WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Regressor and the Blind Saintess ◈

Chapter 72: Fear

──────

Golden radiance faded. At the same time, Garthea's body turned to ash and scattered away.

At the center of the light slowly losing its glow, Vera dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

Thud.

Crack.

Vera slowly turned toward the source of the cracking sound, the Demon Sword.

“Ah...”

Crack.

Cracks were spreading across the Demon Sword's blade.

In a way, it was only natural. It had endured Garthea's attacks the entire time, and Vera had forced divine power beyond its limit into it before detonating it. How could a Demon Sword that was not even a masterpiece endure that?

Vera let out a regretful groan as he looked at the breaking Demon Sword. Then nausea welled up within him, twisting his body.

Cough!

His whole body shook. Something surged up from inside him.

What poured onto the ground was blackened, dead blood.

“Kh...!”

He clenched his teeth and tried somehow to swallow the blood, but it was futile. Vera retched again and began vomiting up the blood that remained.

Thump. Thump.

His heart pounded wildly. He had spilled so much blood that his head was growing dizzy.

It would have been nice if his insides being shaken apart were the end of it, but unfortunately, the true recoil had not even begun.

Fwoosh!

His soul burned. Vera's whole body shook again.

“Ghhk...!”

Vera collapsed to the ground, trembling as he wrapped his arms around himself.

Pain tore through his entire body. The recoil from making a careless covenant had begun.

The Authority of Covenant was not an Authority that granted power without a price.

It was an ability meant to be used on the premise of staking a visible, clear payment and receiving quantified strength precisely commensurate with it.

Yet in this battle, what Vera had staked were Rules that were unclear in every way.

Things that could not be quantified, such as, “Steel myself,” and, “Uphold the principle.” He had fought with such things at stake, and even considering what he had accomplished in the end, he had drawn forth power without setting the price in the form of a vow. It was only natural that recoil would follow.

Cough!

Blood burst from his mouth again.

It was not the black blood he had been vomiting all along, but fresh, bright red blood.

‘A sword that pierces Garthea's heart.’

As payment for bringing that sword into being, for seizing something beyond his level, Vera's flesh and soul were being exacted.

His flesh was crushed and his bones sliced apart. His organs twisted, and blood surged from his mouth.

The pain, intensified by using his soul as fuel, was difficult to endure even for Vera, who had stepped into the realm of superhumans.

Vera tried to force himself upright, desperately holding onto thoughts that felt ready to snap at any moment. Yet all he could do was collapse to the ground again.

‘The Saintess...’

He had to return to Rene.

As though nothing had happened, he had to stay by Rene's side for the rest of the day. He could not lie sprawled out here.

He tried to steady himself, but his thoughts continued to sink.

And so Vera lost consciousness on the ground, looking as though he might die at any moment.

* * *

Late that morning, Rene shook herself from her grogginess and stepped outside. Tilting her head at the strangely subdued atmosphere around her, she asked,

“What happened?”

“...Uh.”

Hella flinched at Rene's question and hesitated.

She wondered whether it was right to say it now.

Vera had drawn his sword and left in the middle of the night, yet he still had not returned.

Even Hella, as oblivious as she could be, knew telling Rene this would not be good for her.

Unable to bring herself to say it, Hella sent Norn a look.

‘Please help.’

Her gaze reached Norn, then Dovan beside him.

Silence fell over the area.

“Come to think of it, where is Vera? Did he go to train?”

Rene only said it because Vera often left early in the morning to train, but the mood grew even heavier at her words.

After a brief moment, Dovan, seated across from Rene, gripped the armrest of the wheelchair tightly. Dovan's face twisted miserably as they spoke.

“...He left during the night and has not returned.”

“Pardon?”

Dovan lowered their head. Regret had risen within them.

Only now did Dovan think it had been a mistake to let Vera go alone after seeing Vera leave with a sword the previous night.

“...Sir Vera left the smithy with his sword last night. He has not returned yet. It looked as though he was going out to battle. He said he would return before dawn, but...”

The smile on Rene's face crumpled.

“W, what do you mean?”

“...I am sorry. I should not have let him go.”

“Master...”

Deep remorse filled Dovan's voice.

Rene could sense that remorse more clearly than anyone there. Then an image suddenly came to mind, draining the color from her face.

Vera had gone out to fight. Without telling her, secretly while she slept. And he had not returned.

The conclusion those facts formed.

‘Vera...’

He was in danger.

“I, I need to go find him...”

The murmur slipped out without her meaning to. Rene stretched out her cane.

Tap.

She tried to take a step, but her hurried footing gave way, and she fell to the ground.

Thud.

Rene collapsed, and Norn's voice followed.

