7th Time Loop – 10 – The Harbinger of Death

Rishe is practicing her sword alone in the training yard when Lawvine approaches her, and notices there’s hesitation in his strikes. Rishe admits that she’s terrified of a future where everyone will have to go to war, fight, and die. Lawvine thinks she’s right to fear that future.

The future of his own son was taken in such a manner, and while he’ll always be proud of him for fighting, he wishes he had lived. He tells her not to neglect her own hopes and feelings, for when the time comes they’ll help her move forward in dark times.

Rishe wants to move forward, which means surviving longer than her past time loops. That’s why she’s a knight candidate; because it’s the only way she’ll get the unvarnished version of the training regimen her fiance has designed for the other would-be knights.

But one day Arnold visits a training session, and immediately recognizes Rishe. Fortunately, he doens’t have a problem with her training as long as no one else finds out and she makes sure to get proper rest. As for her overhearing him rejecting Prince Kyle’s offer, she thinks he’s putting up a tough, cruel facade to hide his fundamentally kind nature. Arnold disagrees.

Rishe manages to prepare another medicine she believes will help restore Kyle’s strength, and also tells him she overheard him asking Arnold for an alliance. She offers a modest alliance between them in his place, as she believes she’ll need Kyle’s help to convince her fiancé that war isn’t necessarily the answer.

As for Professor Michel, after hearing how Kyle’s request was shot down, he’s now convinced he’s found the royal he’s been looking for who will accept the gift of black powder, i.e. explosives, which will certainly be a game changer in any future war, not to mention a decisive advantage over any of the empire’s enemies.

Michel had a fucked-up childhood, with his father blaming him for his mother’s death, and telling him he had to atone by finding and realizing his calling. That Michel’s calling ended up being designing weapons of mass destruction doesn’t matter. Fulfilling his calling, even one that throws the world into chaos, is all that matters.

This makes him as dangerous a threat to Rishe as Arnold, as it increases the chances a horrific war will claim her life once again. The episode ends with her having arranged to use some of Theodores retainers for some purpose, but otherwise she has no idea if it’s possible to convince Michel not to present Arnold with black powder.

In that regard, the more lightweight half of Arnold discovering her disguised as a knight candidate clashed with the sudden existential crisis of her former mentor whom she had a falling out with over this very same matter.

Even if she told Michel the truth about her loops and he believed her, it wouldn’t change the fact that he believes with absolute certainty that he must bring about the destruction of the world so a new one can rise in its place. And that’s a bummer, because it’s pretty standard villain thinking.

7th Time Loop – 09 – Branching Point

Prince Kyle didn’t arrive from Coyolles alone: he brought his kingdom’s foremost scholar, Michelle Evan. Evan was Rishe’s sensei in the life she lived as a scholar, and here he approaches her of his own accord, fascinated by her herbs and her painted nails. After just a few minutes of chatting with her, Michelle wants to recruit Rishe as his apprentice.

Rishe is happy to receive instruction from him for the duration of his stay. Michelle also deduces that she is preparing to present the prince with a medicine made from herbs from her garden. She later meets with Kyle and Michelle, who vouches for Rishe on the potential efficacy of her medicine. Kyle admits he’s always been ready to do whatever is necessary to improve his condition, which includes enduring the medicine’s thoroughly disgusting taste.

Prince Arnold surprises Rishe by arriving as her escort home, perhaps due to his discomfort with her hanging out with Kyle and Michelle, two not unattractive men. Then the soiree celebrating Kyle’s visit arrives, and Rishe puts her focusing ability to detect Count Lawvine. Fearing he’ll blow her cover, her goal is to avoid him without looking like she’s avoiding him.

When she sees Arnold and Kyle heading to the balcony, Rishe follows them and listens in. Kyle gets down to brass tacks: he seeks a military alliance with Galkhein, in exchange for all the gems and metals Coyolles can provide, with no regard for profit.

Arnold sniffs out Kyle’s weakness and desperation, and rejects his proposal out of hand. He also correctly presumes that Coyolles’ once vaunted mineral reserves have already dried up. Kyle knows his request is foolish, but not knowing how much longer he’ll live, he’d do or say anything to secure the future of his kingdom.

Kyle thought Arnold would at least listen to an appeal based upon the welfare of the people, since his research into Arnold revealed a prince who through his deeds truly cares about his people. But Arnold, perhaps set off by the praise, reverts to his Bad Boy persona, telling him it would suit him better to simply invade Coyolles than extend a helping hand.

Kyle’s proposal of an alliance never happened in previous loops; once he rose to Emperor, Arnold invaded the rest of the world, including Coyolles. Rishe identifies this as a “branching point” in the history of this loop that will change the course of the future.

It’s the first sign that a war gripped by war that claims her life within ten years may still be on the horizon. But while still likely, that future isn’t set in stone, and there’s still time for Rishe to work to avoid it.

7th Time Loop – 08 – Ice, Ice, Baby

Rishe calls in a favor from Theo to get on the list of knight recruits, training as a man under the name “Lucius” so that she won’t get preferential treatment. One of her fellow recruits is Fritz, from the Kingdom of Coyolles, who greatly admires Prince Arnold. The two also meet Count Lawvine, an important northern retainer who Arnold executed as a traitor in Rishe’s previous loop.

The day of their secret jaunt into town arrives, and Elsie makes sure Rishe looks as lovely as possible without looking like the crown prince’s fiancée. Arnold expected her to show up in far plainer clothes, but it’s not like he minds how magnificent she looks. They tour the vast and lively marketplace, where Rishe has Arnold taste a scary-looking but healthy fruit.

Arnold then swiftly leads Rishe to an unassuming store that happens to be one of the finest jewellers in town. They have a test for Rishe to identify a fake among three gems. She says she cannot tell, but then asks for appraising tools, and determines that they are all imitations, thus “passing the test.”

She then learns the purpose of their visit: she is to choose a stone for the wedding ring Arnold intends to give her. When the proprietor asks her favorite color, she gazes into Arnold’s deep icy blue eyes and asks for a gem of the same color, not realizing how romantic and lovey-dovey she sounds making such a request.

Rishe and Arnold view the sunset from the top of one of the gates to the city, with a view of everyone entering and exiting. Combined with the fact Arnold is no longer periodically looking at his watch, Rishe has deduced that he is here waiting for someone to arrive, which is correct. That person happens to be someone who cannot make their wedding, but is coming to celebrate and offer congratulations beforehand.

That someone is no less than Prince Kyle of Coyolles, the very same prince Rishe served under as an apothecary in a previous loop. He’s a hottie like Arnold, but much fairer of skin and frailer of constitution; indeed, Rishe developed medicines to help him in that loop, and intends to help him here as well.

In that loop, Arnold destroyed Coyolles and everything in it, and in this loop, Coyolles is just as wealthy but militarily weak. When he meets Rishe and gives her glowing praise, Arnold flashes a look that could kill, but not because he thinks Kyle is up to something. He’s simply being jealous.

Arnold is hoping a meeting between the prince and Count Lawvine will help shed some light on Kyle’s true intentions. That would be fine, except for the fact Lawvine has already met “Lucius” and will see a lot more of “him” during knight training. Will he recognize Rishe and blow her cover?