Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 124

“What are you talking about!” one retainer shouted.

Another asked, “Join a group with Bipros weapons?”

“They wouldn’t even want us!” cried a third.

A fourth voice added, “Why join the losing side?!”

Voices rose all around the room. People talked over each other, their faces red with confusion and worry.

Everyone thought Logan’s plan was crazy.

Dwayne stepped forward, looking uneasy. His face showed he was very worried.

Dwayne was in charge of the officials. He spoke for everyone’s worries.

But Logan’s answer did not help.

Logan said, “If we help the side that is already winning, they won’t thank us much. That will only slow down our family’s problems. We need to join the side that is losing. If we can help them win, we will get a much bigger reward.”

On paper, Logan’s words sounded logical.

But this only made sense *if* McLaine was strong enough to change the war. This war had split the country in two.

“…I worry we will be like people who jump onto a ship that is already sinking,” Dwayne said. He was really asking, ‘Are you crazy?’

“It’s not sinking yet,” Logan argued. “Maybe some sails are torn, and there’s a leak in the hull. But it can still sail.”

Dwayne thought, *Should I be happy he knows how bad it is? Or angrier that he still wants to do this crazy thing?* Dwayne felt too many feelings at once to speak.

Dwayne didn’t need to look around to know everyone else felt the same way he did.

But Dwayne knew the Grand Duke would do what he wanted, no matter what anyone else said.

And most importantly, Logan said, “Have I ever been wrong when I asked you to do something? Trust me. I can do it again.” No one in the family argued with this old excuse anymore.

“Ugh…” Dwayne groaned. Then, a voice asked, “What if we fail?”

“Huh?!” Dwayne, who was running his hands through his hair in frustration, turned to see who spoke. It was like a light in the darkness.

It was Phillip! The young man was known for his talent and strange gray eyes. He looked straight at Logan and asked,

Dwayne stared at Phillip, his eyes hopeful. It was like finding water in the desert.

And Logan said, “We will not fail. I am sure of it.”

“But why are you so sure?” Phillip asked.

“I can’t explain it now,” Logan replied.

“Hmm,” Phillip said. “You’re doing that thing again… Well, you’ve always been right when you say that, Young Lord. I trust you will tell us later.”

Dwayne thought angrily, *Why did you even ask? Why did you speak up if you were just going to give up so easily!* Dwayne felt let down by Phillip. He clenched his fist in frustration.

Dwayne didn’t think Phillip was working with Logan to stop people from arguing.

Dwayne thought desperately, *Someone needs to argue! We should talk about this like reasonable people! Is this even a meeting? It’s just an order!* Dwayne felt like he was going to explode. He had so much to say, but he couldn’t. He walked quickly towards the Grand Duke.

His face red, Dwayne whispered in Logan’s ear, “You said Jordan did that! But why are we joining the Second Prince’s group…?” Dwayne knew the full story, so he could guess why, but he still complained quietly. He couldn’t say these things out loud.

“Don’t worry,” Logan whispered back. “I will make them pay for that.” As usual, Logan’s answer was not clear.

Logan smiled coldly as he said this. It felt like a warning to Dwayne. Dwayne stepped back, feeling small and powerless.

“Hoo…” Dwayne sighed. In the end, the Grand Duke announced, “Retainers, get ready for war! We leave as soon as we agree with the Second Prince!” Dwayne couldn’t stop the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke was letting Logan make all the decisions now.

That same day, McLaine sent a message to the Valtermaim lands.

* * * [I will join the Second Prince group.] This message shocked the official who handled messages. He quickly told the lord of the castle.

The lord of the castle, Jordan, was cold, even though he should have been happy.

“You want to join us *now*?” Jordan asked, his voice full of doubt. He sneered coldly. But on the screen, Logan just smiled. His red eyes looked sly.

[Well, if you don’t want us, I can always join the First Prince. Are you really going to say no, Lord Valtermaim?] Jordan Valtermaim got very angry when he heard this.

