I Regressed to My Ruined Family – 1

 #I returned, and my family was ruined (1)

Puuu!

A giant hand pierced his heart.

Red blood flowed from Ethan’s mouth.

His gaze naturally turned upward.

There, a giant monster stood.

The dragon lord, Drakis.

A giant monster over 6 meters tall, it was a terrible disaster that had appeared on the continent.

Even though an elite group of the continent’s most skilled warriors had been assembled to stop this monster…

“We’ve lost.”

The best they could do was cut off one of its arms.

Whoosh!

Its enormous tail struck their bodies.

Their bodies flew far away as if they were wind.

Pffft!

With a tremendous noise, their bodies were slammed into the ground.

“Guh!”

Blood gushed from their mouths.

“Damn it… You bastard…”

This monster was too strong.

His left arm was empty.

His only heart was pumping blood, and his five senses were unable to convey accurate information due to the monster’s curse.

On top of that, cutting off the dragon lord’s arm and being covered in his extremely toxic blood prevented him from thinking clearly.

He was closer to a dead man than a living one.

If he hadn’t become a 10th-rank knight and ascended to the ranks of the transcendent, he would have died long ago.

A vast plain came into view.

The place was littered with the corpses of the death squad. Among them, some corpses caught Ethan’s attention.

Get notified for updates: https://discord.gg/93rmBjgP6B

The third brother, who had always playfully followed him. And the youngest, who had swung his sword alongside him until the very last moment.

The corpses of the two brothers were being chewed in the mouths of the dragons.

“The dragon tribe.”

They were truly despicable creatures.

Not only were they physically stronger than humans, but they also possessed numerous abilities and swarmed like cockroaches.

They were a race that could be called the perfect superior version of humans.

It was no wonder that humanity had suffered near-extinction at the hands of these creatures.

The area was already swarming with dragon men.

Ethan unleashed the latent power within his body. Perhaps because he had scraped every last bit of life out of himself, mana enveloped his sword like a fiery flame.

“Try and stop me! You bastards!”

His double swords began to vibrate. He swung his swords at the dragon warriors blocking his path.

A huge slash cut through the crowd.

He slashed again and again.

How much time had passed?

Ethan suddenly felt exhausted.

The area around him was already covered with piles of dragon corpses. Nevertheless, the dragons kept coming.

His body felt incredibly heavy.

He had fought for a long time.

He had endured longer than anyone else in the death squad.

The strength in his sword-wielding hands finally gave way.

Thud! Thud!

Dozens of tails pierced his body.

Even a transcendent being was still human. And human life always had an end.

Ethan sensed that his life was coming to an end.

His life flashed before his eyes.

The eldest son of a renowned swordsman.

The best swordsman in the Western Continent.

The youngest transcendent being.

The slayer of the dragon clan.

The head of the Ardan family.

The last hero of the Kingdom of Haidern.

“Damn it. What kind of hero am I?”

Ethan laughed bitterly.

Because of those damn dragon bastards, his promising life was ruined. If you’re a hero, shouldn’t you live a happy life and enjoy everything to the fullest?

However, all that remained in his memory were the disgusting faces of the dragon tribe.

He had spent over thirteen years fighting on the battlefield, slaying those creatures.

It wasn’t surprising that these were the memories that came to mind.

Join our discord and ping me to update more chapters. Discord: https://discord.gg/93rmBjgP6B

“Those bastards…”

Now that he was about to die, he felt truly wronged. If they were going to show up, they should have waited a hundred years!

Thanks to that, he couldn’t even dream of romance until he was over thirty-two.

“I lived like a flame…”

But all that was left was his corpse.

Before he could feel the emptiness, his breath slowly began to fade.

“You must survive.”

Suddenly, the last words of the former duke came to mind.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep your last wish…”

Ethan Ardan.

His eyes slowly closed.

* *

―Just now… you were… tossing and turning…

―Ethan! Ethan!

Someone was shaking his body violently. His eyes flew open.

The room was filled with a musty smell.

A woman was looking at him with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Who is it?”

He tilted his head for a moment.

Then he opened his eyes wide.

The woman’s face was all too familiar.

“…Sister? Could it be you?”

“Ethan? Are you awake?”

Not only was she disheveled, but her face was also emaciated. On top of that, she was dressed in ordinary clothes that only commoners would wear.

The reason he didn’t recognize his sister Elena at first glance was because of this sense of disconnection. The Yongin tribe’s attack did not discriminate between men, women, or children.

Elena was also one of the victims of their attack.

There was no doubt that she had died at the hands of the Yongin tribe and had come to the afterlife.

Otherwise, her sister wouldn’t be looking at her so calmly.

Ethan sighed as he looked at Elena.

“I told you to be more generous. I always said it would come back to you. What the hell is this, sister?”

