Chapter 2
The crown prince, who had been suffering from a violent fit, was carried away under the protection of Imperial Guard knights and mages.
The three remaining boys were escorted out of the underground plaza by the other Imperial Guard knights.
They were taken through the rear garden of the Imperial Palace and brought separately to an old tower standing on one side of the inner palace.
They were made to stay there.
No.
Considering that the doors were locked and soldiers were standing guard outside, they were clearly being imprisoned.
There was a bed.
A small desk meant for one person.
And a chair.
It was an extremely small room.
Fortunately, the interior did not actually look like a prison cell.
Jake sat blankly on the bed for a long time.
As time passed, however, his confused mind gradually settled.
His memories from his days as an apprentice scribe were becoming clearer and clearer.
While living his previous life, his memories of this period had almost completely faded.
Now, however, they were as clear as if everything had happened yesterday.
Well... technically, it did happen yesterday.
Looking at his body and the situation around him, Jake could not help thinking that the life he remembered might not have been real.
Fortunately, the experiences he had gained from that lifetime had not disappeared.
"My personality does seem like it's gone back to how I was as a teenager."
His memories and experiences from an entire lifetime remained.
Yet his personality seemed to have returned to that of his younger self.
That made the possibility that this was all a dream or illusion feel even stronger.
However, the memories of his previous life were simply too long and too vivid.
"I can test it."
Still sitting on the bed, Jake looked down at his palm.
The fresh hand of a teenage boy.
It felt strange to see it instead of the wrinkled hand he had grown accustomed to.
But the shape of his hand was not what he wanted to confirm.
The world is filled with mana!
Jake strongly declared the thought inside his mind.
My hand can sense mana!
He imposed the idea on himself with absolute conviction.
Soon, a faint tingling sensation appeared in his hand.
That already made him half certain.
Mana is gathering in my hand. My hand absorbs mana!
At the end of his intense self-suggestion, he felt something cool being absorbed into his hand.
It felt like mana from the air entering his body.
Of course, that sensation alone could still have been his imagination.
But the faint blue light glowing from his hand could not possibly be imaginary.
This isn't a dream or illusion.
Satisfied, Jake released the self-suggestion.
The refreshing sensation in his hand immediately disappeared.
The blue glow faded as well.
The life he had lived had not been a hallucination or dream.
If that entire lifetime had been false, the Mana Detection technique he had just used could not possibly have worked.
The Mana Detection Jake had used was an ancient spell discovered twenty years in the future by Dverman, a newly famous ruin explorer who later became an Archmage.
It was one of the ancient spells Dverman had publicly released.
Its only purpose was to determine whether someone possessed the ability to sense mana.
Even so, it was perfect for discovering whether someone had the potential to become a mage or knight.
Back then, almost everyone on the continent had tried that ancient spell at least once.
Naturally, Jake had tried it too.
He had been thrilled when he discovered he could sense mana.
Unfortunately, he had been far too old by then.
"Either way, the things I remember definitely happened."
Or perhaps he had somehow seen the future ahead of time.
Otherwise, there was no way a spell that did not yet exist could have succeeded.
The emperors who knew everything.
The crown prince and the three boys.
And the ancient ruins beneath the Imperial Palace.
As Jake followed that train of thought, he felt as though he had grasped a clue.
Just then...
A knight entered the tower.
The soldiers guarding the area immediately saluted.
The knight stopped in the corridor outside the rooms where the three boys were being held.
"All three of you are to write down everything you experienced through the magic in the underground ruins."
The knight spoke loudly enough for all three boys to hear.
So we were some kind of reconnaissance team?
Jake would need to hear what the other boys had experienced.
Still, there was a good chance they had gone through something similar to him.
If that was true, then Jake and the other boys had probably been brought here to experience the future and record what they saw.
Did the crown prince experience the same thing?
Jake immediately pushed the thought aside.
Even if the crown prince had experienced the same thing, he would never be imprisoned and forced to write reports like the three boys.
More likely, the three boys existed to supplement the crown prince's experience.
"And unlike us, he probably doesn't have to worry about being disposed of once he's no longer useful."
Use the hunting dog after the hunt.
Then kill it.
That was the conclusion Jake reached after thinking it through.
If the ruins beneath the imperial family's palace were truly devices that allowed them to see the future, and every emperor had used them, then there must have been boys like Jake who had participated alongside the previous emperors.
Yet there were no stories about such people anywhere.
There were not even rumors about the underground ruins themselves.
Of course, perhaps they had obeyed orders to keep silent and simply lived quiet lives.
But why would the imperial family take such a risk when there was a safer method?
"Should I escape before they kill me? That won't be easy..."
He was still the same Jake from a few hours ago.
But the way he thought was completely different.
Inside the mind of this young boy existed decades of experience beyond even the memories of his previous life.
Not everyone who experienced the same future seemed to have changed much, however.
"Sir Knight! Why are we locked up? And when do we get food?"
The boy who looked like a squire shouted the question.
It was clearly an incredibly thoughtless question.
Still, Jake wanted to know the answer too.
"The Archmage ordered it! This is for security, so endure it. Food will be delivered shortly. For today, write down whatever you remember. The person in charge will come tomorrow. Ask him any other questions then."
Fortunately, the knight was relatively kind.
The squire seemed reassured by the answer.
Jake became even more cautious.
So they'll keep us alive only while we're useful?
