The Bastard’s Way of Life of the Returning Swordsman

Episode 79

joint ex (4)

Theo looked at Hilda.

-Are you a regressor?

-That’s right, I’m the same regressor.

The conversation I had with her at the nomination ceremony quickly passed through my mind.

And there, Hilda said something that could never go unnoticed.

-Well, even though all the sessions allowed for me have ended.

The word ‘return’.

It was like a regression that could be repeated several times.

In fact, the visions Theo had had every time he turned 12 had the nuance of remembering his previous life.

“How many times is a regression repeated?”

So it was natural for Theo to ask the first question.

Because there was a big difference between one recurrence and multiple recurrences.

A smile also hung on Hilda’s lips.

“Are you going to ask me that question as soon as we meet? I’m afraid I’m not Kyle’s son-in-law. come in once Let’s talk over dinner.”

Hilda got up from her seat and turned her body the other way.

Then the gate, which had been firmly closed, slowly opened.

kiik-

The space beyond the door was somehow filled with darkness.

Theo walked slowly into it.

* * *

Unlike the collapsed exterior, the interior of the castle had splendid furniture and interiors.

To the extent that I wonder if it is really an old abandoned castle.

Contrary to what was known, it seemed that Hilda was using it as her residence.

The place Hilda guided was a restaurant.

All sorts of mountain and sea delicacies were placed on a long table that was more than 3 meters long, blowing hot steam.

“Sit anywhere comfortable.”

Hilda sat at the table of honor and poured red wine into her wine glass.

Theo sat discreetly across from Hilda and looked around, only a little later to spot the cook laying the main dish in front of him.

It was a familiar face.

“Deungryong… … sir?”

“Hey, how are you? Didn’t you know we’d meet like this?”

“Why is Deungryong-nim here?”

“Why? Isn’t it natural that the sword guards its master’s side?”

“… … !”

“It’s been a while since I showed off my skills, but I don’t know if it will suit my taste. There is a lot of food, so enjoy yourself enough.”

Deungryong winked one eye at Theo, filled his wine glass with wine, and left quietly.

‘I was wondering why the person who lived in seclusion suddenly appeared as a judge… … . Was it for this reason?’

Embarrassed for a while.

As Theo’s mind was organized, he had a hunch that his relationship with the back dragon and Hilda would grow closer in the future.

“Even if he is an old man who looks sloppy on the outside, his cooking skills are enough to be put next to me, who has lived twenty-one times in my life, so don’t worry and enjoy it.”

Hilda laughed as she bit off a piece of meat.

It might look tough, but somehow it suited her so well.

But Theo was stuck on something else.

Twenty-one life.

“As expected, regression is something that can be repeated.”

Theo said while slicing the steak brought by the back dragon.

I didn’t have a hobby of eating late-night snacks, but it wasn’t polite to refuse the landlord’s consideration.

“Well. Because I don’t know. Didn’t you say that before?”

“Tell me exactly what you mean. In fact, it is difficult to understand.”

“why me?”

Hilda smirked, wiped her greasy hand on a napkin, and raised her wine glass with her right hand.

“Why should I? It’s you who needs information, and I’m just dealing with you with ‘favor’. Aren’t you obligated to answer all your questions?”

Every time the wine glass went round and round, the wine inside danced.

Theo had a strong feeling that Hilda was testing him.

‘It’s the eyes of the monarch.’

The gaze that only a person who reigned above all his life could have pierced Theo.

“Yes. Now I have no choice but to rely on Hilda-sama’s favor. So what if you don’t want to talk? I can’t help it either.”

“Well?”

Hilda raised the tip of one of her eyebrows unexpectedly.

Then, at Theo’s words that followed, I burst out laughing.

“On the other hand, Hilda-sama won’t know anything either. What the world was like ‘before’, and what the flow of time after is like.”

“Pahahahaha! You think I’m naturally curious about the future. Why do you think so? I am already over one hundred and fifty. Considering the past regression, I have lived for hundreds of years. Of course, there are no big regrets in life anymore. So there is no reason to know the future anymore… … .”

“Nope. You will surely be curious. I am a regressor.”

The corners of Hilda’s mouth curled up.

Theo was convinced the moment he saw it.

He said he had the correct answer.

