Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 455

News about a bright, holy light shining from a far-off forest in the east spread very quickly. Normal people, who usually would not see such amazing things, were very excited and talked about this ‘holy’ light.

The Temple made things even more exciting. They started searching very urgently for Harman, and this caused a lot of noise and confusion.

Sir Harman had become an Apostle of God, they whispered.

This rumour, spread quickly by the Temple, reached the Casel Magic Tower. People everywhere were talking about it.

“A sacred light reaching to the heavens… and even seen by commoners?”

“[Yes, Tower Lord. Many people saw it, so we can’t ignore it. And the Temple is acting very differently now.]”

The old man’s face twisted at the report from his subordinate through the communication device.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The old man drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair, lost in thought.

But no matter how far his thoughts wandered, they always led to the same conclusion.

“Truly an Apostle, then. And at this time… I thought the Gods no longer had the strength….”

“[…Yes?]”

“No, no. It’s because of this time that the Apostle has descended. The Gods are using up their power… to stop him. Yes, that makes it possible.”

He could feel his own face hardening, the habitual smile vanishing.

‘Well, there’s no helping it.’

“…Think that the Apostle has come, and change the plan. Make the ritual happen sooner.”

“[…Understood.]”

The situation was unfolding more rapidly than anticipated.

Naturally, the ‘alliance’ he had forged came to mind once more.

“Tell me about the Emperor. What have they said?”

“[Only word that they are preparing for war. Perhaps the Tower Lord should contact him directly….]”

“Foolish man… still worried about looking good, even now.”

The Tower Lord, his face deeply furrowed, gave a curt nod and ended the communication.

Then, he sought out the Imperial Family’s code, which he could now connect to without shame.

But then…

“[His Majesty is currently unavailable for communication.]”

“…Even when I contact him directly?”

“[Impossible for anyone. His Majesty is currently busy preparing for war.]”

“Ha! Tell him at once that the war may not go as he expects!”

“[Impossible.]”

“What was that?”

“[I said, it is impossible.]”

The expression of the Imperial Family’s administrator in the communication device remained as calm as ever.

Unless he were close enough to dominate his mind, even for the old man, it was impossible to guess anything from that expression alone.

He tried hard to stay calm, and then sighed because he was annoyed.

“Tell him that something has arisen that will change the course of that blasted war, and he must contact me. Do you understand!?”

“[…I will inform His Majesty.]”

Those blasted fools.

He felt as though things were constantly going awry, but there was no way to urge them further.

‘To make the ritual faster, I need more sacrifices. I need to get Logan McLain here earlier than planned.’

His train of thought then led to the prophecy passed down within the Tower.

The second part of the prophecy could mean different things. But everyone who was ever Tower Lord agreed on this first part.

– The rulers of the most powerful empire on earth. From their bloodline, our God will descend.

So, for now, what he had to do was clear.

‘I must capture more members of the Imperial Family. The First Prince, if possible.’

An Emperor who had inherited the power of succession would be ideal, but that one had to become a pawn to capture Logan.

However, since the Second Prince, Baros, had become a traitor, the First Prince, Clide, had not left the Imperial Palace at all. This remained the case even with the war intensifying.

‘Of course. He’s the only one left to inherit the succession.’

The other princes who had competed for the throne were already dead or disqualified. The Imperial succession contest itself was a process to inherit the power of succession, so the Emperor would have no other choice.

He could depose even Clide and have another child, starting a new Imperial succession contest later, but…

The Empire was not in a state to do so now.

However, to infiltrate the Imperial Palace, especially the Emperor’s residence, would require risking his life, even if he went himself. And he would have to risk breaking the alliance he had painstakingly created.

In that case…

‘The Four Directional Kings. With Baros as the axis, add the descendants of the Four Directional Kings to the sacrifice. That will speed up the ritual a little more.’

He had already been ‘working’ on the Four Directional Kings for a long time, so it would not be difficult. Also, given the current state of the Empire, they would not be able to pay attention to the heirs of the Four Directional Kings.

Above all, with his deep understanding of souls and karma, there would be no problem in varying the ritual.

‘Besides, there’s our own mage among their descendants.’

