The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Meanwhile, in the storeroom, while Karius and Thorvin were still discussing the matter.

”Are you certain about notifying the Imperial Capital of this?” Karius said, standing beside Thorvin as they watched the supply group Ravian had infiltrated collect Bimbo and leave the room.

”I don’t believe either of us is capable of facing something of that magnitude, Karius. Or would you like to try your luck fighting a Nation’s Wing-grade relic that badly?” Thorvin asked him, raising an eyebrow at Karius in amusement.

”Absolutely not. I haven’t gone senile yet, you bastard,” Karius snorted at Thorvin, rolling his eyes.

”Then stop stalling. We need one of the Nation’s Wings here as fast as possible, which means we may need one of the Dukes, or one of the generals of the Imperial Guard,” Thorvin said, before placing his index and middle fingers in his mouth and whistling.

Fweeet~

A piercing whistle burst from Thorvin’s mouth, one that seemed to have been amplified several times over using his mana. His mouth flashed blue for an instant as he whistled.

And in the next moment—

A raven nearly half a meter in size suddenly burst into the room and landed gracefully on Thorvin’s shoulder.

Karius showed no reaction, long since used to his friend’s pet. If anything, he sometimes envied him his good fortune in obtaining a pet of the Primal Predator rank, equivalent to the Eighth Rank among humans, under his direct command.

A thread of blue light extended from Thorvin’s index finger straight to the raven’s head, and the raven closed its eyes to focus on absorbing the information.

When the message transfer was finally complete, Thorvin released it.

The raven shot off in a blur and vanished from the place to deliver the message.

”Done?” Karius asked.

”Done.” Thorvin nodded.

But suddenly, something happened that neither of them would have expected under any circumstances whatsoever.

Clang!

Wooooo~!

The sound of an explosion rang out, followed by a deafening peal that tore through the entire fortress, shaking its every corner.

”What in the hell?!!” Thorvin roared, wide-eyed.

”That’s—the alarm for the emergency exit’s spatial teleportation circle!!” Karius shouted back at him as the whole fortress rang with the blaring alarm around them.

”Damn it! Hurry, Karius!” Thorvin yelled, sprinting out of the storeroom.

”You go keep every soldier at his post. Don’t let a single one abandon his position. Tell them it’s a false alarm!”

”I’m still here!”

Thorvin barked out his instructions to Karius before rushing to the room adjacent to theirs, the one that was the cause of all this.

...

Atop the fortress wall.

A patrol of guards stood watch during their shift on the wall, pacing back and forth, vigilant that no intruder slipped past to reach the citizens dwelling behind that fortress.

But suddenly, the guards heard the very last sound they had ever expected to hear in their entire lives.

Wooooo!

The ring of an alarm of tremendous volume rattled every corner of the fortress around them.

”What?! That’s...” one of the guards said to his comrades around him, unable to finish his sentence out of sheer disbelief.

”The Final Evacuation Alarm,” the squad leader beside them said as cold sweat began sliding down his entire body.

”Captain! What does this mean?! Doesn’t that alarm mean that the fort commander himself has retreated to the city, or... or...” another guard said, tears beginning to stream from his eyes, unable to hold them back.

”...Or died,” the guard finally finished his sentence, collapsing into a state of breakdown from terror.

The patrol leader stood frozen in place, watching the rest of his squad crumble one after another around him, unable to do anything to help them or even ease their fear.

And how could he, knowing that they were now without a commander?

The strongest person in the fortress, the commander of the City Guard, had just vanished without warning, and now all their fates rested in the hands of the unknown.

...

In the camp of the City of Light, specifically, in the meeting tent of the Death Squad’s encampment.

All the elite members of the Death Squad, seven in total including their leader, sat in the tent in an atmosphere of anxiety that no one spoke aloud.

Lysandra, Evelyne, Claria, Malrik, and Kael sat in their chairs around the rectangular wooden meeting table.

Darius sat on a small round tree stump in the corner, the anger on his face plain to see.

And Elias was the only one standing at the tent’s entrance, watching the outside to make sure no one drew too close while they talked.

”Why is everyone who came to us today so suspicious of Ravian, guys? Didn’t he already prove himself when he nearly died at the Rassasians’ hands on his very first night, and then proved it again by fighting the moment he woke from unconsciousness?” said the massive Darius, unable to rein in his fury as he kicked the wooden stump he had been sitting on, sending it flying through the air in splinters.

”They’re damned people,” Elias said tersely, yet got his point across as usual.

”No. It’s Ravian himself,” Lysandra was the one who spoke this time.

”Ravian proved his talent from his very first day here. He proved he could survive with nothing but his mind.”

Lysandra said this while patting Claria’s back. Claria had been crying ever since Frank delivered the news that Ravian could not be found, and she was, naturally, the most sensitive person there when it came to such things.

”Do they punish the talented these days in our empire, Lysandra?” Kael said, her words having caught his attention.

Lysandra shook her head, glancing at the tent’s entrance, expecting Ravian to arrive at any moment.

But unfortunately, that did not happen.

”That’s not what Lysandra meant. She means the things that keep happening around Ravian on top of his unnatural talent,” Evelyne said this time, fresh dark circles under her eyes.

Lysandra looked at her as she spoke, her gaze slipping quietly down to the circles beneath Evelyne’s eyes for a few seconds, before facing forward again.

”The things that keep happening? You mean...” Kael said.

”Exactly. That strange state he came back in from the command headquarters before, the one you all refuse to tell us about. I’m certain the current suspicion around his disappearance is connected to it,” Evelyne said, leveling a somewhat fierce look at Malrik, who sat at the head of the table with a calm expression despite everything happening.

Evelyne, Lysandra, and Claria had tried asking them before about what had happened, since they had never gotten the chance to ask Ravian himself, but all four men had refused to open their mouths about what Ravian had told them, on Malrik’s orders.

”I’m confident Ravian will return,” Malrik said calmly, before rising from his seat with that same composed expression.

”I’m heading to my tent now. I want some rest—”

Malrik stopped mid-sentence as a sound reached the tents that made every heart inside leap from its place.

Woooooo~!

The Final Evacuation Alarm had reached the camp.

...

”Wow.”

Ravian heard a soft, captivating voice full of surprise coming from his right.

He lifted his head to look at the newcomer, only to find a golden-haired girl with blue, almond-shaped eyes, an enchanted look on her face as she stared at him without blinking.

The girl was bewitchingly beautiful. She was not the first beautiful girl Ravian had seen. There was Lysandra, whose beauty surpassed hers in his view, but this girl’s beauty was soft and sensuous, unlike Lysandra’s proud, dangerous beauty.

”...”

Ravian had no idea what to say in this situation.

”Umm, hello?” Ravian waved his hand, trying to smile without looking like a weirdo, especially in this situation.

”Let’s get married,” the blonde girl said, gazing at the thoroughly soaked Ravian, remembering how he had looked smiling just moments ago.

”Pardon?” Ravian said, certain he had misheard.

”Huh?” Then the girl registered what she had accidentally said, and her face flushed red with embarrassment.