Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator - Chapter 63

With satisfied steps, Julius headed back toward the inn.

‘That went better than I thought it would.’

He’d even been considering forcibly extracting the information, but he got the information more easily than expected by using his knowledge from the novel.

‘I’m glad it didn’t change much compared to the original.’

Wasn’t it better to buy information through transactions than to take it by force?

It would have taken quite a while to clean up the body, too. News of that could’ve then circulated around Psyche’s information network.

‘The price for the information was pretty cheap.’

The Minima and Arachni tribes—the natural guides of the Great Desert. He’d received a map marking their location, so he would see to it that they soon met.

‘He said there were some near the city who picked up their daily necessities.’

He could drop by the inn and then leave right away with their party.

Hearing this news and anticipating their reaction, Julius smiled with vigor and pushed open the wooden door of the inn.

“Brother, I found a way—”

And—

“…shall go, huh?”

“Julius, you’re back.”

He saw the people in question sitting with Allen.

“Come sit.”

A man with a scorpion tail and a woman with two pairs of spider legs.

“Don’t keep them waiting.”

Julius asked back with a stupid look on his face, “…What?”

* * *

Julius, who was standing there looking stupid, sat down with an incredulous expression as Allen addressed him again.

“Say hello. They’re the ones who’ll lead us to the Academy.”

Julius bowed his head for a moment with a puzzled face.

Despite his insufficient greeting, the man smiled softly and greeted him politely, the action unexpected given the look of his intimidating tail.

“Nice to meet you. I am Alexius, a priest who serves the wandering stars and their descendants.”

“And I am Erini, a follower of a different star and their descendents.”

When she finished greeting him, Julius looked at Allen for a moment and opened his mouth to speak. “Well, it’s strange to ask this, but how did you find these people, Brother…?”

Allen saw him looking embarrassed and said with a nonchalant face, “Well, we needed a guide, right? I ran into them on the street just as I was thinking about finding one.”

“In the shopping district…?”

“Yes, I heard stories about them from merchants, so I tried to find them… They just happened to be walking right in front of me.”

Julius made a strange face and stole a glance back at them.

“Is there something wrong?”

“N-no. So what happened?”

Julius pretended not to be bothered by Allen’s words, but when he realized that the information he had obtained had been rendered useless, he felt quite bitter.

“I invited them in right away. Fortunately, they accepted that invitation, and when I talked about our goal, they offered to come with us on one condition.”

Alexius and Erini did not deny any of what he said. It seemed to be true.

“What are their terms?”

Just as Allen was about to answer Julius’ question, Alexius intervened, playing with his dirty blond hair.

“Would you mind if we explained from here?”

“If you’d like.”

After Allen permitted it, Alexius bowed his head quietly and continued, “To put it bluntly, we want just one simple thing.”

He winked at Erini, signaling her to take over.

“If the two of you succeed in entering the Academy, then just this one thing will do. We want you to support the excavation of ruins of our choosing.”

“That is all.”

Julius’ eyes briefly met those of Erini.

“A condition like this shouldn’t be too much trouble for you all.”

Matriculating into the Academy was tantamount to proving your connections or talents. Thus, if they were to pass the exam, it would be clear that their skills would be of great help in excavating ruins.

“Moving during sandstorms poses quite the risk to us, so I don’t think our terms are too excessive,” Alexius finished his explanation with a calm look.

They were right. It was a reasonable price to ask for their help.

‘If Julius and I work together with them, the ruins should be easy to take care of.’

It was a mutually beneficial deal.

Julius nodded immediately, coming to the same conclusion. “If that’s the case… I accept.”

When Julius accepted the conditions, they relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief.

Julius, finding their behavior unexpected, asked Allen with a questioning expression, “But you could’ve just accepted the terms of the deal. You didn’t have to ask me, so why did you?”

“How can I decide on my own without asking if you agreed first?”

“…Asking me?”

Julius was speechless for a moment.

“We’re in this together. I can’t just make decisions for all of us.”

Julius felt his bitter heart relax instantly upon hearing this useless bit of information.

Watching the two brothers, Vestla whispered quietly, ⟬You know, you’re rather tricky, right?⟭

‘Shhh.’

Allen knocked on the handle of his sword, as if telling her to be quiet, making Vestla mumble to herself before becoming silent again.

As Allen and Julius conversed, Alexius and Erini watched their display of brotherhood with warm eyes.

“Sir Allen says that he’s in it together with his brother, so he won’t make a decision alone.”

“It’s a rare sort of fraternity, indeed.”

Hearing their warm words, Julius shook off the terrible thoughts that had been lingering in his mind.

‘I can’t forcefully intimidate these people like the members of Psyche.’

His brother was watching, too.

He didn’t know how he’d behave if he were alone.

“Well then, now that we’re all on the same page. We don’t have much time left, so let’s get going.”

“I’m ready.”

As Allen instructed the other members of their party to pack their bags, Inellia appeared to have already prepared, as if she had been packing in advance during their conversation.

“Others of the tribe are close by, so we should be able to move quickly.”

When Alexius and Erini stood together, Allen turned to Julius. “Do you have anything else to do, Julius?”

“I’m all done, so I’m ready to move now.”

