A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 196 : Declaration of the Beastkin Nation (1)

Emily's second prototype took a little longer than the first.

No, 'a little' wasn't quite right; the unit of time itself had shifted from weeks to months, so 'much longer' was a more fitting expression.

‘......’

The first prototype Emily created was simply a rough outline of the Magitek firearm she had conceived so far, which allowed her to make it in the short span of a week.

However, the second version, which was revised based on my feedback, couldn't be made in such a short period.

The reason was simple.

The firearm structure I requested shattered her existing common sense, and unlike the first, where she merely poured out what was in her head, every step of the second was likely a challenge.

In fact, while it was called a second prototype, it was essentially an entirely separate endeavor from the first, given that nothing—from its structure to its properties and principles—was the same.

Moreover, regarding the Mana bullets, it was easy to talk about, but engraving a Mana Circuit into something as small as a bullet was no simple task.

A Mana Circuit was fundamentally complex, and even a single stroke that deviated from its principles would completely alter its meaning.

Furthermore, Mana Circuits were essentially knowledge related to the body, whereas Magitek dealt with external knowledge.

From Emily’s perspective, it was a task of integrating two new fields of study.

Even if I relied on my unique abilities and created it roughly, it still needed a minimum level of completion to prevent misfires.

She would inevitably have to study separately to some extent.

And it didn't end there; she also had to discover some principle(?) unknown to me to solve the durability issue of the gun barrel.

It was clearly going to be a much more complex and difficult task for Emily.

Simply put, it was an item that required solving three or four intractable problems that Magitek had yet to unravel.

Expecting it in a short period was wishful thinking.

Of course, that didn't mean the difficulty made Emily uncomfortable or complicated her thoughts.

On the contrary, she seemed to welcome it, starting her research in the basement even more intensely than before.

Occasionally, she would skip sleep and meals to continue her research, immersing herself in it even more than when she made the first prototype of the Magitek firearm she had always wanted to create.

Of course, I knew very well that it would be meaningless if it wasn't sustainable, so I forced her to take breaks.

Even then, I could only keep her tethered for a maximum of about four hours a day; the rest of the time, she practically lived in the basement.

How much time passed like that?

Before Emily's second prototype was completed.

Tom arrived at the guildhouse.

* * *

Tom's return at this time was a bit unexpected.

According to my calculations, it should have taken much longer.

"...Too fast."

The coordinates of the prisons received from the UMC totaled four.

They were distribution hubs located in the central part of each region when the Order's territory was divided into four.

Naturally, due to their nature, the distance between these hub prisons was considerable, making it impossible for Tom to deal with all of them.

The ideal method would have been to deploy sufficient troops to strike all four hubs simultaneously, but we didn't have that many people.

Therefore, Tom's party had to attack the hub prisons sequentially, a method that inevitably made it difficult to strike all of them.

The moment one hub prison was attacked, some kind of communication network would be activated, and naturally, other hub prisons would take measures like preparing or relocating.

No matter how fast they moved, it was illogical that the communication network wouldn't reach other hubs during the time it took to attack all four...

Therefore, I thought that, if lucky, Beastkin from the three hub prisons would be rescued, and if unlucky, only one.

Given the number and timing of their approach from afar, I had assumed it would be the latter.

However, the moment I saw Tom arrive at the guildhouse, I sensed something was off.

Valencia and Cheong-yi were nowhere to be seen.

Hastily, I approached Tom, wondering if something had gone wrong.

With the single-word answer he gave me, I immediately understood what had happened.

"We caught the leader."

"......!"

The leader.

He hadn't given a specific name, but I instantly knew who he was referring to.

'Marketmaker.'

The head who led the Beastkin slave market, the ruler who controlled the market.

Tom was telling me he had captured him.

He had muttered it casually, as if saying, "Just picked it up on the way," but it was, of course, no easy feat.

If it were something anyone could do, it wouldn't make sense for the slave market to have reached a point where it was controlled by one person's will without any checks.

As he operated without revealing his face, his location was hard to pinpoint, and identifying his identity was even more difficult.

To uncover all of that and capture him personally was a task of unimaginable difficulty for an ordinary person.

After all, in any black market, the Marketmaker's greatest concern was the exposure of his identity.

In other words, what Tom said was something that defied common sense.

Pfft—

As if reading the surprise on my face, Tom curled his lips in satisfaction and spoke.

"The basics of a Hunter are tracking."

