Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 424

424

Stairs to Tomorrow

Though they were defeated by Zion, they weren’t fundamentally hopeless. They seemed to know that to rise again, they needed people—people who believed in and followed them. So, they quickly began loading ordinary Holy Prussian believers, who could easily be swayed, onto the ships.

“Hurry and go!
Hurry!”

“They might do something terrible.
Escape from here first!”

“Descendants of Light!
You must, you must come back!”

‘What a tearful farewell, you bastards,’ Zion thought sarcastically.

Zion immediately realized that they were putting on a show, like a cripple throwing a tantrum.

Those poor believers seemed to think that the celestials and fairies were staying behind in this enemy-filled place for their sake, putting them on ships first to evacuate them far from the continent.

But if you think about it the other way around, they were simply using them.

‘I don’t know what I’ll do, so I’ll send the people first—that’s what they’re saying.’

Whether it’s making holes in the ship or attacking those leaving the continent with hidden navy forces.

Since all sorts of possibilities couldn’t be ignored, they were basically saying, ‘You go first, since it’s dangerous.’

If it’s confirmed to be safe, they’ll follow, and if it’s revealed that they were trying to pull something, they’ll fight the enemies until the moment they die, inflicting as much damage as possible and then dying.

That’s probably what they were thinking.

‘You sons of bitches,’ Zion thought again.

The first thought that came to mind was how hard they were trying.

Did Zion let them go because he was bored?

After putting on this kind of show, it was no longer just a show but a gamble that had to succeed.

If there were smart people, they would have joined in this gamble, subtly approached, and tried to get something more, or at least exchanged some kind of conversation, but there wasn’t a single one.

The smartest of the top-tier celestials, Shar, was spending time in repentance and atonement, preoccupied with thoughts for her own task, and Ru was still lazing around.

At this point, he had to worry about whether they would even find that island or whatever it was.

“Jan, I’m saying this just in case, but don’t touch them at all.
Those who think they have nothing to lose are the most troublesome.
It’s better to avoid provoking them.”

“Don’t worry.
I have no intention of disrupting the world of peace that you’ve created.”

“Peace, peace, huh?
I don’t know if you can call this peace.”

“Don’t pretend to be gloomy.
I’m not foolish enough not to recognize that.”

As expected of Jan, she easily saw through Zion’s bad acting.

He smiled, realizing he couldn’t fool her, and continued to move towards the coast, watching those boarding the ship, and opened his mouth.

“If anyone does anything stupid, report it immediately.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll only let them send the previous ship, and then I’ll sink the rest.”

“Are you serious?”

“If you show kindness once, it’s a favor, but if you show it twice, they think it’s their right.
They forget who’s in charge, who’s superior, and who’s inferior.
Everyone, from the commanders to the soldiers, knows that we’ve been as considerate as possible.
There’s no need for me to show any more kindness.”

“I can’t figure out your true self at all.”

“This is my true self.
I move for myself and for those around me.
So, if you protect those two, I won’t turn them into enemies and wipe them out.
That’s about it?”

“Is that why our tribes are with you like this?”

“That’s because you’re too beautiful, and I forcibly took you because I wanted you as mine.”

Saying such embarrassing things made Jan explode!

Unlike her younger sister, Eos, who relentlessly pursued Kim Yoo-hyun, Jan was quite weak in this area.

To correct myself, she was maintaining a completely defenseless state.

Rishikida was now subtly trying to seduce him first, but Jan, still being an honorable warrior, couldn’t even imagine clinging to him and whining.

“P, please don’t say such things when we’re alone…”

“Aren’t we alone now?”

“I, I mean!
When we’re in the same barrack!”

“Are you perhaps embarrassed?”

“Of course, of course it’s embarrassing.
That goes for you too, Zion…”

“I’m not embarrassed.
What’s embarrassing about saying I like someone in front of the person I like?”

It wasn’t a 100 percent fake lie.

Certainly, the woman named Jan was an attractive being, with her own unique charm that Lilith couldn’t imitate.

Of course, Zion didn’t have the taste of saying such things in a situation where anyone could hear, but these days, with other women coming on so aggressively, he was doing this to give Jan, who was still taking a conservative stance, a little bit of a competitive edge.

If someone falls behind, holding their hand and running together makes the other women more jealous.

It’s much more beneficial to subtly push them from behind and whisper a few times to run more actively.

