Interdimensional travel was finally within Konrad's grasp.
Or let's say at arm's length. Half the runes on the actual note were brand new for him. And this wasn't a codex full of explanation, but an experimental spell scribbled on paper.
It would have taken him a long time to figure everything out without the Demon Lord.
And he didn't have the mana to experiment, either.
Would he help? That was his best bet, but there was a slight issue.
He fought Midori-kun's future self back in the past. As peaceful as this garbage-filled room seemed now, they were still mortal enemies. He couldn't give him hints at the solution.
Which was—well. He shouted the biggest one into the room a mere moment ago.
His only luck was the kid's arrogance.
Of all the reactions he expected—shock, anger, fear—he only got doubt.
A lot of them.
The eyebrow-raising, holding back a laugh, 'Are you stupid?' kind.
It would have been infuriating if not for the fact that this was exactly what he hoped for.
"Mind explaining how?" Midori-kun asked with a smirk.
Konrad let out a long sigh, trying to act as embarrassed as he could.
Given the circumstances, it wasn't that difficult.
"Sorry, I got a bit too excited," he said, turning away.
But the one time that kid wouldn't let the matter drop had to be now.
"No, no, let me hear how an amateur figured something out I couldn't in two hundred years."
Damn it. He needed something close enough to the truth to convince him—but also wrong.
"Well, it could be because I'm from this world," he tried by reiterating his earlier point. "Like, we got trapped in that temporal anomaly, then it spat us out at the nearest world."
This even seemed like a realistic scenario.
Konrad could only hope he didn't solve the mystery by accident.
"How do you define nearest?" the kid asked, his eyes narrowing. "The closest world would have been Kasserlane's. The dragon was from there, too. But if you say apart from that—"
"Uh, the nearest of our souls," Konrad improvised, unsure what to say.
He didn't want to sound stupid either, but—
Come on, he shouldn't have gotten dragged down into such fake details.
"So why did it choose your soul instead of mine?" Midori-kun asked. "I'm way older and more powerful, so by your logic—no. Your theory makes no sense."
Of course, because it wasn't meant to.
"Forget I said anything then," Konrad groaned. "Tell me about this spell instead."
He waved the paper, eager to learn the real secret.
"That? It's only a theory," the kid shrugged, much less egoistic now. "I was analyzing the pocket dimension, but most of it is guesswork."
Where was that confidence now?
"I'm sure it's working," he tried to encourage him without giving anything away. Anything he hadn't already done. Damn it. "But I haven't seen most of these runes before."
The Demon Lord laughed. Not a deep, evil laugh, or a childish one, but somehow—
Nostalgic?
"Where did you even learn magic?" Midori-kun asked. "The Crimson Mage doesn't take apprentices, and the Silver Mage is always in the capital. Was it Zoltan Sudberg?"
"Your apprentice, yes." Konrad nodded. This part wasn't a secret anyway.
There weren't many capable of casting magic on their own. And shamans or cardinals couldn't teach their craft. Those came from the higher planes.
"Is he still as useless as he was back then? He'd burn down Ejtyangard's forest—"
He was still giggling, but Konrad found no malice in his voice.
"He became a notorious illusionist in Aset," he said. "But the villagers love him to this day."
"I should have given him a visit when I captured the king," the kid said. Konrad didn't mention that he had. Another proof that it was one of his future selves.
"We spent weeks trying to restore your spellbooks and studies," he said instead.
Couldn't they have moved on to the key to this mystery already?!
"If those scattered notes are everything you had, I'll have to commend you. I don't know how much of it you restored, but after the incident, I sped up my research tenfold."
And yet, he still couldn't figure out how to travel between worlds, even after Konrad did.
"This is why I'm asking you," he pleaded, waving that piece of paper again. "I dreamt of learning from you ever since my childhood," he said. And this time, it wasn't even a lie.
"What makes you think I would've taught you?" The Demon Lord raised an eyebrow.
Father Alastair's words came to mind about how insufferable this guy was.
And that was before his accidental time-travel.
"You like to experiment," Konrad noted. "And have a concrete goal in mind. Don't you think I can help? After defeating you with only the things I learned from your failed apprentice?"
The schoolboy puffed his chest.
"Don't make it sound like you bested me alone," Midori-kun scoffed. "Backed by a dragon and a damned necromancer—it wasn't exactly a fair match."
"Even so," he said with a shrug. "We're here now, and together we could find a way—"
"Back to Kasserlane?" The Demon Lord raised his eyebrows. "You weren't listening. I wouldn't go back even if my life depended on it. So if that's your argument, take it elsewhere."
And he said that with so much conviction.
Had Konrad not known the truth, he might've believed him.
"My theory might be wrong," he lied, "But we could find the correct one together. And then, we can go wherever we want. Besides, did you forget that I'm the only one here with mana?"
That gave the mighty schoolboy a pause.
"How much are we talking about?" he asked, not so fast to reject him now. "My method would've taken ten dungeon cores to even attempt, so—"
"A thousand points," Konrad said.
He was confident in the amount, despite keeping the reserves in his sword a secret.
Except that these numbers only made sense to him.
"What kind of measurement are you using?!"
"Ah, uh—"
It wasn't exactly a scientific one, but if he had to improvise—
"To summon a flame the size of a candle and sustain it for a minute, it takes one mana point."
He took the pencil and scribbled down a simple formula on the back of the paper.
There were many ways to summon fire. It was best to specify the method.
The Demon Lord's face fell. Konrad was well aware that even a single dungeon core had way more charge. But what he had was still a thousand points more than what this kid did.
"It won't be enough," Midori mumbled.
"For your method. But could I cast a time trap with it?" He risked the real question at last.
The kid pondered for a while. "If it's even working, it would take around five hundred mana."
Konrad gupled. The portal itself took over two hundred, a fifth of his essence.
Including the reserves in his blade, he could have only attempted each one twice.
Not the best odds in the universe, but he'd been dealing with worse ones before.
"Do you have a better idea of getting out of here?" Konrad asked, holding out a hand.
Midori-kun grumbled for a while, but took it in the end, squeezing down hard.
"You'd better not disappoint like Zoltan, or you'll get a taste of this pepper spray again."