The Strongest Family Has Arrived!

Chapter 15

—–CROW—– 

“Your Highness! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Was this the last one?”

Nike, after pulling out his sword, shook off the monster’s blood and asked.

“Yes! This subjugation was also a success!”

His adjutant was proud of Nike, his young superior who showed no sign of fatigue despite single-handedly fighting half of the enemy forces.

“Your Highness’s achievement is great!”

Nike scoffed. He found it ridiculous that everyone praised his martial arts.

In reality, he was just erasing hundreds or thousands of deaths with his time-reversing ability and trying again.

“The injured are being treated in the barracks.”

Nike walked out of the forest with his adjutant. But his steps seemed hesitant.

After a subjugation, there were always casualties.

Someone would be injured, someone would be crippled, and someone would die.

That’s why Nike dreaded the moment he received the post-battle report.

“The monsters inside the forest have been annihilated! The subjugation is a success!”

“Waaaah!”

As the barracks came into view, his adjutant shouted, holding his sword high. The soldiers cheered.

Nike quickly scanned the injured soldiers lying around the barracks.

Those being bandaged and having their bleeding stopped, those with splints on their broken arms and legs…

His heart pounded with tension.

He prayed that no warriors had died in vain.

“Your Highness!”

Then he heard a familiar shout.

It was Lyner, a member of the Imperial Knights and Nike’s longtime comrade. Nike’s heart sank as he saw Lyner’s dark expression.

“It seems you should go and say goodbye to Anton…”

“What?”

Nike understood what those words meant. He ran madly toward where Lyner was pointing.

“Anton!”

“Your… Highness…”

Nike was speechless. Blood was flowing endlessly from Anton’s horribly torn abdomen.

“There’s no hope. The wound is too large, making it difficult to stop the bleeding, and he’s already lost too much blood.”

The medic tending to Anton informed him with a pained voice.

“When!”

Nike shouted.

“When did Anton get injured?”

The Bless of regression, .

Nike could turn back time to the past, but his ability wasn’t perfect.

That was because he was a ‘created’ ability user, not one with the blood of the Vasenbergs, who could naturally wield abilities.

“If you’re talking about the fatal wound to his abdomen, it was almost as soon as the subjugation began.”

A wound from the start of the subjugation.

That meant it was a fatal wound from at least three hours ago.

“No…”

Nike trembled, his fists clenched tightly.

The limit of the time he could turn back was only 30 minutes.

He could turn back time more than that, but it would be meaningless. A regression of more than 30 minutes would steal Nike’s memories.

If he regressed to three hours before the subjugation began, Nike wouldn’t remember anything. Not even that he had used a regression.

“Anton…”

If he turned back time for 30 minutes, which was the limit he could maintain his memories, that much time would have to pass again before he could use his ability again. Consecutive regressions were impossible.

So then…

What if he just regressed for three hours?

Anton would live, but Nike would forget that Anton would soon suffer a fatal wound. So, it would be meaningless to turn back time, as he wouldn’t be able to do anything to prevent it.

“I’m fi… ne, *cough*.”

Anton forced a smile.

Nike, Anton, Lyner.

They had been together since childhood, practicing with wooden swords in the imperial training grounds.

Friends.

Comrades.

Precious…

“It’s a miracle he lasted this long. He was waiting to say goodbye to you, Your Highness. Please let him go with a smile.”

Lyner, who had approached Nike, who stood there blankly, said.

“Anton, I…”

Why was he so powerless?

As Nike, in despair, reached out and stroked Anton’s cheek…

“Ugh, really!”

A clear voice came from behind. When he turned around, he saw someone getting out of a golden carriage.

“How many times have I told you I don’t want to come to such dirty places myself?”

It was a woman, her black hair elegantly styled, as if she was about to attend a ball. She was wrapped head to toe in expensive clothes and jewelry.

“Please be careful, Lady Diana!”

“Oh no, our Lady Diana. Are you hot?”

Two maids who were attending the woman stood beside her, fanning her with parasols and fans.

“You’ve arrived! I’m sorry, Lady. There are a lot of soldiers with severe injuries. If we transport them to the estate for treatment, some might die on the way.”

The commander of the garrison, who had been waiting, flattered the woman.

‘Could it be?’

Nike’s heart began to race with hope as he watched the whole scene.

