Chapter 42
Regression.
Acel knew that word very well.
One of the extreme high-level time spells. A technique of reversing the timeline of the world to return everything to the past. Therefore, it was not permitted and existed only in theory as a miracle of god. It was a realm that even time mages who were said to have existed in the past couldn't reach.
Grace was saying she had directly experienced such a miracle.
Some deny the possibility of regression itself. They didn't believe that such an impossible thing could have happened. Especially if the person claiming regression was a swordsman, not a transcendent being or high-level mage, it was even harder to believe.
But Acel didn't dismiss her words.
An unbelievable story. Such nonsensical talk that it was meaningless to even listen to. A secret that couldn't hope for anyone's understanding, that must be kept alone.
Acel already had one such secret.
I, who have memories of a past life, can't blindly deny regression, either.
So rather than pondering the possibility of regression, he first thought about the connection between regression and Grace's actions.
Pretending to know him at their first meeting. Talking about being a mercenary and using a sword at their second meeting. And calling Saya a "troublesome fox". All could be understood if they were based on experiences from the previous iteration. It meant they weren't words spoken suddenly, without any background or basis.
However, all of these required the background explanation that she was a "regressor". To someone who knew nothing, it would sound like nothing more than the ravings of a madwoman.
Even Acel had seen her as mentally ill until she revealed the fact that she was a regressor.
"..."
A secret that couldn't be revealed to others.
A fact known only to oneself could become a dagger, but sometimes it could also become a curse that ate away at oneself. Just looking at Grace's unstable appearance, one could tell which way the secret of regression had acted for her.
Regression and past lives were both content likely to be treated as mental illness if blurted out. But in the case of past lives, since it was a story of a different world not immediately related to the present, there was no need to tell others about it.
At most, it might be used as a joke occasionally. There was no reason to reveal being a past life transmigrator while showing off knowledge from another world, except in specific cases.
On the other hand, regression was deeply related to the present. All the past events Grace had experienced became present events, and to prevent the same tragedies from occurring, she had to run around frantically.
In that process, she couldn't hope for others' understanding or shake off the lump built up inside. She could only silently prepare for the approaching end.
One didn't need to ponder which one inflicted more severe damage to the mind. Acel stared at Grace while letting out a thoughtful sound.
"Huu... huu..."
Grace was breathing heavily while looking down at the floor. She was revealing that she was a regressor and trembling with anxiety, fearing Acel's disbelief or contempt. It was because Acel had briefly fallen silent to organize his thoughts.
So as soon as Acel had somewhat organized his thoughts, he immediately opened his mouth.
"Grace."
"...U-um, yes!"
Grace suddenly raised her head and met Acel's gaze.
Their reflections appeared in each other's pupils.
Grace tried her best not to avoid Acel's eyes, but she couldn't stop her head from turning to the side repeatedly.
If he said words denying her, she probably wouldn't be able to look him straight in the eye. And she would probably live like that for the rest of her life.
It was the worst ending. But if that was Acel's choice... she was prepared to accept it humbly.
However, the terrible words Grace was imagining didn't come out of Acel's mouth. Instead, with a slight smile and in a gentle voice, he casually said:
"You've been through a lot."
"...Huh?"
"I don't know how long it's been since you regressed, but it couldn't have been easy from then until now. You've worked hard."
"...You believe me?" Grace asked with wide eyes.
Acel nodded with a smile.
"There's no reason not to believe you. And I also... have a similar secret."
"That you're a past life transmigrator?"
"...How did you know?"
"You told me. In the previous iteration."
"..."
If we were married, did I even tell her about that?
Acel scratched his head unnecessarily and sat down next to Grace. Grace's body flinched, but she didn't avoid him.
Anyway, what was important right now was the story about Grace's regression. It seemed better to talk about past lives later.
Thinking this, Acel opened his mouth, "Anyway, I believe you. Don't worry too much."
"...Thank you. Really, really thank you."
Grace started shedding tears as she answered. It was a natural reaction as the tension and anxiety she had been holding melted away. Acel patted her shoulder and waited for Grace to calm down.
Just when he thought she had stopped, she started wailing again, so the wait lasted quite long. But Acel didn't show any signs of dislike and killed time by thinking about various things inwardly.
How much time passed like that? Grace, who had been sniffling, turned her head towards Acel and spoke in a voice wet with tears, "...I-I'm okay now. I've calmed down. And... I'll say it once more. Thank you for believing me."
"Alright."
Acel smiled slightly and removed his hand from her shoulder. Grace twitched the corners of her eyes as if disappointed. It had happened before, but this time Acel could clearly understand where such reactions from her came from.
