Echoes of Time (Side Story)

The north wind howled, and dawn broke.

The knights stood ready beneath the castle of the royal city of Norlana.

A young man dressed in full heavy armor, his cloak adorned with gold patterns, rode on horseback, facing the enemy surging towards him on the horizon.

The soldiers all knew that Her Majesty Eliza would fight alongside them to the very end!

...But the person under the helmet was not Eliza.

The real King of Norlana had shed his heavy armor and was now wearing a simple, somewhat tattered robe, the only difference being the soft armor beneath it that set him apart from the surrounding refugees.

The girl poked half her body out of the tunnel entrance, pulled her hood up, and looked at the distant battlefield with flushed cheeks.

She shouldn't be able to see it.

But she "saw" it, she saw so much.

Freya, with her long golden-red hair, led her army in like a tidal wave, her young face twisted with glee.

Just like the bloodthirsty smile on King Nolana's face back then.

The child who cowered by the wheels of a cart, his face filled with hatred, had finally grown up while her mother and the knights slaughtered the entire enemy clan.

Eliza's shoulders trembled slightly.

She should hate like Freya of Hetua, harboring a long and lasting resentment, and then grow stronger with that hatred, eagerly anticipating the day she appears before her enemy—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and personally exacts revenge!

But why... do my heart and body feel so weak?

The girl swallowed hard, clutching the pendant that symbolized her love to her chest, her dry throat filled with the taste of blood.

However, the stench of those stenches was far less overwhelming than the overwhelming smell of blood and the stench of corpses.

"Ugh..." She covered her mouth, pulled her hood tighter, and ran off in the opposite direction.

Pat, pat.

Eliza's shoes slammed into the ground, creating cracks.

No, that wasn't her power; it was an ultimate power that shook everyone's hearts and shattered the world.

The girl was oblivious; she kept running, just like a warrior relentlessly fighting on a battlefield, vanishing in an instant...

Then it suddenly reassembled in the next second.

Pat, pat.

Eliza ran through the streets, the stench of blood mixed with gunpowder filling the air, leaving dark marks on her face.

*Snap*

Her foot seemed to have stepped on something, sending a strange, unsettling pressure through her.

“Ugh…” The girl stood there, her face pale, too stunned to move.

Want to gamble? Are you betting that the thing underneath won't explode if you move your foot?

"Glug."

She clutched the pages of documents hidden in her chest tightly, her face turning pale and then flushed, filled with resentment.

I finally managed to bring these out for the teacher... Ugh, am I really going to die here?

Tears washed away the dust on his face, leaving a crisscrossing trail of black marks that continued to flow.

rustle.

Whether it was the gods who heard her prayers, or whether she was crying too pitifully and too young, it is unknown.

A middle-aged man with his face covered by a headscarf approached her hesitantly, gesturing to ask if she needed help.

A...good person?

Is she a good person? A companion I can trust? Is she a Nolana? A Hetuya? A Belai? Or just a passing mercenary?

It doesn't matter anymore.

The girl spoke breathlessly, tears streaming down her face.

"Please... I can't leave, please take good care of it."

Please, don't let it... don't let hope be extinguished by the flames of war...

The headscarf obscured the stranger's face, and she was clearly hesitant, wondering if the girl might be hiding a knife, or worse.

But in the end—for whatever reason—she reached out to the girl from afar.

"Thank you, thank you..."

Eliza watched her walk away, weeping. When a grinning figure came into view, carrying a gun and running towards her, she hesitated—very hesitantly—and lifted her foot.

A beam of white light enveloped her and the world, and then life and death began anew.

......

Thud!

Thud!

Flames roared, sparks flew everywhere—single her hair and seemingly leaving indelible scars on her eyes.

The girl watched intently as the craftsman hammered iron in front of the furnace, shaping a long strip into the prototype of a sword.

A figure carrying an axe hurried over.

She slammed the axe to the ground with a thud, angrily shouting, "Hey, you old dog! The axe you made for me is completely unusable! It just... it..."

The man in front of the stove turned around, hammer in hand, his strong muscles reflecting a reddish glow in the firelight.

Glug.

"You... never mind, we'll discuss this after you're done with your work..."

