The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

The cloudy weather eventually spewed rain. Dark clouds blocked the sunlight, and blue lightning flashed between them.

The heavy raindrops purified the blood flowing in the slums, but at the same time accelerated decay. Asel tried to ignore the smell of corpses wafting from the alleyways, pushed back his rain-soaked hair, and moved on.

“…Hah.”

He took out a crumpled paper from his pocket. The handwriting was hard to read, but Asel knew it represented an address.

It was a rare skill in the slums. In a place overflowing with illiteracy, the value of someone who could read was exceptionally high. While there were quite a few people in the slums who were good with their bodies, those with sharp minds were rare. That’s why Asel received more money and more requests than others.

“……”

Asel went under a suitable tent and examined the address written on the paper in detail.

‘First drainage ditch, fifth shack.’

It was a somewhat cryptic address, but it wasn’t a big problem for him who had memorized the entire map of the slums.

Asel immediately put away the paper and moved carefully to keep the drugs from getting wet. Fortunately, the backpack handed over by the factory owner was coated with waterproof material, so he didn’t have to worry about rainwater seeping in.

-Rumble!

Just as he was about to leave the tent, the sky roared violently with thunder. Asel’s eyes sparkled as he saw the blue lightning strike somewhere.

Since childhood, after seeing lightning strike and burn trees right in front of him, Asel had been fascinated by the power and mystery of lightning. He deeply understood why the ancients called lightning divine punishment.

If given the chance, he wanted to see falling lightning once again. But just because he wanted to see it doesn’t mean he could, and lightning wasn’t the important thing right now.

‘I need to complete the request as quickly as possible, buy medicine, and return home. That’s how I can save my sister.’

Thinking this, Asel adjusted his backpack. The backpack filled with five packets of drugs weighed heavily on his shoulders, but he didn’t mind and slipped into a deserted alleyway.

It was the shortest route to the first drainage ditch. Although it was a path no one took because it was full of decaying corpses and rotten puddles, that’s why it was the optimal route for Asel. He wiped the rainwater off his face with his hand and moved on.

The strong thunder seemed to follow him especially today.

It was about three hours after leaving the factory when he arrived at the corpse mage’s residence. It took that long just walking without any interruptions.

This was due to the drug factory being located far from the first waterway and the corpse mage’s residence being hidden in a place that was particularly difficult to find.

Is this how all magicians are? He didn’t know. It was Asel’s first time delivering drugs to a magician too.

There’s a saying that all magicians living in the slums are crazy. While slum rumors tend to be exaggerated and need to be taken with a grain of salt, this wasn’t the case for rumors about magicians.

Their bizarre actions were all real events that happened in the slums. Even in the slum where Asel lived, there was a time when a crazy magician kidnapped and killed homeless people en masse, creating a blood mist that didn’t dissipate for a while.

If even ordinary magicians could do such things, how insane would a corpse mage be?

“…Whew.”

Asel exhaled a long breath, feeling anxiety and tension. Then he swallowed and knocked on the door of the corpse mage’s house.

Like the shabby houses placed elsewhere, the door of the corpse mage’s house shook with a strange sound characteristic of rotten wood.

“Delivery.”

Asel said as he knocked on the door. But there was no response. All he could hear was the sound of rain hitting the ground and rough thunder. Wondering if his voice hadn’t been heard, Asel knocked on the door again.

“Delivery.”
“Shut up!”

The answer came from behind. Asel was startled by the man’s rough shout and turned his head sharply. He saw a pale-faced man wrapped in a black robe.

He was looking down at Asel with bloodshot eyes, breathing heavily.

“I, I answered! Why call twice! Why, why, why, why!!!!”

You didn’t answer, you bastard.

Asel swallowed those words and managed a strained smile. Slowly, he moved the backpack from his back to the front. It was an action to avoid provoking the person in front of him. Fortunately, it seemed to work well, as the man just breathed heavily without rushing at Asel as if to kill him.

“I’m sorry. I acted rashly. Would you please forgive me just this once?”

A humble attitude that didn’t match his age came naturally to Asel. It was thanks to the social skills he learned while delivering drugs, and also due to his mental age growing as he recalled memories from his past life.

Asel inwardly marveled at his own handling of the situation and bowed his head even lower.

“I’m the delivery person who came to deliver drugs on Mr. Bruger’s orders. Are you Mr. Zerville?”
“Y-yes. That’s right. Drug, drug, drug! Give me the drugs quickly. Quickly!”

Zerville rolled his eyes and jumped up and down in place as if having a seizure. His mental state was extremely unstable. It was withdrawal symptoms from not consuming drugs for a while.

Demanding money first from someone in such a state would be suicidal.

