Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 212

Rogan always pictured Hamarr in simple work clothes. He imagined Hamarr wearing a linen shirt and pants with patches, a leather vest, and gloves to protect his hands while working.

But now…

“Wahahaha! Master, it’s been almost eight months since I’ve been to Taren, how is it? Haven’t I changed wonderfully?”

Even with the other dwarves and escort knights he brought, Hamarr’s face, now rounder and fuller, looked quite different.

Hamarr looked very different now. He wore a red silk outfit. The silk looked smooth and expensive. It had shiny yellow buttons made of amber. These were clothes for rich nobles, not for someone who worked with his hands. He looked more like a wealthy trader than a craftsman.

Rogan’s eyes narrowed slightly. He had been happy with how Taren looked, but now…

Hamarr flinched.

“W-what? Master, why are you looking at me like that? I did a good job! What! Why?!”

“Yes, you did, but…”

“Why are you making me so anxious! If you have something to complain about, say it quickly!”

“You did a good job… but it seems like you don’t work anymore? There isn’t even a speck of dust on your clothes?”

“That’s a silly thing to complain about! There are now 1,103 dwarves in our workshop! And about three times as many human artisans! Why would I do the work myself?!”

That was true, but…

‘Why does it bother me so much to think that Hamarr isn’t working?’

Was he just being unfair because people called him ‘demon master’?

He chuckled.

It was a laugh that came from being ashamed of his own selfish thoughts, but Hamarr, seeing it, flinched once more and shouted.

“J-just so you know, I did everything from tailoring to button work on this outfit myself! It didn’t cost a penny!”

Oh, dear.

He even made his own clothes.

Considering the work he had been doing, he could have just bought something good enough.

‘I should treat him better.’

Rogan patted Hamarr on the shoulder, deciding in his heart to do so.

“No one said anything. Yes, you did well.”

“……?”

“Let’s take a look around the workshop. Give me a tour.”

“……Really?”

“Of course, really. Would I take a fake tour?”

“No, I mean, are you really just going to let it go…? H-hem. That’s not it. Well, if that’s the case. Let’s go, I, who designed it myself, will guide you carefully, starting from the front.”

“Alright. And the mine too.”

“Ah! Right. Th-that, mining started a few days ago!”

“Alright. Then we should go even faster.”

The master and his manager, who turned around with a smile, both tilted their heads slightly at the same time.

They both felt a little strange, like they forgot something important.

They themselves did not realize it, but this was the first time they had met again after a long period of several months or more without any trouble.

Was that why, after walking in silence for a while, Hamarr hesitated several times before quietly opening his mouth.

“I saved a lot on construction costs, so I bought some silk and amber to make the clothes.”

“……Huh?”

“I have a few more sets. But I really saved a lot on construction costs!”

“……Workshop manager’s salary increase canceled.”

“Why, why?!”

“You just confessed to stealing money.”

“I, I saved that much more……!! No, wait a minute? Before that, did I even have a salary?”

“Exactly. Canceling what I was going to give you.”

“Whyyy?!!”

Rogan chuckled and bickered with Hamarr for a while before agreeing to give him the same monthly salary as Dwayne, the head manager of McLaine.

Of course, he would also get extra money for his good work in the past and how well he did his job.

‘I have to take care of my people.’

Rogan smiled happily as he watched Hamarr turn around with a beaming face and light steps, but that smile didn’t last more than a few hours.

They arrived at the mine where many dwarves were working, digging for magic stones.

“Master. I heard that what Master is most worried about is ‘that’ being mined here getting out.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“So, only I and the dwarves are working here.”

“Oh, indeed. So that’s why the work was so fast.”

“That’s right. And we even wrote a special contract.”

“Special contract?”

“A magic contract. I picked exactly 300 people, and it cost exactly 3 million gold. So, it will be secret.”

“……3 million? 300 magic contracts?”

The moment he saw Rogan’s face suddenly become angry.

Hamarr’s big smile suddenly became smaller and nervous.

“T-that’s cheap for that much. Why, when you have so much money?!”

That’s right. 3 million gold used to be a lot of money for McLaine each year, but not anymore.

But money wasn’t the problem.

“Ugh. If it’s a quantity of 300, you must have bought it from the Royal magic tower, which is part of the Wizard School? In the capital?”

“Th-that’s right…….”

Hearing Hamarr’s answer, Rogan felt like he was about to grab his neck and collapse at any moment.

The magic contract can be undone by a magician of the 4th circle or higher, and even a knight who is not a magician can break free from its influence with his own power if he is of the highest level.

But in this country, only the class magicians, the Royal magic tower of the Wizard School, could create such magic contracts.

Moreover.

‘The Royal magic tower has always been loyal to the king…….’

Ugh.

Rogan took a deep breath to calm down.

“Hooo. Hamarr, let’s think of you as a magician.”

“U-umm?”

“What would you think if a family, especially a city that is suddenly developing something, bought 300 of those contracts at once?”

“……W-well, a grateful guest?”

“Are you crazy! Do you think all magicians are fools?!”

At Rogan’s shout, Hamarr, who had been making excuses, suddenly realized his mistake and his face turned white.

“They’ll think we’re doing something here that requires a lot of contracts that force people to obey. And that’s in a territory that has newly developed a mine. If they know, the royal family will know too.”

