Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 103

103―――――

Somewhere Between a Black Flame Dragon and Blackening

“…”

“Jimmy.”

“J, Jimmy Faker!”

At the automatically blurted response, Sion had to emphasize once more, ‘This isn’t the military.’

He had been visiting frequently to close the distance, as Jimmy was too intimidated by him. He thought they had grown closer because the guy, who used to answer with ‘Yes, sir!’ or ‘Is that so!’ when he made a joke, was now laughing.

But now, riding in this incredibly luxurious carriage, surrounded by knights who were difficult even to talk to, he seemed to have realized once again that the man sitting before him was the heir to Count Klausen’s Frontier and the future Count Klausen’s Frontier.

“Why are you so nervous?”

“I, I’m not nervous!”

“…”

He says he’s not nervous.

Well, whatever.

Since he says he’s not nervous, I decided not to press him about it.

Sion shrugged and glanced to his side.

There, Lilith, with her hood pulled up, was eavesdropping and giggling, half-lying down and half-sitting.

Sion had quickly put the hood on her, as she said that Jimmy, a fledgling and amateur, might faint if he saw her true form.

‘Ah, why!

Do you hate the idea of that human falling for me so much?’

‘There’s a good reason for that.

If you don’t wear the hood quietly, I’ll start doting on Rici this time.’

‘Wow.

Are you threatening me with our night affairs now?

I didn’t think you were like this; you’re really too much.’

‘So, are you saying you won’t wear it?’

‘Of course, I have to wear it!

Give it to me!

It’s only right to wear it!’

Lilith seemed to have given up on her pride and was now trying to satisfy her carnal desires first.

With rivals increasing and Sion still being an ordinary human man, she was anxious about when she would be able to fill her belly again.

“Rici.”

Sion called out to the female knight riding alongside the carriage through the window.

At his call, Ricida slightly turned her horse’s head and approached the carriage.

“Yes, Master.”

“How much further to the village?”

“…They say we’re almost there.

Have you been uncomfortable in any way?”

“Of course not.”

For reference, it took about an hour to get from the lord’s castle to the village where Jimmy lived.

They could have gone much faster if they had ridden at full speed, but there was no need to, so everyone was moving as slowly as possible.

“Tell me in advance before we arrive.

We need to make sure the villagers aren’t surprised.”

Even though they weren’t fully armed, the sight of people with swords riding into the village would be enough to stir fear in them.

Ricida nodded as if understanding, impressed, saying, ‘As expected of Master. To think of all the people in the territory.’

In reality, it was a trick to minimize damage in case Trisha had already gone wrong.

‘Now, shall we start the background check?’

It was a bit late, but this was the best Sion could do.

When he was next to Jimmy, the guy’s condition was terrible, so he couldn’t ask questions like, ‘How many family members do you have?

Ah, your parents are gone, and you have a younger sister?

How’s your younger sister?

Is she pretty?

Is she cute?’

And when Jimmy’s condition improved, Sion himself was away from the territory, causing all sorts of incidents in the royal capital and with Baron Conean.

“Um.

Jimmy Faker.

I’m just asking this out of pure curiosity, so don’t feel pressured or anything like that.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“I have something to ask.”

“I will answer anything with all my heart!”

No, damn it.

You don’t have to react like that.

Sion scratched his cheek and grumbled.

“How are you doing?

How’s your family?”

“Yes!

Both of my parents have passed away, and I have a younger sister!”

“…”

He answered such a depressing story with such energy that Sion felt like he had become the ultimate piece of trash for asking the question.

No, in fact, he had only saved Jimmy and been kind to him all this time because of Trisha, so maybe he really was trash.

“Ahem!

I’m sorry.

I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No!

My parents both passed away when I was young, so I don’t feel anything anymore, and the elders in the village took very good care of us siblings, so I don’t feel anything at all!”

“I get it, so lower your voice a little.”

Sion grabbed his face and muttered, and Jimmy shouted ‘Yes!’ again before realizing his mistake and answering in a timid voice, ‘Yes, Young Master.’

Jimmy didn’t seem to notice yet, but Sion had noticed that Lilith was holding back her giggles.

“…I see.

You lived alone with your younger sister.

It must have been tough.”

“Not at all.

Really.”

“Did your younger sister ever cause trouble or go astray or anything like that?”

“No.

She’s a really kind and obedient sister.”

“…”

Hmm, that’s a bit different from the Trisha described in the novel.

She was said to have blackened rapidly after her brother died, so is she still maintaining the innocence unique to girls?

If so, things might be much easier than expected.

“Master.

The village is in sight.”

At Ricida’s words, Sion slowed down and ordered all the knights to dismount.

There could have been complaints about why they had to do that, but no one objected to or questioned Sion’s decision.

Watching them, Sion felt a surge of emotion.

‘Kya…

As expected, effort never betrays you.

If it were the old Sion Klausen, he would have been ignored by the knights no matter what he said.

Ah, in the first place, at this point, he was a piece of trash who ruined the territory and only thought about saving his own skin, right?’

As expected, people and women gather around you only when you have ability.

Reminding himself that the most important thing was his face, Sion got out of the carriage.

Following behind him was Jimmy Faker, who was blankly taking steps, going, “Uh, uh.”

Even after getting out of the carriage, Jimmy still looked dazed.

He had been injured, but he was still alive and well and back in the village, which made his heart swell, and the reality didn’t seem real.

Sion quietly watched him and then smacked him on the back.

“Gack?”

“What are you doing?

This isn’t my home; it’s your home.

It’s your hometown.”

“Ah, ah…”

“What’s with the ‘ah, ah’?

