The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

Fortunately, Asel’s flames didn’t spread to the kidnapped people. Rescued by the group, they kept bowing and expressing their gratitude.

“Thank you, thank you!”
“It’s nothing, we just did what we had to do.”

Saya and Warren took charge of dealing with the survivors. Asel and Quill went to search the burned corpses and the bandits’ hideout to see if there was anything useful.

“…Are you really a magician who just does research in a room? You seem familiar with this kind of thing.”

Quill asked while rummaging through a corpse’s pockets. Asel chuckled and threw over a money pouch he had found.

“I lived like this when I was young. Not exactly good memories.”

The slums were a world of survival of the fittest. If you’re strong, you take; if you’re weak, you get taken from. Asel survived there like a hyena. A life of searching for useful things from dead bodies and receiving scraps as a low-level member of a drug organization.

Thanks to that, he was immune to corpses. The burning smell was a bit much, but even that was better than the stench of decay. Asel roughly dropped the corpse he was holding and dusted off the ashes on his hands.

There wasn’t much to gain from the bandits’ hideout. There was some money, but not much even then.

‘Well. How much wealth would thieves hiding in a place like this have?’

A mountain on the outskirts of the empire, though it’s called that. It wasn’t very suitable for thievery. They probably maintained their livelihood by kidnapping travelers or outsiders entering the mountain to sell as slaves or eat them.

Of course, it was nonsense to maintain a livelihood in such a way, but human trafficking and cannibalism occurred more frequently than one might think. It’s just that it wasn’t well-known.

In places where the reach of the law is weak, actions that abandon human ethics can occur at any time. As much as demon worshippers and criminals are rampant, this was the same across all countries.

The world had been topsy-turvy for some time now. Asel thought this as he lifted the tent to exit the hideout.

“Did you find anything?”

Quill asked. Asel shook his head as he threw him a leather pouch full of silver coins.

“Nothing except this.”
“Really?”

Quill roughly tucked the money pouch into his clothes and returned to the group with Asel. Saya, who was handing water and food to the survivors, spoke to them:

“These people say they’re from the village that sent the request. They say they were kidnapped while out gathering herbs.”
“If they’re villagers, can’t we just ask them to guide us?”
“Yes, we’ve already agreed to go together. Is that okay?”

Since there was no reason to refuse, Asel and Quill nodded simultaneously. Saya turned back to the survivors with a satisfied expression.

Not long after, the march continued again. This time, the rescued survivors took the lead, with Warren and Asel sticking close behind them. Quill stood at the very back of the formation as Saya’s bodyguard. He slung his spear over his shoulder while listening to the occasional animal sounds.

“Do you know anything about doppelgangers?”

Warren asked. The survivors looked back at Warren with eyes that seemed to say “what’s that?”

They were people living in a village cut off from the outside world, let alone the countryside. They might not know simple basic knowledge, but it was impossible for them to know about magical beasts or their characteristics and ecosystems. Warren, seeming to realize his mistake, gave them a response that it was nothing important.

Silence fell again after that. Occasionally, hungry bears or wolves would appear, but they were all killed by Asel and Warren’s magic. There were no other elements hindering the march. Thanks to this, it took less than 30 minutes to arrive at the village after dealing with the bandits.

“Locals are definitely better.”

Quill muttered. Everyone in the group agreed with his words.

“Dad!”
“Honey! Where have you been all this time!”

As they entered the village, the families of those who had been kidnapped greeted the survivors enthusiastically. Because of this, the group standing behind felt a bit awkward, but Asel paid no attention and looked around the village.

The familiar smell of livestock and all sorts of filth vibrates in the air. When Asel was young, before he even entered the slums, the village he lived in used to give off this smell. It wasn’t a place with particularly good memories, but it was inevitable to think of it whenever he came to a place like this.

“We are honored to meet such noble guests.”

While he was thinking, an old man with snow-white hair approached the group. He looked like the village chief at a glance. He bowed to Asel, who was openly looking around, and said:

“I heard you saved our villagers. I don’t know how to repay you…”
“We didn’t do it expecting any reward, so it’s fine.”

