Recovering Raphne's memories.

That became my top priority.

Emily and Mary’s memories would be addressed gradually after finding Raphne’s memories.

‘The problem is how to recover those memories…’

To figure out the method, I first had to consider why Raphne still retained some memories.

Let’s go through it again.

I had changed the past.

Because I changed the past, the related incidents disappeared, and the associated memories were erased.

Yet, the emotions tied to those memories lingered in Raphne.

From this, I formulated a hypothesis.

It's about the method of Past Alteration.

Until now, I thought that changing the past meant reconstructing everything from the point of alteration to the present from scratch.

In other words, cutting out the existing timeline and pasting a newly written history.

But if that were the case, Raphne’s emotions and memories should have been completely erased.

However, if fragments of the old history remained within her…

Maybe changing the past isn’t about cutting and pasting; it’s more like overwriting?

Instead of erasing the original history, a new history is written over it.

In that case, the original history remains beneath the new one.

Hence, Raphne’s pre-alteration emotions still remain.

So now the question is, how do I retrieve the buried pre-alteration memories?

‘Why do my memories remain?’

While pondering Raphne’s memories, a sudden question popped into my mind. Even my physical state was identical to when I lost weight in the Tower of Tarlos.

It's clear that my challenging the Tower of Tarlos was because of Raphne's prophecy...

‘Even the status on my Status Window is the same.’

My skill proficiency and the items I possess were exactly as I remembered.

“There’s really only one person I can ask about this.”

I decided to verify this with someone who would know the associated history well.

I looked out the window.

I was currently in my room in the Boys’ Dormitory.

The sun had already set, and the moon was high in the sky.

'It won’t cause a commotion, will it?'

With a slightly worried heart, I extended my hand.

“Swift Creation…”

Soon, mana gathered at my fingertips, and various categories and weapon crafting methods flooded my mind.

“Tirfione.”

━Keyeeeeeeng!

And then, a familiar, old-fashioned longsword appeared in the hand I had extended as the light of mana burst forth.

[…Uhm, …huh? This place…. Aaaah━!! Masterrrr━!!]

Tirfione, realizing she had been summoned, immediately extracted her spirit from the blade.

━Fwoosh!

“Waaah!! You summoned me againnn!! I'm so happyyyyy!”

“Quiet down! We’re in a dormitory; the noise can be heard in the next room!”

When I hurriedly covered her mouth, Tirfione, who was about to fling herself into my arms with tears in her eyes, widened her eyes in surprise.

Upon hearing my words, she gently nodded.

Carefully, I released my hand.

But as soon as I did, “Masterrrrrrrr━!!” she clung to me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Hehe, hehehe. Sniff, ha, sniff, ha.”

“Yes, yes, I’m glad to see you too, but could you let go now?”

“Sobbing, you’re so mean, Master. I've always been waiting for you to call me from within that maze.”

Hearing Tirfione's voice, sobbing near my shoulder, made my heart ache for a moment.

After all, I was the one who abandoned her in that maze.

‘Maybe just a little longer.’

She has helped me quite a lot. I can indulge her a bit.

After a short while, Tirfione, who had rubbed against me to her heart’s content, regained her composure and sat across from me.

“Are you talking about our first meeting?”

“Yes, do you remember when we first met?”

“Oh my, how could I ever forget that moment~. Hehe.”

“So, you do remember meeting me? At the Bottom of Tarlos?”

“Of course! You came and talked to me while I was just sitting inside the house!"

"And what about the moment we parted?"

“Waaah! You heartlessly threw me aside, Master! …Haha, but even such a tough Master had his charms," Tirfione said, shyly fidgeting and holding her cheeks.

Listening to her story, the events of our meeting were a perfect match to my memories.

"Then... what about defeating the Ancient Dragon Tarlos?"

"You summoned me and defeated him in one strike!"

"Do you remember the people who were with us at the time?"

"People who were with us... you say?"

This part is crucial.

With history changed, neither Raphne, Emily, nor Mary have memories of conquering the tower with me.

Tirfione looked at me blankly for a moment and then exclaimed as if she had remembered.

"There was surely a black-haired swordsman helping you out, Master! When that Ancient Dragon was about to breathe fire, he leapt and protected you, Master."

"...I see."

I found the discrepancy in the memory.

It seems that in the current history, I conquered the tower alone with Siegfried.

'Indeed, without an ally, opening the Shortcut would be impossible.'

So in this world, Siegfried managed that monster rush all by himself?

