EP.199 Land Flowing Like a River - 1
As much interest as Aji poured onto me, the Regressor also showed interest in me. The Regressor pointed at herself and asked subtly.
“Aji. How about me?”
“Ruff? You’re a bit small!”
Aji’s gaze lingered strangely around the Regressor’s head. The Regressor pointlessly swiped above her head and thought.
‘She’s talking about influence, right? It must be that?’
“What if I lend my power to him?”
“Then I’ll be happy! Ruff! The more, the better!”
From investment to four-character idioms, I couldn’t come to my senses. Reciting poetry, that dog. Did he go to school while I was away?
“Ruff, but still small. Small plus small is still small.”
Math concepts too? What, did I misunderstand dogs? Is it possible because he’s the King of Dogs?
I stood with my mouth agape, but the Regressor nodded alone as if she understood.
“I see. I roughly get it.”
‘The qualification required by the King of Beasts, that is the influence an individual can possess. I thought it was power until now, but listening to Aji’s words, influence isn’t just about power.’
Deep in thought, the Regressor clicked her tongue with a ‘tch’.
‘This kind of influence is the problem. I, whose relationships reset every time I regress, cannot easily obtain it... Power can be seized by force somehow, but then my path gets twisted. For someone who has to try various things, power is too heavy a burden.’
Then, glancing at me, the Regressor gave me a look similar to Aji’s. Shining her eyes as if looking at prey, she scrutinized me from head to toe.
‘Then, what if I use this guy? If I increase this guy’s influence by any means...!’
The thought concluded.
Hiding her dark ulterior motives inside, the Regressor offered with an uncharacteristically soft smile.
“How about it. Do you want power like Aji said? If you want it, I can give it to you.”
“No, when you say it, it doesn’t seem like a joke. You talk about power as if it’s something you keep in your pocket.”
“It’s not to that extent, but I can introduce you to a decent position.”
The Regressor’s sweet proposal was quite unfamiliar. At this rate, I’d be tormented not only in this iteration but also in the next.
The ‘me’ of the next iteration might be a different person from me, but still, being tormented by the Regressor across the entire future would be quite problematic, wouldn’t it? It would be a perfect parting if we just saved each other’s lives in Tantalos and then went our separate ways.
What should I do, do I really have to stick with her?
Muttering in disbelief, a good idea suddenly came to mind. I arrogantly crossed my arms and looked down at the Regressor.
“Hoh. You just said you’d help me, right? Then does that mean Mr. Xey becomes my subordinate?”
“What?”
Her sudden surge of anger flared up, making me flinch without realizing. What, is she a thug? Does she get angry when things don’t go her way?
Calming her mind for a moment, the Regressor thought.
‘If I obtain the qualification, I’ll have to take over all negotiations related to the King of Beasts... Well, I can at least act as a subordinate.’
“Closer to a collaborator... but sure, I’ll let you call me a subordinate for now.”
Haha. Let’s see. Will she still say that after seeing this attitude of mine?
Acting cocky, I rebelliously tapped my feet. Understanding the upper hand in position, I immediately took advantage of it. I said as insolently as I could.
“Then take care of the meals and cleaning from today on. Solo parenting—no, solo dog-rearing, I’m sick of it now?”
“...What? Solo?”
Uhh, look at those glaring eyes. If done right, I might just swallow a person whole.
But I had already received Aji’s investment.
“If it’s solo, it’s solo, how dare you talk back? Aji, I can’t take this anymore. Let’s look for another investment.”
“Wha-ruff?! No! Ruff!”
At that, Aji jumped up and clung to the Regressor with his large eyes. The Regressor, who had been glaring at me, trailed off with a greatly troubled expression at Aji’s desperate attitude.
“Ruff, bear with it for a moment! Recklessness will cost you your position!”
“Keuk.”
‘Just to improve things a little, I end up doing all sorts of bizarre things. Is she mocking me? Really, should I fix her from the start in the next iteration?’
It was around the time I was about to successfully finish managing my favorability rating.
A massive hostility swelled up. That was felt not from the Regressor, but from outside the container. The moment I sensed it, Aji moved.
Aji whipped his head around. His ears twitched rapidly. The fur that couldn’t keep up with the speed followed belatedly and mercilessly slapped Aji’s cheek, but ignoring that, Aji immediately threw his body toward me.
“Ruff! Danger!”
Aji grabbed my collar with his teeth and pulled. At the same time, having sensed the hostility, I also immediately followed Aji, throwing my body without resisting his strength. I wouldn’t have been able to resist anyway due to the difference in strength.
Anyway, thanks to that, I became slightly safer from the numerous gunshots.
Tu-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta.
Countless gunshots were heard. Like a downpour, the swaaaash of continuous sound noisily filled my ears.
Bullets pouring like rain battered the container walls. A noise incomparable to striking percussion instruments tormented us.
Sensing the attack, the Regressor took out Cheon-aeng and Ji-jan and stood up.
“An attack? There were none when I went out front earlier?”
“Not the front. The side!”
“An ambush? Tch. I neglected the side while checking the forward base.”
Tyr’s voice reached the tongue-clicking Regressor’s ears. A heavy resonance, as if darkness itself was trembling, echoing through a coffin, filled the container.
[The outside is noisy. Must I step forward?]
“No, it’s fine. Their purpose will be to awaken you.”
[Then, I shall stay a little longer. Call me when necessary.]