The person she had married before regressing. In a situation where he couldn't remember her and couldn't act the same as before, it was perhaps natural to like even a little skinship.
She must be somehow suppressing her desires and urges usually.
The kiss on the neck while drunk must have been due to these suppressed desires finally overflowing.
He could understand. Even Acel felt his heart breaking just imagining if Ena didn't remember him and acted hostile or treated him like a stranger. Grace was experiencing such imagination as reality.
How painful it must be was sufficiently understandable without needing to measure.
However, separate from understanding, he couldn't act as she wanted.
After all, I'm not the me she knew.
It was a sad fact, but that was reality. If they had regressed together with memories, it might be different. But the current Acel had to live his own life. He declined being neither here nor there, bound by a regressor's memories.
"How did you end up regressing?" Acel asked.
Grace was silent for a moment before answering.
"I don't know. While fighting a devil, you died first and I was left struggling, then my neck was cut off, and when I came to my senses, I was at home. I woke up in the already devastated Bydel mansion of the empire."
"Wait a minute."
Acel's eyes widened at the sudden unbelievable content. He looked at Grace with a serious expression and continued speaking, "The empire becomes devastated? It perishes?"
"...Yes. A plague devil descends suddenly and with a wave of its hand, 40% of the empire's population dies from disease. It's not just the empire. The entire continent suffers from the plague and the overall population sharply decreases. The land all rots too."
"...Haha."
Acel let out a hollow laugh.
The current era was the first peaceful period after going through the racial wars and anti-devil holy wars. It had been several decades since wars between countries broke out, and even different races were living harmoniously without invading each other's territories.
Although devil worshippers or groups like Virsia, which criminals belong to, occasionally cause chaos, their voices weren't that loud compared to the past. There were no signs that large-scale chaos that could swallow the entire continent might occur.
But suddenly a plague devil descended and overturned the continent. The empire, a great power, collapsed in an instant, the entire continent became corrupted land, and the population was halved.
Is this even possible?
"Is this reliable information?"
"It's not information. It's what I experienced."
"..."
"Originally it happens after graduating from the academy, but in this iteration, the devil worshippers have started acting earlier than then. Maybe... things might happen even before graduation."
"Damn it."
Acel already knew that devil worshippers had started acting. Even Ena had received a summons from the Alliance because they were rampant near Wyheim.
He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but hearing Grace's words, various possibilities started popping up in his head. Acel frowned while worrying about Ena's safety.
"...Can it be stopped?"
"...There are precursor symptoms. If suddenly all livestock in a village die from disease, or an entire village suffers from plague, it means the descent has ended, if not completely then partially."
"We should aim for that time?"
"Yes. Since it's impossible to prevent the descent. We have to kill it when it appears incompletely like that."
"The Holy Kingdom should help," Acel said.
From ancient times, devil subjugation wars were conducted under the leadership of the Holy Kingdom. This was because their unique holy power was effective against devils. But conversely, devils' demonic energy also acted as a fatal poison to clergy, so they needed external manpower to drain the devil's power.
"What about other devils besides the plague devil?"
"The plague starts it off and they keep pouring in. Among them, the last two to appear."
"..."
"Compassion and Possibility."
Possibility.
The moment Acel heard that word, he felt his heart thump once. A sensation of hearing something he shouldn't have heard. A feeling of his instincts screaming that he shouldn't get involved with that. He frowned deeply and covered his heart area with his hand.
"Unlike Compassion, which killed almost all the remaining survivors, Possibility didn't carry out separate massacres. Instead, it went around various parts of the continent as if doing some work... Acel? Are you okay?!"
Grace, who had been continuing to speak, hurriedly asked when she saw Acel clutching his heart. Acel immediately nodded.
"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt. Just... something feels strange."
"What feels strange?"
"...I don't know."
It wasn't a lie.
Unlike his wildly excited instincts, his reason was extremely calm. There were no immediate abnormalities in his body or mind, and the flow of magical power was all normal.
Then, what on earth was that?
"..."
He pondered, but no answer came. His body only reacted to the word "Possibility"—it seemed too much to be just a vague fear of devils. He felt nothing for the other devils.
Moreover, even when thinking about the devil of Possibility, his body that had already reacted once no longer felt any sensation to that word. It felt like waking up from a nightmare.
...I should investigate this.
Acel thought this and removed his hand.
He shook off his thoughts for now. It was right to focus on the conversation with Grace for the moment.
"To get back to the point, it means the plague devil is the start of everything."
"...That's right. But there's not much we can particularly do. Except for subjugating devil worshippers or ruining their rituals."
"It means we have to wait until the precursor symptoms appear."
"Yes. But, there are many differences between the iteration I experienced and the current one, so maybe the plague devil might not appear. There was no terrorism that should have been at the entrance ceremony, either."
