Chapter : 02
Klein Leinrant
“Ahh, Lord God Delsion, please save this young soul from the hands of evil! Let him escape the shadow of corruption!”
Crack.
The priest, built like he could fold a bear’s spine in half, trembled as he shouted at me with both hands raised.
An angel mobile spinning round and round above my head.
Every time I looked at it, it felt like my own head was about to spin off as well.
“It’s not on me, it’s not on me! Akimond or whatever bullshit, it’s not on—!”
The moment I finally exploded and screamed with all my strength.
“Put him back in.”
At Priest Garrison’s words, I was shoved back into the tub—no, the holy water basin.
“Bububub…!”
After blowing bubbles in the holy water for ten seconds.
“Pwahh! Purified, purified! I’m purified! So please, stop already…!”
Today as well, this Akimond—no, Klein Leinrant—ended up submitting to the oppression of that evil priest.
“It seems the holy water worked well today, Father!”
“It is thanks to Miss Arin’s prayers. Now, let us offer the final prayer.”
“Yes, Father!”
When I was exhausted beyond belief after enduring torture that surpassed waterboarding.
The maid Arin placed a white cone-shaped hat on my head and knelt in front of me.
“For our young master to live as a descendant of a righteous hero, in the name of the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the holy Order’s….”
“Ah, seriously!”
I grabbed the white cone on my head and flung it away.
“Aah, the handmade mobile and hat…!”
At Arin’s words, I flinched.
The mobile that had fallen to the floor had angels and rabbits embroidered on it, an adorable design painstakingly knitted stitch by stitch.
“Ah, um, Arin. Sorry….”
Seeing the obvious disappointment on Arin’s face made me think I might have gone too far.
‘I got too emotional. She must have knitted that carefully with those tiny hands….’
“Priest Garrison made it himself.”
No, I take that back.
Who made it?
I snapped my head around to look at Priest Garrison.
The hulking mass of muscle was wiping tears from his eyes with a handkerchief.
“You are too cruel, young master. It is embroidery I worked on diligently for an entire week….”
“H, hahaha…!”
A 2.5-meter-tall giant carefully knitting.
I was going insane.
Just imagining it made my head spin.
“Give me back my guilt, you crazy priest bastard—!”
“Ohhh, such an emotional reaction! As expected, Akimond’s lingering thoughts…!”
“Aaaaaaagh—!”
Priest Garrison’s purification ritual, now no different from a daily routine.
The knight who watched the scene with a smile, Dunkel, patted Priest Garrison on the back.
“It was already twelve years ago, Father. Even the Order said there was no issue….”
“Hahaha, I know. It is merely a precaution, just in case.”
Seeing Priest Garrison smile kindly made my blood boil.
Just in case? For that ‘just in case,’ you waterboard a person until this age?
Is that bastard seriously insane?
“My apologies. There is a lesson scheduled soon.”
“Ohh, I see.”
At Dunkel’s words, Garrison rose to his feet as if he had no choice.
“Ah, Captain Dunkel. About the materials I requested last time….”
“The Duke has granted permission. Someone will be sent shortly.”
At that, Priest Garrison’s face lit up as he prepared to leave.
When I speak, he doesn’t listen at all, but when a knight commander talks, he can’t ignore it, huh?
…Bastard, you’re good at navigating society.
“The next purification ritual is on Friday, young master! You know, right! We must cleanse the wicked energy…!”
“Get lost already—!”
That damned priest wouldn’t shut his mouth even as he was leaving.
I stuck my head out into the hallway and shouted after him, then collapsed onto the sofa in a completely drained state.
“But young master, are you really not Akimond anymore?”
The maid Arin, wearing glasses almost half the size of her face, came over and asked me.
Her twin-braided hair swayed back and forth.
“I never was. Just hearing that name makes my skin crawl now.”
It was a lie, of course, but part of it was genuine.
I had been so happy about being reincarnated that I shouted it out loud, and of all places, it had to be the Berkel family.
Because of that, I had been locked away in a monastery until I turned ten.
“After living captured by the Order for seven years, I finally thought I’d returned to the ducal house, and now that priest bastard is….”
“Despite appearances, he is a proxy of the Cathedral Church. There must be another reason.”
At Dunkel’s words, my throbbing head hurt even more.
Ever since being reborn, I had been under constant surveillance by the Holy Order.
When I should have been recovering my mana, I had instead been bound hand and foot until the age of fifteen, unable to move.
“What’s a proxy? Is that a high position?”
At Arin’s question, Dunkel answered.
