You Brought This on Yourself

Garen was somewhat bewildered by Josh's words, but he still understood that Josh was calling him a brute.

What was a brute? A brute was someone with nothing but a large body, a simple mind, and no wisdom—someone who only knew how to resort to violence when trouble arose and never thought to adapt. Although Garen liked solving many problems through force, that did not mean he had no brain and could not think.

However, there was one thing he had heard very clearly: Josh had directly admitted that he practiced Void Magic, and he had also said that he had no interest whatsoever in Garen's homeland. So much information left Garen at a loss, but he calmly pieced together what Josh had told him and immediately understood why Josh had called him that.

First of all, Josh really was a Void Mage. Yet from his tone, it seemed that he was human rather than a Void creature. Moreover, Josh appeared to be a prince. That status was somewhat similar to his friend Jarvan IV's, so the mage beside him, whose level was about the same as Garen's, should have been his attendant—or perhaps his friend?

Josh had also said that this was not the Valoran Continent, but some place called the Muya Continent. Garen had never heard of that name before, but judging from the decorations and furnishings in the room, its style was indeed completely different from that of the Valoran Continent. Though he did not understand why, Garen was certain of one thing: this place had to be very far from the Valoran Continent.

Looking at it that way, Josh truly did not seem to have any intention of invading his homeland. First, the journey was simply too far, making it not worth the effort. And if Josh was a prince, then his attention should have been on the throne. Rather than painfully trying to conquer another distant continent for little gain, he would be better off figuring out how to earn his father's approval cleanly and decisively, thereby obtaining the right to inherit the throne.

"Then can you tell me where exactly this place is? I have never heard of the Muya Continent. How far is it from Valoran?"

After thinking it through, Garen immediately displayed his aristocratic bearing. Things had already reached this point, so there was nothing left for him to dwell on. He only felt that this place did not seem hostile toward magic, but when he thought of Roxas and Ionia, he understood. To these people, magic might merely be a form of energy, unlike Demacia, where magic was considered something terrifying.

"That question may be difficult to answer. But I can only tell you simply that you probably will not be able to return to Valoran anytime soon."

Josh hesitated, but ultimately decided to tell the truth. There was no way to hide this anyway. Besides, Josh had copied much of his memory regarding the customs of the Muya Continent, as well as the common language of this world. Using the magic notes he had read, he had turned those memories into a Magic Crystal. He would have Garen learn from it later, so there was even less reason to conceal anything.

"What do you mean? Does Your Highness intend to keep me from leaving?" Garen frowned, unable to figure out what this guy meant.

"This is somewhat complicated to explain, but I'll put it simply. Since the Muya Continent and the Valoran Continent are not in the same world at all, returning to your homeland may be rather difficult."

Josh awkwardly and helplessly shrugged. He could clearly see the dazed expression on Garen's face, as well as the look he gave Josh as though he were an idiot. Josh could only explain, "How should I put this? The universe is enormous. You know that the universe exists, right?"

Garen nodded. He knew about that.

"That's good. The universe is vast, and it is made up of countless planes. But the distance between those planes is so great that even gods would probably need a great deal of time to cross it. Yet the existence of Spatial magic makes many things that were once impossible possible. Doesn't your plane suffer invasions by Void creatures as well? To put it bluntly, those are creatures from other planes entering your world."

"And I happened to master Void Magic by chance, so I can travel between different planes. In other words, I can enter different universes. Back then, I accidentally traveled into your universe and landed in a place called Icathia. I have to say, that place was truly terrifying. Then I left it, but before I reached any town, I ran into you."

"And what does that have to do with me being unable to return to Valoran?"

"It has a lot to do with it. Because my travels are non-specific, every universe—or rather, every plane—I go to is random. You attacked me so fiercely at the time that I was in a very sorry state, so I had already planned to leave. But you directly split apart the Void Gate I had summoned, and as you can see..."

"So I came to your world as well. Is that it?" Garen thought for a moment and immediately understood why he was in this place. But there were still things he did not understand, so he continued asking, "Then why not summon another Void Gate and send me back?"

