The World the Regressionist Abandoned
Four sets of footsteps echoed down the passage. Kang Taeyoon walked at their head, lantern raised to light the way.
"How far does this passage go?"
"It comes out in the forest beyond the walls."
Veronica's answer eased him a little. At least he would not have to worry about passing the gates.
A proper escape route. Figures. If you're getting out, you have to leave the capital.
Behind him, the three women's breathing came rough and labored. Kang Taeyoon slowed his pace.
Only thinking of myself. Walked too fast.
Unlike him, his body reinforced by Eternal Force, they were wearing down with every step. He could not have said how long they walked before a stairway appeared ahead, climbing toward the surface.
"There's a latch to the side. Undo it and push."
Kang Taeyoon handed the lantern to Veronica and leaned his spear against the wall. He slipped the latch and eased the stone slab blocking the top of the stairs. It ground aside with a low rumble, and sunlight spilled through the gap.
He did not step out at once. He listened instead to whatever lay beyond.
No voices. Should be fine.
There was only the sound of leaves stirring in the wind. He peered through the gap and saw no one.
"I'll go out first."
He pushed the slab farther open, took up his spear, and stepped outside. Trees and brush closed around the exit.
Nobody here?
He signaled to the three of them.
"I think it's safe to come out."
"Yes. Thank you."
Seraphina and Ariane climbed up one after the other. Veronica put out the lantern, set it down to one side of the stairs, and came out after them.
Once he was certain they were all clear, Kang Taeyoon pushed the stone slab shut with empty hands.
We really made it out of that hell.
Through the trees, the city wall showed. Beyond it, black smoke still climbed into the sky. Ariane looked that way, then pressed her lips together. Seraphina paused for a moment as well.
"We need to go a little farther. We're still too close to the capital."
"…Yes. Let's go."
Seraphina was the first to turn her gaze away. Kang Taeyoon put the wall at his back and headed deeper into the forest, and the three of them hurried after him.
They had been walking for some time among the trees when voices drifted from up ahead. Kang Taeyoon stopped.
"You sure there are actually runaways over this way?"
"What else can we do? The other bastards already took the gates. Might as well search here."
Soldiers!
He raised a hand and halted the three women. Before they could hide, a soldier stepped out from between the trees. Two more appeared behind him.
"Huh?"
The soldier's gaze moved from Kang Taeyoon to the three women, and his eyes went wide.
"Hey. Get a look over here."
"Hah! Women from some noble house?"
"Ohhh! They're fucking gorgeous!"
Seraphina caught Ariane's hand and pulled her close. Veronica looked for somewhere to retreat, but the soldiers were already spreading to either side and closing in.
"Stay behind me."
Kang Taeyoon leveled his spear. One of the soldiers sneered and resettled his grip on his own, and from the way he watched Kang Taeyoon's stance, he seemed to have judged that the man had never learned the spear.
"Take that one first. Strange clothes on him—we'll take him alive."
"Busting an arm or a leg should still be fine, though, yeah?"
Three. Have to end this fast.
He drew his Eternal Force up, and strength flooded his arms and legs. The soldier in front thrust.
Kang Taeyoon twisted clear and struck the shaft aside with a sharp crack. The man reeled hard enough to nearly lose his grip. Kang Taeyoon drove his spear into the exposed chest.
"Ghk—!"
The spearpoint sank in, and the sensation traveled up the shaft into his hands. His stomach turned. He could not stop.
"Y-you bastard!"
"Kill him!"
Another soldier thrust in from the side.
I have to kill them!
Kang Taeyoon kicked the first soldier off his spear and yanked the weapon free. He knocked the second man's thrust aside and cut his throat with the blade.
The second soldier's eyes flew wide. He dropped without a sound. At the sight of it, the third spat a curse.
"You— you fucker!"
He turned his back. He meant to run.
If he gets away, he'll bring the others!
Kang Taeyoon went after him at once. He caught the man in a few strides and drove the spear in. The soldier fell with a dying scream.
His breath tore out of him, harsh and uneven. He had killed again. His body was not tired, but the act of killing had worn him thin in the mind.
Can't let my head go loose yet. More of them might come.
He pulled the spear free and scanned the trees. No sign of other soldiers rushing in.
Lucky. Are there no more?
He turned to the three women. Seraphina came to him at once.
"Are you all right? You aren't hurt, are you?"
Her gaze lingered on his bloodstained hands. Kang Taeyoon shook his head.
"It isn't my blood. Are the three of you all right?"
"Yes. None of us were hurt."
Ariane was the one who answered. She studied his face, then asked, carefully.
"But your color… are you truly all right?"
"I was only a little startled."
He did not want to turn his eyes toward the dead. He could not leave them lying where they were, either.
"We should move before more soldiers come. See if they have cloaks and water. Dressed like that, you'll stand out."
Kang Taeyoon set the spear down and dragged the bodies into the brush. While Veronica went through their packs, Seraphina and Ariane gathered the cloaks.
"Your Majesty, please cover your hair as well," Veronica said.
"You too, Your Highness," Seraphina added. "Silver hair will stand out even more."
The two wrapped themselves in the cloaks and drew up the hoods. Veronica donned the last of them, then took a waterskin and a pouch of rations.
