Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 400

400―――――

This Opportunity

Step, step—.

“…”

“…”

Kim Yu-hyun, having led Charles away from the barracks a short while ago, was simply guiding her somewhere in silence.

If it were an ordinary man, Sha would have taken the initiative to ask what was happening, but unfortunately, it was the formidable Kim Yu-hyun. Even Sha, a top-tier Celestial, couldn’t easily bring herself to speak.

Eventually, Kim Yu-hyun and Sha, pulled from the barracks, continued walking for more than ten minutes without a word.

Then, reaching a barracks on the outskirts of the encampment, Kim Yu-hyun stopped and turned to her.

“Since you’re a being of light, I’ll ask you a favor.”

“Yes?”

“There are some injured people inside. I’d like you to use some healing magic on them.”

*Why me?*

The words nearly escaped Sha’s lips.

But she wasn’t a guest; she was a prisoner. She couldn’t exactly argue.

Besides, in a situation where he was accommodating her, it wasn’t the time to refuse anything. She was by no means in a position of power.

Frankly, she had expected only the worst imaginable scenarios.

Since they were followers of the Demon Race, she assumed they would be ugly and terrible beings. Having captured a top-tier Celestial, they would never simply kill her.

Her wings would be cut off, her body violated in every way, and all sorts of terrible tortures and humiliating acts would be used to break her last shred of dignity.

Her body and mind would be defiled, she would become an object of their amusement, and then she would be thrown away like trash, left to cool on the field before turning into light and disappearing.

*But nothing actually happened.*

Instead, Zion Clausel, who seemed to be their commander, treated her not as an enemy or a prisoner, but as a top-tier Celestial. He even gave her lavish treatment that was hardly befitting a prisoner.

It wasn’t quite as extravagant as what those from the Holy Prussen did, but frankly, from Sha’s point of view, their behavior felt excessive, even fanatical.

It was as if these sinners, the fallen, the Demon Race followers, acted more like righteous followers of the light.

“Sha, Shaiella?”

Stepping into the barracks, she was overwhelmed by the stench of blood.

Shaiella, a Celestial like herself, and Ekaterina, a Dragonkin [a race of dragon-human hybrids].

The two of them were lying side by side, their condition so terrible it was hard to describe.

They were literally in tatters, not to demean them, but truly looking like tattered rags, torn and cut everywhere.

“W-what on earth happened…”

Sha muttered to herself and suddenly looked back at Kim Yu-hyun, who was standing behind her.

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t imagine anyone other than him making these two women look so miserable.

At a glance, their bodies showed no signs of resistance, only the feeling of brutal butchery.

It looked exactly like they had been mercilessly violated by an enemy they couldn’t resist.

“Don’t get the wrong idea.

I didn’t want to, but it happened because those two begged and begged me to fight.”

“These two *wanted* to fight you?”

Kim Yu-hyun nodded, and Sha was so dumbfounded she sighed, “Ha!”

Sha knew very well that the Dragonkin loved fighting strong opponents and that Shaiella wasn’t one to avoid actual combat with strong opponents.

One was a race that enjoyed fighting itself, and the other was a strange woman who couldn’t hide her excitement when she got hurt or injured others.

In that situation, this human, Kim Yu-hyun, would have been a very attractive target.

A strong person who could torment them, an immense powerhouse who could defeat them at any time.

They were such unique women, so she couldn’t say she didn’t understand, but Sha was still dumbfounded.

*Even so!*

*He’s a man who easily defeated a top-tier Celestial!*

Although Shaiella was said to be the strongest among the upper-tier Celestials, she was still an *upper*-tier Celestial after all.

Even a top-tier Celestial was fatally wounded and collapsed in a single blow, so there was no way she, an upper-tier Celestial, could win against Kim Yu-hyun, even if she died and came back to life.

And what about the Dragonkin?

She acknowledged that they were a race that fought as well as the Celestials and the Demon Race, but if she had to be specific, their individual strength would be similar to that of a top-tier Celestial.

Kim Yu-hyun had literally crushed that top-tier Celestial, so she couldn’t understand what they were trying to do against him.

“Sigh.”

Where else in the world would there be such foolish people?

Sha muttered to herself and suddenly wondered if she might be included among those foolish people.

Even though she was a descendant of light, she was doubting that descendant of light, and those descendants of light had also been doing things that deserved suspicion when she looked back.

“Why me?

I thought you could use magic too.”

There was a reason why the title of top-tier Celestial wasn’t given lightly.

It meant there was a difference in the ability to assess the opponent and deal with them.

