24-Hour Regression and Possession Counseling Office Episode 11
"Strange, isn't it?"
Ririen.
Reirin.
Their names were somewhat similar, too.
Laura felt an inexplicable chill.
"I mentioned it just in case it might help the Count."
Sorinte gave a faint smile.
"Ah."
Then, as if something had occurred to him, he approached Laura once more.
"I should tell you this, too."
Laura looked at Sorinte incredulously, wondering why he hadn't mentioned all this sooner and was instead whispering in front of the main gate.
But she had no choice but to focus on his voice at the words that followed.
"And I failed to destroy the Empire. Do you know why?"
Laura gulped and looked at the mad regressor.
The regressor's lips curled up in a bizarre smile.
"The Empire—"
In that moment, she felt as though she were seeing a fragment of the past that had led him to be called a madman.
"—was already ruined."
The strange smile soon vanished.
"It burned and collapsed in civil war."
His red eyes were utterly hollow.
"Everything—was falling to ruin."
He added plainly,
"In just ten years."
This massive Empire would fall in just ten years?
And to civil war, no less?
Without anyone even invading?
Laura's eyes widened. But only for a moment; she soon composed herself and asked calmly,
"Customer, might I hear the details?"
Sorinte looked at Laura, who had settled into composure as if she had never been surprised, and nodded lightly.
"Yeah. I'll talk about this tomorrow, too."
He pointed to his stomach.
"Right now, I'm hungry."
Though her mind was a mess from the sudden influx of information, Laura forced herself to calm down.
*I want to hear the story right away, but rushing won't do any good.*
The two had only met today. Moreover, one of them had regressed today.
It would be another year before the ducal house fell.
And the Empire would fall in ten years.
Laura steeled her resolve.
"Very well. You must have been overwhelmed today, so please go and get some rest."
A strange glint flashed across Sorinte's eyes in an instant.
"Yeah. I should get going."
Only then did Sorinte step away from Laura without lingering.
Clang.
Laura locked the main gate again and headed toward the mansion.
*No matter how much I only care about making ends meet.*
The Empire is still my home.
That my homeland would fall—it wasn't something she could take lightly.
*Lady Ririen also seems connected to those events.*
For a moment, her grandfather's face came to mind.
The family that had endured for thousands of years, and her grandfather who had taken such pride in it.
The moments he had spent happily reviewing the countless records left in the white orb.
The records that had remained by her side, even when everyone else left.
*Right, let's just do my best for now.*
Before falling into deep thought, Laura organized her mind.
"I should get things sorted before Tom arrives."
From a possessor to a regressor.
There was much to do.
* * *
Gurgle.
"Ha."
Sorinte let out a hollow laugh at the sound coming from his stomach as he headed home.
*I'm hungry.*
He was hungry. The very fact that he could feel this emotion was fascinating to him.
Ever since he had sworn to go mad for the sword and destroy the Empire, his life had never afforded him the leisure to care about something like hunger.
*...How surprising.*
This situation itself was simply astonishing.
And precious.
*I can start over.*
Our antiquated, beautiful home.
Yes, the place he hadn't considered home in the past had been his only refuge.
*I'm nervous.*
The thought of growing closer to his family filled him with needless tension and excitement.
At the same time, one more thing came to mind.
One year.
The time he had to stop the forces targeting the ducal house.
"That won't be difficult."
He might not have known in his previous life, but the regressed him found it easy to bloody his hands or destroy something.
*Becoming strong again won't be hard.*
The path of the sword he had already walked.
Swordmaster.
Reaching that seat was not merely a matter of physical ability, but a path of enlightenment.
*My enlightenment is already more than sufficient.*
He just needed time to strengthen his frail body until it grew familiar enough to contain that enlightenment.
Of course, even that time would be as short as Sorinte's patience for his enemies.
So eliminating every last one of those who touched the ducal house wouldn't be difficult at all.
Into his reddened eyes, still swollen from crying, an eerie madness seeped into his red pupils.
But that lasted only a moment; different emotions slowly rose in his eyes as he stopped walking.
"Let's take things one step at a time."
Laura's voice suddenly came to mind. A small smile formed on Sorinte's lips.
*Someone who will help me with the most difficult task has appeared.*
Befriending people, sharing affection, blending in with them.
