The Spacetime Loop

Minamoto Takuya headed straight toward the Ancient Kingdom of Roran after leaving Konoha.

With his astonishing speed, the outline of that town, once reduced to ruins by war, soon came into view.

Wind and sand had eroded the broken walls and crumbling structures, and the prosperity of old had long been replaced by desolation.

Yet when Minamoto Takuya truly stepped into these ruins, the sight before him was completely different from the deathly silence he had expected.

Sparse crowds were scattered across the ruined streets and plazas!

They wore strangely styled clothing, their fabrics and tailoring utterly unlike those of the Five Great Nations. They were clearly not passing travelers or merchants.

"Survivors of Rōran?" Minamoto Takuya's thoughts stirred.

Fragments of intelligence regarding this fallen minor nation surfaced in his memory. Though the country had perished, some of its people had survived and struggled to continue living near their homeland.

But the scene before him immediately overturned that information. These people were by no means survivors merely clinging to life here.

Their numbers amid the ruins and their composed expressions made it seem as though they were... waiting for something.

If they had merely come to mourn their homeland, why gather in such numbers?

What shook him even more was the reaction of these strangers.

The moment his figure entered their sight, the air seemed to freeze.

Their faces held not the vigilance one would show an "intruder," but joy and reverence!

At that moment, someone who appeared to be their leader stepped forward through the crowd.

His steps were steady. He bowed deeply in an almost devout posture, his voice trembling with barely restrained excitement.

"Your Majesty! You have finally arrived! Her Majesty the Queen has been waiting for you in the hall for a long time!"

"Your Majesty?!"