The Regressor’s Notebook – Episode 5
Young Heart (2)
Begin——!
In that instant, the opponent charged. He swung his sword from the very first exchange.
A blade that slashed through space.
He approached violently, as if picking a fight. I didn’t rashly cross blades with him. I simply “slotted” my sword into his sword path.
Tung—
Deflecting it as if flicking it away, I retreated and maintained distance.
“……Oho?”
The man, who had paused briefly, grinned.
“So you’re a Fencer style user? Gauging the distance, how cute.”
Is “cute” some kind of verbal tic?
Anyway, the bastard’s words themselves were correct.
The swordsmanship I learned through YouTube—that is, [Active Knight A]—is a “Fencer.”
A Fencer is a type of swordsman who strikes and retreats based on keen distance sense and nimble footwork. Naturally, the term originates from fencing, and in boxing terms, it’s similar to an out-boxer.
“You won’t get a chance.”
He muttered and took a large step against the ground. It was a First Step with an enormous stride.
I saw his charge with my eyes, but my body reacted first. My right hand swung the sword. However, the target of the attack wasn’t the sword. It was the “space” he was approaching into.
Chae-aeng——!
A fairly loud ringing sound erupted.
The opponent, who had retreated a couple of steps, briefly touched the blade of his sword with a stiff face.
“……Hey. Did you just copy me?”
He asked. I didn’t answer.
Earlier, he had tried to dominate the space rather than the person, and I had briefly followed his method.
It was a natural manifestation of “Luxido.”
“I’m asking you.”
But I couldn’t let him become wary. To him, I had to be nothing more than an ordinary infant.
The tension of this spar must not build up gradually. It had to maintain a static line before surging up in an instant, like a snap.
That momentary inflection point had to be my victory and his defeat.
“What was that just now? Do it again.”
He poked his sword lightly, as if scratching his own arm.
“I said do it again.”
His provoking tone and expression.
Inside them lay just the right amount of carelessness and curiosity.
“If you won’t, I’ll just come at you.”
He smiled deeply and gripped his sword. He took a large step.
Once again, the First Step charging toward me.
Now.
“……Hoo.”
A small inhale.
I summoned Perion from 《Notebook》. An intention with the feeling of “opening a file” was enough.
Just like opening a memo containing the desired content, it was simply calling the desired memory into my body.
——.
At the center of my dantian, Perion’s energy mixed with mana and radiated outward. It raced from the center of my body to my entire being.
A divine mana substance that amplifies every part of a human. It first acted on the central nervous system, honing the senses to extreme sharpness, then extended to the arms and legs, strongly enhancing muscular power.
Whiiiiish…….
And so, my five senses grew so keen that I could grasp even the texture of the wind in my hands.
Time slowed down infinitely.
The acceleration of thought, the deceleration of the world.
Pssssss…….
The opponent’s footsteps trampling the road surface.
The cloud of dust blooming and spreading above them.
……Tszzzt!
His step, which had been an instant just moments ago, was now visible to my eyes.
Going beyond simply “seeing” it, I too stepped forward.
It was the exact same First Step as the opponent.
“!”
I leaped, and his eyes widened. Taking advantage of his confusion, I swung my sword. He raised his sword as well. A wind aura condensed at the tip of the blade.
Kwaaaaa…….
My sword descending from above, and his sword rising from below.
The moment the two identical trajectories, differing only in direction, met——
Chaeng…….
I let go of my sword.
The blade, freed from my grip, floated into the air. The opponent’s gaze was captivated by that sword.
But from the very beginning, I had no intention of fighting you with a sword.
——!
I took a second step. With it, I burrowed into his chest. As if flipping a switch, I had converted this battle into close quarters—grappling.
Kkeudeuk-!
I grabbed the bastard’s right arm and threw him over. His tall body shot straight up as if being uprooted.
Uh…….
A dazed sound flowed from the mouth of the bastard spinning in the air.
Kwaang——!
I slammed the bastard into the road surface.
Psssssss…….
Dust spread like fog. The scattered particles on the sparring stage were clearly visible.
But I couldn’t waste time.
The transition between movements had to be clean and swift.
So before the bastard could move properly, before this sand settled, before his carelessness shattered…….
Udeudeudeudeuk——!
I yanked his arm.
A mouthful of saliva splattered from the bastard’s mouth.
It wouldn’t be a mere dislocation. It would be an impact enough to crush the joint.
But it was strange.
The opponent didn’t even scream.
“……Wow!”
Instead, he exclaimed in admiration, then raised his leg and struck my head hard.
“Keuk!”
My skull shook from the impact. In the brief moment I staggered, he was already standing up. Ten steps away in an instant, he was looking at me while clutching his shoulder.
“Wow…… My arm’s out.”
He spoke as if praising me and moved his body this way and that. His right arm dangled like a mollusk.
