Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 167

Jorge stepped out of his room and took a deep breath of the cool morning air. It was crisp and smelled of dew.

He looked at McLaine Town. The buildings were still new to him, made of light-colored stone, unlike the dark stone of Callia.

Already, the town was busy. People were moving around since sunrise.

“Yo, Jim! Let’s go together!”

“What’s with the early bird? You’re a bit late today, aren’t you?”

“The missus nagged me awake….”

The farmers’ faces shone with morning smiles as they started their day earlier than anyone else. This brought a faint smile to Jorge’s lips.

‘It’s a good place.’

McLaine was very different from Callia. Callia was now ruined, and people blamed it for the war.

“McLaine, eh? Heh, it’s for the best. Go. Find real freedom there. Don’t live in a prison without bars, following a pathetic lord.”

Jorge couldn’t refuse the offer, even though he felt sorry for the miserable smile of the lord he used to serve.

At forty, he was at the peak of his abilities as a top-tier knight.

He didn’t want to waste his time under surveillance and restrictions that could last for decades.

Was he a coward?

He was just doing what the king told him to do. There were only two choices.

He was only following the orders of the monarch, the true lord of the knights of this land, and not abandoning his duty as a knight.

But he knew this wasn’t really true.

Though it wasn’t the worst disgrace of surrendering to the enemy.

‘A knight who changed banners. Yes, that’s me. As such, I will establish myself firmly here.’

A top-tier knight was a valuable asset that any territory or country would welcome.

In fact, even in the rising McLaine Territory, the top-tier knights were only the lord, his son, and Logan McLaine.

He also wanted to repay his old lord for being kind to him.

He didn’t want to shame his old title as the Callia Knight Commander.

Jorge reaffirmed his determination to become a key figure in McLaine.

‘This is the beginning.’

It had only been three days since he came to McLaine Town from Callia Territory.

For the first time, he would meet those who could be called the true owners of this place, the McLaine Knights.

“Brother, aren’t you worried?”

Denmill, his former confidant who had followed him, voiced a timid concern that didn’t suit his bulky frame.

Jorge chuckled and replied.

“Of course, there will be some animosity. But what can we do now that we are joining them? We just have to endure it.”

“It’s not just a simple merger. We were enemies exchanging blows until recently. It might be more than just animosity.”

“Even so, we must endure it all. Don’t even think about causing trouble.”

“But you have your pride, brother. If it gets too bad, I’ll take responsibility and step up.”

“…Step up and do what?”

“I’ll just cause an accident and get kicked out, but anyone who treats you carelessly will disappear… Aargh! Sorry!”

“Don’t talk nonsense and absolutely endure it. Understand?”

“Yes, yes. So, let go of this….”

Only then did Jorge release Denmill’s ear, which had been spouting nonsense.

Right now, he needed to be mentally strong more than anything.

‘I have no pride. I am a knight who changed banners. I have no pride….’

Repeating the mantra to himself several times, he took a deep breath and entered the knight training grounds, when—

Thud.

As soon as he entered, a knight bumped into his shoulder.

“Hey, what are you doing standing at the entrance….”

Is the training starting already?

Jorge sighed inwardly, noticing Denmill’s distorted face, already furious before him.

‘I told you to endure it. It’s just the beginning.’

Just as Jorge’s hand was about to move to stop Denmill.

“Watch where you’re… Oh? That armor…? Gasp! You’re the new arrivals! Oh, I’m so sorry. I was rude. I apologize.”

The knight in front of him bowed 90 degrees, repeatedly apologizing.

“Uh…?”

“…?”

“I’m really sorry. I was in a hurry and didn’t see where I was going.”

He seemed genuinely sorry and didn’t know what to do.

‘What is this?’

Jorge and Denmill were momentarily confused by the completely unexpected situation.

“Landon! I told you to get the weapons, where are you… Oh? What’s going on there?”

A large knight approached from afar.

His fiercely distorted face clearly revealed the anger in his heart.

‘This is the real beginning.’

Jorge braced himself as he watched the approaching knight.

“Oh? Sir Jorge? Sir Jorge, the top-tier knight of Callia, isn’t it?”

The giant’s face instantly changed to a smile. He lowered his posture and quickly approached, extending his hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Henderson, the leader of the 4th squad of the McLaine Knights. I’ve heard a lot about you. I look forward to working with you!”

