A Regressor's Bucket List Chapter 134 : Dracula (4)

Novel: A Regressor's Bucket List Author: Sam1892 Updated: Jun 03, 2026

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Now reading: Chapter 134 : Dracula (4) from A Regressor's Bucket List, a Action novel by Sam1892.

Due to the nature of their activities—conducting guerrilla warfare against the Demon King's Army in various places—it was common for mbers of the Suicide Squad not to know each other.

It made sense, as soone fighting a guerrilla war in the south of the continent wouldn't have much reason to be dispatched to the north.

Furthermore, with new recruits joining and existing mbers dying every day, it was impossible for all mbers to know one another.

Well… toward the very end, so many had died off that we were reduced to a solid group of about 300.

In any case, it was under such circumstances that I first t Louis Button.

While I was mainly active in the southern part of the continent where the Demon King's roots had yet to take firm hold, he was mainly active in the north and the central part of the Demon King's Territory, serving to divert their attention.

The people he was with were wiped out when their base was discovered, and he had no choice but to co down to the southern base.

‘The kid Inquisitor who’s an expert at taking Demon heads.’

I had heard rumors about him from ti to ti through my comrades, but that was the first ti I had ever spoken to him directly.

Flicker-

Hooo-

As I sat alone in front of the campfire, a cigarette dangling from my lips, a shadow fell over .

『May I sit for a mont?』

『Well… I don't mind. But this is our first ti eting, isn't it?』

Blond hair.

Blue eyes.

The fra of a tiny little kid.

His first impression was quite striking.

A kid so short he barely ca up to my waist, wearing a priest's robe that didn't even fit his fra, had struck up a conversation with .

He had an air about him that naturally brought the term ‘old soul’ to mind.

Of course, behind that innocent appearance coiled a hundred-year-old serpent.

『…I don't mind you sitting. What, am I going to beat you up for sitting here?』

At my blunt words, he gave a humorless smile,

and replied as he sat down next to .

『Are you?』

『No.』

『…….』

『I'm scared. What if you take my head too?』

『…I have no experience twisting a human's cervical vertebrae.』

He paused, then added calmly.

『…Ah. Except for humans corrupted by Demons.』

『…….』

『Then I shall sit.』

For a mont, silence fell around us.

Tadak-tadak-

Trrrrr-

Only the sound of sparks flying from the campfire and the chirping of crickets surrounded us.

…Conversations with fellow Suicide Squad mbers were never easy.

I couldn't ask how things were at the northern base, since it had been wiped out, and talking about comrades was close to picking a fight.

And since we spent all day fighting the Demon King's Army, I wasn't enough of a battle maniac to want to spend my brief downti talking about battles too.

The reason I was out here late at night, staring blankly into the fire, was because I hated the strange silence and the awkward atmosphere inside the barracks, where few words were exchanged.

After so ti had passed in silence.

『That…….』

It was Louis who broke the silence first.

『I ca because I have sothing to tell you about that earring.』

『…What?』

At his quiet murmur, my head turned to the side.

It was a statent that couldn't help but fluster .

It was completely out of the blue, and so much ti had passed that even I had forgotten about its existence.

The foreign sensation in my ear, brought back by his words, suddenly conjured Jerry's face.

『…How do you know about this?』

『This may be a presumptuous question… but are you, Seo U-jin, a Vampire?』

『…Do I look like one to you?』

『No. You look human.』

At the ti, due to my unique fighting style, rumors connecting to Vampires were circulating here and there.

But on the advice of the man in the bamboo hat that nothing good would co from it being publicly known, I didn't bother to step forward and clarify or explain.

Besides, those who were in the know would know without saying anything.

And to those who didn't know, it would just be another unsubstantiated rumor.

As long as no one ca to grab by the collar and demand an answer, I was more than happy to provide my Suicide Squad comrades, who repeated the sa hellish routine every day, with a piece of gossip to chew on after a battle.

…Therefore.

『Then I guess I'm human.』

『…….』

『…A Vampire-like one.』

Soone in the know—.

That was my second impression of him.

* * *

『Then I guess I'm human.』

『…….』

『…A Vampire-like one.』

Those words were as good as admitting, ‘Like you said, I'm not a Vampire, but I am related to them.’

Louis let out a small laugh at my jesting murmur.