To Sorinte, that had always been the hardest thing.
*Right, if I have someone to help me, I should at least handle the easy things alone.*
He felt motivated.
It was a motivation different from when he had sworn to destroy the Empire.
"Hm."
Then a sudden thought made him turn his head to look at the neighboring mansion.
*...Count Laura Rien.*
A family and its head he had never paid attention to in the past.
But one thing remained in his memory.
"...Should I have told her this, too?"
That the Count of Rien's mansion would collapse, and in its place, the Great Temple of the Reirin Order would be built.
*Come to think of it, what happened to Count Rien?*
Sorinte tried to recall, but nothing came to mind, likely because it was something he hadn't particularly cared about.
*Anyway, the future will be different, so there's no need to force myself to remember. I'll tell the Count tomorrow.*
The regressor thought no further.
Instead, he finally headed to his own home.
"Ah."
In the distance, he saw his father's silhouette at the front door.
Plip.
Sorinte bit his lip, but once again, a single tear rolled down.
"Let's take things one step at a time."
Right. Let's take things one step at a time.
The mad regressor of a ducal family suppressed his welling tears.
* * *
1. Sorinte Cheoseu is a regressor.
2. The Clan Empire will fall.
Scratch, scratch.
Laura's pen, which had been organizing the new information, stopped.
3. The Reirin Order is—
She opened her mouth.
"Tom."
"Yes, my lady."
"How do you always come in without a word?"
"You always know even when I come in secretly."
At his flat voice, Laura sighed and looked up to her side.
The first-floor kitchen.
The butler, Tom, was already seated beside Laura, who had been organizing information with a glass of milk at her side.
"It's getting hard to notice you now. Why do I feel like your movements have grown stealthier since you retired as a butler?"
"To work as a tavern owner in the mercenary district, you need to be quick on your feet."
Tom's voice held no inflection. His expression was equally impassive.
"More importantly, Tom, have you ever heard of the Reirin Order?"
A small wrinkle formed between Tom's eyebrows.
"I have not, my lady."
"I see."
"There is currently no recognized 'Order' on the entire continent. Is this information you require?"
"Yes."
"I shall look into it."
Tom added,
"Regarding the matter of your expressing your intention to attend the Noble Assembly at the Tree of Glory today."
Laura let out a small sigh.
*I'm sure there's been much talk about that everywhere.*
But the words that followed were different from what she had expected.
"It is receiving no proper attention."
"...None at all?"
"Yes. It has garnered not one bit of interest."
Laura quickly found the answer.
"Because His Highness the Crown Prince has awakened?"
"Yes."
Laura nodded. Indeed, there had been much talk about whether the Crown Prince would live or die.
"Furthermore, it is said that more than half of the Crown Prince Palace personnel were thrown into prison the moment he awoke."
"...Hm?"
Prison?
"In addition, the vice-captain of the Crown Prince's Knights has died."
Clatter!
Laura shot up from her seat.
*Did something happen to our customer, Ieon?*
He shouldn't even have properly adapted to this world yet!
Her mind grew complicated.
He had said he was some kind of top-ranked Hunter back on Earth, in South Korea, but the Imperial Palace, rife with politics and conspiracy, was a different world altogether.
"His Highness the Crown Prince did all of this himself."
"...What?"
Laura doubted her own ears for a moment.
*What did I just hear?*
But after staring into Tom's calm eyes for a few seconds, she nodded.
"I see."
Our first customer is an incredible person.
Yes, regardless of the reason, he's an incredible person. He was number one in a country, after all.
"Tom."
"Yes."
"That Crown Prince is our first customer."
"Pardon?"
Blink, blink. Tom blinked his eyes several times with an impassive face.
Then he suddenly realized something odd in her words.
"...First?"
Had there not been only one customer? Then why attach the ordinal "first" to a sole existence?
Tom looked at Laura.
Thereupon, she opened her mouth with a gentle expression.
"The second one is right here."
Laura swept her finger over the characters on the paper.
"...The madman next door?"
"Yes. He is our second customer."
She calmly informed Tom, who was showing a rare blank expression.
"Last night, our first customer—a possessor—arrived, and just now, our second customer—a regressor—arrived."