I’m not a Regressor

Chapter 185: Vacation in Rome (1)

"Yawn~"

The sunlight leaking through the slits in the window caused Ohjin to open his eyes.

He looked at Ha-eun, who was asleep and tightly embracing his arm.

Long eyebrows, a sharp nose, and soft, flawless skin…

Ohjin smiled faintly and stroked her cheek.

"Hmm…?"

Ha-eun shook her head like she was being tickled and slowly opened her eyes soon after.

Their eyes met.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Not really, thanks to a certain someone."

She pinched him with a playful smile on her face.

The mood was so sweet that it felt like their teeth were going to rot.

"…"

"…"

When their mouths were close to meeting with not a word spoken…

[It is I!]

Sparkle!—

Vega appeared from thin air with a strange sound effect and spun around while spreading her arms.

"Kyaaaa!"

Ha-eun screamed and kicked Ohjin.

He was violently sent flying into the ceiling and plopped down onto the ground.

[…What were you two in the middle of doing?]

"…Nothing."

Ohjin clutched his throbbing stomach and stood up.

It felt like something like that happened every time Vega showed up.

[Hmm.]

Vega frowned with a dissatisfied expression and sat on Ohjin’s head.

[Have the matters with Guardian been solved well?]

"Well… more or less?"

There were two deaths and one had been critically injured, but you could say the matters were solved since the main culprit of the case was eliminated.

[Could you explain what happened to me?]

"Of course. Ah, and more importantly, how did things go with Deneb's divinity?"

[Fufu. Who do you take me for? Turning an immature kid's divinity into my own is nothing to me.]

Vega made a V with her small fingers and shrugged.

Ohjin smirked and explained what happened during the time she was busy.

Her expression gradually changed as he told her about the Living Armor, the Snakes, and Toads.

[Purging a fellow faction of the Black Star Organization… the children of Serpens truly are terrible.]

"Well, there aren’t factions for no reason."

[Did you completely eliminate that demon beast called Living Armor?]

"Of course! I appeared at the perfect time and finished it off!" Ha-eun boastfully replied.

[Hmpf. I'm well aware of what humans call people like you.]

"Huh? What do they call me?"

[What was it…? That's right! Kill stealers! They call people like you kill stealers!]

"You stupid little thing!"

After being insulted, Ha-eun frowned and reached her hand out to Vega, who was sitting on Ohjin’s head.

Vega avoided her hands and flew up.

[Your actions are discourteous as usual. Have you ever thought about how sad Eltanin would be if they knew this?]

"Who cares. It's not like I've ever met them before."

For reference, Eltanin was the celestial of Draco.

"What? You've never met your celestial?"

Ohjin put on a surprised expression as he was silently watching the two women bicker.

He had never heard her speak about the celestial of Draco, but he didn't expect her to have never met them before.

"Well… I actually did go to meet them before, but…"

Ha-eun scratched her head and sighed.

"They were sleeping."

"Sleeping?"

"Yeah. It looked like they didn't give a care in the world."

"Then what about the next time?"

"Eltanin remained sleeping for several years."

Ha-eun clicked her tongue and shook her head.

[Well… Eltanin has habits similar to that of a dragon. They probably won't wake up easily once they go into a slumber.]

"Then how did she receive a stigma?"

[It’s most likely that Eltanin fell asleep right after granting stigmas to the people they deemed appropriate.]

'Is that why there aren’t many Awakeners with the stigma of Draco?'

[However, Eltanin must’ve granted strong stigmas to a small number of apostles. For example, doesn't Ha-eun have power that doesn't lack in comparison to the 12 Zodiacs?]

"Ah, so that's why."

* * *

Translator - Maccas

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

He had always thought that Ha-eun was strangely strong compared to the stigma of Draco's recognition.

Even recently, she took out the Living Armor that not even Choi Yuumi, a 9-Star Awakener, could inflict damage on.

[By the way, you overexerted yourself again after getting severe internal injuries… How many times must you hurt me to be satisfied?]

