Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Regressor Hates the Possessor
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“Don’t you see that something is wrong with my brother!”
*Bang!*
Allen slammed his hand on the table, even with his father right in front of him.
Despite this act, which could be taken as a direct challenge to the family head's authority, his father said nothing.
He merely stared at him with a cold expression.
Just as he was about to speak again, his father asked in a low voice,
“Allen, are you Allen Reinhardt, or are you Allen, my son?”
He couldn't understand the intent behind his father's question.
Allen and Allen Reinhardt.
Allen the individual, and Allen Reinhardt of the Reinhardt family—both were him. The two couldn't be separated, nor could they be different people.
“…I am both Allen, your son, and Allen Reinhardt.”
“Indeed.”
His father sneered at those words.
“If that's the case, and you can't distinguish between the two… does it matter which one you are?”
“What do you mean by…”
His father's words brought his thoughts to a screeching halt.
“As for me,”
His voice deepened, tinged with a faint hint of amusement.
“I would do anything to ensure the family's prosperity. Even if that means…”
As his father spoke, the lamp in the office flickered out, casting the room in deep shadows.
“…even if a demon has stolen my son's body.”
At that moment, his father's face was hidden by the shadows, but he was probably.
Smiling.
Seeing that, I was left speechless.
* * *
I was a terrible brother.
Yes, a pathetic older brother who was jealous of the younger one.
To me, Julius was nothing more than a rival threatening my position as heir.
His bright personality was a stark contrast to my rigid one.
His exceptional talent for magic only fueled my inferiority complex.
And so, I didn't like Julius.
How could I?
I could hear the servants whispering around me.
I was sick and tired of the constant comparisons from a young age.
“Brother, if you have a moment, could you help with…?”
“No, I'm too busy.”
Even when my brother had done nothing wrong, I couldn't bring myself to look at him kindly.
“Hehe, well, I guess it can't be helped then.”
I hated my brother, and my brother loved me.
That's why I still remember.
The day my perception of him changed.
The day I resolved to live for my brother.
It was the day he brought me a grimoire as a gift, after I had locked myself in the study, sulking from a defeat in our sparring match.
“Brother, this is a grimoire I just got…”
I was secretly pleased, but I shouted that I didn't need it.
But my brother just smiled, handed me the grimoire, and ran off.
At first, I had no intention of reading it, but curiosity got the better of me. I flipped through a few pages and was immediately captivated.
When I emerged from the study a few days later, I was so engrossed in researching the new grimoire that my anger had completely vanished.
Grateful, I went to find my brother, only to hear shocking news.
“Well, I heard the young master lost the new grimoire that Grandell, the Master of the Magic Tower, was writing…”
Shocked, I rushed to my father with the grimoire my brother had given me, but the situation had already spiraled out of control.
His master, furious that his disciple had lost the grimoire, had destroyed his Circle.
The situation was eventually resolved when I presented the grimoire, but the damage was already done.
My brother had expected to be scolded for his actions, but it seemed he never imagined his master would destroy his Circle—a mage's very life.
That fool. To do something like that just to appease his older brother's anger.
That was the first time I ever saw my brother cry.
After that, my brother changed.
He turned to drink and women, never hesitating to use harsh words and violence.
And yet, he was still the boy who would force a smile and pretend everything was normal around me.
The second young master who smiled at everyone, who was respectful and polite, was gone.
All that remained was a scoundrel, hiding his festering, rotten core.
That was the brother I knew. But why.
Why.
“What is someone like you doing here?”
This place is for the exclusive use of the Reinhardt family.
Who are you? Why are you here? How?
“This isn't where you belong, is it?”
His voice silenced the noisy training grounds.
As I got closer, I could see the thing's face.
It was my brother's face, but the contents within were different.
“Ah, brother.”
The thing smelled of sweat, as if it had been training with the soldiers.
The steady footsteps and breathing, and the lingering traces of mana that someone of Allen's skill couldn't possibly miss.
The thought that perhaps he was mistaken, that this was his real brother, vanished in an instant. His expression turned ice-cold as he felt the magic radiating from the thing's lower abdomen.
My brother, talented in magic, had a lively personality but never enjoyed physical training.
But what's this? Swordsmanship? Hah.
“Didn't you always hate moving around? Why don't you just go back to your room and drink like you always do? Why did you come out?”
“Haha... Come now, brother. I'm trying to change.”
The thing laughed inanely and scratched its head.
