Chapter 16 - Damn Reincarnation

Bloodline Succession Ceremony

There was neither hesitation nor tension in Eugene’s steps. This was hardly an opponent that warranted either. He had not trained in mana yet anyway.

Being unable to use mana against such a large monster was certainly inconvenient, but it was no reason for him to hesitate. In his previous life, he had fought countless trolls and ogres even before he could use mana.

Compared to them, this minotaur was nothing to be wary of. It wasn’t even a real monster, and judging by its movements, it seemed inferior to a genuine minotaur. As expected, its level had been lowered to suit the children facing it.

‘I’ll have to keep in mind that my weapon can break.’

Until now, it hadn’t broken no matter how roughly he used it. Here, things were different. Was he meant to adapt to unexpected situations? Or was this meant to judge the skills he had developed and his aptitude...?

Either way, Eugene was pleased. He had screwed over the main family, just as he’d intended. Of course, he would have accomplished that even if he had killed the minotaur right away and ended the Bloodline Succession Ceremony. But waiting a little had let him watch Cyan humiliate himself too.

‘Still, the family head seemed like a pretty decent man.’

His son, however, had a rotten disposition. Someone needed to start beating that shitty attitude out of him now. That was how Eugene justified it.

Gilead, the family head, was a good man.

His son was a dumbass.

Since he was already a dumbass, he would become an even bigger dumbass in the future.

So Eugene needed to straighten out his personality, if only for Gilead’s sake.

‘Though one or two beatings won’t be enough.’

Well, that wasn’t Eugene’s concern. Gilead would probably take care of it himself.

“Hmm.”

Eugene had worked out the distance at which the minotaur would react.

He stood just short of it, studying the monster. Cyan had slashed it several times, but the minotaur was still going strong.

‘... Now, then.’

With a faint chuckle, Eugene stepped forward, entering the range at which the minotaur would react.

‘How should I kill it?’

The minotaur reacted immediately. Its enormous bulk charged toward Eugene. Unlike Dezra and Cyan, Eugene did not rush straight at it. He stayed where he was, within its reach.

A massive fist came flying at him. Before the attack was even launched, Eugene had predicted what was coming. That huge body offered plenty of visible clues. Fingers clenched, a shoulder and elbow moved, muscles twitched. All of it fed into his prediction.

BOOM!

The minotaur’s fist struck the ground just as Eugene’s sword moved. He slashed the arm that had come down within easy reach, aiming at the inside of the elbow. Where skin folded, it was inevitably weaker. The tendons there were not as thick as the forearm muscles.

Of course, cutting them was no easy feat. Yet Eugene did it with ease. He had been accustomed to using a sword this way in his previous life. Moreover, his current body was overwhelmingly superior to Hamel’s childhood body.

He had been born with different gifts, and he had spent years deliberately developing them. He couldn’t use mana? What did that matter? This young body moved remarkably well even without it.

“Graaagh!”

The minotaur roared. Its tendon was too thick to sever completely, but tendons were packed with nerves and highly sensitive to pain. Even without cutting all the way through, he could make it hurt like hell.

The massive arm muscles twitched. Numbness slowed its reaction. Without hesitating, Eugene planted a foot on the minotaur’s arm.

Then he ran. For a child’s small body, the minotaur’s enormous frame was easy to climb and run along. He reached its shoulder in a single burst.

Naturally, the minotaur did not stay still. It immediately twisted its body and swung its shoulder. But Eugene was also adept at running across violently shifting footholds. For one thing, this unfairly gifted body had an excellent innate sense of balance.

The body thrashed wildly. Its head was close. An enormous horn swept past his eyes. Eugene reached out at precisely the right moment.

THUMP!

His hand caught the minotaur’s horn.

Having trained with all those heavy sandbags strapped to him, supporting his weight with one arm was ridiculously easy. Gripping the horn firmly, Eugene pulled himself up onto the minotaur’s head.

“Graaaargh!”

