Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 126

Honestly, Logan didn’t know much about the Second Prince, Romain von Grandia.

He only remembered that Romain was considered to have even worse qualities as a ruler than the First Prince, Lohtar, who was later known as a tyrant who ruined the country.

Besides that, Logan only remembered seeing him nodding arrogantly at important nobles or pointing and raging at his brother. Romain would puff out his chest and look down his nose when nodding, his face red and eyes wide when raging.

‘Well, even that was enough to know his character,’ Logan thought.

But beyond his character, Logan hadn’t expected him to be this stupid.

“Did you think I’d welcome you with open arms if you knelt now? You’re nothing but bats! Trying to side with whoever’s winning! That’s…”

Winning? Who?

Could he not even understand what was happening now?

Logan couldn’t help but lift his head in disbelief.

The only good thing was that behind the fool, most of the nobles seemed ashamed, looking up at the sky or down at the ground.

At least the leadership wasn’t entirely as foolish as him.

“Your Highness, I believe the Baron understands. I will speak next.”

“Hmph, very well, Duke. I’m a bit tired, so I’ll retire for now.”

What had he even done…?

From his first word to his exit, every single thing was incredibly stupid.

The foolish prince went inside the castle. Only then could they talk to the real leader.

“Welcome to the alliance.”

“It is an honor, Your Excellency.”

“Fortunately, you have better manners than your son.”

“My son has excellent manners.”

“Oh? Doesn’t seem like it.”

Jordan’s look from the side of his eyes was directed at Logan, who was facing Roger Vifrose not far away.

“It’s been a while, Count.”

“Hmph… Hahaha. This is truly unbelievable.”

“Isn’t this a good situation? You always said that our southwest region should unite. It has finally come to pass.”

Crack!

“How dare you open your mouth—!”

“Ah, are those Lord Jeff Percival and Baron Derek Loopman behind you? Pleased to meet you. But, if I may be so bold, what do you plan to do after the war, siding with them like that?”

“You—!”

“Wow, your voice is still loud. I’m glad you seem to be in good health.”

Roger Vifrose trembled, his body seemingly about to explode. His fists were clenched, and his face was purple.

Logan was enjoying making Roger angry.

At first, he was just trying to make him angry, but the Count’s reaction was too immediate, as if he had become strangely impatient.

‘If I do things well, he might believe this easy plan? Come on! Don’t hold back!’

At this close range, now that he had reached the highest level, Logan was confident he could strike the Count down before he could pull any tricks. It was his fighting skill that made him confident.

If he were attacked first, no one could blame him for killing the Count.

Even if they were temporarily on the same side, it wouldn’t be pleasant to have someone with hostility towards him behind his back.

But that expectation vanished as the silver-haired man stepped in between them.

“Your Excellency, restrain yourself. Getting close to dung only makes you stink.”

The moment Plantz’s ghostly eyes, spreading a cold smile, scanned Logan’s entire body, Logan was annoyed.

Plantz’s ghostly eyes were a pale blue color that seemed to glow with an unnatural light. His cold smile only reached his lips, not his eyes.

‘Tch. Failed again,’ Logan thought.

“…Hmph. We’ll see about that.”

As Roger Vifrose regained his composure and turned away, Aslan, who had been staring intently at Logan’s father talking to the Duke, pointed at himself and gestured to slit his own throat with his thumb. Aslan was warning Logan.

Logan simply smirked and turned away, when the gray-haired giant, who had been standing a little further away, suddenly appeared before him.

‘Gasp! What a fright! Jeez!’

Logan was inwardly terrified by his silent movement, but outwardly he wore a relaxed smile.

“It’s been a while, Duke Jordan.”

“Hmm? Have we actually met before?”

“I saw you from afar at your disciple’s child’s naming ceremony.”

“Ah, that’s right. If I had known things would turn out this way, I should have met you back then. Don’t you think?”

“One never knows what will happen in life, but I do feel a bit regretful as well. Haha.”

“But I never expected you to actually come. What are you thinking? I asked the Baron, and he told me to ask you. I heard you’re practically the leader of McLaine now…”

The gray-haired giant’s brown eyes scanned Logan like a snake.

“Haha. What am I thinking? I’m thinking of making a profit, of course.”

“A profit… you say.”

“Don’t you get more if you bet on the one who is not expected to win?”

