CCTnovel 176 – Otherworldly Future Visitor
176 – Otherworldly Future Visitor
176 – Otherworldly Future Visitor
The Magic City of Sharia was bustling with activity. Rumors of the Church of Milis intervening in the slave trade quickly spread, fanned by those who were both freed and given the resources to return to society.
There were also rumors of a quickly growing population of devout believers in the Milis religion... though quite a few of them praised 'Lord Rudras' in the same breath as 'Saint Milis'...
The Greyrat family was busy as well, preparing for upcoming weddings. The brides-to-be and their family were deep in wedding reception and wedding venue planning. The groom’s family was busy prepping unique attire for each wedding as well as looking for gifts, spending most of the day shopping using said groom’s personal funds.
As for the groom himself...
Well, he focused on his job as the sole professor of the Ranoa Magic Academy.
It would be a lie if he said he didn't regret taking the position considering the amount of sheer paperwork he had to handle when doing the work of over ten different professors.
Fortunately, magic was everything, and he managed to automate a system to sort it all out.
...It totally wasn't inspired by the old days when a substitute teacher would roll in an old projector and play a movie for the class. Definitely not.
But regardless, time marched on, and soon it was the day before Eri's wedding ceremony.
Since all the weddings were timed to be on the last day of the week, with any pre-wedding celebrations and the ceremony itself thus on the weekend, that meant that Rudy was free.
Though everyone else was busy making last minute arrangements and logistics planning, Rudy was left to his own devices.
...Probably because everyone was worried he would cause things to get out of hand.
Rudy didn't see how. He was a perfectly reasonable person, and he also wasn't going to ruin his lovely wife's special day for his own pride.
But whatever. Since he was free, he was spending the day taking a stroll around Sharia. It was going to be his second (Third? Fourth?) home in the future, so he figured that he would map it out.
The residential district, the entertainment district, and then the commercial district.
Rudy took his time walking around and just unwinding for the first in a while. And then someone called out to him. And in Japanese.
"Excuse me, Sir. Are you Mister Rudeus?"
Rudeus paused and looked towards the speaker.
It was a young man. He had an unfamiliar face, but from the black hair, clear Japanese facial features, and even polite Japanese mannerisms... plus recent context clues, Rudy had a good handle on the guy's identity.
Smiling, Rudy turned towards the young man and smiled. Speaking in Japanese, he said, "That's me. And I guess you must be Shizuka's 'friend' from the future. Akihito or something, right?"
The young man glanced at his left wrist, looking at a watch. After that, he let out a relieved smile and looked back at Rudy. "Yes. I'm Akito. Shinohara Akito." He let out a deep sigh after saying that and said, "You're a difficult person to track down, Mister Rudeus..."
Rudy laughed. "Well, I've been busy."
-RNG-
Shinohara Akito.
This guy was apparently the lynchpin behind all the crazy time shenanigans that involved 'Rudeus Greyrat.'
That was enough to be curious about the guy, especially since he still hadn't shown up even after Rudeus died in that other timeline.
But what interested me more was that this guy was Stella's- No, "Shizuka's" boyfriend.
Slightly messy hair, a confident but also somewhat awkward vibe... He was wearing a black blazer and jeans which surprisingly didn’t stick out much in this city because of the academy. Still, it was clearly a Japanese high school uniform instead of the one at Ranoa Magic Academy.
There was no doubts about his identity. The timing was a bit strange, but assuming complex time shenanigans involving an alternate version of my cute but hyper-inquisitive and smart baby sister, I could believe it.
We were walking together around the city now, just strolling and chatting. Since the city was bustling with activity these days, we didn't stick out much just chatting.
I did place a few magic formations up so that people would hear our talk as random chatter, but overall, everything was fine.
Standing beside me, Akito let out a sigh of relief and said, "I was getting a bit worried. Shizuka said there’d be plenty of time, but we’re running pretty close..."
"I'm assuming you didn't just drop in then?"
Akito shook his head. "I've been in this world for a while now trying to find you after checking certain things." He let out a sigh and said, "It's been hard. Thankfully, Mister Orsted has been helping out a lot."
"...Okay, first off." I held out my hand and conjured a bracelet.
Weave a boatload of protection spells, good luck blessings, bad luck blockers, Anti-Being W magic formations, offensive spell programs, defensive spell programs, passive homeostasis healing spells...
And good to go.
I tossed the bracelet over to Akito and said, "Put that on and you'll be fine."
Akito blinked and then shook his head. "I-I can't accept something like this!" He looked at the glittering gold bracelet and said, "This is pure gold, isn't it?"
"Something like that. But I'd rather you not go dying on me while you're my guest here."
Especially since Stella would freak out if she found out her ex was both here and then randomly dropped dead.
...Wait, was this guy her ex?
I don't think I ever asked her directly about it since it was extremely traumatic...
...Meh, I'd find out when she reacted to him.
Akito slowly nodded and said, "Okay then, Mister Rudeus." He snapped the bracelet open and then clamped it over his right arm. The moment he did, the bracelet shimmered and dissolved. "E-Eh?"
"Don't worry about it. Intended design feature."
Akito blinked and then slowly nodded. "Okay. Right, isekai."
"So." Since that guy was safe as he could be now, I crossed my arms and said, "Anything you want to do in particular?"
Akito shook his head. "I've checked the things Shizuka wanted me to check, and I don't really have anything to do... But if you're serious about the killing god thing, I can help!"
I blinked. "...What? How?"
Akito's ears turned red and he coughed. "W-Well, okay. Not directly, but I've read a lot of manga and played a lot of games! Shizuka said I should be able to help you find a loophole! Plus, you're a ridiculous cheat character who got isekai'd, so if we work together and go through all the stuff I've read, *something* should work, right?"
...Huh. A guy who looked like a 'normie' but was a die-hard otaku.
Wait. 'Cheat character?'
I frowned and said, "Just to confirm, by Shizuka, you don't mean Stella, right?"
Akito blinked. "Satella? Like the Witch of Envy from Re: Z*ro?"
"Re: Z*ro?"
"Yeah." Akito nodded and said, "It's a web novel about a guy who gets sent to another world and then has the ability to go back in time on his death. There're a few hints that it might not really be going back in time though. And the female lead is this girl with silver hair. She has a floating white cat that's actually a primordial ice spirit or something, but she's commonly mistaken for Satella, the Witch of Envy who's like a taboo and super evil lady who's probably the big bad. The web novel's not very far along yet, but it's super cool!"
"I... see."
That guy just said a whole paragraph in a single breath.
Definitely diehard otaku. But that aside...
It was an interesting concept.
A bit too many parallels for my liking, though. Especially the part about the female lead.
Floating white cat that's secretly a primordial ice spirit owned by a girl mistaken for 'Satella' who is a 'Witch of Envy'...
...Mm. Let's not think about the world entirely in terms of anime, manga, and light novels.
Akito paused and then turned a bright red. He coughed and said, "Sorry about the rant..."
"No, no. It's fine." I laughed and said, "Don't get me started about the moon."
"The moon? You mean Type-"
"We don't talk about that here. Now." I patted the guy's shoulder and said, "Let's get you a place to live. There's been a few recent evictees and evacuees in town, so we can probably get you a place for cheap..."