"I must say, Alex." Marisa chuckled as she put up a few runes to ward from observation around the snow shelter. "To actually run off with the Imperial Princess and elope like this is bold."
I smiled. "Well. This wasn't Plan A. But priorities change when children are in the picture."
Emma wasn't expected.
Honestly, how COULD I expect it?
Even so, I didn't regret it.
Marisa smiled at me and said, "I suppose they must. Now instead of planning an elaborate scheme behind both mine and Roland's back to save Eve, you're simply running away."
I coughed. "You're still upset about that, huh?"
"If we had known, I could have prepared. And not cleaved through with an icy blade."
I winced. "Yeah... Sorry?"
Marisa rolled her eyes. "For a genius, you sure have a habit of missing the key points."
I sighed. "Well... I COULD say that I thought you two would be fine... but I also forget that people don't know what I know."
It just went to show what being in love could do to a guy, I guess?
I had 'thought' I was being rational and objective. And I thought I was properly accounting for everything. But at the end of the day, I had focused solely on how to save Eve and didn't think about anyone else.
...Which to be fair, was also because Eve's death set off a chain of events leading to the end of the world.
But at this point, I had different priorities.
Because it wasn't just 'saving Eve' now, but making it so that Emma was safe too.
If Emma had been some sort of infant spirit or magical familiar, maybe I would keep going on the first track of preventing the disasters and everything.
But right now?
The priority was finding a place where Emma could grow up in safety, at least temporarily, and then quickly gaining the power to stop anything that came our way.
Priority two, a close second at least, was also finding Betty.
She was out there somewhere, I was sure of it.
And considering the chaos about to unfold with the fact that Eve had just run away with me...
Yeah. We had to work fast and think deeply on where she could be.
Which was why we were heading to Edelweiss first.
The Holy Land was at the northern edge of the continent anyway, so we'd be passing through Edelweiss on the way there.
When we did, I could see with my own eyes what really happened, and where the simulated past and real past diverged...
Marisa finished her wards and then started adding enchantments to the snow hut, strengthening it and making it cozy.
I went over to help, weaving a little of my Aquablaze flames inside to emit a soft warmth.
When I did that, Marisa said, "I've never asked, Alex. But... just how many things do you have up your sleeve? The fact that you had a complete temporal regression spell prepared... Are you even human?"
"To be fair." I chuckled. "It was something I got at the gate where we saved Betty in the past. Well, that altered history of the past." I sighed. "...I didn't expect it to not take certain things into effect though."
Rob had mentioned that Gates were outside of causality before when I was at the simulated past Gate with the others.
I had taken that to mean I could do things with impunity in that place. And I DID do things with impunity.
But I didn't realize it meant the opposite too. That when I did things affecting this world, things that were IN Gates at the time weren't affected.
It probably didn't mean too much.
Marisa's parents were still stuck in that Gate. Anybody who had been in a Gate at the time would find it weird that time went back a bit, but Gates were always designed to be a bit wonky with regard to time in the first place.
...Not quite 'spin the clock back over a week' wonky, but it wasn't outside the realm of reason.
Marisa raised an eyebrow. "...Does that have anything to do with the ridiculous mana accessory you had at the time which raised your magic to ridiculous levels?"
I coughed. "Right. That..."
Diamond Mana Galaxy...
I had given that to Betty as a good luck charm before we left. But when I was actively using it, I had been overpowered.
...If I had realized how much of a mess we'd been in, I probably would have given Betty my ring instead, but-
Wait.
My eyes widened as something just clicked. "Betty."
Marisa tilted her head. "...What about your sister, Alex? Did you remember something?"
I looked at Marisa, my mind whirring at the implications. "Marisa. We spun time back and neither Elio nor Headmistress Lux returned because they both went into Tartarus, right?"
Marisa slowly blinked. "...I wasn't aware that the gate Professor Endless opened led to Tartarus. But yes."
"Then doesn't that mean that the Betty we saved... She exists somewhere too?"
Marisa paused. Then her eyes widened. "That's... correct. Although she would be displaced when the Gate closed... although it was a recreation, if Gates are outside of the flow of time... And if the simulation was close enough in fidelity..."
"...Then since I spun time back, it might have stitched her in. Somewhere."
I ran my hand through my hair, wracking my mind for the implications and trying to remember the setting details.
Was it possible?
I didn't know what happened to the Betty that was supposed to be in the present time.
And I also didn't know for sure if my hypothesis was correct.
But.
If time was 'locked.'
If gates were outside of causality.
If all the antics I pulled in that altered history were enough to actually deal a real blow to the Demon God.
...Then it was possible.
"...Betty might be here. No, 'both' Betty's might be here."
The one I saved... and the one I didn't.
Still...
I took a deep breath. "...This is frustrating."
I wanted to run off to confirm it. But I couldn't be hasty.
First of all, if the hypothesis was correct, then she should be here 'now.' And it would have been less than a day.
Edelweiss wasn't too far from here. Assuming the snowstorm died down by tomorrow, we could make it by evening.
Second of all...
I had a family now. No, I STARTED a family now.
Running off without Eve and Emma wasn't just irresponsible, it was unforgiveable.
So as much as it pained me to be patient...
Marisa looked amused.
I noticed and frowned. "Is something funny?"
"You're doing it again. Putting everything on your own shoulders."
I blinked. "What? ...Wait. No. You're right."
*I* couldn't run off on my own.
But...
Roland and Marisa were here too.
The MC and the female lead.
Not only that...
The reason I had been holding back in the first place was because I was worried about the Void Sovereign turning back time if that guy thought it was a lost cause.
Well, that was impossible now.
Not only that, but while I had been concerned about that person and the Void Arbiters copying the things I put into play...
Since they were 'stopped' from retcons now just as much as I was...
I laughed. "Mari. Bestie." I looked at her with gleaming emerald eyes. "I just realized something very important."
Marisa stared back at me with her own green eyes. "And what might that be, my reckless and ridiculous genius of a friend?"
I pulled out Artemis and tossed it over to her.
Marisa's eyes widened in shock. "What in the world is-?"
"I can just have you and Roland resolve everything while I run away with Eve."
I was stupid-
No.
Not stupid.
I had been too obsessed with trying to do everything myself.
Thinking I knew the setting the best and that no one could be able to help me at all, I'd refrained from taking a few actions that would have made things easier.
Well.
Priorities changed.
Moreover...
Since I was already play the role of a 'regressor' who had 'done this many times before' in their eyes... what was another step past that, right?
I smiled at Marisa and said, "Hypothetically... what would you say if I told you I knew how this world was meant to end?"
Marisa looked at me with a blank expression, holding the gleaming lunar bow I handed to her.
After three beats, and after staring at
I laughed.