Regressor of the Fallen Family Novel - Chapter 274 (New)

Chapter 274

“The Holy Father has been alerted by his inquisitors that local obstructions are stalling their pursuit, and they are formally requesting reinforcement.”

The announcement was made with a steady, professional air.

Upon hearing the update, the Pope’s ancient forehead creased beneath his snowy brows.

“…How disappointing.”

They began to grumble the moment direct lines of contact were hampered.

‘The atmosphere has been far too still lately. It feels like the deceptive calm of oil resting upon water.’

The Pope was well aware that he had essentially declawed Ecel Fabrun, turning a once-venomous serpent into a harmless beast of burden.

“Not only are they proving incompetent at purging the fallen, but they are also failing to execute basic investigative tasks.”

“Does that man truly fail to grasp the weight of my directives…?”

“Excuse me?”

A bitter grin flickered across his lips. It was far too late in the game to swap the director of the inquiry team, so the Pope adopted a frigid stare as he spoke.

“Press the Kingdom of McLain once more. Command Cardinal Ecel to seek the glory of martyrdom if the situation demands it. If that team dares to return with empty hands, they will be held strictly liable.”

“…Pardon? Ah, yes. I shall relay it immediately.”

Watching the startled bishop hurry away, the Pope made a clicking sound with his tongue and waved him off.

‘Not a single one of them understands on the first try.’

Those raised in the stagnant, suffocating environment of the temple either possessed incredible dullness or were entirely rotten to the core.

From a ruler’s perspective, the corrupt were far more pliable than the stubborn; this confirmed his belief that his previous appointments were correct.

‘A transformation is absolutely mandatory.’

In that moment, the image of a young man who had heavily swayed this resolution entered his mind.

– By simply accelerating the temple’s agenda by a small margin, you will secure the unwavering allegiance of the next Sovereign of the Empire.

Beyond the massive coffers of gold, that solitary promise had been the deciding factor.

‘Prince Baros. He possesses a frightening amount of nerve.’

Even without saying it out loud, the youth seemed intimately acquainted with the Pope’s inner cravings.

For the Pope, there was no logical reason to reject a proposal that nudged him toward a destination he was destined to reach anyway.

Having climbed to the peak of the continent’s faith, he had already tasted every luxury and accolade imaginable.

And yet, a lingering ember of ambition still burned.

“The time has come for me to carve my name into the fabric of history.”

He had waited a long, long time. The humble story of a starving commoner from Aserian rising to the Papal throne was no longer enough to quench his thirst.

He hungered for his name to resonate through the centuries.

Furthermore, he desired that when people spoke of the world’s true master, their first thought would be of the Pope, even before the Emperor of the Empire.

The man who had supposedly risen above the world’s vanities had once been a nobody; now he was known as Pope Julio Umberto the First.

‘First, I shall cleanse the eastern lands of heresy and cement the church’s grip. That is the starting point.’

By crushing the smaller border nations, he would establish a reign of absolute power over the entire eastern half of the continent.

A Pope who eradicated the faithless and broadened the church’s borders.

A Pope to whom even the mighty Emperor of the Empire would have to kneel.

These legendary feats, destined to be recorded in the church’s holy books, felt as though they were within his grasp.

Naturally, there were hurdles to clear, but none that appeared insurmountable.

“What news of Bishop Ilia’s journey?”

“Reports suggest he should arrive in roughly one week.”

“Good.”

Once the saint was firmly under his thumb, the voices of the dissenters within the cathedral would be forced into silence.

‘If she is found to be lacking the sacred stigmata, her elimination will be quite simple.’

That act would serve as a brutal deterrent to any who dared oppose him.

It would be a public lesson that even a high-ranking bishop could be subjected to a holy trial and reduced to ash at the stake.

‘That is when the true amusement begins.’

Pope Julio Umberto the First allowed a sharp, cunning smile to form as he gazed out of his window.

The sacred city of Noviens, as glorious as the capital of the Aserian Empire, remained peaceful and unaware of the grand, ambitious schemes unfolding within its walls.

---

[Cardinal Ecel has been relentless in his pursuit of data regarding those immune to Divine Influence—those he calls ‘the fallen’. We have continued to rebuff his inquiries, but the inquisitors are becoming increasingly defiant. We have been forced to station knights of the Third Legion to maintain total control.]

