Upon Azzy's probing into the details, Barbara sighed, "It didn't take long for me to realize that I ended up in 1993.
I didn't lose hope. I believed that once I get to the clan village and prove my identity, my grandfather, or maybe the clan head will help me to return to my timeline.
I sold some of the skill cards in exchange for their currency to use for transport purposes to get out of the kingdom as fast as I can.
However, before I did that, Prince Vann sent a few knights and took me to the Royal family's guardian who offered me to be his disciple.
At first, I rejected his offer but then, after hearing that he's a peak-rank-9, someone who was in the same league as the clan head, my ambitions to grow stronger took over my desire to return.
As a result, I postponed my trip.
Like that, I ended up going to Moon Academy. I thought I can return home when I graduate but imagine my surprise when I saw you at Moon Island."
A big smile suddenly appeared on her face, "Neko once told me that you might have also ended up here but I didn't believe it. When I saw you four months ago, I realized that I'm not the only one.
I immediately asked my master to do me a favor. When I found out, I want to come here immediately but then, I heard from my third senior brother about how your academy was chosen to host the league.
So, I worked hard during these past few months to break through to rank-5 and then, participated in the annual tournament to acquire the rights to participate in the league. It's really fate, isn't it?"
Azzy didn't comment on her explanation and proceed to ask as if he was recording her statement, "does your master know that you time traveled?"
Barbara shook her head, "of course not. I'm not that stupid. If people know that I come from the future, I might even be abducted by the people to get the details of the history."
"How much others know about me?" Azzy threw out another question.
"Not much. Just name, rank, academy name, etc... When I asked my master to search for your whereabouts, Prince Vann found out about it and asked me. I lied to him that we are close friends that grew up together."
Her explanation made him frown inside. "Grew up together?"
Barbara suddenly felt tensed as she heard his tone changed.
"What about your surname?"
"Eh?" This unexpected question threw off Barbara for a second. She answered, "I registered as a person from the Crescent family but I didn't disclose about the clan village.
As Crescent family is registered as one of the noble families of Freyles, I thought it isn't a big deal."
Upon getting all the answers he wants, Azzy grabbed his chin and fell into deep thoughts.
"Chronos, What do you think?" He asked the Reaper. Azzy obviously didn't trust her fully. So, he asked for a second opinion.
The Reaper replied, "Either she's telling the truth or a rank-10 is manipulating her to deceive you. The latter is unlikely to happen."
'Oh boy… She messed up.' Azzy sighed as he realized the issue.
Meanwhile, Barbara looked at him in worry. She wondered whether she did a wrong thing in exposing her surname.
Azzy then opened his mouth, "Do you know that people here knew that I was an orphan and was later, adopted into this house?"
"Hmm, Yes…" She nodded. Barbara felt something wrong from his words but she didn't understand what he was implying.
Azzy then looked straight into her eyes, making her nervous.
He then said, "Freyles is a country that's located in the far western side of the continent. It's atleast ten thousand kilometers away from here. Ever thought how you plan on explaining about how we grew up together?"
"Oh! It's just that." She sighed in relief, "I thought it is something serious."
Her response confused Azzy. He wondered whether he didn't ask the right question.
"The question was already brought to me, a couple of months ago." Barbara explained, "Thanks to Neko's suggestion, I cooked up a story about how I stayed at Southern Qudour until the age of eight and then, shifted to the clan with my parents."
"This girl's smart." The Reaper commented in Azzy's head.
"Hmm…" Azzy then thought of possible difficulties. When he found most of them are already resolved, he decided it was his turn to reveal the truth.
"Barbara, the mysterious energy that led your Arcana spirit to evolve is called the Protos energy."
"Protos Energy?" She became curious about it. After all, even her master didn't know what it is.
Azzy nodded, "You can say it is a unique energy that was exclusive to aliens of some distant galaxy. I don't know much about it. During my second awakening, I inherited the Arcana spirit of Aelius Crescent. You must have heard of his name."
"Aelius Crescent? The lightning god?" Barbara was shocked to hear the name. This ancestor of theirs was widely popular in their clan as the strongest Crescent ever.
As a princess of the clan, she knew about the life story of Aelius even better than Azzy.
"Anyway, something happened during the awakening and I accidentally time-traveled to the past because my Arcana spirit was corrupted by the energy."
As he can't reveal the existence of the Reaper, Azzy summoned the hourglass instead, "according to my Arcana spirit, when I reach rank-7, I can go back to the future. I can take you along with me too."
"We can go back to our timeline?" As soon as she heard the words, Barbara stood up on her feet, feeling excited.
She didn't even care about the appearance of the hourglass or amazed by the fact that the hourglass can make the possibility of time travel.
At present, all her thoughts were on getting back home. She grabbed his arms and asked, "Say it once again, please."
"We can get back to our timeline. However, you need to wait several years. I'm only a rank-5, now." Barbara's face suddenly dimmed as she was reminded that it will take a while.
"How long do you think, you'll take?" She asked him. As she was hit with the reality, she was worried that by the time he'll reach rank-7, the Year 2020 will become present already.
"Not sure but I need to reach it in 14 years. If we don't get back to the future before our future selves are born, we will lose our identity forever. There'll be no use to travel to the future as no one will remember us."
"Lose our identity? No one will remember us? What does that mean?" Barbara's heart skipped as she heard it.
Azzy explained the theory he heard from the Reaper. "Look, this is your body and soul. 13 years later, when your mother conceives you, the baby will form a body and in turn, a soul should occupy it.
If your soul isn't present, then, some other soul will occupy the body. While the universe will still preserve your body since it is a materialistic property, on other hand, the memories of your parents will be linked with the baby with another soul. Barbara will cease to exist in their memories.
So, time travel, in that case, will be useless.
In that case, you simply continue to live in your current identity. That way, the relationships you have formed by the current you will stay even though your birth relations will be severed.
And in case if I achieve it within the next 13 years, we will get to our timeline for sure. However, we will sever all the connections we formed in present. They won't remember either. And also, since we revert to 12-year-olds, our soul power will also revert to normal, although our memories will stay intact."
Upon hearing the explanation, Barbara fell silent and slowly opened her mouth for a while. "So, I can choose either the future or the present, huh!" She appeared serious.
Azzy nodded, "yes, I chose the future. That's why I will try hard not to form any bonds. Even if I form them, I'm prepared to leave.
If you want to return with me, you also have to prepare to lose every connection you have, which includes your friends and even your master.
Who knows, your Arcana spirit might also have to return to normal and you might lose your potential that you gained now.
I don't know what sort of complications you and I will face. After all, I never time traveled before.
I can only say it for sure when I reach rank-7 and receive the knowledge of soul skill. So, the future is still full of mystery. If you still choose it, then, I'll make sure to get you back to the timeline safe and sound.
In the meantime, I will stay in constant touch with you wherever I go. I will even try to enroll in the Moon Academy if that's your wish.
After all, you landed in this situation because of me, although it's by a mistake.
But, if you want to stay here, I will respect your decision as well. In that case, this will be the last meeting between us.
Don't take the decision rashly. Take your time and answer me before you return to the Moon Academy."
Meanwhile, the Reaper who was listening to the conversation, inwardly sighed, "Azrael, I hope you won't hate me when you realize the truth. Everything is for your sake…"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