Chapter 1: Regression elisha

[Prologue]

In the middle of a devastated battlefield, a woman knelt alone, struggling to breathe.

“Haaah······. Keuk!”

With a rough sigh, she spat out a mouthful of blood that had pooled in her mouth, then threw the weapon she was holding far away and collapsed onto the ground.

Her body was already battered, making it hard to even lift a finger.

Her eyes slowly closed and drowsiness washed over her, but she held onto her consciousness with the will that she couldn’t fall asleep like this.

Because she had to quickly think about ‘what’s next’.

‘It’s not enough…. I can’t do anything like this.’

She gained strength to protect her loved ones and borrowed the power of countless allies to prevent destruction.

Even so, it wasn’t enough.

Despite her efforts, destruction ultimately sought to engulf everyone.

As if struggling was pointless, no matter how much she tried….

–Cough!

A single small cough brought pain that felt like her entire body was twisting.

She almost lost consciousness for a moment, but the terrible pain didn’t allow her to rest peacefully.

She could now clearly feel that she was truly nearing the threshold of death.

But it was alright. It wasn’t over yet.

“Again…. From the beginning······.”

She was a Reincarnator.

By dying, she rewound time.

So no matter how many times the world ended, she would never give up until the very end.

‘Again…. I’ll start over······.’

To save her loved ones.

To protect the world.

She reincarnated once more.

[End of Prologue]

The surrounding scenery rapidly rushed past.

Since it was a phenomenon I had experienced countless times, I immediately realized.

‘Ah, I’m reincarnating again,’ I thought….

I closed my eyes briefly and opened them to find time already flowing again.

I quietly looked out the window.

Bright sunshine, countless buildings, and people bustling through the streets.

The blue sky wasn’t shattered, buildings hadn’t collapsed into ruins, and the streets weren’t ablaze.

People’s faces were filled with peaceful smiles.

Occasionally, there were those with troubled expressions, but surely those weren’t the faces of people who had faced the ‘destruction’ of the world.

Right. As the Reincarnator’s time rewound, the world regained peace.

****

Although time had rewound, nothing had changed.

As always, I acted as if nothing had happened.

Today, returned by the Reincarnator, was the academy’s entrance ceremony.

Since I couldn’t be absent on the first day, I quickly packed only what I needed and went outside.

Exiting the dormitory building, I saw students dressed similarly to me walking with stiff postures.

Most of them were first-years attending the entrance ceremony.

It seemed no one wanted to be looked down upon on the first day, as they all looked highly motivated.

A few students were already glaring at each other with fierce intensity.

From my perspective, as someone who had experienced multiple entrance ceremonies, it was just a meaningless power struggle between children of feuding families.

I passed by those who seemed to be getting excited during their argument, starting to draw out their magic, without even glancing at them.

A professor would come to sort it out soon anyway.

After walking for about ten more minutes, I overheard the conversation of students walking together, seemingly friends.

“Did you hear the Hero is enrolling this year?”

“I heard rumors that the Saintess is coming too.”

“From the Eloshi family and the Nisen family too······.”

As they said, there were many exceptionally talented prodigies enrolling this year.

The Hero, master of the Holy Sword; the Saintess, who received the most power from the gods; a genius from some family; someone’s disciple, and so on….

Even I, who had no interest in worldly affairs, had heard of these famous figures enrolling en masse.

It wasn’t for nothing that professors and students alike called this year’s first-years the ‘Golden Generation.’

Among them, there were three people I was particularly conscious of.

The Hero, the Saintess, and the Reincarnator.

Excluding the Saintess, I figured I’d probably see the Hero and the Reincarnator today if nothing unusual happened.

Walking aimlessly, I found myself arriving at the auditorium.

The entrance ceremony was held here, in this massive dome-shaped auditorium.

I found a suitable seat and sat down.

Then I looked towards the area where most of the students’ gazes were gathered.

In the front row, specifically the seat closest to the podium, a woman with long blonde hair sat upright.

That woman was the Hero.

The Hero, waiting for the entrance ceremony to begin, unconcerned by the gazes pouring in from her surroundings.

Beside her, a sharp sword emitted a warm aura, glowing faintly.

That was the Holy Sword.

Although it currently emitted only a faint light, given the Holy Sword’s characteristic of growing alongside its wielder, as the Hero grew stronger, that weak light would undoubtedly intensify.

Watching the unmoving Hero, I recalled her from the previous timelines.

Carrying the Reincarnator, who memorized the locations of countless treasures with knowledge from the future, she grew endlessly.

The Holy Sword’s light, which was now barely a firefly’s glow, was at that time strong enough to blind an ordinary person who merely glanced at it for a moment….

The Reincarnator, seeing her efforts to control that powerful light, had even said that she didn’t know the limits of the Hero and the Holy Sword.

Unfortunately, they consistently failed to prevent destruction, but if she continued to grow stronger in this timeline, she would once again become a powerful ally of the Reincarnator.

In every timeline, the Hero was always a good person.

Whenever destruction approached, she was always the first to reach out to the Reincarnator, and perhaps because of that, she also received the most support.

This showed how specially the Reincarnator regarded the Hero.

Speaking of the Reincarnator’s powerful allies, the Saintess couldn’t be left out either······.

She hadn’t arrived at the academy yet.

Unlike the relatively free Hero, she was a woman who led a massive force called the Holy Order, so she tended to be busy.

Finally, the Reincarnator was probably around now······.

“Everyone, focus.”

At that moment, someone’s voice echoed throughout the entire auditorium.

