Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 46

Logan had hoped to work closely with Clayton and the Golem School, but it didn’t work out. Still, the golem’s power in building was amazing, even if it cost a lot.

Because Clayton had a giant golem, Logan didn’t need to use workers for dangerous jobs.

‘It can do almost all of the work by itself…’

Clayton was very skilled. Now Logan understood why hiring a powerful mage like him cost so much money.

The golem worked much faster than even the best knight. People often think knights and mages are equally important, but the golem was much more productive.

‘Knights who only know how to swing a sword…’

Logan thought badly of knights in his mind. Then he remembered he was a knight too! He coughed, feeling a little embarrassed.

Right after he coughed, another explosion sound came.

Kwaaaah!

Rumble!

Another huge roar shook the ground.

Goooooo.

In the middle of all the noise, the giant golem moved. It was so big and powerful that people started screaming everywhere.

“Hiiiik!”

“Mommy!”

“I want to go home!”

“Ted! Catch that thing! How many are in its family? Hey, you!”

Logan had worked hard to gather these workers. But now, they were all terrified. The golem had made the place look ruined and empty. The workers fell to the ground, shaking with fear.

Dwayne was there too, still looking completely shocked.

“I, I must inform the Lord……”

Seeing Dwayne and the laborers trembling, Logan couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘Clayton can build the dam all by himself.’

It looked like he didn’t need any workers here at all.

“Hamar, take all the workers to dig the channels for the water. We don’t need them here to build the dam.”

Logan’s plan had two parts happening at the same time. First, building the dam and the mine here. Second, digging open channels to bring water to all the empty land he wanted to make useful again.

He had planned to split the 8,000 workers between building the dam and digging the water channels. But now, he could change his plan.

‘The completion will be faster than expected.’

Logan smiled. He had a good feeling that things would finish faster than he thought.

“Yes!” Hamar had been just staring at the golem, not really paying attention. He finally understood Logan and started gathering the workers.

And that was good news for the laborers as well.

“Wa, waterways?”

“Where is there water?”

“If we’re told to do it, we’ll do it, but……”

“Does that make sense?”

“Pointlessly digging ditches in dry land, and why are we turning the land upside down……”

“Hey. Why so many complaints? It’s better than carrying rocks, isn’t it? Besides……”

Rumble!

The people from the area looked at the cliff that was still shaking and making loud noises. They shivered and looked away.

Everyone from the area felt the same.

How could they not be scared of a giant thing made by magic, even if it was supposed to help them?

If that giant thing, taller than 20 meters, bumped into you by accident, you would die instantly.

“Let’s just dig in the ground then, okay? Feeling better now?”

“Of course!” They had to dig water channels evenly across a huge empty land. It was more than 40 kilometers wide and maybe over 800 square kilometers in total! Even with 8,000 workers, it was a very hard job. But right now, after seeing the golem, none of them felt scared of hard work anymore.

“Lord! Master! Padric! Oh, come on!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dwayne knocked hard on the locked door. He was in a hurry.

Rumble!

The faint thunder-like noise made his touch even more frantic.

“The Archduke is destroying the land with explosions!” His voice sounded desperate.

Bang! Bang!

“Please open the do……”

Clunk.

Suddenly, Dwayne’s hand hit something soft and fleshy instead of the hard door. He heard a dull sound. Surprised, Dwayne looked up. He saw red eyes staring down at him. Padric’s fist was right in front of his eye.

“Hyaaak!”

Dwayne, his entire body breaking out in goosebumps, jumped back with a strange scream.

Padric, who had been unexpectedly punched in the eye socket, uttered a brief remark.

“Huh?”

“I, I’m so sorry…”

“Hahaha…”

“It, it was an accident! Sorry, Lord!”

“I’ve been training hard every day and night. But still, I’m not careful enough… Haha, you’re right, Dwayne. You remind me.”

“Ah, no. That’s not what I meant……”

“Yes, I suppose so. Shall we go inside and discuss this in more detail?”

“Yes? Me……too?”

“Of course.”

Clunk.

Creak.

Unlike a moment ago, when he had been shouting to open the door, Dwayne felt the door opening askew with a loud noise was like the gate to hell.

The inside of the massive door, over 1 meter wide and made of Tritan territory’s ironwood, was all gray.

A rumor that it was once used as a torture chamber to capture and torture prisoners, though now it was the Lord’s private training room, flashed through Dwayne’s mind.

“I, I don’t necessarily need to go in, I’m fine……”

“It’s alright. Come in.”

At Padric’s urging, Dwayne reluctantly entered the training room.

Creak.

Dwayne felt another shiver as he watched the door close with a soft smile and a loud noise.

“……So that blood doesn’t splatter outside.”

A voice, barely audible to the person next to him, flowed out from the closing door and echoed in the empty hallway.

