~Chapter 57~
“That’s weird.
I really thought you’d feel relieved.”
“I-I am relieved.”
“…”
“Of course I’m relieved!”
Yeah, this should feel right…
But that thought only lasted a second.
I quickly shook my head.
I’m the one who let my emotions get the better of me and ended up hurting him—can’t blame anyone else for that.
“Anyway, why did you call me here?”
“Become my apprentice.”
He said it like he was just asking me to join him for lunch or something.
So it took me a second to realize what he meant.
“……What did you just say?”
“I said you should work here for a while. Is that so hard to understand?”
Is he serious right now?
Does he think I’m stupid or something?
“I understood what you said! But why? Are you short on people?”
At that, peril frowned.
“You think that skinny little body of yours is actually helpful?”
“…”
“I’m taking you to Orphen. We’re heading out from the tower next week with some supplies, so you’re going to pretend to be my apprentice and come with me.”
Why didn’t he just say that first?!
“If that’s what you want, then okay. But… is there a specific reason I need to go to Orphen?”
“Yeah.”
Peril rubbed his face with a tired sigh before continuing.
“You said it yourself. That you have somewhere you need to go back to.”
“……Yeah, I did.”
I remembered how I cried in front of him and felt a little embarrassed.
While I stared off into space, peril stepped closer to me.
“I haven’t slept a wink since that day.”
He brought his face close to mine.
Now that I looked again, he really did seem to have dark circles under his eyes…
“Maybe you’re just tired from all the deliveries?”
“Ha. Like I do any of that myself.”
“Sorry…….”
Peril straightened up.
“Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot since then. A long time ago, one eccentric guy told me something strange.”
“What did he say?”
He glanced around, then grabbed some paper and a pen from the desk.
He drew a spiral.
“This is……”
“He said this is what time looks like for us.”
I pointed carefully at the narrow part where the spiral began.
“So this part is the past?”
“Yeah. And as time passes, the spiral gets wider.”
Then he started drawing little triangles along the spiral line.
“There aren’t just people like us living along this timeline. There are all kinds of worlds we don’t know about.”
He paused, the triangles showing different worlds.
“And we can’t cross over into each other’s worlds.”
“Well, yeah. I guess unless time suddenly rewinds or speeds up, those triangles wouldn’t overlap.”
Since time flows the same for everyone.
“Exactly. You get it.”
He tapped the paper with his finger.
“But that eccentric guy had this one theory.”
He drew a circle this time.
“If you look at the spiral from above, it looks like a circle. And in that moment, the worlds overlap.”
“But that’s just how it looks, right? They don’t actually overlap.”
“Right. I said the same thing.”
Peril’s voice turned calm and thoughtful.
“But you can’t deny that it’s the moment when the worlds get the closest to each other.”
“…”
“That guy said kids like you are born at those points.”
I swallowed hard; Peril noticed and looked at me curiously.
“It’s just… that’s a very different reason than the one I had in mind.”
“There’s no single explanation for anything in the world.”
He pointed his chin at a tree outside the window.
“Think about a tree breaking in a storm. There could be all sorts of reasons: maybe its roots were weak, maybe it grew in a spot that gets hit harder by wind…”
“…”
“A bunch of coincidences piling up, basically.”
Coincidences…
Listening to him, I realized how much I didn’t know.
I thought this world was just make-believe from a book, but it turned out to be real.
And I still hadn’t figured out the mystery behind the key that crossed over with me when I ended up in Bianca’s body.
If it weren’t for that key, we wouldn’t have been able to revive the World Tree.
“Sounds like something clicked for you.”
“……Yeah.”
“Even if you do go back, I’d say this was a worthwhile experience. After all, you met me.”
His casual tone made me chuckle.
“That’s true.”
Somehow, my head felt clearer.
“That weird guy’s probably dead by now, but if he left any clues, you’ll probably find them in Orphen.”
“Th-thank you.”
Peril hesitated when I said that.
“I really mean it.”
“…Sheesh. You’re being sincere all of a sudden.”
Aliins and Brandon told me to stay quiet. That if I did, I’d get what I wanted.
But that just didn’t sit right with me.
And Grandpa… there’s no way he’d want a war.
Even if he got better, if war broke out, I might not even be able to find out if he’s alive.
There has to be another way.
If this whole thing happened because of a crazy chain of coincidences, then maybe I can make another coincidence happen—make a miracle.
“Up until a few days ago, I thought I was just some unlucky girl.”
“…”
“But now I’m starting to think… maybe I didn’t need to see it that way.”
Peril looked surprised for a second, then burst out laughing.
“Glad to hear that.”
***
A few days later, I stayed at the tower and helped the other mages.
I didn’t have any magical talent, so not everyone was thrilled, but since I took on all the chores, the mood warmed up—at least a little.
…Except for one person.
“I told you to put that in the storage room.”
Yeah, except Simon.
“But Lily told me to leave it here.”
I tried to stay polite, but I couldn’t hold back anymore.
“I-I mean, still…….”
The funny thing was, whenever I pushed back, he never really had anything else to say.
So maybe deep down, he’s not a bad guy.
But then…
“This is in the way of people walking through!”
If he’s going to keep picking fights, any sympathy I had just disappears.
“Hey, I put it right next to the wall! No one walks on the wall!”
“Y-you never know!”
“Oh, Simon. Are you giving your junior a hard time?”
Lily, who just happened to pass by, finally stepped in.
“I’m the one who told her to put it there.”
“…”
“Stop picking on Bianca. If she weren’t here, you’d be the one stuck cleaning the whole storage room.”
Simon went quiet.
“You’re not mad because she’s going to Orphen instead of you… right?”
Judging by how red Simon’s face turned, that was a bullseye.
“Peril brought her here himself. If you don’t want to get on his bad side, you’d stop it.”
You didn’t have to go that far, Lily…
It made me feel like I got special treatment, and that left a weird taste in my mouth—even if it wasn’t really like that.
“……Fine.”
I wanted to explain things to Simon, but no way he would listen to me.
See? The second Lily walked off, he glared at me again.
“I won’t forget this.”
“I-I didn’t even do anything…!”
I was so stunned I could barely speak.
Just then, I heard Idette’s voice from behind.
“Bianca!”
Before I knew it, Idette ran over and hugged me, grabbing my hands excitedly.
“I heard from Peril! You’re going to be a mage with me?”
Why did he leave out the “temporary” part?!
Peril definitely did that on purpose.
“Actually, it’s just that—”
“As if.”
Simon cut in before I could explain.
“She can’t even do anything. All she does is clean the storage room.”
“She’ll learn! No one’s great from day one!”
Idette looked visibly annoyed, but Simon pretended not to notice and gave me a warning.
“Don’t let it get to your head just because Peril brought you. You’ll regret it.”
“Sorry, but I’m not acting full of myself. I’ve done everything you asked. So what’s your problem?”
Then Idette, fuming, yelled:
“Bianca, you better drop the ‘Sorry, but’ line right now!”