The relatively thin young man muttered a couple of words, picked up the axe from the ground, and darted away.

Eliza spat and clicked her tongue, saying, "Teacher...when can we be redeemed? We've gotten sick from working as blacksmiths for these serfs, ugh."

The craftsman coldly turned his body back and raised the hammer again, bringing it down forcefully.

Thump!

"...We Norlana people are alright."

Thump!

That's right.

Eliza sighed: The Belai Alliance is fighting Hetuya. These former nobles of Norlana might be able to escape their slave status by virtue of their military achievements, and then other countries' slaves will do the dirty and hard work.

"Go help Nana wash the vegetables, don't delay lunch."

The craftsman gave his instructions without turning his head, his ginger-yellow hair appearing blood red in the light.

Yes~

Eliza scratched the mosquito bites on her body and lazily walked towards the door.

The wind blew her dry, yellow hair and numb expression, and brought with it an aura of decay.

She walked and walked toward her hardworking companions, and then her body merged into the light.

......

"Cough, cough, cough."

The girl in the red silk dress covered her mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood, instantly staining her chest dark red.

Ignoring her cries of pain, she staggered forward, clutching her stomach, and nearly tripped over the corpse on the ground.

"Hetuya, you scoundrel..." She kicked the corpse through gritted teeth, then hurriedly flipped over and searched every corner of the tent.

Yes.

Eleanor, it has the Sage's signature!

Eliza's eyes lit up, and she quickly gathered the contents into her arms.

That's great! The ignorant Hetuya people actually treat this treasure like an antique.

With these manuscripts, one could reproduce the printing press and the corresponding ink, and perhaps even more valuable inventions.

Unfortunately, she only knows a few words, so she'll have to go back and ask her teacher for details about what she got.

Hehe, with this achievement, she might get officially adopted by the teacher, right?

The girl excitedly lifted the curtain, only to see a woman with a gloomy face raising her hands.

Oh no, the guards are back too fast.

The next second, her consciousness soared high into the sky.

Oh no, it's my head, I feel so dizzy.

......

"Phew." My head is spinning.

Eliza put on the gold-rimmed glasses by the pool, looked at the refined young woman reflected in the mirror, and gave a familiar, gentle smile.

Three, two, one.

She silently counted to three, took the phone from the person beside her who was both her aunt and the housekeeper, and said softly, "Mother, please rest assured, everything is going well here. Yes... I will definitely pass this exam."

The voice on the phone said calmly, "What I need is not just passing, but excellence."

"Yes, I will be your best successor, and I will never forget it for a moment."

Eliza walked out of the spacious bathroom and onto the balcony.

With a wave of her hand, the entire curtain was quietly drawn open, revealing a huge transparent glass screen that reflected the bustling street scene outside.

This high-rise building, belonging to one of the heirs of a large company, is located near the center of the business district, offering stunning views of the constantly flashing neon lights of the surrounding area at night.

I wonder what kind of lives those ordinary people, who only have twenty to thirty years of youth left, lead.

After listening to her mother's reprimand, Eliza hung up the phone after the beep.

She took the nutritious juice from the housekeeper, drinking it while her eyes flickered with confusion.

This moment of confusion was fleeting.

The lives of ordinary people must be extremely hard; you can hardly see anyone strolling on the street at noon.

As the heir to a large corporation, she is destined for greatness. Why should she sympathize with someone as insignificant as a mayfly? If she feels guilty, she can simply donate more money.

Eliza closed her eyes, and the world shattered and then reformed.

......

"Look here, keep an eye on it~"

"You must win!!!"

The circular arena was packed with spectators, and the place was bustling with noise.

They waved colorful flags in different colors as the athletes entered the stadium.

Many of them had staked all their precious savings on a particular contestant, so their shouts became even more intense and hoarse.

Eliza adjusted her helmet and winked at the people around her.

The silver-clad knight sat spiritedly on his horse, holding a blunt-tipped lance in his hand.

She was young, fit, and quite beautiful, and was rumored to have royal blood from the Norlanda royal family, which made the audience scream.

Her enemies also entered the scene at the same time.

It was Freya of Hetuya, the same age as her, and she had won ten consecutive battles.

