Epilogue: A’

In the infinite darkness—

“Hic… sob… Someone, please get me out of here… Don’t lock me in this cage…”

—Someone was crying.

A girl with tattered wings sprouting from her back sat alone, sobbing.

Her right hand, left leg, right shoulder, and torso bore gaping holes… A broken doll-like girl, missing parts here and there, was crying.

“No… All this time, all alone… Turned into this hideous body… Trapped in a place like this… I don’t want to be alone anymore… I want to see them… I want to see you… ■’■■■■-sama…”

The girl’s body was steadily crumbling, moment by moment.

Her form was actively deteriorating, falling apart piece by piece.

Soon, this girl would likely vanish quietly in this darkness, unnoticed by anyone.

In a space where no one existed, where nothing existed, only deep darkness reigned.

As the girl continued to sob endlessly,

she suddenly noticed a presence and lifted her face.

There, unnoticed until now, stood another girl.

Her hair and skin were unnaturally white, her eyes a dim coral red.

And from her back sprouted grotesque wings.

It was Nameless.

Nameless stood before the broken girl, gazing down at her with emotionless eyes.

“…As I thought, Le Kill… It was you, wasn’t it…”

“Ah, aah… Aaaaaaah!?”

At that, the broken girl… Le Kill’s eyes widened, her face rapidly shifting to an expression of shock and joy.

“It makes sense that Glenn, who’s connected to me, could perceive the repetitions. After all, Le Kill… you’re my…”

“■’■■■■-sama!”

Ignoring Nameless’s words, Le Kill flung herself at her, embracing her tightly.

“I missed you! I missed you so much, ■’■■■■-sama! All this time… I’ve wanted to see you…”

“…I’m sorry, Le Kill. Because I misjudged that person, I put you through such pain. Back then, foolish as I was, I closed my eyes to inconvenient truths and believed in them… I wanted to believe. I never dreamed they’d turn you into such a pointless clock. Please, forgive my foolishness…”

“It’s fine! It’s fine, ■’■■■■-sama! As long as I can be by your side… I… I… That’s enough…”

“…I see…”

Then, Nameless gently stroked Le Kill’s head.

In an instant, Le Kill’s existence dissolved into countless particles of light, gathering into Nameless’s outstretched palms.

“Welcome back, Le Kill… Rest now, within me.”

And so, the particles of light that were once Le Kill were slowly absorbed into Nameless—

————.

“—Sen… sei! Sensei…!”

Noisy.

“—Sensei! Sensei! Sensei, come on, Sensei!”

…Extremely noisy.

The incessant shouting in his ear peeled away the sleep clinging to his brain, ripping it from his consciousness.

“Ugh, come on, wake up already, Sensei!”

“…Wha… what’s that…?”

Resigning himself, Glenn lifted his head from where it had been slumped on the teacher’s desk, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“Give me a break… I’ve been insanely busy lately, you know…?”

“I know you’ve been busy, Sensei! But you’re slacking off way too much!”

A slender finger was thrust before Glenn’s nose. Looking up, he was pierced by silver hair sparkling in the sunlight and vivid emerald eyes that seemed to stab through his eyes and soul.

It was Sistine. Her fairy-like, delicate beauty was twisted into a displeased expression.

“Now, now, Sistie. Sensei’s got a big role coming up, so…”

“Yeah. Glenn, pitiful.”

Rumia, trying to calm Sistine, gave a wry smile, while Re=L, standing behind her, mumbled sleepily.

Glancing around with a groggy head, Glenn saw they were in the classroom of Year Two, Class Two.

Kash, Wendy, Gibul, Teresa, Cecil, Lynn, Rodd, and Kai… the usual crew, watching Glenn and the others as always, with their usual mix of exasperation and wry smiles. A perfectly typical scene.

“Haha, come on, Sensei, pull it together!”

“Honestly, Kash-san is right! People from other schools are coming soon, you know! Get it together!”

At Kash and Wendy’s words,

“Ugh, so it’s starting like this again, huh… Talk about predictable,” Glenn muttered, stretching his back and yawning widely.

But—at that moment.

Sistine suddenly leaned in close to Glenn’s ear… and whispered softly.

“Partner.”

“…Huh?”

Partner. That word—

“Y-You… could it be, your memories…?”

But Sistine didn’t answer Glenn’s question.

Instead, she flashed a radiant, sun-like smile and launched into a rapid-fire speech.

“Seriously, how long are you going to stay half-asleep!? The selection tournament for the Magic Festival representatives is happening at this academy, and students from St. Lily Magic Girls’ Academy and Kleitos Academy are arriving today! The battle starts now, you know!?”

With that, Sistine grabbed Glenn’s arm, pulling him to his feet.

“H-Hey…!?”

“Come on, let’s go! It’s almost time to greet both schools! Get your act together!”

“…H-Hey!?”

Dragged along by an energetic Sistine, Glenn began to walk.

The remaining students blinked in surprise, watching the two of them leave.

————.

And so, at the welcome reception that began as usual,

“If you get too complacent, you’ll get tripped up, you know?”

