Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 114

Logan wasn’t just trying to steal skilled people from families broken by the war.

Even though he couldn’t openly recruit, he subtly spread rumors in other villages and among merchants that McLaine Town was a good place for people who had lost their homes.

Because of this, a little over two months after the civil war started, refugees began to arrive in the McLaine territory.

At first, it was just a few, but soon it became a flood.

Soon, a report arrived. McLaine Town was getting full faster than they thought.

Dwaine spoke, his face serious. “It seems we need to start the second town plan sooner than expected.”

“A second town?” Logan asked. “Between Tomodo and Silvan again?”

“Yes,” Dwaine said. “If we bring together the villages scattered across the Vipros Plains and the old McLaine Plains, and add the refugees, we can manage production more efficiently. McLaine Town has already proven that this works.”

“With the army growing and using more resources, will we have enough money?” Logan asked.

“We’re okay for now,” Dwaine replied. “That’s why we need to build the town before farming starts, so we can get a bigger harvest this year.”

Logan leaned forward. “Are we sure we have enough money?”

“We’ll have to be careful with money for a bit,” Dwaine said, hesitating. “So, Master, please try not to spend too much…”

“Ah, I understand. Proceed,” Logan said.

So, the construction of the second McLaine Town began.

But the plan was difficult from the beginning.

“We might run out of money?” Logan asked.

“The war has caused us to use a lot more timber,” Dwaine explained. “What we get from the Tritan territory isn’t enough anymore. We have to either buy it from the Empire or use timber from the southern mountains, but that would cause problems.”

Logan felt bad and sighed. He had ordered the army to grow, which was the main reason they were using so much timber, so he couldn’t say anything.

He couldn’t stop making crossbows either.

“…We’ll have to buy from the Empire,” Logan said. “And do some logging too. How much more will that cost?”

“We’re okay for now,” Dwaine said. “But we might have to be careful with money until the town is finished and we get this year’s harvest. Even with the gold mine, we’ll barely have enough because of the army.”

Philip, who had been listening, looked confused. “Why are we short on money? We have more than enough to sell, don’t we?”

“Sell what?” Dwaine asked.

“What?” Philip asked back.

“Food,” Philip answered casually.

Philip’s answer was casual, like it was obvious. Logan and Dwaine stared at him, their faces suddenly shocked.

“Sell food?!” Dwaine shouted, his face turning red. “With the current situation! We need to prepare for emergencies!”

But Logan’s eyes lit up. “Oh? Food? Do we have that much extra?”

“Yes,” Philip said. “I heard that you didn’t sell the extra food you produced in case of war. But our war ended quickly, and food prices have gone up a lot since the civil war started. If we sell just half of it, we can solve our money problems. And we can build the ranch you were planning much faster.”

Ranch construction.

This was needed to produce thousands of crossbow cavalry in the future.

Until now, they had been buying all the warhorses, but they realized they needed to raise their own horses to support the army.

That’s why they had been saving the extra food.

“So, we sell the food we were planning to use for the ranch and build the ranch earlier instead,” Logan said.

“Yes,” Philip said. “I don’t think food prices will get any higher than they are now. It’s the perfect time to sell the extra food.”

No, it will be more expensive in about two years.

But…

“That’s a good idea,” Logan said.

“Master!” Dwaine exclaimed.

“I knew you’d say that!” Philip said happily.

“M-Master,” Dwaine stammered. “If something bad happens, what about our food…”

“We’re just selling some now so we can produce more later,” Logan explained. “Think of it as an investment.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Dwaine said. “What if…”

“Oh. That won’t happen,” Logan said confidently.

“Master!” Dwaine exclaimed, worried.

Dwaine’s worries were understandable.

But Logan was sure.

Logan thought to himself, ‘War starts when people use reason in a crazy way.’

But sometimes that craziness takes over reason.

It’s natural for war to get worse as the damage increases.

A war that’s just testing the waters like this one won’t last long.

The civil war will only get more intense.

And if that happens.

Logan thought, ‘No one will care about those who are just standing still. They’ll be too busy trying to kill each other.’

