Not A Regressor - Chapter 320

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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 320
Faded Promise (12)
Murmur, murmur.
After news of the Dragon God’s death spread.
The Draconian Kingdom, which had been shrouded in an atmosphere akin to a funeral, finally stirred with activity once more.
The Grand Banquet Hall bustled with Dragon-race members who had gathered upon hearing that a major announcement would be made.
“Thank you all for coming.”
Kelion stepped onto the platform and opened his mouth.
His low voice, amplified through a magically enhanced microphone, resonated throughout the Grand Banquet Hall.
Thousands upon thousands of gazes converged upon Kelion.
“I’m certain you all understand that we’re going through difficult times right now.”
Silence descended upon the Grand Banquet Hall.
In that chilling hush where even the faintest murmur would echo, Kelion continued quietly.
“I’ve called you here today because the Dragon Maiden has said she has urgent words to share with us.”
Kelion stepped back from the platform like a master of ceremonies introducing a guest performer and turned his body.
Ha-eun, who had been waiting below the platform, slowly walked up.
Her expression clearly betrayed her nervousness.
Ha-eun stood before the microphone, swallowing dryly.
“Ahem, ahem.”
She cleared her throat unnecessarily once.
“Not long ago, the spirit of the Dragon God Caleos came to dwell within me.”
The Dragon-race members’ eyes widened in shock.
They had heard that the Dragon God had died without awakening, but this was the first they’d heard that his spirit had come to dwell within the Dragon Maiden.
“At first, I couldn’t hear the Dragon God’s voice. But after his spirit fully settled within me, I gradually began to hear his voice.”
“The Dragon God’s voice?”
“Does that mean the Dragon God’s spirit hasn’t disappeared?!”
The shocking announcement caused a stir among the Dragon-race members.
“Quiet, please.”
Kelion stepped forward to quell the commotion.
Silence once again.
Ha-eun licked her parched lips with her tongue and opened her mouth.
“He said he would like to borrow my body to speak with you all, even if only for a moment.”
“Borrow her body…?”
“Is that even possible?”
The Dragon-race members’ eyes filled with disbelief.
The Dragon God, whom they thought was dead—or rather, who actually was dead—suddenly wanting to borrow the body of a human woman to speak directly with them was simply too unbelievable.
Before Ha-eun’s disbelief could deepen further, she clasped her hands together as if in prayer.
“Then, I will call upon him now.”
Whoooosh!
Scorching flames began to blaze around Ha-eun’s body.
The scorching flames that enveloped her body transformed into the shape of colossal wings, spreading wide with majestic splendor.
It was as though a dragon had unfurled its wings in their full glory.
The Dragon-race warriors were momentarily overwhelmed by the magnificent sight of wings wreathed in flames spanning dozens of meters across.
And then.
[It has been a long time.]
A solemn voice resonated through the chamber.
“What?”
“C-Caleos’s voice?”
“That’s… impossible!”
Shock rippled across the faces of the Dragon-race warriors, replacing their earlier disbelief.
The voice flowing from the lips of this human woman who possessed the countenance of a dragon was unmistakably identical to the Dragon God’s voice etched in their memories.
“How is this even possible…?”
Had the true Dragon God descended into the body of a human woman?
As confusion deepened in the face of this incomprehensible situation.
“Ah, Caleos!”
Kelion, who stood beside the platform, fell to his knees before Ha-eun.
The elderly Dragon-race warrior trembled visibly, his expression overflowing with emotion.
“I have longed… so desperately to see you.”
A single tear traced down his weathered cheek.
The expressions of the Dragon-race warriors, who had been hesitantly watching one another and uncertain of the situation, began to shift one by one.
Kelion—none other than their elder—had knelt and bowed his head.
By doing so, he had acknowledged as ‘genuine’ the Dragon God’s spirit dwelling within this human woman, the very spirit of the one who had guided the Dragon-race during the Dragon God’s slumber.
The atmosphere of towering disbelief crumbled in an instant, like a dam bursting.
“Ah…”
“C-Caleos!”
“Y-yes! This is unmistakably Caleos’s voice!”
The voice they had yearned for so desperately.
A voice that remained vivid and unfaded even in the depths of fading memory.
Caleos’s voice.
[I have made you wait far too long.]
It resonates.
The voice of the god they could never reach.
“Ah, uh…”
“Waaaahhh!”
“Caleos!”
The Dragon-race warriors fell to their knees, tears streaming down their faces.
They bowed before Ha-eun—or rather, before Caleos, who had descended through her body.
[My heart aches when I consider how much suffering you have all endured over these past hundred years.]
A voice tinged with sorrow.
[And it seems that suffering… has not yet come to an end.]
Ha-eun turned her head and swept her gaze across the Dragon-race warriors.
The Dragon-race, emaciated from insufficient sustenance, their frames gaunt and skeletal.
Their condition was far more devastated than when the Demon Race had invaded the Kingdom.
[Hear me, my children.]
Ha-eun opened her mouth as she gazed upon the bowing Dragon-race.
Or rather, her lips moved soundlessly.
The Dragon God’s voice resonating through the Grand Banquet Hall was not hers at all—it was Kwon O-jin’s, hidden behind the podium.
[Though my flesh has melted away and vanished, my soul and will remain in this place.]
“…Ahhh.”
“Dragon God….”
Tears streamed from the eyes of the bowing Dragon-race.
Caleos, the Dragon God.
