Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 167

167

I’m back, but what is this?

“A Holy War?”

Lilith scoffed as if she couldn’t believe what Sion had said.

The last true Holy War had ended about two hundred years ago with the first one.

Since then, the Holy Prussen Kingdom had repeatedly called for a Holy War, trying to involve Nudia and Hispania, but both showed lukewarm responses because the damage from the first Holy War was enormous, and they gained nothing from it.

Therefore, Holy Prussen continued to venture into the Mortal Lands, claiming they would keep the flames of the Holy War alive, but they only suffered losses and had to retreat without any significant achievements.

Lilith’s reaction was only natural, considering they were spouting nonsense about another Holy War.

“Do they think the demons are living quietly in their territories because they’ve mellowed out?”

“Aren’t they?”

“They’re just staying put because the Celestials and the various other races on the continent who believe in them are disgusting and petty.

Do you think they’ll just take it if you provoke them and say, ‘Oh, we’re so sorry?’

Do you know why the Celestials have been wary of us demons since long ago?

Once you provoke them, they’ll cling to you more relentlessly than a rabid dog.

If you’re not confident you can beat them to death, you shouldn’t even touch them in the first place.”

Sion nodded, making an ‘Ah’ sound as if he were hearing something he didn’t know.

He already knew more about the demons than the humans of this world did.

There’s a reason why the Celestials are trying to bring the demons to the brink of death by using the hands of humans and other races.

It’s because they would have to endure enormous damage if they stepped forward themselves.

After exhausting all their strength to deal with and eliminate the demons, they would have to recover their strength to purify the humans and other races on the continent again, and that would take too long.

During the first Holy War, the Celestials disguised themselves as Holy Knights of Prussen to fight the demons.

As a result, they succeeded in eliminating many demons, but the damage to the Celestials was also too great, so they had to retreat to the Holy Land to recover.

‘The Celestials learned three things at that time.

One was that they should attack and eliminate the demons without having to use their own power, another was that they should use humans with Stigmata [holy markings], and the last was that humans and other races are not weak at all.’

Afterward, the Celestials retreated and focused on steadily imbuing the continent with a demonic image of the demons, using Holy Prussen as if making a prophecy.

At the same time, they secretly released Celestials to cause temporal accidents and create tension, and they bribed the elves, who showed the most favorable attitude towards them, to cause division.

“Still, I’m worried.

There are so many people who only go their own way that there’s no unity or cooperation.

It’s just our demons’ unavoidable instinct, I guess.”

“It would be great if there was a clear hierarchy.”

“Unfortunately, we suffered a lot of damage during the first Holy War, so there were many internal disputes and problems.”

Lilith sighed and began to stare at Sion.

Sion looked back at her as if asking if she had something to say, and Lilith opened her mouth.

“You haven’t forgotten, have you?

The Seven Trumpets.”

“Of course, I remember.”

“We demons don’t just want to block and counter when someone hits us.

We want to overturn everything and kill everyone.

But if we do that, the negative aspects of demons will only be strengthened in the direction the Celestials want, and the hostile atmosphere will intensify, so we’re staying quiet.

If they insist on starting another Holy War, I can’t guarantee what will happen.”

‘That’s what I’m worried about too,’ Sion muttered inwardly.

They eliminate the demons without shedding their own blood, and then make the continent distrust and fight each other, making it impossible to recover.

Then, they can leisurely leave the Holy Land and carry out purification work.

The biggest reason why the Celestials emphasized the part that ‘the Celestials will step in when the world falls into chaos’ and spread it to their fanatics was that.

“What are you going to do?

Are you just going to watch this situation?”

“For now.

If I recklessly oppose them without a clear plan, I might be branded as the bad guy, and people should be mindful of their surroundings, shouldn’t they?”

“Weren’t you working hard to avoid living like that?”

“It seems I’m still lacking.”

Originally, Sion’s plan was that the moment he directly opposed Special Envoy Riman’s opinion.

And the moment that fanatic tried to subtly associate him with the demons.

