Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 91

Those fools have finally gone too far.

Roger Bifrost laughed a little, but it was not a happy laugh. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing from Fereta.

He remembered the shame at the party, and then the even worse shame in the capital city. He had even tried to be reasonable, to talk to them as a leader should, but that liar had tricked him!

Ever since then, Roger had been planning revenge. He wanted to destroy them. Only the Sword Master’s warning had stopped him from attacking McLaine long ago.

He had been waiting, hiding his anger, for a good reason to attack. And now, these fools had given him exactly what he needed.

“Sir,” his worried soldier asked, “What do we do?”

Roger kept smiling. He couldn’t stop laughing inside. He thought about it again and again: his army was much bigger than McLaine’s, at least twice as big.

The new crossbows were a small worry, but he had so many more knights. What did it matter if their ordinary soldiers had better weapons?

“Aslan, Plantz,” Roger said, “Are you ready?”

“Yes, Sir!” they replied quickly. These were his best knights, like his most trusted helpers. And Roger himself was a powerful wind mage, very skilled in magic. He felt completely sure of himself. He believed he could handle any surprise easily.

“Let’s march slowly,” Roger ordered. “We will crush Fereta. And when those fools are celebrating their win too soon, we will destroy them completely.”

He wanted to take his time, just to enjoy the feeling of power. But before they could even start moving, Roger Bifrost got surprising news.

“Why aren’t they here yet?” Max Fereta paced in the main hall of his castle. His fingernails were bitten short. He was clearly very worried.

Suddenly, the knights he had sent out to watch for the enemy rushed into the hall.

“Sir! The McLaine army…”

“Where are they?!” Max asked quickly. Everyone in the hall stared at the knight, their faces tight with worry.

“The McLaine army has vanished,” the knight said.

“What?” No one spoke. The hall became very quiet and heavy.

*Sound of horse hooves: Tap tap tap!*

“Young Master! We’ll reach Fereta Castle in half a day if we keep going like this!”

“The point?” Logan asked.

“We’re almost there,” the knight replied.

“Good,” Logan said. Eileen, riding close behind Logan at the front of the knights, frowned. *‘The point? What did he mean?’* She thought she must have heard wrong. But just ten minutes later, Logan shouted, “Change direction! Northwest! Follow the lead riders and ride as fast as you can!”

“Yes!” Only the oldest, most experienced knights answered right away. Eileen looked around. Most of the knights looked confused, just like her. But when the lead riders turned, everyone else had to follow.

And so, the McLaine army, surprising even themselves, turned northwest and rode hard for three days. They took back roads where no one lived, and they barely stopped to sleep or rest.

On the third day of this fast ride, as soon as the sun started to rise, they pushed their horses even harder. When it was fully morning, they saw it: a tall castle in the middle of a wide, flat land. A flag flew from the highest tower, showing a rose on fire.

“Sir! It’s Tomodo Castle! The McLaine *jerks* are at our Tomodo Castle!” Roger Bifrost’s face changed suddenly. He looked furious. “Those *sons of…* they *dare*!”

Tomodo Castle was the second most important castle in Bifrost County. It was where they stored all the food grown in the Bifrost Plain. The news of this surprise attack made the whole Bifrost army ready for battle.

“There it is,” Logan said.

“Yes,” Heinkel replied. Logan’s horse breathed heavily, with white foam around its mouth. They had been riding hard for three days. To get here so fast, they had used every spare horse and even put soldiers who were not good riders onto horses.

Tomodo Castle, their real target all along, was now in front of them. *‘About 50 knights and 500 soldiers guarding it,’* Logan thought. Because it was after harvest time, there were fewer soldiers at Bifrost’s second castle. McLaine’s army was strong enough to beat them easily. But Bifrost would not just sit back and watch.

“Look, the flags are waving like crazy,” Heinkel said, pointing to the castle. “Bifrost knows we’re here.”