Saya answered. She stood face to face with the old man and conversed.

“Still…”
“If you insist, could we borrow an empty house to stay in for a while?”
“An empty house… you say?”
“Yes, we need a house to use briefly while solving the request.”
“A request, could it be?”

Instead of answering the village chief’s question, Saya took out the request paper from her bosom. Seeing this, the village chief’s face brightened. He led the group to his house as if treating royalty.

A wooden hut twice as large as other houses in the village. Perhaps he had a more authoritarian personality than expected, as even inside the house there were cheap jewels and ornaments on display. It wasn’t much to the group, but for villagers who hadn’t seen many ornaments in their lives, that alone was enough to assert authority.

“Please, have a seat.”

The village chief said, pointing to the sofa. The group didn’t particularly refuse his offer and sat on the hard sofa. The village chief sat across from them and began to speak.

“I assume… you’ve confirmed all the contents of the request.”
“Yes. We think this is the work of a doppelganger.”
“A doppelganger, you say? Could you perhaps… explain what that is…”

Saya kindly explained about doppelgangers in response to the village chief’s question. The village chief nodded as if something occurred to him after hearing this.

“Indeed… it wasn’t just dead people suddenly appearing. Sometimes living villagers would also appear in impossible places.”
“Could you tell us where, perhaps?”
“…It’s a bit difficult to explain in words. I’ll guide you personally.”

The village chief said as he stood up. The group judged it better to divide roles rather than all move together, so they split into two teams. Warren and Quill would gather information about the doppelganger from the villagers, while Saya and Asel followed the village chief.

The place he guided them to was the edge of a steep cliff. Not a very high cliff, but one high enough that falling would easily break at least a leg. The village chief stood at the edge and pointed to the ground.

“This is where it was most recently discovered. There’s a young man among our villagers named Nom, and he said he saw his dead wife here. When he approached in surprise, his shoulder was bitten.”
“…Hmm.”
“He’s a hunter, so he always carries a knife and managed to fight back. Thanks to that, they both bled, and that doppelganger? The monster you mentioned, ran away.”
“What happened to the young man named Nom?”

Asel asked. The village chief answered with a slightly sad expression.

“He died recently. He suffered for a while and then passed away from illness.”

The saliva and blood of doppelgangers contain poison. If Nom was bitten by a doppelganger and didn’t receive proper treatment, it was natural for him to die.

Asel let out a small sigh and closely examined the ground where the village chief was standing.

Faint but remaining bloodstains. Since the cliff was made of rock rather than soil, although some time had passed, red marks still remained on the ground. However, they were so faint that they wouldn’t be noticeable unless observed in detail.

That was enough. Asel called Saya, who was holding back her windblown hair, to come nearby. Saya approached him with quick steps.

“Did you find something?”
“Bloodstains. More importantly, take out the magical tool.”
“The magical tool?”

Saya asked, but obediently took out the magical tool she had put in her pocket.

A compass-shaped magical tool that tracks the owner of blood when it drinks blood. Its performance was certain, but it could only accept blood or bodily fluids in liquid state. It couldn’t be used on dried or trace bloodstains like this.

Asel knew this fact too. Yet he told Saya to take out the magical tool because there was a way.

“If the form of the blood is the problem, we just need to turn it back into droplets.”
“…What? What nonsense are you talking about?”

Saya asked with an incredulous expression. Instead of answering, Asel grinned and placed his hand on the bloodstain on the ground. In that state, he manipulated magical power. He shaped the blood magic Elena had shown into a magical form.

Asel hadn’t forgotten the technique Elena showed in the entrance exam. Although he hadn’t gone into detailed research, it was easy enough to borrow fragments of that power.

Woong.

Following Asel’s will, the magical power changes its nature to be like a vampire’s.

It’s not magical power with the same nature as ordinary vampires. It’s direct from the bloodline of true ancestors. Magical power similar to purebred vampires born without other impurities. The formula is assembled accordingly, and Asel creates the necessary effect on the spot.

“…You. What kind of person are you?”

Saya, who immediately noticed what Asel was doing, asked with wide eyes.

