Yes. He did the same thing as his supposed past self, who neither used the [Prying Lens] or [Threadwatch Ticket].
After all, instead of sticking with Ruminaria, he could just wait in the other room and backtrack later. All he needed to be mindful of was the timing, not too early to scare away the culprit and not too late to let her slip away.
As far as he knew, that act would not break the pattern he needed to follow. And he still firmly believed that Castreyja was the killer.
Ruminaria and Carmillia are going to meet and start to fight each other. If Xian were in the killer's shoes and could somehow track Carmillia, he would not miss this chance to carry out his plan.
Xian waited in the next room silently. His attention turned to the [Prying Lens], and he watched Carmillia progress at a steady pace. Although Xian had already shared the pattern, she occasionally made sure to check if the path was correct.
Then she finally met another entrant along the way. He was the protagonist, Adrian Wylert.
He spoke to Carmillia, smiling shyly, probably entranced by her beauty. Xian did not know lip reading, but he was certain Adrian was inviting her to go together. A pang of annoyance and irritation poked at his heart.
'This bastard never looked so annoying before.' Xian was pissed off and jealous that Carmillia had to like this loser protagonist's appearance. Now that he was no longer controlled by an intelligent and experienced player like him, he might as well be a moron blessed by potential.
Then he saw something even more absurd. Carmillia held her hand out toward him and beckoned for him to follow her lead.
Carmillia probably found the protagonist amusing, as she always did in the original game. She must be thinking how fun it would be to wrap him around her finger and play with his kind and naive nature.
'Hah shit, look at those fucking eyes.' Adrian's eyes shone brightly with a smile on his face. Today, Xian felt a newfound annoyance toward the protagonist. But thinking about the torment he was going to go through in the Academy, he could only pity him at the same time.
Because on top of dealing with the heroines' flags and other things, he would have to deal with someone who knew the game's content and story, Xian himself.
Carmillia's fascination with the protagonist stemmed from his good and naive nature at their first meeting. The more she observed and came to know Adrian, the more she obsessed over messing with his surroundings and relationships.
Still, that did not make her a conquerable heroine, and all it led to was a bad ending for Carmillia or an ending where she kept Adrian as a guard dog who only followed her orders. For Carmillia, that could already be considered a good ending.
They moved at a leisurely pace while conversing like good friends. Xian was both glad and annoyed that the [Prying Lens] didn't have a hearing function.
At the same time, he felt like he was being too sensitive about the way things were. He liked Carmillia very much because she was beautiful and felt a desire to take her, but to feel jealous? That was only for people who had promised love to each other.
Ironically, Xian was a person who did not believe in love. He only believed in his desires and in taking what he wanted for himself. For him to feel jealousy over something so simple?
'No, that's not it.' He had never been in a relationship, but he did not need that experience in this world. He just had to follow what was effective and what worked. That would keep everything fine when it came to dealing with the heroines.
The same went for Carmillia. Although, he still needed to find out what will move her heart.
Finally, they passed through the last room before meeting Ruminaria.
The hero's descendant had just finished off the last of the monsters but found herself lost and alone, looking around and screaming 'benefactor' into the air.
Her pouting face looked like a lost puppy from Carmillia's view and made him chuckle. Then her head turned sharply toward them, who had just arrived.
At first, she was running cheerfully toward them, but as she got closer, her eyes slowly fixed themselves on Carmillia.
Adrian shook her hand, and they seemed to be introducing each other. Meanwhile, Carmillia seemed to be lost in thought for a while, as if she was considering whether she was going to give her name and background.
Eventually, she did. Xian could picture a faint smile on her face. He wanted to see it, knowing that it would be a feast for his eyes, but he held himself back.
As he expected, Ruminaria's face immediately contorted and she drew her sword. Adrian tried his best to stop her, but a level one protagonist was simply too weak at this point in the game. Still, he managed to parry almost ten strikes before being crushed under Ruminaria's feet.
Then she pointed her sword toward Carmillia, saying something. A shield hung in her other hand when she suddenly dashed forward.
Underneath, dark vines grew and almost bound Ruminaria, but she managed to block them with her shield and used the force to spin herself sideways.
More vines followed Ruminaria, and she cut them off while moving around to dodge, slowly getting closer to her opponent.
That was when Xian, who was enjoying the show, moved.
'Right there, while they're fighting.' Based on his prediction, the perfect opportunity to kill Carmillia would soon come.
Just like when the coachman killed her, Xian waited for a blow to activate Carmillia's barrier.
