Like a Seasoned Rookie
Luna! Smile! Omega!
Can you hear me? Answer if you can!
Asherah called out across the desolate landscape, but no answer came.
We split up and searched the area, but found no trace of the members, nor of the train we'd ridden in on.
...They have to be... somewhere around here...
Yeah, they have to be.
I nodded along, giving a half-hearted reply to Asherah's line, which I was hearing for the [third] time.
Let me say that again.
This was the [third] time I'd heard that line from Asherah.
After watching the Western Liberators get wiped out by Olberos's attack, I was sent back here again in a flash of light.
In other words, I'd foolishly wasted the [second chance] I'd been given, all over again.
Imprisoned by the Western Liberators...? An operation to destroy the Void Core...?
Captain, what are you talking about? You really did hit your head when we fell from the train!
Asherah remembered nothing of what had happened before we came back.
No, if I'm the only one who returned to this time, then the Asherah of this timeline has yet to experience any of it.
It was only natural she wouldn't know.
I have been through this before!
...What nonsense are you spouting?!
Bind these two! Keep them under strict confinement until the operation is over!
My encounter with Ceres and the Western Liberators became an even bigger disaster than before.
I shouldn't have tried to claim both that I'd been through the same thing before and that the operation had to be postponed because they risked being wiped out.
Looking back, I must have sounded completely insane.
For some reason, the door opened on its own the second time too, so we escaped easily.
But everything after that played out exactly as before.
Just like before, we tracked the Western Liberators.
Lydia vanished, the formation collapsed, and the operation ended in failure.
And just as Olberos's attack was about to reach Ceres, a light flashed once more...
...And I found myself back here yet again.
In any case, this is the [third] time.
I still didn't know why time kept repeating, but one thing was clear: repeating the [same actions] would only lead to the [same outcome].
This time, I needed a different ending.
Ignoring the concern in Asherah's eyes, I found myself walking toward Raven Wall once again, following the tracks as though drawn there by something unseen.
C-Captain. I wasn't the only one who heard that just now, right?
Let's go.
Don't lower your shields! We have to keep the airborne Voidborns focused on us so the main force can advance!
Focus fire! Take down the big ones first!
For the third time, the [same time loop] began.
By now, even the headache and the accompanying sense of déjà vu had become familiar.
Ah...! Captain, look over there!
There's a girl surrounded by Voidborns. We have to save her—
Huh? She'll be... fine?
A swarm of Voidborns bore down on Lydia.
In the same instant, black tentacles burst from the book strapped to her back, skewering countless Voidborns in an instant.
She was baiting them...
How did you know...?
O-Okay!
Over the course of three loops, I'd noticed that even among the skillful Liberators, a few were clearly less experienced than the rest.
Judging by their movements, they had to be fresh recruits... or close enough.
This time, instead of rushing in blindly, Asherah and I focused on supporting the Liberators I suspected were new recruits, intercepting the Voidborns closing in on them.
...
Sloppy formation. Undisciplined movements... that much is true.
...But at least you didn't get in the way.
Who are you? Where did you come from?
Her words were still blunt, but they no longer had the wary, interrogating edge from before.
We're the Voyager Savior Party from NOA.
If we gave them even the slightest reason to suspect us, we'd end up confined again.
For some reason, word that we'd come for the Void trial had never reached the Western Liberators.
With that, and our earlier conversations in mind, I chose my words carefully, doing my best to make our story sound convincing.
Naturally, I left out the vanished train and the companions we'd been separated from.
When I started talking about things Asherah knew nothing about, she shot me a bewildered look, but I kept talking as though nothing were amiss.
...That's the situation.
So, a Journey Captain from NOA...
Hmm. Well, like they said... they do seem to have some skill, Commander.
His face does look kind of soft, though.
Argh...
Wh-what's wrong with our Captain's face?! Look! He looks reliable, doesn't he?!
...Thanks, Asherah.
With a few well-placed lies and a careful bending of the truth, I managed to avoid [confinement] this time.
That said, we still ended up in the same room, and we still couldn't do anything until tomorrow's operation was over.
At least this time, we were escorted there as visitors from NOA by an adjutant named Besta.
This way, please.
She must have been the unit commander who had held her ground to the very end of the battle.
If you need anything, please let me know.
...Mm, now that I think about it, there isn't much I can offer you.
Just a simple meal and some water, it seems.
That would be plenty. Thank you.
Please remain in this room until tomorrow's operation is over.
Mm, you'll be bored waiting, so...
Would you like me to lend you an [interesting book] or something?
...In that instant, an inexplicable sense of dread swept through my whole body.
Ah... no, we'll be okay.
Is that so? What a shame.
Understood. And... since the two of you will be spending the night together...
Will one bed do?
Two, please!
Is that so? What a shame...
...What are you imagining?
Please, go ahead.