novelraw Chapter 91 : Chapter 91
Chapter 91 : Chapter 91
091
I held the scroll and looked at the number 1 teaching assistant.
I had felt it when I saw her in the lecture hall, but her stiff expression felt like that of a soldier.
“If you are the true heir, is it the eldest son? I can’t make a mistake when I contact him.”
“That is correct.”
I knew who the eldest son of the Goldline Merchant Guild was.
Abrahal Goldline.
The eldest son of the Goldline Merchant Guild, and if my memory is correct, he would be forty this year.
He had participated in the guild’s operations since he was fifteen, so he had been involved in the Goldline Merchant Guild’s operations for nearly 25 years.
Although the current head of the Goldline Merchant Guild was actively working, he was already over sixty.
It was highly likely that a succession would take place within at least ten years.
‘That is, if Avril wasn’t around.’
Abrahal’s main stage was the capital.
He would have inevitably clashed the most with Avril, who led the trends in the capital.
“Should I open it here now?”
“Yes.”
The number 1 teaching assistant stood at ease outside and waited.
It seemed she wanted me to connect in front of her.
“There may be prying eyes, so let’s open it in the room.”
I called her inside.
After seating the number 1 teaching assistant at the table, I unfurled the Goldline scroll.
As soon as I slightly unfurled the scroll, it spread open on its own as if it had a will, scattering a golden light.
When the light faded, a small image faintly appeared above the scroll.
It was a superior performance to Avril’s scroll, which only had audio.
The man who appeared on the scroll was like a direct representation of what Avril would look like when he grew old.
A sharp jawline, sharp eyes, and lips that showed his stubbornness and personality.
[I assume you’ve been introduced. I’m Abrahal, Teacher Cassian.]
But he was much more at ease than the Avril I knew.
His sharp lips were gently curved with leisure, and his gaze felt like he was listening to my words, not ignoring me.
“I was told you wanted to contact me.”
[I have one question. Teacher, are you a regressor?]
I thought my heart had stopped.
Choosing my words carefully, I looked at Abrahal again.
He was smiling, just as he had when he first appeared in the video.
In that situation, he had cut to the chase without any change in the pitch of his voice.
‘He’s not a regressor.’
Avril had never said that his siblings were regressors.
Neither Rozalin, Hati, nor Ulf and the others had ever mentioned a regressor named Abrahal.
Yet for him to ask such a question.
‘He must have reached the information about regressors on his own.’
Whether it was through money or the intuitive reasoning that Avril sometimes showed, it was an absurd level.
“I am not.”
[I see.]
At my answer, Abrahal replied with a pleasant laugh.
It was a gesture that seemed to be genuinely believing.
So I asked back.
“Do you believe me?”
[I don’t usually believe people. I just judge.]
“You weren’t looking for an answer. You wanted to judge me by my response.”
[Precisely.]
He was a difficult opponent.
Just as I observed and understood my opponents, this person also seemed to be the type to weigh and assess various pieces of information by observing people.
“How did you obtain the keyword ‘regressor’?”
[Aren’t they people who act as if they know everything in this world? I laid out all the information I had and tried to connect them, but they didn’t connect. Once or twice is a coincidence, but more than three times is a necessity. So I made a hypothesis. They either see the future, or they are from the future.]
“Then what is the reason you thought I was a regressor?”
[Aren’t you the one who created the basic manual? And the Firestorm mercenaries move with you at the center. You also appear in the rumors Avril spread. And besides, I heard you’ve discovered some good new technique recently?]
“Then what is the reason you were convinced that I am not a regressor from my story just now?”
[Oh. Did I give away my expression? I don’t think I ever revealed that I was convinced you were not a regressor. Aha. You have good eyes.]
“The reason?”
[I have good eyes too.]
The more we talked, the more it felt like we were brandishing swords at each other.
Fatigue accumulated throughout my body.
But my opponent was smiling brightly, as if he was enjoying the situation.
[You meet this person and that person, this situation and that situation, and your eyes get better whether you want them to or not. And so you come to know things. You are not a regressor. Because you don’t show any intention of using the future to your advantage.]
It was the first time I had been read so thoroughly.
I had always been the one reading others, so is this what it felt like to be read?
So I thought I understood.
Why Avril, who knew the information and knowledge of the future, was so diligently stuck in Akarind Academy.
“Avril is trying to kill you.”
[Hahahahahahahahaha!]
At my direct words, the seated number 1 teaching assistant flinched and looked at me.
Abrahal seemed to find my words truly amusing.
[This time, I want to ask. How did you reach that conclusion?]
“Avril is building a fortress here. He is expanding his warehouse using the underground floors and supplementing his food supply. All of those policies are movements that assume the external supply lines will not be functioning properly for a short period of time.”
[Yes. He assumed I would isolate and kill him when the demons appeared.]
I focused on the keyword ‘demon’ that Abrahal had brought up.
I could understand up to the point of regressors.
As he had said, if a result continues to be produced without a cause, one could assume that the cause is not in the ‘present’, but in the past or future.
But demons were not something that could be assumed in that way.
Which meant.
“You’ve secured a regressor.”
