Listen, you must send a letter. If you don't want to regret it... If you do it now, it should barely make it there in time."
"Ah, aah, well, if you say that, I'll send it. But, where do I send it?"
"The Holy Land of Swords. You should have had some suspicions, right?"
The Holy Land of Swords.
It's not that far from Sharia.
Maybe I thought it might be something like that. So she was training there.
The Holy Land of Swords...
"Got it."
"Don't write it like you're pushing her away. If Eris despairs, you'll be killed."
"I know."
I think that I know what kind of person Eris is.
...Or at least, I thought I did.
If this old man's words are true.
She had no intention to dump me, and I didn't understand that.
Now that I think about it, there's no way an awkward speaker like her could write a letter well.
And thus, we passed each other by, which gave rise to unhappiness.
"Fuu"
The old man exhaled cumbersomely.
And then raised his face with a startled expression.
"Also, I forgot to say something important. Don't oppose Hitogami."
"'Don't oppose'? He deceived you, didn't he?"
"Yeah. But you can't win against Hitogami. I couldn't win against him. Someone like me couldn't arrive at the place where Hitogami is."
The old man said that as though mortified.
He didn't arrive at the place where Hitogami is.
In other words, as I thought, that place is somewhere in this world?
"When I realized that, I trembled. I couldn't even avenge Roxy and Sylphy. I worked this hard to defeat him, but I can't even reach him. I can even manipulate gravity, but he won't come within the reach of my hand."
After saying that, the old man pointed at the inkwell on top of the desk.
The inkwell gently floated up, then immediately dropped down again with a clink.
Drops of the ink flew onto the desk.
"I can float in the air and communicate with others over long distances. I regenerated my arm. Not to mention I can even jump through time and fly to the past... Well, this magic is a failure, though."
A failure.
Just what was a failure?
This man is actually right here, right now.
"You probably vaguely sensed it already, but what's called magic in this world is omnipotent. Once you realize that, you can essentially do anything."
While saying that, the old man raised his left hand.
In contrast to his proud behavior, the old man's face had gone past deathly pale, and was now pure white.
Black bags had appeared below his eyes, and his lips were dyed blue.
"But this power no longer means anything. I was too late. When I became strong, there wasn't a single person left I wanted to protect."
The old man's eyes were glaring as always, but the power was already gone from his pupils.
His breath was rough and thin.
"Listen, I'll say it again. I hate Hitogami.
But I can't beat him. There's no way to. I don't have the technique to arrive at his place. In the era I live in, the thing that's necessary to reach Hitogami's location does not exist. So don't fight with him. I don't know what his goal is, but it's fine if you even act servile, just don't oppose him. You'll just get done in by him, with everything still going as he wants.
In which case, right now, before anyone's died..."
The old man's hand suddenly lost its power and fell.
He raised his chin and gazed at the ceiling.
"There are three things you should do.
Consult with Nanahoshi.
Send a letter to Eris.
Doubt Hitogami, but don't oppose him. That's all."
"..."
I couldn't respond.
When he tells me all this suddenly, words can't come out.
But I somehow sensed that this old man was desperately trying to convey something to me.
"Y-You don't have any more concrete advice or anything?"
"How nostalgic. Come to think of it, the me of this era was quite a slacker... Well, of course, I'd like to teach you more details about various things, but... We're out of time.