Just then, Nigel was lying awake, deep in thought. When he first woke up, rage and confusion had gripped him too tightly to think straight. But now that his mind had cleared, there were too many things about the current situation that he couldn’t make sense of.
First of all, the quest was still there.
Even though Nigel had clearly killed Inas with his own hands.
Which could only mean one thing: the conditions hadn’t been met. Killing Inas alone wasn’t enough.
Nigel opened his Quest Window and read it again.
▷ Quest
The All-Inclusive Quest
Eliminate <Inas Idenbach>. No higher rewards possible.
Reward:
The world is restored to a normal flow of time.
Upon <Inas Idenbach>’s elimination, the world will be reset to April 14th one time.
Under the condition that the quest is not revealed to <Inas Idenbach>, a version of him with no memory of prior loops will survive.
Eliminate. It might mean that Inas’s existence had to be completely obliterated in order for the quest’s conditions to be fulfilled.
It was just a hypothesis—but Nigel felt certain it was close to the truth.
Which meant that, with high probability, the moment the quest was completed, the current <Inas Idenbach> would disappear.
It didn’t come as a shock—he’d already expected it.
But then, why had both of them regressed all the way back to the year 272?
That was the biggest question of all. Inas had said his very first regression had been to 272, but after that, it had always reset to 283, repeating the same year.
So what had gone wrong this time that sent them back to 272?
He didn’t know the reason… but on a personal level, he couldn’t say he hated waking up in this year.
After all, he’d gotten to see his father alive again.
They’d fought often before Nigel inherited the title of Duke. Their relationship had been complicated, full of tangled emotions—but still, it was impossible to hate the fact that he got to see the man he thought he’d never see again.
But even so, it was hard to purely enjoy being back. The anxiety still lingered, heavy.
There were so many things that could go wrong. The thought of dragging this weak body through another eleven years of repetition felt crushing.
He had too much on his mind—but his frail body was already drifting toward sleep.
As he tossed in bed, he became aware of a weight settling atop him.
Eyes snapping open, he realized someone had climbed onto the bed. The strict security had been meaningless—Inas had appeared in the dark and moved without hesitation to climb over Nigel.
“Nigel.”
It was the voice of a boy on the verge of adolescence—just like in his memory.
Nigel’s sleep vanished in an instant. He opened his eyes wide.
Beneath the faint glow of magic, Inas was looking down at him.
In the chaos earlier, he hadn’t noticed—but sixteen-year-old Inas, underfed as he was, had a lean build.
In Nigel’s memory, Inas had always felt much larger.
A presence so physically imposing, his body had felt huge and overwhelming.
Now, it was slender and agile by comparison.
Of course, compared to Nigel now, Inas was still much bigger. A twelve-year-old and a sixteen-year-old—it made the difference even more drastic than between two grown adults.
Nigel instinctively pulled up Inas’s Character Info Window.
Character Info Window
Name: Inas Idenbach
Class: Guest of the Magnus Duchy
Level: 41,435
HP: 91,419,291 / 91,420,291
MP: 79,103,653 / 79,103,653
< View Status >
< View Skills >
Because Nigel hadn’t accepted him, Inas’s class remained just “Guest.” But at this rate, it was only a matter of time before he became Nigel’s bodyguard again.
Through the transparent window, Nigel glared at him.
“…You.”
“Yes.”
Inas answered calmly, as if nothing had happened.
Even though Nigel had stabbed and killed him, he didn’t look the slightest bit angry.
Of course—Nigel had only been able to kill him because Inas had let it happen.
Even with only 1 HP left, Inas could easily have dodged it.
That very fact set Nigel’s blood boiling.
“You… you killed my brother, and you still dare to…”
Maybe death meant nothing to Inas—but did he have to kill Etna right in front of him?
As Nigel trembled in fury, Inas gently ran a soft hand over him.
“Etna is a dangerous presence, Nigel.”
“He’s not dangerous! He’s not! My brother…”
The words burst out as Nigel screamed—but then he grimaced. As a child, Nigel had been so sickly that living a normal life had been nearly impossible. After crying himself to exhaustion earlier in the day, getting angry now pushed his body too far.
He gasped for breath, dizzy, biting his lip hard.
“Ugh… ngh…”
It had been so long since he’d felt this kind of pain, he could hardly bear it. It was infuriating.
Inas gently pulled the suffering Nigel into his arms.
“Yes… I know it hurts. Come here. It’ll all be alright.”
Too dizzy to protest, Nigel allowed himself to be held. Inas stroked his back softly with careful hands.
That familiar touch slowly steadied Nigel’s breathing.
“Feeling better now?”
“Traitor…”
Nigel spat, sharp as a knife—but Inas didn’t flinch. He kissed Nigel on the forehead and cheek.
“I missed you.”
“Well, I didn’t miss you. You promised you wouldn’t kill anyone if I was sad.”
“I did say that.”
“And you’re saying it like it’s no big deal?”
Nigel shoved Inas hard.
Etna, disappearing with holes in his chest—that vision haunted him. Even as he died, Etna had worried about Nigel. The memory was unbearable.
“Go away. I don’t want to see your face.”
“Nigel…”
“Get off my bed!”
Nigel yelled with all his might, flinching at the shadow that drew closer.
Then, the shadow stopped. Inas froze.
Nigel clenched his fists over his knees, trembling.
“Nigel. Please look at me. Try not to get worked up.”
“I’ll look at you—if you get off the bed.”
“……”
A heavy sigh came from above.
Nigel flinched, thinking Inas might snap—but instead, Inas silently stepped off the bed and sat in the chair beside it.
The bed was wide, so the distance between them now felt enormous—just like the emotional gap Nigel felt.
