I slowly moved my steps toward the stairs. tap-tap-tap
Everyone looking at me froze. I didn’t think it was some physical or divine power at play.
There were far fewer of us. gulp
After all, there were knights who followed the Emperor. In fact, I had no assurance that I could win if I fought those knights right now.
The reason I managed to defeat countless knights of the Papal State before was because I had all sorts of weapons and bullets, plus my reinforced armor applied with the kind of over-technology that didn’t even exist in the reality I came from.
What I had in my hands now was just an empty small self-defense pistol. I had packed spare bullets, but I hadn’t bothered to reload.
The Emperor fell from being shot. Lucas fell from being shot. No one could understand how an ordinary teenage girl pulled off such results.
The Sword Saint was on my side, watching us with keen interest. But despite his slightly relaxed demeanor, everyone here knew that if someone tried to harm me, he would move in an instant.
Bella and Damien were frozen, looking at me.
I hadn’t specifically aimed for this… but, oh well, it didn’t matter.
Since I could shoot down Lucas, my allies should be able to do the same with Bella or Damien.
“What is it that you want?”
The Emperor asked, bleeding from his chest, clearly curious about it.
“A happy ending.”
I answered.
“By the power of the Goddess?”
“No.”
The reason I ended up in this place was thanks to the Goddess. Should I be grateful for that? Honestly, I still couldn’t definitively answer.
I met characters I liked, went on an adventure I longed for, and even built my own character traits as best I could. I had become close enough to those characters to gamble our lives on one another. And all of that was what the Goddess desired of me.
But at the same time, I lost my life. In this world, no one knows who I “really” am. There’s only Sylvia, Sylvia Black, Sylvia Fanggriffon, Sylvia Grace’s Estate. The character I built, the image of me I created.
That was a bit regrettable. It’s not that I was dissatisfied with life, but I still tried desperately to get by, pouring time into the things I loved.
It’s not a splendid story about encountering a happy ending and going back to meet my loving family. I had long given up on such a thing. I didn’t even know what had happened to the me from the world I lived in.
The Goddess’s power was useful. Thanks to that power, I was able to protect my friends— or is that too arrogant to say?
It was just that because I had that power, I could stand by my friends. Yes, that feels like the right thing to say.
But if that power were to place my hard-gathered friends in peril, then I wouldn’t need such power.
“It’s the greatest danger, so it must be eliminated with certainty.”
I said that and approached the machinery.
Up until now, I didn’t feel ‘like I should.’ In this moment, I was moving solely with my own strength.
“Order, chaos, none of that matters. I just want to live in the world I desire.”
As I muttered that in front of the machinery, the Emperor let out a laugh that sounded like the wind telling tales.
“Now that sounds like something a Fanggriffon would say.”
I didn’t respond at all.
“Claire.”
When I called her, Claire’s shoulders trembled.
Seeing Claire look up at me with trembling eyes made me feel guilty.
I made her see something distressing. Something that had repeated countless times.
Did I spend more time turning back, or did Claire spend more time?
Well, I suppose I won’t need to count that going forward.
“Sister.”
Claire, who had approached me in no time, spoke.
“How many times have you lived like this…?”
“Once.”
That much I could answer.
I have lived once. I’ve only gone through many experiences in that one life.
“What… what’s happening? What’s going on in this situation?”
Charlotte, who had been blankly standing until now, rushed to ask.
Even though just Claire and I were standing in front of the motionless machine, they must have sensed that we were going to do something.
“No need to worry. You’ll figure it all out soon.”
I looked at Claire.
“Alright. Then we just have to do what we did before, once more.”
Ah, but…
“‘Again’ might be a bit misleading. I’m not trying to ‘turn back time.’”
I reached out to the device.
Just reaching out didn’t activate the device.
But when Claire reached out—
A gentle, blue light reflected.
“If we go back, I really plan to ask you one thing at a time, Sister.”
“I’ll answer you.”
When I nodded, Claire lowered her head. Her shoulders were shaking a bit, so I placed my hand on her shoulder.
Really, I had come back a long way.
“Then, I’ll be waiting.”
The Sword Saint spoke in a leisurely voice.
“I hope to hear a proper explanation, Sister.”
Leo, who had maintained silence, opened his mouth. It was the angriest voice I’d heard from him so far.
He must not just be unaware of the situation. After all, Leo was a complete dope in the original.
If I were to guess, he was likely angry because his friends had put themselves in danger without him knowing. Plus, I was currently Leo’s ‘sister.’
In an instant, Claire let out a little laugh. It was a clear sound of amusement. I understood. To be honest, I nearly laughed too.
“…I hope you don’t regret saying that.”
“…Huh?”
It was a long-lost casual tone. Surprised, Leo asked with a blank look on his face, but I didn’t bother to answer.
“I have much I want to say, but anyway, we have enough time.”
Alice said that. I smiled at Alice like that. In an instant, her face turned blank too. The only one not flustered was Claire, who remembered my childhood smiles.
“Alright, then what should I say?”
“Let’s continue, how about?”
Claire asked.
“Continue?”
To be honest, ‘Again!’ didn’t sound like that impressive a line, and ‘Continue’ felt even stranger. It was like something that would be tagged onto the end of an anime episode. “To be continued…” or something like that.
“Yeah, so ‘continue.’ You said it’ll be a happy ending, but there’s no way this story ends here.”
Maybe so.
I kept thinking about games when I thought of ‘endings,’ but that’s definitely true.
We were now crossing the threshold of fifteen and sixteen. I may have had a previous life, and I hadn’t completely lived fifteen years in this world, but still, there would surely be more stories to come after this.
With or without the Goddess’ power.
“Alright then, let’s do that.”
So, in the sense of expecting some kind of comforting resolution, it was quite a fitting phrase.
As I agreed, Claire smiled brightly. Though her face still lacked color, and her eyes were teary.
Still, we hadn’t sustained any major injuries coming this far.
That’s enough, right?
“Then let’s all shout three together.”
“Alright.”
The two of us looked at each other and counted to three.
And—
“Continue!”
Hmm, but honestly, saying it out loud made it—
BOOM
—no longer a problem.
“……Ah.”
The silence-filled space suddenly burst with noise. It was as if we had jumped into the middle of some incident.
To be precise, we were the only ones who had gone back.
Even if everyone there was real, if they weren’t beings directly influenced by the story, it made sense that, like most people in that world, they wouldn’t have proper memories. Kinda like the fake Alice was affecting Alice, or Claire having a strong affinity with the narrative.
But then—
“Huh?”
The first one to utter such a sound was Mia.
From her expression, which displayed something was off, it seemed she had ‘realized something.’
Did she have an affinity for magic and catch on to that strange difference—
While I was thinking that, I realized one thing.
“Sister!”
Claire screamed. I also heard Alice calling “Sylvia!” from over there.
My vision began to shift sideways.
Ah, right, I remembered.
With the standards of my body, I’d come back far enough to not instantly recollect.
I had a hole in my stomach, oh right.
It seemed I was slowly reaching my limit.
Claire hurriedly caught me and laid me on the ground. The sounds of fighting grew fiercer, and as my consciousness began to fade—
CRASH, I heard something breaking.
And the sound of shattering glass.
It didn’t seem like something had burst through the wall or door. The noise was coming from above.
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