Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 330

Two countries shared a long border, over 400km from north to south. There were many ways to travel between the Empire and ম্যাক লাইন.

But, only a few routes were safe for large groups of traders. And only a very small number of paths were wide enough for thousands of soldiers to march through easily.

To be precise, there were exactly three.

The ‘Merchant’s Road’: This road went between Kyle and Luthpeltheim, the most important trading cities of both countries.

The ‘Hunter’s Road’: This road went around the south side of the scary Northern Forest of Magical Beasts. It connected the cities where hunters lived in the north.

The ‘Adventurer’s Road’: This road went around the north side of the southern mountains. It connected the cities in the south.

“Really, you could call them all ‘Merchant’s Roads’ because people make money on all of them,” Logan said.

Damian listened to Logan and looked confused.

“You believe all three could be used to invade?”

“Of course.”

“…Just the main road in the center is a huge open space, big enough for an army of 100,000 soldiers. And now you’re saying the north and south roads too…”

“The Empire has even more soldiers than that.”

Logan knew this because he remembered something like this happening before. When the Empire invaded last time, a brave Sword Master and soldiers from Esperanza fought hard at the border. They held back a huge army of the Empire, much bigger than 100,000, for over a week. This gave the Royal Family time to get their own army ready. The Sword Master was the kingdom’s strongest magic user, and the knights were the best fighters.

But, by the time the kingdom’s army met the Empire’s army on the main road, the Empire’s other armies had already come through the north and south roads. They had started to destroy the kingdom.

‘Even if I had known this would happen before, the kingdom’s army at that time was too weak to stop the Empire anyway.’

But now, things could be different.

That’s why it was even more important to prepare now.

“We can’t stop them from using the main road in the center. But, there are good places to build forts on the north and south roads. If we block those two places, it will be much easier to fight the war.”

“Those roads are called highways, but they are really just wide paths with lots of smaller paths crossing them. I’m not sure if we can really block them with forts…”

“Yes, we can.”

“…How are you so sure?”

“Well…”

*Because you told me this in what feels like a past life.*

*– If only we had built forts there, the kingdom wouldn’t have fallen so easily.*

Logan almost smiled sadly, remembering this. But he smiled normally instead.

“Like you said, the Hunter’s Road and Adventurer’s Road are not like the main road. They are made of many paths that twist and turn together. But, there are some places where all these paths come together. These places are on both sides of the border, in the Empire and in our land.”

“Ah… How do you know all this? You’ve never even been to those places.”

“Someone told me.”

“Really? Who?”

*It was you, in a way.*

“So, I don’t remember exactly where. Look at maps of the land. Find one place in the north and one in the south that would be good to build a fort. We will build forts there and put some soldiers from the 2nd and 3rd groups there all the time.”

Logan grinned, seeing that Damian was trying not to look like he didn’t believe him.

“And we will also put a big magic circle there, of course.”

Logan said this like he was completely sure it would work. Damian was very confused. It seemed like big decisions for the whole country, costing a lot of money, were being made just because Logan said he “heard it somewhere.”

But, the king looked so serious and sure. Damian felt annoyed but also impressed.

‘He always gets things done, even things that seem impossible.’

Damian sighed and stopped arguing.

“…The time to plant crops will start again in a few months. We need to find those places for the forts quickly and get workers ready. We should try to finish building the main parts of the forts in two or three months. Then we can finish the rest after the crops are harvested.”

“Two or three months is plenty of time to finish.”

“Really?” (Said with surprise)

“We have the best workers in the world, after all.”

“Ah…”

Damian smiled a little, but it looked forced. He looked at Logan’s confident face and thought about the people who would have to build these forts. He felt sorry for them because he knew it would be very hard work.

Meanwhile, in another part of the kingdom…

“This is weird…”

He tossed and turned in bed.

“Why can’t I sleep?”

Hamar had been rolling around in bed for a long time. Finally, he got up, stretched his short arms, and yawned.

“Haaaahm.”

He scratched his stomach, which felt bigger than usual. He opened his eyes and saw a table with warm bread and tea that was still hot. There was also a bowl of water for washing near the door.

“Everything should be fine…”

Was it just that everything was *too* fine? He was living a life of comfort now. Ten years ago, he was a dwarf slave who had just returned home. Even the best dwarf craftsmen didn’t think he was very skilled back then.

He was now the boss of the Taren Magic Workshop. No one told him what to do.

He was important to the country of ম্যাকলাইন, and the king trusted him.

He even had knights guarding him all the time. At first, it felt strange, but now he liked it.

And yet.

And yet, why…

“Why am I so bored?”

Was his workshop working *too* well?

‘I can’t just break something on purpose to make work for myself.’

Hamar ate the bread, thinking about all sorts of things.

“I’m bored, maybe I should make some… Gasp!”

He suddenly stopped talking, surprised by what he almost said. He put his hand over his mouth and looked around the room quickly.

It felt like he had heard someone speaking to him.

*– Isn’t making things what you dwarves really love?*

Hamar shook his head. He remembered the devil whispering to him. He hadn’t seen the devil in months.

“Ughhh. No, no. That human is just messing with my head! That’s it! It’s great to relax and not work!”

He made a fist and shouted, trying to convince himself. But really, after not making anything for almost half a year, his hands really wanted to start crafting again.

“Maybe I’ll just carve something small.”

As he thought about carving, he suddenly remembered someone he used to love.

A village high in the mountains, where dwarves had run away to hide from humans. In that village, there was a woman who made him happy. She had very beautiful eyes.

