TGS - Chapter 120
Chapter 120: 【Spacetime】
The reason she thought "probably" rather than "definitely" was because Lotus didn't entirely trust the silhouette that had suddenly appeared.
The silhouette, surrounded by numerous golden artifacts, was illusory and strange, but in truth, it wasn't very tall. Lotus lowered her head, her gaze calm as she looked at the spot where its face should have been, her eyes holding a guarded thoughtfulness.
The silhouette seemed completely unaware of Lotus's wariness and persisted in its questioning: "After seeing all this, why do you feel no nostalgia, no urgency, no anxiety?"
Lotus: "..."
What kind of question was that?
After a brief silence, Lotus said calmly, "Before I answer, I must first ask—why do you want to know this?"
The silhouette replied, "Because your attitude toward your 'homeland' is strange. Logically, you should be very eager to return."
The content of its words should have conveyed confusion, yet the silhouette's tone was flat, betraying not a hint of curiosity.
Lotus: "You... didn't see the scenes I was just observing?"
The silhouette: "I saw them."
Oh, so it didn't understand.
Lotus rested her fingertips on her other bracelet and said ambiguously, "I suppose I am nostalgic."
Lotus was, of course, nostalgic for that past, which already seemed so distant. It was her homeland, the place where she was born, grew up, and spent her childhood and adolescence. Her personality had been formed and refined in the modern world, so it was only natural to miss it.
This had nothing to do with emotions or the past; it was simply human instinct.
—But that was all.
The urgency and anxiety the silhouette spoke of might apply to others, but for Lotus, if she had been desperate to go home, she wouldn't have tucked the bronze mirror away at the bottom of a chest after discovering it.
Instead, she would have tried every method, conducted every experiment, to use the mirror to return to the modern world.
If anything could truly unsettle her, it was only Alyuin.
The silhouette clearly didn't catch the unspoken meaning in her reply. It seemed that as long as it heard Lotus say "nostalgic," it could move on to the next part of the conversation.
"In that case, you must awaken from your slumber as soon as possible, or you will lose the only chance to return to your homeland." The silhouette's voice was flat, as if dryly reciting from a script. "There is only one chance. Once you miss it, it will be gone forever."
Lotus's eyes flickered slightly.
"Is that so? But how am I to recognize this chance?"
The silhouette: "When you see it, you will know."
Alright, another one of those cryptic lines, just like the gods used. Then again, from another perspective, whatever could accomplish this was likely more than a mere god.
After all, even the other major gods of the Solancian pantheon knew nothing of Lotus's true past.
"This 【World】, the will of civilization, heals itself through slumber. This process is unconscious and aimless, making it slow and lengthy. To awaken faster, you must remain conscious within your slumber."
"Here, your consciousness has already been awakened. What you need to do next is maintain it."
Lotus: "And then, control the healing process?"
The silhouette: "Yes."
That sounds reasonable enough, Lotus thought.
Across from her, the silhouette, perhaps feeling it had conveyed all it needed to, prepared to leave. The golden artifacts adorned with the ouroboros began to fade, just as they had appeared.
Lotus suddenly spoke up. "Please wait. Was it because of you that I came to Solancia?"
The fading of the golden artifacts stopped. They remained in a semi-translucent state, appearing all the more bizarre.
The silhouette paused for two seconds before saying, "No. The catalyst for passage cannot be interfered with, unless a connection is impossible. The one who brought you to this 【World】 was yourself."
As it spoke, the silhouette moved for the first time. It spread its arms—or what should have been its arms. The ends of these limbs were not projections of human hands, but ethereal, gauze-like shadows, like mist. They resembled wide sleeves far exceeding the length of an arm, hanging gracefully from a hollow center.
One of the two gauze-like shadows rose above its head while the other lowered. They then traced semicircles, one downward and one upward, to form a complete circle.
The silhouette said, "You must seize that opportunity. Only then can the connection be made, can it be complete."
Lotus's gaze followed the arc's trajectory, her brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.
"...Are you a Rule?"
"Rules are part of the whole. A part of that is also attributed to 【Spacetime】." The silhouette lowered its gauze-like shadows, its voice as placid as still water. "【Spacetime】. That is what the wills of humanity call me."
After saying this, the projection of the golden artifacts continued to fade, and the silhouette vanished along with them.
Soon, the blank space returned to its empty and silent state, as if the strange, semi-humanoid silhouette had never appeared.
Lotus recalled the silhouette's words. After a moment, she murmured to herself with a slightly strange expression, "It... It is Spacetime?"
She recalled what it had said about "the wills of humanity." The manifestation of humanity's collective will—wasn't that just the pantheons of various civilizations?
She then recalled the last divine banquet. Before En, the God of Sky and Wind, had uttered certain words, there had always been a subtle pause.
