Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 117

Grand Duke Logan was gone from McLaine territory, but most people didn’t know.

Because the Grand Duke, who always gave work orders and watched training on the front lines, hadn’t been seen for almost ten days, people inside McLaine territory started to talk.

The Lord knew where Logan was. Clayton the wizard also knew, because he had helped Logan. But both of them stayed quiet. So, no one in McLaine territory could ask about the Grand Duke.

Even though no one knew where the Grand Duke was, there was another thing happening. Knights who had lost their homes were coming to McLaine Town.

Grand Duke Logan was known as a strong leader who didn’t take sides in fights. He was looking for knights to join him.

He offered good pay and benefits. This was very good for knights who had lost their jobs because of the war.

Some of the knights who came to McLaine Territory wanted to use this chance to get more for themselves.

The knights Tenan, Dylan, and Jacob, who were speaking loudly in the mansion, were like this.

“I came here because I heard that someone called the Grand Duke was hiring.”

“Doesn’t it make sense that the person in charge is not here?”

“Isn’t it impolite?”

They had lost the lords they fought for in the civil war and were moving around. They hadn’t known each other long, meeting and becoming friends on the way to McLaine Town, but they got along well.

It was strange that these knights, who were asking for jobs, were now shouting. But they had a plan.

McLaine had become rich before, somehow. They had also taken over Bipros, which was one of the three richest areas in the kingdom.

So, McLaine was very rich. And the Grand Duke wanted to become even stronger by hiring many knights.

The knights thought, ‘If we make a good excuse, we can ask for even better treatment. We can even ask for things that are not fair. McLaine is rich and wants to hire knights, so they won’t want to make us angry and have us spread bad stories about them.’

…or so they thought.

So, the three knights spoke politely, but they were still trying to pressure the administrator who was welcoming them. They spoke loudly and firmly.

The official who was talking to them, Rugel, was having a very bad time.

‘Still, they are guests who came at the Grand Duke’s request.’

Rugel Hais, who was bald, kept wiping sweat from his face. He tried to smile.

“Ha ha! The Grand Duke will be here soon, as soon as he finishes his private training. Please, stay here until then…”

“No. How long do you want us to wait? We need to know for sure when he will be back. We don’t have much time to waste.”

You have plenty of time, you lazy guys.

Rugel felt hopeless. He couldn’t believe he had to welcome these rude, almost like criminals, men as knights.

Just then, a strong-looking man walked past his office and stopped to help.

“Hmm? Rugel? Are these guests? They’re wearing knight clothes?”

“Ah! Mr. Heinkel! Perfect timing! These are knights who fought in the war. They want to meet the Grand Duke and talk about their job offers… Oh, knights, this is Mr. Heinkel. He is the commander of all the knights in McLaine.”

Rugel felt relieved and explained what was happening. The three knights who were listening stepped forward.

“I am Tenan, from Tainan. People in my town call me ‘Tenan of the Strong Sword.’ It’s an honor to meet you.”

“I am Dylan, from Gepield. My friends also call me ‘Dylan of the Quick Sword’ in my town.”

“I am Jacob, from Tehenan. They call me ‘Jacob the Strong’…”

“Ah, I see. You are all so famous you even have special names? I’m jealous, I don’t have one.”

Jacob stopped talking because Heinkel interrupted him. Jacob looked embarrassed, but Heinkel didn’t care about small details.

The commander of knights of a strong area. The one who would become their boss if they were hired here.

The three waved their hands at the same time.

“Oh, no, it’s just a nickname people used in my village.”

“Even my friends only said it.”

“Maybe enemies I fought were a little scared, but here… it’s different.”

“Well, we’ll see if that’s true when we test you. You want to work for McLaine, right?”

Heinkel spoke to them like they were equals, not like a boss. This didn’t feel strange at all.

“Yes! That’s right!”

“I’ve heard about how famous McLaine is for a long time…”

“And I know you are a famous commander…”

“Enough talk. Let me just say one thing.”

Heinkel held up his hand to stop them. He looked at them coldly.

“Our Grand Duke will pay you based on how good you are. If you want to be paid more, you need to show us you are worth it. Show me what you can do, don’t just talk.”

Heinkel’s words were so strong and cold that the three knights just nodded, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“Aim! Fire!”

Suddenly, the trees in front of them were filled with crossbow bolts. It looked like the trees had turned into honeycombs.

The three knights gasped. They had never seen so many crossbow bolts flying at once.

“The soldiers are really well trained.”

“I was surprised. Did they have such crossbows?”

“I think I know why McLaine is on a winning streak.”

They clapped and said how amazing it was, still sitting on their horses.

Rugel watched them and thought to himself, clicking his tongue.

‘Are these guys knights or people who say nice things to get what they want? Why didn’t you do this when you were with me?’

While Rugel was thinking this, Heinkel calmly told the knights they were wrong about something.

“They are not soldiers. They are vigilantes.”

“Vigilantes…?”

“The, the vigilantes who protect the village?”

“You mean they are not real soldiers? And they have these strong weapons?”

“That’s another amazing thing about our Grand Duke. You will see even more surprising things soon.”

The three knights smiled in a way that showed they didn’t really believe Heinkel. They thought he was just trying to impress them, like they had been trying to impress him.

‘He’s just showing off.’

‘McLaine has ten castles, but only two or three hundred vigilantes? There must be hundreds of villages then.’

But as they rode towards the knight training ground, they saw more and more groups like this. Their thoughts started to change.

“Wait, each of these groups isn’t just from one village, right?”

