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Emilia didn't hesitate to agree, despite the fact that there were still many questions lingering in her mind.
She knew there was no way to know what could have happened in her previous world after they'd left. Her partner had made that more than clear long ago, after all.
Cynthia seemed to have expected her response, and motioned for her to follow her to the side of the bed. "Relax. Let's make a few things clear before we leave, then."
Seeing how her partner's expression remained serious and solemn even though she was grasping her palm on the bed, the raven-haired girl sighed. 'I shouldn't have ignored her before. But… what can I do about it now? She's already made up her mind.'
But even though she knew what Emilia's response would be, Cynthia still tried her luck. "Are you really fine with the type of world I mentioned before? It will be dangerous, you know?"
Emilia nodded. "If it will help you more, of course."
Cynthia sighed. "It will help, sure… but only if we succeed. To be honest… I'm still not sure if it's worth the risk. Not only will you not have the cover of the villainess's identity and background, but the level of threat… can we really handle it?"
Emilia grabbed her palms into her own and squeezed them tight, her eyes full of conviction. "Trust me, Cynthia... I will definitely prove myself to you this time!"
Cynthia's expression was a little complicated, but she knew that refusing now would only hurt her partner's confidence, so she could only nod. "Alright, if you're ready, then... let's start."
Her partner smiled gratefully, and the raven-haired girl's heart throbbed with a dull pain. "S-Since you've grown up now, I'll pull you in while browsing the timeline too."
Emilia's eyes shone in surprise as she nodded. 'I have to really remain focused this time. Everyone else is smart and talented, and can easily survive without me for a while.'
Of course, simply letting them survive in this world was far from enough, and what she really wanted was to let them grow and shine in the way that suited them most. But that could only be left for later, when she had the means and the time to handle such a task.
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The first thing Emilia felt when she slipped into the dark void with Cynthia's assistance was the familiar yet foreign presence deep within her soul. A ball of gold that radiated was connected to herself with a thread radiating... love?
'Is this… Crystal?'
Of course, the blonde girl remained dormant, and could neither hear her thoughts nor respond.
As for the only other presence within her, it could only be Cynthia. But she was too busy strongly manipulating her chaos energy to satisfy the crimson-haired beauty's curiosity.
Turning her focus on herself next, Emilia realized that there was nothing unusual about her from the outside.
Of course, a mortal body would never be able to survive being in this state in the void unless protected by a layer of chaos energy.
Emilia's attention soon turned to the 'structure' that surrounded her, and she couldn't help but gasp in awe. 'Wow…'
How come she didn't notice it sooner?
"So this is what it's like to see the timeline…" Emilia sighed, fascinated by the rapidly flickering lights and images around her.
It was like being at the very center of a big crystal 'ball' with millions of mirrored facets, each showing a different image.
Seeing it for herself, she now realized that even the 'half-assed' information that Cynthia had managed to gather about the previous timeline had actually been extremely impressive.
The fact that this was all from only one world and still almost overwhelmed her gave Emilia a whole other level of respect for Cynthia's ability. After all, what they were doing now was picking their 'point of entry' and gathering information on the world they would be going to.
The actual task of picking the world had already been handled by her partner.
'How strong must she have been in her heyday?' The crimson-haired girl sighed. 'Whatever it was that managed to bring her down… when will I be ready to face it?'
Naturally, she refused to believe that Cynthia could have lazed her way to this point as she claimed. But since the raven-haired girl chose to hide it, Emilia knew better than to ask.
Instead, she focused on memorizing and analyzing as much of the world as she could observe through the images.
Given that there were seemingly millions of facets, all showing different people and time, however, made things quite difficult for Emilia.
Eventually, though, she was able to pick out the one who appeared to be the hero.
'He's… really different from Amos, isn't he?'
She couldn't help but sigh.
Emilia could only observe the scenes visually and couldn't really gain a full understanding of what was going on, but it was still obvious that this was a man who knew how to handle himself in any kind of situation.