*Crash!* Jordan yelled, “How dare you try to trick me?!” He shouted so loudly that bookshelves and his desk fell over. The official barely caught the screen as it flew through the air. He held it up with a shaking arm, looking completely worn out.

Normally, Jordan Valtermaim wouldn’t have gotten this angry over words.

But Jordan felt a growing sense of doom. The war was going badly, and he was always on the defense. This was making him lose his calm.

It wasn’t that he was out of money or supplies. But the other side was also strong.

[Haha. How could I be rude to Lord Valtermaim? Especially after the… *gift* you sent me recently.] Logan’s smiling words made Jordan think again.

He thought of Ralph and Jeff, the brothers. It had only been a month since Jordan realized that the very skilled knights he sent, and the assassin too, were never coming back.

He guessed they were dead, killed in that arrogant man’s lands.

But Jordan couldn’t let Logan see he was worried. “Heh. A gift? I don’t know what you mean. Anyway, are you saying you’ll join our group because of this ‘gift’?”

[Well, not exactly. But if we join the losing side and help them win, we’d get more rewards later, right?] *The losing side,* Jordan thought. He narrowed his eyes. So, other people also thought they were losing.

But Logan answered casually, “If you think you are losing, then we will join the First Prince. Why are you saying we are losing?”

[Hmm. You see things a little differently than me. But if that’s what you think, Lord Valtermaim, then fine. Anyway, we have some conditions if we are going to join.] Jordan scoffed to himself when Logan said this.

*Join the group of the man who sent assassins after me?* Jordan thought. *That’s like asking to be stabbed in the back!*

“Conditions…” Jordan repeated. “Do I even need to hear them?” But Logan just calmly started to list his conditions.

“It’s fair, don’t you think? We won. Now, we want you to say that the land we took, Bipros, is ours. Also, we want half of the land next to McLaine that belongs to Calia. I know I might not become a Margrave, but at least say I am a Count, like my family was long ago. What do you say?”

Logan asked for so much, it was unbelievable. Jordan, who had been trying to ignore him, couldn’t help but reply.

“You occupy my subordinate’s land without permission and demand recognition? And half of the Margrave’s territory? Haha. Unbelievable. Are you serious right now?”

“I believe it’s not an excessive condition compared to the risks we have to bear.”

Jordan’s face twisted in anger. He stood up from his desk, pacing as he tried to understand Logan’s unbelievable demands. His ‘complicated expression’ was mostly confusion mixed with fury.

Continuing the conversation would only hurt his pride, so he decided to end the call.

“If you want to beg, come here and say it to my face. If you can stand before me and spout the same nonsense, I’ll acknowledge it.”

It was a statement thrown out, expecting him never to agree.

But the impudent fellow on the other end of the call nodded.

“Haha. Is that so? Very well.”

“What? Huh… He’s coming? Heh heh.”

Jordan could only nod, his expression a mix of confusion and anger. Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Patrick McLaine was talking to his son about the same message.

“Aren’t the conditions too much? It’s land they’ve already decided to divide among themselves.”

“If we’re worrying about that now, the Second Prince’s group will just fall apart. And the more we ask for, the less people will suspect us.”

“Suspicion? Forget suspicion, they’ll try to use us as shields as soon as we join.”

“We have to accept that.”

“The family’s carefully built power could be destroyed in some pointless fight.”

“Oh, come on. Father, you gave your permission after seeing Liberatio, didn’t you?” Patrick’s son asked, referring to their family’s powerful new weapon, Liberatio, a cannon that could destroy castle walls.

The power that others knew and McLaine’s real power were totally different now.

The basic army was different, but they also had amazing new weapons ready.

Those who knew were sure that even if they were used as shields, they could destroy the enemy instead.

But Patrick’s worry was something else.

Patrick worried. “What if the enemy attacks our home while we are away? Can we really trust these few knights to protect our family and Liberatio?”

“Don’t worry. Once we show how strong we are, no one will dare to say anything. That’s why we’re helping the weaker side.”

