Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 47

Logan stared at the desk. It was covered in stacks and stacks of paper. They looked like a mountain.

The huge amount of paper blocked his view. It made his head feel more confused than any magic spell.

Thud.

The stamp came down hard. Logan’s eyes looked around without really seeing anything.

But…

“Are you even checking what you’re stamping? Hey, that document is about the inner wall repairs! We didn’t even discuss it! Master! Are you going to keep working so sloppily?!”

Dwain, like a cruel boss, kept pushing him harder and harder. He didn’t seem to care that Logan was tired.

“I’ve never even seen Father work this hard before?”

Logan finally spoke up, feeling confused. ‘This doesn’t make sense,’ he thought.

“Of course not. I handle most of it myself.”

“…What?”

Flames seemed to erupt from Logan’s red eyes at Dwain’s absurd reply.

“Then why are you shoving all this at me?!”

“You’re going to be the heir, so you need to know the ins and outs of the territory!”

“I’m not the heir!”

“Come on, who’s going to believe that!”

Logan was stunned by Dwain’s outburst.

‘Ah, is it not about being recognized as the heir, but about getting them to acknowledge that I’m not the heir?’

For a moment, Logan’s usual thinking stopped working, but Dwain didn’t give him a chance to collect himself.

“There’s also a lot because the post-war processing isn’t finished yet. Some of it is from Tesron Castle too. So many of those administrators were working with Haman Tesron, skimming off the top, that we had to clean house….”

Logan’s head began to throb with Dwain’s grumbling complaints.

“We are already making the few administrators we have work very hard because we need more people, but we feel like we can breathe a little now that Logan is helping out.”

The familiar routine repeated for several days: pushing him to the limit, then offering sweet praise.

But this time, Dwain’s tactic didn’t work.

“But I feel like I’m going to die?”

“Then when you become Lord later, please hire some more administrators. No, you could hire more now, haha.”

“Ugh.”

“It’s because of that construction project of yours that there’s so much paperwork. It’s such a large scale. And the post-processing isn’t even finished….”

Dwain knew exactly that if he mentioned the dam project, Logan would have to agree.

“Fine. I’ll do it. Once I finish this, the construction will be done too, right?!”

If this isn’t the end, I’ll end you.

Dwain reluctantly nodded at the murderous tone of the threat.

Finally, Logan finished the Lord’s work. Dwain had made it very hard.

Logan dragged his weary body up the family mountain, drew his sword against the backdrop of the setting sun.

‘Once the construction is finished, I’ll recruit soldiers….’

His mind was still filled with thoughts of how to increase the family’s power, but he tried to focus entirely on the moment he wielded his sword.

‘Not just the family, I need to become stronger too.’

He needed the power to face the overwhelming powerhouses he had seen in his previous life.

Bringing in talents capable of facing them as allies was also an option, but it wasn’t easy.

Not a single piece of information had come up from the request he had entrusted to Knox.

‘I need to become stronger. With the power of Vision….’

He swung his sword with a vague expectation that seemed unlikely to be fulfilled, but fortunately, he felt that as he gradually focused his mind, strength was building in his sword and his movements were becoming more precise.

Because of the Posco-Ore in his body, Logan’s senses were very sharp. He could feel even the smallest changes in himself.

For Logan, training was a process in which vague expectations gradually turned into hope.

So, training that pushed his body as hard as possible felt like a rest for his mind.

Of course, this was only possible because he could completely relieve the accumulated fatigue through meditation training, which now perfectly replaced sleep.

So, Logan’s days were very busy.

As the amount of paperwork to be processed gradually decreased and the training time became longer than the acting duties, a piece of bad news flew to Logan.

* * *

“An accident?!”

Suddenly, during work, news arrived. It was so shocking that Logan jumped to his feet.

“Yes. One of the mine tunnels collapsed….”

“Hmm. I knew things were going too well.”

“But when did our territory have a mine….”

“But why? Why did it collapse? How big is the accident? What is Hamarr doing?”

Even though Logan had used a ‘Collapse Scroll’ (a special magic item), it was always used carefully by Hamarr.

The goal of mine development was stability above all else, and the dwarves were supervising, so an accident?

“That’s… the place where Hamarr is collapsed. But Master, I’ve heard about it, but what mine is it….”

“Hamarr?! You should have said that first!”

Bang!

Logan stormed out of the office like the wind.

Not only were the workers trapped, but also Hamarr, a valuable resource.

Then he couldn’t just stand idly by and give instructions from behind.

‘He can’t die!’

If Hamarr were to be lost, the gears of his grand plan would be thrown off.

It was something that should never happen at this important time.

‘A dwarf causing a tunnel to collapse in a mine? That’s almost impossible!’ Logan thought, surprised.

Feeling worried and anxious, Logan quickly kicked his horse to go faster.

Meanwhile, the finance administrator, left alone in the office, clutched his head at the news of the mine accident, which he didn’t even know existed.

“What mine is it?!”

* * * Thud thud thud.

Logan was in a hurry. He used his power, ‘Force,’ to make his whip stronger. Fireun, his big black horse, was very fast. They traveled a distance that usually took two hours in just half an hour.

As a result, foam even appeared in his mouth, but Logan rushed to where people were gathered without looking back.

Neigh!

“Everyone, get out of the way!”

“It’s the Young Master!”

“Everyone, stand back!”

“Where is the collapsed tunnel?”

“If you go in, it’s the middle of the three-way path. The deepest….”

Logan quickly ran without even hearing the answer.

He rushed into the tunnel. Faint lights showed the way at first. He quickly passed them. He reached the three-way path the miner told him about. But because of the collapse, even those lights were now gone.

