Chapter 365: What is your answer?
"Don't tell me..." Idan was already beginning to guess what Essora meant, but he couldn't quite believe it.
"Heh, — Essora grinned, seeing that the guy had already taken her hint.
"If someone who has the blood of the Grandia Royal Family in his veins establishes a connection with the artifact, then the artifact will have a fifth unique ability," she said after taking a short pause. "The ability to manipulate time."
Idan was stunned by this discovery.
He already had an idea of the first three abilities of the Secret Concealment Realm and could easily imagine how the fifth one would work. This inspired him even more.
"Don't you know how to manipulate time? Then why do we need an artifact?" asked Idan, recovering a little.
"You call that time manipulation?" replied Essora. "Time is an unpredictable, complex and dangerous element. The royal family of Grandia, for many years of its existence and its proximity to this element, has not been able to find a way to use it properly."
"The main danger of using the element of time is that the one who uses it loses his life span. If you don't control this process, you can waste your entire life span in a matter of seconds and die," Essora said with seriousness in his voice.
"If that's the case, then now you're..."—before Idan could finish, Essora interrupted him.
"Yes, even now, by stopping time in this room, I'm wasting my life," Essora confirmed.
Idan didn't know what to say. He wanted to ask why she was doing this, but remembering her request, he roughly understood what was the matter. She was doing all this for her little brother.
"The artifact, in turn, protects the user from this danger," Essora said and continued.: "Only one such successful artifact has ever been created, and information about it has always been strictly classified. Only members of the royal family know about its existence."
"Ezra. She doesn't know that the artifact is related to the secret of the royal family, does she?" asked Idan.
"No, she doesn't know about it," replied Essora. "Otherwise, she wouldn't have given the artifact to Cleoruo when she went to your world."
"Cleoruo?" asked Idan, puzzled.
"This is Erza's disciple," Essora explained. "She had the artifact. If you have it, then you should have met her."
"The Outsiders Leader?" was the first thought that came to Idan mind after Essora's words.
"But soon, sooner or later, she'll find out that the artifact is linked to the secret of the Grandia royal family," Essora said.
"What do you mean?" asked Idan, wanting to know why Essora was saying that.
"As I said before, Ezra doesn't know about the secret of the royal family and its connection to the artifact. At that time, I was not aware of this secret myself, but later, after fulfilling certain conditions, I found out the truth," explained Essora. "This secret is kept in our bloodline, in the Chronomarian bloodline."
Idan remembered the information he had received when he used the "Identification Eye" on the boy. It showed that the boy's race is called Chronomarian.
"By discovering this secret, I was able to gain the ability to stop time," Essora shared. "This ability is very difficult to use. I had to spend many years of my life learning how to stop time, but even now I can't move in a space where time has stopped. And what you see now is all I've been able to achieve."
Idan realized that with every minute they spent talking, Essora was losing vitality, keeping time frozen. So he got straight to the point.
"Do you want me to save your little brother because he, like you, will soon find out the secret thanks to his Chromomarian bloodline?" Idan asked bluntly.
"Yes," Essora confirmed. "Over the years, Erza has gained my younger brother's trust by manipulating him. So I'm afraid that once Sora finds out the secret, he won't hesitate to share it with Erza."
Essora's words immediately reminded Idan of what Arabel had told him. She talked about how the boy saw Erza as someone who cared about him, and how her sister worked for her of her own free will. Idan realized that the boy was deeply mistaken because of Erza's manipulations.
This information was enough for Idan to put together the overall picture of what was happening.
Essora sought to obtain the artifact in order to use it to save her younger brother, who ended up in the hands of Erza. She wanted to prevent the Grandia royal family's secret from being revealed and protect her brother from the danger posed by Erza.
When Essora found out that Idan had the artifact and that it had the ability to sneak into Erza's mansion, she made a decision. Instead of trying to get the artifact back, she turned to Idan with a request to save her younger brother. In return, she was willing to take the risk and share the secret that Erza wanted so much.
Idan was touched by Essora's actions aimed at saving his loved one.
Sighing, before asking Essora to cancel her ability, Idan decided to ask the question he was interested in.:
"Essora, do you know if there are other portals leading to our world?"
Essora, who already felt that her ability was about to lose its power, was surprised by the guy's sudden question.
"Yes, there is. There are five portals in total," Essora decided to share this information. "However, apart from the one you came through, all the other four portals are closed and open only as needed."
"May I know the details?" Idan asked, wanting to learn more about portals, because they had no other suitable options to return to their world.
"Usually, all five portals open as needed, but one of them, which Erza recently used herself to enter your world, is still open on her personal orders," Essora said. "She did this to attract the inhabitants of your world, catch anyone who dares to come here, and try to rescue those they have captured."
Upon hearing this, Idan was pleased to learn that he and Arabel had made the right decision by not using this portal and warning the others not to try to enter here. Otherwise, the number of people they would need to save would grow every day.
However, this made Idan even more wary.
After all, this meant that the portal was heavily guarded, and it would be difficult for him and Arabel to break through and use it to return home.
"What is your answer?" asked Essora, and her voice trembled. "I can no longer keep time in a standstill state. Please answer me."
"I cannot fulfill your request," Idan replied, but before he could continue, Essora interrupted him.
"Why?" her voice trembled.
"Even after you found out that you need my brother, you don't want to help? Can you do it, though?" Idan could hear the desperation in her voice.
"I can't do this not because I don't want to or I'm not interested in the ability to manipulate time. On the contrary, I am very interested in it," Idan said. "I can't do that because I've already kidnapped your little brother."
"Huh?" Essora, who was already beginning to lose hope, suddenly froze after hearing Idan's last words.