The regressor was astounded, but because Tir beside him nodded in agreement, he couldn’t continue for a moment.
“Wait! Do we have time to sleep? There are still things undecided….”
Hehe, regressor. Resting isn’t something you schedule. You just follow what your body tells you.
Ah, I’m reaching my limit. My ordinary body held out quite long.
Feeling the regressor’s voice receding from my ears, I collapsed right there in the entranceway and fell asleep.
When I opened my eyes, the world was pitch black.
Is it because it’s night that I can’t see? No, this is the military nation. It’s a mad country where night and darkness are no excuse not to work. The streets are always lit by magic lamps, so unless the curtains are wrapped tight, light should leak in and show the outlines of objects. Yet now, I can’t even see my own hand.
Could this be the afterlife…? Let’s only joke about such foolishness. This harsh world would never prepare a space for a dead beast like me.
Now then, what is this darkness that shrouds me? It’s not hard to deduce. This texture that prevents even my own hand from being seen. This darkness, like black ash, is… the darkness of the progenitor Tirkānjaka.
In that case, escaping the darkness is simple. I sprang up and shouted.
“The answer is, Tir covered me with darkness!”
Well, I already knew because of the mind-voice I heard beside me.
When I sat up, I saw a bright sky through the window. Despite the clear weather, the room was dim, and the reason could be found right beside me.
Turning my head, I saw Tir perched on top of a coffin, gazing at me. He gave a benevolent smile and lightly wagged his parasol.
“Hugh. You’re awake.”
“Seeing how bright it is outside, I guess I didn’t sleep long.”
“Indeed. You only slept for a mere day.”
“Ah, yes. Only a day… No, an entire day?”
From a vampire’s perspective, a day seemed to be nothing more than ‘a mere’. Hmm. Had I built up that much fatigue? My body felt stiff. To stretch, I clasped my hands and raised them over my head—
“Kuaaak! My arms! My muscles!”
“Why, what’s wrong, Hugh?”
I hadn’t noticed because my muscles had stiffened while sleeping, but once I moved, a tremendous muscle ache assaulted my whole body.
I am the human king, but due to a certain incident, I lost my power. This body is utterly ordinary. Yet with this wretched body, fueled by drugs and mind-reading yesterday, I walked all day, climbed up and down ladders, darted between cogwheels, and even fought battles. My abused body was now staging a dramatic strike against my brain.
I groaned and shouted.
“Q-quick, drugs! If there aren’t any drugs, at least a doctor!”
“Isn’t the order backwards! Alright, a doctor anyway….”
‘Wait. Although it was over a thousand years ago, I once worked as a physician…. In a way.’
“Hm, Hugh. I do have a technique to loosen stagnated blood.”
“I’m sorry, but if you’re going to put blood inside my body and do something, I’ll have to refuse. Please don’t do it unless I’m on the brink of death.”
“How cold….”
Of course. It’s only natural to feel repulsed when you say you’ll directly knead my blood vessels. No matter how wretchedly I live, I don’t prolong my life by putting others’ blood into my veins.
If that were common sense for everyone, then maybe, but it’s absurd. How far must the world turn upside down for that to happen?
“Ugh. Isn’t there anyone to treat these injuries…? Should I ask Shei-ssi for some magic herbs?”
As it happened, the regressor was dozing off in a corner, sitting with her back against the wall, her head nodding. I roused my stiff body and approached her.
“Hey, Shei-ssi. Are you dozing in broad daylight? Stop sleeping and give me some medicine that works well….”
Just before my hand touched the regressor’s body.
An invisible blade aimed at my throat. A sharp breeze lightly grazed my neck and dissipated. At the chilling sensation, I halted on the spot. If I moved even a little more, my throat would be cut by that distance.
…Wait. What is this? I can’t read anything.
No, more than that! She’s still asleep!
I know the regressor can move faster than expected with the Heavenly Spinning Mirror. But back then, she was conscious of using her inner energy. Yet now, the regressor is completely asleep.
“…Yawn. What is it? Why?”
She even reacts while sleeping? What on earth did she engrave on her body? I slightly lifted my chin and said.
“First, put this away.”
“Huh? Ah. Mm.”
The regressor yawned lazily and retrieved her Heaven Oriole. Yawning lightly, she spoke curtly.
“Next time, don’t touch me carelessly while I’m sleeping. Right now, I was relatively safe, so it only ended at your neck, but if I’m seriously hurt or mentally exhausted, I might cut your throat without realizing it.”
“Who would guess they’d get attacked for waking someone who’s sleeping soundly in broad daylight? Isn’t your morning grumpiness excessive?”
“Hmph. You’re one to talk. You slept all day yesterday yourself.”
“I have merit, don’t I? I defeated Maximilian together with Ria.”
“I can defeat someone like Maximilian too! Just for that little feat!”
‘More like, you managed to defeat him well. In the days before I had my Ji-jan, I could only barely beat Maximilian by striking when he was separated from his steel whatever-it-was bug. Even if the gunslinger had the Gun-and-Sword Art, it would have been a bit tough.’
Her inner thoughts are surprisingly kind. Why not show it outwardly, then?
“Anyway, do you have any medicine? Preferably drugs that make you forget the pain.”
“I don’t do drugs. That stuff makes you want to depend on it once you start.”