Moreover, the other party was a magician. Although he hadn’t seen him use magic yet, Asel felt something different about Zerville from others. He didn’t know what it was, but instead of satisfying his curiosity, Asel quickly took out a packet of drugs from his backpack and handed it to Zerville.

“Drug, it’s the drug! Give it to me, you bastard! It’s all mine!!!”
“Here you go.”

Zerville, as if not hearing Asel’s words, immediately snatched the drug packet from his hand, tore it open, and poured it on his face.

The white powder instantly covered his face. It was a ridiculous way of consumption considering the value of the drug, but Asel quietly waited for him to calm down.

“…Hmm.”

After a few minutes, Zerville’s movement, which had been flicking his tongue in place, suddenly stopped. He neatly gathered his arms and legs, which had been shaking erratically, like a normal person, and brushed off the drugs on his robe with his hands. Then he clicked his tongue and wiped off the drugs on his face.

“It seems I spilled more than I ate. Is it because it’s been too long since I last had it?”

Unlike before, his voice now exuded deep wisdom. There was an inexplicable old-fashioned grace in his actions, and his slightly distorted face with dissatisfaction had a noble air flowing from it.

An attitude as if the person had completely changed in an instant. Asel unconsciously swallowed and took a step back, feeling the dissonance. Only then did Zerville notice Asel’s presence and rolled his brown eyes to look at him.

He looked down indifferently at Asel’s tense posture, then soon smiled and approached him.

“I’m sorry about that. I can’t maintain my sanity unless I’m intoxicated with drugs. I hope you’ll forget the disgraceful behavior until just now.”
“…What happened? I just met you for the first time, Mr. Zerville.”
“Hm? Haha! This is an interesting fellow. I didn’t expect such an answer. Are you older than you look?”

Zerville looked at Asel with an interested expression, then bent his knees to meet his eye level. Then he took out six gold coins from his pocket and handed them to Asel.

It was one coin more than the original price. Asel opened his mouth, but Zerville was faster.

“Keep one for yourself. It’s a reward for entertaining me.”
“…Thank you!”

Asel immediately bowed his head and shouted. He had no intention of refusing.

A whole gold coin. This alone is comparable to ten silver coins, a considerable sum. With this, he could buy medicine for Evelyn and even purchase additional emergency medicine with some left over.

Asel tightly held the one gold coin Zerville handed over with both hands and raised his head with a bright expression.

—And then his breath was suddenly cut off.

“…Hmm?”

Zerville’s expression was no different from before. He still had a relaxed smile on his face and was looking at Asel with gentle eyes. But those eyes were different from before.

“Friend. You have an interesting talent?”

There was no sign of life in the brown eyes that had come alive after taking the drug. It felt like facing a dead corpse.

An unknown stench wafted from his nose. At the same time, as soon as he met Zerville’s eyes, he heard someone’s whisper.

-Save me save me save me save me.
-Even death wasn’t an escape? Then why did I have to do that! Why, why!!!
-I want to die I want to be free please release me from here
-I’ll kill you I’ll definitely tear you apart and kill you.

Explicit pleas, curses, and laments of unfathomable depth shook Asel’s head. Unable to suppress the sudden nausea, Asel vomited water and gastric juice onto the ground.

“Urgh!”
“Friend. Are you alright?”

Zerville chuckled and stroked Asel’s fallen back with his hand. Asel jumped up from his seat, terrified by the touch that was as cold as a corpse. Zerville still looked up at him with a smiling face.

Asel tried to ignore Zerville’s gaze and bowed his head in greeting.

“I-I’m fine. More importantly, I’ll be going now. I’ll leave the drugs here.”

Asel said this and hurriedly turned around.

“Wait a moment, friend.”

At that moment, Zerville stood up and spoke in a low voice. At the same time, Asel’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt. Asel instinctively sensed that some power was carried in that voice. And he realized.

The essence that makes up the world. The miraculous power that was the beginning of the beginning and caused the development of civilization.

Mana was flowing through Zerville’s voice, weighing down on Asel’s shoulders.

Step, step.

Zerville’s footsteps drew closer. Asel gritted his teeth and tried to move his body, but it didn’t budge at all. Rather, the more he tried to move forcibly, the more he felt a burning sensation in his muscles. His brain also felt hot as if it was being cooked.

“Shit!”

Due to the pain felt throughout his body, the pain as if his head was being cooked, and anxiety and inexplicable fear, Asel unknowingly swore and rolled his eyes around.

It was to see if there was a way to escape. But there was nothing to be seen. Only the scattered garbage around pitifully guarded its place.

“Oh my, you shouldn’t swear.”

Zerville said in a voice mixed with laughter. He had already reached in front of Asel and tapped Asel’s stiffened head with his hand.

“Alright. Stay still, friend. I have something to ask you.”
“……”
“You, when you made eye contact with me, you heard something strange, didn’t you?”
“…I didn’t hear anything.”