A small smile touched the corners of Logan’s mouth. It wasn’t a happy smile.

“Sell half of the extra food to each side,” Logan ordered. “Philip, you’re in charge of that. Get as much money as possible. And use that money to buy timber.”

“Yes, Master,” Philip replied.

“Dwaine, please prepare for the second town construction,” Logan said.

“…Yes,” Dwaine replied gloomily, sighing.

It might be a frustrating situation for some, but McLaine was definitely making progress.

Logan was smiling confidently when a report arrived from Knox, who had been working on a request Logan had almost forgotten.

The report said: “To Logan McLaine. Regarding your request from two years ago, we have found someone who fits the description. The wizard Cheren Crowe. He is in Lusfel, a territory near the border with the Grandia Kingdom in the eastern part of the Empire. He looks like the person you described, and his power level is about right. His name isn’t Kraune, but there’s a good chance that…”

This report was about someone Logan had asked Knox to find two years ago. It was about a powerful person, not connected to any group, who fought in the old Imperial War.

“The Massacre Magician, Kraune. Haa… Why now… And not just anyone,” Logan muttered, feeling uneasy.

During the Imperial War in his past life.

There was a magician who worked as a soldier for hire for the Empire.

He covered his body with special objects he had created himself and fought on the front lines, unlike most magicians. He killed many soldiers from the Kingdom.

He was known as the worst of the superhumans, along with the Evil Sword Banjoni, but he was treated very differently.

The Empire didn’t recognize Banjoni as one of their own, even though he was a soldier for hire. But they tried hard to get Kraune to join them.

However, the Massacre Magician refused and continued to work as a simple soldier for hire.

He killed a huge number of Grandia soldiers, but there was another important reason why he was so well-known.

He was the person who figured out how to mass-produce simple special objects and one of the top 10 merchants in the Empire.

People thought he only became a soldier for hire because the Empire forced him to. In just 10 years, he would become the strongest, with both great military and financial power.

Historians agreed that he sped up the destruction of Grandia by half because of the simple special objects he gave to the Imperial knights.

Therefore.

Logan thought, ‘The best thing to do is to get him to join us. If not, I have to kill him.’

Logan’s eyes flashed with a desire to kill.

Even if he didn’t think about the Grandia Kingdom soldiers who were killed by the objects Kraune made, the independent army he belonged to in the future suffered a lot.

He wanted to kill Kraune the moment he saw him, but.

Logan thought, ‘Still, I have to try to get him to join us if I can.’

The Massacre Magician was a great talent.

So, Logan had to go find him.

Even if Knox’s report was wrong, he had to check it out.

Logan knew he was the only one who could identify a certain person, so he couldn’t ask anyone else to do this job.

In the end, Logan told his retainers he would be taking a short trip to the Empire.

Unsurprisingly, they didn’t like the idea.

“Going somewhere in this situation?”

“Just a short trip outside the border.”

“So, you’re going to the Empire?”

“Think of it as land near the Empire, not the Empire itself.”

“Isn’t that the Empire?!”

“Well, if you have to say what country it is, it’s the Empire. But it’s not far from our border.”

“But why?!”

His father looked at him in disbelief, and Logan had to be somewhat honest.

“I made a request. I found out where something I need is, and I think I need to get it, even if it’s risky.”

“An item?”

“Yes.”

He couldn’t tell the whole truth, in case it turned out to be a person he had to kill.

And even though it was still a guess, there was also an item to bring back.

‘If he’s the Massacre Magician, he must have made some artifacts by now. Maybe even more than I think.’

So, he could speak confidently.

“What kind of item is it…?”

“It’s an artifact.”

“Huh…”

Patrick stared at his son, speechless for a moment.

He was doing strange things for reasons Patrick didn’t understand, getting information from who-knows-where, but most of the time, he was successful.

It worried Patrick because he didn’t understand *why* Logan did these things.

“Is it dangerous?”

“I won’t be in any danger.”

“Then?”

“Keep a close watch on where the civil war might lead. It’s only slowly getting worse, but we can’t be sure, because of what we did to Bipros and Duke Jordan. The new troops are just starting to train, and we haven’t even gotten our current army back to full strength.”

