Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 298

298―――――

Lies with sincerity, act with absurdity.

“Or, are you all in this together?”

The meaning of those words was beyond imagination.

Although the fairies were often regarded by humans and beast-people as a race with ‘unnecessarily high pride,’ they had always agreed that they were the seed of light.

They were considered a race that helped the Celestial Race and tried to bring light to this land rather than shadows.

“What did you just say?”

Sion’s words refuted that head-on.

He was saying that all the talk about being followers of a great race or seeds of light was nonsense.

Wasn’t it possible that they had already fallen and were following the Demon Race?

The human before them was asking that.

“…Human.

Do you want to die?”

The moment those words were heard, Rishicata immediately drew her sword and glared fiercely.

At the same time, the fairy next to Pintz immediately nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring.

As the guards drew their weapons, the Hispania and Nudia forces, stationed not far away, also entered battle readiness.

“…

”“…”

A situation where it felt like anything could explode with a single move or word.

However, Sion was not one to be intimidated by such a situation.

He had Kim Yoo-hyun, the ultimate weapon, right next to him, and all that was behind the fairies was the barely gathered Nudia army, so what was there to fear?

‘If the Celestial Race had come, maybe, but why would I fear those guys?’

Sion slowly raised his hand.

Then, he lightly pressed down on Rishicata’s sword, who looked like she was about to rush forward and behead the fairy woman who dared to talk nonsense to her master.

“Master?”

“Calm down.

It’s too early to draw your sword yet.”

With those words, Sion called for the Hispania mage he had brought with him.

As if he had been forewarned by Sion’s gesture, he used amplification magic to make their words more audible to each side’s army.

The fairies wore unpleasant expressions at this action, but if they were to say anything against it, they might be suspected of harboring strange intentions, so they had no choice but to allow the Hispania mage’s amplification magic.

“You’re saying that the fighting between Nudia and our Hispania was orchestrated by the Demon Race or their followers from behind.”

“That’s right.”

“Then what is this?”

Sion held out several arrows.

They might seem unremarkable at first glance, but they were made using branches from trees that had lived for at least hundreds of years in the forests where fairies resided.

Sion, who already knew all the information, continued in a knowing tone.

“If there were skilled individuals capable of imbuing such high-quality arrows with mana [magical energy], wouldn’t they be placed in the main force? Why did these appear when the Nudia 1st Army attacked?”

“…How would we know that?”

“Don’t you know what these arrows are?”

“What’s with the human arrows?”

“Human arrows?

Or fairy arrows?

That’s what I want to ask.”

“How absurd. What are you doing with arrows? Are you trying to play a joke? I heard that Hispania has really fallen into the hands of the Demon Race’s followers, but what do you want to say to the fairies now?”

“I see. The Nudia 1st Army, which doesn’t even know the geography well, attacked the Hispania main force as if someone had thoroughly scouted and accurately relayed information. They clearly possessed dozens of excellent archers capable of sniping commanders in an instant, but their identities are unknown. This is quite strange.”

You can’t start with something too strong from the beginning.

If you do, the guys who are intimidated from the start will run away, so the best way is to test the waters with things that the other side can parry and let them reveal loopholes that could become their weaknesses.

Pintz still had a ‘so what?’ expression on her face.

As she said, arrows alone cannot shake them or Nudia behind them.

However, it left at least a minimum of doubt, and it was not difficult to create an ‘uh-oh?’ atmosphere among the Hispania soldiers.

“Then, now that we’ve arranged this meeting, let’s find out in detail why Hispania came all the way here to stage this show of force, everyone.”

With those words, Sion signaled to the Hispania side, and after a while, knights from Clausen’s side approached them with a large sack containing something.

“…?”

Clearly, something was inside, but there was no movement at all.

Just as the fairies, including Pintz, were about to open their mouths to ask what it was, Kim Yoo-hyun stepped forward and lightly brushed it off, saying.

“You can move now.”

Then, suddenly, something wriggled inside the sack, struggling as if to ask them to open it quickly.

While the fairies were making bewildered expressions, Kim Yoo-hyun added a word.

