Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

⟬Ah, that? You know that familiar smell when you walk around?⟭

“A familiar smell?”

⟬I smelled a goddamned long-eared frea— ahem, high elf, so I went and found their barrier!⟭

The sword could smell?

Ignoring the deep-seated question, Allen asked about the barrier.

“A barrier?”

⟬Yeah! It seems to block all living things other than spirits, but…!⟭

Stab.

⟬Ta-da! It was no match for this beautiful genius!⟭

Allen stopped for a moment at Vestla, who’d suddenly disappeared right in front of his eyes.

‘…Is this how she got around it?’

He spread out his sensing range, closely searching around the space in front of him, but he couldn’t find anything. Nothing but an ordinary forest—no traces of mana or barriers.

‘If it weren't for Vestla, I would’ve never found it.’

After Allen didn’t follow, she shouted back loudly, thinking he was hesitating:

⟬You come in, too! If you use your body, can’t you just force yourself in like me?⟭

Taking note of his surrounding terrain, Allen walked forward slowly. He walked for a moment, resisting against something gently pushing his body away.

⟬Why are you taking so long!⟭

He turned towards the familiar voice, finding Vestla shouting and flapping around in the distance.

Allen walked in her direction and looked around. A gentle wind—contrasting the chilly outside—a fresh green sprout peeked out from through the ground, and a small waterfall flowed across the forest, creating a refreshing landscape.

“Is this the Spring of Spirits?”

⟬Yes, it’s the entrance to the barrier, to be exact! The Spring of Spirits is in the middle of it!⟭

Vestla finished her statement and flew away. Allen had a strange feeling as he followed her towards the center of the forest. It seemed like something important was missing… 

‘I haven’t seen any life here yet?’

He sensed around, but strangely enough, there wasn’t even a single creature to be found. From knolls or bears, which were common in the forest, to squirrels running through trees and birds flying through the sky—basically, there was a total absence of animals that should be living in a forest.

‘I guess a barrier is a barrier.’

Allen left his thoughts behind and headed towards the center of the barrier.

He would be interested if he were a sorcerer who studied barriers, but since he wasn’t, he didn’t care much. He walked a little further to the place where the sound of water came from, and he immediately found the Spring of Spirits.

“…So, this is the Spring of Spirits that I’ve heard about.”

Just looking at the spring—which was clear enough to see both the water’s surface and its floor, sparkling with dozens of colors in an instant—made him feel thirsty. Allen carefully knelt down on his knees and brought his face close to the water.

⟬Be careful! Because once you drink it, its effect disappears.⟭

He stopped.

“What did you say?”

Allen stopped in his tracks as if he were possessed.

⟬Ah, those high-elf long-eared freaks. What was even the point of having a barrier?⟭

She made her remark and jumped into the spring before Allen could stop her.

Splash.

⟬Whoo, this is refreshing. When a creature—not a spirit—touches it, the spring becomes contaminated, so make your choice!⟭

“But, Vestla, you’re—”

⟬Is a sword a creature?⟭

Allen reflected on himself having moved rashly and backed away. He was beginning to give up internally, so he opened the book to review the contents, which he'd only glanced at earlier.

「Julius completed the Quest to restore his reputation as a rascal, and was subsequently rewarded with a space-shifting scroll moving towards the Spring of Spirits…」

‘Quest Rewards, barriers that no living creature can enter, space-shifting scrolls, and the Spring of Spirits that ends once you drink from it.’

Even with Allen's sensing abilities, he couldn’t find a single trace of the barrier, and if it wasn’t for the black book, he wouldn’t have even known of its existence.

‘There were other things, too, but this in particular…’

Combining the knowledge he’d extracted from the book and what Vestla had told him, he came to his conclusion.

‘This was a reward prepared for Julius.’

That much was clear. The Spring of Spirits was designated to be a reward for Julius only. Otherwise, it would be nearly impossible to find.

The reason he was able to discover it himself was thanks to the combination of the black book, Vestla's guidance, and his transformed body. That bastard’s abnormal strength would be easier to understand, considering that he had the help of these things, too.

‘I’m constantly getting these kinds of things.’

He shook his head. It was him, not that bastard, who was occupying this place. There were many opportunities ahead. This way, he could prepare step by step.

Allen drank the springwater without hesitation.

At that moment,

「The book linked to ◯◯◯◯ detects ◯◯◯◯! ◯◯◯◯ reacts to ◯◯◯◯!」

「The book linked to ◯◯◯◯ detects ◯◯◯◯! ◯◯◯◯ reacts to ◯◯◯◯!」

「The book linked to ◯◯◯◯ detects ◯◯◯◯! ◯◯◯◯ reacts to ◯◯◯◯!」

…

Right after, the pages of the white book—which had appeared to have no special abilities—quickly fluttered like crazy.