Bang.

“Lo, Lord?!”

A scream-like voice faintly leaked out from behind the firmly closed thick door.

After that day.

MacLane’s financial administrator, Dwayne, was bedridden with an unknown illness and unable to return to work for some time.

‘Hmm. Father is strangely quiet. Was the Iron Blood Sword and secret technique really that effective?’

Dwayne would have made a fuss several times over, so he should have come out at least once, but there was no reaction.

“Well, it’s better if there’s no reaction.”

At that moment, as Logan smiled contentedly, he felt the ground beneath him tremble.

Rumble!

The sound echoed belatedly, and the surrounding laborers began to move noisily.

“Come on, come on. Get back inside!”

“If Hamar comes out, clear the collapsed rock face first!”

Laborers with faces covered in soot were running busily around Logan.

It was the mine construction site that had been underway for some time, not the newly started dam construction.

Because he had secretly mobilized laborers from Tesron Castle, the construction, which would become the biggest source of funds in the future and was not yet known to the MacLane main family, was progressing rapidly at the same time as the collapse scroll arrived.

‘Clayton has the dam, and Hamar is in charge of the mine.’

Everything seemed to be flowing smoothly.

As Logan was watching the situation with a satisfied expression, a dwarf, dyed as black as ink, walked towards him with powerless steps.

“Oh. Hamar, you’ve worked hard……”

“Aargh! I can’t do it anymore! Just kill me!”

“Hmm?”

“Can’t I even rest? Does nothing work without me? Why am I the only one suffering like a dog?!”

Logan could only stare at the rampaging dwarf with bewildered eyes.

“Transported like luggage?”

“I can only ride ponies, but that vicious human forcibly tied me up and put me on a horse, making me travel back and forth between the tunnel and here!”

“Ah……”

“He said the Lord ordered it? Am I an object? Luggage? Huh?! I’m sick of horses now! I can’t even ride a pony!”

‘I did instruct them to make Hamar travel back and forth quickly between the two locations.’

Kai, the leader of the soldiers guarding the mine, looked uncomfortable. Logan saw Kai’s face and knew right away what the problem was.

Kai was angry to see Logan. Logan could see Kai was not happy.

“Alright, alright. You’ve been working hard. So, from now on, you’ll be in charge of managing everything. Just report the progress to me.”

“…What?”

Logan had said Hamar was doing nothing because he was annoyed. But actually, finding materials for building and making sure everything was done was hard work.

And the fact that the young lord of the territory was watching seemed to be a considerable motivation for the workers; the difference in their work ethic when he was watching versus when he wasn’t was quite significant.

Logan thought about making sure this work was done well.

“S-so, you’re giving me all the odd jobs… Ugh.”

Hamar’s tongue twisted in anger.

“Cheer up! I promise, I really do. I’ll let you rest when the construction is finished!”

Hamar wondered if ‘rest’ meant dying, or if Logan would hurt him instead.

While Hamar was lost in a jumble of angry thoughts, the cruel master, who had squeezed the poor slave dry, disappeared without looking back.

Only then did an angry roar burst from Hamar’s mouth.

“You son of a @#%&@%…”

Logan, with a worried expression, shook his head.

‘No, it’ll be fine. It has to be fine.’

If the plan to make the wasteland useful land again failed, Logan would have to work very hard to get ready for war, even if bad news spread.

Hoping that the plan would succeed and give him a little more breathing room, Logan began to rework his future plans, considering both the failure and success of the dam.

A short while later, having made up his mind, Logan headed to the only artifact in the territory, the communication orb.

[Construction materials will be delivered without any problems. We already have a deal with the lumber supplier, so I easily agreed to 100,000 gold per month. Anyway, once the mine is built and the land is reclaimed, the territory will be completely different. I should go and see it sometime.]

“Good, you did well. You should come here next year.”

[You say that every time. Next year… What are you looking at to say that…? You wouldn’t answer even if I asked, would you?]

“No. I have to tell you now. It’s dangerous.”

[Yes?]

“When I went to the Sword Duke’s family, I heard some bad news.”

Of course, Logan had never heard such a thing, but it was a necessary lie for the story he was about to tell.

[…What bad news?]

“Is there anyone listening around you?”

[The Magic Tower is very safe.]

“There’s a rumor that there’s something wrong with the royal family.”

[Yes? Th-then?!]

Philip’s expression hardened visibly at Logan’s carefully thrown words.

“I don’t know the details, but it seems like a pretty big deal. Find out what rumors are coming out of the royal family while you’re doing business.”

In his past life, the king had died suddenly next winter, causing a civil war.

But there was no guarantee that the information Logan, who had been a low-ranking mercenary at the time, had heard was really true.

All that was certain was that the king had died.

