I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 135

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Sermon finally burst into laughter.
“Puhahaha! How amusing.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Look there. Gaze into the mirror. See how insignificant you are.”
“Insignificant?”
Isabel pressed her lips together firmly.
“That’s only because my brother doesn’t truly know me.”
“Don’t know you?”
“Even like this, I’m incredibly terrifying.”
Sermon chuckled for quite some time before lifting his bandage-wrapped arm and gently stroking Isabel’s head.
“I wasn’t mocking you.”
“Now you say that?”
“I was trained never to feel fear or terror.”
Isabel’s eyes widened involuntarily.
“Such training exists?”
“Yes. I’m being trained as the First Shadow, you see. A shadow cannot afford to feel fear, can they? That’s why I received education to eliminate unnecessary emotions.”
“To call that education…”
Well, in this world there are people who fly through the sky.
People who spew pillars of flame from their mouths.
And I myself have even summoned shaved ice from the Arctic using magic.
In a world like this, such training cannot be dismissed as entirely absurd.
“Still, I think you’d be frightened?”
“Do you need to try to appear frightened?”
“No. There’s no need for that.”
Isabel picked up a pen and began writing something in her notebook.
[AB=BA=E]
“Now, when we multiply matrix A and obtain the identity matrix E, we define that matrix as the inverse matrix of A. So B becomes A^-1.”
[B=A^-1]
Isabel spoke with absolute confidence.
There’s no way he wouldn’t be frightened by this.
“When expressed in the form of linear equations.”
[a11x1+a12x2+…+a1nxn=b1]
[a21x1+a22x2+…+a2nxn=b2]
.
.
“In 3D space, when we calculate det(A)…, it’s expressed using sigma (Σ)… and this is just the most basic concept. So wouldn’t you be able to easily find the inverse of a simple 3×3 matrix using this?”
Isabel gazed at Sermon with an expression brimming with confidence.
There’s no way he wouldn’t be terrified by this.
‘When I saw this at eleven years old, I was genuinely so frightened.’
It was a distant, profound terror.
There was some fundamental concept I couldn’t grasp?
Everyone else learned this easily? I couldn’t understand mathematics?
That instilled tremendous fear in me.
After listening to my words and pondering for a moment, Sermon finally spoke.
“But, Isabel.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Please, tell me it’s scary.
“What exactly should you be afraid of?”
“….”
“That thing can’t kill me anyway.”
Sermon flicked his finger.
At the same moment, dozens of tiny needles shot out from nowhere, shredding the paper to pieces before embedding themselves in the table.
Sermon asked with nothing but goodwill, genuinely curious.
“Isn’t this what you should be afraid of?”
The parts that touched the needles had turned blackish and rotted away.
* * *
There was an unbridgeable gap of sorts between Sermon and me.
Still, Sermon was a remarkably transparent person, so once he understood that we were simply different, our conversations flowed well.
“Come visit sometime. The Yuri Lake in the Bladoc Duchy is said to be the most beautiful place in the world.”
“But the Bladoc Duchy itself is shrouded in secrecy—how could it be rumored as the most beautiful?”
“That’s exactly why it’s said to be a place of rumor, isn’t it?”
“….”
In any case, I decided that someday I would definitely visit Yuri Lake.
They said Yuri Lake was incredibly deep, yet its interior was as transparent as glass marbles—a mysterious place.
At night, it captures the stars from the sky, making the lake appear to hold the stars within it.
“I understand. Please invite me sometime.”
“Of course. I promise.”
I handed Sermon a thick notebook.
“Make sure you do the assignments I’m giving you. I’ll check them later. I’ve written the assignment list on the first page.”
I gave Sermon his assignments.
1) Try refusing the minor orders of the Bladoc household.
From what I heard, Sermon was strictly following the Bladoc family’s child-rearing guidelines.
I wasn’t entirely sure, but if he continued that way, it seemed only the shell of the “First Shadow” would remain.
So I gave him the assignment to refuse small things.
It was a vague hope that it would be the first step toward finding his true self.
I should have studied psychology or mental health if I’d known it would come to this.
2) Try comforting people when you meet them crying.
Sermon was broken in some indefinable way.
I gave him this assignment hoping that by comforting crying people, he might come to empathize with their sadness and suffering.
“Do I just need to make them stop crying?”
“Yes.”
“It’s quite simple.”
Just kill them.
Fearing he might actually say such a thing, I covered both my ears.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, my Brother—who understood intellectually that I despised such words—refrained from uttering anything so horrific.
“Only through words. No threatening or violent actions of any kind are permitted. Try to understand in your heart why that person weeps.”
3) Keep a diary.
Perhaps by recording yourself each day, you might come to feel something.
I decided to hold onto a sliver of hope.
