I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 99

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#99. Workforce Expansion (2)

The Central Plaza bustling with people.

So many crowds fill the entire Market Alley that the midwinter cold wave seems meaningless.

“Hot Honey Tea, one cup each~”

“Sparrow Skewers here― We also sell Warmed Liquor―”

“Fresh Sturgeon caught last night by breaking through the ice!”

“Frost Wolf Organ Sausage! We’ll slice up the Heart nice and thick!”

The lively voices of Merchants echo throughout.

People coming and going through the Alley drink liquor warmed by the Charcoal Fire in the Furnace, using Entrails grilled on iron plates as side dishes.

Then.

Crash―Bang!

A loud commotion erupted from one Alley in the Marketplace.

“Who gave you permission to do business here, you old hag!”

A massive, bearded man two or three heads taller than most Strong Men shouts at the top of his lungs.

In front of him, a Pot and Bowls lay scattered and broken.

An Old Woman with white hair fidgets anxiously as she gathers up the broken Bowls.

Then the ruffian kicked the bowl fragments away with his foot.

“If you’re going to sell liquor here, you need to pay the stall fee! This Lord Witz is protecting this place!”

Witz.

He is a famous villain in this area.

Not only is he large and strong, but his temperament is very violent, so anyone who gets caught by him once suffers greatly.

So the Market People would just slip him some pocket money and avoid trouble for the day.

But perhaps because he had too much to drink today, Witz began causing trouble beyond just extorting drink money.

“Pay the stall fee! Otherwise I’ll tear down this tavern’s entire Fence!”

“Oh my, please don’t do this, sir. I’ll, I’ll give it to you. I’ll give it to you, so please just leave the fence post alone!”

The old woman pleads while crying.

Only then did Witz snort and put down the fence post.

“Bring me all of today’s earnings. I’ll use this as gambling money to make up for everything I lost.”

He stretched out his hand, as large as the pot lid he had just broken, toward the old woman.

When the old woman tremblingly took out a few coins, Witz grinned wickedly.

“Think of it as protection money. From now on, Lord Witz here will protect this shop.”

“….”

The old woman cannot say a word.

Just then.

“Protection money?”

A boy walked out from the crowd.

This boy, wearing a black robe pulled deep over his head, appeared to be in his early to mid-teens judging by his build.

The boy asked Witz.

“Who are you to say you’ll protect this shop?”

“?”

Witz picks his nose as if dumbfounded.

“Kid. Get lost before I snap your neck and roast you over a fire.”

“Answer me. Who are you to collect protection money from this shop? This is Mörsolt Direct Territory.”

When the name Mörsolt was mentioned, Witz’s expression stiffened slightly.

But soon, he grinned wickedly and poked the boy’s chest with his finger.

“The law is far away but fists are close, kiddo. Mörsolt’s soldiers won’t come to a rural alley like this, so I’m doing them a favor by using some force on their behalf.”

“….”

“I’m in a good mood today, you see? So I’ll be merciful and only break one of your arms. You should be grateful.”

Witz raised his fist high.

Soon, his fist like a massive boulder came crashing down toward the boy.

The people watching couldn’t bear to keep their eyes open for the carnage about to unfold and turned their heads away.

…However.

Crack! Snap!

A bizarre sound came from Witz’s fist as it made contact with the boy’s face.

“Huh?”

Witz’s expression turned blank.

It was a natural reaction, considering his wrist was dangling at a ninety-degree angle.

Then, the boy opened his mouth.

“No one except Mörsolt may collect taxes in this place. Remember that well.”

Having finished speaking, the boy kicked Witz’s shin with his foot.

Crack!

Witz’s thick leg bone snapped like a reed.

“Gaaah!?”

Witz rolled around on the snow-covered muddy ground with a scream.

Then the boy’s face, which had been hidden within the robe, came into view.

Hair white as snow, pupils that gleamed red like rubies.

“…Huh!?”

Witz’s complexion turned deathly pale.

Wuitz’s face turned pale.

The myth of Blood Lily that’s shaking the entire Northern Region is known even by the thugs in the marketplace.

‘I’m fucked!’

Witz realized instinctively.

The boy in front of him was the real deal.

He wasn’t some petty existence like himself who threatened the weak to extort pocket change.

Tremble tremble tremble tremble tremble…

The cold that penetrated to his bones seemed to freeze his brain.

The boy in front of him suddenly began to look as massive as a mountain.

In that situation, Blood Lily Featherback opened his mouth.

“I’ll use today’s incident as an example to establish order all the way to the territory outskirts. Will you cooperate?”

“Yes, yes? Co-co-cooperate? Yes, I will! I’ll cooperate! Wh-what should I do?”

Witz nodded his head with his limbs broken.

If he answered wrong, he would die.

The Prince of Mörsolt before him was a demon who supposedly ate the flesh of criminals and bathed in blood.

There were even rumors that criminals’ corpses were still being used as fertilizer in Prince Mörsolt’s garden.

Witz resolved to cooperate fully with whatever he said.

“The body is too big and unnecessary, so…”

Until he heard Featherback’s next words.

