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The carriage moved slowly down the rather narrow road. Klein calmed himself again and again, finally letting out a long breath.
Zaratul had not pursued him, and his coachman had not been turned into a marionette.
He did not know why Zaratul had suddenly given up pursuing him, but Klein wiped away his cold sweat and finally felt certain that he had escaped disaster.
Even outside the Historical Void, Zaratul should have overwhelming power, enough to turn me into his marionette before I can cry for help. Why did he give up? Well, I wouldn't just sit there and wait to die, either... The instant I left the Historical Void, I had "Invalidation" ready. Zaratul's Marionettization would definitely fail once, and during that failure, I could find a way to summon the War Angel and blow this whole thing up. Then, as the Creator's Believer, I could turn this into a dispute between two nations... Forget it. Better not.
Klein shook his head.
Dragging the people of Loen and Intis into a dispute to save his own life was not in his nature.
He opened his hand. Large patches of the charm had already dulled and rusted. It could be used once more.
"That really was a close call... But I survived. Does that count as a miracle? Not really. All I contributed was protecting myself; the Historical Projections did all the helping. If that counts as a miracle, every Scholar of Yore could advance to Miracle Invoker without trouble..."
Klein carefully put the charm away.
The True Creator had given him only two in total, and a single encounter with Zaratul had used up one and a half. Still, painful as that was, those one and a half charms had saved his life. Klein did not consider it