Only then did he slowly lift his head.
And the moment he saw that sweet, gentle smile, his heart thumped hard. He quickly turned his face away.
He couldn’t look Inas in the eye.
He didn’t know what to do.
He clenched his lips shut, silently wishing Inas would just get tired and leave.
“You said you’d look at me.”
Inas spoke quietly but firmly. Startled, Nigel jerked and reluctantly raised his gaze.
Even then, Inas didn’t seem the slightest bit irritated. His gentle expression didn’t waver.
That unshaken calm—almost unnatural—only made Nigel feel more anxious. He bit at his nails again.
“Don’t do that, Nigel. Unless you want me to come up there and stop you.”
Nigel quietly lowered his hand.
But his small, soft fingers were already damaged. His nail was bent and torn.
Inas saw it and sighed.
“Are you in pain, Nigel?”
“……”
“It’d be better if you didn’t remember the unnecessary things.”
The casually spoken words slammed into Nigel’s mind like a hammer.
He wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, but his heart was pounding—loud and fast.
“You…”
“Yes?”
“…Are you planning to kill Father too?”
He asked, voice tight with tension.
But Inas just frowned, as if he’d heard something utterly absurd.
“What are you saying? Why would I kill Lord Ruder?”
“You killed my brother. So what if you…”
“I won’t kill him.”
“You’re a liar.”
Nigel muttered, full of despair. He couldn’t trust anything Inas said.
Hadn’t Inas confessed, in the last loop, that Ruder had abused him?
Just like Etna, Ruder had plenty of reasons to end up on Inas’s list.
A realization struck Nigel. He trembled violently.
Ruder had died at only sixty. Peacefully, in his sleep. A noble death—but actually, far too early.
That year, his strength had begun to decline, but before that, he’d still gone out hunting, full of vitality.
A thought Nigel didn’t want to entertain crawled into his mind.
At the time, Nigel had been nineteen—an adult. Old enough to inherit the title without issue.
Had Inas… killed Ruder? Out of loyalty? For his own convenience?
After all, the greatest obstacle between them had always been Ruder.
“Stop imagining things, Nigel.”
Inas, as if reading the chaos on Nigel’s face, warned him quietly.
“Killing Ruder would only hurt you. He’s not like Etna. I killed Etna—for your sake.”
“Then what exactly did you gain by killing him?”
“If I told you, it would make the act meaningless.”
He wouldn’t even give a reason?
The fact that he’d killed Etna for no stated reason was suspicious. If Nigel had the Cursed Sword—Berta—in his hand, he might’ve stabbed him again, right then and there.
“So what—you were waiting for me to run off, just so you could kill him? Watching me the whole time?”
“I wasn’t watching you.”
“Don’t lie. You’ve done it plenty of times before.”
“You left because you didn’t want to see me. You’d hate being watched too, wouldn’t you?”
“What kind of logic is that…”
His shoulders slumped at the sheer absurdity.
It wasn’t like they weren’t speaking—but the more they did, the less Nigel understood him.
“If you didn’t want us to meet, you should’ve stopped me before I saw Etna.”
“I tried. But something got in the way. I was delayed.”
“Got in the way? You? Who the hell could stop you?”
Nigel demanded, voice sharp. Who could possibly block Inas Idenbach?
It sounded like a joke. If such a person existed, he truly wanted to know.
But Inas said nothing.
“You’re not answering.”
“I already did.”
“What? No, you didn’t.”
“I did speak, Nigel.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Nigel was about to yell—then suddenly remembered how he’d missed things Schumacher and Kay had said about the system, the game—how some words just slipped past his ears.
Had Inas said something he hadn’t heard?
A memory surfaced—Inas, motionless, like a doll.
Nigel sucked in a breath. But then again… maybe that was a lie too.
As Nigel wavered, Inas stood up. It looked like he might approach—and Nigel threw up a hand.
“Don’t come closer.”
“Nigel. I just… I’m worried about you.”
“Liar.”
“Why would I lie? I love you.”
Nigel stared at him.
And in that moment, Kay’s voice whispered in his memory—“I love you.” Sweet enough to fool anyone who didn’t know better. Words could lie. So could eyes. So could gestures. Where did the lies end—and the truth begin?
Once doubt took root, it grew wildly.
Words and actions meant nothing. But all traces had been reset across the loops. If he couldn’t trust what people said—how could he ever know what was real?
Right now, Nigel was leaning toward Kay’s side. But what if Kay had lied? What if Inas had never betrayed him? What if killing Etna was the only way to protect him? If there were reasons he couldn’t yet understand… reasons that made everything make sense…
Then he had to recover his memories. Even with almost no clues, he had to try.
<Forget.>
The familiar system window appeared before his eyes.
Nigel clenched his teeth and muttered under his breath.
Shut up.
Forget? And then what? If he knew nothing, he’d just be stuck in place, unable to move forward.
He might be pathetic. Pitiful. But even that was better than being ignorant.
Hadn’t that clueless rookie adventurer Kay regained his memories—and then manipulated both Schumacher and Nigel?
“Inas.”
“Yes, Nigel?”
Nigel looked at him.
Even now—burning with anger—he still missed that face like crazy. But that face—he still couldn’t read it. Still didn’t understand it.
He didn’t want to be swayed by Kay’s words. But his trust was shattered, and he was teetering on the edge. To stabilize himself, he needed the truth—not from Inas, not from Kay, but from his own memories.
Until he found them…
“Let’s break up.”
Nigel had to know the truth.
Whether Inas truly loved him. Whether Inas was truly dangerous.
Whether he could ever love him again…
That would come after.