Rage boiled up inside me at the sight.
My brother had never laughed so foolishly.
As a noble, he was always careful about his dignity and conduct. Despite his young age, he was sharp enough to distinguish between public and private matters.
He never interfered with his subordinates unless it was official business, fearing he might burden the soldiers, and he always used the training grounds reserved for the direct family line.
And it thinks it won't get caught acting like this?
His gaze shifted to the knights stationed around the training grounds.
These were the men who had guarded his brother since before he changed.
They should have known his every little habit, noticed the dissonance in his every breath, every step, every word.
Knights who had sworn to serve my brother!
“Hah.”
The fact that they remained silent made him grind his teeth.
Meanwhile, the thing approached with a grin, as if something was amusing.
“By the way, brother, what brings you here…?”
“Enough. Seeing your vulgar display, I see no need to say anything more. I'm leaving.”
He didn't wait for a reply.
He had no desire to speak further with the thing wearing his brother's skin.
And so, time passed.
As if to prove its words about trying to change, the thing accomplished a great deal.
As if it knew the future, it unearthed hidden dungeons throughout the domain and foresaw great disasters, averting them and earning external acclaim.
It even rescued a noble lady in danger as if by chance, scouted talented individuals hidden away, and forged connections in the capital that would have otherwise been unthinkable, elevating the domain's status.
Rumor had it that it now traveled the world, preventing calamities.
His father praised its many achievements as if it were his true son, acknowledging and elevating it.
All Allen could do was applaud the ridiculous, nauseating play.
Did the others know?
What atrocities the thing committed behind its bright, smiling back.
‘How it views people.’
Its actions overshadowed the truth, but Allen, who watched it closely, knew.
He knew the ugliness hidden behind its smile.
While this thing was gaining fame, there was only one thing he could do.
No, it was the only thing he knew how to do.
‘Magic research.’
Rumors were already circulating in the mansion that the first young master had gone mad with magic, that he was dabbling in forbidden arts, but he paid them no mind.
Such insults no longer fazed him.
“Too many people have forgotten you.”
Most people in the mansion followed the thing as if they had already forgotten the real brother.
My father?
To him, it no longer mattered whether the thing was his real son.
He had become an incarnation of mad ambition, thinking only of the domain's prosperity. That must be why he condoned its actions.
My mother?
She had long been won over by the cosmetics and other luxuries the thing gave her.
The sudden influx of luxuries was enough to change his mother, who had once lived frugally.
She was now busy navigating high society, having long since abandoned her duties in the domain's internal affairs.
The knights?
Even those who knew his brother had changed were beginning to follow the thing sincerely, swayed by its results.
If one could be swayed, why not two?
If I, his own brother, don't save him, who will?
So…
“Just wait a little longer.”
Allen opened the book again.
Summoning, dimensional studies, soul separation, soul revival, contract magic, summoning contracts, contract comprehension, teleportation, spatial separation, spatial manipulation—countless materials.
He researched tirelessly.
In the process, he searched through numerous historical records for similar cases but found nothing of value.
Most were just cases of people possessed by demons or spirits.
He had secretly called a priest and confirmed it was unrelated, which only made him more anxious.
He needed more data.
More data.
“Goddammit!”
There wasn't enough data.
No, it wasn't the data. It was his own pathetic talent holding him back.
Just a little more, just a sliver of inspiration, and he could complete the spell.
He had set the direction of his research long ago.
If he couldn't figure out the thing's identity, why not just sever its connection to the body?
The research born from that thought had made great progress and was now on the verge of completion.
But,
“Not enough talent? Ha, hahaha.”
The fruit of his labor, achieved over long years at the cost of his own life force, was just one step away, a single step, yet he couldn't reach it.
Most of the family's authority had already been transferred to the thing, and while he was cooped up in his lab, his position as heir had long been revoked.
This research was funded by every coin he could scrape together, every last bit of his secret funds.
He had shamelessly used his brother's name to borrow money for it.
“If this fails, if I fail…”
There will be no one left to remember my brother.
I won't be able to stop the atrocities committed using Julius's body.
He couldn't stop it, and he couldn't let it continue.
Anxiously, he scanned his surroundings, and his eyes fell upon a single red-covered book.
It was a grimoire on demonic contracts he had stumbled upon while researching contract magic.
Even if it meant delving into black magic... it was his last resort, a line he had hesitated to cross.
“With that, with a demon…”
Demons operated on the principle of equivalent exchange, after all.
