–After finishing the discussion with Exon for now, Sofia, Richard, and I started a strategy meeting again in my room.

“Lord Ruon, you said you would act in every way you could think of…”

“Yes. I’ll need Sofia’s help as well.”

“What about the Emperor Candidates?”

“If possible, I’d like them to act as well… but Abel needs to focus on the organization, and the Marquis is probably thinking of various things.”

Sofia nodded. Then Richard spoke.

“Mr. Ruon, regarding the magic that reverses time…”

“You’re saying there are no documents to investigate, right? I have an idea about that.”

“It’s my turn.”

Garuku appeared on my right shoulder.

“Currently, my consciousness is not connected to my True Self. However, if I return to the Continent, my memories will naturally transfer to my True Self.”

“I see, you’re asking for the Spirits’ cooperation.”

“The Garuku would be happy to cooperate. And if we contact Lefin, we can also get in touch with Kuuza and the Academia members.”

“However, Mr. Ruon, the problem is the means of transportation…”

“I have an idea for that. Richard, please create one monster using a Dragon Demon Stone.”

“So it just needs to reach the Continent?”

“Exactly. Also, I won’t use all of my magic power within Lord Ruon. Even with little magic power, I will create a duplicate and move it to the Continent.”

“The monster will be bird-shaped… will we ride on its back?”

I thought it would be a heartwarming sight to imagine, but Garuku shook his head from side to side.

“I will reside within a familiar. If necessary, I will be able to control it.”

“Understood. What’s the deadline?”

“The sooner, the better.”

“Then let’s use some of the Wyvern’s magic power that I created. It should be ready by tomorrow.”

“I don’t think there will be any problems, but please make sure to have plenty of magic power. Given my magic power in the Capital City, this method can probably only be used once.”

“Are the Spirits coming to this Continent?”

Sofia’s question. Garuku narrowed his eyes and replied.

“If there is enough time, they would probably want to find a way to do so. However, we are investigating magic derived from the Demon Race. Since it’s information not even in my knowledge, I don’t know how long it will take. It’s better to act on the assumption that they won’t come.”

“The problem is how much time we need.”

Everyone’s eyes turn to me at my words.

“Richard can investigate the documents within this continent, but is there a limit to how much he can investigate?”

“There are people there.”

“We’ll have to discuss that with Marquis and Abel. As for the deadline, we’ll start preparing our counter-strategy once the investigation is complete. The leader only has two months. We want to reach a conclusion as soon as possible, in about a month.”

“It’s difficult, but we have no choice but to do it.”

Garuku says. Sofia also strongly agrees and says,

“Let’s do our best to thwart Nefmeiza’s ambition.”

“Yes. And we need to cooperate with the Marquis and prepare to defeat Nefmeiza’s plan.”

“What exactly are we going to do?”

Richard asks. I pause for a moment, then begin to speak.

“Honestly, I haven’t yet thought of a way to reliably defeat Nefmeiza. Rather, we have too little information at this point. My biggest concern is how much Nefmeiza has thought through this battle.”

“What do you mean?”

I put my hand to my forehead and answer Sofia’s question.

“It’s confirmed that Nefmeiza is reversing time. And since she’s creating something like an artificial dragon, I think she’s aware of our existence. However, there’s one thing that feels off. I’ve left a familiar in the imperial capital to try and grasp the situation at court, but the security has become stricter.”

“Could it be that Lord Ruon is recognized as being in the Imperial Capital because you brought that child?”

Sofia’s words. Normally, that would be the case, but—

“Yes, logically, that’s what I’d think, but… one speculation came to mind.”

“What is it?”

“Nefmeiza deliberately gave me information and had Romilda and Yusuka brought here.”

“Wouldn’t that put her at a disadvantage?”

Garuku says. I agree with him, but also mention,

“For example… let’s say, Sofia.”

“Yes.”

“Assuming you can reverse time… in the war with the Demon Lord, a dear comrade was killed. Sofia, in order to save that comrade, used time reversal and fought the Demon King again. In this case, how would you act?”

“If I make the same moves, will the result be the same?”

“It will be.”

“Then I will act to avoid that.”

“Then what if, as a result of doing that, another comrade is killed?”

“…I would repeat it until everyone survived, I suppose.”

“If time-space magic could be used unconditionally, you would do that.”

I sigh and… continue speaking.

“From Nefmeiza’s appearance, she has reversed time quite a number of times. Even though her magic power is decreasing, she’s repeating it so much, so let’s assume she’s replenishing her magic power with something. Anyway, there’s no doubt that Nefmeiza has repeated an incredible number of trials and errors, and she must be creating a path that is favorable to the capital city.”

“In other words, you mean to say this?”

Garuku states, exchanging glances with me.

“That losing the girl Romilda and Lord Yusuka… that is the path that leads Nefmeiza to victory in battle.”

“If I hadn’t accidentally found Romilda, I might have been doing various things within the Research Institute. Even if it wasn’t destructive activity, I might have stolen some important documents or something… I thought there was a non-zero possibility that Nefmeiza moved me to prevent such things.”

—In my previous life, there were time-leap novels and games. Many of them had a setting where if you did the same thing, the same thing would repeat, and Nefmeiza now is exactly like that. How many strategies has she built up against me…

“Still, it will be difficult to get information from her.”

Garuku says. I agree with that.

“Currently, we don’t know if we’re moving according to Nefmeiza’s plan, but it’s also bad to only worry about this. How much power can we accumulate by the final battle… For now, let’s focus on that.”

“Lord Ruon, do you have something in mind?”

Sofia asked. I immediately nodded and said,

“First, it’s weaponry versus strategy, including the Artificial Dragon. There are many obstacles before reaching Nefmeiza, so we need to be able to eliminate them.”

“We’ll definitely need Dragon Demon Stones, won’t we?”

“Yes. My combat vessel doesn’t seem to be working as I’d like, and while leaving it to Sofia is an option, I have a greater concern.”

Silence. Everyone was poised, waiting for my words.

“Regarding what I said earlier, if Nefmeiza allowed me to peek into the Research Institute to ensure the desired future, then that Artificial Dragon was something meant to be seen… There might be other weaponry besides that.”

“So, there’s another trump card?”

“Exactly. To break Nefmeiza’s trump card… we need to create a combat vessel or device with enough power to deal with whatever weaponry they might produce.”

“Can such a thing be made?”

Richard asked. I nodded in response.

“It’s not impossible. The trump card on this continent is determined by the existence of Dragon Demon Stones. In other words, if we can obtain a powerful Dragon Demon Stone, it’s possible to create something that matches our objective.”

“It’s similar to the Divine Spirit Sword created during the War with the Demon Lord, isn’t it?”

Exactly—this is where we start.

“So, I’m going to look for a Dragon Demon Stone. Not in the Darkness Cloud, though. In the story, besides the Dragon Demon Stone owned by the Marquis, there was also a naturally powerful one. I’ll find that and… create a trump card.”