“If you don’t stay still, I might have to massage you again.”

“…”

Immediately stopping the movement and freezing completely.

Wondering what this was, not only the fairies but even Pintz narrowed their eyes.

Kim Yoo-hyun, who opened the sack, put his hand in and grabbed the hair as if pulling out a radish, and pulled it out!

“…”

Perhaps no one noticed.

The moment a familiar face appeared from inside the sack, Pintz’s face wavered for a moment.

However, she immediately returned her expression to normal and instead made a face as if to ask what it was.

“…Human.

What are you doing?”

Instead, the other fairies began to growl with angry faces.

What Kim Yoo-hyun took out of the sack was a completely deranged fairy, Novashi.

“Do you know what kind of fairy this friend is?”

“Who cares? The important thing is that you humans are doing something to our kin…”

“This fairy is a suspect who brought monsters into the Clausen territory, trying to taint Hispania with chaos and evil. I caught him on the spot.”

Hearing those words, Pintz clicked her tongue inwardly.

She knew something was wrong since she had lost contact, but she never thought that he would be captured alive rather than committing suicide.

For a fairy to be captured by a human, it would have to be a child, lack combat ability, or be completely ambushed, but the comrades who were driving the monsters into Clausen at the time did not fall into any of those three categories.

Yet, he was captured alive, so it was bound to be a somewhat concerning part.

“Isn’t it strange? Fairies call themselves the seeds of the Celestial Race and spread the will and teachings of light, but why did they suddenly drive monsters into Clausen?”

“Maybe they were being chased by monsters.”

“Ah, I see. A fairy, who claims to be the noblest and most superior race, was frightened by monsters and ran away, only to be caught by a human? I can hear the slave traders cheering all the way over here.”

“Watch your mouth.”

“If you want to shut my mouth, seal it with a proper reason, not threats. What do you think, you who have inherited the will of the forest? What on earth is this fairy? Why would he brazenly do something harmful to Hispania and end up like this?”

“…”

“The others seem curious, so let’s hear it directly.”

When Sion subtly signaled to Kim Yoo-hyun, he approached Novashi.

Then, from an angle that others could not see, he clenched his fist and properly threatened him that he might experience the special artifacts of Mount Murim [a fictional martial arts world] once again if he did not cooperate.

Nod nod nod nod!―

Novashi showed a tremendous nod, as if he would never accept that artifact again.

Then, without even being told, he immediately opened his mouth and began to tell his story.

“I am… ah, no! I am Novashi. As a noble forest race, I accepted the task to inherit the will of light and spread it more widely, and to accomplish that, I released monsters into Clausen to destroy it together with Nudia and put pressure on Hispania!”

“Say it again. As who, with whom, who did you target?”

“A, as a fairy, I targeted Hispania with Nudia!”

Even though the one who inherits the will of the forest, who can be said to be the leader of the radical fairies and a hero from the fairies’ point of view, was in front of him, Novashi did not hesitate to tell the truth.

Honor is far away, and fists are close.

Especially since Novashi was driven to the brink of madness by the pain that felt like ants crawling on every blood vessel every time Kim Yoo-hyun’s hand touched him.

He just wanted to never feel that pain again, and he just wanted to live or at least die without pain, regardless of the task.

“…! ··· ···!”

“··· ···!”

The murmuring sounds were heard from all directions, so much so that it was hard to even know what they were saying.

However, it was clear that both Hispania and Nudia were surprised and embarrassed to hear facts they had never known directly from the mouth of a fairy.

Pintz also frowned as if she had not anticipated this.

She had been confident that her comrade, who was united by conviction and duty and would not open his mouth to any torture, was easily giving up and spewing out all sorts of information.

Even the next words were at a level that could be fatal to the current atmosphere.

“And! The fairies over there! They are my comrades who were with me!”

“Those who tried to overthrow Hispania by helping Nudia?”

“That’s right!”

As expected, Murim is good.

He’s just spitting it all out like this.

Thinking so, Sion turned his head and looked at Pintz and the fairies.

A silent question of what they thought of this fairy’s words.

