The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent

The shadows of three people swayed violently as I walked down the hallway.

Unlike the fluorescent or LED lights used in modern times, the oil lamp I held had a flame that actually flickered on the wick. Since the flame was always unstable, it was expected for the shadows to sway a little.

But now, it was shaking much more violently than when I walked here earlier.

My hand, holding the lamp, was trembling brrrr.

“Huh? What’s wrong with you? Did you eat something bad?”

The Old Woman asked. She didn’t seem particularly worried; more like she found it fascinating.

I had maintained a blank expression in front of the Old Woman all this time. While most kids were scared of her, I could at least hide my expression around her.

It wasn’t because I had any special talent. If I did, I wouldn’t be trembling like this now.

In my childhood, I once dreamed of becoming a voice actor. I had my own—

… No, no.

This wasn’t the time for that story.

I needed to think about how to accept this situation.

My body had no wounds. I felt no pain. So, there was no evidence that I had been hit by that man.

However, the pain from that moment was so vivid that it was hard to think of it as just a dream or my imagination.

The feeling of my face hitting the cart floor. The chilling sound of something breaking in my mouth. Something hard and small rolling around in my stomach, tasting like iron where it had burst inside, and everything blurring in front of my eyes as I felt dizzy—

Thud.

The Old Woman struck my leg with her cane, causing me to stagger slightly.

“You useless thing. Can’t you even hold a lamp properly? If the light shakes, it hurts my eyes! Do you think I can rely on you if my eyesight gets worse?”

The Old Woman’s eyesight couldn’t exactly be described as good. She could see a kid messing around at the end of the room and rush over to whack them with her cane.

But I tried my best to stand straight.

I could feel cold sweat flowing down my back.

I didn’t want to be hit anymore.

When was the last time I had been hit by something? It must have been over ten years ago. Especially after becoming an adult, there was rarely a chance to get hit unless I got into a fight, and in the first place, someone who throws the first punch can’t possibly manage society properly.

At this moment, I didn’t feel that pain, but…

If this continued…

“Big sister?”

I jolted at Claire calling me.

When I turned my gaze, Claire was looking at me with a worried expression.

…Right. I had been sold instead of Claire. And I had been beaten up. I wasn’t exactly sure why, but considering how I had talked about preferences while being dragged around, that must have been what the person who wanted to buy me liked.

When a situation like the earlier one repeated, I thought I shouldn’t have gone out at all. If the person waiting outside was the same one, the same thing would have happened again.

…And.

And, if I didn’t experience that instead… then it would be Claire facing that ordeal.

What should I do? How can we both escape this situation?

My head spun wildly, but no idea came to mind that a five-year-old could execute.

“What are you mumbling about? Just keep looking straight ahead while you walk. The person is waiting.”

It was just one brief exchange of words. To be exact, Claire just called me. But the Old Woman got annoyed by such minimal behavior and poked my leg again with her cane.

“……”

Having seen a kid mercilessly beaten by that cane before, we had no choice but to shut our mouths. I was even more terrified since I had already been exposed to merciless violence before.

I simply hoped the person waiting in front wasn’t the one I feared.

And then,

“Now, greet him.”

The Old Woman said that.

When I raised my gaze, I saw a man in a nice-looking coat, wearing a silk hat. He was wearing monocles and had a thick mustache on his nose.

“Ah…”

Seeing me in despair,

“Oho.”

The man reacted as if it were interesting.

And then everything proceeded just like I remembered.

*

“……”

I curled up as I woke again.

I was back a few minutes before.

“Big sister?”

Claire called out to me.

I opened my eyes at that. No wounds remained on my arms, and there was nothing rolling around in my mouth. I felt no metallic taste, and my vision was clear again.

I had returned to the moment before we met that man.

As I hurriedly checked my physical condition, Claire looked at me as if I were bizarre.

I looked around.
The children were watching me.

I was…

So, did I turn back time?

Or was it that the entity above, who might have sent me to this world, turned back time for me?

I struggled to recall the world-building settings from the games I had played, which had left me paralyzed with fear.

In this world, gods do exist. But whether that god has sentience or not is unknown.

Even though the series had gone on for a while and the world settings changed several times, the depiction of the appearing gods was always the same. Players therefore speculated that all those gods were the same entity. It was a kind of force like the very will of the world. That notion was, in fact, criticized by some players as merely a convenience to propel the story forward.

Could this also be one of those convenient settings?

Can gods even turn back time? If they can, what criteria do they use to do so?

Couldn’t I have turned back time before getting hit? Do I have to be in danger of death to rewind time? No, it wasn’t about being in danger of death. It might hurt like hell and I might feel like I’d die, but the man didn’t intend to kill me. He wouldn’t want me to become completely useless as he had bought me for “processing”.

So then, if that’s the case… could this be my ability?

“Claire!”

And then, I heard that eerie voice again, which I felt I would soon get used to.

“A gentleman has come to take you away! Come out happily!”

Once again, the situation was repeating itself.

