I Don’t Remember the Number of Regressions of the Villainesses Who Have Returned.

Blue Flash Arcana.

It was quite a popular classic RPG.

A vast continent where multiple races coexist. Amidst the endless racial wars, representatives of each race established an educational institution at the intersection of numerous great nations and the center of the continent for the sake of peace.

Afterward, they admitted the children of nobles from each country, creating a forced neutral zone.

That place is the Academy.

This is the main setting of the work and the story mainly deals with the growth of the protagonist, Arcana.

With its uniquely dark story, the relationships between the villainesses who serve as rivals to the main characters, hidden items called artifacts that are fun to find, and a massive continental war that ties everything together, made possible by the existence of the final boss.

The story itself is so solid that it is considered a representative of the genre.

However, what made this game famous was this:

[A penalty will be applied in the next round.]

The ‘penalty’ system restricts the ability you used most in your previous playthrough when you restart the game.

For example, if I enjoyed the 1st round as a mage:

[You can no longer select ‘Class: Mage-related.’]

This message would appear, preventing a 2nd round as a mage used in the previous round.

Arcana’s unique system of forcibly reducing choices shocked many users who enjoyed multiple playthroughs at the time.

Some say it felt like a kind of challenge, igniting the spirit of “How many rounds can you really do?”

And I, too, was a user who enjoyed Blue Flash Arcana for such reasons.

Yes.

I ‘was’ a user who enjoyed it.

Why the past tense, you ask?

“Shit.”

Because it just came back to me.

The memories of my past life.

Only now, at the age of 17, which is considered an adult in this world.

–

From my childhood, all I remember is the backs of those who were supposed to be my parents, moving away from the orphanage.

That’s how, at about 4 years old, I was abandoned at an orphanage.

After that… well, it was the same life most orphans experience.

At school, I was bullied for being an orphan, and the so-called teachers would brush it off, saying, “They’re just kids playing around.”

No matter how hard I studied in high school, I couldn’t catch up to the kids who had private tutoring.

Without even enough money for college tuition, I joined the military at 20 and, after discharge, worked in construction.

Then I got a job. At a black company.

In such a mess of a life, ‘Blue Flash Arcana’ gave me an experience I could describe as truly enjoyable for the first time in a long while.

For me, it was a place of refuge.

That was what ‘Blue Flash Arcana’ meant to me.

“But this isn’t right!”

Just a good-looking face with no talent, skill, or connections – Aaron Dight from a ruined minor noble family.

Barely even mentioned in the Academy, one of the ordinary extras in the protagonist’s class.

This is my current identity.

“There’s no hope.”

There really is no hope.

This single black window in front of my eyes was enough to wipe my mind blank, confused with intertwined memories of past and present lives.

< [Penalties are added upon regression.] >

Basic: [You cannot convey information about regression or reincarnation.]

1st regression: [You cannot help with the protagonist ‘Arcana’s’ growth.]

2nd regression: [You can no longer exceed the 3rd circle.]

3rd regression: [You can no longer exceed Sword Expert.]

4th regression: [Hidden passive “Limited Time” is added.]

{Current} 5th regression: [At the start of this regression, your memory data is initialized. In exchange, the memory data of those who tried to remember you is restored.]

No matter how I look at it, this black window in front of me is the penalty window from ‘Blue Flash Arcana.’

‘What kind of mess did I get into for penalties to stack up like this.’

Usually, penalties would block ‘job classes’ or some ‘trait classes.’

However, these penalties imposed on me now are completely different, a kind I’ve never seen before.

Moreover, this penalty window is telling me that I’m in the middle of ‘multiple playthroughs.’

And it’s the 5th round at that.

Normally, a ’round’ refers to replaying a cleared game, but it’s slightly different here.

In this game, a round means the number of penalties.

Because they can accumulate not only by clearing the game and replaying, but also by one other action.

That is ‘death.’

If the character dies, it imposes a penalty in exchange for reviving you.

In other words, even though the concept of reincarnation just came to me, I’m now being told that I’m in the ‘middle of my 5th regression’ that I don’t even remember.

Now that my memories have returned, the penalty window tells me that the result of my regression is a state where I can’t help the protagonist, all my aura and magic are limited, I have a terminal passive skill attached, and even my memories, which were my walkthrough data, have been reset.

