A Regressor's Bucket List Chapter 139
“…And that’s what happened.”
U-jin recited the will of Jerry Dracula Senior, which he had read before his Regression, to the two men and the Beastkin.
Of course, he didn't reveal the fact of his Regression or his conversation with Louis.
He just vaguely explained that before meeting Jerry, a manifestation magic had emerged from behind the Blood Demon Art Magic Formula engraved on the earring, and he had heard Jerry Dracula's will.
Considering that even Jerry had only read the will at the very end, it should have taken much longer to actually reach it, but that was something he could later brush off as a malfunction.
He had been planning this since he met Jerry Junior on the Guardian Train, so there were no hitches.
“……”
“……”
The story of Jerry Dracula's will and 'that day' of the Beastkin Nation's collapse brought a heavy silence.
Even the murmurs that had risen earlier had vanished.
The Beastkin wore complex and subtle expressions.
Part of it was because the story was too complex to understand at once, but it was more due to the shocking content the story itself contained.
Because it was a story that contradicted the information most people and Beastkin had, shattering their existing framework.
Knowing the truth and accepting it were two different matters.
No matter how much one thought the story was plausible, reason and emotion coexisted and frequently clashed.
This was exactly such a case.
The emotion of thinking Dracula was a heinous villain and the rational thought that he might have just been doing his best at every moment clashed, bringing about a considerable shock.
…Of course.
If one side had been accumulating intense emotions for a very long time, this conflict wouldn't even exist.
“…Don't give me that ridiculous crap.”
“……”
“Just doing his best, you say?”
Tom's body was trembling.
It was because the unforgettable memories of that day were flashing through his mind.
‘…Thomas. You must protect your mother and your younger brother.’
‘…Tommy. *Cough-* You must… Simon, at least….’
‘Brother… I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die like this….’
Memories so painful they were terrifying.
Those memories, engraved over the years through his Moonlight Syndrome, were too horrific for Tom to be described simply by the word 'trauma'.
Tom's eyes became bloodshot.
His eyes, blazing with uncontrollable fury, seemed to shed tears of blood.
“…Even if he was in a situation he couldn't help, Dracula is still the murderer who killed my family.”
“……”
“Only blood can pay the price of blood.”
Tom spat out in a chilling voice.
‘Only blood can pay the price of blood.’
Jerry thought that expression was truly accurate.
If it were something that could be paid for with money, Jerry would have paid the price long ago, even if it meant giving all the money he had.
Because the price of blood weighed on his heart, so much so that he still frequented slave markets to buy Beastkin, had not disappeared.
He had spent a long time, a lot of money, and a great deal of effort.
The foreign weight remaining in his heart had not lessened at all.
Time, money, effort.
None of them could pay that price.
…However.
Despite it all, Jerry could not die.
Because there were still things he had to do before he died.
‘Your grandfather did the right thing, Jerry….’
‘…You must carry on his will….’
[…If, at the time you are reading this, the Beastkin and our Vampire Clan still exist, reveal the truth, sincerely apologize, and rebuild the nation of our clans.]
Step, step-
Jerry approached Tom, who looked precarious, filled with rage.
There was no hesitation in Jerry's steps.
Of course, Tom, already filled with rage, did not miss that fleeting moment.
Whoosh-
It was less a calculated swing and more an instinctive strike at the opponent who had entered his range.
Tom's claws slashed at the completely defenseless Jerry.
His claws, which looked as if they would slice him in half,
Clang-!
“……!”
were narrowly blocked by the hilt of U-jin's half-sword as he rushed in like an arrow.
Krrrrrk-
Rather than the sound of metal hitting metal, it sounded more like a blunt weapon crushing something. U-jin, his face contorted as he took the blow,
Whoosh-
CRASH-!
was sent flying sideways, crashing into the castle-like wall surrounding the mansion with a deafening roar.
“……”
Whether he knew U-jin would block it, or whether he had already given up his life.
Jerry, who continued to advance without even glancing at the tremendous impact right next to his neck, finally arrived right in front of Tom.
Suddenly.
Thud-
He knelt before him and spoke.
“…I beg you.”
“……”
“Just a little… give me some time.”
* * *
“Just a little… give me some time.”
From Tom's perspective, his words were incomprehensible.
He didn't know what the hell he was thinking, but he had intended to slice Jerry apart with a rage-fueled blow as he walked right up to him.
However, he had failed because U-jin interfered.
And so, Jerry, who had finally arrived right in front of him, suddenly knelt and spoke. Asking for time.
“…What is that supposed to mean?”