“Not we, but you did… No, we did. Hooo. So, you know all the dangers you just said, and you still want to go?”

“Yes!”

Patrick looked up silently into the red eyes that looked like his own.

Even if he didn’t know why, even if his son did strange things, it always helped the family in the end.

It wouldn’t hurt to trust him one more time.

“Alright. Fine. Go. But hide yourself well. Our family looks so unique that rumors will spread quickly.”

“Of course.”

There were some worrying things, but he finally got permission.

Logan left his father’s office feeling happy.

The next morning, he was ready to leave.

“May you return safely.”

“Thank you, soldiers.”

As always, the soldiers at the border took some money and let the traders pass.

They looked like poor people with just a few things, hoping to get rich quickly.

Most of them would die before even reaching a big city in the Empire.

So, it seemed normal to them to do small illegal things to earn some extra money.

And the soldiers at the Empire checkpoint, less than a few hundred meters away, did the same.

No, they were even worse.

One of these soldiers even worked with a gang of robbers on the border.

That soldier would get paid depending on how valuable the goods in the backpack were.

‘So, you need to know how scary the world is, merchant. Where do you think you’re going alone?’

The Imperial soldier, Largo, grinned, thinking about the red-haired, blue-eyed merchant who had just given him a gold coin.

“The Empire…”

Logan passed through the rough wooden border gate, giving the bored soldier a gold coin. After walking for another hour, a breathtaking sight opened up before him: a vast field of bright blue flowers, stretching to the horizon like a painted sea.

Logan rubbed his eyes, which felt dry, maybe because of the magic.

Looking at the distant scenery gave him a strange feeling of having seen it before.

He was dressed like a trader and had changed his eye color as a disguise.

He had done this many times in his past life, so he couldn’t help but remember those times.

Having such unique features meant that just changing one of them could make him look completely different.

This was a big help when disguising himself, so he was the one who traveled this road the most among his friends.

Following the main road to the west would take him to the big city of Luspelheim in the eastern Empire, a three-day walk away.

It was the city the Empire used as a base to invade and keep their army stocked, the city he both loved and hated during the independence movement… No, the city of hatred.

A wave of anger washed over him as he thought of Luspelheim. He clenched his fists, remembering all the pain that city had caused. He wished he could burn it to the ground.

But that wasn’t where he was going now.

‘Further south. Closer to the border…’

He didn’t know why the Massacre Magician, who would later become so powerful, was in such a faraway place, but that was why he had to go.

‘He’s probably not that strong yet.’

It didn’t make sense for someone so powerful to hide and stay in a remote area.

Knowing what Kraune would do later, he definitely had big plans.

‘He’s probably just getting stronger while doing research in a quiet place.’

If so, he was probably a 5th Circle mage, or maybe a 5th Class mage, considering his skills.

For Force Users, that would be like being the highest rank.

But Class mages are slower at casting spells than Circle mages, so he could definitely kill him…

Slap!

“Tsk. Why do I keep thinking like that? I should try to get him to join us first if I can. I’ll forget about what happened in my past life.”

Logan slapped his cheek to focus and walked silently.

After walking for several hours, as the sun started to set, Logan had to wait for the stars to come out in the middle of the forest path.

He left the road and entered the forest. The trees were tall and dark, their branches blocking out most of the sunlight. The air was cool and damp, and the only sound was the rustling of leaves under his feet.

‘I’m stuck looking at the stars and walking all night. Tsk.’

He sighed and spread out his bedroll to wait.

A moment later…

“Halt! Stop there! Red hair!”

“Why is that bastard going sideways when he’s supposed to be going to Luspelheim?”

“That’s a suspicious bastard. Looks like we’re doing something good for the country.”

“That’s right, just stop. And he walks so damn fast. A guy with blood-red hair. I’ll make him bleed as much as his hair color. Aish, it’s hard.”

Suddenly, rough voices broke the silence. A dozen men, big and dirty, stepped out from behind the trees. Their leather armor was patched and worn, and they carried rusty iron swords. They smelled of sweat and stale ale.

Logan smiled.

He had found a guide.