“Regressors know the future. The information that comes from it becomes the most important factor in living and planning your life. It means that a regressor knows better than anyone else the importance and utility of time.”

Hilda’s smile grew thicker.

Theo’s words continued.

“Even more so, those who have gone through multiple regressions will have no choice but to ‘depend’ on the future even more. However, Hilda-sama said that all the rounds given to her were over. Does that mean you no longer know the future… … The frustration will be greater. Apart from lingering about life.”

“Couldn’t I have lived in this time zone in the previous episode? Then you won’t need much information.”

Theo shook his head.

“Nope. On the contrary, you will need more of my information. Because of the butterfly effect, the flow of history would have completely changed.”

Theo has only been back for about 10 years.

However, the trajectory of history has already begun to change significantly.

It was typical that Wellington and Erica remained in Ragnar without returning to their families.

What would happen if more time passed like this?

Even if Theo no longer touches the flow of history, history, which has already taken a huge turn, will unfold in a completely different direction than Theo knows.

Ten or twenty years from now, you won’t be able to find any previous history at all.

Not to mention, Hilda had been rewinding history for over a hundred years.

Even if he lived as long as he does now in previous episodes, the trajectory of his history would have been completely different.

‘There’s no law that the history I came across and the history Hilda went through are the same.’

So, for a regressor, even a regressor who has repeated it many times, future knowledge is like a drug.

A drug that can never be stopped.

Theo was demanding a deal from Hilda using this information as bait.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!”

Hilda burst into laughter.

As if very satisfied.

“It seems that the regressor of this generation is a very smart child. By the looks of it, this is the first time I’ve ever regressed. I thought I would already realize what I realized only after going through it a couple of times.”

Hilda took a sip of the wine and slammed the wine glass hard on the table.

bang!

The wine glass was shattered.

Each broken piece illuminated Hilda’s sharp eyes.

“Now I think I understand why Kyle is only watching you.”

This time, Theo’s eyes shone.

The father’s story came out again.

From Lodbroke to Hilda.

What is Kyle’s secret that they know?

“What kind of connection is there between the father and the regressor?”

“It has a lot to do with it. Hate regressors as much as your father… … No, I hope there are no more people in this world who despise me.”

Theo’s face stiffened at Hilda’s words.

“Do you know how your father got his present position?”

“The previous head of the family… … I know that you have seized your seat of power.”

There is only a 5-year time gap between the retirement of Hilda, the former head of the family, and the ascendance of the current head of the family, Kyle.

There is only one reason.

It was because Kyle staged a coup and ousted his father, the former family head, from power.

Although some have called it a pariah.

A major event that was taken for granted in Ragnar, where the winner takes everything.

“hit. If so, do you also know that the exiled head of the family was a regressor?”

“… … !”

Theo’s eyes widened.

Hilda smiled and went on.

Red water, whether blood or wine, was dripping from her hand as she broke the wine glass.

pop.

pop… … .

“The previous family head, who was also my nephew, was truly a madman. He was so mad that it is not enough to describe him as a dark army or a tyrant.”

Theo nodded.

-Kwangryongje (狂龍帝).

The nickname of the former head of the family, which now remains only as a piece of history.

The five years of his reign were called the worst dark ages even in Ragnar’s thousand-year history.

Numerous vassals and family members died in war or were swept away by purges.

It was also at this time that the number of vassal families, which were called the ‘Nine Seolga’ at the time, was reduced to six as they are today.

The problem was that no one could stop such a violent act of Guangryongje.

It was because he was too strong.

‘If Guangryongje’s strength was actually the result of regression, then I would understand everything.’

If so, here comes the problem.

‘Then the father who brought down such a grandfather… … What is it?’

“That’s why Kyle couldn’t stand it and eventually staged a coup with like-minded brothers. If your father is a regressor, that is why he hates and despises you so terribly.”

“Then father… … ?”

“Aren’t you a regressor?”

Theo nodded heavily.

“yes. not.”

“… … !”

“So your father is a monster. The one who didn’t even come back. The one who didn’t even get chosen by Lodbroke. A guy who doesn’t even use the ancient dragon’s relics defeated a guy who became stronger after going through several regressions.”

An image of Kyle appeared in Theo’s mind.