“Probably,” Logan agreed. Even though foot soldiers are slower, this was Bifrost’s land. *‘Even if we give them extra time, their best troops will be here in two days, maybe even before noon tomorrow,’* Logan thought. *‘The race against time starts now.’*

But there was another problem. *‘They’re not coming out from behind the walls,’* Logan realized. Crossbows were not as good as bows and arrows when shooting upwards. It was like their best weapon was useless.

Still, they were stronger. Even if they just attacked the walls directly, Tomodo Castle would probably fall, but many of their soldiers would die. And Logan didn’t want that.

“Too many soldiers will die,” Logan said quietly.

“Yes,” Heinkel agreed. Logan nodded. Heinkel was right. Long ago, in the time of the Great Migration, most of the strange, cruel races that had ruled humans disappeared. Humanity became strong and powerful. About 300 years ago, humans became so powerful that knights had to be Force Users – people with special abilities. Because of this, castle walls were not as strong as they used to be. Knights could jump over walls more than 10 meters high. Walls were not the great protection they once were.

But still, if you just wanted to hold out, to wait for help to arrive, walls were useful. They made the battlefield smaller, and it was always easier to fight enemies climbing up towards you.

“But that’s why we planned for this,” Logan said, a small smile on his face.

“Do you think it will work?” Heinkel asked, sounding worried.

“We have to try everything we can,” Logan said firmly.

Heinkel nodded, but he still looked troubled. Then he spoke again, hesitantly.

“What about Princess Eileen?”

“Didn’t we already talk about this?” Logan asked, a little tired.

“Are you really going to let the princess fight with the knights, to charge into battle?” Heinkel asked seriously. Logan didn’t change his mind.

“It’s what she wants to do,” he said simply.

“But she’s your fiancée, Young Master. If something happens to her, your family… And more than that, are *you* really okay with it?”

Logan sighed and nodded.

“She wants to achieve her dream. I promised to help her do that. And don’t even think about treating her differently from the other knights.”

“Understood,” Heinkel said quietly.

Heinkel still looked like he didn’t believe it, but he didn’t ask more questions.

Logan saw Heinkel stop arguing and kept his serious face.

Logan also would not leave Aileen in danger.

Of course, it wasn’t just because she was his fiancée.

‘Ronian, Viktor, Aileen. We must save them. They could become very powerful people.’

Saving them was as important as winning the battle for Logan. He had even secretly asked his father to help.

His father would take Ronian, his own son, and Logan would take Aileen. Viktor would help whoever needed him more.

Of course, Ronian, Viktor, and Aileen didn’t know about this plan. Logan couldn’t tell the other knights either. It might make them feel less important.

‘Of course, this is only possible if we win this battle.’

Logan bit his lip.

They had more soldiers, but they were still anxious about the battle.

That was how the battle to capture Tomodo Castle looked from McLaine’s side.

However.

The defending forces of Tomodo Castle were even more anxious. They were facing a much larger army than they expected.

“Damn it! Where the hell did they suddenly come from!”

Jerome, the captain of the Tomodo Castle guard, was a senior knight of Bipros, but right now, panic filled him. Thousands of enemy soldiers had just appeared outside the west wall, like they’d sprung from the very earth!

Jerome couldn’t stand still. He paced back and forth on the wall, his hands twitching.

In contrast, his younger brother, Jerix, Jerome’s adjutant, stood beside him, completely still.

“Brother,” Jerix said, his voice low and steady, “Calm down. We sent word to the main army already. We just need to hold them off for one day.”

Even though they were brothers, they had very different personalities and were both senior knights.

This was why they were always together on most missions.

Jerix was calm and collected, and he supported Jerome, who was strong but a bit reckless. Jerome knew he was impulsive, so he listened to his younger brother.

But the situation was different now.

“Almost 3,000, with roughly 200 knights. How, how can we hold out?”

Jerome knew he wasn’t very smart.

But could being smart make up for having so many fewer soldiers?

The enemy army was well-trained.

Even compared to the Bipros main force, these soldiers seemed better than the Tomodo Castle soldiers.

