The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 122

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 122

Olivia carefully observed Rita’s complexion before cautiously opening her mouth.

“Max is an enhanced type just like in the Ash-covered Era, so he’s not a Mage Gunner… but his friend is a Mage Gunner. That friend said Max also wrote a thank-you letter to you along with him, so I brought it separately.”

“A thank-you letter? What are they thanking me for?”

“You saved him from the Doppelganger. The red-haired swordsman Special Agent. Remember?”

“…That was Max?”

“Yeah, you didn’t seem to recognize him. Well, you only know Max Pascal’s childhood face, but the current Max is 24 years old… His hair color changed too, and his appearance is somewhat different. Still, if you know it’s him and look carefully again, you’d think, ah, that’s definitely Max.”

Oli took out a letter she had set aside separately and placed it on top of the pile of letters. Rita read the name written on the envelope.

Maxwell Roan.

Her head felt numb.

Olivia’s subdued voice continued.

“But Rita, remember this. He doesn’t know you at all. You should just pretend not to know him either. ‘Maxwell Roan’ is not Max Pascal. To him, the events of the Ash-covered Era don’t exist. ‘Maxwell Roan’ was never even summoned by Pascal.”

“…”

“It seems like if you’re not a returnee, being dragged to the Ash-covered Era becomes something that never happened at all. Only those who succeed in returning make being summoned a ‘fact.'”

“…If it works that way, aren’t causality and the flow of time too arbitrary?”

“Yeah, it’s a complete mess. Well… I guess it means it’s not easy to modify the past from the future?”

The mage twisted her lips into a crooked smile.

“What do you think it means that Pascal couldn’t return even a single one of all those kids? No matter what bullshit they pulled by calling past heroes from the future, the history of the past didn’t change at all. It became as if the summoning never even happened. Our success is an exception in many ways.”

“…”

Rita picked up the letter with Maxwell Roan’s name written on it.

She recalled the red-haired Special Agent who had been spitting up slime, then saw her and swung his sword in surprise, calling her a monster.

The Max Pascal in her memory was much younger and more innocent than him, but also not as clumsy or hasty. That blonde boy was far wiser and more cautious than the red-haired young man.

Yet he had died. Unlike Maxwell before the Doppelganger, Max before the Mimic had died in a horrible way.

Because the 14-year-old Rita Pascal who had been by Max’s side then was far weaker and more inexperienced than her current self.

The first named magical beast she had ever encountered. The first friend’s death she had witnessed. The trigger that made her instinctively react to the scent of patchouli.

Lillieta held her breath and stared blankly at the name carved into her nightmare, then put down the letter and exhaled again.

Oli, who had been watching Rita’s reaction, spoke in a deliberately light voice.

“Well, so friend, even if you see kids you knew before like him again, don’t panic and just pretend not to know them appropriately.”

“…Yeah.”

“The Mage Gunner kids are looking forward to it, so please take care of the homework too. I’d like you to oversee their training if possible… but even when the Special Knight Order is officially established during the Geunkuk-je, it’ll be difficult for a while because of the ‘actor’ operation, right? That’s the safest approach for now.”

Olivia clicked her tongue briefly. Rita suddenly looked up.

“Oli, come to think of it, I have something to tell you. About a way to approach Pascal.”

Rita explained Hanna’s proposal and decision. Olivia’s eyes widened then narrowed. She started to push up non-existent glasses, stopped, and said.

“That’s an incredibly useful idea?”

“What do you think?”

“What do I think? Let’s proceed immediately!”

“There are safety and trust issues.”

“As for safety, well, you heard from Ethan, right? That bastard has no intention of harming Hanna right away. He seems full of intention to use his own bloodline very carefully and thoroughly. So he won’t be able to discard her easily, right?”

“Hmm…”

“Besides, if she’s really the Duke’s blood relative and becomes a duchess by status, it would be harder for Pascal in the Adicl camp to harm her. Of course, he’d try to use her in more diverse ways instead… but that should be fine if we put constraints on it as she said. Even if she gets possessed, she won’t be able to betray us.”

“Constraints? Do you have any means for that?”

“The lineage dried up in the Ash-covered Era, but in this era there’s still something called the ‘Scale of Deals’ among the ancient magical tools being excavated. It’s a magical tool that allows you to trade intangible elements like loyalty or life.”

“Something like that really existed.”

