episode_0071

Meditation was literally meditation.

A time to sit, relax, and reflect on yourself.

Of course, it wasn’t that easy. Even though I had the absurd ability to turn back time, there were still many things that could have stressed me out.

The main characters, including Leo and Claire, are all sincere, so it’s not really stressful. My body would be tired, and the kids would work so hard that no matter what I predicted, my predictions would be destroyed, but in fact, that was a happy miscalculation.

Isn’t that right? Leo’s personality was even worse than I thought, or in fact there was a regressor among the main characters who was ruining the ‘original work’ that I had in mind… … Of course, I was also an alien being who came in from the outside, and other people who love the original work might think that I was ruining it at will, but there was a big difference between looking at it from the perspective of the one ruining it and looking at it from another’s perspective.

If I do it, it’s romance, but if others do it, it’s an affair… … Well, this seems a little different.

So, the damage I suffer because the main characters are the main characters is not really damage. In fact, it was just something that had to happen the way it was supposed to.

The reason I get stressed is when the story flows too much like the original, and when it feels like the story doesn’t flow like the original for some reason.

First of all, when the story flows too much like the original.

Based on what I’ve experienced so far, the main character Leo will likely clear every single subquest. He’ll probably move around very faithfully, even outside of the playable parts, and help the story flow as it should.

From the perspective of someone who likes the original, that might be a good thing.

But if we go by the original, there will definitely be people among the main characters who die.

It’s not just the heroine. The male group can die easily, and the girl the male group likes can die easily. No matter how strong the main character has grown, he can’t be with all the characters spread out across the vast empire, so he can’t stop every moment.

Besides, there are characters that ‘must die’.

Claire.

Now that I’m in Claire’s place, it could be me. Could turning back time really be the means to prevent that death? Is there some kind of restraint in the world that causes one or both of them to die? I’ve turned back time, but I’ve never died. What happens after death? Will I be transported to another world and live as a different character?

Besides, this world doesn’t always go on as it always does. It’s so irrational that there are parts that are similar to games and parts that are not and are realistic.

In the game, if you get shot, stabbed, hit by a giant falling from the sky, or hit by a laser from another dimension, you won’t die as long as your HP doesn’t drop. Even if you fall down with 0 HP, you won’t be considered dead and will appear in the cutscene as normal. The only disadvantage is that you won’t be able to use that character in battle.

However, there are more than one or two contradictory directing between the gameplay and cutscenes. Characters who were supposed to just ‘fall down’ after being hit with an attack that would kill them no matter how you look at it, die in cutscenes because they were shot in the chest or stabbed in the stomach. In a game, it may be acceptable and directing, but in reality?

Then, doesn’t that mean that during that long narrative, the main characters should not be hit by a single sword or gun, should avoid all beasts that they encounter, and should never enter the range of magic?

… … But Mia Crowfield, who is clearly one of the most important characters in the story, almost got hit by the bear’s magic. I did turn back time just before that.

Also, is it just because I was there that the outcome was different? Or is it because I am the restraint that I have to go there and save everyone?

During my continuous meditation period of over 300 days, I constantly thought about those things.

By turning back time, I was able to meditate without eating, sleeping, or washing, which was quite beneficial in many ways.

Especially when it comes to organizing my thoughts.

Because I never thought of something like this until now.

*

“… … .”

There was a battlefield before my eyes. There was a faint smell of gunpowder, as if there had been a battle not long ago, and a burning smell wafted from the no-man’s-land between the trenches.

There were large craters here and there, as if shells had landed there repeatedly, and snow was piled up inside them as well.

The battlefield itself was one in which the Imperial forces had an overwhelming advantage. Although the enemy had dug trenches and fortified the surrounding area, the Imperial forces surrounded the fortifications with trenches.

The enemy didn’t have tanks, but the Imperial Army had tanks.

There were also fighter planes.

