The political system of the nation 'Edsilla' is a parliamentary system. It is also an egalitarian system, but in reality, it is merely superficial, and a strong class system still persists throughout society.
The most powerful position in Edsilla is the 'Senator', in which there are ninety-nine seats. The election of these members is more often determined by politics, transactions, or struggles between noble families, rather than by voting.
Therefore, each Senator, who can be considered a representative of the nobility, is a pillar of the nation and a glory of the family. The 'Chairman', who controls all of them and looks down on them from above, is the master of the nation.
…The throne that overlooks the sea and the land from the highest place on the continent.
The millennium-old family, Libra, is trying to regain that position.
"The cost-effectiveness of the guests is dropping."
A gloved hand turns the page of the document. The movements are sharp and without waste, and the cold tone is relaxed.
"I'm sorry."
On the other hand, the man standing in front of him is anxious. He repeatedly bows his waist, watching the man who is likely to be the next head of the family.
"It's not your fault. It's not easy to find a useful tool in the trash."
Libra has been operating 'orphanages' under the name of the family for 200 years.
They gather orphans and illegitimate children who show signs of awakening their 'Spectrum', or who are likely to have such talent, and feed, house, and train them with Libra's money to hone them into tools. It's virtually a welfare project that burns money.
If they had shining talent to begin with, someone would have snatched them up before they were honed. In the end, all that would be left would be trash and stones.
"We can't keep raising useless guys forever. It's better to pull a camel in the desert or find a pearl in the sea."
Brushing up his blue hair, which is almost a symbol of lineage, the eldest son, Derek, flips through the pages of the roster.
[Shion Ascal…]
He didn't even glance at the names of the orphans. As if they weren't worth a moment of his time.
"Expel them all soon."
The current succession structure of Libra is concentrated yet tense. The eldest son, the second son, and the eldest daughter have been playing this tedious tug-of-war for years.
Of course, the time and justification are on the side of the eldest son, Derek, but the forces protecting the second son and the eldest daughter are not to be underestimated.
The only one he can trust, or at least not have to guard against, is the youngest.
He can't afford to waste assets on something like an orphanage.
"Build your own justification. I'll tell the head of the family when the time comes."
Derek ended the meeting in the eldest son's study. He turned his body to sit down, as if he wouldn't even listen to any objections.
"…Yes. I understand. I will convey that."
Henry bowed neatly in the posture of a butler.
* * *
"...Shion Ascal."
In the counseling room of Libra Orphanage, Edsilla City.
A senior knight from the main family called my name.
"Shion Ascal."
I looked at him with slightly dazed eyes.
Even now, it still felt somewhat unreal.
"Shion Ascal. Answer!"
"Why?"
"...Why?"
The knight furrowed his brow. Then he read aloud the documents detailing my history in a loud voice.
"Alright. Entered the orphanage at seven, brain tumor at eight? Leukemia at thirteen, enrolled in Endex Magic High School at fourteen… Wait, leukemia?"
His initially booming voice gradually diminished.
Well, a life like mine isn't that common.
"Hmm..."
The knight, who had been silent for a moment, seemed to have organized his thoughts and spoke.
"Libra saved you. You didn't have to bear all these medical expenses, did you?"
A common misconception.
Twelve years ago, I also thought so, and I was loyal to this dam family.
"I paid for the treatment with my father's salary, retirement pay, and death compensation."
"Your father?"
"Yes. He was a knight. Of Libra."
"..."
The knight's face became complex.
I added one more thing.
"A junior knight."
"He didn't graduate from college?"
"Yes."
Then he nodded as if acknowledging something. It seemed like he was relieved.
He's a Knight who graduated from college after all.
"Anyway. You're 18 this year, right? You're finally cured, aren't you?"
"Of those diseases."
There's still one more severe one left, but the rest have all been declared completely cured.
"Alright then. Has your Spectrum bloomed yet?"
Asking about the 「Spectrum」, it finally feels real.
It's 2013.
Not 2025, not even close, but 2013.
I've traveled back twelve years, back to this damned time.
"Answer."
The knight urged me, stroking his mustache.
"No."
I shook my head. I answered the same way 12 years ago, before the regression.