Jorge’s eyes shook like a storm, even more than the hand that was being vigorously shaken.

‘What the heck? Why are they like this?’

Denmill, standing behind him, also watched Henderson and Jorge alternately with confused eyes, unable to say anything.

‘Gasp? A top-tier knight? That?’

Landon, the common knight who had bumped into Jorge earlier, turned pale at his squad leader Henderson’s words.

It wasn’t just because he had made a mistake with a high-ranking knight.

He remembered the words of his squad leader, Henderson, who was shaking hands with that top-tier knight.

“Is it tough? But do you know when our knight order had the hardest time? It was when we first merged with the Tesron Knights. Back then, the atmosphere was a bit bad due to the initial animosity and sabotage.”

“Isn’t that obvious? I almost got killed by our lord for doing that obvious thing! Not by an enemy, but by our lord!”

“Have you ever seen your life flash before your eyes during training?! The current training is like gymnastics compared to then, gymnastics!”

“But now the higher-ups have even held meetings about ‘discrimination’ and ‘equality’ within the knight order. Do you know what this means?”

“It means we’re all screwed if we show animosity to the transferred knights. Absolutely! Absolutely no talk of animosity or sabotage! Even when we didn’t have family meetings like this, the lord looked like a devil.”

“If things go wrong this time, not only the lord but also the young master will be chewing us out together. You don’t know who created that damn equestrian training, do you? If the lord and his son both turn into devils, we might actually die during training.”

“If the transferred knights even mention animosity, and if it’s because of you, know that your life will be ruined. Got it?”

A truly terrifying threat.

The members of the 4th squad, who had already suffered enough from that ignorant squad leader, deeply internalized the threat with fear seeping into their bones.

But now, Henderson’s eyes were glancing at him, and if he stayed like this, he felt like his life would really be hanging by a thread.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Landon rushed up to the knights in front of him.

“Wow! You’re a top-tier knight, I didn’t recognize you. Please teach me well in the future. I look forward to working with you!”

‘We were slashing at each other until recently.’

‘Have you all forgotten that already?’

The incomprehensible barrage of kindness from both sides completely bewildered Jorge and Denmill.

The strange welcome for them continued thereafter.

“Oh, Sir Jorge. It’s an honor to meet you.”

A face that clearly remembered slashing at each other in the war was talking about honor.

“Do you like the food here? There’s a tavern I know well, they have great barbecue….”

A knight who had mercilessly cut down his subordinates with a devilish face was recommending a good restaurant.

In the end, they had no choice but to return to their lodgings very surprised by this, which contradicted their initial resolve.

And they weren’t the only two who had that experience.

The wind howled around the training yard, making the banners snap loudly. A knight with a rough voice leaned closer to his friend. “What are they plotting?” he hissed, his eyes darting towards the main platform.

“Exactly!” his friend agreed, his face pale in the dim morning light. “This is just too weird, isn’t it?”

“It’s got to be a trap,” a third knight muttered, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “The second we think it’s safe, they’ll jump on us.”

The worried voices buzzed around them, but then Hoerhe spoke, his voice cutting through the fear. “But why would they do this?” he asked, his brow furrowed in thought.

The other knights, who had been shouting their fears, went quiet, looking at Hoerhe with confusion.

Why were their masters bowing down to them when they would have had to submit anyway?

They could never know the answer to this question.

All they could do was guess.

Henderson, the large knight who was being friendly, spoke up. “Look,” he said, “there are only about thirty of us who are truly McLaine Knights, including Digrom and me.”

“Maybe this is why the McLaine Knights are so strong.”

At those words, the heads of those who had once been enemies of McLaine nodded simultaneously.

“No one caused any trouble, right?”

“I’m most worried about you, Henderson.”

“Hey, what are you talking about? I’m keeping a perfect watch.”

Henderson scoffed at Digrom’s words.

When he conveyed the decisions made at the squad leader meeting to his squad members, adding his own threats, his squad members were moving as if they were ready to serve the transferred knights.

Digrom nodded at that and looked around at the other squad leaders.

Digrom looked around at the other squad leaders. They had made this group, leaving out the young, talented knights who liked the Grand Duke. Their main goal was to control what everyone in the Knights thought.

All for their own survival.