“Noir…”

Thinking about her made him remember when he tried to carve her eyes. His master caught him and punished him for it.

“Ughhh. Just thinking about that time…”

He realized he had been trying to forget about that whole time in his life.

“I forgot about you, Noir. I’m sorry.”

Suddenly remembering her made him really want to pick up his hammer and chisel again. He didn’t want to believe that dwarves only loved crafting, but deep down, he knew he loved it more than anything else.

“Right. Well, carving is just something I do for fun.”

He told himself this, trying to make excuses, and started to leave the room.

“Master Hamar!!”

BANG!

“Ouch!”

The door flew open and hit Hamar right in the nose. He fell backwards quickly.

“Oh? Haha… Why were you standing right there…?”

The one-armed dwarf, Tamer, burst into the room, offering a nervous smile.

“What’s going on? Tamer? Why are you here? Can’t a person have a moment of peace in their own room?”

Hamar was very angry. His eyes were red, and blood ran from his nose. He moved towards Tamer. Tamer, terrified, stumbled backward.

“Why are you angry?”

“We have to fight! Now!”

“Wait! Stop! This is important!”

“It is the perfect time.”

Hamar froze at Tamer’s urgent words, holding onto Hamar’s shirt.

“…What?”

His face stiffened, the corners of his mouth twitched; he had a bad feeling.

“He’s ordered us to build two fortresses within three months!”

And, as expected, his bad feeling was right.

“Fortresses? Like real castles? In three months? That’s crazy!”

“I was so shocked that I came to tell you right away!! The official paper said that if we think about building Aegis Castle, it would be possible enough, though?”

“…Aegis? Ah, that earthen fortress? The one we and those wizards helped us build?”

“Yes.”

“He wants us to do that again?”

Hamar, his face confused, asked again as if he couldn’t believe it, but Tamer could only give more sad news.

“This time, he wants us to build them with stone so they can be used all the time. And two of them.”

Hamar then saw that Tamer was just as upset as he was.

Hamar sat down heavily.

“Ugh… Ahhh, why did I have to say I was bored……”

Hamar stopped yelling and sat down, slapping his cheeks again and again.

“No, Noir. Did you put a curse on me back then too!? Even though you left!?”

Then he shouted at the empty air and pounded his chest.

It was very strange behavior, but Tamer sighed deeply, as he understood how he felt a little.

‘He’s escaping from reality. I understand, Foreman.’

But he had to say what he had to say.

“Um, Foreman. You need to leave today to meet the schedule……”

He spoke carefully.

“Aaaargh!”

Seeing Hamar scream as if he was crazy, Tamer stepped back without thinking.

‘Has he really gone mad?’

“…Ahhh. Why can’t I be happy.”

Luckily, Hamar wasn’t really crazy. Tears ran down his face because he was sad about the news as he sat there.

“…So. You’re saying that instead of putting magic in old castles, we have to build new fortresses and put magic there? And two of them?”

As the scar on Clayton’s face twisted in a strange way, Grik stepped back without thinking.

Clayton was a kind master, but his scary face sometimes surprised even his friends. He looked different from how he really was.

That’s why I tried not to be swayed by other people’s reactions and to maintain calm. It helped quite a bit with magic, too.

That was what his master always said, but the news he delivered this time was enough to destroy the results of such practice.

“Yes.”

“Within three months, too?”

“…Yes.”

“Heh heh. His Majesty seems to think of us as some kind of superhuman.”

‘Master is a superhuman. Victoria too.’

Grik almost said what he really thought.

“It seems that His Majesty is thinking about the Aegis Castle project and has set a rather tight schedule. Wouldn’t it be better to make a suggestion?”

“…It’s hard to say.”

“Yes.”

“It’s confusing because it’s maybe possible.”

“…Yes?”

Grik wondered if his master had eaten something wrong for breakfast.

“It’s different from Aegis. We have to build a stone castle that can be used all the time, not a fortress made of earth that is not meant to last long. A castle big enough to put a great magic circle underground, too.”

“Yes. Even considering that, it seems possible. If the castle design is perfect, that is.”

‘Really?’

Clayton smiled sadly, even though he saw Grik looking confused.

“So, what about Master Hamar? Is he going to do it?”

“Hamar always complains he can’t do things, but he always does. Maybe he even likes it.”

“Yes. Maybe so.”

Watching his master, who couldn’t shake off his worries even as he chuckled, Grik frowned, not understanding his master at all.

“But shouldn’t we be able to honestly say we can’t do it?”

“Hmm?”

“There’s no reason for you to force yourself to do it. Baron Damian, who asked for this, said it’s okay if it takes longer. If we need more time, we can finish after the harvest. He doesn’t want it to stop farmers from working.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. Moreover, Master, you should suggest that the schedule is unreasonable and adjust it.”

Grik really thought so.

Recently, Master had been working on magic day and night. Grik and the other students had to work very hard too because of this.

But his master’s thoughts seemed to be different from his.

“No, I can’t do that.”

“Master. You’ve already done enough. There’s no need to work too hard……”

“I’m not overdoing it. Grik, I told you. Wizards should be as careful as possible with their words.”

“Yes? Ah, yes. You did……say that.”

Grik remembered what his master had been saying since he succeeded in mass-producing artifacts a few years ago.

Master always says, ‘Be honest and learn the truth. That’s how we become better than ordinary people.’

To be honest, he still didn’t understand what that had to do with magic.

“You can trick others, but you can’t trick yourself. I think it’s possible enough. So, I can’t say it’s not.”

But the sight of his master saying that, even with a tired look, made a big impression on Grik.