A huge beam of light cut through the sky.

It was not a phenomenon that a single human being could create.

Truly a miracle that only those who have crossed the realm of a god can do.

“Kyle’s disdain didn’t stop there. The regressor who was among the brothers I was with was also beaten together without adding or subtracting.”

There was a straw man.

‘Pungjon!’

– Kyle! Kyle, Kyle! Robert! Robert! you guys… … ! I hate you guys!

An unlucky hero who was kicked out by Kyle and the Black Dragon and fell into a coin intoxication while barely surviving.

In the journal he left behind, only hatred and grudge remained.

If this was the cause.

It was understandable if the contempt for the returnees that started with the Guangryong Festival continued to Pungjon.

The words Kyle said while looking at himself at the 3rd Flowering Ceremony.

-hit. The enemies I defeated to get to this position, the masters who threatened this position, the challengers who wanted to have this position… … . Ragnar’s head of household is such a lonely place. Always threatened and challenged… … It’s a place where you shouldn’t neglect your vigilance.

– From now on, I will treat you as a challenger, not a son.

-Let’s see how ‘her’ taught.

Kyle had noticed that Theo had been to Lodbroke’s nest.

And he cut Theo’s heart with his heart sword.

It was a terrible blow to call it a test of a single flowering ceremony.

What if Theo hadn’t overcome it?

‘I must be dead. I probably couldn’t even come back. The soul was cut directly.’

Kyle declared acceptance only after Theo came to his senses.

The attitude at the time was close to that of waiting a little longer.

“I wondered why the regressor he despised so much had been left alone even though he should have known that he was born among his own children. That’s why I wanted to talk to you like this.”

Theo drooled at Hilda’s words.

The secret story of the newly learned family was so vast that I had no idea how to organize my thoughts.

Then, all of a sudden, I had a question.

“Didn’t Hilda-sama also say that she was a regressor? Then why… … .”

“Did your father leave me alone?”

“… … Yes.”

“You said that? I’ve already finished all the rounds.”

“ah.”

“In Kyle’s eyes, I’m no longer a regressor. Well, I’m not that picky either. Anyway, it would be good to know. Your father’s contempt for regressors isn’t just for emotional reasons. It’s because they think it will interfere with Ragnar’s success.”

Hilda lightly waved her hand in the air.

Then, a wine glass from the shelf behind her flew up and landed in front of her.

“As you know, your father is crazy about Ragnar, right?”

“… … So I don’t understand any more. If it’s for Ragnar, don’t you need more information about the future?”

again-

Hilda said as she refilled it with wine.

“Because regressors are usually full of self-righteousness and self-righteousness. In their eyes, the world only seems like a puppet show on a stage that revolves around them, and can be manipulated at will at any time.”

It reminded me of Hilda’s past vision that I had seen while passing through the forest.

As the rounds were repeated, humanity was obliterated and only madness was visible.

perhaps.

Wouldn’t the madness that Guangryongje saw also come from a similar situation?

No matter how many rounds you start, the results don’t change much.

No, it wouldn’t be strange to go crazy if you see the horrors that only grow bigger.

‘You see that the direction that the returner has no choice but to pursue and the direction you have set are absolutely incompatible.’

Regressors only put their own interests first.

Kyle, who thinks of his family first, has no choice but to try to expel him.

‘Maybe that’s why you robbed Lodbroke’s heart. To make the selector no longer appear.’

Theo continued to think as he clenched his fists.

‘And yet you left me alone… … Should I assume that he meant to watch over me a little longer?’

The fact that you never know when Kyle’s sword might come after your neck sent chills down your spine.

Then, all of a sudden, I had a thought.

-Then, why couldn’t Guangryongje or Fengjon return anew and expel their father?

That’s a contradiction.

As the conversation got longer, the meat cooled down.

The blood from the steak filling the bowl caught Theo’s eyes.

The face and gaze reflected on it were facing him.

“… … What is a regressor?”

Theo realized he had to bring the question back to square one.

It seemed that only when he knew the cause of all these incidents and mysteries surrounding his family would he be able to determine how he could plan his future.

“It’s a chooser.”

Hilda said, bringing the wine glass to her lips.

“Also, it is a relic left by the Great Dragon itself.”