“Um… Master? I… I didn’t really think about what would happen next. I’m so sorry.”

The dwarf bowed his head low. Tears welled up in his eyes – it was odd to see him cry, his face framed by a scraggly white beard. Logan’s anger, which had been building, began to fade.

Besides, nothing much would change anyway.

‘I already got a promise of ten years of tax exemption. Even if a royal inspector comes, I just have to stop them from coming. Why would they investigate a place where there’s no need to pay taxes anyway?’

What’s more, he had Dwayne, who always helped him.

‘Master, I trust you. You really have to help me this time.’

Remembering his master’s expression when they parted ways in the capital, Logan calmed down a little.

However, he deliberately kept a stern look to keep Hamarr, who had almost caused a crisis with his actions, in check.

“What’s done is done. Just thoroughly control who comes in, especially the route from where ‘that’ is mined to the magic tower.”

“Ah, I understand, Master.”

“Sorry for shouting. Trying to keep it a secret was a good idea. But next time, tell me first.”

“I, I think I did tell you? I think the papers were approved?”

“Huh?”

“Th, that’s right! I bought it because I got permission! Before fighting the rebels, in the territory! There should be a document with the seal on it somewhere? J, just a moment. I-it’s not just my fault. I’ll show you the documents when we go to the office later! Crap, I was scared for nothing.”

Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine.

He remembered pushing the tired Aileen out of her seat and eagerly stamping documents.

‘What did I say back then?’

– Excuse me, Young Master Logan. Aren’t you going to look at the contents?

– I hired a good manager because I didn’t want to check this myself. Dwayne will have done the final check.

‘Ugh, you idiot. Ughhh.’

He wanted to slap himself for saying such nonsense.

If this dwarf, who had just cried, knew that he was the one who stamped the permission documents…….

“Ah, haha. Yes, that was a good idea. It seems something was missed when reporting. Everyone makes mistakes when they’re busy. It’s okay.”

“Master, you don’t look okay at all right now? This won’t do. Since the report seems to be wrong, I’ll find the person who made the mistake in the report, and we’ll both take the blame…….”

“Haha. There’s no need to do that. Anyway, there are ways to defend against it…….”

He couldn’t look at Hamarr, who was staring at him with eyes full of injustice, and looked away.

Flash!

“Huh?”

A bright light suddenly burst from the top of the magic tower.

Inside that tower, something was happening that Logan didn’t know about.

‘Please, please, please, God.’

Clayton, seeing the steel plate starting to turn blue again, looked up at the ceiling.

He had prayed so much that he didn’t know if he was a mage or a priest.

He had punished those rebels who made McLaine leave before he could finish his theory and start the experiment.

But thinking he could experiment in peace was a mistake.

Even with all the magic stones, he had failed seven times in three days.

The theory he thought was perfect had changed a lot in three days, and now he couldn’t change it anymore.

‘If this fails, I have to throw everything away. Start from zero,’ Clayton thought, his heart heavy. He would have to go back to that confusing research journal and try to find a new idea. Now that he was a mage, maybe he could understand it better. But it would take at least a year to figure out a new theory. And then years more to test it. ‘No,’ he thought fiercely. ‘I can’t let Young Master Logan down like that.’ He couldn’t face Logan if he failed again.

Of course, Logan said it was okay.

– It would be great if it works, but it’s okay if it doesn’t. As long as it doesn’t go to the enemy…… Ahaha. Please forget I said that. It just came out.

– No. I will definitely do it.

How many times had he said that?

Even if he wasn’t blamed, he knew that he would be very upset if he didn’t succeed.

It wasn’t just about pride.

He realized something while holding that research journal made by someone he didn’t know.

‘What makes the Mana force stronger, the symbol of a mage, is the mage’s soul. And that soul isn’t something you can’t touch, like the first thing the gods used when they made humans.’

For a mage, the soul is the value you get from your life.

‘By keeping, developing, and acting on your own words, you create the direction of your life.’

And that helps you become a better mage.

The journal called this special force a ‘Power word,’ like a word that gives a mage strength.

And now, after years of research, he could see that it was true.

‘I was just trying to live as honestly as possible.’

That way of life had made him a mage early.

And he could guess why Juan Douglas, who was once the only mage in this country and called the genius of the century, hadn’t improved after a certain point.

So now.

‘I have to do it no matter what.’

Whether the research worked or not, the journal was a treasure that mages wouldn’t see again for a century.

Even to help the person who gave him and his school such a chance and treasure.

And for himself.

He had to succeed.

Was it because he really wanted it to happen?

Oooooong.

The steel plate, surrounded by blue light, started to change with a strange vibration.

And the mage, who felt mana more than anyone else, could tell what would happen in the future with just that small vibration.

‘I succeeded! Finally!!’

He had passed the most important step for making a lot of low-level artifacts.

So, Clayton was able to move up, using the heavy burdens in his heart as stepping stones.

Clayton had become a mage, reaching the 6th circle during the civil war. Even though he was still new to this level, he jumped to the next stage, the 6th circle Expert.

‘Just by saying things that are hard to keep and doing them…….’

The most important lesson he could teach his students was now part of him.

Clayton smiled as he felt the warm, golden light from his body spread around him.

At the same time.

‘Thank you, God.’

He felt he understood why the ancient mages who were very powerful were so religious.