A Regressor's Bucket List Chapter 96

The breakfast table was quieter than I had expected.

Considering our last conversation hadn't ended on a clean note, I thought Eliya might be the first to ask something.

But despite her troubled mind being plainly visible, she didn't ask any questions first.

So, I just…

Decided to ask first.

"Proletariat."

“…It’s Eliya. Please stop calling me by a term that refers to some kind of working cla—.”

“…About what I said yesterday.”

I cut off her retort, which now flew out on a reflexive level, and lightly brought up the topic, making her flinch and shrink back.

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

It seemed she had anticipated this topic would come up at this table.

Gulp—

After swallowing the food she had just put in her mouth, she answered in a low voice.

“…I believe three things, and I don’t believe one.”

Pfft—

“Well, it’s a relief you believe the rest.”

“…I had already guessed that these people were different in some way. It’s bewildering now that I’m faced with it, but… if we just exclude the premise that you, the Hero, are a Hero candidate, they are things that could happen, with a one-in-a-million chance.”

It was obvious which one she didn't believe without me having to ask.

The fact that I was a regressor.

Moreover, the word she used wasn't 'can't' but 'don't'.

It wasn't a denial based on the realm of possibility and impossibility, but a word that denied the will to believe itself.

“…You may not understand, Hero, but for me, it is a realm I can never accept.”

Perhaps my asking first had opened the floodgates for her.

It seemed she wasn't without things to say, as she added to the story herself.

“No, it’s not simply that I can’t accept it, it’s a realm I shouldn't. I am a priest. And for a priest, resurrection is a domain that must not be transgressed.”

“……”

“…Actually, I met someone like that before you, Hero. When I was young. Someone who claimed to be a Resurrected One.”

As if trying hard to recall a past she didn't want to remember, Eliya knitted her brows and muttered.

“…‘Believe in me. I am the Resurrected One sent by Him. Only I can lead you to the path of eternal life.’”

“……”

“He was obviously a strange person, there was no proof, and it was an utterly absurd story, but… strangely, people believed him.”

Shrug—

“Quite a lot of people, at that.”

Eliya’s voice was filled with deep sincerity.

So much so that even Cheong-yi, who had been eating her meal without participating in the conversation, claiming that ‘not speaking while eating is the first principle of a gentleman,’ had at some point taken her eyes off her bowl and was focusing on Eliya’s story.

“Even priests of the Order were bewitched by him, and they went as far as to create a heretical faction within the Order. They grew their influence quite significantly.”

“……”

“To the point where followers came from neighboring countries.”

Gulp—

As she took a sip of water, pausing her story, Cheong-yi couldn't hold back and broke the first principle of a gentleman (?).

“…So what happened to them?”

Her answer was short, and chilling.

“They died.”

“……”

“Every last one of them. The entire faction.”

As if it was an unexpected answer, Cheong-yi covered her mouth and her eyes went wide.

“Goodness gracious… All of them?”

“…They deserved it.”

“……”

“He murdered innocent people, claiming he would show them a miracle of God, and used them as nourishment to create grotesque chimeras through what he called human body recreation.”

It was the dark version of Eliya, which I hadn't seen in a while.

‘…….’

I thought that even Cheong-yi, hearing this story for the first time, would have a vague guess.

This wasn't just some scary story Eliya heard in her childhood.

It was a personal account of her father, her only relative and the person she relied on more than anyone.

『…It’s funny, isn’t it? The daughter of a heretical cult leader acting as a priest.』

『…….』

The heretical Resurrected One in her story was none other than her father.

“…The problem is that there wasn't just one person like that.”

“……”

“In the end, in the long history of the Order, the true Resurrected One from the prophecies has never appeared, and every single person who has claimed to be a Resurrected One until now has been, without exception, someone possessed by a demon.”

With a lonely, faint smile on her lips, Eliya…

Let out a light sigh and lifted her head.

