Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 245

The group that Rogan called the Plague Relief Corps arrived in Raftan just four days after leaving the capital. He knew the name was temporary.

Usually, a large group moves slowly. But these thousand people traveled in just four days a distance that normally takes a week on foot. They were moving very fast.

When they arrived at the Raftan estate, they saw something they never expected.

A small voice, weak and trembling, whispered, “M-Mommy…”

A woman with tired eyes stroked her child’s forehead. “Stay awake, sweetheart,” she pleaded, her voice thick with worry. “Just a little longer, okay? Mommy’s here.”

The child’s eyes fluttered, barely open. “Little… longer…” he mumbled, his breath shallow.

The families looked tired and worn out.

They all had pale faces and were carrying their belongings as they walked toward the stream.

But at the stream, which marked the edge of the Raftan estate, they didn’t find freedom. Instead, they found death waiting for them.

“Captain! They’re coming again! Again!”

“Damn it, why do they keep coming? Why don’t they just stay inside where it’s ‘safe’?!” the Captain thought. “Why are they looking at me?! Fire! Kill them!”

Soldiers stood along the stream, aiming their bows at the people coming closer.

The soldiers, led by the Captain, bit their lips as they pulled back their bowstrings. In front of them were about a dozen bodies, already killed by arrows.

“Fire!”

Thwack.

Arrows flew as the Captain commanded.

“Ugh!”

“Honey!!”

A man fell, and a woman screamed as she collapsed with a child on her back.

“Ugh! W-Wait! H-Here…!”

A hand trembled.

Even with an arrow in his leg, the man pulled something from his chest.

It was a merchant’s badge, showing who he was.

They didn’t look like merchants, but the badge looked fancy.

“Damn it, you’re all too kind! Can’t you shoot straight?! Damn it!”

The Captain glared at his soldiers and grumbled. Then he sighed and shouted at the man.

“Where did you get that thing! Don’t come any closer! Go back! No one can leave the Raftan estate!”

The man’s face turned pale when he heard the Captain’s shout.

He felt despair because the merchant ID he had bought with all his money was useless.

‘Now there’s no way back….’

Going back would mean being called a deserter and punished.

But something was even more frightening than the punishment.

No. I can’t go back.

Either way, going back means death.

Then….

“Please, help us, sir! If we go back, we’ll die!”

His cry was desperate and full of emotion, as if it was the last of his strength.

However…

‘Damn it. How did this happen?’ the Captain thought.

It wasn’t that the Captain wanted to do this.

But the orders were strict and made sense to him.

Also, the Captain had his own family to think about. He was worried about the plague spreading to his home and hurting his loved ones.

“P-Please, just let my son go. This child is still healthy! They say young children don’t get that disease!” The man, not knowing what the Captain was thinking, said things that were not true.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m warning you one last time. If you don’t go back, you’ll die. This is the final warning!”

At that warning, the man’s face hardened as if he had made up his mind.

“Just kill us! Let’s see if you live well after killing innocent people!”

‘Damn it, does anyone think I want to do this?!’ the Captain thought.

‘Can’t you see the bodies lying right in front of you?’

The Captain gritted his teeth at the man’s reply.

“What are you doing! Fire! He wants to die, so grant his wish!”

At those words, the soldiers gritted their teeth and raised their bows again.

The order was repeated.

“Fire!”

Thwack.

“Honey!”

A rain of black arrows poured down on the woman who shielded her unmoving husband and the seemingly unconscious child.

Just before the tragedy happened again…

Flash.

Suddenly, a flash of golden light appeared, and the arrows stopped in an instant.

The family, who was about to die, and the soldiers were confused.

“What in the world is going on? I suppose I should explain,” a voice said.

A knight with red eyes, giving off a dangerous feeling, appeared before them.

“No injuries. The whole family is fine,” the priest reported after healing the family. Rogan glared at the soldier Captain again.

“I only told you to seal off the border, and you’re shooting the estate residents?! You madmen…!” Rogan shouted, flames igniting in his eyes as he listened to the kneeling soldier Captain’s explanation.

“W-We only shot the deserters. We gave a warning first to most of them….”

“Enough! I clearly saw you trying to shoot them from the start. How dare you lie to me?”

“I-It was Lord’s order! But usually, we deliberately miss and give a warning….”

“That’s enough. You, what estate are you from? I will have to hold your lord accountable.”

“K-Kelloman Estate. Y-Your Majesty.”

“Kelloman?”

“This is the Kelloman baronetcy, Your Majesty. It is next to the west of the Raftan estate,” a knight explained as he approached.

Rogan nodded.

“I and my party will head to Raftan. And we will end the plague. Tell Baron Kelloman to come to where I am and provide support. If he does not….”

Crack.

The ground began to crack from the tree stump Rogan was sitting on, as if there was an earthquake.

Boom.

“Eek!”

The soldiers saw a tree explode and were terrified. They collapsed.

It might have seemed like too much since they could be forced to obey by the king’s power alone, but Rogan wanted to give a stronger warning.

“The Kelloman family itself will be destroyed.”

“Yes? Yes! Yes! I understand, Your Majesty!”

Logan frowned. “Tch.”

This was a bad situation, but he couldn’t change everything.

