Chapter 2
Chapter 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Here for Revenge (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“What happened to me?”
Demian Haksen muttered as he lay on the field.
He had killed Archlich Dorgo and then taken his own life. He had wanted to go to the afterlife and apologize to his family.
But when he came to, he had regressed into the past.
“Am I dreaming or something?”
They say that when a person dies, their life flashes before their eyes like a lantern show.
Maybe he had succeeded in killing himself and was now dying, watching his life pass by.
“Or... maybe all of that was the dream?”
He had been expelled from his family, become a mercenary, met the Archlich, turned into a Death Knight, and ultimately destroyed all of humanity.
Perhaps everything had just been a dream.
“...I’ll know once I check.”
In his previous life, Demian Haksen had fought countless experts and absorbed their techniques and realms as his own.
If it had been a dream, all that knowledge would be an illusion. But if it wasn’t...
Demian picked up a tree branch lying on the ground.
He approached a rock sitting in the field. It looked incredibly sturdy.
“This should be just right.”
Among the opponents Demian had fought was a knight called the “Wall-Breaker.”
He was a master who had reached the realm of Shattering Wave.
Shattering Wave was a realm that amplified the shock of an impact several times over.
Thanks to reaching this realm, the Wall-Breaker could shatter castle walls like glass with a single warhammer.
Demian Haksen had battled the Wall-Breaker for twenty minutes, absorbed all his techniques and realms, and emerged victorious.
“If this isn’t a dream but reality... then a rock like this should shatter easily with Shattering Wave.”
Demian Haksen aimed the tree branch at the rock.
He lunged forward and thrust out his arm. The tip of the branch struck the center of the rock.
The branch couldn’t withstand the impact and crumbled.
Demian stared blankly at the broken branch before muttering softly.
“...This is insane.”
Cracks began spreading from the center of the rock.
The cracks spiderwebbed across the entire surface.
Soon, the rock shattered like glass and crumbled away.
“...It wasn’t a dream.”
That confirmed it.
The memories and knowledge in his head were not illusions.
Demian Haksen had truly gone back in time.
To an era when his family was still alive, when he could still make things right.
“...Ha, hahat.”
Demian Haksen burst into laughter for the first time in years.
The laughter soon turned to sobs.
He clutched his chest with his hand. Even that couldn’t hold back his emotions.
Demian Haksen curled up on the ground and wept for a long while.
* * *
“How did I end up coming back to the past?”
Once the tears stopped, questions arose.
But no amount of pondering would yield answers.
Regression to the past. It could only be described as a miracle from the gods.
“I wanted to apologize to my family, but...”
He never imagined he’d be doing it in this world, and in the past no less.
“In my previous life, I was a selfish bastard who only cared about myself.”
He hadn’t recognized his family’s devotion and acted recklessly.
He had hurt them and ultimately committed the heinous crime of kin-slaying.
But this time would be different.
He would live for his family.
He would live thinking only of their happiness and future.
“It’s not that difficult a goal.”
Demian Haksen had talent.
Talent so vast that even after destroying all kingdoms, he hadn’t reached its end.
With this talent, he could accomplish anything.
That was when Demian Haksen hardened his resolve.
“Aigoo! Young master!”
A male servant from the mansion came running up in a panic.
He didn’t seem to have great stamina, as he was panting heavily the moment he reached Demian Haksen.
“Miss Luise said to come in. Why haven’t you come yet! The family head is at the peak of his fury!”
Demian Haksen stared at the man’s face.
It was familiar, but the memory wouldn’t come.
“...Victor.”
Then it hit him. This servant’s name.
“Right. It was Victor.”
“Yes? Why suddenly call my name?”
“It’s nothing.”
During his delinquent days, Victor had been the servant who cleaned up after Demian Haksen.
“The family head said he’d break your legs if that’s what it took to drag you back!”
“Father must be pretty angry. What did I do to set him off?”
Victor gave him a look of utter disbelief at Demian Haksen’s words.
It couldn’t be helped for Demian Haksen.
He had no idea exactly when he had regressed to.
“A few days ago, you got into a brawl at the tavern and got beaten black and blue by the staff there. That’s why he’s mad.”
A fragment of forgotten memory resurfaced.
He just couldn’t recall why he had gone to the tavern.
Only one thing stood out: he had caused a scene after getting cheated on his drinks, gotten beaten like a dog, and fled.
“So Father’s really furious.”
“It’s more than furious. The rumor’s spread everywhere, and the Haksen Viscountcy’s reputation has hit rock bottom. He found out and lost it.”
The viscountcy was small and weak, but it was still nobility.
Yet the eldest son had been thrashed and chased out of a tavern by commoners.
Talk about humiliation.
“I guess I’ll have to go see Father.”
“And do what?”
“Didn’t you say I had to go?”
“I did say that, but... wouldn’t it be better to hide until the family head calms down?”
Demian Haksen shook his head at that.
“I can’t do that.”
“Yes?”
“In this life, I’ve resolved not to shame the family.”
