Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 107

Prince Romain shouted, “Gather everyone! This is total war!”

The nobles who followed him became serious when they heard this.

Their worst fears were now happening, and they felt tense.

Roger Bifrost looked the stiffest of them all.

‘This is a disaster!’ Roger knew this might happen.

But he hoped for small fights, not a big war.

Now, it was total war.

‘No, he shouldn’t fool himself. Even if it was just a duel, the princes would not give up while they lived. He wouldn’t either. War was always going to happen.’

The problem was it started too fast.

He had no time to deal with things in his own land.

‘Maclaine. Those lucky ones…’ He couldn’t argue with the Second Prince now.

Especially because Duke Jordan Valtermaim was behind him, watching everyone closely.

Roger tried to calm his anger and confusing feelings.

He waited for the Second Prince to finish his long speech.

And only after the Second Prince returned to his palace and the nobles scattered did he seek out Duke Jordan Valtermaim separately.

“What do you want?” Duke Jordan asked.

“Sorry to bother you, Your Grace. But I need to tell you something,” Roger said.

“Get to the point,” Duke Jordan said.

He was a big man with gray hair, and his voice was cold.

Roger knew Duke Jordan wasn’t really angry.

People called him ‘Blazing Sword’ because he was a great fighter.

But he was really a very cold person.

‘I need to be careful what I say,’ Roger thought.

He swallowed hard and started talking.

“You know, before all this, my land was already at war. A family called the Maclaines was greedy and took one of my castles without permission…”

“I know. So?”

“I should be calling up my soldiers like the Prince wants. But if I do, I can’t punish those Maclaines. Please, give me some time.”

“Time? Hmm. You want time for your own problems when we might have a big war with the First Prince soon?”

Roger knew if he said the wrong thing, he would be in trouble.

He looked into Duke Jordan’s cold, black eyes and answered quickly.

“It won’t take long. Ten days, just ten days…”

“Not good enough,” Duke Jordan said.

“What?” Roger asked, confused.

“The best way is to get those Maclaines to join us. Instead of you fighting them and wasting time, they could become part of our army.”

“Your Grace, but…”

“That’s why I sent Luther to them. But someone tried to ruin it. They told everyone the food was bad.”

“Th-that’s…!”

Duke Jordan looked at Roger with cold, black eyes.

Roger felt frozen.

“It’s okay to take a little for yourself. But you can’t hurt our group to do it. What should I do with you, Roger?”

Roger’s face turned white, and he knelt down.

“Please forgive me, Your Grace! I was too greedy and did wrong things!”

“You are smart,” Duke Jordan said.

“But sometimes greed makes you blind.”

Jordan Valtermaim looked down at Roger with cold eyes and went on.

“The King’s death surprised everyone. But after it happened, you should have seen why Huan and I wanted to be nice to those small families. Were they really that much trouble for you?”

“I have no excuse,” Roger said.

“You are important to us. Much more important than those small families. But even small families can be useful. Especially now, when we and our enemies are about equal.”

Roger lowered his head and closed his mouth.

He didn’t want to show his feelings.

Even a small mistake could ruin him.

“Just forget your greed for now. Luckily, those Maclaines haven’t joined the enemy. Leave them alone for now. After we win this war, I will deal with them for you. Understand?”

“I am sorry,” Roger said.

“Good. That’s all I need to know. Oh, one more thing. If those Maclaines are smart, they won’t bother you again.”

“Thank you, Your Grace,” Roger said.

“Don’t worry. Just call up your best soldiers quickly. We have bigger things to think about than those Maclaines now.”

“Yes,” Roger said.

He had shown a pathetic figure, failing to achieve the purpose he had painstakingly sought out, and not even breaking even.

But Roger Bifrost couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

If it weren’t for this time, when even a handful of forces were precious, he wouldn’t have gotten away with it so easily.

But why?

At this moment, the arrogant fellow who was smiling alone in the conference hall came to mind.

While understanding with his head that he had to endure for the future, Roger Bifrost had to work hard to suppress the constantly boiling anger.

“Wow! Look at that!” Logan said.

“The Golem Magic Tower is really amazing!” Patrick was so surprised he couldn’t speak.

Logan smiled and whistled.

They had been gone less than a month, including travel to the capital.

Logan and Patrick arrived at Tomodo Castle.

They saw the walls.

They were much higher and stronger than before, all around the castle.

– It’s the Lord and the Eldest Young Master! someone shouted.

– Open the castle gates! another voice yelled.

Creak!

The heavy castle gate lowered with a loud creak, like a bridge over the moat.

The moat was now deeper and stronger.

Thud!

“Perfect…” Logan said softly.

“Yes, it’s even better than we thought,” Patrick agreed.

Father and son entered the castle, their faces red with excitement.

The soldiers looked much better than when they left. They smiled confidently as they greeted them.

“We’ve made Bifrost much stronger so it can defend itself if they attack again. Do you like it?”

“Yes, of course, Heinkel. You’ve done very well.”

“The wizards from the Golem Magic Tower worked even harder than me! But, ah… they used up a lot of magic stones…”

“Ah, that much is to be expected. Everyone’s worked hard.”

“Still, you might be a little surprised…”

Heinkel muttered, a little nervously, watching the McLaine father and son. They seemed very pleased.

After the lord and his son left, Clayton started pushing his students very hard. It was like he had become a completely different man.

And while doing this, they used up a huge amount of magic stones.

He knew this was no laughing matter. The cost would be much, much more than the lord and his son expected.

He was right.

When they heard how much money was spent, the two men’s faces tightened in shock.

