"What... What is this?"
"What else would it be? It's an interview."
Ruby wore an astonished expression at the sudden situation, while Perlote casually removed her robe and crossed her legs.
"W-Wait a second. Hold on..."
"Here's your potato soup!"
"Damn it..."
If word got out that the missing Hero and Saint were spotted in such a shabby inn, it would cause an uproar.
So, Ruby, who was about to lead Perlote outside, broke into a nervous sweat and snapped her fingers as the innkeeper approached with the food.
"...?"
"Leave it here and go."
"...Understood."
Under Ruby's hypnosis, the innkeeper placed the dishes on the table and walked away without incident, allowing Ruby to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Sighing already? You seem rather at ease."
"You... Who are you?"
Ruby, hearing Perlote's words, quickly snapped to her senses and fired off questions.
"How do you know I've regressed? And exactly how many times?"
"I told you, it's written all over your face."
"Stop spouting nonsense. Tell me the truth. Do you also have memories? Or did you also... Retry? Ouch."
Ruby, flustered, grabbed Perlote's shoulders and shook her, only for Perlote to tap her forehead in response.
'Wait, what's up with her? Where's that airheaded Saint?'
"You know, I always wonder—are you clever or just plain dense? You have a good head on your shoulders, but you're terribly oblivious at times. Such a ditz..."
"...???"
Ruby, lost in thought with a blank expression, tilted her head in confusion.
"Currently, I don't have the Retry ability."
"Currently?"
"To put it simply, I'm like a senior to you, a far-off senior."
"...!"
At that cryptic statement, Ruby's eyes widened, and Perlote picked up a piece of rye bread and continued speaking.
"Which is why I can tell. Just looking at your expression, I can roughly guess how many regressions you've been through."
"That's impossible... Until now, the only one who has regressed was... Frey, wasn't it?"
"There was a time when Frey temporarily retired."
"Ah..."
Ruby nodded blankly, watching Perlote munch on the rye bread and gradually absorbing what she said.
"Are you seriously buying this? How do you expect to achieve your goal with such innocence?"
"H-Huh?"
Perlote's tone grew icy as she looked at Ruby.
"There's no way someone could guess the number of regressions just by looking at your face, right?"
"Uh... right...?"
"Get it together, will you?"
Ruby, sensing the reprimand, nodded meekly, prompting Perlote to pat her on the shoulder with a mischievous smile.
"So, then how..."
"The more you Retry, the more damaged your soul becomes. As you know, I'm the most powerful being when it comes to dealing with souls—that's why I'm the Saint."
"Ah... I see..."
"Your soul is worn down from about ten regressions. That's how I knew."
"Then... you lied about having the Retry ability?"
Perlote, who had fully relaxed her speech, continued to chew her bread as she replied.
"As a regressor, you should figure it out yourself. Whether I'm telling the truth or lying."
"Oh."
"Always question everything. Start by doubting."
Perlote took a sip of orange juice as she scrutinized Ruby.
"Anyway, I bet you've tried everything you could think of up to now, right?"
"...."
Ruby's eyes flickered at that remark.
"Let's see... hmmm..."
Perlote, smiling faintly as she observed Ruby, placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder and began to read her soul.
Then memories began flowing into her.
- Frey... Do you really not remember me?
- Just once, could you smile like you did back then?
- Those drawings... will I never see them again?
In her 2nd to 5th attempts, Ruby clung to Frey, spending years with him, only to end up meeting a tragic death each time.
- What went wrong... why...
- Aaaahhhhh!!
- Go ahead, stab me as much as you want...
During her 6th attempt, after repeated failures, Ruby's mental state broke for a while.
In her 7th attempt, driven only by the determination to subdue Frey, she kept fighting him until her dying breath.
And in her 8th attempt, she lost her sanity from the moment of her regression, allowing Frey to repeatedly mutilate her body until her death.
- Lord Frey, we've won another victory against the Empire today.
- I'm your loyal dog. I'll do anything you desire...
- Ah, the princess's head? Understood...
In her 9th attempt, Ruby seemed to change tactics, spending a long time as Frey's subordinate.
Before Frey's corruption, she obediently served him, hoping he might regain his memories as she had during her first regression.
Ruby carried out this plan with hope, but Frey only gave orders for destruction, focusing solely on killing and showing no signs of remembering their past together. For him, there was only bloodshed; he acted as though the memories of the first timeline had never existed.
"Lord Frey... I prepared a sandwich—kyaa!!!"
"I made potato soup and rye brea—ugh!"
"Lord Frey... the necklace you drew... do you not remember it... huh?"
Despite her persistence in trying to jog his memory, Frey's only response was a dismissive blow of dark energy, as if he found her attempts bothersome.
