- I got this ready for you.
Rohan turned toward the clear, bright voice. His fourth sister stood there.
Tina Baltran. She had been kind and gentle to everyone.
The sister who had worried about him and tried to look after him to the very end, even after he abandoned the family and ran.
- It's okay. I know it wasn't what you wanted.
The first of his siblings to lose her life.
It wasn't okay. After that, I was never in my right mind again.
- Because you're my little brother, and I'm proud of you.
I'm sorry. Truly sorry.
Not for a single moment was I ever a brother you could be proud of.
For failing to live up to the hopes of you, who believed in me to the end.
I am filled with bitter regret.
If only you had scolded me instead of smiling.
WHAM!
Yes, if only you had hit me instead.
"Get up! You little bastard!"
WHAM! THWACK! THWACK!
That kind of hurts?
Well, considering what I did. This much pain.......
"I can bear it."
"Bear what? Let's see you take this, then."
THWACK! THWACK!
"Argh!"
The pain opened Rohan's eyes. He saw a familiar face.
'......Leon?'
Curly dark-blue hair. A face brimming with mischief.
Leon, Gion's fifth son and eighth child, who had died on the battlefield in his past life, was looking down at him, both eyes open and perfectly alive.
How are you alive again.......
He reached out with both arms. But before they could reach his brother.
THWACK! THWACK!
"If your eyes are open, you get up."
A foot caught him in the face, and he fell face-down on the bed again.
Seriously, this bastard.
"I'll kill—"
WHAM!
"Crawl out of that bed already!"
No, I've let this slide long enough.
Rohan sat up and swung his fist. It landed squarely on the face of his eighth brother, Leon.
Something was lacking.
No, a lot was lacking.
There was no strength behind it, and above all, the fist was far too small.
Now that he thought about it... Ah, it hadn't been a dream.
He really had regressed to the past. He was still in the body of a ten-year-old child.
And.
"Did you just hit me?"
His cheek still squashed from the punch, Leon was glaring at him.
"Oh, is that how it is?"
THWACK! WHAM-BAM! THWACK!
"Argh! Stop hitting me!"
"Stop what? You're still sprawled on the bed."
THWACK! WHAM-BAM! THWACK!
"I may not look it, but I'm the Mercenary... Argh! King... Argh!"
"If you're a king, then I'm His Majesty the Emperor!"
THWACK! WHAM-BAM THWACK!
"O-Okay, I get it. I'm going. Stop... Ack. I said I'm going. ...Ack!"
Leon left the room only after the thigh he'd been kicking with started to cramp.
Rubbing himself all over, Rohan all but rolled off the bed.
"Damn little bastard. Even when you're beating someone, you should know when to stop."
Rohan rubbed his chest. He could feel two fire rings woven together.
'What happened last night wasn't a dream.'
He looked around, but the egg was nowhere to be seen. He didn't panic, though.
'They took it for the Succession Ceremony. Which means I met Father while I was unconscious.'
Might Gion have noticed the fire rings inside his body?
As he worried over it, his body grew hot. Any moment now the fire mana might run wild again.
Unable to afford passing out first thing in the morning, Rohan barely held on to consciousness and calmed the quaking mana.
'Phew, that was close.'
What kind of return starts the day with a beating from your brother?
'......Still, he's alive and well'
The gruesome sight of Leon's corpse from his past life came to Rohan's mind, and he smiled bitterly.
***
Damn it. That Leon bastard!
Grumbling, Rohan came out to the training ground. Leon was already there, warming up.
"Rohan, you're late."
He heard a welcome voice.
Freon. The man who had been his sword instructor when he was a child.
Rohan had stayed in the beginner course for a very long time, so he had spent a long time with Freon too.
"You're alive too......."
"As punishment, run ten laps of the training ground."
What? Can't you see the bruises all over me?
Ah, they're hidden under my clothes, so he can't see them anyway.
Leon was looking at him and snickering.
'That bastard did this on purpose. He always had a sly streak, even as a kid.'
