Jared didn’t think he had said too much, nor did he think he had said anything wrong.
Jared disliked Cassandra. It wasn’t that she had nothing going for her. She just didn’t properly see the people around her.
“Enough, that’s it. No matter how much I say, nothing will change. I just had one thing I wanted to ask you. I have to know this.”
Cassandra quietly raised her face.
“If you use Olivier’s body to resurrect the Progenitor and send them back to the past, assuming her family exists in that world, will they even recognize the Progenitor? In the first place, are the Progenitor’s family still alive in another world?”
“That…”
“Is the flow of time the same? Hundreds of years have passed since the Progenitor wandered into our world. Beyond just crossing world barriers, can time itself be transcended?”
“…I don’t”
Cassandra stopped mid-sentence, as if intending to say she didn’t know, and covered her mouth.
“From the looks of it, you hadn’t thought about it at all. No, perhaps not. It seems the ancestor was rather careless. Or maybe you didn’t have enough time to consider it.”
If Jared’s world and the Progenitor’s homeland had the same flow of time, then even if the resurrection was successful, she would have been alone in a world where she knew no one.
There was no way to confirm the flow of time. At least, Jared didn’t know. More than that, he still couldn’t believe magic that could cross worlds existed.
Cassandra might have naively believed in her ancestor, but it was a huge nuisance for the Progenitor as well. Even if resurrected, there would be no one to fight. No enemy to defeat, no country to conquer. No people to protect. Her descendants told her she could return to her original world, but there was no guarantee of reuniting with her family.
If Jared were in the Progenitor’s position, he would have screamed, “Don’t do anything unnecessary!”
“Frankly, your plan is off the table. I don’t mind sending the Progenitor to a distant world, but that body is Olivier’s. I won’t let you do as you please. My priority is to get it back, but if that’s impossible, I’ll kill you. That’s all.”
“…There’s no way you can defeat the Progenitor.”
“I won’t know until I try.”
“No. That’s not it. You don’t understand anything. The Progenitor is using Olivier’s body!?”
“So what?”
“That’s right, you didn’t know. Listen, Olivier has an unparalleled talent for magic.”
“So I’ve heard.”
Jared had only heard a little from Olivier, but he didn’t know the extent of her hidden talent. He hadn’t felt any magic from the moment he met her, but it had been sealed. He could never have imagined that.
He reminisced about the time when Olivier was still stubborn, and he himself was troubled by having an older Fiancé. He had never imagined that a great figure from the past would be resurrected and steal his Fiancé’s body to do so.
He hadn’t imagined that he would come to love Olivier so deeply.
“I’ve never seen anyone with greater talent than Olivier. Do you understand? I’ve never seen a magician greater than her, especially considering she only recently awakened to magic power.”
“…Olivier’s talent is that great?”
“Please don’t misunderstand, but it’s greater than yours. No, Olivier’s magical talent is far superior to any of the Court Mages.”
“You suppressed that talent. If Olivier had that kind of power, she might have been able to protect Hannelore from the consorts much sooner, without needing my help.”
“Yes, that’s right. I did a terrible thing. I admit that. However, at the time, I couldn’t think of anyone other than her as an ideal vessel for the Progenitor’s body. In fact, there was no more ideal vessel.”
Jared felt a pang of resentment. If Olivier had so much talent as a Magician, she should have been able to protect his Mother on her own. She might have solved the problem without suffering for years.
Her life might have been brighter and happier, unlike now. Jared couldn’t forgive Cassandra for taking away that possibility.
He desperately suppressed the urge to strike her and urged her to continue.
“So, what are you trying to say?”
“That you cannot defeat the Progenitor in Olivier’s body.”
