How to Raise Your Regressor

"Well, there's a bit of a story behind that. Are you interested?" I asked.

"Story?" Tristan asked confusedly.

Bruh, do you not know what a story is? It's that thing that mothers tell their children right before they go to bed.

"It means that explaining to you the 'why' behind my actions will take some time; it will be like telling a story to you. Are you ready for that?"

Timing wise, if I enlighten him on just the basic reasons then use teleportation magic, I should barely be able to reach the Old Blood Guild on time.

It's another story that I'm already late, but the sooner I get there, the better.

I'm not that particularly interested in explaining my motives to someone like Tristan, but like I said, he has been quite cooperative, so it's only fair that he gets rewarded.

At the very least, he'll die knowing where things went wrong.

"Yes," there was a certain resolve in his eyes.

Resolve? Just what is he planning?

"Are you absolutely sure? If you're doing it to buy time, just tell me and we can silently wait for whatever it is that you're waiting for. The last thing I want is for me to ramble on and on while you are sitting there and thinking, 'Just when will this guy shut up?'."

Not only would it be a complete waste of time, it would be also embarrassing as fuck.

Just imagine. You're narrating your life story to someone. You're pouring your heart out, pulling out things from depths that you have never reached into before, all so you can explain yourself.

You are nervous, wondering whether they can understand where you are coming from. You don't know, but spilling everything out is somehow lightening the burden on your shoulders.

You are trying your absolute best, picking every word you articulate, every emotion you show, every life event you tell, with supreme care, all in an effort to make the person you're telling everything to understand.

Yet the person you are baring your heart to is just thinking about the type of hentai he should wank to once you finish your bullshit.

That's right there in Top 10 Anime Betrayals.

"…" A slight smile appeared on Tristan's face. "Don't worry. I'm genuinely curious."

Oh my. Is he perhaps under the impression my apprehension is a result of fear of being misunderstood?

Wow.

Let's see how long you can maintain that perspective, Tristan.

"Well, if you say so," I shrugged. "I'm sure you already know this, but let's get it out of the way first. It would have been more than easy for me to prevent you from kidnapping Lecia."

"So it was deliberate, huh?" He sighed.

"Yes. As for the reason why I deliberately let you take Lecia away… well, it was an experiment."

Tristan.exe is about to stop working.

"An experiment?" He again asked confusedly.

Most probably, this is not the answer he was expecting. What was he expecting though?

"Alright, let's step back a bit. I'll first have to explain the lore behind me for you to understand which experiment I'm talking about and my reason for conducting it. Okay, so do you know what my position within the Guild is?"

He must have investigated every member of the New Dawn Guild, so he should know the position I hold in the New Dawn Guild.

"You are the Head of the Research and Development Department."

"Exactly. What that means is that I'm an inventor. I create things such as everyday equipment, weapons, accessories which can be used in battle, potions, magic spells, magic systems. You name it."

"…" Tristan raised his eyebrows, then frowned, then raised his eyebrows as his eyes darted back and forth.

"Yes, you heard that right, and don't think too much about it."

He's acting like he just heard a 12-year-old boy talk about developing things that even researchers who have dedicated their entire lives to cannot even begin to imagine creating.

Grow the fuck up, mate.

"W-wait… Magic systems?"

"I just told you not to dwell on it too much. Believe me, it's for your own sanity."

"What…"

"You are not ready for the truth, Tristan."

The last thing I want is for him to go full denial-mode and say that I'm a fucking liar and that I should be ashamed of it.

"No, wait-"

"Anyway, let's move on. Where was I? Right, I am an inventor, and recently, I developed something called a drone. Do you know what it is?"

He shook his head.

"Think of it as an artefact which can perform a variety of tasks and can be controlled from far away. The drone I developed was capable of silently knocking people out using electric shocks, kind of like a high-class assassin. It's especially useful for infiltrating highly secure places and retrieving items, or people."

Tristan's eyes shook slightly.

Noice.

"However, because it was a newly created creation, I wasn't sure of its performance; I needed to test it. And that's when you popped up."

"You don't mean…" his eyes widened to their extreme.

"You got it right. Or did you? Anyway, within you, I saw a perfect opportunity to test my newest creation. It would have been incredibly foolish of me to not take it."

I mean, it's not everyday that your Guild member gets kidnapped.

"What the…"

"Now, before you start blasting me with blame and asking me to kill myself, let me remind you that I gave you a choice. If you had abandoned your plan to kidnap Lecia, I would have let you go and struck it off as a missed opportunity."

I could technically force them to kidnap Lecia, but that would not have been worth the trouble.

"You manipulated me into doing it!" Tristan loudly exclaimed.

Oh boy.

"I manipulated you? Jesus, how dumb can you be? I specifically told you that if you chose to go ahead with your plan, I will find you and destroy you. I made my stance on what I'll do to you extremely clear. I also made it clear that I was letting you take Lecia away. It was your choice to ignore the several warnings I gave you."

It's like walking to edge of a cliff, not taking the hand that someone who cares about you extended towards you and jumping off. Then when you survive, blaming the guy who tried to save you.

Like, bruh.

"And what about the experiment, huh? You never told me about it," he snorted.

I won't deny that.

"Well, consider this. Would knowing that I was letting you kidnap Lecia just to test a drone have made you chose differently? It would not have. You would have just marked me off as insane and continued doing whatever you were doing. You have no right to blame me."

"…" He gritted his teeth.

Yup, that's right, kindappy boi, it's all your fault.

"The end result would have been the same, regardless of whether you knew I was conduction an experiment or not. And that's because you believed that you could take me on."

You fucking idiot, just what were you thinking? Your fate was sealed the moment you decided to give up the chance I gave you.

"Yeah? Well, in my defence, I thought I was going up against Azell. Had I known that my opponent was the mighty Samur, I would have just retired and settled in a village," he scoffed.

Well, actually, you would have laughed while going, 'Eh, a kid' and just continued doing what you were doing.

"Sed."

"Right, why did you even pretend to be Azell?"

"Ah, that's because of my principles."