“It’s out, it’s out, it’s really out. Wow~ see?”
With a smile on his lips, he showed his dangling arm to everyone in the mercenary corps’ camp.
There was no reaction.
It was silent.
Both our side and the opponent’s side seemed unable to comprehend how the battle of mere moments ago had unfolded and concluded.
“Man~ I’m going crazy. My arm is just broken.”
Anyway.
I couldn’t move anymore now. My vision kept shaking. A definite concussion.
A kick to the glabella. I was TKO’d by that single strike.
“How about it?”
Suddenly, the opponent asked the bald deputy commander. The deputy commander silently shook his head.
“……Is that so?”
His expression stiffening slightly, he cracked his neck.
“Sorry. I wanted to pass you.”
Though his dislocated arm remained as it was, the caliber of his atmosphere changed completely.
The attitude of treating me like an infant had vanished without a trace. Since the identity of the revolver had already been revealed.
“They say no. Can’t let it slide.”
He smiled and raised his eyebrows.
“Instead, I’ll remember you. Sion Ascal.”
Blue mana faintly rose at his feet.
“Good work.”
That was the end.
The man seemed to bounce a step off the ground, then immediately drove his shoulder into my chest.
“-Keok!”
Like some kind of teleportation.
I fainted from that simple body slam.
* * *
……After the brief event ended.
On the highway leading to the capital, Edsilla.
The truck carrying the Blue Claw Mercenary Corps was running silently.
“When the Libra progenitor built the orphanage, the wallpaper was worth 10 million Ren, you know.”
The mission commissioned by Jedric succeeded without much difficulty. The disguise was not discovered either. The orphanage would be abolished, and in its place, Jedric’s commercial district would be built.
“It was 10 million for 100 years. But land prices rose 30-fold in just 10 years. That land alone is worth at least 300 million Ren. What is this country coming to.”
The deputy commander in the driver’s seat glanced sideways, rambling about land prices for no reason.
The man with his arm in a cast. The fellow who still seemed slightly out of it showed no signs of listening at all.
“Is your arm okay?”
The deputy commander asked. The man—Kigen—only raised his eyebrows without a word.
According to the detailed examination results, shattered shoulder bone fragments were tangled with the muscles, requiring intensive mana treatment or something like that.
Even as a deputy commander, it was absurd.
To think that Kigen of all people would end up like this.
“……More importantly, Deputy. Did you look into that kid’s information?”
“Ordinary. Ascal. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all loyal servants of Libra for generations. Do you know what his future dream is?”
The deputy commander smirked, twisting his lips deliberately. Kigen turned his head slightly and asked.
“What is it.”
“A knight of Libra. He says he wants to devote his entire life to Libra.”
At that, Kigen also let out a smirk.
“Pfft. This is why orphans are a problem. They think raising and feeding them automatically makes them good people.”
He opened the passenger window. A cool breeze swept in.
“Libra is lucky too. Picking up a famous sword at an orphanage.”
At those words, the deputy commander raised his eyebrows.
“Perhaps. I don’t know if he recognized it as a famous sword. Butler Henry actually praised you, Kigen. He said your acting was top-class.”
“……Acting.”
Kigen took out a cigarette from inside his clothes. He put it in his mouth and murmured disdainfully.
“Of course. All they know is reading books and handling ledgers, yet they’re blind cripples who can’t even open their eyes wide and look at the real world.”
He exhaled a fog-like voice out the car window.
“Anyway…… I remembered the name.”
The deputy commander smiled wordlessly.
This side of Kigen was quite rare. It was like his college days, when his eyes had gone wild with competitive spirit.
“Why are you so obsessed over having let your guard down?”
Letting his guard down.
Psychological warfare certainly takes up a large part in one-on-one combat. But what remained in Kigen’s mind was not such precociousness.
“No. That kid has the power to watch and copy.”
“……Watch and copy?”
“Yeah. It’s pure talent. An innate ability you can’t buy with money. His body moves on its own.”
The First Step at the moment the kid threw away his sword and charged.
It was unmistakably Kigen’s own.
“There are rare people born with such things. They call it ‘Luxido’…… But he seems to be beyond that.”
Imitating the movement is one thing, but properly loading power into it is a different dimension altogether.
Kigen clicked his tongue and continued.
“That bastard Henry is blind in one eye, so he probably couldn’t tell even if he saw, but I wonder about the other one.”
The other one? The deputy commander who had been muttering asked back.
“You mean Jia? That youngest has no interest in succession competition. She won’t get a penny of the inheritance.”
“Haaaahm…… Well, probably. I’m just curious.”
Kigen leaned his body against the backrest. He raised his eyes and looked out the window.
“Anyway, with talent like that, we’ll surely meet again soon.”
The high night sky. Stars studded densely across it were pressing down suffocatingly.