A Regressor's Bucket List Chapter 136

When he left the clan's territory with his mother.

Jerry thought.

This was, without a doubt, him being 'banished'.

Because he was the direct bloodline of the Dracula Family, yet he failed to meet their expectations and prove his worth.

He thought he was finally being kicked out from the territory where he had only managed to hang on thanks to his grandfather and the leader of the Vampire Clan, 'Jerry Dracula Senior'.

From Jerry's perspective, it was only natural.

When he was younger, people would express their disappointment in him behind his back, but they never said such things to his face.

But coincidentally, from the moment he was pushed back in the order for the Bloodline Ceremony and his grandfather died, people began to openly pressure him.

『Even if it's hard, you must… carry on the Count's will, Young Master.』

『It is what you must do, Young Master. Just like your name, you must…』

『Surely, since you inherited at least half of the Count's bloodline, there must be something…』

To Jerry, all those words sounded like a roundabout way of saying, 'you useless brat'.

They were the ones who knew best that such a thing was impossible for him, and what their words contained could certainly not be called 'expectation'.

Of course, the idea that Jerry had been banished was nothing more than a misunderstanding in his own head.

In truth, the Vampire Clan, which had been deployed to the front lines of the War against Demons and was practically being driven into the jaws of death, had sent Jamie and Jerry out of the Demon King's Territory under the pretext of banishment to somehow preserve the direct bloodline.

Furthermore, if Jerry were to become an official Vampire at the Bloodline Ceremony scheduled for the following year, it was obvious that the Demon King's side would immediately dispatch him to the battlefield as well.

It was just that Jerry was too young to understand such external affairs, so they didn't explain, and the various experiences that had accumulated within him naturally led him to believe he had been banished.

Jerry thought the Vampire's vertical hierarchy had shattered with his grandfather's death.

But the Vampire Clan was more faithful to its bloodline and possessed a stronger hierarchy than anyone.

They were the Vampire Clan who, at a single word from Jerry Dracula Senior, had dared to escape the Beastkin Nation without even hearing the reason.

The hierarchy of the Vampire Clan, built up since ancient times, was deeply rooted in their DNA. While the disappointment stemming from the contrast with the exceptionally brilliant Jerry Dracula Senior was something they couldn't hide, the chain of hierarchy was not so simple that they could cast out the Dracula bloodline just for being a Half.

『…Let's go, Jerry.』

In any case.

Having left the Dracula's Countdom, Jerry was led by Jamie's hand straight to the Order’s Territory.

The risk of being discovered if they went to another region within the Demon King's Territory was too high.

On the contrary, for the Beastkin, who had the appearance of demi-humans, the Order’s Territory was more suitable for hiding their identities.

After wandering through several nameless towns, the first place they settled was a nameless kingdom's entertainment city located in the western part of the Order’s Territory.

In Jerry's case, being a Half, the sunlight only made him feel a bit unwell and nauseous, but it was bearable.

However, for his pure-blood Vampire mother, 'Jamie Dracula', the moment she saw the sunlight, various symptoms such as dehydration, chills, and fever appeared.

Thus, they naturally settled in an entertainment city where they could be active at night.

The two of them settled there, first hiding their identities.

Like ordinary humans.

Working at night, sleeping during the day.

They continued a normal life that felt anything but.

『Hey, did you hear? They say those Vampire bastards are almost completely wiped out.』

『Serves them right. Those bat-like bastards deserve it. What was it… what was that? A hunter who only hunts down Vampires…』

『A Hunter?』

『Yeah. I heard a Hunter who only kills Vampires has appeared too. Tsk. How much resentment must they have bought to be targeted even by the Beastkin who were their comrades until yesterday…』

『Makes sense. The Beastkin Nation basically lost their country because of them. I'd do the same. Ugh, those evil bastards.』

Occasionally, news about the Vampires could be heard in the marketplace, but Jerry didn't bother relaying it to his mother.

He thought he had been banished by them and was no longer part of the Vampire Clan.

Rather, Jerry even felt a sense of guilt, agreeing with the words of the common thugs in the marketplace.

Whenever he saw young Beastkin being sold off as slaves in the back alleys of the entertainment city, he felt as if it were all his grandfather's fault.

It was an event from before he was born, but perhaps it was because he had constantly been told to be like his grandfather since he was a child.

Or was it because they had the same name?

Or perhaps, was it the emotion of 'compassion' sprouting from the grandfather's blood that flowed in half of his body?

He couldn't know for sure, but what was certain was that Jerry felt a modicum of responsibility towards them.

Of course.

At that time, it was merely a fragment of emotion.

There was nothing he could do.

Jerry was young, and at the time, he was not used to hiding his Vampire nature, so he was busy just imitating a human.

