Chương 53: Chapter 52: Deathly Pale Planning

Mara stayed with them until she was sure neither Ren nor Tessa was about to fall apart completely. Then the wounded pulled her away. There were too many people needing help and too few who knew what to do with broken skin, swollen joints, burns, and cracked bones. Mara moved from one patient to another while Sister Calia worked beside her, praying for calm when someone panicked and helping bind wounds when prayer was not enough. Ren watched because there was little else to do.

Watching lasted approximately as long as Ren could tolerate before his mind started trying to solve the problem again. Meaning not long at all. Bren was dead. And if he wanted it to never happen again, the next loop needed to reach this point faster. Ren looked down at his hands in his lap and began working backward. The warning had worked. Hadrik had believed them, proof had been found, the village had prepared, Little Yara had made charms, Bren had trained, and the knights had eventually arrived.

Eventually was doing far too much work in that sentence. The knights had arrived after Bren died. There was a simple solution to this. And one easily doable too. Next loop, the warning simply needed to happen sooner. Proof needed to reach Hadrik sooner. Whoever carried the message needed to leave sooner. Every day he could steal from the beginning of the loop became another day the knights might arrive before the goblin leader reached his father. Even a day or two earlier would be enough. More, just to be sure.

His fingers curled against Tessa's dress. He already knew more now than he had at the start of this loop. He knew where the goblins came from, roughly how many arrived, how the larger ones adapted and mixed into the attack, how impactful the charms were, where the barricades started failing, and how long outside help took to appear. That knowledge had cost Bren his life. And Ren intended to use every piece of it. He could also start his own training faster.

Mana Sense and Mana Manipulation had taken too long to become priorities. Little Yara's tools had accelerated both once he reached her. That alone saved days of being an enthusiastic magical idiot. Planning could start earlier as well. He had wasted time trying to solve too much alone before involving his family. He knew better now. Ren looked toward Tessa beside him. His precious older sister deserved fewer frightened days. Elna deserved fewer nights staring through windows.

Bren deserved to survive long enough to teach Ren woodworking and complain about whatever terrible assistance a baby apprentice provided. Ren held onto that image. The plan had already been proven to work. It now simply had to arrive quickly enough to make sure his father was still alive when knights arrived. His wandering eyes caught the defenders being treated inside now. Tovin sat against one of the church walls while Sister Calia finished wrapping his shoulder.

He looked furious about being injured and even more furious about being told not to use the arm. Furious at the lives lost. Hadrik stood nearby, even more grim-faced than usual, talking with one of the knights. Sadly, he couldn't hear whatever was being said. Just then, Sister Calia tied off the bandage, said something to Tovin, and crossed the room toward the next patient. As she passed, her steps slowed for a moment and her gaze settled on Ren. Love what you're reading?

Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Something faint brushed against his Mana Sense, there and gone before he could make anything useful of it. Was she checking on them? He didn't know, and it wasn't the first time his Mana Sense reacted either. The church was just too full of people using skills he could barely even guess at. Ren looked after her briefly, then turned back to Tessa. His sister had cried herself hoarse.

He sat close enough that their shoulders touched and let her hold his hand. He tried speaking a few times, but every response that came to mind felt useless. Telling her everything would be fine would have been a lie, and promising Papa would come back would have been worse. So Ren just stayed beside her. As the minutes passed, another problem began pressing at him. He had spent so much time thinking about how to survive the goblins that he had barely considered what happened if they actually succeeded.

What came after survival? He could train, learn more magic, investigate the System, spend time with Tessa, or finally learn woodworking from Bren. That last thought stopped him. There would be no woodworking lessons in this loop. Ren swallowed and stared down at his hand in Tessa's. Every possible future seemed to bend around the same fact. His father was dead, and victory had become so bitter that Ren barely recognized it.

He had watched his family die before, more than once, and experience had done nothing to make it easier. The only thing Ren had improved at was enduring the pain long enough to keep functioning. Usually he died before grief had time to settle properly. The attack came, then panic, pain, death, and the strange void between lives where he had nothing to do except rage at what had happened. And then his family was there, alive and well. This time he had survived.

That meant he might have days, weeks, months, or even years before the loop ended. Ren looked at Tessa. Her eyes were swollen and red, and Elna was still outside with Bren. He had no idea what life would look like where the three of them simply kept going without his father. There was one thing he knew, however. That eventually he would have to go back. Bren had to live, which meant Ren would eventually need to die and begin again. The thought felt different from the impulse that had hit him earlier.

It no longer felt like an immediate escape from the pain. It was simply a conclusion waiting somewhere ahead of him. Ren was not going to act on it while Elna and Tessa were still raw from losing Bren. They had already lost enough today. But eventually the loop would have to repeat. He needed another chance. Ren hated that too. Once the decision existed, Ren's mind immediately began trying to turn it into work, committing every piece of knowledge he managed to learn during this loop.

From the very first day, how his sister made training harder – and as a result faster. How his family accepted him, the visit to Little Yara. He could convince her to make more charms faster. Or perhaps stronger ones? His old world certainly didn't lack options in that regard. And who knew what magical variants this world could offer too? Was getting the kids involved even smart anymore, now that he could move? Was letting his father train? No, that was a silly thought.

Bren wouldn't stop training just because Ren wanted to keep him safe. And then there were the Triads, and how much he could still learn about the System. Though Little Yara seemed most interested in having him figure things out on his own… It even made sense. Or he hoped it did. The System awarded effort, testing new things, focused repetition, and smart applications. So figuring out how things worked without being outright told the answer might even be the superior training mechanic.

He would try to remember that too… But that wouldn't stop him from trying to learn more. Everything so he could optimize the entire miserable process. [Skill Level Increased: Memory Lv. 8 -> Lv. 9] Heh. The Grand System apparently agreed. That thought finally made the tension in him lower. Grief remained exactly where it was, heavy and raw, but beside it Ren now had a list of problems with answers he could improve on. And problems he could grind were problems he could solve!

Ren might not be the smartest baby in the world, but he certainly was stubborn enough to try. Tessa's breathing gradually slowed beside him, and by the time Elna returned, his sister had cried herself into exhaustion. Elna looked worse than before. Her eyes were red, her face pale, and something in the way she carried herself had changed. She sat beside them without speaking, pulled Tessa close, and let the girl fold against her. Ren crawled into her other side, and Elna immediately gathered him in as well.

For a while, none of them said anything. Tessa soon fell asleep against Elna, emptied by the crying. Ren remained awake. Eventually he became aware of people looking at them. That had been happening all afternoon, and Ren understood why. They had lost Bren, and enough villagers now knew about the strange baby who had warned them of the attack to have plenty of reasons to stare. Ren had a strong suspicion that the reason the news spread to so many people might just be very Niko-shaped.

Oh well, nothing to do about that now, except– One gaze kept returning. Ren looked across the church. Sister Calia stood there speaking with three knights, and even while she talked to them, her gaze remained fixed onto Ren and his family. Uh oh?