A Regressor's Bucket List Chapter 84
For a moment.
My thoughts came to a halt.
‘Source Stone?’
“Truthfully, it’s not entirely impossible for us to enter the Darkest Dungeon and mine Quarks ourselves. In fact, until now, we've supplemented our insufficient Quark production by having a few members, with the Order's official sanction, take the risk to enter the dungeon and mine them.”
“……”
“However, the frequency of Demonic Species and Mutant appearances has been increasing exponentially recently, and looking at the trend, I came to the conclusion that we can no longer cover the shortage with such intermittent supply.”
“……”
“Especially, to prepare even a temporary measure for the incident on the Shandong Peninsula that you were involved in, we would need enough Quarks to capture hundreds of Demonic Species…”
His fluent speech came to a halt.
The reason was easy to guess.
It seemed he had spoken without thinking, assuming I was already aware of the matter.
He had belatedly remembered the Order's unwritten rule forbidding any mention of the Primordial Demonic Beast.
“…That was a slip of the tongue. Please forget it.”
“……”
Nod—
“…In any case, that is why what I ask of you, Mr. Seo U-jin, in exchange for the Indulgence, is to enter the dungeon and mine the ‘Quark’s Source Stone’.”
…This was outside my expectations.
That he would demand ‘Quarks’ in exchange for the Indulgence was within the realm of possibility.
But ‘mining Quarks’ and ‘mining the Quark’s Source Stone’ were on completely different levels.
“You can think of the Source Stone as, simply put, the 'seed of the Quark.' It’s a term for a specific part of the Quark, which, unlike other common minerals, has a self-propagating property.”
“……”
“In conclusion, the reason our Exorcist division is facing a Quark shortage is that the Source Stone, which has been producing Quarks for a long time, has recently been losing its self-propagating ability.”
…They say things in life never go as planned, but I never imagined they would get twisted like this.
‘…The Quark’s Source Stone, of all things.’
The difficulty of the ‘Darkest Dungeon’ had just become much higher than I anticipated.
Unlike regular Quarks, which just required enduring the nausea and chipping away at the edges, the Source Stone wasn't something just anyone could mine.
“As you may have guessed, the Source Stone isn't something just anyone can mine. It possesses a much stronger and more virulent energy than a regular Quark, so an ordinary person can't even approach it.”
“……”
“Of course, we have tried before you, Mr. Seo U-jin. Since most members of the Exorcist division have much lower demonic nature levels and higher mental resistance than ordinary people, everyone attempted to mine the Source Stone, but…”
“……”
“In the end, everyone failed.”
Louis’s brow furrowed as he looked down at the Quark.
“…I was the one who overcame the horrific phantom pains and illusions to get the closest… But in the end, I failed as well.”
It seemed that recalling that time had stirred up unpleasant emotions within him.
“…Of course, I am not asking you to do something with no chance of success, Mr. Seo U-jin.”
“……”
“There is, in fact, one person who has succeeded in this task, which is why our Exorcist division has been able to continuously produce Quarks from the Source Stone until now.”
He didn't utter the name, but I already knew who this ‘one person’ he was referring to was.
‘…The Saintess.’
The holy woman chosen by God.
An exceptional figure revered as the most faithful person in the Order's long, long history.
‘…Heh.’
In the end, his claim that it was ‘not something with no chance of success’ was a massive leap of logic, suggesting that since the Saintess had succeeded in mining the Source Stone, I could too.
Of course.
I had a rough idea of why he saw a possibility in this absurd task.
Back then.
In the basement of the Gateway Zone, when he used his unique trait, ‘Inquisitor of the Scales,’ to check my demonic nature level, he must have been thinking about this.
The level he saw in me back then was indeed an exceptional figure, lower than not only an ordinary person but also the high-ranking officials of the Order’s headquarters who had reached the rank of bishop.
But even so.
‘…To think he’d ask for the Source Stone.’
To ask me to do something no one but the Saintess had ever succeeded in.
It seemed his view of me was far more special than I had thought.
…Well, in the first place, pulling out an Indulgence for me, someone he'd only met a few times, must have required that kind of premise.
“……”
A moment of silence passed.
After organizing my thoughts to some extent, I asked him.
“…Is it possible?”
Was such a thing really possible?
“…I believe it's at least worth a try.”
His response was neither a firm yes nor a firm no.
It was merely a vague, ambiguous sentiment somewhere between affirmation and negation, something like ‘hope’ or ‘expectation.’
Of course.
That didn't mean it was a baseless expectation.
The man named Louis Button was not the type to cling to baseless hope when the probability was zero.
“…This is something I failed to mention earlier, but in truth, even among our Exorcist members, those who can withstand this golden cube being open for more than a minute can be counted on one hand.”
