To become a king and a magician

A weapon he had abandoned two thousand four hundred years ago, and the power he inherited from his most important friend—

"I will save the world you love, Morgan."

As he said this, Natsukawa Torama released Morgan's hand, raised the holy sword with both hands, and lifted it towards the sky as if to offer it to someone.

Natsukawa Tora's actions changed everyone's expressions.

No one needed to explain; everyone understood his idea.

"Tiger! Stop!"

Aozaki Aoko quickly shouted, "Are you going to give up everything again!?"

To relinquish everything—everything of one's own pan-human history, everything of one's own as a Holy Sword Wielder…things that were once relinquished two thousand four hundred years ago, but have now been regained, Natsukawa Torato is prepared to relinquish once more.

"Ah."

Xia Chuanhu nodded calmly, turned around to look at everyone who had surrounded him, and after a moment of silence, revealed an expression with a hint of apology.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I understand your desire to take me back to Pan-Human History, but as for me... no matter what, I still want to stand on Morgan's side."

"Perhaps this is a kind of destiny for the Star Holy Sword Wielder."

The destiny of the Star Sword Wielder is to save the world.

Whether it's the vast world of all people or the tiny world of one person, both are objects that deserve salvation.

So now, Natsukawa Torato is going to save the world—to save the world solely for Morgan. To save the world she lives in, the world she loves.

Do you want to be her savior?

Mary's voice rang out.

[That's exactly what you would do, Tiger.]

“Merry...I’m sorry.”

No, no need to apologize. I already expected you to make this decision, and I've discussed it with Morgan before... To be frank, Tiger. I have a solution.

[—A method that could truly save the world.]

71. The Strange Tales Burned Away

What is the true way to save the world?

The words that came out of Meryl's mouth stunned everyone, including Natsukawa Tora.

Is there really such a method? And it was even discussed with Morgan?

“Morgan…you…”

Ah~~~~ It has nothing to do with Morgan. I was the one who came up with this method. My discussion with her was just to tell her that she might do this at this time, and if she did, then I would reveal the method—that's all there was to it.

Mary interrupted Natsukawa Tiger's attempt to ask Morgan a question.

Morgan won't let you down; that's the kind of thing I would do.

"......"

Natsukawa Tora fell silent.

Fujimaru Ritsuka then asked, "So, what is that method, Ms. Meryl?"

It's very simple; it's just repeating what we prevented once before in this Lostbelt.

Something you stopped once before?

[First, let's confirm one thing—all Lostbelts represent worlds that have lost their future. If we compare Pan-Human History to a towering tree that is constantly growing, then Lostbelts are the rotten branches that have been pruned, hindering the growth of the entire tree.]

The tiger's approach is to continuously maintain the cut portion, making it appear intact. But this is futile, isn't it? No matter how much it tries to preserve it, the fundamental decay remains unchanged; it has lost the possibility of further deterioration and will only continue to rot.

Therefore, if the world is truly saved, there is only one way—to start all over again.

[By rewinding time to before the Lostbelt was established, to before this world was pruned, the root cause of its decay will be eliminated, allowing this branch to remain on the great tree known as Pan-Human History.]

This is the real method.

The real way to save the world.

Time travel?

Natsukawa Tora understood what Merry meant.

That's right. Go back to the beginning, back to before anything happened, and save the world from the ground up.

Specifically, it means going back 14,000 years.

Fourteen thousand years ago.

The time it takes for this Lostbelt to become a Lostbelt.

It was because the original six goblins failed to forge the holy sword at that time that the world was destroyed by the white giant god—now that I think about it, that was always the root of everything.

Tiger, if you want to save the world, go back to that time.

Whether you urge the six fairies to complete the Holy Sword, or defeat Sepharu with your own power—if you can change the history of 14,000 years ago to 'the Holy Sword Wielder defeated Sepharu,' then this Lostbelt might be able to reconnect to the trajectory of pan-human history.

No, to be precise, it should be 'this Lostbelt ceases to exist,' and then a new 'this Lostbelt' is born from 14,000 years ago.

No two leaves in the world are the same.

This rule also applies to the [World] and the [World] itself. The Lostbelt that has now returned to nothingness and the new Lostbelt that may be born are the same existence, but they cannot coexist.

