How the Regressor Loves the Reincarnated

22. The Last Apostle (1)

1.

“I’ll make a concession to the first gong.”

“…As a lowly person, I will not refuse.”

Sir Julius said that, no. The traitor Julius showed a speed that I couldn’t properly follow, and charged Adele, who had a stable posture, but whose complexion was calm.

As for how this situation happened, first of all, it is necessary to recall the conversation that Adele and I had the previous day in her father’s office.

‘As I said before, I can handle Tauros by myself. If there is a problem, since I haven’t fully recovered from the previous round yet, it will be a little difficult when there are two apostles. If it’s three, I might lose.’

‘Unfortunately, there are also three apostles aiming for the Holy Land in Isvant. Libra, Taurus, and even Aquarius whose identity was revealed.’

‘This is a difficult situation. To deal with Aquarius first without thinking about the aftermath, because I’m not good at assassination, so it’s inevitable that there will be a commotion. That said, I can’t think of a way to make a situation where I can deal with him without creating a fuss.’

Actually, it was a difficult yet easy problem.

‘I don’t think there is a need to dwell too much on problems that are difficult to deal with right now. So let’s start with the problems that can be handled with certainty and solve them step by step. I’ll give you half of the knights, so Adele will take care of the plains.’

‘Hmm… I can handle Tauros by myself, so why does he need to take half of the Knights?’

Adele asked with a puzzled look on her face.

‘As this situation itself is in the process of the Zodiac’s quest for the Holy Land, it goes without saying that Adele will be recognized as the biggest obstacle to the apostles. So, if we neutralize Julius first before dealing with Tauros, the variables will be slightly reduced.’

‘I don’t know how threatening the apostles are to regard the existence of a master, but if several apostles regard it as a threat to the point of linking it up, then there is a high probability that Julius will rebel against my decision. Well, since Adele doesn’t have much experience in commanding troops, why don’t you think about what to do with Adele in cooperation with Taurus after you hang out and join the troops heading to the Belleton plains? If you show that kind of reaction, I’ll use my power to press down and let Julius stay in the territory.’

‘…Apostles are as powerful as most masters. Wouldn’t they feel threatened enough to cooperate with each other just because one Master got into the game?’

‘Oops, then the story will be a little different. If it wasn’t for the cooperation between the apostles…’

It was a more complicated problem than I thought. No clear answer came to mind.

‘How did you solve it in the second round? This situation.’

Then Adele, who had a subtle expression on my question, hesitantly sighed and exhaled before answering.

‘I couldn’t.’

‘Yes?’

‘I couldn’t do it. Both in the 1st round and in the 2nd round. Isvant is destroyed.’

‘… Huh.’

‘At that time, I wasn’t capable enough to protect the Holy Land that the three apostles were aiming at at the same time, so I gave up Isvant and started preparing for what would happen in the future. It was a decision I had to make. If it hadn’t been for Luke this episode, I’d probably have made the same choice or approached it a bit more cautiously.’

In the end, it was said that Adele came to stop the apostles threatening Isvant, to some extent for my sake.

She was glad, to be honest, that she cared about me that much, but at the same time, she was a little afraid that she was heading towards her uncertain future.

A chance is given only once.

The cost of failure is the end of the current human race.

…My death.

At first, I didn’t have the slightest desire to get involved in such a troublesome affair. Somehow things turned out this way, I just decided to empty my mind and do my best.

Now I can understand the characters who put the so-called death flag in movies or novels. I had no intention of putting a death flag on it.

‘For now, I will do as Luke said. If there’s anything I’m worried about, I’m sure Aquarius is aiming for something here in his own way. But in a situation where I’m not there and the Duke of Isvant can’t wake up, if Aquarius is aiming for Luke…’

‘Then let’s set up a safety device.’

After that conversation, I notified the knights and Julius of my decision.

But contrary to my expectations, Julius didn’t show any objection to this. Thanks to that, I realized that I couldn’t be a very competent bookkeeper.

The reaction Julius showed was textbook-like, to the extent that it seemed natural in a way.

‘If you say ‘Gongnyeo’s to the knights, no. There must be a need to show off Sir Ludmeyer’s skills. He is said to have been dispatched for support, but he is definitely a foreigner from Isvant. In order for the knights to believe in you and follow you, shouldn’t they check your skills with their own eyes?’

Today, the day after Adele came to our estate, the two knights stood facing each other in the gymnasium used by the knights of the family.

The leader of a family of knights, and a sword expert who is on the verge of becoming a master. However, the reality is Julius, a traitor to the family and one of the apostles of the Zodiac.

The youngest Sword Master who reached the level of master at the age of twenty-three in the first playthrough, and now at the age of twenty-one in the third playthrough. A regressor who can be said to be a genius among geniuses, in a way Adele is the very hope of mankind.