Eliza's lips curled slightly. They belonged to different city-states within the Grand Alliance, yet were both beautiful young men "related to the royal family." She wondered how much her mother had bet on her.

Hearing the thunderous cheers, she knew that her opponent must be just as overjoyed as she was.

The midday sun suddenly became intense, obscuring her excited gaze.

......

Thump!

"hiss......"

Eliza slammed her head against the table, wincing and clutching her chin, pitifully raising one eyelid.

Sure enough, the teacher behind the podium threw a piece of chalk at me, which bounced off the corner of the table.

"Eliza, are you feeling unwell today? Why are you sleeping in class?"

The young woman, who was both a teacher and an aunt, reprimanded him with a stern face, pushing up her glasses and coldly saying, "Stand up and answer my question."

Freya whispered a reminder from behind: "The steam engine was invented on December 7, 104 AD."

Eliza gritted her teeth.

What a terrible friend!

Aunt...the teacher definitely didn't ask that question, and even if it was the answer, it would definitely be wrong: December 7th, 104th year was the day Queen Eleanor died, and the steam engine was invented before her death.

Even assuming the worst, no one would bring out a steam engine on the very day His Majesty passes away, would they?

Her eyes swept over her classmate's notebook, and she answered confidently, "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was signed in 65 AD, and since then any form of slavery—or the killing of civilians by nobles—has been deemed illegal."

"Very good, please sit down." The teacher nodded in satisfaction, and the projector switched slides to begin playing the next knowledge point in modern history.

After a history class in the afternoon, followed by an even longer math class, the school bell finally rang promptly at 4:30.

Goodbye, students.

Goodbye, teacher!

With smiles on their faces, everyone packed their schoolbags, slung their books over their shoulders, and ran out of the school gate one after another.

The second year of high school is an awkward year.

They weren't as energetic as the first year of high school, nor as fiercely competitive as the third year; overall, they seemed a bit lazy.

"Hey!" Freya put her arm around her friend's shoulder, and the two of them walked down the slope.

She bumped her friend's head on the fallen leaves: "Why are you acting so dazed today?"

"Uh." Eliza bought a serving of pork tenderloin from a roadside stall.

The shop owner skillfully flipped the shovel, his ginger-yellow hair all tied up in a headscarf, making him look capable and clean.

"Okay, two skewers for 10 yuan."

Eliza took the skewers and shared one with Freya.

She mumbled as she chewed on a meat skewer, "I'm a little tired today, probably because I had nightmares all night."

“I feel the same way!” my friend agreed earnestly, and the two of them looked up at the azure sky together.

"Speaking of which, tomorrow is the Spring Festival, shall we go to the amusement park?"

The girl with golden-red hair smiled and took Eliza's hand as they walked home.

“Okay.” Eliza replied, then paused and asked softly, “Freya, what did you say…”

"Um?"

"If there are parallel universes, would we still be friends?"

"Of course!" My friend grinned sheepishly.

“…” Eliza blinked, trying to catch a glimpse of a memory that had already vanished.

"We are absolutely certain that we are best friends!"

Freya gripped her left hand tightly, pressing her forehead against hers.

Pfft.

The girl finally squinted her eyes, smiled, and nudged her friend's head.

"The last one is absolute, right?"

"Well, that's just how it is~"

"Um."

The black-haired girl nodded, tossed the skewer into the trash can lightly, and continued walking in the twilight.

This time, their world did not shatter.

"I feel it's not perfect enough." The root of this feeling is this sense of dissatisfaction.

She... Eleanor ultimately gave everyone a better ending than she had envisioned.

All subsequent side stories will be released as fan service content. Due to various reasons (mainly because I was relieved all at once), the fan service content may have to wait a while, at the latest on New Year's Day, January 1st?

In short, let's meet again in Endless Nightmare when the next summer arrives!

That will be an intense, difficult, and almost heartbreaking mystery-solving story that I'm determined not to give up on.

Then, if you're interested in romance with non-humans, you can bookmark the pre-order for "The Rewind Demon King". I will modify it later and turn it into a yuri story in simulator format. Muah!

Love, my cat. Thank you for your companionship, support, and enjoyment of this story. [Pat head]