The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 288

There was probably a man looking for her out there in some distant world. She had been dragged to a faraway world, but it was finally time to go back to the world she came from with that man.

When she opened her eyes, in front of her was a massive flow of different worlds stretching out into hundreds and thousands of branches. It was the numerous possibilities and worlds she had observed with Ed before.

She felt as if she were swimming in outer space. In that massive flow of different possibilities, Lucy had to find Ed. Somewhere, Ed was also searching for any sign of Lucy he could. He was surely worried about Lucy, who had been dragged away, and searching nonstop for her. He would be trying to look as far as he could to bring Lucy back, even if it was a distance that put his own life at risk.

That was why Lucy couldn’t wait any longer. There was a limit to the magic power she was given, but as long as she clenched her teeth and never gave up, she should be able to return to her original world.

Somewhere out there was Ed’s magic power.

Here. You need to come back here. He would surely try and create a sign to inform Lucy of where she needed to go.

But if Lucy wasn’t able to find it, she would end up drifting off into another world again. She might end up in the future, or even the past. She might fall into a massive ocean or in the middle of a foreign city. Even with all those risks in the way, she needed to concentrate and continue to find any signal that Ed sent.

And so… for a while longer, she continued focusing on finding the right current of magic power. Then, somewhere in a far-off world, she felt a familiar presence. That magic power… was something she could never forget. To Lucy, it felt like warm sunlight.

Even though it was so far away, she was able to recognize it at once. Lucy couldn’t wait any longer. She gathered all of the magic power left in her body as she quickly traveled to that distant world. Following Ed Rothstaylor’s trail of Magic Power, she continued to pass by the countless worlds and possibilities.

Her entire body screamed in pain, but she still had a long way to go. Now that she had found Ed’s magic power, she had to keep moving toward it, even as it felt like her whole body was being torn apart and her magic power was running dry.

Lucy continued to use her magic power to push her body along, but she wasn’t quite there. She finally reached a point where she could enter the same world, but the right space and time were still far from reach. She needed to go further. If she wanted to end up in the same time period Ed was in, she would have to use even more magic power to drag her body just a little further.

Her body cried out in pain. It felt as though her magic power had already gone far beyond its limit and could not carry her any farther… but she was so close. She may have found the right world, but she still could not give up.

“K-Keuk.”

She coughed up blood. She hadn’t felt such a burden on the body since the time she fought against the Great Sage Silvenia. However, it wasn’t the time to have such thoughts. Even if she succeeded in entering the right world, what did it matter if it wasn’t the right time? She needed to live alongside him.

Lucy’s body was losing strength. The flow of magic power was slowly fading. Even though it was only a little further ahead of her, she didn’t have the strength to move. Little by little…she felt herself falling down into the world… Lucy closed her eyes tightly.

Crash!

The sound of a wooden cabinet falling over. An underground space with no sunlight. She didn’t know where she was. Yet the place she had fallen into…for some reason, it felt familiar.

Thud!

“Huff, Huff…”

Lucy rolled her small body across the floor as she managed to sit up. It was a warehouse full of all sorts of research materials and magic engineering devices. Lucy tried to stand up, but her body was in too much pain. It refused to listen to her.

“K-keuk…”

In the end, she never managed to reach Ed Rothstaylor’s magic power. Although she had returned to the world she came from, the time and place were completely wrong. She did not even know what country she was in. It might have been a different continent altogether.

She didn’t know what time it was, either. Maybe she was ten years in the past. Maybe a hundred… There was no way to even guess. In history, there were only a couple of people who were capable of such a level of Celestial Magic.

“H-huff…”

Lucy felt tears welling up in her eyes. She missed Ed Rothstaylor. She did her best to push her injured body as far as it could go, but it wasn’t enough. Now, there was no saying when she could see him.

It would not have been a matter of being a few minutes or hours apart from where Ed was. At the very least, they might have been separated by decades. And aside from no longer having the magic power to return, she would still need to spend years researching Celestial Magic to move through time.

