Episode 2
The Duke of Braiot has been studying ancient texts for quite some time, employing five scholars who specialize in translating them.
Of course, their interests were limited to practical subjects such as magic and swordsmanship.
Even though it was a book that fell outside the interest of scholars in my family, I did not ignore it and read it all.
No one knew which books might contain the mysteries of ancient times, and above all, I had no more ancient books to read.
It was an ancient book classified as a fairy tale by the librarian of the Duke of Breyo.
Besides these, there were several ancient fairy tale books, which were used as introductory texts by those studying ancient languages.
It was a simple book, with only very basic words and nothing particularly impressive content.
This is because the content was absurd and contained many uninterpretable words.
I even interpreted about 90% of this.
“If you truly grant my wish, I would give you my soul, Kukuru!”
The field coughed. A handful of blood flowed back along with a pain that felt like a scratch in the throat.
There could be no more delay.
Even if it was a rotten rope, or an absurd fairy tale, if there was a possibility, I had to try.
Clang!
I turned the page.
It was a plain, ordinary story with nothing special about it.
The myth contains the story of a being who was neither good nor evil who brought a threat to the world, and the good gods and evil gods joined forces to seal him away.
The myth was similar to the creation myth of Armenism, the state religion of the kingdom of Zeno in the previous century.
The last chapter was full of symbols and letters whose meaning I couldn’t understand.
No one paid any attention to it, except me.
I combined symbols and letters to create a magic circle. However, I could not implement it with my ability. Because I did not have even a handful of mana. However, if what I interpreted is correct, this magic circle required life, not mana.
“Coolook!”
Blood splattered on the book.
The old paper, which looked like it would fall apart at any moment, began to blur as soon as it was stained with blood.
‘What kind of pattern is this?’
A pattern I had never seen before appeared on the paper that had touched my blood.
No, I think I’ve seen it before.
Two diagonals met and rose sharply, and lines of the same shape were interlocked while being reversed.
At the center of the lines drawn in different directions was a rhombus.
‘This, this is… … .’
It was a similar shape to an ancient magic circle. While quickly analyzing it, I transformed the magic circle I had previously envisioned.
I had to live. No, I could live. Now that I had faced a glimmer of possibility, I had no reason to hesitate.
Paaaaah!
The light flickered.
It wasn’t a book, it was an ignition that happened in my head.
I quickly wrote down the content that was being organized in my head on the floor. I drew the magic circle with my fingertips, not with a pen. The magic circle was not complicated. I didn’t need ink either. It had to be drawn with the blood I shed to be meaningful.
‘iced coffee!’
I suddenly realized things I had never realized before. I felt like I could know something beyond human limitations. That distant realm seemed within my grasp.
Just as my mind was about to go blank, I felt something hot in my stomach. A terrible, excruciating pain surged through me, making my eyes roll back.
“You, you… … .”
I saw a look of murderous intent in my eyes. It wasn’t an illusion. My mind was clear, sharper than ever.
‘assassin!’
Someone tried to kill me. He succeeded. The smug look in his eyes proved it.
At that moment, someone whispered in my head.
-… … The wish came true.
* * *
My body felt heavy.
My back was aching, and I thought there was a musty smell coming from somewhere.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a low ceiling.
‘What the heck? Did I lose my mind and fall asleep in the barn?’
I was lying in bed.
I forced myself up and looked around.
It was a shabby room that would be suitable for a duke’s vassal.
As I opened the door and went outside, I heard a noise.
Someone was walking down the hallway.
“Your Majesty, are you awake?”
A woman in shabby clothes greeted me with a smile.
It was clear that she had not received proper training as a maid, for her to dare to make eye contact with the Duke’s bloodline.
“you…….”
I was about to point out the maid’s mistake when I remembered her true identity.
For some reason I knew that woman named Mariam.
She was the servant of the Baron of Hebron and the woman who took care of me all my life.
“Baron? Why is the Baron’s servant calling me… … . Ugh!”
My head hurt.
Memories and emotions I didn’t know about came rushing in all at once, filling my head.
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“Oh, my lord?”
“Kuaaaah!”
“You are my lord!”
* * *
When I came to my senses, I was the eldest son of the Baron of Hebron.
Hebron.
My father, the Duke of Breyot, called it ‘Grass-Eating Hebron’.
He said that we should learn from the example of the Marquis of Hebron, one of the founding fathers of the Kingdom of Zeno, who went through a period of decline and became a baron.
Hebron was a family that struggled to survive by collecting taxes to pay to the royal family every year.
In that humble place, I became the eldest son, Louis, at the age of nineteen.
Louis de Hebron and Louis de Breiot.
Although their names were the same, their talents and environments were completely different.
“It’s been completely erased!”
Even a poor baron had a study.
Most of them were manuscripts, but there were also books that recorded the blood relations of high-ranking nobles, including the royal family.
The Duke of Breyo.
Following the list of the royal family of Zeno are listed the principal figures of the ducal family.
This list is updated annually.
If you paid taxes to the crown, the crown would bestow this list.
It wasn’t free.
The huge taxes also included the value of the register.
But I wasn’t there.
Neither the first nor the second, nor even the youngest daughter’s name was there, but Luis de Breio was nowhere to be seen.