“You have worked tirelessly, Master. Please, just hold out a little longer.”

[Will the temple not interfere if the situation continues to spiral?]

“In fact, we have received a new communication. They are questioning if the crown is intentionally sabotaging the temple’s sacred rites.”

“The temple is moving even more aggressively than I anticipated.”

“We plan to stall our reply as long as possible. Please endure a bit more. The moment we have been waiting for is nearly here.”

[I understand. I shall manage.]

‘Very soon… I need to start laying the groundwork.’

After ending the call, Logan pondered the timeline and ran through his mental checklist for any potential errors.

Lost in his own thoughts as he walked back toward the royal residence, a familiar, high-pitched voice snapped him out of it.

“Oh!? Uncle…!”

“Stella! You must use his proper title—!”

“Hehe. Your Majesty!”

Pitter-patter.

Before he could turn around, he heard the sound of small, rapid footsteps.

Logan saw a noblewoman and her retinue watching from a distance as the young girl threw herself into his arms.

“Whoa there!”

With a playful, dramatic flourish, Logan swept the child up, a genuine grin lighting up his face.

In his arms was a small girl with a crop of golden hair, her massive blue eyes—taking up nearly half her face—sparkling as she looked at him.

Seeing her round cheeks stretch into a wide smile, Logan couldn’t help but give them a gentle squeeze. He asked with a soft laugh, “Well now, my little lady. What brings you here? Did you come because you missed your uncle?”

“Uhm. Well. I came to look for… Daddy…”

The child’s voice trailed off as she looked a bit shy.

Logan leaned into a mock-tragic tone and made a show of starting to put her down. “Ah, I see. So you didn’t miss your uncle at all, then.”

As he pretended to lower her with a sad face, the little girl panicked.

“No, that’s not it! I missed uncle too…!”

Stella’s already enormous eyes went wide as she flailed her tiny arms, causing Logan to pull her back up into a hug.

He had been the one to choose her name.

Even though she was his master’s child, he didn’t feel a formal title suited her, so he had encouraged her to call him ‘uncle’. Now, she felt like real family.

“I know, I’m just teasing. I missed Stella very much too.”

“Hehe.”

Feeling her soft cheek against his made all the heavy burdens of statecraft seem to vanish.

As they played, a slightly flustered voice spoke up nearby.

“I am terribly sorry, Your Majesty. The girl is quite headstrong… We were taking a walk to show her the grounds and she simply insisted on coming this way…”

The Duchess, Rose Mayor—the wife of his master—looked visibly nervous. Logan shook his head to ease her mind.

“Please, don’t worry about it. I’ve been feeling guilty for how much work I’ve been piling on my Master lately. You are welcome here anytime. After all, am I not Stella’s godfather?”

“Godfather? Uncle, what is a godfather?”

“Stella! Mind your manners and use respectful language!”

“Pouting… Your, Your Majesty?”

Feeling the sting of her mother’s reprimand, Stella quickly added the formal title.

It was adorable, but it gave Logan a brief pang of regret.

“No, it’s alright. Stella doesn’t need to use formal speech with me.”

“Really? Uncle is the best!”

“But Your Majesty, surely…”

“Haha, it’s fine. Just tell her to be careful when my Master is around, alright?”

“But the child’s etiquette…”

“So it’s okay when he isn’t here, right? That seems like a fair compromise, doesn’t it?”

“…As you wish.”

Giving in to Logan’s persistence, the Duchess let out a soft sigh, and Stella happily scrambled onto Logan’s back like a small monkey.

“Uncle! Look over there!”

Instantly forgetting her earlier question, she pointed to a distant corner of the palace, her laughter ringing out clear and carefree.

Logan’s smile grew naturally as he felt the warmth of the child.

“Uncle! Here, here! Teehee.”

Just watching Stella play seemed to wash away the layers of stress that had been building inside him.

“Where did Daddy go?”

Then, inevitably, came the difficult question.

“Eh? Well… He’ll be here very soon.”

“Pouting. I miss Daddy…”

“Uncle will go grab Daddy’s hand and bring him to see Stella very shortly. Just wait for us, pinky promise.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I never break a promise, do I?”

The little girl shook her head vigorously.

“Never!”

“That’s right. So, we pinky swear. There.”

Pinky swear!

Their small fingers hooked together, and Stella beamed at him. Thinking back to the grim tales told by the temple, Logan felt a sharp pang in his chest.

