With the disappearance of the magic stone weapon, the eerie magic that had been shrouding the temple disappeared.

But we couldn’t afford to be relieved yet.

(Master, are you okay?)

『…I’m fine, I’d say…』

I was actually not that good.

I managed to get out of the disorientation of absorbing a large amount of magic power, but because I pushed myself too hard, I was losing a lot of my capacity as a normal sword.

My durability had drastically reduced and it didn’t start to recover at all. It was also obvious that my self-repair ability was not working as a small chip remained on my blade.

It’s probably a backlash from overusing the Divine Attribute.

『Honestly, it’s pretty dangerous for me to engage him in combat right now』

(Okay)

Zelyse was still stunned, but we didn’t know when he would attack us.

That was what I thought, but what Zelyse said next was completely different from what I had imagined.

「Haha… Ahahahah! Amazing! You’re amazing, Fran-san! As expected of you!」

He started laughing, truly enjoying the scene. It wasn’t a pretense. He really meant it.

As I’d thought, I’d never understood the inside of this guy’s brain.

「Uwaah~. You see, that me from that timeline was really wary of you. And now I finally understand what he means. I’m sure, Fran-san had given him a pretty hard time」

What did he mean? The current Zelyse and that Zelyse are in cahoots, right? But based on what he just said, it sounded like he didn’t know the details of why Zelyse from that timeline was wary of Fran.

「That Zelyse?」

「Do you want to know what kind of relationship that me and I had, Fran-san?」

「Partner? I already hate Zelyse when there’s only one of it, but it’s even worse when there’s two of it」

「O-one of ‘it’…?」

「Cause you’re just like a pest 」

「A-ahaha! That’s harsh!」

(TLN: She’s using 匹 (hiki) which is a counter for an animal. It’s how Japanese playfully insult each other)

Fran was talking badly of him. She was in a very bad mood. She was probably feeling very angry at Zelyse for irresponsibly trying to break the seal of the great magic beast.

「W-well, regardless of what Fran-san think of me――」

「Shitty insect」

「Oh, come on! You might think that Zelyse from that timeline and I were, at best, or maybe comrades in research? But we have a surprisingly dry relationship, you know? We don’t even get along as well as what Fran-san might think of us」

「Why? You can avoid any mistakes if you listened to him, right?」

「Because that’s gonna be boring」

That again. But I guess that was a part of Zelyse’s principles that could never be changed.

「To know what would happen and move accordingly? That’s boring! Besides, the future can be changed so easily. Especially since Zelos Reed and Romio from that timeline are here too」

That was certainly true. In fact, because of Sierra’s action, Romio and Zelos Reed have not been captured by Zelyse.

「It’s too dangerous to move based on such vague information, right? That’s why I rarely ask that me what had happened in the previous timeline. At most, I only ask for data on his research results」

So, the current Zelyse had heard very little information from Zelyse from that timeline.

「The future me is also aware of that. So, he doesn’t force me to get any information from him. It’s very convenient that we’re on the same page, isn’t it? A single word and we understand each other」

Indeed, normally, someone would try to tell themselves exactly what happened in another timeline.

At least if it were me, I’d definitely give my other self the details.

「But you see, there’s one person that the future me is very cautious about, or rather, someone who’d keep interfering with my plans. And I haven’t heard any details other than that, but it seems, that person had given that me a lot of trouble in that timeline」

「And that person, was me?」

「That’s right. Take the incident in Barbra for example, that’s where I first met you. I was planning to let a lot of magic stone soldiers rampage in there」

「A lot?」

「I had a hundred of them ready to go, you know? But that me insisted that I shouldn’t do that because it would have been a waste of resources. He insisted that we should use the magic stones for other projects, and so we changed our plans」

I see. Maybe Zelyse from that timeline had deployed a large number of magic stone soldiers at Barbra, only to have them wiped out by Fran. But from the way he put it, it must have had little to no effect for him.

If there was no significant difference in the results, and if Zelyse could save his precious magic stones, it was certainly better to give up the use of magic stone soldiers in Barbra.

It was very unfortunate for me though. I don’t know how much magic stone value I could get from hundreds of magic stone soldiers.

It must have been a tremendous bonus for us at the time.

「Well, now that I’ve seen it, I understand why the future me was so wary of you. No, it was not you. It was your sword, wasn’t it? Well, there’s also Fran’s skill as well. Anyway, you have the power to destroy magic stones. It doesn’t matter the ability, power, or type of magic stone it is, as long as you manage to scratch it even a little, and it’ll be destroyed」

「…」

「Fufun. You’re being cautious now, aren’t you? I guess that means I’m not too far off, right?」

Tsk, my ability has been exposed! A magic stone soldier, a magic stone sword, and now a giant magic stone weapon. If we show it to him over and over again, it’s only natural that he’ll notice it.

「As a self-confessed magic stone user, this is the worst match for me. You could even say that it’s a natural enemy for me」

「…So why don’t you just give up?」

「No no, I haven’t lost yet, have I? Well, your powers are indeed a little troublesome」

Zelyse’s gaze then turned to me.

Those were the eyes of someone who was looking at an interesting research subject. To be honest, I was used to being looked at as an object, but I just couldn’t help but feel weird about the way this guy looked at me. I guess it was because there was something creepy about the way he looked at me, it felt like he could see right through me.

「I’d like to analyze that sword and do some research on it」

「I won’t give it to you」

「Fufun. As I thought, there’s a secret in that sword, isn’t it? I’m getting more and more curious!」

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