Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 54

The 54th Infantry Division’s special soldiers were called knight trainees. These soldiers were learning to be knights, but they also had to protect the land.

In Maclaine, like most places, they tested boys who were almost adults with physical fitness tests. Only the strongest boys were chosen to join the army and train.

This was not easy training. It was very hard, pushing people to their limits. The goal was to find people who could use the Force.

If they were talented, these soldiers might awaken the Force and become knights.

Most would not become knights. They would stay ordinary soldiers. But even these soldiers were much stronger than regular soldiers.

‘They think you need to be strong to handle the hard training to become a knight,’ Logan thought.

Most knights were chosen this way. They awakened the Force after ten or more years of hard training.

Some people became knights in a different way. They were from rich or old knight families. They trained from when they were very young in their own homes to try and awaken the Force.

They got training from a young age, but it didn’t really make them more likely to use the Force.

This showed that the old idea about strength was wrong. But most people didn’t know it yet.

However, the Empire was trying something new.

They thought: ‘Being strong and using the Force are different. Good senses are more important.’

‘Even inside the Empire, people will not like this idea,’ Logan thought.

The Imperial Magic Tower discovered this after many years of research.

They learned it by studying people who trained even harder than the knights but still could not use the Force.

The Empire made this its official idea and changed how they chose regular soldiers.

They started choosing regular soldiers based on children with good senses and fast reflexes.

In the war that would happen in nine years, the Empire would win against its neighbors. They would have 50,000 knights.

The world would learn about the Empire’s new ideas.

‘When I look at Ronian and Viktor, it’s clear that choosing soldiers based only on strength is dumb,’ Logan thought.

But no one else noticed this yet.

They just thought those knights were special because they were naturally talented.

The thought of the Empire’s knights coming made him feel sick.

‘I can change things here,’ Logan thought. ‘In my family’s land, I can do it differently. Nine years is enough time to train talented people to become knights.’

That’s why he was buying so many weapons and getting more soldiers, even though it seemed like too much to others.

He had to set the right standards from the beginning to use everything well.

Logan: “What about the soldiers? Where are they now?”

Soldier: “Sir, out of the 502 who lived through the last war, 402 are at Tesron Castle. They are with Chief Administrator Vector, keeping things safe there. We kept 100 here.”

Logan: “And the knights? Are they all here in Maclaine?”

Soldier: “Yes, sir. They said… they said the knights, being the main force, shouldn’t be split up.”

Logan barely stopped himself from laughing.

‘Converted knights? That’s a silly excuse,’ Logan thought.

There were 32 knights from Tesron who had switched sides. That was almost the same as the 41 knights from Maclaine.

Padraig Maclaine was a high-ranking knight, but he still wouldn’t let them move separately.

‘Well, this is good,’ Logan thought.

Maclaine didn’t have enough space for over a thousand soldiers to sleep and eat.

That’s why he was only hiring a small number of soldiers.

“I’m taking the trainees from Maclaine Castle to Tesron. We’ll train soldiers in Tesron from now on. Leave only 50 of the best soldiers in Maclaine Castle. Tell all the soldiers this.”

Soldier: “Yes?”

“There are over 70 knights here. We don’t need many soldiers.”

Soldier: “But then the knights will have to do guard duty.”

That could happen if there were more knights than soldiers.

“My father will keep training the knights. Tell the soldiers to work a little harder. The best soldiers have been relaxing too much, right?”

Maclaine Castle was known for being safe.

Nothing would go wrong if some soldiers were gone.

Just then, a loud voice boomed from the training ground, “Bixel, wrong! Start again!” A groan followed, “You little…” Then the booming voice cut in again, “Who’s talking during training?! Do it again, twice as hard!” A scream of pain echoed.

‘I wonder if the knights will cause trouble,’ Logan thought, listening to the shouts and screams. A small smile touched his lips.

“Well, it’s not all bad.”

“Where are you from?”

“What about you?”

“Why are you speaking informally? How old are you?”

