A Regressor's Bucket List Chapter 153

A distant memory.

He couldn't recall the exact year, but it was at least several decades old, from before the fall of the Beastkin Nation.

One afternoon, on his way back to his post after a meal.

Tom came across the princess climbing over the inner palace wall.

『…….』

『…….』

A brief silence.

The princess, who had been struggling with her small frame to get a grip on the corner of the wall to climb down, fell silent, then muttered with an awkward laugh.

『Ahaha… I’ve been caught.』

『…What are you doing here, Princess.』

『…You were taking too long. I was bored waiting for you, Thomas, so I was just going to peek outside for exactly 3 minutes.』

Although things had been calming down little by little since the Vampire Clan’s departure, the atmosphere between the Beastkin Nation and the surrounding neutral nations had not yet fully entered a mood of reconciliation.

Though she had never caused any particular trouble, for safety reasons, the princess's access to the outside of the inner palace was strictly limited.

『…You must not come outside so recklessly, Princess.』

『I know! But I was so bored…….』

『As I have told you time and time again. When you leave the palace, you must at least be accompanied by me…….』

She was at an age where she should be running and playing freely.

While he understood her frustration with her treatment, which was no different from confinement, from Tom's position as her guardian, he had to minimize her departures from the inner palace as much as possible.

『…Oh? There you go again, Thomas. You promised you’d stop nagging me last time.』

『…….』

『Are you ignoring the princess's words right now?』

『That’s not it. It is a measure to prevent any unforeseen circumstances…….』

『I don't care! You didn't listen to me, so I'm not going to listen to you either.』

Whoosh—

As soon as his face colored with panic, the princess, sensing her chance, scrambled up the wall and onto the palace roof.

『Princess Valencia!』

He was already well-acquainted with her tomboyish personality, which could bolt in any direction, but whether it was because of her title as princess or because of their incompatibility, Tom always found it difficult to stop her.

『It’s dangerous. Please come down at once!』

『Dangerous? What are you talking about! I’m a Beastkin too. This much is a piece of cake.』

Looking down at Tom with a victorious smile, Valencia then transformed her body into the form of a small cat and walked haughtily across the roof.

『Now, do your best to find me, Thomas!』

‘…….’

Why did that memory suddenly surface?

Tom asked himself, but in truth, he already knew the answer.

‘…The Princess is alive.’

He had been certain she was dead, but she was alive.

Honestly, until the airship arrived at this place called ‘Aileen Village’, Tom had not let his guard down.

He had followed U-jin's words for now, but it had been decades since he had accepted her death and moved on.

The thought, etched into him over the years, had become quite solid.

Therefore, while he thought U-jin’s words had credibility, he couldn't help but be half-convinced and half-doubtful.

But.

After arriving here.

Or more precisely, the moment he saw those familiar, mysterious eyes in front of the lodging, that feeling vanished in an instant.

It had the unmistakable form of a cat, but he, at least, could be certain.

It wasn't a vague guess based on her appearance or behavior.

He knew it as the person who had watched over her more closely than anyone in the Beastkin Nation, even more so than the king himself.

It was definitely the Princess Valencia he had served.

‘…Her eyes have changed.’

If there was one point of concern, it was that the vitality and liveliness that had always filled her eyes were gone, and the empty pupils that had taken their place weighed on his mind.

…It didn’t matter.

Still.

For Tom, the fact that she was alive was enough.

‘…….’

On the day the Beastkin Nation fell.

After finishing his meal as usual, he was heading towards the inner palace when the Vampires' attack occurred.

Normally, in a sudden attack where the nation's fate hung in the balance, his top priority should have been to rush to protect the princess in the inner palace.

But seeing Count Dracula's minions attacking in the direction of his family's home, Tom had unconsciously headed that way.

It wasn't that he was unaware of his mission, but he had lost his reason, consumed by the thought that his family might be dying before his eyes.

But even after throwing everything away and rushing there, he was already too late.

By the time he confirmed the deaths of his family and belatedly headed for the inner palace, the princess was long gone, and only the half-destroyed palace and a blood-drenched bedroom remained.

Thus, Tom had believed that the princess, the sole bloodline of the Beastkin royalty, had died at the hands of the Vampires because of him, and because of that, the pillar upon which the Beastkin could rebuild had vanished.

In the end, his sense of responsibility toward the Beastkin all stemmed from his failure to carry out his duty of protecting the princess that day.

And yet.

The princess was alive.

From Tom's perspective, there was nothing more welcome or fortunate.

『The reconstruction of the Beastkin.』

U-jin’s words, which he had thought utterly absurd, no longer sounded empty.

No, the moment he saw the princess, it was as good as having entered a tangible stage.