The nobles of Hispania would rise up and shout, ‘That’s right!’

And a little later, they would shout, ‘That’s too much!’ or ‘Isn’t that too harsh?’

But at the crucial moment, the only ones who took his side were Princess Vanessa, Margrave Lichten, and the nobles around him whom he knew.

The rest were watching the atmosphere in the hall, wondering what to do.

‘What I want is someone who can nod as soon as our eyes meet and work with me.

I don’t need someone who’s watching the situation.’

Someone who’s watching the situation will definitely betray him if it seems like it will harm them.

Being backstabbed in the political world is almost as dangerous as being ousted, so it was perfectly normal for Sion to be so cautious.

“I’ve been hearing that things have been noisy here and there lately.”

Lia muttered while grooming herself.

Her father had said this to her while she was lying down as if she had fainted from being struck by lightning.

That the Wolang tribe, the Pointy-Ears (Elves), and the Dwarves were all agitated these days.

That something big seemed to be happening somewhere.

“So, Lia, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Nyang?

Don’t tell me you want me to go back again?”

“That’s not it.

Instead, I need some help from your people.

You might be pretending, but some of your Myo-eun clan [Lia’s tribe] must be secretly out in the human world, right?

To gather information and find out the political situation.”

“Of course.

We don’t just stay in the mountains hunting all the time.”

Sion grabbed Lia’s hand and created an atmosphere as if he were about to propose, then opened his mouth in the softest voice possible.

“Please ask your father, the Great King of the Myo-eun clan, through them.”

“W-what?”

“To be careful.

And don’t just believe what you see, but doubt it one more time and investigate it one more time to see the truth.”

When the demons’ power was strong, they disguised it as the demons’ doing.

Now that almost all the demons have disappeared after the Holy War, the Pointy-Ears are moving on to the ‘Turns out it was the humans who did it!’ or ‘It was the other races who did it!’ routine.

The problem was that the antipathy between humans and other races was quite severe, though not as much as with the demons, so when they transferred the fire, it immediately blazed fiercely.

“Hmph! What do you think of my dad?

Do you think he’s called the Great King of the Myo-eun clan for nothing?

Although he showed a slightly strange side in front of Sion…”

“And one more thing.”

This was the main point.

Originally, Sion was going to solve it himself after finishing the work in the south and when there was still time before the Holy War, but things were moving quite urgently, so he had to ask someone else for help for the time being.

“The Dragonkins.”

The moment that word came out, not only Lia but also Lilith, who was sitting next to her, frowned.

“Sion, wait a minute.

Why is that word suddenly coming out?”

“My lady is right.

You’re not trying to bring those crazy bastards in, are you?”

The reaction is already at its peak.

Lilith is frowning as much as possible, and Lia is even using harsh language.

‘Well, they certainly have the worst reputation from a different perspective than the demons.’

What would others say if they heard that the reason why a certain race was on the verge of extinction was ‘because they fought and fought, and killed and killed each other?’

Of course, they would say, ‘What kind of crazy bastards are they? They deserve to be ruined.’

The Dragonkins of this world were such crazy bastards.

In the first place, the total number of the race was small, but they were so obsessed with fighting the strong that they fought each other every day when they met.

The relatively young fought with the equally young, and the old fought with the old.

There was no need to distinguish between men and women.

Once they thought someone was strong, they fought until one of them died.

Then why didn’t they fight with other strong people from other races?

To be precise, they did fight.

When those strong people came into their sight.

The rest just fought with their own kind.

Because they were already strong enough with their own kind, they were enough to be rivals, and they were enough to kill or be killed!

‘Honestly, at this point, it’s safe to say they’re almost extinct.

There are less than twenty left.’

Fortunately, they came to their senses before the race itself was completely wiped out and somehow managed to suppress their temper and live, but in the end, they fought fiercely with the humans when the civil war between humans and other races began, and they all died.

In particular, one Dragonkin showed a truly terrifying presence and literally slaughtered humans.

