I was momentarily disheartened when I was told I was crazy by my Master.
What’s the point of living like this?!
I was called crazy by my Master!
Just as I was wallowing in despair, my Master approached me, gently patting my head.
“Did you say Yuren? Don’t lose heart, I’ve seen plenty of people go mad from the long war. I understand.”
I was pitied by my Master.
I ended my despair and appealed to him.
“It’s true! I’m your disciple from the future!!”
“I’m just an Elf who can’t use magic as well as you. How could I raise a disciple like you? Don’t say nonsense.”
“B-but it’s true…”
I had heard that the modern magic system had rapidly developed after the Third Demon Lord War 500 years ago.
From the perspective of my Master 500 years ago, it seemed as if the magic I was using was too advanced for him to have taught me.
Sigh… How do I explain this…
“Ah! How about you check my memory?”
“Memory?”
“Yes, I will open my mana. Please take a look.”
I decided to use my last resort.
Wizards can synchronize mana to show memories to each other.
I extended my hand, opened my mana towards my Master.
He cautiously approached me but remained wary.
“If you do anything strange, I’ll kill you.”
“I promise I won’t do anything weird.”
To my surprise, my cute Master grabbed my hand carefully, and we began to synchronize our mana.
Buuuuuumm-
As the synchronization started, I recalled memories.
Learning magic from my Master, eating together, getting scolded by Karen for eating strawberry ice cream with my Master, and much more.
I reflected on those joyful times.
After seeing just a small part of my memories, my Master looked genuinely surprised and spoke.
“Is it true… you are my disciple from 500 years later?”
“Yes! That’s what I’m saying!!”
“It’s impossible! I can’t believe it no matter how much I think about it!!”
Even after seeing the memories, my Master still wouldn’t believe me.
How do I convince him?
Racking my brain in search of a solution, a thought suddenly struck me…
“But… what was that thing I saw you eating in the memories?”
“Ah… that was strawberry ice cream.”
My Master looked at me with bright eyes.
Could it be…
“Do you want some?”
Nod, nod.
My Master hurriedly nodded his head.
How cute our Master is!!
Seeing a way to persuade him, I offered,
“If I make you strawberry ice cream, will you acknowledge me?”
“I-I’ll think about it!”
My Master said, her face flushing a bit in embarrassment.
I smiled and held my Master’s hand.
“Then let’s return to the stronghold. Keep my identity as your disciple a secret, please.”
“Understood.”
Using my power to assist his flight magic, my Master spoke.
Even 500 years ago, my Master was still my Master.
*
“Medic!! Please take care of the injured here.”
“Yes!”
Upon returning to the Southern Command, the first thing I did was assign my Master to the medics.
I told her I would quickly sort out the situation and bring ice cream afterward.
Once I left my Master with the medics, Allen rushed towards me.
“Welcome back, Captain Karuga!!”
“Yes, Allen. What’s the situation?”
In the hour I was gone, it seemed a lot had happened, and Allen shared the current status with me, reading from some documents.
“Communications have been restored with all units except the Fourth Unit. Most of them have suffered injuries, but fortunately, most are operational and heading here.”
“That’s a relief.”
It seemed fortunate that communications with most units had been restored.
I looked over the documents to grasp the situation when Allen asked.
“What about the Fourth Unit?”
“They were wiped out… except for one person.”
“Impossible!? The Fourth Unit is one of the strongest magical units in the Southern Army alongside the Sixth Unit. How could that happen!?”
Allen looked incredulous about the annihilation of the Fourth Unit.
In this time, magical units were some of the most powerful strategic assets, like air forces and artillery combined.
To hear one of them had vanished was unfathomable to Allen.
“Since they’re the strongest unit, they must have gone all out, using every means at their disposal to wipe them out.”
“I can’t believe it… How could they deal with the aftermath of such actions?”
From the traces left, I could somewhat guess the situation.
If they fought head-on, they would naturally take heavy damage themselves, so the demons would have resorted to ambush tactics to attack the Elf units, disregarding any honor or diplomacy.
But that’s what it means to be called demons, huh.
After reviewing all the data, I said to Allen.
“Brace yourself, Sergeant Allen. We are at war with those kinds of guys.”
“Yes! Understood, Captain Karuga!”
With the situation understood, I prepared to enter the Commander’s Office.
But before I did…
“Ah… But, Sergeant Allen, I have one question…”
“Yes, Captain Karuga!”
“Is there any way to obtain strawberries?”
“Yes!? Strawberries?”
*
Until dawn, I remained in the Commander’s Office, directing the restoration of the Southern Army and collecting information.
After a stormy period, as dawn broke, I seized a spare moment, left the Commander’s Office, and headed straight to the kitchen to gather ingredients before heading to my Master’s barracks.
Milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and strawberries.
Once I had the ingredients ready, I began making strawberry ice cream.
I mixed the milk, cream, sugar, and egg yolks well, then gradually whipped it while using ice magic to freeze the mixture.
Once it was halfway frozen, I added finely chopped strawberries, whipped it a bit harder until it turned into a sorbet, and then finished!
I had made strawberry ice cream for my Master back when I was broke.
When my Master took a bite of the ice cream I made, her eyes lit up and she exclaimed.
“It’s… delicious!!”
“Please have more, Master.”
As far as I knew, ice cream didn’t exist in this era yet.
Having this cold and sweet dessert for the first time, my Master was totally unable to compose herself and indulged in the strawberry ice cream.
Eventually, she seemed to have a headache, grimacing and pressing her head.
She still had that cute side to her.
As my Master appeared to be in a good mood after eating the ice cream, I continued with a more detailed explanation.
I told her that I came from the future and had to lead this war to victory as Karuga; otherwise, the World Tree would be in danger.
“Therefore, I need your assistance.”
In response to my words, my Master seemed to be pondering deeply.
Then, she looked directly into my eyes and said.
“I understand. I can’t believe you’re my future disciple yet, but I see you’re a good person trying to do good. I will help you.”
“Thank you!”
Awesome!
I had managed to earn a bit of my Master’s approval from 500 years ago.
But immediately, my Master looked sad, saying,
“However, I don’t quite understand how to use magic that leads to the future. That’s something Alicia knows well.”
“As expected… I should ask Alicia for that.”
As I thought about seeking out Alicia, the other wise one, just like my Master, a voice called from outside.
“Captain Karuga! Where are you?!”
It was Allen, and I instantly transformed back into Karuga and stepped outside.
“Sergeant Allen, what’s going on?”
“Captain Karuga! The Sixth Unit has returned!”
“Awesome!!”
After hearing that the Sixth Unit, with Alicia, had returned, I dashed off with my Master.
The Sixth Unit, specialized for close combat with Dark Elf mages, had taken heavy damage but, fortunately, managed to retreat without total annihilation.
Once we reached the location where the Sixth Unit had returned, we found the battlefield covered in wounds and right there was Alicia, who looked exactly the same as 500 years later.
Holding a spear stained with demon blood in one hand, Alicia appeared furious as she berated a soldier who looked like a cook.
“I thought I was going to die!!! Hey! Give me some booze!!”
“Alicia, you can’t act like this here!!”
Seeing that scene, I suddenly recalled my first meeting with Alicia, when she forced me to drink alcohol as a child.
Looking at the unchanged appearance of Alicia, I asked my Master.
“Alicia, you used to act like this 500 years ago?”
“Alicia, are you still like this after 500 years?”
…It seems that even 500 years wasn’t enough to change Alicia.