“Really?”

Had he really achieved all of his objectives while they were in the city?

“Then we’ll try to get there without any breaks if we can.”

There were about two more weeks left before the start of the Academy’s entrance exam.

* * *

* * *

The party left the city and headed for the tribes, who were camped out nearby.

As they headed toward the outspread tents, members of the two tribes came running with their scorpion tails and spider legs.

Like Alexius and Erini, the other members of the tribe were not wary of the party, as if the news of their coming arrival had been reported to them in advance.

“Mr. Alexius!”

“Miss Erini!”

They were instantly surrounded by those of other races.

Allen wore an intrigued expression.

“There is only one gender in each race…”

He’d learned various tidbits of knowledge through the black book and could not hide his wonder.

The reason for this was simple: the Minami tribe, the race with scorpion tails, was only male, and the Arachni tribe, the race with the spider legs, was only female.

Another interesting thing was their hair color.

‘I didn’t realize when we were only with the two before, but…’

When he looked at all the members of the tribe, most of them had black hair. Only a few of them had blond hair like Alexius and Erini.

No, it didn’t really matter.

‘Well, it’s not like any ordinary person could’ve made that decisive call on the spot.’

It was impossible not to know by this point. They had a special status.

⟬Did you approach them on purpose, knowing that?⟭

‘Of course not.’

It was just fate.

He had stumbled upon them on the street and found out that their tribes just so happened to be guides, which he and his party needed to get to the Academy. And then, the ones who they had asked just so happened to be in a position where they could have a final say on that decision at that very moment.

This whole thing was just a ‘coincidence’.

‘It’s just a coincidence.’

Allen’s eyes brushed over the white book that was circling in the air for a moment.

Then Julius called out to him.

“Brother, what are you looking at?”

Allen took his eyes off the book in response and returned them to those surrounding him.

“I’ve never seen such a sight before.”

“That would make sense… They’re the only ones who live here.”

Allen smiled as he spoke, but inside, he, too, was quite surprised.

‘How careless.’

He’d almost repeated Julius’s mistake.

Allen made a note to himself to be more cautious, as Alexius approached with an apologetic look.

“We’ve kept you waiting so long. I’m sorry. The tribal chief is ready for us, so follow me.”

The tribal chief was a rigid old man with pale blond hair.

“I’ve already heard your story. Not to worry, I will accept your request.”

“I will keep my promise, so I hope you, too, will not worry.”

The old man gave a wide smile when Allen answered as the party’s representative. “I will not. That’s how fate is meant to be.”

“Do you still believe in fate?”

The old man quietly answered Allen’s question with ease, “It is as was professed.”

“…Is that so?”

Allen had no choice but to nod at his words.

It was clear that their religion was quite prevalent in their culture, between the self-proclaimed priest and their talk of being descendants of the stars.

Although Allen didn’t understand, he didn’t argue because it was clear that they wouldn’t understand him either.

‘I don’t know what ever became of Miss Francisca.’

It was clear that something had happened, but there was no way to hear news of her because she went to the magic tower after the incident with the chimera sorcerer.

“It’s late now, so you’ll depart tomorrow morning. Alexius will guide you to where you will stay.”

As Allen was about to leave the tent, his eyes suddenly turned to the lithograph next to the old man.

“…Hm?”

It was a picture of nine celestial bodies orbiting around the sun.

Alexius readily explained the rare lithographic painting.

“Oh, are you interested in that stone tablet? The stars gifted it to us in ancient times.”

It was an unfamiliar painting to some, but not to Allen.

‘It’s like the dagger I got after killing the chimera sorcerer.’

The same pattern appeared there.

“But what exactly caught your attention?”

“…It’s just that we know that nothing else but our Earth revolves around the Sun.”

Alexius nodded, as if he were familiar with Allen’s doubt. “It’s natural for us to be met with difficulty when trying to understand the intention passed down in the gifts from the stars. It must contain meaning that we are yet to undestand.”

Allen accepted his words without much thought.

“Come, let’s be off. The head of the Arachni tribe awaits.”

After leaving the tent, the party followed Erini to broker a deal with the head of the Arachni tribe. Allen gently probed their guide, Alexius, for information along the way so that he could learn about their connection with Estedor, the group of dark sorcerers.

“By any chance, could you tell me more about that lithograph from earlier? I am sorry if it’s rude to ask.”

“Sometimes even the sorcerers of our tribe ask that same question, there’s no need to worry.”

“I can’t help it. It’s a subject that I have no choice but to be interested in as a sorcerer.”

Unfortunately, however, Alexius didn’t know much either.

Before the Great Fall, the stone tablet descended from the sky on the very day that the Holy Spirit they served appeared. Following that, ‘prophecies’ continued to come down every few decades, even now.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of much help.”

“No, thank you for just telling me all you knew.”

After that, they spent the day in tents provided by the tribe, wrapping up the final preparations before the sandstorm.

“Ten days should be enough, even if the sandstorm delays us a bit.”

“I’m excited to arrive.”

And after passing their cold nights and hot days in the dry, sandy wind…

“Sir Allen! We’ve finally arrived at the Academy!”

“…Yes, it appears we have.”

…they arrived at Galshdin Academy.