『I think you've passed the point of being rely 'like' one. The rumors have reached all the way to the north.』

『…….』

『…I had heard. That there was soone in the southern base whose fighting style was reminiscent of a Vampire's. Even if I hadn't seen that earring, I wanted to et you in person at least once.』

Shrug-

『Well, it seems that story cos first for now.』

『…So. What is it you want to say?』

『By any chance, who did you receive that earring from?』

『Jerry. Jerry. D. Junior.』

If he were still alive, I wouldn't have said his na so easily out of consideration for him.

But since he had already passed away, I figured it didn't matter anymore.

『…Jerry. D. Junior. If that's the case, does the middle initial stand for…』

『A direct descendant of the Dracula family.』

『…….』

『He's dead now.』

Hearing that he was dead, the kid flinched and then gave a bitter smile.

『…I see.』

『…….』

『In the end.』

It seems he thought there was a living Vampire because he saw this earring.

『What was your relationship with him, Seo U-jin? To have received that earring, it must not have been a casual one…』

『Well… we were partners.』

『…….』

『He researched the Blood Demon Art mana technique engraved on this earring and applied it to , and I used it in actual combat and gave him the combat data for reference.』

Seeing the way he spoke, it seed he already knew most of it anyway, so I didn't feel the need to hide anything.

An Inquisitor of the Order would probably have access to the Order's many hidden secrets, and the very fact that he was acting like he knew about the earring ant he already had a thorough grasp of information about Vampires.

Besides, I thought that maybe, just maybe, this kid…

could help fulfill Jerry's request that I had all but given up on: the ‘completion of the Blood Demon Art’.

But.

『…Pardon?』

I couldn't help but be taken aback by his sowhat dumbfounded reaction.

『What do you an by that? Engraved with the mana technique of the Blood Demon Art…』

『……?』

Louis Burton asked back as if he had no idea.

『…What. Didn't you co here already knowing?』

『…I didn't know. That it was an object engraved with sothing like the mana technique of the Blood Demon Art…』

Sothing wasn't adding up.

He said he ca to talk to about the earring, yet he didn't know that it contained the Blood Demon Art of the Vampire Clan.

Then.

『What then… did I just get played?』

It could only an that he had tricked to sound out.

To think I'd get played in an allied camp, after never once being betrayed in the heart of the Demon King's Territory amidst a hail of arrows.

Just as I was about to let out an empty laugh, he shook his head.

『No. That wasn't my intention at all.』

『……?』

『It's because the story I intended to tell you, Seo U-jin, is of a completely different context…』

The story that followed from his lips was indeed of a completely different context.

It was, how should I put it.

Rather than a practical story like the Blood Demon Art's mana technique hidden in a 1-star Artifact, it felt more like an old tale steeped in the object.

『The creator of that earring was my predecessor, an Inquisitor. Before he fulfilled his calling and passed away, he made a request of .』

『…….』

『He told to be sure to deliver a ssage, should the owner of that earring ever appear, and should that person be a descendant of the Vampire bloodline.』

His story went back several hundred years.

To a ti when the Beastkin Nation was still standing, and the neutral zone was in turmoil due to Count Dracula.

『To get straight to the point, that earring was an item given to Count Dracula by the Inquisitor of that era as a pledge of two facts.』

『…….』

『A pledge that he would enable the Vampire Clan to return to the Beastkin Nation.』

『…….』

『And a pledge that he would protect the king of the Beastkin Nation in the Vampire Clan's stead.』

It was a story that neither I, nor even Jerry, had known.

The fact that Count Dracula's defection to the Demon King's Territory at the ti was not a betrayal but a decision for the sake of the Beastkin Nation, and the series of truths connected to it.

Dracula was not a traitor to the Beastkin Nation.

He was closer to a savior.

If not for his sacrificial decision, the Beastkin Nation would have been imdiately embroiled in war and would likely have collapsed much faster.

The one regrettable thing was.

That it was a story Jerry and the Beastkin should have heard, not .

『It's an item that was checked in and out of the Order's treasury several tis in search of its owner. After a hundred years passed without a Vampire appearing, I too had practically given up.』

『…….』

『I also had no idea that the Count would have stored the essence of the Blood Demon Art in that earring.』

『…Right. A story I knew nothing about either.』

『…….』

The puzzle pieces of the truth-bearing earring had more or less fallen into place.

But its rightful owner was dead and gone.

The fact that we were one step too late reminded of the bitter smile he had worn on his deathbed.

Silence fell once more.

This ti, it was I who broke the silence.

『Now that the continent is crawling with demons and he's dead, I doubt it ans much… but he would have been grateful. Inquisitor.』

In truth, it wasn't entirely aningless.

Around that ti, the existence of ‘Regression’ had spread by word of mouth among so in the Suicide Squad.