“…Still, I spent the day thinking alone and managed to sort things out to some extent.”

Seueuk—

“Thanks to that, the fact that this little lady before me is the heir to the Demonic Cult, and that the gloomy Mr. J.J. is a survivor of a vampire clan. And also……”

“……”

“Honestly, I’m not happy about it, but Ms. Kim Sia… no, the succubus named Loxy, too. Somehow……”

She got to the main point.

“…But no matter what, this is a different case. Absolutely……”

“……”

“Anyway, no. Don't ever say such things again.”

She finished her sentence vaguely, as if swallowing something she was about to say.

I could roughly guess what it was.

Something like, ‘I don't want to lose someone close to me over something like that again,’ or ‘I can't bear to see the Hero I'm in charge of get executed.’

If I, already a felon, were to be branded a 'self-proclaimed Resurrected One' and driven out as a heretic, I would inevitably be sentenced to death.

The girl, who had been staring down with a frown for a moment, then threw a question at me.

“…While organizing my thoughts alone yesterday, I realized something. Whether what you said about being on your… ‘second run’ is true or not.”

“……”

“That the chain of unbelievable events I've experienced from the Gateway Zone until now were all part of your plan. Even……”

“……”

“…If I’m not mistaken, this trip to the Darkest Dungeon is part of it too.”

Her last words sounded less like a statement of conviction and more like she was looking at me as she said them to confirm if it was true.

It seemed she wanted a serious answer, so I was about to give her one, but.

“As expected of Orabeoni……”

A chuckle escaped me unconsciously because of Cheong-yi, who was chiming in with admiration from the side as if she knew anything.

Pfft—

However, it seemed my smile was taken as a sign of affirmation by Eliya.

She nodded once as if she understood, then added.

“…I'll give up on the ‘how’. You’ll just say it’s your second run or whatever if I ask anyway… so tell me this instead.”

“……”

“Why, why are you gathering these unbelievable people and insisting on entering the Darkest Dungeon? What is the goal you're trying to achieve by going this far…?”

Shrug—

“…Is that the fifth question?”

It seemed the conversation was continuing as an extension of yesterday's.

Well.

From my perspective, it was a welcome question.

I had been thinking that this topic should have come up yesterday, and I was debating whether to bring it up myself after the conversation ended vaguely.

“I warned you yesterday, so I won't warn you a second time, okay? Deal with it yourself.”

“Pardon? A warning? What warning—.”

After all, the reason I had opened the floodgates for her was precisely to hear this question from her own lips.

Shrug—

“Demon King Hunt.”

* * *

Manjijak manjijak—

“Orabeoni.”

“…What.”

“Are priests normally selected based on their personal martial prowess?”

“…I guess so. I didn't know either.”

“Hmm. That is quite different from what I knew… I was certain their role was mainly to provide support from the rear.”

As if fascinated by how the bruise vanished as soon as it formed, Cheong-yi fiddled with my cheek.

Then she stared into the air and muttered, as if recalling the moment just before.

“It was like lightning. Like a tiger hunting a dried persimmon.”

“…Tigers don't hunt dried persimmons.”

Shrug—

“Be that as it may. It was a remarkable movement.”

I had anticipated it, but Eliya reacted violently to the words ‘Demon King Hunt’.

At the answer ‘Demon King Hunt’, she leaned in as if she had misheard and asked back, 『Hunt what, what?』 Then, at my second answer, she threw a punch without a second thought.

Cheong-yi's words about it being like lightning weren't a lie; it was a punch that flew in at the exquisite timing of a blink, before my answer was even finished.

Of course, it wasn't that I couldn't have dodged it if I wanted to, but given the timing, it felt like I should probably take it, so I did.

And it hurt more than I expected.

Eliya, who had shrieked *bbaek—* and yelled at me, 『Fine, do everything yourself then, Hero!!!』, immediately got up from the table and left.

Of course, if you looked at the sentence 'The Hero catches the Demon King' by itself, there was nothing wrong with it.