‘The temple calls children like this… the forsaken?’

How could anyone apply such a label to someone so precious?

Stella was the living embodiment of the changes he had made by traveling back in time; she was proof that he was successfully rewriting the script of the future.

She was evidence that he had done well so far and had to keep going.

“…Wait?”

Suddenly, a strange, jarring thought struck Logan.

Why hadn’t this occurred to him before?

A future he had changed?

Children born into this altered timeline?

Was it possible that other children, just like Stella…

“It can’t be…”

If his theory was right, the implications were massive.

He was going to keep changing the future, and the number of children born into that new world would only grow.

Would this be limited only to the lands of McLain?

‘No, impossible.’

What would happen in ten years, twenty years, or even longer?

The descendants of these new children would eventually spread across the entire world.

In the end, that would mean…

‘Holy power… a world where the Gods have no place?’

His stomach dropped at the weight of that realization.

As the dark conclusion took root in his mind, his face twitched uncontrollably.

“No way. Surely it isn’t so…”

He tried to shake off the anxiety, but a sinking feeling told him his suspicions were likely correct.

Even though he was a man who had returned from the future, Logan had still been raised with the traditional belief in the nine gods of the continent.

The thought of those emotional foundations crumbling was staggering, and he felt the color drain from his face.

“Uncle?”

Seeing his sudden, frozen expression, Stella tilted her head in confusion.

“Your Majesty? Are you feeling ill?”

The Duchess and the guards, who had been keeping a respectful distance, stepped closer with worried looks.

“No, I’m fine.”

There had to be some other reason. There just had to be.

Feeling a sense of desperate urgency, he spoke up.

“I need to speak with the Master immediately.”

“Right now? So suddenly?”

“I have to find out what those inquisitors really plan to do with those children…”

“Pardon? Oh, well, yes. If that is what Your Majesty requires…”

The sheer confusion on Logan’s face was beginning to rub off on everyone standing near him.

He knew he was acting strangely, but the need to confirm his fears was becoming an obsession.

But then—

“Uncle… why do you look so sad?”

Stella’s worried face stopped Logan in his tracks as he was about to rush off.

He forced himself to calm down, smoothing his expression into a smile. He reached out to wipe a stray tear from her eye and said gently, “No, I’m not sad at all. You’ll see him soon. Look, pinky promise. Don’t cry, just look at your Uncle. See? We promised!”

“Oh… thank goodness.”

As her small hand brushed away the moisture and she started to smile again, Logan could see his own reflection in her wide eyes, and he still looked deeply troubled.

How must he look through the eyes of a child?

As he thought about it, a surge of defiance rose up from deep within him, shoving down his wavering faith.

‘Holy power fading away? So what?’

If children like Stella continue to be born and the power of the gods begins to vanish, is that really a problem?

Did the corrupt clergy and the greedy temple actually provide anything of value to the common people?

Most importantly—

How could any god compare to the precious life standing right next to him?

“Yeah. Seeing our little lady’s smile is worth more than any god.”

“Eh? Hehe. Am I that important?”

“The most important. More than anything else in the world.”

“Hehe.”

Hearing that sweet laughter, the last of Logan’s hesitation finally crumbled away.

‘That’s right. What does it matter?’

If the situation called for it, he was ready to go to war with the temple itself.

What did it matter if, a hundred years from now, the temple and the faith were nothing but dust?

‘That’s just the way the world moves. As long as it doesn’t interfere with the here and now.’

He could deal with the long-term consequences after his plans had succeeded and the temple’s threat was neutralized.

If he needed answers, he could always press Bishop Ilia or another member of the clergy later. There was no reason to get bogged down in the frightening stories of the ‘forsaken’ that Ecel had mentioned.

‘Faith is just a tool.’

If it didn’t help him build the future he wanted, or if it actively worked against his life, he would simply throw it away.

His heart, which had been shaken for a moment, was now like iron.

“Thank you, Stella.”

“Hm? For what?”

“Just because.”

Peck.

He gave the little girl a gentle kiss on the cheek—his new symbol of hope—and found his smile again.

Then he pulled the adorable child into another hug.

“Why is our little lady so cute?”

“Hehe. Stop, that tickles!”

A few days after Logan had found his inner resolve, the news he had been waiting for finally arrived.

“Your Majesty! A message has just come in for you!”