Whining wouldn't work on Freon anyway. He'd probably have given the same order even if he had seen the bruises.
Without another word, Rohan started running around the training ground.
'Just one lap and my breathing's already.......'
Back then he had been so weak. In mind and body both.
Exactly eight years before he ran away from the family.
This was also the last year he took classes with Leon. Leon, two years older, was promoted to the intermediate course the following year, and he never shared a course with Rohan again, since Rohan was held back several times.
'How did I come back?'
He wondered if he was still dreaming. But the ragged breath rising to his mouth reminded him this was real.
No matter how much he thought about it, no answer came. For now, he decided to focus on reality.
'I guess I should check my condition first.'
It had been so long ago that he couldn't remember what he'd been capable of.
'I at least know it's pathetic.......'
Who knew ten laps of the training ground would be this hard? Right before he died, he could cross an entire mountain with a heavy pack on his back without a second thought.
Still, fortunately, the two fire rings he'd formed last night were sitting neatly in place.
......Huh?
'Last night?'
He had forced his mana to run wild. It had only been 2nd-Stage mana, but out of control, it had carried destructive power close to the 5th Stage.
It was too much for a child's body. He should have been bedridden for at least a few days.
'Looks like Father helped.'
The family's top-grade potion had probably been used as well. Rohan rubbed his stomach.
Considering that in his past life he had never tasted even a high-grade potion, let alone a top-grade one, before turning eighteen, this was extraordinary treatment.
'Was breaking the stone gate that big a deal?'
Of course it was. A mere ten-year-old had done something that took 5th-Stage power.
But what Rohan was thinking of was their relationship as father and son.
In his past life he hadn't even been treated as a son, and now, just for breaking one stone gate, he was valued enough to be handed a top-grade potion.
'If you don't like it, get stronger. That's the message.'
It was so very Baltran. This was one of the things that had made the Rohan of his past life hate the family to the point of madness.
The current Rohan was mature enough not to feel hurt by something like that.......
'And they fell apart in the end anyway!'
Hurt was hurt.
'Still, if not for Meikan, I'd never have come within reach of Father's heels.'
He had had a god's help. But even that Rohan of his past life had been no match at all for the giants that came over the Wall.
He had to get stronger.
Rohan raised his hand to his chest again. His heartbeat was rough.......
'Something's different.'
What was it, this strange feeling?
Rohan mulled it over and recalled the sensation from last night, when he'd let his mana run wild.
'Something stuck to my heart melted away.'
Now he could guess what it had been. It was definitely ice mana. That mana had been coldly freezing his heart.
'Come to think of it, my stamina was strangely weak when I was a kid.'
It had been as if he alone hadn't inherited the family's blood. He gasped for breath after running just a little, and no matter how much heavy lifting he did, his strength never grew.
'Compared to that, running's pretty manageable now.'
It was nothing compared to his past life. But that was a comparison with the Mercenary King who had swaggered across the continent; considering he was in a child's body now, it wasn't bad.
'I haven't done anything.'
He had made fire rings, but more mana didn't suddenly mean more stamina. That took training, plain and simple.
'In my past life, I just... never noticed?'
When he joined the Andelian family and began learning the Red Flame Ring. Back then Rohan had been little more than a greenhorn.
He had felt ice mana melting under the fire rings, but he had thought only of the ice rings formed by the White Ice Ring.
'Thinking back, my progress shot up after that.'
At the time, it had seemed as if everything went smoothly once he left the family. He had thought he was finally seeing the light because the Baltrans hadn't recognized his worth and the Andelians had.
'Was that just a coincidence?'
Huff, huff. Catching his breath, Rohan came to a stop. He'd thought this body could never manage ten laps, but lost in thoughts of the past, he found he had already finished.
Freon was watching him. His face was blank, but from his slightly raised brows Rohan could tell he was quietly surprised.
'He thought I couldn't do it. And he still handed it out as a punishment. Honestly, the way this family teaches.'
