Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 43

“Yes… So, did you have a good time in the capital?” Father asked.

“Yes, Father. It was very useful,” Logan replied.

“Hmm, I see.” Father paused. “Good then. Is there… anything else you wanted to say?”

Even in this short talk, Logan felt it. His father saw him differently now.

His father trusted him now. He wouldn’t question him about things.

But he had to say what he needed to, for the future.

‘First, before the main point…’

Logan swallowed hard.

“I did some business in the capital and made some money. The profits will keep coming in for a while.”

“…Money? No, before that. Business? What business?”

“The medicine I gave you as a gift, Father. I started a business with that medicine. Fortunately, it went well, and I made some money.”

“What, what did you say?”

His father had asked in a relaxed way, but his face changed suddenly. It became hard like stone.

Then, as if his thoughts had gone somewhere else, his face flushed red.

“Are you saying you went all the way to the capital to sell aphrodisiacs?!”

His voice trembled slightly, mixed with surprise and embarrassment.

“Surely… you used an agent, right?”

“I sold them to nobles at a high price. I had to step up myself to do that.”

“You sold them yourself?”

“Yes.”

“…Announcing it was McLaine?”

“Yes.”

“Ahem. Hmm. Ugh. Hooo….”

Shocked, Patrick started to sigh deeply. He groaned and covered his face with his hands.

When he, who had been sighing deeply, raised his head again to look at Logan.

Logan was slightly nervous, expecting a harsh scolding.

“Haaa. Logan, I’ve decided I won’t interfere with what you do anymore.”

But, surprisingly, his father spoke in a serious, low voice, followed by a long sigh.

“Next time you do something, could you at least think about the family’s honor or dignity?”

Logan only smiled at his father, who was looking at him with a complicated expression.

Logan thought he would need to work hard to convince his father.

It seemed his reputation had improved more than he had guessed.

‘If this goes well, it will be easier to persuade him.’

So Logan could answer cheerfully.

“Yes!”

“…Are you thinking before you answer?”

“Of course!”

“Ugh….”

Logan’s answer, which came out too lightly, was not believable at all, and Patrick, who was at a loss for words, covered his face again.

But Logan was really confident.

In his own mind, he was already acting with ‘maximum’ consideration for the family’s honor and dignity, not just the minimum.

However, in his mind, honor and dignity were only next in line after survival and profit.

Logan chuckled, imagining his father clutching his head again if he knew.

Now that he had given him a headache, it was time to deliver some good news.

That would definitely make what he would say later more convincing.

“Oh! I happened to meet a Sword Master in the capital and we became friends.”

Fortunately, this time the reaction was what Logan expected.

“A Sword Master? Are you talking about Duke Felix Esperanza?”

His eyes shone as if he had never worried at all.

Logan smiled pleasantly at the sight.

“Yes.”

“How did you meet him?”

“I sold him that medicine. It was quite…”

“What?!”

As if something had exploded, Patrick shouted, his face reddening in an instant.

His son had not only sold aphrodisiacs under the family name, but he had also sold them to the kingdom’s greatest swordsman, whom he respected the most.

Patrick was speechless.

“How much more are you going to embarrass the family…!”

“So I got an impressive secret technique for intermediate swordsmanship.”

“…Have to be satisfied… What?”

He felt both angry and embarrassed. He had mixed feelings, and Patrick fixed his gaze on the book Logan took out of his pocket.

“Iron Blood Sword. It’s proper intermediate swordsmanship. Guaranteed by the Sword Master. Plus, a trick to use as a hidden card….”

Patrick moved fast, like lightning, and rushed towards Logan.

“I-Is it real?! H-How? No, that’s not the point. Let me see it first.”

Patrick had lived his whole life wanting proper Force swordsmanship, that is, intermediate swordsmanship.

He had been thinking for over a decade that the reason he couldn’t develop further might be because of his swordsmanship.

To him, the existence of an intermediate swordsmanship book guaranteed by the Sword Master was like a ray of sweet rain after a long drought.

Flip. Flip.

Patrick’s eyes, quickly turning the pages, were literally devouring the book.

He looked as if he would draw his sword and start swinging it right away, so Logan hurriedly brought up what he had prepared to say.

“I think this will really help the family. What do you think?”

At that moment, Patrick looked at Logan with dazed eyes.