Sermon tilted his head in confusion but accepted the notebook I offered him.
“You’ll keep your promise, won’t you?”
“Promises exist to be kept.”
As transparent as he was, he was equally steadfast.
Whatever he promised, he would fulfill without fail.
In truth, I wasn’t certain whether these assignments would actually help Sermon find himself.
Honestly, he didn’t seem particularly passionate about discovering who he truly was.
Yet it didn’t matter.
The tasks I assigned were merely pretexts.
“If you don’t do your homework, you’ll be scolded terribly.”
“Good.”
They were my small gift for Sermon, who seemed to enjoy(?) being punished.
Sermon wore that expression again—as though observing something trivial—then grinned and spoke.
“I think I understand why Michael suddenly challenged me to a duel.”
“Brother Michael?”
“Yes. He often picked fights with Kaman, but he rarely did such things with me.”
“…Why?”
“Because he could actually die?”
Well, I suppose I shouldn’t have asked.
“I have difficulty stopping midway.”
From what I heard, Michael had gone to the Bladoc Dukedom and suddenly started a fight.
He apparently insisted on meeting me without delay.
“After Kaman met you, something changed in him. So Michael demanded he meet you as well. When I refused, he thrust a sword at me.”
“…And then?”
“He nearly died. He was fortunate to survive.”
“Were you injured?”
“I wasn’t, but Michael suffered severe wounds.”
“S-severe wounds?”
“He’ll need at least eight weeks of recovery. He’s probably hurt worse than me. My Biological Father used a wooden sword, but I used a real blade.”
I was struck by profound shock.
Now that I thought about it, aside from the day he first came to greet me, he hadn’t shown himself.
He hadn’t even appeared when my Biological Father and Brother Sermon had their duel—though calling it that was generous.
I’d assumed he was causing trouble somewhere else, but it turned out he’d been recovering instead.
‘But then how did he come to meet me?’
There had definitely been a sandstorm that day.
On the surface, he’d looked perfectly fine.
When we talked, he seemed just like an excited Bumblebee.
How was that even possible?
‘Could he have forgotten the pain in his joy at seeing me? …No, surely not.’
His mind couldn’t be that sharp, could it?
He’s still human, after all.
No, it couldn’t be that.
…Probably not.
* * *
King Valkio of Zirdel spoke.
“The agreement has been concluded. Narmore—or rather, Representative Narmore—I look forward to working with you.”
“The pleasure is mine.”
The Taisabel Portal Transfer Agreement between Zirdel and the Vilotian Empire had been finalized.
It was the second official agreement, following Alpea.
After Narmore departed, Valkio held a secret meeting with Rahela of Alpea.
Rahela spoke.
“The agreement concluded faster than expected, didn’t it? I thought the detailed schedule adjustments would take much longer.”
“That’s what I intended. But the Empress took direct action.”
“What? The Benevolent Sovereign herself?”
“Yes. It seems the commotion at the Zirdel base camp—where she beat the Imperial Prince—was actually a smokescreen.”
That was the only logical interpretation.
Otherwise, Emperor Ron’s eccentric behavior made no sense.
“The Empress told me directly. It appears she intends to distribute the Taisabel Portal Transfer globally. Much more actively, I might add—ahahaha!”
“…”
“Ahahaha? Not funny? My chief advisor Gabrieng burst out laughing.”
“You’re lying.”
“Tsk.”
Rahela refused to be swayed by Valkio and returned to the main point.
“Until now, you’ve only put Princess Isabel in the spotlight, haven’t you? Why is she suddenly moving so actively? That’s not like her.”
“It means all preparations are complete. She takes time to decide, but once she does, she moves faster than anyone. And when she sets her mind to something, she always sees it through.”
“Let’s keep the fact that the Empress took direct action between us for now.”
“Of course. She went to all that trouble to come secretly, even sacrificing the Imperial Prince as a distraction—ahahaha!”
“…”
“Still not laughing? Ahahaha? Come on, Rahela! Say something!”
Rahela didn’t answer and walked down the corridor with me.
Her heart was pounding.
‘A lion that had been crouching for five hundred years was finally beginning to stretch.’
The Vilotian Empire was transforming.
More actively so.
It was clear that before long, the balance of the world that had been maintained until now would shatter.
‘At the center of that transformation stood Princess Isabel.’
I could not afford to let go of the thread that was Isabel.
I had to create as many additional connections as possible.
‘The child who had become friends with Isabel—was her name Aselia?’
She was a child from Calpoa Village in the Alpea Kingdom, if I recalled correctly.
‘I should cultivate a relationship with that child as well.’
And time flowed swiftly.
Winter came and the year changed. Spring arrived and the frozen earth thawed.
Isabel examined the calendar.
‘Time really does fly!’
Her ninth birthday was now just a month away.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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