Damn Reincarnation

Chapter 4

By: xImpulse  

<Lionhart (2)>

“Who was Zehad, again?”

“He’s that guy, the relative that lives in the countryside of Kidol.”

“Where’s that?”

“On the west end of the country… Well, what good is it to you if you know? There’s no reason to go to such a run-of-the-mill place.”

There was a hint of scorn present within the conversation.

Cian and Ciel. They were fraternal twins of different genders.

Although they were born out of wedlock, it is no secret that the head of the family favors his second wife over his loyal first wife. Thus, he gave the two little 13-year-olds everything and made their reality so vast that they could reach the sky with their noses.

“That bastard’s name…”

“It’s Eugene. He’s our age, so we should get along.”

“No way. Just because we’re the same age doesn’t mean we have to get along.”

The one who was smirking and moving around was Cian. He continued to speak as he looked towards the outbuilding.

“I heard that apparently, he’s a country bumpkin, and it’s his first time in the city. I heard from Gordon that he couldn’t keep his eyes from staring out the window of the carriage.”

“That checks out. He came from the countryside of Kidol, right? That place is so far in the outskirts that no one knows where it is. Isn’t there just woods and fields there?”

“I’ve never been there, so I don’t know. But I guess so, since it’s the countryside. Do you know if he felt nauseous using the warp gates?

“Apparently he had an expression that looked like he wanted to throw up.”

“I guess he didn’t throw up then. That’s too bad. If he threw up, then we could at least make him clean up the carriage.”

Ciel said with a mischievous smile. Cian waved his finger and tsked at his little sister – who was younger by a couple seconds.

“You dummy. He doesn’t have to throw up to clean the carriage.”

“What does that mean?”

“That bastard, since he came from bumpkinsville, he must smell like cow shit. He’s probably more used to using a rake than he is a wooden sword.”

“Oho!”

“Since he rode the carriage for a couple days, that same cow shit smell on him must have remained in the carriage.”

“Ugh, that’s gross.”

Ciel stuck her tongue out and wrinkled her face in disgust. But underneath her wrinkled face, her eyes were filled with mischief.

“Isn’t the carriage the bastard rode here, the property of the main family? It doesn’t matter whether he’s a relative. He should take responsibility for getting the carriage dirty, right?”

“Yep, that’s right.”

“I heard this earlier, but that bastard has been swinging a wooden sword around in the exercise hall as soon as he arrived at the annex.”

“How ridiculous.”

Ciel cackled with laughter. She has been perfectly in touch with her twin since they were young.

“It’s his first day in the capital and his first day in the main family’s house. So he’s just trying to show off, you know?”

“Showing off? Just straighten up and say that he’s being ridiculous.”

Ciel hit her brother’s arm as she burst into laughter. But Cian held a relatively solemn expression as he walked backwards.

“You see, our stupid relative – he must have come here with high expectations of the blood ceremony. His father must have not taught him properly.”

“Yep, yep.”

“He’s probably just training to show off to the adults. But he’s even more annoying for leaving the carriage all smelly.”

“We should punish him.”

“No, punishing him would be going too far. You shouldn’t do that. You gotta be aware of your surroundings, right? So that you don’t get punished by the adults later.”

“You’re so kind, brother.”

Ciel grinned from ear to ear and went along with her brother, even though she knew his true intentions. These young twins have always enjoyed doing bad things discreetly.

“Let’s go!”

Cian yelled with gusto as he led in front. Behind him, Ciel joyfully followed along. However, she suddenly felt someone’s gaze on her and turned around. The twins have been able to use mana since they were young, so they were able to feel some sort of intangible gaze on them.

In the splendidly grand mansion, there was a boy by the windowside on the third floor. Once he made eye contact with Ciel, he slid away and closed the curtains. Ciel grinned and stuck her tongue out at the sight of him.

*

The children from the collateral families are prohibited from holding weapons until the blood ceremony.

