The Regressed Sword Demon Is a Catastrophe-Class Inquisitor - Chapter 127

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

Chapter 127. Have you lost your mind?

Cough, cough—

Valter stood alone before his house, coughing as he shuffled forward.
Three chairs sat upon the meadow. One belonged to Valter, while the other two had been crafted long ago for Kael and Bella.
Recent rains had left fallen leaves scattered across their seats.

Pat, pat—

Valter brushed away the debris and dragged his chair beneath the tree. He settled into it, attempting to soothe his withering frame.

‘Spring has come again.’

The sky gleamed azure, and new life bloomed across the landscape.
It was strange—he was fading away, yet the world around him flourished with vitality.

‘Still, it’s not entirely unpleasant.’

He had once despised spring.
The warm sunlight would envelop him, and the cool spring breeze would brush against his nose—
Most of all, spring stirred memories of Tom. Happy memories that didn’t belong to his current existence.

‘That’s why I preferred winter.’

When the bitter cold pierced his bones and his ears turned crimson, such memories surfaced less frequently.

‘Has something changed since I met Kael and Bella?’

Perhaps so. Otherwise, the spring breeze wouldn’t suddenly feel so welcoming.

Cough, cough—

Valter coughed again. The fits had grown more frequent of late, and now they were nearly impossible to suppress.

‘…Will I make it through today?’

Valter habitually reached for the sword resting beside me.
Under ordinary circumstances, this would have been a welcome time. I had lacked the courage to take my own life, yet continuing to live held no meaning anymore.
But a few days ago, I received word from Kael.

– Actually, I’ve got business in the Empire. Once it’s done, I’ll stop by briefly with Bella.

At the very least, I wanted to meet them in sound condition before I died.
So I resolved to endure until then, yet as always, things never went according to my wishes.

‘Should I contact them beforehand…?’

I fumbled with the disposable communication artifact in my pocket. But soon I shook my head and withdrew my weathered hand.

‘I don’t deserve to meet them at the end.’

There was a promise I had made when I first met Kael.

– Still, if I ever truly come to wield the Sword of Joy… won’t you both see me off then?
– Well, that’s not difficult. Bella will sing a hymn that’s truly magnificent. It would be more than fitting as a requiem.
– Heh, I look forward to that.

They had promised to see me off once I obtained the Sword of Joy.
But the realm of the Sword of Joy remained distant for me. Only the Wrath of the Seven Deadly Sins lingered in this decaying body.

‘That’s why I never told them of my condition.’

I felt ashamed. To seek them out for my own selfish reasons when I couldn’t even keep my promise.
Yet the desire to see them remained. So even as I approached the end of my life, I couldn’t bring myself to abandon it.

‘If I could only attain the Sword of Joy now, then I could contact them.’

I recalled the teachings my master Kael had once imparted to me.

– Then try to recall memories from your past. It would be better than starting from a blank slate with nothing.

I closed my eyes and reminisced about the past. Sixty years ago, when I first met Tom.

– Are you alone now?

Tom, sitting amid the ruins, merely nodded with a vacant expression.

– Do you wish to live?
A nod.
– Then follow me.
A nod.

But Tom remained motionless like a puppet, so Valter exhaled deeply and lifted him into his arms.
Tom was only five years old at the time, so he weighed almost nothing.
Thus Tom came to stay at Valter’s House, and for a long while he spoke not a word.
Whether fed, bathed, or questioned, he merely responded with the faintest reactions, his spirit seemingly absent.
A year passed in this manner.

– Why.

Tom met Valter’s gaze for the first time.

– Why do you save me?
– What?
– You killed the villagers. I saw it.
– I merely fulfilled my contract. And now that contract is complete. That is all.
– I see….

Tom lowered his head, lost in thought. Yet he had already spent the past year sorting through his feelings.

– …What is your name, sir?
– Valter. And yours?
– Tom…. I’m Tom.
– Yes, Tom. Will you eat something?

Tom nodded. Then he wept silently.
After that, Tom followed Valter faithfully. One day, when Valter returned from mercenary work, Tom asked him.

– Valter. Will you teach me swordplay?
– Swordplay?
– Yes. I never want to feel helpless again.
– It will not be easy. Following my training will surely cause you pain.
– That’s fine. At least it won’t be worse than before.

A child who had matured far too quickly.

– Very well. Since it’s come to this, I’ll make sure you never lose to anyone.

Tom possessed a natural talent for the blade. When I gave him a small wooden sword as a child, he instinctively grasped the most efficient techniques.
So I abandoned my mercenary work to focus entirely on raising Tom. It was partly because of his talent, but truthfully, it was my own form of atonement.

