Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 172

People reacted strongly to the news about recruiting soldiers, just like we thought they would.

They were planning to recruit 5,000 soldiers, but over 2,000 applicants came from McLane Town alone.

When all twenty castles were combined, there were over 30,000 applicants.

The unexpectedly large number of applicants rapidly increased the burden on Heinckel, Kaisolon, and the drill instructors and administrative staff in charge of the soldiers, but the leaders were very happy.

Logan’s feelings were even more special.

‘If everything works out, we will likely see Awakened people soon, maybe as early as this year, or within the next year at the latest.’

If things went as he hoped, individuals would awaken their Force only four to five years after setting new standards and starting soldier training.

McLane’s soldiers have fought in many battles and seen a lot of exciting things. Even so, this is a very short time for people to awaken their Force.

If such individuals began to appear one by one, and the soldiers recruited after them, along with the new applicants now being recruited, began to awaken explosively with a few years’ interval…

‘That alone would mark the beginning of another preparation to face the Empire.’

And.

‘He hoped that other areas would start using McLane’s way of choosing soldiers on their own, without him forcing them.’

In fact, he had already told the nobles about the soldier selection method once after seizing power, but not a single one had yet implemented it in the same way.

However, it would be too much for him to enforce and compel even the soldier selection criteria.

Therefore, he was hoping that the trend would naturally develop.

As he was watching the situation with such a good feeling, Aileen came to find him.

He hadn’t seen her for a while because he had been very, very busy since returning to the territory.

Logan’s face had lit up with a smile without him even realizing it, happy to see Aileen. But when he saw her face, his smile froze. Her expression was hard, like stone.

“Aileen? What is it? You look serious.”

“Lord Logan, I have a proposal regarding the soldier recruitment.”

“Ah… Haha, you startled me. Tell me. Opinions are always welcome.”

“Lord Logan, I’ve been thinking… now that we’re recruiting so many soldiers, shouldn’t we also think about recruiting women?”

“Sorry?”

Logan was surprised by the sudden proposal.

‘It’s something I was planning to do someday. But so suddenly?’

What he considered most important when recruiting Aileen was not her talent but her symbolism.

By making her famous, he wanted to make the kingdom recognize that female knights and female soldiers were also sufficient forces, and furthermore, to recruit female soldiers.

However, as the civil war ended sooner than expected, her name had only spread to the McLane territory and its vicinity, and to the capital’s social circles.

Even then, she was more famous as Logan McLane’s fiancée than as a knight.

That was clearly his miscalculation.

That was why, since some time ago, he had in fact only been expecting Aileen to have the potential to become very powerful.

But for her to bring it up first.

“Can you tell me why you thought of that?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what I can do in this family.”

“You’re already doing a great job.”

“I know.”

A snort.

After throwing out a confident reply and laughing to herself for a moment,

“After meeting you and coming to McLane, I found my path. I also found my partner, though.”

Ahem.

Aileen smiled again as she watched her fiancé, who was averting his gaze with a reddened face, and then continued in a serious tone.

“Then it suddenly occurred to me. In this territory, in this country, am I really the only woman like me?”

“Ah…….”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I want to open up the opportunities I received to others as well. And I believe that it will ultimately be of great help to the McLane family. What do you think?”

Logan took a deep breath and looked at her red hair, which resembled his own, and her emerald eyes, which were completely different from his.

It was something he had always wanted to do someday.

But it was something he had half given up on.

The person who was the target of that plan was voluntarily speaking up.

Looking at his fiancée, who looked unusually pretty today, Logan nodded sincerely.

“Very well. Then we will aim to train female soldiers, and Lady Aileen will take responsibility for it.”

“Sorry? Me?”

Aileen was a little surprised, as she hadn’t thought that far.

“But Lord Logan, there are people who know much more about training soldiers than I do…”

“Those people probably don’t know as much about women as Lady Aileen does. Wouldn’t Lady Aileen be able to do things that they can’t pay attention to?”

