A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 193 : Emily (5)

Was it because the Magitek equipment she encountered after leaving Aberdeen was so welcoming?

Emily spent all her living hours, including board and lodging, in the basement. Living in a room with no sunlight, given that humans are designed to live above ground, didn't seem particularly healthy.

But then again, scholars, despite priding themselves on caring for the principles of all creation, were always the ones who cared least for their own bodies.

Well, she wasn't going to be doing that for months anyway, and she was still at an age where she had plenty of energy, so there seemed no need to pull her out of the basement and disrupt her concentration.

『One week.』

That was her answer when asked how long it would take to create the experimental piece.

Of course, that experimental piece was only a rough framework, so it would only barely resemble a ‘prototype’ after several revisions.

Still, it seemed that was the time it would take for the result of the first attempt to emerge.

And if my hunch was correct, the resulting experimental piece probably wouldn't require many revisions.

『Heh heh...』

Seeing Emily, grinning from ear to ear as she inspected the equipment, it seemed her full potential would be unleashed to complete the production, including this one week.

‘…….’

Even without my request, Magitek firearms were originally a field Emily wanted to research and develop.

However, just like with Magitek flight engines, it was a field that had been restricted during the process of selection, concentration, and pruning for the rapid development of Magitek.

She probably always harbored a desire to research it again, and not just a desire; she must have continuously racked her brain, accumulating related concepts.

Simply put, from her perspective, the research restrictions had been lifted even more than they were in Aberdeen.

If she could just unleash all the accumulated energy and give it tangible form, she would likely quickly reach a level where she could grasp the framework of a firearm and use it to some extent.

Of course, there weren't absolutely no other variables.

Firstly, even if Isaac Einstein was the starting point of Magitek, the direction in which The Order had developed it independently was bound to be somewhat different.

Therefore, much of the Magitek equipment installed in the basement of the Guild House, while serving similar functions, applied different principles, and some even operated in ways Emily was completely unfamiliar with.

Consequently, Emily needed to learn these pieces of equipment and reconfigure them into a usable structure, and there was a possibility that a lack of equipment during this process could slow down progress.

But that wasn't a significant enough problem to call a ‘big issue’.

The reason was simple.

Emily herself was the culmination of all Magitek technology across Aberdeen, and Isaac Einstein's laboratory held far more materials than one might expect.

Reconfiguring was something Emily could easily do once she understood the principles, and the necessary materials were already available in the laboratory, almost to the point of saying ‘all’ of them.

That's why Emily could also guarantee it.

That she could produce some results within a week.

‘…….’

So, all that was needed now was to wait.

“Hoo—”

Thump.

I threw myself onto the newly arranged sofa in a corner of the first-floor lobby.

Jerry, who was sitting opposite me, frowned at the puff of dust that rose with a ‘thud’. I didn't particularly care.

“...Can’t you sit down a little more carefully?”

“Nope.”

“......”

“If you don’t like it, you sit down hard too.”

“......”

It's a simple exposure technique.

Wouldn't even mysophobia eventually be cured if one were continuously exposed to dirt? Perhaps thinking that conversation was futile, Jerry didn't bother speaking to me further, and a brief silence fell.

Observing his brow movements in the quiet, a thought suddenly struck me.

“Is that guy still like that?”

“That guy?”

Jerry asked back, perhaps not immediately making the connection, but then added as if he understood what I was talking about even without my answer.

“...It seems so. He appears to be in his room right now.”

It was about Loxy.

Since returning from Aileen Village, Loxy hadn't shown her face to me at all.

It wasn't that she had left the Guild House; it seemed she was avoiding me, living in the same space but making sure our paths didn't cross.

Of course, the Guild House had a certain size, and with fewer people than usual, it was possible we hadn't met by chance.

However, it seemed certain that she was intentionally avoiding me, as I had searched the entire Guild House, even when looking for Jerry, and still hadn't found her.

She was eating, and traces of her remained here and there throughout the house.

Indeed, just today, an empty cup in the living room indicated that she had been there.

Living in the same space, she was meticulously moving on a different route and at different times than me.

“Hmm...”

“Did something happen? I don't recall her being the quiet type, or one to avoid people.”

“I wonder.”

Actually, if I wanted to find her, I could have.

Though spacious, it was still just a house.

