The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent-Chapter 271

I slowly made my way up the stairs.

Everyone watching me froze. I didn't think it was some physical force or the goddess's power at work.

We were vastly outnumbered.

There were knights who had followed the Emperor. I couldn’t guarantee I could defeat them if we fought right now.

The only reason I was able to defeat countless knights from the Holy Nation before was because I had all sorts of weapons, ammunition, and enhanced armor, which used advanced technology from a world that didn’t even exist in the reality I came from.

The weapon I held now was a small, empty handgun. I had extra rounds, but I hadn’t bothered to reload.

The Emperor had collapsed after being shot. Lucas, too, had fallen to a bullet. No one could understand how an ordinary teenage girl managed to pull off such results.

The Sword Saint was on our side, watching us with clear interest. But despite the slightly relaxed demeanor, everyone knew that if someone tried to harm me, the Sword Saint would act immediately.

Bella and Damien stood frozen, watching me.

It wasn’t my intention, but... I guess it didn’t matter.

Since I was able to take down Lucas, with the help of my companions, I could probably do the same to Bella or Damien.

“What do you want?” the Emperor asked, blood flowing from his chest. He seemed genuinely curious.

“A happy ending,” I answered.

“With the goddess’s power?”

“No.”

It was true that I had come here thanks to the goddess. Should I be thankful for that? Honestly, I couldn’t say for sure just yet.

I had met characters I loved, gone on the adventures I had always dreamed of, and built personalities for them along the way. And through all of that, I’d grown close enough to those characters to risk my life for them, something I hadn’t thought possible before. That had been what the goddess wanted for me all along.

But at the same time, I had lost my own life. In this world, no one truly knew who I was. There were only the characters I had built: Sylvia, Sylvia Black, Sylvia Fangryphon, Sylvia Grace. The me I created through them.

That was a little disappointing. It wasn’t like I was unhappy with my life, but I had worked hard to get by, spending time on the things I ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) loved and trying to live as fully as I could.

This wasn’t some grand tale of returning to my world to meet my loved ones in a perfect happy ending. I had long abandoned that hope. I didn’t even know what had happened to the version of me in the world I had come from.

The goddess’s power was useful. It allowed me to protect my friends—no, that sounded too arrogant.

The truth was, that power was the only thing that allowed me to stand by my friends. Yes, that felt more accurate.

But if that power ever put those friends at risk, I wouldn’t need it.

“The greatest threat must be eliminated, without a doubt.”

I spoke as I moved toward the device.

Up until now, I hadn’t felt like this was the right thing to do, but at this moment, I was moving entirely on my own strength.

“Order or chaos, it doesn’t matter. I just want to live in the world I want to live in.”

As I stood before the machine, muttering to myself, the Emperor let out a laugh that sounded like air escaping.

“That’s truly something Fangryphon would say.”

I didn’t respond.

“Claire.”

When I called her name, Claire’s shoulders shook.

I felt a pang of guilt as I saw her looking up at me with trembling eyes.

I had forced her to see things no one should. And not just once, but countless times.

Who had rewound time more times, her or me?

Well, there was no need to count that anymore.

“Sis.”

Claire, who had come up beside me, spoke.

“How many times have you lived through this?”

“Once.”

That was the one thing I could answer.

I had lived only one life. It was just that in that one life, I had experienced so much.

“What... what’s happening? What’s going on?”

Charlotte, who had been standing there in a daze, asked urgently.

There was no movement from the machine, and it was just Claire and I standing there, but Charlotte must have sensed that we were about to do something.

“Don’t worry. You’ll know soon enough.”

I looked at Claire.

“Alright. Then, we just do it like we did before.”

Ah, but...

“Actually, saying ‘again’ might not be quite right. I’m not ‘rewinding’ time.”

I reached out for the device.

Just reaching out didn’t activate it.

But when Claire reached out—

A soft blue glow emanated.

“...If we go back, I’m going to ask you everything, Sis.”

“I’ll answer.”

I nodded, and Claire lowered her head, her shoulders trembling. I placed my hand on her shoulder.

We’d truly gone through a long journey.

“Then, let’s wait.”

The Sword Saint spoke in a relaxed voice.

“I do hope I’ll get a proper explanation, Sister.”

Leo, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. His voice was filled with the most anger I had ever heard from him.

It wasn’t just about not knowing something. Leo had always been the kind of character who was too nice for his own good.

He was probably angry because his friends had been taking risks without him knowing. And now, I was his “sister.”

Then, suddenly, Claire let out a small chuckle. A clear laugh.

I understood. Honestly, I almost laughed too.

“I hope you don’t regret saying that.”

“...What?”

It had been a long time since I’d used informal speech. Leo, looking bewildered, asked, but I didn’t feel the need to answer.

“I have a lot I want to say, but we’ll have time for that later.”

Alice spoke. I smiled at her. Her expression immediately turned to one of confusion.

The only one not flustered was Claire, who had remembered my smile from our childhood.

“Alright, what do we say?”

“How about ‘continue’?”

Claire asked.

“Continue?”

Honestly, I didn’t think ‘again!’ was a particularly great line, but ‘continue’ felt even stranger. It sounded like something you’d hear at the end of an anime episode. “To be continued next week...”

“Yeah, that’s it. You said ‘happy ending,’ but there’s no way this story ends here.”

I suppose so.

I kept thinking of it as a game, so I kept thinking about an “ending,” but that’s not it.

We were just crossing the line between fifteen and sixteen. I didn’t live my entire life in this world, but I lived a full fifteen years here. And yet, the story wouldn’t end here.

Whether or not we had the goddess’s power.

“Alright, let’s do it.”

In a way, it was a fitting line, considering we were anticipating a sequel.

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When I agreed, Claire smiled brightly. Her face was still pale, and her eyes were teary, but...

She hadn’t been badly hurt this time.

That’s all that mattered.

“Then, let’s shout together on three.”

“Okay.”

We locked eyes and counted.

And then—

“Continue!”

Hm, but honestly, saying it out loud felt a little...

*

—One more thing wasn’t a problem anymore.

“...Ah.”

The space, which had been filled with silence, suddenly erupted into noise. It felt like we had just stumbled back into the middle of some event.

To be precise, it was just us who had come back.

Even if everyone there had been real, those who weren’t directly affected by the relics couldn’t possibly remember things properly, just like most people in that world. This was especially true for Alice, who had been influenced by the fake Alice, Claire, who resonated with the relic’s power, and the country that used bodies created by the goddess herself.

But then—

“Huh?”

The first person to speak was Mia.

Her expression twisted slightly, as if she had just realized something.

Was it because she was sensitive to magic, and had noticed some subtle difference?

As I thought about this, one realization hit me.

“Sis!”

Claire screamed. I also heard Alice shouting, “Sylvia!” from the other side.

My vision began to blur to the side.

Oh, right. It came back to me.

I had gone around so much that I hadn’t remembered it right away.

I had a hole in my side, didn’t I?

Seems like I’d reached my limit.

Claire hurriedly grabbed me and laid me down on the ground. The sounds of fighting intensified, and my consciousness slowly began to fade—

Then, I heard a loud crash.

And the sound of glass shattering.

It didn’t seem like something had broken through the wall or the door. The sound came from above.