“Ah…….”

“And more than anything, Lady Aileen is perfect as the center for gathering those who have such dreams. The kingdom’s first female knight and the first noble to receive a title. Baroness Aileen Floyd.”

Aileen obtained the baronetcy through the civil war.

He had heard rumors that the capital’s social circles were noisy about it for a while, but it was clearly an honor she had earned through her achievements.

There was no shame in the grand modifier attached to her name.

“Ah…….”

She seemed a little embarrassed, judging by her slightly flushed expression.

Logan, who felt like he would burst out laughing at the sight, restrained himself and calmly told her about the expected problems.

“However, you must be prepared.”

“Prepared?”

“The ideal is good, but it won’t be easy. It will be difficult, and there will be people who oppose it.”

Logan realized Aileen hadn’t become famous just because he made her famous.

Just being a female intermediate knight was enough to make her famous in this country, but he had drawn all the attention to himself by being by her side.

“I don’t care if it’s hard. If we succeed, it will be amazing, not just for us, but for everyone!”

Her beautiful emerald eyes held a firm will.

Giving more warnings would just be repeating himself now that she was so determined.

Therefore, Logan simply promised her full support.

But, as he expected, things did not go smoothly.

– I heard that the McLane territory is also recruiting women as soldiers?

– Female soldiers? What nonsense is that?

– Hey, how can a woman do that?

– Someone must be playing a bad joke. Take that down.

An additional announcement was posted a few days later.

However, despite being an official recruitment announcement, most people did not believe it.

In response, Logan directly ordered the construction of a female-only soldier training center and dormitory, making it clear that it was the will of the McLane family, not someone’s prank.

Like I said to Aileen, I even put her name in big letters on the announcement. A bit of an exaggeration, of course.

– The most powerful female knight in our kingdom, Lady Aileen Floyd, will personally lead and train the female soldiers.

There was no need to mention that she was the only female knight in the kingdom.

– Lady Aileen is the first noblewoman ever in our kingdom, and she is putting her reputation on the line for this.

Even though she was putting her reputation on the line, the announcement didn’t say she wouldn’t be blamed if it didn’t work.

– McLaine will dedicate everything to providing full support.

There was no need to add that existing soldiers would also receive equal and full support.

And the reaction to that second announcement came from within the household first.

His father stormed into Logan’s study, slamming the door behind him.

BANG!

“Logan!! What on earth is the meaning of this?!” His voice boomed like thunder, even though he was standing right in front of him.

Logan sighed softly. He watched the veins in his father’s neck bulge like thick ropes, turning purple with anger.

‘Here it comes,’ he thought. His father was a proud knight, and Logan knew his father might think this announcement would hurt the family’s good name.

“I gave you full authority, and you do things like this!”

But it was a reaction he had fully anticipated.

“Father, this is for the future of the family…” Logan took a deep breath and stood before his father.

However.

“Why only recruit female ‘soldiers’! Think bigger, Logan! We could find strong women, maybe even… future family members! Force users, you know!”

“Helpful… Father, excuse me? Did you just say… daughters-in-law?” Logan’s confused gaze turned to his father.

He heard something even more bewildering.

“No, if you vaguely say you’re recruiting female soldiers, Force users won’t apply! You need to recruit knights, too, knights!”

“Ah… I didn’t think of that. Haha. I’ll revise it.”

Why was this old man suddenly acting like this?

Logan’s head spun as he tried to make sense of the incomprehensible situation, and a question finally escaped his lips.

“But I thought you would be against it…?”

“Against it? Why would I be?”

“You were against making Aileen a knight, weren’t you?”

“And my daughter-in-law has admirably proven her abilities.”

“Er… that’s true.”

“This father isn’t so narrow-minded. I can’t be a fool who ignores results even when he sees them.”

Good grief…

If you had been like this four years ago, I would have had a much easier time.

