Published: January 22, 2026
When I woke up, trees came into view.
“—Good morning, Oliver. Do you feel any pain anywhere?”
Just as I turned toward the voice, I realized I was bound by something.
(Mana chains? —Ah, that’s right.)
Seeing the black chains made of mana, I understood the situation.
I moved only my neck to look toward the voice and saw Orun standing there.
Orun’s eye color had changed from the usual lapis lazuli to black.
So, he’s still in the state of having the seal undone.
Well, it’s natural; there was always a possibility I might go wild again.
By the way, when Orun was using the black mana sword, only his right eye had turned black.
That was probably the result of forcibly解除 (lifting) only part of the sealing magic.
Forcibly解除 sealing magic, huh...
I recalled various things (.....). Now, I understand that Orun has always been extraordinary, both now and in the past.
“Ah, there’s no pain. —So, which Orun are you?”
Orun’s eyes widened at my question.
“...You figured out I’m the past personality?”
Perhaps judging that I was not a threat, the chains binding me vanished.
“If you cast magic like that repeatedly, it’s impossible not to notice.”
Until just now, I had been rampaging against my will, but I remember everything clearly.
What the hell was I doing...?
I was so disappointed in myself that I didn’t even feel anger.
My power... yeah, I’ve got it under control without any problems.
“Repeated magic? Facing Oliver in that state without magic is tough, so naturally I used it. …Wait, how do you know about magic? I never showed you. —Ah, did future me teach you?”
“I’ll explain that too. I want to organize my memories myself. —First, let me confirm: what day is it for you today?”
“...According to my memory, today is October 20th, 619 of the Four Saints Calendar.”
I see. It’s that day after all (…).
Well, if this personality is the strongest Orun, past and present, that makes sense.
“Today is June 5th, 629 of the Four Saints Calendar. It’s about ten years ahead for you.”
“Ten years later...”
“Do you understand what happened to you?”
“...I’m almost certain it’s [time reversal].”
“I think so too. Shion said that with [time reversal], you can’t return to the past with your current consciousness, but to think they actually reversed your consciousness itself and summoned the past personality to the present.”
“But why was I summoned? I don’t see any benefit in summoning the past personality.”
“Normally, there’d be no benefit. But for you, the 'future Orun' brought an enormous advantage.”
“What kind of advantage...?”
“There’s no time (..) so I’ll keep it brief. Your last memory before coming here is, I suppose, losing a mock battle against me in the village?”
“Yeah, around then. After that, my memory cuts off right after seeing Shion off.”
“As expected. For Orun, this was the first time the seal was undone in front of me, right? But for me, today is the second time.”
“...”
Because my story was getting close to what Orun wanted to know, his expression turned serious.
No matter how much time passes or memories are lost, that look never changes.
“That day, some time after you saw off Shion, the Cyclamen Cult launched a raid on the village. —And all the villagers except for you and me were slaughtered by them.”
“...Slaughtered...?”
Orun’s eyes trembled.
“That’s right. Furthermore, the survivors—including us—had their memories rewritten to suit the cult’s purposes by Philly Carpenter, a supernatural ability user skilled in [cognitive alteration].”
Then, while organizing my own memories, I roughly recounted the events in chronological order.
Though Orun occasionally seemed eager to say something, he listened without interrupting.
“And today, I lost control of the overflowing power and went berserk. While destroying the city and heading for the guild, I was stopped by future Orun. But since future Orun didn’t remember the sealing magic, he couldn’t possibly defeat the berserk me. If things had continued as they were, I would have killed Orun...”