However, transporting such armored equipment across the border was a complicated story in many ways. The Republic of Likland requested support from the Empire, but was somewhat reluctant to allow such ‘state-of-the-art equipment’ to advance across the border.

After hearing the story, it seems that the reason the army crossed the border like this was in fact because they could not withstand the political pressure of the empire that said, “We were unable to properly suppress the warlords in the border area, so we suffered damage. What should we do?” and so they allowed it with restrictions.

“There are many.”

Jennifer said, looking at the fort through her binoculars. She saw a concrete bunker that seemed quite well built. It was so far away that it looked small even from here.

“But that doesn’t mean there are enough to break through the defense line.”

Because soldiers will die all the way there.

“They don’t have machine guns. But they use multiple barrels tied together as a substitute for machine guns. Many soldiers died because of them during the initial offensive. The rate of fire isn’t as fast as a machine gun, but it still fires multiple bullets quickly.”

Things like assault rifles hadn’t been developed yet. Machine guns were also one of the newest weapons, and they were also very heavy. At least, they weren’t the kind of thing you could carry around and shoot.

“How about it, can you do it?”

“… … .”

Jennifer stared at me without answering, then asked again.

“Or is it already done?”

“Seven times successful.”

Of course, we had to try a ton of times.

It was a completely different problem from infiltrating the Count’s house. The no-man’s land in the middle of the trench was very long. Bullets would fly as soon as I was seen.

In order not to die, I had to go without being caught in the first place.

The fact that it was already getting dark was a factor in my favor.

No matter how confrontational the situation is, people’s alertness cannot remain sharp for hours on end. In some parts of the long front line, there were soldiers who were sleeping, and others who were excited that their work was almost over and it was time to go to bed.

It took me an incredibly long time to find that place, but I finally found it.

Once I got into the trench, I had an overwhelming advantage. If I had bullets, I could take them down one by one. I don’t know if I was lucky, or if I was just too dark and confused, but no one ever hit me in the head.

Dodge, hide, shoot.

There was no silencer to hide the sound of gunshots. Even if you had a modern silencer, the sound of the gunshot would only be slightly muffled, and the enemy would inevitably detect it the moment you fired.

All I could do was further confuse the enemy’s situation.

I tried to walk around the trench as much as possible, putting the grenades I was carrying in each room between the trenches.

Attaching a Marmaros to my shotgun was definitely effective. The intense flames coming out of the muzzle alone were enough to scare my opponents. Even without carrying a huge oil can on my back, I was able to destroy the enemy camp.

A submachine gun, a shotgun, and a revolver. When all the bullets in my gun ran out, I kept moving forward by picking up other guns and using them, and eventually I was able to find an ammo depot deep in the base.

Besides, by that time the imperial forces had also begun to attack.

Seeing the gunfight and explosions taking place inside enemy territory, the Imperial forces seemed to think that was the best time to attack.

While attacks are simultaneously taking place from both the inside and the outside—

bang!

There was a huge noise that shook the ground. For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything.

When I came to, I was lying on the ground. I had been unconscious for only a few seconds. My back and shoulders hurt like crazy. When I came to my senses as quickly as possible and got up, I saw enemy soldiers with blank expressions.

I looked in that direction and saw a brightly burning fire. Smoke much blacker than the dark sky was rising in clumps. There were several more huge explosions.

… … The ammunition depot exploded.

One of the grenades I carelessly threw seemed to have detonated the ammunition depot.

The sound of gunfire outside the trench grew closer and closer.

Wow—

The shouts of the imperial soldiers were heard, which sounded like cheers.

The mercenaries knelt down one by one and raised their hands above their heads. Their expressions showed that they knew it was over.

Everyone was looking at me as if they were afraid.

I silently crawled up to the trench and looked at where the bunker had originally been.

The bunker was half-collapsed after being blown up from the inside. Even if there were people inside the other half, they probably wouldn’t have been safe.

Even if he were safe, he would be captured or killed by the swarming imperial soldiers.

That was my first success.