How to Tame That Gentle Hero - Chapter 8.5

“That’s not all. The serial killer currently appearing in the imperial capital, as Alken informed us, is also something I saw in my dream.”

“…!”

Renard looked bewildered. Resena explained slowly so that he would not be confused any further.

“At first, I thought time was repeating. When I first started having these dreams, I spent about three months in the dream. And it always ended with me turning to dust after being hit by Sernaus’s light used by His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“That’s…! His Highness would never use Sernaus’s light so recklessly on people.”

“Sadly, he was also human. After losing all his precious people, he became disappointed in humanity and devastated the imperial capital with Sernaus’s light. Not only that, he even opened monster gates, causing all the people in the imperial capital to die.”

“That’s impossible…”

Seeing that he couldn’t continue his words, it was clear that Renard also had good feelings toward Eldis.

Of course, knights regard Eldis, who commands them, as the best. After all, he is a commander-in-chief who demonstrates genius skills when it comes to war.

‘Vernas was probably the first to evaluate him as merely adequate.’

While feeling sorry for Renard, who was shocked by her words, Resena continued speaking.

This was something that had to be said.

“And that’s not all. In that dream, I encountered Alken, and together we formed a team to stop His Highness the Crown Prince. When you returned from the expedition, it was to stop His Highness together and prevent him from using Sernaus’s light anymore.”

“….”

Watching Renard’s green eyes trembling, Resena continued.

“But that dream also ended with His Highness the Crown Prince using Sernaus’s light somewhere.”

“Sister…”

“And then I woke up. No, actually, I’m not sure if this is a dream or not. Even in that dream, when I died, I woke up again.”

Renard bit his lip hard. Resena looked at him and slowly placed her hand on his shoulder. Her younger brother stared at her with clouded eyes.

Many emotions were contained in those wavering eyes. Bewilderment, along with rising sadness, and shaken faith in someone he had believed in… even anxiety about not being able to believe in this completely different vision of the future. Resena continued speaking calmly.

“Perhaps I… might be endlessly cycling through the story of a world ending like a hamster wheel. But rather than vaguely believing that His Highness will someday refrain from using Sernaus’s light, I decided to do what I can.”

“Sister…”

Renard seemed unable to continue speaking, only staring at Resena with a complicated expression.

“Besides, rather than thinking I’m having bad dreams, I feel that I might be experiencing regression. It’s not that I’m having vivid prophetic dreams, but that I’m actually experiencing things, and whenever I die, I return to the same time period. Renard, what would you do if you were me?”

“I would…”

“Would you dismiss the dreams as merely dreams even when things you saw in them happen exactly as you saw them? Or would you take action like me to prevent them from coming true?”

Renard seemed at a loss for words for a moment, unable to say anything before slowly moving his lips.

“…If I were in your position… I would try to prevent the dreams from becoming reality.”

“Renard…”

As Resena looked at him with a grateful expression, Renard, seemingly embarrassed, scratched his cheek and continued.

“Have you discussed this with Saint Lorona? What does she say?”

“Lorona was also having the same kind of dreams. Of course, different from mine. She said that in her dreams, time doesn’t reset when she dies, but she’s always in a relationship with Crown Prince Eldis before dying due to her spirit of self-sacrifice.”

“…Just like what you saw in your dream?”

“Yes. Crown Prince’s rampage begins with Saint Lorona’s death.”

“….”

Renard quietly gazed at Resena before taking her hand.

Then he slowly spoke.

“You’ve been through a lot, Sister. Even if it was a dream, you must have been exhausted running here and there. You must have been so troubled… Thank you for at least telling me.”

“Renard…”

“But, Sister. About dying in dreams and returning to a specific time… like you said, it’s not a dream but ‘regression’… I think it’s due to the power of the main god Sernaus.”

Resena’s eyes widened.

“Regression… by the power of the main god Sernaus?”

Having read many fantasy novels, Heejin knew what she was experiencing was regression. But she hadn’t thought it was due to someone’s power. Even less than it was due to the main god Sernaus’s power… It was something she hadn’t expected at all, so Resena was momentarily bewildered.

“In the founding legend, there’s a story about the holy knight Irkenes repeating a 7-day regression 5 times. That too was by the power of the main god Sernaus. When the holy knight kept losing to the demon king, the deity granted him 5 regressions to prevent the world from being destroyed. And at the end of those regressions, the holy knight defeated the demon king.”

“Ah…”

“So in this case, if you have truly been chosen by the deity… it would be reasonable to think that time has been turned back through regression to prevent His Highness the Crown Prince from destroying the world.”

Resena was dazed for a moment. Certainly, Renard’s words made sense. It would have been easier if the deity had made Eldis regress, but to specifically choose her and turn back time… Thinking there must be a reason, Resena took a deep breath to calm her confused mind and tension.

“I… never thought of it that way.”

The novel didn’t go into such detail about the founding myth.

Since the main narrative was about Eldis and Lorona’s romance, even detailed descriptions were often abbreviated if they weren’t related to those two.

“That’s likely. This is something you’d only see in children’s fairy tale books.”

“I see…”

“Once you become an adult, you don’t have the luxury to look at fairy tale books, so countless people forget. Besides, unless you’re aiming to be like the holy knight Irkenes, it’s not well-known content… But, Sister, I think we should tell the saint that this is regression. Since you only told her it was a dream, I think that’s why the saint couldn’t provide more accurate information.”

Resena found herself nodding at Renard’s logical explanation.

She looked up at the sky. A hot air balloon was floating in the air where black mana lingered. Each time Lorona and Ian, who would be inside, purified the black mana, light sparkled from inside the balloon.

“I’m glad I didn’t turn my back on Lorona.”

“That’s right. Thanks to that, we were able to come here and liberate the Amarast royal family. And you were also able to be released from the forced covenant with Sernaus.”

Resena quietly watched the hot air balloon before turning her gaze back to Renard. Renard, who had also been watching the balloon, lowered his gaze to meet hers.

“Of course, since His Highness the Crown Prince is now showing interest in you, the situation where Saint Lorona sacrifices herself won’t happen. But Sister, don’t let your guard down. Even if you know in advance how the black mages will act through regression, preventing it isn’t easy. Just at the summer ball, if you hadn’t detected what the black mage had set up, a difficult situation would have occurred.”

Certainly that’s true. Resena agreed.

“…Then, Sister. What do you need to prevent from now on?”

“Now… we need to chase and arrest the serial killer. Finding and eliminating the black mages is important too, but from what I saw before the regression… that serial killer directly murdered His Highness Crown Prince Eldis’s subordinates and Lorona.”

“Most of His Highness’s subordinates would have been Sword Experts. Was the killer perhaps a hidden Sword Master?”

“No. But his swordsmanship was so extraordinarily excellent that even though he himself wasn’t a Sword Expert, he killed Experts. He couldn’t match a Sword Master, but… we shouldn’t underestimate him. Ordinary knights were defeated in an instant.”

Renard’s eyes hardened coldly.