The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 109
EP.109 Question
My ability had reached a limit. It wasn’t that the power itself had vanished, nor did it feel like some new penalty had been added. Afterward, I tested it a few times in my room, and the ability seemed to function properly.
But I suspected that I could no longer return to a point in time before meeting that nameless figure yesterday.
Since then, I hadn’t attempted to go back to that moment again. Even if I did it out of curiosity, I would still have to face the Emperor’s expression again. That man always jumped to conclusions on his own, even when I said nothing. What was the point of rewinding time if it wouldn’t change anything?
More importantly, I didn’t want to experience that pain again.
Lying on my bed, I stared blankly at the ceiling, lost in thought.
I had treated my bruises, and after a long sleep, I woke up feeling refreshed—physically, at least. Mentally, my mind was a tangled mess.
I was trying to make sense of the nameless figure I had encountered in the dungeon.
“…Is it me?”
Muttering those words out loud did little to make the thought feel real.
If this were a story about someone possessing another’s body, the idea that it was my future self would certainly fit the cliché.
That figure had vanished with the relic. Was it trying to prevent some catastrophe the Emperor might cause with it in the future?
But even with that reasoning, something felt off.
Let’s entertain the possibility that it was me.
She had clearly been using an ability tied to time—just like I was. In that moment, her movements felt chaotic, as if the sequences of past, present, and future were entangled.
Even her voice was strange. It sounded distorted, layered with static, as if she was speaking through interference. It wasn’t the kind of sound someone would make intentionally, nor was it simply the result of injury.
When I tried to reset the situation using my ability, it seemed the other person did the same simultaneously. She shattered the space around us and held me firmly. I managed to rewind time, but the process was unstable. That’s likely why my physical state—normally reverted with time—remained unchanged.
If our abilities clashed, perhaps that was what caused the anomaly. The figure could have been left stranded in an impossible future, creating an error that prevented me from going back to that point in time.
But even with this theory, something didn’t add up.
She had my gun, but she aimed it at Alice—not the Emperor.
Perhaps she was targeting me, and Alice just happened to be in the way?
…No. Even though I wasn’t physically extraordinary, I had spent countless hours mastering that gun. At such close range, I wouldn’t miss my intended target. And if she was my future self, she definitely wouldn’t.
That figure had tried to say something to me.
“Sylvia, never—”
But I hadn’t heard the rest.
And when I pointed my weapon at her, I felt an intense sense of revulsion.
…
Ugh, I can’t figure this out.
I scratched my head furiously and forced myself upright.
No matter how much I dwelled on it, I wasn’t going to make sense of the situation right now. For now—
As I climbed out of bed and slipped into my slippers, there was a hesitant knock at the door.
“Yes, come in.”
I spoke, relieved my voice wasn’t hoarse.
The door creaked open cautiously, revealing Claire.
“Sister.”
Normally, when she called me that, her voice was light and cheerful, full of energy.
But now, her eyes were filled with worry, and her voice was soft, almost trembling.
“Are you feeling better?”
Once again, she didn’t ask about anything else.
“I’m fine.”
After all, I’d been healed with magic. There was no lingering pain, and I hadn’t been seriously injured in the first place.
There were only a few drops of blood on my clothes—and they weren’t mine. It was from the arm that had grabbed me, scraped and bleeding from being torn against the fractured space.
Of course, Claire’s concern wasn’t just for the reasons I assumed.
“Well…”
Claire shifted her gaze nervously before looking back at me. She resembled a younger sister trying to approach an older sibling who seemed angry.
“Everyone else is gathered in the dining hall right now. I thought maybe it’s time for all of us to have a meal together.”
“Understood—”
But as I answered, I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t even washed up yet. It seemed that was part of the reason Claire had approached me so cautiously.
“I’ll wash up quickly and come down.”
When I said that, Claire nodded.
“Alright. I’ll wait for you.”