He had recognized who the woman in the extravagant attire, who didn’t fit in at all on the blood-soaked battlefield, was.

The third child of the Vasenberg family.

A woman with a healing ability.

Lady Diana Vasenberg.

“Are the children all gathered?”

“Of course. I gathered them all so that Lady wouldn’t be troubled. These three barracks are where our men are.”

The garrison commander ruthlessly pointed to only three barracks out of the twenty-plus.

This subjugation force included not only the Vasenbergs but also soldiers from several other territories, including the Imperial Knights…

“Ugh. They keep getting hurt so stupidly.”

Diana stood in front of the soldiers of her family who were injured and groaning.

Then…

A bright light washed over them.

Those who had been on the verge of death just moments ago were now checking their bodies, their wounds healed as if they had never been there.

“Our Lady is the best!”

“Thank you!”

Broken bones were mended, and torn flesh was restored. The only remaining evidence of the injuries were their broken and cracked armor.

The soldiers from other families watched the scene with envy.

Their own situation, with only medics and bandages, hemostatics, and painkillers to treat their wounds, was pathetic.

“Lady!”

Nike hurriedly ran up to Diana, who seemed ready to leave immediately, and grabbed her.

“Who are you?”

Diana tilted her head, looking at Nike.

“I am Nike Valensia, the third prince of the Valensia Empire.”

“Oh my, my.”

Diana was surprised.

“It seems like I saw you when you were just a kid. Has the third prince grown up to be this big already?”

“There’s an injured soldier with a wound that can’t be healed with physical treatment. Would you please help him?”

“Hmm? What is it? Are you asking for my help?”

Diana added, laughing as if she found it absurd.

“With your neck held so straight?”

“…”

Nike hesitated, then immediately bowed before her.

“I beg you.”

A prince kneeling before a noblewoman.

It was a humiliating sight.

“Hey, isn’t his back a little high?”

“Well, he is a prince, so I guess he’s too proud to go any lower.”

Diana mocked Nike with her maids.

“I know, right? His knees must be heavy.”

Amidst the mockery, Nike realized what Diana wanted.

What was he hesitating for?

His friend’s, his comrade’s breath could stop at any moment.

*Thud.*

Nike knelt before Diana. And said,

“I beg you. Please help him.”

“Ahahaha!”

Diana laughed heartily. Her maids and soldiers laughed along with her.

Impertinent insubordination.

Yet, no one could criticize their behavior.

The Imperial Knights could only clench their teeth and tremble in anger at Nike’s humiliating form, kneeling before her.

“I’ve even managed to make a prince kneel.”

Diana’s sharp heels pressed down on Nike’s thigh.

“Not bad.”

“Time is of the essence. Please…”

“Your Highness. You know my second older brother, Elliot, right?”

The second son, Elliot Vasenberg.

He was a man who was always involved in all sorts of illegal activities behind the scenes of the Empire.

“Since three months ago, my brother has been whining, and it’s driving me crazy. It seems you’re being too strict with the trade ship entry inspections?”

Nike closed his eyes tightly.

Elliot Vasenberg, who ran the largest trading company in the Empire, had started importing drugs three months ago.

Highly addictive hallucinogens.

A type of drug.

“About my brother’s ship, can you just let it through?”

This woman was now demanding that she be allowed to distribute illegal drugs freely within the Empire.

To the imperial family, the owners of the Empire.

To a prince, a member of that family.

“That’s…”

Nike said through gritted teeth.

“…Not within my authority.”

“Is that so? That’s a shame.”

Diana took her heel off Nike’s thigh and added,

“It’s not worth just a prince’s kneeling.”

“Lady, please…”

“Your Highness.”

Then, he heard his adjutant’s voice.

“Stop it.”

Nike turned around. He saw Anton lying in the distance. His eyes had already lost their light.

“Oh my, he seems to have died? He couldn’t wait.”

Diana clicked her tongue.

“That friend of yours will probably go blaming you. Thinking, ‘My life wasn’t worth turning a blind eye to one entry inspection.'”

“…”

“Too bad. I don’t have the power to bring the dead back to life.”

The woman, leaving a final taunt, left coldly.

Nike stood there in silence, blank.

And after a long while, he stood and walked weakly. He reached Anton’s corpse and knelt down.

There was nothing he could do.

“…I’m sorry.”

He closed his fallen comrade’s eyes and offered a meager farewell.

—–CROW—–