Instantly, the brightly lit space darkened, and only a single beam of light remained, illuminating the podium.

On the podium, where no one had been just a moment ago, a sharp-featured man wearing glasses stood.

Unlike the students who were surprised by his sudden appearance, I, who remembered who he was from several past experiences, wasn’t particularly surprised.

I merely guessed, ‘It seems the entrance ceremony is finally about to begin.’

“Thank you for attending the entrance ceremony. I am Lycaon Schneider, a third-year magic professor.”

He cleared his throat slightly and slowly began to speak.

“The Headmaster is unable to preside over the entrance ceremony due to unavoidable circumstances, so I will be conducting it in his stead.”

I let the subsequent unnecessary sermon go in one ear and out the other.

After all, I had already heard all of it, and it was content I didn’t need anyway.

****

The entrance ceremony ended quickly.

It was originally an unimportant event, to the extent that absence wouldn’t cause any issues, and most importantly, since the Headmaster hadn’t come, it concluded quickly after only formal greetings.

“······This concludes the entrance ceremony.”

–Clap clap clap!

Professor Lycaon, who had finished his speech to the students’ applause, vanished from the podium in an instant.

Seeing him literally disappear without a trace, it seemed to be the same trick as when he suddenly appeared on the podium.

Whether surprised by the third-year magic professor’s skill, small exclamations of awe and murmurs flowed from here and there.

The lights came back on in the auditorium where the light had vanished, and as the entrance ceremony finally concluded, students began to rise from their seats one by one.

I, too, slowly rose from my chair.

I passed by students subtly trying to approach the Hero to strike up a conversation, and exited the auditorium.

So far, I hadn’t noticed any differences from the previous timelines.

In that case, what’s next is, as expected······.

“Heehee, hello?”

Right. I figured she’d appear around now.

Suddenly, beautiful sky-blue hair obscured my vision.

The ‘Reincarnator’, who had quietly approached me, spoke.

And then, as she always did, she naturally······.

“······.”

“······.”

She hugged me tightly.

Then she buried her face in my embrace and whispered in a voice just loud enough for me to hear.

“I’ll do my best this time too.”

“······.”

······For reference, at this point, I had never met the Reincarnator.

This meant I hadn’t yet built any rapport with her.

If I were to question her about this, she would always reply like this:

“······Who are you?”

“Just…. someone you know?”

The Reincarnator always gave the same answer, then smiled faintly with her eyes and leisurely disappeared.

Her inexplicable eccentric behavior had occurred in the last timeline, and the timeline before that too.

I feigned a bewildered expression and waved back at the Reincarnator, who was waving from afar.

Honestly, I still don’t know why she does that.

I had never once revealed to the Reincarnator that I was also reincarnating with her, had no intention of revealing it anytime soon, and was confident that my act had never been discovered.

That’s why I was even more curious.

Why did the poor Reincarnator, who didn’t even know I was reincarnating with her, always act like she knew me every time she reincarnated······?

****

The Reincarnator returned to the dormitory with a leisurely stride.

She changed into comfortable clothes and immediately dove into bed.

“Ugh, me too…. How many times has this been······.”

Unable to bear the embarrassment, the Reincarnator, no, Elisha, buried her face in the bed and furiously pounded her pillow, recalling what had just happened.

–I’ll do my best this time too.

–······Who are you?

–Just…. someone you know?

“Haaah······.”

Though she had uttered those words herself, she did think they sounded a bit cheesy.

She wanted to ask her past self, ‘Why did I do that?’, but she had known the answer for a long time.

This was already the third time she had approached him and done something like this every time she reincarnated.

It would be stranger if she didn’t realize it by now.

Her face had been burning since earlier, but Elisha wasn’t a child who didn’t understand her own feelings.

Because she liked him.

Because even after reincarnating, she still loved him.

In the many timelines that had passed, he had always saved her when she was in danger.

When she tasted despair and was about to collapse, he held her back with warm words.

So, how could she not love him?

When she faced him, she yearned for affection and wanted to express her feelings.

In the endless cycle of reincarnation, his presence alone gave her strength, allowing her to move forward without giving up.

Being able to endlessly challenge destruction, which seemed utterly insurmountable, was also because….

…she could gain strength merely by being embraced by him and feeling his scent.

He was the Reincarnator’s… Elisha’s sole driving force and most important existence.

That was why she sought him out and embraced him every time she reincarnated.

‘Though there’s also the intention of marking him beforehand······.’

She wanted to kiss him if her heart had its way, but she didn’t want their first kiss to happen impulsively in a place like this.

As Elisha had watched his actions in previous timelines, she knew he detested being conspicuous, so she ended it with a brief hug and quickly left, considering him.

She didn’t want to disrupt his academy life, and most of all, Elisha wanted him to live a peaceful life.

Keeping her distance for now would be better for both her and him.

······Of course, she intended to interfere with his love life countless times if necessary… but she didn’t yet have the right to say anything about his romantic affairs.

From his perspective, the current Elisha was nothing more or less than ‘a woman he’d just met who was acting familiar.’

Even if he flirted with other women, there was nothing she could do.

So······.

She would gradually approach him.

To get closer to him, and someday, to engrave her feelings into his heart.

She would continue to express her feelings.

But unfortunately, there was too much to do right now.

‘I guess I won’t be able to attend tomorrow’s class.’

She was already worried about what to explain to the professors, but she had no intention of letting the information she gained from previous timelines go to waste.

Right.

For now, becoming stronger was the priority above all else.

Building rapport with the Hero or the Saintess came after that.

Even for the sake of her future with him…. Elisha had to become even stronger.