“You too!”

“What, you punk?!”

The area for the soldier exam in Maclaine Castle was chaos. It was packed with boys who wanted to join. “Line up straight!” a soldier yelled. “Quiet! The Young Lord is coming!” another shouted. “Stop talking, you brats!” a third grumbled. Soldiers tried to push the boys into lines, but it was like trying to control a river. Logan sighed as he walked in. ‘So many,’ he thought, looking at the noisy crowd of young, excited faces.

Logan: “How did you choose them before?”

Soldier: “We just had them run and picked the fastest ones.”

They only looked at physical strength.

Also, they only hired a few new soldiers when the old ones retired. This was to keep the total number the same. It wasn’t very efficient.

‘The method was wrong, and the number of people was small. That’s why the number of knights doesn’t increase much,’ Logan thought.

Maclaine used to have money problems when the number of knights grew. But now things were different.

‘I have to pick all the guys who have a chance of becoming knights and train them,’ he thought.

He wanted to hire more soldiers, but his main goal was to find knight trainees for the future.

He didn’t want to hire too many regular soldiers.

He wanted a small, but strong group.

“We need to choose them carefully,” Logan said.

Soldier: “Of course.”

Logan: “We need to choose boys with sharp eyes, good ears, and quick reactions.”

‘Senses are key to using the Force,’ he thought. ‘It will be obvious one day.’

He looked at the soldier waiting for instructions. “Yes?” the soldier asked, looking confused. He clearly didn’t understand what Logan meant.

Logan: “Didn’t you hear me?”

Soldier: “So, we should still make them run first…”

Logan: “No! Most of them didn’t eat well growing up. We have to think about the ones who can’t run because they’re hungry.”

Dwaine: “But, Lord Logan. We’ve always picked soldiers this way. But now…”

Logan shook his head.

“This is the new standard. What are you doing? Start moving!”

Soldier: “Yes. I understand.”

That day, the boys who thought they would be tested on strength had to take strange tests.

The test of sight was first.

The test was simple. Someone held up a paper with letters.

The person being tested walked forward until they could see the letters.

If you could see from far away, you got a better score.

“Oh! That’s new! Just like you, Gongzi!” Dwayne said. (We should know who Gongzi is soon!)

But there were problems.

“I can’t read!” someone shouted.

So, they changed the letters to pictures.

“Is that a bird? Or a pig? I can’t tell! These drawings are terrible!” someone complained.

Because the examiners drew badly, they sometimes used simple shapes instead of pictures.

“I can’t see the stick!” a tester cried. (What stick? A line?)

“How many are there! Just tell me what you see!” an examiner yelled back.

“Gongzi is very handsome!” one examinee said.

Too many people were just silly and couldn’t do the test. (Why is this absurd?)

“We don’t want people who just try to flatter us. Get rid of him,” ordered an examiner.

But then…

“Three and a half sticks. Wait, one stick is very small. Does that count as four sticks?” someone asked. (What are they counting?)

Some people, even without magic, could see tiny sticks from 200 meters away. They could even count them and say how long they were!

Next was the test of hearing.

Dwayne and Rugel would say a word that was chosen before.

The person being tested had to stop walking as soon as they heard the word.

Like the sight test, if you could hear from far away, you got a better score. But again, there were problems.

“The volume of the voice keeps changing!” someone complained.

The examiners couldn’t keep their voices at the same level. And…

“That person’s pronunciation is strange! I can’t tell if they’re saying ‘world’ or ‘bird’!” another tester said.

“What did you say, you little punk?!” Dwayne shouted.

Some people just spoke differently because of how their mouths were shaped.

“The answer is sparrow. But, um….” a tester hesitated.

“What is it? Speak,” Rugel urged.

“That person just called the Great Gongzi a son of a… Is this also part of the test?” someone asked, confused.

And then there were just funny mistakes.

“Dwayne! Duck your head!” Rugel shouted.

“Huh? Gongzi, I can’t hear you!” Dwayne responded.