In fact, it had already bloomed.
Not in 2012, but in 2010.
"Still?"
I just couldn't say it because it was embarrassing.
My Spectrum is a Notepad! I can write a diary! I can write down things so I don't forget them, Fuck.
"You're useless."
"That's right."
Sigh.
The knight sighed and changed his expression to a stern one.
"The main family is greatly disappointed in you. This orphanage wasn't built for you to play and eat. Tuition, food expenses, book costs, education fees, children's pocket money, teachers' salaries, and so on, it all adds up to 60-70 million Ren per year. You haven't paid a penny, have you?"
I don't remember the name of the mustached knight, but I still remember what he said next.
It was quite shocking to my young heart.
"The orphanage is going to close."
At that time, the old me would have widened my eyes. I would have almost cried, clutching at the hem of his mustache.
After all, it seemed like the mustached man expected such a reaction.
"...Well, are you okay?"
"Yes."
But now, it doesn't matter.
"Ah… Yes. Don't despair too much. There's still a chance. Lord Derek Libra is a very generous man."
Lord. That choice of word is amusing. The actual head of the family probably isn't even considering him.
The mustached knight strokes his mustache as he speaks.
"I heard that there are about ten of those in the orphanage with potential, including you?"
"Me?"
"You're attending Endex, aren't you? I couldn't even get in there. Anyway, we're going to have a 'match'."
"Ah…"
I nod my head.
Of course, I know this story. It's a future I've already experienced.
"If you guys prove your talent, this orphanage might survive."
That's a lie.
The orphanage won't survive.
It can't.
"It's a kind of skill test. If you've worked hard enough until now, we'll arrange for you to compete against someone you can beat. Is that okay?"
"Yes. That sounds fucking fair."
I answer immediately and get up. Staying any longer would be a waste of time.
"…fucking? Did you just say fuck?"
Ignoring the mustached knight trying to catch my tail, I turn around and leave.
* * *
「Libra Orphanage」.
Not far from the city center of Edsilla, this place, where the clear wind from the forest and stream blows, is a welfare facility with a 150-year tradition.
As it's operated by the Libra family, it's quite large. The premises include dormitories, a dining hall, playground, sports field, park, and other facilities that you'd expect in a decent school.
"It really is 2012."
Now, having finished a pointless interview in the counseling room of the orphanage from my memories.
I'm sitting on a park bench, looking at the dark horizon.
"It's amazing."
It's amazing that I can take in this night sky. It's amazing that I can move my hand.
It's amazing that I'm alive and breathing.
I am certain that when I died, it was 2025, not 2013, just a week ago. My body must have been turned into a skewer by the werewolf's claw-like nails.
"Should I be happy?"
I'm curious.
Did I really regress?
No, even if I did, is this regression good for me?
I still have a disease in my body, and it's uncertain whether my condition can be treated with the current state of medical technology.
Isn't it just a repetition of incurable pain?
"Why now, of all times?"
For that reason, I can't help but complain, even though I've been revived.
You saved me from drowning, but why did you save me so late?
…The timing is strange.
I slightly lift my shirt. There's a scar like a burn.
Starting just above my navel and stretching up to my chest, evidence of a cancerous wound. The worst of cancers that require treatment until the moment of death— Cancer of the Magic's Core.
This cancer wasn't here exactly a year ago.
If only it had come just one year earlier.
Damn it.
"Hey, Shion!"
Suddenly, my name rang in my ears. On the orphanage's sports field, a shirtless man was calling me.
"Aren't you training?! Didn't you hear the news?! If we can't beat the mercenaries in a match, our orphanage will be shut down!"
"…Oh, really."
Training, there's no need.
In that 'match', active knights disguised as mercenaries will come.
We can't win, even if we die trying.
The orphanage will be shut down, and the 700 or so who grew up here will scatter in all directions….
What will happen to 'me'?
Before the regression, I probably blamed myself. I saw the closure of the orphanage, the failures that followed, even the Cancer of the Magic's Core, as my fault.
