161. Yuffie, the Wise Witch (4)
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Just in time, the door was opened.
At the sound, Vivian and I were startled like criminals in red. It was because he was secretly hiding in Sepia’s room.
“What, why are you so surprised? what were you two doing… ?”
Fortunately, it was Sepia who opened the door. Before I knew it, the blue night was sitting outside the window.
“Sepia, you decided to knock beforehand.”
“Oh right. I forgot.”
Sepia shrugged.
Soon, she opened her eyes wide. Even Sepia’s eyes seemed to see that Vivian’s and mine’s hands had become translucent.
“What is it, Vivian and Ethan… . your hands… .”
“Nothing. Have you met Yuffie? How was the class?”
I hid my hands behind my back. However, Sepia came with strides.
“Give me your hand.”
“… … ”
“Give me your hand. hurry. what. What are you hiding?”
Sepia took my hand. In the end, I was caught by Sepia and had to hold out my hand.
“what? Ethan you… . Why are you becoming transparent? Is Vivian like that too?”
“… … ”
I didn’t know the exact reason.
That was the biggest problem. A moment of silence passed. Sepia sighed as if she knew I wasn’t going to say it.
“… what am i… , Yes, I talked to Mr. Yufi. He said he would meet you and Vivian.”
The appointment time is midnight tonight.
The place is the rooftop of Lognes Castle.
That’s how I made an appointment to meet a wise yuppie that I couldn’t meet even in the original world.
The fortunate part of the misfortune was that even with a half-transparent hand, I could hold or wear something. Thanks to that, Vivian and I put on gloves to cover our translucent bodies.
We waited until midnight.
When everyone thought they were asleep, we headed to the meeting place.
I pushed the iron door and entered the roof. A woman stood in the cool night air.
A woman with long dark red hair that reached her shoulders and eyes of the same color as his. It was difficult to guess the woman’s age just by looking at her appearance.
Overall, she had the appearance of a mischievous girl, but the atmosphere she gave off was as thick as a mature woman.
The subtle harmony was unfamiliar even though it suited them.
“nice to meet you. Two time travelers.”
The other person greeted me and Vivian with a smile. When I entered the roof, the door closed by itself.
“You wanted to meet me?”
We asked Sepia to tell us that we are time travelers. It was a strategy to attract aggro somehow because it was so difficult to meet Yuffie.
For that reason, Yuffie was showing interest in us.
“So why did you want to meet me? And why did you come to the past?”
Still smiling, Yuffie leaned against the railing. A magician’s unique sense of mystery was felt in her as she bit into the long smoking pipe.
“I wanted to meet you. Yuffie.”
“I also wanted to meet a time traveler. It’s my first time seeing it in person. is not it? Maybe we met while I can’t remember… ?”
Vivian felt very tense.
Maybe it looks like that because I’m nervous.
“If you are a time traveler, you know that you cannot change the time that has already passed, even if you come to the past, right? What is the reason you came to the past?”
The past, which has already been decided, cannot be changed.
Perhaps, as the saying goes, we are not allowed to belong to the past.
Is that why Vivian and I are currently transparent?
“I wanted to meet you. Yufi Ashurbanipal, the master of all knowledge.”
Yufi’s nickname is Ashurbanipal’s library keeper.
Its epithet may have been derived from the Babylonian library and the world’s first library, the library of Ashurbanipal.
“You know my last name… . Are you from the future too?”
One of Yuffie’s eyebrows rose slightly.
Vivian seemed curious about how I even knew Yufi’s last name. Well, I plan to gloss over this part by saying that I heard it from Sepia in the future.
It could be that Yuffie told Sephia her full name.
“So why did you find me?”
“I have two questions.”
First, what are we doing now?
The second was something I, as a possessor, was personally curious about.
“There are two. like. What are you curious about?”
Without hesitation, I took off my leather gloves.
Now, the translucent body up to the back of the hand was revealed. It was a body with more and more transparent parts as time passed.
“As you can see, I started having abnormal symptoms in my body starting today.”
“… It’s a time paradox.”
“A time paradox?”
“Hmm? Didn’t you know? It is a phenomenon that occurs because it is impossible for people from the future to stay in the past.”
In other words, the world pushes us away.
I slowly tried to understand what Yuffie was saying. I tried to repeat what Yuffie had said so far.
‘This is my first time seeing a time traveler. is not it? Maybe we met while I can’t remember… ?’
‘If you’re a time traveler, you know that you can’t change the time that has already passed, even if you come to the past, right? Why did you all come to the past?’
It could be inferred from those two words.
Those who came from the future cannot change the past, nor can they leave traces of the past.
“You mean we can’t influence the past.”
“Right. You have no influence over the past. didn’t you know? I guess this is my first time travel.”
