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Chapter 4
I already had the perfect picture in my mind.
Azell, bewildered by my sudden appearance, struggled to make sense of the situation. Meanwhile, Yulia and her party arrived, only adding to the chaos.
And here’s where the hallmark of a time-repeater shows itself.
Mental state half gone, but crisis-response speed off the charts!
A time-repeater always reacts quickly to new, unexpected developments, even ones they’ve never encountered before.
Azell’s decision in this situation would be simple:
“He’ll prioritize talking to me over the familiar Yulia group.”
I mentioned Gaspartha’s stone, a secret known only to me, and dropped a few suspicious, deliberately ambiguous remarks.
“At this point, awakening doesn’t matter! I can always awaken again later!”
Anyway, that’s beside the point.
In this plan, Yulia’s role was simply to amplify confusion—make Azell act impulsively.
But… what was happening now?
“I’ve been a fool all this time. I didn’t understand why the gods granted such precious power to a humble servant like me. But now I do. It was their sacred will to utterly cleanse filth like you.”
“……”
“So please, die quietly by my hand, Azell Biotz.”
Who could explain why the protagonist had suddenly switched from pure saintly heroine to mad inquisitor?
“…Is this a dream?”
I’d prayed for the chaos of the villain to grow—but instead, the protagonist was now only fueling my confusion.
Even stranger: I was the only one flustered.
“You still talk too much. Chattering endlessly, as always.”
Azell’s calm, almost bored response suggested he was used to situations like this.
After a long moment, Azell finally removed his hands from my shoulders. I wobbled slightly from the sudden release. But the sharp exchange between him and Yulia made me stagger for entirely different reasons.
“You still don’t understand. Talking to a beast would be easier than this.”
“Oh, so the esteemed saint can converse with beasts too. Amazing—truly a precious gift from the gods.”
Why are you two like this?
I forced myself not to question it too loudly, though a memory flashed through my mind.
“…Wait a minute…”
Just before I possessed this body—my final moments playing this blasted game—I had repeatedly chosen the worst possible options.
“It’s already doomed. I don’t care. Everything’s a catastrophe! Hahaha!”
I remembered myself laughing maniacally, picking only the worst choices. I even saw the illustration of Yulia confronting Azell with wild, mad eyes.
“…Ah.”
My face went blank.
This was all my karma.
Thwarted by panic, I clamped my mouth shut so hard that it nearly hurt, trying to suppress a scream. That’s when I felt a gaze.
Azell, previously locked in confrontation with Yulia, was now looking at me.
“You…”
“There’s no need to continue this meaningless conversation any further.”
Azell’s words were cut off as Yulia stepped forward with the air of a proper inquisitor.
My panic spiked.
“I’m doomed!”
If this was indeed my last playthrough, Yulia was about to stir the worst possible trouble.
“You wear the shell of a human, but you don’t understand human emotions. Any further conversation would be a luxury.”
The air around them felt icy.
“…Wow…”
I had no idea where to even begin damage control. Talking about human emotions to Azell was essentially a trigger.
In a typical dating sim, such words might deepen romance with a strict authority figure—but not with Azell.
He truly can’t remember what human emotions are!
Sure enough, Azell’s red eyes darkened to a bloody hue. A perfect prelude to explosion.
Why is his fuse so short?!
The destruction button I’d been postponing suddenly loomed before me. No, scratch that—everything here was about to die, and soon.
How do I know? Because it had happened before.
“This round’s doomed too~ Fine, everyone die, die! Eh~ Just stop if you don’t want to!”
I remembered my half-mad laughter back then.
But now…
Damn it! This is real life!
I couldn’t die so pointlessly. I had to act—divert Azell’s attention, or get these fools out of here. Anything.
Decision made, body moved instinctively. I lunged at Azell.
Whoosh—!
A sharp rush of wind pierced my ears.
“…Huh?”
At that instant, a strong force grabbed me, and a massive shadow loomed above. When the dull impact faded, I was in Azell’s arms.
Well, not exactly “in” his arms. I had run straight toward him just as he caught a flying arrow, resulting in an awkward embrace.
Crazy.
Coincidentally, someone had shot an arrow at Azell the exact moment I dashed in. I had become the strange person who rushed forward for no reason.
“What are you doing?”
Azell’s expression was ice-cold, impossibly stern.
Why did she do that?
Azell eyed the woman before him with suspicion.
In his countless repeated lives, he had never seen anyone act like her. The curse had stolen much from Azell, including the ability to forget—but this?
He had never encountered such unpredictability.
“Azell.”
Even the gentle way she spoke his name…
“…You’ve forgotten me.”
The hurt in her eyes pierced through everything. Nothing about her seemed ordinary.
“No matter how ruined the world is, it won’t end. As long as you’ve wished upon that stone, your curse will repeat forever.”
She spoke as if she had witnessed the world’s end countless times, absolutely certain.
She had survived to say such things for a reason:
“I came here to save you. Azell. Only for you.”
She knew something. Whether I believed her claim or not, it was clear she possessed knowledge. Until I understood what that was, she had to live.
But…
“Why did you do that?”
Her action—jumping to stop the arrow—confused Azell.
There was no calculation or hesitation in that movement.
An inexplicable urgency.
I can’t comprehend it.
She had dashed forward instinctively, desperately trying to protect Azell, as if fearing even a single arrow might hurt him.
Maybe I should just die.
The silence was excruciating. Facing it might be worse than death.
But that arrow-shooter… I’ll kill him, no matter what.
What kind of villain uses a single arrow as a weapon against the world’s worst enemy? And thanks to me rushing in, I looked utterly ridiculous.
Of course, I had no malicious intent. But that’s how it looked!
Azell’s subordinates, and even Yulia’s party, were staring at me as if I were insane. It made me even angrier.
“You’re not a hostage, huh.”
Yulia’s clear voice broke the silence.
“I thought an innocent civilian was captured, so I hesitated—but there was no need.”
I hadn’t hesitated at all!
But now was not the time to argue. Yulia had opened the path; I had to seize the momentum.
“That’s my line. How dare you touch this person, in front of me?”
I raised my head proudly, as if my embarrassing past never existed.
“Hm?”
Yulia tilted her head at my confidence—but clearly, she wasn’t interested in the words of someone who appeared weak.
“You dare defy me, a subordinate of Azell Biotz?”
I knew exactly what to say to get under her skin.
“I’m not foolish enough to fear a saint who has lost her faith.”
Immediately, Yulia’s expression froze.
Of course, I’m the one who shook Yulia’s faith.
Doesn’t matter. No one knew anyway.