Hurry up and run.

Run and shout that I’m back!”

“…Yes.

I understand.

And, and thank you so much, Young Master.”

With those words, Jimmy took his luggage, took a deep breath, and ran towards the villagers who were huddled together, seemingly noticing the arrival of the guests.

“Uwaaa!

Village Chief!

Grandma!

I’m back!

Jimmy’s back!”

Watching him, Sion smiled, and someone peeked out of the carriage and opened their mouth.

“He’s so happy, he could die.”

“I guess so.

He must feel like he’s come back from the dead.”

“…Sion.

Can I ask you something?”

“Obviously.

You’re going to ask why I bothered to save a guy like that, right?”

At Sion’s question, Lilith tilted her head back slightly, removing her hood.

Ricida, Lucia, Kim Yu-hyun, and even Ria.

All of them were already excellent or had enough potential to become sparkling gems in the future, even to Lilith, the Succubus Queen.

But Jimmy Faker was far from that.

To be honest, he was too far.

Almost 100 million light-years away.

He was only like this because he was an older brother who worked hard for his younger sister; if he hadn’t been kind and had been lazy, he would have been a perfect match for the commoner version of Sion Klausen.

“There’s no special reason.

I was just trying to keep the things I said.”

“…The promise not to leave anyone behind, to go home together?”

“That’s right.”

Actually, her younger sister is a character who destroys everything later.

Since he couldn’t answer that, Sion mentioned the speech he had given before the battle with Nudia to convince Lilith.

Fortunately, she looked at Sion with admiration and smiled.

“Anyway, sometimes you’re worse than a real demon, but in other ways, you’re like a real angel.

Caring for someone and sacrificing for them.”

“I’m not that nice.”

“That’s a specialty of humans, isn’t it?

Saying you’re not when you are, saying you don’t like it when you do.

Anyway—Sion’s so shy.

Is it so embarrassing to say it honestly?”

With those words, Lilith reached out and pinched Sion’s cheek.

When Sion made an exaggerated reaction, saying, ‘Guh-eok!’, Lilith licked her red lips as if she was even more anxious and looked at her man with eyes full of desire.

“Ah, I want to eat.

Ughhh!

I want to be eaten by Sion!”

“…Please say such dangerous things when there’s no one around.”

“It’s okay.

None of the knights are listening anyway.”

Yes, ordinary knights would certainly not be able to hear.

But the problem was that it wasn’t just ordinary knights around here.

“L, Lilith-nim.

Even if you are Lilith-nim, trying to take Master away like this…”

“Oh my.

Is Rici jealous right now?

How cute!”

“I, I’m not jealous!

Absolutely not!”

“That’s what you call jealousy?”

From the senior knight Ricida, who becomes an extremely ordinary woman when it comes to matters related to Sion.

“Nyaong.

Even if you’re my older sister, this carriage is my territory.

I can’t give it up.”

“What are you talking about, Ria?”

“I spent my heat cycle with Sion here.

So this is now my territory, a space where only I can mate with Sion again.”

Even Ria was suddenly claiming ownership of the carriage.

‘…This carriage belongs to Klausen, though?’

Sion wanted to interject, but he decided against it because he thought Ria’s angry cat punches would rain down.

“…”

And finally, Kim Yu-hyun, who was still sitting in the driver’s seat, was finding it very uncomfortable to just listen, and his pride as a man was slightly hurt.

“Stop talking nonsense, and let’s go to the village.”

“That’s right, this is weird too.

If it was about keeping a promise, wouldn’t it have been enough to just save him?

Why bother taking him home and even going into the village?”

“I also have questions about that part.

It’s Klausen’s territory, so it’s unlikely, but we need to be on guard in case of an emergency, but this village is quite dangerous.”

“Nyaong, I’ll keep a good eye on the roof.”

Listening to the women, Sion shrugged as if to say, ‘Do whatever you want.’

Now was the time to focus on other things.

He had to go meet Saik, Trisha Faker, whom even Kim Yu-hyun called ‘a nightmare I never want to remember again.’

―

“Jimmy!

I was worried because I hadn’t heard from you!”

“Village Chief.

Hehe.”

“Those who returned earlier told us that you were injured and entered the hospital [likely a temporary medical facility].

But after that, you didn’t return to the village at all, so we were very worried.”

At Jimmy’s words, the elders of the village nodded as if relieved.

The old man called the village chief carefully opened his mouth.

“Um, Jimmy.

But the person getting off the carriage and coming towards us is perhaps…”

“It’s Young Master Sion Klausen.

Everyone heard the story from the uncles and brothers who came back first, right?”

“We heard it all.

No, what brings such a noble person to such a humble place?”

“Ah… well, that’s…

He saved my life, so he said he would take responsibility to the end.

That’s why he gave me a ride in the carriage all the way here.”

At those words, the old men were all shocked.

Although Count Lichten was clearly a very benevolent lord to the people of Klausen’s territory, there was still a huge difference between the territory’s people and the lord that could never be reached.

Sion Klausen was almost certain to be the next Count Klausen’s Frontier.

The young man, now the de facto number two in the Frontier, had moved personally for the sake of one of the territory’s people.

“If I had known such a noble person was coming, I would have cleaned up the village a bit.”

“That’s what I’m saying.

I should have drawn water and swept the road.”

“The Young Master doesn’t care about that at all, so you don’t have to worry.

More importantly, where’s Trisha?”

“She’ll be at home.

Go see her.”

At the village chief’s words, Jimmy greeted him and ran straight home.

His heart swelled as he approached the home he thought he might never return to.

“Trisha!”