“Let’s just defend the walls and hold out. If we work together, can’t we hold out for a day? Huh? Gale, Therese, Typhoon. Those guys are senior knights too, so they’ll do their jobs.”

“Yeah. I guess so?”

Jerome hadn’t fully accepted his brother’s words, but he thought it was the only way.

Just then…

– All troops, advance!

The enemy began to charge without warning.

“Defend! Defend!”

Jerome shouted, and all the soldiers on the wall drew their bows.

The soldiers looked tense as they aimed their bows at the approaching enemy.

“Fire!”

The enemy ranks shouted, and small, sharp arrows rained down on the wall. There were probably half as many as their own arrows.

‘Fast!’

The arrows were much faster and stronger than normal longbow arrows.

Everyone was surprised.

Tap tap tap!

The arrows hit the wall right in front of them and bounced off.

Their attack was weak after such a strong arrival.

Jerome shouted from behind the confused Tomodo soldiers.

“Counterattack! Counterattack!”

The soldiers quickly drew their longbows.

They fired arrows into the sky.

The arrows fell in an arc from the wall. They weren’t as fast or strong as the small arrows, but there were more of them.

Of course.

Ratatat.

Their arrows also didn’t reach the enemy.

The enemy had been running quickly, but now they were far away, more than 400 meters.

“So, they’re using longbows.”

“Without magic, this is all they can do.”

“The problem is, we don’t have a solution either.”

Logan chuckled and picked up a repeating crossbow.

Zzzzzing.

Clang!

The bolt hit the wall, making a spark, and bounced off.

Even using magic to make the crossbow stronger, this was as far as it could shoot.

A crossbow that couldn’t shoot in a curve was useless at this angle.

Unless someone was unlucky enough to peek out from behind the wall, it was a waste of arrows.

However.

Logan raised his hand and ordered them to fire.

“Fire!”

Ratatat.

Tap tap tap.

“Ack!”

This time, a few unlucky soldiers were hit.

The soldiers on the wall seemed even more scared.

‘Good.’

Crossbow cavalry and infantry took turns firing crossbows at the wall.

The soldiers had brought many magazines, and just firing arrows now and then was enough to make the enemy scared.

And in the meantime.

The secret weapons they had prepared began to move.

“We’re counting on you, Clayton.”

Logan looked back at the ‘mages’ with worried faces in the back of the McLaine camp.

“Hmph… I thought you cared about people. Why start a war?”

“This will help people in the end.”

“…I hope you mean that, even though you’re just being paid.”

“Of course not.”

“Ahem. Let’s go, everyone.”

These were mages from the Golem Magic Tower. People would talk about them for years to come because of this war.

Their first battle was at Bipros’s Tomodo Castle.

Logan had planned to use the Golem Magic Tower, or rather, Clayton, from the start.

He had imagined Clayton’s giant golem walking towards the wall, blocking the arrows and attacks. Then, the knights would charge and climb over the wall on the golem.

Clayton changed Logan’s idea with just one sentence.

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“Excuse me?”

“Even if we ignore the arrows, if enemy mages or knights attack the golem, it will break easily. Golems are just made of dirt!”

“Just blocking the attacks and distracting knights or mages is good enough…”

Logan tried to convince him, but golem magic had another problem he didn’t know about.

“Even with magic stones, if the golem is hit too hard, I will feel it. It will hurt me too much.”

“…”

“Ahem. Of course, we’re always trying to improve, so someday…”

Logan’s dream of a battle golem winning the battle was shattered.

Logan then had a bad thought about Clayton. He knew Clayton had helped McLaine Town a lot, building the dam and other things.

‘Ah, useless,’ Logan thought, feeling disappointed.

“…I feel like you are thinking bad things about me.”

“Ahem, ahem. Oh, I’m sorry. I was bothering you with unnecessary talk.”

Logan quickly tried to think of other plans.

“If you’re going to use our magic in war, a different method would be better.”

“Yes?”

Clayton made a suggestion.