Chapter 454: Chapter 454: Outside Flow of Time
"Are you going to finish asking your question now, or do I need to escort you to the Eastern Continent as well?"
The author was running out of patience. Over a month had passed since he was summoned, but not even a second had passed in this world. He felt like he was a babysitter at this point.
"It's fine. This should be far enough from the border."
Eren stopped in front of the Sea Dragon Empress who was sitting like a statue, still holding the piece of meat in her hand.
She was about to eat it when the time was frozen. Even after such a long time, the smoke and warmth of the food was still fresh, assaulting Eren's senses.
The Author sighed in relief. Finally, he was going to be free of this torment. Only he knew how much he had to go through during this trip.
Along the way, Eren had barely stopped talking. He asked one question after another whenever he had time.
Although most of the questions went unanswered, he didn't stop. Even when the author didn't say a single word for days, the young man still didn't stop.
It was as if he didn't even want answers in the first place. He was just treating him as a way to get rid of his boredom along the way.
The worst part for him was that even when he didn't answer, Eren managed to decipher a few things every time he reacted even in the slightest.
Every time he thought that the question was harmless, he ended up falling for a trap, letting Eren recieve the answers. Fortunately, it didn't happen too often or he would've gone crazy already.
During this trip, he managed to learn just how chaotic Eren's mind was. How could a young man come up with so many questions? He wasn't even sure.
He simply hoped that Eren wasn't going to ask a question like he did last time which almost erased his existence.
"Do you want to know about the Tower Master's weakness? Or do you want to know about the methods to kill other Overlords with the least amount of loss for yourself?"
He didn't forget to give Eren some hints, directing him towards the questions that he could answer without having to worry about his entire existence.
Unlike last time, he didn't want to risk Eren asking some unorthodox question.
Eren held the Question Voucher in his hand, activating the second stage of the voucher which activated the forced question.
"I have only one question for you. It might even appear insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it is important for me." Eren took a deep breath, thinking about the question he was about to ask.
The Author felt quite concerned. Every time Eren asked things that he claimed to be insignificant, they were always related to a bigger mess.
"Yelen mentioned that she had met me before," Eren told the Author. "As far as I managed to learn, she was sealed in an Era that was long before the appearance of the Towers in the Northern Continent."
"On the other hand, Ren Necroline, was born in the Necromancer Tower. He is also claimed to have killed his twin brothers a few years later. So my question is simple."
"How could Yelen meet Ren Necroline in the era where he wasn't even born yet?"
He had asked the same question to Yelen, but his Guardian Spirit had been unable to answer him. There was a seal on her soul that prevented her from answering. The seal was so strong that she couldn't even write the answer for him.
"I should've guessed that you would come up with a question like this," The Author muttered under his breath, his frustration barely concealed.
"Why can't you ask simple questions like Fey did?"
He rubbed his temples, trying to think of methods to answer that question without being completely ripped apart by the laws of this world.
Recently, every time he came down on Eren's demand, and was always in a situation where he had to tread extremely carefully between the restriction of the question voucher and the restriction of the worldly laws.
Eren's question, though seemingly simple on the surface, had layers that could unravel the very fabric of the world's timeline.
"He was asking simple questions. Isn't that why he's already dead?" Eren shrugged in response, not taking the author's words seriously.
There were many questions that he could ask, especially about the weakness of the Tower Master or the other Overlords. He could even ask for a way to safely enter hell, but at the end of the day, it was something that still wasn't quite safe either.
Fey had also asked for methods to conquer Feng Yu, and the author had guided him with an answer. In the end, that led him to Eren which eventually caused his plan to fail.
If the person hadn't followed that answer, then Fey would've lived much longer. Or rather, if he had asked about the existence of other Transmigrators, he would've had better preparation.
There were many more important things to consider than to just ask for a shortcut to do one thing and even failing in that due to variables.
The Author took a deep breath, knowing he couldn't avoid the question, especially since the shackles had started materialising around his body.
"Time is not as linear as you'd like to think. Especially not in this world. There are... Paradox, let's call them. Events that defy the usual order of things," the author answered.
"Like my bloodline? Does that mean that Ren Necroline had already activated this bloodline? Why is it asleep now then?"
"I haven't finished my answer," the Author intervened, cutting Eren's curious thoughts.
"The Paradox Bloodline, and the Paradox that I am talking about, are two different things. The bloodline you possess, have nothing to do with it."
"In some instances," the Author continued. "Individuals can exist outside the normal flow of time. They can touch different eras, leaving traces of themselves in places they shouldn't be able to reach."