“A, I understand, so stop it.
I’ll report it immediately if something happens, so please stop.”

Jan muttered, her face flushed as if she was about to explode.

A woman who bathes her whole body in the blood spewed from her opponent on the battlefield becomes a girl, surpassing even the Rishikida of the past, when she leaves that place and stands next to Zion, which is quite an amusing scene.

“Helen will arrive in a few days.”

“Helen, you mean the owner of that huge merchant group?”

“That’s right.
They’ll have a lot to prepare to leave this place, but of course, not all of it will be here.
Since I’ve decided to be generous, I’m going to be very generous and send them off in style.”

“…Are you sure?
If they take everything they can get and then cross the sea back here later, it will be quite troublesome.
I can understand saving them as the victor’s mercy, but the part about providing food, water, and all sorts of supplies…”

“That’s why it creates an even more certain justification.”

“A certain justification?”

“If they really come back later as you said, then there’s no problem with carrying out a brutal massacre—that kind of justification.”

In a war that had already been lost, he deliberately saved them, even giving them everything they needed to survive.

But what came back were crazy bastards who lived with it for a while and then tried to fight again.

In this case, of course, all the public opinion on the continent would work against them.

Whether it’s the descendants of light or the doctrine, they would just be cowardly beings, unable to receive favorable attention.

That’s why Zion gives generously when he gives.

If you give little by little, you’ll only get results that are neither here nor there.

It’s better to shout, ‘I’m generous!’ once and wait for the aftermath.

If it’s quiet, you can boast, ‘This is how it turned out because I was generous,’ and if it gets noisy, you can say, ‘These guys don’t know the favor and are causing trouble again, so I’m going to kill them all off now,’ and no one will complain later.

“…My aptitude is only for leading tribesmen and warriors, riding horses, and wielding spears and swords, so I don’t understand exactly what kind of picture you’re trying to draw.”

“You’re already roughly expecting it, but you’re still playing dumb.”

“Then how long will we be staying here?”

“We’re still gathering the ships they’ll use.
I’m going to give them all the Hispanian ships they confiscated.
You could say it’s my deep intention for them to leave quickly.
I expect that this place will be roughly *jeongni* [settled/organized] within a month.”

Staying away for too long can be quite tiring.

Therefore, Zion was thinking of finishing everything here and returning within a month at the latest.

Then who will be in charge of the security here?

That’s *dangyeonhi* [naturally] Nudia should take charge.

Soon, the border area and the County of Basura will be *neomeogada* [handed over] entirely, and the best way to appease them is to offer them something delicious to coax them.

‘Of course, it’s strange to compare the already ruined land with the land where development is *chakchak jinhaengdoego* [steadily progressing], but they’ll be happy that they can *nopyida* [raise] the authority of the royal family, so there’s no problem.’

A few days later, Helen, who had been *miri eonjeoreul* [forewarned] by Zion, brought food that had originally been prepared for war supplies, along with various tools needed to repair ships, and things needed to build new villages and cities, to the sanctuary with a huge supply train.

At first, Helen didn’t understand when Zion told her to prepare such things.

But seeing the situation, she immediately realized that Zion was trying to take both *myeongbun* [justification/reputation] and *silli* [practical benefit] by not killing the enemies but driving them out to another place, and immediately started preparing.

And she was able to prepare more items than Zion wanted and come all the way here.

“Sir Zion.
I sincerely congratulate you on your great victory.
And in addition to that, you have become a nobleman with a generosity that even the enemies admire.”

“What do you think as a merchant?
Does my deal look pretty good?”

“All you can get by killing them all is the sanctuary and the fact that you’ve defeated all the enemies.
But the fact that you’ve already won a great victory is a fact known to all of Nudia and Hispania.
In the midst of that, if there are a lot of sacrifices while fighting a siege or if you massacre the resisting enemies, those who are *bunmyeong joeun gihoerago teumeul norideon* [clearly looking for a good opportunity] will try to *mureotteudeuryeogo* [tear you apart/attack you].
Although *bujokhanamada* [it’s not much], I think you’ve made a pretty good deal.”

These aren’t just empty words, but words from the heart.

As Helen, who had seen human wars several times, had almost never seen a scene where they willingly spared the resisting members of a hostile force that had inflicted great damage on them.

Fearing that they would become an obstacle in their future or a spear and sword trying to harm them.

