Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 40

“Myeongjeong tea,” Redios said, offering a delicate teacup. Pale green steam curled upwards, carrying a faint, earthy smell. “Made from special herbs to clear the mind. A Magic Tower specialty. Please, try it.”

He watched the young man take the cup, his eyes narrowed slightly. *Young indeed,* Redios thought. *And looks like he has more gold than sense. If I play this right…* He smiled, a little too brightly.

The Magic Tower was in trouble with money, especially this month. It was so bad that even the Tower Lord had to worry about just 1.5 million gold.

The most valuable things the Magic Tower made were artifacts, no doubt about it.

But these artifacts cost at least ten million gold, so they didn’t sell very often. If they sold even a few each year, they considered themselves lucky.

Mostly, they sold scrolls that were not very expensive. But the Earth Magic Tower, run by Redios, was not as good at selling these scrolls compared to other towers.

In times of peace, Earth magic was mainly used for making farmland better, helping with farming, or doing big construction projects.

But the nobles didn’t want to spend money on expensive scrolls for these ‘small’ jobs.

‘They can just use the serfs,’ Redios thought.

So, the Earth Magic Tower always had money problems.

It wasn’t true, even though people said it, that the Magic Tower had gotten worse since he became the Tower Lord.

It was normal for the Tower Lord to use some of the Magic Tower’s money for his own research. The idea that his research would make the Magic Tower less successful was just silly.

Of course, the budget was tight this month because he had taken a bit too much money early, but he had found hope, so it wasn’t all bad.

‘The Magic Tower will only do well if I do well. Yes, that’s right,’ he thought.

“Hmm. This tea is something the Tower Lord should be proud of. It smells wonderful.”

“Haha. You know good quality when you taste it. But are you saying you want to buy 150 Collapse Scrolls?”

Redios bit his lip, regretting the words as soon as they were out.

He had been thinking too much and immediately got to the point, which wasn’t very noble of him, especially after the compliment.

He had even seemed eager to make the sale, which was a clear mistake.

“Yes. That’s right.”

But luckily, this customer didn’t react much.

Maybe it wasn’t too late to see what he was really after.

“Hahaha. It’s been a while since we had such a big deal, so I’m excited. But there’s actually a problem.”

“A problem?”

“As you know, 4th circle scrolls can only be made if a 5th circle mage is watching. And we don’t have many high-level people in our Magic Tower.”

Redios carefully put out the bait, watching how the other man would react.

“…So?”

The man’s eyes became dark, and the air suddenly felt cold.

This wasn’t how a pushover should react.

‘I should test him again,’ Redios thought.

Gulp.

Redios swallowed hard and carefully went on.

“As you know, scrolls cost a lot to make, so we can’t just make them ahead of time….”

“So, are you saying you can’t sell me as many as I want?”

But the man’s voice turned icy cold before he could even finish.

“Ah, no! That’s not it at all! I just meant that 150 might take some time… Haha. Ahem.”

Redios was startled and quickly made excuses.

“Then I have no choice. I was planning to buy 150 each month. If even 150 is difficult, then I’ll just go to the Royal Magic Tower…”

“Wa, wait! Customer!”

“Yes?”

“E, each month?”

Redios wondered if he had heard wrong.

“Yes. 150 per month, for a total of 900 over six months.”

It wasn’t a dream or a misunderstanding.

“Uaaaah……”

Without thinking, he raised his hand, almost cheering, but…

“…Aaaahm.”

“What are you doing…?”

“I’m sorry. I was just stretching because I was tired….”

He pretended it was nothing, using his years of practice at hiding his true feelings.

He thought he had even controlled his facial expressions perfectly.

“Well, if you can’t even get 150 ready right away, then the same amount every month for six months would be completely impossible. I enjoyed the tea.”

But the departing god of wealth couldn’t be stopped.

The moment those footsteps sounded like hammer blows to Redios’s hopes, he had only one choice.

“No! We can do it! No, we absolutely must!”

“Yes?”

“What I meant was… that’s what would happen if I didn’t step in personally. Yes, yes. That’s right.”

