The Regressed Magic Swordsman Devours the North - Chapter 54

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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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Episode 54. Execution and Funeral
Sion turned to look at Bwindol.
During their investigation into Travis, Bwindol had once shared his story.
[When I was young, I lived with my father, mother, uncle, aunt, and cousins.
We were close-knit. That’s how rural families are. Harsh to outsiders, but intimate with one another.
My cousins were named Kal and Ron. We were like brothers.
But when I turned thirteen…….
My uncle suddenly disappeared.
I didn’t understand it then, but looking back now, there were signs of struggle in his room. Blood splattered on the walls.
My aunt left Kal and Ron in my care and traveled far and wide searching for my uncle.
Of course, she went with the Travis regional police.
She returned home only once or twice a year, and each time she said the same thing.
Something’s wrong with the police.
They’re hiding something.
The lord is strange too.
It felt like he was mocking me.
Five years later, my aunt lost her mind.
Finally……she died in her own room.
After that, my family and I seemed to live with nails driven through our hearts.
Now I realize they were all in it together. How ridiculous it all seemed.]
Bwindol’s expression was enigmatic—something between a sense of release and the contemplation of a painful past.
Before the stench of blood had even faded from the banquet hall, Inspection Bureau personnel arrived.
There were roughly two hundred of them.
“Take them into custody.”
“Yes, sir!”
At Sion’s command, they moved with perfect synchronization, escorting the nobles away.
After that, the Inspection Bureau’s response was swift.
Personnel dispersed across all of Travis, conducting raids on the estates and businesses of corrupt nobles, cross-referencing evidence and documentation.
But here was the absurdity: not a single arrested noble or businessman was free from corruption.
One officer shook his head in disbelief.
“Fifteen years…… or perhaps even longer. It’s been going on all this time.”
“Then what about the common folk who suffered during all those years…… Damn it. What have we been doing?”
Those who had participated only under duress or had not conspired using the lives of common folk—in other words, those whose crimes were relatively less severe—were not sentenced to death, yet they still received substantial penalties.
Still, they considered themselves fortunate.
Over eighty percent of the arrested nobles and businessmen had been sentenced to death.
The Travis regional police force had not only been suspended from all duties by the Inspection Bureau but had also become subjects of investigation.
They too could hardly escape punishment, and the resulting security vacuum was to be filled by the Inspection Bureau and police from Seiren.
Naturally, this led to severe understaffing, which Sion promptly addressed.
“First, let’s hire the unemployed wandering knights. They’re not only strong but also well-versed in Travis’s terrain and ways.”
Remarkably, the wandering knights, still knights in their own right, had been almost entirely uninvolved in the nobles’ crimes.
Though they were technically under the nobles’ authority, there had been a distance between them and the aristocracy. Understandably—a single misstep could have cost them their lives.
And.
“Let’s also employ some members of the Self-Defense Corps.”
Under the command of Julian and Seltae, the Self-Defense Corps quietly disbanded.
Some of its members now cooperated with the Seiren police to maintain security in Travis.
This had been possible largely thanks to Julian and Seltae.
“Work hard. You might get hired to fill the vacant positions.”
“Yes! Commander Julian! Thank you for everything you’ve done! You are Travis’s savior!”
The Self-Defense Corps held such deep trust in Julian that they were cooperative with both the Inspection Bureau and the central police.
Julian was uncomfortable with being addressed that way, but his reputation had already spread throughout all of Travis.
Thus Travis gradually restored stability, and not long after.
Midgal came down personally, gathered those whose sentences had been finalized in one place, and carried out the Iron-Blooded Purge.
“Nobles who trafficked in the common folk of the Northern Region and profited obscenely. You shameless wretches—I strip you of your titles by the authority of the Northern Inspection Bureau.”
In essence, House Karsen, spoken of as the virtual king of the North, was stripping them of their peerage.
Just as the Central Empire’s monarch strips nobles of their titles.
“Furthermore, invoking joint responsibility, we shall execute all members of the implicated noble families.”
Their crimes had long since crossed the point of no return, and there was no room for mercy.