“Anyway, go ahead and do it that way. I came to see if you were holding back because you were worried about my reaction. The shouting was… ahem. Well, I’m sorry.”

He saw his father’s ears turn red as he turned his head.

‘Is he aware that he’s acting strange?’

Things he probably hadn’t even considered until recently.

For the sake of his family, for the sake of his son.

There was the figure of a middle-aged father trying to change.

“Yes, I understand, Father.”

Thanks to that, Logan was able to smile brightly for the first time in a while.

Logan felt hopeful after his father’s reaction. However, despite the changes to the announcement and the extensive advertising, the number of people who applied to be female soldiers was extremely small.

“232 people?” Dwayne’s voice grew even quieter at Aileen’s disappointed question.

“Yes… And almost all of them applied in the initial days after the announcement.”

Although they had passed the test, the number of applicants hadn’t even exceeded 300 in the first place.

Aileen sighed again, a long, drawn-out breath that showed her deep disappointment. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she looked at Dwayne.

Logan stepped forward.

“It’s only natural, Aileen. We were prepared for this, weren’t we? Even if the number is small, they can be the beginning.”

Aileen nodded, her voice quiet but firm.

“Yes. I’ll train even just them properly.”

“……Can I trust you?”

“Yes. If we properly train them now and create at least a minimal fighting force, there will be more applicants in the future.”

“Definitely, if it’s known that we’re not just doing this as a fake thing but are truly sincere, there will be far more applicants than there are now.”

“Yes. I’ll definitely make it happen.”

Her fist was clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white.

The smaller-than-expected number of applicants seemed to have ignited a fire in Aileen’s heart.

Watching her, Logan couldn’t help but turn his head slightly, feeling apologetic.

‘I think I was only considering cases like Aileen or ‘that girl’ too much. I knew in my head that such women couldn’t be common.’

The Aileen in front of him, and that girl who was the closest female friend in his previous life, were both highly skilled, which led to his misunderstanding.

But expecting there to be many such women in the kingdom was probably unreasonable.

Logan realized they might need to look outside their territory to find suitable women.

‘Now that I think about it, Cassie also said she worked as a mercenary in the Empire. Would it be better to post announcements targeting women mercenaries from the kingdom who are active in the Empire?’

Logan suddenly remembered something and had a thought, but it didn’t help.

Meanwhile, far away…

“Are you really going, Cassie?” Anna asked, her voice full of worry. “It’s so far…”

“Yeah, I have to, Anna. How could I stay after… well, you know. Besides,” Cassie grinned, trying to sound braver than she felt, “Don’t you know me? I’m Cassandra the powerhouse! I can handle anything.”

“I know, but… be careful, okay?”

“I will. You take care too, Anna. And… thanks for everything.” Cassie gave her friend a tight hug, a lump forming in her throat.

Cassie looked back at the small village nestled in the green hills, the familiar thatched roofs looking tiny from the distance. She had lived there for twenty years, but now…

Having beaten up and knocked out her prospective groom the night before the forced wedding, she could no longer live in her hometown.

Cassie remembered the satisfying thud as her fist connected with her groom’s jaw last night. Yes, she was strong.

The only path to utilize this innate strength was, as expected, something like being a mercenary.

‘And that’s impossible in this country; I’ll have to go to the Empire.’

Fortunately, she had heard that the common language in the eastern part of the Empire didn’t have a significantly different accent from the kingdom. If she showed off this strength, which could easily take down two or three average men, she wouldn’t have trouble making a living.

Cassandra soothed her uneasy heart as she left her hometown, where she had lived for twenty years.

However.

“Hey, Cassie! Are you going to McLaine, then?”

“What? What are you talking about? I’m going to the Empire…”

“I heard they’re recruiting female soldiers and knights in the southern McLaine territory; wouldn’t it be better to go somewhere closer if possible? Rather than a foreign country?”

“……What? Really?!”

In the future Logan had changed, another person’s fate was altered.