“Just handing over that head should be enough.”

* * *

A few hours later, thug Witz’s head was hung in the center of the marketplace.

The charges written on the sign were varied, including business interference, extortion, aggravated assault, and aggravated intimidation, but passersby didn’t bother to read them.

They just spit and say he deserved to die.

Meanwhile.

“I heard the Prince of Mörsolt came in person.”

“He personally repaired the broken shop. How thoughtful of him.”

“I saw it with my own eyes! It was really incredible. That huge guy couldn’t do anything at all!”

“But there was one thing different from the rumors. His face… it wasn’t scary at all? Rather, he was so beautiful it was enchanting… ah…”

Throughout the wide market, who knows how many times Featherback’s name has already been mentioned.

But since Featherback had immediately put on his robe and disappeared into the crowd right after the commotion, no one knew what happened afterward.

They just keep rolling the snowball by adding speculation upon speculation.

And at the same time, in a place far from the market.

“I think I should do some training too.”

Rorschach, wearing his robe pulled low, looked at Featherback beside him and spoke.

The two have been walking along the new road on the territory outskirts since last night.

Making these occasional undercover patrols like this.

Rorschach threw punches at the air.

“I want to beat up bad guys like this too, pow pow pow. Just like you did earlier, Lord Featherback.”

“There are no bad guys. There are only the strong and the weak.”

“Then why did you help the weak?”

“Because it helps increase the population of the human species.”

“…Sometimes when I look at you, Lord Featherback, I don’t know what you’re thinking. Aren’t you viewing the world too macroscopically?”

“We’ve arrived.”

Featherback turned his gaze away from Rorschach.

A shabby building at the market entrance.

From the outside, it looks like an abandoned house that couldn’t even be used as hay storage, but in fact, important people are conducting business in this building.

Creak—

As they opened the door and entered, a Man with an Eyepatch covering one eye rose from his body in front of the Table.

Featherback spoke in an emotionless tone.

“I came to find the Silver Coins that the Crow carried away.”

“!”

The wariness that had been clouding the One-Eyed Man’s face lifted somewhat.

“I will escort you inside.”

Featherback and Rorschach opened the Secret Door on the Floor of the Abandoned House and descended the Lower Stairs.

Soon, beyond the dim Candle light, a familiar face came into view.

“It’s been a long time.”

Portia.

She, having removed her Mustache, was smiling brightly at Featherback.

“I heard. That the Descendants of the New Moon have been exterminated. Thank you for keeping your promise.”

“I have no intention of receiving thanks for something that was only natural.”

Featherback continued speaking as he sat down in the Chair.

“What I ordered?”

“I’ve completed it. I had quite some trouble convincing the Comrades on the Imperial Capital side.”

Portia held out a sheet of Documents in front of Featherback.

Rorschach, who was beside them, asked.

“What are these Documents?”

“New personnel.”

“These are all Family Houses and names I’ve never seen before, what criteria did you use to select them?”

“My discretion.”

“….”

At Featherback’s answer, Rorschach opened his mouth halfway as if dumbfounded.

The same was true for Portia as well.

“Actually, I was curious even while contacting the families and names written on the list. As far as I know, Lord Featherback has only been in the Northern Region until now, so how do you pinpoint and try to recruit families and figures in the Imperial Capital one by one?”

Earlier, Featherback had given Portia a secret mission.

It was to send letters to families in the Imperial Capital or other cities.

The contents of the letters were each different, but they all contained the same core message.

―The Mörsolt Family wants you―

Featherback mainly sent such letters in large quantities to knights, soldiers, administrators, and heirs of ruined families.

Of course, even Portia, who was carrying out this order, could not understand Featherback’s intentions.

Nobodies who were clearly nameless and incompetent, dregs of small families.

But Featherback wanted them.

It was because of his memories from before regression.

‘Because they are beings who will someday reveal extraordinary talent.’

Featherback closed his eyes and fell into thought.

Before regression, the geniuses of the Human Alliance who fought against the Demon Army to the very end.

They led humanity on the brink of extinction with powerful strength or outstanding intellect.

Among them were also those who were not particularly strong or brilliant, but made their names known through unwavering perseverance, loyalty, and devotion that would never betray.

‘They were comrades who led the handful of remaining humanity and crossed life and death together, so I know their faces, names, and pasts inside and out.’

Featherback was certain.

No matter how much he had regressed and returned to the past, they still possessed extraordinary potential, and it was only a matter of when they would bloom.

That’s why Featherback recruited Portia and entrusted her with scouting and recruiting all these personnel.

“So. What are the results?”

Featherback asked.

And Portia had perfectly completed the task as Featherback expected.

“With such high salaries promised, how could anyone refuse? They’re all coming to the Northern Region.”

At this point in time, they were all living unremarkable lives.

But in the future, they would become the leadership that guided the last of humanity.

Heroes who survived until the very end, proving their extraordinary nature and the love for humanity in their hearts.

Featherback planned to gather them all under his command in this life and help their talents bloom.

At least 10 years faster.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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