But his golden eyes pierced through the darkness as it was, and Logan ran through the darkness without any hindrance.

Before long, he was able to find miners holding lanterns and knocking on the rock wall in front of the collapsed rocks.

“What on earth happened…!”

“Shhh, if the space echoes, the tunnel could collapse again.”

Dust choked the air around the mine entrance. Miners coughed and pointed at a dark hole in the ground, now blocked by rocks. Pale, his face pale and dusty, was helped to sit down. Logan knelt beside him, his voice quiet but urgent.

“What happened, Pale? Tell me everything.”

Pale coughed again, then spoke quickly. “It’s Hamar… and the others. Hamar went down into the shaft this morning, like always…” He hesitated. “He looked tired, you know? Been working too hard.”

Another miner nearby spoke up, worried. “Could he have used the magic scroll wrong?”

Hamar? Make a mistake? Logan frowned. Hamar was the best at finding good places to mine. Everyone knew that. Better than any magic user. But the rocks blocking the mine were real. Something had gone very wrong.

“So, what’s the situation now? How much collapsed?”

“It seems to be over 50 meters. It looks like that magic scroll collapsed the supports as well. Fortunately, the chain reaction has stopped, but we need to check the other supports. At this rate, the rescue operation alone will take days…”

’50 meters?’ The rest of the words didn’t quite register.

Fifty meters down… Logan thought he could use his own magic to help.

“Get out of the way.”

“Wait, are you going to use a scroll?”

“I’m not an idiot. Move.”

Pale swallowed hard at the force in his low voice and stepped back.

Logan stood in his place, put his hand on the rock wall, and concentrated.

A faint blue light, like magic energy, came from Logan’s hand. It pushed into the rocks.

Logan heightened his senses, amplified to the maximum, and extended a thread of Force, searching for a familiar presence.

How long had it been?

At the end of a time that felt short but infinitely long, Logan breathed a sigh of relief.

He felt Hamar and many other miners trapped down there.

“They’re all still alive.”

Logan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had at least avoided the worst-case scenario.

“But many are injured. Even Hamar. He seems to be unconscious and bleeding. Damn it.”

“Yes? Young Master?”

“H-How did you know that…”

“Never mind that. How long do you think it will take to clear this and get Hamar out?”

“…At least a week, no, three days. That’s assuming everything goes well. Without Hamar, it’s impossible to do more.”

Logan turned his gaze, and the miners all nodded in unison.

At that, Logan gritted his teeth.

No matter how strong Hamar was as a dwarf, he didn’t seem likely to survive for more than three days bleeding and buried under a pile of rocks.

Besides, there was a bigger problem.

‘Is the air getting through? Can they breathe?’

If it took too long, he couldn’t guarantee the survival of Hamar or the workers.

‘What to do…?’

The way to save Hamar for sure had already popped into his head.

Earth mages. They can control earth and stone. They are perfect for digging and rescue.

But a fierce conflict arose in his heart.

‘What if the secret gets out if I gather the mages?’

The existence of the mine should not be known to the outside world yet.

Could he trust the mages who were only short-term hires?

Wouldn’t it be better to mobilize himself or the knights and work under the direction of the miners?

Complex thoughts clouded his mind, but if he did something rash and a secondary collapse occurred, an even worse situation would unfold.

There was no more certain way than gathering the Earth mages.

‘Anyway, I have to save Hamar no matter what.’

Besides, that was the most important thing right now.

There was no one to replace Hamar at this point.

‘I have no choice but to take some risks.’

And apart from these good reasons.

The lesson taught by his past life was engraved in his head.

– If you don’t even protect your own people, no one will be left around you.

“Yeah. That’s right…”

The conflict that had been shaking his head was quickly erased.

Logan bit his lip and quickly left the mine shaft.

“It’s the Young Master!”

“Young Master!”

Tap tap tap.

Even as he rode past, the workers greeted him from here and there, but now was not the time to accept those greetings.

“Oh, Lord Logan. Long time no see…”

“Lord Clayton! Can I have a word with you separately for a moment?”

At the urgent request that cut off even the welcome greetings, Clayton had no choice but to leave the construction site for a while with a stiff expression.

“A mine… you say? Moreover, an accident?” Clayton, after hearing Logan’s brief story, was very surprised. His eyes widened.

But there was no time to just explain.

“Yes. Lord Clayton, please save Hamar and the workers! I will definitely reward you for it. I beg you.”

“…So that dwarf was busy going back and forth between here and there. I wondered. Heh heh, I understand. People are in urgent need, so I have to go and help.”

“Thank you. This reward will definitely…”

Clayton looked at Logan, who bowed his head, with new eyes.

‘A mine…’

Somehow, it seemed strange that he didn’t use the collapse scroll at all.

He thought there was some other motive, but if it was mine development, he could understand.

‘If it’s been kept secret until now, it can’t be an ordinary copper mine.’

No, even if it was a copper mine, it was not easy to reveal a secret that had been hidden in order to save one slave and a few workers.

He even bowed his head, promising to pay a separate price to himself, who was only a hired mage.

‘He must not be a typical nobleman.’

He already knew that he was a capable young man when he accompanied him to the territory.

Moreover, he was impressed by his generous heart, which did not forcibly make the territory people do unpaid work, but gave them food as a reward for their labor.

Even the actions he shows in this case.

‘Excellent!’

He was the most wonderful young man he had met recently.

‘This young man has a lot of money. Even if this project fails, this territory will continue to develop.’

Every time he saw such a young man, he felt happy, and sometimes he wondered if it was a sign that he was getting old, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.

“Grik! Call the kids. Everyone comes with me.”

Clayton’s response was quick.