Eternally Regressing in Another World

"So? What’s this favor you wanted to ask me?"

Back at the mansion, I went straight to Elizabeth’s room. Right now, she was the only person who could possibly serve as a bridge to the king. The problem was how to get her to actually take this seriously. No way she’d believe me if I just said the country was going to fall.

"...I heard there’s a summit with the king coming up."

"Yes, that’s right. I’ll be attending as one of the escorts."

...And during that escort mission, Elizabeth dies. If I don’t do something, she’s only got a few days left to live.

"This country’s greatest fighting force is surrounding the king’s carriage, right?"

"You’re well informed. Did Tender tell you?"

"Well, something like that."

At that, Elizabeth puffed her cheeks out, looking a bit irritated.

"Honestly! That chatty butler is such a problem! Blabbing about confidential matters like that... well, never mind. What about it?"

...Should I push into the flaws of the plan from here? If my opinion reached the king even indirectly, maybe there’d be room to reconsider the strategy. Even if the summit itself doesn’t get cancelled, the king and escorts making it back safely would already count as a huge success.

"Is there any way to get that plan reconsidered? Maybe go with a different approach..."

"That’s not possible."

An immediate answer.

"This particular operation was personally devised by my father. The logistics, troop assignments, everything is already finalized. Even I couldn’t push through a new proposal at this point."

"...Right, of course. Sorry, forget I said anything weird."

An event of this scale, of course there’d be preparation well in advance. I’d been naive. No way an amateur’s opinion gets pushed through at this stage.

"But why bring this up so suddenly? Did you find some flaw in the plan?"

"Um, just thought there might be some kind of gap in it."

Not so much a flaw in the plan, more that the firepower might not be enough. But is there really anyone out there capable of beating Elizabeth, her father, and Rick, all three together?

"Finding a flaw means you must know the specifics of the plan too, then?"

"Well, roughly. Is it okay to talk about this here?"

"That’s fine."

I recalled what Tender had told me back in the previous timeline and explained it.

"If I remember right, the king rides in a carriage, with you, your father, and your childhood friend serving as escort. On top of that, reinforcements wait on standby in the city, ready to be called in if things get dangerous. That about right?"

"Yes, roughly correct. But I don’t sense any real flaw in the plan. Moving with a small, elite group makes us harder to detect by enemy scouts. And Rick, my other childhood friend, can use detection magic. Which means ambush countermeasures are thoroughly covered. Even against strong enemies, this team composition shouldn’t be a problem, don’t you think?"

From what I’d heard, nothing seemed off anywhere. But in the future I’d witnessed, Elizabeth had definitely died.

"What if, say, there’s a trap laid somewhere?"

"Of course we’ve planned for that too. A carriage carrying a few decoys goes ahead first. To put it bluntly, bait. If there’s a trap, the bait will trigger it first. The decoy carriage also carries capable fighters, so as long as they focus on retreating, there shouldn’t be any casualties."

...There’s no room left for improvement here. Even as an amateur’s take, it sounded like a thoroughly reasonable, well thought out plan. Which meant, was there really some monster out there capable of easily killing Elizabeth? If something like that existed, stopping the summit would be the only remaining option.

"...I don’t want to think about it, but what if an enemy stronger than those three shows up?"

"If an enemy like that existed, wouldn’t we already be helpless regardless? If you start entertaining hypotheticals like that, there’s no end to it."

A completely fair point. Without knowing the full situation, I probably just looked like some annoying guy splitting hairs over nothing. ...Not going to be able to convince her at this stage.

"Sorry for taking up your time."

"Were you, perhaps, worried about me?"

In a sense, that was probably exactly it. Well, denying it now would just sour her mood further.

"Of course I’d worry. Don’t really want a girl who hasn’t even married yet putting her life on the line so much. ...Though I guess I don’t really have the right to say that, considering I already made you fight Nest."

Tried to sound cool and completely failed. But it seemed to land pretty well with Elizabeth regardless.

"Ahahaha! What a strange thing to say."

"Yeah, guess I’m a bit tired. I’ll turn in early."

I put my hand on the doorknob. That’s when a small voice came from behind me.

"But still, ...I was a little happy to hear that."

...Let’s keep going. Thinking that, I stepped out of the room. This time, I won’t let her die. This time, I won’t let it end this way. Carrying feelings no one else could understand, I went to bed.

—-

[A/N: Let’s do a small glossary! These are all the Core Allies MC has till now:

Elizabeth Beyonetta – powerful noble (Level 5), first person MC teams up with; fights alongside MC against Nest; becomes a friend/ally who owes him a favor (and vice versa).

Tender – Elizabeth’s head butler, illusion-magic user, her childhood friend; becomes a drinking/joking buddy to MC.

Selva – elderly, dignified head butler of the Beyonetta estate (senior to Tender in tenure, junior in rank); assigned as MC’s escort/monitor in the reset timeline.

Rick Tortnisky – Elizabeth’s childhood friend, secretly Captain of the First Knight Order, Level 6 spirit-summoner; poses as a timid stalker-ish suitor of Elizabeth in public.

Flaut Beyonetta – Elizabeth’s little brother; recruits MC to help save Shiran; dies in the original timeline, protecting her.

Old Man Beard / Peter Dixon – elderly fellow reincarnate/novelist; mentor figure who explains the world’s mechanics, gives MC the revolver.

Yu – young girl MC saves from Nest and the Fulm Brothers; her family (mother, father, sister Lily) are the ones nearly killed.

Shiran Clover – white-haired girl MC meets and befriends at the plaza/inn; central to the "ghost" murder mystery; her father is a corrupt guard captain (Dennix Clover) allegedly involved in a slavery plot.]