Deal (6)
Deal (6)
After that, I succeeded six more times while refining that strategy.
Of course, the process involved many complete resets where I turned back time wholesale and started from the beginning. If I counted all the small reversals too, the number would be far higher.
But I succeeded. I was able to establish a single successful route.
"I see."
At my words, Jennifer murmured.
"You're thinking of turning back this time too, aren't you?"
"That's right."
I spoke quietly. White breath escaped my lips.
"Honestly, even knowing about your ability, it's still astonishing. It's hard to believe. That one person could enter a fortress like that and capture it."
"All I did was create chaos inside. If the Imperial Army hadn't advanced during that time, it would have been difficult to succeed no matter how many times I could rewind time."
The fact that the interior was a network of trenches was fortunate in many ways. No matter how many enemies lined up, they were still inside trenches, so the number who could see me at any one time was limited. On top of that, it was night. I just had to shoot out the lights. One grenade could blow away all the illumination in a given section.
If I failed, I tried again until I succeeded.
"......."
Jennifer said nothing for a while.
"When I first heard they were sending you, I couldn't believe my ears."
After maintaining a long silence, Jennifer finally spoke. I was inwardly surprised because her tone was slightly hesitant, as if she were pulling out a worry from deep within her mind.
"Think about how dumbfounded I was to hear that the reinforcements would consist of 'one person.' Well, I wasn't the commander here anyway, but still, those were comrades I once fought alongside, and it's right in front of the territory where I spent my childhood. Of course, I have to consider that there were various political reasons involved, but to be honest, when I first received the letter I was quite glad. I thought the political problems had finally been resolved and we would receive more substantial reinforcements."
"Is that so."
"Yes. Though I was dumbfounded when I opened that fancy envelope."
"......."
"Do you know what my grandfather said when he heard the news?"
"I don't know."
"He said, 'His Majesty must have thought everything through.'"
"......."
"It turns out His Majesty really had thought everything through. At first, I thought we were being abandoned, territory and all, even after such loyal service."
Jennifer chuckled as if she had heard a funny joke. But I could sense a certain emptiness in her voice. The chuckling grew fainter toward the end, as if she were running out of energy.
"Does His Majesty know about your ability?"
"He does not."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
He probably thought I was extraordinarily unusual and competent. But even so, he wouldn't imagine that I had the ability to turn back time. That would be no different from a delusion.
Moreover, the established theory in this world was that 'time cannot be turned back.' It was established in the setting that this wasn't just a common theory, but something bound up with magical constraints. Of course, seeing as I was able to turn back time like this, the developers might have hidden the true setting, planning to use it later as a twist.
I suspected that the way the protagonist's party suddenly started dropping dead near the very end, and the way the player had to personally decide which of those characters would die, were all connected to that. Because I thought it was realistically impossible for a small studio to produce a sequel within a year by inserting a different route based on two completely divergent endings.
If the setting allowed turning back time, wouldn't the answer simply be to rewind time, save the characters, and then have the protagonist, who knows the truth, proceed with the story?
And for that to function as a plot twist, no other character could be allowed to think such a thing was possible.
"I see......."
Jennifer fell silent again for a while.
"It was obvious that you had returned after resolving the situation. Once I heard you could turn back time, it was easy to spot."
Jennifer glanced at me as she spoke.
"Just a moment ago, your expression only looked a little tired, but then, at some point, it suddenly became the expression of someone utterly exhausted. If I hadn't known about your ability, I would've thought your face hardened because you'd realized the coming mission would be grueling."
"Is that so."
"Yes. To be honest, your expression right now......."
Uncharacteristically for her, Jennifer hesitated a moment before speaking.
"It's the face of someone who has seen hell."
"...... Is that so."
I couldn't think of anything else to say to that.
"......."
"......."
We looked once more at the bunker visible in the distance.
"You may have already heard this from me, but those mercenary bastards occupying that place are vicious. They have a record of burning down several villages, violating the women, and then hanging them from the entrance of the burned-out villages. They're the kind of people who are so incomprehensibly cruel you wonder why they would go to such lengths. If you want proof, I can show you."
I had heard that story before. I had already seen the proof.
"But, even so, those bastards are still people. There are those who call them beasts or whatever, but any hunter would surely scoff at that talk. Some beasts treat their prey as playthings, but that's all. Only humans can be that intelligently cruel. At least, among all the beings I have seen so far."
Jennifer turned her body toward me. Unlike just moments ago when she had been glancing sideways, she looked at me directly and spoke.
"Honestly, this isn't something I should be saying, since I'm the one who dragged you here."
After a very brief hesitation, she said,
"How about you just run away instead? If you turned back time, you could undo all those lives you took. Or you could live a life completely unrelated to the Emperor from the start. With an ability like yours, couldn't you simply live an ordinary life?"
"......."
I stared quietly at the bunker shimmering faintly in the distance, then opened my mouth.
"I've already heard that, too."
"......."
Hearing my answer, Jennifer seemed at a loss for words.
"I see."
I stood silently beside Jennifer, who had fallen silent again, and then this time I was the first to speak.
"But thank you for saying it. Sincerely."
"......."
Jennifer's eyes widened slightly in brief surprise before she asked,
"Did I say that before, too?"
"No."
I shook my head.
"This is the first time you've said it."
"I see."
At my words, Jennifer smiled.
*
Did I even have the option to 'start over from the beginning'?
Jennifer didn't know much about my past. Aside from my true past life playing that 'game' which no one else here could understand, not many people knew about my past living as 'Sylvia Black.' Claire; and perhaps Leo or Viscount and Viscountess Grace, who had heard the story from Claire; the Emperor, who would have learned of it through reports; or Lucas, who had directly observed that orphanage.
And all of these people would agree that even if I turned back time to the very start, I would inevitably end up in the same situation I was in now.
Lucas had been watching the orphanage from the beginning. No matter how many times I could rewind time, I was a child not even ten years old. No matter how fast I ran or hid, I could never have evaded the eyes of Lucas, who had already reached a certain level of mastery, and even if I had rushed at him, I could never have won.
Where did the existence known as 'Sylvia Black' even come from?
She probably never came from anywhere.
She was simply an existence created for a certain purpose in that moment.
And the fact that I, who knew the future of this world in considerable detail, albeit in the form of a game, was placed inside that body probably meant that whatever entity summoned me here had one clear objective.
An entity that had likely anticipated even my turning back of time.
"That means I can just do whatever I want, right?"
Opening my eyes in bed in the middle of the night, I stared at the ceiling and murmured softly.
Of course, no answer came back.
Whether the existence above was a god, or the Goddess spoken of by the Church of the Goddess.
Well, whatever. The right to remain silent was a freedom, too.
And the right to remain silent could, by law, be interpreted to the disadvantage of the one who exercised it.
"Alright."
So I decided to interpret that silence however I pleased, and I got up from my spot.
I was a little tired. That was natural, since I could still feel the events from just moments ago fully in my body. My mind was one thing, but my body, awake in the middle of the night, was screaming that it wanted to go back to bed.
But there was no time. Claire would definitely come looking for me at four in the morning.
"Hoo."
I drew in a deep breath and let it out.
While seated in the lotus position, I recalled my master's teachings.
I focused my mind to restore my body's condition.
Honestly, by Earth's standards, it was nonsense. If you don't sleep, your body just gets tired.
So I was immensely grateful that this world's framework allowed even an ordinary body to manipulate such energy.
"Hoo."
With the exhaled breath, I released my worries and worldly desires together. I kept only the things I wanted to do, the things I would do, in my head.
And I opened my eyes.
Good.
Now it was time to go out.
Because I had a debt to repay.