“It is a title given to the strongest of the Order. He is so powerful that only His Grace the Duke could stand against him.”
As I listened to Dunkel’s explanation, I wiped the holy water from my soaked hair with a towel.
My unnecessarily glossy silver hair swayed lightly.
“Waaah, then how strong is His Grace the Duke?”
“His Grace Duke Leinrant is always the strongest knight on the continent.”
“Then! Then!”
At some point, Arin had become more interested in Dunkel’s story than in my identity.
‘Yeah, that’s better than talking about who I was in my past life.’
As I thought that and felt secretly relieved.
“If His Highness Berkel and His Highness Heinkel fought, who would win?”
Arin’s innocent question was directed at Dunkel.
The founding duke, Berkel Leinrant.
The current seventh duke, Heinkel Leinrant.
When the two names came up, Dunkel hesitated for a moment.
“Haha, um~ well.”
It was quite an awkward question for Dunkel, a knight of Leinrant.
Still, after pondering briefly, he seemed to reach a conclusion and spoke to Arin.
“His Highness Berkel’s achievements are dazzling, but over the past two hundred years, Leinrant swordsmanship has also developed greatly. So in my opinion, His Highness Heinkel would….”
“No.”
My firm voice cut off Dunkel’s explanation midway.
“Berkel is the strongest.”
When I said that with a serious expression, Dunkel stopped speaking.
“Young master. I understand your feelings, but he is still your father. Now….”
“Berkel is the strongest.”
When I emphasized it again, Dunkel let out a small sigh and stood up.
He knew there was no point in saying anything more once I spoke like that.
“Young master really likes His Highness Berkel. Is it because he’s a hero?”
As she spoke, Arin picked at the cookies on my table.
“Yeah. Because he’s a hero.”
As I answered her question, my gaze was fixed on the portrait in the center of the room.
Berkel Leinrant.
The hero who defeated me, Akimond, and brought peace to the continent.
But that family was now….
Knock knock.
The sound of knocking snapped me out of my thoughts.
When I turned my head, an elderly gentleman in a black suit appeared.
It was Burkman, the head butler.
“Master Klein.”
At his appearance, Arin, who had been sitting on the sofa until just moments ago, hurriedly stood up.
“Ahem!”
Was she a step too late, or had the crumbs on her apron been noticed?
When Burkman glared at Arin with wide eyes, cold sweat broke out on her face.
“Arin. You were bothering the young master again….”
“Aaah, wait, wait a second!”
I cut off Burkman mid-sentence as he was about to scold Arin about something.
“Then what’s today’s lesson? History? Language? Say it quickly. I really want to study.”
When I shielded Arin like that, Burkman let out a sigh as if he had no choice.
“There is no lesson today. Instead, it is the Duke’s order that you attend a swordsmanship demonstration.”
“A demonstration? Me?”
At my question, I studied Burkman’s face as he nodded.
The reluctant look on his face,
and upon seeing it, a single possibility flashed through my mind.
“The collateral line came again, didn’t they?”
When I said that with a frown, the butler nodded along with a deep sigh.
Yeah, I understood exactly what that meant.
This damn household, seriously.
Kaaang—!
With a dull sound, a sword flew through the air.
“Meteor Sword!? That’s impossible!”
Dalton, the sparring opponent, spat out an incredulous groan.
A name given due to its invisible speed and the light of mana—Meteor Sword.
It was a secret technique of Leinrant swordsmanship established by Heinkel Leinrant.
“Match over!”
The supervisor’s voice rang across the training grounds.
The one who had knocked Dalton’s sword away was my half-brother, Delaine Leinrant.
He was the genius prospect that the House of Leinrant proudly boasted.
“Excellent, Delaine.”
I heard Duke Heinkel’s satisfied voice.
A technique that even its creator, Heinkel himself, had only perfected in his mid-thirties.
And now, Delaine, who had just turned twenty, had accomplished it.
“That mana capacity and precision…. Knights of the same age wouldn’t even dare attempt it. Overwhelming talent.”
“Yes. Indeed.”
Watching the technique from outside the training grounds, I fell into thought.
‘Two steps forward, angle the sword path a bit more to the side. And the mana arrangement is….’
This was the first time I had seen knights spar since being reincarnated.
Perhaps because it had been so long since I’d seen a real fight, their movements and techniques replayed endlessly in my head.
Replay? No, rather than that, this was more like….
“Klein!”
“H, huh?”
A bright voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
Delaine, having finished his match, was walking toward me.