Even if the difficulty decreased with fewer people, that's still incredibly impressive.

"Thank you, Tirfione. Your help has been invaluable."

"Haha, I can do anything for you, Master."

Then, she slyly exposed her shoulder, revealing quite a significant cleavage...

"If you desire, I can offer you my very first time right now..."

"You've done well. Now, get some rest."

"Wha-what?! W-wait, Master?!"

I ignored Tirfione's protests and tucked her into the Subspace Pocket.

Her loud voice soon faded away.

As a spirit, if she disliked the pocket, she could return to the maze on her own accord.

"Anyway... just Siegfried and me, huh..."

Huh?

Wait a minute. ...Isn't there someone missing?

"Where is Adrian?"

Come to think of it, I hadn't seen Adrian all day.

。 。 。

The next day, I headed to the Academy earlier than anyone else.

The reason was because of that damn prince.

'Why haven't I seen him before?’

Striking blonde hair and a handsome face. Plus, he's at the center of the class.

It's only natural that I'd notice if he came into the classroom.

For instance, on my way to the Academy, students were whispering when they saw me.

It's only the second day, but I'm slowly getting used to these burdensome stares.

If Adrian were in the classroom, someone who's used to this level of attention, there's no way I wouldn't notice.

Having arrived at the classroom early, I sat down and waited, checking each student as they came in.

"Ah, hello, ...Ken."

"Huh? Oh, hi."

Students started to trickle into the classroom.

“You’re early? Good morning.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

Strangely, as I looked at the back door of the classroom, each entering student waved and greeted me.

And then…

“Hey! Long time no see. Do you remember me?”

“Ken, how did you lose the weight? Did you exercise during the break?”

“Wow…. Look at those arm muscles. What kind of workout do you do?”

“Honestly, you should’ve lost weight sooner. Though you were kind of cute before, too…. But you did a great job losing it!”

“Uh, yeah, but…”

For some reason, more and more people gathered around me.

‘…This is so different from before.’

Most of the girls striking up conversations with me had never spoken a word to me when I was overweight.

But today, they unusually approached and started talking to me.

As more people joined, the next student would interrupt even more boldly.

As a result, my view became cluttered with the faces of those who approached, obscuring my sight of the back door.

‘I can’t see whether Adrian's coming or not like this.'

This is uncomfortable.

Of course, it's understandable that people would be curious when someone who was once overweight shows up looking like this.

I get that part too.

But having them all swarm around me like this is quite troublesome.

Especially in a situation like this, when I need to check on someone!

At that moment,

“Hey~. What are you guys doing?"

"Oh, Enzo. Hello."

A male student with orange hair and earrings squeezed in among the female students surrounding me.

'...This guy.'

"Wow, Ken. You really look different. I almost didn't recognize you."

He made his way through the girls, discovered me, and smiled warmly while waving.

It was the first time I'd seen him since I regained consciousness.

Yet, he seemed familiar.

Definitely….

'He's the one who had issues with Adrian and quit the Academy.'

I remembered.

Enzo Lothirix.

First year, first semester.

He appeared around the same time [Epiris Academy] began and Adrian was first introduced as a character.

He was a side character meant to highlight what kind of person Adrian was.

'...He was someone who liked attention and had a lot of interest in girls.'

Enzo was bothered by Adrian's presence because the girls were drawn to Adrian instead of him.

So, he caused some sort of incident, got caught by Adrian and Emily, and was expelled from the Academy.

It was an incident that showcased Adrian's hidden power as a prince.

'But if he's here...'

At that moment, someone entered through the back door.

━Creak.

“Hi~.”

“Oh, hi. Emily. You’re early.”

Emily entered the classroom with a sleepy face.

Spotting her, I immediately stood up and excused myself from the surrounding students and Enzo.

“Sorry, just a moment! I have something to take care of. Haha.”

Making my way through them like breaking through a defensive line, I approached Emily, who was just putting her bag down.

“Emily!”

“Huh? …Oh, oh?!”

“Please, spare me a moment!”

Grabbing her arm, I led her out of the classroom.

Fortunately, though shocked by my sudden approach, Emily followed me without resistance.

I thought she'd shake me off since I suddenly grabbed her arm.

“What, what’s going on?”

I brought her to the end of the hallway, where it was quiet in the mornings—the west staircase.

Emily’s face turned red and she looked away as I held her arm and led her here.

She kept glancing at me, and when our eyes met, she looked flustered and embarrassed.