Vega put on a stern experience and hit Ohjin on the forehead.

"I happened to be thinking of resting until my injuries were all healed."

[Of course.]

Injuries that were not on the body but directly on his mana circuits were not things that could be taken lightly.

Like how forcefully moving your body with broken bones would cause permanent damage later, his mana circuits would end up getting ruined if he continued to forcefully use mana.

'It'd be nice if this was also curable in an instant with something like potions.'

As long as it wasn’t an elixir, no matter how expensive the potion, internal injuries couldn't be healed.

The same went for 'Water Affinity' that made Ohjin’s body nearly immortal.

It was hard to find something to heal internal injuries more effectively than time.

"In any case, since you and Ohjin are going to rest for the time being, how about we all go on a trip with that puppy?"

[Puppy?]

"I'm talking about Riak."

[I cannot believe that you would call my Star Spirit a puppy…]

Vega clutched her forehead like she had a headache.

Riak was known as the 'Divine Wolf' amongst celestials and was acknowledged for his strength.

[It truly… is typical of you.]

Vega smiled faintly while looking at Vega.

It made her feel uncomfortable every time she saw her cling to Ohjin, but she couldn't get herself to dislike her for some unknown reason.

"So are we going to go or not?"

[Where did you have in mind?]

"I don't know. I haven't thought of a place yet."

Ha-eun, who had her head tilted and was touching her lips, snapped her fingers like she thought of a good idea.

"How about we go overseas? You were super upset over me and Ohjin going to Japan last time."

[I… I was never upset!]

"Heh, you sure about that~?"

Ha-eun covered her mouth with one hand and smirked.

Veins popped out on Vega’s forehead.

[Y-Y-You ill-mannered little thing!]

"Ahh!"

Bzzt!—

A small thread of lightning left Vega's finger and caused Ha-eun to yell.

When round 2 between the women was about to begin—

Ding dong—

—the sound of the doorbell rang out in the house.

"Hm?"

"Are we expecting someone?"

Ohjin tilted his head and opened the door.

"Hello, Ohjin."

Isabella smiled brightly while standing in front of the door with a long box in her hands.

"I was really surprised when you suddenly disappeared without a word, you know?"

"…"

Her gentle voice was calming, but for some reason, an ominous feeling ran right down his spine.

"D-Didn't I already tell you that it couldn’t be helped because of my internal injuries?"

"My goodness, did you? I forgot about that. Are your injuries okay?"

"It's gotten a lot better now."

They hadn't completely healed yet, but his internal injuries had recovered a lot during the few days he spent resting with Ha-eun while leaving Isabella and Lee Woohyuk to take care of the aftermath.

"Hehe. You have no idea how worried I was. Didn't you go home while driving a motorcycle yourself when your injuries were that severe?"

'Oh, shit.'

"Uhm, so…"

"What would you have done if there was an accident?"

Isabella smiled with her eyes and patted Ohjin’s shoulder.

She looked like a chef confirming whether the meat was fresh, and it made his shoulders flinch.

"What did Mr. Cheon Sanggil say?"

Ohjin urgently changed the subject.

"We haven't been able to report directly to the First Star yet because he is absent."

"Absent?"

"Yes. It looks like he's still busy tracking down the 'Snakes'."

"I see."

'Maybe he discovered a clue leading to the 'Snakes'…'

"We still reported to the Heaven's Grace guild, so they are monitoring that area."

"Is there nothing else?"

"Hm… a couple of people were disciplined for sleeping on guard the other day, but they say that nothing special has gone missing."

"A couple of people slept?"

Ohjin furrowed his brow.

Sleeping on guard duty was something that could happen—

'Not one, but several people?'

—but they were members of Heaven's Grace, the guild known as the best in Korea.

"Something's strange."

"Yes. I also investigated since I found it suspicious… but I found no clues. There was also nothing out of the ordinary recorded on the CCTVs or the surveillance star relics."

"Hmm."

Though it was strange, they couldn't keep investigating a case that had no casualties, clues, or missing items.

