Chapter 5 - Damn Reincarnation

Lionheart

Cyan was not an idiot. Of course he knew that what Eugene was holding was a spear, and that swinging a spear was a form of training.

But he had never seen such a brutish training method before. Wearing a chain-mail vest too big for his body, hanging sandbags from both arms, and swinging and thrusting a spear with still more sandbags tied to it. Could that even be called training?

At least, no such training method existed in Cyan’s mind. It was so crude, so extreme. There was none of the finesse of spearmanship—just reckless swings and thrusts. What kind of training involved staggering all over the place, unable to keep your own body under control?

'This fucking country bumpkin. He’s absolutely desperate for attention.'

That chain-mail vest. It was big, but judging by its awful condition, it had to be made of cheap, impure iron. Which meant it wasn’t as heavy as it looked.

And those sandbags, too. They looked bulky at a glance, but given how much he had moved with them hanging from his body, the coverings had to be thick while the insides were practically empty.

'There’s a limit to how starved for attention you can be. Where did he learn tricks like that...?'

He could understand it. A country bumpkin from some backwater nobody could even locate, with the lowest standing among the collateral branches. His parents had probably given him some hint, prompting him to pull this stunt on his very first day.

Without resorting to underhanded tricks, he was the sort of person who could never attract anyone’s attention. His transparent little ploy was laughable, though.

However.

Daring to call him stupid was something to be angry about, not amused by. Breathing hard, Cyan pointed a finger at Eugene.

“Apologize.”

“For what?”

“Apologize for daring to call me stupid!”

“Sorry.”

Eugene answered immediately. But Cyan found the apology unsatisfactory. He glared and raised his chin.

“Bow your head and apologize properly!”

“You’re the same age as me, right?” Eugene asked without bowing.

“You’re thirteen. I’m thirteen. That makes us friends of the same age, so why should I bow my head?”

“Someone like you could never be my friend!”

“We’re not friends? Then why have you been talking to me like that from the moment we met?”

What was he doing? Eugene clicked his tongue, inwardly disgusted with himself. If he added his age before his death, he was well past fifty. It was pathetic enough to be that old and argue with a thirteen-year-old brat, but his opponent was a descendant of that damned Vermouth, no less.

'So what? My past life is my past life. I’m thirteen now, too.'

“I asked why you’re talking like that. Do you not know what manners are, either, just like you don’t know what a spear is?”

“You...”

Cyan’s eyes wavered at the relentless stream of backtalk. Having been pampered since he was little, he was unfamiliar with this sort of childish argument.

“You... insolent...”

The greatest advantage of being a child was that you could get away with being unreasonable whenever your emotions dictated it. Cyan wasn’t used to arguments like this, but he was used to letting his emotions loose. He strode forward until he was right in Eugene’s face.

“You don’t know your place...! Do you think having Lionheart as your surname makes you the same as every other Lionheart?”

“No, I know perfectly well. I’m from a collateral branch, and you’re from the direct line.”

Eugene raised a finger and pointed at the main family’s mansion.

“Your home is over there. Mine is... which direction was it? Anyway, it’s a long way from here.”

“You know that, and you’re still mouthing off?”

“I haven’t been mouthing off. I’m just telling you things you don’t know. You asked what I was doing, so I told you. You told me to apologize, so I did.”

“You’re incredibly arrogant,” Cyan spat, pinching his nose.

“And you stink. Like cow shit from the countryside! And sweat! You really, really stink.”

“I’ve never even been near cow shit in my life. What the hell do you mean, I smell like cow shit?”

“Then it must be your own shit...! Either way, you stink.”

“I’ll wash in a little while.”

“No, wash now. Wash! And clean the carriage you rode here in.”

“The carriage?”

“Your shitty smell must have soaked into the seats! Clean it!”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you made the carriage stink!”

Cyan shrieked. At such close range, spit flew at Eugene every time he shouted. Eugene frowned and took a step back. He had only retreated to avoid getting spit on, but Cyan looked down at him with a smug smile.

“And bow your head and apologize. I haven’t accepted your apology yet. For calling me stupid. For saying I have no manners. For daring to put yourself on equal footing with me when you’re from a collateral branch. For all of—”

“Nina.”

Without waiting for Cyan to finish, Eugene turned toward Nina.

“Y-yes?”

“You’re my personal attendant, right?”

“Yes... It is more than I deserve, but I have been assigned as your personal attendant, Master Eugene, even if only temporarily.”

“Then go clean the carriage I came in. Don’t just stand there spacing out in the blazing sun.”

“... Pardon?”

Of course, once Cyan and Ciel left, Nina had intended to volunteer to clean the carriage herself. It was perfectly reasonable for Eugene to order her to do so before she could offer.

But she couldn’t understand why he would give that order in this situation. Those two little terrors were right in front of him. Eugene was openly disregarding Cyan’s command.

“What are you doing?”

“Having the carriage cleaned.”

“I told you to do it yourself!”

“Why, when I have someone who can do it for me?”

“Because I told you to do it!”

“Who are you to order me around?”

“I’m... I’m Cyan Lionheart.”

“Right, and I’m Eugene Lionheart. Let’s get along from now on.”

Looking thoroughly annoyed, Eugene waved his hand dismissively. Ciel covered her mouth and giggled, while Cyan’s mouth fell open stupidly.

“I’m Ciel Lionheart,” she said through her giggles.

Only after glaring at his infuriating little sister did Cyan draw a deep breath.

“I... I have no intention of getting along with someone like you.”

“That’s a real shame.”

“You ignored my order.”

“Because I’m not obliged to obey you.”

“And... and you insulted me.”

“Well, would you look at that.”

Eugene’s responses were almost like interjections meant to keep Cyan going. Each one made the anger in Cyan’s chest writhe all the more.

