Reunion

At that thought, Lumian reached a conclusion:

If his earlier guess was true, then time had only turned back in Cordou Village and the surrounding area. Everywhere else had been unaffected!

Did that mean we could return to a normal life as long as we got out of here? As thoughts raced through Lumian's mind, he turned to Aurora and put on a guilty look.

"Well, uh, I was actually behind that telegram."

"You?" Aurora was both annoyed and amused, but above all, bewildered.

She wondered if her brother had somehow pulled a prank on her without her noticing.

She had spent years tricking others, only to fall for a trick herself!

Lumian explained "sincerely," "Here's what happened. Haven't I always wanted to visit Trier? So, a couple of days ago, I secretly sent a telegram to the telegraph office that handles Novel Weekly's correspondence. I pretended to be you and asked when the next writers' salon would be held. Sure enough, they enthusiastically sent an invitation."

"So that's what happened..." Aurora wore an expression that said the mystery had finally been solved.

The next second, she grabbed the wooden stick beside her and said through gritted teeth, "My little boy's all grown up!"

Lumian hurriedly added:

"Aurora-no, my dear sister, let me make excuses-no, let me explain."

He wasn't panicking. He had even deliberately cracked a joke.

"All right, go ahead." Aurora planted the stick on the floor. "Your sister has always won people's heartfelt respect through her exemplary virtue. How could I pronounce someone guilty without hearing the suspect's statement?

"If you're going to die, you should at least know why!"

Lumian spoke at top speed. "Trier has the most universities in Intis, and the best ones, too. I'll be taking the unified higher education entrance examination soon. I wanted to visit them beforehand so I could decide which three to apply to."

Aurora gave an almost imperceptible nod, signaling for her brother to continue.

Lumian began praising his sister in an earnest tone:

"I believe that as long as I made this perfectly reasonable request, you would definitely take me to look around Trier. But then we'd be spending your money. If Novel Weekly invited us instead, they could reimburse not just our steam train tickets and hotel expenses, but even all our entertainment expenses in Trier.

"I know you don't need to save that little bit of money, but you worked hard for every word you wrote to earn it. If there's a way to save some, I certainly won't pass it up."

Aurora's expression softened.

"At least you know to spare a thought for your sister.

"But have you considered that I don't want to attend some writers' salon? I hate dealing with so many strangers."

Lumian smiled.

"Aurora-uh, my dear sister, have you considered that Novel Weekly is so eager to invite you not because they want you at the salon, but because they want to use it as an opportunity to build a good relationship with you? You're a famous bestselling novelist, after all.

"So the salon isn't what matters. You are. As long as you accept their invitation and spend some time in Trier, you can easily find an excuse to skip the salon when the time comes. Not only will the people at Novel Weekly not be angry, they'll actually be glad you accepted the first part of their hospitality."

Aurora looked Lumian up and down several times.

"You're getting better and better at figuring people out."

She then let out a breath. "All right. I'll take care of a few things and pack our luggage, then take you to Trier in a couple of days. We'll send Novel Weekly a telegram in advance and have them meet us at the train station in Trier."

"Great!" Lumian made no effort to hide his delight.

Although he suspected that he and Aurora wouldn't be able to simply walk out of Cordou Village, and that attempting to "leave" before unraveling the secret of time turning back and finding its source might trigger some unpredictable change, he still had to try. He couldn't trap himself here by refusing to act.

That was why he had just tried to persuade Aurora.

Lumian had no intention of telling his sister about time turning back just yet. Since Aurora had lost the relevant memories, she was unlikely to believe such an almost delusional theory unless he kept making "predictions" that then came true. But he still wanted to pretend he hadn't noticed time turning back, so he wasn't planning to make any "predictions" for now. He wanted to see whether he could uncover any clues.

Using reading as an excuse, Lumian returned to the second floor and entered the study.

He sat down, picked up a book at random, and opened it, checking that he wasn't holding it upside down.

Then he sank into thought, hoping the various details he had discovered last night and today would help him better understand his current predicament.

As his unfocused gaze wandered, Lumian spotted the Little Blue Book on the desk.

His heart gave a jolt. He collected his thoughts, reached out, and brought the Little Blue Book over, rapidly flipping through it.

Pages with missing words and the corresponding holes came into view.

That letter... Lumian murmured silently.

Taking Novel Weekly's "belated" reply into account, he formed a new theory about the letter requesting help that Lya, Ryan, and the others had received:

Maybe I really did write that letter. I'm the "culprit"!

Time has probably turned back more than once already. By the definitions in Aurora's novels, this should be called a time loop.

