Not A Regressor - Chapter 297

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 297
Sky Mountain Range (3)
[Then I shall take my leave.]
After exchanging farewells with Kwon O-jin, Vega returned to the Star Palace.
Upon arriving at the familiar Divine Temple, she gently stroked Riak’s head.
[Your heart still needs time to settle. Go rest.]
“Yes, Vega.”
Riak bowed and returned to his quarters.
“….”
The Divine Temple, now empty.
Perhaps it was because she had been chattering noisily with Kwon O-jin mere moments ago.
An inexplicable loneliness filled her chest.
[…In the past, I could spend years alone without the slightest discomfort.]
To feel such emotion mere minutes after returning to the Star Palace—how strange.
Vega smiled wryly at herself, her gaze fixed blankly upon the temple walls.
Hours passed in this manner.
[By now, he should be sleeping.]
Suddenly, an impulse seized her—a desire to see Kwon O-jin’s sleeping face.
In the empty Divine Temple, Vega glanced about nervously as if someone might be watching, then cleared her throat and focused her consciousness.
Her form shimmered with silver light and dispersed like mist.
Before Vega, manifested in her astral form, appeared—
“I am fighting Kalike right now.”
Kwon O-jin, eyes closed, his entire being concentrated in fierce combat.
Vega, who had naturally assumed he would be sleeping, trembled with a start.
Without thinking, she darted behind a nearby tree and concealed herself.
Fortunately, since Kwon O-jin’s consciousness was entirely absorbed in his battle, he remained unaware of her manifestation.
“Hah.”
With each deep breath, he stomped fiercely and thrust his spear through empty air.
He parried invisible attacks as though engaged in genuine combat, then staggered backward, rolling across the ground after taking a blow.
A stranger observing this might have laughed at what appeared to be a ridiculous performance.
[My child….]
But she understood.
Kwon O-jin was fighting a ‘real’ battle right now.
[….]
Image training pushed to its absolute limit.
Or rather, could such a thing even be called ‘training’ in the conventional sense?
“Ugh! Cough!”
With each agonized cry, fresh wounds appeared across Kwon O-jin’s body.
His clothes did not tear, nor did blood spill forth.
Yet the wounded areas darkened visibly as the flesh began to necrotize.
I feel pain, and I sustain wounds.
As a final defense, I simply refuse to die.
This was the true nature of the training I repeated alone night after night when everyone slept.
Every single day.
Without a single day of rest.
[His body hasn’t even fully healed, yet how can he…]
Vega clenched her fists with an anxious expression.
She wanted to rush out and stop him immediately.
She wanted to scold him, to reprimand him for not resting when he should.
But how could she possibly do that?
“Hah… hah! Why go this far?”
Kwon O-jin, conversing with an invisible opponent.
He gripped his spear and twisted his lips into a fierce snarl.
“If I don’t push myself like this, I can’t protect anything.”
And then collision.
Kwon O-jin, who had been exchanging fierce attacks and defenses with an imaginary enemy, clutched his chest and collapsed to his knees.
“Cough! Hack! Uuuughhhh!”
Kwon O-jin convulsed in agony as he retched.
Like an epileptic patient, he thrashed on the ground before shakily pushing himself upright.
“Damn it… they’re ridiculously strong. The difference between having a blessing and not having one really is massive.”
Kwon O-jin pulled a potion from his sling bag and drank it, then closed his eyes in meditation as if reviewing the battle he’d just fought.
But only briefly.
“Alright, this time let me try fighting while maintaining distance.”
Despite having writhed in such agony that he’d vomited.
He casually conjured an imaginary opponent once more, as if nothing had happened.
[….]
How many repetitions does it take to become so composed?
How accustomed must one become to grow so numb?
While she spent meaningless hours guarding the Divine Temple alone, what kind of time had he been living through?
‘My child.’
Her chest throbbed as if a nail had been driven through it.
Vega, who had been watching Kwon O-jin endlessly from behind a tree, released her manifestation and returned to the Star Palace.
[…So this is how agonizing it is to be unable to do anything.]
She wanted to transfer even a portion of her power to Kwon O-jin.
But the role of a Constellation was merely to plant the seed of a stigma in an Awakener.
It was up to the Awakener to take root and grow from there.
It was a domain where a Constellation could not and must not intervene.
[Sigh.]
Vega exhaled deeply and stepped outside the Divine Temple.
There was nothing in particular she needed to do.
I simply wanted to organize my muddled emotions, which were filled with thoughts of Kwon O-jin.
I walked slowly along the path that led to the Milky Way, as if taking a leisurely stroll.
Constellations wandering the streets appeared here and there.
Most Constellations preferred to remain shut away in their own Divine Temples without moving, but that didn’t mean they never ventured outside at all.
Constellations possessed emotions too, and beings with emotions naturally sought others with whom to share them.
Among them were Constellations who preferred roaming about the Sanctuary to remaining in their Divine Temples.
“Vega?”
Yes.
Like the Constellation of Virgo, who had spotted me from afar and came rushing over with the excitement of a calf.
“No way, you’re leaving your Divine Temple? Is the Sanctuary about to be swallowed by Black Heaven tomorrow?!”
Spica, a goddess with the freshness of spring buds, made a tremendous fuss, unable to believe that I had actually stepped outside my Divine Temple.
[I simply wanted to get some fresh air, that’s all.]
“Huh? You?”