Through a single clash with Kim Yu-hyun, Sha believed he wasn’t just good with a sword, but also quite skilled in magic—in other words, a representative of versatile humans.

“There’s no need to drain my mana when you guys might come again at any time.

I’ve already used some in the fight with them, so it would be more of a loss if I healed them myself.”

“…That’s true.”

It wasn’t particularly problematic, and Kim Yu-hyun’s reasoning—that he was mobilizing her, a prisoner, to conserve his strength—sounded logical.

So Sha deployed healing magic without another word, circulating her magic power.

“…”

Kim Yu-hyun silently watched the scene.

In fact, the reason he entrusted the healing of these two to Sha wasn’t about mana.

He still had an enormous amount of mana left, enough to fight thousands, tens of thousands of times.

He had deliberately ordered her to use healing magic to observe this top-tier Celestial using magic, to see if these Celestial races used it differently from the magic he knew, or if they had any unique strengths.

As a result, he didn’t find anything particularly great or unique about those who were said to be descendants of light.

“…Just how strong of an attack did you use to make them this messed up?”

Sha chuckled as she felt her mana being drained away.

A Celestial who was absolutely not lacking in healing power, and even more amazing than that Celestial, a Dragonkin with regenerative abilities.

All of them were lying down with serious injuries, not even able to come to their senses.

Seeing that the healing was progressing very slowly even though she was literally pouring in mana, it meant they were very badly injured.

“You were also that messed up with just one attack.”

“Ah.

That’s right.

I said something stupid.”

Her chest had been ripped open, spewing red blood, but had she been attacked multiple times?

After all, she had been like that with just one attack, so how many times would these people have been attacked?

That human, Kim Yu-hyun, would have easily subdued them.

“…It’s over for now.

The serious injuries are almost healed, and the rest will heal on their own after some time.

Really, you only broke them just enough not to kill them.”

“That’s more difficult.”

“That’s why I’m saying this.

It means you had the *yoyuu* [余裕, Japanese for leeway or余裕], the skill, and even the mind to think that way.

You’re becoming more and more terrifying every time I see you.”

“Shut up.”

It was a dry voice, but Sha could somehow sense he was embarrassed.

“If the work is finished, follow me.

He said he wanted to talk to you one last time.”

Kim Yu-hyun was taking her away without giving her even a moment to rest, even though Sha’s body wasn’t in normal condition and she had even used up a lot of mana to heal the two women.

From Sha’s point of view, this alone was enough to be called an arduous march, but she was also in a position where she couldn’t particularly object.

After all, she was a prisoner, and it wouldn’t be strange if she suffered any kind of hardship at any time.

“Go in.”

Reaching the front of the commander’s barracks, Kim Yu-hyun gestured inside with a nod.

Sha took a deep breath and slowly entered, where she could face Zion, who was sitting in his seat waiting for her.

“…You.”

But unlike before, Sha couldn’t smile.

The aura of the Demon Race, the scent of Lilith, was emanating from Zion’s body.

“What is it?

A person who said he hadn’t given up on the light—how is it that you’re calling me while reeking of the Demon Race?

Or are you saying you’ll cover it with mine on top of that?”

“Don’t misunderstand.

I have no intention of doing that.

And don’t have any vain imaginations.

I have no intention of embracing a boastful woman who believes herself to be noble.”

Sha let out a sigh of relief at the sharp rebuttal, but she also felt a little resentful.

Even if she overlooked everything else, she naturally felt resentful at the thought that she had been pushed aside by a succubus like Lilith.

“I’m sure I told you.

The Demon Race is constantly tempting us.

Since the descendants of light are so caught up in their arrogance that they will never be able to come ashore, they should rather sink them all and move on to a new world with them.”

“So?”

“What do you mean, ‘So’?

The Demon Race is ultimately darkness, shadows, and chaos.

History has already proven what evil deeds they commit when they come into the world.

It’s like bringing in another monster to drive out the monsters, so what foolish person would do such a thing?”

“At least those monsters don’t have the skill to seduce the other party.

Unlike the succubus queen who is next to you now.”

It was still a thorny remark.

At that, Zion tilted his head and replied in a slightly lower voice.

“If I had really fallen to the Demon Race, if I was that sinner or fallen one you speak of, I would have cut off your wings as soon as I caught you, dismembered your limbs, and thrown you to the soldiers.

I would have let them know what the soldiers who don’t know when they will die on the battlefield cling to the most, very excitedly.”

“You can say anything!”

“That’s just a figure of speech.

If we *were* that fallen one, that sinner, that’s what we would have done.

We wouldn’t have worried about others, we wouldn’t have said we were going to go the right way, we would have just focused on taking and killing.”

