Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 86

Eileen woke up suddenly. It was the darkest and coldest time before the sun came up. Since she found her Force, waking up exactly when she wanted was easy. Today was the start of her new life. She would not be lazy.

She remembered Logan saying, “I will see you at the training grounds at dawn tomorrow.”

Thinking about his words made her decision stronger, and her body moved right away. She got out of bed, checked how she felt, and quickly changed into simple clothes for training.

She looked at the simple armor in the corner of the room. It was made of dull grey metal and looked a bit old. “This is the only armor that fits a lady,” she thought. “I will train in this for now.”

The armor was much smaller than the big, heavy armor worn by most knights. Logan bought it in a city he passed through on his way to McLaine. It wasn’t very good armor, to be honest. Maybe the only good thing was that it was changed so she could put it on herself, even though it was heavy. But, thinking of it as her armor for this new beginning, she felt a strange fondness for it.

“Please take care of me,” Eileen said to the armor like it was a friend. Then, she put it on quickly and easily.

It only took her thirty minutes to get her sword and leave the room. She felt lighter because she was so excited about her new life.

“What will Master Logan teach me?” she wondered. “What kind of training will I do? What kind of knight will I become?” She remembered Logan’s sword skills, which were amazing even with simple moves. Could she learn to fight like that?

*Ba-dump!* Her heart beat fast. Her excitement made her forget how tired she was from her trip. And then, she arrived at the training grounds.

“Is that a woman?” one knight whispered. “The rumors are real?” another one said louder. “Ha, what is Master Logan planning now?” a third knight muttered. The knights started talking loudly as soon as they saw her.

“Oh no, it’s true,” Patrick groaned, holding his head in his hands. Eileen knew this was coming – the barrier she expected.

“Father, I am not joking,” Logan said seriously.

“Yes, but I really hoped you were,” Patrick replied.

“I am not,” Logan said again.

Patrick sighed and looked at his son. “Logan, she is a woman! No woman has ever been a knight in our kingdom!”

“Father, she is special. She has the Force. We need talented people now. Many of our knights are not even from our family. What does it matter if she is a woman?”

“You are crazy! She is your fiancée! You are going to make your *fiancée* train to be a knight?!”

“Yes,” Logan said firmly.

“Ugh,” Patrick groaned. He saw how serious Logan was and tried another reason. “The McLaine Knights train harder than anyone else. Even if she is talented, a woman, especially a noble lady, cannot handle it…”

“Ha…” Logan sighed. *If only Father knew what real battles were like, he wouldn’t think like this.* Logan thought, remembering things from his past life.

Suddenly, a loud shout cut through their conversation. “I can do it too!” It was Eileen’s voice, high and clear, full of determination. Everyone at the training grounds turned to look at her.

“I will make you forget that women can’t do it!” Eileen’s green eyes shone brightly, like they were on fire. Logan knew everyone could feel her strong will. Because of her, Logan could say with even more certainty, “If Lady Eileen cannot keep up with the training, I will stop asking.”

Patrick’s face was hard. He didn’t want to agree. He thought for a long time, looking very troubled. Finally, the stubborn knight nodded slowly. “…Fine,” he said. “I will let Lady Eileen join, but only for now.”

*I will make sure that ‘for now’ becomes forever,* Eileen thought, clenching her teeth and making her decision even stronger.

But, just half a day later… Eileen, who started training full of energy, was now shaking on the ground, completely exhausted. *These guys are crazy,* she thought. She didn’t think much of it when the training started with a run around McLaine Town, which was at least 30 kilometers long. But then they had to run up a mountain *carrying* horses instead of riding them! She thought they were joking. And when they climbed cliffs carrying rocks that weighed three times as much as her, she knew they were completely insane.

