Chapter 74: Even In This Timeline

Several heads turned toward him at once, caught off guard by his question.

Ollie nearly dropped his side of the crate. Commander Holtz looked at Zishan. Corporal Tagum slowly lowered the document he had been reading.

Zishan glanced between them. "Why are all of you looking at me like that?"

Elinox studied him for several seconds. "Who?"

Zishan pointed at Ollie, who quickly looked at him.

"That little guy over there with almost the same eye color as mine," Zishan said.

Ollie looked over. "I’m right here!"

"You know I’m talking about you!"

Ollie lowered his head, hiding the small smile that appeared on his face as he muttered under his breath, "Even in this timeline, Big Brother... you’ve always been kind..."

Ollie left the crate with the other soldier and walked toward them, wearing the same confused expression as everyone else.

Zishan faced Elinox again. "I mean legally. Is there some kind of registration where I can make him family?"

Ollie’s expression changed.

Commander Holtz glanced at the boy. He had read Ollie’s service records before and knew his family history. His father had died while serving with the local militia during an evacuation, while his mother had survived another year before dying from injuries sustained during a second evacuation.

Elinox’s voice softened slightly. "Olmost has procedures for recognized household sponsorship and sworn-family registration when no surviving parent can claim the dependent. Existing guardianship has to be considered, and Ollie would have to agree."

Zishan looked at Ollie.

The boy was staring at him.

"What?"

Ollie blinked. "Why?"

Zishan had expected the question, yet somehow, he had no answer prepared. He scratched the side of his face before glancing around the damaged station.

"Because you’re too young to keep doing all this alone," he answered.

Ollie lowered his eyes, his fingers tightening slightly around the edge of his sleeve.

Zishan continued, "Your parents are gone. You’re already running around battlefields carrying messages for people who can throw houses at each other, and every time I see you near a fight, I have to check whether you’re still alive."

A few of the officers looked away.

Zishan frowned. "Also, I like you."

Ollie’s eyes widened slightly.

"So if there’s paperwork that lets me call you my little brother without somebody telling me that’s legally inaccurate, I’ll sign it," Zishan said with conviction. "For some reason, I don’t want to leave you here..."

The boy’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Zishan waited while Ollie lowered his head and rubbed one sleeve across his face.

’You really are him...’ Ollie’s fingers tightened around his sleeve as the thought settled somewhere deep inside him. ’You’re always so kind to little Ollie, Big Brother.’

"Are you crying?"

Ollie raised his head and wiped the tears from his face. "No."

"Your face is wet." Zishan smiled.

Commander Holtz looked toward Elinox. "His surviving records can be forwarded to the capital with Soldier Walker’s appointment documents."

"Do that," Elinox replied, nodding. "They can begin the process there."

Zishan’s smile grew.

Ollie looked at him again, his eyes still slightly red. "You... you’re not going to make me call you Big Brother all the time, are you?"

Zishan blinked before a grin slowly appeared on his face. "Why would I make you do that?"

Ollie looked away and rubbed his sleeve against his cheek again. "You looked like you wanted me to."

"I did not," Zishan replied with enough seriousness that even he almost believed himself, only for a small green panel to appear at the edge of his vision.

[Statement credibility: Low.]

His eye twitched. ’Fuck off.’

Before Zishan could argue with the System any further, movement near the western defenses drew everyone’s attention as the barrier crews finished restoring the last damaged formations. Once the final anchor was restored, Elinox stepped toward the center of the western road and added her own Mana to the structure.

Light spread through the repaired formations first.

A pale layer of Mana climbed from one side of the station to the other before curving high above the buildings. Water Mana flowed through it in thin streams, reinforcing the surface until the entire western station sat beneath a translucent dome.

The broken defenses remained visible beneath it.

For the first time since the retaliation began, the station looked protected enough that the soldiers inside could sleep without expecting another army to arrive before morning.

Elinox examined the barrier for several seconds before turning away.

Then, she touched the ring on her right hand.

Zishan noticed.

The ring had never attracted much attention while she was fighting. It was narrow enough to disappear against her finger, formed from a dark silver material that did not reflect light normally. A thin violet crystal sat flush with the metal instead of rising above it like a jewel, while microscopic lines moved beneath the surface whenever Mana entered the band.

Zishan leaned forward. "What’s that?"

Several people around them froze.

The Lieutenant’s head turned toward him.

One of the soldiers loading equipment into the transport stopped with a crate halfway off the ground. Corporal Tagum stared at Zishan as though he had just watched the man walk into a death trap voluntarily.

Zishan noticed their reactions. "What?"

But nobody answered him, so Zishan eventually looked back at Elinox. "Your ring. You touched it, and Mana moved inside it."

Elinox glanced down at her hand. "It’s not an ordinary ring. It’s a storage ring."

Zishan waited for several seconds.

When his expression remained completely blank, Elinox seemed genuinely baffled that someone his age could know so little about something this common. "It contains an artificially expanded storage space."

His eyes widened. "How wide is the space inside?"

"Large enough for most things I need," Elinox replied. She considered it for a moment before adding, "I don’t know the exact measurement, though I could probably fit an entire mansion inside."

Zishan’s jaw dropped. "What the hell? You can fit something that big inside?"

A few people behind him suddenly became very interested in other parts of the station, as though the conversation did not interest them.

Commander Holtz raised his eyes toward the sky, seemingly fascinated by the complete absence of birds.

However, Elinox noticed none of it. "Yes. Storage rings differ greatly in capacity. Ordinary ones might hold personal equipment, several weapons, supplies, or a few crates. Mine was constructed for much larger objects."

Zishan stepped half a pace closer, staring at the violet crystal. "So... how much can you put in there?"

Someone behind Commander Holtz coughed.

Elinox thought about the question with complete seriousness. "I’ve never filled it completely, so I don’t know... but like I said, a mansion would probably fit."

The coughing became worse.

Zishan glanced behind him. "Are you people okay?"

But no one answered him.

He turned back toward Elinox. "Can you show me?"

"Of course."

Elinox touched the violet crystal, and the lines beneath the ring brightened.