Kim Yu-hyeon recognized that the Dragonkin would become the best force in the future and tried to persuade him, but the Dragonkin just laughed and said that either he would kill him, or more humans would die at his hands, and the result would be one of the two.

His specialty was to draw all the blood from the enemy’s body and play with them until they died of excessive bleeding.

Even the nickname he got was ‘Leukemia’.

‘Leukemia, I need that guy.

The fact that the Holy War has been brought forward by almost two months is clear evidence that the pigeons [Celestials] have brought their plans forward even further.’

There are enemies swarming right in front of them, so they have to use everything they can get their hands on in a hurry.

Whether it’s a tactical nuke or an extremely deadly weapon of mass destruction.

“I’m just telling you to look for them.

If those guys cause trouble at a time like this, it’s only a matter of time before a corner of the kingdom collapses.”

“…I’ll ask, but don’t expect too much.

In the first place, they don’t even go out into the world, and all they do when they wake up from sleeping is fight, eat, and mate.”

“To think that even our demons would call the Dragonkin lowly.”

The Dragonkins were getting bad reactions from many places.

It’s their own fault, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad.

“Then are you going south right away, Sion?”

“First, the nobles will gather again tomorrow to make an overall decision and take action.

Marquis Ledenen and Marquis Gutchen, who had been away from their territories, did not attend today’s hastily arranged meeting.

Tomorrow, we will formally inform the Holy Prussen side of Hispania’s participation in the Holy War.”

At Sion’s words, Lilith sighed.

The humans of this world think that the demons are staying in the north because they don’t want to run wild.

The world works by giving and taking appropriately, just like the political arena, but these Celestials-crazed bastards don’t know what that means.

“Oh, right.

Sion!

Lucia left a letter before leaving the royal castle!

I came to the villa and found a letter that Lucia left behind!”

Lia muttered and handed over a letter.

It seemed that the request he had made was quite difficult, and she was making a mess with Raido by moving to a place where training was easier.

“…”

“What, what?

What does it say?”

“Didn’t you see it first?”

“I was going to, but Lia said it was too cowardly.”

“Good job, Lia.

Sometimes, if Lilith goes too far, stop her.”

“Nyang!”

In fact, nothing like that happened between the two women.

Lilith just wanted to give the house cat, who had returned home after a long time, a little more love, so she deliberately set the stage.

Lia wagged her tail and raised her thumb so that Sion wouldn’t notice.

Lilith smiled and nodded, meaning that she would help again from time to time, so she should treat her sister well.

“Let’s put aside the other things for now, but what’s clear is that she went south not long after I left for the north.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes.

She has some connections with Raido.

She needs more people to research how to combine magic and martial arts.

And a place where it’s okay to burn things down.”

I don’t know what kind of extreme martial art she’s trying to show.

Honestly, Sion was looking forward to seeing how Lucia would change.

In the early stages of the novel, she appeared as a capable helper, but after rising to the position of heroine, her combat abilities were not seen well at some point, and she was miserably retired by Sion Clausen, who had the support of the Celestials to seize Kim Yu-hyeon’s weaknesses.

That woman is now changing herself to be helpful.

By combining magic, which has good firepower but is difficult to control the output, and martial arts inherited from her father.

―I’ve found a rough method.

Originally, I had to create the most elaborate magic formula to control the output, but if I use magic while performing martial arts, I can’t draw the formula properly in the first place, so the amount of mana I can use naturally decreases.

Still, I can produce most fire magic, so I think I can use the formula engraved in advance while using martial arts.

―

In other words, she was using explosion magic at the end of a punch or kick.

Lucia said that the destructive power wouldn’t be that great, but in the first place, if a fist or foot was flying and flames exploded from it, it would be cheating and unfair.

‘These cowardly pigeon bastards [Celestials].

This is all your karma.

You’ve turned us all into monsters!’

Maybe if the Celestials heard this, they would answer like this.

That it wasn’t them, but you who made it that way!

―――――――Author’s Notes―――――――

I made you ···.

A monster···!

You made us all monsters···.