"You look confused…" Zorei said. "Still, explaining and understanding this is pretty simple… the past can't be changed, and considering all the things that happened and your experience, this was bound to happen in this timeline."
Aion stopped to think for a moment about that implication. If that was true, then was he bound to die in the future and be defeated by Malon's final enemies? Maybe it was more correct to say that the past can't be changed. Still, the future is uncertain… even if the game over already happened in another timeline.
"Although the registers say that two armies didn't face each other in that country and eight hundred years ago, we also could say that two armies didn't face each other for too to give birth to a real war," Sauros added.
"Then, you are saying that your ancestors did a sloppy job or they didn't treat the situation that seriously?" Aion asked.
"Saying either would be a bit too much…" Sauros forced a smile. "They basically lived on the other side of the world, and they crossed that distance to confirm what happened. Certainly, more than a few months passed, and they had to ask around about it to understand the situation. Most likely, after some reports, they came to assume that there was no battle because most of the situation felt that way. You said that it only lasted for two days, and only a few hundred out of a thousand died, right? We can assume that the population eventually reached that conclusion since no one could tell what had truly happened."
"... Arlana, what did you learn about Fenhair and that incident? You learned about it after reading the books of your ancestors, right?" Aion asked.
"No, I didn't read the book that mentioned the attack. I only read one that mentioned Fenhair and his location," Arlana replied.
It seemed that Aion couldn't check if things were different in her timeline… that was annoying, but in the end, he could hope that Sauros was true.
"To make sure that nothing messed up happens, I guess you need to make sure that you will only deal with the distortions caused by others that can use time magic," Sauros said. "The relics can inform you of that, right?"
"Not always… Arlana interfered, but the relics didn't inform me," Aion replied. "Probably because her actions didn't have ill intentions or didn't change her future."
"I thought that I knew a lot about all this, but I guess I got ahead of myself… only someone with hundreds of years of knowledge and some relics of that level can truly say anything for sure," Arlana said with her head down.
Malon was probably the best person for that. Still, Aion had no idea where he had to go and to which timeline he should head as well… besides, most likely, he will only be knowledgeable way after the last time he fought alongside his friends.
"Whatever, did you finish preparing the things that you said?" Aion asked. "We need to depart soon."
"Why the hurry? You should stay here for a few days and enjoy a vacation," Helen said. "Give some time for Arlana to enjoy the base of her people."
"She can stay, but I need to move on," Aion said. "I have too many things to do and too little time, and those relics can't help me enough with that problem."
"Err… I want to go as well and try to make myself useful," Arlana forced a smile. "Otherwise, there won't be any point in me coming to this timeline."
"She can stay here for a while after the mission, then," Aion said.
"All right," Sauros said, and then he approached a box with rings, gloves, and boots that he had brought. "After the last mission, I had some free time, and then I prepared some items that could help us in harsh environments. These ones here will help you guys against the freezing wind and the low temperatures. I don't recommend wearing armor in that area since you will get frostbites incredibly fast."
The rings, boots, and gloves had some gems that were a stronger version of the ones that Aion had collected, and those had been attached to those and could create a layer of mana around the bodies that would protect them against the cold.
"The only problem is that to make them really effective, you will have to use your mana to fuel them," Sauros added after passing the items. "The more mana you use, the less cold you feel."
"That won't be a problem. Thanks to Arlana, we discovered a good method to restore mana incredibly fast," Seris said while showing a bit of a sour expression since she had stayed silent until now. We need to get going. Later."
"Seris… you aren't getting any younger, do you understand that?" Leinia asked. "You need to step up and do what you must while you can, or you will regret it later."
"Yes, yes…" Seris said and then sighed.
Aion thought that they had a bad relationship, but that probably wasn't the case. The problem was Seris, who was a bit of an airhead and acted like a teenager sometimes. In any case, Aion was thankful that they didn't argue in front of him, and that would be a bit uncomfortable.
"Usually, I would join you guys, but I guess my leadership skills won't be necessary," Sauros said and then put his left hand on Aion's shoulders. "I will leave things to you, and you can ask for help from me if you think that you will need it. Although that is very unlikely considering the previous mission."
"Losing confidence when you are almost thirty? Middle-age crisis?" Aion asked while furrowing his eyebrows. "Don't you have more than ten years of experience being the captain of the nest crew of your people?"
"I guess… I guess I was just finding excuses for myself," Sauros showered a bit of an awkward smile. "I didn't reach my peak yet, and I can't take it easy now that I am about to become a father."
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnovel(.)com