Chapter 3

By: xImpulse

In illustrations of fairy tales or any other depiction, Vermouth’s ‘Holy Sword’ was always emphasized, but in Eugene’s memory, the holy sword was not as great as they made it out to be in the stories.

‘It shined well, I guess.’

It did help in the dark depths of the Demon Lord’s castle, but that was all. In the first place, the holy sword was a heavily decorated ceremonial blade, so Vermouth did not use it often either. He occasionally brought it out when they had to kill demons that could regenerate.

Martial God, All Master.

Vermouth had many weapons he knew how to use. Every time he needed it, he brought out another weapon from his portable dimension. 

‘And he was good at magic as well.’

Eugene.

Hamel never learned magic in his previous life.

‘If I had really tried to learn it, I’d have probably been half decent at it.’

That might’ve been the case, but he didn’t even glance at magic in his previous life. Maybe when he used to think he was a genius… he might’ve tried to learn magic.

‘If I just didn’t meet Vermouth.’

Meeting Vermouth changed many things for Hamel.

There exist geniuses in the world that are good at anything they try to do. Hamel used to think he was one of them as a kid, but those hopes were completely destroyed after meeting a real genius. 

I’m not a genius.

‘What about now?’

Eugene cocked his head while pondering.

‘I have the memory of my previous life. If I just do as I did, I’ll become as strong as I did back then.’

That was for sure. But Eugene did not want to be satisfied with that level. He reincarnated after all… what would be the point if he was only as strong as he was before? Especially now that he had been reborn as the descendant of Vermouth.

‘Vermouth’

Eugene rubbed his hard arm.

‘Your blood really is something.’

There was a limit to how much muscle a kid could have. But apart from the size, Eugene had the optimal body. Eugene needed to admit that fact.

It was not extremely buff or bulky, but it was flexible and full of tension. The density of his muscles could not be treated as that of a regular kid. It was the same with his bones. No matter how hard he trained, he never bruised, and small injuries healed up quickly.

‘The body of my previous life was enough for me to think I was a genius. But this… is incomparable. I can start to understand how you were so strong.”

The specs of this body were completely different. That fact brought Eugene both happiness and sadness. If only he had a body like this in his previous life…

‘…I’m wasting time.’

Eugene shook his head, shrugging off his regrets. His previous life ended already. There was no reason to be caught in the regrets of a life that had already ended. 

Eugene let go of his emotions that way. But he could not shake off all of his regrets. After all, all that’s left of his previous life was a shitty title, ‘The Foolish Hamel.’

What about the other guys?

The Great Vermouth. He was a duke in his homeland, The Kiel Empire, until he relinquished his position. He was praised as a hero until the very end. Kiel conducted his funeral on a gigantic scale, and the day of his death is still mourned today. 

The Wise Senia. That annoying bitch became the youngest tower master of The Magic Kingdom Arlot. Arlot has five magic towers, and two of the five tower masters are pupils of Senia.

The Devout Anise. That shady woman was called the saint in The Holy Empire Euras. She even has a scripture that recorded her teachings.

The Brave Moron. Eugene could not believe what happened to him. The retarded Moron established a kingdom?! He gathered the refugees of areas that had been destroyed by the Demon Lord’s forces and built a kingdom in his name?

‘This is what I can’t understand the most.’

Eugene scrunched up his face. Whenever he had this thought, anger rose from within him.

‘So they were all fine until they died. But why do Demon Lords still exist in this world?’

The Demonic Realm, Helmut. 

Hamel scoured Helmut with his allies in his previous life. Together with the armies of each nation, they managed to kill three of the five demon lords.

The fortress of the fourth demon lord.

That was where ‘The Foolish Hamel’ met his end.

He remembered the moment of his death clearly. He trusted that Vermouth and his allies would kill all the remaining demon lords.

But what happened? Of course, the world became peaceful. The demon lords no longer attempted to conquer the world. All because of a ‘promise’ Vermouth made with the demon lords. 

‘Why did you make a promise like that? Weren’t you going to kill all of them?’

The reason is still unknown. The war against the demon lords ended, and the world became peaceful. That peace has continued for the last 300 years.

“…Aren’t you too nervous?”

Eugene raised his head to the voice. A middle-aged man sat across from him in the luxurious carriage.

“…This is the first time I’ve been to the capital.”

Eugene mumbled as he glanced outside the window of the carriage. He left his mansion in the countryside. He spent all day in the carriage to come to the city. Then he went through several warp gates to finally step foot onto the lands of the capital. 

“I understand.”

His name was Gordon. He was a knight that had sworn his loyalty to the main family of the Lionharts, and he was the bodyguard that had come to bring Eugene.

“Eugene. Can I give you a word of advice?”

“Yes.”

“If you feel nervous already, you will not enjoy your stay with the main family.”

Gordon’s face had no trace of humor in it. He couldn’t sense any trace of worrying, either. Eugene smiled at him as he gauged Gordon’s expression.

“Thank you for your advice, Sir Gordon.”

