“Lord Geld… Lord Geld…”
Shino is crying incessantly into my chest. She’s clinging to me with considerable force, showing no signs of letting go. I’m taking full advantage of this and hugging Shino back, but I wonder how long this will last. Another two hours would be most welcome, but any longer and I’ll have to worry about bathroom breaks and such.
“Ah… it kinda reminds me of the very beginning. I think I was hugging Shino like this at the inn in the Royal Capital.”
“…! Lo, Lord Geld!”
“Wh, what’s wrong?”
Shino’s grip suddenly tightened by about thirty percent. It’s really painful. No, wait. It’s not “what’s wrong.” Is this what I think it is?
“Shino, is it from there for you too? From that loop… where I had amnesia, spent my days practicing sword swings and Card Battles, and ended up at the inn in the Royal Capital…?”
“Yes! Me too, from there… So, the Lord Geld I knew was always… Lord Geld…!”
Shino is looking up at me, her voice trembling, indicating she’s been crying for a long time, but my vision is blurred, and I can’t see her clearly. I thought my tears had long dried up from repeating the loop so many times…
“To think that Shino, the Shino I thought was gone, was still here…!”
From there, we just kept calling each other’s names like we were delirious, and by the time we finally calmed down, Shino’s face was a mess. I’m sure my face looked just as bad.
We separated for a moment to blow our noses and wipe away our tears, tidying ourselves up, and then sat side by side on the bed to talk properly this time.
“After returning from the Royal Capital, I was confused, and before I knew it, I was back to the morning of the same day, and I didn’t know what was going on… When I saw you patting your stomach, I thought you might be Lord Geld after you lost your memory…”
Certainly, from Shino’s perspective, my situation must have been too complicated. Returning to a time before Shino punched me probably made her think Geld had returned to his original self. On top of that, my dying so quickly in the second loop must have added to the confusion. …And I’ve gained some very important information. I thought it continued for three years even after I died, but it seems it resets immediately when I die.
“Lord Geld always looked like you were in pain, but I didn’t know what to do… I’m so sorry…”
“No, it’s fine. Being able to spend the first few days with you, Shino, was the greatest support for me.”
“Lord Geld!”
Shino jumped into my arms again, sitting next to me. I had just cleaned her face, and now I’ve made her cry again. Maybe I should just let her cry as much as she wants and get all the tears out.
“Besides, it must have been hard for you too, Shino. It’s lonely when no one else remembers.”
“Yes! Yes…!”
“But it’s okay now. I’m here. I remember everything about the days I spent with you, Shino.”
“…!”
Shino seems to be beyond words, but that’s understandable. I know Shino’s feelings better than anyone right now, and I deliberately said what I was sure would be most effective, so I need her to react this way.
For now, she should just cry as much as she needs to, washing away all the sadness and pain with her tears. With that in mind, I decided to keep holding Shino close.
“Hmm…”
The sound of knocking on the door awakened my dozing consciousness. I must have fallen asleep for a bit.
“Lord Geld, Ukari-sama requests your presence. It would be best to hurry.”
“Ah… tell her I’ll be there in a little while, in about ten minutes.”
I replied to the person on the other side of the door to buy some time. Come to think of it, I was called once before, but I put it off because I was busy.
“Shino, Father wants to see me, so let go for a bit… Hey, Shino.”
“Hmm… Lord Geld…”
Shino is currently clinging to me naked. I can’t go to Father’s place like this, but a sleepy Shino won’t let go.
“…”
Or rather, what about this situation? I just went with the flow, but what about Millie…? No, if I keep quiet, it’ll just reset anyway… or will it? This is bad.
“Well, it’s a Harem RPG anyway… it’ll probably be fine, probably…”
After all, the protagonist is such a sex god that he has seven beautiful girls attending to him, and Millie was supposed to be one of those seven. There’s no way Millie would make a fuss about him laying hands on one Maid. Surely that’s the case.
And I haven’t told Shino about Millie, but that’ll probably be fine too. I have no basis for it, but it’s gotta be fine. And if the worst comes to the worst, I can just silence her with Family Head mode. It feels kinda awful, but Shino would probably be happy about it.
“Hmph… this is, strong, as always…!”
I somehow managed to slip out of Shino’s grasp and quickly put on my clothes. I should have said twenty minutes instead of ten.
Right now, I’m in a rather difficult position, having quit the academy without permission and returned home. For me to come back and not even greet my father, and instead make him wait for hours while I was canoodling with a Maid in my room, is just too bad of an impression. I needed to hurry and go to him before he barged into this room.
Up until now, I’d been doing whatever I wanted, not caring about such things, but this loop seems to have a reasonably high chance of being cleared. I should probably refrain from reckless actions.
I tidied myself up as best I could and headed to the study where my father was waiting. It’s been a while since I’ve been here.
“Father, sorry to keep you waiting.”
“You’re late. What were you doing?”
“I walked all the way back from the academy… It was a harsh journey, so I wasn’t in a state to show my face.”
That’s right, I was tired from the journey. That’s why I was being healed by Shino. That’s not a lie. I was getting my mental fatigue healed.
“Walked? You?”
“Yes, I’ve somehow become capable enough to travel around here on foot.”
It’s a good opportunity to show off my skills. It’s also a good reason for quitting the academy.
“In just two months or so, such a thing…”
“I had been secretly practicing swordsmanship, and my magic was already at the level of a Desroah Academy graduate when I enrolled.”
“I see…”
How about that? With this, he can’t complain about me quitting. He probably doesn’t care about academic credentials anyway, so as long as I have the skills, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“Well, fine. I heard that Desroah Academy was attacked by Monsters. What’s the actual situation?”
Father doesn’t seem to completely believe what I said, but he doesn’t seem to intend to pursue it further. Or rather, this might be the main topic.
“It’s true. I don’t know the exact number, but probably three to four hundred Monsters attacked Desroah Academy from the northern sky, targeting only the academy.”
“I see. Only Desroah Academy, which means we should consider that there was some purpose…”
“I don’t know about that. There was no announcement from the academy either.”
I know the purpose is something related to that red jewel or Millie, but I won’t tell him that. It wouldn’t help even if I did.
“So? Did you come back because you were taking a leave of absence?”
“No, I quit.”
“Quit… Well, I see. That’s a reasonable decision.”
Oh, that’s an unexpected reaction. But if we assume that everything I said is true, then that’s the conclusion he’d come to. There’s nothing more to learn, and the reason for the attack is still unknown, which is also a problem. If the same thing could happen again at any time, it would be wiser to quit as soon as possible.
“But what do you plan to do from now on? You’re not going to laze around here all year round, are you?”
Hmm. For now, going north is a certainty, but how should I explain it…? Right, let’s go with the Sword thing.
“Father, I, a lone man, have come to want to test my martial prowess in the world—”