“…Huh?”

“You should have donated the money you spent on jewelry and dresses. At least you wouldn’t be wearing such shabby clothes.”

“What do you mean…”

“Still, it’s good to see you again. How is the afterlife? Is it livable?”

Hearing that, Elena looked at Ethan and sighed.

“Just get some rest. They said you need absolute stability when you wake up.”

“Rest?”

“Please, I’m asking you. Okay?”

“…Yeah, I’ll rest. So please stop crying. Why are you doing this?”

“I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself anymore, Ethan. It’s not your fault. I was just stupid… So don’t ever do anything dangerous like that again.”

“…”

It was a conversation that was impossible to understand.

As he tilted his head in confusion,

Elena, who had been sniffling, wiped her tears with an old handkerchief. She blew her nose loudly as well.

A moment of silence followed.

Gurgle.

A loud sound echoed.

Elena, who had been staring at Ethan, asked.

“Are you hungry?”

“…A little.”

“Wait a minute. I’ll make some porridge.”

“…You, sister?”

“Of course I’ll make it. Don’t move and stay in bed. Got it?”

“…Got it.”

The person who didn’t even know the first thing about cooking was his own sister.

And yet, she was so calm about making food.

He couldn’t help but be stunned.

Meanwhile, Elena opened the wooden door and left.

“In the afterlife, not only your status but also your personality changes?”

That’s how shocking Elena’s appearance was today.

She was dressed in shabby clothes similar to those of a maid, and her face was pale as if she hadn’t eaten in days.

It was a stark contrast to the plump face and gorgeous dress she had worn when she was placed in the coffin.

Where had her tomboyish personality gone?

The sister he saw in the afterlife was like a loving mother.

Ethan sat up.

His sister had asked him to do this, but he had lived a fiercer life than anyone else. Lying there like a sick person was not for him.

That was when he saw it.

“Huh?”

He saw tubes hanging all over his body. It was one of the items he was familiar with.

“This is… the fountain of life?”

It was one of the magical tools developed by magicians, mainly used for people in a coma.

In addition to supplying mana, which was the source of life for humans, it also stimulated the muscles through the tubes attached to the body and converted food into liquid to directly deliver nutrients to the body.

Due to its high price, it was usually used by high-ranking nobles when they lost consciousness.

“Why is this attached to my body?”

Had he been unconscious in the afterlife for a while?

Frowning, he removed the tubes. To him, who had just been fighting the Dragon Lord, these were nothing but useless items.

Pop.

Pop.

It stung a little each time he removed one of the dozens of tubes, but compared to when he was covered in the dragon lord’s blood, it was hardly painful.

As he removed the tubes, Ethan realized something.

“My body… is a mess.”

Not only were his limbs twisted and broken as if he were a sick person, but his body felt as though it had been drained of everything except the mana that had been injected into him moments ago.

“…Did he experience a mana surge?”

Unless the “mana hole,” the organ that collects mana, had been shattered by the surge, it was normal to feel mana.

He thought he understood why he had been wearing magic tools all over his body.

“If I hadn’t been wearing them, I would have died without knowing why.”

The mana that was the source of his life was drying up. Without the help of the magic tools, he wouldn’t have been able to survive until his body was completely dried up like this.

He wouldn’t be able to walk properly like this.

Right now, the priority was to revive his half-dead body.

“To do that, I need mana.”

And I need high-quality mana, enough to correct my body to some extent.

Fortunately, there was a way.

He reached out his hand to the coffin and began to suck in the mana. Since the magic tools were not living things, there was no owner of the mana.

This meant that he could easily absorb mana even with this body if he set his mind to it. The light of the magic tool gradually faded.

“This should be enough to make some minor corrections.”

As an object designed to live a long and thin life, it did not possess mana of extraordinary quality, but it was sufficient for Ethan.

A transcendent being of the highest realm.

Just before opening his eyes, Ethan was a knight who had stepped into that realm himself.

His unimaginable control over mana remained unchanged even with his altered physique. Mana began to move according to his will.

Ugh!

Ugh!

The moment mana enveloped his entire body.

His bent spine straightened, and his stiff bones and muscles slowly began to relax. As his life force slowly returned, his twisted skeleton was being put back into place.

“I did some rough first aid.”

His body, which had been unable to move even a single step, was now recovering to the point where he could move somewhat.

“The mirror…”

He got out of bed and approached the window.

Soon, he opened his eyes wide.

His face was gaunt.

Even with his sunken cheeks, it wasn’t difficult to guess his age.

“No matter how I look at him, he doesn’t look like he’s 32…”

Does one become younger when they die?

He tilted his head at his youthful appearance, which looked no more than twenty at best.

After gazing at his reflection in the window for a moment, his gaze naturally turned to the outside.