Even though they are the same person, Rei Sajou and Aika Sajou, they are actually quite different.

"【Reverse Canal/Genesis Light Year】".

Arcueid suddenly said this out of the blue, and Aozaki Aoko realized what was happening: "My magic? But wait, even my magic can't go back to 14,000 years ago!"

Magic is not a panacea.

Fourteen thousand years—to traverse such a vast time span is far beyond the power of a single mage, and even a similar spiritual transfer wouldn't suffice, as the magical power required would be immeasurable.

and so--

"Leave it to me."

A voice rang out from Fujimaru Ritsuka's hand—not from her communication device, but from the ten rings on her fingers, and then Goetia appeared in everyone's sight.

In that instant, everyone understood why Mary had said earlier that this was something they had "prevented once before."

Go back to the past, change the root causes, and create a new future.

This is clearly—

"Human reason is burned away."

[That's right. Just as Aoko said, it's absolutely impossible for her to send the tiger back 14,000 years in time by herself; she simply lacks the magical power. But... if she lacks the magical power, wouldn't it be better to just burn all the history up to this point?]

[Anyway, this Lostbelt has been empty since 14,000 years ago. Humans are imitations created by fairies, and fairies are beings burdened with heavy sins, so it doesn't matter if we burn all their history, right?]

Human reason was burned away... no, it should be said here that "strange tales were burned away".

The immense magical power born from burning the entire history of the Lostbelt—with this magical power, returning to 14,000 years ago would not be impossible.

“But there’s still one problem,” Goetia said. “Going back in time requires confirming coordinates, not just the coordinates from 14,000 years ago, but also the coordinates of the singularities created in the Lostbelts in order to burn them down. Confirming those requires the ability to see through the past and the future, the ‘Clairvoyance.’”

Only in that way can the coordinates be accurately located.

Just like at the beginning, there is no one here who can provide coordinates. If we're talking about clairvoyance, Merlin and Melly do possess it, but both of their clairvoyance can only see up to now. Roman, who was King Solomon, has also lost his clairvoyance, and the remains of King Solomon that Goetia once used are no longer there.

[Let us perform the summoning—a summoning to King Solomon, or perhaps a summoning to Gilgamesh.]

Meryl reminded her.

【This is Chaldea, with so many people here. Summoning a Servant from the outset is a piece of cake, isn't it? Besides, we all fought alongside King Gilgamesh in the Seventh Singularity, so we have a connection with him】

"Then there's no problem."

Goetia nodded.

Summoning Servants to fulfill the conditions for Clairvoyance, and then burning Lostbelt history to gain the magical power to travel back 14,000 years—both are ready.

Next, it's up to Natsukawa Tora, the person involved, to share his own thoughts.

[Oh, right, there's one more important thing I need to explain—Tiger, the things you need to do when you go back in time aren't just about defeating Sefaru. There are many reasons why this world became a Lostbelt. If you want this world to exist smoothly in Pan-Human History, it's best to keep watching its development until your time coincides with our time.]

"Huh? So that means..."

Mashu realized what Merry meant.

Fujimaru Ritsuka then added the second half of the sentence: "Captain... are you going to stay in this Lostbelt for fourteen thousand years?"

【Um】

Meryl's voice also sounded somewhat heavy.

72. Farewell to Pan-Human History

Fourteen thousand years.

This is a timescale that no one could have imagined.

The two thousand four hundred years that Natsukawa Torato stayed here was already unimaginable for Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others, but fourteen thousand years... such a long time is enough to completely change a person and make them forget everything from the past.

This is the amount of time required to save a world.

Xia Chuanhu wants to go back to the past alone and live alone in a completely new world for 14,000 years.

"Not just one person."

Morgan began to speak.

"Me and Tiger together—"

No, you can't do it.

Mary rejected Morgan's idea.

[Leaving aside those of us from Pan-Human History, those of you born in Lostbelts can never stay with Tora. Because when Tora travels back in time and changes history from the beginning, all of you will disappear.]

Yes, it disappeared.

This is the result of changing history: the Lostbelt, which has already gone astray, will disappear, and all traces of its existence will vanish forever—including those of the people living in the Lostbelt.