Not A Regressor - Chapter 321

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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 321
Interlude—Kailus Benedictus
“Phew.”
Kwon O-jin set down the microphone in his hand behind the podium, a faint smile crossing his face.
‘It went better than I expected.’
I had a certain degree of confidence, after all.
Though the Dragon God’s soul lacked a will of its own, the power contained within it was genuine.
Seeing wings of flame stretching dozens of meters across, one could hardly help but think of the Dragon God.
‘And my Elder Sister is an awakener of the Dragon-race Constellation stigma.’
The Dragon’s Eye, the Dragon-race Constellation stigma, the dragon’s heart obtained from Baekdudsan before, and even the Dragon God’s soul.
‘This feels like a complete bundle set for becoming a Dragon God.’
Ha-eun had gathered all dragon-related powers as if collecting the limbs of some forbidden entity—if she couldn’t pull this off, something would be fundamentally wrong.
The conditions were already sufficiently in place.
Ha-eun’s lacking acting ability was covered by my mimicking the Dragon God’s voice instead, so there was no real problem.
‘And Kelion’s help was invaluable too.’
With the Dragon-race elder stepping forward to play the role of supporter, we received almost no suspicious glances.
With conditions this favorable stacked together, failing would be grounds for losing my credentials as a con artist.
“Well, either way, this settles everything.”
The Dragon-race gained hope for their lives.
Ha-eun obtained the Dragon God’s power.
And that’s not all.
Thousands upon thousands of followers who believed in and supported Ha-eun—there could be no more perfect outcome than this.
‘What my Elder Sister lacked was a vanguard.’
With thousands of Dragon-race warriors protecting her, Ha-eun’s formidable firepower could be utilized at full capacity.
This was far greater gain than I had anticipated.
‘What remains is controlling the Dragon-race’s mana rampage.’
Until now, they had managed to suppress it through the Dragon-race Constellation stigma.
But as time passed, more and more Dragon-race would lose control of their mana.
‘That can be resolved to some extent with my Elder Sister’s Dragon’s Eye.’
The Dragon’s Eye’s power—controlling dragon mana.
It could even control the Dragon God’s soul, so it certainly wouldn’t fail to control the mana dwelling within the Dragon-race.
“It seems to have been resolved well, as you said.”
Kelion approached Kwon O-jin, who was hiding behind the podium.
His eyes carried a hint of unease at having told lies, yet his expression was noticeably brighter than before.
“Yes, now the Dragon-race will have hope to live by.”
Though they would no longer receive the Dragon God’s direct care as before.
They would emerge from the Dragon God’s protection and live as a true entity—the Dragon-race—rather than slaves.
‘For now, it feels like my Elder Sister is simply replacing the Dragon God’s role.’
But as time passed, wouldn’t they change too?
No—they would have to change.
The Demon Realm was no gentle world where one could survive indefinitely on another’s aid.
“Now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem entirely wrong.”
Kelion gazed up at the sky, murmuring in a wistful voice.
“What do you mean?”
“Kailus Benedictus’s prophecy.”
The prophecy that a woman bearing the visage of a dragon would save the Dragon-race.
Of course, the Dragon God had not awakened, but hadn’t his prophecy come to pass with uncanny precision?
“It’s different from the salvation we imagined… but seeing them smile so brightly like that, I wonder if this wasn’t the true salvation Kailus Benedictus prophesied after all.”
Kelion smiled benevolently, watching the Dragon-race pour out of the Grand Banquet Hall in a rushing tide.
The Dragon-race—a species born to serve and revere dragons.
Wasn’t this moment, when they had cast off the shackles of slavery and taken their first independent step, the truest salvation of all?
Kwon O-jin chuckled softly, observing Kelion lost in contemplation.
“Well, if you put it that way, it does fit rather well….”
Abruptly.
Kwon O-jin’s movements froze.
‘…Wait.’
Yes.
Looking at the results, his prophecy fits rather well.
Disturbingly so.
Unnaturally so.
Precisely.
“Elder, what exactly did Kailus Benedictus’s prophecy say?”
“Hmm? Didn’t I tell you at the beginning?”
Kelion tilted his head and continued.
“It was a prophecy that a woman bearing the visage of a dragon would awaken the sleeping Dragon God and save the Dragon-race.”
The only part that missed the mark was ‘awakening the sleeping Dragon God.’
Everything else fit, just as Kelion had said.
‘Wait a moment.’
My head burned.
A chilling shudder rippled down my spine.
“Elder… why did the Dragon God fall asleep?”
“He used too much power in the battle against the Demon Race, or so I was told.”
“And who told you that?”
“Kailus Benedictus himself. He fought alongside the Dragon God until the very end of the final war.”
Wasn’t something strange about this?
Using too much power in the midst of war and simply ‘falling asleep.’
“…Then the transfer of the Dragon God’s soul into the Spirit Stone as well…”
“Of course it was Kailus Benedictus.”
“….”
Creak, creak.
The sensation of misaligned gears finally clicking into place.
I gripped my fevered forehead and ground my teeth together.