*Oh my goodness, what kind of knights train like this?!* The McLaine Knights’ training was nothing like she had imagined knight training to be. She knew a little about knightly orders, but this was beyond anything she knew. She thought she was ready, but she almost couldn’t keep up, even when using all her Force. *If people do this kind of training and are not crazy…* *Maybe I didn’t understand how hard this would be,* she thought sadly. She forced herself to look around.

Other knights were lying on the ground around her, just as tired. They were clearly exhausted, but she felt even more drained than them. What made her really angry was that many of these men had weaker Forces than she did. This reminded her of old hurts. *They are men, so…* *And I am a woman, so I am weaker?* *No! I am just not trained enough!* It’s not because she is a woman. She will prove it. Pushing down her sadness, she felt stubbornness grow inside her.

Then, even though her body felt like it couldn’t move anymore, she forced herself up. “Ugh,” she groaned. Eileen stood up again, her hands shaking, and slowly stretched her body. If she had passed out, it would take hours to feel normal again. She needed to stretch her tight muscles for tomorrow.

Just then, she heard a voice she knew. “It looks easier than I thought.”

“Of course… Master Logan!” Eileen answered without thinking, and then realized who was talking.

“Luckily, I will be able to keep my promise,” Logan said.

“Of course,” Eileen replied.

“Are you sure you don’t regret this?” Logan asked.

“…I do,” Eileen said.

“Yes?” Logan seemed surprised.

“I regret that I didn’t train harder before,” Eileen explained.

The man with red eyes looked surprised for a moment, then smiled. “So, can I expect even more from you in the future?”

“…As much as you want,” Eileen said. This time, it wasn’t just stubbornness pushing her. She didn’t know why, but Logan was looking at her with such hope in his red eyes.

*A woman becoming a knight!* Her dream, which everyone had always ignored and stopped. Now, someone believed in her and expected her to succeed. That alone made her feel much better.

One week later. Logan watched from a distance as the knights started their Iron Blood Sword training after the hard physical exercises. He smiled as he saw one knight, who looked very small, trying hard to learn the basic moves of the Iron Blood Sword. It was Eileen. *She will learn quickly,* he thought. Even though she was not as strong as the others, she had stubbornly kept up with the training for a whole week and never given up. He had quietly asked the other knights about her. They seemed to respect her determination, even if they didn’t know how good she was at fighting yet. It didn’t seem like they were just praising her because she was going to marry Logan. Even if it wasn’t today, Eileen would become a real knight if she kept going like this. And that would show everyone that McLaine could be different and new. The sky was still dark, just before the sun would rise over the 86th Ward.

‘We must use this problem as a chance to grow.’

Now was the time to get ready to take that chance.

He glanced at the titles again: *Soldier Training*, *Food and Weapons*, *Guild Accounts*. Everything seemed in order on paper.

Logan woke up from his meditation and put down the reports he’d been reading since last night.

‘Looks good on paper,’ he murmured to himself. ‘But I need to see for myself.’

His father and helpers seemed to have done their jobs well while he was away. Now, he had to check everything, fix any small problems, and wait for the right time to act.

Logan thought about the tasks he needed to check and left his room.

The first light of dawn was painting the sky.

The cool morning air made his mind feel clear.

His quick footsteps slowed, and he changed direction.

He felt something familiar, a friendly feeling.

And he arrived at the training grounds behind the house.

Wham!

The sound of the wooden sword cutting through the air echoed. That was the first thing he heard.

A figure swung his sword, not noticing the morning sunlight.

His face was still young, not quite an adult, but not a child either.

It was Ronian, sweating as he swung his sword. He had the same red hair and red eyes as Logan.

‘Ronian?’

His clothes were soaked with sweat. He must have been training for a while.

‘Sword training before sunrise.’

It wasn’t the training schedule Logan had set.

‘Even that alone must be hard.’

Too much is worse than too little.

He knew that training too much could hurt your body, especially in sword fighting.

Training too hard would only cause harm.

‘He should know that.’

Logan approached his brother with a serious face.

But as he got closer, his brother’s tight jaw gave him a strange feeling of having seen this before.