Eugene didn’t want to respect a tradition that was so ridiculous that it wasn’t even laughable. His father, Zehad, couldn’t ignore the Lionhart tradition. There were too many eyes around the mansion to keep it a secret between just father and son.

‘It’s light.’

Eugene wrinkled his face as he looked down on the wooden sword. He wielded a wooden sword embedded with an iron core since he was seven, and when he turned twelve, he started using an iron block that shouldn’t have been called a wooden sword for training purposes. It was simply wrapped around some wood, but the sword that Eugene used for over a year was so heavy that it could break one’s bones if used improperly.

But it wasn’t a sharp weapon. Although the weight of the iron load was increased to train his muscles without straining them, it was still a wooden sword at the end of the day.

Eugene practiced everyday to get used to it. He didn’t rest for a single day.

‘Since I reincarnated, I might as well work hard…’ was not his rationale.

Eugene was just intrinsically like this. Even when he traveled with Vermouth’s party, he never once rested a day in his training.

‘And that son of a bitch lectured me about hard work.’

Vermouth, that tasteless piece of shit. Eugene grit his teeth as he remembered that bastard’s empty eyes.

He was aware that he was overworking his body more than he did in his past life. The problem was that he was progressing at an unexpectedly quick rate for the amount of work he put in. But he didn’t know whether this body – a descendant of Vermouth – could surpass Vermouth himself.

In any case, it was obvious that this body was better than Hamel’s beefy body. Even without any mana buffs, he was able to wield that heavy piece of iron in a 13-year-old’s body that was still not fully developed.

“Is there anything heavier than this wooden sword? I’m fine with something bigger, too.”

He swung it about a hundred times already, but he barely broke a sweat. Eugene made a face as he turned around.

“Also, I told you to stay in the shade. Why are you standing out here in the sun?”

“I-I’m alright.”

“Alright, my ass. Look at all that sweat. Don’t be a mule, and sit in the shade over there. No, wait. I asked if there was another wooden sword?”

Nina wore a perplexed expression as she sweat profusely. Across her was a small 13-year-old boy from a collateral family. He was someone who couldn’t be ignored by the main family. He was the only one she was assigned to serve, so she wouldn’t dare rest in the shade while he was training.

“The wooden swords in the exercise hall’s warehouse… are all we have. Other wooden swords should be in the exercise halls near the main mansion…”

“Can I go get one?”

“That… Um… I can’t decide whether you can or can’t. If you’d like, I can go ask, though…”

“No need, it’s fine.”

Eugene shook his head without regret. He heard earlier that Nina was only sixteen. She just finished her apprenticeship, so he didn’t want to put her in a difficult position.

‘They’re so obvious.’

Eugene lowered the wooden sword as he swallowed his scoffs. Why else would they exclusively hire a maid who just finished her apprenticeship? Either she was a clumsy servant or she offended someone. If she accused of something, they were probably planning on using it to denounce him.

‘I don’t know what kind of shithead thought of this idea, but this is low.’

He swung the sword around more, but then realized it wasn’t going to suffice even as a warmup. Eugene swung his arms as he walked towards the warehouse. As he started to walk, Nina hastily caught up to him.

“Master Eugene, if there is anything you need, please tell me.”

“I don’t know about you, but I should be choosing what I train with. What if I don’t like the sword that you pick out? It’s a hassle to make you go back and forth, especially since it’ll be easier if I pick it out myself.”

There was a lot of dust in the normally unused warehouse. Nina felt a cold sweat as she saw the dust flying through the air. To be honest, she was planning on cleaning this place a couple of days ago, but the head servant of the outbuilding told her that there was no need. Thus, she left it a mess.

“I… I apologize.”

“For what.”

Eugene didn’t notice Nina behind him with her head hung low. He looked and grabbed around in the dust until he found what he needed. Sandbags he can hang on his body. He found something pretty useful on the shelf.

A chainmail that had not been properly oiled and was covered with dust. Although it was too big for Eugene, he was quite pleased with the heaviness of the waistcoat. Behind it, Eugene brought out a spear that was bigger than him.