A cruel smile formed on the Tower Lord’s lips.

Louisa gritted her teeth at her father’s outburst. They were in his study, a room filled with old books and shadows. She had confessed the words she had conveyed to King Logan, thinking the time was right, but her father’s reaction was far too violent.

It was a little sad that the most dramatic expression of emotion he had shown since abandoning that position where he always smiled, where he had no choice but to smile, was this.

But her father’s reaction was exactly as she had expected.

“…I’ve seen the Tower Lord longer than you have, Father. The current Tower Lord… is strange. No, he was always like this, but we just didn’t know it.”

“Don’t say such nonsense! He clearly promised us! You saw his power, his miracles, didn’t you!”

Seeing her father’s resolute expression, Louisa bit her lip. The words she had to say from now on were, perhaps, touching on the fundamental desires that they, as a father and daughter, held.

But it had already come to this.

Louisa frankly voiced the doubts she had harboured since the year before last.

“…Rather, I doubt whether Mother’s resurrection is even possible in the first place.”

“…What!?”

“Don’t you think it’s strange, Father?”

“Stop! What nonsense are you spouting! This is a path we’ve walked, even risking the destruction of the Royal House. Now, after all this….”

“Or is it that you want to believe more because of how much you’ve invested, how much you’ve poured in?”

Gerard’s expression changed at those words.

Believing too much in a false religion is like losing money in business and then borrowing from bad people. You can’t stop hoping, even when it’s wrong.

It’s like thinking, ‘I’ve done so much already, it must be true! It can’t be a lie!’ This kind of thinking stops people from seeing and hearing the truth.

Gerard could not have failed to understand Louisa’s pointed remark, which contained such meaning.

“…What are you trying to say?”

The air in the high room felt still and cold, mirroring the chill that spread through Louisa. She stared at her father, Gerard, his face pale and drawn. Louisa bit down on her teeth, a hard grit against grit, as she noticed again the faint grey ring circling the blue of his eyes. Eyes so like her own, she thought, a painful twist in her chest. *No, not like mine anymore.*

“Father, have you… have you ever considered that we might have been deceived by him?”

“…How could that be? He performed a miracle before my very eyes, bringing a dead person back to life. You saw it too, didn’t you!”

“Are you certain of that memory?”

Gerard’s eyes began to waver intensely.

“What do you mean…? Huh….”

But he quickly regained his composure and continued.

“The royal palace, like the Imperial Palace, had devices in place to guard against mental magic. And I, too, was already a strong mage at the time. There’s no way I could have been deceived in that situation….”

“The Tower Master is a very powerful magic user, one who specializes in dealing with the mind and soul. And you, Father, were hardly in your right mind back then. I’ll ask you again. Father, are you truly certain?”

“That’s absurd…!”

“Father!”

Louisa cut off her father with an outburst.

Then, she demanded a very obvious choice.

“Do you trust the Tower Master, or do you trust me?” Louisa’s heart pounded in her chest. This was it. Everything depended on her father’s answer.

“Of course, I trust the Tower Master….”

Gerard’s words hung in the air, shocking even himself. *Tower Master…more than Louisa?* His head throbbed, as if his mind was tearing itself apart. He grabbed his head, a groan escaping his lips.

“You trust the Tower Master more than me? Why?”

No matter how strained their relationship, they were still father and daughter.

Moreover, wasn’t the reason for their discord rooted in a shared pain?

Gerard, who had declared he trusted someone else more than his own daughter, clutched his head in confusion.

“No, that can’t be. No, I, I….”

Before her father, who was struggling to regain his senses, Louisa spoke calmly.

“…Try to remember what happened back then, Father. And please, listen to what I have to say. It seems too late even now, but….”

As Gerard stared at his daughter with trembling eyes, Louisa slowly began her story.

“It started when I met Logan McLaine, the Changer of Fate. At that time….”

Louisa recalled the first time she met Logan.

The moment she faced him, she felt a small crack forming somewhere in her mind, and a faint doubt began to surface.

And as she continued to stay in Gran and occasionally encounter him, the crack in her mind grew little by little. To be precise, she began to question the actions she had taken until then.