"Would you like a glass of wine with me tonight?"
- Slap!!!
"....."
Undeterred, Ruby continued her attempts as a loyal subordinate, but on the day of the final battle, her last attempt ended in failure after Frey slapped her, spilling wine all over the floor.
"I will love you forever..."
"Sigh."
Thus, her 10th attempt began.
"Hero? Where are you going? Hero?"
"........"
The Ruby of her 10th attempt was slightly different from before.
She disappeared from the hero party the day she regressed, choosing not to take any direct action this time and instead operated from the shadows.
Yes.
It was only in her 10th attempt that Ruby realized.
Saving Frey couldn't be done with a short-term approach.
To bring him back, she would need to endure just as long as he had, wearing down her soul with every regression.
Therefore, she stopped wasting energy and instead focused on gathering information like mad.
She finally started using the "Retry" ability to its fullest.
"It seems you're finally adjusting."
And it appeared she was on the right track, for Perlote approached her only after she reached her 10th attempt.
"How does it feel to finish the tutorial and take your first steps?"
"...Ugh."
Recalling the pain of previous attempts, tears welled up in Ruby's eyes, and she lowered her head.
"I... I was suffering..."
For the first time in a very long while, Ruby allowed herself to show her emotions to someone else.
"It was lonely... and it was hard..."
Her initial determination to bring Frey back hadn't changed, but she was worn out from endless regressions with no end in sight.
"Sniff... ugh..."
Having memories of each regression all to herself meant she bore the burden alone.
It was an endlessly lonely struggle, with no one to truly stand beside her, no one to understand her fully.
"Thank you... thank you for finding me..."
Whenever she was close to giving up, the thought of Frey fighting the same lonely battle for her kept her going.
Even so, she felt she was reaching her limit.
But now, meeting someone who could perceive "Retry"...
For Ruby, worn out by one grim outcome after another, Perlote was like a refreshing rain.
"Thankful? Do you think that ends your life as a regressor?"
"W-What?"
But she hadn't anticipated that this refreshing rain would also come with a storm.
"You're struggling after just ten tries? How will you manage in the future?"
"But... it's really hard..."
Perlote, unrelenting, looked at Ruby, who was trembling, and sighed.
"...Times."
"Huh?"
"What do you think this number means?"
She narrowed her eyes and whispered a long string of numbers.
"It's the number of times I've regressed."
"W-What? That's... how is that even possible?"
"Believe it or not, up to you."
"If that's true... then how are you still... sane...?"
Ruby gasped in shock, prompting Perlote to sigh as she answered.
"Do I look sane to you?"
"Oh."
"What are you understanding now?"
"N-Never mind."
"Well, you're right, I'm not exactly sane."
Perlote took a spoonful of her now-cooling potato soup and continued.
"At some point, I'd snap out of it and find I'd already gone through countless regressions. As they went on, that happened more and more often."
"......."
"Eventually, I started using it to my advantage. I'd let myself stay broken and only regain my original personality at crucial moments."
"Ugh..."
"To endure the endless flow of time, that was the only way."
Perlote spoke casually, but sweat beaded on Ruby's forehead as she listened.
"Want to know something scarier?"
"W-What is it...?"
"Frey has done even more regressions than me."
"......"
Perlote hammered the final nail.
"And Frey couldn't even
lose his mind like I did. His willpower is at its peak. Even if he loses himself, he recovers in a matter of days."
"F-Frey..."
Ruby couldn't tell if Perlote was telling the truth or not.
"Because of me..."
But hearing her words, Ruby finally broke down, releasing tears she'd held back for so long.
It didn't change the fact that she was the root of all this.
And if Perlote's words were true, then all her efforts were nothing compared to Frey's.
"Ahhh..."
Feeling angry at herself for being worn out after only ten attempts, Ruby buried her face in the table and sobbed.
"Well, I'll be going now."
"Sniff... What?"
Perlote, who had been watching her quietly, stood up.
"It's dangerous to stay with you any longer."
"D-Dangerous?"
"We're being watched."
Perlote pointed to the sky.
"The sun is unusually bright today."
"What?"
"The brat and the old man got exiled, so I can't risk being banished too. I have to be careful with every word."
"Then... does this mean... we can't meet again? I finally found someone who could change things..."
"Not necessarily. Every time you Retry, we'll meet once at this inn. I've always visited this inn, so it won't be an issue if we meet occasionally."
"Wait! I still have so many questions..."
Ruby didn't fully understand Perlote's words, but she nodded anyway and threw her questions at Perlote as she was about to leave.
Maybe Perlote knew why Frey's memories partially returned in the first timeline.
"Remember your original intent."
"What?"
To Ruby, Perlote left those words before stepping out of the inn.
"The answer lies in your first intention."
.