At Tom Hardist's subsequent words, I recalled a fact I had forgotten.

'...Hunter.'

Among all types of Hunters on the continent, the most tenacious and skilled were the Vampire Hunters.

Tom Hardist.

The fact that he was known as the most outstanding veteran among all Vampire Hunters throughout history.

"Finding one hidden rat is nothing."

The Vampire Clan is fundamentally masters of concealment.

When they, along with the Lycan Clan, maintained their name as a renowned martial family among the Beastkin.

If the Lycan Clan gained fame for their unique physical endurance and combat intelligence, the Vampire Clan made their name with unparalleled regenerative abilities and battle strategies.

Their excellence was fundamentally in their intellect, and as they enjoyed combat using their thralls, their concealment techniques were outstanding.

How exceptional were Jerry's camouflage and concealment skills if he could evade Isaac Einstein's pursuit?

Even with the formidable restrictions of The Order's territory, that was something not just anyone could do.

And those who somehow tracked down and hunted such Vampires were the Vampire Hunters.

Moreover, the Vampire Hunters were extraordinary beings who didn't hesitate to enter the Demon King's territory to hunt Vampires.

At least when it came to the mission of finding and eliminating a target, no one on the continent could match them.

...And among those Vampire Hunters, the veteran praised as the most outstanding throughout history was none other than Tom Hardist.

For him, hunting a Marketmaker hiding within The Order's territory was as easy as pie.

'...I hadn't thought of that at all.'

The option of hunting the leader first was something I hadn't considered at all.

Given the unfavorable conditions, I thought it was right to break through the prisons one by one and proceed with the most straightforward approach, but capturing the leader first was a brilliant move that even I hadn't conceived.

"Was that your idea?"

I asked Tom, feeling a strange lack of trust.

He cleared his throat with a "Hmmph—" and then muttered as if it were nothing.

"...A rat knows other rats best, it seems."

...It was Jerry's idea.

It seemed entrusting Jerry with this matter was a truly excellent decision.

"That leader was killed on the spot. He was a scoundrel not worth even chewing alive, but I had no choice since it would have delayed things."

"......"

"Coincidentally, there was a hub prison nearby, so we broke it and walked all the way here. Since this many people were moving, I didn't think it was necessary for everyone to come, so the Princess and the kid will meet us at the next hub."

Tom spoke with confidence.

I heard a gulping sound next to me, so I turned my head to see Eliya's jaw dropped as if it had come unhinged.

"...And you just walked here? Without any cleanup?"

"That's right."

"...That's ridiculous. How can you talk so brazenly about walking through the middle of the street while shitting?!"

Tom covered his ears at Eliya's shriek.

"What else could I do? Time was pressing. Cleaning up every little thing isn't my style."

"No, even so..."

I could roughly guess what Eliya was thinking.

Originally, it would be impossible to completely conceal the movement of this many people.

But there's a limit to giving up.

This was practically lawlessness, beyond mere illegality.

From what I heard, it seemed no separate cleanup had been done regarding the Marketmaker's assassination, even if the Marketmaker was a criminal.

Arbitrary killing within The Order's territory was not permitted.

If all the illegal activities he was involved in—selling and even creating various Beastkin slaves—were revealed, Tom might receive some extenuating circumstances.

Even so, he wouldn't be granted full justification.

In other words.

From Eliya's perspective, as someone who had to handle administrative tasks, she knew all those matters would fall on her, so she couldn't help but be horrified.

This wasn't just troublesome; it was an issue beyond her comprehension of how to even begin resolving it.

Clunk—

"...What do we do, Hero?"

Eliya held her head and looked at me.

Shrug—

"Beats me."

As if I would have an answer.

With things already messed up to this extent, what could possibly be done to clean up?

Not thinking about the aftermath was practically a habit or a characteristic of Vampire Hunters, so I understood Tom doing it out of habit.

But that was originally for those who had lost their nation and clan.

It was their situation, truly having nothing left to lose, but it didn't apply to us, who hadn't even received guild permission from The Order yet.

However.

"Won't it somehow work out?"

...There seemed no need to worry so much.

Swish—

Because the moment I saw a figure appear right after, I understood.

"We meet again."

Apparently, someone had cleaned up after Tom without our knowledge.

And I could roughly guess who it was.

"All three of you."

It was Tan.

* * *

"The basics of a Hunter are tracking."

Tom exhaled a puff of cigar smoke and muttered, seemingly satisfied.