The training grounds were already filled with people trying to meet Heinkel.
“I thought I’d say hello since it’s been a while, but what were you thinking about so hard?”
“…Nothing.”
As I brushed off Delaine’s question, irritated voices leaked out from among the people gathered for the demonstration.
“To handle Dalton that easily, this is insane.”
“To show that technique in front of all these people….”
“It’s a display that the ducal house is still standing strong. This won’t be easy.”
Those glaring at Delaine with displeasure were members of the Leinrant family’s collateral line.
“So why did those guys come?”
At my question, Delaine answered.
“It’s about the mines in the western territory.”
“The proposal to entrust them to the Empire? That was rejected half a year ago, wasn’t it?”
“The Empire raised an objection. Probably at this meeting….”
As I listened to Delaine’s explanation, I looked at the relatives talking amongst themselves.
Among those dressed in luxurious clothes were also imperial officials.
‘The northern lords who fought me to the bitter end have now become dogs of the Empire.’
I frowned as I watched them bow and scrape before imperial officials.
It had been twenty years since the Empire, which viewed northern independence as a thorn in its side, had begun meddling in everything.
Because of them, the House of Leinrant had lost more than half its territory to the collateral line.
Yet even in that situation, the reason the ducal title and authority were maintained was one thing alone.
The will of the founding duke, Berkel.
“Delaine.”
At Heinkel’s voice, Delaine stepped forward.
I was dragged along as well, by association.
“‘The Duke of Leinrant must always be the Empire’s greatest knight.’ That was the will of the founding duke, Lord Berkel.”
At Heinkel’s words, Delaine nodded.
‘He said that so the collateral line would hear it. If they covet the ducal seat, then try defeating Delaine.’
As if my thoughts were correct, collateral relatives watching Heinkel clicked their tongues here and there.
“Engrave those words in your heart and continue to strive. I have high expectations.”
“Thank you, Father!”
“Yes. And….”
The duke, who had been speaking while looking at Delaine, turned his gaze to me.
“Klein.”
Unlike when he addressed Delaine, his voice calling me was filled with deep resignation.
‘So it’s finally my turn.’
Thinking that, I walked up to Heinkel.
As if only now noticing my presence, a few relatives hastily stopped talking.
“Mana…. I can’t feel it.”
“I’m sorry, Father.”
Heinkel’s tone as he questioned me was close to resignation.
I had been entrusted to the Holy Order from the age of three and raised there for four years.
That period—from ages three to seven—was the most crucial time for a swordsman.
“I tried myself, but it was already too late.”
“I see.”
At Dunkel’s supplementary explanation, Heinkel nodded.
The process of injecting the mana stored in the lower abdomen into the body’s meridians to break through blockages—Cycle.
Completing this in infancy was a prerequisite for raising a knight.
“……No, that’s enough. There are many paths besides the sword.”
A swordsman who cannot use mana cannot become a knight.
Even if he did, he would only become monster feed in his first battle.
That was why Heinkel spoke to me that way.
“You only need to find another path and strive. Do your best.”
“Thank you.”
Heinkel was stricter than anyone when it came to swordsmanship, yet he said little to me.
One could only scold and pressure someone when there was still potential.
Now that the possibility was gone, I was nothing more than a worthless burden.
“Hah, for a Leinrant young master to be that pathetic.”
After the duke and his heir Delaine headed toward the conference hall with the relatives.
When I turned around, the knight who had just fought Delaine—Dalton—was there.
“Beaten by the first son and then taking it out on the second? It’s embarrassing just watching.”
When I snapped back at him, a vein popped out on Dalton’s forehead.
“Your foul mouth hasn’t changed.”
A thick sneer spread across Dalton’s face.
“You’re just like your lowly barbarian mother.”
At those words, my face stiffened for a moment.
It wasn’t because of my mother, whom I had never even seen.
That rigid contempt, sense of superiority, and authority.
The fact that the family of the hero who killed me—Berkel—had fallen this low made irritation surge up inside me.
“A worm with neither swordsmanship nor mana daring to act like a young master! The disgrace of the family…!”
“And chasing clueless country girls behind the ballroom is the family’s pride?”
At the scandal that burst out without warning, Dalton flinched.
“You—how do you know that…?”
“You thought bribing the other side would keep them quiet? Are you naive, or just stupid?”
When I said that with a shrug, Dalton’s face flushed red in an instant.
“Hah! Even if you try to nitpick like that…!”
“I’m not trying to nitpick, so could you at least not get caught? You collateral-line bastard, embarrassing the whole neighborhood.”