"My first intention... I need to remember my first intention..."
After meeting Perlote, Ruby clung to those words.
"My first intention..."
With each regression, she slowly began to reenact the events of the first timeline, telling the truth to the hero party again and timing her landing in the Empire.
[Regression Information Collection]
By carefully repeating everything and dedicating whole attempts to gathering information when she hit roadblocks, Ruby managed to learn quite a lot.
1. Demon King Frey and the Frey from the first timeline are different beings.
2. There is a notebook that restores memories upon touch. It seems to be one written by Rosewin... I don't understand its mechanism, even now.
(Avoid letting Aria touch this notebook.)
3. The kid named Glear and Rosewin do not exist in this world.
4. Abilities gained from regressions reset, but the soul does not.
(I need to study a way to train using the soul.)
5. Approaching Serena early on is beneficial.
(Be mindful of conduct.)
6. Do not acknowledge Perlote.
Only ask questions when she initiates.
7. There's a mastermind. But who? The Demon Lord? Or... an even higher being?
8. Frey is powerful. Keep regressing until I can subdue him.
.
100. I love Frey.
(Never forget this.)
With an ironclad resolve never to forget her last note, no matter what happened, Ruby continued her regressions with all her might.
"Oh...?"
After all her painstaking efforts, she finally managed to break through the wall that had been blocking her.
"Mm... Mm...!"
"Is... Is this it...?"
She had always carried a small "soul orb," cherishing it as a final memento that allowed her to feel Frey's presence.
[1 - 01]
[Soul Orb Infusion 1/6]
One day, after yet another bitter failure and another regression, she clung to the keyword "first intention" and shoved the orb into Frey's mouth as he was tied to a chair—just as she vaguely remembered doing in her first attempt. At that moment, a quest window appeared before her eyes.
"Am... Am I an idiot?"
"Grr..."
"This is it. Yes, this orb contains Frey's soul. So... if I feed it to him..."
"Do you think it'll change anything?"
Frey, who was tightly bound to the chair by Ruby's spell just before he lost his infinite power as the Demon King, sneered.
"Frey."
- Clank! Clank...!
"I'll save you soon, okay?"
"You..."
Ignoring him, Ruby stroked Frey's cheek before walking away.
'I need to go find her.'
It was time to visit her mentor.
.
"Wow! Look who it is!"
"......"
"I was just saying—5..."
"I figured it out."
Ruby, who met Perlote at the inn on the same day and time as always, spoke with a serious expression.
"I finally found a breakthrough."
"Oh? And what is it?"
"All I have to do is feed him the soul orb."
Ruby took Perlote's hand.
"Hmm..."
"This will work; it'll bring him back! I can save him... I can bring him back!!!"
As Ruby tearfully handed her regression notes to Perlote, Perlote patted her shoulder and spoke.
"You did well!"
"Sniff... ugh..."
"Then, this will be our last meeting!"
"...Huh?"
Ruby, who had grown almost dependent on Perlote, tilted her head at those words.
"Why? Where are you going? No, where are you going...?"
"In that sense, here's a parting gift!"
"W-Wait! Master! Don't go!! I can't do this without you!!!"
"You'll be fine on your own now. My time here is up."
Perlote, patting her stomach quietly, said.
"D-Don't leave... you're the only one who remembers me... I don't want to be left alone... I'm scared..."
"These days, it's so much easier to Retry, right? Back when Frey and I were doing it, there was no one to help us. You should consider yourself lucky you didn't have to go in blind."
With a firm tone, Perlote added in a somber voice.
"Besides... even if I wanted to help, I couldn't anymore."
"W-What do you mean..."
"I think I'll be exiled soon too."
The moment she finished her words, a white light glowed from Perlote's abdomen.
"So... from now on, it's all on you."
"W-What is this?"
"It's a candy! Go ahead, eat it!"
"Hmph."
The odd statement didn't faze Ruby, who now trusted Perlote implicitly, and she popped the silver orb into her mouth without thinking.
"Munch, munch..."
"So? How does it taste?"
"Um... it's soft? Sweet... comforting... familiar and nostalgic."
"...Familiar? Why? How?"
"...?!"
Perlote's face darkened at Ruby's remark, and Ruby tilted her head.
"Oh, it's tasty..."
- Rumble, rumble...
"Huh? Oh, the candy's moving..."
Her eyes widened as the candy began wriggling in her mouth.
"Spit it out, quickly."
"Huh?"
"You're chewing on Frey right now."
"Pfft!?"
Ruby, realizing this, immediately spat out the orb.
"What... What is this?"
Staring blankly at the silver orb that continued to writhe in her cupped hands.
"I'm serious, so don't eat it, alright?"
- Tremble, tremble...
The orb shivered in her hands.