“Are you saying it’s possible?”

“It absolutely has to be possible, haha. 150 a month. 1.5 million a month. Six months is 9 million. Haha. I see. A wonderful sum.”

Redios, not knowing what he was doing, lifted the teacup to hide his face.

“Ouch!”

His hand shook so much he almost dropped the cup. He forgot about being polite.

“Are you alright, mage?”

“Cough. Yes. Yes! I’m fine. I, I’m sorry. Please, wait just a moment!”

Being polite wasn’t important now.

If he got this deal, the elders would stop complaining about him spending too much money on experiments, all at once!

With that hope, Redios dashed out of the room.

“150 4th circle scrolls a month? We’ll have to get the other elders to help make them. Will they agree?”

“We have to do it! Not just for one month. For six months! That’s 9 million gold! Even a third of that would let us start our research again!”

“To get the elders to agree, you’ll have to share some of the money with them.”

“I have no choice. We’ll give them what we have to, or take as much as we can from the lower ranks! This is a chance to become a transcendent that we’ve been waiting for 20 years!”

“But what about the other jobs…?”

“What ‘buts’? Cancel everything else! Pay the fees for breaking the contracts! We don’t have any big deals right now anyway!”

“Ahem. I understand. But….”

“And if we do well, we can get those guys….”

“Yes? Ah….”

The last words weren’t clear, but Logan understood.

‘Ah, so that’s why the Tower Lord is acting like this…,’ Logan thought.

Creak.

A moment later, the door opened again, and Redios came back into the room with a middle-aged man who looked a bit gloomy.

“Ahaha. Young master, this is Romelun, an elder of our Magic Tower. He is in charge of making the scrolls.”

“Romelun.”

Romelun bowed his head lower than Tower Lord Redios, and seemed more serious.

‘4th circle?’ Logan wondered.

Romelun’s level seemed a bit low for an elder.

“You’re an elder…?”

“That’s right.”

Even in the Grandia Kingdom, where high-ranking mages were rare, Romelun didn’t seem strong enough or old enough to be an elder.

‘Well, it’s not my problem,’ Logan thought.

The rumor that the Earth Magic Tower was failing had been going around for over ten years since this nasty-looking Tower Lord took over, so nothing was surprising anymore.

‘I just need to buy the scrolls,’ Logan thought.

Luckily, from their conversation, it seemed possible to get them.

But the Tower Lord brought up something unexpected.

“But maybe, instead of scrolls, how about hiring a mage directly?”

“Pardon?”

Even Logan was surprised.

Magicians are known for being very proud and thinking highly of themselves. Most people find them difficult to work with.

Even for magicians, using magic for building instead of fighting seemed silly.

So, he hadn’t thought about hiring one directly.

‘Is it different here? It can’t be!’

He was confused because his old ideas were wrong. But now he knew what he had to do.

‘I have to do it!’

Why were disposable scrolls so expensive?

The cost to make them was part of it, but the main reason was that most proud magicians didn’t want to do simple work. They liked staying in their labs.

If he could hire a 4th Circle magician, he could get the same effect as 300 scrolls, not just 150.

And it would be cheaper.

“Do you think a 4th Circle magician would come to a construction site in the countryside?”

He couldn’t hide his excitement, but it was understandable.

However…

“Ah, haha. I’m sorry, there seems to be a misunderstanding.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t just order a 4th Circle magician around. They are important to the Tower.”

“Huh…”

Logan was disappointed, but he should have expected it.

A 4th Circle magician was high-ranking and valuable. Forcing them to do unwanted work might make them leave, which would hurt the Tower.

“Then why did you bring it up?”

“Well, I wanted to see if I could make a better offer to a valued guest.”

Logan thought, ‘This Magic Tower Master is more like a shop owner than a powerful magician!’

“How about fewer scrolls, and I send 2nd and 3rd Circle disciples instead?”

Logan wanted to hear a good offer, but this was not it. He almost laughed, but it was not funny.

Wasn’t he just saying he’d send some low-level magicians to pretend to work while taking all the money?