Unlike Amos, who had been born with a golden spoon in his mouth, and almost never had to struggle for a day in his life in the previous world's original timeline, this hero seemed to have struggled desperately all the way until he reached adulthood.
This world will… was probably a lot better at both picking and raising its host.
Emilia wanted to figure out who the heroine could be based on the women around the hero, but…
'This guy isn't romantic at all!' Emilia groaned. 'I can't see any wedding or dating scenes, and he always interacts with everyone with a straight face… how am I supposed to figure it out?!'
She couldn't help but sulk for a while before shaking off her stray thoughts. 'Forget it, instead of wasting my time, I might as well focus on things that might be of use.'
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Five miles south of the Lake Lynx, Mira was leading her small team of hunters back with their bounty of the day when they suddenly spotted something that definitely shouldn't be there.
"Is that… a child…?"
Mira frowned as she stopped her companion from stepping forward. "Stay here, Fifi. Alec, Jones... keep an eye on the surroundings, I'll go check."
The young huntress and the two sturdy men nodded at once, clearly having faith in their leader.
Although she was only in her early thirties, Mira was the best of the best in their small settlement, after all. If not for her, they wouldn't be able to live such a carefree life so far from any city or town.
The dark-haired lady approached the fallen figure on the ground without a sound, and it was only when she got closer that she realized it really was a child.
Even if one were to ignore the long crimson hair, based on the figure, it definitely had to be a girl. Probably one in her early or mid teens, though she could also be older, and just petite.
'A city girl? The clothes are torn so badly, and she's dirty, but probably not injured.' Mira evaluated calmly. 'Probably lost, or more likely… abandoned by her parents.'
She sighed. 'Poor kid… but at least she didn't come across any predators.'
The dark-haired huntress easily turned the abandoned child over and picked her up, only momentarily pausing when she saw her face. "Let's go."
None of the other hunters raised any doubts on taking the child along as they followed. After all, they couldn't very well leave her to die, could they?
Of course, they had no idea that the 'fainted abandoned child' was very much awake, and was inwardly celebrating the success of her plan. 'Luckily, I was patient!'
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With the long, practiced stride of the hunting team, it didn't take long for them to reach the Lynx Lake, next to which stood a few small houses that they affectionately called their village, though it wasn't really recognized by any authorities.
An elderly grandpa greeted them with an amused smile as they reached the settlement. "You seem to have brought quite the interesting bounty with you this time, huh, Mira?"
He was one of the oldest hunters in the area, and had taught Mira the way of the forest when she was but a child.
The dark-haired huntress just rolled her eyes as she handed the kid over to Fifi. "Take her to Mari and see if they need any medicine from the nearby town."
Of course, the 'nearby' town took two days to reach on foot, so everyone understood that if the child really needed it, no one would be able to rush back and forth in time, though Mira might futilely try based on her sense of responsibility.
Emilia continued pretending to be unconscious as she was laid down on a bed, and a warm palm was placed on her face.
"She doesn't seem to have a fever… so there's probably no infection. Maybe… she just needs some food and water."
The voice was surprisingly similar to Mira's and the crimson-haired girl assumed this must be the 'doctor' Mari.
Emilia felt her lips being pried open as she was given some water to drink, then the 'doctor' assured everyone that she should eventually wake up on her own.
The rest of them then moved a little away, but Emilia was easily able to hear their conversations, though they didn't really talk about her anymore.
Apparently, Mira and Mari were sisters, though the information didn't really matter much to Emilia.
Instead, she focused on the world around her.
The energy in the air was thick, almost suffocating, though normal people wouldn't be able to tell.
Emilia tried using her chaos energy to observe the area around her as she used to, but just as it had before her 'rescue', it completely failed to leave her body.
Cynthia coughed. "Since the world will has flooded the whole place with a higher grade energy, you can't do that unless you're willing to send out enough, and… you can't expect being able to take it back."
Emilia hummed thoughtfully. 'That is to say… I can still do it, but only if I'm willing to waste some energy, huh?'
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