Never once had I shown my face at grand banquets or festivals where many Constellations gathered, so this sudden desire for fresh air was peculiar.
Spica examined me from head to toe with a suspicious gaze.
As the Constellation of Virgo, representing chastity and love, she instinctively sensed the pink-hued emotions subtly flowing from me.
“Is it because of that child?”
[…I, I’m not sure what you’re talking about.]
“I knew it! I heard rumors that you’ve been traveling through the Demon Realm with that child lately!”
Spica clapped her hands and burst into delighted laughter.
My expression immediately hardened.
[I don’t know where you heard such rumors, but we’re not spending time leisurely enough to call it a journey.]
“But you are together, aren’t you?”
[W, well, that’s true, but…]
“Ah~ so the noble star of Lyra Constellation falls into the hands of a mere human~!”
Spica wiped away tears with exaggerated gestures, as if performing in a musical.
I cried out with a flushed face.
[S, stop joking! How could a Constellation ever be bound to her own apostle?!]
“Huh? Why not? I have a cute darling myself.”
[W, what?]
I had heard talk of a destined person before.
But I never imagined they were close enough to call each other by such an affectionate term as “darling.”
“There are many Constellations besides me who are bound to their apostles. Even more so since the constraints of Divine Law weakened.”
[How could Constellations lay hands on their own apostles…!]
“It’s not as if Divine Law forbids touching humans, is it? And didn’t you yourself say that in your past life, you had a special relationship with that child?”
[T, that was…]
I bit my lip firmly and avoided Spica’s gaze.
[Perhaps… it was merely a misunderstanding on my part.]
“A misunderstanding?”
Kwon O-jin and I in my past life had shared a special relationship that transcended the ordinary bond between a Constellation and an awakened one.
That must be true, since I heard it directly from Kwon O-jin’s own lips.
But.
[…a special relationship doesn’t necessarily mean romantic partners, does it?]
What Kwon O-jin said was merely that the two of us shared a ‘special relationship’.
He never specified exactly what kind of relationship it was.
[And even if we were romantic partners, that was only in a past life, wasn’t it?]
Vega laughed bitterly and shook her head.
Spica’s eyes narrowed.
“So what are your feelings toward him right now, Elder Sister?”
[What do you mean, my feelings?]
“Forget about past lives and all that—what are your true feelings for that boy right now?”
[That is….]
Vega averted her gaze, her eyes turbulent.
[…I don’t know.]
“You don’t know?”
[When I think of that boy, my heart swells with pride in his growth, yet at other times I feel such worry that my chest aches as though pierced by nails. I wish to protect him and watch over him, and yet sometimes I find myself wanting to lean on him instead.]
Her existence stretched back through an abyss of ages.
So distant that I could no longer even remember how long I had existed.
Yet the vast majority of that endless time had been spent confined within the Divine Temple, dutifully fulfilling my obligations as a Constellation.
A life like that of a machine.
My existence had been colorless, like a black-and-white film.
And then.
I met that boy.
Into my inorganic existence, still as a windless lake, Kwon O-jin created ripples.
Those ripples, which had begun as merely a gentle breeze, gradually swelled into a tremendous typhoon that swept through my heart.
[What that boy means to me… I don’t understand it myself.]
These feelings are far too unfamiliar.
I, who was barely taking my first steps in the realm of emotion, could not discern where my own heart was truly directed.
“Wow….”
A short exclamation escaped Spica’s lips.
[Why do you react that way?]
“Ah, well. It’s nothing. But even for me, this is quite embarrassing to listen to.”
Spica shook her head as though she couldn’t bear to hear any more.
She never expected Vega to be this sincere.
It was a confession of love so painfully earnest that even the listener felt flustered.
“Well, anyway! Now that it’s come to this, I can’t just stand by as the goddess of chastity and love!”
Spica approached Vega with eyes sparkling like stars.
[W-what are you planning to do?]
“It’s not me who needs to do something—it’s you, Elder Sister!”
My role was merely to offer counsel.
“Let’s think together about how to confess!”
[A, a confession?! What are you talking about?!]
Vega shook her head, her face flushed crimson.
Spica struck her chest in exasperation.
“No, listen—if you’re going to do anything, you have to confess first! Or else, you could always sneak up on him while he’s sleeping and make it a done deal!”
It was far too radical a line of thinking for a goddess of chastity.
[O-jin is merely a precious child to me, nothing more.]
“Hmph. Now you say that? You said you weren’t sure earlier.”
[And….]
Vega lowered her head, her expression deflating.
[That boy already has a lover named Ha-eun.]
“Huh?”
Spica’s eyes widened in surprise—she’d never imagined that Vega harbored feelings for a man who was already taken.
“Wait, what? You’re actually after a man who’s already spoken for?”
[A, after?! I told you that’s not what this is!]
“This is getting interesting.”
Spica’s lips curved upward in a sly smile.
“Don’t worry, don’t be sad, Elder Sister! A goalkeeper doesn’t mean the ball can’t go in! I don’t know who this Ha-eun girl is, but compared to you, she’d be nothing but starlight next to the full moon!”
Who was Vega?
Among the hundreds of constellations, she ranked among the top three of Polaris—was she not?
In both ability and beauty, no constellation could compare to her.
[…A, and….]
“What? What else?”
[It seems he recently acquired another lover named Isabella.]
“…What?”
Two goalkeepers?

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