Chapter 13: Lost Way of Life

Reading Settings

Translator: Soafp

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And then, the eighty-eighth time.

(29568／65535)

The remaining value dropped below 30,000.

I formed hypotheses about what reduced the number, and by how much, comparing them against the timing of when each causality occurred, while simultaneously searching for undiscovered blue-letter causalities.

Avoid black-letter ones, try everything that can be tried—that was the general approach.

The biggest shift came on the ninetieth time.

(12568／65535)

More than a 15,000 reduction from the eighty-ninth time.

The newly discovered blue-letter causalities this time were three:

“The Fortune Teller in the Castle Town,”

“The Excommunicated Bottle Craftsman,”

and “The Closing of the Old Bookstore.”

Of these, the “Bottle Craftsman” likely wasn't the type that caused a major reduction to the Demon King's vitality… or so I thought.

Which left either the “Fortune Teller” or the “Old Bookstore.”

Subsequent verification showed that the “Old Bookstore” reduced the value by around 4,000.

Which meant the “Fortune Teller” was a causality that could not be ignored when considering the defeat of the Demon King.

Even though it was a blue-letter causality, it was practically on par with red-letter ones.

Curious, I asked Nonoa,

“What kind of fortune was it?”

Because although we visited the fortune-telling shop together, I never knew what was said.

Only one person could enter at a time, so while Nonoa was being told her fortune, I had to wait outside.

I tried to have my fortune told once as well, but…

“Hm? I can't see your future. I can't divine anything for you.”

I wasn't even given a reading.

So only Nonoa could be told her fortune.

And even she said,

“Hmm. There wasn't really anything specific. They just said, ‘That's an unusual fate—let me record your palm lines,' and that was it?”

So how exactly that fortune connected to the battle with the Demon King was completely unclear.

But in the end, that didn't matter.

As long as receiving the fortune caused a large reduction in the Demon King's vitality, that alone was good enough.

And then, the ninety-fifth time.

(10835／65535)

No good.

I was completely stuck.

No matter what I did, I couldn't break past the (10000／65535) wall.

I felt like I'd tried everything within reach.

Maybe, like the fortune-teller case, I was overlooking something that caused a massive reduction…

“All right. I'll reorganize my action plan from scratch.”

Thinking that, I reviewed the past pages to confirm the causalities I had already completed…

“Huh? That's strange.”

I had made a major mistake on the ninety-fifth time.

By prioritizing the search for undiscovered causalities, I ended up completing exactly the same blue-letter causalities on the ninety-second and ninety-fifth times.

Of course, there were probably differences in parts not worth recording in the book—small details of daily life, for example.

But at least as far as red- and blue-letter causalities were concerned, they matched perfectly.

And yet, the values for the ninety-second and ninety-fifth times were different.

Placed side by side:

Ninety-second time (10762／65535)
Ninety-fifth time (10835／65535)

It was a small difference, but still a difference of 73.

“What… does this mean?”

Since I don't know how Nonoa and the Demon King actually fight, these numbers are the only clues I have to infer what happens in battle.

Despite completing the same blue-letter causalities, the outcome differed, however slightly.

That meant there had to be ways to reduce the Demon King's vitality other than blue-letter causalities.

Taking that into account, I came up with three possibilities for what could reduce the Demon King's vitality.

First, there might be ways to further enhance Nonoa's combat ability after her skill awakens, separate from blue-letter causalities.

Second, Nonoa's combat ability might remain unchanged, but there could be methods to weaken the Demon King directly.

Third, neither Nonoa's nor the Demon King's combat ability changes, but it might be possible to strengthen the Kingdom's knight corps, or conversely weaken the Demon King's army's organization.

As a result, the burden on Nonoa before she even reaches the Demon King could be reduced, allowing her to conserve strength.

Those were the three main possibilities.

“But… something feels off about that.”

Yes.

This part was intuition, but the latter two didn't feel right.

Wouldn't those kinds of changes be recorded in the Guide as blue-letter causalities?

When it comes to blue-letter causalities, I have no idea what specific effects they have on the battle between Nonoa and the Demon King.

I'm not there when they fight.

All I know is that blue-letter causalities lead to Nonoa's skill awakening and to reductions in the Demon King's vitality.

And ultimately, I've assumed that those effects fall under one of the three categories above.

To begin with, the value 65535 is, in my estimation, the Demon King's vitality as perceived by Nonoa's skill.