Picking up the golden cube from the floor as he spoke, he gave the reason backing his thoughts.
“And even then, the limit is literally just ‘withstanding’ it. They can't handle the Quark's exposure with such a composed demeanor as you, Mr. Seo U-jin.”
“……”
“Most of them either faint from the bizarre Demonic Nature the Quark emits or lose their sanity and show temporary symptoms of schizophrenia. That's why the Exorcist’s policy limits the time the golden cube can be left open to under a minute.”
“……”
“Even right now, for instance.”
Click—
Turning the gear again to close the cube, he muttered under his breath.
“…My eyes are already seeing horrific hallucinations.”
I couldn't know what hallucinations he was seeing or what auditory hallucinations he was hearing.
However.
From his unique habit of fiddling with his earlobe whenever he became psychologically unstable, I could only guess that the severity was quite serious.
Closing his eyes and calming his mind and body for a moment, he opened them with a sigh of *fuu*.
And.
“…And crucially.”
He added with an uncharacteristic shrug.
Shrug—
“It's the only way for you to get out, Mr. Seo U-jin.”
“……”
Pfft.
Well, he had a point.
Since we both needed something from each other, it wasn't a perfect master-servant relationship, but if we had to divide it based on who was more desperate, I would be the subordinate one.
However.
‘…Look at this guy.’
I felt a sense of indignation seeing Louis try to act superior, as if he was still holding a grudge about the prank I pulled on him in the basement last time.
“Okay, deal.”
“…Understood. Then I’ll take that as your acceptance and begin preparations—.”
I cut him off as he was about to nod and laid down my condition.
“…On one condition.”
“……?”
“Give me a special leave.”
It was, in fact, an unreasonable demand.
The leave system was for inmates serving time in prison to take a short vacation outside the prison walls just before their release or for specific reasons.
It didn't apply to a prisoner with a heavy sentence equivalent to a suspended death penalty.
Knowing this well, he shook his head, expressing his refusal.
“…Impossible. That is beyond my authority.”
“Then I won’t mine it.”
“……”
I rejected his rejection.
“…No matter how you insist, a leave is impossible. According to the Order's Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, the leave system does not apply to serious crimes punishable by life imprisonment or heavier sentences, and it is especially impossible while a legal battle is ongoing in court.”
“C’mon, there's that exception clause, right? The one that goes something like, 'in accordance with Article X, Paragraph Y of some law, if the matter is severe and at the discretion of the court, blah blah blah'.”
His brow furrowed slightly.
“…I don't know how you know about that, but Article 17, Paragraph 3 is, as it says, a clause for exceptional cases, added for special circumstances like the death or last moments of a relative. It does not apply to you, Mr. Seo U-jin.”
“I don't care. No leave, no mining. I might die in there, isn't this the least you can do?”
“……”
Shrug—
“Just figure it out somehow. You have an invincible method, don't you?”
“…I haven't the faintest idea what this 'invincible method' you speak of is, Mr. Seo U-jin.”
“Why are you acting like an amateur?”
“……?”
It didn't matter if he applied and got rejected.
It would be nice to get the leave, but even if I failed, I felt I had to be stubborn enough to make him uncomfortable out of spite.
“…School ties, regional ties, family ties.”
“……”
Shrug—
“The entire judiciary must be your distant juniors, right?”
With that last word, a distinct cross-shaped vein popped on his forehead. *Throb—*
* * *
In the end.
Louis managed to get me a special leave from the court.
Whether he actually used the school, regional, and family ties I mentioned, or if he used some other method of his own, was something I couldn't know.
But none of that mattered.
What was important right now was how I would use the two days of freedom I'd been given.
“…Just how long has it been since I've breathed outside air?”
The words escaped my mouth unconsciously, but to be honest, it was an exaggeration.
I had actually breathed my fill of outside air, along with the stench of blood, when I was dispatched to the Orc Mountains as a Penal Soldier.
And even without that, it hadn't even been half a year since I was put in confinement.
But well.
Perception was always prone to exaggeration.
It was true that being let loose on a battlefield like a leashed dog felt completely different from the freedom of being able to direct my own steps like this.
“…Well then, shall we go?”
As soon as I left the prison on special leave, I moved my feet without hesitation.
There was no need to think.
The things I could do in the limited time of two days were restricted, and the people I needed to see would already be gathered in one place anyway.
Thud—
“…Is this the place?”
The place I had asked Jerry to arrange through a note before the battle on the Shandong Peninsula.
The new home for the rebuilt Demonic Cult.
And.
The place that will serve as the base for the future Demon King Hunt.
…The Guild House.
That was my destination for this leave.