A Regressor's Bucket List Chapter 134

Due to the nature of their activities—conducting guerrilla warfare against the Demon King's Army in various places—it was common for members of the Suicide Squad not to know each other.

It made sense, as someone fighting a guerrilla war in the south of the continent wouldn't have much reason to be dispatched to the north.

Furthermore, with new recruits joining and existing members dying every day, it was impossible for all members to know one another.

Well… toward the very end, so many had died off that we were reduced to a solid group of about 300.

In any case, it was under such circumstances that I first met Louis Button.

While I was mainly active in the southern part of the continent where the Demon King's roots had yet to take firm hold, he was mainly active in the north and the central part of the Demon King's Territory, serving to divert their attention.

The people he was with were wiped out when their base was discovered, and he had no choice but to come down to the southern base.

‘The kid Inquisitor who’s an expert at taking Demon heads.’

I had heard rumors about him from time to time through my comrades, but that was the first time I had ever spoken to him directly.

Flicker-

Hooo-

As I sat alone in front of the campfire, a cigarette dangling from my lips, a shadow fell over me.

『May I sit for a moment?』

『Well… I don't mind. But this is our first time meeting, isn't it?』

Blond hair.

Blue eyes.

The frame of a tiny little kid.

His first impression was quite striking.

A kid so short he barely came up to my waist, wearing a priest's robe that didn't even fit his frame, had struck up a conversation with me.

He had an air about him that naturally brought the term ‘old soul’ to mind.

Of course, behind that innocent appearance coiled a hundred-year-old serpent.

『…I don't mind you sitting. What, am I going to beat you up for sitting here?』

At my blunt words, he gave a humorless smile,

and replied as he sat down next to me.

『Are you?』

『No.』

『…….』

『I'm scared. What if you take my head too?』

『…I have no experience twisting a human's cervical vertebrae.』

He paused, then added calmly.

『…Ah. Except for humans corrupted by Demons.』

『…….』

『Then I shall sit.』

For a moment, silence fell around us.

Tadak-tadak-

Trrrrr-

Only the sound of sparks flying from the campfire and the chirping of crickets surrounded us.

…Conversations with fellow Suicide Squad members were never easy.

I couldn't ask how things were at the northern base, since it had been wiped out, and talking about comrades was close to picking a fight.

And since we spent all day fighting the Demon King's Army, I wasn't enough of a battle maniac to want to spend my brief downtime talking about battles too.

The reason I was out here late at night, staring blankly into the fire, was because I hated the strange silence and the awkward atmosphere inside the barracks, where few words were exchanged.

After some time had passed in silence.

『That…….』

It was Louis who broke the silence first.

『I came because I have something to tell you about that earring.』

『…What?』

At his quiet murmur, my head turned to the side.

It was a statement that couldn't help but fluster me.

It was completely out of the blue, and so much time had passed that even I had forgotten about its existence.

The foreign sensation in my ear, brought back by his words, suddenly conjured Jerry's face.

『…How do you know about this?』

『This may be a presumptuous question… but are you, Seo U-jin, a Vampire?』

『…Do I look like one to you?』

『No. You look human.』

At the time, due to my unique fighting style, rumors connecting me to Vampires were circulating here and there.

But on the advice of the man in the bamboo hat that nothing good would come from it being publicly known, I didn't bother to step forward and clarify or explain.

Besides, those who were in the know would know without me saying anything.

And to those who didn't know, it would just be another unsubstantiated rumor.

As long as no one came to grab me by the collar and demand an answer, I was more than happy to provide my Suicide Squad comrades, who repeated the same hellish routine every day, with a piece of gossip to chew on after a battle.

…Therefore.

『Then I guess I'm human.』

『…….』

『…A Vampire-like one.』

Someone in the know—.

That was my second impression of him.

* * *

『Then I guess I'm human.』

『…….』

『…A Vampire-like one.』

Those words were as good as admitting, ‘Like you said, I'm not a Vampire, but I am related to them.’

Louis let out a small laugh at my jesting murmur.

『I think you've passed the point of being merely 'like' one. The rumors have reached all the way to the north.』

『…….』

『…I had heard. That there was someone in the southern base whose fighting style was reminiscent of a Vampire's. Even if I hadn't seen that earring, I wanted to meet you in person at least once.』

Shrug-

『Well, it seems that story comes first for now.』

『…So. What is it you want to say?』

『By any chance, who did you receive that earring from?』

『Jerry. Jerry. D. Junior.』

If he were still alive, I wouldn't have said his name so easily out of consideration for him.

But since he had already passed away, I figured it didn't matter anymore.

『…Jerry. D. Junior. If that's the case, does the middle initial stand for…』

『A direct descendant of the Dracula family.』

『…….』

『He's dead now.』

Hearing that he was dead, the kid flinched and then gave a bitter smile.

『…I see.』

『…….』

『In the end.』

It seems he thought there was a living Vampire because he saw this earring.