“Is this a joke?”

How can I calmly believe that?

Moreover, before regaining my memories, I had struggled to survive after my entire family abandoned me and even managed to get an admission permit to the Academy.

How can I stay still when, just as I’m about to try something at the Academy after living such a life, a completely different mess is about to unfold?

-Swish

Turning my head, I saw the admission confirmation letter stuck to the wall.

“Damn it.”

The Academy admission procedures are already completed.

‘3 weeks…’

The timer magic attached to the admission confirmation letter shows 3 weeks left until the Academy entrance.

That timer is the time left until this work begins.

I need to figure something out within that time.

A way to navigate through this mess of a situation.

At the very least, I need to grow enough not to die even if I get involved in the events in which the protagonist’s group gets tangled up.

I don’t want to get involved in events without even being able to help the protagonist’s group grow.

But the fact that I failed despite trying four times despite my dislike of getting involved in things means that if the story flows as I knew it, a big problem will occur for me.

Then, at the very least, I need to be able to intervene in the waves of the story.

“But… how?”

I can’t help but ask myself.

This is a situation that I couldn’t clear, even without penalties.

So, what can I do now, full of penalties?

My mind gradually darkens.

My body trembles.

With an unknown fear.

Because I felt that something was going wrong.

Suddenly, images flash by.

-Ugh… Waaah! Aaah!

It’s me crying.

It’s just the image of my younger self kneeling on the street, sobbing and crying.

Another me standing in front of that.

-Hic…. Hic!

Just like the younger me from earlier, he’s crying.

The difference is that while the younger me was crying meaninglessly on the street, the one in front seemed to be crying with a bit more relief.

Clearly, these two are me crying.

One is me cursing meaninglessly at no one in particular, and the other is me, who had lost an exam despite trying my best to beat those kids with private tutoring at least once.

And between those two is the current me.

If I lie down on the bed now, I’ll become that younger me.

If I get up from the bed, I’ll become the version crying with relief.

“……”

Only then did I see it.

“Tsk.”

How foolish my choice just now was.

“Since when did I become someone who only curses and criticizes reality?”

Living as an orphan, I’ve blamed the world enough to be sick of it, and I’ve often felt that it doesn’t do anything.

If I don’t do it myself, nothing in my life will change.

So

“I have to do it.”

I have to make it happen.

So as not to be ashamed in front of myself, in front of those past selves who were crying.

I want to be proud in front of my future self, one who will strive from now on.

—–

I quickly organized the situation.

“If the returned memories are correct, the penalties of Blue Flash Arcana end at a maximum of 5.”

And now I’m on my 5th round.

In other words, if I fail this time, I’ll really die.

I don’t like pain.

I hate dying even more.

I’ve finally come to life in a world I like, I want to live happily smiling at least once.

“Just you wait! My messed-up life!”

Steeling my resolve once again, I stretched out my arm strongly.

“Well then, shall we start by making a plan?”

When someone is in the comfort of the bed, they tend to stay much longer than they want.

If you want to do something, at least getting up from bed is the start.

-Whoosh

I got up quickly, as if jumping out of bed.

-Thud

At that moment, I felt something falling on my instep and the wooden floor.

Looking down

“Ah.”

Red droplets falling.

My nose was bleeding.

“I guess I really don’t have much…”

My body was already in a mess.

‘Life.’

-Thump

And so, I lost consciousness and collapsed onto the bed.

—–

Above the unconscious man, the letters in the black window called the penalty window begin to move.

[Searching for targets to restore memory data….]

[Search…. Multiple targets confirmed.]

[Same round. Simultaneous restoration…. impossible.]

[Proceeding with adjustment.]

[…..]

[Adjustment complete. Restarting restoration.]

[Proceeding with restoration to…. 1st round data.]

[Proceeding with restoration to…. 2nd round data.]

[Proceeding with restoration to…. 3rd round data.]

[Proceeding with restoration to…. 4th round data.]

[Restoration complete.]

[….]

-Bzzt

[Good luck.]

[Even if those who regained memories that no longer exist are ‘evil’ rather than ‘good.’]

-Bzzt

[Restoration complete.]