A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 172 : The Second Time (4)

“…You’re saying my father is in here?”

Valencia asked back, but her eyes were already tinged with a peculiar color as she did so.

The moment she gripped the sword hilt U-jin had handed her, she had felt a somehow familiar aura.

“Yeah.”

“…….”

“Well, to be precise, it’s just a Thought Form.”

U-jin’s brief remark, uttered with a shrug, felt somewhat insufficient as an explanation.

But in truth, he had said only what was absolutely necessary.

The current circumstances and the events leading up to them.

And the strangely familiar aura emanating from the sword already provided enough clues.

With just that one phrase, Valencia could piece together a rough picture in her mind.

‘…An Ego Sword?’

She had been all but confined to the princess's palace in her youth, and after the fall of the Beastkin Nation, she had never once left Aileen Village, so her knowledge of the world was not extensive.

But even Valencia had heard of them once before.

Ego Swords.

A type of artifact where a weapon naturally gains a sense of self and intelligence over time.

She had heard that such mysterious items, though rare, did exist.

Of course, there were some differences when applying it directly to the current situation.

The Ego Swords she knew of were cases where the weapon itself gained a self, not where an external Thought Form inhabited a weapon like this.

It might be understandable if the will of the sword's user became imbued in it, but for the Thought Form of Allen Tigris III to suddenly inhabit a completely unfamiliar fragment of a sword was not only strange but also deviated from the nature of a typical Ego Sword.

…But.

Even as she thought this, Valencia couldn't take her eyes off the pure white, ornate sword hilt.

Before, it had been a vague sense of familiarity, but through U-jin's direct statement, she came to realize that it might be Allen's Thought Form.

And as the feeling grew stronger with time, a certain conviction began to take root.

Ssh—

Slowly raising her head, Valencia asked U-jin.

“…Then when you stabbed this sword into him earlier, it wasn't to destroy him, but…”

At Valencia’s murmur, U-jin shook his head.

“…No. At that time, I was planning to eliminate it. As long as the Thought Form existed, your succession wouldn't proceed properly.”

“…….”

“But I changed my mind a bit. I figured you have your own position to consider.”

…In truth, it was less about considering Valencia's position and more about the ‘mention of a dragon’ he had heard from Allen Tigris.

But U-jin didn't bother to reveal that.

Though it was a much smaller part, it wasn't a lie that he had been concerned about Valencia.

With a brazen expression, U-jin shrugged and said.

“This is my first time trying a method like this, so it’s hard to be certain… but from what I’ve checked, there shouldn't be any problems.”

“…….”

“Well, you, who are holding it, would know best.”

It was quite obvious at this point, but.

The method U-jin had devised in that fleeting moment was to bind the residual Thought Form of Allen Tigris III to the fragment of the ‘Xuanyuan Sword’.

『…Perhaps.』

Originally, as Allen Tigris III himself had planned within his Innate Barrier, he was supposed to perish along with the fragment of the Primordial Demonic Beast that filled his body.

The strongly entangled Thought Form and Primordial Demonic Beast fragment had been combined so strongly and for so long that it was impossible to separate them with ordinary power.

In fact, such a powerful attraction was at work that it wouldn't have been strange to call them a single body.

After all, the reason his Thought Form, which should have vanished long ago, had maintained its state until now was thanks to the peculiar, unknown regenerative power of the Primordial Demonic Beast… so that was the only solution.

But U-jin, who was still lamenting his inability to find out more about the ‘dragon’ even as he thrust the Xuanyuan Sword into the Thought Form’s brow, suddenly thought that he might have the power to solve this.

Just as he had been able to save his body when he consumed the Source Stone in the Darkest Dungeon, he could entrust what came next to the unknown eye residing within him.

Of course, he had many reservations.

If he used that power now, it would be possible to separate the Primordial Demonic Beast fragment from Allen Tigris III, but that power couldn't be used at will.

It required a somewhat critical situation to manifest, just as it had activated automatically in the Darkest Dungeon when U-jin's life was on the line due to the Source Stone's influence.

For that purpose, U-jin had deliberately guided the Primordial Demonic Beast fragment into his own body.

That wasn't all.

Even if he absorbed it into his body and survived, it wasn't certain that Allen Tigris III's residual Thought Form could settle into the sword.

Its very existence was in a realm beyond explanation, and it was possible that the residual Thought Form would dissipate according to its natural course the moment it was separated.

Moreover, the number of times U-jin could use his power was clearly limited, so if things unfolded that way, it would be no different from pulling forward a chance to gain a great power in the future only to throw it on the ground.

It wasn't a reversible ability that he could try with a "great if it works, oh well if it doesn't" attitude.

Besides.

‘…The real challenge starts now.’