So harsh was the punishment that one might wonder if it was necessary to go this far.
Every member of the families of the guilty—wives, children, all of them—were executed.
“No! I did nothing wrong! I knew nothing! It’s all my incompetent father’s fault!”
Caster von Bern cursed at Duke Sven even as he cried out, but Sven simply intoned something low and hollow, his face drained of all color.
“It was nothing. Just handing over a few territory dwellers…. It was part of technological advancement…. Their sacrifice could have led to Travis’s greater development….”
—Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
Hundreds of nobles and businessmen, bound in an open field, fell to rifle fire.
Bester Stern simply wept. His expression was one of complete bewilderment—he still could not fathom how things had come to this.
But.
Bang——!
Death came for all equally.
The purge of the Travis Cartel unfolded spectacularly, as though serving as a stern warning to the entire Northern Region.
Sion and his companions watched the proceedings in silence.
Silvia, Lui, and Bill believed that through their efforts, they had done well to completely cleanse the Travis Cartel of the rot and stagnation that had festered there.
Yet at the same time, they questioned whether killing everyone like this was truly right.
Rather than rejoicing in their accomplishments, they were those who wrestled with the meaning of righteousness. They were knights.
Bwindol, however, was different.
Bwindol thought of his family still waiting back home.
‘If things hadn’t been done this way, my family might have been captured and subjected to terrible experiments.’
He questioned himself: ‘Prince Sion’s methods are severe, but…. what if they hadn’t been? What would I say to the victims?’
Bwindol had no answer. And so he chose to believe Sion was right—even if such trust was misplaced.
Of course, Sion’s thoughts ran in another direction entirely.
‘I can’t waste any more time cleaning up these rats that spread plague.’
Sion recalled a particular image.
A desolate vision: everyone in the Northern Region torn to shreds by demonic beasts, and above them all, a pristine white snowfield taking root.
That sight—so hollow and sorrowful—filled him with urgency and anguish.
The day countless criminals were executed.
A massive proclamation was posted at the main gate of each city’s lord’s residence.
A decree bearing the great seal of House Karsen, declaring that as of this day, Travis would henceforth be a Direct Territory of House Karsen.
『From this day forward, the autonomy of all nobles—including Duke Caster’s house—over Travis Territory is hereby confiscated.
……(excerpt omitted)
Therefore, Travis Territory shall be administered by House Karsen and the Inspection Bureau, and shall be treated as Direct Territory.』
Of course.
The territory dwellers of Travis cheered.
And so days passed.
Though countless people died, those who lived would find a way to keep living.
They woke with the morning and moved their bodies under the sun, alive.
They worked to eat.
They ate to work.
After eating, they worked again.
They slept to work the next day.
By now, they could no longer remember which came first.
That is how they lived.
Yet people still needed ritual. A ceremony to forget the past and move forward into life.
***
The sky hung gray and oppressive.
Silence settled over the green fields.
Cadis, the heart of Travis Territory.
At its center, the cemetery of Duke Caster’s house.
A place reserved for nobles alone—yet here lay every corpse transported from Post 24.
Thousands upon thousands of bodies. The Inspection Bureau had assumed all costs and procedures of the burial.
E5 Francis, Iron Fang, Red Three Eyes, Green Serpent, and more.
A funeral honoring all the territory dwellers caught in the ‘incidents’ that had spread through Travis like plague.
“You go on ahead and wait for me. I’ll raise the children and follow after you.”
A woman bidding farewell to her dead husband.
“……You spent your whole life struggling, and now you’re gone.”
A man mourning a departed friend.
People who could only weep.
Even those courageous souls who had once stepped forward to establish the Self-Defense Corps and protect their people themselves.
They stood in solemn rows, their faces wrapped in grave silence.
Crunch—crunch—
Then.
All eyes turned toward a single point.
Sion walked along the cemetery path where light rain fell, dressed in black uniform, eyes holding the depths of an abyss.
He moved methodically among the graves, laying chrysanthemums at each stone. Then, turning back to face the cemetery, he closed his eyes and observed a moment of silence.
The raindrops grew heavier, soaking into Sion’s hair and shoulders.
