A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 222 : The North (1)

Squeeze—

Louis's small, fern-like hand gripped the hem of U-jin's clothes.

"...What do you mean by that, Mr. Seo U-jin."

It was a vehement reaction, unlike his usual self.

But he couldn't help it.

At this point in time, not long after the Saintess was executed, the word 'Saintess' in front of Louis was no different from a taboo.

Even the ever-composed Ludwig Allegro was startled by U-jin's words; that's how forbidden it was to mention the word 'Saintess' in front of Louis.

The reason was simple.

Although he was suppressing it somehow.

To Leonardo Louis-Button, the 'Saintess' was a figure who held a significance equal to, or even greater than, the Order.

If one half of Louis was the Order, the other half could be said to be the Saintess; their relationship was that significant.

The circumstances were endless if one were to list them out, and one could guess the extent of his admiration from how Louis had described the Saintess as 'the noblest person in the world'.

It was to that extent.

To the point where if she were to spread her wings and ascend to heaven right before his eyes, he would accept it with a smile as if it were the most natural thing.

Therefore, U-jin's words couldn't help but strike Louis differently.

It was also a time not long after the Saintess had been executed.

"...Is it true, Mr. Seo U-jin."

"......"

"The story about you hearing the Saintess's voice."

Shrug—

"Well, it's difficult if you ask for proof."

"......"

"...For now?"

* * *

Leonardo Louis-Button had been opposed to the Saintess's execution from the very beginning.

It was quite an exceptional case.

Looking at the path Leonardo Louis-Button had walked, this was the first time he had taken a course of action that went against the Order's direction.

Among the key personnel of the Order's Headquarters, those important enough to be part of the Reverse Cross Council, he was almost the only one who opposed the Saintess's execution.

Of course, his dissenting opinion was dismissed.

After all, the Order's consensus was to carry out the execution, and his opinion was merely that of a minority.

When his opinion was dismissed as a member of the Order, Louis resorted to another method.

Of course, he didn't use illegal means.

If he were to step outside the bounds of humanitarianism, it would only tarnish the Saintess's name from her active days.

Instead, Louis was submitting a petition to the Order at the end of every month, following the Order's legal procedures, condemning the Saintess's execution.

He studied and reviewed the Order's history, asserting the Saintess's exceptionality, and examined the Order's literature and precedents from previous generations.

And based on that, he organized why the death penalty verdict for the Saintess was unjust and sent the petition to the Order.

Although they were submitted at the not-insignificant interval of once a month, surprisingly, the contents were never the same.

Would it be easier to understand if one called it "101 Reasons Why the Saintess Should Not Be Executed"?

All the petitions Louis had sent so far commonly argued that 'the Saintess's execution is unjust,' but the supporting evidence for each was indexed differently.

These accumulated year after year, exceeding 100 in number, showing an obsessive level of effort in his opposition to the Saintess's execution.

However, even though the numerous petitions accumulated over such a long time and the logical consistency they provided sided with Louis-Button...

The Order's Headquarters showed no signs of changing its mind.

The reason was simple.

Just as Louis's petitions could all argue that the Saintess's execution was wrong despite using different evidence, Louis-Button might not have been wrong according to precedent and law.

If the Saintess's execution had been a verdict based on administrative levels or standards in the first place, there would have been no reason for it to become an agenda for the 'Reverse Cross Council', nor would there have been a reason for Louis to not accept it.

Only then did Louis realize.

This wasn't a matter on an administrative level that could be solved simply by him finding errors and petitioning.

It was on a political level.

That it was part of a great historical current that was shaping an era.

Therefore, Louis intended to use the Indulgence he had saved as a last resort for the Saintess.

But that too failed.

It was an impossible task.

Although the Order's records state that 'an Indulgence can be applied to any punishment.'

This was because there was an exception clause preventing the absolute effect of the Indulgence from being applied to the ‘Death Penalty’.

The Indulgence was useless for the Saintess who had been sentenced to death, and thus, the meaning of the Indulgence's existence vanished.

This was also why Louis had been able to make a deal with U-jin over the Indulgence in the first place.

If he wasn't going to use it on the Saintess anyway, Louis had no other place to use it.

When the third method of using the Indulgence also failed, Louis had no choice but to plan a method using force.

It was a method unlike him, and it was true that his conscience was reluctant, but he had no choice.

All the methods to save the Saintess while adhering to his own conscience had failed, and that was the only method left.

After all was said and done.

She had to live first before she could be absolved or anything.

However, that plan of his also failed immediately.

The reason was simple.

Just as he was deep in planning and about to begin.

A letter arrived from the Saintess.

『To my dear Lord Leonardo Louis-Button.』

Normally, this would have been impossible.

