I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother Chapter 50

“Indeed. That is their symbol.”

Elston seemed to know about that symbol as well.

Come to think of it, Morocanil had also found that symbol in an alley before and suddenly became serious.

I was able to rub that symbol off with my hand back then, so I thought it was nothing important.

I never imagined it would be the symbol of Ruben’s followers. Without realizing it, I had gotten something dangerous smeared onto me.

The captain of the guards had definitely said back then that they were “going around preaching their religion.” Then, were Ruben’s followers some kind of religious faction?

While I was trying to piece together what I knew about them on my own, Dazar spoke to Elston.

“We have concluded, along with His Majesty the Emperor, that this food shortage is connected to Ruben’s followers.”

“When you say ‘we,’ do you mean the Transcendents?”

“Yes.”

Elston slowly stroked his chin, resting it between his thumb and forefinger. His expression was extremely serious.

Seeing him like this, he actually looked a little like the Master of the Magic Tower.

“Does the Temple know about this?”

“No. The Temple is merely a link to the gods, after all. There was no need to inform them.”

“But…”

Elston began to say something more, but soon closed his mouth. It seemed like there was something he wanted to say, yet he decided that he shouldn’t.

“I see. So that’s how it is. Then, in that case…”

Elston lowered his eyes as he carefully chose his words before speaking again.

“What exactly is it that you want to ask of me? Judging from what you’ve told me, it seems that some kind of intervention is needed regarding the development of this new food source. And you need my help with that intervention.”

That was a sharp question.

As expected, the Master of the Magic Tower really was the Master of the Magic Tower. He was quick to assess the situation.

“Judging by the fact that you want to manipulate time, are you trying to make that food source grow faster?”

“…That’s correct.”

Oh, Elston…

It was hard to believe that this was the same person who had been grabbed by the collar by me, shaken around like a scrap of paper, and then burst into tears.

As I stared at him with sparkling eyes, going Ooooooh, Elston noticed my gaze and flinched, shrinking his shoulders.

No, why was he afraid of me?

The man who had looked cool for a moment had once again fallen back into being nothing more than a frail Master of the Magic Tower.

“Ahem! In any case, I think I’ll only be able to give you an answer if you tell me exactly what you want.”

“Then go ahead and tell him exactly what you want.”

Huh?

I had naturally assumed that Dazar would answer Elston’s question. So when Dazar suddenly directed the request toward me, I slowly blinked.

“Me?”

“Yes. The person in charge of the project to develop a new food source is you, Lady Cilia Evanroar.”

As he smiled sweetly, Dazar somehow looked irritated.

Could it be my imagination, or did he seem strangely sulky after I had stared at Elston with such admiration just now?

Well, regardless, it wasn’t a question I couldn’t answer.

I brushed aside a strand of hair that had slipped loose and spoke.

“It takes about a year for this crop to fully grow. But now we need a way to shorten that period. Could you cast a spell that accelerates the crop’s time, allowing a year’s worth of growth to happen within a short period?”

“Would it be difficult to simply make the crop absorb more nutrients?”

I rolled my eyes.

Even in Korea, where rice research was highly advanced, adding more nutrients didn’t make the harvest come any sooner.

“It might make the crop healthier, but it won’t shorten the time until harvest.”

“Then you really do need to accelerate the time of the crop itself.”

Elston answered quite seriously before falling into deep thought.

After pondering for quite some time, he finally answered.

“Magic that manipulates time does not exist.”

Did that mean it was impossible?

Dazar’s face visibly fell with disappointment.

He didn’t seem particularly fond of the Temple, nor did he appear to have much of a sense of duty toward his role as a Transcendent.

He’s surprisingly serious, though.

While I was mentally reviewing my impression of Dazar, Elston continued.

“However, there has been… some research related to this recently.”

“Research?”

Elston answered calmly.

“It is being researched in secret, so I’m hesitant to bring it up at this stage. However, I believe it may be something we can discuss at the Magic Tower.”

“Ah…”

“Even if I am one of the key personnel, I still need the Master of the Magic Tower’s permission.”

Right. As the Master of the Magic Tower, he needed to give his own approval.