“Don’t tell me those conditions weren’t a joke?”

“Of course not. If you win this war with our help, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for. Moreover, you came even after receiving ‘that gift,’ so you should treat us even better, shouldn’t you?”

At the word ‘gift,’ a small spark flickered in Jordan’s brown eyes, but it quickly died down, and the Duke soon let out a hearty laugh.

“Haha. You make it sound like we’re bound to lose without you. But there are things in this world that you can’t know just by looking at the surface.”

“I’m sure those things that you can’t know just by looking at the surface exist on their side as well. Don’t you think?”

“You really argue about everything. No wonder Roger hates you so much.”

“Haha. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“But even if you’ve joined us, you know we can’t fully trust you, right?”

The main point came crashing in during their jesting conversation.

But Logan didn’t panic and replied with a smile.

“Of course.”

“Your soldiers will have to wait outside the castle for a while. And you will be allowed to participate in the high command strategy meetings, but you should consider that you have no right to speak until McLaine proves its trustworthiness to us.”

“How can we prove that trustworthiness?”

“This is a battlefield. Trust can be proven by doing good things, wouldn’t you say?”

“Sounds easy enough.”

The conversation, with knives hidden beneath the surface, reached an agreement far too easily.

“The ambushes against His Highness have stopped since the capture of the assassin a week ago. It means they’re running out of ways to approach His Highness. It’s time to attack them again!”

“Yes!”

Five nobles responded simultaneously to Duke Jordan’s shout as he slammed the table.

Including the Half-Giant Luther Kyle, Border Lord Julio Tritan, Lucen Talos, Famil Cerno, and even the former Border Lord Roger Vifrose.

Logan suppressed a smile as he looked at the faces of the core leadership leading the Second Prince’s faction.

They act like they’ve never done it before.

This was a war unlike others. It wasn’t about taking land. It was about the throne itself.

Everyone knew the truth: if the enemy prince died, the war would stop immediately.

If the prince, the one who would inherit the throne, was killed and the war went on, neutral groups would quickly join the enemy. Even their own soldiers might turn against them.

So, in this terrible war, killing the enemy prince wasn’t seen as evil. It was seen as something they *had* to do.

This is why Jordan Valterheim, known as the Inferno Sword, and Juan Douglas, the Ice Magician – the strongest warriors on each side – had to stay very close to their princes. They couldn’t leave their side for long.

“This war isn’t about land, it’s about death.”

And the princes they were trying to kill? They were fighters who would do anything, *anything* at all, to stay alive.

This made the war even more awful, more hopeless, and it dragged on and on.

This terrible civil war, the one from his past life, had destroyed the very foundations of their country. It was a disaster.

“Just kill the bad guys fast and end this war. Then…”

This meeting about tactics? It felt pointless.

He pretended to listen to the battle plans, but his mind was far away. He wasn’t really paying attention.

Suddenly, words cut through his thoughts. He couldn’t ignore *these* words.

“I want the McLain Company to go around the enemy and attack them from behind.”

Instantly, everyone in the room turned to look at Logan.

Some people looked down at him, seeing him as just a young boy. Others glared at him with pure anger, as if they wanted to destroy him.

And then… curiosity.

“Hmm? Curious?”

Logan’s eyes stopped on one man, a border count. This man had a strange look in his eyes, different from the others.

Luchen Talos. He looked normal enough, with brown hair and blue eyes.

Logan remembered now. Luchen had looked at him with that same odd expression earlier, at the west gate.

“What happened to him later? Who was he really?”

Logan couldn’t quite remember anything special about him from his memories of the past. He hadn’t paid much attention to Luchen before.

That’s why this strange look was… interesting.

While Logan was still thinking about that strange look, a loud, angry voice cut through the air again.

“Is your silence saying ‘no’? Are you refusing to obey? Or do I need to speak to the Baron again, the one who gave you all this power?”

“Oh, no. Go around and attack from behind, you mean?”

“Exactly. We know who all the strongest fighters are on both sides. You and your family are the only unknown thing here. So, you should make a chance for us, right?”

Logan almost laughed out loud at how rude and bold those words were.

He thought about the battlefield. Armies of over 50,000 soldiers were going to fight. And that was just counting the soldiers from the nobles.

