Chapter 50: The Offense and Defense Have Switched (Patreon)

The Ink-Staining Phenomenon...

To put it simply: it's like dropping a single drop of ink into a basin of clear water. As time passes, molecular motion lets the ink gradually spread through and stain the whole basin.

The same principle applied here. Imagine the timeline of this world of Jobless Reincarnation as an immensely wide river.

The Dragon God had gone through it thousands upon thousands of times — perhaps even more regressions than that. There was no telling how many people had witnessed it.

The influence of that very first regression — and not just the first one, either — had gradually traveled from upstream all the way down to the river's lower reaches. And Hitogami, with his foresight, had caught a glimpse of it.

So!!!

Under these circumstances, Hitogami had learned that the Dragon God possessed the power to regress through time. But since he'd only just worked out what that ability was, he continued, broadly speaking, to move along the path fate had laid out.

As a result, the effect on the river's downstream reaches was still slow to arrive — it hadn't gotten there yet. Which meant Hitogami's foresight still couldn't detect Rudy's current situation, at least for now.

All he could see was still, in fact, the original path fate had set out.

Though he'd already more or less settled the matter for himself, Rudy still wanted to meet Hitogami face to face and confirm it once and for all.

Once he'd truly confirmed it, Rudy planned to make use of that advantage.

At that point — having achieved a breakthrough in regression summoning magic — he would take Eris and Sylphiette with him and regress together.

The Teleport Incident in Fittoa Territory had, in truth, only happened a few days ago. Its staining effect on the river's downstream had only just begun.

As for that very first time, it had only been a little over a year since the Teleport Incident in Fittoa Territory. A single year was, in truth, a mere speck against the whole sprawling length of the world's timeline.

If he could patch things up starting from this point, then by rights he should be able to undo nearly all the changes he'd made to the world.

Still, all of this was just Rudy's own guesswork. On another level, it also served as a test of the world's self-repair system.

The Ink-Staining Phenomenon had indeed appeared, but since its effect wasn't especially strong — could the world's repair function automatically undo it?

The more he thought about it, the more Rudy found himself looking forward to the answer.

Time raced by. Before long, once it was confirmed that the two teams inside the Petrified Forest couldn't handle it, the group went in themselves and killed the mysterious monster.

Having returned with a full haul, they turned in the quest and headed back to the inn.

Night fell. The familiar white spiritual world appeared before Rudy's eyes once again, and the familiar, white-clad Hitogami walked slowly up to him.

"Rudy, why didn't you try to keep Ruijerd around?" Hitogami asked.

"I know he's a powerful ally, but he's got a warrior's pride too!"

"Ugh, such a fine reinforcement I sent your way, and he just up and left. What a waste."

"Yes, Lord Hitogami. Could you assign me an even stronger one instead?" Rudy said.

"..."

Looking at Rudy's face, brimming with anticipation, Hitogami found himself, for a moment, genuinely at a loss for words.

What a shameless little rascal, he thought. Where had Rudy even picked that up? His personality had seemed decent enough at first.

After thinking it over for a moment, Hitogami laid out his proposal, and Rudy, deeply grateful, accepted it.

After a few final exchanges, Rudy returned to the waking world.

He sat up in bed and glanced over at Eris and Sylphiette, still striving away in their training. A bright grin spread across his face.

So it was confirmed!!! This world really did have the Ink-Staining Phenomenon, after all.

So — would the roughly ten short regressions that followed, each spanning just over a year at most, be smoothed over by the world's system?

Filled with anticipation, Rudy — under the puzzled gazes of Eris and Sylphiette — drew a regression magic circle right there in the room.

Then he pulled the two of them in, gave a brief explanation, and sealed away their memories.

The regression magic circle activated!!!! The next instant, the three souls surged upstream against the current.

And arrived once more at Buena Village, Fittoa Territory.

At this point, Rudy was only three years old. He had only just met Master Roxy.

Time passed slowly. As the days went by one after another, Rudy — who had been watching the world the whole time — finally confirmed something: his guess had been right!!!

Because he'd stained so little of the world's timeline, the world's power had gradually repaired his influence. The world's one and only timeline, once tainted, had returned to flowing smoothly and calmly, just as it once had.

The turbulence he'd previously caused in the river had been completely erased!!!

And so, everything began anew!!!!

This meant that, looking upstream from downstream, Hitogami could only see the path fate had laid out. His standoff with Hitogami would, from this moment on, see their roles as attacker and defender reversed!!!

Following the predetermined path of fate, Rudy studied under Master Roxy. But in truth, it was Rudy who was secretly teaching Roxy.

Later, in a shared smile that needed no words, the two of them parted ways, just as fate's journey dictated.

After that, he met Sylphiette and Eris. Several more years passed, and their combat strength grew even more formidable!!!

Gradually, the Teleport Incident in Fittoa Territory arrived once more!!!

Compared to last time, this time Rudy didn't rescue his own family, or Lord Sauros's household. But he had already planted the corresponding time anchors on all of them.

The moment Hitogami was dealt with, he would be able to use time-regression summoning magic to reach upstream along the river of time and take hold of those who had died — pulling them forward into the future the instant before their deaths!!!