Chapter 11 - The Devil of Regression (1)
The Duchy was bustling upon arrival.
Servants were gathered all around the entrance of the mansion, and there was luggage equivalent to several suitcases.
In the center of it all, Agnes and Duke Levadein stood, waiting to welcome Deltain.
"Why are so many of you out here?"
"It's the first trip of my life, you know."
Agnes smiled brightly, and Duke Levadein spoke.
He said that while holding Deltain's hand tightly.
"Count, please take good care of my daughter."
For some reason, an expression of both deep emotion and satisfaction existed on the Duke's face.
Deltain awkwardly smiled, thinking that 'please take good care of my daughter' probably accounted for the largest share of things he had heard from Duke Levadein lately.
"...I will make sure to return safely."
Agnes was chuckling as if she found this side of Deltain amusing.
Deltain's expression crinkled slightly.
"...Let's load the luggage and get going."
"Okay."
The servants loaded the luggage into the sedan's trunk.
Based on the volume alone, the trunk should have been far too small, but there was no disaster where the luggage wouldn't fit.
<4th-rank Magic: Space Expansion applied.>
It was none other than Deltain Hebron's sedan.
It would have been strange if space magic hadn't been applied.
As Agnes headed toward the sedan, there were two maids following her.
"Are these them? The maids you said you were taking?"
"They're Ria and Jerry."
Even at a glance, they looked to be in their 40s.
They were the ones being taken along for Agnes, who couldn't even change her clothes on her own.
For a moment, Deltain thought, 'Wouldn't maids of the same age be more comfortable?' but he quickly erased that thought and gestured with his chin.
"Get in. I've made separate seats for you."
It wasn't just the trunk that had Space Expansion applied.
All the back seats, excluding the driver's seat, had been expanded to easily accommodate ten people.
He had even been considerate enough to divide it into two sections so the maids could rest while they were in the car.
Immediately after, Deltain naturally took Agnes's hand and put her in the other section of the car.
"Have a safe trip. If there's anything uncomfortable, be sure to tell the Count."
"Yes, I'll be back."
Duke Levadein was waving his hand while dabbing the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief.
To think the Chancellor of the country was such a doting parent.
A question about whether the Empire was truly alright quietly filled Deltain's mind.
"...Then I will see you in two months."
Click.
The sedan's door closed, and it proceeded to depart.
*
The driver was Gerhart.
Since it was a long-term journey, he had brought him along for the convenience of the process.
"What about the other Hounds?"
"Waiting at the North Gate."
"They're not riding in the car, they're going separately?"
"Yes."
The conversation took place just as they arrived at the North Gate.
Immediately after, Agnes opened her eyes wide at what she saw out the window and let out an "Oh."
It was because the Hounds were riding on strange vehicles with two wheels.
It was a bike made by Deltain.
"That looks really fascinating. Is that a car too?"
"A bike."
"Huh?"
"They will keep patrolling the surroundings while we move. It would be troublesome if a demon approached."
This was Deltain's countermeasure.
Although he had cast Saint Hall on the sedan itself, he had set it up in a simplified manner for efficiency, so he was letting the Hounds loose on the road to keep any potential demons in check.
"Unless something happens, you won't have any reason to leave the car."
"But it's stifling."
"That's why I made it spacious on purpose."
"What about the bathroom?"
"It's inside. If you go to the back seat, you'll see a small door. Just open that and go in."
"Wow, you're really thorough."
Deltain snorted and gestured to Gerhart.
Then, Gerhart honked the horn.
Vroom!
The Hounds' bikes sped forward, and the sedan began to move behind them.
The journey had begun.
*
Not long after leaving the North Gate, Deltain finally felt hungry and took out the sandwiches he had packed.
And he handed the sandwich with 'Pickle' written on the outside to Agnes.
"Eat. You haven't eaten, right?"
"Huh?"
Agnes looked at the sandwich Deltain had brought, then smiled playfully and said to him.
"Did you pack this thinking of me?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"For someone who says that, you figured out my taste perfectly. It's written in big letters on the outside, 'Pickle'."
"Gerhart prepared everything. I didn't even know there were two sandwiches, and the reason I'm giving you one is because I hate pickles."
Gerhart kept his mouth shut.
His personality of not saying unnecessary things was one of the reasons Deltain cherished him.
Agnes made a humming sound and took the sandwich.
Then she said to Gerhart.
"Thank you, Butler-nim. I was just getting hungry, and I'm touched that you took such careful consideration."
Deltain's body flinched.
"...I didn't know you even knew how to say thank you."
"Of course I should. It's basic etiquette."
"And yet, someone who knows that treated me like that?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Deltain ground his teeth.
He hadn't particularly wanted a thank you, but it was still unpleasant that she was thanking Gerhart for something she had never properly done for him.
Even though he was the one who had prepared it.
Of course, it was an unfair situation for Gerhart.
But he couldn't tell the truth.
"...Because she is a guest."
After all, if he told the truth like this, it was too obvious that Deltain would fly into a rage.
He was a very perceptive person for one of Deltain's subordinates.
"...Forget it, just eat."
Deltain roughly unwrapped the sandwich and took a big bite.
Then Agnes also carefully unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite.
"It's delicious."