“I’m sorry, but…”

“Ten!”

Before Logan could refuse, the Tower Master spoke quickly.

“Yes?”

“Nine 2nd Circle magicians and one 3rd Circle magician. I have disciples who have worked together on construction sites for a long time. I will send them to you.”

Logan was tempted.

That might be better than hiring one 4th Circle magician.

Especially for a long-term project, not a battle.

Also, the idea of magicians who specialized in building was hard to imagine.

“Hmm. If I can hire magicians cheaply, I’m in favor of it. I came here to speed up the building.”

As soon as Logan said that, Radios jumped on it.

“How about 120 scrolls and those magicians for the whole project?”

“120 scrolls?”

That was like trading 30 4th Circle scrolls for ten magicians.

It wasn’t a bad deal.

“Well, that sounds okay.”

When Logan nodded, the Magic Tower Master and Elder smiled.

They thought it was a perfect deal.

“By the way, since this is a long deal for so much, can I get a discount? How much is possible?”

Radios’s face darkened again.

The Magic Tower Master had acted too soon.

‘I wonder how he’ll react?’

Logan smiled as he waited.

They probably knew Logan wanted magic for digging and building.

Even the royal Magic Tower couldn’t beat the Earth Magic Tower at that.

They were the best at it.

Also, magicians really hate the word ‘discount.’ They think it makes magic sound cheap, like it’s not special anymore.

They felt like Logan was hurting their pride by asking for a discount.

But Logan thought it would work.

Not just because of what they talked about outside…

“Huhu. Didn’t you say you were in a hurry?”

“Not really. I just want to finish building fast. I have plenty of money.”

“Ahaha. You’re very bold. Well, I could just use the people in your land to do it.”

At that time, most nobles in Grandia Kingdom thought this was normal.

Spending money on your land was only for emergencies.

If it wasn’t urgent, nobles wrongly thought they could just make the people in their land work hard for little money. That was how rich people thought back then.

‘That’s why the Empire easily destroyed them.’

– The Empire’s laws are all for the people. Serving the people is serving the country.

– Making the people rich makes the country strong.

Those were the first words of the Ares Empire’s laws, made by the future Emperor.

Logan was shocked when he heard that in his past life. He had never thought about it.

Why treat the people in your land well? They were just property.

‘That’s what I thought.’

But that changed when he saw the Imperial War.

When the main soldiers of Grandia Kingdom ran away when the Knights and Magician Corps were defeated.

On the other hand, even if the Empire’s main soldiers lost, their other soldiers would still try to stop the enemy in any way they could.

This difference in how they thought always gave them better results, even if they weren’t always stronger in fighting.

He only understood later that it was because the Empire’s leaders treated their people better.

Maybe many other nobles also thought like this.

‘A country becomes strong when its people are rich.’

They realized that too late.

So now he had to act like they did.

“If the price isn’t good, I’ll just use the people in my land, even if it takes longer.”

Logan didn’t want to make his people work without pay, but they didn’t know that.

“Huhu. I see. A discount from the Magic Tower… Huhu.”

They just looked at each other, unsure.

Logan decided to push them a little.

“Don’t you want to? Then I’ll go to the Royal Magic Tower…”

“Ah. No! Wait!”

Even though he didn’t really do it, he looked like he was about to get on his knees and beg.

The way he nervously licked his lips made him look even worse.

Logan secretly liked seeing the Tower Master squirm.

‘You said you found a clue to becoming superhuman, right? You can’t give up now!’

The path of the best knight to becoming an Aura User.

The path of the 5th Circle magician to becoming a 6th Circle Archmage.

There was a limit that most magicians could not pass. It was like hitting a wall, called the ‘Wall of Demise.’ This wall separated normal magicians from truly powerful ones.

The people who wanted to break through this wall the most were not beginners. It was the magicians who were already very good and could just start to see what was on the other side.

“Huhu. Scrolls have a set price… Ahem. I can’t help it.”

Finally, the Magic Tower Master wanted the deal more than his pride, so he gave in.