Lazy Salvation

Ashen was really feeling complex right now.

He went to such great lengths to seal his current personality, but who knew that abusing the sealed memories would allow it to surface just like that?

Though he really had no choice but to use spells of wide-scale destruction if he wanted to save his territory with the least number of casualties.

Now, it seemed that even the seal wasn't able to reliably hold back the mad magician…

He supposed that he should go back to his seal now that the job was done. He wouldn't want to disappoint Seraphine, after all.

"..."

… Just taking one harmless look, it couldn't be that bad, right…?

A little thank you for his troubles wouldn't be inadequate before he went back, he persuaded himself.

The silence held.

He waited.

It kept holding.

Then a soldier shoved through the crowd.

"Lord… is that you?"

"In the flesh."

He was not remarkable in any physical sense; average height, armor battered, face streaked with ash and someone else's blood. But the fury in his eyes gave his current feelings away. What he had wasn't the look of a man relieved to see his lord return… nor of one grateful to be saved from certain death.

"The lord is finally back… hahahahah… hah."

What should have carried joy twisted. Now, all anyone could hear in that laughter was grief.

For months, he had suffered, never knowing if he would live to see another day. For months, he had heard the same excuses… how the lord was busy, how he would surely return.

And return he did.

But at what cost?

The feelings he had bottled up for so long; without outlet, without relief, finally broke free.

"Your lordship… are you proud?"

The words froze the air.

"You must be." His voice shook, but it wasn't quite with fear. "You have saved our worthless lives after all. But what about my brother…?"

Ashen tilted his head, as if he didn't understand. Or perhaps he simply didn't care enough to try.

Pointing at the still-standing battered stones, he continued. "He held that wall for sixty days while you were gone. He held it because he believed you would come back. He believed in your title… your promises…"

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The soldier's hands curled into fists at his sides.

"He died on the fifty-eighth day." An absurd laugh echoed. "I guess he wasn't important enough to be graced with your savior's touch, lord… what a miserable wretch he was."

"Unlike the rest of us lucky fodder." The sarcasm finally bled through. "So thank you, Your Guardianship. Thank you for arriving in time, like some fairy tale hero… while the rest of us just… BLED."

Faces in the crowd mirrored his grief. His brother had never been the only loss. Among them, it would be hard to find anyone who hadn't lost someone. A relative, a friend, a lover…

Now, that accumulated grief finally found a target.

The Time Magician looked at the soldier… then at the sea of betrayed eyes… eyes that seemed to accuse him of personally killing their loved ones.

"Pfft."

He laughed.

It was a genuinely cheerful sound that came from his lack of understanding why any of this had anything to do with him. What he understood, though, was that only a few had the right to speak to him in such a tone, and none of them were this man.

A spell formed without warning.

"Argh—"

The soldier crumpled, not to the ground, but inward, as if something invisible had seized his heart. Phantom fingers tightened around it, squeezing.

Just a little more… and it would burst inside his ribs.

His cry came out strangled rather than pained.

More spells bloomed outward, seizing the hearts of the surrounding men who dared to meet their savior's gaze…

…as if he owed them something.

Soldiers at the edge of the pressure staggered.

A few dropped to their knees.

Alice did not move.

Not because she wasn't trying. She had taken half a step, her mind already composing the words, running the calculation of how to approach this and what to say. But the calculation returned the same answer every single time: He would not hear her. Not this one and not right now.

The thought twisted her heart so much that it almost felt like she was under the same spell as these soldiers.

She had known Ashen Hart for years, had built her understanding of him with an obsessiveness that had long surpassed any healthy parameter… and what was standing in the ruined field wearing his face did not match any model she had constructed.

She went anyway. But after taking two steps forward, she saw someone else arrive first, walking with none of the hesitation that had plagued her.

"Ashen~"

It was Seraphine who called, with a voice that carried no urgency.

Alice realized then that it wasn't only Ashen who was acting like a stranger. Her best friend was just as unfamiliar.

"Don't act up."

The tortured soldier's pressure eased a fraction, but the smile didn't change.

"Hah? Why not? This guy, whoever he is, is being insolent." A small, oddly dignified gesture of displeasure. "Tsk. Back then, who would dare to insult the Time Magician to his face? He must be crazy."

Despite saying that, the torture abated.

Seraphine walked toward him without breaking stride.

"C'mon…" She closed the last of the distance and moved into the hug before he could revise his expression, her arms wrapping around him, pulling him flush against her, caring for none of the blood and gore. "No one knows what you're talking about. Besides, those are your men, remember? Ease up…"

"Ah, love, you know that I hardly stop when I get going…" His hand found her hips. "So you'll have to help me in 'easing' up."

He smirked.

Seraphine sighed with indulgence and moved his hand slowly… to her backside.

The Seraphine of before would never have had the nerve to act so shamelessly in public. But the woman who emerged in response to his antics had long since grown used to a simple truth… everything would reset anyway, and every life around her was nothing more than a disposable puppet.

"I'll let you vent all your frustrations on me later… for now… can you go back? Please…"

His hand moved to a slow caress. Outwardly, he wore an expression of great personal suffering.

"Alright, alright… since our Seraphine spoke, I shall comply." A meaningful pause. "But don't forget your promise. Tonight, you have work to do."

"Yes, yes… you can use me as you like… as long as you behave…"

"Mm… mm… I'm a good boy, hehehe…"

The carefree expression receded like a tide going out. It left Ashen in its wake, blinking once, expression turning quiet, and then at last… the familiar furrow returning between his brows.

"Sorry," he said, and brought a hand up to rest against her hair.

"About what?" She tilted her head. "Your other personality is cute. I don't mind it either way."

Ashen looked around at the traumatized men and repeated the word in his head.

Cute…?