One Hundred Years As An Extra

“That’s right.”

“Thanks to my mental strength that lasted that long, the magic… was it stronger than you thought?”

There was no response, but he didn’t deny it. I understood now why it had taken Kaichen so long to reach Acrab and break the time magic. In the original novel, Dalia had lost her mind and collapsed, so it was easy for Kaichen to break the magic. But I was still sane in Acrab, therefore, it had taken Kaichen a long time.

But what about my mind? I had spent 100 years of hell and possessed Dalia’s body. I had all my memories of the past but none of Dalia. My mental strength must have been resilient. Dalia had created this hell, but I had maintained it for a long time. 100 years. I couldn’t even curse Dalia anymore. My chest felt stuffy.

“The definition of Forbidden Time magic is that from beginning to end it depends ultimately on the medium, not the magician.”

“It’s a big discovery.”

I had survived so I became the living evidence. Forbidden magic had been difficult to study and make sense of because the mediums always died. But I had lived. As Kaichen had said, I was an exception. It was indeed a great discover. Nobody had been able to study forbidden magic but now Kaichen could. He had the authority and a medium he could conduct his studies on. This could prove to be very advantageous to him. He could have even more authority and power because of this knowledge.

“I don’t intend to disclose this information to anybody,” said Kaichen.

“What? Why? Uncovering the secret of forbidden magic is a great discovery.”

Kaichen looked at me intently after closing the worn-out notebook and putting it on the desk. I looked at him, studying his face.

“It is not ‘forbidden’ without reason,” he said, “If people learn about human-mediated magic and its relationship… are you confident that they won’t use that magic for bad ends?”

“Ah…”

“Magicians are greedier than anyone else. There are people who secretly use forbidden magic and there are people who study it. Don’t you think innocent people will be sacrificed if magicians started learning it?”

“Probably… it would mean a lot of suffering and sacrifices if the knowledge fell in the wrong hands.”

“Yes, as I said before, the beings that become the medium usually end up… disabled or dead. You are an exception. You had the mental strength to maintain that magic up to a hundred years and come out of it alive and well.”

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly at his words. After a while, I nodded my head, swept my hair away from my face and said, “Well…I guess that I’m a little special.”

“A little?”

“Oh, a lot. I’m very special. I am your disciple after all.”

At my words, Kaichen sighed a long, weary sigh and turned away. The lab, at this moment, felt very cozy. He didn’t protest when I called myself his disciple and it warmed my heart. I thought because of Julius, he must be keeping his distance from me, in an effort not to get too comfortable with me. But after this conversation, it seemed a distance had grown between us again.

“The fact that you were a medium of time magic is probably impossible to hide. Momalhaut will try to use you again when they find out that you are fine.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to be used again.”

“If we can’t hide it, it would be advantageous to reveal it here first. But let’s pretend that you don’t remember anything about what happened there.”

I squinted at Kaichen. I thought he was only focused on research, but it seemed that he had been thinking about various things to protect my position in the future. His blunt and straightforward words sounded so sweet in my ears. Was he worried about me?

“I’ve forgotten all my old memories anyway, so that’s great. Should I call it partial amnesia?

“Do whatever you want.”

“If it is strange that I am neither disabled, nor dead after being a medium for magic, can I just say that you healed me when you freed Acrab and accepted me as your disciple?” I smiled at him sweetly.

Kaichen’s eyebrows twitched. The golden eyes slowly fixated on me. I must be crazy to find such eyes warm when he was staring daggers at me. “Do as you please.”

I thought he would call me crazy or mad, but his unexpected answer gave me hope. He handed out three books he had chosen for me. I accepted them in confusion.

“I’m going to find out how far your magical powers go.”

“All of a sudden?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to be my disciple?”

“I did want to be officially accepted as your disciple. But it is only temporary at the moment, right?”

“Well, I will decide where to start and how to teach. Don’t expect me to go easy on you.” Did he just…? My mouth fell open. He wanted to teach me properly! If I could see myself in the mirror, I know I would have looked like a flabbergasted idiot.

“Teacher…!”

“Time magic research is over. The results will be reported to Juli…. After reporting it to His Highness, nothing will be revealed to the world.”

“Oh… Then do I have to go back to Acrab?” Kaichen frowned and kept quiet. This time, I couldn’t guess what he was thinking.