Victor’s face went blank for a moment.
As if it was utterly alien to hear Demian Haksen say such a thing.
“Then I’ll go see Father.”
Demian Haksen patted Victor’s shoulder and headed for the mansion.
* * *
“You bastard!”
The moment he entered the lord’s office, a sword came flying at him.
Father had swung down his longsword.
Demian Haksen didn’t dodge.
From the blade’s trajectory, it didn’t look like he meant to kill him.
Sure enough, the longsword whistled past Demian Haksen’s head and embedded itself in the door.
“Dear! Calm down!”
“Father! Please stop!”
His older sister and mother rushed over and grabbed Father’s arms.
But Father’s rage showed no signs of subsiding.
“Have you truly lost your mind! Starting a ruckus in a tavern and getting chased out? And dragging the family name through the mud on top of that? Do you have any idea how much you’ve tarnished our house’s honor?”
Father huffed and puffed as he tried to pull the longsword from the door.
His sister and mother desperately held him back.
“Let go! Today I’ll smash that brat’s skull!”
“No! Are you really going to kill Demian!”
“Father! Let’s think rationally! This could end badly!”
The three began bickering fiercely.
But the true culprit, Demian Haksen, was lost in sentiment.
‘How long has it been since Father scolded me?’
In the past, he had hated his father so much.
He’d thought of him as stuffy and narrow-minded.
But looking back now, Father had always worried about Demian Haksen.
He always noticed right away when something happened.
“Damn it! Fine, let go already!”
In the end, Mother and his sister won the tussle.
Father let go of the longsword stuck in the wall.
He plopped down into a nearby chair.
“Why are you so quiet! Say something, make an excuse!”
His anger hadn’t cooled, though.
Demian Haksen replied immediately to Father’s bellow.
“There’s none.”
“Right! Of course there isn’t! If you’ve got a mouth... What? None?”
Father asked in confusion, stunned.
It was a natural reaction.
The old Demian Haksen had always been a pathetic guy full of excuses and self-justification.
“I tarnished the Haksen Viscountcy’s honor with my mistake. It’s entirely my fault, with no room for excuses.”
But the current Demian Haksen was different.
He had vowed not to shame his family in front of them.
“...W-well, at least you know that much.”
Father looked flustered.
With Demian Haksen admitting fault right away, he couldn’t even get mad properly.
“Dear, look. He’s admitting he was wrong. Please forgive him this time.”
“Father, I’ll take responsibility and discipline him. I’ll make sure it never happens again...”
Mother and his sister began soothing Father.
Demian Haksen watched them with a face full of longing.
It had always been like this.
When he messed up, Father got angry, and Mother and his sister defended him.
Back then, their actions had only annoyed him.
He’d felt babied. When in truth, it wasn’t like that at all.
“No. You don’t need to forgive me.”
But now, he couldn’t rely on those two anymore.
“I committed a sin, so I’ll take my punishment.”
Mother and his sister’s eyes widened at Demian Haksen’s sudden declaration.
“You bastard!”
Father’s subsided rage flared up again.
“You still haven’t learned! When you should be begging, you dare act proud?”
From Father’s perspective, it must have sounded like defiance.
This was Demian Haksen’s fault too.
In his delinquent days, he’d always tried to butt heads with Father.
“This punk hasn’t learned a thing! Fine! I’ll punish you proper! I won’t let this slide...”
“But before that, let me go clean up the mess I made.”
“W-what?”
Father’s eyes went wide.
The delinquent Demian Haksen had never once taken responsibility for his actions.
To hear “clean up” from that son’s mouth was shocking.
“I’ll take my punishment properly after that.”
Demian Haksen bowed politely and left the lord’s office.
“...”
Father slowly turned to his wife and daughter.
“Could he have gotten hit too hard on the head that day?”
* * *
It was as he left the lord’s office.
Demian Haksen ran into a boy standing in the hallway.
“...”
The two stared at each other in silence for a while.
Demian Haksen was moved.
The boy...
“Brother, how long do you plan to keep dragging the family down?”
He despised Demian Haksen.
“You have no idea how much worry you cause Father, Mother, and Sister, do you? If you did, you wouldn’t act like this.”
Unlike Demian Haksen, his younger brother Abel Haksen was sharp and brimming with talent.
He was the pride and hope of the Haksen Viscountcy.
Pathetically, Demian Haksen had envied that brother.
“Abel.”
“What? Another excuse? I’m sick of hearing your—”
“I’m sorry for everything up till now.”
Abel Haksen’s eyes widened.
He was so shocked he didn’t even blink.
“I’ll take responsibility and resolve this incident.”
Demian Haksen stepped forward.
He patted his brother’s shoulder once, then headed outside.
Outside, Victor asked Demian Haksen with a surprised face.
“Huh? Young master? Why are you unscathed? I was sure the lord would beat you.”
“Cut the nonsense and bring the carriage.”
“Yes? Why the carriage?”
Demian Haksen replied nonchalantly.
“I have to go pay them back for what they did to me.”