"Didn't I already say that my travels are completely random?" Josh sighed helplessly. "Because they are random, I don't know where my next teleportation will lead. I originally discovered that Icathia was terrifying, but it had a great many Void elements, so I planned to leave a spatial mark there. But because of what you did, I could only flee."

"You mean... I may never be able to return?"

One could imagine just how great a blow Garen had suffered. Since childhood, he had been taught to be loyal to Demacia. But now someone was telling him that he might never return to Valoran or Demacia again. The turmoil in Garen's heart was easy to imagine.

Although he had not completely believed Josh's words, Garen could sense that the Void Mage before him had no intention of deceiving him. And it was indeed Garen who had attacked first. Because of his armor and the difference in their levels, Josh had clearly been no match for him, so Garen had intended to deal with the Void Mage while he was at it. But now, it seemed that he had set himself up? And badly at that—he had gone from the Valoran Continent straight into another universe.

"Of course, that doesn't mean you can't return." Seeing Garen's expression, Josh smiled. Everything was proceeding according to the direction he had planned. Although Josh was indeed leading Garen into a trap, he was doing so openly. Even if Garen realized it, there was nothing he could do. Garen had brought all of this upon himself.

"Oh? Do you have a way to return to Valoran again?" Garen asked excitedly.

"I can't say for certain, but I think there's a chance." Josh spoke bluntly. "Every so often, I travel again, gaining the opportunity to enter other worlds. Although I cannot be sure whether I can enter the Valoran Continent again—your homeland—I feel that we are not without hope, are we? Perhaps next time, we may enter Valoran directly."

Fine. Josh's reasoning was powerful enough that even Garen could not refute it. This had all been caused by Garen himself. To put it plainly, Garen had to pay for his own actions. At the same time, he did seem to have a slight chance of returning home. Though that chance appeared extremely small, Garen felt that he still had to try.

"Fine, you have convinced me. Earlier, you said you needed a helper. Is that because you need someone to assist you when entering other planes?"

"Of course." Josh nodded as though it were only natural, then stared straight at Garen. "Originally, I had not planned to find a helper. But ever since I met you, I realized that I must find someone to help me. It is too dangerous alone. I think one such disastrous experience is enough."

Garen threw his head back and sighed. He increasingly felt that he might be too foolish. His mission had clearly been to search for the scattered soldiers, yet because of the strange thing Josh had created, he had decided to investigate it. Investigating it would have been one thing, but he had actually encountered this guy. Encountering him would have been one thing, but why had he insisted on attacking him?

Even attacking would have been fine, but why had he struck at the magic Josh had cast? Now this had happened—he had a home, yet no way to return to it.

"Actually, you do not need to worry so much, because I can tell you that the flow of time is different in every world." Josh suddenly thought of something and kindly reminded Garen at once. "For example, when I went to your world, I experienced nearly a full day. But when I returned to this world, perhaps only a few minutes had passed here."

"Although I cannot be sure whether that was caused by me, I think we can still hope that after we left Valoran, time there slowed down tremendously."

"What if it is the other way around, and time passes quickly there?"

"Then there is nothing I can do about it." Faced with Garen's question, Josh shrugged, then emphasized, "You know this was not caused by me, right?"

Garen felt like dying. If time really passed rapidly there, then by the time he returned, his younger sister might already be an old woman. No—not even whether she was still alive could be guaranteed. But Garen had no choice. He could only nod helplessly.

"Oh, right. Take this. Crush it later, and you will gain information about the Muya Continent and the common language of this world." Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Josh directly took out the Memory Magic Crystal he had prepared long ago and handed it to Garen. Their conversation had been carried out through a mental bridge, which had been continuously draining Josh's mental power. Now that they had reached an agreement, Josh intended to sever the connection.

"Thank you." Garen accepted the Magic Crystal Josh handed him with a bitter expression, but before Josh disconnected, he asked one question.

"You are already a prince, so why do you still risk going to other worlds? You know those places may be dangerous, so why take such risks?"

Josh was stunned when he heard Garen's question, but he quickly smiled. "Because I want to become stronger! Then protect my territory and my people!"