The news that the deity they had yearned for so desperately still lived swept away the despair that had been consuming them in an instant.
“Caleos….”
“Ah, I have waited for this moment… only this moment all along!”
A pillar of ‘hope’ rose within their crumbling hearts.
“Please watch over us once more, Caleos!”
One of the Dragon-race cried out.
Ha-eun shook her head toward the shouting Dragon-race warrior and moved her lips silently.
[With only my soul remaining, I cannot care for you as I once did.]
“That… that cannot be.”
“Then what are we to do now….”
The Dragon-race’s eyes trembled.
Without the Dragon God’s care, how could they possibly endure?
“We… we need the Dragon God’s protection!”
A desperate cry echoed through the hall.
[No, you no longer need my protection.]
“That is not true!”
“Without the Dragon God, we….”
[Have you not steadfastly guarded the Kingdom these past hundred years without me?]
Even though the Demon Race had seized the Kingdom from you.
[You did not surrender, and you fought against the Demon Race to protect your own land.]
They no longer needed ‘protection’.
“That was only because we believed you would awaken….”
[That very belief would never have been realized had you not moved forward yourselves.]
Had you not offered your own lives as bait.
The Dragon Maiden could never have reached the Lair so swiftly.
[That I can remain here as a spirit at all is thanks to you, who fought so valiantly against the darkness.]
“…Caleos.”
[Thank you.]
At that sincere voice, the Dragon-race warriors bowed their heads in unison.
How could they not be moved to tears?
Born merely to serve and revere the Dragon, nothing more than slaves—yet the Dragon God himself had spoken words of gratitude to them.
[Do not forget this.]
The benevolent voice of the deity resonated through the hall.
[You are no slaves.]
The very words the Dragon God had spoken in response to Kelion’s warning to flee.
[You are my proud children.]
The voice of the god who cherished and loved the Dragon-race more than any other filled their hearts to bursting.
[Treasures beyond measure.]
“Ah….”
A soft gasp escaped the lips of the Dragon-race warriors.
Tears streamed down their cheeks.
[My children.]
Wings of flame, dozens of meters in span, erupted from Ha-eun’s back and fluttered with majestic grandeur.
[Do not grieve. Do not fear. Do not despair.]
Terrible heat filled the Grand Banquet Hall.
[I, the Dragon God Caleos, shall always stand beside you.]
Whoooosh!
The raging flames gradually subsided.
The wings that had spread to dozens of meters in size returned to Ha-eun’s body.
“Ah, ah….”
“Sob… sob!”
The Dragon-race warriors wept, recalling the words the Dragon God had left behind.
A hundred years of endless waiting.
From the depths of despair, that warm comfort had lifted them from their despair.
“So… that is to say.”
Ha-eun continued awkwardly, gazing at the Grand Banquet Hall drenched in tears.
“That concludes the words of the Dragon God.”
Roooaaarrr!
A roar erupted from the Grand Banquet Hall so tremendous it seemed to shake the very foundations.
Though the god had borrowed a human form.
At the news that the deity they thought dead still lived, the Dragon-race warriors erupted in cheers brimming with hope.
“Maiden of the Dragon…!”
“Ah, shouldn’t we call her the ‘Priestess’ now?”
“Indeed!”
“Priestess of the Dragon!”
“Thank you for delivering the Dragon God’s words!”
Ha-eun had become the Dragon’s Priestess in an instant.
She could not hide her bewildered expression beneath the intense gaze directed toward her.
“Priestess!”
“Please, let us hear Caleos’s voice once more!”
Several excited Dragon-race warriors even attempted to climb onto the platform.
“Everyone, compose yourselves!”
Boom!
Kelion struck his staff downward, his voice booming toward the agitated Dragon-race.
“Directly channeling the soul of a god places an enormous burden on the Priestess!”
“B-but…”
“Do you wish to lose the Priestess as well?”
The fervent atmosphere cooled instantly.
For those who had already tasted the despair of the Dragon God’s death, losing the Priestess was a calamity too terrible to imagine.
“W-we apologize.”
The Dragon-race bowed their heads, their eyes fixed upon Ha-eun.
They resembled loyal subjects awaiting orders.
“Um… so…”
Ha-eun felt uncomfortable under their gaze and laughed awkwardly, scratching her cheek.
Kwon O-jin had given me no instructions for what came next.
“W-well, should we start rebuilding our home?”
Reconstructing the Kingdom, devastated by the Demon Race’s assault, was the priority.
“We shall obey the Priestess’s command!”
A powerful chorus of voices resonated throughout the Banquet Hall.
Ha-eun watched as the Dragon-race, who had seemed like spirits bereft of their souls, regained the light in their eyes, and she smiled softly.
“Great! I’ll help too, so let’s get started on the repairs right away!”
Ha-eun rolled up her sleeves and raised her fist with determination.
She intended to assist the Dragon-race.
“N-no, that won’t do!”
“The Priestess must rest!”
“We shall handle it!”
The Dragon-race shook their heads in alarm.
“Huh? What? But I can help too.”
“What if the Priestess’s precious body were to suffer harm!”
“You must be famished from the channeling. We shall prepare a meal for you!”
“Please come this way, Priestess!”
Ha-eun suddenly found herself treated like royalty.
“Why are these guys suddenly—ugh! Okay, okay! Stop dragging me, you bastards!”
She was hauled away by the Dragon-race, her expression one of distress, dragged toward parts unknown.

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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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