Magiwatch has saved 24 hours.
Gaus saw himself standing in the alley, facing the yellow wall just like yesterday when he arrived. He turned around almost instinctively to see the green wall behind him. It was Tuesday, 833 A.A, and the time was 3:03 am.
He went to sleep in his hotel room. Sizea, Room 44. And it was Wednesday, 2 am when he went to sleep. So, why was it Tuesday again and why was he standing there like he never left?
He moved closer and punched the wall to see if he would wake up, but he didn't. He then ran to the same street where he met the man in uniform yesterday and waited for him. At five minutes past three, the man came and uttered the same words as yesterday. He even tried to stab him in the chest.
Gaus frowned. He was reliving yesterday and the man in front of him didn't remember any of it. Did he rewind the last twenty-four hours unknowingly while he was sleeping? No, because he could only go back for about 70 seconds at a time. So someone else - or something - must have Rewound the entire day. And whatever was used to rewind the day must have been similar to his Rewind. How else could he have saved the last twenty-four hours?
"Boy, I'm talking to you," the officer said, thrusting his sword forward.
Gaus Rewound and escaped him and using his knowledge from yesterday fled to the one hideout that was safe from the police and waited.
That night he didn't sleep. As soon as it was morning, he left into the city. The first thing he saw was hundreds of people parading on the streets. Each was dressed in the same flowing, white robe he had seen on the majority of the people yesterday. They raised their feet together and marched together in a highly coordinated fashion just like trained soldiers. Several people watched from the roadside and some even peeped through their windows and doors. The most mind-boggling thing was the eerie silence in the entire city. Nobody said anything and the only sound came from the evenly marching of the white-dressed men.
After the parading men passed, the people from the roadside and those peeping through their windows came out and ran after them. Most wore the same outfit as the parading men but nobody said a word.
Gaus knew from yesterday that the city was currently parked with foreigners from different places, and because of all these, nobody cared about his raincoat and it was easier to blend in.
He found a seat by the roadside and waited for Ummi - the woman who took him to the shrine yesterday. A few minutes past ten o'clock, he saw her approach. Her clothes, worried expression, and gait were just like yesterday. She didn't recognize him. He even followed her to the shrine and everything continued just as it had yesterday.
After leaving the shrine, he returned to the hotel. He needed to sit down and think about all the things going on. It had been overwhelming, to say the least. Two days ago, he was milking cows. Then his biggest problem in life was landlords. And now he found himself in a different world with magic and time traveling.
Yes, time-traveling. He could travel back in time for some 70 seconds. Someone else could do even better and travel for twenty-four hours straight into the future. So what should he do now? He thought about his options in silence as he paced across the room.
First, he would stay out of trouble. His survival in this new world might just depend on it.
Second, he would secure himself a job against tomorrow. The guild would not remember him now, so he shouldn't be expecting any job from them today. He shouldn't expect a job tomorrow as well unless he planned for it, which he would.
***
"Hello, Desa," Gaus said. He was back in the guild looking for jobs.
The woman frowned slightly. "I haven't seen you around here before, mister...?"
"Lake. Mr. Lake." Gaus offered his hand and she shook it. "I'm a pilgrim looking for a job."
"Well, you've come to the right place. I just need your levels here and I'll direct you as appropriate." She gave him a piece of paper and a pen.
Gaus took the pen and spent a good minute staring at it. He then threw it away and before it landed, he blinked above it and caught it midair before he then blinked back to her.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
After clapping, the woman took the pen and the paper away. "I don't think we need your levels anymore, Mr. Lake."
Gaus gave her a half-hearted smile. The idea came to him a few minutes ago when he entered the building. A dwarf was playing with his ax in front of the woman and because of that, he wasn't asked to provide his level. A bard came after him and sang about a maid getting lost in her master's chambers. He earned himself a job almost immediately. And that was when Gaus decided to impress the woman with his teleportation. She told him yesterday that all the jobs were for mages at level 10 and above. He was still at level 5 so he needed to do that.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
"Thank you," Gaus said.
"It's my pleasure. Now, I have two jobs for you. You can start both tomorrow morning."
"Why can't I start now?"
"No. The officers made it clear there will be no jobs today. They even paid us for damages. Come back tomorrow, I'll pay twenty thousand for each job. Half before and half after."
Gaus nodded. "I'll wait then."
He left the building feeling happy with himself. These organizations tended to favor someone they were familiar with. They would probably make him a regular once he did a few jobs. No need to milk cows or quarrel with customers anymore.
But what should he do for the rest of the day? He'd no schedule besides getting a job and staying out of trouble. Perhaps, he should look around the city and see if something of interest was happening. Probably that was why someone had decided to rewind the day.
