I had been waiting for the day I could see Unc again, so without hesitation, I loaded that point from the distant past.
“Cue up Time Slot 4.”
[Time Slot 4 Loaded.]
The moment I finished speaking, my vision dropped sharply, and the scenery shifted.
At long last, I had returned to when I was seven years old—when Unc was still alive.
The antique furniture that had been right in front of me just moments ago vanished without a trace, replaced by humble homes with chimney smoke curling up like clouds.
I awkwardly opened and closed my now tiny hands, lost in memories of the past.
“It’s been a while village.”
Truthfully, the current point in time was before I had ever even met Unc.
When I was around five, I was abandoned by my father’s younger brother right in the middle of a forest teeming with demonic beasts.
Because of that, I was nearly killed by a demonic beast and ended up awakening my abiliter.
But…
‘It’s not like a clueless five-year-old could have done anything.’
I only regained my memories of my past life when I was fourteen, after Unc Aiden died.
Which meant that when I’d been dumped in that demonic beast-infested forest, my mental age was literally just that of a five-year-old.
Little me tried to run for her life, but in the end, was killed by a demonic beast.
And before I could even process the feeling of dying, I was forcibly sent back to a save point.
Even after being brought back to life, nothing changed. I was once again hunted by demonic beasts.
It was an unending hell where I died over and over yet couldn’t stay dead.
Only after dozens of deaths did I finally, barely, manage to escape to a nearby village.
After that, I was trapped in a poor, remote village, begging for scraps of food to survive.
When I was starving badly…
“A few clever vultures caught the scent of death and started circling around me.”
Before I met Unc, my life was honestly just a matter of living because I couldn’t die.
So why did I save this miserable point in time, instead of the happy times I spent with Unc?
Simple.
“Time Slot 4 was a save point from before I even knew how to use my ability.”
I hadn’t known how many save slots there were, so I’d saved it without even specifying which number slot to use.
It wasn’t until long after I met Unc that I realized I didn’t just have three save slots—there were four.
The current interface, that looks like a game system, is something I upgraded myself after recovering my past-life memories in order to manage everything more efficiently.
Which means, back then, it didn’t readily show how many save slots I had or what dates had been saved in each time slot.
But by the time I realized there were actually four slots, I was already used to three.
So I deliberately left time slot 4 alone, to be used for resetting my life in case something ever went wrong.
And look at that—thanks to that decision, I get to see Unc again.
Grrrgle.
A sharp sound pierced my ears, snapping me out of my trip down memory lane. I awkwardly rubbed my stomach.
“Ah.”
Before I dragged myself through all my tragic backstories again…
“I should have eat something first. Otherwise I’ll be having another interview with the corpse disposal team.”
Looking at my scrawny, skin-and-bone limbs, I gave a faint, hollow smile.
✦ ✦ ✦
I hesitated for a moment, wondering where to go, before stopping by the little nest I used to live in at this time.
It was tucked away on the outskirts, hidden by thick trees so the villagers wouldn’t notice.
As I took in the small space, crudely woven together with big leaves and branches, an indescribable wave of emotion washed over me.
“A so-called house that can’t even keep out the rain out…”
Memories flashed through my mind—on rainy days, I would sneak into the villagers’ homes and desperately pray not to get caught.
“Seriously, I’m something else. I actually managed to make it back to this time.”
I rummaged through my little nest and found a piece of bread, charred black, that my younger self must have picked up somewhere.
If I scraped off the burnt surface, there was probably still a decent amount inside I could eat.
It must’ve been precious to me back then—food carefully hidden under a scrap of cloth.
“I can’t feed something like that to my younger self.”
I remembered how, on rare occasions when I found decent food, I would wolf it down, then rewind time just to eat it all over again, repeating the cycle several times.
But rewinding time didn’t reset my hunger, so when the food eventually disappeared, I’d end up in tears.
As I wondered where to grab a meal, I decided to visit Missus Cecil’s house, since her family was the most well-off in this village.
Knock knock.
“Who is it…”
Missus Cecil’s face twisted up like she’d seen a demon the moment she spotted me coming through the door.
“There’s no food for you here, so get lost!”
But I’d expected this reaction, so I quickly slipped my foot into the door before it could shut.
And that’s when I saved.
[Overwriting Time Slot 1 with current point.]