Why.
Why had only the prophecy about ‘awakening the sleeping Dragon God’ gone awry?
‘What if there was never any intention to awaken the sleeping Dragon God from the start?’
No.
What if the Dragon God being ‘asleep’ was his intention all along?
‘If that’s the case, then Kailous’s true identity is….’
I bit my lip.
There was one more thing that bothered me.
“What was that human prophet’s name again?”
“Kailous. Kailus Benedictus, sir.”
Kailus Benedictus.
“…Benedictus.”
It was a word that felt strangely familiar.
I shot up from my seat and rushed urgently out of the Grand Banquet Hall.
I heard Kelion’s startled voice behind me.
I ignored it.
“Damn it…!”
Why hadn’t I noticed this sooner.
Why hadn’t I realized it faster.
The place I ran to after leaving the Grand Banquet Hall was the house where Ha-eun, Isabella, and I had been staying.
One of the few houses that had remained intact in the Ruined City devastated by the Demon Race’s invasion.
Crash!
As I roughly opened the door and stepped inside, I saw Isabella with a startled expression.
“W-What’s wrong?”
She, who had no particular role to play in this con, had been quietly waiting at home for Ha-eun and me.
I stared at Isabella, breathing heavily.
“Have you ever heard the word Benedictus?”
“Benedictus?”
“Yeah.”
If even someone like me, who hadn’t received proper elementary education, vaguely remembered hearing it somewhere, then Isabella, who had received gifted education since childhood, would surely know the meaning of that word.
“It’s a word frequently used in Catholicism.”
“Catholicism?”
“Yes. A former Pope was also named Benedict.”
Isabella nodded and wrote ‘Benedictio’ in her notebook.
“In Latin, it means ‘grace’ or ‘blessing.'”
“….”
A viscous, sickening dread crawled down my spine.
I clenched my fists until they threatened to shatter as I continued.
“What about Kailous?”
“Hmm. If Kailous is Latin, then….”
This time, what I wrote in my notebook was the word ‘Caelus’.
“Ah! It means ‘sky’!”
Kailus Benedictus.
Caelus Benedictio
Sky, grace.
The grace of the sky.
“…Ha-eun.”
Ha.
A languid, hollow laugh escaped between my lips.
I pressed my hand against my forehead and shook my shoulders.
“Why Elder Sister?”
Isabella tilted her head in confusion.
She wouldn’t understand.
The meaning hidden within the name ‘Ha-eun’.
Only I and Ha-eun knew that in this entire world.
‘No.’
There was one more.
Though I couldn’t say whether that should be counted as ‘three’.
“Sorry, I’ll step out for a moment.”
“Oh, Kwon O-jin?”
I pushed through the door and left.
I activated the stigma of Canis Major Constellation to locate where Ha-eun was.
“Aaaah! Let go! Let go, you guys! I can still work!”
“Please rest, Priestess!”
Ha-eun was surrounded by Dragon-race members, chattering away cheerfully.
I watched her from a distance, leaning my back against the wall.
I gazed up at the sky and let out a quiet laugh.
The grace of the sky, indeed.
“…Did you hope that Elder Sister would understand?”
Or perhaps it was merely self-satisfaction.
“Why did you….”
I was about to ask why you did such a thing when a memory from the past suddenly flashed through my mind.
A rooftop drenched in starlight.
The promise I had made with that girl there.
The vow carved into my heart.
-I’ll protect you, Elder Sister.
Yes.
I had uttered those words, intoxicated by foolish sentiment.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
Protection didn’t necessarily mean stepping forward to shield her directly.
Growing stronger myself was also a form of it.
Creating thousands, tens of thousands of followers to make her their object of devotion—that too.
Broadly speaking, all of it fell within the act of ‘protection’.
“How many people did you sacrifice for this?!”
Fury struck like lightning, surging through my veins.
If I was the one who put the Dragon God to sleep a hundred years ago.
If all of this was nothing but an elaborate deception for Ha-eun’s sake.
Then what had the Dragon-race endured all this time, clinging to the prophecy of his awakening through those endless ages?
-Truth doesn’t matter, Elder Sister.
The words I had hurled at Ha-eun came boomeranging back toward me.
What did it matter how many people were deceived?
Truth doesn’t matter.
Because.
“…only what appears to be the truth holds any weight.”
I ground my teeth, biting down on my lips until they bled.
Yes.
I could understand.
I couldn’t help but understand.
You were me.
I was you.

* * *
Glug, glug.
The black miasma shifts and warps like viscous tar.
A body so grotesquely distorted that its very form becomes unrecognizable.
Like a child kneading mud haphazardly, my flesh crumbles and regenerates in endless cycles.
“Ugh.”
The price of reversing time.
The penalty for defying the natural order of the stars has seeped into my body like poison.
And yet.
Even so.
“Ha, haha.”
I let out a final laugh.
Within the black miasma that shifts its form every second, a blue glow flickers brilliantly.
“It… went in well.”
I could feel the gift I had prepared so long ago finally reaching its rightful owner.
A parched laugh escaped through the gaps in the black miasma.
“Did I… keep… the promise?”
But then.
Who was that promise made with?

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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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