During one of the previous loops, did I discover something abnormal through my investigations and decide to ask the outside world for help with an anonymous letter that wouldn't implicate Aurora? By the time the authorities realized how serious the problem was and sent Ryan and the others to deal with it, Cordu had already begun another loop. Like Aurora now, I lost all the relevant memories and returned to my "initial" state...

There's one problem, though. Why does this Little Blue Book still have words cut out of it?

Logically, it should have returned to its "initial" state too, just like the food I ate in the previous loop...

Hmm, there are two possibilities.

First, I discovered the abnormalities and asked for outside help before the time loops began. But in that case, those memories shouldn't have been reset. Could something else have caused me to lose part of my memory? This is getting more and more complicated...

Second, during that loop, I also found a way to keep something from being affected by the loop... What could that method have been? If it really existed, why didn't I just find a piece of paper and write down what I'd discovered?

Lumian felt that he had cleared away a layer of fog and reconstructed the broad outlines of what had happened, yet he had also fallen into even more uncertainty.

He believed he had probably experienced quite a few time loops already. In those previous loops, however, his memories and physical condition had reset whenever everything started over, leaving him completely unaware.

The reason he had retained his memories and the Hunter Beyonder Characteristic this time was that he had met that lady, received the Wands Card, entered the Dream Ruins, and activated what was special about his body.

Since the special qualities granted by those two symbols allowed Lumian to "bring" his Beyonder state from the dream into reality, they could very well have "saved" his entire physical condition at the loop's starting point.

So even after the shotgun monster's state reset, it still couldn't "take back" the Hunter Beyonder Characteristic... Lumian leaned back in his chair, stared at the ceiling, and slowly exhaled.

Then he gave a self-mocking smile.

I've only just become a Beyonder, and I already have to face something this far beyond the norm. I don't even get time to grow...

Uh, I still can't be completely certain I was the one who made that letter asking for help. It could have been Aurora, and Madame Pualis is a suspect too... As Beyonders, either of them could have noticed something was wrong in a previous loop and tried to save herself. Besides, with their knowledge of mysticism, they'd have had an easier time than me finding a way to preserve certain traces... But whatever the case, a time loop is definitely the theory that best fits everything we've seen so far.

As Lumian continued thinking, he came up with a way to confirm the source of the letter asking for help.

The method was simple: enter the Dream Ruins and look through the same Little Blue Book in the house there.

If that Little Blue Book also had missing words, it would mean Lumian himself had made the letter asking for help. The house in that special dream was formed from a projection of his subconscious mixed with the world of the ruins, so anything his subconscious knew should appear there.

If it didn't, then Aurora or Madame Pualis was most likely responsible. Lumian's subconscious couldn't have known about it, and he wouldn't have to take responsibility.

Lumian wasn't in a hurry to "catch up on sleep." Seeing that it was about time, he slipped out of the house and headed straight for the old tavern.

In a corner of the old tavern, a familiar figure came into view.

The lady who had given him the Wands Card and potion formulas had appeared again.

She wore an orange dress with a standing collar and ruffles, with a light-colored, frilled ladies' hat beside her.

Lumian immediately breathed a sigh of relief, like a drowning man finally grasping a lifebuoy.

He hurried over and saw that the table in front of the lady held not breakfast, but tarot cards divided into three piles.

"Do I need to draw a card?" Lumian asked tentatively.

"You already have." Without raising her head, the lady combined the three piles of tarot cards.

Lumian's eyes suddenly stung.

She really hadn't been affected by the time loop either!

Without trying to approach the subject indirectly, Lumian sat down and asked, "Have I, and all of Cordou Village, become trapped in a time loop?"

The lady raised her head and answered with a smile, "Yes. You're all People of the Loop."

People of the Loop... Lumian repeated the term to himself.

Puzzled, he asked, "What does that mean? People trapped in a time loop?"

The lady smiled.

"It has two meanings. One is a special power equivalent to Sequence 4 obtained by praying to a certain being. The other is your current situation."

"You can gain power by praying to a hidden being?" Lumian was quite surprised by the first explanation of "Person of the Loop."

Wasn't advancement in all twenty-two Beyonder pathways supposed to rely on drinking potions?

The lady nodded slightly.

"In theory, the Eternal Blazing Sun can also make His believers Beyonders through boons alone, without potions. But for Him, that is a burden and can only be used as a temporary measure. The more people who need boons, the greater the burden, to the point that it can even affect His condition.

"The recipients aren't free of drawbacks either. They will slowly grow closer to the Eternal Blazing Sun, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

"Also, since these are boons bestowed by higher beings, They can take them back at any time-unless you possess the unique powers of certain pathways and, during the part of your life when you still have the boon, secretly carry out a certain degree of covert theft."