The Saintess had received a new, special-grade brand, the likes of which had never existed in the Order before, and was imprisoned in an isolated area whose location was known only to the 'Grand Inquisitor', the head of the Order's Headquarters' direct judgment agency.

No one was permitted to approach or contact her.

He didn't know for sure, but Louis thought that the Order's Headquarters, which was already watching Louis-Button's movements, must have sensed something amiss and made a separate request to the Saintess.

At first, Louis thought it might be some kind of fabrication by the Order, but after reading the letter, he knew that wasn't the case.

The handwriting was definitely the Saintess's.

The Saintess's letter began with an introduction full of various blessings and prayers, but the 'main point' it sought to convey was only a few lines long.

『...I hope that which you are worried about does not come to pass, Louis.』

As if she knew what Louis was planning to do.

The Saintess was stopping Louis.

『Do not protect me, but protect the will of the Messiah. If I have truly been sent by Him, I will be resurrected, and if I cannot be revived, then I am a false resurrector.』

'......'

『Either way, ascending the execution block is the righteous mission given to me. Please do not harm the will of the Messiah.』

And so, Louis gave up.

He could only wait for the execution day by day, clinging to the faint thread of hope that the Saintess might be resurrected as his only lifeline.

And so.

He gave up on rescuing the Saintess, the Saintess's execution took place, and the Saintess was not resurrected.

The only reason he had come to this Enthronement Ceremony was that he had forced himself to move, suppressing his emotions, thinking that his thoughts would only deepen if he stayed elsewhere.

So, Louis couldn't help but overreact to U-jin's words, 'I heard the Saintess's voice.'

"A cross appeared before my eyes."

"......!"

"A cross suddenly appeared while I was sleeping. I don't know if it was a dream or what, I don't know the exact principle, but the Saintess was hanging on that cross."

At U-jin's words, Ludwig Allegro's eyes widened.

The reason was simple.

The method of the Saintess's restraint was top-secret information, to the extent that even Leonardo Louis-Button, sitting next to him, didn't know it.

There was a limit to the mana that could be suppressed with existing restraints, and the miracles the Saintess had shown until now displayed power that far surpassed that, so a slightly different form of restraint was needed.

He knew because the planning and charge of that very restraint method had been with him, the head of UMC.

It was something that, aside from Ludwig Allegro himself, only the Cardinal under the Grand Inquisitor's office in charge of her restraint would know.

It was not information someone else could ever know unless they had seen it directly.

'......'

At first, he naturally thought it was nonsense, but from the perspective of Ludwig Allegro, who knew this fact well, he had no choice but to listen to the stories U-jin was spouting now with some seriousness.

Louis, too.

Couldn't help but feel that something was unusual from Ludwig's reaction.

"She didn't say she was the Saintess, but I could tell instinctively. 'Ah, this person is the Saintess.' From the very beginning, the thought that it could be someone else didn't even cross my mind."

"......"

"And just as I thought. She said she had received a prophecy, and that it was supposed to come to pass, but a small problem had occurred."

The Saintess, awaiting her execution, appeared before the eyes of a mere Hero.

And she was hanging on a specially made cross designed to restrain mana.

At a glance, it was a story so absurd that one couldn't complain if it were dismissed with a scoff, but the preceding context and U-jin's unique exceptionalism were forcibly filling in the lacking plausibility.

"She said that the resurrection was scheduled, but she probably wouldn't be able to resurrect."

It was a point that didn't need to be stated.

The two people in front of him already knew best that the Saintess's resurrection had failed.

The Order, too, had considered the possibility to some extent, and had measured the possibility of her resurrection in various ways after her death.

But they found nothing.

Accordingly, it was a fact that the Saintess's resurrection had failed.

However.

Shrug—

"...For now."

"......!"

The words U-jin added afterward were shocking enough to make them forget everything that had been said before.

"...Does that mean?"

"I don't know exactly when, but it means she might be resurrected someday. If I didn't mishear."

The Saintess will be resurrected.

It was a short phrase, but the ripple effect that sentence could bring was so immense that it couldn't be compared to any of the numerous incidents that had occurred since the Order's founding.

It was in itself the fulfillment of the Messiah's prophecy.

Unlike the many self-proclaimed Resurrectors that had existed until now.

It was the story of a person sent by the Messiah arriving on this land, and that she would soon be able to save this land.

That was precisely the essential reason and strength for which the Guardian Cross Order was founded and had been sustained until now.

It was the fulfillment of what countless people had longed for.

To enter the sacred realm of Resurrection, which no one had dared to approach.

"...So she chose a proxy."

"......"

"To take her place until she is resurrected."