At least for a few years, or maybe until she died, she wouldn’t be able to see Ed Rothstaylor. Knowing that fact…she couldn’t stop the tears rolling down her eyes.

“…That was quite an entrance.”

At that moment, Lucy heard a familiar voice. Even though it had been so long since she last heard it…she could never forget it.

“I figured you would appear sometime now, but I never imagined it would be like this.”

She suddenly had a memory of a hand covered in wrinkles patting her. A small cellar that was filled with old research papers and workbenches. The Archmage Glockt stood there, covered in ash and patting his clothes with a smile on his face.

Only then did she realize why the place seemed familiar. It was…the secret lab in the basement of Glockt’s cabin. It was the same place where Zellan and Ed were investigating before she had jumped through worlds.

* * *

Lucy tried to say something, but nothing but air came out of her mouth. She clearly remembered seeing Glockt covered in ash, patting himself like he was doing in front of her.

“Thanks to you, I’ve come to my senses. But I thought I told you to be careful when practicing magic power in the cabin…”

“We’ll have to find something to brush off the ashes first.”

It was a memory of the day he had given Lucy her hat. While she was playing around, she accidentally flipped over the container that held the ashes, making the entire cabin a mess.

The same day that Glockt, who had gone to the basement for a while before coming back out, gave Lucy her hat. Instead of scolding her, he consoled her.

“I-I…”

“There isn’t much time. There’s no need to explain everything.” Glockt was a teacher, who was also like Lucy’s father. His warm voice was the same as she had remembered as he said, “You must have been through a lot. I’m sure it’s difficult to explain it all. Unlike my teacher Silvenia, I am only able to see pieces of the future, so I don’t know in detail what kind of life you have lived.”

After all, only the Great Sage Silvenia was capable of observing every world and possibility. However, Glockt was talented enough to be able to briefly observe the future as well with his own Celestial Magic. That was how Glockt knew that around that time, Lucy—who was trying to jump through worlds—would end up drifting away and falling into the basement.

It was impossible to be sure of the exact time and place, but he was still able to prepare to some extent.

“Still, I’m sure you were able to live a worthwhile and precious life,” Glockt whispered warmly.

Lucy held back her tears as she tried to respond, uttering, “G-Grandpa…I…”

“Yes, there is a place you need to return to. But the world of possibilities is constantly changing and moving further apart even in this very moment. You need to hurry up, or things will become much more complicated.”

Glockt spoke as he took out a large crystal ball, a magically engineered device from the lab. He knew that Lucy would one day end up falling there, so he had made it in advance.

A Timeline Regulator. The magic engineering device that Zellan and Ed found in the cabin. The one that seemed to have been used only once.

“The Archmage Glock that I knew was a man who hated doing anything forbidden. He was a magician who always respected magic and the world’s provinces. As well as one’s destiny.

“Lucy Mayreel. This might be a bit of a shock to you, but… It seems that the Archmage Glockt…actually studied what is considered taboo in the later years of his life.”

“Given the situation we see here, It’s safe to say that at some point in his lifetime…Glockt Elderbane had messed with time. In other words, he committed the taboo of traveling through time.”

It felt like the pieces of the puzzle were finally coming together. The reason why Glockt Elderbane, an incredible magician who lived his life dedicated to magic, suddenly violated a taboo in the later years of his life to travel through time. The reason why he suddenly went against his own values as he neared the end of his life.

“Grandpa…this is…”

“There is no time to waste. I’ll do the work, so just concentrate on feeling the magic power.”

Lucy wiped her tears with her battered closed as she bit her lower lip, murmuring, “Grandpa…”

As Glockt gathered magic power in his hands, Lucy looked up at the stairs that led upstairs. Beyond that tightly closed wooden door, was she sitting there nervous and upset after having knocked over that container?

Much of her life had been empty. For a while, she lived unable to find any meaning in her life. But one of the few reasons why she was able to survive was thanks to Glockt. That was why she was certain that it was really him in front of her.

