SWNOVELXO Chapter 106
Episode 4-a. Entangled and Crossed Timelines.
The cart rattles forward.
“Ain oppa is a fool.”
“Ain hyung is an idiot.”
Inside, two children are busy mumbling with their lips protruding.
“…No, why only to me? We have the votes, and Avery and the old man are here too.”
In a situation where opinions were split 2 to 2, it seemed all too sorrowful that I had cautiously moved next to Old Horn.
“I didn’t trust those two from the start. Right, Tori?”
“Humph, that’s right. I thought Ain oppa was always on our side, but this is a betrayal.”
“…I’m sorry, okay?”
““We don’t know!””
No matter how many times I apologized, the two children just looked at me with pouted lips.
In other words, we decided that our next destination would be the Berthio Ruins.
It was the closest place among the ones we considered going to, and it wasn’t particularly urgent to visit the workshop right away.
Moreover, that antique mana analyzer had nothing to do with us, who had no mana, so I thought there was no rush to fix it.
So I raised Avery’s hand instead of the innocent and cheerful opinions of the children, thinking it might lead to some research progress.
Because of that, I had to keep apologizing for bringing their complaints upon myself.
“Ah, I see it.”
““Where, where?””
Well, to put it simply.
“Up ahead, the ruins with a bizarre look in the sky.”
““Where…, wow! What is that!””
In fact, the children were so fascinated by something slightly new that they tucked their lips in and exclaimed in awe.
Anyway, as I said, the ruins began to come into view from afar.
And staring at that landscape, I had to suppress the unnecessary expectations and arrogance that were rising within me.
Perhaps rightly so.
Since we started our journey, I had received several letters from Litera, discovered the identity of Taveris’s ancient problem, and after defeating the man-eating flowers in a small village, I had even obtained their fruits.
Of course, the process involved quite a bit of danger, and I had been seriously injured at times, but looking at the results, I had been successful in everything.
So.
Perhaps I could possibly obtain what I desired again, filled with groundless confidence and anticipation.
Such feelings kept bubbling up within me.
As we approached the ruins.
The closer we got to the twisted landscape, eager voices began to emerge from behind the coachman’s seat.
“Hmph, it certainly is fascinating.”
“Haha…, seeing it up close, it’s a bit scary too….”
“What? From my point of view, that flower that eats people is scarier.”
“Hmm…, that’s true.”
The ordinary conversation between Old Horn and Avery continued.
“Tori, do you think we could see mom and dad over there?”
“Hmm, but they said that to get what we want, we need to be lucky, so it might be tough?”
“Then let’s borrow Ain hyung’s luck!”
“Oh, good idea, Yaki. You’re sounding smart for the first time in a while!”
The twins whispered bitterly, yet endearingly, as I let it all unfold.
So I spoke up.
“This is a precautionary reminder. That place distorts both time and space, so when we enter, we won’t know what era or country will be unfolding.”
The ruins, intertwined and crossed due to the battles of ancient archmagicians.
“Of course, they say that dangerous things don’t typically happen. But if it were completely safe, the tales of time pilgrims and recurring phantoms wouldn’t exist.”
A place where, with good luck, it’s possible to obtain what you desire, but with bad luck, one could become trapped in time and become a phantom.
“So please never forget to stick together. Just because you didn’t get what you wanted doesn’t mean you should venture deeper.”
I gazed quietly at the ruins that were already in front of us, then turned back to look at my companions.
The four of them nodded with expressions mixed with anticipation and anxiety.
“Then let’s go in. Oh, and it might get dizzying as we enter, so everyone close your eyes.”
With that, I said as I flicked the reins and slowly entered the ruins.
Temporary dizziness.
A chaotic atmosphere.
Many voices and various languages.
Unlike the outside, which was filled with one sound, the gentle breeze was neither cold nor hot.
I slowly opened my eyes, feeling that many things around me had changed after just a few turns of the cart wheels.
“Scholar Adler of the year 310 of the Empire, where are you! The Klisha Conference of the Adonia Kingdom is about to commence! If you want to attend, you must enter right now! If you can’t get in now, you might never have another chance!”
The scene of clothing and buildings, so different from the current era, was what first caught my eye.
“Knights and priests of the Brahma Holy Nation, gather here regardless of the era. We must join the holy war that began over there to change the future.”
We could see people from different eras rushing towards what they desired.
“Did you say you were a researcher from the Ceylon Republic? What on earth is a republic? It’s a concept that doesn’t exist in my time, so I can’t quite grasp it.”
“So a republic means there’s no king…”
“How is that possible! A land without a monarch, where could that even exist!”
“No…, what’s important is that the sovereignty of the nation belongs to the people, sir.”
“That’s nonsense!”
There were contemporary researchers conversing with ancient scholars.
“σροχξωζ”
“ɕɞɝʘʂɣʤ.”
I could also see ancient people speaking in languages I couldn’t understand.
So, having entered the ruins, we stared at each other in a slightly dazed state.
“Hmph, this is quite a chaotic place. Moreover, the Adonia Kingdom was a nation that fell over 300 years ago, yet it claims that a conference is being held here.”
Old Horn glanced around, seemingly exhausted just by looking at it, and sighed heavily.
“That… ah, the Adonia Kingdom was a nation that rejected magic and tried to develop science, but… I heard they crossed the line and ended up buried as a nation by the archmages of the past.”
Avery gazed around with interest, licking his lips.
“I remember reading about how during that time, the skies of the Adonia Kingdom were filled with meteors and were erased in an instant.”
“Haha…, as expected, a dwarf.”
“This guy, did you just make a discriminatory remark against dwarves?”
“No, when did I say anything discriminatory…?”
“The axe knows the answer. So I’ll share it with you too, you racist.”
Oh, that f***ing racist is going off again.
Before the atrociously villainous imperialist dwarf could torment a poor slave, I interrupted their chatter.
“This place is like a common waiting area in spacetime. It is the only place where people from all eras who entered this ruin can gather.”
It was a landscape a bit different from what I had imagined, but it was definitely evident that time and space were distorted here.
And the people gathered were disappearing one by one into the buildings that lined the street.
“It seems that entering through the door leads to another different space in another era, and judging by how hastily they are going in, it looks like if you are just a bit late, you would end up being swapped into another spacetime.”
Everyone anxiously rushed inside, and those who couldn’t get in on time sat down with expressions of despair.
In truth, I had some understanding of this during the investigation, but seeing it in reality was quite a peculiar sight.
So I calmed Old Horn while explaining about the ruins, and as I looked around some more, Tori tugged at my clothes.
“Oppa, oppa. So do we also have to open the door like those people and go in?”
“It seems like that, but I’m not sure if we’ll find the era and place we want.”
With sparkling eyes, Tori stretched her hand towards the coachman’s seat, pulling on my clothes.
“Then let’s hurry and explore! We’ll enter the first place that appears which is where we want to go!”
“Yeah, let’s do that. But first, we have to get down from the cart to look around, so let’s drop our clothes…, no, my clothes.”
“Hurry, hurry!”
Since everyone was walking around in the street, there was no way to drive the cart forward, so we had to get off the cart.
However, with Tori pulling on my clothes as if to tear them, I couldn’t get off the coachman’s seat.
“No, let go of my clothes. Only then can we go quickly…, ugh.”
“There, there! A lot of people are going in!”
So.
Let go of my clothes.