I and the Witch of Time Who Seeks the Past

Escape (2)

Yes — we had to go. I didn’t have much luggage, but the real problem was Lijedahl. There was definitely more than one person looking for us outside. How could we slip past them?

How could we get around them…

“Will!”

In an instant, I grabbed her and rolled to the side. Just as I reacted, the door exploded inward under a hail of bullets.

“Hurry, hurry! The witch is in here!”

I heard a group shouting outside. But… what the hell — they were carrying firearms? And they’d fitted suppressors, so I couldn’t hear the shots. How did I even sense them coming…?

I noticed a chair slicing past over my shoulder.

Was that Lijedahl’s air magic?!

“Will! Quick, follow me!”

She yanked my hand and ran toward the window.

Of course… air magic!

I reacted instantly, throwing my shoulder into the window. We smashed it and fell out together.

Our room was on the twentieth floor. As we were thrown out, bullets zipped over our heads, and we plummeted through the air.

“Lijedahl!”

I yelled.

She immediately used air magic, and we stopped falling.

“Lijedahl, fly us that way!”

I pointed to the parking lot behind the hotel.

“My car’s parked there!”

“Car? What’s that?”

“It’s a fast thing that will take us away.”

“Okay!”

I grabbed her hand and we glided as fast as we could. I could clearly feel that everyone in the city was watching us — people on the street behind us were staring.

“This is over. Now the whole world knows about us.”

“Yeah, because I used magic.”

“That’s true, but… oh well.”

When we reached the parking lot, the crowd there moved toward us as well.

“Quick! Lijedahl, that’s my car — get in!”

I fumbled with the door, started the engine, and hauled her inside.

“W-what is this thing?”

“Don’t worry about that. Seatbelt’s there — pull it down and plug it into the socket. I’m driving; hold on tight!”

I put the car into gear and tore away from the hotel, heading for the city streets.

“Wow…”

Lijedahl was still amazed by modern technology, but I didn’t have the patience to explain.

“Lijedahl, we’re in danger. That fall back there will probably be on the news soon. The Church people will get more desperate in their search. We need to find a way out of Britain.”

I said, my voice tense.

“…I don’t quite understand everything, but the Church and its people cover lots of resources, right? It’ll be really hard for just the two of us to run away.”

“So… what do we do?”

“Will, there’s a way, but… once we use it, there’s no turning back.”

“What way?”

“We go back to the Woodland Manor. I’ll activate the Chronomantic Clock.”

“Huh? Why?”

“...We’re going to go back in time.”

Her words shattered my expectations again.

Right — she said she could use time magic.

“This… this is unreal.”

“I know it’s hard to believe, which is why I’m hesitating about whether to use it.”

“Lijedahl, I—”

My mind raced. Right — the Church might seem powerless on the surface, but behind the scenes, they had countless connections and influence. Crushing me would be easy. And now that they knew magic existed — and that I’d broken a witch’s seal — there was even less chance they’d let me live. It looked like there was only one option.

A desperate gamble. No choice but to risk it all.

So I said, “I choose to trust you.”

"Are you sure, Will?"

“Yes.”

“Will, I have to be clear — this method is extremely risky. No one has ever succeeded before.”

“Wh—”

I was at a loss for words.

“So… what do you think your chance of success is?”

“Before I was sealed, I used the Chronomantic Clock to map out how it works. Right now I think there’s about a fifty percent chance… even though my power is much weaker than before.”

This was truly a wager.

“So, Will, do you still choose to trust me?”

“…Lijedahl, my past work was very unique. I chose that work, chose to come here, and chose everything up to now to find the truth that’s been guiding me.”

For a moment, I understood — everything I’d done, from then until now, had a purpose.

“This is fate, Lijedahl. Whatever choices I make from here on are because of that fate. I choose to trust you.”

I uttered those words with absolute conviction.

“Is that so?”

I saw her smile.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to the people you knew?"

“Ha. Because of the nature of my previous work, my friends and family won’t be harmed. My true personal information is tightly protected by my country. If what I do is discovered, all that protection would be for nothing.”

Then I made a fist-bump gesture toward her.

“That’s why I can gamble on that fifty percent.”

She noticed my gesture and smiled faintly, returning it in kind.

Then, with a surge of confidence, she said, “Well then—good luck to us.”