RE - Chapter 265: The Sparrow Was Wesker (Patreon)

“Alyssa Ashcroft.”

“...Miss Ashcroft, you do indeed have an appointment with Mr. Spencer. May I confirm the purpose of your visit?”

Dressed in a red trench coat, Alyssa adjusted the strap of her shoulder bag and replied politely,

“An interview.”

“...Then everything is in order, Miss Ashcroft.

You may enter the castle now. Someone inside will receive you.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

Alyssa watched the butler bow respectfully and gave him a slightly awkward smile.

You didn’t see this kind of aristocratic etiquette very often anymore.

After composing herself, she turned her attention toward the castle in the distance.

It stood deep within the forest, built along the edge of a steep cliff. The structure was imposing and solemn, yet there was something strangely desolate about it.

The temperature at this elevation took some of the chill out of that impression. A light breeze brushed across her forehead while pale sunlight filtered through the surroundings.

From time to time, bodyguards in suits passed around the castle grounds.

Whenever they noticed her approaching, they contacted the butler at the entrance. Once they confirmed who she was, they quietly moved on.

But somewhere out of sight, someone was already watching her.

As Alyssa approached the castle doors, she carefully studied the ornamental plants lining both sides of the path.

Judging by how neatly everything had been maintained, someone clearly tended to them every day.

If that was the case, Spencer had probably been living here in seclusion ever since Umbrella collapsed.

With that thought in mind, she slowly pushed open the unlocked doors and stepped inside.

The moment she entered, the restrained elegance of the main hall caught her attention.

It wasn’t nearly as extravagant as she had expected, yet the entire place carried an unmistakably aristocratic air.

There was one obvious drawback.

She could already see four different doors from the entrance hall alone.

“Do these symbolize something? All roads lead to Rome, maybe?”

“That interpretation is probably a little more meaningful than the truth. They were simply built according to the architect’s preferences.”

Alyssa turned toward the man emerging from the door on the right and smiled faintly.

“Then the architect certainly had unusual taste.”

“The architect devoted tremendous effort to many buildings owned by the Spencer family. Some of his ideas were rather baffling, but they had a distinct charm.

Mr. Spencer himself was very fond of the style. He once even commissioned the famous architect Trevor to imitate it.

(Trevor: So liking my work justified locking up my entire family and experimenting on us? Spencer, you ****!)

...My apologies. I forgot to introduce myself.

You may call me Patrick. I’m the butler here, and I serve Mr. Spencer personally.”

“Alyssa Ashcroft. Alyssa is fine. I’m here to interview Mr. Spencer.”

Patrick nodded and stepped aside, gesturing for her to follow.

“Mr. Spencer is preparing for his meal. He has already been informed of your arrival.

I’ll show you the way. Please don’t wander off on your own. It’s very easy to get lost here.”

“...Lost?”

As Alyssa followed Patrick, she quickly understood what he meant.

The castle was filled with mechanisms. Even opening certain doors required several separate steps.

Patrick moved through them with astonishing familiarity, but Alyssa still couldn’t help thinking how absurd the layout was.

It reminded her of her experience at the private hospital in the Arklay Mountains.

At this point, she was starting to think Umbrella and unnecessarily complicated architecture simply belonged together.

By the time she snapped out of her thoughts, Alyssa had reached the dining room on the second floor.

She stood beside Patrick near a long table covered with an elegant tablecloth. The tableware laid across it was elaborate enough that even at a glance, it was obvious none of it was cheap.

Yet only one person sat at the entire table.

“Patrick. You’ve brought her.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmm. If I remember correctly... Alyssa Ashcroft?”

Spencer finished the last of his soup, wiped his mouth with a napkin, then finally turned his attention toward her.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Spencer.”

“Let’s speak somewhere else.”

Spencer placed his hands on the wheels of his chair and slowly maneuvered himself toward a nearby room.

Patrick followed, briefly glancing back at the meal.

Only the soup had been finished.

Everything else remained untouched.

Just like before.

The dishes looked excellent, but Spencer no longer had any appetite for them.

Only the bland soup seemed easy enough for him to swallow.

Patrick sighed inwardly, then collected himself and turned toward Alyssa.

“Please follow me.”

A short while later, Alyssa watched as another mechanism activated and part of the wall slowly opened.

When she saw Spencer preparing to push his wheelchair through by himself, she stepped forward.

“Let me help.”

Patrick immediately regretted not stopping her sooner.

But when Spencer made no objection, he chose not to interfere.

“Take me by the window. There’s more sunlight there.”

“Here?”

“Yes.”

Alyssa released the wheelchair and looked around for a suitable place to set up.

She took a recorder from her shoulder bag and prepared it.

“...That will be all, Patrick.”

“Yes, sir.”

Once Alyssa had positioned the recorder, she sat down.

Hearing movement nearby, she glanced toward the concealed door as it slowly closed again.

Looking at Spencer from behind, she couldn’t help commenting,

“Living shut away in a secluded room like this... it’s hard not to think about how much things have changed.

You were once one of the most influential men in the world.”

Spencer stared out at the slightly harsh sunlight beyond the window.

“Life has a way of taking unexpected turns... wouldn’t you agree?”

