Fixing the Danjeon (1)
“Hey, fatty. What kind of commotion are you causing this time?”
The woman with black pigtails who had come right up to my face glared at me as she spoke.
What was this woman doing? It wasn’t like I was causing any real commotion… Was this her first time seeing someone exercise?
“Who are you…?”
“What…?” The woman in front of me made a displeased face.
Hold on. This girl… Looking closer, she did seem to share Pablo’s facial features. Or was it just my imagination?
“Have you become so stupid that you can’t even recognize your own blood relative anymore?”
“Pardon?”
Blood relative? Then, could this be my sister? No. She felt a little too mature to call her a younger sister.
“...Big sister?”
“Don’t you dare put the word ‘sister’ in your mouth. Just thinking that I share the same blood as you makes me sick to my stomach.”
She was right. The contempt in her eyes and that arrogantly raised chin said everything. It seemed Sian’s older sister hated him just as much as everyone else. The guy before I possessed him… had he really left himself with zero allies? It was his own fault, but still—she was his sister. Was it possible to despise your own sibling this much just because he was a good-for-nothing? Even so, this felt excessive.
“That’s why I’m asking what kind of mess you were making since morning. Are you going to answer me or not?”
“I was working out.”
“...What did you say?”
“I said I was working out.”
My sister’s eyes widened in shock. Three full seconds of silence passed. Then she looked at me like I had lost my mind.
“Did you… hit your head?”
She was saying the exact same thing Pablo had. Were the actions I took after possession really that different from what the original Sian used to do? But what choice did I have? With a body like this, I had to exercise. I wasn’t the type to put things off.
If I had to lose the weight eventually anyway, it was better to start quickly and get used to it, even if it raised a little suspicion.
“I just figured it was weight I’d have to lose someday, so I started exercising. There’s no deeper meaning behind it.”
“...How annoying. You really think someone like you can lose weight? Stop talking nonsense and come eat breakfast. Father is calling for you.”
With those final words, she spun on her heel and marched back toward the house.
Breakfast, huh… To make strength training efficient, I did need to eat properly in the morning. Since my body was still in its growth phase, starving myself would only cause severe side effects. Becoming weak would interfere with building strength, too.
I might as well go eat. I was curious about the house and this world’s food anyway.
I followed after her as she headed inside.
“Everyone’s here.”
The members of the Brace ducal family had gathered at the large kitchen table. Even then, there were only three of us—Father, my sister, and me. I had wondered if there might be other family members, but there weren’t. It seemed Mother had only given birth to my older sister and me. But then where was Mother…?
When I glanced around, Pablo picked up his spoon and began eating before she even arrived. Roasted chicken, vegetable soup, wheat bread, and other appetizing dishes filled the table until it looked ready to break.
Fearing I would draw suspicion if I kept looking around, I buried my questions and lifted my own spoon. For the first bite, I brought the soup to my lips.
Oh. This is pretty good.
The soup had a deep, rich flavor. Unlike what I had feared, it was clean and subtly sweet. Since this was a duke’s household, did they have a dedicated chef?
“...There are three months left until the academy opens, correct?” Pablo asked me while I was enjoying the meal.
“Yes, that’s right.”
I answered vaguely. Three months until the academy opened… So it was currently vacation. No wonder no one had complained even though I stayed cooped up in the house.
“...Even if you go, you just skip classes and eat and play around. What’s the point? You might as well drop dead.”
My sister spoke while continuing to eat. Drop dead…? That was a bit harsh. The one who had lived like a slacker wasn’t me—it was the original owner of this body, Sian. She didn’t know the circumstances, but it still felt terrible to hear.
I glanced at Pablo. He ate in silence. Was he agreeing with her? Just how had the pre-possession Sian lived to receive this kind of treatment even inside his own home?
This wouldn’t do. I still needed to say something. Since I didn’t know exactly how the old Sian had behaved, I would soften it considerably.
“Don’t you think your words are too harsh?”
“...Too harsh?” My sister scoffed. “Hey, the mother who gave birth to you and then died must feel even worse watching you from heaven.”
“That’s enough, Sarah.”
So my sister’s name was Sarah. Wait… what did she just say? Mother died giving birth to me?
“Did I say anything wrong, Father? Mother passed away during childbirth because of that bastard’s defective danjeon, yet he’s only gotten worse with each passing day. If Mother were still alive, how heartbroken would she be?”
“......”
Sarah spoke calmly while continuing to eat. Pablo remained silent. The numerous maids standing against the wall, watching us, also kept their mouths shut. The silence that followed seemed to suggest everyone agreed with Sarah’s words.