*

I still didn’t know exactly about my ability. I couldn’t use it freely. I haven’t even figured out if there’s a limit to the number of times I could use it or if there’s a maximum I can use at once.

How did I come to obtain such nonsense-level powers? If someone gave me this ability, what on earth were they thinking—

—I had no time to think such things.

Being hit is scary. I wasn’t used to pain. I was the kind of person who, when scratching myself by reading a book, would sulk over it all day. If I bumped into a wall, I would groan and lie down dramatically.

But that said.

That said, I had enough opportunities.

I confirmed once more.

I could rewind time.

This time, I managed to turn back as soon as I saw the man’s face.

“Big sister…?”

I opened my eyes at that voice I had heard several times before. There were no wounds on my body. I was still in good health.

And only then did I faintly understand what criteria I have to turn back time.

Intense emotion. Or desperation.

When I regret my choices and my emotions break down, I would inevitably return to that exact spot.

Why that particular moment? I didn’t know if I could change it. I couldn’t afford to think about such things.

“Claire!”

And once again.

“A gentleman has come to take you away! Come out happily!”

Time repeated itself.

*

It was hard to adapt even after going through the same thing three times. I mean, if I had taken a regular office job, I probably wouldn’t have adapted properly for at least a month, making mistakes in my work. Yet here I was, flirting with life-and-death situations… to be precise, the brink of my life going down the drain.

Getting hit like that wouldn’t make me immune to pain. No, in the first place, there was no way to be immune to pain. A five-year-old’s body couldn’t be that tough, able to withstand a punch from an adult man.

But still, I thought hard.

What should I do?

How can we both escape such a gruesome experience?

I figured it wouldn’t help to tell the man we were useless. In the first place, a man didn’t need something like personality according to his standards. He intended to ‘process’ us in his own way.

It would be much later when Claire stabs a noble and sets a brothel on fire. If Claire were to take my place here, she might be fine, but she would suffer for years.

It would be better for me to somehow handle it myself while I have this opportunity.

Let’s not even think about a limit… Let’s just act like it doesn’t exist for now. Even if it’s there, it doesn’t mean anything because I don’t know it.

What should I do? As I thought, I remembered that I was holding an oil lamp.

Something I could ‘use’ right now.

“Is this kid?”

I saw the man approaching me.

I had no time to think.

With all my strength, I threw the lamp toward him.

“No…!?”

The Old Woman yelled beside me, and the woman behind him screamed in shock.

I didn’t hear what Claire said.

The lamp thrown with all the strength of a five-year-old—

—did not catch fire on the man’s body.

Thud!

Before the lamp reached him, the man knocked it away with his cane.

The lamp shattered mid-air, spilling oil and catching fire, but that was all.

“……”

The man looked at me without changing his expression.

“Ah.”

Well, this is bad.

*

“Big sister…?”

I returned again.

Fortunately, before the man could do anything, I was able to rewind time. The more I did it, the more skilled I felt I was becoming.

There were no special conditions to rewind time. If I strongly wished for it, I would simply return.

I still didn’t know how to turn it back further than this moment. Even if I did, it wouldn’t be useful right now.

“It’s okay.”

I reassured Claire as I spoke.

I still had opportunities left.

In fact, the longer I go, the more advantageous it became for me.

*

This time, I threw the lamp again.

However, I didn’t throw it at the man.

I threw it at the Old Woman beside me.

Fortunately, since Claire was by my side, she wouldn’t get splattered with burning oil.

“Ahhhhh!”

The Old Woman, now on fire, shrieked madly and began to run around. At first, the fire only clung to her legs, but as time went by, it climbed up and engulfed her upper body.

The flames rose high enough that her face was no longer visible.

The problem was, I had never done anything like this to another person before. No matter how much scum someone was for selling children to a brothel, on the outside, they looked human. Even if I hated someone, my hands would tremble just thinking about hitting them; this felt completely different.

Claire beside me froze just like I did, watching the scene unfold—

When I felt someone’s hand resting heavily on my shoulder.

“Ah….”

I was pulled harshly and fell backward—

*

—again.

This time, I would make it so the man wouldn’t even think of entering.

I couldn’t set the man on fire. Burning the Old Woman before the man wouldn’t scare him either.

So, instead…

“Claire—”

I awaited the Old Woman’s arrival.

“The gentleman has come to take you away—”

And I stepped forward. The Old Woman grumbled, and Claire smiled at me.

“Well, we might as well. Here, take this lamp.”

And I received the lamp.

As soon as I took it, I slammed it down on the floor in the corridor leading to the exit, smashing it to bits.

“You…!”

I hit the entrance, so a few drops of oil splattered toward me, but fortunately, it didn’t catch fire.

“What are you doing—”

But the Old Woman’s words didn’t manage to finish.

I grabbed the Old Woman’s collar as she bent forward, lifting her cane, and I twisted my body with all my strength.

No matter how strong the Old Woman was for her age, when her upper body was hunched over like that, even a little force would topple her balance.

“You crazy girl…!”

The Old Woman glared as she held the cane with both hands, but she ended up tumbling into the blazing pile of fire on the floor.

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