Once, he had believed himself to be on the verge of becoming a god.

Instead, he found himself trapped inside a decaying body.

He had devoted everything to his research, seeking an immortal body, only to lose his battle against time.

He had once placed his hopes in Albert.

Albert betrayed him.

Years later, he placed those hopes in Alex instead, giving her every resource at his disposal, even more than ten thousand test subjects.

In the end, she disappeared.

Even the supposed cure she had promised for his condition had been a lie.

He had been betrayed again.

Alex, whom he had regarded almost as his own child, had abandoned him without hesitation and taken his resources with her.

Sometimes Spencer found himself wondering whether the Wesker Project, once the achievement he took the greatest pride in, had been a mistake from the very beginning.

So when he spoke of unexpected turns in life, it wasn’t empty sentiment.

He had experienced them firsthand.

Twice, at least.

Perhaps more.

He had simply stopped keeping count.

Alyssa studied the frail old man before her, hearing the melancholy in his voice.

“...Looking back now, do you think the choices you made are what brought you here?”

“Of course.”

Spencer answered without hesitation.

As far as he was concerned, his failure on the path to godhood had been the result of his own decisions.

When he first discovered the Progenitor Virus, he believed he had finally found the first step toward divinity.

Instead, he had stepped into an abyss.

He had spent his entire life studying viruses, only to have the things he created turn around and tear him apart.

The irony was almost laughable.

“You reap what you sow...”

Plant rotten seeds, and you could hardly expect healthy fruit.

Especially when those seeds grew into people even more ruthless than the man who planted them.

Only now, with old age closing in and little time left, had Spencer truly accepted that.

He had always considered himself harsh toward humanity.

But when it came to the children of the Wesker Project, he believed he had treated them comparatively well.

And yet they had shown him even less mercy.

There was always someone worse waiting for the wicked.

Spencer once remembered hearing a philosopher say that people only learned regret when they grew old.

At the time, he had laughed at the idea.

He had even imagined injecting that philosopher with a virus just to show him the possibilities of life, to show him how magnificent the new world Spencer intended to build would be.

Now he believed him.

Because now Spencer was old.

“That... is simply the natural order of things, isn’t it?”

Alyssa couldn’t quite tell what was going through his mind, so she returned to the questions she had originally prepared.

“You agreed to this interview because you want me to tell the world something, correct?”

“...Yes.”

“What do you want people to know?”

“The truth.

But before that, allow me a moment to rest, Miss Ashcroft. At my age, I no longer have the energy I once did.”

That answer caught Alyssa off guard.

The truth?

She switched off the recorder.

When she looked up again, Spencer was slowly wheeling himself toward a nearby desk.

“Do you need help?”

“No.

This is one of the few forms of exercise I have left.”

Spencer slowly made his way to the desk and used his thin hands to turn on the computer.

Curious, Alyssa walked over and watched him work.

From what she could see, most of the files appeared to contain research data.

“This represents the work of my entire life.

Though, of course, much of it would never have been possible without the efforts of the exceptionally gifted researchers who worked under me.”

“Your work caused countless disasters, but even I have to admit that some of the scientific achievements themselves are extraordinary.”

Spencer’s hand paused on the mouse.

For a moment, he seemed both nostalgic and uncertain.

“Yes...

Disasters.”

The green glow of the monitor reflected in his eyes, giving them an eerie light that seemed to mirror something buried deeper inside him.

“You began investigating me a very long time ago.

That’s one of the reasons I chose you.”

“...Close to ten years now.”

“And yet there are still many things you don’t know, aren’t there?

Secrets that could have remained buried in darkness forever, with no one left to uncover them.”

Spencer kept his eyes on the screen.

“At this point, I see no reason to be evasive.

During the 1980s, I began two long-term projects.

Both consumed enormous amounts of resources.

One of them was only barely completed around the time Umbrella ceased operations.”

“...It must have been incredibly difficult if it took more than twenty years.”

“No.

It was merely a process of reverse engineering.

Given sufficient resources, the work itself was manageable. It required a large number of samples and a thorough understanding of the Progenitor Virus.

The reason it took so long wasn’t because the project was particularly difficult.

It was because I devoted most of my attention to the other one.”

Alyssa’s curiosity deepened.

“Can you tell me what it was?”

“Of course.

That is why I invited you here today.

But I have one request.

Do not make any of this public until you believe the time is right.”

“...The right time?

You mean with the situation as unstable as it is now, revealing everything could actually make things worse?”

“You already know the answer.”

Spencer gave Alyssa a long look.

Only then did he finally make his decision.

Using the computer, he sent a message to his doctor, instructing him to bring over the child who had already been brought to the castle.

Once the doctor replied, Spencer returned to the subject.

“When the project began, it existed simply because circumstances required it.

Now, however, it has become an opportunity I have spent my entire life searching for.

Put another way, it represents the culmination of my life’s work, containing the most important results of everything I ever researched.

Looking back, the name we gave it was surprisingly appropriate.”

“You’ve certainly made me curious.

What was the project called?”

Spencer slowly continued working at the computer.

He still possessed remote access to the Ark.

And he intended to change a few things while no one was paying attention.

His expression remained calm as he stared at the screen and finally spoke the name.

“...Elpis.”