How to Raise Your Regressor

"Anyway, as if the fiasco with her father wasn't enough, you actually had the audacity to leave Lecia to me."

"Hmm?" Azell furrowed his brows.

"Like, yea, let's leave a traumatised, mentally unstable 13 years old lass to a 12 years old boy. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?"

I seriously have no idea what he was thinking when he asked me to help her with her trauma. What the fuck do I look like, a child expert?

I AM a child, for god's sake.

I cannot even begin to imagine how Azell justified leaving Lecia to me.

I could unlock all the memories of all my 150+ million lives but even then, I'll only begin to comprehend his genius. I'll only touch the tip of the pile of this dogshit.

I probably should not be saying it, but what was he thinking, leaving Lecia in the hands of the guy who literally had to be forced to save his own life?

Wow.

"…" Azell pursed his lips.

Does that mean he finally understands the point I'm trying to make?

Or is that his way of saying, 'My reasons are too high-levelled for you stupid mortals to comprehend'?

It's most probably the latter.

This fucking asshole.

"I just don't get it. I'm at the age where I should be wondering why some white, sticky stuff comes out from down there when I touch myself inappropriately, not give therapy to a stupid, dumb child."

"Who are you calling dumb!?" Lecia roared.

Did that trigger her?

"Who do you think? Neia?"

Let's trigger her even more because it's just good, clean fun.

"You!"

"Uh, but didn't you agree to taking care of Lecia?" Azell interjected before Lecia could try and choke me again.

This girl needs to calm the fuck down.

"I was young back then, full of hope and blinded by greed," I sighed. "I didn't want to miss the opportunity to earn 5000 Gold a year. And who would? Even monks would be tempted to take you up on your offer. Besides, you promised that you would help me with Lecia's care. Turns out, you are not a man of your word, after all."

Which, in hindsight, makes sense. Azell is a Regressor who has come back in time after failing to save a world (I don't know the actual reason so that's what I'll roll with for the time being).

I doubt that the world is going to be destroyed in a year or two, or Azell would have been much more restless.

Let's be generous and assume that we have 10 years till the destruction of this world. So, in his previous life, Azell was around 28-30 years old when everything went to shit and he regressed.

Live for that long- especially during turbulent times like, you know, the end of the motherfucking world- and one naturally ends up picking up several skills.

One of those skills would most probably be the advanced tactic called 'lying to little bitches'.

So yea, looks like Azell lied about helping me with Lecia.

Not sure if I needed him to deceive me and do such a long analysis to understand that even Azell, the regressor boi, could lie.

Shit.

"It's not like I didn't want to, but I got a bit busy with several things…" Azell's voice trailed off.

"Excuses, excuses and excuses. Show some emotional maturity and admit your mistakes, New Dawn Guild Leader," I scoffed.

"…Alright, fine. I admit it," he let out a heavy sigh. "It was my fault that I did not pay enough attention to Lecia."

Whoa, fuck. He admitted it more easily than I expected.

How the heck am I supposed to leave Lecia's training and care entirely to him now? He needs to feel more responsibility.

You know what? Let's ignore it.

"That's exactly why I asked you the reason behind saving Lecia. What was it that you hoped to achieve by rescuing her? Was it something you did on a whim? Or was there a clear goal behind your actions?"

"…" Azell quietly stared at me, and quite interestingly, I couldn't decipher his thoughts this time.

Of course, I could if I really wanted to, but doing so would require effort that's clearly not worth the trouble.

Not to mention that it's more amusing this way.

"How far did you intend to go in saving Lecia? How much responsibility were you prepared to handle? How thoroughly did you want to save her? Was freeing her from the clutches of her father all you wanted to do? Or did you plan for something more?"

Like turning her into an overpowered, broken character by training her, giving her equipment, or whatever it is that normal Regressors do with the normal people they save.

"…"

Quite interestinglyX2, because not only Azell, but even Neia and Lecia were silent. The former was silently observing our exchange, as if trying to decipher some secret.

Lecia, on the other hand, was focused on Azell.

Perhaps the questions I'm asking right now were questions that Lecia had once asked herself.

Given her life so far, Lecia must have wondered why Azell saved her, what he wanted from her, and whether Azell really was her saviour.

Or maybe she was just admiring Azell's handsome face.

I'm not a wanker expert, so I don't really know.

"You knew that Lecia had long since given up on herself; the very idea of being responsible for her own life had become foreign to her a long time ago. After you brought her here, she had become entirely dependent on us; she wanted us to tell her how she should live. You knew, yet you did nothing to resolve that problem. You did not try to support her, or encourage her into taking her life in her own hands, or anything of that sort. Or did you?"

"…I did not," Azell slowly shook his head.

Lecia's head drooped.

Was she perhaps disappointed in Azell? Or was she reflecting on how pathetic she had become?

"You said that Lecia has the potential to be something much more than what she currently is, right? However, not once did you try to cultivate that potential. You did not try to teach her, guide her, appoint a teacher for her, or even make her aware of her so-called talent. You just left her, alone. What was your plan? Did you honestly believe that her talent would eventually blossom with time?"

"…"

"Did you not think that making her stronger would show her that as a human being, her value is not defined solely on the basis of some stupid skill? That would have boosted her self-confidence and let her stand on her own feet, no?"

"I…"

Hmm, I wonder if this will make Lecia disillusioned in Azell.

"You gave her hope in the form of the New Dawn Guild, without realising that this hope could be poisonous for her. Perhaps you never considered the possibility that if not handled correctly, the presence of 'The New Dawn Guild' in her life would prevent her from truly moving on from her past and growing up."

Azell's cold eyes silently stared into mine.

What was he thinking right now? Was he feeling guilty? Was he frustrated that he did not consider these things before? Or was he simply indifferent?

"In the end, even though you saved Lecia, you were not prepared to pay the price for it."