I found this when you mentioned it in your latest ao3 update (neither red nor gold) and have created an account here to tell you that I adore everything about this story so much! It's got such a lovely amount of whimsy and delight in the characters and the magic, underlaid by a very real sense of exhaustion from the main character and the toll this is taking on them. But at the same time, it's not a defeated sort of toll, and the ability to take a few quieter and more light hearted loops (your descriptions of going down to the sea are so evocative, I love them) really make everything worth it.
You said you were interested in hearing the story we all went with, so here's mine: I focussed a lot on the magic / history routes at first and only went through combat later, and the loop I stayed on was the first loop I ended up with Esteban. It just felt right that the interactions with him had all happened for the first time, whereas with the others I already knew so much more about them than they knew about me.
I then went down and read the comments, realised there was more stuff I hadn't found, and reloaded the save to loop again until I'd met the other Mister Pent and gone to the reunion, then one final loop to end up with Esteban again. Thank you so much for creating this, it's absolutely amazing and definitely a story I'll treasure!