"But such things tend to come back in even worse forms, no?"
"..."
Her words meant to provide even a little reassurance were hit right on the mark. Grace pouted and hunched her upper body.
Acel let out a small laugh seeing this.
Although they had been conversing in a serious atmosphere until just now, in the end, the conclusion was that there was nothing special to do except wait.
If something different from Grace's memories appeared as more time passed, they might be able to move, but not yet. Until precursor symptoms appeared on the continent, it was right to live as usual.
Of course, they couldn't not prepare at all. They had to maintain daily life while preparing even a little.
However, since there was nothing they could do right away either way, Acel opened his mouth in a slightly brighter voice to ventilate the heavily sunk atmosphere a bit.
"Well, anyway, just worrying about it now will only give us headaches. I think it's better to focus on academy life while preparing."
"...Is that so?"
"Becoming stronger is the urgent priority. I need to quickly become an archmage," Acel said and smiled, then tilted his head slightly at a fact that suddenly occurred to him.
"Come to think of it, Grace. You said I used a sword in the previous iteration?"
"Yes. You were just like me. Moreover, not only could you almost perfectly copy swordsmanship after seeing it once, but you were also famous as a mage hunter for cutting or twisting mages' magical power."
"Hmm... Do you have a sword?"
"It's in the dormitory. Should I bring it?" Grace asked with a faint smile.
Acel nodded with a grin.
***
A moment later, Grace returned from the dormitory with a sword. Acel immediately drew the sword and started swinging it with maximum concentration.
He slashed down from above, then immediately cut upwards diagonally.
Just from that, Acel's muscles trembled. Acel secretly manifested a strength enhancement spell while watching Grace's reaction. Then he continued swinging the sword.
As time passed, Grace's face, which had been full of expectation, started to crumple.
The sword path was a mess. The blade wobbled unstably, and the tip vibrated minutely. It means he wasn’t gripping it properly.
His swings were also terribly sloppy, and although it seemed like he was trying to imitate something, it was impossible to guess what.
Eventually, unable to watch anymore, Grace directly demonstrated basic swordsmanship and instructed him to follow, but Acel couldn't even do that properly. If the room had been narrow, the walls or bed would have been cut long ago.
"...Acel."
Finally, Grace spoke first. She looked at Acel wiping away cold sweat and closed her eyes tightly.
"Let's not learn the sword. You have no talent."
"No, didn't I use a sword in the previous iteration? Isn't this doing well?"
"Not at all. Let's just keep using magic."
Grace's voice was so firm as she said this that Acel could only nod with a skeptical expression. He sheathed the sword he was holding and handed it to Grace.
"I should have known when you, who couldn't use magic at all, became a mage."
"I couldn't use magic at all?" Acel asked as he sat down next to Grace.
He couldn't even imagine himself unable to use magic.
"You were good at detecting and cutting magical power, but you couldn't actually use magic. You tried to learn but gave up quickly."
"That Acel guy. Is that really me? No matter how I look at it, it doesn't seem like me."
"It's the same person. That's for sure," Grace said, then spoke with a playful expression, "Or should I tell you our pet name? Then you'll know for sure."
"...Glen?"
"Ugh...! A-ahem. Not that one. The name I used to call you."
"Even if you tell me, I won't know."
"No, you will. Because it's your past life name."
"...What?"
The moment Acel asked with wide eyes, Grace spoke first.
"Sihyeok."
"..."
"Right? Sihyeok Oppa? You told me this," Grace said with a broad smile, but Acel's mind wasn't focused on her.
His past life name.
It was something Acel didn't know.
Among the lost contents of his past life memories, his name and age were included. Thanks to this, even Acel was hearing his past life name for the first time today.
Then why did he know his past life name before the regression, but not know it now? Judging by Grace calling him "oppa", it meant he knew his age too, so why didn’t he know his age now?
What difference is there? What divergence point could there have been?
"..."
Questions followed one after another. His head throbbed and his chest felt tight. But he didn't stop thinking. He struggled not to lose the questions that arioe, repeatedly asking and answering himself.
Then he reached one conclusion.
"...Haa."
Grace's regression. Or something equivalent to it.
And the mostly lost memories of his past life.
What these implied was one thing.
A price.
The price to send Grace to the past, or somewhere. That price was the memories of the existence called "Sihyeok".
The moment Acel realized this.
Crack!
Simultaneously with the sound of tree roots rapidly growing inside his head, he felt someone's gaze.
But it disappeared quickly. There was no time to confirm it.
He hurriedly turned his head, but all he saw was an empty corner of the room.
"..."
Acel's eyes grew cold.