Stunned, I couldn’t eat another bite. The revelation that my mother had died because of my danjeon kept echoing in my head.
…This wouldn’t do.
“I’ll take my leave first.”
If I sat here any longer, I would feel like a criminal and the food wouldn’t go down. I set down my spoon, stood from the table, and headed to my room. No one spoke to me the entire time.
Not a single person.
…It looked like I would be eating alone from now on.
Once I entered my room and sat on the bed, the situation finally became clear. Now I understood why everyone in this mansion hated Sian so intensely it bordered on excessive.
Maternal death during childbirth, huh.
I had seen it in the game’s story. There were cases where newborns with danjeon defects caused dangerous mana reactions during delivery, killing the mother. Sian must have been one of them. Losing his wife in an instant, then watching the child she died to birth live like a delinquent—if I were in his position, I would be furious too.
But aren’t those cases usually when the mother dies giving birth to a child with the qualities of a Sword Master or Archmage?
Great power always came with a great price. Mothers who died delivering newborns with exceptional danjeons were common in the story. But… Sian’s danjeon clearly had a hole in it. Even a high-spec danjeon wouldn’t cause problems if it simply couldn’t hold mana. So had Sian’s danjeon been damaged after birth?
I didn’t know.
I’ll probably understand once I fix the danjeon.
I needed to lose the weight as quickly as possible. Whether this danjeon truly possessed the qualities of an Archmage or Sword Master was something I would learn later. Until then, I decided not to harbor any pointless expectations.
Two months passed.
“Doesn’t that scoundrel young master… look like he’s lost some weight?”
“He seems a bit more handsome, too… Or is it just me?”
It was the usual time—after finishing my morning cardio, eating lunch, and moving on to consistent strength training.
“Huff…”
I was on my fifth set of twenty push-ups. By eating less, running every day, and repeating the exercises, I could feel my body transforming. I was still fat, but this was incomparably better than before.
It’s about time to make a move…
Time to fix my danjeon. The first step had been to reshape my body into something resembling a human through exercise. The final second step was to hunt the low-tier demonic beast known as the Great Eagle near Gryphon’s Forest.
Recalling the original Sian’s memories, I could faintly remember the basic sword techniques he had learned at the academy.
But catching a demonic beast with this sluggish body would be impossible.
The moment I swung my sword, the beast would strike first. That was why I had worked so hard to lose weight. The result had taken me from morbidly obese to simply obese. I estimated my current weight at around eighty-five kilograms. Still, this scoundrel young master was fortunately tall.
I’m much more agile than before…. I can’t afford to drag my feet any longer.
The academy would open in one month.
I wiped my sweat with the cool damp towel I had brought and headed for the bath. After washing up, I grabbed the wooden sword the original Sian had used and went out to the backyard. I had already scouted the spot—it was suitably shaded, and the maids rarely came here. I had marked it as the perfect place to secretly practice swordsmanship.
“Hoo…”
I gripped the wooden sword precisely with both hands. Then, keeping that grip, I bent my elbows at a right angle and raised it above my head. The moment I brought it down, I gathered every ounce of core strength, straightened my elbows into a single line, and swung.
“Haaap!”
Vertical slash—one of the basic Three Talents Sword Techniques. A sword art the original Sian had ‘never once’ practiced and had only learned while sitting down.
-Whoosh!
Every swing produced the sharp sound of air being sliced apart by the blade.
Today I planned to repeat this ten thousand times. Only by mastering the fundamentals could I move on to footwork and connect the movements as smoothly as flowing water.
“Haaap!”
I emptied my mind of stray thoughts and devoted myself entirely to swinging the sword.
“Huk… Hack…”
Around the seven-thousandth swing, exhaustion slammed into me and I collapsed onto the ground.
Shit… I need to rest a little before continuing.
A body that had never swung a sword in its life was now swinging like a madman. The unused arm and core muscles were screaming in protest.
Still, it doesn’t seem like I have zero talent…
If I had to classify it, I was on the talented side when it came to swordsmanship. The movements had been sloppy at first, but once my body adapted, swinging the sword became surprisingly easy.
With a body this good, why the hell did that guy Sian live like such a waste?
Even with a broken danjeon, if he had trained in the sword, he could have carved out a decent position for himself. As someone who had only played the game, I couldn’t accurately judge the level of this talent… but the body was definitely flexible and responsive when handling a blade.
…Time to start again.
I had promised myself ten thousand swings. I would keep that promise. I stood up and reset my stance. Just as I was about to swing once more—
“Would it be all right if I watched your sword practice?”
“Uwaaak!”
At the sudden voice of a woman who had appeared behind me without any warning, I fell backward in shock.