In that sense, Zion did not fear that the surviving enemies would become an obstacle to him or a spear and sword, but rather used it as a justification to further solidify his position.

By showing mercy even to the enemies, he put the finishing touches on the *myeongbun* [justification] of the force that arose in the name of light.

And he *hwaksilhage injisikyeoduetda* [made it clearly known] to the world that he is not just a soldier who knows how to fight well in war, but also a nobleman with superior abilities in other areas.

If someone questioned his ability or loyalty, it was no different from making them *yokseoreul bagajiro meokdorok* [eat a bucketful of curses] instead of receiving *dongjoeui giun* [energy of agreement/support].

“Um, but Sir Zion?”

Helen tilted her head as if she had discovered something while talking to Zion.

“Why are those people doing that over there…”

“Ah, there’s always that kind of group.
Those who want to gain enlightenment and strive to move in the right direction, those who want to reflect and atone.
They’re exactly those kinds of people.”

Helen’s reaction when she saw Shar and some of the celestials treating the wounded.

There was no battle in the sanctuary, but there had been several sporadic battles since coming to Holy Prussia.

The guerrilla warfare that the light’s *geungnyeolhan gyododeuri* [fervent followers] voluntarily *naseoseo* [stepped forward] in order to buy more time was exactly that.

Of course, since the northern warriors and fairies, who no one could catch up with in terms of mobility, were *pojinago* [stationed] in the allied forces, they could be dealt with immediately before they suffered great damage, but in any case, it was inevitable that there would be casualties.

Despite Zion’s warning that the soldiers’ hostility and rejection would be severe, Shar said she would *naseogetdago* [step forward].

She said that it was *dangyeonhan geot aninya* [isn’t it natural] to go down to the place where those who had suffered because of them were, since the light shines on even the most *seupago deoreoun* [humid and dirty] places.

At first, all the commanders and all the soldiers showed *geungnyeolhan geobugam* [fierce aversion] towards Shar and the celestials.

But as time passed little by little, and they always showed a quiet appearance even in front of them, who were sending *nogoljeogin jeogui* [blatant hostility] and *uisimui nunigil* [suspicious glances], that *nunigil* [glance] also gradually *mudeojyeogatda* [became duller].

‘Anyway, the *kkeopdegi* [shell/appearance] is important, the *kkeopdegi* [shell/appearance]!’

Most of the injured, and almost all of the allied forces, are humans.

Especially since the people of Hispania and Nudia had hardly ever seen celestials, they were almost *bon jeogi eopseuni* [never seen] their appearance, the pure white wings *peolleogineun* [fluttering] behind their backs, or their appearance that they couldn’t *hambureo* [carelessly/rashly approach], or their *maltu* [tone of speech] or *haengdong* [actions] that didn’t seem to have evil thoughts, made them think that they were *eureureonggeorigo* [growling/being hostile] was wrong.

Of course, if it hadn’t been for the sincere actions of Shar and the celestials who followed her, they would have been told to *da kkeojirago* [all get lost] without needing that.

“…Not everyone is evil, so it’s a *dangyeonhan ilijiman eun* [natural thing, but]…”

It seemed that Helen was going to believe and *neomeogaja* [move on] since Zion had *neomeogan* [moved on].

Instead, she asked another *gunggeumhan bubun* [curious point].

“What are those soldiers doing again?”

“Soldiers?”

Zion turned his gaze following Helen’s question.

Soon he laughed at the question and answered like this.

“Stairs.”

―

Almost a month that Zion had said had passed.

In the meantime, most of those who said they would rather cross the sea to another place than stay on the continent moved to the island using the ships supported by the allied forces.

The last ones left were Ru, who had only recently come to his senses, and the celestials who would escort him.

“Shar, are you really going to *jeobeoril* [abandon] the light?”

“There’s nothing to *jeobeorigo* [abandon] or not.
I’m just *naagal* [moving forward] in the direction that I believe is right.”

“Is the path you want to go right, and the path your fellow tribesmen want to go wrong?”

“It’s the same situation for both of us.
Just as you don’t understand me, we no longer understand you.
If it’s light, if it’s the descendants of light, they should have *eungdang irae ya* [naturally be like this].”

“…”

Ru, thinking that it was impossible to *seoldeuk* [persuade] any further, boarded the ship.