Digrom thought about things that had happened before, and a shiver went down his spine. He shook it off and continued.

“Well, it’s a relief that everyone seems to be doing well. But don’t let your guard down. This needs to continue all the way to the regular training.”

“Understood, Sir Digrom.”

“By the way, haven’t the instructions for the next Knight Commander been issued yet?”

“Hmm. There was no mention of that.”

“We would like Sir Digrom to become the commander……”

The squad leaders nodded, but Digrom shook his head.

“Given the Grand Duke’s personality, that’s unlikely. Once minimal trust is secured, he’ll only consider skill.”

“Still, aren’t you the first pure McLaine to reach the advanced level?”

“I was just lucky. You guys try to overcome death ten times in a row by sheer luck.”

“We’d usually die before that.”

“That’s why I said I was lucky. In Aegis…… Ugh, just thinking about it……. Anyway. Those three geniuses will reach the level soon, and Henderson over there doesn’t seem far off either, so it’s nothing special.”

At Digrom’s words, the other knights turned to look at Henderson with wide eyes.

Henderson shrugged once, giving a silent affirmation.

The Iron Blood Sword, an excellent intermediate swordsmanship, and the continuous wars had certainly raised the overall level of the McLaine Knights.

“Still, I think Sir Digrom is……”

Digrom quickly stopped the few knights who said they wanted him to be commander. He didn’t want to hear it.

“Everything for the family!”

“For the family!”

Just as they were about to end the meeting.

“T-This is terrible!”

Thump!

“The Grand Duke will be leading this regular training! With the Lord attending!”

A knight who rushed in urgently delivered the despairing news.

At that moment, the McLaine’s elite knights simultaneously began to emit killing intent towards their surrounding colleagues.

“Who the hell was it?!”

“It wasn’t me, definitely!”

“Catch the one who messed up!”

“Which bastard was it……!”

The collusive gathering that the knights had created for survival quickly became chaotic again.

“There are many unfamiliar faces. Nice to meet you. I am Logan McLaine. I assume everyone knows me?”

“Yes!”

A brief introduction thrown out after stepping onto the platform.

The gazes of over 300 knights were simultaneously fixed on him.

‘There are definitely a lot.’

Over 200 knights had been transferred from the newly acquired Calia territory.

In addition, there were also free knights who had requested to join in the past few weeks as the name of McLaine became famous.

Most of them had lost their lords in the civil war, but since free knights were mostly those who had been kicked out for causing trouble, they needed to check them carefully.

Even though his father had filtered out more than ten people with serious disqualifications through interviews and the information guild Knox, a total of twenty-two free knights had joined McLaine.

Logan felt proud once again, as he could feel that the status of the family had risen just by looking at the expressions of the knights looking at him.

He was concerned about the tense appearance of the existing knights, but that could be resolved with a single word right now.

“Alright! This is the first regular training of the newly reborn McLaine Knights. Since there are many new faces, we will take a slightly different format from the existing training.”

“……?”

When everyone’s curious gazes turned to Logan.

Logan smiled and announced the decisions made at the meeting.

“Our knight training is known to be a bit tough. So, the existing McLaine Knights will become instructors to help the new faces adapt to our training.”

At those words, the entire knight order began to stir.

The most changed expressions were, of course, those of the existing McLaine Knights, who had been frozen stiff.

“What? We’re not the ones getting pushed around?”

“We’re the ones doing the push……ing around?”

“No one did anything wrong?”

Those bewildered minds eventually converged in one direction.

“What on earth is going on……?”

Treating the existing knights preferentially?

Since when did our knight order have such a good tradition?

So this is…….

‘It’s a test.’

A bizarre thought simultaneously popped into the McLaine knights’ heads.

“I have a bad feeling about this?”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“If we treat them too harshly as instructors…….”

“……We’re the ones who are going to get it.”

“Alright, alright. Let’s be equal. Equal. The same. The same.”

While they were cautiously controlling each other even amidst their excited hearts.

Dark clouds were gathering on the faces of the transferred knights.

“They’re planning to push us to the limit.”

“I knew they were being too nice.”

“It’s going to be that much harder.”

“But we have to endure it.”

“Of course.”

Amidst the mutual misunderstandings.

The first regular training of the newly reborn McLaine Knights was implemented.