Vol 7 Chapter 8

"Damn it! There can't be such a thing! Such a... such a thing!!"

Though the sound suggested his fist must have hurt quite a bit, his face full of despair seemed unable to even feel physical pain.

"Haa... ha..."

Perhaps realizing that raging for so long was useless, Superior, who had been sprawled out looking no different from the dirty books scattered on the floor, stared blankly into space with bloodshot eyes after a while and muttered.

"...Am I... just human after all...?"

'Superior... what in the world happened?'

Though Kapros was curious about the meaning of these incomprehensible mutterings, he couldn't see anything more. The scene slowly turned black after showing Superior's figure frozen motionless in shadow.

Rustle rustle. When his vision became clear again with the continued sound of paper unfolding and spilling out, what he saw first was, surprisingly, an incredible spectacle.

'This is...'

Deep blue sky, vast earth, scenery far below.

Though he couldn't tell exactly where it was, the view of the city seen from up high naturally inspired awe. Though there were many empty spaces here and there giving a somewhat lonely feeling, that was nothing compared to the vitality of the people moving around like ants.

Watching the tiny people busily constructing new buildings while moving around various parts of the city like strongly flowing river water, it felt like witnessing a small fragment of human history.

As he unconsciously let out a small breath while looking down at them, something like red sparks scattered beside him. When he turned with a start, Superior was sitting right next to him, also looking down, though Kapros didn't know how long he had been there.

'Huh?'

[ Ah, don't worry. That's not me. I'm still here sharing your vision from inside. ]

Just as Kapros wondered if Superior from the staff had appeared here, the voice quickly rang in his head. So that meant the man beside him was also Superior from the past.

What he had mistaken for sparks appeared to be short red hair scattered in the wind. Looking around, they were on an incredibly high, slender spire, or more precisely, a place connected to the roof of a beautiful white castle like something from a fairy tale.

'Where in the world is this?'

This castle, located quite far from the city he had been looking down at until now, was situated at quite a high altitude, but strangely, there wasn't a single person moving around nearby.

After observing for a while and seeing no one, Kapros gave up watching the castle and decided to look again at where Superior was gazing. Superior was looking down with such an indifferent expression that one might think this was how a god would look down upon humans. In the small city, countless people still appeared busy constructing buildings and maintaining the city's appearance.

As Kapros watched the city that Superior was looking at, time passed strangely quickly. Though it seemed like only a moment had passed, during that time the sun rapidly set and night fell, then rose again to become day, repeating dozens, hundreds of times. It felt like watching a recorded tape being played at several times the speed.

People created large buildings one by one in empty lots, and laid neat stones on what had been ruined ground to make roads for carriages to pass. How much time had passed since collapsed buildings were restored and grew taller, and massive temples began to be built? Before he knew it, the city was transforming to become very similar to somewhere in his memories.

'Zagreb?'

Though not exactly the same, it was surprisingly similar. While watching the sun continue to rise and set, thinking that place must be Zagreb of the past, Kapros realized that the city's changes had stopped after it became almost identical to the Zagreb he knew. The sun continued to rise and set repeatedly, but there were no more changes to the city now.

When the interesting changes he had been watching disappeared, the force holding his gaze naturally disappeared too. When he turned his eyes to look at Superior again, Kapros opened his eyes wide in surprise at an unexpected sight.

Though Superior's expression remained unchanged as he sat looking down at the unchanging Zagreb, tears had been flowing from his eyes at some point. The streams of silent tears repeatedly flowed down his scarred cheeks before being swept away into the air by the wind.

Kapros couldn't even guess the reason for Superior's tears. What could that too-cold gaze mean for it to be sadness? As he watched with furrowed brows, Superior carelessly wiped away the continuously flowing tears and suddenly raised his head to look somewhere even further than Zagreb. Where Superior's gaze reached, the edge of a mountain range covered in distant fog was situated. The direction was probably... north?

"..."

At that moment, for the first time, an expression appeared on Superior's face.

Kapros already knew what to call such an expression. It was the expression of a loser that had made his own self until a year ago automatically turn away whenever he looked in a mirror. With that face deeply tinged with what was commonly called regret as the last sight, the scene changed once again there.

Whoosh...

After the darkness covering his vision cleared, what he heard was Superior's low voice.

"Lumi. Let's skip the greetings now. I came here to request your help."

"My help?"

Two figures sitting face to face in a small house. One was Superior and the other was Ilumine from 500 years ago whom he had seen in memories before. Ilumine with hair barely covering her nape still felt unfamiliar.

'Then could this be... the situation right after Superior's memory I saw before?'

"Yes. There's no one more suitable than you to help with this matter. No, perhaps it's more accurate to say you're the only one left who can help me now."

Though speaking jokingly, Superior's expression was far from bright.