By the time I finished speaking, Dalton’s face was even more twisted.
“W-what did you say?!”
“Stop smearing the family name. I don’t want to be lumped together with trash like you.”
Contempt for contempt.
Seeing Dalton’s face turn red and purple at my response made the frustration in my chest ease a little.
“This bastard!!”
But perhaps because his pride had been wounded, he drew up his mana and strode toward me, wooden sword in hand.
“Perfect timing. I’ll use this chance to fix that rotten attitude of yours…!”
“That will be far enough, Sir Dalton.”
A snow-white blade cut across the space between Dalton and me.
It was my escort knight, Dunkel.
“I cannot overlook any further discourtesy.”
“…Tch!”
Dalton’s swordsmanship was impressive, but at best it ranked somewhere in the middle among his peers.
He couldn’t defeat Dunkel, a captain-class knight, nor even Delaine, who was his age.
Perhaps he sensed the gap in power just from facing him—he slowly withdrew his mana and tossed his wooden sword onto the ground.
“Be thankful you survived thanks to your escort knight. You coward!”
After hurling those harsh words, Dalton snorted angrily and left.
“Young master. Please do not take his words to heart.”
“I’m not bothered. More importantly….”
Saying that without even looking at the fuming Dalton, I clutched my head.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing serious.”
After replying to Dunkel like that, I hesitated for a moment, then spoke to him.
“…Dunkel, do you happen to have a spare sword?”
Late at night.
The training grounds lay empty, devoid of a single soul.
Dunkel, who had been secretly escorting his lord through the darkness, followed him to the training grounds.
“To come out to the training grounds at this hour….”
As Dunkel murmured to himself, Klein opened the storage door and dragged something out from inside.
“Ugh, haa….”
A blue, crystal-clear stone mass, as tall as a person.
It was Azure Jade, a specialty found only in the northern regions.
From the start of training until the day of receiving formal appointment, repeatedly striking and breaking it was a tradition of the Leinrant Knights.
Delaine had split his in half at the age of seven, whereas Klein’s was spotless, without a single scratch.
“Did Delaine take his stance here, and swing like this?”
Soon, Klein swung his sword toward the Azure Jade.
A speed so slow it felt as though time itself had slowed.
Yet Dunkel, who caught the motion, frowned.
‘Meteor Sword.’
The technique Delaine had demonstrated earlier that day.
Watching Klein clumsily imitate it made Dunkel’s heart feel heavy.
‘As expected… he still has lingering attachment to the sword.’
Even as Dunkel thought that, Klein continued tracing the sword path slowly.
A talent that withered before it could bloom.
A possibility that had closed long ago.
Seeing Klein swing his sword so late made Dunkel’s heart sink.
‘It’s too late. Even if he recreates the sword path, with that amount of mana….’
Whooong—!
But the next moment, Dunkel’s expression stiffened slightly as he watched Klein.
‘Just now… what was that?’
He doubted his own eyes.
There was no visible glow of mana, but when Klein swung his sword just now—
‘It wasn’t visible? Young Master Klein’s sword?’
For an instant, even he, a captain-class knight, failed to follow the sword’s movement.
‘That’s impossible. Without mana, there’s no way to reach that speed. And Young Master Klein, of all people…!’
As Dunkel reeled at the impossible situation.
“Ah, so that’s how you do it?”
With that short remark, the wooden sword in Klein’s hand vanished.
Piiing—!
“…Huh?”
This was not metaphor or description.
Nor was it a mistake.
In the brief instant Klein swung his sword,
Dunkel could not see Klein’s blade.
Kagagagak—!
The Azure Jade struck by the sword screamed.
A sound like something being scraped away with a saw.
Not the sound of breaking, but of cutting.
Kiiiii…!
The rock, sliced diagonally, collapsed helplessly.
“…!”
Seeing that sight, Dunkel was struck dumb.
The secret art of the Duke of Leinrant, Meteor Sword.
A technique that even Delaine, praised as a genius of the century, had taken years to complete.
Yet Klein—
the young master discarded as talentless had perfectly reproduced that secret art after seeing it only once.
Thud.
The upper half of the severed Azure Jade fell to the ground.
What had just happened.
What he had just done.
Dunkel stared at Klein, at a loss for words.
“Y-Young… master?”
Klein, who had reproduced the Duke of Leinrant’s secret art with nothing but a wooden sword.
Looking at the result of his own work, he said in a hollow voice.
“What, it really works?”