“Why? Is depending on something bad?”
“It feels unpleasant, like being tied down.”
The reason she doesn’t use drugs is simply because it feels unpleasant. As expected of a regressor.
This person is peculiar. She doesn’t think too deeply, nor does she bother with complex existential worries. Even saving the world is less a sense of mission and more a survival instinct.
Magic herbs are the same. It’s natural to feel resistance toward controlling one’s body with external substances.
Perhaps she’s the most human person here.
“Come to think of it, you said you were a child who hasn’t tasted much of the world’s bitterness yet.”
“Don’t make me laugh! I’ve experienced many times more than you!”
‘About thirteen times more!’
“And my inner art, the Heavenly Spinning Mirror, requires me to keep my nerves sharp at all times. If I used drugs, I’d just weaken that much!”
Indeed, not using them at all is best. I’m a peculiar case with almost no side effects because of mind-reading… though if there’s no one around with normal thinking, I still become stupid.
“Ouch. Then do I have to just endure this pain…?”
“You mustn’t, Father!”
The door burst open, and Historia and ‘Historia’ appeared.
Same face, same build, same voice. Even the clothes made with the Clothing Packet were exactly the same model, so it was confusing enough to wonder if a mirror stood between them.
They were so identical that even the regressor, after her eyes cycled through seven colors, couldn’t tell which was the real Historia.
‘They’re not completely identical. The problem is, I don’t know which is the real one. No matter how I look, that’s not an ability or mystery; it’s a technique achieved purely through inner energy. Perhaps it’s even logical…. Tch, that’s why I couldn’t figure out her identity in previous cycles either!’
In previous cycles, the regressor had approached the core of the military nation but hadn’t grasped its secret. That was partly because the nation’s secrets were so unexpected, and from the regressor’s standpoint, the military nation was merely something to pass through.
Anyway, excited by the new discovery, the regressor looked at me with veiled expectation.
‘Still, I’m not the only one in the dark. Come on, you try guessing too!’
Her sparkling eyes were a bit overwhelming.
“…Shei-ssi. Why are you suddenly staring at me?”
“Ah, just. How about you? Could you tell them apart?”
“Huh? What do you take me for. I’m a guy who could distinguish the tiny nicks on the back of a card. Of course I can tell. What about you, Shei-ssi?”
“Me? If I put my mind to it, I can tell too.”
“Then try.”
When I demanded, the regressor scratched her chin, looking a bit troubled.
“…But to tell them apart, I need to open my Fate Eye. It’s not that I’m stingy with my lifespan, but using it for something like this is a bit…”
“I was trying not to say this, but if you need to use a cheat technique that sees a person’s destiny just to know, doesn’t that mean you simply can’t tell?”
“Sh-shut up! If you’re so confident, then just guess!”
Tsk tsk. If I use mind-reading, I can just know. I shook my head and read Historia’s mind.
‘I hate to admit it. That thing is completely identical to me. The appearance, the voice, even the unique gait of those trained in the Explosive Death Scripture…. Even Hugh wouldn’t be able to—’
No, if you think I can’t guess, why ask? Just send me a signal secretly. Aren’t you quite the delinquent too?
I straightened up and asked.
“Anyway, why are you giving quizzes in broad daylight?”
“…It’s nothing. The Public Security Chief just transformed on her own and followed me here.”
The ‘Historia’’s speech was exactly like Historia’s, but to me, who perceives humans by their minds, it was utterly useless. What’s the point if their words and appearance are the same when their thoughts differ?
I looked at the ‘Historia’ who had just spoken and said nonchalantly.
“Then since Hilde made it on a whim, Hilde will give the prize.”
“I wonder. I’m not sure if she prepared one.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? You’re not going to make excuses without preparing a prize, are you?”
When I pointed it out clearly, ‘Historia’ froze. Staring at me with a stiff face, ‘Historia’ soon beamed, spread her arms wide, and exclaimed.
“Correct! Amazing, Father! How did you know? It was an act put forth with all my heart and soul! Even the Clothing Packet was perfectly identical!”
“It’s a secret. A magician must never reveal a trick until the brink of death.”
“Eh! That’s unfair! You two didn’t set up a signal while I wasn’t looking, did you?”
“I may be a third-rate magician who colludes with the audience, but Ria wouldn’t do that, if only out of pride.”
“Really, when you say that, what happens to my pride!”
‘Historia’ stomped her feet like a child and huffed in a manner that didn’t suit her at all.
Needless to say, that one was Hilde. No longer intending to deceive, I asked her indifferently.
“Forget it, so what’s the prize?”
“The prize? That would be ‘me’!”
“That’s not a prize, that’s just an object. I’m asking for a reward.”
“How mean! If you have ‘me’, I can give you a massage!”
A massage. Come to think of it, didn’t Hilde say she uses holy power and also pressure-point techniques?
It’s not strange. Holy power can be used by anyone whose faith is devout and who penetrates the divine sacraments. Of course, the condition of ‘devout faith’ is quite strict; if you have any other faith, it’s impossible…. It’s not for nothing that they say mages can’t use holy power.
But when it comes to the shape-shifter before my eyes, who can even deceive herself, that might be different.
“Ugh. Then I’ll ask a favor… but that’s not why you came, is it?”
“Yes! Our Gunslinger-nim has something urgent to say to Father!”