“Of course not. Even we can’t get that many people together from the whole area.”

“Ah, that’s right. Of course…”

“Each group is made up of vigilantes from three villages.”

“Three… villages…?”

Many groups are here now because they are training together for a few days. They are also helping to prepare the land to build a new town. That’s why you see so many of them.

The three knights had been talking less and less. But when they arrived at the knight training ground, they stopped talking completely.

“Try to block it!”

“I’ll spare your life!”

“Shut your mouth. All your teeth will fly out!”

The sounds were very loud, much louder than you would expect from a practice fight with wooden swords.

Each time the knights swung their wooden swords, it sounded like the air itself was being ripped open.

The *clang* of metal echoed across the training ground. It wasn’t just loud; you could feel the power in the swords, like a hot wind pushing outwards.

Most of the knights used swords like these. They looked the same at first glance – long, steel blades – but these were clearly different.

Tenan, Dillon, and Jacob had been knights for several years.

They knew what that meant.

Even knights who seemed no stronger than Tenan, Dillon, and Jacob were fighting with amazing skill. Their swords moved faster and hit harder.

Dillon’s eyes widened. “Wow, even the normal knights’ swords are so strong? Is it…?”

Jacob leaned in, whispering, “…Do McLaine knights have some special sword skill?”

Heinckel nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. “Indeed, we do.”

“…!!”

“S-So, if we join, we’ll learn that skill?”

“Of course, we’ll teach you.”

“I will join!”

“No, I want to join!”

“Just tell us what we need to do!”

The arrogant attitude they had shown at the mansion had completely disappeared.

However, Heinckel did not nod.

“That depends on what you all do.”

“…Pardon?”

“We can’t just accept every knight who comes to us, so shouldn’t we have a test?”

Heinckel remembered the lord’s simple rules:

“Knights are knights, just accept them.”

“Train them hard, make them strong.”

“If they are still weak, get rid of them.”

Heinckel ignored the lord’s incredibly simple and violent ideology, at least for this moment.

‘I need to test their spirit before they cause trouble. I’ll weed out anyone who looks like they have a bad personality from the start.’

He, too, had not liked their attitude at the mansion.

“We’ll do whatever it takes!”

“Please, give us the test!”

“What do we do first?!”

So, he ignored their eagerness for now.

“I’ll watch you train for now. After the official training is over, I’ll listen to your thoughts and then conduct the test.”

Would they be able to keep the same attitude then?

Heinckel smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. The three knights felt a chill, and their hands tightened.

The knights, who had broken various parts of their bodies during the wooden sword sparring, quickly healed their injuries with potions.

“P-Potion?”

“They use potions during training?”

“Is that real?”

“Of course, it’s real. Although it’s a weak potion.”

Even that was better than typical knight training.

However, the weak potions could only do so much. Some knights with severe injuries, such as broken bones, had to stop training.

Those people were regretful and burned with fighting spirit.

“Garen. Next time, it’ll be your ribs that break!”

“Hee hee. Yeah, let’s see in a few days.”

A few days later?

Heinckel, seeing their questioning looks, answered readily.

“There is a temple in Bipros, and priests from the temple live in McLaine Town or here at the training grounds… Ah, this place will soon become the second town. Anyway, we have a clinic here. They can heal something like a broken bone in a few days. The priests don’t fight in wars, but they help with training.”

At those words, the three were impressed again.

They not only taught amazing sword skills, but even though the training was tough, they took very good care of the knights.

The desire to join welled up again.

“Now, training is finished. Return to McLaine Town on horseback.”

“Aaaargh!”

With Heinckel’s clap, the knights who had finished sparring and were resting all groaned.

“The knights’ passion is amazing.”

“Are they sad that the training is ending?”

“Heh heh. I should work hard too.”

The three praised the atmosphere with excited faces.

Until the exhausted-looking knights started carrying their horses instead of riding them.

“…Surely, he said horseback riding just now?”

“In our horseback riding training, the horse rides the person.”

“……”

“……”

“……”

What kind of crazy talk is this?

Heinckel, reading their expressions, chuckled.

“You aren’t part of our knight order yet, so you don’t have to do it. Rugel, you can ride your horse slowly.”

“Yes!”

“Good. Let’s go!”

Neigh!

The moment Rugel answered, Heinckel also lifted the horse he had been riding and started running.

The three, staring blankly, couldn’t bring themselves to carry their horses, so they simply followed behind, running.

“Hey! What about the horses you rode here…!”

The administrator’s words couldn’t catch up with the sprinting knights.

“Aish. Why does everyone react the same way?”

Rugel grumbled, but there was a faint smile on his face.

The knights who had come to McLaine recently were not the first.

Just by looking at their reactions, he could see how strong the territory was becoming.

And their choices would eventually be the same.

Rugel, proud of the family he belonged to, slowly returned, leading the three horses.

Heinckel, who took the lead and chased after the knight order, soon overtook the front.

It was not hard training for him, who had reached the level of a high-ranking Force User.

He watched the knights and enjoyed seeing their faces.

His smile deepened as he looked at the three ‘young’ knights running in the front.

The young blood of McLaine were developing fast with a different attitude and skill after the Bipros battle, or rather, the Tomodo defense battle.

Moreover, one of them was the lord’s son, and the other was a female knight whom he never imagined he would see until recently.

‘I don’t know what they learned in Tomodo Castle….’

As long as they didn’t overdo it, it wouldn’t be bad.

The faces of the three people, who were gritting their teeth and running harder than anyone else, were in Heinckel’s mind.