‘Since I was fifteen?’
I looked through old records.
It wasn’t there even when I was fifteen.
Even before, when I was ten, no, all records were completely erased.
‘… … It never existed from the beginning?’
There were two possibilities. Either the Iron-Blooded Duke of Braiot had erased my existence, or the one who sent me here had erased the existence of Luis de Braiot.
‘This is the work of a peacock.’
I also had memories of Louis de Hebron.
As he was a minor noble, he had to memorize the genealogies of powerful nobles.
As a child, Louis de Hebron remembered a man named Louis de Breiot who had the same name as him.
I also noticed that my name had disappeared from the list exactly 14 years ago.
’14 years ago? So the Brayo family started erasing me when I was eight?’
It was a time when he was called a genius of theory.
But from then on, the Duke saw through my incompetence.
Abandoning hope in me, the country erased the human from its family.
‘… … I was thoroughly exploited. The record I left behind in the dukedom is what helped Brayo’s bloodline grow.’
Now I think I understand why Duke Breyo fed me the expensive dragon’s breath.
He wanted me to be fierce.
I intended to raise other children using my own abilities.
The idea was to lay the foundation for Braio with an outrageous idea from a theoretical genius.
‘Was I a throwaway from the start? Was I evaluated as a human being worth only that much?’
“Hahahahahahaha!”
I laughed for a long time.
After laughing out loud, my insides feel empty.
And then anger started to build up inside him.
I poured my whole heart into someone who never looked at me.
‘I’ll show you. I’ll prove to you what kind of person the Louis you abandoned was. And I’ll definitely find out who killed me and take revenge. That bastard won’t even know that I’m taking revenge on him and he’ll die. No, I’ll make him live a life where he can’t die even if he wants to.’
Louis de Hebron was an ordinary man.
Just like his ancestors did.
The Hebron family, unlike Breyo, was not obsessed with talent.
We respected each other’s tastes and abilities, and valued happiness above all else.
The result was a grass-eating Hebron.
Louis de Hebron often lamented his mediocre talents.
Because with that ability, he couldn’t protect this family.
He was gripped by the fear that Hebron might be destroyed during his generation or in the next generation.
“… … The only difference is the situation, you and I are not that different. But don’t worry anymore. I will change it. I will overhaul our lives. And I will show you. What talent is. I will surpass even the secret method of the Brayo family that turns dogs into dragons.”
I won’t even look back.
And I decided to enjoy a life I’ve never enjoyed before.
I decided to explode with talent.
‘Based on the memories of this body, I have no talent for magic, but my talent as a knight is just so-so?’
It was an extremely ordinary body.
I didn’t even check for talent in spiritism or divine magic.
A spirit master was a rare being that was hard to come across in one’s lifetime, and it was even rarer for the next lord to join the sect.
“Then I guess I should check the spirit magic first.”
It was difficult to even obtain books on spiritism.
Naturally, there were no books related to spirit magicians in the Baron’s study.
At best, there were only novels featuring shamans.
‘Fortunately, the old memories remain intact.’
My head wasn’t working as well as it used to.
It took a long time to memorize something.
Still, I didn’t feel any regrets.
I have enjoyed it so much that I cannot forget the knowledge that has already been imprinted in my head.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the Duke’s study was completely contained in my head.
I locked the door, took some chalk, and drew a magic circle on the floor.
The sunlight streaming in through the window was warm.
When I was locked in the Duke’s basement, I only saw magical light.
It was a bright light all year round, with no regard for my right to sleep.
I could also hear birds chirping.
In my previous life, only the chatter of maids outside the bars gave me energy.
“It’s just a simple magic circle, but a curious spirit wouldn’t just pass it by.”
Even though spiritism falls within the realm of magic, its results were different.
There was only one magic circle related to spiritism, the Circle of Contract.
If you have good affinity with spirits, even if you just draw a circle and drop a single drop of blood, high-level spirits will flock to you.
“Besides, this is a magic circle that I specially improved.”
I prepared for three full days.
I don’t know what kind of spirit it would be, but I was determined to get at least one.
“Don’t be disappointed. Even if you don’t have talent for spirit magic, I still have a sword.”
I touched my danjeon.
There was a handful of auras piled up there.
It was a realm that was barely achieved with the lowest level of training methods.
That was precious to me too.
Even this insignificant power can be maximized with the secret technique of the Duke of Braio.
Again, again.
I dropped my blood into the center of the magic circle.
It would be better to use the spirit stone that the spirits like, but the price of one spirit stone could buy three or four Hebron mansions.
‘The response… is coming!’
My blood was boiling.
It seemed as if it was forming a single drop, but then something suddenly shot up.
Hurrruk!
It was a firework.
It was as small as a candle.
It meant that my talents were on par with those of the lowest level spirits.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not satisfied with this.”
It wasn’t a magic circle created for that purpose.
Even if you have no talent at all, you can still learn the secret of the Duke of Braiot, which is that even with just a little bit of talent, a dog can become a dragon.
These are secrets that I have tried countless times and failed every time.
Again, again.
The magic circle has a triple structure.
A drop of blood was shed between the first and second circles.