The scenery outside was quite familiar.

“A hunting lodge?”

It was one of the hunting lodges where his family would stay for a day or two to rest when they went hunting.

In fact, it was hardly worthy of being called a hunting lodge. It was just a slightly larger two-story log cabin.

As he was looking outside, Elena opened the door and entered. On the tray she was holding was a bowl of pale porridge.

She then saw Ethan standing by the window and widened her eyes.

A coffin was lying on the floor of the bed.

It wasn’t difficult to understand the situation. Elena screamed in horror.

“Ethan! You didn’t move without the magic tool, did you?”

“Yes.”

“What were you thinking? Do you know what condition you’re in right now?”

“What condition?”

“You can’t move properly… What?”

She tilted her head.

If he couldn’t even move, how did his brother get to the window?

Elenna was stunned, and Ethan smiled wryly at her.

“My body has recovered somewhat. Look, I can move just fine.”

“How… The doctor said that even if you woke up, it would take at least six months of rest before you could move…”

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“Ten years.”

“…Ten years?”

He was known as the best writer on the continent.

He had never even had a common cold in his entire life.

“Ten years unconscious?”

Ethan was shocked that it had been so long.

“Let’s sit on the bed first. You just woke up, so don’t overexert yourself.”

“I’m fine…”

“Come on!”

“…Okay.”

Looking at him now, it seemed that some of his old personality remained. Whenever his sister acted like this, Ethan always became the obedient younger brother.

He quickly sat down on the bed.

“You need to eat. Do you want me to help you?”

“No, I’ll eat it myself. By the way, sister.”

“Huh?”

“How does the afterlife work? You came here first, so tell me a little…”

He looked at Elena and was taken aback.

Her eyes were welling up again.

She looked at Ethan, her voice trembling.

“Why are you doing this? The afterlife? Are you going to keep saying such unfortunate things? We’re alive and well right now!”

“What are you talking about? You’re dead. So am I. The third and youngest are also…”

That was when it happened.

Elena pinched Ethan’s thigh lightly. The sharp pain made him frown slightly.

“Ethan. Does it hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think dead people can feel pain?”

“I’m not sure about that.”

“Huh. Listen carefully, Ethan. This is definitely not the afterlife. And the third and youngest are not dead; they are alive and well. So am I.”

This is reality?

It was an unbelievable story.

But what if…

What if this is really reality?

Ethan swallowed hard.

“…Sister.”

“Yes.”

“How old are you now?”

“Twenty.”

“How old am I?”

“Nineteen.”

Ethan’s body trembled.

‘If it were then…’

It was when the Yongin tribe began to appear on the continent in earnest, and the First Continental War broke out.

He asked urgently.

“How is the war going? Is your father already deployed?”

“Ethan? What are you talking about?”

“The First Continental War! How is it going right now…?”

“The First Continental War?”

Elena tilted her head.

Her eyes showed that she really had no idea.

“You don’t know about the Yongin tribe?”

“The Yongin tribe? Oh, those monsters?”

“Yes! Those guys! They fought a big battle with the countries of the continent. How is it going…”

“That was fifteen years ago. My father died then. Thanks to the great sacrifice of our family, we were able to sign a non-aggression treaty with those monsters.”

“Not now, but fifteen years ago?”

A non-aggression treaty?

What kind of nonsense is this?

If it weren’t for my sister, I might have shouted that it was nonsense.

“…What the hell are you talking about?”

“Ethan, are your memories vague or something? I heard that people who have been in a coma for a long time show symptoms like that…”

Something was strange.

It felt like something was off.

“Stay calm.”

I needed to calmly sort out the situation.

I died.

That’s why I thought I was in the afterlife.

But no matter how I looked at it…

“This seems like reality.”

Then there was only one answer.

I had returned to the past, thirteen years ago.

However, there was one problem: his memories of the past seemed to have changed significantly.

As soon as he realized this, everything began to look strange.

“Sister.”

“Yes.”

“Where are the servants?”

“…They’re not here.”

“Not here? Why?”

Even if it was a hunting lodge, there should have been at least a few servants.

But there was no one?

Ethan’s question made Elena’s face darken.

“It’s because… we don’t have any money.”

“You don’t have any money?”

The family was known as the best swordsmanship clan on the continent and one of only four dukes in the Kingdom of Haiden?

“What about the artifacts in the main house? You could sell those…”

“This is our home. We don’t have anything that expensive anymore.”

“Huh?”

It was hardly even a mansion.

It was a two-story log cabin.

But this is really our home?

“You’re lying, right?”

“…I’m not lying.”

Ethan was speechless.

Now he finally understood why Elena’s attire was so shabby and why he hadn’t seen even a single servant.

He had returned to find his family ruined.

And not just a little.