It was a lie.

Zerville chuckled and added more force to the hand tapping Asel’s head.

With a series of smacking sounds, Asel’s head shook violently each time Zerville swung his hand.

“I like honest friends.”

Zerville said as he stroked Asel’s cheek with his other hand. Each time he moved his hand, an eerie energy flowed out.

It was death energy. The power used to handle corpses by refining mana. That terrible energy slowly made Asel’s cheek rot and crumble. Asel clenched his fists, gritting his teeth at the pain that felt like his flesh was burning away.

Regardless, Zerville didn’t even pay attention to what Asel was doing and just smiled gently.

“I’ll ask one more time. What did you hear?”
“…Urgh, y-yes. I heard something.”
“Hmm… That’s interesting. It shouldn’t be easy to read the memories of the corpses contained in this body.”

Zerville muttered this to himself and tapped Asel’s cheek with his hand. The rotten flesh was smashed following his gesture. Asel’s cheek was instantly covered in blood.

“Are you perhaps a magician? No, you don’t seem to be. I can’t feel any magical power at all.”
“……”
“Hmm… But there’s a lot of mana floating around. Are you a constitution loved by mana? How good must your affinity be for such a phenomenon to occur? Seeing that you forcibly heard the voices of the corpses that make up this body, your resonance seems good too…”

Zerville muttered, tilting his head. Then, he looked at Asel with interested eyes, grinning.

“How talented are you?”
“…This is the first time I’ve heard of this.”
“Well, of course. How many people in this dump could recognize your talent? No one but someone like me would know.”

Zerville said, shrugging his shoulders. Asel started racking his brain to find a way to survive while trying his best to avoid Zerville’s gaze.

“It’s a shame to waste such talent. But I’m not really in a position to take on a disciple. Hmm… Right, I’ve decided. I’ll just carve out your heart and brain separately, and investigate your mana resonance and affinity a bit. I can see it now. The mana that’s going crazy wanting to enter your body. I’ve never seen mana this wild before.”

Zerville gently stroked Asel’s head.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you right away. I’m also curious about the mana’s reaction when I torture you, and when your emotions are in turmoil. Or I could forcibly implant a magic core into your body. It’s not in great condition since I forcibly extracted it from a 5th rank magician, but that should be enough, shouldn’t it?”

He casually uttered chilling words in a voice mixed with laughter. Asel tried his best to break free from this restraint and escape, regardless of talent or whatever.

There was no one visible to ask for help. Even if there were, the chances of getting help were slim.

Saving someone in the slums without any compensation? That’s the kind of story you’d only find in novels. In reality, people are too busy running away to help. They avoid the area to prevent any trouble from falling on them.

“…Ugh.”

There were no objects around that could be of help either. Even the common rusty blades couldn’t be found when needed. No, to begin with, his body couldn’t move at all. Whether Zerville intended it or not, the only part that could move was his mouth.

The talent Zerville praised. That wasn’t of any help either. Even if you tell someone who has never held a pen that they’re good at drawing, that person doesn’t know how to draw at all. They might just scribble lines on paper, but they can’t produce anything that could be called a ‘drawing’.

It’s the same for Asel. Mana resonance? Affinity? No matter how much he’s told these are excellent, Asel didn’t know the concept of mana itself. He only vaguely knew that it was the power that formed the basis of the world. He had no idea how to operate or handle it.

Helplessness. And fear consumes his thoughts.

‘What should I do? Am I just going to die here?’

Then what about Evelyn? Asel gritted his teeth as he glared at Zerville, who was stroking his chin in contemplation. But there was nothing he could do. No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn’t see a way to survive.

“…Damn it.”

Rumble.

Just as Asel swore, a white lightning flashed through the falling rain. As Asel narrowed his eyes at the lightning of a color he had never seen before, he faintly saw someone’s silhouette below where the lightning was flashing.

“……”

It was a woman wearing a huge hat and with snow-white hair flowing down to her waist. She was standing in the middle of the alley, staring intently in this direction.

Her vivid blue eyes sparkled in the light. Her unique attire blended with that mysterious atmosphere without any sense of incongruity, and the white lightning jumping around her was evaporating the falling rain.

It was a sight that didn’t feel real. Asel unknowingly stared at her. At the same time, she also gazed at Asel.

Their gazes met in the air, and the woman moved her lips first. Although no voice could be heard, Asel could understand what she was saying. Or more precisely, her words echoed in his head.

[Duck.]

As soon as he recognized it, Asel’s body was forcibly thrown to the ground.

Command magic that forces actions through words. The moment Zerville sensed the lingering effects of this unique magic and came to his senses.

[Lightning Release]

A snow-white lightning bolt shot towards Zerville.