The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

A man with black hair strolled leisurely through the ruins, a faint smile playing on his lips as if he were enjoying some pleasant thought.

Suddenly, a small whirlwind of sand formed in front of him, quickly taking the shape of a person and blocking his path.

The man’s expression hardened as he asked, “Why do you look at me as if I’m a criminal?”

[I clearly told you not to mess with causality, didn’t I?]

His voice, though not loud, resonated gently in the surroundings.

“Don’t be mistaken, Mr. Sand. I’m not a servant bound to listen to you. Do I need your permission to save a lady in distress?”

[The audacity of one with no master.]

The man simply frowned, offering no retort.

[Let’s cut to the chase. You know the successor of the Black Mist God is here in these ruins, right?]

“If I said I didn’t know, you’d call it a lie, right? Planning a welcome party, are you?”

[He’s going to be killed.]

The man’s pupils quivered slightly at that.

[There’s sufficient reason. He has disturbed my ruins, and as the owner, it’s only right that I punish him.]

“And you’re telling me this because? You want my cooperation?”

[Quite the opposite. You are to have absolutely no involvement in the successor’s death.]

“Excuse me?”

The voice continued, undeterred.

[As you said, whether you save a worthless human or not is none of my concern. But this time, it’s different. You must not pay the slightest attention to me killing Aer’s successor. If you show even the slightest intention of interfering…]

“Then what?”

[You will be considered in violation of the divine realms’ laws and will be erased, including your true body that isn’t here…]

The man shrugged indifferently.

“How desperate must the owner of this land be to threaten me like this? So, how do you plan to kill him? Will you appear personally to behead him?”

[I cannot do that. I will command my clan who came to these ruins to kill him instead.]

“You really have a peculiar temperament. Now that it’s come to this, I must ask. Why do you want to kill this successor?”

[Because he’s dangerous.]

It was a simple yet clear response.

[I don’t know where that outcast found such a person, but the successor could greatly disrupt the causality of this world, making him a very dangerous entity.]

“Isn’t that an exaggeration? My summoned beast was dealt with, but that was because the kid had a magic sword…”

[He who controlled the magic sword.]

“…!”

At those words, the man’s eyes widened significantly.

[You understand what this means, don’t you? Magic Tome Lemiharam?]

* * *

“Wow, he’s gone? Where on earth did Cyan go?”

It was a single path without any forks, yet he lost him, as if he was outrun by lightning itself.

Having given up on the chase, Set stretched on the spot, feeling a certain emptiness.

“If I knew this would happen, should I have just captured those mages instead? To interrogate what schemes they harbored…”

[Do you hear my voice? Shaharkan tribe…]

Suddenly, an indistinct voice echoed in his head.

[If you can hear me, respond.]

The tone was somewhat rude and merciless.

“What? Who are you to make sounds inside someone’s head?”

[…It seems there’s no problem.]

With that, the voice no longer sounded.

Set, infuriated not only by the sudden appearance but also by the fact that the voice made its statement and disappeared, yelled into the void.

“Are you that guy? The one who appears from time to time and messes with my mood! Just you wait until I catch you? I’ll smash you to pieces…!”

His momentary tirade of harsh curses, as if a spell of petrification had been cast, suddenly froze Set’s body.

“Sigh…”

With a calm exhale, a sandstorm swirled around him.

His eyes lost focus, and his lips parted.

For a moment, as if his soul had left his body, he stared blankly into the void, then Set’s gaze sharply returned forward.

-Smirking

Among the coarse grains of sand, a malicious smirk faintly appeared.

With that inscrutable smirk, Set moved forward.

* * *

He said nothing.

Precisely, it wasn’t that he chose not to speak; he couldn’t.

In this absurd and bizarre situation, what was he supposed to say?

[Has a cat got your tongue? Why so silent, my lord?]

Kaeram was mocking him with a voice more animated than ever.

Denying or evading the matter now would be meaningless.

This audacious junior of his had already caught on to everything.

On the outside, he maintained an indifferent expression, but inside, he was incredibly flustered.

Who was the person that had saved her from being kidnapped at the academy and released the Heart Curve that was inhibiting her growth?

Her confident expression made her inner thoughts quite apparent.

“Say something, please. Unless you intend to keep hugging me like this.”

He reluctantly let go of her, releasing her body from his arms.

“That’s a pity. Honestly, I didn’t mind this situation…”

Luna brushed off the dust from her body and stood up.

The embarrassment that made him speechless was only temporary.

Did he have any reason to speak in the first place?

Because he was a regressed being who had hidden his powers and could save her, did he need to explain in detail how a baseless sympathy had prompted him to extend her life?

There was no need.

He had decided with his heart, and with his own hands, he had changed her fate directly.

If that changed fate became a threat to him,

He wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.

It would be simple to twist her fate back to what it should have been.

