Chapter 1: The Runcandel Superstition
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1: The Runcandel Superstition
Waaah, waaah.
‘I’m dying. So where is that baby crying coming from?’ Jin thought.
Was he hallucinating as his end drew near? Or had the shockwave from the 9-star knights’ attack sent a neighbor’s baby flying somewhere nearby?
If it was the latter, it was a tragedy. The Akin Kingdom would fall today, and a baby stood no chance of survival.
‘I'd save you if I could, but my torso is split in half. I hope you’re born into a better world in your next life, not this harsh one.’
Waaaaah!
The crying grew louder, a desperate wail that sounded as if the child were about to stop breathing.
‘What a pathetic way to die. A newborn is crying its lungs out right in front of me, and I can't do a thing…’
His vision was pitch black.
The baby’s cries showed no signs of stopping. Amid a wave of self-loathing at his own helplessness, Jin began to wonder why he wasn’t dead yet.
His body was torn in two, riddled with countless other fatal wounds. He shouldn't have been able to draw breath for more than ten seconds, yet the sound of crying echoed on...
‘Wait. Is that sound… coming from me?!’
What in the world was happening?
The crying was coming from Jin himself.
Today was September 9th, 1780.
It was the day Jin Runcandel, the youngest son of the prestigious swordmaster clan, Runcandel, was born.
*
One hundred days had passed since his rebirth.
Jin could now crawl quite skillfully, and he had finally decided to accept his new reality.
He had no other choice. He had died and been reborn as a baby. What could he possibly do? He could barely even babble; who could he talk to about this?
‘Even if I could explain everything when I'm five, who would believe I have twenty-eight years of memories from a past life?’
They would dismiss it as a child’s delusions or lies.
It might be a different story if he revealed the family’s detailed histories and secrets, but that would just get him branded as a cursed child.
Therefore.
Jin was destined to live once more as the youngest son of the dreaded Runcandel clan.
The youngest of the Runcandels!
It was an extraordinary birth. Most people in the world would consider being born a Runcandel a tremendous blessing.
Jin, however, was troubled.
‘If I had to have a next life, I wish I'd been born into an ordinary family.’
If that had been the case, it wouldn't have taken him a hundred days to accept this reality.
He was born into the same family, as the same youngest son, on the very same day as his previous life. That meant, without a doubt, he possessed the exact same talents.
In both swordsmanship and magic.
And the Runcandels absolutely loathed magic. The Zipple family, a prestigious clan of mages, was their greatest arch-nemesis.
‘The youngest son of Runcandel again… I wonder if the curse that Solderet broke has returned? How am I supposed to escape the family and learn magic this time?’
He couldn't learn magic unless he left the Runcandels.
And if the curse had indeed returned, he wouldn't even be able to master swordsmanship.
Zzz...
Mid-worry, Jin suddenly fell fast asleep. This infant body would succumb to sleep regardless of his will.
*
He turned one year old.
Time moved at a glacial pace.
He was tired of worrying about how to survive in this family. Spending his days in a tiny body that fell asleep at a moment's notice and couldn't speak a single word was simply excruciating.
‘I need to grow up, fast! This is so frustrating! I need to get bigger before I can actually do anything!’
He drank milk from a bottle and slept when it was time to sleep. And when he soiled his diaper, his nanny, Gilly, would come to change it. For Jin, who possessed the mind of a young man, each time was a deeply humiliating experience.
That had been his daily routine for the past year.
Click, clack.
A woman entered Jin’s room. It was his mother and the matriarch of the clan, Rosa Runcandel.
Thick black hair, sharp eyes, and a high-bridged nose. She was beautiful, but with an incredibly cold air about her. People called Rosa the "Black Panther."
"Gilly, is everything ready?"
"Of course, Madam. The Young Master's Selection is today. I have taken extra care."
"Good. Let's begin immediately."
The conversation instantly reminded Jin that today was his birthday.
When Runcandel children turn exactly one year old, they undergo a ritual called the "Selection."
It was a ceremony where various objects were laid out on the floor, and the child was made to crawl and choose one. It was a superstition—the object chosen was believed to represent the child's future—but the Runcandels were bizarrely obsessed with it.
Rosa carried Jin to the central hall of the castle.
Standing in the middle of the hall with his arms crossed was Jin’s father.
The strongest knight of the current era, Cyron Runcandel.
‘Father.’
This was the first time he had seen his father since the day he was born. Cyron, who had reached the realm of a demigod, spent very little time at the family castle. He was always away on the battlefield or on a personal training journey.
‘And my siblings...’
Twelve of them in total.
In his past life, they had always looked down on him as if he were an insect. But not yet. For now, they were all waiting for Jin with smiling faces.
Seeing them brought back memories of his miserable past, making his chest feel tight.
"Rosa, set Jin down."
Rosa placed Jin on the floor. The lingering chill of the marble pricked his skin.
About two meters away, the items for the Selection ceremony were laid out.
A book, a couple of coins, and a single grain of rice.
And surrounding them, over twenty different types of swords were thrust into the floor of the hall.
Jin just had to pick one.
‘I don't remember this from my past life, but seeing it now... this is insane. They stick dozens of razor-sharp swords in the ground and expect a baby to pick one with his bare hands?’
In his previous life, Jin had chosen a sword. Since the book, coins, and rice were almost impossible to find among the forest of blades, it was only natural that Runcandel children always chose a sword.
"Choose, my son."
The members of the Runcandel clan watched Jin begin to crawl, their eyes burning with intensity. They were all curious about what the youngest would choose: twin swords, a greatsword, a longsword—any sword at all.
Amidst the tense gazes, Jin moved toward the same sword he had chosen in his past life.
No one in the world would ever believe that the great Runcandel clan performed such a foolish ritual every time a child was born.
Even crawling just a few meters was an agonizingly slow and difficult task.
‘Last time, I chose this sword by accident and suffered for it. This time, I'll choose it with my own will.’
Thump, thump. He could feel his tiny heart pounding in his chest.
Dozens of swords were planted in a circle. At the very center was the sword Jin intended to choose.
As Jin crawled past the first row of swords, a strange light flickered in the eyes of the Runcandels. No matter how great their lineage, infants usually chose the object closest to them.
Yet Jin was already navigating the first ring of blades. With every inch he moved forward, the family members gulped.
They were all thinking the same thing.
Could the youngest possibly... pick that sword?
As Jin continued to push past the planted blades, even the eyebrows of Cyron and Rosa, whose expressions were as stiff as stone statues, began to twitch.
"Ung!"
Finally, Jin made his choice. Drops of blood dripped from his fingers where they touched the blade.
His siblings all stood with their mouths agape, their eyes fixed on the sword Jin had chosen.
They probably thought he’d grabbed it by chance, but Jin had crawled desperately with his one-year-old body to pick this specific blade. Even with his adult memories, controlling an infant's body was no easy feat.
‘It’s this hard even when I’m trying to pick it on purpose. To think I chose this by accident in my past life...’
Barisada.
That was the name of the sword Jin had chosen. The symbol of the Runcandels.
Only the Patriarch of the Runcandels could wield that sword—and only a Patriarch who had been recognized by every member of the clan.
In the family’s long history, the number of people who had chosen Barisada during the Selection could be counted on one hand.
And every single one of them had eventually become the Patriarch.
With the sole exception of the Jin Runcandel from a previous life.
"Jin has chosen the sword of the First Patriarch," Cyron spoke in a solemn voice.
Some cheered, while others struggled to hide their complicated emotions.
Such was the nature of the Runcandel superstition.
"The ritual is concluded. Move Jin to the Storm Castle."