So, from a certain point on, she avoided encountering him as much as possible. She believed that she shouldn’t create any more anxiety if she wanted to carry out the Tower’s orders properly.

“Perhaps I felt vaguely that something was wrong from then on. But I couldn’t bring myself to think about it any further.”

However, in the midst of the renewed war, her desire to take revenge on the Emperor led her to seek out Logan, which widened the crack once more.

Decisively, not long ago.

“…While listening to the Tower Master’s harsh words, I felt something in my head breaking apart. At the time, I thought it was simply because I was upset….”

After that day, she felt that she had changed a little.

No, she had no choice but to change. Countless memories that she had forgotten, memories of sacrificial rituals and other things that the Tower Master had ordered her to carry out, resurfaced like bamboo shoots after a rain. She saw a flash of faces in masks, chanting words she didn’t understand, and felt a chilling fear she had forgotten.

As she realized that her memories had been sealed, she naturally began to have fundamental doubts about the Tower’s activities.

And it was at that very time that she contacted King Logan.

“Even then, I was just thinking of securing a lifeline, just in case. But….”

After that, while she was suffering from terrible memories.

The truth, which she had completely overlooked until now, hit her like a sudden wave of ice water, making her gasp. Everything she had taken for granted until then collapsed.

That was yesterday.

That’s why she came to see her father now.

And the truth she realized was….

“Not even the Tower’s magic, not even very strong soul magic, can revive the dead. I, who have learned the Tower’s magic, can tell you that.”

At those words, Gerard’s gaunt face twisted horribly.

“No, that’s not true. A person who has been subjected to brainwashing magic cannot think properly. You’re mistaken about something.”

That can’t be. That can’t be.

Watching her father shake his head and mutter repeatedly, Louisa quietly placed her hand on his head.

“The Tower Master must have put a lot of effort into this magic. Normally, I would never be able to break it. But it’s different now.”

‘Being near King Logan for so long has changed me,’ Louisa thought. ‘His power weakens the Tower Master’s magic. And Father hasn’t seen the Tower Master in a long time. The mind control on him must be weaker now.’

Then it’s possible.

Louisa looked at her suffering father. And with a determined voice, she asked again.

“Father, do you trust me, or do you trust the Tower Master?”

“Of course, I tru, Tow, ugh, ugh! Ah, no, you. I trust you, my daughter. My, my beloved daughter….”

Gerard repeated those words, his handsome face twisted in agony.

“I must trust my daughter. Yes, my beloved daughter… Ugh. The, the Tower Master is just….”

Beloved.

Forcing herself to suppress the surge of emotion at that simple word, Louisa gathered her magic. A soft blue light began to glow around Louisa’s hands. The air grew cooler, and a faint humming sound filled the room.

“Just keep thinking that. I’ll break your shackles.”

Ooooong.

But the process was not as easy as she had thought.

It was only when Louisa, a very skilled and powerful mage, had almost completely depleted her magic….

And only after Gerard coughed up blood several times, could the former King of Dongik be freed from the spiritual bondage he had been unaware of for 20 years.

But the only thing that greeted the father and daughter, who had come to realize the truth, was a harsh reality.

“What… what are we supposed to do now? No, what can we do now?”

Looking at her father, who seemed to have aged ten years in an instant, Louisa also gave a desolate smile.

But the resolute voice that followed was filled with determination.

“We must take revenge. On the Emperor and the Tower Master. On everyone.”

“How can we possibly…?”

“King Logan. We must tell him everything we know. And also, the facts that we will come to know in the future.”

“…You’re suggesting we become spies?”

“…In a manner of speaking, yes. Be careful not to encounter the Tower Master as much as possible.”

The day after the father and daughter had renewed their resolve.

As if it had been planned, someone sent from the Tower came to find them.

“Are you Gerard von Asserian and Louisa? This is by order of the Tower Master. Please, follow me.”

It was a dwarf who barely reached the waist of an average adult, and a grotesque one at that, with more than half of his face covered in purple spots.

Noble bloodlines accumulate countless karmas. The karma accumulated in the bloodline will in itself become a staircase reaching the divine throne. The descendants shall prepare the noble bloodline as a divine body, and place it at the end of the accumulated spiritual and physical steps. If you do so….