What were those words?
【The World】... 【Destiny】... and 【Spacetime】.
So, did the major gods actually know of the existence of such silhouettes? Or was it that only En and Nierde, the God of Wisdom, were more aware?
After a long moment, Lotus took a deep breath, her gaze lowered.
Regardless—no matter why she had come to this world, or whether she would choose to return when the opportunity the silhouette mentioned arrived—these were all matters for the future.
And right now, the most important thing was to maintain consciousness and use it to purposefully accelerate her self-healing process.
The normal duration of her slumber would be far too long. She could afford to wait, but Alyuin could not.
But... no wonder that silhouette had used the word "maintain."
An assault of drowsiness washed over her, like cotton seeping into her brain from every direction, trying to weigh her mind down into a stupor so she would obediently go to sleep and not interfere with her body's slow, natural recovery.
Lotus had once heard her classmates in the modern world complain about how terrifying it was to stay up all night revising a thesis, how every second they wanted to just collapse and sleep, or even just fall asleep sitting up.
Finally, Lotus was experiencing that feeling for herself, though it had nothing to do with a thesis.
Standing in the blank void, the silver-haired goddess suppressed her drowsiness with a gentle yet tenacious will. Her eyes closed, she slowly raised one hand.
A ball of pale blue, transparent divine power condensed at her fingertips, twinkling like a star.
The instant this ball of divine power formed, in the outside world, at the bottom of the temple's sacred pool, a faint orb of light of the same color began to flicker above Lotus's body, right between her eyebrows, pulsing with a serene, intermittent light.
The water rippled gently in time with the light's pulsing, her silver-white hair drifting with the movement. The furrow in the River Goddess's brow smoothed away, leaving her sleeping face peaceful and serene.
This was the third year of Lotus's slumber.
In three years' time, Alyuin could no longer be compared to the young princess she once was, the one who still carried a trace of youthful pride and sharp intensity.
She was still young—three years was not a particularly long time, after all—but even without the tempering of age, her brilliant golden eyes had gradually accumulated a depth that only elders who had weathered many storms possessed.
What truly shapes a person is never age, but experience.
Some people can live half their lives and remain simple and ignorant of the world's ways, sheltered behind others, because they never needed to understand.
While others, at a fraction of their age, might already be mature and worldly. Alyuin had undergone such a transformation at the age of nine, and in the past three years, she had experienced it all over again.
This feeling was difficult for others to understand.
Although the Princess had never been particularly dependent on Lotus in the past—she had always thought through and carried out her own affairs.
But when Lotus left, likely—very likely—not to return for a very long time, a time Alyuin might not even live to see, something that had always existed deep in her heart was hollowed out.
It was like losing a crossbeam, losing the main frame, leaving her truly alone.
The cavity that had already been eaten away by foolish desire expanded further, collapsing inward.
The wind whistled through it, wailing mournfully day and night. During the day, the sound was poorly concealed by the bustle of her duties, but late at night, it could no longer be suppressed. She tossed and turned, falling asleep to its sound.
The deeper her thoughts, the heavier her obsession.
To the confusion of others, Alyuin began to pay meticulous attention to her own well-being, placing the utmost importance on her face.
Previously, she couldn't even be bothered to dry her hair properly after bathing. While part of that had been a way to be close to Lotus, it was also true that she genuinely disliked the chore.
Now, Alyuin not only meticulously dried her hair but also applied lightly scented balms. From head to toe, she used various so-called maintenance oils, strictly following her physician's instructions with a routine timed down to the minute.
Previously, Alyuin's lifestyle had been unhealthy. She would run around in all sorts of weather, stay up late whenever something came up, and fight with reckless abandon, often trading injuries for a kill.
Now, she ate her three meals exactly as her physician prescribed, never eating one less vegetable or half a piece more meat. She set a minimum for her sleeping hours, and unless it was a major crisis, no one could make her work by a dim oil lamp.
It was an astonishing change, so much so that the head maidservant and her personal guards, who had been worried about the Princess's condition, were baffled and didn't know whether they should continue to worry.
If one were to say the Princess had given up on herself, well, even aging rulers and noble ladies devoted to their beauty regimens were not as meticulous about self-care as she was.
If one were to say she was living positively and embracing the future, well, the bone-chilling authority that grew heavier around her by the day was no illusion. Sometimes, they wished the Princess would show them the same seemingly polite smile she offered outsiders; otherwise, her presence was simply too intimidating. Of course, that was just a thought. It was better for the chill in her heart to be released than to remain bottled up.
However, this focus on her health did bring one benefit.
Some noble ladies in the royal city, hearing of the Princess's reputation, formed groups to discuss self-care tips with her. It didn't take much of her time, but it proved to be an effective way to build relationships.
That, at least, was an unexpected gain.
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