Allen jumped to his feet before he could even taste the springwater.

“…What is this?”

But as soon as Allen came to his senses, the white book settled down, returning to its normal state.

Flutter, flutter.

「The book linked to ◯◯◯◯ detects ◯◯◯◯! ◯◯◯◯ reacts to—」

As Allen hurriedly opened the white book, the letters in front of him began to disappear just as quickly as they’d appeared.

「The book linked to ◯◯◯◯—」

⟬What ya doin’ over there?⟭

When Vestla opened her mouth,

「Allen Reinhart, 

Drinking the water of the Spring of Spirits, he suddenly begins to analyze the current situation.」

It’d been a long time since it had been a normal book. Allen stared deeply at the white book.

‘Does the white book have more abilities than simply recording me?’

What did everything that just happened mean?

Allen looked at the white book for a while, but the white book did nothing but document his actions, as usual.

* * *

The springwater was surprisingly bland—but although he’d just drank what was essentially plain water, he believed in its properties.

And its effect was clear.

There were translucent spirits roaming around right in front of Allen's eyes. Allen—who’d had no relationship with a spirit in his previous life nor in his present—could clearly sense the presence of several spirits staring at him with curious faces around the spring. It was proof that his affinity had improved by so much that it likely wouldn’t be difficult to make a contract with a spirit.

Ordinarily, he would have contemplated his newly raised affinity for spirits, but Allen was too busy thinking about what he had just experienced.

“Ah, the Spring of Spirits…”

When he looked at the Spring of Spirits, he saw that the water, which had been shining and sparkling in various colors, turned into an everyday, ordinary spring you could find anywhere.

“…Ah.”

⟬What did I tell ya? Once you drink it, it’s done for. Are you upset?⟭

“No, I’m fine.”

He didn’t care about the Spring of Spirits anymore. To Allen, it was more important that the book’s response was related to what had caused him to regress.

“How do I get back out? Can I just leave?”

⟬Yeah!⟭

Allen quickly collected the remaining spirit elixir after exiting the spring.

A spirit jade located in a broken eagle statue. A moonflower blooming in a pit under a cliff. Even a potion hidden in the sixth cave.

In addition to that, he took all the spirit elixirs—the locations of which he had estimated and found—and returned to the place where the carriage was.

Linbelle and Inellia had gotten back there first. Vestla shut her mouth as soon as Allen joined them.

“Sir!”

“We got everything from the map.”

Allen received the goods Inellia handed to him and asked her something he’d been worried about.

“Did you leave any traces?”

“We left as few traces as we could, so no matter who finds them in the future, they wouldn’t know that we’d been here.”

Allen was relieved by her response to the question, which had been worrying him.

“Good work.”

“This is—”

“No, we'll make time for this later.”

Allen felt very grateful to her. She covertly did what he asked without question nor complaint. He’d had no idea how reassured she would make him feel, having her as a subordinate.

‘So I certainly must compensate her.’

He needed to talk to her anyway so he could give her the spirit jade he got, while he was at it.

“I’ll call for you when I have time, so don’t forget about it.”

“Ah—”

At those words, she wore a grim face, as if she was going to cry, and nodded.

“Yes, understood.”

Seeing her reaction, he asked her separately, thinking she was nervous about just the two of them meeting.

“If you’re nervous, you can come with, Lin—”

“I-I can go alone!”

Allen accepted her response, as she blushed and quickly shook her head as if it were all okay.

‘It’ll be alright.’

They put all the items they’d obtained from the mountain into their carriage and headed for the manor. After several hours had passed, and they’d successfully snuck back inside the manor, Allen was able to put his mind at ease.

‘This, alone, can’t stop him from growing, but it can at least slow down for a while.’

Allen was satisfied with that.

And once some time had passed and their period of probation had ended,

“Yes, Julius. Have a safe trip.”

“Brother, why don’t you go with—”

“I’m fine. So, you have a good time sight-seeing. There are many strange items to behold around the Capitol, so go look around.”

Julius and his companions headed for the Capitol.

* * *

Julius was headed to the Capitol to put up the ancient relics that he’d found in the county at an auction, held in the Capitol around this time every year.

“Sir, is it really alright if I ride in the same carriage as you?”

“Yeah, I don’t discriminate against any other types of people.”

Julius nodded slightly to Anna, as she fidgeted and looked around.

“…B-but still, what if other people see—”

“I don’t care about that either.”

Actually, it would be more beneficial for her to be fully recognized as a person close to Julius.

“Laina.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You told me that we’d stay on Mount Nicaea for a day, right?”

