Chapter 176: Maybe I Also Have the Qualifications to Become a King?

"Petra?!"

Natsuki Subaru cried out, quickly reaching out to catch Petra as she collapsed, unconscious.

Only then, belatedly, did he recall what she'd just said.

Something hidden in her words mattered to him enormously — something of the utmost importance.

Petra had mentioned time regression — and that she remembered what had happened before it?!

Subaru's heart pounded wildly. He wanted to be certain, yet didn't dare to be.

Could it be — could Petra retain memories across a Return by Death?

The moment he'd broken free of that cage-like, pure-white space, he'd thrown himself without pause into preparing for Zarestia's attack.

So he hadn't stopped to think deeply about why real time had rewound once the viewing ended. But thinking back on it now, on the surface, it looked remarkably like he'd gone through a Return by Death.

The problem was, he hadn't died at all — he'd simply been forced into the viewing space!

And there was another piece of evidence suggesting this wasn't a Return by Death.

The others — including Ram, Elsa, and the rest — clearly all retained memories of Zarestia's earlier attack.

But precisely because of that, Petra stood out as something quite unusual!

The others had their memories because they'd entered the viewing space — they'd been invited in.

But Petra had managed it entirely on her own!

This particular time-regression had come solely from the viewing space, its principle, mechanism, and consequences all unclear.

Even so... it left him with a flicker of hope.

Subaru looked down at Petra, collapsed in his arms, and freed one hand to gently flick the tip of her nose. He smiled, speaking to her unconscious form.

"If you really can hold onto your memories after my Return by Death, then the two of us together would be unstoppable, wouldn't we?"

Subaru smiled, a little wistfully, and said, "And... that would mean I'm not alone anymore."

Zarestia's invasion ended, in the end, like something out of a farce.

Though it had all been a misunderstanding, there was no denying that Earlham Village now lay in ruins.

With no other choice, Subaru had to swallow his embarrassment and ask the villagers who'd already taken refuge at the manor to return and rebuild their homes.

Still, how to put it... facing the villagers' gratitude and their simple, honest smiles, his face burned a little with shame.

Seeming to sense Subaru's discomfort, Rem volunteered to help the villagers rebuild.

As for Tia, she was, without question, dragged along by Rem to pitch in on the labor — a silent apology in the form of work.

"Oh, right, Lady Tia — do you know where Hal is right now? Is he getting ready to head this way too?"

Rem had thought of another close friend from her and Subaru's past life — Halibel.

So she asked Zarestia about him.

In response to Rem's question, Zarestia clapped a hand to her head, looking as though she'd just remembered something.

"Oh, Rem! I forgot to tell you — Hal's the same as me. He came looking for me specially, asking me to help carry him along, so we could come find you and Subaru together!"

Zarestia said, her eyes sparkling, then added, not forgetting one more thing.

"And you'll never guess — there's someone else who came along with us too! Want to try guessing?"

But Rem had no interest in playing guessing games right now, because she'd caught on to something odd.

"If Hal came with you, then where is he?"

"Heh heh... well..."

The moment the topic came up, Zarestia's eyes started darting away, an awkward grin plastered on her face — like a white-furred Samoyed that knew it had done something wrong and was bracing for a scolding.

But even as scatterbrained as she was, she knew there was no talking her way out of this one, so she bent forward in a full hundred-eighty-degree bow of apology to Rem!

"So — on the way here, I told Hal about my plan to just carry Subaru off by force, and he shot the idea down. Hard."

"We got into an argument over it, and I got so annoyed I just left him behind and flew straight here on the wind."

Zarestia scratched her head, then pinched her thumb and forefinger together to show a tiny gap.

"So they'll probably... get here just a little bit later than me?"

"Lady Tia!"

Rem called out Zarestia's name, torn between exasperation and amusement — how was her temper still so childish?

But there was nothing to be done about it now. With no other choice, she went back to helping repair the village while waiting for Hal to arrive.

Meanwhile, Subaru had carried the unconscious Petra back to the manor to settle her in.

Knowing that Petra's sudden disappearance would worry her parents,

he'd specially asked Rem to go explain things to them — that they'd found Petra unconscious on the way back and were taking her to the manor for treatment, that sort of thing.

In any case, with Rem stepping in — carrying the weight of their liege lord, Margrave Roswaal — Petra's parents were clearly quite reassured.

"Once you've got a title and authority that carries enough weight, things get a whole lot simpler!"

Back at the manor, after hearing Rem's account of what had happened, Subaru found himself musing aloud.

As he spoke, he lowered his gaze to his own open palm.

His thoughts drifted back, unbidden, to his days as the Purge King.

Back then, he'd commanded a vast secret organization — a single thought from him could decide the life or death of countless people.

Yes — that was the authority that came with being a King.

So tempting. So... impossible to let go of.

And so, in that moment, a seed of desire — the wish to command a great and powerful force — quietly took root inside Subaru.

Nor was it beyond reach. Without his quite realizing it, a considerable number of powerful figures had already gathered around him.

And it seemed clear this group would only keep growing.

If he went and took control of a whole faction on top of that — wait, was this some kind of isekai script where the protagonist farms his way up to kingship?

The thought crossed Subaru's mind — maybe he really did have what it took to become a king?

Still, it was only a joke.

After all, he was Emilia's knight — his job was to help her win the Royal Selection and become Queen of the Kingdom of Lugnica, to make her dream come true!

But then Subaru thought of the string of unusual things that had been happening with Emilia lately, and his certainty wavered again.

He supported Emilia's dream unconditionally.

But was winning the Royal Selection still her ultimate goal, the way things stood now?

That was a question worth thinking over...

Subaru pulled himself back from his distant train of thought.

He leaned forward from the side of Petra's bed and noticed the cloth on her forehead needed changing.

He took it off and replaced it with a fresh cold cloth, laying it on her forehead to ease some of the discomfort for Petra, who lay there with her eyes shut tight, her whole body burning with fever.

Beside him, Emilia — seated just as close at Petra's bedside — had her eyes closed, hand extended, channeling healing magic to help ease the strain on Petra's overtaxed body.

Still, since Petra's condition wasn't exactly an injury, the healing magic amounted to little more than a token gesture — better than nothing, but not much more.

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