It felt like he had seen this somewhere before.

But his brother always smiled. He had never looked like this.

At least, not in this life…

‘Ah!’

Then, a memory suddenly came to him.

He remembered the last time he saw his brother in his previous life.

Ronian McLaine, the Aura User, fighting enemies at the west gate of the capital, Grand.

He remembered his brother’s desperate face, like a brave fighter just before he fell.

That image looked like Ronian now.

‘Why is he doing this now?’

Logan hadn’t even mentioned the war or the future problems.

He just wanted Ronian to grow up and become an Aura User like before. He didn’t want to give him any more worries.

That was why Ronian’s determination felt even stranger.

Tap.

“Oh, Brother!”

Ronian turned his head when he heard Logan’s footsteps.

He smiled as soon as he saw him.

His face lit up with a bright smile that almost hid the exhaustion in his eyes.

“How long have you been training? It’s too early.”

“Haha. I couldn’t sleep.”

“Training too much is bad for you. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I know, Brother.”

“And yet…”

Logan looked at his brother’s hand.

Blood welled from Ronian’s right hand, staining the grip of the wooden sword and dripping onto the dusty ground.

“You’re swinging the sword until your hand is bleeding?”

“Huh?!”

Ronian looked surprised and quickly hid his right hand behind his back.

It was a silly thing to do, like a child hiding their eyes.

He didn’t even feel the pain of his bleeding hand. That was serious.

‘This is serious.’

Logan’s face changed.

“I-I’m sorry, Brother.”

“It’s not me you should be sorry to… Haa. No, never mind. Why are you training so hard? Is something bothering you?”

“……No. There’s nothing like that.”

He was avoiding eye contact, a clear sign that he was lying.

He was so innocent that it was hard to believe he was almost seventeen.

Logan just looked at him, feeling annoyed.

Ronian, who was looking down, said something different.

“I don’t think I’m doing anything in the family.”

“Hmm?”

“I want to be someone needed by the family, someone helpful, even if I’m not as good as you, Brother…”

“You don’t think you are?”

“Yes. Viktor at least has basic duties as a knight, but I’m the Lord’s son, so I don’t have any duties.”

“That’s…”

“So, I’m just doing my best at what I can do right now.”

“……”

Logan didn’t know what to say.

He gave Ronian the same advice he always did.

“Alright. But you need to take care of your body while you train. I’ll say it again, too much is worse than too little. Especially with training.”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind, Brother.”

Logan wasn’t sure if he believed him, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Alright. I believe in you.”

He patted his brother’s shoulder, turned around, and left the training grounds.

He didn’t need to ask more about it.

Ronian had led the family in his previous life and fought against the Empire until the end.

He was stronger than Logan, both physically and mentally.

He believed Ronian could handle any problems he wasn’t talking about.

However…

Just as Logan turned away, he heard his brother whisper something.

Logan stopped again.

“Brother has already gone too far, and Viktor is chasing right behind me, close enough to hear his breath. All I can do is run like crazy.”

He heard the sound of the sword again.

Ronian was still swinging, even with his bleeding hand.

‘This is…’

He had put Ronian and Viktor together to help them improve.

But it had worked too well, and Ronian was pushing himself too hard. Logan was surprised.

His brother, whom he had only thought of as gentle, was more competitive than he had thought.

But just as he was about to turn back, another thought stopped him.

‘That fellow’s face…’

The face he had when he became an Aura User in his previous life was similar to now.

They were called superhumans, people who had gone beyond human limits and gained powers.

Could their hard work be simply explained?

In his previous life, when the family was falling apart.

Would his brother, who became an Aura User without a teacher, have only done what everyone else knew about?

Somehow, he didn’t think so.

‘…You can get up again even if you make a mistake once. It’s not too late to help you then.’

Let’s watch his brother’s efforts for now.

Logan forced himself to look away, even though he wanted to turn back.