Unlike in his past life, he had no complaint. He still couldn't forget the last words Freon had spoken while spitting up a mouthful of blood.
- I'm glad you came back.
Why had Freon smiled? At the sorry pupil who had never understood his teachings.
At him, the worthless youngest son of the family Freon had served loyally his whole life.
"What are you doing? If you're done with your laps, grab a wooden sword and get in position."
An indifferent voice reached him. The smile of the past was gone; Freon stood there frowning.
"Panting after a mere ten laps?"
His old self would have glared at him, breathing hard. Then Freon would have scolded him with something like, 'You think an enemy on the battlefield will care what state you're in?'
Rohan smiled. Freon's mouth, which had been opening, closed again, and one of his eyes narrowed.
"Not at all. I can't show my opponent an opening by panting."
"Hmph. For someone saying that, you're full of openings."
Freon snorted. But Rohan didn't miss the slight lift at the corner of his mouth.
Rohan fetched a wooden sword from one side of the training ground.
While he'd been running laps, the other children had already started training. They had paired off and were swinging wooden swords with a wooden post between each pair.
Rohan went to an empty post. There was no one to pair up with him. As a child, even this had hurt his feelings.
'Well, it's an age for that.'
But now the soul of a Mercenary King who had weathered battles on mountain and sea dwelled within him. He stood before the post at ease.
And he swung the wooden sword.
He wanted to test the swordsmanship he'd used in his past life right away, but there were too many eyes watching, so he held back. Instead, he performed the family's swordsmanship as best he dimly remembered it.
'A horizontal cut, then down on a diagonal.'
After becoming a mercenary, he had never used the family's swordsmanship. There had been no need. What he had learned in the family was beginner level, while the swordsmanship he wielded as a mercenary had ranked among the best on the continent.
Because of that, the family's swordsmanship had faded in his mind. But the depth he had built up as a mercenary made the swordsmanship he was performing now look convincing.
"Want me to help?"
At the cheerful voice, Rohan looked up. There stood a boy whose brown hair looked like it had been chopped any which way.
He was about Rohan's size, with a round face and round features all over, and he didn't look very strong.
Who's helping who?
Rohan nodded with an uninterested look. Unbothered, the boy took his place opposite him with a smile.
"My name's Hatz. I'm twelve."
As he introduced himself, he lightly swung his wooden sword. Thock. The post standing in front of him rang.
Rohan swung his sword in time with him. As he did, he studied Hatz's sword.
At first it was to copy the family swordsmanship he'd forgotten. What children did, he could memorize at a glance. He watched and copied without any particular tension.
But gradually his eyes grew busy.
'He's not just following the forms. He's actually answering my sword in his own way.'
Rohan had forgotten most of the family's swordsmanship. He was practically a blank slate.
Right now Rohan was watching Hatz's swordsmanship and answering it in kind, but since he couldn't exactly copy what he didn't know, his sword strayed off in irregular directions.
Hatz's sword was reaching out in response to Rohan's. It didn't seem intentional.
'This kid has natural instincts.'
The paths his swings traced were clean, too. He had what it took to become an excellent knight.
Come to think of it, the name Hatz sounded familiar.
"The losers are sticking together, huh!"
He turned at the shout from over his shoulder. A group of burly kids had gathered and were sneering at the two of them.
'The ones about to be promoted?'
Leon was standing beside them. Twelve-year-olds like them would move up to the intermediate course next year unless there was some reason to hold them back.
"Yeah, you've got to prop each other up somehow."
In childhood, every single year made a big difference. They were clearly bigger than Rohan.
Rohan was a little puzzled. As for himself, he didn't need to dig through his childhood to remember that he'd been looked down on often enough.
'Leon probably put them up to it.'
However dim he was, it would be hard for them to mock the youngest young master of the Baltrans on their own initiative. Those guys were Leon's lackeys.
'But Hatz is too good to be looked down on.......'
His gaze soon fell on the boy's thin arms. As far as Rohan could sense, Hatz had refined only a single ice ring so far.