Sha didn’t particularly deny Zion’s words.

To tell the truth, it might be more appropriate to say that she *couldn’t* deny them rather than that she *didn’t*.

In fact, what she saw after being captured wasn’t the forces of sinners and the fallen.

It looked like a group of believers who had gathered to complain about their grievances and find out what true light was.

“Top-tier Celestial Sha.

I think you’re misunderstanding something.

Do you see this war as a holy war of reason and unreason, like in the past?

No, absolutely not.

No war in the world is fought between reason and unreason.

Everyone is just fighting for their own reason.

Reason and reason fight, so war isn’t about who is right, but only about who remains.

That war was started by you, the descendants of light, and those believers agreed to it.

We also stepped forward to survive there.

You are not righteous, and we are not evil.

We are just fighting for what we want.”

“…”

“If you still define us as evil, then I have nothing more to say.

All that remains is to sort it out.

A war that isn’t about who is right, but about who remains.

Only those who remain in that war will call themselves justice, call themselves good, and live forever.”

Sha had no answer to Zion’s words.

She just remained silent, recalling the question she had been pondering all along.

There, Zion slowly began to sprinkle some seasoning [add a little something extra].

“Perhaps, that may be what the true evil, the darkness, of this world wants.”

“What do you mean?”

“If one side survives and the other side dies, will that one side be okay?

I guarantee you they will be half-crippled.

In that situation, if by any chance a true enemy appears, wouldn’t it be very interesting?”

What everyone in the world is aiming for: the fisherman’s benefit [an idiom referring to profiting from the conflict of others].

There’s no way the Demon Race wouldn’t be aiming for that.

No, rather, they would want it even more.

While more than half of the highest-ranking demons have been lost and the remaining demons are being killed by the Celestials, an opportunity has come to weaken the power of those Celestials.

Dealing with those scarred by civil war certainly isn’t difficult.

If they were really aiming for that, as Zion said, then this war should be avoided even more.

“Go back.”

“…Yes?”

“I’m saying I’ll send you back to where you were.”

Sha was so dumbfounded by Zion’s words that she was speechless.

Capturing a top-tier Celestial as a prisoner is something that goes beyond mere symbolic meaning.

It was like tying up one of the enemy’s main forces right away, but to send this back as it is was no different from preserving the enemy’s strength as it is and making them fight the allied forces again.

What foolish person in the world would make such a decision?

Right now, the commander’s attitude is to do whatever it takes to reduce the enemy’s strength on the battlefield.

“Go back.

Go back safe and sound, without any harassment.

Go and tell your fellow Celestials, those who follow you, in that perfect state.

Tell them if they really have to fight, who is committing the sin, and if they will continue this foolish thing after all.

Tell those who call themselves light, but cannot be seen as light.”

Immediately after that, Zion snapped his fingers.

Then, Kim Yu-hyun, who had been waiting outside, came in and stood next to Sha.

“…What if.”

Sha, who had risen from her seat, hesitated for a moment and then opened her mouth.

“What if I go back and shout to encourage our will to fight in reverse?

What are you going to do if I betray your intentions and act in the opposite way?”

“There’s nothing we can do.

Then we’ll really have to sort out who survives.”

“…”

“I, we, have politely asked you.

We still have the intention to grab you if you reach out your hand.

We still want to follow the light.

If you lead us in the right direction, we will be led accordingly.

However, if you lead us in the wrong direction, then we will not just stand by and watch.”

As if he had finished what he had to say, Zion turned his gaze away from Sha and looked at Kim Yu-hyun.

Meaning that it was done, so take her and send her back as she is.

“Let’s go.”

At Kim Yu-hyun’s words, Sha turned her body.

And before leaving the barracks, she asked one last question.

“Zion Clausel.

Why, why do you want to reach the light so much?”

“…”

No answer came back.

However, Zion was just giving a bright smile as if the world was brightening up.

Looking at that smile, Sha felt something ‘thump!’ falling in her heart for a moment.

“I hope you have a safe trip back.”

Finally, Sha completely disappeared.

Zion, who was left alone in the barracks, looked at the place where Sha had been sitting.

*Why do I want to reach the light?*

You’re asking the obvious.

It’s a very simple and very obvious question.

*Because I can get more from there.*

*Money, fame, power.*

*Everything!*

―――――――Afterword―――――――

It just so happened that I reached episode 400 on my birthday…!

That’s why there are 3 episodes being uploaded as a commemoration!

I would be very grateful if you could celebrate my birthday with recommendations!

Thank you always for your subscriptions, comments, and recommendations!

Thank you overwhelmingly for the support coupons and notification votes!