Glockt’s cabin was like a cradle for Lucy. She was just an empty girl who could have met her death at any given moment. It was none other than that old man who grabbed ahold of that girl, helping her realize the meaning of life.

She received so much from him. However, it eventually became time to leave the cradle. When she could finally stand up on her own two feet, it was time to leave that cradle behind.

But life was a long journey. If you were going on a long journey, you couldn’t help but leave things behind. That was because people were creatures that looked ahead, not behind them.

“You know, Grandpa.”

Lucy spoke quietly. Just being able to talk to Glockt after such a long time filled her with emotions.

She exhaled quietly as she said, with a smile on her face, “This is awkward to say, but…you are no longer the most important person to me.”

Glockt, who was operating the machine, opened his eyes wide as he heard that. He stayed quiet for a while with a smile on his face before saying, “That’s…great news.”

Glockt couldn’t even guess what type of life Lucy lived. The journey of life was full of unpredictability. Pushing her way through and holding out no matter how hard… That girl, who used to be empty inside, was finally able to smile.

That young child, who used to only care for her teacher, was finally able to create many new cherished relationships and memories with others. She wouldn’t think of Glockt as the most important person to her forever. She needed to continue to move forward.

The past was the past, and you need to leave what was behind you behind. Lucy, who used to be so anxious and depressed, was finally taking a new step in her life without him. That was the happiest thing for Glockt. The old magician smiled as the wrinkles on his face creased.

Lucy took off the witch hat Glockt had given her before as a gift, saying, “I’ll leave this behind.”

Glockt picked up the hat as he curiously asked, “What’s with this hat?”

Hearing that, Lucy opened her eyes wide. She then laughed out loud.

“It’s what I cherished the most… But the reason why is a secret.”

Glockt nodded as he quietly put the hat aside. The magically engineered device Glockt was using began to activate. The entire world was becoming engulfed in light. A warm energy gently embraced Lucy.

Before she left, Glockt said, his eyes closed, “Thanks, Lucy.”

What was he thankful for? Lucy had only received things from him. But what Glockt said at the end struck Lucy’s heart.

“I lived a hectic life full of ups and downs, but… In the end, you were the meaning of my life. Thank you for making my life meaningful.”

The light continued to fill the world as Lucy looked at his smile one last time. Lucy couldn’t hold back her tears.

* * *

In a world filled with darkness, light was shining down. When she opened her eyes, the location hadn’t changed at all. It was still Glockt’s cabin. However, time must have passed. The once-clean research lab was dusty and old. It was clear quite some time had passed.

A beam of light came from the stairs leading upstairs. The wooden door, which had been tightly closed, was now slightly open.

The girl stood up, with her body in an injured state. She stumbled, struggling to remain standing as she ran forward. Exiting the door, she saw a familiar view of the cabin. She walked across the room, exiting the front door of the cabin.

The sun was high in the sky. In front of her was Ed, using his magic power on the device to find Lucy who was lost. Behind him, she could see Zellan and her secretary Wilhelm, who were giving him magic power with anxious expressions on their faces.

Lucy ran forward into Ed’s arms. Ed fell back in complete shock, but Lucy continued to climb on top of him, burying her head into his chest. As tears fell down her face, Lucy continued to hold Ed tightly, never letting go.

* * *

Crackle.

The firewood was burning in the fireplace. Every time the flames of the fireplace rose, the shadows across the cabin shook with it. A scared, white-haired girl stood in front of it with ash all over her body.

An old magician came out of the basement with a witch hat in hand. He then gently put it on top of the girl’s head. Patting her shoulder, the old magician had a gentle smile on his face.

“I’m giving this to you now,” he said.

“This is…”

“Cherish it. One day, this hat will be your most precious item.”

“…Why…?”

Life was unpredictable. Even a girl who thought she would continue to be empty forever one day ended up appreciating and finding value in her life.

“…Well, you’ll find out one day.”

That was the beauty of life.