*
Claire’s “I’ll wait for you” didn’t mean she’d wait in the dining hall. Instead, she sat patiently in one of the chairs in my room.
In a world without gadgets like smartphones, simply sitting and waiting must have been terribly boring for her.
I pressed a towel against my damp hair, trying to squeeze out as much moisture as I could. I even used a small, wind-up fan to dry it further, but there was still a lingering dampness.
“You’re going like that?”
When I finally gave up on drying my hair and started putting on my uniform, Claire was startled and blurted out the question.
Normally, she’d never see me looking so disheveled.
What would the usual me have done?
The usual me… I probably would’ve turned back time to before Claire arrived. Then, I would’ve washed up in a hurry and waited for her, with my hair perfectly dry, of course.
After all, I had spent the entire morning thinking. Rewinding time wouldn’t erase those thoughts from my mind.
“……”
For a brief moment, I debated whether I should do just that. But instead, I asked Claire.
“Do I look strange?”
Claire quickly shook her head from side to side, an innocent gesture reminiscent of a child denying guilt to their mother. Her reaction almost made me laugh.
It was oddly peaceful, as if the bizarre events of yesterday had never happened.
I could have asked her a question—just one—but I decided against it.
Not that I could answer her if she asked.
“Well, I’ll head down like this,” I said.
“Alright.”
This time, Claire nodded enthusiastically.
*
“What happened last night?”
That was the first thing Charlotte said when she saw me.
Honestly, the mere fact that I had delayed coming down and appeared unprepared was likely shocking to her.
Until now, my reputation had been one of meticulous precision—someone who anticipated and resolved problems almost as if by prophecy.
For me to oversleep, come downstairs after everyone had already started breakfast, and arrive with wet hair…
…This wasn’t just a break from my character. It might’ve fallen short of even the standards of nobility or royalty.
But before I could dwell on it further, the aroma of freshly baked bread wafted toward me.
Though some time had passed since breakfast began, my portion had been kept under a silver cover, likely to preserve its warmth.
Without hurrying too much, I walked over to the empty seat and sat down.
Alice glanced at me with a worried expression. Had she sensed something from my demeanor this time too?
It wasn’t Alice who came to fetch me but Claire. This likely meant Alice had to explain the events of last night at the table. After all, it was Alice who had asked Charlotte to take a different dungeon route.
“Alice?”
Perhaps because she hadn’t received an answer from me, Charlotte turned back to Alice and asked. Fortunately, Charlotte didn’t seem angry. Instead, it appeared she understood that I had been ravenously hungry.
“Well, about yesterday…”
I could almost hear Alice’s brain working from here.
“…Sorry. It’s just that it’s hard to explain.”
“I see.”
Charlotte didn’t press Alice further. In fact, her gaze wasn’t on Alice—it was on me.
I could feel Charlotte watching me curiously as I chewed on a plain piece of morning bread. When our eyes met, she asked.
“You must’ve been really hungry?”
“……”
I glanced at the bread in my hand. Instead of tearing it into small, refined pieces, I had been holding and biting straight into it.
Did I appear uncultured?
Charlotte didn’t seem to be judging me, at least not overtly. Thankfully, her expression wasn’t one of shock, like the time she had seen me eating a parfait.
“Yes, a lot happened yesterday.”
At my words, Alice’s shoulders flinched.
Charlotte’s gaze shifted between Alice and me. Her deep eyes held a trace of curiosity, but perhaps because she was someone accustomed to seeing and hearing things she couldn’t always talk about, she refrained from asking further questions.
“What about the others?”
I asked, steering the conversation away.
“Leo was dragged off by Jake. They’re probably at a casino or something.”
Charlotte answered my question with a sigh.
“Mia still hasn’t woken up, and Lena went straight to her room to work on her weapons after finishing her meal.”
Alice added.
“Do you want more food?”
Claire asked, noticing how quickly my plate was emptying.
“……”
Normally, I would have declined…
But honestly, I was starving.