If it wasn’t a sudden death like he had heard, there would surely be some signs before that.

‘If it’s really a sudden death, it’ll happen as it did in my past life, but if not, the timing might be off.’

Logan remembered the war with Tesron territory. He hoped the civil war would happen when he expected it to, and not at a different time for some reason he didn’t know.

‘That way, I can start accordingly.’

The McLaine family’s war to take over the kingdom.

“There’s no need to ask Knox. He’ll charge too much and might get suspicious. Just poke around a little while dealing with the nobles. That’ll be enough. Be as careful as possible and contact me immediately if anything happens.”

[I understand. Hah, what is this…]

And bringing up this story was also a stepping stone for what he was going to say next.

“How much is left over from Imporic’s net profit after deducting construction material costs, food purchases, and money sent to the Magic Tower?”

[Yes? Um… There’s about 1.8 million gold left over.]

“Then leave about 500,000 as an emergency fund and buy and send spears, swords, and armor as much as you can afford.”

Philip’s expression soured even more at those words.

[Is the problem with the royal family that serious?]

“It might be. Anyway, send enough weapons and armor to fully equip 1,500 people by this winter.”

[…This is really no joke.]

“Would I be joking? So, buy and collect them separately, spreading them out as much as possible. It’s okay if it costs a little more.”

Buying such weapons all at once could attract unnecessary attention.

Philip’s expression became even more serious at Logan’s words, but whether it was the instinct of a merchant, he still nitpicked at this situation.

[But 1,500 people’s worth? As far as I know, the McLaine family has less than 100 knights?]

“It’s not for the knights to use. It’s for the soldiers.”

As soon as he heard those words, Philip reacted violently.

[You’re going to fully arm all the soldiers?! Have you really gone mad?!]

Logan couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of the seriousness from just now disappearing completely, as if the merchant’s instinct had suppressed his anxiety.

‘Yeah. Well, I guess you could think that way.’

Good spears and swords made of strong metal. Armor to protect the important parts of their bodies, like chain mail and metal plates.

“And we need just as many horses.”

That would double the budget.

In other words, Logan was now planning to invest close to 3 million gold by winter to equip his soldiers with knight-level gear.

[No, but can soldiers beat knights even if you do that? Make weapons for the knights with that money!]

And that was generally what he deserved to hear.

Currently, the main forces in the war were knights and wizards, who were superhuman.

Some young people were training hard to become knights. But usually, normal soldiers just helped the knights in battles.

Spend a lot of money to arm those soldiers?

[It’s foolish! You have to use your money efficiently, no matter how much you have! What are you thinking, you who have wiped out ordinary soldiers with just one weapon?!]

It was only natural that this kind of reaction came out.

But Logan’s thoughts were different.

‘Too many territory residents died in the last war.’

The first war fought right after his regression.

He had managed to win easily with his own preparations, but more ordinary soldiers had died than he had expected.

The fundamental reason for this was that Tesron had mobilized a large number of conscripts, which had significantly reduced the territory’s expected yield for this year.

Of course, the biggest proportion was the men of Tesron Castle who had been killed by Logan and the mercenary band.

‘So, we need to minimize the mobilization of conscripts even more.’

He couldn’t let future wars continue to be wars that consumed conscripts like that.

That would hurt his own territory, like hurting himself.

‘Besides, if the Empire War breaks out in earnest, conscripts without proper equipment are nothing more than arrow fodder.’

So, he had to strengthen the knights and regular soldiers as much as possible.

‘First, we need to recruit more regular soldiers, including knight trainees…’

Naturally, he had to strengthen the equipment of the ordinary soldiers, who were the most likely to die among the regular soldiers.

Even for the McLaine family to regain their past territory in the civil war, this decision was a preparation for that.

“Have I ever done anything wrong so far?”

[…No.]

So, he lightly suppressed Philip’s objection based on his past achievements.

“Then, should we do it?”

[Geez. Haa. I understand.]

“I trust that you’ll carefully find out the rumors and handle the weapons well.”

[No matter how I think about it, this is a waste of money…]

“I won’t let it slide twice?”

[Yes! I’ll try to buy it without making it obvious. But if I use people to do the work, it might cost a little more. If it’s severe…]

“It’s okay. We have enough money now. It’s more important not to attract attention.”

[If that’s the case. It’s enough.]

“Good.”

Securing funds through the mine, securing food through dam construction, and improving the soldiers’ equipment.

Logan was making good progress with his basic plans for the future.

And when everything was going so smoothly, Dwayne came to visit.

“You’re not going to the construction site in person anymore?”

“Hmm?”

Dwayne barged in just as he was thinking about resuming his long-delayed personal training.

“Then you have to do the Lord’s proxy work that you’ve been putting off.”

“…Ah. Well, I have to.”

It was a mistake to nod so easily at those words.