But that was a story possible only in novels; it wasn't a story that could pass in this Upper Plane.

In fact, there was hardly a more absurd statement.

If a mere Hero could stand on equal footing with the Demon King, there would have been no need for the War against Demons to have dragged on for so long.

‘…Well. Is this more or less done now?’

Still, I had said everything that needed to be said.

My role was finished, and now it was up to Eliya how she would take this story.

She would probably rack her brain over it while I was in the Darkest Dungeon, but… just as her reaction showed, the destination of a Demon King Hunt wasn't so simple, so I couldn't force someone who wasn't convinced to come along.

Seueuk—

“How about you?”

Putting aside the thoughts swimming in my head, I asked Cheong-yi, who was sitting next to me.

“What about me?”

“Your training.”

“……”

“Is it going well?”

It was a matter of course, but the Heavenly Demon's power that Cheong-yi possessed was not complete.

Compared to the first run, where she had to rely on memories in her head and build up experience through real combat without any secret manuals, her conditions were much better now.

But that was it.

The ‘conditions’ were in place, but her current hardware was not capable of fully digesting the Heavenly Demon's power.

The power she had shown in Shandong was borrowed directly from the Demonic Sword, making it a one-time use, and without the Demonic Sword, she couldn't even properly use the Heavenly Demon's Reigning Step, which was her base.

“…I am not sure. For now, I am trying to recall that time in my head and follow what you told me, Orabeoni, but.”

“……”

“I just can’t seem to get the hang of it……”

It was somewhat to be expected.

Even though she had the secret manual, the subtleties of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art were not something that could be mastered so easily.

I could only imitate it because of my unique innate ability; an outsider who was not born with the blood of the Heavenly Demon could not steal even a single movement of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art even if they watched it a thousand, ten thousand times.

Of course, since the blood of the Heavenly Demon flowed more thickly in her body than anyone else's, I thought that if she were given enough time, like in the first run, she would have no problem mastering the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

She had an excellent teacher in the Demonic Sword, and if she could raise their resonance to a level where some communication was possible, she would be able to learn it even without looking at the secret manual.

…The problem was that we didn't have that ‘time’.

By the time I entered the Darkest Dungeon and came out, she needed to show some level of achievement.

The role I expected of her wasn't simply a disposable bomb to be used with a *bang—* in an emergency.

Considering the future of the ‘Demon King Hunt’ that would unfold rapidly after I came out of the Darkest Dungeon, I had to take a method that utilized that time to the fullest.

“…Hmm.”

A suitable instructor.

At the very least, it seemed she needed someone to be a sparring partner.

Practicing in real combat by hunting Magical Beasts was much more difficult.

“Remember the person I mentioned before?”

“Before?”

“You know, in the basement, I told you that you have an older sister.”

Beontteuk—

In that instant, her eyes sparkled brightly.

“I remember!”

“I'll have Eliya call that person for you.”

“R-really?!”

“Well, I can't guarantee she'll come… but I did make a promise before. She might not be a master, but that woman should be more than enough to be a sparring partner.”

Naturally, there was a difference in innate talent, so I couldn't say Namgung Soso was superior to Shim Cheong, but she was the one who had, by chance and however insignificantly, managed to perform the Heavenly Demon's Reigning Step with her own body.

She was also likely the person alive who had read the Heavenly Demon's secret manual the most.

I couldn't be sure either, but I felt that if I put her and Cheong-yi together, I could expect some synergy.

The pages of the secret manual were already all in that person's head.

At least when it came to theory, there was plenty of room for her to be of help.

“I understand…! I will believe those words and wait.”

Pfft—

“Do as you please.”

Now, except for a brief interrogation of Loxy when she woke up, all the things I had planned for my leave were complete.

The next thing was.

Sarak—

[Bucket List #12]

『Enter the Darkest Dungeon.』

The Darkest Dungeon.