“It’s really real. It seems to be among the best intermediate swordsmanship. How can I repay this favor to the Sword Master…? No, before that. You’re really amazing, Logan. Really amazing!”

The anger he had been spewing out like fire just a moment ago was gone.

His father smiled more brightly than when he had solved the family’s debt, and patted his shoulder.

Watching his excited appearance, Logan reminded him of the main point again.

“Is it good enough to teach the knights?”

“Of course! If they master it properly, our knights’ strength will increase by at least 30%! I can guarantee it!”

“That’s good. Then I’d like to suggest….”

“Yes. To do that, I need to master it properly first.”

“Yes? No, that’s what I….”

Logan tried to say something, but Patrick, who seemed greatly excited, didn’t even hear him and fell back into the book.

“This is really…. This is no time for me to be doing this. Logan!”

“Yes?”

“The first thing is for me to master this as quickly as possible. So, please help out for a while.”

“Yes? What are you talking about?”

Patrick took out a heavy object the size of a fist from his pocket and placed it down.

“Here. It’s the seal of the Lord.”

“Yes?”

“Help Dwayne with the family’s affairs for the time being. I need to focus on this swordsmanship.”

“Yes? What does that mean….”

“Discuss it with Dwayne and handle it well. Thank you so much, Logan!”

“No. Father, before that, I have something to say….”

Bang!

The office door closed with a loud noise, and his father disappeared like the wind.

Logan’s voice only bounced back as if it had hit an invisible wall.

“What on earth is going on…?”

Patrick’s passionate reaction completely surprised him.

The large seal left alone on the desk.

It was a day when the seal of the McLaine family, with its vivid, burning flame shape, seemed particularly sad, showing the weak power of the old Count’s family.

“I couldn’t even bring up the main point.”

He felt embarrassed, but on second thought, he thought it was better that way.

‘It means I don’t need to get permission.’

Thinking that way, the flame-shaped seal in his hand felt strangely welcoming.

“Alright. I’ll get everything done before Father finishes his training.”

Logan made that resolution to himself, when suddenly—

“Young Lord! I heard you were here! So, here you are!”

A large figure rushed towards him like a shot; it was Dwain, particularly pleased to see him.

“Welcome! Welcome!”

After a brief, formal greeting, Dwain wasted no time in getting straight to the point.

“I’ve heard all about what you did in the capital, Young Lord! Please, give the family some money! It’s urgent!”

It was a desperate cry that felt almost pathetic.

“What’s so urgent? You have the money from the war, don’t you?”

“That money isn’t even enough to maintain the two castles! And this year’s harvest is expected to be terrible. We will not get enough money from taxes….”

The majority of adult men in Tesron Castle had died in the war, leading to a shortage of labor, and McLaine Castle’s finances were already poor.

And then there was the support from Kairos, which had been cut off right before the war.

Dwain gave many other reasons, but the conclusion was always the same.

“Give us money! Money! I already know you’ve made a fortune! Don’t avoid my eyes!”

However.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry? What do you mean, sorry? Don’t say sorry! Just give us the money! The money!” Dwain’s face turned red with desperation.

“I spent it all.”

“Excuse me? Come on, don’t joke around. I heard you made millions of gold. What could you possibly have done to spend it all already? Young Lord, the territory is really struggling, you know? This is no time for jokes!”

“I’m not joking.”

“Come on. That’s not funny. It’s really not funny.”

“I really spent it all.”

Dwain stared at Logan for a moment, then slumped down powerlessly. His shoulders dropped, and his face looked gray. He seemed to have lost all hope.

“W-what did you spend it on?”

“I spent 1.2 million gold on magic scrolls and mages. I bought food too. And construction materials, so there’s nothing left.”

In truth, even after buying all that, he still had close to 2 million gold left, but the minimum expenditure for the next six months alone was 2.2 million gold.

There was also the possibility that Imporic sales might slow down, so he couldn’t use the remaining money.

And there was another reason too.

“1.2 million gold? On magic scrolls? What on earth are you going to use them for?!”

There was something amusing about teasing this large administrator with his wide eyes.

“Collapse. I’m going to do some major construction. I’ll need to mobilize a lot of the territory’s people too.”

“A lot? How many?”

“Well, at least a few thousand….”

“A few thousand? Are you mad?! What time of year is it?!”

‘I know it’s the farming season, you dolt.’

Logan swallowed the laughter that threatened to escape.

