It was a vague time frame.
In the early dawn of the day I returned to the village by using a Warp from the Forest of the Demon Realm, killed the Priestess of Time, and freed Kurika who was being controlled.
The Goddess of Death could no longer intervene, but since Rin had already absorbed the Priestess of Time, I was slightly curious about why Rin had wanted to regress to this point.
However, that question was answered when I looked at the expression of the girl sitting next to me, gently leaning against me.
‘She wanted to return to this time.’
Rin.
So, the second round Rin wanted to come back to this time when we were watching the moon together.
Covered by Diana’s blanket, we longed for this moment when we quietly leaned against each other and looked up at the moonlight.
While it could be said that it was humble for a girl who had created and experienced countless tragedies to wish for such a thing.
“Ah… Ahh…”
Thinking of Rin, who must have curled up every night looking at the moon, reminiscing about this time, hot tears streamed down my cheeks.
“D-Daniel? What’s wrong? Are you in pain? Did you get hurt fighting the priestess or something?”
Rin rushed toward me, and as her face got closer, a fierce emotion surged up from deep within my chest.
I reached out my hand roughly and hugged her tightly.
“D-Daniel?!”
Shocked, Rin trembled, but fearing she might disappear, I squeezed her even tighter.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”
“Why all of a sudden, Daniel?”
Now, it is something I could never hear again.
You’ve forgotten all those tragedies you went through, but still, I’m sorry.
And.
“Thank you… Rin.”
*
The next day, Rin looked at me with slightly awkward eyes. She seemed to sense something was off about me.
In fact, since that day, I hadn’t been able to properly look at Rin either. There had been so many things I wanted to say as soon as I regressed again.
But the current Rin was not the second round Rin.
I found myself in a sort of dilemma.
In Eris’s case, I decided to think of the 0th round Eris and the current Eris as different people.
In fact, I had even said I didn’t like her anymore just before sealing The Earliest Apocalypse.
So, the same conclusion could be drawn for Rin.
The second round Rin and the current Rin were different.
Did that mean I didn’t love the current her?
“……”
The answer regarding that was somewhat vague.
After all, I had realized I liked Rin, not Eris, even in my previous life.
But.
‘Forget me.’
Every time I looked at Rin, her dying face came to mind.
‘Please forget me and live happily.’
I could feel her voice faintly ringing in my ears. Even after the first regression, the feelings I had while looking at Eris were similar yet different.
At that time, I viewed both Erises equally.
‘Now, I can’t view Rin the same way.’
If I were to confess to Rin or express my feelings, I thought we would probably end up together.
But there was another Rin blossoming up inside me.
The one who asked me to forget her, yet I could never forget her. Loving the current Rin felt like an act I should not commit against the past Rin.
‘For now… let’s think about it later.’
I knew dwelling on Rin wouldn’t yield an answer anytime soon. Just like I needed time to forget Eris, it would take more time to find answers regarding my intense feelings for the second round Rin.
“I brewed tea for our guests. How is it?”
Diana, wearing an apron that wasn’t normally used for anything more than dishcloths, brought out the tea. Ares, who had arrived earlier, peeked into his cup and carefully pushed it aside.
“Isn’t this porridge?”
“Hm? Tasty?”
Diana grabbed Ares by the chin and poured the contents of the cup into his mouth.
“Gek! Kek! Hot…!”
Seeing Ares making strange sounds and suffering, I couldn’t help but join in and pour the remaining tea into my mouth.
Outside the house, Rin had entered with Sen, Adriana, and Hayun. Adriana came in looking filthy as usual, thanks to the Warp from the previous time.
Originally, Hayun was supposed to cut the bracelet on my wrist and return to her family, but I stopped her.
I had something to say.
“Are you torturing him?”
Seeing Sen stuffing the strange liquid called tea into Ares’s mouth, her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Honestly, I did feel a bit emotional about it.
Because of this guy, in the end…
Sigh, this isn’t a problem with Ares.
Anyway, before Ares could swallow Diana’s liquid horror, I covered his mouth with my hand and gathered everyone together.