He didn't know about the scale, but if the Beastkin existed and she was there, re-establishing the Beastkin Kingdom was not an impossible task.

Swoosh—

Finishing his thoughts, Tom looked up at U-jin.

“……”

He was a completely inscrutable man of unknown identity.

But now, he felt he could understand one thing.

That is.

“…I held my tongue because of what you said earlier, but do you have a plan?”

That he was quite trustworthy.

* * *

“…I held my tongue because of what you said earlier, but do you have a plan?”

Tom asked me.

He had released his fiercely transformed state and returned to his original human form.

Seeing that the man who should have been fired up and needing to move his body about was now much calmer than usual, it seemed he had done some thinking in that brief moment.

“First. You think it’s her too, right?”

Putting everything else aside, I first asked about that.

‘Do you also think that cat is Valencia la Bael Tigris?’

Although I had realized that the cat was Valencia from the get-go, his opinion was more important than mine.

While there were various advantages to my perspective, there was no need to list them all; among us, Tom was the one who had spent the most time with the princess.

Also, excluding her corpse pre-regression, Thomas was the only one who had actually seen her alive.

From my position, it was natural that his words carried more weight.

…And, just as I had expected.

Nod—

“…There is no room for doubt.”

He nodded his head, giving his confirmation.

If Tom was saying this much, then there was no doubt that the cat we had just seen was the Complete Transformation form of ‘Valencia la Bael Tigris’.

Well.

To be honest, even without his confirmation, the fact that it had been around for over 20 years was absurd in itself.

That was far beyond a cat’s lifespan, to a degree that couldn't simply be passed off as an ‘old cat’.

“So that’s how it is……”

Furthermore, the characteristics I remembered of her from my past life also matched.

Of course, I had only seen her dead body.

And what I had just confirmed was not her Beastkin form but her transformed state, so there could be differences from when she was alive.

But I clearly remembered her blue and gold eyes, which were wide open and unblinking.

The peculiar feeling her odd-eyes gave off was quite distinctive, so even on an intuitive level, I felt certain it was her.

‘Alright, so far so good…….’

It was then.

“Partner.”

“……?”

Suddenly, Jerry raised his hand and called to me.

“…There’s something I’d like to ask at this point.”

“What is it?”

I asked back at his sudden question, and he added.

“…Then who is the Man-eating Beast?”

“……”

…It was a question with quite exquisite timing.

Unless one was a complete idiot, it was natural to realize by this point that there was a connection between Aileen Village's strange Man-eating Beast and ‘Valencia’.

Although it was difficult to pinpoint exactly, it wasn't hard to notice the link between the two in an intuitive context.

Jerry's question was in the same vein.

Looking at it this way, the connection between Valencia and the Man-eating Beast that hadn't been caught for decades seemed obvious. And yet, there was something I had told him.

『It’s not her.』

『…….』

『…To be precise.』

My assertion that she was not the Man-eating Beast.

He probably thought that I was so certain because I knew the Man-eating Beast's true identity.

Well, that was natural.

The Man-eating Beast of Aileen Village was unusual from its very existence, and it had long since surpassed the scope of a mere village monster in terms of both time and influence.

The proof was that there were no other cases where a nation had hired and dispatched hunters for over decades, except for the Man-eating Beast of Aileen Village.

Therefore, thinking in terms of probability, the conjecture that Valencia, the princess of the Beastkin Nation, and a separate entity with such influence existed simultaneously in this rural village was utterly absurd.

So, in his mind, even without physical evidence, circumstantially, he couldn't help but naturally link the Man-eating Beast and Valencia.

The problem was.

Shrug—

“I don’t know either.”

“…That sounds highly irresponsible.”

The problem was that I couldn't give a precise answer to his question either.

“Then why did you assert it so firmly? If there is no special evidence… I don't think we need to exclude it from our reasoning.”

“I think it’s probably not her. But I don’t have any accurate information yet.”

“……”

Of course, as he said, there was no ‘special evidence’.

However, it wasn't as if I had declared that Valencia wasn't the Man-eating Beast for no reason at all.

The act of killing villains as if delivering judgment.

The fact that no traces were left behind despite the numerous murders.

The unusual details about her I received through ‘The Agency’ pre-regression.

And other non-visible contexts I knew from experience, and so on.

Seeing the characteristics that were different from her yet connected, I had a rough idea of what the ‘Man-eating Beast’s’ identity was.

Of course, if he demanded proof, I had none, and since it was just a guess, I would have to confirm it.

“…So. We have to start confirming it now.”

…Strangely, I didn’t feel like my guess would be wrong.

“Whether my guess is right or wrong.”