The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 71
EP.71 Deal (5)
Meditation was literally meditation.
A time to sit, calm the mind, and reflect on oneself.
Of course, it wasn’t always easy. Even with my absurd ability to reset time, there were still plenty of things that stressed me out.
The fact that Leo, Claire, and the rest of the main characters were diligent wasn’t exactly something to cause stress. Sure, my body was exhausted, and no matter what I predicted, their relentless actions often disrupted those expectations, but honestly, that kind of mistake was a pleasant surprise.
Wasn’t it? Leo being more tenacious than I thought, or perhaps one of the protagonists being a regressor, ruining the “original” story I had in mind… Of course, I was an alien entity who had drifted in from the outside, and to someone who loved the original, I might seem like I was ruining it. But there’s a big difference between the perspective of the one causing the disruption and that of an outsider.
It’s like the saying: If I do it, it’s romance; if someone else does it, it’s an affair. Hmm, that might not be the best analogy, but the point is this: the main characters acting like main characters didn’t really harm me. If anything, it was just how things were meant to be.
What truly stressed me out was when the story either adhered too closely to the original or veered so far off course that it no longer resembled the original at all.
First, when the story followed the original too closely. Based on what I had experienced so far, Leo seemed intent on completing every single side quest. I had no doubt he’d meticulously ensure the story progressed as it originally did, even beyond the playable parts of the game. From the perspective of someone who loved the original work, that might seem like a good thing.
But if the story followed the original path, there were characters within the main group who were bound to die. It wasn’t just the heroines—male characters could die too. The girl one of the male characters liked could die as well. No matter how strong the protagonist grew, he couldn’t be everywhere at once, nor could he protect all the characters scattered across the vast Empire. He couldn’t stop every event.
And then there was Claire. Someone was fated to die, and since I had taken her place, it could very well be me. Could resetting the time really prevent that death? Or was there some overwhelming force in this world that would ensure one or both of us would die no matter what? I had reset the time before, but I had never died. What would happen after death? Would I transfer to another world and live as a different character again?
Moreover, this world wasn’t rigidly following its original course. It was annoyingly inconsistent, mixing elements of the game with more realistic parts. In the game, no matter if you were shot, stabbed, hit by a giant’s hand falling from the sky, or blasted by a laser from another dimension, if your HP didn’t drop to zero, you wouldn’t die. Even if your HP hit zero and you collapsed, it didn’t count as death—you’d still appear in cutscenes, perfectly fine. The only penalty was not being able to use that character in battle.
But in reality, there were countless contradictions between what happened in the game and what unfolded in the cutscenes. Characters who had been hit by what should have been fatal attacks were only “knocked down” in the game, yet in cutscenes, they died simply because they were shot in the chest or stabbed in the stomach. In the game, this was merely gameplay logic, something allowed for the sake of the story, but in this world?
Does that mean the main group has to avoid getting shot or stabbed even once throughout the entire story? They would have to dodge every swipe from a beast and avoid stepping into the range of any spells.
…But then there was Mia Crowfield, a key character in the story, who almost got hit by a bear’s magic. Of course, I had reset the time right before that happened, but still.
Was it simply because I was there that the outcome was altered? Or was I some kind of restraining force, meant to save everyone and get them to that point?
For more than 300 consecutive days of meditation, I wrestled with these questions, over and over. The fact that I could meditate endlessly—without eating, sleeping, or even bathing—thanks to turning back time was, in many ways, a great advantage. Especially when it came to organizing my thoughts.
I hadn’t been able to think like this until now.
*
“……”
Before me was a battlefield. The faint smell of gunpowder lingered, a reminder of the battle that had taken place not too long ago. Between the trenches lay a no man’s land, from which the scent of something burning wafted in the cold air.
The ground bore the scars of repeated shelling, with large craters dotting the landscape, each filled with freshly fallen snow.
The battlefield itself was overwhelmingly in favor of the Imperial Army. The enemy had dug trenches and fortified the area, but the Empire had completely encircled those fortifications, including the trenches themselves.
The enemy had no tanks, while the Empire had plenty. There were also fighter planes.