Kurika, who had been huddling in the corner, looked a bit uncomfortable as more people came in.
Kurika…
‘As your friend, I’m dying.’
I couldn’t forget the way Kurika had given me his power while dying. His powerless voice was something I would never forget as long as I lived.
“Alright, everyone’s here, so focus.”
“Ugh!”
“Ares. We’re in the middle of something important, so be quiet.”
“I-I really hate McClain.”
Ignoring Ares, who was retching, I opened my mouth.
“Now, listen carefully. My original plan was to go to the Beastmen’s territory to rescue Eris.”
Everyone nodded. There was no other reason for us to gather.
“But plans have changed. We’ll divide the team. Based around Kurika and me, Kurika will head to the Beastmen’s land, and I will go to the royal palace.”
“Uh?”
Surprised at the suddenness of it all, everyone looked confused, and the one most comfortable speaking to me, Diana, asked.
“Why suddenly going to the royal palace?”
“I’ll explain that now.”
Then, I went on to explain my future plans. From the information learned in the previous round, if we take care of Hobaek’s rebellion, the Beastmen’s land could be resolved easily.
And I had already confirmed with my own eyes that Kurika could handle it alone.
Meaning, I didn’t need to go there at all.
Therefore, I was planning to head straight to the kingdom, building a base and stacking countermeasures against The Following Apocalypse.
Of course, everyone would have questions.
‘How do you know that?’
In such cases, I conjured a simple logic of the Goddess of Time, the kind of invincible reasoning. Saying the Goddess of Time told me would ensure everyone accepted it for now.
Truth be told, the information really was given by her.
“Let’s split the team into Kurika, Adriana, and Sen. That trio should be enough. Ares, Rin, and I will head to the royal palace.”
Hayun would tidy up the Ren family mansion in Nirva and join us in the kingdom, while Diana would head to the Dragon’s Boundary.
There was a reason I had to drop by the Dragon’s Boundary later.
The sleeping dragon, Shakallim.
Second round Rin had said that the transcendental beings Shakallim and Yggdrasil, who were served by the Dragonkin, could be the key to stopping The Following Apocalypse.
But at this moment, Rin suddenly raised her hand.
“I want to go to the Beastmen’s territory.”
“……Uh?”
I couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered as Rin, who hadn’t made eye contact with me during the meeting, said this out of the blue, but I figured she had a good reason to say such a thing.
“…Alright.”
I nodded in agreement. After all, the Goddess of Death couldn’t intervene anymore. It would be okay for her to keep some distance from me.
Honestly, I found myself relieved inside.
Because if I kept going around with her, the emotions wouldn’t settle, and it would be a bit overwhelming.
The second round Rin sacrificed herself, hoping I could stop The Following Apocalypse. So arriving at any conclusions regarding relationships would have to wait until I completely stopped the apocalypse, as she wished.
Thus, we decided to wait until dawn, just like the last round. Kurika needed to go outside and act when it became dawn.
As I stepped outside the village for a moment, the voice echoed after a long time.
-How does it feel to start a new life?
“Almost said something rough there.”
-……
I had no idea where she learned to talk like that, but if she were in front of me, I’d swing my fist right away.
“Honestly, it’d be wise to watch your words. Especially in cases like this.”
-I’m just following her opinion. Why are you saying this to me?
“…Huh, what’s on your mind?”
It bothered me that I could only have this kind of conversation with this annoying goddess regarding the second round Rin. I could clearly sense from her voice that Rin’s sacrifice was merely a time that passed in her eyes.
-Just to let you know, you can’t regress anymore.
The Goddess of Time sounded petulant, sulking.
-Other gods seem to be taking the matter of switching regression timeframes more seriously than you would think. So this will be the final round. If you fail, the possibility will disappear altogether.
“……”
-Plus, I’ve removed the Sun God’s curse for you. Do you know how the Goddess of Death felt? Is this an all-in on the continent?
“Good to know.”
I, too, had no desire to depend on regression anymore. Going through such an experience again would be a nightmare, to say the least.
“I will end everything in this world.”
Absolutely.
