Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 315

“How did this happen? Who told them to move the nobles already!?”

Louisa shouted loudly in the royal palace. She was in a separate building where guests of the Empire were staying.

Louisa used magic to control her voice. Only Jun, the guard knight beside her, and the person on the phone could hear her loud shout.

Soon, the old man on the other end of the phone shook his head, sweating a lot.

“[Elder Louisa, we didn’t cause what happened in Dalan. We were following our plan like we said we would.]”

“What?”

“[We really didn’t think the Maclaine nobles would do that on their own. They are almost helpless. Really. Please believe me!]”

“…Huh? So, are you saying it was a coincidence?”

“[Yes. Our group didn’t touch the nobles.]”

“That’s….”

Louisa frowned, her smooth forehead wrinkling above her beautiful eyes. *Coincidence?* she thought, doubt creeping into her mind like a cold draft.

Their plan was to trick the nobles into attacking the common people. This would happen after the Self-Defense Forces were stopped or made weaker. The common people had lost power.

They had also made the common people angry. These people had been treated badly by the cruel and unfair nobles.

Their plan was to make this anger grow by brainwashing people and making them more upset. They wanted to cause chaos in the whole country.

The common people in this country had repeating crossbows and could overthrow the country.

Even if the king stopped the Self-Defense Forces, they could not get back all the weapons.

“But that’s ruined….”

Now that the nobles’ attacks had already begun, the king would try to control the nobles and the commoners.

Logan Maclaine was a king with great power. If the king made these rules, and they tried to brainwash the nobles to disobey, the royal family would know something was wrong and stop them.

If the powerful king, who had brought the kingdom back to life, used his army, the problems would be stopped quickly.

“Tsk. Now that this has happened, we’ll make the nobles and commoners fight each other. Division is important. The king of Maclaine will have to choose: will he side with the nobles or the common people?”

“[Yes. This kingdom will go back to how it was a long time ago, like in the Grandia era.]”

“Yes. That is enough.”

If the royal family left the nobles, the current system would fall apart. If they chose the nobles to protect the system, then they could make the commoners angry again.

And the royal family would probably have to choose the nobles to keep their power.

“The impact will not be as strong as we planned, but….”

It couldn’t be helped.

As she was thinking and changing the plan in her head.

“The results of the Great Council are out!”

“Already?”

Why did it end so fast?

A strange, bad feeling came over her.

“But….”

That bad feeling came true when the subordinate reported.

“What nonsense!”

A curse came from Louisa’s red lips.

The king gathered the nobles, but he didn’t ask for their opinions. He just told them what he had decided. What he said shocked the nobles.

A common person had killed a noble, which was a serious crime. But the king would not punish the murderer’s family. (This means the family of the murderer will not be punished just because of what he did.)

“Your Majesty! That treats the nobles the same as commoners. Please change it!”

Roberts Floyd, the king’s father-in-law, shouted. But Logan’s voice was firm.

“I will send ten elite knights to each noble who is worried. They will protect the nobles with very strong security.”

The follow-up plans made the nobles even more worried.

“The royal family will keep the nobles safe. We will give them a house in the capital and protect them. We will also send good managers to take care of their land.”

At first, it seemed like it was to calm the nobles.

But it was a radical plan. Any smart noble was worried.

“Does very strong security mean we are being watched…?”

“What’s with the manager? Is he telling us to give the land to the royal family…?”

“He’s taking away our power…”

A voice whispered quietly. Only the person next to them could hear. Those voices spread, and the nobles looked more and more worried.

However, the nobles’ mood changed when Logan spoke again.

“However! I will let the nobles who manage their lands well rule the cities that the royal family controls directly. I will judge them by how much their harvest increases compared to last year and how the people feel about them, not by the size of their land!”

He was saying that he would give them more land without war.

The Great Hall became noisy again at that shocking statement.

“Yo, Your Majesty. Are you saying…!?”

“Are you saying you will give land based only on how well we manage it?”

“What exactly…!?”

“I’m saying that even a noble from the countryside can own a great territory like Harun.”

Logan’s words made the Great Hall even more excited.

“A chance to become a great noble…!”

“That’s right. He died because he did something worth dying for. If he had managed his land well, who would have killed him?”

“That’s right. The people like me, so I wasn’t worried!”

Greed made them forget their fear.

And Logan’s statement became a royal order and was announced throughout the kingdom.

As a result.

“Does that mean nobles will be treated the same as us common people?”

“The kingdom will be a better place to live.”

“The King is great….”

The people praised the king. They were the majority of the kingdom. Even the smart people who knew what the order really meant were impressed.

“He’s making the changes that the Empire made over hundreds of years in a short time.”

“He did it like he was waiting for this to happen.”

“Did the royal family cause it on purpose? If the nobles hadn’t been scared, this plan wouldn’t have passed so easily.”

“That’s true. Most of the nobles are dumb, but some must be smart. They would know if they had studied the Empire’s history.”

“Still, could they have done it on purpose?”

“That’s right. If they were caught, the country could fall apart. It’s a gamble.”

Most of the nobles did not have land in the Empire. The Empire took power to the center. They gave titles based on skill. They only gave the right to rule to one generation. It was not passed down through families.

Maclaine had fixed the problems of feudalism and was closer to a kingdom where the king has all the power.

And Logan was talking to someone with a happy face.

“Thank you for your hard work, Baron.”

“[I have to obey His Majesty’s orders.]”

“Is everything okay in the territory?”

“[Yes. I’m just spreading the rumor that it’s become a sea of blood.]”