“I’ll keep that in mind. But don’t underestimate me either. The seat of Main Wizard, the highest honor among the representative team… I’d love to compete for it with you, fair and square… Farewell for now.”

After that exchange,

Levin walked away gracefully, returning to the table where the Kleitos Academy students were gathered…

“Phew…”

Once Levin was out of sight, Sistine wiped the sweat from her forehead and slumped.

“Sistie, you okay?”

“…Yeah, Sistine, you’re super nervous.”

“Honestly, I was getting cocky… I never imagined someone that skilled would be in our generation.”

As Sistine, Rumia, and Re=L spoke, the surrounding students swarmed around them.

Everyone praised Sistine’s exceptional performance in unison.

“Man, you got even better since the last time I saw you!? That’s unfair!”

Colette’s competitive spirit flared up.

“We worked so hard and got pretty strong too, but we’re like total fodder… Ugh…”

Francine gave a dry smile, her eyes teary.

“Yare yare… Same old pattern as always. Hope this is the last time, geez.”

Glenn, exasperated, glanced over the familiar scene while scanning the venue.

In the end, he hadn’t gotten a chance to ask if Sistine retained her memories from the last time.

He could just ask her directly… but for some reason, it felt oddly embarrassing.

Just then,

at the edge of Glenn’s vision, in a corner of the venue, he spotted Gaysorn.

“Why!? Why is the crown missing!? The clock I was going to give to Ellen—where did it go!? Without it…! Kleitos’s glory… Damn it… Damn it!”

Gaysorn was frantically searching his body, heedless of the onlookers.

Honestly, Glenn wanted to punch him… but ignoring him was probably fine.

The Le Kill Clock. Without it, Gaysorn was just a small-time nobody who couldn’t do anything.

He wasn’t a villain who absolutely needed to be killed.

As for Ellen’s treatment in the Kleitos family, Glenn planned to consult Sistine’s father, Leonard, later and have him put pressure on the Kleitos family.

Ellen’s father, Graham, and Sistine’s father, Leonard, were close friends.

They’d been like family since childhood, maintaining a lifelong bond.

Plus, Leonard was a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic, the head of a prestigious, ancient mage family, and still a highly influential and authoritative magician. He had both status and power. Crossing Leonard would bring no benefits. A small intervention like this would be no trouble for him.

As Glenn was thinking this—

“It’s been a while… Sistine… I’m so glad to see you again…”

“Huh! Really, Ellen, you were chosen as a representative candidate!? That’s amazing!”

“Yeah! Sistie, I might not be worthy… but I worked hard, you know? Ehehe…”

“Great, then let’s both aim to make the representative team, Ellen!”

“Yeah, let’s do our best, Sistie!”

In a corner of the venue, Glenn saw Sistine and Ellen having that conversation.

(…So that’s Ellen’s true self, huh.)

It seemed that with the distortions in this timeline corrected and the repetitions ended, Ellen had lost all memories of those loops.

What had happened behind the scenes of this selection tournament… Glenn was the only one who remembered it (well, maybe one other highly suspicious person too).

(Geez, no one gets how much I went through… Talk about thankless work.)

But strangely, he didn’t feel bad about it.

(Well, I guess this is pretty teacher-like, right? Being the unsung hero behind the scenes?)

With that thought,

Glenn slowly scanned the faces of the students, still buzzing with excitement from the welcome reception.

And so, the true selection tournament finally began.

As expected, from the very first day, Sistine and Levin stood out overwhelmingly.

These two were in a league of their own, and as the tournament progressed, it became clear that Sistine was a cut above even Levin, astonishing all the candidates.

Others, like Rize, Jaill, and Gibul from Alzano Academy, and Francine, Colette, and Ginny from St. Lily, showcased their skills impressively.

Kash and Wendy likely wouldn’t make the representative team, but they fought admirably.

Both of them likely gained a clear sense of their current skill level and future challenges through this tournament, making it a highly valuable experience.

If there was one other student worth noting… it was Ellen from Kleitos Academy.

Ellen’s mana measurement and written exams were lackluster.

Her mana measurement score was the lowest among all candidates.

At first, everyone mocked her, assuming she’d only been selected as a candidate due to her grandfather’s influence.

But once the mock magic battles began, that perception shifted.

True, Ellen’s performance in the mock battles wasn’t great either.

Yet her approach—never giving up, strategizing with all her might, and seizing any opportunity to strike back—was gritty, tenacious, and quintessentially mage-like.

No matter how much she was ridiculed, Ellen fought desperately with every card she had, and her determination was anything but contemptible.

In fact, against Sistine, whom even Levin couldn’t touch, Ellen was the only one who came close to holding her own.

Ellen’s final results were, unsurprisingly, unimpressive and far from qualifying for the representative team… but before long, her matches began to draw spontaneous applause filled with respect and admiration from the surrounding spectators and candidates.

“Good work, Ellen… You really gave it your all.”

“Sistie… Yeah… I… gave it everything…”

Defeated and covered in mud, Ellen gazed at the distant sky.