The minotaur raised a hand. It tried to grab Eugene, who clung to its head, but his sword thrust was faster.

CRUNCH!

The long blade plunged into the minotaur’s ear canal. Driven deep enough, it reached the monster’s semicircular canals. The minotaur staggered violently. Its wildly flailing hand struck far from Eugene. Then, unable to remain standing, it sank to the ground.

Next, he pierced its left eye. The minotaur let out a horrific scream. Eugene twisted the deeply embedded sword several times before pulling it free. Then he stabbed its right eye. The minotaur squeezed its eye shut, but the blade pierced the eyeball through the lid.

“Guaaaargh!”

BANG!

The hand it finally swung struck not Eugene, but its own hapless forehead. In its rage, it had hit far too hard. The minotaur’s head snapped back. That suited Eugene perfectly. He dropped back onto its shoulder, where the backward tilt of its head made the pulsing carotid artery plainly visible.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Eugene concentrated his sword strikes on a single spot. The second cleanly split the skin, and the third reached the blood vessel. Then a few more.

SPLURT!

Blood gushed out. Blocking it with the shield on his left arm, Eugene drove his sword into the open wound.

The minotaur could no longer roar. It toppled backward and collapsed. Before it fell, Eugene leaped lightly to the ground.

“Whew.”

He had blocked the spray with his shield, but so much blood had poured out that his hair and face were wet. He shook off the blood as best he could and turned his head.

Cyan, Ciel, and Dezra were staring at him with their mouths hanging open. Eugene grinned at Cyan and pointed to the minotaur’s corpse.

“You saw that, right?”

“... Huh...?”

“I killed it.”

Cyan could not answer. He knew Eugene was trying to provoke him, but he simply couldn’t flare up. He had just witnessed that with his own eyes. He had no confidence whatsoever that he could do what Eugene had done. If... if he had been able to use sword aura? Then he would have been able to kill the minotaur.

But he couldn’t have done it like Eugene. Cyan felt something toward that country bumpkin that he couldn’t identify. It resembled fear, yet the excitement coursing through his chest was different from fear.

At thirteen, Cyan did not yet understand the emotion called awe.

“... Oh.”

Eugene let out a small exclamation and looked down at himself. The overpowering stench of blood vanished in an instant. The minotaur’s corpse beside him disappeared, along with the walls and ceiling enclosing them. His soaked hair became perfectly dry, as if it had never been wet, and the sword and shield in his hands faded away.

The Bloodline Succession Ceremony was over.

* * *

Gilead and Lovellian.

Neither could find anything to say. Dezra and Cyan had been defeated. That much had been expected.

They had never imagined the children would kill the minotaur easily.

That was why they had explained beforehand that this Bloodline Succession Ceremony would assess not only outright competition, but also judgment in different situations and the ability to cooperate.

They had hoped the children would get back into the fight no matter how many times they were thrown. Working together, they could defeat this monster. After drawing the minotaur’s attention, they could gradually lure it beyond the magic circle’s range. Rather than charging in blindly, they were supposed to try different approaches and, in that way... bring it down. That was why the monster had been placed there.

“... Ha ha!”

Although things had gone completely against their intentions, Gilead was not displeased. Quite the opposite: he burst into laughter, his face filled with a smile.

“Isn’t he remarkable?”

Gilead pointed at Eugene.

“That child—a collateral-branch child who hasn’t even trained in mana—has defeated the minotaur through sheer, overwhelming skill.”

“... In... deed.”

Lovellian slowly closed his hanging mouth. He had created everything in that labyrinth. The traps, the monsters—all of it was designed to suit the children’s level without being too much for them. Yet this child named Eugene had made his way through the labyrinth far more easily than Lovellian had imagined.

“... What... is that child?”

“I don’t know either.”

Still smiling, Gilead shook his head.

“His father is Gerhard Lionheart of the Gidol region. Their collateral branch split from the main family hundreds of years ago, and to my knowledge, not a single member of that family has ever distinguished themselves.”

“Then how could such an exceptional child...?”