An ability permitted at the species level. A power unique to them that other species can’t use or even understand. Asel not only imitated their characteristics and properties exactly but even sublimated them into magic.

It’s different from blood magic. That ominous magic only controls blood through formulas, it can’t transform magical power to be similar to vampires like Asel. A miracle that only he, with extreme talent for magical power, can perform.

“If vampires knew, they’d try to kill you.”

He ignores the voice chattering meaninglessly beside him. Asel separated the doppelganger’s blood from Nom’s among the bloodstains on the ground and manifested a formula to return it to droplet form.

Their dominion over blood, as the owners of blood and the night clan, doesn’t discriminate between living beings. The doppelganger’s blood bloomed on top of the cliff without any particular obstacle. Nom’s blood remained as a bloodstain.

“Phew.”

Asel levitated the blood that had returned to droplet form and injected it directly into Saya’s magical tool. Saya, after calming her startled heart, stared down at the magical tool.

Rattle!!

The needle of the compass that had absorbed the blood began to rotate violently. The built-in formula activated, and with a faint light, the red pupil drawn in the center of the compass bloomed. Various tracking magic centered on blood magic. They writhe to analyze the doppelganger’s blood and find its location.

Eventually, the moving needle stopped, pointing in one direction.

Saya looked up at Asel.

“Are we going right away?”
“We should return to the village first. We need to hear the opinions of the rest of the group. And the eye engraved on the compass. Looking at that formula, it seems we don’t need to worry about the compass stopping unless the magical tool and the prey directly confront each other.”
“That’s a relief then.”

Saya said this and told the village chief they should return to the village for now. The village chief nodded and walked ahead towards the village.

Not long after, they returned to the village. Warren and Quill, who had visited the villagers and gathered information, had just finished their work as well.

Now all that remained was a meeting to decide when to subjugate the doppelganger.

Saya asked the village chief for the empty house she had requested earlier to find a suitable place for the meeting. The village chief gladly handed over an ownerless house to them.

A house not too spacious, but not too cramped either. The four people gathered around a wooden table and shared the information they had obtained.

In fact, most of the information was pretty useless. Except for the blood Asel had obtained, there were no significant results. Rather than being a problem with Walter and Quill, it was largely because there was no information to be gained from a stagnant village in the first place. The stories they told were just what was already written in the request paper.

Honestly, it didn’t matter either way. Now that they had obtained the blood, finding the doppelganger was just a matter of time.

All that remained was deciding when to set out for the hunt.

Saya first asked for the opinions of the group members.

“What do you think we should do? Should we rest from the journey today and leave tomorrow morning? Or go right now?”
“I think we should go right away.”

Quill answered first. He chewed on a piece of jerky while looking out the window at the sky where the sun was still up.

“I don’t see any reason to waste time. We’ve rested enough while riding in the carriage, and now that we know the location, there’s no need to hesitate. In my experience, it’s easier to just rush in and kill these things in one go.”
“I agree. I don’t want to be stuck in this village for too long either.”

Warren clicked his tongue while stroking his spirit.

“Honestly, it’s not a very pleasant village. For some reason, the longer we stay, the more eerie it feels.”
“Hmm… Asel, what about you?”

At Saya’s question, Asel thought for a moment and then nodded.

“I’m fine with it too. I have enough magical power.”
“Good. Then let’s leave right away. Everyone pack your things.”

Saya said this while starting to neatly pack necessary items into her backpack. Asel stared at her for a while, then stood up and gazed out the window.

‘Warren’s words about it feeling more eerie the longer we stay.’

Is it just a feeling if those words bother him?

Elemental magicians share some characteristics of spirits, who like clean and pure places. Thanks to this, they could identify and avoid unpleasant and dirty places in advance.

Due to the low-level spirit Warren contracted with, his senses probably aren’t exceptionally good, but he should still be able to discern to some extent.

Yet he said it felt eerie. Asel had vaguely felt it too, but hadn’t been able to confirm it yet.

Still, he should keep his guard up.

“……”

He glanced at the gradually setting sun and tucked a dagger he had brought into his clothes.

So far, things have been progressing smoothly.

So far.