In a situation where he couldn't even take care of himself, helping other Beastkin was an act closer to arrogance.

『…I'll save you later.』

He simply passed them by, leaving a thought in his mind that someday, when he was skilled and well-off enough, he would have to atone for his grandfather's mistakes, even if just a little.

Just as he was getting somewhat accustomed to this ordinary but not-so-bad life in hiding.

『…I heard a Vampire Hunter came to our city, too?』

『What? This place isn't even close to the center of the Church Territory. Why would they suddenly come here?』

『I don't know. They must have come because there's something here.』

A Vampire Hunter had appeared.

And when Jerry heard the unbelievable news and rushed back to the house they had prepared.

『…Let's go, Jerry. It seems we have to move.』

As if a storm had already passed, several Vampire Hunters lay on the floor, and Jamie Dracula was covered in blood.

Drenched in blood and gasping for breath, she was clearly not in a normal state, but the moment she saw the returned Jerry, she quickly left the place.

『This way, this way…』

She hadn't decided on a precise direction, but Jamie Dracula, who began moving away from the place where traces were left, kept moving despite her poor condition.

Jerry thought she would soon recover with the Vampire's unique regenerative ability, but strangely, Jamie Dracula's condition worsened with each passing day.

A few days later, as they continued their journey on a snowy day.

Thud-

Jamie Dracula collapsed in a snowy plain, its exact location unknown.

『Your grandfather did the right thing, Jerry…』

『…You must carry on his will…』

She breathed her last, leaving behind two cryptic phrases she had been repeating ever since they left the Countdom.

And so, Jerry was left alone.

* * *

“……!”

The stories that came out of U-jin's mouth as he persuaded Tom were, from Jerry's perspective, quite shocking.

『…So, through the Beastkin King, I asked Dracula if he would be willing to 'pretend to defect to the Demon King's Territory'…』

『…This earring, passed down through the Dracula Family for generations, is the proof.』

It had to be.

The fact that his grandfather, 'Jerry Dracula Senior', had betrayed the Beastkin and left was considered the truth by everyone.

It was such a given that even members of the same Vampire Clan had never doubted it.

The idea that it was a sacrifice for the sake of the Beastkin was a development so unexpected he had never even imagined it once.

Even he, the direct descendant, had until now believed without a shred of doubt that betraying the Beastkin was wrong and that his grandfather must have been a villain.

That's how thoroughly the truth had been concealed.

'…….'

It was a story that perfectly fit the description 'unbelievable'.

But strangely, Jerry didn't think U-jin was lying.

Partly because the data accumulated from watching U-jin's actions so far suggested that U-jin wouldn't tell a useless lie after bringing the situation to this point.

And it seemed to be because he thought that if it were a lie, it would be exposed immediately with a little investigation.

'…So that's how it was.'

Above all.

Jerry, too, while conducting various investigations and research to revive the lost Blood Demon Art, had come to think that there was something that didn't sit right about the Vampire Clan's betrayal.

It was only a vague guess he'd made after glimpsing fragments of the incident, so he hadn't figured out the context of the time in as much detail as U-jin, but the more he looked at all the related materials, the more he felt that something was out of place.

And U-jin's story perfectly filled that misaligned part, completing the faint, fragmented picture in Jerry's mind.

Jingle-

'…This earring.'

The unique coldness and sharp smoothness of metal felt at his fingertips.

『Take good care of it. This… is a memento from your mother.』

Only now did he understand the meaning of those profound words from their first meeting.

“…So that's what it was.”

His first meeting with U-jin had been full of things that didn't make sense from the very beginning, so he had let it slide for the time being, but it was one of the things that had never left his mind.

To dismiss it as a simple, absurd lie, he had seen with his own eyes U-jin extracting the Magic Formula of the Blood Demon Art from this earring.

But to take the word 'memento' at face value, it was an object he had no memory of ever seeing.

It wasn't just that he hadn't seen her wearing this earring; the memory of his mother wearing any earrings at all didn't exist, which made it even more puzzling.

But, he realized from what U-jin had just said.

This was not something that could be worn carelessly on a daily basis in the first place.

Rather than a memento in the sense of an item his mother had simply worn, it was a 'relic' in the literal sense, an item that 'must be passed down to future generations'.

In that sense, this was definitely his mother's legacy.

The words she had tried to leave him at the very end and the meaning this earring held shared a certain context.

『Your grandfather did the right thing, Jerry…』

『…You must carry on his will…』

“…He did the right thing. I will carry on that will.”

The picture in Jerry's once-blank mind was completed, and something within his heart stood upright with resolve.

And Jerry, who rose from his seat.

Ssk-

Step, step-

Walked past U-jin, who stood before him, and stood directly in front of Tom.

“…I have something to say.”