If it wasn’t possible to *jopil* [narrow] the differences of opinion by talking any more than this, it was better to quickly *byeol* [part ways] and disappear from each other’s sight.

“…”

Looking at the *seondan* [fleet] disappearing for the last time, Shar smiled bitterly.

Although they had all left, there were still quite a few people left here.

Immediately, most of the people belonging to the Holy Prussian Kingdom *nanseogeul pyohamyeo* [expressed reluctance] to leaving their land and expressed their intention to stay.

As Zion said, Shar was able to see once again with her own eyes that there was no one who would follow the light that had only *gangyoman* [forced/compelled].

“Shar.
You’ve *gosaenghasyeotseumnida* [worked hard/suffered].”

The only upper celestial who had been *suhaeng* [accompanying] her grabbed Shar’s hand.

In response, Shar patted the woman’s shoulder, who had believed in and followed her until now, and moved her steps to the allied forces camp, which was now almost *jeongniga* [organized/settled].

Then suddenly, she *nunchi chaetda* [noticed] that the inside of the camp was *soranseureopdaneun* [noisy] unlike usual.

“Is something wrong?”

“They say they held a *janchi* [feast/celebration] to celebrate the end of everything and to *wiro* [console/comfort] the soldiers and everyone.
They say that Commander Zion Clausen is *hamkke* [together] and the atmosphere is *dalaraoreugo yo* [heating up].”

“Zion Clausen was *gati* [together], huh.”

Suddenly curious, Shar *tteeeoseo* [detached] her steps and moved inside the camp, which was *hanchang sikkeulbeokjeokhan* [in full swing/bustling].

In the center, Hispania, Nudia, northern warriors, fairies, and beastmen were all *utgo tteodeulmyeo* [laughing and chatting] without distinction, and were *jeulgeoi utgo tteodeuneun* [happily laughing and chatting] with comfortable faces for the first time in a long time.

From the stories she had heard so far, they were people who were showing *jeogui* [hostility] to each other and were always thinking of fighting, but seeing them *hapcheo himeul* [joining forces] like this in the face of a great threat and *geodueotda seungnireul* [achieved victory], Shar thought that if they hadn’t been trying to *naagaryeo* [move forward] to the light, this *pyeonghwaroun bunwigiga* [peaceful atmosphere] could not have *gitteureo isseul* [been present].

And the next moment, at Zion’s gesture, several soldiers stood up from their seats.

What are they trying to do? While Shar was *gunggeumhae* [curious], the female knight who was *howi* [guarding] next to Zion with a sword in her *pumeseo kkeonaedeulgo* [took out from her bosom] a lute and *naemireotda* [handed] it to him.

Soon, music as beautiful and *bichi naneun* [shining] as Zion’s appearance *ullyeo peojigo* [resounded] *heumheum* [ahem]!

The soldiers who had been practicing for nearly a month began to *ssaki* [build/stack] what Zion called ‘stairs.’

Stairs to Tomorrow
The door opened there
The path to the future
Promises of happiness
A world where everyone is prosperous
Waiting for us in the back
Stairs to Tomorrow
Shining *chanranhage* [brilliantly]

The laughter *jamkkan jatae deulgo* [briefly subsided], everyone, regardless of country, race, or way of life, *chimmukhanda* [becomes silent].

And they *jipjunghanda* [concentrate] on the song they hear in their ears, and on the beautiful *seonyul* [melody] of the lute.

Shining on the *eunbit* [silver] sea
Light, light up this night
Stairs to Tomorrow
Forget the past
Stairs to Tomorrow
Find a new dream
Under the *chanranhan* [brilliant] sun
To the sea of light
A world *neomsildaeneun* [overflowing] with freedom
Never felt before
Stairs to Tomorrow
With wonderful hope…

Shar smiled at their *seonyul* [melody], and *jinsimeuro gidohaetda* [sincerely prayed] that she could *hamkke hal su itgireul* [be able to be together] on the *gyedan* [stairs] that they wanted to *oreugo* [climb], that the moment would come when she would *daesinhayeo modu sajoae* [apologize on behalf of everyone] the sins of her fellow tribesmen and *indohayeo sangcheo ipgo baesindanghan* [guide the wounded and betrayed] to the light and make them smile.

―――――――작품 후기―――――――

Musical ‘Crown Prince Rudolf’―Stairs to Tomorrow

Have a good weekend!