“I don’t know. Apparently, he hasn’t learned from his father or any other knights...”

Gilead broke off with a hearty laugh.

“But listen to this. I’m told that in the days since Eugene arrived at the main estate, he has put himself through grueling training in the practice yard every day. I sent someone to Gidol to inquire, and his relentless determination was well known in his own family too.”

This was the child who had defeated his son in a duel. Gilead couldn’t help taking an interest. So he had sent a knight to the Lionheart family in Gidol to ask about Eugene. According to what he’d heard, Eugene had visited the practice yard every day since he was five. From the age of seven, he had wielded an iron-cored wooden sword, steadily increasing its weight.

“He was born with the physique of a warrior, and a disposition to match. Just discovering a child as precious as that... has made this Bloodline Succession Ceremony immensely worthwhile.”

“Does it not displease you?”

Lovellian asked out of genuine curiosity.

“I hesitate to say this, but that child... is superior to your children, Lord Gilead. The difference is already so great. If he begins training in mana... and if he also possesses extraordinary talent for wielding it...”

“Then that would be cause for celebration.”

Gilead answered with a hearty laugh.

“His surname is Lionheart, is it not? His excellence means that the Lionheart name will shine all the brighter.”

“... What if he reveals ambitions toward the main family?”

Lovellian was blunt. Yet Gilead took no offense.

“That is not for me to worry about.”

His answer was sincere.

“It is only right that the most exceptional Lionheart should succeed as family head. If my children cannot hold their positions, it means they are weak enough to lose their birthright. If that is all they amount to, they have no right to become the head of the Lionheart family.”

“Hmm...”

“Of course, before I am the family head, I am a father. I will guide my children so that they can become the best. If that still proves insufficient... then it cannot be helped.”

“As an outsider, it was not my place to speak of such matters.”

Lovellian slowly nodded and waved a hand. The labyrinth began to dissolve.

“But Lord Gilead, as an old friend, allow me to offer some advice. If possible, adopt that child as your son.”

“... Adopt him?”

“Yes. A collateral-branch child has surpassed the main family in the Bloodline Succession Ceremony. That alone will cause countless collateral branches of the Lionheart family to look down on the main family. Those with seditious intentions might even band together.”

“...”

Gilead was silent for a moment. The Lionheart family had endured for three hundred years. Its strict system of succession within the main family had produced countless collateral branches.

Those branches were descended from members of the main family who had lost the contest for leadership. Naturally, there were certainly some among them who harbored resentment toward the main family.

“... The guardians uphold the family’s laws.”

Gilead murmured with a bitter smile. The Lionheart guardians strictly prohibited bloodshed between kin and rooted out those with seditious intentions.

“I appreciate your advice. Adoption... It is certainly an attractive proposal.”

Frankly, the child was talented enough that Gilead wanted him for himself. And adopting him did seem likely to be better for the child’s future too.

If Eugene returned to Gidol as he was... seditious families opposed to the main family might try to approach him. If that happened, Gilead might lose this young child with his brilliant talent.

‘... If I keep him close... he will greatly motivate my children too.’

The more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea became. And wouldn’t it be fitting as well? In the still-distant future, when the children’s potential had fully blossomed—if Eugene remained overwhelmingly superior to the main family’s children even then...

Having adopted him beforehand would be good for both the main family and the Lionheart family as a whole.

“... But first, I should congratulate him.”

Murmuring to himself, Gilead turned his head.

The cave leading into the labyrinth had disappeared. The children, still unable to understand what had happened, were looking around in surprise.

“... Gasp!”

Gargis sprang up from where he had been sprawled on the ground. After his desperate battle with the troll, he had headed toward the center, only to collapse from exhaustion along the way and fall asleep. But as the magic vanished, his injuries disappeared with it.

“What about the boss monster?”

“It’s dead.”

Dezra spat out the answer, looking at Gargis as though he were pathetic.

“Who killed it?”

“I did.”

Eugene answered with a grin.