Trevor Dalan smiled and continued on the phone.

“[But did we really need to spread that rumor? To make the nobles more scared, we could have just left it alone….]”

King Trebo Dalan sighed, sounding tired. “There were others pulling at the threads, trying to make me dance to their tune. It’s hard to make things go the way I want.”

A nervous voice stammered, “Pardon, Your Majesty?”

The King waved his hand. “No need for you to understand. Just know things are complicated. Ah, but you can look forward to your performance review next year.” He almost smiled.

“Th-thank you, Your Majesty!” the servant squeaked, bowing as he backed away.

*Finally,* Logan thought, grinning as the screen went dark. *I’m finally getting out of this dusty, forgotten corner of the kingdom.*

The King’s relief was clear. He smiled, looking happy for the first time that day.

Logan turned from the blank screen, smiling too. “Well,” he said to himself, “thanks to that chat, we’ve moved forward. Now, I wonder how they’ll attack me next…”

Logan thought about the Second Prince and Louisa, who people thought were from the Empire.

“……I’m sorry. In this situation, if I get too upset, it could draw attention. We could get caught.”

“……Disappointing, Louisa. You seemed so sure of yourself.”

“I have no excuse.”

Louisa clenched her teeth, bowing her head.

*I thought it was perfect, but I was betrayed.*

Unless they knew in advance, they couldn’t have responded so quickly.

*I didn’t expect the nobles of McLaine to be so foolish.*

They didn’t realize they were losing their freedom, only caring about the reward in front of them. Were the kingdom’s leaders really that foolish?

Of course, people panic when cornered. Few can think clearly in such times.

The King was cruel. He had killed many to become king, and even more after becoming king.

The nobles, united by the crisis, saw it as their only escape.

As a mage who had studied minds for years, Louisa could easily understand this. But she could only curse the nobles of McLaine.

Because she felt a sense of crisis too.

“You’re not coming back like this, are you? The Empire’s request must be done. It’s important for our plan.”

“I know.”

“What’s the next plan?”

“……I’ll assassinate key people.”

“Heh heh. Interesting. Didn’t you want to fix the organization’s extreme ways?”

“……I’ll make the kingdom’s key people attack each other. If the target is a superhuman, it will cause a bigger reaction.”

“I need information on McLaine’s superhumans.”

“I’ve already investigated everything.”

“No. It will be different from what you know. Quite a lot.”

“Yes?”

“Information from Gerohin, who died in the Union, was found. It seems he was hiding his mistakes.”

“……What do you mean?”

“There were people who stood in his way in the Tahiti Republic. There are three more superhumans in McLaine besides the ones we know.”

“Yes!?”

The old man on the screen smiled, enjoying Louisa’s surprise. “There’s no more information, but their powers are clear. One has a gray aura, one has an orange aura, and one uses a bow.”

“That……!?”

Something flashed through Louisa’s mind.

Orange aura? Force?

She had recently seen someone with that color of Force. It was a rare color.

But the Grand Master misunderstood her surprise.

“Yes, it’s surprising. A gray aura user means someone with our talent is using aura. If you can, find that person. Recruit him or trick him, and I promise a reward as big as this operation’s success.”

It was tempting, but Louisa didn’t hear it.

“……He tricked me? That young man? How dare he!?”

“……Do you know something?”

Louisa, trembling with humiliation, couldn’t speak.

After a moment, she calmed down and spoke.

“Perhaps, I was tricked.”

“What?”

Louisa thought of the young man with red hair and red eyes, clenching her teeth.

If she was under a spell, she would have proudly shown her aura powers.

But she didn’t…

“It seems my identity has been discovered in McLaine.”

It was the worst thing that could happen.

“……How? Did you show your magic?”

The old man looked grim.

Louisa’s secret identity was top secret, even within the organization. The Empire only knew that the princess of a kingdom far away was helping the Tower. If her real identity was known to the Empire, many plans would fail.

“How could that be? The seal is perfect. Even other elders wouldn’t notice.”

“Yes, that’s right. But how…? I sent you because I was sure you wouldn’t be exposed. Hmm… Do you know anything?”

“……No. I’m sorry.”

Louisa bit her lip, bowing her head.

She was humiliated after confidently coming to McLaine.

“Ha… Yes, the King of McLaine. The one who changes fate can’t be that easy. It’s good you know now, even if it’s late.”

“Yes?”

“Our Tower is secret even within the Empire. The King of McLaine wouldn’t know. He wouldn’t have seen our magic either… You didn’t show the King your magic, did you?”

“That’s impossible.”

“Then maybe he just thought you were an imperial spy. Just focus on returning safely. I’ll give the operation to another elder.”

“But the spell I cast on others seems to have been discovered. That means, about us too…”

“……That can’t be. It’s a carefully prepared spell. How could a knight stop it?”

It was a remark that made aura users seem like just knights, but it showed pride in the Tower’s magic.

Louisa felt the same.

“No.”

“Yes. Maybe his ‘power of fate’ affects those around him. If it’s the power in the Tower’s legends, it’s possible. It’s not compatible with our magic.”

“I see.”

“Don’t worry too much, it can confuse you. Just focus on returning.”

“No. I’ll do the operation.”

“What?”

“They don’t know I know. I’ll take a chance.”

“……I can’t risk it. Your identity is too important.”

“I will be careful. Please allow me.”

She couldn’t accept this shame and return.

Even if they didn’t allow it, she would try her best.

She looked at the old man on the screen with determination.