“…Um… If there is anything I can do to help…”

“Step on this and stay there.”

After they left the warehouse, Eugene laid down the spear. Nina stepped on the spear as she was told. After the spear was fixed in place, Eugene started to hang the sandbags on it.

Nina looked as if she was tired of everything. Now, Eugene wore a chain waistcoat that was too big for him, and he was holding a sandbag on both arms. On top of that, he was hanging some sandbags on the spear.

‘No way.’

Just simply looking at it, one could see that it was at least twice Eugene’s weight. But, Eugene looked as if he was satisfied, and he started to swing his hands.

“Now move.”

“Ah… Yes.”

Eugene bent his knees and grabbed the spear with both of his hands. He grit his teeth at the sudden weight, but he enjoyed the feeling of his muscles pulling and bones shaking.

“Back… No, farther. I told you to go stand in the shade!”

“Y-yes!”

Shocked, Nina retreated. Eugene confirmed that Nina was far enough away before he swung the spear. —Swing! The spear was heavier than himself, but because of the added weight on his body, he wasn’t dragged by the weight of the spear. The waistcoat and sandbags were fulfilling their purpose.

Eugene swung the massive spear with heavy steps. Every time he took a swing, he felt as if his arms were going to rip off and that his waist was screaming with pain as he rotated it. Nina covered her mouth with her hands at the sight of this. A huge accident that the small child wouldn’t be able to handle seemed imminent if anything went wrong.

But Eugene never collapsed even though it looked like he was going to. Rather, when he contorted his body, the spear moved faster. With every rotation, the spear gained inertia. And then, the inertia moved into an attack. Rip! The feeling of the calluses on his hands being ripped open. The pain! Because he wasn’t bothered enough to wear gloves, he felt even more pain.

Eugene laughed as he continued to swing the spear. He gripped the spear with even more strength as the blood on his hands made it slippery. Perhaps because he was putting too much strength in his grip, his eyes became bloodshot and his breath deepened.

“Oh.”

Nina, who was watching while stunned the entire time, was pulled to her senses when she heard the voice next to her.

“What’s that bastard doing?”

Cian and Ciel. The evil twins that made many maids cry into their pillowcases during their apprenticeship. The two had arrived near her and widened their eyes.

“Y-young master, young lady. What are you doing here…?”

“I asked you what that bastard’s doing,“ Cian spat out with his eyebrows furrowed.

He didn’t like that this maid, whose name he didn’t even know, didn’t answer his question immediately. Usually, he would have punished the maid so she wouldn’t do that again, but right now, whatever the fuck the country bumpkin was doing was even more annoying.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Nina wasn’t the one who answered. Eugene, who had been holding his breath, took a deep breath and put his spear down.

“Do you know what this is?”

Eugene asked as he prodded the spear he put down.

‘What is that fucker doing?’

Cian narrowed his eyes and didn’t answer. Beside him, Ciel was busy suppressing her laughter.

“It’s a spear, you idiot. You don’t even know that?”

“Of course, it’s a spear.”

“So what?”

“If you knew it was a spear, then don’t you know about spear-wielding?”

“I know!”

“Then why’d you ask me what I was doing?”

“I didn’t ask. My brother was the one who asked.”

“Then you can tell your idiotic brother instead. Tell him, ‘that bastard is wielding a spear’.”

Ciel widened her eyes at being provoked.

Contrastingly, Cian narrowed his eyes.

“An idiot. Me?”

“You were obviously watching me, but you didn’t even know what I was doing, so you’re probably not all that smart.”

“Brother. That country bumpkin called you an idiot.”

Ciel giggled as she poked Cian’s sides. Unlike her brother, who was getting angry, she continued to feed his anger, knowing well that something amusing would happen if she did.

“You dare!”

Provoked by his sister – who was younger by a couple seconds – Cian yelled.

<Lionhart (2)> End