The Elf Saint is a NEET, so I Forced Her to Work in Another World

Time (Part 2)

"I'm not the one who'd do the demands; you'll be the one to offer..."

That was what Time said, but we're not going anywhere.

"I'll give you time to think of what I want," she told me after I asked and guessed for so many times. "In the meantime, you may look around my place. I know you're interested in everything you see here."

I wanted to, but there's something that's bugging me. Err...isn't it that time passes in Chersea?

"Yes, why?"

"Won't my time be dilated if that happens? I still want to see my friends and loved ones when I come back, and in the same age bracket as them, if possible."

"Well, if ever you came back and saw that a million years have passed, you still got me."

"Hm?" I was surprised when I heard that, and I didn't know what to say.

"Pretend you heard nothing."

"I'm already doing it."

"I really like you," she laughed. "Okay, I'll help you decide, Mister Kuro of Arles. Listen to this, 'Dawn breaks, dusk ends. Eyes close until it opens. Tell me, wanderer, what is it this weary, lonely heart needs?'"

"That's a poem, or a riddle?"

"Doesn't matter; just offer me what you have in mind when you're sure of it."

Then, a round of silence. As I walked around the red threads, and the lit candles, I noticed that there were those that lost its flame, and well as empty candle holders...separated from the others.

"Have you remembered that the candles mean someone's existence? And the flames burn those existences until it disappears?"

"Yes..."

"Those unlit candles are people who lost their existences before its natural end."

"What...do you mean?"

"Exactly as what you think, Kuro of Arles," Time winked at me. "Just like the case of your good friend, Dusis Luisa, the Marquise of Monfort, whose existence was erased by the Lady Seirna when you're still enemies."

"Oh..." was my reaction, because for some reason, I think there's something wrong...or lacking in her explanation.

Then, Time uttered a spell, and from her hand one of those empty candleholders came out, and she showed it to me. "Don't you know, Kuro of Arles, this very candleholder is special. It is because, this is the 'existence' of the person standing before me right now."

My eyes widened as she presented me my own existence...an empty candleholder.

"Those empty candleholders, including yours, are of 'special existence'," the lady elaborated. "You belong to the individuals that lost their candles, simply because you went to a timeline that is not even yours. You can't even see your candleholder connected to the threads, right?"

I could only nod. Honestly, there were a lot of information to take in, yet Time kept on showing me everything.

"Don't worry, Kuro of Arles, you'll fully understand these things someday," she gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Still, let me explain to you why Luisa's candle is dead, when you can still remember her. See, you're someone outside of Chersea's timeline, so you lost your candle. And, because of that, you can still remember her; you're not affected by the timeline threads anymore."

"But, if I lit Luisa's candle, will she come back to life again?"

"I told you, life and existence are different. And, one simply cannot rekindle the flame of existence that has been lost. A proper exchange must be fulfilled..."