The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 107
EP.107 Encounter (3)
There wasn’t a single thing I could comprehend.
Up until now, I had rarely doubted my ability.
When I was younger—back when I had first arrived in this world—I had my uncertainties. I wondered if my power might have limits. Was there an unknown restriction on the number of uses? Could it be that every time I used it, some part of me was being consumed without my knowledge?
But over the past ten years, I never felt like I was being worn down by using my ability.
Humans grow tired when they move. They feel drowsy if they don’t sleep, thirsty if they don’t drink, and hungry if they don’t eat.
But my power seemed to exist on a completely different plane.
When I turned back time, no matter how exhausted I was, I would return to a state of rest. The thirst and hunger I had felt moments before would vanish, replaced by the state I had been in earlier. The same applied in reverse.
Only my memory persisted uninterrupted…
Then, how was that memory sustained?
I didn’t even remember how we exited the dungeon.
Claire and Alice spoke to me several times along the way. The Emperor, however, remained silent, simply leading the group from the front. Leo was still frozen, seemingly unable to process what had happened.
Bella wasn’t within my sight. She was likely walking at the very back.
Was it Alice who supported me? Or Claire?
What I remembered most clearly was my hand repeatedly touching the torn fabric of my collar.
Yes, until now, I had never once considered the possibility of truly “moving through time.” I couldn’t. Within the reverted time, I was simply myself, always in the place I was supposed to be as if time had rewound like the hands of a clock.
…Was I truly myself?
My memories remained continuous, carrying the passage of time.
Realizing this only after ten years, the feeling was far from pleasant. It was unsettling, to say the least.
The power I had once trusted implicitly, used without question, now filled me with doubt.
Far ahead, I caught sight of moonlight. Strangely, no light reached into the dungeon itself. The glow from the relics embedded in the walls was the only thing illuminating the corridors. The moon at what appeared to be the dungeon’s entrance or exit looked like a painting—its glow starkly contrasting the surrounding darkness, edged with a black frame.
I stared at the sight in a daze for a while.
Then, I turned back time again.
*
It was an impulsive act.
Restlessness, perhaps, would describe it better.
Turning back time was my instinct.
The Emperor had looked as if he was beginning to grasp the nature of my ability. We hadn’t identified the figure’s true identity. If I wasn’t careful, not only the Emperor but others around me might come to suspect the nature of my power.
So, as always, I reset the time to erase my mistakes.
I would uncover the figure’s face, be cautious with my words in front of the Emperor, and firmly remove the hand that grabbed me—
But I couldn’t.
“—via!”
I took a sharp breath again.
The sensation of falling beyond the fractured space was as unpleasant as before. The feeling of crashing to the ground, the strange weightlessness, the emptiness in my lungs as if I had been yanked from a vacuum back into the world.
No, calling it merely unpleasant was an understatement.
It was the worst.
Perhaps it felt even worse because I had experienced it once before. My mind, now more aware of the situation, processed it with chilling clarity.
But that didn’t help me stay calm.
I couldn’t go back.
It was as if a wall separated me from the moment I had faced that figure.
This time, the wall didn’t shatter.
My body trembled from the impact, and I gasped repeatedly, trying to force air back into my empty lungs.
Desperately, I checked my collar.
The torn fabric of my collar still felt vividly beneath my touch.
Clenching my mouth tightly, I barely managed to lift my head and look at the spot where the figure had been standing. There was no one there.
“Where did the person who was standing there go?”
“…She suddenly disappeared at some point.”
“The relic… I think that person took it too.”
Alice answered, and Claire added in a quiet tone.
“……”
I had no response to their words. Just moments ago, I had asked about the battle, only to have the Emperor figure out the nature of my ability.
“Hmm.”
But the Emperor, as described in the game, wasn’t the type to be so easily fooled. After all, simply staying silent wouldn’t keep him from extracting information from me. He had only been holding back, cautiously observing me, and had let me speak freely so far.
“Father!”
When the Emperor raised his sword and aimed it at my neck, Alice gasped loudly, visibly startled. Claire, too, placed her hand on the hilt of her sword but quickly pulled it back in surprise.
However, it seemed the Emperor had no intention of cutting my neck. Given how effortlessly he severed the arm that threatened Alice with a gun just now, I knew the Emperor could have easily decapitated me without hesitation, even without my ability to turn back time.
The thick sword blade, despite its imposing appearance, moved with surprising precision, grazing my collar. It traced the irregular tear in the fabric, where fibers had frayed and torn.
“This isn’t the kind of tear that could happen from just collapsing. Did someone tear it off?”
The Emperor remarked, as if noticing something new.
Alice, noticing it as well, took a sharp breath. Claire did the same. Leo, still not fully processing the situation, looked dazed. I couldn’t read Bella’s expression from her position, far off and wearing her mask.
“Not just the collar. You have injuries all over. Bruises?”
The Emperor’s lips curled into a faint, mocking smirk, like he had just heard an unethical joke.
That look frightened me.
“They’re bruises.”
The Emperor withdrew his sword from my neck, his tone casual.
“On Sylvia Fangriffon?”
“……”
The Emperor leaned slightly toward me, his voice dropping low.
“Have we had this conversation ‘before’?”
When the Emperor said “before,” I knew it referred to something from my perspective.
I was certain now.
In this future, there was no way I could escape.
*
Eventually, things continued as they had before.
The Emperor seemed to have grasped something about my ability. I wasn’t sure how deeply he understood the principle, whether he had more insight than I did about using this ability, but I could feel that it wasn’t a good sign.
Alice, Claire, and Leo said nothing. They merely glanced at me, watching my reactions as if waiting for something.
Bella… was humming. She was doing that high-pitched hum, as she always did.
“Well then, everyone, go ahead and rest.”
Despite having lost a relic, the Emperor showed no signs of regret. In fact, he smiled pleasantly.
“It was an enjoyable walk, but it seems you are all quite tired. I hope the rest of the journey is pleasant for you.”
With that, the Emperor turned and walked away, leaving us behind. But even as he turned, his gaze lingered on my face until the very end.
I said nothing.
“I won’t ask anything right now.”
Alice said with a serious expression.
When I came to my senses, I found myself in my room. The one in Northwood, the room I had decided to stay in. It was as large as Alice’s room, and the interior was similar as well. However, we weren’t in the guest table area of the room.
Alice and Claire were standing around me, as if to protect me, while I sat on the bed. Leo wasn’t there. Had he been kept out because it was a women’s room? If it were Leo, it wouldn’t be surprising if he had chosen not to enter himself. But that wasn’t important.
“We don’t know what happened…”
Alice began, looking at Claire for a brief moment before both of them turned their gaze to me.
It was Alice who spoke first.
“You look really tired right now… So, um…”
This must be the first time they’ve seen me like this.
I might have appeared tired before. Walking through a dark dungeon is tiring, and trudging through snow-covered forests or wandering in sewers is exhausting enough.
Neither Alice nor Claire would believe that I had limitless stamina.
But collapsing out of nowhere, especially with bruises all over my body… that was strange.
It was as if I had gone through something by myself in the meantime.
“For now, get some rest.”
Alice spoke up, and Claire finished her sentence.
“We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Their faces were full of concern.
They didn’t pressure me to reveal my abilities or interrogate me about what had happened.
I appreciated their consideration.
“Understood.”
For now, I decided to gratefully accept their kindness.