"Delicious, my foot. How can you even eat something with pickles in it?"
"Picky eater."
"I'm not a picky eater. Pickles aren't even food to begin with."
"They are definitely food."
"If everything that goes into your mouth is food, then rocks are food too."
Agnes giggled at Deltain's irritable reaction and continued.
"It's sour and crunchy, so it's delicious. I don't know why you hate this."
"It has too much presence. It drowns out the characteristics of the other ingredients."
"That's what's good about it. Isn't it charming to have such a unique presence?"
"Not knowing harmony and coexistence is a detriment to the group."
Sharp conversation went back and forth even during the meal.
Gerhart, who had to listen to their entire conversation while in the driver's seat right in front of them, thought:
'To be so incompatible, even down to the smallest things.'
He thought there would be many times his ears would be sore during the journey.
*
Three days since the journey began.
The sedan was smoothly driving along the road, leaving the Empire.
Two more days of travel and they would reach the Empire's border, the full-scale entry into the North.
"The Empire ends already? Then why does it take two weeks to arrive?"
"Because there are no paved roads outside the Empire. Since vehicles are only properly supplied within the Empire, what do you expect from other countries?"
It had only been two years since vehicles were developed and put into full-scale use.
Ishmark was so quick with calculations that he had paved roads all over the Empire from the moment he saw the vehicles, but other countries couldn't do the same.
Humans were more conservative animals than expected when it came to accepting the sudden appearance of artifacts that exceeded growth thresholds.
For Deltain, it was a frustrating matter.
"Idiots who can't even eat what's given to them."
"Talking about yourself?"
"What?"
"Idiots who can't even eat what's given to them. That was exactly you."
Deltain's eyes blinked.
1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.
Only after exactly 3 seconds did Deltain realize that this had a sexual meaning, and he opened his eyes wide.
"...Crazy bitch."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
As Agnes smiled enigmatically, Deltain's face turned red.
What would follow was obvious.
Just like it had been for the past three days, Deltain would yell at Agnes about something again, and then shut his mouth, fed up with her attitude that made communication impossible.
If only the sedan hadn't stopped.
"Count-nim, we have arrived at the campsite."
At Gerhart's words, Deltain's head lifted.
Looking at the car window with a sullen face, he soon said to Agnes.
"Hey, get out. We're sleeping outside today."
"Huh?"
"I need to replenish the mana in the car. During that time, all the space expansion magic and everything else will be turned off, so if you stay inside, you'll be crushed."
This was an unavoidable compromise.
No matter how much of a Deltain he was, he couldn't create perpetual motion, so there was resource consumption that had to be endured for the features crammed into the vehicle.
There was only one reason he had come to this campsite at this point, after traveling for three days.
It was because this was a spot that the army had been guarding since the day the departure was scheduled.
In other words, this was a place where the possibility of demons being present was significantly low.
Agnes said, greatly delighted.
"Wow, I get to try camping too?"
"You won't like it once you try sleeping. Sleeping on the ground is more painful than you think."
"We brought mattresses, didn't we?"
"It can't block all the drafts."
"I can just cuddle with you and sleep."
"Get lost."
Deltain said that and got out of the car to look around the campsite.
<3rd-rank Magic: Chase activated.>
A blue lens flickered over his eyes.
He was looking for any potential traces of demons.
'What I can see right now is...'
Nothing.
Just as he was about to conclude that, a 'beep' noise rang in Deltain's ears.
And a faint red light rose on the lens.
In an instant, Deltain's eyes sharpened.
'There was no presence?'
How did it approach while hiding even its presence?
Deltain, filled with tension, emitted mana, but it was a useless act.
The reason was that what had been discovered was not a demon.
The direction the lens was pointing was the dense bushes at the edge of the campsite.
Deltain, who pushed through them, let out a curse without realizing it.
"...Ah, fuck."
What was reflected on his retina was a tail made of human flesh.
It was only a piece the size of a human head, so the knights standing guard seemed not to have discovered it.
In the first place, it was difficult to discover traces of demons without the 'Chase' magic.
Anyway, the reason Deltain let out a curse was nothing else.
This was a curse that the 'Demon of Regression' sprinkled around like feces.
In other words, this tail fragment itself was the demon's temptation.
Deltain's head turned creakily.
Please. Please. Please.
He repeated that to himself, but as always, God was not on his side.
"What's wrong?"
Agnes, who was asking while tilting her head, was there.
Looking noticeably younger than just a moment ago.
Her height had shrunk by about 10 centimeters. Her face had a little more baby fat, and her eyes were also a bit rounder.
Her skirt hem, which used to come to her calves, was now at her ankles.
If one had to guess, she looked to be about twelve or thirteen.
Agnes felt a sense of incongruity belatedly at her slightly more childish voice and dropped her head to look at her body.
And she stopped moving, stunned.
Demon of Regression.
It was a demon that regressed human bodies to the past, eventually erasing their very existence.
Deltain covered his eyes with his hand.
It was because his heart ached to see that she had fallen for the temptation even though she had only been in the space where the tail fragment was for a split second.
Deltain felt a miserable feeling and admitted it.
'It's truly at the level of a bug.'
A miserable temptation immunity of 0.1 mental defense.
The fact that he had underestimated it too much.