Yuffie let out a long puff of smoke. Thick clouds of smoke scattered across the night sky. Suddenly, the night sky I looked up at was twinkling with countless stars.
“I ask this time. Why did you come to the past? How did you come to the past?”
I explained the conflict with Vassago with Vivian. In short, it was an unintentional fall into the past.
“… is that so? It’s funny. To think that Ronbiaban’s magic field would be a clue to the past… .”
With curious eyes, Yuffie nodded. If you create a strong collision in that way, time travel might be possible once more.
However, since we do not know the exact mechanism, we cannot recklessly attempt it. It could fall not 10 years ago, but 100 years ago or 1000 years ago.
“What will happen if your body becomes completely transparent?”
First question.
Yuffie bit into a smoking pipe and was lost in thought for a while. But soon after, he parted his lips.
“Theoretically, when the body becomes completely transparent, it will return to the future. And everything I did with you would never happen.”
It becomes something that never happened… .
“I will not remember our conversations or even our meetings with you. Even the records you left behind are erased without a trace. Because that is the time paradox.”
Neither Sepia nor Yuffie remember our existence. That’s the law of cause and effect governed by the Time Paradox.
It was only then that I understood what Yufi had said. Because he said that he might have met someone from the future.
So, it meant that it was impossible to change the past by coming to the past and telling Sephia information about the future.
“The more you intervene in the past, the sooner you return to the future.”
Then, is it because I reached Sepia’s mother, so we experience this phenomenon quickly? I thought so, but I was uncertain.
And Sepia won’t even remember meeting her mother?
“You said we couldn’t intervene in the past, what does that mean?”
I explained what happened a few days ago.
It was the thing that made Sepia meet her mother’s spirit.
“Hmm? that’s probably… . It must have been possible because he was dead. Originally, time travelers can’t kill or harm anyone from the past. The moment I try to do that, it bounces. The fact that it was possible must be because it did not affect the causal laws of the world.”
That there is no effect on the law of cause and effect?
Is the time Sepia talked with her mother itself denied? can’t remember forever
“The first question is, is this the end?”
I was confused.
Vivian had the same expression. Being able to return to the original world rather than disappearing is a fortunate thing in itself, but it has become something that Sepia has never experienced.
“What is the second question?”
“Vivian, this is a personal story… .”
“ah… , I know.”
The quick-witted Vivian stepped back. It was as if the two of them were avoiding the place to talk.
While thinking about it, I approached Yuffie. Yuffie was still watching me with a curious gaze.
It was within reach if I stretched out my hand.
“I mean… . I want to ask you about possession.”
“I’m possessed… ?”
While I was hesitating, Yuffie added.
“Well, it would be nice to change places, right? Excuse me for a moment.”
Yufi took my hand. In the next moment, a cloud of light flashed.
When I woke up, Yuffie and I were in different places. It was the inside of a huge library filled with countless archives.
Library of Ashurbanipal.
A place called an endless banquet of knowledge and a library of all knowledge. Ladder and bookshelves were crammed between the high ceilings.
Overall, it was grand, but it was a quiet and peaceful atmosphere.
“Oh, wait a minute. You can’t smoke here. hahahaha.”
Yuffie snapped her fingers and the smoking pipe disappeared. Well, if a fire breaks out in the library, that would be catastrophic.
Soon, she walked between the bookshelves and continued the conversation.
“Anyway, welcome. This is the Great Library of Ashurbanipal. It is the place where all the knowledge of the world is put together. And as you know, I am Yufi Ashurbanipal, the library keeper here.”
A library where countless knowledge lies dormant.
And the transcendental person Yufi Ashurbanipal who guards the place for thousands of years. The very fact that she led me here was an act of revealing her secret.
“Are you okay? Can you show me this place?”
“Since you know my full name, you must have already known the existence of this place, right?”
Is that why
Well, I’m probably the only one who knows that YUFI is the library keeper. If you include the people of the past, there is only a group of warriors from 300 years ago.
All of this was information that I could know because I was a possessor.
“Let’s talk about it now. future man. How did you know of my existence and what are you curious about?”
Maybe because he knew that Yuffie wouldn’t remember anything I said. The pressure was greatly reduced.
“You may not believe it. It would be hard for me to believe.”
If you want to know the truth, you have to get it from the heart. I took a deep breath.
It was a secret he had never told anyone.
Maybe it’s a secret that I’ll have to take to the grave in the future.
“So… , I am a possessor.”
“… Are you a possessor?”
Surprisingly, Yuffie wasn’t surprised. He was neither puzzled nor distrustful.
He just waited patiently for what I had to say.
“And this world is the world of fiction.”
Only then did Yuffie’s eyebrows slightly narrow.