"What about Lee Woohyuk?"

"He's nursing Hyunbin. Though his body has fully recovered… it seems that the mental shock was too much for him."

"It's not a surprise."

It was reasonable considering they were nearly wiped out after he looked forward to it so much and dreamt of becoming the 2nd generation of Seven Stars.

'Anyhow, what will happen to Guardian now?'

Oh Hyunbin was in mental shock and two had died, so nearly half of the seven members were out of service.

'I should bring this up to Cheon Sanggil later.'

Ohjin clicked his tongue and looked at the long box that Isabella was holding.

"What's this?"

"Ah, I brought this for you."

Had she prepared a present with an astronomical price again?

"Didn't your spear break during the fight?"

She opened the long box while she spoke.

Within the box was the pitch-black spear that the Living Armor used.

"This is…"

"I thought it'd be best if you were the one to use it."

Ohjin slowly examined the spear.

It was about two meters long and had a long blade.

'It's pretty good.'

Ohjin’s eyes widened from the sensation he felt when his hands wrapped around the spear.

"This spear isn’t just an ordinary weapon…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's a conscious ego weapon."

"Wow."

Ego weapons were weapons that were aware of their surroundings.

They were expensive items and considered top-grade, even among star relics.

"Then am I allowed to just keep this?"

"Fufu. You're the one who made the most contributions, after all."

Isabella smiled brightly and nodded her head.

"Also…"

She stroked the pitch-black spear with one hand and continued.

"I sent some of my mana into it, and it seemed that it wouldn’t acknowledge me as its master."

"It wouldn’t acknowledge you?"

"Yes. I think it's because my stigma isn't fit for fighting with a spear."

"…"

Maybe it was possible for the stigma of Aries, but would it also deny the stigma of Hirudo?

'No. In this case, she probably said that she wasn't acknowledged even though she was.'

Isabella being an 'Awakener of Aries' was nothing but an act.

"Then I'll test to see if I can use this."

"Be careful. It seemed to have a rather violent personality."

Ohjin nodded and slowly sent his mana into the spear.

Bzzzt!—

Blue lightning blazed at the spear's tip.

'Huh?'

Ohjin looked at the spear with surprised eyes.

He was certain he didn't use much mana, but the power of the lightning was stronger than he thought.

'Mana amplification.'

A brief exclamation left his mouth.

The spear possessed an incredible feature.

"Hm?"

After Ohjin used lightning extremely easily, Isabella was actually surprised.

"What's wrong?"

"It… It’s nothing. It's just because it's much calmer than I thought."

She gazed at Ohjin with a bewildered look like she didn't expect there to be no resistance at all.

"But I guess there's no voice or anything when it's an ego weapon," Ohjin said while he lightly swung the spear.

"It's probably because its ego hasn't developed to that extent yet."

"Is that so?"

He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on the spear, but he couldn’t notice anything that made it feel like it had an 'ego'.

"Thank you. I'll use it well."

"Don't mention it. It's not like it was mine."

Ohjin spun the spear with a satisfied smile on his face.

'By the way, it's quite unfortunate that I can't make it smaller.'

A big disadvantage of a spear was the fact that it was uncomfortable to carry ar—

Skrrrr, clack!—

The moment Ohjin thought it was uncomfortable, the black spear turned into a small, folding knife.

"…I guess it really does have an ego!" Ohjin exclaimed and examined the spear that turned into a knife that was about 15 cm long.

It would be easy to carry around anywhere while it was that size.

"Anyways, didn't you say that you’d rest for a while to heal your internal injuries?"

"Yeah. I plan on doing so."

Isabella’s eyes sparkled as she held his hand.

"Then let me invite you to my family's villa! There's a good location for healing internal injuries!"

"Where is it?"

"It's in a place called San Fruttuoso. It'll be a good place to rest since the beach there is really pretty."

'Beach?'

"Ah, and naturally…"

Isabella smirked as she glanced at Ha-eun’s chest, who was standing behind Ohjin.

"Miss Ha-eun is invited as well."