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Skylar’s story begins 200 years ago… Huh? What did you say?

“Was he that old…?”

“Yes. Well, it’s a bit ambiguous, but…”

Skylar trailed off. It seemed he was hiding something more, a secret.

He can’t really sound this young and be over 200 years old, can he?

–

Physical age and mental age are separate.

–

The status window casually leaked some information.

“No, that’s not it.”

“Can you stop the habit of starting to say something and then just trailing off?”

“Why?”

“There are two ways to make someone angry. The first is to stop mid-sentence, and the second is…”

“…the second is?”

Skylar halted his words and stared at me.

…Well, I fell for it!

No, I definitely knew this was a thing. It even exists in reality.

I completely got tricked.

“Fine. I got it.”

“You’re surprisingly quick to understand. I had an explanation ready too.”

“What do you think I am?”

“Anyway, can I continue the story?”

“Yeah.”

Skylar fumbled a bit off the main topic and then returned to the original subject.

–

There was a group of adventurers that existed 200 years ago.

The Star Chasers.

A massive adventurer party with a minimum of 4 people and a maximum of 32, fluctuating in number but averaging 16.

Their accomplishments were so great that other adventurers couldn’t even dare to measure up.

When the Demon King still roamed the land, when four demon tribes scattered fear, when humanity lost half its territory to enemies, and when the hero and the saint were long awaited to return.

They defeated an evil dragon the size of a mountain, faced off against beings that ignited great forests, and mapped every dungeon at the frontlines of humanity.

They swore to uncover all the secrets of the world with their own hands.

They explored all the ruins and unexplored lands from the mythical age, filling in the blank spots on maps.

–

“Wait a second.”

“Yes?”

“If they explored all the undiscovered lands and ruins, then shouldn’t the Adventurer’s Guild be out of exploration requests?”

“…The Star Chasers disbanded after discovering God’s Body.”

“What about that?”

“There are still new ruins and unexplored lands that have arisen over the 200 years, and the New Continent is still shrouded in mystery. Plus, there were new places discovered that they couldn’t explore in time.”

“Are you saying you were a member of such a party? You?”

“Yes.”

I studied Skylar with a suspicious eye.

Even as I looked intently at his handsome face, I couldn’t see the ‘grown-up Skylar’ anymore. It was a bit… disappointing. I wondered if I could see him again.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, letting in just a tiny bit of light and scenery through my eyelids.

Skylar’s face blurred, and I tried to fill in the missing parts and details with my imagination.

I could see a little of the grown-up Skylar. Thanks to that, I could imagine what he looked like 200 years ago. It was somewhat enjoyable.

Skylar looked at me like I was pathetic, but I didn’t care too much.

I disliked reading or hearing such a good story without any imagination. Such tales should be widely spread.

My train of thought began to drift to strange places.

‘…Bard.’

Right. The essence of a bard is to sing tales of heroes and spread myths.

Maybe this is also a characteristic of the bard profession. Sharing thrilling stories with others, making other people’s hearts race.

Just then, Skylar interrupted my dreamy expression.

I snapped back to reality and answered him.

“Selina.”

“I’m not asleep.”

“Anyway, can we continue the story?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re focused on what I’m saying, right?”

“I’m listening.”

“If you have a question, now is the time to ask so it doesn’t break the flow.”

“…Wait a minute.”

I took a moment to think.

Skylar put the leather flask at his waist to his lips and started drinking water.

He looked like he was parched after talking for a long time.

‘A question…’

I had nothing particularly special I was curious about regarding Skylar.

No, to put it more accurately, there were so many things I was curious about it was a problem. I couldn’t keep asking questions indefinitely.

It was important to pick out the most crucial one.

About Skylar’s family.
About his adventurer companions.
About God’s Body.
About his real objective.
—And, what does he aim to achieve through me.

If we were to rank the importance, the last question stood out the most, but for some reason, I was hesitant to ask that one.

I was afraid that the moment I voiced it, this precarious symbiotic relationship… this relationship of use would shatter.

I was scared.

Would I really be able to handle his answer if Skylar responded honestly to my question?

No, probably not.

What if his answer was, “We were never close. It was fun playing friends up till now”?

Wouldn’t I just crash right there?

In the end, I picked a less important question that was still somewhat better. All the while hiding my true intentions deep down.

“What is your objective?”

“My objective is simple. To return to my original body by any means necessary.”

“And your original body?”

“My body wasn’t always like this.”

“Were you uglier? Were you a woman originally?”

“Of course not. This form is just my childhood appearance.”

For some reason, upon hearing that… I felt relieved.

I couldn’t explain why.

I was clumsy with both my emotions and my body.

Ultimately, I had no choice but to continue asking questions without knowing why I felt reassured. Because that was the only choice I had.

“If your original form is your adult self?”

“Yes. I was originally an adult.”

“Then why do you look like this now?”

“…What must a person without a heart do to survive?”

“Sudden quiz?”

“Guess.”

I got lost in thought.

What must a person without a heart do to survive?

No matter how much I thought, the only thing that came to mind was creating an artificial heart.

‘…That’s too modern of a thought.’

In this world, it’s more common to transplant a dragon heart into a person than to create an artificial heart. Right. Let’s think again about what’s ‘fantasy’.

After a long while, I felt my thoughts flowing magically.

A way to save a person who has no heart. Especially in a medieval fantasy world without modern medicine and technology… it seemed magic was the only answer that came to mind.

“What did you do with magic?”

“Well, you’re roughly right. I fixed the time of my body to the past.”

“Was there a particular reason to fix to the past? Could it be… you have a preference for children?”

“What on earth are you thinking? No way! I thought if I reversed my body’s time to create a new heart, I’d just turn it back to a point in time—but it ended up that my body’s time regressed without a heart.”

“I see.”

“Don’t look at me like that. Please.”

“Why?”

“It hurts my pride for you to look at me that way, of all people.”

“What’s the big deal?!”

I got angry for a moment, but I understood roughly what he was saying.

I know I can be a bit pathetic too.

No, but it’s still annoying.

With my cheeks puffed out, I looked at Skylar… wait, when did I puff them out? I quickly deflated my cheeks.

Fortunately, it seemed Skylar hadn’t seen my embarrassing display.

He was engrossed in his story, continuing to speak.

“Anyway, since my body’s time regressed without a heart, I needed to fix this before I died. Looking back, it was a genius idea.”

“It sounds like a failure to me.”

“Was there a better choice than fixing my body’s time in that situation?”

“If you had enough magic to rewind time and stop it at the same time, wouldn’t it just have been better to use regeneration…?”

“……”

Skylar suddenly fell silent.

…No way?

Am I just saying nonsensical things because I don’t know much about magic…?

That can’t be it, right…?

“Ah.”

Skylar let out a short exclamation.

I sighed deeply.

I mentally adjusted my rating of Skylar from a 5.0 down to 4.5. Honestly, I wanted to lower it further, but I held back considering what had happened so far.

Skylar attempted to change the subject smoothly as if nothing had happened.

“Ah, anyway, let’s get back to the original topic. I still haven’t explained how I ended up in such a relationship with my only family. I haven’t even told you about when I found the body of God.”

“Right.”

With a generous heart, I decided to overlook Skylar’s mistake and began to listen to his story again.

Time rolled back once more.
To the moment God’s deceased body was first discovered.