“Your eyes have changed. Are you planning to kill me?”

Her intuition was incredibly sharp.

And yet, she raised her eyebrows as if she had expected this.

“Why? I have no intention of revealing your secret to anyone. Do I have to die just because I know it?”

It wasn’t the rescue that was the issue.

The problem was that she knew.

He had no intention of saying anything.

It was his own insignificant sympathy that had spiraled into this situation.

This was entirely his responsibility.

So, he was determined to solve it.

“It feels a bit unfair, doesn’t it? If knowing just this much meant death, I should have dug deeper into your secrets. I still know nothing about you, and yet, am I to die by your hand, remaining ignorant?”

“…What do you want to know?”

He asked in a low voice, as if challenging her to speak up.

“Why did you save me?”

She asked as if she had been waiting for this question.

“If you were going to kill me anyway, why did you save me from the kidnappers, why did you remove the Heart Curve from my body, and why did you change my life?”

With a calm yet clear voice, she pressed me for answers.

Why did I save her?

Indeed, to be honest, everything related to her brought me no benefit whatsoever.

Whether she spent her life trapped within the confines of the academy, subjected to whatever experiments, or was kidnapped by opposing forces and dragged away helplessly, it was none of my concern.

Even if, just as Caron suggested a moment ago, I had passed by without noticing her and remained silent, it would have posed no problem.

Why?

Because there was never any connection between you and me, neither in a past life nor in this one.

Everything I did for you under the pretense of merely making way,

Started from my own trivial change of heart.

From the beginning, you were nothing more than that to me.

Not someone so precious that I would risk my own flesh to protect.

“No reason.”

“……”

Perhaps it wasn’t the answer she was hoping for, as her eyes sharpened.

“Even I don’t know why I did it.”

“…That’s the worst answer.”

Was it because she heard an answer she never wanted to hear?

Luna’s voice faltered, and she hung her head low.

Haven’t I always said? I am not a savior.

Just because I made way doesn’t mean I guide anyone on the right path.

Whatever you expected or desired from me, I will never fulfill such hopes.

My true nature is not a light that illuminates darkness, but rather a dark mist that obscures such light.

-Thud thud

Amidst my confusion, footsteps sounded from behind.

Not the steps of a person, but the heavy tread of a beast.

Yet, the presence felt eerily familiar.

In this ruin, there could only be one person capable of making such footsteps.

“……”

At first, when I heard the footsteps, I just thought it was him coming. But the moment the full figure emerged from the darkness of the corridor,

“……?”

I sensed something was off.

That’s… the fool prince?

“Se- senior Set?”

Luna too seemed to sense something amiss, tilting her head in confusion.

The cheerful demeanor that was present when we encountered Balrog was nowhere to be seen.

Now, from his hefty frame emanated only a fierce intent to kill.

-Swoosh!

Before I could even ask what was going on, he charged at me.

-Bang!

It was a sound that wouldn’t be made even if rocks collided.

A massive fist, laden with strength and weight, flew towards my face, and I immediately raised my hand to defend.

“Senior!”

I knew this mindless fool prince was incredibly strong, but this was beyond what I had anticipated.

This wasn’t a strength that a human could simply achieve through physical training.

It was neither muscle power nor magical power but some other unknown force contained within his fist.

-Whoosh

After twisting the caught fist, I leaped up and struck his temple with my right foot.

Without any defense, his body slammed straight into the wall.

-Crash

The wall crumbled, and debris fell onto his head.

He wouldn’t be dead.

At least, his head is surely harder than the walls of these ruins.

“…….”

As expected, he got right back up.

I knew from the moment he swung his fist, this fool prince was not in his right mind.

Had he been mind-controlled by those academy folks?

But that couldn’t be it, as I felt no magical power.

What then? Did a rock fall on his already abnormal head, making him even stranger…?

“May the grace of the sacred light protect us…”

A white magical barrier formed in front of Set as a spell was cast from behind me.

I turned my head as if drawn by something.

“Senior Set seems to be out of his mind, doesn’t he?”

She was casting magic, her face as indifferent as ever.

“What are you doing? You have no mana left.”

“After a rest, I recovered a bit. Not sure if I could stop that fool senior’s brute strength even in full condition…”

That was a lie.

Look at her trembling hands.

Just like before, she had gathered all the mana she had managed to recover.

At this rate, she would faint again soon.

“It seems like Senior Set is trying to kill us for some reason. If we don’t stop him, we’ll be sitting ducks.”

“…….”

“Shouldn’t we focus on stopping Senior Set first? Think about killing me later. If I have to die anyway, I’d rather be killed by you than by Senior Set.”

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at her absurdity.

Even in such a situation, she remained consistent as my junior.

With an expression as if nothing was wrong, she gave me a pleased smile.

(To be continued)