“Saintess!”

Norn hurried over and supported Rene. Leaning against him, Rene planted her cane and tried to step forward again, only to collapse once more like a puppet with its strings cut.

A grim expression crossed Norn's face. Hella looked no different.

Norn bit down hard on his lip before looking at Rene and speaking.

“Hella and I will go search for him. Everything will be fine. It is Sir Vera, after all. Who would dare put him in danger?”

“Y, yes...”

A vacant reply slipped from Rene's lips.

Norn's expression grew serious at the sight. He turned to Hella.

“Hella, let us leave at once.”

“Got it.”

“Saintess, please wait. Just a little while.”

Rene nodded.

Norn and Hella left. Soon after, Aisha, who had been at a loss for what to do, shouted and ran after them.

“I'll help look too!”

Even as the others went farther away, Rene remained seated there with a blank expression.

* * *

With Dovan's help, Rene returned to her bedroom. Curled up on the bed, she could only tremble.

The people who had left in the late morning had not returned even after the entire afternoon had passed.

There should have been news by now. Yet with no way of knowing anything, all that continued to grow was her anxiety.

It will be all right. Nothing will have happened.

She tried to reassure herself, but she could not suppress her fear.

The longer she remained curled up alone in the darkness, the longer she waited without knowing when it would end, the more her anxiety took on the shape of horrifying images.

Vera might be dead.

The thought would not leave her.

Her trembling fingertips seemed to grow cold.

Thinking it felt like stroking Vera's dead body, Rene flinched and curled up even tighter.

A world without Vera.

It was the reaction that came the moment she imagined it.

Her thoughts distorted. Her breathing grew ragged. Her chest tightened, and suffocation rose within her.

After spending a long time gasping in that state, Rene thought she would truly lose her mind if this continued. Thinking she had to go find Vera, she shakily forced herself up.

She grasped the cane leaning beside the bed. Slowly lowering her feet, she got off the bed.

Rene planted her cane with a Tap., then suddenly froze.

‘W, where...?’

Where should she go? Where was Vera?

No, before that.

‘The door...’

Where was it?

The trembling that began at her fingertips spread through her entire body. Thoughts consumed by fear could no longer make rational judgments.

It was dark.

Her world was so dark that she could not see even an inch ahead.

She had to go find Vera, but she could not even properly tell where the door to this small room was.

“...Vera.”

Vera should have been there. He should have knocked at the door and shown her which way to go. He should have taken her hand and led her.

But Vera was not there.

Vera had vanished from her world, leaving her unable to know anything.

Rene fell flat onto the floor and blankly felt around it.

‘No...’

Vera had to be there. Without Vera, without his hand, she could not move forward. She could not do anything.

She would return to that time. To those days when she could see nothing, when she could only cling to fading memories and walk the same path in circles.

Fear suddenly filled her.

Her tightly clenched stomach and pounding heart mingled, flooding her with heat. Tears streamed down her face, and ragged breaths escaped her.

“Ah... ah...”

She crawled while feeling her way across the floor.

Thump.

Her head struck the wall.

Bracing herself against it, she rose and moved along the wall.

Thump.

This time, her shoulder struck another wall at its end.

Slide.

Rene's body slid down the wall.

‘I am trapped.’

She could not leave this room. She could not find the door. No, even if she did leave through it.

‘I do not know...’

She did not know the world beyond that door.

Rene curled up. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Her head sank between her knees. Her trembling lips spoke the same name once more.

“Vera...”

Without Vera, she could not go anywhere.

* * *

Norn drew a sharp breath at the sight before him.

He had stopped searching only the peak where the smithy stood and crossed two peaks, reaching the edge of the forest near the village.

The clearing before him was completely devastated.

The ground had been gouged out and overturned everywhere.

Not a single tree around it remained intact, and clouds of dust blurred his vision.

Norn was certain.

A battle had taken place here.

Sir Vera had to be here.

His steps grew hurried. Divine power rose from his body and swept away the dust.

“Sir Vera!”

His shout echoed through the clearing. Naturally, there was no reply.

Even so, Norn did not stop. As he continued searching the clearing, something suddenly caught against his foot.

Thunk.

Norn lowered his head.

There, he saw it.

“Ah...”

Vera, unconscious and in a horrific state.

Norn quickly crouched, pulled Vera from the dust, and brought his ear close to Vera's nose.

‘He is breathing!’

He was still alive. Norn hurriedly hoisted Vera onto his back and raised divine power throughout his body to strengthen it.

Vera could stop breathing at any moment. He had to return quickly and entrust him to the Saintess for treatment.

With that thought, Norn began sprinting toward the smithy with all his strength.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried