Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 127

“This is crazy!” Heinkel shouted.

As soon as the mission orders were given, Heinkel protested loudly. “I knew there would be a test,” he said, his voice rising, “but this is too much! Are they just telling us to go and die?!”

“We just joined them,” Patrick added, looking at his son Logan in disbelief. “And now they want us to split off and attack the enemy from behind? Logan, are you serious?”

Logan shook his head with a smile.

“Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening. The Duke is even more foolish than I thought.”

“Heh. So, is there another choice?”

“No, sir. We just have to make this work.”

A moment of silence fell over the barracks at his calm reply.

The silence broke as everyone started talking at once.

“What if we pretend to follow the plan and then retreat right away? We could lure them toward the main camp…”

“If we refuse the orders, the Second Prince’s group could use that as an excuse to get rid of us!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to leave now and go around the castle?”

“If they find us, the First Prince’s group will attack us with everything they have!”

“We have to fight like guerrillas, using the repeating crossbows as much as possible. If we stay far away, attack, and then retreat, we can keep our losses low…”

“Guerrilla warfare with an army of five thousand? We might as well just use the knights and crossbow cavalry…”

“Quiet, quiet!”

Logan quieted the noisy crowd. Once everyone was silent, he spoke calmly.

“Even though the First Prince’s group is stronger, they aren’t that much stronger. They can’t send a lot of soldiers just to catch us. At most, an army led by a high-ranking noble called a Margrave will come. It will be an army that has fought together for a long time.”

“You mean like the old elite soldiers from Bifrost?”

When Patrick said that, the older knights and Heinkel in the barracks looked worried.

Most of them had fought in the Tomodo battle.

The thought of fighting an army as strong as Bifrost’s made them afraid. They forgot that Bifrost was one of the strongest Margraves.

Seeing the worried looks, Logan continued calmly.

“Someone suggested guerrilla warfare, and that might be the best choice. Sir Heinkel, what do you think about that?”

“…Even if we fight like guerrillas, staying far away, attacking, and then retreating, the crossbow cavalry can’t get away from the enemy knights. To stop the knights, we’d have to send our own knights, and as soon as the knights fight, it will become a big war. Unless we are going to use the knight order as soldiers who are meant to die.”

The barracks became quiet again at that strange idea.

“If we win but lose a lot of men, it won’t be worth it for us to join this group.”

“I guess so. But what if we could win without losing many men, even if a big war starts?”

“…What?”

“Clayton. That might be possible, right?”

Logan looked towards Clayton in the corner of the barracks, and everyone else looked too.

The middle-aged mage, Clayton, looked serious but nodded confidently.

“Of course.”

“What…?”

“Mage?”

“What are you talking about?”

The crowd started talking again, but Patrick raised his hand to quiet them. He sighed and looked at Logan.

“Are you saying we should use that in the first battle?”

“We have to.”

“…Am I missing something?”

Heinkel looked around, confused, but only Patrick, Logan, and Clayton were nodding.

“The Magic Tower and the workshop have made a new weapon together. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Sir Heinkel.”

“A new weapon…?”

“It’s a strong and dangerous weapon, so we had to keep it secret. I hope you understand.”

“Ah. Haha. Well, if that’s the case, it’s okay. It’s a weapon that can really win the battle…right?”

“Of course.”

“Then I trust you.”

Heinkel quickly looked happy.

He didn’t seem angry that he, as an important member of the family, hadn’t been told about the secret.

The older knights also looked happy and nodded, following their commander.

Logan nodded, pleased to see the strong trust they had built over the years through fast growth and battles.

“The McLaine family has joined the Second Prince’s group? Huh… Are they crazy, or is Jordan crazy?”

The answer came from Kieron Wolves, who was standing right behind Juan Douglas.

“Either way, more people will die.”

“Haha. Are you being too cold, Kieron? Weren’t they old friends? I heard their children were once going to get married?”

“Those are just things from the past.”

Kieron, a middle-aged man with elegant features, silver hair, and black eyes, answered the Duke calmly.

“You’re cold. Aren’t you disappointed? They’re a family that even got their old land back. If we had stayed friends, they would have had to support us.”

Juan Douglas, the Duke, had shining platinum blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, showing that he clearly had royal blood.

Kieron Wolves smiled to himself as he saw how much the Duke wanted to be more powerful than he was born to be.

He would get rid of anyone who stood in his way.

Kieron guessed that the McLaine family, now that they had gone against him, would be killed.

It was a question with an obvious answer.

He simply bowed his head and gave the expected reply.

“If that happened, I would lose my connection with you. Why would I care about them when I am working for you now?”

“Heh. Still, I’m a little disappointed. We were always going to be connected, right?”

“I will end any old feelings for them in the next battle.”

“Hoh? Are you sure? They tricked Bifrost before.”

“That was just a trick. And our family has had their secret weapon for a long time.”

“Secret weapon?”

“The elite soldiers who have finished training have finally joined us. I will show you in the next battle.”

“Hmm… Is that so? Well, I’ll be waiting.”

This short conversation happened in the First Prince’s castle.

For now, the news of McLaine’s family joining only had this much effect.

For now.

The secret war of assassinations ended again, and the big war that had been quiet for a while started again.

Unexpectedly, the Second Prince’s side, which had been losing, attacked first.

Loud trumpets sounded, and the eastern gate of Alun Castle opened wide. Knights with serious faces started riding out.