But this shock was quickly forgotten when a magical message arrived at Tomodo Castle.

“The Valterheim Dukedom?!”

“Why are they calling?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, a vassal from there is telling you to replace the lord…”

The two men had no choice but to rush to the communication room with hardened expressions.

[I will respect your wish to stay neutral. But if you break your promise and keep causing trouble, I will punish you very harshly. This is Duke’s order. Do you understand, Baron?]

“…Of course. I will engrave His Grace’s will in my heart.”

[Hmm. I hope you maintain that attitude.]

Bzzzt!

The magical communication ended just like that.

It was a unilateral termination without even a customary greeting.

“…Even a mere proxy is so arrogant. Tch.”

“Because it’s the Valterheim Dukedom. Well, anyway, now that they’ve warned us, I’m less worried. We don’t need to depend on the Master anymore.”

“If he’s telling the truth, Bifrost will take their soldiers to the capital instead of attacking us. This gives us some time to relax, but I’m still worried about what’s happening.”

“What can we do since it’s already happened? Right now, we just need to do what we can do, rather than worry about other things.”

“Yes, we must.”

Patrick simply nodded absentmindedly.

He still did not realize that the scope of what his son considered ‘what we can do’ far exceeded his imagination.

* * * The civil war started with a murder in Gran Noblesse, the death of Secretary Larry Clett. Just one week later, it turned into fighting.

The fighting started in the north, in Tritan County. This area is part of the King’s land and is near the capital city, Gran.

Tritan County supported the 2nd Prince. It was next to the King’s land in the south and Zahid County in the east. Zahid County supported the 1st Prince. When Tritan County sent soldiers because the 2nd Prince asked, they met the Zahid army. The Zahid army was also going to the King’s land for the same reason.

This unexpected fight between the two counts changed all the plans of the leaders. They had been planning the war to happen in the center of the country.

This civil war was about who would rule the country and become king. So, the most important people in the war were the princes and the two dukes.

So, the people planning the war wanted to attack these important leaders. They were surprised when the fighting started in a place they didn’t expect.

Because the fight was between counts who controlled areas near the border, they were important. Neither side could ignore them. So, both sides had to send more soldiers to help.

The leaders had hoped for a quick, big battle in the center of the country, or maybe to secretly kill important people. But those plans failed. Instead, the fighting spread out. A long battle line was formed, going from north to south, dividing the east and west of the King’s land.

Also, smaller fights started happening everywhere, between the less important nobles who were not in the capital.

It was a sign that the war was beginning to drag on.

This was turning into a terrible civil war. Smart people who cared about the country were worried and sighed.

As the war got worse, the leaders on each side started using every last bit of power from their lands.

So, Bifrost had to send most of their soldiers to the main battle area. They only left a few soldiers behind to guard their own land.

“Your Excellency, have we taken too many soldiers away from our main castle?”

“I left Rentor. That’s enough. He’s a very strong knight, so he can keep things safe here.”

“It’s not that, but what if the McLaines…”

“…There’s no way those guys would ignore Duke Jordyn’s warning unless they’re crazy.”

“Still, just in case something bad happens, Sir Rentor is not as good at planning as he is at fighting…”

“It’s okay. Most of the kingdom knows why Jordyn, that cold person, has the nickname ‘Fiery Sword.’ There’s no way they would disobey his words unless they’re trying to commit suicide. Unless they’re crazy…”

Roger Bifrost repeated the words ‘unless they’re crazy’ without realizing it.

He was afraid of Duke Jordyn’s anger. That’s why he took almost all his soldiers with him.

Any normal person would have done so.

But even as he spoke, a strange, chilling unease lingered in Roger Bifrost’s heart.

Had anything gone as expected recently, after getting involved with that McLaine?

He couldn’t help but slur the end of his words due to that unknown anxiety.

And he repeated the same words again, as if trying to reassure himself.

‘Surely… unless they’re really crazy.’

* * *

“We must occupy Bifrost at this opportunity!”

Logan declared war again at a meeting where he gathered his vassals.

The vassals were shocked and confused.

“Didn’t you say you received a warning from the Valterheim Dukedom! Are you now saying you will ignore the Duke’s, the transcendent’s warning, Young Master?”

“Yes.”

Dwayne was stunned into silence by the short and firm answer.

“Bifrost can’t fight back right now. They can’t quickly bring a large army back from the main battle area.”

“It’s not just the warning from the Duke. Attacking Bifrost could look like we are challenging the 2nd Prince! Then the 2nd Prince might attack us, even if it hurts them, just to warn other groups who are staying neutral!”

“No. We were already fighting them before this civil war started. This is just a family fight. The 2nd Prince won’t think we are challenging him. Neither the 2nd Prince nor Duke Jordyn is stupid enough to misunderstand and start a fight over this.”

“Surely you anticipated that and that’s why you… no, that can’t be. You can’t know the future. Heh. Hehehe. What to do…”

Logan smiled, watching Heinkel. Heinkel had guessed correctly what Logan was thinking, but he didn’t realize it. The mood in the room was still very serious.

As the vassals looked at Patrick, meaning for him to stop him, Patrick, who had been lost in thought as if his soul had left his body since before the vassal meeting, finally opened his mouth with a sigh.

“Yes. Even if you are right about everything, Duke Jordyn Valterheim is the kind of person who will punish you later. Have you thought about that?”

“No. I have not considered it.”

“What? Have you already forgotten your mistake from last time! Now, please consider everything…!”

“Duke Jordyn Valterheim will have no reason to hold us accountable.”

Everyone present lost their words at the overly firm conviction.

And before long, the McLaine army began to move busily again.