So Gaus went into the city and looked around. He spent a few hours around the auction hall but he didn't go inside. Then he went into the densely populated areas of the city and looked around. Everyone was smiling. There didn't seem to be any trouble going on. Maybe something would happen later in the evening. So he waited for the evening. But it turned out to be uneventful just like the morning. The night came and still, nothing happened.
He went back to his room and slept. When he woke up, he was greeted with the same message as yesterday.
Magiwatch has saved twenty-four hours.
"Again?" Gaus frowned deeply. It was Tuesday, 03:01:07 am for the third time.
As far as he could tell, nothing happened yesterday and yet the day was still repeating. When was it going to stop? Maybe today, then. So he retained the same schedule as yesterday - secured a job in the guild and took a tour of the city. All while staying out of trouble. But when he woke up the next day, he was greeted with the same 'magiwatch has saved twenty-four hours' notification for the fourth time.
Gaus should have given up then but he went on to live like that for the next five days. The repetition was killing him - everyone kept saying the same words, wearing the same clothes, and putting the same smile on their faces - but he withstood it. What if he didn't find himself a job or he did something stupid and the day didn't repeat? For all he knew, he might have been living the last one.
It wasn't until after the tenth reset that Gaus accepted the truth of his situation - he was stuck in a time loop and he'd no idea when it was going to end. Everyone was just a mindless robot that forgot everything in a few hours, and he'd lost interest in everything. Gaus could get used to sleeping early and waking up late, but he couldn't withstand being forgotten every damn twenty-four hours. He could even withstand being accused of causing a cholera outbreak, but he just couldn't stand being the only sane person in the world. He was beginning to feel he was the abnormal one.
It soon became impossible to live like that. Any more 'magiwatch has saved twenty-four hours' and he would go crazy. And he'd a premonition it wasn't going to stop any time soon.
So how about informing someone about everything so they could share the memory? Yes, that could work. But it would only last for a day and most would just accuse him of insanity anyway. No, he couldn't do that. It would just make the boredom worse.
Of all the things he'd seen, only his skills carried over to the next loop. So while he was trapped in the loop, why couldn't he just level them up to the highest level possible? It would be a challenge and would surely kill some of the boredom. Besides, the world worked on strength. The stronger ones got better jobs and more money. Leveling up should be important after the loop. He probably couldn't accumulate material wealth and take it with him when he left the loop, but he would take his strength and levels with him. It shouldn't be too difficult and would take his mind off the suicidal thoughts for a while.
He got dressed and ate. It was time to make some plans.
1. Stay low.
2. Learn about the magiwatch
3. Copy some skills.
4. Level up to level 10000000 and one.
And just when he finished making a list, he received confirmation about his earlier assumption. His vision blurred and everything went blank. When he regained consciousness he was looking for a pen to write. He looked at the paper on the table and realized he hadn't put anything down yet.
Magiwatch has saved 6 minutes, 55 seconds.
The person responsible for the loop was probably getting tired of it as well, or maybe they'd achieved their objectives and were now stopping the whole thing. They didn't throw a random Rewind like this ever since he arrived. And now that he looked at the message closely, it was different from his. But just to confirm it, he Rewound for 1 second.
Magiwatch has saved 1 second.
You have Rewound for 1 second, effectively erasing everything in the said period. Only you will remember.
He compared this information with the one from before - 'Magiwatch has saved 6 minutes, 55 seconds'.
The system had already spelled it for him. The fact that whenever he Rewound, the system would tell him 'You have Rewound for so so seconds, effectively erasing everything in the said period. Only you will remember', and the same information was missing from the other scenarios when he didn't Rewind meant it wasn't him or his magiwatch that was responsible for the loop. It was someone else with the same (or a similar) time travel ability. Just as he presumed.
He remembered the system telling him 'magiwatch has saved twenty-four hours' whenever the day reset which showed that his watch could save the erased period even if he didn't erase it. In the same way, the other time traveler responsible for the loop would probably receive a notification whenever Gaus Rewound.
That day, the same thing happened again several times.
Magiwatch has saved 8 seconds.
*
Magiwatch has saved 8 seconds.
*
Magiwatch has saved 10 seconds.
*
Magiwatch has saved 12 seconds.
*
Magiwatch has saved 3 seconds.
*
Magiwatch has saved 15 seconds.
*
Magiwatch has saved 3 seconds.
Gaus just laid on his bed and waited for it to end. It was still not a cause for alarm since it could mean a lot of things. Sure, if the person responsible for the loop could see him whenever he Rewound then it could bring trouble in the future. But the best thing he could do now was stuck to the plan. Stay low and copy some skills. Would any of it even matter if he was strong enough?