When Ruminaria got close and raised her blade, Xian ran from his position, his vision splitting into two. He did not know how, but he managed to do it without getting dizzy.
Finally, Ruminaria struck Carmillia, only to be blocked by a barrier and fall into a trap set by her enemy.
A dark magic circle appeared above her and rained dark light down toward her. At that moment, Xian was already back in the room, and he disabled the [Prying Lens], his two daggers already out and ready to be thrown.
"AARGHH!" Ruminaria screamed in pain while bleeding from her eyes, mouth, and ears as the darkness was absorbed into her body. Still, she did not let go of her sword until the very last moment. Instead, she somehow mustered the will and strength to throw it toward Carmillia.
That was when Xian who had just entered noticed something blur in the space behind Carmillia and another figure rushing toward her from the front. Straining his eyes, Xian did not have much leeway to think because of them. One had terrifying speed, and the other was in close proximity.
He chose to throw the pair of daggers behind Carmillia, thinking along the logic of a culprit that if he were going for the kill, why would he rush from the front?
That simple line of thought saved Xian a number of regressions he would otherwise have needed to take.
Clang! A crisp sound of metals clashing rang out as sparks flew behind Carmillia. Another blurring figure was slowly revealed.
"Enough! You two, killing in the exam grounds is for… Hm?" The instructor who had rushed there at Aleandro's instruction was bewildered. Two other presences were suddenly felt inside the room.
One near a door, and another behind a student.
Realizing that there were individuals present who could mask their presence from an instructor's senses, he immediately began to emit pressure in his surroundings to prevent anyone from moving.
The two others could be infiltrators for all he knew. While the academy was as secure as it could be, that did not mean people did not try to find ways to get inside.
The oppression made all the students drop to their knees. To be precise, one was already unconscious, and the other two were on the ground.
Meanwhile, Xian stood perfectly fine.
However, his eyes carried a look of shock as he stared at the student behind Carmillia.
What lay there was not the regressor, but someone completely unexpected.
…
Castreyja was taking her time in the Grid Maze. The gray walls, the grassy room, and finally the lush room made her feel nostalgic.
Back then, she failed to achieve a notable place in the entrance examinations. It had been so long that she did not know what the right path was.
'Wait, I never figured it out.' She realized.
A total of six years. That was how far she had gone back in time. She did not even know of the concept of regression before experiencing it herself. Until recently, she had still not been herself, burdened by the trauma of losing her comrades and seeing her loved ones die.
"Adrian…" She muttered. That guy must be somewhere in the academy this time too. In the years she spent there, she never thought Adrian would become a hero-like existence for humanity.
And her… significant other. Although they were never truly together until the end because of the crisis humanity faced and the nature of their work, the time they spent together and the promise they made were real. Just before the last mission that took their squadron's lives, they made a promise to live together once they survived it together.
As if fate played with them, they met the end of their lives right afterwards, leaving words of promise that couldn't be fulfilled.
She felt bittersweet, to be honest. Confessing to each other in the moment before death. Castreyja despised Adrian for not talking sooner and promised to be more assertive this time around.
Also, she would make sure humanity triumphed against the enemy they would face in the future.
'Wait for me Adrian…'
But then, Castreyja seemed to be reminded of something.
She touched her hair and looked at her body. She pinched her soft belly, smoothed her light red hair that went in every direction, and her face twisted into a grimace. Unlike her fit and prim appearance as a high-ranking officer, she was now unkempt and slightly chubby, still relying on her glasses for better vision.
Her face reddened, despising her past self who did not care enough about her appearance and walked around like a gloomy rag wearing glasses.
"Achoo!" While lost in the grid maze, she felt like someone was badmouthing her.
Carmillia immediately came to mind even though they didn't know each other yet and her anger flared, causing a faint red aura to spread out and crack the ground.
That girl was a menace who led Adrian around and took him away from her back then. Instead of being able to spend time together, Adrian had to go through a lot of trouble because of Carmillia's schemes.
But her rage quickly died down. She was so used to releasing aura when angered that she forgot to consider her current body. A weak and untrained body of an average academy entrant.
The first things she had to do right now were to prioritize passing the exam with a better result, then train like a madman and graduate at the top of the academy, or at the very least, near the top.
'I won't waste this chance Adrian.' He could have taken the artifact for himself and regressed. But instead, he placed it in her hands, in order to let her reshape the future with her own hands and fulfill the promise he could not in the end.
'I will return all this pain with happiness. Just wait.' she thought, as a single tear fell from her eyes.
But she didn't know.
That the hopeful future she awaited was bound to end up shattered.