I blamed my pathetic talent, which couldn't help Libra, and my damn bad luck of carrying around a disease, all on my 'unlucky' self. Despite this, I wanted to live, so I stubbornly earned money by taking jobs like delivery and driving, admitted myself to the hospital, and fought the disease——
Then I realized something.
The family called 'Libra' was actually the root cause that messed up my entire life.
"Ah, forget it. As long as the others win. Shion, this bastard, is so irresponsible these days!"
But what was his name again?
Anyway, he runs. But the world is cold. Running well doesn't solve anything. If you fall while running, you only hurt yourself.
I sank into the bench.
I absentmindedly opened the 「Notepad」.
The very first page contained a diary.
"…Is it really because of this?"
A diary that roughly explains the reason 'why I regressed to 2013-'.
[February 14, 2013]
I'm going to start writing a diary from today. I will record my day-to-day life. Why? Yesterday, I just felt like I had a stomachache and vomited, so I went to the hospital, but they suspected Cancer of the Magic's Core and told me to go to a more distinguished hospital...
February 14, 2013, Monday.
The day I first wrote a diary in the 「Notepad」, which until then only contained things like my to-do list, list of preparation items, and cheat sheets. It was also the day I received a diagnosis that Cancer of the Magic's Core was suspected at the hospital.
That exact day is the point in time I returned to after regressing.
"So, did the Notepad cause the regression?"
Was the potential of the 「Notepad」 this much?
It's hard to believe.
"Ugh."
I turned off the diary. Then the screen changed to [File List].
[30 / 100]
■ Diary
■ Memory
This is how organized it. My 「Notepad」 has a limit on capacity, so if I don't organize it regularly, it gets full.
Of course, it has never been full. Just a bunch of text-
"…What's this 30, huh? What's that?"
But the capacity was too full, and a folder that wasn't there before caught my eye.
■ Memory
Memory.
I don't remember creating such a folder.
Where did it suddenly appear from?
"Memory… what is this?"
Memory? Memory of what? What's inside?
So I opened the folder.
└Untitled.
There was a file inside.
I opened that 'Untitled' as well.
The procedure is straightforward. Simply think 'Open-' in your head. Because the Spectrum was simple, so was its application.
'Open-'.
The moment I thought that.
"—Huh?!"
Suddenly, my mana reacted. The deepest part of my body trembled.
"Kuk!"
A violent surge of mana burst. Springing up from the lower abdomen, spreading to the blood vessels… a sense of amplification all over the body?
I quickly blocked the mana.
"What the."
Nevertheless, my body was already hot, and my blood vessels were so red that they appeared to be about to burst. I felt dizzy, as if everything around me was spinning.
"What the hell…"
I was stunned, but soon my spine felt cold. Some scenes flashed through my mind like a slide show.
The moment before I regressed— in other words, the 'moment before death'.
"…Perion?"
At that time, I devoured Perion. To be precise, it was a 100g crystal that purely separated and compressed only the 'essence' of Perion, the 'Womb'.
Right after eating it, my neck was pierced by a wolf's claw, and when I opened my eyes, it was 2013.
Then, what was that phenomenon just now?
What is the reason for this effect that feels like the Perion I swallowed before regressing is being 'sent' to my body?
"Memory…."
The '■Memory' folder in the 「Notepad」.
If I infer from the memory folder that I don't remember creating.
"The Notepad… remembers."
Could it be that my 「Notepad」 remembers the Perion that I swallowed whole before I died?
Like saving a file in the 「Notepad」, could Perion have been saved too?
[30 / 100]
■ Diary
■ Memory
└Untitled
"What is this."
The 「Notepad」 that always seemed stupid, that I thought was stupid. It seems it has never… absolutely never helped my life.
Honestly, there were times when I used it quite a bit, but it never dramatically changed my life.
That suddenly changed.
But why?
Did it also amplify due to the influence of the Perion I ate before I died?
Or just suddenly? For a change of mood?
…Whatever it is.
I muttered while stroking my chin.
"The Notepad remembers."
Let's add one more sentence after that.
"If it remembers, it can be recalled at any time…."
After pondering while stroking my chin, I changed the name of the file [．Untitled].
[30 / 100]
■ Diary
■ Memory
└Perion
It looks a bit more interesting now.