The door hit my foot with a thunk and stopped, making Missus Cecil let out a scoff like she couldn’t believe this.
“What the heck are you doing, Tania?”
“What do you think? I’m trying to swindle you and get the hell out of this village.”
“Wh-what?”
She looked down at me with a horrified expression, like she’d just seen a ghost.
“Oh, my bad. It’s been a while since I’ve seen your disgusting face, so my real thoughts just slipped out.”
“You—you’ve finally lost your damn mind!”
“You’re the crazy one. And don’t bother asking—even if I answer, you’ll just forget it anyway.”
I’d expected this, so I replied calmly and then called up my time slot.
[Time Slot 1 Loading.]
“What the hell are you doing, Tania?”
“Hello, Missus. Shocking news—I awakened an ability. Care to hear me out?”
“What? You awakened an ability?”
She took a startled step back, then narrowed her eyes like she didn’t believe a word.
“Don’t joke about that!”
“Really not interested? Even though my ability is foresight?”
Abiliter.
It’s what you call people who have awakened an ability and could use them freely.
In this world, due to frequent demonic beast attacks, abiliters were treated as high-value assets.
And among them, those with powerful abilities were mostly monopolized by noble houses, making them exceedingly rare.
But now, in this backwater village—right in front of her—appeared an abiliter with foresight, a power never before seen?
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Missus Cecil.
How tempting must I look in her eyes?
Of course, I actually had a power far better than simple foresight.
“Thr uses for foresight are endless. For example…”
I covered my mouth and whispered in a lilting voice like a devil tempting its prey.
“I could tip you off on which horse will win at the racetrack in the big city.”
Then I stepped away without a hint of regret, as if it didn’t matter whether it was her or someone else.
“I’m giving you a chance, Missus.”
She stared at me, like she was weighing whether my words were true.
Just then, a coarse middle-aged man’s voice rang out from inside the house.
It was her drunken husband.
“Hey! Who’s out there?”
But Missus Cecil seemed so consumed by thoughts of my ‘foresight’ that she didn’t even hear him.
“Tania, can you prove more clearly that you’re an abiliter?”
Her tone had somehow softened, making me smile faintly.
“Sure.”
Though of course, she’d soon forget she ever asked me that.
[Time Slot 1 Loaded.]
After I loaded the time slot and repeated the same steps, Missus Cecil wore the exact same conflicted expression.
I decided to ease her doubts by speaking up first.
“In three seconds, your husband inside will say, ‘Hey! Who’s out there?’”
“What are you—”
“Hey! Who’s out there?”
Her head snapped around at the sound of her husband’s voice from inside.
Then, after a pause, she slowly turned her head back toward me and spoke quietly.
“…Don’t tell me—you can even read my mind?”
“Nope. I didn’t read your mind. I just knew he’d ask because of my foresight.”
“I see…”
But she’d done so many vile things to me before that she still couldn’t drop her suspicion.
“There are plenty of other people—so why come to me?”
“Your household’s the most well-off in this village. I figured you’d know how to handle money.”
“Hmph…”
“You’re also the only one in town who has ever given me food.”
Food laced with poison, that is.
I forced a bright smile to hide my face turning cold.
How did I know the food she gave me was poisoned?
Hell, if I knew—I didn’t want to actually know.
It’s not like she’d bother buying poison for someone she didn’t even see as human.
She probably just threw in some random plants or mushrooms from the nearby forest.
Even that was lethal to someone as young and frail as I was.
Especially since my immune system was already weakened from long periods without food.
If I hadn’t been able to rewind time with my ability, I definitely would have died.
Last time, I was too busy just trying to survive to pay her back—but this time is different.
When you’re out to ruin someone else’s life, you’d better be ready to have your own ruined too.
Don’t ya think?
💟 Translator Notes 💟
If you’re wondering about why she went from talking about auto-saving into Time Slot 4 when she was 5 (being abandoned by her blood related uncle), to actually loading Time Slot 4 and it being 2 years later— it’s because it’s implied that every time she died (from demonic beasts, poisoning, etc) she been autosaving to Time Slot 4.
Then after realizing her ability just used Slots 1-3.
Then after Unc died and she upgraded her interface, she realized she actually had 4 slots.
Hope that helps~
☕Like this translation? Would love your support ☕
💕💗 https://ko-fi.com/stanrofanscans💗💕