But the reason I hadn't was that I largely guessed why she was avoiding me to such an extent.

‘...Perhaps.’

The alien power that had grown within me.

That is, it seemed to be because the power of the Primordial Demonic Beast, which had increased after I swallowed Quark's Source Stone, along with the fragments from Aileen Village, had made its presence even stronger.

Because ‘that guy’ was managing it from within, Jerry and Eliya didn't seem to notice it much, but Loxy's case was a little different.

She is a Demonic Species.

I didn't know the exact mechanism, but since the source of her power originated from a Demon, she was on a different level from other common races when it came to sensing powers that resonated with it.

I didn't know exactly how she saw me, but it felt like she was avoiding me out of fear.

Ah.

Come to think of it.

“Was tomorrow April 30th?”

“...That’s what I understand.”

“Still, I think I need to see her tomorrow.”

* * *

“Loxy.”

Loxy Heart.

Her heart was currently in a rather conflicted state.

So much had happened recently that it was hard to pinpoint one specific cause, but if she had to say, it was everything that had happened so far.

Loxy Heart.

Ever since she first received this name, something had started to go wrong in her life.

She was from the bottom, with no particular beliefs, but if she had to categorize herself, she was from the Demon King's Army.

And not just that, she was born at the very edge of the ‘Demonic Species,’ the royal bloodline, if one were to line up positions from left to right.

But now, the faction she belonged to was none other than the Hero's camp, which openly boasted of a Demon King Hunt.

In other words. Someone born at the far left seemed to have ended up at the far right.

“......”

Until she was first captured by U-jin, such worries didn't exist.

It was an unavoidable situation where U-jin held her life, and after learning U-jin was a Regressor, she even developed some interest.

She thought she could play along until her interest waned, then find an opportune moment to escape.

Humans inevitably had moments of weakness.

But now, things had become ambiguous.

As the name Loxy Heart began to feel familiar, truly like her own name, Loxy was experiencing an identity crisis.

Was it because this was the first time she had stayed in a human body for so long?

Or was it truly the ‘indoctrination’ that U-jin had spoken of?

She couldn't tell.

What was certain was that she had become so indecisive and foolish that her former self would call her crazy if they saw her now.

‘…….’

Even without outwardly showing herself, Loxy roughly knew how U-jin's party's plans were progressing.

The number of people staying at the Guild House was noticeably decreasing, suggesting the scale was growing, and a more concrete shape was emerging.

It was real.

U-jin was really trying to do the absurd thing called ‘Demon King Hunt’.

And that fact itself was causing Loxy confusion.

From Loxy's perspective, it was the space she was born in.

As if she wasn't confused enough, it was none other than U-jin who poured oil on the fire.

More precisely, the terrifying experience she felt when entering U-jin's dream. And,

『By any chance... have you switched sides?』

『......』

『To the Demon King's side?』

U-jin's transformation that occurred after that. An acquired Demon, they called it.

Experiencing such a bizarre thing she had never heard of, Loxy began to feel fear towards U-jin.

The unique demonic aura emanating from U-jin seemed invisible to others, but to Loxy, it had become so unsettling that it was difficult to treat him the same as before.

Moreover.

From U-jin, who had once again returned, an even stronger aura was emanating.

So powerful that she felt she couldn't approach him, couldn't even meet his gaze.

An aura beyond that of a demon.

Having never directly encountered a being beyond a demon, it was difficult to express exactly what it was, but it was certainly exerting a stronger presence than the aura typically displayed by demons.

When she had first instinctively tried to go meet U-jin, Loxy had almost fallen to her knees the moment she saw him from a distance.

The reason she had been keeping her distance and avoiding U-jin ever since his return, was precisely because of that.

She had no idea how she would react out of fear if she were to encounter U-jin again.

“...Should I just give up everything and run away?”

Of course, it was an absurd thought. If that were possible, she wouldn't be hiding like a mouse; she would have escaped long ago.

As long as the mark U-jin left remained, she couldn't escape, and even if she did, she had nowhere to belong.

Returning to the Demon King's Army would be tantamount to suicide.

Yet, her uneasy heart wouldn't calm down enough to act as usual, like before.

“Hoo... what the hell is this mess?”

Loxy mumbled with a sigh and looked up at the sky.

A red moon hung in the sky.