“…”

Pintz quickly turned her head.

If she hesitated further, avoided answering, or got angry for no reason, she would only arouse greater suspicion.

In order to really give the feeling that they were innocent, she had to not panic, show a slightly angry appearance, and at the same time find a weakness and latch onto it.

“I’m embarrassed. I never thought there would be a truly corrupt person among the fairies.”

“Hmm?”

“I only heard rumors. There was talk that there were betrayers among the fairies who followed the Demon Race, but it seems that the one you caught is such a guy.”

Pintz quickly switched her stance, retreated slightly, and immediately abandoned Novashi.

Her appearance was so natural that even Sion, who was watching together, thought for a moment that he felt the ‘anger and sorrow felt by a betrayed comrade’ very deeply.

‘Look at these bastards?’

Their ability to escape was excellent, their ability to cut ties was almost at the speed of light, and their acting was perfect.

To this extent, even Hispania, who presented the evidence, would be in trouble.

However, to Sion, who already knew all the facts, it was just acting.

‘Are you trying to do this? Really want to try it properly?’

If they just passed it off nicely and said, ‘Yes! Actually, we were the bad guys! Aha ha!’ he would have treated them a little bit like villains, but this just made him feel dirty.

Now that it’s come to this, Sion opened his mouth with the intention of completely destroying these fairies.

“…A fairy who has fallen to the Demon Race.”

“That’s right. As time passed, our kin became tainted and defiled, and eventually corrupted.”

“Humans also get dirty easily, so it’s understandable. But, fairies? If the fairies have fallen, shouldn’t you stop using the words ‘seeds of light’?”

“What?”

“Until now, you have always called yourselves noble, honorable, and a race that follows the will of light. But now that such a corrupt person has appeared and is trying to harm the human world, what right do those who can’t even properly manage their own kin have to discuss continental peace or the will of light?”

“…”

“In this case, you are no different from humans, the same corrupt, the same betraying, and the same doing bad things, the same followers of the Demon Race, so can you think of yourselves as seeds of light now?”

“That’s!”

“Who knows? According to those words, you may have fallen and become followers of the Demon Race, and you may be lying to get through the current situation?”

Soft and gentle words of mockery poured out of Sion’s mouth.

The problem was that the words ‘fairies can also fall’ came out of the mouth of a fairy, even the one who inherits the will of the forest, who is quite an important figure among the fairies.

Other races unconsciously think of fairies as annoying people who are a bit obnoxious and pretend to be noble, but they don’t say they are evil.

Thanks to their appearance, atmosphere, and the fact that they themselves shout out the seeds of light every time, the image has been clearly created.

But the fairy himself broke it.

They can fall, they can betray.

While saying they are the seeds of light, while saying they are the will of light, they can manipulate good people as much as they want.

‘Even if you were in a hurry, you shouldn’t have crossed the line you shouldn’t have crossed.’

If they kept their mouths shut, it would seem like they were affirming it.

But if they gave a vague answer, it would only arouse more suspicion, so it seemed like they were lying to get through this situation, but they chose the wrong opponent.

Sion was the one who not only knew everything, but also grabbed the opponent’s weaknesses as much as possible, dragged them out, and provoked them until they got tired, angry, and eventually exploded.

“We are innocent. I swear to the forest, I can say that with certainty.”

“Does that mean?”

“That person is clearly a follower of the Demon Race who betrayed his kin and the light. Don’t be fooled by those words and antagonize innocent people.”

The fairies were still telling insincere lies.

At this point, it seemed like it was time to move on to the next chapter.

The most interesting thing in the world is a *makjang* story [Korean drama characterized by exaggerated plot twists and emotional turmoil], and this situation was like the introduction to the climax of that *makjang* story.

Sion raised his hand again and called another person here.

Then, a woman from the Hispania side began to approach them with light steps.

“There is someone I would like to introduce to the fairies who still regard themselves as dignified. She is a guest who came to visit us a day ago, and I thought it would be good for you to meet her.”

With those words, Sion subtly put a woman forward.

―――――――Author’s Note―――――――

1!