If he wasn't too greedy... if he only wished for a small, single piece of inspiration...
“Wouldn't that be alright?”
The words escaped him before he could stop them, and his breath hitched. He couldn't deny that his resolve was wavering.
He saw a mirror.
A middle-aged man, wrinkled and with a head full of white hair.
He was still in his twenties, but was this the price for researching at the cost of his life? Today, his aged body looked particularly pathetic.
He clenched his jaw.
Right.
“I ruined your life, so now I have to be the one to save you, don't I?”
Fight fire with fire.
Even if the price is death.
He cackled in his empty, solitary room and picked up the red book.
Yes, there was nothing left to hold him back.
Absolutely nothing.
* * *
Allen bit down on his already torn lips and screamed desperately.
“Demon! Isn't this enough?! I've already offered so many sacrifices!”
He thought a small offering would suffice.
But either the price of the knowledge he sought was steep, or the demon was playing tricks.
He'd had to offer more than double the sacrifices he had anticipated.
He'd heard the thing was put in charge of investigating the incident at the lord's castle.
Just as anxiety tightened its grip on his heart, the demon, which had been quietly savoring a piece of dark red flesh, spoke.
“Yes... this should be sufficient. Contractor, I shall now pay the price of our contract…”
The magic circle drawn in blood began to glow red, just as the contract was about to be fulfilled.
*CRASH—*
“I knew it... It was you, brother.”
The thing that burst through the door scanned the room with an 'I-knew-it' expression.
Standing inside a pentagram drawn on a blood-soaked floor, with a pile of skulls and unidentifiable flesh on an altar, I looked every bit the part of a demon contractor.
The thing spoke as if it knew everything.
“…I knew you were using my name to run up debts with the merchant guilds.”
Behind it, dozens of holy knights, priests, and the family's own knights stood with looks of horror.
“Still... I let it slide because you're family.”
I couldn't contain my rage at those words.
“If I had known you were going to use it for this…”
“Family? You call yourself family? What about all the vile things you've done? What happened to my kind brother! Did you think I wouldn't know?”
“…Wh-what!”
A laugh escaped me as I saw the flustered look on its face; it clearly hadn't expected to hear this.
“Did you really, truly think your act was perfect? That you fooled Father, and Mother? Me? The knights? Ha, hah.”
As the thing faltered, I shouted.
“Demon! Fulfill the contract!”
I knew the demon had finished its preparations the moment the door was smashed.
It was probably waiting for me to die so it wouldn't have to fulfill its end of the bargain.
This one, that one, all of them.
“Kuhu, very well. I shall fulfill the contract.”
The demon pressed its blood-dripping hand onto the crown of his head.
And then, it came—the sliver of inspiration from the talented that he had so desperately yearned for.
As his mind grew cold and clear, his magic manifested.
Intertwined mana formed a metaphysical structure, creating a translucent sword of light.
“S-seize that demon contractor!”
Those who had been confused by his outburst finally moved, but it was too late.
No,
“It wasn't too late.”
*Shhlick—*
The sound of flesh tearing and the chill of a cold blade piercing his heart.
The thing was suddenly in front of him.
So, you do have as much talent as my brother.
You'd have to, if you possess his body.
But this, too…
“…was expected.”
Blood gushed from his heart. Allen's face turned deathly pale in an instant, but a bright smile graced his lips.
“How could a brother not know his own brother's talent?”
He poured all of his remaining life force into the spell.
“What?”
The thing moved too late. The blood that had already spilled had become part of the spell, forming a barrier around the pentagram to hold it for a moment.
Could it hold for a few seconds? But even that…
“So…”
It was enough.
“Farewell.”
“You son of a bi—”
He closed his eyes.
“Outsider.”
All his efforts, his glamorized memories, and his past flashed before his eyes.
And,
“For my dead,”
who smiled so brightly,
who was so full of mischief,
who was so exceptionally talented,
“—for my brother.”
—For Julius Reinhardt.
At his gesture, the sword of light descended.
“…fucking bastard!”
The translucent sword of light cleaved it in two.
With the sound of something shattering, a bluish mass was expelled from his brother's body.
At the same time, something pierced into his own body.
Allen watched the thing's body twitch, and with a smile of relief, he closed his eyes.
『Kill…』
He thought he heard something faintly in his ear.
And when he opened his eyes again.
“Brother? Why are you spacing out like that?”
“…You.”
The thing that had stolen his brother's body was grinning.