"Have I?"
Aoko Aozaki tilted her head, looking puzzled.
"You'd stick your nose into things even if I did nothing anyway, wouldn't you? A little sooner or later doesn't make any real difference."
"Hmm..."
Faced with such blunt, unsparing words, Zelretch was momentarily at a loss.
Just as Aoko Aozaki said, although True Magic Users differed in personality, their immense power and insight into the truth behind the world gave them a disposition unrestrained by scruples, making most of them major troublemakers who stirred up unrest.
Otherwise, Aoko would never have earned the fine reputation of "Human Rocket Launcher" in her very first year of traveling.
But perhaps because he was a human who had lived since before the common era and one of King Solomon's disciples, or perhaps because of the nature of the Second Magic, "Parallel World Interference," coupled with his complex disposition of "Mocking Good out of Righteous Anger at Evil," Zelretch ranked among the foremost troublemakers of all recorded True Magic Users.
In fact, he was arguably a little too much of a troublemaker.
Across World Lines great and small, he never hesitated to meddle in any event of even modest importance, even actively fanning the flames.
For instance, he had personally presided over and witnessed the origins of Fuyuki City's Three Founding Families and the Greater Grail, which involved countless parallel worlds.
"Indeed. Whether I want to or not, as long as I haven't given up observing parallel worlds and maintaining their balance, I'll have to resolve these matters sooner or later."
Zelretch sighed.
"-But this time is different."
"I cannot be a factor in bringing Crimson Moon to an end, or clean up problems involving her. Much as I hate to admit it... I've grown old."
Anyone else hearing Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg's confession would