“DUCK! YOUR! HEAD! Do I have to push it down myself?!” Rugel yelled.

The test was slowed down a lot because of these problems, but they still found someone amazing who could hear a quiet swear word from 100 meters away!

After the two tests, Logan whistled in admiration.

‘Even though it was just sight and hearing, so many people are much better than normal at least in one of them!’ Logan thought.

Out of the thousand-plus people, over 250 were found to have sensory talents.

Just because they had amazing eyes or ears didn’t mean they would become knights.

The tests weren’t perfect.

In the past, some knights were chosen in strange ways, not based on tests. So, it’s never really clear who will become a Force user in the future. (What is a Force user?)

‘Still, I need to find a thousand people to match the people from Tesron Castle,’ Logan thought. (What is Tesron Castle?)

So, they picked 500 people based on how well they did on the two tests.

Feeling a little proud, he looked at the people who passed and saw that many looked very poor-looking.

Maybe they hadn’t eaten well. Many of the children looked much younger and smaller than they were, but that was something that could be fixed with good food and training.

‘Like Viktor… Of course, reaching his level would be impossible,’ Logan mused. (Who is Viktor?)

At least, he had done the best he could with what he knew.

He hoped these small things would add up and become strong enough to stop the terrible disaster that was coming. (What disaster?)

‘Now that I think about it, I should go see Viktor,’ Logan decided.

It was time for him to start actively working outside.

* * * Whoosh.

The black sword sliced through the air with a *whoosh*, catching the weak morning sunlight.

It wasn’t too strong, not too weak, and his posture was perfect.

The basic sword moves of the kingdom, which he had practiced hundreds of times every day for a year, were now very good.

At this rate, he might soon be able to repeat it 1,000 times without stopping, just as Logan had said.

But Viktor’s expression was not so good.

‘Just because you can do that doesn’t mean you become a knight,’ Viktor thought.

Logan had simply given him a goal when he knew nothing.

He knew that very well now.

Also, he knew that to become a knight, the problem was not doing a thousand sword techniques, but achieving Force awakening. (Explain Force awakening)

But that still didn’t feel right.

He no longer felt good about getting better day by day.

He had a frustrating feeling of endlessly circling in place.

It felt like there was an invisible shackle dragging at his ankles.

But he could never give up like this.

‘I must become a knight. I must!’ Viktor told himself.

Even for the sake of his younger brother, who was waiting at the other side of the training ground with a water bottle and towel.

He knew the servants in the mansion were jealous of him and his brother.

It was normal, since they were slaves who were learning swordsmanship instead of working.

So, he couldn’t stop now.

‘I don’t know how much longer Logan will help me,’ Viktor worried.

He had been helped for free.

He believed he would become a knight, but why would Logan help a slave so much?

He was thankful to Logan, but being a slave for so long made it hard for him to fully trust even someone who was helping him.

‘Maybe it’s a trick to raise me and use me somewhere,’ Viktor thought suspiciously.

For example… a gladiatorial slave.

His face darkened as he remembered the worst times.

When he was a slave, he had seen a crazy nobleman who used families as bait to make slaves fight each other to the death.

‘He said it was for fun,’ Viktor recalled.

He glanced to the side and saw his younger brother looking at him with a bright face.

My younger brother, who I must protect no matter what.

Even if he suffered any kind of fate, he had to protect his brother.

He had to come back alive, no matter what Logan made him do.

‘But this won’t do,’ Viktor realized.

The longer he felt like he wasn’t getting better, the more impatient Viktor became.

“Uaargh!”

Wham!

He broke away from the normal sword moves and swung his sword with all his might.

He had started doing this sometimes recently.

If he swung his sword with all his might without thinking about posture and swordsmanship, he felt at least a little relieved.

However.

“What are you doing?” a quiet voice asked.

He stopped what he was doing as soon as he heard the quiet voice.

The wild swordsmanship stopped, and Viktor automatically dropped his sword.