Though beaten down by her current limits and reality’s harshness, her eyes, fixed on the future, shone with a strong light—and her expression was somehow refreshing.

And so, the Magic Festival representative selection tournament concluded with great success.

The names of the chosen representatives were—

————.

And then—

DOOOOOM!

“No way, no way, no way!? Glenn-sensei! This book won’t do!”

In the academy’s attached library,

Fossil was shouting, knocking over a tower of books stacked on the desk onto the floor.

“Glenn-sensei, grab everything from the third shelf on that rack, from the right end to the left! I’ll rummage through that shelf over there! Oh, and clean this up! Hurry! Hurry!”

“Aaaaargh!? I just wanna punch this guy!”

Glenn’s screams echoed shrilly between the bookshelves.

“Argh, damn it! I owe Fossil big time, so I said I’d help with his research, and now I’m screwed! Damn iiiit!”

Glenn, teary-eyed, hurriedly cleaned up the piles of books scattered on the floor.

“Here! I brought ’em!”

“Hm? I don’t need those anymore. They’re in the way!”

CRASH!

Fossil mercilessly knocked over the mountain of books Glenn had painstakingly carried.

“As expected, bringing forbidden books from the sealed archive, where reading is strictly prohibited, was the right call. The information I need is here… Though reading it feels like my soul’s being sucked out.”

“Whaaat!? Fossil, stop reading! It’s sucking you!? That’s literally sucking your soul!”

“Heh, for some reason, my hands and eyes won’t stop… Help me.”

“Aaaaaargh!? Noooo, come onnnn!”

Glenn, in a frenzy, continued assisting Fossil.

The analysis of the statue excavated (or rather, stolen) from Kleitos territory had reached a milestone, and Fossil’s research had apparently moved to the next phase…

Honestly, Glenn had no clue what Fossil was even researching now.

(This is why I hate weirdos…)

But he owed him.

The breakthrough in that sealed week had come thanks to Fossil’s knowledge.

(But… since no one remembers it, wouldn’t it be fine to just ditch him…?)

Grumbling to himself, Glenn wearily continued helping Fossil.

(Geez, I’ve got my own stuff to deal with…)

Memoirs of Alicia III.

Deciphering it still hadn’t progressed.

(If I had time for this, I’d rather make some headway on decoding that…)

Casually, Glenn reached into his pocket.

…But the journal, always there, was gone.

(Huh!? W-Where is it!? I definitely had it before coming here… Did I drop it!?)

Glenn frantically scanned the scattered books around him.

(Crap, this is bad! Losing that would be a disaster—where the hell is it!?)

As Glenn began to search for the journal in a panic,

“…What’s this?”

Suddenly, Fossil’s voice, slightly lower in tone, caught his attention, and he turned around.

“Ah!”

There was Fossil, holding a journal, flipping through its pages.

It was—unmistakably—Memoirs of Alicia III.

“Hey!? Fossil, that’s mine! Give it back!”

Glenn hurriedly rushed to Fossil’s side.

But—

“Why… Why in the world…?”

Fossil, staring intently at the journal’s contents with a grim expression, muttered,

“Why is the secret cipher, passed down through my family for generations, used in this journal?”

“…Huh?”

To a bewildered Glenn, Fossil carelessly tossed the journal.

Glenn caught it reflexively.

Then, Fossil sharply questioned the stunned Glenn.

“What is that journal, Glenn-sensei? Where did you get it?”

“…H-Hold on…”

The sudden turn of events, this unexpected development, left Glenn’s mind reeling.

“Fossil… You can read this?”

“I can. It’ll take time, but I can. It’s that kind of cipher by design.”

“…”

Read it? This journal?

The journal that, no matter how much time he spent, he couldn’t decipher.

The one where even when he thought he’d cracked it, it was always just dummy decryptions—this most formidable ciphered journal.

Even Celica had thrown up her hands, saying the notes were complete gibberish.

And you’re saying you can read them?

That’s why Glenn could only ask one thing.

“Fossil… just who are you?”

At that, Fossil gazed at Glenn for a moment, as if appraising him.

Then, he spoke solemnly.

“Hmph, fine. I usually don’t bother with my full name. Even in this academy, I avoid using it… too much hassle.”

“…Your full name?”

“But you? You’ll do. To put up with a stubborn fool like me this far, you’re an honest-to-a-fault good guy. I can trust you. So, let me introduce myself properly.”

With that, Fossil stood up and declared boldly.

“My name is Fossil… Fossil Lefoy Ertoria.”

Glenn’s eyes widened.

“…Ertoria… you say?”

“Looks like you’ve heard of it.”

Fossil smirked, the corner of his mouth curling as he continued.

“That’s right… The Magician of Melgalius, Melgalius’s Sky Castle… the legendary archaeologist and fairy-tale author who left behind countless iconic works, the founder who laid the groundwork for magical archaeology—Loran Ertoria. I’m his… descendant.”

Something was set in motion just now.

That was the only premonition Glenn felt.