Just then, Elston glanced at Axion, who was sitting beside me, leaning against me.

Was it just my imagination, or did there seem to be something strange about his gaze?

While I narrowed my eyes at him, Dazar stood up from the sofa.

“Understood. So you need some time to discuss it at the Magic Tower. Then I would appreciate it if you could discuss it as urgently as possible.”

As he spoke, he reached out his hand toward Vanilla.

I had expected Vanilla to swat it away at any moment, but for some reason, she took his hand.

Vanilla moved away from me and climbed down from the sofa. Holding Dazar’s hand, she waved goodbye to me.

Heh. The two of them have gotten pretty close.

I felt happy knowing that my efforts had paid off.

As I waved back at her, Dazar continued speaking.

“Then you may take a break from Vanilla’s lessons for the time being. We should deal with urgent matters first.”

“Uh… Ah, all right.”

Elston hurriedly stood up as well, but Dazar had already picked up Vanilla and swiftly left the room.

“He left quickly.”

“Ahem. Indeed.”

Elston sat back down on the sofa, looking somewhat awkward.

With Dazar gone, only Elston, Axion, and I remained in the room.

Suddenly, something I was curious about came to mind.

“By the way, Elston.”

“Yes?”

Elston answered with a start.

I didn’t particularly like the way he looked as though he had done something wrong to me, but my curiosity came first, so I continued.

“I heard that you and the Saintess are friends?”

“……”

His face definitely looked sour just now, right?

Elston’s face crumpled like a freshly dug potato, making me feel hungry.

Potatoes, huh? They sounded delicious.

“Who told you that?”

“The Saintess did.”

“No. There is no way someone as insignificant as a mere mage like me could be friends with such an excellent person as the Saintess.”

He waved his hands as he said this, but his eyes were practically radiating fury as if to say, That damned woman!

Well, judging from the fact that she had told me about it, it didn’t seem to be much of a secret.

“Then… are you two in some kind of relationship?”

“My lady. If you say something that harsh, you’ll hurt my feelings.”

Seeing Elston suddenly become serious, I realized it.

Ah. So they really are close friends.

I gave him a casual nod.

 

***

 

After finishing Axion’s examination, I returned to my room.

“Let’s see… Is it here?”

While Carl had gone to bathe Axion, I was left alone and searched through the inner pocket of the coat I had worn last time.

What I pulled out of the coat was the booklet Dazar had given me before.

‘It’s a book distributed to each family as a guide. It contains explanations about the Transcendents and the Temple. Some of the information isn’t supposed to be known by ordinary people, so watch what you say.’

I had read about the Day of the Rift before, but I hadn’t had a chance to look through the rest.

I’ve been so busy that I never even thought about opening it.

Was this the reality of being a working mother raising a child?

Phew.

I let out a small sigh and opened the booklet.

I wanted to see if there was any information about Ruben’s followers. Silvestain hadn’t explained much about them either.

“Ruben’s followers… followers… Hmm, where is it?”

When I opened the page, I saw that someone had apparently used it to practice writing. Small, crooked letters had been scribbled across the page.

These letters… I think I saw them on Vanilla’s desk when she was with Elston earlier.

So Vanilla must have looked through this book too.

Rather than simply reading it, though, it seemed she had been using it as a writing book.

I gently ran my fingers over the cute-looking letters and turned the pages one by one.

At last, I found what I had been looking for.

[The Eternal Enemy of the Transcendents: On Ruben’s Followers.]

Oh.

I hadn’t actually expected it to be in this book.

With surprised eyes, I read the sentence below.

[Ruben’s followers. They follow Ruben.]

……?

After reading the very first sentence, I narrowed my eyes.

What kind of explanation is this? It tells me practically nothing.

I checked the next sentence.

Fortunately, the writing became much more informative after that.

[They exist in every world where Ruben appears. How they come into existence has never been discovered. They simply exist naturally. They have only one goal: to destroy the world created by God through Ruben.]

Destroy the world through Ruben, huh.

It was just as I had suspected.

I continued reading.

[They exist everywhere, from the lowest places to the highest. They grow in number by harboring hatred for this world. They are among us.]

“Among us…?”

It was a strangely ominous sentence.