Even if he somehow managed to get through all of that, there was one final problem remaining.

The succession.

It wasn't certain if that would be possible.

Fortunately, the first two problems seemed to have been resolved as U-jin had expected.

In any case, U-jin had succeeded in separating the Thought Form from the Primordial Demonic Beast fragment, and although it wasn't certain yet, judging by the change in Valencia's eyes, it seemed he had definitely succeeded in imbuing Allen Tigris III's residual Thought Form into the broken sword hilt.

But as for the problem of the succession, not even U-jin could rashly predict its success or failure.

The very reason Valencia had not been able to complete her succession until now was due to the existence of Allen Tigris III's Thought Form, and even if it moved its cradle from the Primordial Demonic Beast to a sword, the fact that the Thought Form existed remained unchanged.

…But in that moment, a clue surfaced in U-jin's mind.

‘…The Demonic Sword Chiyou.’

He remembered the existence of that Demonic Sword, the one that had first spoken to him.

The reason was simple.

The relationship between Shim Cheong and the Demonic Sword had some similarities to Valencia's case.

Shim Cheong was in a position to inherit power passed down from her ancestors, and Valencia, too, had to inherit power passed down from her ancestors.

He didn't know the exact details, but he thought there must be a corresponding risk, just as Shim Cheong would go blind if she refused the succession.

The one and only difference was the current situation.

For Valencia, the existence of the predecessor's Thought Form was hindering the succession, while for Shim Cheong, she had carried out the succession through a Holy Relic in which that very thought lingered.

It was from this point, which could be called the complete opposite, that U-jin came up with an idea.

‘…If I imbue it into the sword.’

A method where the predecessor's thought resides in an object, and the successor becomes the master of that object.

Simply put, it was to change Valencia's case into the same form as Shim Cheong's.

Of course, since their origins were different, there was no guarantee that it would apply in the same way.

The Demonic Cult was the Demonic Cult, and the power of the White Tiger passed down through the generations of the Beastkin royal bloodline would have different properties.

But despite these uncertainties, U-jin made the attempt.

…It was, to some extent, a gamble.

Of course, it wasn't an impulsive, gambling-like decision made for no reason.

It was an attempt made after U-jin had finished his own mental calculations, considering the risks of failure and the benefits of success.

In other words, it was an action taken after deciding that the ‘profit-loss ratio’ was reasonably good.

And the success or failure of that action.

“…Check it yourself.”

“…….”

“It’ll be hard to confirm right now since it hasn’t properly synchronized yet, but if the Thought Form has been properly imbued… you might not hear a voice, but you should at least be able to confirm a response.”

“…….”

That was the part they had to find out from now on.

* * *

U-jin gave the sword hilt to Valencia.

Then they moved to a quiet place, out of people's sight.

It was so she could fully concentrate on communing with the sword and confirming it.

“Will this place do?”

Nod—

Valencia, who nodded instead of answering, sat down on the spot and closed her eyes.

“…….”

Of course, confirming the imbuement of the Thought Form was something U-jin could have done himself.

If anything, U-jin knew more about weapons imbued with will.

However, U-jin did not do so.

The reason was simple.

…What U-jin wanted to confirm was not simply whether the residual Thought Form was properly imbued.

If U-jin had simply wanted to check if Allen's Thought Form was properly in the sword, there would have been no need to waste time having her clutch the sword hilt.

In fact, he already considered that part to be more or less a success.

‘…….’

The reason U-jin gave her time was that he didn't think her holding the sword was limited to simply increasing their ‘communion’.

If, as U-jin hoped, Allen's Thought Form had successfully been imbued in the sword.

And if that normalized the succession process that had been distorted until now, then this process would naturally become the process of succession.

“Hero.”

“…What is it?”

“Is it okay to just wait like this? I think there’s a lot to clean up in the village…”

Of course, there were no special outward actions or rituals.

Just holding the sword hilt and remaining still.

Following U-jin's advice, Valencia slowly closed her eyes and communed with the sword hilt.

“…Just wait for now. It won't take that long.”

“…I think it’s already taking plenty long.”

“You think so?”

“It’s almost dawn. We left one side of the village half-destroyed…”

“…….”

“From what I can see, nothing seems to be changing… Isn’t this long enough?”

Because the process was so monotonously dull and there were no visible changes, Eliya, worried about the situation below, urged them on from time to time.

Several hours passed in silence like that, and just as Eliya had said, around the time dawn was breaking.

The eyelids of Valencia, who had been concentrating without once opening her eyes, trembled.

And then, she gently lifted her eyelids, revealing her pupils.

Grin—

“Now you’re looking the part.”

There were no changes in her outward appearance.

“…Queen Valencia.”

…Except for the fact that both of Valencia's eyes were now shining with a golden light.