The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

Chapter 77

At this point, there was no point in overthinking where things had gone wrong.

I’d done my best, and this was the result. Honestly, if I were told to go back a few days and try to fix everything, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off. Even if I knew the steps, repeating the same events over and over was mentally exhausting.

One thing was certain—I didn’t want to step onto a battlefield again anytime soon. The smells, the dampness, the overwhelming noise—it was all something I’d rather avoid for a while.

So, after parting ways with Lucas, I just returned to my room and collapsed onto the bed.

And I slept deeply.

My mind was so overheated that I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather do than just shut it down for a few hours.

*

When I woke up, my body felt unbelievably light.

And with that, I confirmed a few things.

While meditation helped to alleviate some of the fatigue, actual sleep was still superior. Meditation helped to maintain physical and mental condition, but it didn’t eliminate tiredness entirely.

To keep up with meditation, you still needed proper breaks in between, and it seemed you had to be in reasonably good shape, physically.

Until now, I hadn’t been too fond of exercise.

Partly because I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but mostly because I never knew when or how far I’d have to rewind time, which made keeping up a physical routine challenging.

Any progress in strength could be reset by an unexpected event that forced me to turn back time, erasing all that effort.

Skills that could be ingrained as habits, I practiced repeatedly, and the same went for knowledge.

I did keep up with the protagonist’s group, maintaining minimal training levels, but I never aimed to match the inhuman abilities of the main characters.

...Still, considering that I’d gone through that battlefield yesterday, then completed missions with the group without collapsing, it seemed that both meditation and minimal training had paid off.

If I hadn’t learned meditation, I probably would have passed out on my bed and not woken up until the next morning.

Being able to push through even a few more hours was thanks to my teacher.

Had Leo and the others returned? It occurred to me they might not be back yet.

Their training with the Sword Saint wasn’t likely to be short. Even if they’d trained all night, they would have barely scratched the surface.

After all, the point of this event was simply meeting the Sword Saint.

My stomach rumbled.

I’d skipped dinner last night, falling asleep right away, so naturally, I was hungry.@@@@

It was nine in the morning.

Maybe I should clean up and go eat.

*

No matter how much people live by routines, most will relax those routines the moment they have the chance—unless they’re the rare, exceptionally diligent type.

In the Academy dorms, students were expected to wake up, get ready, and have breakfast by 7:30 a.m. to arrive in class by 9:00.

I had a bad feeling that something unexpected was about to happen.

“Your Highness.”

And my intuition was spot on.

Thankfully, I managed not to flinch. After the chaos of the previous day, hearing the sounds of bombs and gunfire nonstop, it took more than this to startle me.

I slowly turned to face the person addressing me.

In front of me stood a strikingly dignified young girl.

I hadn’t noticed it from afar, but up close, her face looked rather youthful. Compared to the many young faces I saw at the Academy, she seemed even younger—probably at least a year younger than me.

She was taller than I’d expected, and her physique was well-developed, but the youthfulness in her face was unmistakable.

Snap.

This young, handsome girl gave me a sharp salute. It wasn’t just a casual gesture; I even heard the snap of her heels as they came together.

The salute wasn’t in the Empire’s style.

"..."

"..."

As I continued to look at her without responding, she held her salute, frozen in place.

...Oh, is this her way of greeting me?

“At ease,” I said finally.

Only then did she lower her hand with a precise movement. Again, I heard the crisp sound of her uniform settling. I hadn’t realized those sounds were possible outside of movies.

“May I ask your purpose here?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

"..."

Her formal reply nearly made me pinch my temples in exasperation, but I held back.

“My name is Rena Meyer!”

Okay, but... who’s that?

I almost blurted out the question.

“Are you a student at the Academy?”

“Yes.”

Rena Meyer answered.

“I’ve recently transferred in and came to introduce myself.”

"..."

I was at a loss for words.