“It was recorded in the ‘Ancient Magical Tools Dictionary’ at Pascal’s Research Facility, even with excavation locations. I memorized the useful-looking ones while reading that book, then found them after returning. That damn thing, I mean, Grace was also made based on relics I found that way.”

“You even collected ancient relics? You really did a lot of work during that time. Grace was incredibly useful too.”

“Hmph, I wasn’t just playing around for 4 years.”

Olivia answered with a satisfied cat-like expression and shrugged her shoulders.

“The ‘Scale of Deals’ was a disposable tool used by high-ranking people in ancient civilization for transactions, so there were many excavation sites. When I went to look, some places were already empty, probably already excavated, but I found and stored two of them. Might as well use one now.”

“Can you set specific deal periods with that? For example, receiving gold in exchange for not betraying Beacon until Pascal’s threat disappears… something like that.”

“Of course it’s possible. Actually, when I wrote you that letter, that is, when I suspected Hanna might be Pascal’s possession vessel, I was already considering using the ‘Scale of Deals’ as a safety device on her. But I thought it would be better to catch Pascal’s trail by targeting the moment he tries to possess Hanna and cause trouble, so I was holding off…”

She rubbed the corner of her mouth and added.

“In a situation where it’s certain that bastard isn’t in the future but returned to this era with us, if Hanna volunteers to become a spy herself, it would be better to use it now.”

“That’s true, but… will it be okay?”

“If you’re really worried, we could send Ethan to Hanna as both bodyguard and surveillance. The Adickl Duchy is suspiciously impenetrable even for our ghost’s skills, but if someone goes in first and cooperates from inside, investigation becomes possible, right? Even if Hanna gets possessed, Ethan could notice immediately if he’s with her.”

“Yeah, then it would definitely be reassuring in many ways.”

“But don’t you think Ethan won’t like this mission very much? That snot storage mistook Hanna for you during your return and got angry and caused trouble, right?”

“Since he did such a thing, wouldn’t following Hanna and helping her be an opportunity to repay his sins himself?”

“That’s true too. Well, if you order him, he’ll follow faithfully even while cursing. Because it’s Ethan.”

Oli snorted and summarized the discussion.

“Then I’ll organize this agenda and share it with the other Beacons. You check the verification results Gid sends, then talk to Hanna about…”

She trailed off and shook her head.

“No wait, I need to explain the Scale of Deals to her and share information about Pascal too, so, hmm, I’ll make this into a separate document and send it with the scale.”

“Alright, I’ll deliver it to Hanna. I’ll explain separately to Ethan.”

“Good, if this works out well, we can abandon the actor operation. Many people will be happy.”

Oli smiled slyly.

* * *

After Olivia left, Lillieta recuperated in bed while doing the homework she had left behind.

Reading the letters full of admiration and questions from the Mage Gunners and writing replies was quite an enjoyable task.

The letters from former Beacon members who had been lost to the Kraken in the Ash-covered Era were especially moving.

‘To think I’d be able to see these kids again… Of course, they’re not exactly the same people as back then.’

They didn’t know her and wrote ordinary letters, but Rita could vividly recall their personalities, habits, strengths and weaknesses just from seeing their names.

‘This time I won’t let them be sacrificed meaninglessly like in the Ash-covered Era. To do that… I need to train them to be stronger.’

Through those letters, Rita could gauge the approximate level and shortcomings of the current Tritoma Mage Gunners.

‘Hmm, this part will need additional training…’

If they really abandon the actor operation, they can get the family’s consent and then have Raskail join the Crown Prince’s faction.

By then, the Tritoma Special Knight Order would also be officially announced, so she could formally join and directly lead the struggling junior Mage Gunners and colleagues who failed to return.

Rita imagined that time and unconsciously even drew up individual customized training schedules. Even then, she had plenty of time left over.

‘It’s boring just lying down.’

The homework finished too quickly. Wondering what else she could do from bed, she reviewed the battle from the recent Frontier Festival.

‘There might be parts I missed because of the pain.’

As she retraced it, she recalled that processing hooks and sniper parts had been a little easier and faster than in the Ash-covered Era.

It was probably thanks to her Oath aptitude becoming beyond standard level, unlike before.

‘If I practice with my original body, I might get better at form processing. Then the options I can use on the battlefield would increase too.’

To achieve near-optimal efficiency even with the best choices, she needed to become stronger than now. Especially considering that the number of people she had to protect had increased, and that they would eventually fight Pascal someday.

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