Kang Taeyoon picked up his spear again.
"Let's go."
They pushed on for a long while before stopping behind a great boulder. Kang Taeyoon checked the ground around them, then set his spear down at his side.
A translucent window opened before his eyes.
Tutorial Quest completed.
Done!
The quest that meant death if he failed was over. Only then did his breath come a little easier.
At least I didn't die.
How he was supposed to live from here on was still a blank. This unfamiliar world held no home for him, and no job.
No other quests? A return quest ought to show up soon, if I'm ever getting home.
No quest window appeared.
"Drink this first."
Seraphina held out a waterskin. It was one the soldiers had used, and the thought of it sat uneasily with him, but there was no help for it.
"You've been protecting us all this time. Rest a little."
"Thank you."
While he drank, Ariane drew a fine handkerchief from the fold of her clothes. Not a soldier's. Her own.
"Wipe your hands, too."
"It'll get dirty."
"I don't mind. It's blood you got on them saving us."
Kang Taeyoon took the handkerchief and wiped his hands. As the blood came away, he felt a little better.
"We've been in your debt all this time, and we still don't even know your name."
Seraphina was looking at him. Only now that they finally had a moment to breathe had they come to introductions.
"Kang Taeyoon. Kang is my family name, and Taeyoon is my given name."
"Kang Taeyoon…"
Ariane murmured the name under her breath.
"I won't forget it. Nor the grace of you saving us."
"Nor will I. If it hadn't been for you, Sir Taeyoon… we never would have made it this far."
Seraphina finished and bowed her head. The gesture left him awkward, and he turned the talk elsewhere.
"Where do you mean to go from here?"
"We have to find the people who still follow the imperial house."
Ariane answered.
"The capital has been taken, and the Arken Empire has fallen. But out in the provinces, our forces and our lands are still there. I have to let them know I'm alive."
She looked at Veronica.
"I need to gather as many people as I can in my name. Now that my brother has left, I have to declare that I will succeed to the throne."
Kang Taeyoon looked at her. A moment ago the exhaustion had been plain on her face. Now her expression had gone hard with resolve.
For all her delicate, fragile looks, Ariane was a girl with an unyielding core.
In the original, she was the frail, sweet little sister…
All he had ever been shown of her there was the version of her that existed after Leonhardt regressed.
Before the regression, every description was just her wearing a sad face.
That was why, inwardly, he found this side of her quietly astonishing. And set beside her, it only made plain how little responsibility that bastard Leonhardt had ever carried.
"Then I'll be the first to support you, Your Highness."
Seraphina said it looking at Ariane.
"If I, the Empress, support your succession, those who hesitate will have a cause to follow. The name of the Alcyone Ducal House will lend weight as well."
She went on, turning to Veronica.
"I'll send letters myself to the houses close to my family. Please arrange a way for us to reach them."
"Understood. I will contact the imperial commanders in each region. We must also secure a base for gathering troops, and provisions."
All three of them, already thinking that far ahead.
Kang Taeyoon felt a measure of relief. He had been at a loss for where to take them, but they knew what they had to do.
"If it's somewhere close, there's Rottberg County."
At Seraphina's words, Kang Taeyoon looked up.
Rottberg?
In the original, he was the noble who had tried more than once to marry his son to Ariane—a man so obsessed with a match to the imperial house that he had bought other nobles outright to get it.
"Didn't that count try to marry his son to Your Highness?"
"So you knew of that as well."
Ariane answered.
"Yes. If we ask for help now, I expect he'll name that as his condition. Nobles close to the count may make the same demand."
"Then even if I become Emperor, the count's house would hold the real power. Because they would be my husband, and his father."
Ariane shook her head.
"I know my station is worth that much. That doesn't mean I intend to hand myself over."
"Someone will come offering to protect me as well. They'd have an Empress and a ducal house to stand behind."
Seraphina's expression hardened too.
"We can't simply enter a castle because someone shows us kindness. From that moment on, we might not be able to leave even if we wanted to."
"Then we must not depend on a single house."
Veronica spoke.
"I will make contact at the same time with houses whose interests differ. While we sort out who will cooperate, we must also gather forces loyal to the imperial house."
"Is there a place to stay until then?"
"Near the county, there is a branch of a trading company I know. We can send letters through them, but I will need to confirm whether we can stay there safely."
Seraphina looked at Kang Taeyoon, worry on her face.
"Because of us, you may be pulled into the nobles' quarrels as well, Sir Taeyoon."
Kang Taeyoon looked at the spear lying beside him. Even the titles of Empress and Princess could be a danger before the people who wanted them. This was not a matter that would end simply by avoiding the Waltern army.
Right now, I'm the only one these three can trust.
Veronica bowed her head to him.
"Until we have gathered our forces, would you stay beside us and protect us?"
Seraphina and Ariane waited for his answer as well.
"It is shameless to beg another favor of the benefactor who already saved our lives. Even so… please, help us just once more. In return… if it is something I can give, I will give anything."
Then Seraphina looked at Kang Taeyoon too.
"We, too, will repay the grace we've received from you, Sir Taeyoon, however we must."
Ariane bowed her head.