What's going on indeed.

‘Honestly, I just needed an excuse to get away.’

In my dilemma, I had instinctively pulled Emily along when I saw her.

Before history changed, leaving the classroom with Emily was a natural thing since we were close.

But now that I think about it, the current Emily and I aren't that close.

‘Back when I used to bother her, we did talk a bit.’

Although our interactions often involved stepping on each other's heads, we did have conversations.

Like massaging her shoulders, poking my belly, nibbling each other's ears, and pinching each other's arms.

...Maybe that's not exactly talking?

"Uh, well, the thing is…"

Since I was the one who brought her here, I needed a reasonable excuse.

If I said, ‘Actually, I just wanted to get away from the others!’

…She'd probably stomp on my head again, calling me arrogant.

Oh, come to think of it.

“Hey, Emily.”

“Huh, yes?”

When I called her name, she looked at me with wide eyes, overly surprised.

For some reason, she couldn't meet my gaze and her face turned red.

“Have you ever heard the name Adrian?”

What I’m curious about right now is Adrian’s whereabouts.

Before history changed, Adrian and Emily were so close that you'd call them best friends.

With a bit of hope, I asked her about Adrian.

I prayed she at least recognized the name.

But Emily tilted her head in confusion.

“…Adrian? ...Sorry, I've never heard that name before."

Her answer confirmed the 'could it be' that had been floating in my mind.

‘Adrian isn't at the Academy.’

Why is that?

I didn't need to ponder much to know the reason.

It's because history has changed.

Originally, the reason Adrian hid his identity and snuck into the Academy was due to Raphne's presence.

Adrian came to the Academy because of Raphne, the Child of Prophecy targeted by the Demon King's Army.

But with the disappearance of that fate of being the Child of Prophecy...

Adrian no longer had a reason to be at the Academy.

"...But there's still Emily."

Emily is the Child of Prophecy within the kingdom.

Is it that Adrian no longer feels the need to manage Emily, who is destined to give birth to the savior?

My heart ached once again with the changed reality.

I had come to know him so well during our journey.

"...No. ...No."

I steeled myself against the gloomy feelings.

I reminded myself of my current goal.

My goal was to restore Raphne's memories.

If that were possible, Emily's, Mary's, and Adrian's memories could also be recovered.

‘I’ll need to figure out how to meet the person who's at the Royal Palace.’

The thought of being able to restore everything made me feel a bit more at ease.

With that, I smiled at Emily, who was staring at me blankly.

"Thanks, it’s something I really wanted to know. You helped a lot."

"R-really?"

Emily gave a soft smile and cautiously looked up at me, her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment.

Then, as if she had made up her mind, she bit her lip, hung her head, and then looked up at me again to speak.

“Hey, Ken.”

"Yes?"

"Well... since it's just the two of us here…"

Emily fidgeted with her fingers and shifted her eyes nervously.

"I, I thought a lot about it yesterday. You know, the thing where I... I... uh, bullied you…"

Her eyes began to glisten with moisture, and she started to stutter.

She looked like she might burst into tears any second.

But determined to get the words out, she continued speaking.

"Um. ...What I want to say is... ...I'm."

"...I'm?"

"I'm, I'm...."

Emily hesitated, her eyes welling up with tears as she looked at me.

Seeing her like this brought back memories of the past.

‘I'm sorry for bullying you, ...I'm truly sorry.’

‘I'm not asking for forgiveness. ...What I did can't be pardoned with just an apology.’

‘But still, I felt that I had to say it. ...I'm sorry, Ken. Really, truly, I'm sorry.’

These were the words Emily said to me after completing the ten-day Time Loop Event.

Even back then, she felt guilty towards me.

And when the Time Loop ended, she sincerely apologized.

‘I see. That feeling still remains for Emily…’

She still feels sorry and wants to apologize to me.

But for the current Emily, all she remembers is bullying me.

That's why she's mustering the courage now.

To apologize to me once again.

‘Hang in there, Emily!’

Rooting for her silently in my mind, I waited for her to finish what she had to say.

“I'm, I'm so…”

Just as Emily, determined and teary-eyed, was about to convey her true feelings...

“You?”

A familiar voice came from behind me.

“Huh?”

Startled by the voice, Emily glanced over my shoulder.

Following her gaze, I turned my head.

“Is she the person you mentioned yesterday... the one you said you wanted to take responsibility for?”

There stood Raphne, staring at the two of us with eyes filled with cold intent.

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