People’s eyes filled with the sight of Sion. Those who had learned the full truth of events saw him as nothing less than a hero.
Would any of this have been possible without him? Why had he changed so suddenly, so completely?
Countless questions lay beneath the surface, and above them, admiration bloomed softly.
—Truly, the House Karsen.
—A genuinely noble house.
Such sentiments took root, unspoken but unmistakable.
Next came Silvia, Lui, Bwindol, Bill, the Seltae knights, and Inspection Bureau agents, who moved among the graves laying flowers and standing before the cemetery in silent tribute.
And then.
They formed ranks in a field some distance from the crowd.
Julian placed a hand on Sion’s shoulder and spoke.
“Thank you.”
Though it was only one phrase, everyone heard it, and Sion bowed his head in response.
“The Inspector General approaches.”
Midgal, the Inspector General, walked toward them from a distance. He laid flowers at the grave and observed his silence, then took his place before the Inspection Bureau agents and Seltae knights.
His first words were.
“All of you…… have worked hard.”
Midgal’s somber, heavy voice cut through the damp air.
“I believe each of you has come to understand something through this incident.”
His gaze touched each agent in turn. His eyes seemed to speak a truth unto themselves.
That this was work the Inspection Bureau should have done long ago, but had failed to accomplish.
And the result was…….
Thousands upon thousands of corpses.
“After we conclude this funeral, we close this case. And.”
The words and sentences that rang from the Iron-Blooded Knight embedded themselves keenly in the ears of the Inspection Bureau agents.
“From now on, we will not postpone what must be done.”
Patter—patter—
The Inspection Bureau agents simply stood and accepted the thickening raindrops in silence.
Their gaze fell upon the graves.
Their hearts sank heavy.
And all of this unfolded before.
Click—click—
The cameras of journalists who had come to Travis, capturing every moment.
In the near future.
Journalists including Charles of the Daily transformed this shocking incident into headlines.
『The Tragedy of Travis Laid Bare.
The kidnappings that had plagued the people of the Travis Territory so relentlessly—their architect was the very power structure of Travis itself, and they washed their sins in blood.
……(excerpt omitted).
The resolution of all these cases fell to the newly established Special Investigation Headquarters within the Inspection Bureau.
The people of the Travis Territory say, “It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of the Northern Region now rests upon their shoulders. Just look at what has become of Travis……”
…….
…….
_Charles.』
There was more than one.
『The Inspection Bureau’s Special Investigation Headquarters.
Known informally as the Special Division.
As the tragedy that unfolded in Travis surfaced for all to see, the achievements of the Special Division draw attention.
What is remarkable is that the head of the Special Division is Sion Karsen.
A witness to this case, Q, remarks as follows.
“Would Travis have changed without him? He is nothing short of a true nobleman.”
Meanwhile, P, who assisted him in gathering evidence, says this.
“That he is a true nobleman goes without saying. But he is a genuine employer. I envy those who will work under him going forward.”
……(excerpt omitted)
What he brought was, without question, sunlight. Merciless to darkness, yet boundless in warmth to all life. The future actions of the Special Division are greatly anticipated.
_Charles.』
People read the articles.
In particular, they read the articles from the Daily.
Naturally, the Daily’s newspapers sold like wildfire, and inquiries for advertisements and publicity poured in.
Thanks to this, Daily was able to pull itself out of the red.
Charles climbed the ranks at breakneck speed.
Charles, a reporter at Daily. He still thinks of that day sometimes.
When he saw Sion at his usual bar, Igwen Luna. That tremor he felt.
“Maybe I’ll try writing a novel next.”
The protagonist would be Sion. No—he’d change the name to Sigrun Kaiser.
“Oh, that works.”
Charles turned back to the typewriter.
Click, tap-tap, tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap.
The Regressed Demon Swordmaster Devours the Northern Region
Author
: Careless
Date of Creation
: June 16, 2026
Publisher
: Ace Systems Media Co., Ltd.
Editor
: Ace Systems Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work has been published by Ace Systems Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with the copyright holder’s contract,
and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the express permission of the company and author.
This e-book is protected under copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260615032

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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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