"We are almost there."
"Do we have to be here? This place is too ugly. Are we in a cave?"
"It can't be anywhere else."
"Sigh..."
Four people, one man and three women, were walking through a corridor. The walls surrounding them reminded the black haired man among the four of a cave.
"White," one of the three women called his name. Ironically, his name was White.
"Yeah?"
"Are you sure about this?" the woman asked. She was carrying a staff, but if anyone saw her on the street, no one would care about it.
She looked like she was in her mid-twenties. Anyone who saw her would look at her again.
"Yes, master. I am sure." She just looked in her mid-twenties. In reality, she was much older. And she was one of White's three masters, Alice.
"But..." another woman chimed in. "You should know that we are not sending you to the past, nor are we turning time back. We are just going to transfer your potential to someone in the past, and you will-"
"You don't need to tell me twice. I know I will perish. It is okay, this is our only chance," White answered the second woman.
She also looked like in her mid-twenties, and she was White's second master. She was carrying a sword with her.
She was beautiful, but she, Fiona, had a leaner build than Alice.
Unlike her lean body, though, the sword on her back was huge. It was so big that even a man twice as big as her would need both his hands to use it. She also seemed to be really worried about the process.
"Stop trying to change his mind. If we don't do this, we will all die anyway," the third and last woman, Seila, interrupted.
She had white hair, unlike White, and she was the third and last master he had.
"But, Seila-"
"She is right," White interrupted Fiona. "If we are going to die anyway, at least let me give you hope."
They arrived at an opening while talking.
"We are really in a cave..." White sighed. He didn't like caves.
"Let's hurry. Dark can find us any minute now," Seila said coldly. But Alice and Fiona knew she wasn't doing it willingly.
Dark was too strong. And even though White came like a hero, it was too late. He couldn't get strong enough in time.
He was the only one who really was in his twenties. So even if they used Alice's power and went back in time, they could only go back ten to fifteen years, and the outcome would be the same.
They needed more time, and there was only one way to do that.
"We will send your potential two hundred years into the past," Seila said.
"Doesn't that mean you are more than two hundred years old?" White asked. Since Alice would use her own timeline as a medium, her age should be more than 200 to achieve this.
"Shut up!" Alice and Fiona shouted at the same time.
Even White didn't know these three women's real ages.
"Enough!" Seila continued. "We will bend the fate and cause the new owner of your potential to reach the top."
"Can he do it without you? I couldn't be this strong without all three of you," White said.
"Unfortunately, our times will also go back. So, even if he meets us, we won't be able to help since we will not retain our memories," Alice answered.
"Then, how-" before he could finish his sentence, Alice interrupted him.
"We told you that we will change the fate a bit. It is going to be hard, but with all four of us, it is possible."
"Enough with the explanations. Let's get to it. White, lie here," Seila pointed at a flat stone. It reminded him of an altar, but White didn't feel like he was a sacrifice.
Even though he was sacrificing himself, he would save his masters, the only three humans he ever loved. So, he nodded and lay on the flat stone.
The three women stood around him, and Alice started using her Art.
At the same time, an explosion sound came from far away, and the ground shook. But the three masters didn't mind the approaching sound.
The process began, and fate started changing.
However, unknown to each other, the three women secretly added their own wishes to this new fate.
---
"How is it going, Grey?"
Grey... That was my name. At least, in this world.
"I am almost done for today," I answered the middle-aged man, Taek, in front of me.
"You are much better at it now. But I wish you had entered the academy instead of cutting wood here."
"You know I don't have an Art. Also, I am not a noble."
"Hey, I know that is not true. You don't have to lie to me!"
Of course, he knows I have a last name.
"I am not lying. I am just a bastard son of a noble. Also, don't talk about it in the open! What if someone else hears it?"
I was actually born into a noble household. My mother, though, wasn't the mistress of the house, but one of the maids.
At first, I was allowed to stay in the same household with my mother. Of course, my father didn't see me as a son.
But, after my mother died when I was five, I was sent to a remote village to survive almost by myself.
There was one thing they hadn't calculated, though. I didn't need parents to survive.
I was a full-fledged adult, at least in my mind.
How?
Because I was reincarnated.
I didn't know how and when, but before I opened my eyes as a baby in this world, I was a 30-year-old grown-up in a world called Earth.
But I didn't remember dying. I just.. came here.
So, when I was left here with the village chief with enough money to help me survive for ten years, I lived without caring about things like family.
Taek here was one of he people who helped me a lot. He was like a brother to me. He always wished that I had entered the academy, but... anyway, I will think about that later.
"I am done, let's go."
We started walking toward the village. Today was an important day.
"Are you confident about today?" Taek asked.
"I am. I think I can kill an Orc by myself now."
"Hahaha! Don't strain yourself. Even Orcs are dangerous when we fight them. I wish I had an Art."
"You know it is impossible for us to obtain an Art," I lied once more.
"Anyway, you are going to be fifteen from this midnight on. Let's get your hair cut before the ceremony."
The New Year Ceremony. It was like a holiday. In this world, people didn't celebrate birthdays. Instead, everyone aged once the new year passed.
And every new year, those who could fight would gather and fight monsters together. It was like an annual cleaning.
This way, the villages and cities would be safe at least for some time.
Of course, this ceremony differed everywhere. Since we lived in a small village outside the forest, we would clear the weak monsters living in the outer layer of the forest.
But I heard that some cities fought dragons every year as a ceremony.
I already stopped wishing for an Art and did what I had to do...
However, I didn't know today was the day my fate would change.