To take only 5,000 soldiers, go around a huge battlefield that everyone could see, and attack the enemy’s back lines? It was a suicide mission. They were ordering him to get killed to distract the enemy.

Roger Bipros was trying hard to hide his anger. Logan could see the corners of Roger’s mouth twitching.

“That’s… interesting,” Logan said. “I’ll do it.”

“……What?”

Jordan, who had given the order, looked even more surprised.

The other border counts watching also stared at Logan, confused.

“Anything else I need to know?” Logan asked.

“No, no. If you understand, that’s fine. You plan the details yourself.”

“Understood.”

“What kind of plan *could* there be? This is crazy.”

Logan turned away, hiding what he really thought.

“If you had said no, I was going to break up your army and take control of them. We need those weapons you talked about, and that’s the legal way to get them.”

“I know,” Logan replied calmly.

“And if you had refused *that* too, I would have ordered you to attack right at the front of the battle. If you didn’t want to plan or have your army broken up, then the front lines are the only place for you.”

“…I figured,” Logan said quietly.

“But you agreed right away and just left? Do you really plan to do that crazy plan? You don’t seem stupid enough for that.”

“He’s definitely not stupid,” Roger Bipros said.

“Right. So what’s he up to? What do you think he’s planning?”

Even though Duke Jordan asked, Roger Bipros hesitated. He couldn’t answer quickly.

Logan was a man who always surprised everyone. He always did more than anyone expected. And in the end, Logan had even taken Roger’s land.

Roger couldn’t easily figure out what Logan was thinking. It was hard to judge him.

But…

“He’s confident,” Luchen said.

Roger Bipros frowned. He thought Luchen was being annoying, as usual.

“Luchen?” Roger asked.

“Don’t make it too complicated,” Luchen said. “If someone agrees to a plan that’s basically asking them to die, and they don’t even argue, it means they must be confident. Unless they are a complete idiot. And that young man is definitely not an idiot.”

“Confident about going around the First Prince’s army and attacking their back lines? Right in front of them? That’s incredibly hard, even if *I* led my best knights!”

“That’s because if *you* tried to do it, Your Excellency, the enemy would focus all their power on stopping you. But Logan’s group is different, isn’t it?”

Luchen’s words made Duke Jordan think. He nodded slowly. But he still had questions.

“……Still, I won’t just do nothing. If it were me, I would send at least 5,000 soldiers – a force as big as a border count’s army – to stop them. Even if it weakens our main army a little.”

“Yes, I’d do the same,” Jordan agreed. “And the enemy will probably think the same thing. And that young man probably knows that too.”

“You mean…?” Jordan asked, wanting to be sure he understood.

“It all comes down to the same thing,” Luchen explained. “Logan must be confident that he can defeat at least one border count’s army. Unless he’s planning to give up and surrender to the enemy.”

Luchen said this calmly, but Roger Bipros burst out angrily.

“That’s ridiculous! If I had enough time, I could destroy them easily! It hasn’t been that long…!”

“Yes, logically, you’re right,” Luchen said calmly. “Even with those special weapons you mentioned.”

“So, it’s stupid to think he can win!” Roger shouted.

Luchen Talos clicked his tongue in annoyance. He looked at Roger Bipros, who was still yelling angrily.

“Roger, Roger,” Luchen sighed. “I know you’re angry at that young man. But why are you acting so unlike yourself? If he’s not just a crazy idiot, then he must be confident. Shouldn’t we just wait and see what happens?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Duke Jordan agreed. “With our current battle plan, even if they turn against us, they can’t hurt us too much.”

“If he’s just an idiot, he’ll cause a little trouble for the enemy, and then he’ll be gone. But if he’s not an idiot, he must have a plan, and he’ll get results.”

In a way, Roger Bipros actually thought Logan was more capable than anyone else in the room realized. That’s why it was so hard for Roger to believe Logan was just a fool.

Roger also didn’t believe that Logan could have become much stronger than him in such a short time.

He was torn between his burning anger and his cold, logical thinking. The former border count was stuck in the middle, unsure what to believe. He just kept thinking, unable to speak.

And then, Luchen spoke again, right in front of Roger.

“Personally,” Luchen said, looking directly at Roger, “I hope you weren’t really defeated by a fool.”

Luchen, that annoying man, had made Roger even angrier again.