'Hard to put out much power with one ring.'
Physical strength, not magic power, would have decided the force of a sword entirely, so in the end Hatz wouldn't have been much of an opponent for them.
'So Hatz got dropped from Leon's gang?'
Rohan thought that was a stroke of luck. He had just remembered where he'd heard the name Hatz.
'Hatz, Captain of the Wall Guard.'
Rising to captain of the Wall Guard meant his skill was outstanding. At the same time, it meant he had not belonged to any of the Baltran siblings' factions.
'Back then, you were the one who held off the enemy to the very end, too.'
In his past life, Hatz had fought at Rohan's side to the end. The giants appeared in the middle of the fighting, and he turned his back without hesitation. He ran to defend the Wall and was crushed to death under a giant's foot.
An end befitting the Captain of the Wall Guard.
'Good. In this life, maybe I'll make him one of mine a little earlier.'
Rohan put a hand on the shoulder of Hatz, who was staring at Leon's gang.
"Swear your loyalty to me."
"......What?"
Hatz turned his head, eyes wide. Rohan said it again, calmly.
"Kneel and swear your loyalty. Then I'll make you strong."
They were words from a ten-year-old who had never shown the slightest potential. But coming from the youngest young master of the Baltran family, they carried a different weight.
'In a few years, anyone and everyone will start looking down on me, though.'
Not yet, though. Hatz looked dazed, but he knelt.
The Baltran siblings were pressed from childhood to build factions of their own.
It was essential for the contest for the headship, and at the same time a means of surviving within the family.
One whose faction was weak could be eliminated by another sibling at any time. In the past, Rohan had survived because his faction had gone beyond weak to nonexistent.
His siblings hadn't even felt the need to harm him, since he posed no threat at all in the contest for the headship.
But this life would be different.
"I-I swear my loyalty."
It was a clumsy oath. Perhaps that was only natural, since the Hatz kneeling before him was only twelve.
At the sight, the laughter of Leon's gang grew louder.
"What are those two doing!"
Unlike Hatz, whose face had turned red, Rohan looked calm. Would a former Mercenary King so much as flinch at children's mockery?
"Hey! Why not kiss the back of his hand while you're at it? If you're going to play knights, you should at least do that."
Apparently he would.
He was starting to get riled up.
But at the sight of a Guardian Knight coming down the hill, his anger subsided.
Rohan recognized the Guardian Knight's face. There was only one reason that man would come to the training ground where children trained.
'The time has finally come.'
The corners of Rohan's mouth rose. Then he went over in his head what he would say when he stood before his father.
The Guardian Knight arrived among the jeering children.
The children's laughter stopped for a moment. They stared at the knight in gleaming armor.
Ignoring their stares, he trudged over to Rohan.
He stopped just beyond the reach of a sword. It was the etiquette knights observed toward the Baltran direct line.
He did not kneel. The Baltran Guardian Knights swore their loyalty to a person, not to the family.
The knight before him was Gion's Guardian Knight.
'......Ron. It's been a while.'
He too had died on the battlefield. It was the first time Father's face, which hadn't so much as flinched even as his third brother's head flew off before his eyes, had twisted.
'Well, that only amounted to a single twitch of an eyebrow.'
Rohan stood still and watched him. Hatz, still kneeling in front of him, also looked up at Ron blankly.
After a brief pause, Ron spoke.
"I bring the family head's words."
Calling him the family head rather than the Northern Grand Duke meant this was a family matter.
"A Succession Ceremony will be held for Rohan Baltran. Rohan is to come to the main castle and attend."
Rohan dropped to one knee beside Hatz.
"Rohan, Ninth Young Master of the Baltrans. I receive the command."
His eyes flicked toward Leon's gang. Their mouths hung wide open; they didn't seem to grasp what had just happened.
Only Hatz, who was nearest, managed to ask in a trembling voice.
"Wh-Wh-Wh-What just happened?"
Rohan laughed.
What do you think?
It means you latched onto the right rope, that's what.