If it were possible to weaken the Demon King in advance, then instead of reducing the left-hand number, it would make more sense for the right-hand maximum value to decrease.

Besides, on both the ninety-second and ninety-fifth times, nothing happened involving the Kingdom's knights, and while minor Demon King army soldiers were defeated, none of the commanders were.

Reducing the Demon King army's strength beforehand would certainly lessen Nonoa's burden.

But I've never once managed to do that, and even if it were possible, it still feels like something that would be recorded as a blue-letter causality.

Because the flow would be: reduce Nonoa's burden, which then leads to a reduction in the Demon King's vitality.

Which brings me back to the same conclusion.

There must be a way to increase Nonoa's combat ability without relying on blue-letter causalities.

That was my leading hypothesis.

If so… then what kind of interaction between us and Nonoa, before her skill awakens and before she's expelled from the party, could lead to that…?

“I have no idea…”

At that point, I was completely stuck.

I stared at the book, thinking, but nothing came to mind.

“Maybe I'll do some practice swings for the first time in a while.”

That was the thought I arrived at.

It was advice from my master that I hadn't thought of in a long time.

“When you're troubled by thoughts, nothing beats swinging your sword with an empty mind.”

Following that teaching, I decided to swing my sword.

According to my master, by moving your body mindlessly and deliberately emptying your head, you sometimes create the trigger for a good idea to surface.

So for now, I focused on swinging the sword.

Listening to the sound of it cutting through the air, I kept swinging.

My skill is “Swordmaster.”

Unlike “Saint” or “Accountant,” it's one of the “Heaven-bestowed” skills, but extremely close to a “Learned” type.

It's said that if, after training with the sword, you haven't been granted at least a “Warrior”-level skill by the age of fifteen, you should give up the path of the sword.

Of course, if you possess exceptional natural talent, you might be granted “Swordmaster” without any training at all.

In the past, there were Swordmasters who were strong purely due to innate talent, without much training.

But I'm only slightly above average in height and build.

I'm not particularly fast, I don't have exceptional reach, and I don't possess overwhelming strength.

As I swung my sword, I realized I'd been thinking about such things and snapped back to myself.

“It's hard to truly empty your mind while swinging a sword.”

Before I knew it, I was thinking about skills again.

And there was a reason I couldn't maintain focus.

Fatigue.

Sweat ran down my forehead and into my eyes, and my concentration completely broke.

“Honestly… getting tired from just this much practice. I must be getting rusty after staring at books all the time lately.”

Wiping away sweat and scratching my head, I gave a wry smile to myself when—

“…! Maybe!”

A single idea flashed through my mind.

I returned to my room and opened the Guide.

I compared the ninety-second and ninety-fifth times once more, carefully checking for anything I'd overlooked…

“They really are identical.”

I closed the Guide.

If my inference was correct…

This book isn't what I need to reexamine now.

What I need to reexamine—

—is myself.

I need to take another hard look at my own sword.

---

Nonoa attends the training grounds while she is still in the party, before her skill awakens.

At the training grounds, people like the “Gray Hermit” and the “One-Armed Old Knight,” whom I personally recruited, serve as instructors and help raise her combat ability.

And from time to time, she spars with me.

So then, after her awakening, what is she using as a reference?

What she trains with is the sword.

Most likely, even in the battle against the Demon King, the weapon she uses will be a sword.

Which means……

There is a high possibility that, as a close and familiar model, she is training while using my swordsmanship as her reference.

That is why, the sword I wield—observed during actual combat, and studied during sparring and training—

the precision of that sword itself may form the very foundation of Nonoa's final level of sword skill.

If that is the case, then the reason why the reduction was smaller in the ninety-fifth loop compared to the ninety-second can also be explained.

As the loops piled up, I had begun to neglect my own training.

After all, there is a limit to my own strength.

So rather than focusing on myself, I became obsessed with searching for blue-text causalities that would directly reduce the Demon King's HP.

Of course, because I fight countless times across the loops, it's not as if my skill would simply rust away overnight.

But……

A sword swung without aiming higher, wielded only out of habit.

There is no way it would not gradually grow dull.

And as a result of Nonoa using that dulled sword as her reference, even if only slightly, a difference appeared in the reduction of the Demon King's HP.

—that is my hypothesis.

If so, then there is only one thing to do.

Reexamine my own swordsmanship.

