The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 77
EP.77 Who Are You?
Even if I tried to figure out where things had gone wrong at this point, it wouldn’t really matter. I had done my best, and this was the result. Honestly, if I were told to reset time and solve everything again over a span of several days, I wasn’t sure I could handle it. Even if I knew the process, the thought of going through the same ordeal multiple times wasn’t appealing—mentally, it would be exhausting.
The one thing I knew for sure was that I didn’t want to return to the battlefield anytime soon. The smells, the dampness, and the constant noise—none of it was something I wished to experience again.
So, after parting ways with Lucas, I just went back to my room and collapsed onto the bed. I immediately fell into a deep sleep. My mind was so overheated that I didn’t want to think about anything for at least the next few hours.
*
When I woke up, I felt incredibly light, as if a huge burden had been lifted. And from that, I could conclude a few things.
Even though learning meditation had helped alleviate fatigue, sleeping was still much better. Meditation allowed me to maintain my body’s condition, but it didn’t eliminate tiredness altogether. To properly sustain mental clarity through meditation, I had to mix in genuine rest, and my body’s stamina had to be above a certain level.
Honestly, I had never been a fan of physical exercise. It wasn’t just a personal dislike—I had never known how much time I’d have to turn back, so investing in physical training felt pointless. No matter how hard I worked on strengthening my body, if an unexpected event made me reverse time, all that effort would vanish in an instant.
I focused on building habits and improving knowledge that could withstand time resets. Even though I had to keep up with the main group of protagonists, I’d only ever trained enough to maintain the bare minimum—there was no point trying to catch up to superhuman beings like them.
Still, after causing such chaos on the battlefield yesterday, and then trailing after the party for a string of quests without collapsing, it seemed that my minimal training and meditation had paid off. If I hadn’t learned meditation, I probably would’ve collapsed into bed the moment I returned and slept through until the next morning.
The fact that I could hold out even a little longer was thanks to my mentor. I wondered if Leo and the others had returned yet. Maybe they were still away. Their training with the Sword Saint wouldn’t have been short. Even if they trained all night, they probably learned just a little.
Well, this event was more about the significance of meeting the Sword Saint than what they could actually learn from him in such a short time.
Growl.
My stomach growled loudly, probably because I hadn’t eaten dinner the night before. Checking the clock, I saw it was already 9 a.m.
I should probably wash up and grab some food.
*
No matter how disciplined someone’s routine has been, most people, unless they’re exceptionally diligent, will tend to throw caution to the wind as soon as the rules are relaxed.
At the academy dormitory, students were expected to wake up by 7:30 a.m., get ready, have breakfast, and be in class by 9 a.m. However, Jennifer, who was in charge of this region, wasn’t the type to enforce strict schedules. If someone wanted to sleep in late, she didn’t care, as long as they could maintain their grades. Whether they slept all day or spent their time having fun, Jennifer paid no mind.
The students knew this, which is probably why they had been running around so much the previous day. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t even be able to meet the minimum score requirements. That might explain why the dining hall at Winterfield Castle felt so quiet this morning—there were hardly any students around.
In a game, I might’ve thought the limited number of students was due to the developers trying to manage resource allocation. But seeing only three students in academy uniforms made me think otherwise—reality didn’t operate on resource limits like that.
Two of the students were familiar faces. They were from the same noble Class A, and I had seen them in the game and read about them in the lore books. We weren’t close enough to have deep conversations, and they weren’t major characters in the story, just background figures.
The girl and boy sat across from each other, eating. Judging by their different surnames, they weren’t siblings. They didn’t give off a romantic vibe either. Maybe their companions were still lounging around in the dorm.
As for the third person…
……Who is that?
The girl with short, dark brown hair caught my eye. Despite her short haircut, which was a bit longer than most boys’, her beauty was undeniable. Her uniform was clearly the female version, and she had draped her coat neatly over the empty chair beside her, leaving no room for confusion about her gender.
Was she from the noble class?
Like I mentioned before, all the students from the noble class had unique models in the game, even as background characters. After playing the game multiple times and reading through countless guides and lore books, I still had a mental list of all the students.
And she wasn’t on that list.
It didn’t make sense for her to be from the commoner class either. They had all gone off on field training elsewhere. Even if she had come from a nearby place, if there had been crucial information to deliver, it wouldn’t have been left to a student.
Call it a bias if you want, but there was an undeniably air of nobility about her.
“……”
Hmm.
I had a bad feeling about this.
Wouldn’t it be troublesome to get involved with her?
After all the chaos I had gone through yesterday, I wanted at least one peaceful day. So, I deliberately chose a seat far away from her.
This wasn’t the type of place where you could order various dishes from a menu. It wasn’t a restaurant run for profit, after all.
As I sat down and waited, a server soon approached to inform me about the meal options. If I wanted to exclude or add anything, I could simply let them know. If breakfast felt too heavy, I could get by with just a cup of coffee.
As I sat there, staring blankly ahead, waiting for the server to arrive, I heard footsteps approaching. They were remarkably precise and rhythmic. Unlike the clattering steps of the server, these footsteps had a different cadence. The shoes worn by the server were the standard “dress shoes” that office workers might wear. While the students also wore shoes that could be considered dress shoes, they were much more comfortable and made of softer materials, allowing for a quieter step.
The footsteps I heard now belonged to a student.
“……”
I felt uneasy.
I had a bad feeling that something unexpected was about to happen.
“Your Highness.”
And my intuition was spot on.
It was a relief that I didn’t flinch. After everything I had witnessed the day before—the sights I would rather forget, the terrifying sounds of explosions and gunfire—I managed to keep my composure.
I slowly turned my gaze to the person who had called me.
There stood a dignified girl with a charming smile.
From a distance, I hadn’t noticed, but up close, despite her upright posture, her face looked quite young. Younger than the many youthful faces I saw daily at the academy, suggesting she was at least a year younger than me.
She was taller than I expected, and her physique was quite developed, but the youthful aura on her face couldn’t be completely erased.
With a sharp click, the youthful girl saluted me perfectly. It wasn’t just a simple raising of her hand; the sound of her heels clicking together echoed as she executed the salute.
The way she saluted was not in the imperial style.
“……”
“……”
As I continued to look up at her without saying anything, she remained frozen in her saluting posture.
…Oh, is she greeting me right now?
“You can relax.”
I finally said, and only then did she lower her hand in a precise motion. This time, the fabric of her uniform made another clicking sound as it moved. So, that sound could be heard in reality, too.
“May I ask your business?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
I almost raised my hand to my forehead at her crisp response, but I held back.
“My name is Lena Meyer!”
So, who is that?
I almost blurted out that question.
“Are you a student at our academy?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lena Meyer answered my question.
“I came to introduce myself as I have recently transferred here.”
“……”
I was at a loss for words.