought of death alone at all times, I had postponed the day I would put death into action because of that same promise with Master.......
......Huh? Wait. Come to think of it, I feel like I haven’t thought about death at all for a while now.
Thinking about it, that was certainly true. I had been so completely preoccupied with Edelred that I had no time to think about things like death. Or rather, even now that I had realized that fact, I was not thinking about death at all. I only thought, I used to have thoughts like that.
It felt strange for some reason. I did not know exactly what, but I felt that something had definitely changed. And something related to myself, at that. In other words...... it felt as though some change had occurred in my “causal relationships.”
But what had changed? And why had it changed? After wondering for a moment, I soon looked toward Edelred. For some reason, I thought that my encounter with this bastard had caused a change in my causal relationships.
Could my causal relationships have been contaminated in the process of isolating his error? I hurriedly examined my body this way and that, checking my causal relationships, but there was no particular trace of contamination. Something had merely changed.
My causal relationships changed even though they were not contaminated? What is going on? After frowning deeply and thinking for a while, something flashed in my mind. The thought occurred to me that I should analyze this well and use it as a clue to navigate the bomb-filled future ahead.
And then......
“Let that child go. If you do, I will at least spare your lives.”
“Uh......? Uh, w-wait......! I still have something to think abou.......”
***
[Research Assignment] No. 703083-457 ☆★Newly Added★☆
＃001. Observation of Changed Causal Relationships and Analysis of the Cause of Change
→ Confirm exactly what has changed and what caused it!!
→ Observe meticulously and persistently so as not to draw a false result!!
＃002. Identification of the Minimum Threshold for Causal Relationship Alteration That Does Not Violate the Order of the World
→ Find out up to what point attempts can be made without the order of the world going wrong!!
☆★Warning★☆ Do not attempt too much recklessly, and do not hesitate too much to attempt it either!!
***
“Aagh?! No, Master! Why now, of all times......!”
At the same time that Edelred drew his sword and jumped in front of the two bastards, a new research assignment was added to Master’s Notebook and drove my soul right out of me.
“Wh-What are you bastards......!”
“How did you know and follow us?!”
Ahh, I had finally been on the verge of a good idea....... Feeling half-hollow, I hid behind Edelred to avoid the two bastards, who were looking back at us in full wariness. It was not that I was particularly afraid of the two of them, but the burden of their wide-eyed gazes was too much, so it was a defensive action that emerged on its own.
In contrast to me, Edelred was taking the gazes of the two bastards head-on without even blinking. Or rather, as Edelred aimed his sword while exuding a cold pressure like biting frost, the two bastards began trembling as if they had wandered through a frozen snowy field.
“From what I heard earlier, it seems you accepted the request without knowing anything. Therefore, I will give you one chance.”
“Wh-What......”
“Let Harriet, that child, go. If you do, I promise that, at least this once, I will not take your lives.”
Still maintaining his stance with his sword aimed, Edelred slightly softened his stern pressure and jerked his chin toward the area behind the two bastards. There, sitting with her body curled tightly, was a little girl who looked exactly like Edelred.
By the way...... why is the child who had been whining so much about wanting to see her brother so quiet? Since the older brother she had wanted to see so badly had appeared, should she not be beside herself with joy?
That is strange. Puzzled, I stretched my head out without realizing it, trying to peek and check the little girl’s condition, when I suddenly felt a strange gaze. The one who looked like a mercenary among the two bastards was staring fixedly at me with his face white.
“H-Hiiik...... Why, why here again......”
No, why are you looking at me as if you have seen a ghost? I am the one whose hands and feet are trembling because our eyes keep meeting....... Are you perhaps also the type who struggles to meet someone’s eyes?
Letting that useless thought pass by, I hurriedly had to hide behind Edelred’s back. The other bastard, who seemed to be the broker, had begun looking me up and down with a questioning gaze.
“No matter how I look, he seems like a mangy son of a bitch....... Look here, why in the world are you acting like this? What is so frightening about that skinny little bastard that you are trembling?”
“N-No mistake....... That is him, from back then.......”
“What are you talking about? Him? Just what is that little bastard?”
“That monster...... who annihilated our mercenary company.......”
......Had I ever annihilated something like a mercenary company?
Just in case, I searched my memories for a moment, but I had no particular memory of something like that. Of course, the other day, while doing a research assignment, I learned about the existence of the source formula of the magic scroll and ran a little wild...... but I remembered never deliberately annihilating a mercenary company.
Then why was he suddenly framing me? Could he be trying to bully me with that? I hated that. Being falsely accused and bullied unjustly was more than enough from what I experienced during my days as a student at the Royal Academy.
Ah, I had uselessly remembered the past again. As my brow furrowed without realizing it from the bitter memory and the sense of injustice, the mercenary nearly fainted and leaped like a young roe deer burned by fire.
“H-Hiiik?! S-Someone save me!”
“Gah?! Uh, uh...... Look here? Where are you going alone?!”
The startled broker tried to grab the mercenary in shock. The mercenary shook off that hand, even threw away the weapon he was holding, and began rampaging around any which way. After staggering once from Edelred’s light kick, he fled like his tail was on fire beyond the undergrowth.
And then.......
“No! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to d— Gack?!”
Something flew from beyond the undergrowth and pierced the fleeing mercenary’s head.