“Yes, we’ll enter the entrance of the mountain in a minute or so.”

* * *

* * * 

Knock, knock.

Laina paused at the noise at the carriage door.

“Sir, we’ve arrived at the mountains.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

As he opened the door, Byron—the knight who was supposed to have followed him in Garvia—greeted him without any slipup.

“We’ve arrived.”

“Sir Julius, if there’s anything you need to do in the mountains, then by all means—”

“No, thank you.”

This would be an event that nobody else could know about.

“I’m going to take a little walk.”

“I could escort you—”

“I’m alright.”

Julius stopped Laina, who’d been quietly following him, and went somewhere alone, where there weren’t any other people. The reason why he moved alone was simple.

‘I’m going to take the Quest Reward for myself.’

Until now, he’d been dealing with the ancient ruins, the Thanksgiving festival, and the duel—all while taking care of his normal workload—so he hadn’t been able to get compensation for his work yet. So, surely it’d be okay if he got a little reward on his way to the Capitol.

‘First off…’

An elixir, [Blue Meteor Rainstorm (A)], was located under a royal foxglove tree. It was easy to find with the help of the map. Julius dug at the bottom of the tree, which he’d arrived at via the guidance of the map.

But…

“Huh?”

There was nothing there.

“W-wait a second, this can’t be happening. Is this not it?”

Julius checked his map, but it pointed exactly to this place. Julius looked around his surroundings but found nothing, as if there were nothing there to be found.

“No, this can’t be happening.”

It had to have been just this one. The others must still be there, right?

Hiding his anxiety, he headed to the sites of the other rewards, but…

“Haha… is this a joke?”

The spirit jade located in a broken eagle statue, too.

“Is this one gone too?”

The moonflower blooming in a pit under a cliff, too.

“This is fucking crazy. This can’t be right. It’s gone? It’s really gone?”

And so had all the potions that escaped sorcerer had finally finished, too.

“…No, no, don’t tell me this one is gone too.”

There was nothing there. The snow-covered Julius frantically searched the mountains for his rewards using his map, but…

“Don’t fuck with me! I said don’t fucking mess with me! Shit!”

…It was all the same.

They were rewards scheduled to be received after completing quests. Most of the rewards listed on maps were located in Mount Nicaea, so he was planning to take them all at once.

“Fuck.”

Julius hurriedly pulled out a space-shifting scroll.

“No, no, no, no, no.”

The map he got after ‘Father’s test.’ It was a reward that he’d saved, thinking that he’d receive something even more special.

Tear, rip.

After the scroll had been torn, Julius’s body levitated and quickly moved through the boundary where the Spring of Spirits was located.

“What? This is barely even a space-shifting scroll. Please, please.”

He didn’t use it until now because he thought it would seem suspicious if someone who never left the house suddenly returned from the mountains.

“This isn’t how it was supposed to be. Fuck. Fuck.”

He saw nothing. There was nothing in sight. His heart beat wildly, and he broke out into a cold sweat. The moment he arrived at the Spring of Spirits…

“…Whew, thank God.”

The Spring of Spirits maintained its serene atmosphere like nothing was happening. After a moment, he hurriedly swallowed some of the springwater, worried that it may suddenly disappear.

Gulp, gulp.

“…How refreshing.”

Julius settled down and waited for something to happen. He heard that it would be a special reward, so he was expecting something to happen.

But…

“This elixir is a little slow.”

10 minutes passed.

“Is this something else? A different special reward?”

And 30 minutes passed.

“Wait, something… something may be wrong…”

And one hour passed.

After realizing that nothing had happened, Julius forced himself to take a deep breath and head back to the spring.

“Haha, I guess I didn’t drink enough.”

There was no way that it wouldn’t work. Julius drank more of the springwater.

Gulp, gulp.

“Is this enough yet? More?”

One mouthful. Two mouthfuls. Three.

“It’s not—cough—it’s not enough. I—cough—I need to drink more.”

He drank 10 mouthfuls of springwater. Then 20. 

“No, no, this can’t be possible. It can’t. No way. No fucking way!”

He plunged his head into the spring and inhaled. He drank the springwater until he felt like his stomach would burst, yet nothing happened.

“Whimper…”

Was it because he drank too much? Julius, who had only just barely been able to suppress the rising feeling of vomit, gazed at his own reflection on the surface of the water.

Torn clothes and scattered hair. Red eyed and breathing roughly.

His heart pounded like crazy, and his eyes trembled.

“…Not a single one?”

It wasn’t until that moment that Julius realized that the reward from the Spring of Spirits, too, had disappeared.

“Not even one?”

He couldn’t bear the realization.

This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t what he’d been hoping for.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Deep within the forest, Julius’s screams rang out.