“Is that really all you’re thinking?”

“Yes, Father? What else would I be thinking?”

Patrick still remembered what happened at the Grand noblesse.

He remembered his son laughing as he watched the event that started the civil war.

Larry Clatt, the scribe who died then, was a leading figure in the Second Prince’s group of civil servant nobles.

He had a bad feeling that his son’s desire to join this civil war was because of that event.

“Well, Prince Romaine isn’t really good enough to be king.”

And his son’s smile made that bad feeling even stronger.

“You don’t mean…”

“It’s a crazy world, Father. Today’s enemy can be tomorrow’s friend, and today’s friend can be tomorrow’s enemy.”

It seemed that the two groups had already gone too far to be acting like bats.

“We just need to make the family as strong as possible in the meantime.”

His son’s confident smile stopped Patrick from saying what he was worried about.

“Yes. It has to be.”

He had already given his son all the family’s power a long time ago. Now, he could only trust him and move forward.

Patrick stared at his eldest son’s face, which he felt he no longer understood, and then patted him on the shoulder without saying anything.

There was no need to make things worse by saying the bad feeling he had.

‘I must be getting old. Why do I have these feelings?’

He thought so, but he really hoped in his heart.

May only good things happen to him at the end of this road.

If there are any problems on that road….

‘I will clear the way. Even if it costs me my life. So, God, I really pray that you will only bring good things to my sons’ future.’

Patrick, who had never prayed to God before, even prayed to God, trying to stop the unknown bad feeling.

Ronian felt a surge of excitement. He rushed to the training yard, grabbing his sword. He would train harder than ever. He would be ready for anything his brother needed.

The civil war had made the country unstable, but that was happening somewhere else.

Instead, the family got back its old land and regained the glory of two hundred years ago.

And this civil war would bring even more success.

Maybe the family could become as powerful as it was when Adam McLaine, the Sword Saint, the founder of the Grandia Kingdom and the family’s founder, was alive, a story only told in the family’s legends.

‘It’s definitely possible because I have my brother!’

And he would be a sword beside his brother, leading the way to that glory and recording all history.

Ronian was determined to work hard in his training every day.

So that he would never again fail to carry out ‘his brother’s plan’ because he wasn’t strong enough.

Then one day.

When he heard that the family was getting ready to go to war again, he received a totally unexpected order.

“…Protect the family? Me?”

“We’ve left only one squad of six knights and one hundred soldiers in each of the ten castles, including the two towns. It’s too small a number compared to the expanded territory. A member of the family’s direct line must stay to command the knights and supervise the training of the self-defense forces. And in case of an emergency…”

“Brother.”

Ronian stopped his brother, who was already giving the third explanation, and looked at his face.

“Hmm?”

“Is it really necessary?”

“…Yes. To be honest, this isn’t our war, so there’s no need for all the family’s direct line to go.”

“If the worst happens, I’ll have to take over the family.”

“That won’t happen, but…”

“Brother. I’m not a child anymore. I know what you’re saying. I know it’s necessary, too.”

At those words, Logan stopped talking and looked at his brother.

He was only eighteen years old. But he had already grown to be about the same height as himself, and his shining red eyes were looking at him with a confident smile.

In his brother’s face, whom he had only thought of as young, he faintly saw the face of the Aura User who had led the family alone in a difficult situation that could not be compared to the present and fought against the Empire.

Logan, who blinked his eyes several times at that, smiled quietly.

“Haha. Yes. I must have been nagging too much.”

“Go and come back. I’ll protect the territory until you return. Definitely.”

“…I trust you.”

As he turned around, patting his brother’s shoulder, a strangely proud feeling filled his chest.

Completely trusting his brother, who had grown up to be so reliable….

“But still, just in case…”

“Brother, please… trust me. I will protect everything. You go and win this war.”

His dignity was a little shattered, but he couldn’t shake off his worries.

‘Because it’s such an important time.’

It was definitely not because he was an overly worried old man.

Logan deceived himself like that.