Tyr lowered his voice and fell asleep. It was an act more like the accumulation of power or the preservation of activity time than sleep, but it would be hard to find a similar concept for humans other than sleep.
Anyway, instead of the sleeping Tyr, the Regressor listened beyond the container. The bullet shower continued as if testing the container’s durability.
Covering my head, I shouted at the still-composed Regressor.
“What are you doing! Go and deal with it quickly!”
“You said you didn’t want to raise the dog alone. Then I’ll share the workload too, so I should do the outside work equally. Right?”
“Is this the time to argue about that? Fine, I was wrong!”
Did my apology please her? The Regressor smiled and tapped the container wall.
“Relax. This container was reinforced by Tyrkanjaka with the Brand of Fresh Blood and fortified by me with barrier magic. Something like bullets can’t pierce it.”
“That line is a bit ominous.”
“Ominous my foot. They’ve only been pouring bullets without boarding since earlier. The fact that they’re using guns means they’re regular soldiers, not officers. Putting expandable regular soldiers at the front is their scheme to gnaw at our nerves. Worrying about it is losing.”
The Regressor’s words weren’t wrong.
You can’t use high-level alchemical steel for disposable bullets. Not only does it not make economic sense, but if the enemy loots and uses it, that alone is a loss.
On the other hand, armor that protects one’s life is often heavily poured with legendary metals or high-level alchemical steel. The reason doesn’t need explanation.
Even without the existence of the Anti-Bullet Aura, the imbalance in the value of metals historically gave projectile weapons a clear limit.
At best, for suppression, or as a discard.
The Military State, now that’s a rather peculiar country, showing war-crazy behavior of handing difficult-to-make guns to regular soldiers. But even so, their combat manuals were as rational as anyone’s....
However.
‘I hear the sound. Tracing the sound of bullets striking iron, I reconstruct the interior.’
A slightly different thought was forming in my mind-reading.
‘The walls are reinforced, and the inside is quite empty. It must be because it’s for residential purposes. Seeing the uneven reverberation, it seems structures are attached to the walls. Then, the part where the sound is strange here is...’
Beside the Meta-Conveyor Belt, one of the few main roads. Riding on it, three military auto-carriages were running side by side.
Over the firmly paved ground, the wheels raced with a sound like thunder. Exceeding the speed of the Meta-Conveyor Belt, the military auto-carriages spewed intense screams as they raced against the flowing land.
The regular soldiers riding on them fired their guns according to the officer’s orders. Tu-du-du-du. The officer’s shouts were buried in the explosive sounds. It’s said that even water drops can pierce a rock if continued, but the container with the faintly glowing red brand was not just fine under the shower of bullets, but completely deflecting them.
Changing the magazine twice without making a single hole, a seemingly meaningless action. However, the regular soldiers just silently followed orders.
Everything for one being’s sake.
Jumping up, I grabbed the Regressor’s shoulder and shouted.
“Historia is over there!”
Riding on the auto-carriage running at the very front, Historia was aiming a long gun about the height of a person at us. Her braided hair shook fiercely in the rough wind. Her sloppily worn uniform fluttered mercilessly.
She seemed to be struggling against the wind, but in fact, that was her own way of reading the wind.
Even the weight of her hair and the fluttering of her sleeves were sensory organs for Historia to feel the wind. Clack, having calculated the wind direction and speed with her whole body, Historia aimed at a part of the container with her sight.
She pulled her arm and loaded a large bullet. At the same time, a chilling blue energy gathered on the barrel and the bullet.
‘There.’
I didn’t know exactly where Historia was aiming, which exact position inside this container. But I could roughly guess the height.
‘Phew. Just don’t die if you get hit.’
The aiming point was about the height of my thighs if I were standing. If it hits for sure, even if something gets blown off, I wouldn’t die....
So what if I don’t die?! You brat!!
At this height, it would be around the Regressor’s pelvis. The chance of missing is high, but it’s not certain.
Immediately embracing the Regressor, I pulled her and rolled on the ground.
Ta-ang!
A long, long gunshot rang out. Even amidst the countless noises like crashing waves, a particularly prominent huge sound was heard, and at the same time, something massive struck the container.
Kugoooom, the container, hit directly on its flank, rang out long.
Kiiiek, clatter. The impact was so great that for just a very brief moment, the container shook slightly. It felt like the world stayed the same, but gravity wavered slightly before regaining its center.
In that state, I rolled and rolled with the Regressor. The Regressor shook me off and said.
“Hey! What are you...!”
“Look up and then talk!”
Looking up, the outer wall of the container right above my head was miserably crumpled. The Brand of Fresh Blood that was shining from inside the container had now lost much of its light, leaving only a red mark.
Light leaked from its edge. It had even partially destroyed the barrier that completely separated the outside and inside.
Historia’s bullet threatened even the steel reinforced by the Brand of Fresh Blood, and was enough to pierce a hole in the barrier!
“Guns? They caught up to us already?”
“They probably ran on the belt! There’s no law saying you have to stay still once you get on!”
Shouting, I threw the fallen objects on the ground in all directions. The colliding steel made a loud noise. Hearing the sound bouncing off the crumpled container, Historia, who was reloading, also frowned.
‘...The sound became chaotic. Because the wall crumpled? Or, have they already come up with a countermeasure?’
But the time bought with this wasn’t much. If there’s no response from the inside, they might just expose the same wall entirely.
It was time to come up with a countermeasure.