“Things have to be done in order,” Logan thought.

They didn’t have many supplies. They needed more. It would be smart to ask the nobles nearby for materials until the second supply shipment arrived. What kind of materials should he ask for?

He had seen the problem himself. The nobles couldn’t say no to his request.

Logan turned to leave. Then, a quiet voice spoke from behind him. The voice was meant to be secret, but Logan heard it. A cold smile grew on his face.

“We’re not the only ones doing this…”

“The Keloman Barony, the Gencis Barony, and the Perona Barony are all employing the same methods.”

The group stopped walking. The knights who had gone to the sides came back quickly with news.

Because of the knights’ news, Logan understood what the three territories next to Raftan were doing.

“Sealing off the borders and shooting any territory residents who try to cross them?”

“Yes.”

“So, just pushing people out of their lands is not enough for those territories?”

“It seems they are afraid that even touching people could give their soldiers the sickness.”

Logan let out a long sigh. “Haaa.”

Bishop Ilia’s words came back to him: “The problem is always the same. Lots of hunger and dirty living conditions.”

“Right, if it’s about hunger and dirtiness…”

“Food…”

“Yes?”

“Tell those three territories to send as much food as they can to Raftan. If it’s not enough food, I will punish them for killing my people without my say-so.”

“I will send messengers.”

As Viktor bowed, three knights rode off in different directions. The group entered Raftan territory, their faces grim.

“To think you would come all the way here in person. I am truly grateful, Your Majesty.”

Baron Eric Raftan was waiting for Logan outside the castle walls. When he saw the flags, he ran and bowed low to the ground.

He had fat cheeks, but his eyes were sunken and dark. This showed he was very stressed.

“He is the one who raised the territory’s tax rate to 80% after the last tax measures.”

Someone had whispered something to Logan just before they arrived. Because of this, Logan didn’t feel sorry for the Baron.

“Blaming someone who just followed orders? What good is that?”

Was it selfish to want to push the blame onto someone else?

Logan dismissed his own thoughts with a scoff and asked the main question right away.

“What is the current situation?”

The answer to that calm question came back as an almost tearful appeal.

“People are sick in twelve villages! We have been keeping the sick people away from others since they showed signs of sickness. But it keeps spreading. Yesterday morning, even someone who works inside the castle got sick!”

The baron cried out, tearfully.

Logan didn’t like seeing him cry like a pig. He stopped the Baron from talking.

“So, what measures have you taken?”

“Six villages are gone. The soldiers have blocked off the other villages. I haven’t even been inside the inner castle since yesterday!”

At the baron’s words, Logan raised his head and looked at the castle.

The castle was a bit bigger than McLaine Castle. Logan remembered McLaine Castle from before.

The inner part of this castle wouldn’t be very big.

“Now that we’ve come this far, it would be better to see that attendant first.”

Bishop Ilia said, looking at the inner castle following Logan’s gaze.

“Bishop, before you heal him with your magic, can I see the attendant first?”

A middle-aged man named Gilbert, the representative of the Chisa Guild, interjected slightly at those words.

Gilbert was a strong mage, even before he was a healer. That’s why he wasn’t afraid to see the sick person first.

Strong magic users and strong fighters almost never die from this sickness. That’s what people knew.

Logan nodded lightly and turned his gaze.

“Did you hear that? Baron, where are they?”

“Th, that’s…”

Logan saw that Baron Raftan looked away, and he felt uneasy. Then, someone shouted from behind the soldiers.

“T, the baron killed all the attendants in the inner castle! M, my sister too…!”

A loud voice mixed with sobs.

Logan’s face became hard when he heard the desperate voice.

“Is this guy really crazy? They must have been people he’s been with for years, yet he killed them all just because they were suspected of having the disease?”

They were back inside the castle, in the big hall. The knights had forced the Baron to come in, even though he didn’t want to. The hall smelled strongly of blood.

This was because the dead bodies of the attendants were still there. No one had removed them because they were afraid of getting sick.

Everyone in Logan’s group looked at the kneeling Baron with disgust.

“I, I just wanted to live…”

The way he was acting now made him seem even more like a pig.

A sick, disgusting pig.

“Ha. I can’t just kill him like this…”

Eric Raftan’s face turned white when Logan sighed and said this.

“Pl, please spare me. I was just trying to stop the plague from spreading!”

After seeing what he had done, Logan knew Eric Raftan was not a good noble.

But killing a noble just for killing servants would cause big problems.

Also, Logan had come with lots of supplies, saying he was there to help Raftan.

If he killed the lord now, the nobles around Raftan would have a reason to rebel. They would definitely not help him.

“Lock up the lord. Taking care of the problems here is most important now.”

It was more important to do what had to be done first.

Eric Raftan seemed relieved to be alive. He didn’t fight back as the knights dragged him away.

They could decide what to do with that pig later, after the sickness was gone.

“There, knight.”

“Yes. Your Majesty.”

“Lead the way to the nearest village. To the village with the sick.”

The knight hesitated. “That’s… well…” He looked worried.

“Don’t tell me…?!”

“This morning, the lord ordered soldiers to kill everyone in the village where the sickness started.”

The hall became very quiet. The knight spoke softly after Ilia cried out, sounding like she suspected something bad.