– Valter!

Time passed swiftly, and Tom’s height grew before my eyes.
The boy who once looked up at me now towered over me with his broad frame.

– How do I look?

Yet that radiant smile remained unchanged from before. No one looking at Tom now would ever suspect he was a war orphan.

– Magnificent.

These were emotions I had never experienced before.
I had believed I could never live like others, yet the child from the village I had destroyed was teaching me countless feelings.
I felt I could sacrifice my very life for Tom.

– Valter! If I do well, I might even join the Imperial Guard!

It was an inevitable outcome. Tom had talent, and he had received my instruction since childhood.
But such brilliant talent inevitably invites the envy of others.

– ….

One day, Tom returned as a corpse.
The man beside him spoke carelessly. It was Raskin, the legitimate heir of the Bran Duchy.

– Well, that’s just how things turned out during the mission.
– …Who killed Tom? There aren’t many who could stand against him as he was now.
– Variables always emerge. This is the price for a commoner attempting to rise above his station.

My instincts screamed the truth.
This man killed Tom, and the Bran Duchy itself orchestrated it.

– …Why would you do something you’ll regret?
– Hmm? I’m not sure what you mean.
– ….
– In any case, I’ve delivered my message, so do as you see fit. I came all this way because you helped the Bran Duchy before.

He left his seat without a care in the world.
Afterward, Valter observed the knights of the Bran Duchy. Indeed, their swordplay matched Tom’s wounds almost perfectly.
With certainty now in hand, Valter sought out the Emperor. As one of the Empire’s strongest before becoming a mercenary, it was not difficult for him to have a private audience with the Emperor.

– Huh? The Bran Duchy killed your adopted son?
– Yes, Your Majesty.

The Emperor furrowed his brow in thought.

– And?
– …Your Majesty?
– The Bran Duchy has long been a pillar of the Empire. If such a family were to suffer damage, the Empire would also be harmed. This matter isn’t worth that cost.
– …You truly intend to overlook this?
– Yes. Now withdraw.

Valter laughed bitterly.

– Very well. Then I’ll make you answer for it soon enough.
– What, what?

The Emperor was flustered, but Valter had already left the Audience Chamber. He then grasped his sword and made his way to the capital of the Bran Duchy.

– Wait, you there with the sword—!

He cut down the guard protecting the territory. Others rushed at him, but they fell with a single stroke.
Residents screamed. He swung his blade to silence them.
Merchants, old men, children, women, men—he killed them all without discrimination.
I knew full well they were innocent. This was merely an outlet for my rage.
Even during my mercenary days, I killed many for contracts. I had no intention of playing the righteous man now.
Soon the territory was filled with screams, and blood pooled like puddles. My vision turned red.
When I reached the mansion, countless knights stood guard at the main gate.

– Stop! This place is—!

Shhwiiing──────!

A crescent of azure light materialized from Valter’s blade. The crescent swept across the night sky, cleaving the knights’ bodies in two.
Exhaustion was devoured by fury. He trampled over the corpses of the knights and entered the mansion.
He slaughtered the fleeing servants. He severed the breath of the family head who dared resist. And then he encountered Raskin, a candidate for the Imperial Guard just like Tom.

– I told you. Why would you do something you’d regret?
– H-hieek! M-monster…!

Raskin collapsed to his knees under that sinister gaze.

– You will die by my hand in the most excruciating way possible.

Valter killed Raskin with deliberate cruelty. I don’t remember the details clearly, but I do recall that his screams were quite satisfying.
After single-handedly exterminating the Bran Duchy, Valter did not rest and immediately headed toward the Imperial Palace.
News had already spread to the Imperial Palace, and knights of the Dawn Knight Order stood guard over the Emperor in the Audience Chamber.

– All I desire is the Emperor’s head. Hand him over, and I will depart without further bloodshed.

The knights flinched.
It was an absurd proposition—to surrender the sun of the Empire—but Valter’s overwhelming power made it impossible to dismiss.

– What are you doing?! Kill him at once! Bring me that traitor’s head immediately!

The knights exchanged glances with one another. As if by prior agreement, they stepped aside and opened a path.

– W-what is this…!

I learned later that they had already been swayed by the current Emperor, Ksabar.

– Much obliged.

Valter walked between the lined-up knights and slowly approached the Emperor.

– Your Majesty, it is time you took responsibility.

The Emperor retreated backward and spoke sharply.

– Why…! Why go this far! He wasn’t even your real son!
– Why, you ask?

Valter scoffed.

Shhhhhhh!

In that instant, a tremendous killing intent swept through the Audience Chamber. The knights couldn’t even draw breath beneath that overwhelming pressure.