The eyes of the knights lined up on the outskirts of the training ground are focused on the real sword sparring that has just begun.

Julius rushed at Adele at a speed that I couldn’t even follow, and swung her sword, but she blocked it without a single change in her expression. Adele, who then slightly twisted her wrist, pushed her with all her strength, and Julius was pushed back the same distance as he had just charged.

“Come back.”

“…”

Adele’s emotionless voice sounded more like a provocation than a teacher teaching someone, as if she were asking someone who was far less powerful than herself if she was only this far.

And it seems I wasn’t the only one who had the same thought.

Julius, who gritted his teeth and hardened his expression, closed the distance again. This time, instead of rushing recklessly like before, he carefully measures the distance between the two and moves forward.

However, his opponent was brutally strong. As if having read all the trajectories of Julius’ sword in advance, Adele cut off the sword he was wielding, showing only the minimum necessary movements.

With all the various emotions she usually shows me buried, Adele’s expression was so cold that it seemed as if she could be cut.

And the graceful and disciplined sword dance that unfolds at the tip of her sword and that expression harmonizes, and the charismatic figure of a female knight is drawn that takes her breath away.

As I looked around, leaving behind the metallic sounds that rhythmically struck my ears, the knights in my family seemed to feel the same way as I did.

Then I suddenly had an idea. If only I could see Adele with such a beautiful figure, she would be perfect.

Just thinking that other people in her look at her and have her stern mind put strength in her hands. Her insides boiled as if she had swallowed hot food without cooling it.

It belatedly occurred to me that the knights might simply have been admiring her skills. It was after this jealousy, an obsession that felt ugly, had already settled in my heart.

…That’s ridiculous. In my previous life, I wasn’t particularly jealous or possessive, but I don’t know how I felt this way in that brief moment.

I felt ashamed to feel that way, not to others, but to the knights who supported the family I would later rule.

After calming down the obscene desire that would not do any good if left as it is, I look back and see the couplets that are slowly approaching their end.

It can be said that the difference between Adele and Julius is only one paper, but that paper difference was like a wall that could not be overcome. That’s why there are people who can’t cross that wall even after training their swords all their lives.

The difference in skill between the two was obvious, just by looking at Adele’s appearance, which was not disturbed in the slightest compared to before the sparring, and the beads of sweat on Julius’ forehead.

Adele’s sword, which had simply blocked Julius’ meaningless attacks, disappears from my sight as if it had been nothing more than a prank until now.

However, the exclamations of the knights heard at that moment informed me that they had witnessed something I could not see.

“…I lost. It’s no wonder that I reached the master with my skills.”

Adele’s sword, which had disappeared from my sight before I knew it, stopped at a close distance where the blade barely touched Julius’ neck.

What followed after that was countless requests for sparring by the knights.

Anyway, that seemed a bit rude, so I thought I’d step in and sort things out. Unexpectedly, Adele readily accepted the knights’ request.

That’s how Adele’s map sparring time began.

“Kyung has a habit of stepping out with his left foot half a beat quickly when stepping.”

If anyone hears this, they’ll think it’s a dance lecture.

“I put too much energy into my hands. Again with just a little bit of subtraction… No, I took out too much this time. Again!”

“What the hell was that last minute? Did you seem like an easy enough opponent for me to control my power like that?”

A young knight blushing with shame upon hearing that, and the other knights giggling at him.

No, no matter how I look at it, I guess that’s just instinctive because of your appearance?

To be honest, it’s not something I don’t understand as a man. Today’s Adele was wearing relatively less revealing clothing compared to the knightly uniforms we had seen before, but her beauty was not the kind to be hidden by that.

…Apart from understanding it, I had to suppress the possessive desire to raise my head for no reason. On the subject of not being able to properly reveal her heart because of fear of being caught by her yet, what qualification did she have to have such thoughts over Adele?

Anyway. Adele, who had only kept a cool expression during the sparring with Julius, had a pretty bright expression while guiding the other knights, and seemed to be enjoying the situation itself.

Well, sparring with the apostles of the zodiac and guiding ordinary knights is a completely different story. The former would have been the most unpleasant situation for Adele. That he had to put his circumstances in his hands with the person in front of him who wanted to slit his throat at any moment.

“This is an incredible talent. A master at a young age, just in his 20s. It’s embarrassing, but I felt jealousy without even realizing it.”

“…Is that so?”

Julius approached and talked to me without a mouse or a bird knowing. It occurred to me that those words might be his pure true intentions.

“You have made great friends, young boy. If your lord sees Sir Ludmeier in person, I’m sure he’ll feel the same way as me.”

“I think so too.”

“But don’t forget your duty just because of that.”

What? Sphere?

I hurriedly turned my head, but Julius, who had left a meaningful message, disappeared on the spot before I knew it.

And that night, I had a nightmare.

The unpleasant nightmare of Adele dying in my arms.