“What construction are you talking about? No, it doesn’t matter what it is, this is no time for construction! The Lord wouldn’t allow it either! Just get a refund!”

“I won’t. And I’m the Lord now.”

Logan waved the Flame Seal in a playful way in front of Dwain’s eyes.

“T-the seal? Where is the Lord?”

“Training.”

“This, this man, again!”

Dwain stood up as if his earlier listlessness had been a lie.

“Looooooord!”

A wild boar, spitting fire from its eyes, madly dashed through the inner castle.

* * *

– Nothing is more important than this right now! Work it out between yourselves!

– Lord?! Loo— Hey! You!

Dwain was very angry and went to the training room. But Padric was starting to focus on his training and scolded Dwain instead.

Dwain looked at Logan with resentful eyes, but Logan’s attitude was firm.

“Do you really have to do this?”

“It’s necessary.”

“It’s the time when the territory’s people are busiest. What construction are you planning at this time!”

Even in this barren territory, they farmed.

Of course, the yield was small, but the territory’s people hunted or gathered herbs, doing everything they could to survive.

And summer was the time when nature’s bounty was most abundant.

In other words, it was the busiest time for the territory’s people.

“The people are already unhappy after the war. This could be a disaster. Please, reconsider! Please!”

“Who said I’m just going to make them work? Don’t worry.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to give them food. There are a lot of starving people in our territory these days, aren’t there?”

“Yes?”

“I’m giving them food. I’ll distribute it to the starving people in the territory, and give even more to those who are mobilized for construction.”

Dwain’s expression soured at those idealistic words.

“If you do that, you won’t even have soup to eat in less than a month.”

“It’s alright. I have it.”

“What’s alright! What do you have! You don’t have anything?!”

“Didn’t you listen to me properly earlier? I told you I bought food too, didn’t I?”

“Yes? I thought you said it was for magic scrolls for construction….”

“Tsk tsk. You need to listen properly when people are talking. I have that and food too. Will that be alright?”

“Even if you bought a little food, if you distribute it to the territory’s people….”

“1 million gold.”

“Yes?”

“And that every month until this time next year.”

Dwain stared at Logan blankly for a moment, then suddenly started digging in his ear.

“Ahem. I’ve been overworking lately, so I’m hearing things. Young Lord, what did you just say?”

“I said I’m going to buy food with 1 million gold each month for a year and distribute it to the territory’s people.”

“Heol. I-it’s not a hallucination… Young Lord?”

“Yes. It’s me.”

“Did you eat something wrong?”

Logan gave a wry smile at that dumbfounded look.

‘This is the natural reaction, I suppose.’

Logan had never shown the slightest interest in the lives of the territory’s people.

Even though his reputation had risen as a war hero, who would think that would lead to a change in his thinking?

But for the sake of the future, this was something that had to be done immediately.

“I’m fine. Will that be possible?”

“There are 30,000 people in McLaine Castle and 50,000 in Tesron Castle. Well, I can’t feed them all fully, but moderately… I think it’s possible.”

“What if we minimize it and give double to those participating in the construction?”

“Well, I think that’s definitely possible. But Young Lord, do you really need to do this?”

“What?”

“I’m still against the construction, but separately from that, why are you spending that money on food for the territory’s people? They’ll survive on their own even if you don’t give them anything.”

“Some of the territory’s people might starve to death.”

“Some might. But that’s been the case every year. If you suddenly start giving out food now, the ignorant peasants might expect the same thing in the future. You should use that money for something else instead. There are so many places that need money….”

‘Hmm. Right. Everyone still thinks this way.’

At this time, people thought it was normal to only give the territory people just enough food so they would not cause trouble and could pay taxes.

‘This is not normal thinking, it is a wrong idea that is hurting the territory.’

So, he had to correct it now, even if he had to force it.

“It’s my money anyway. What’s the problem with me using it as I please?”

“Young Lord!”

“The authority of the Lord’s proxy. And the source of the funds is my money. You know you have no justification to object, right?”

Logan’s words were undeniably true, and Dwain, who was racking his brain to find words to refute him, ended up grimacing.

“Haa……. The Lord will object too.”

“He’s not here now.”

“If you really have to do it, the best you can do is make sure no one starves to death….”

“No. That’s not enough. This is all ultimately for the sake of the family.”

So, he had to make it succeed. He had to.

At Logan’s resolute expression, Dwain finally fell silent.