Why was he doing this with that bastard?

This wasn’t what he had confronted the country bumpkin for.

He was a young master of the main family. When he gave an order, the other boy was supposed to obey without talking back.

An ill-mannered stubbornness filled Cyan’s mind. What are you going to do, brother? Ciel pressed close to his side, blinking up at him with eyes full of anticipation.

“A duel.”

It wasn’t so much that he wanted to live up to his sister’s expectations as that he didn’t want to be looked down on. After being treated with this much disrespect by that country bumpkin, doing nothing would surely mean his sister teasing him for days.

“You disrespected and insulted me. So we have to duel.”

“What impressive logic.”

Eugene laughed in disbelief. He had never expected the word “duel” to come out of a thirteen-year-old kid’s mouth.

“My friend, you don’t throw around the word ‘duel’ that lightly.”

“Who are you calling your friend?”

“Fine, we’re not friends. Anyway, stop talking nonsense and go away. Quit bothering me.”

“You’re scared, aren’t you?”

Cyan arrogantly raised his chin, as if he had expected this all along. It was an obvious provocation, but Eugene obliged him by narrowing his eyes and glaring.

“Scared?”

“Yes. You’re scared. If you’re afraid to duel me, hurry up and apologize.”

“What if I’m not scared, but I don’t want to duel or apologize?”

“Do you not even know what honor is?”

“I know perfectly well that it isn’t so cheap that someone like you should be tossing the word around.”

“You’re... you’re insulting me again?”

Somehow, every exchange left him feeling insulted. Unable to bear any more, Cyan thrust a hand inside his clothes.

“Don’t,” Eugene said with a frown. “You don’t challenge people to duels on a whim.”

'That son of a bitch. Who does he think he is, constantly telling me what to do?'

Glaring at Eugene with wide eyes, Cyan pulled out a handkerchief.

“If you’re afraid, say you’re afraid! Stop running away and repeating that you don’t want to! Didn’t your parents teach you what honor is?!”

“Hah.”

Eugene tilted his head at the barrage of shouting. When he stared fixedly at Cyan, Cyan inwardly rejoiced, believing his taunt had worked. Then he ostentatiously spread the handkerchief wide and held it out.

“This really is your last chance. Beg for my forgiveness. And—”

“Throw it,” Eugene said, undoing the knots securing his sandbags.

“You wanted a duel. Hurry up and throw it.”

“... Huh?”

“I said, throw it.”

THUD!

The sandbag on his left arm dropped to the ground. At the billowing cloud of dust, Cyan’s expression abruptly froze.

“... You...”

“The handkerchief. Aren’t you going to throw it?”

THUD!

The sandbag on his right arm dropped as well. Eugene even took off the chain-mail vest and tossed it behind him. It flew some distance before hitting the ground with a heavy thump. Cyan gaped at the sight.

“Wow.”

Even Ciel, who had been enjoying the spectacle as though it had nothing to do with her, let out an exclamation. Eugene bent down and removed the sandbags tied to his legs, too.

“... You... You’ve been training your mana...!”

Despite having been gaping in astonishment just a moment earlier, Cyan now twisted his face in outrage. Children from collateral branches were not allowed to train their mana before the Bloodline Succession Ceremony. That was a long-standing tradition of the Lionheart family. Only children of the main family could train their mana and wield real weapons from an early age.

That tradition had been trampled before his very eyes. This was no longer something he could approach as simple spite or a chance to vent his anger.

“I haven’t, though?”

Eugene answered indifferently. He wasn’t lying. He could have started mana training back when he was still crawling around, but he hadn’t.

He hadn’t wanted to cause needless trouble for his father, Gerhard. Besides, now that he had been reincarnated as Vermouth’s descendant, he wanted to try the bastard’s mana-training method.

“What an obvious lie...! How could you handle that weight without training your mana?!”

“I’ve been doing it since I was seven. Turns out it works.”

“Stop lying!”

“You’ve never tried it yourself, so why do you keep calling it a lie? If you’re that suspicious, find out in the duel.”

Eugene sat down on the ground and untied the sandbags from the spear. Watching with wide eyes, Cyan felt his sister’s expectant gaze on him. He also felt Nina’s frightened gaze as she stood there, not knowing what to do. The annex servants were lingering near the windows, interested in the commotion at the training ground.

Cyan had been the first to mention a duel. He had been the first to take out a handkerchief, and he had been the one to keep pressing Eugene about honor after Eugene said he didn’t want to fight. He couldn’t back down now—and on top of everything else, there was the crime of training mana before the Bloodline Succession Ceremony despite being from a collateral branch.

So he had to punish him. If he shut his mouth and backed down now, his sister would surely tease him not just for a few days, but for the rest of his life. First things first. Cyan picked up a wooden sword lying nearby. It was the wooden sword Eugene had been swinging earlier.

“... I challenge you to a duel!”

Cyan shouted and threw his handkerchief at Eugene. It landed on Eugene’s shoulder. Only then did Eugene finish untying all the sandbags from the spear’s shaft.

“I accept.”

Eugene nodded and rose to his feet.

Cyan was excited about his first-ever duel. Just before throwing the handkerchief, and after throwing it, his heart pounded with excitement. An arrogant criminal who had disregarded the family’s traditions. How should he punish him? How could he teach him a lesson that would make his sister marvel at her brother’s greatness?

Those thoughts broke off abruptly.

The instant Eugene rose, he thrust his spear.

Cyan, who was taking a few steps back while keeping the wooden sword in his right hand in mind, failed to react properly to the spear’s movement.

WHAM!

The spear’s tip slammed into Cyan’s stomach.

“Gurk!”

With a cry, Cyan went tumbling across the ground.