Eugene understood his position very well. The bloodline of collateral families could not treat the knights, much less the actual bloodline of the main family, as beneath them. And Eugene’s family was looked down upon even by other collateral families.

‘Even though I am a Lionhart, only one person came to escort me… My father couldn’t even accompany me.’

Eugene kept his smile as he looked out the window.

‘It’s such an obvious attempt to keep us quiet. They want to dishearten these kids right from the start? Vermouth, this is your fault for making children everywhere.’

Eugene imagined what would happen once he arrived. Looking at how they attempted to dishearten him now, he would receive even more scorn once he got to the hall of the main family.

‘They’ll probably gather up all their knights using the reception as an excuse, and announce out loud the shitty hometowns of everyone who enters.’

No, that was something that they’d do for someone worthy of a greeting. Looking at how he had been sent a single knight, there would probably be no reception announcement for Eugene.

“…How many people will be participating in this Blood Descent Ritual?”

“Including you, six from the collateral families. And three from the main family will be participating.”

“Three people from the main family?”

Eugene pretended to be surprised, but he already knew who was participating in the ritual. It was thanks to Zehad’s warnings.

Three people from the main family. One was the daughter of the first lady, and the other two were twins born from a concubine.

Five people from the collateral families. More importantly, among the collateral, there are two who come from prestigious families.

‘They said the oldest is 15. And there’s one younger than me…’

Eugene was 13. When he realized how young he was, he couldn’t hold his breath. Probably because he was competing with other fucking 10 year-olds.

‘Eugene. Don’t compete with the children from the main family. No matter how excellent you are, you will not be able to contend with those children. Therefore…’

Zehad’s gloomy face came to Eugene’s mind. He couldn’t hide that he was worried that his son would fall into despair when he encountered the children of the main family. 

‘…Still, I’m looking forward to how well off Vermouth’s descendants are.’

Eugene turned his gaze towards the window. Many picturesque sceneries had already passed by, and now the carriage had left the city, heading straight into the forest – the forest surrounded by tall walls.

“Oh, we don’t have to get ready to get off right now. There’s still some ways to go from here.”

I didn’t really get ready to get off, though. Gordon grinned as he said it teasingly.

‘Must be great that the lump of land is so large, you fucker. It’s not even your land, so why are you so proud of it?’

“Wow. You said that this vast forest is all privately owned by the main family?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it inconvenient if it’s this large?”

“There are warp gates installed here and there.”

‘Is that right? Then why am I riding on a carriage right now?’ 

That was because Eugene had not yet been cleared to use the warp gates. Eugene conversed with himself in his head as he looked out the window.

As Gordon mentioned, the carriage went a long way before it stopped. Gordon, who had gotten off from the opposite side, opened the door for Eugene, who had been sitting on the inside.

“Welcome to the home of the Lionhart’s main family,” said Gordon as he bowed courteously.

The front gates were flung open. Beyond them was a mansion. There was no crowd in sight, contrary to what Eugene had been expecting.

‘Lionhart.’

Eugene slowly raised his gaze. From the front gates were an array of white flags. And at the center was an intrepid lion.

‘The Lion of Vermouth.’

Eugene looked down at his chest. There was no pattern whatsoever embedded on his clothes. Only the direct lineage of Lionhart can engrave the emblem of the lion on their left chest.

‘Should I have left some descendants too?’

In his past life, Hamel did not marry, nor did he have children.

‘No. It was good that I didn’t have children. If I did, I might have had some lingering regrets.’

“Have none of the other relatives arrived yet?”

“Master Eugene is the first to arrive.”

‘Nice.’

Eugene just nodded his head, as if he didn’t think much of it.

*

The place where Eugene was escorted to, was an annex that was disconnected from the main house of the mansion.

He couldn’t see any relatives with a lion emblem on their left chest during his trip there. How pretentious of them. Isn’t it normal for them to be the least bit curious of a relative that was 13 years old?

“My name is Nina.”

But the service wasn’t bad. As soon as he arrived at the annex, he was assigned a personal servant. While the girl appeared to be of similar age to Eugene, Eugene didn’t feel that this was a big deal.

“If there is anything you need, just ring this bell.”

At the most, she’d be near her late teens. Nina bowed her head as she handed a bell over to Eugene.

“May I speak comfortably with you?”

“Yes, that is a given.”

“Is this annex all mine?”

Eugene said as he surveyed the broad annex. He was just confirming, but he knew that it probably wasn’t the case. Nina was too young to manage an entire annex all on her own.

“While that is not the case, there should be no inconveniences during your stay.”

“You mean I’m staying with my relatives.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know when they’ll arrive?”

“At the latest, they should all be here within four days.”

Eugene smirked at her reply. That means he’s stuck here for four days. 

“Is the exercise hall in the back?”

“…Yes? Yes…”

“Do I need permission from the main family to swing around a wooden sword?”

“That’s… Um…”

“I’m sure that’s not the case.”

Eugene smiled as he walked towards the exercise hall.

Not knowing what to do, Nina followed behind Eugene.

<Lionhart>

End