When he asked back at the incomprehensible context, Jerry added in a resolute voice.
It was a voice from Jerry that Tom had never heard before, one laced with something new.
“…You can kill me.”
Jerry truly thought so.
Of course, the annihilation of the Beastkin Nation wasn't something he had done, nor had his opinion been considered in the slightest, and Jerry would have opposed it if he could have.
But it wasn't something he could separate himself from.
Because he was the only Vampire left in this world.
He believed that the hatred and resentment towards Vampires were his burden to bear in order to carry on the Vampire's will.
…Besides, if he were to argue that it wasn't his doing, a conversation wouldn't even be possible.
“…I, too, have experienced the loss of parents. They were hunted down and brutally killed by a Vampire Hunter.”
“……”
“I think there's nothing more foolish than trying to measure emotions, but I don't believe your sense of loss is any less than mine.”
“……”
“Therefore, I believe you, who lost your entire family because of my grandfather, have the right to kill me.”
…But.
Not now.
“…But please, give me a little time. There are things I must do before I die.”
“……”
“I ask that you give me time, just until the Beastkin Nation is rebuilt.”
Tom's eyes became conflicted.
Normally, there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he would be swayed by mere words and a kneeling gesture.
Because he believed that, as he'd said before, whether Jerry apologized or knelt, the price of blood could only be paid with blood.
But Tom was already deeply shaken by the preceding stories.
To him, the deal Jerry offered worked quite exquisitely.
“If you wish, I can write a cursed contract with magical binding force, or wear a tracking device.”
“……”
“…I beg you.”
The reason was simple.
‘…Maybe I can grant him a little time.’
Slowly.
It was because cracks were beginning to form in Tom's conviction that ‘All Vampires must be exterminated.’
His desire to avenge his family's murder still remained, but after hearing U-jin's and Jerry's stories, he learned for the first time that even Vampires had their 'circumstances'.
In that process, a sense of empathy had unknowingly formed in Tom's heart.
For a Vampire. The thought that, at least for this Jerry Dracula before him, everything might have been beyond his control, something he couldn't choose.
Of course, that didn't mean he suddenly felt a sense of benevolence and wanted to forgive Jerry.
Jerry was still the blood of the murderer who killed his family.
Words that he normally would have dismissed as a trick interfered with his conviction a little more,
but that didn't mean the wound carved into his chest every full moon for decades would suddenly turn into a bearable pain.
Something he wanted to do could become something he didn't want to do, but something he ‘had’ to do couldn't change into something he didn't have to do.
Therefore, Tom inwardly searched for another reason.
Something.
A reason why he had to refuse this audacious request.
A reason why he had to kill the enemy before his eyes.
Another reason to solidify his resolve, just as much as his heart had been shaken.
And soon, he found it.
“Ha.”
Tom scoffed and brought his claws to the vicinity of Jerry's neck.
“You'll revive the Beastkin Nation?”
“……”
“How could that be possible? Your precious Count Dracula severed the royal bloodline.”
“……”
“What kind of nation has no king? Or are you spouting some nonsense about appointing a new king?”
Jerry couldn't answer.
Because in the long history of the Beastkin Nation, the throne was a position only one who inherited the royal bloodline could ascend to.
It didn't have a simple system where the strongest person or the one with the most support could rise to the position.
This was the same reason why he had said it was impossible when U-jin first declared he would rebuild the Beastkin Nation.
But as Tom said, the royal bloodline had already been severed 100 years ago.
When Count Dracula destroyed the Beastkin Nation, he took the life of the previous king.
The princess under the king's care went missing.
'Missing' was just a word; she hadn't shown herself for nearly 100 years.
Which meant that, although no one saw her die, she had already lost her life at the scene back then.
Moreover. The person who knew that best was Tom himself.
“Answer me. Did you find the princess or something?”
“……”
Because at the time Dracula invaded the Beastkin Nation, he had been tasked with protecting the royal princess.
In search of the missing princess, Tom Hardist had scoured not only the territory of the former Beastkin Nation, now a wasteland, but the entire continent.
Tom knew better than anyone that she no longer existed in this world.
He had only started working as a Vampire Hunter after giving up the search for her.
As Tom said, the royal bloodline no longer remained in this land.
“…Are you done talking?”
“……”
As if his decision was made.
Along with Tom's heavily sunken voice, his claws pressed deep into Jerry's neck.
The moment Jerry squeezed his eyes shut from the pressure.
“…She’s alive. *Cough*.”
U-jin, covered in dust and dirt, answered from the mansion wall.
“……?”
“…She's alive. The princess.”