[Hahaha. He’s doing well in the underground prison of the Goldline Merchant Guild. His memory is a bit bad, though. So the experts are helping him to bring out the memories in his head.]
…Torture?
Rozalin had said that about ten people had come through the gate that Pan had opened.
She had said that all of them were powerful figures representing humanity.
He was a powerful person capable of subduing such a strong person and throwing them in the guild’s underground prison.
[A correct inference. And?]
“I saw the swordsmanship style of the mercenaries that Avril has gathered. It was a movement specialized in guerrilla tactics against larger groups.”
Not those for hunting monsters, but those for hunting people, and armies.
From the degree to which it was ingrained in their bodies, it was clear that they had been training repeatedly for at least five to ten years.
Which meant, they were mercenaries who had been training like this even before Avril regressed.
“And……”
Most of all, there was a decisive reason.
“Because Avril regressed.”
[That’s right. That’s right. If he had regressed instead of this body, then of course I would have died. It’s a pity. If I had known how I died then, I would have prepared for it.]
Abrahal scratched his well-groomed beard on his chin, as if he were genuinely disappointed.
“Did you contact me to eliminate a variable?”
[A variable? Hmm, there’s that too. I heard that Aura is something great, but I didn’t know how great it was. But from what I heard from Shasha there, it’s a tremendous technique.]
It seems the number 1 teaching assistant’s name is Shasha.
Perhaps because her name was called, Shasha, who had been relaxed and focused on the conversation, took her stance again.
[So I contacted you to confirm what kind of variable it was. I understand now. Thanks for your time.]
Huh? Is that all?
I blinked in surprise and looked at Abrahal.
He was indeed fiddling with the scroll as if the conversation was over, and was about to end the call.
“W-wait a minute. So is that all?”
[Hmm? Do you need anything more? I’ll listen and if the price is right, we’ll make a deal.]
“No, it’s not that, did you really use a scroll like this just to ask if I was a regressor?”
Wasn’t he calling me to tell me to betray Avril and join him, or if not, to tell me Avril’s weaknesses?
At my question, Abrahal raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.
It was the most merchant-like smile I had seen today.
[The short conversation I had with you is worth a little more than a single Goldline superior scroll. Yes. I’ll have to give you the balance for the transaction. Shasha is there, right? Shasha.]
“Yes!”
Shasha answered loudly.
[Keep her.]
“Yes?”
[It should be enough for the change. If my calculations and yours are different and I’m at a bit of a loss, well, since it’s our first meeting, think of it as a service to build goodwill.]
Abrahal, who had one-sidedly stated his business, ended the communication.
As soon as the connection was cut on one side, the Goldline scroll burned up in a golden light on the spot.
Not even the slightest scorch mark was left on the floor where the scroll had been.
All that remained was me and Shasha, both with dumbfounded expressions.
I looked at Shasha.
Perhaps she had received some prior instructions from Abrahal.
But Shasha’s expression was literally that of an abandoned dog.
“Uh, uh…… yes? I-I must have misheard, right?”
She seemed unable to accept her current situation, at a loss for what to do.
“No way! I-I’m being abandoned like this? As change?”
She had forgotten that this was my dormitory and that I was here, and began to mutter to herself with her head in her hands.
Shasha, whose face was flushed red with anger, soon lost her strength and slumped to the floor.
“N-no. This must be a mission of some kind. R-right, teacher? You must have found something in that story just now, right?”
No, I don’t know either.
One thing was certain: from the beginning to the end of the conversation, Abrahal’s expressions were all genuine.
Not just his expression, but the black of his pupils. His shoulders. His pulse, which throbbed as he breathed.
He had spoken only the truth, down to the most minute detail.
Which meant that he had truly gotten what he wanted from my story.
When I shook my head, Shasha lowered her head with her hands on the floor.
“I-I worked so hard under the young master, like this… my life……”
“……Are you alright?”
“No, I’m not alright, but… yes. This is a mission, if it is a mission… that.”
Shasha’s head slowly lifted.
The corners of her eyes were red, as if she were about to cry, but Shasha bit her lower lip and stood up, enduring.
“……Orders.”
It’s not like it’s an order.
“Go back to your quarters, get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow. You have to do your teaching assistant duties.”
“I will do my best.”
No, well, it would be nice if you did your best, but your resolve is a bit different from before.
Before, it felt like you were just working hard, but now it feels like you’re going to work with your life on the line.
I smiled wryly and sent her away.
And the next day.
After training, another teaching assistant came to my dormitory.
It was the number 3 teaching assistant.
He also gave me a scroll, and from it, another of Avril’s siblings appeared and tempted me.
The next day, the number 4 teaching assistant handed me a scroll.
And the next day, the number 2 teaching assistant handed me a scroll.
After receiving all their proposals.
‘Not as good as Abrahal.’
As I had first thought, they promised me wealth and glory and asked me to lead the education in a way that would make Avril’s mercenaries self-destruct.
They tempted me by saying they would tell me Avril’s weaknesses, and promised me great wealth and glory.
‘This is easier.’
I proposed to them as I had planned.
“I have a book. It’s a textbook that helps you use something called Aura.”
Their eyes widened.
“If the price is right, I’m thinking of providing you with this.”