However, deploying such armored equipment beyond the border was a complex issue. The Autonomous State of Rickland had requested support from the Empire, but they were hesitant to allow such “modern equipment” to cross the border.
From what I had gathered, the reason behind allowing even the limited presence of imperial forces was a kind of political pressure. The Empire had essentially said, “If you can’t deal with the warlords along your border, and that leads to harm on our side, what are you going to do about it?” Unable to bear this pressure, they begrudgingly agreed.
“There are a lot of them.”
Jennifer said as she peered through her binoculars at the fortress. A concrete bunker, built to last, came into view, even from this distance. It was far away, barely visible.
“But not enough to break through our defensive line.”
The soldiers would be dying all the way to that point.
“They don’t have machine guns, but they’ve rigged multiple gun barrels together to serve the same purpose. During the initial assault, a lot of our men were killed because of it. Its rate of fire isn’t quite like a machine gun, but it still sends bullets flying at rapid speed.”
They hadn’t developed assault rifles yet. Even the machine gun was one of the newer weapons, and it was still incredibly heavy. At least, it wasn’t the kind of thing you could carry around while firing.
“Well, can you do it?”
“…”
I didn’t answer. Jennifer stared at me for a moment, then asked again.
“Or have you already done it?”
“I’ve succeeded seven times.”
Of course, it had taken countless retries.
This mission was on an entirely different level from sneaking into the Count’s estate. The no man’s land between here and the trenches was extremely long. The moment I was spotted, bullets came flying.
To survive, I had to avoid being seen at all costs.
The fact that night had already fallen was in my favor.
Even in a standoff, a person’s vigilance can’t stay sharp for hours on end. Some soldiers on the long front lines were dozing off, while others were excited about the prospect of finishing their shift and going to sleep.
It had taken an absurd amount of time to find such a place, but I finally managed it. Once I got inside the trench, I had a significant advantage. As long as I had bullets, I could take down one enemy with each shot. Whether it was luck or simply the panic of the disoriented enemy in the dark, not a single bullet had hit me square in the head.
Dodge, hide, shoot.
There was no silencer to muffle my gunfire. Even if I had a modern silencer, it would only reduce the noise slightly; the moment I fired, the enemy would hear it. The only thing I could do was to add to the chaos and confusion.
I tried to move through the trenches as much as possible, tossing grenades into every room I came across.
The shotgun equipped with Marmaros was incredibly effective. The intense flames bursting from the muzzle alone were enough to terrify the enemy. I didn’t need to lug around a massive fuel tank on my back to turn the battlefield into a blazing inferno.
With a submachine gun, a shotgun, and a revolver in hand, I continued advancing, switching to any enemy weapon I could find when I ran out of ammo. Eventually, I stumbled upon the ammunition depot deep inside the base.
By that time, the Imperial Army had also launched their attack.
They must have seen the gunfights and explosions within the enemy camp and decided it was the perfect moment to strike.
In the midst of simultaneous attacks from inside and outside—
Boom!
A massive explosion shook the ground. For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything. When I came to, I was lying on the ground. I had only blacked out for a few seconds, but my back and shoulders were screaming in pain. As I quickly regained my senses and stood up, I saw enemy soldiers standing in a daze.
When I looked in their direction, I saw bright flames. Thick, black smoke billowed into the sky, darker than the night itself. Several more massive explosions followed.
…The ammunition depot had exploded.
One of the grenades I had randomly tossed must have hit the depot, causing it to blow up.
The sound of gunfire from outside the trenches grew louder and closer.
Waaahhh—
The cheers of the Imperial soldiers echoed, almost like a victory shout.
The mercenaries began to drop to their knees one by one, raising their hands above their heads. Their expressions showed that they knew it was all over.
They all stared at me with a mix of fear and awe.
Without a word, I climbed up to the edge of the trench and looked toward the bunker.
The bunker had exploded from the inside, half-collapsed. Even if there were people inside, there was no way they survived.
And if they had, they would soon be captured or killed by the flood of Imperial soldiers closing in.
That was my first success.