– I never apologized to him. I never even thanked him.

I had meant to apologize to Tom for destroying his village, to thank him for teaching me so many emotions. But it was all too late now.
Everything had already slipped away.

– To someone like me, who was always far removed from the ordinary, Tom was….

Tears streamed down Valter’s cheeks.

– A single ray of light.

The next moment, light flashed across Valter’s blade.

– No…!

Crunch—!

The Emperor’s head fell. Seeing this, Valter collapsed to the ground.
He had exhausted immense magical power, and hadn’t slept for an entire week.
He had accepted death, but when he awoke, he found himself lying in some meadow.
The current Emperor had saved him. Likely to use Valter as a great evil to unite the Empire under a single banner.
After that, Valter became the Wrath of the Seven Deadly Sins and wandered the world.

“….”

Valter opened his eyes and emerged from the memories of the past. But rather than joy, only greater rage consumed him.
The happy memories were now stained with nothing but regret and fury.

‘Tsk, this is ruined.’

I gave up cleanly. It was impossible to feel joy again in this life.
Looking back now, joy was an emotion I didn’t deserve. I had stolen the happiness of countless people—I had no right to such a feeling.
This was right.
To spend my remaining years drowning in a sea of wrath, thrashing about until I suffocated and met death….

– Still, you should try. If you don’t want to spend your remaining years in pain.

A resolute voice brushed across my mind then. A memory that made me forget my wrath, even for a moment.

– Valter, I’ve left various things here for you, so please take good care of yourself. Don’t skip meals just because it’s bothersome.

This time it was a chiding tone. They belonged to Kael and Bella respectively.

– Tsk tsk, you’re joking. It’ll take longer than with Kael, but you’ll grow stronger than me someday too.
– Aw, are you teasing me too, Valter?
– Well. Whenever I see you, I can’t help but tease you.
– Bella has always been fun to tease.

A strange feeling. The wrath that had been boiling like magma just moments before began to subside in the gentlest breeze.
Soon the vivid memories tangled together haphazardly.

– Still, I’m grateful.

Kael expressing his thanks.

– Wow, you startled me! When did you get there? I thought you were dust!

Bella jumping in surprise.

– It’s been a while.

Kael smiling gently.

– Hehe, well, I’m an adult now after all.

Bella puffing up with pride.
Though they were fragmented moments of memory, somehow my mind grew clear and my heart found peace.
I had only known them for a few months. Those years were but a fleeting instant compared to the time I had lived as Valter.
Yet why did these memories linger so? Why did I miss them so deeply?

‘Tsk, tsk….’

I did want to see them after all….

“Have you lost your mind?”

Someone spoke then—a sharp voice carried on the spring breeze.

“No, you’ve clearly gone mad at last.”

Someone had drawn near without my noticing. My weakened body had failed to sense their approach.
Valter turned his head slowly.
Beneath Falling Leaves, a pair stood motionless—a man and a woman.
Noble bearing revealed beneath black priestly robes. A black sword at his waist. Eyes that gazed down upon me with cold disdain.

‘Kael Luminara.’

And the woman carrying a large satchel, who had become a proper lady in mere months.

‘Bella.’

Upon seeing their faces, something within my chest swelled with a profound sense of fulfillment.
My rigid lips melted like frost beneath sunlight, surrendering without resistance.

‘Ah….’

Yes. That was it.
This was precisely the feeling I sought….
How could I have forgotten? What you taught me was always this close.

“Welcome.”

You are far too precious for someone like me….

* * *

I exhaled deeply as I watched Valter smile.

“I’ll ask once more then. Do you have no desire to live on?”

I had posed the same question before, but Valter had refused me in the same way.

– A sinful wretch like me has already lived far too long. I have no intention of prolonging this existence any further.

Still, in case Valter’s mind might change, I had packed several materials capable of infusing life force into Bella’s bag.
Of course, prolonging his life would only grant us another month or two, but at least during that time, I could see his face more often.
Valter shook his head.

“That’s enough. This is sufficient.”
“Why? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t die until you obtained ‘Joy’?”

Bella nodded repeatedly beside me in agreement. Yet Valter merely maintained a faint smile.

“That’s no longer an issue.”

I gazed at Valter quietly, then let out a soft laugh. Still as stubborn as ever, this old man.

“Then so be it.”
“Tsk tsk, but first, do sit down.”

Valter gestured toward a chair with his eyes. It was clean despite the rain that must have fallen.

“Let us share one final conversation.”

Bella and I gazed at Valter in silence.
Then, nodding quietly, we brought chairs and sat before him.
Fortunately, in this life, I would be able to give him a proper farewell.

(To be continued in the next chapter)

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