『What was your relationship with him, Seo U-jin? To have received that earring, it must not have been a casual one…』

『Well… we were partners.』

『…….』

『He researched the Blood Demon Art mana technique engraved on this earring and applied it to me, and I used it in actual combat and gave him the combat data for reference.』

Seeing the way he spoke, it seemed he already knew most of it anyway, so I didn't feel the need to hide anything.

An Inquisitor of the Order would probably have access to the Order's many hidden secrets, and the very fact that he was acting like he knew about the earring meant he already had a thorough grasp of information about Vampires.

Besides, I thought that maybe, just maybe, this kid…

could help me fulfill Jerry's request that I had all but given up on: the ‘completion of the Blood Demon Art’.

But.

『…Pardon?』

I couldn't help but be taken aback by his somewhat dumbfounded reaction.

『What do you mean by that? Engraved with the mana technique of the Blood Demon Art…』

『……?』

Louis Burton asked back as if he had no idea.

『…What. Didn't you come here already knowing?』

『…I didn't know. That it was an object engraved with something like the mana technique of the Blood Demon Art…』

Something wasn't adding up.

He said he came to talk to me about the earring, yet he didn't know that it contained the Blood Demon Art of the Vampire Clan.

Then.

『What then… did I just get played?』

It could only mean that he had tricked me to sound me out.

To think I'd get played in an allied camp, after never once being betrayed in the heart of the Demon King's Territory amidst a hail of arrows.

Just as I was about to let out an empty laugh, he shook his head.

『No. That wasn't my intention at all.』

『……?』

『It's because the story I intended to tell you, Seo U-jin, is of a completely different context…』

The story that followed from his lips was indeed of a completely different context.

It was, how should I put it.

Rather than a practical story like the Blood Demon Art's mana technique hidden in a 1-star Artifact, it felt more like an old tale steeped in the object.

『The creator of that earring was my predecessor, an Inquisitor. Before he fulfilled his calling and passed away, he made a request of me.』

『…….』

『He told me to be sure to deliver a message, should the owner of that earring ever appear, and should that person be a descendant of the Vampire bloodline.』

His story went back several hundred years.

To a time when the Beastkin Nation was still standing, and the neutral zone was in turmoil due to Count Dracula.

『To get straight to the point, that earring was an item given to Count Dracula by the Inquisitor of that era as a pledge of two facts.』

『…….』

『A pledge that he would enable the Vampire Clan to return to the Beastkin Nation.』

『…….』

『And a pledge that he would protect the king of the Beastkin Nation in the Vampire Clan's stead.』

It was a story that neither I, nor even Jerry, had known.

The fact that Count Dracula's defection to the Demon King's Territory at the time was not a betrayal but a decision for the sake of the Beastkin Nation, and the series of truths connected to it.

Dracula was not a traitor to the Beastkin Nation.

He was closer to a savior.

If not for his sacrificial decision, the Beastkin Nation would have been immediately embroiled in war and would likely have collapsed much faster.

The one regrettable thing was.

That it was a story Jerry and the Beastkin should have heard, not me.

『It's an item that was checked in and out of the Order's treasury several times in search of its owner. After a hundred years passed without a Vampire appearing, I too had practically given up.』

『…….』

『I also had no idea that the Count would have stored the essence of the Blood Demon Art in that earring.』

『…Right. A story I knew nothing about either.』

『…….』

The puzzle pieces of the truth-bearing earring had more or less fallen into place.

But its rightful owner was dead and gone.

The fact that we were one step too late reminded me of the bitter smile he had worn on his deathbed.

Silence fell once more.

This time, it was I who broke the silence.

『Now that the continent is crawling with demons and he's dead, I doubt it means much… but he would have been grateful. Inquisitor.』

In truth, it wasn't entirely meaningless.

Around that time, the existence of ‘Regression’ had spread by word of mouth among some in the Suicide Squad.

I knew about it through a shortcut via the man in the bamboo hat, and I even knew that I had been unofficially chosen to be the regressor.

If I considered the possibility of regressing, it was a very meaningful conversation.

『…I'm not an Inquisitor anymore. Since I've retired, the title 'former Inquisitor' is more fitting.』

Shrug-

『Besides, with no Order, how can there be heretics?』

I tilted my head and asked the kid who was shrugging his shoulders.

『Is that so. Then what should I call you? The Demon Head-Taker?』

『Just call me former Inquisitor, or Priest Louis…』

『There's no Order, so how can there be a Priest?』

『…….』

『Has a nice ring to it. The Demon Head-Taker.』

A tick mark of irritation bloomed over Louis's head.

『What.』

『…….』

『If you don't like it, then aim for somewhere other than the neck from now on.』

Hooo-

Sighing, he suppressed his anger and muttered under his breath.

『…I'll keep that in mind.』

『…….』

After his curt reply, he stood up from his seat.

『Well then.』

Bow-

As I watched the back of Louis's head as he left with an expression of someone who had just unburdened themselves, I muttered one last thing.

『Anyway. I knew I shouldn't have agreed to do it… this damn Regression.』

The short flashback came to an end.