And what I aim for is not a style optimized solely for me.

Even if it is unfinished, a sword that can see “beyond.”

I decided that the next several loops would be spent searching for blue-text causalities while also focusing heavily on rebuilding myself.

And this loop was ideal for reexamining myself.

My body resets every time the loop restarts.

The period from fifteen to twenty years old overlaps with a major growth phase, during which bodily sensations change dramatically.

Because of that, every time I return from twenty to fifteen, I spend a while struggling with the difference in physical feel.

First, my height is different.

Which means my reach is different.

And my strength, too, is greater at twenty than at fifteen.

Taking those two factors into account, if I optimize my swordsmanship to peak at twenty, then naturally, it becomes slightly difficult for my fifteen-year-old self to handle.

Which means—

At the time of her expulsion, Nonoa's reach is shorter than that of my fifteen-year-old self.

And while I don't know how much strength she gains after awakening, judging from the name of her skill, “Master of Numbers,” it is unlikely to be a type that grants brute strength.

So the goal I set was a sword that does not rely on power or reach, but instead delivers the optimal counter in response to the opponent's attack.

The principle of “go no sen” that my master taught me.

A sword that lets the opponent move first, and yet still takes the initiative beyond that.

Even when attacking first, that strike is merely a setup meant to provoke the opponent into action.

On top of that, I reexamined my own habits from the ground up, focusing on controlling my body to the utmost limit.

Suppressing bodily sway and controlling my breathing, concealing my intent so that the opponent cannot perceive it—a sword that hides everything.

That was what I aimed for, and I trained relentlessly toward it.

I adjusted my techniques so that, when I return to being fifteen through a loop, I would feel as little discomfort as possible.

That, surely, would help Nonoa inherit my sword smoothly.

What I sought was not the strongest sword that fully exploits my own physical traits, but a technique grounded in universal theory—something anyone could learn through training, and yet which would function with great power.

Rather than aiming for sword sainthood through my own strengths, I sought the truth of the sword that applies to all.

A sword with a core, yet flexible like water, changing its shape depending on the vessel.

And it would be fine to reach only the foothills of that ideal.

That is the place I should aim for, given the limits of my skill, “Swordmaster.”

If it helps in the battle against the Demon King, I will give everything to Nonoa and entrust it to her.

Including my swordsmanship.

It doesn't have to be completed.

It doesn't matter if it can't be completed.

The one who completes this sword does not have to be me—it can be Nonoa.

Perhaps in the next loop, I might discover a causality that greatly reduces the Demon King's HP.

What I am doing could simply be self-satisfaction, and might end in futility.

But.

I will fill the remaining 10,000 with my sword.

With that resolve, I continued my training.

Whether my hypothesis was correct,

or whether there was actually some other factor at play,

in the end, I don't know.

But.

Ninety-sixth loop (10815 / 65535)

Ninety-seventh loop (10750 / 65535)

Ninety-eighth loop (10623 / 65535)

Ninety-ninth loop (10263 / 65535)

One hundredth loop (9624 / 65535)

At last, it dropped below 10,000.

During this time, no new blue-text causalities appeared.

And yet, the numbers continued to fall.

Slowly, but surely, my sword was improving.

Through the numbers, I could almost see it happening.

This period was fun.

More than that, despite having lived for hundreds of years, there was something I did not realize until this moment.

I…… liked swinging a sword.

Until now, the sword had been nothing more than a tool for revenge, a means to an end.

Becoming stronger was merely a method to accomplish my objective.

The idea that pursuing sword principles themselves could bring joy had never even crossed my mind.

If the Demon King had never existed—

Learning the sword from my father, developing it further, and devoting my life to the blade.

A life where seeking one's own strength is itself the goal.

Perhaps such a way of living might have existed for me.

……But now, it is far too late to change my way of life.

That path was lost long ago, taken by the Demon King.

And then, I found a few new blue-text causalities.

By the time I could swing my sword after returning to fifteen with almost no sense of discomfort, the one hundred fifteenth loop arrived.

The moment I started, I opened “Guide,” and what appeared before my eyes was the result of the one hundred fourteenth loop.

Still black text as always—but hope was visible.

“Nonoa challenges the Demon King, but is defeated.”

(84 / 65535).

It was a massive improvement from the one hundred thirteenth loop's (1050 / 65535).

At last, I could see it.

Through Nonoa, my sword was beginning to reach the Demon King's life.