The Valterheim Knights led the way. Even after months of fighting, they were still almost a thousand strong. Soldiers kept coming out of the gate.

Almost 50,000 soldiers came out. This took a very long time, almost two hours. On the other side, a large enemy army appeared, as if they were waiting for them.

The only difference was that the enemy army had many mages. These mages wore robes that were white and blue. But because there were so many soldiers, both armies looked very similar in size and how they moved.

The McLaine army was the only exception. Because they couldn’t enter the castle, they went around the walls and lined up on the right side of the Second Prince’s army.

Even though it wasn’t obvious, both the enemy and their allies were watching them closely. Padrik stood at the front of his army. He looked worried and muttered…

“One wrong move, and we could all be dead.”

He wasn’t really looking at the enemy, but at the Second Prince’s army, keeping a distance even now.

“It makes me want to attack them right now.”

“Well, that’s only to be expected. This entire battle is probably happening because they don’t trust us.”

Logan spoke calmly.

But he was only thinking one thing:

‘Kill those bastards as quickly as possible and end this war.’ This was the first step toward that goal.

Logan looked not just at the First Prince’s army, but also carefully at the best soldiers of the Second Prince.

At that moment, a great shout filled the battlefield.

“Charge!”

Trumpets sounded and flags waved from all over the walls.

Boom.

The first step of the army, all together, felt like a powerful force.

Maybe it was because of this powerful feeling that Padrik gave his command a little bit late.

“We move out too!”

Flags waved from left to right, showing what the lord wanted to all 5,000 soldiers.

The McLaine army moved in a way that was clearly different as the combined armies of 100,000 soldiers slowly got closer. They moved away from the main army and started going around the edge of the battlefield.

The leaders on both sides watched them closely.

“They were embarrassed at our first meeting and were given a ridiculous job. But they are just moving as planned, Duke?”

Prince Romaine thought Logan was not very smart. He watched the McLaine army move to the side. His eyes looked even colder than their usual icy blue.

“We must watch them for now, Your Highness. We will soon see what they are really planning.”

Jordan also watched them calmly. But you could see a little doubt in his eyes.

‘Are they really going through with the plan?’

Jordan had thought they might attack by pretending to surrender. So, this move was very surprising.

Of course, he kept a close watch on McLaine’s movements.

And he wasn’t the only one.

‘They’re going to get crushed.’

Roger Bipross stared angrily at the McLaine army, wanting to kill them.

Luchen Talos, however, watched with a lot of interest, thinking, ‘Hmm. Really?’

The leaders of the Second Prince’s group were spread out in the army, telling their soldiers what to do. Each leader had their own thoughts as they watched the McLaine army move away, instead of watching the enemy coming closer.

McLaine’s movements caused an even bigger reaction in the First Prince’s army.

“Those crazy people have really lost their minds. What are they even thinking?”

Huan Douglas sounded like he couldn’t believe it. Most of the First Prince’s leaders felt the same way.

“They must think we’ll just stand by and watch. Like they’re playing with toy soldiers.”

Hahaha.

Even though it was wartime, and just before the fighting, people laughed at what the assistant said.

They were relaxed because they were winning in recent battles.

This relaxed feeling showed they were confident. Huan Douglas laughed out loud.

You could see this confidence in the flag signals. They suddenly waved even faster.

“Count Terran Zahid has asked to stop the army moving to the side.”

“Count Grima Tahil has made the same request…”

“Count Austin Trumbell as well.”

“The Wolves too…”

Not long ago, they were just a small, unimportant family from the countryside. Almost no one knew their name.

Even though they had taken over a larger area by being sneaky at the start of the war, everyone thought they wouldn’t be able to do much more.

So, it was easy to think that their army was just a messy group of untrained soldiers.

Huan Douglas laughed and ordered, “Let Kyrun Wolves handle them. He said he would do well, so he should show us something good.”

“Yes!”

With that simple decision, over 5,000 soldiers moved away from the First Prince’s army.

“Indeed, a grudge is a grudge.”

Kyrun Wolves narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the distant flag with the flame on it.

Thirty years ago, he met the son of a small lord at school in the capital city. This young man was very talented, and everyone noticed him.

Kyrun liked that talent.

Even though they were from different social classes, he promised his child to this young man because he thought he would become important.

But maybe his talent didn’t last. This ‘friend’ became a Senior Knight before he was thirty, but then he didn’t improve for over twenty years.

Being a Senior Knight was still strong, but the Wolves family had almost ten people as talented as him who were older.

He was only really powerful in the villages and small towns.

So, in some ways, it made sense that the engagement was broken. But Kyrun was still annoyed that the family who had been rejected had been doing so well ever since.

Because of this, he got the new weapon, the thing that made them strong, faster and with more trouble than anyone else.

“He would have had a chance if he had fought another count from the border.”

He thought about letting someone else attack first and then trying to get a bigger victory later if they failed. But he knew that making his allies weaker would be bad for the whole war.

So, he decided to attack himself first.

“I’ll use the weapon that came from you to ruin you. Sorry, Padrik.”

Kyrun muttered quietly and sneered.

They used to have a strong knight army. And now they have a new weapon.

‘We can’t lose,’ Kyrun Wolves thought, and he moved his army to block McLaine’s way.

And.

Kwwaaaaaaang!

He stared, mouth open, at what he saw. It was totally unexpected.