Chapter 2: Days in Storm Castle (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 2: Days in Storm Castle (1)
Six years had passed since Jin chose Barisada.
Jin no longer suffered the humiliation of having a nanny change his diapers, but pretending to be a young child was still a struggle.
I want to get out of this Storm Castle as soon as possible.
Storm Castle.
It was the Runcandel family’s auxiliary fortress. No child of Runcandel was permitted to take a single step outside its walls until they reached the age of ten.
This was due to the threat of assassination.
What kind of lunatic would try to assassinate a Runcandel child? Even the Zipples wouldn't do something so insane.
In truth, such an event had occurred about two hundred years ago.
The Kungen family, another prestigious martial clan of the time, had raided the Runcandels. As a result, nine young Runcandel children were killed.
The following day, the Kungen family was wiped from history. Every single member of the clan, down to the distant relatives of their servants, was slaughtered.
Regardless, it became a tradition and a rule that Runcandel children could not leave Storm Castle until the age of ten, after completing the Selection.
It was tedious.
Storm Castle was a fortress with an atmosphere that lived up to its name. Located at the summit of Mount Murakan—reputedly the highest peak in the world—it was battered by wind, rain, and lightning throughout all four seasons.
It’s certainly not a good environment for a child’s emotional development. Then again, spending their childhood in a place like this is probably why my siblings were all so cold-blooded.
Currently, only two of his siblings remained in Storm Castle. The other ten were now too old to be confined there.
Jin and those two brothers.
Along with five elite guardian knights protecting them, their nannies, and about fifteen servants, they were the only inhabitants of the vast castle.
“Jin!”
The moment he heard the voice calling him, a surge of irritation rose from deep within.
The boy calling Jin in a shrill, irritable voice was Daytona Runcandel. He was two years older than Jin.
“Where did you leave that ‘great’ Barisada? Why are you all alone? Kahaha!”
The boy following up with a sneer was Heitona Runcandel. As their names suggested, he and Daytona were identical twins.
The Tona brothers of Runcandel.
In his previous life, everyone who dealt with the brothers said the same thing: they were little devils.
Those insufferable bastards.
Jin turned around.
He didn't have a single good memory of the Tona brothers, either.
Jin had been singled out for bullying by these twins since he was very young. Even back then, the reason was the same: he had chosen Barisada at the age of one.
It would be a mistake to think of it as mere nine-year-olds picking on a seven-year-old.
A year from now, the very first thing the Tona brothers would do after leaving Storm Castle was commit murder. They were brothers who were rotten to the core.
When Jin didn't respond, the Tona brothers continued their provocation.
Today was the day Jin’s nanny, Gilly, was away from the castle. The Tona brothers had been eagerly awaiting this day and had no intention of letting Jin off easily.
“Hey, I’m asking you. Where did you put Barisada?”
In this life, the Tona brothers' bullying had begun a year ago.
At first, it was subtle enough that Gilly wouldn't notice—locking him in the bathroom or dumping a mountain of salt into his soup.
Then, they progressed to hanging dead birds on his door or secretly releasing venomous scorpions caught in the castle yard into his bed. The harassment escalated.
And Jin had endured it all in silence.
The two brothers strode toward Jin.
As he watched them with an indifferent gaze, a smile crept onto Jin’s lips.
“I wonder where I put it. Did I shove it up your ass?”
They froze.
The Tona brothers stopped in their tracks and looked back and forth between Jin and each other. This was not the reaction they had imagined.
Up his ass...?
Even if the Tona brothers were budding killers, those words were far too vulgar for nine-year-olds to hear. Still, they clearly recognized the insult, and their faces flushed bright red.
“What did you just say…? Jin, have you lost your mind?”
“Get a grip. Your nanny isn't here right now, you hear me?”
Heh.
Jin let out a small, mocking laugh and took a step toward the brothers.
The Tona brothers weren't the only ones waiting for the nanny to be away. If anything, Jin had been waiting even more desperately than they had.
He wanted to beat the living daylights out of these demonic bastards whom he didn't even want to call his brothers.
If this were my past life, the seven-year-old me wouldn't have even dreamed of standing up to the Tona brothers.
But things were different now.
Even if the Tona brothers standing before him were nineteen instead of nine, he was confident he could kill at least one of them.
Still failing to grasp the situation, the Tona brothers huffed and glared with bulging eyes.
“If you beg for mercy right now, we’ll stop at just breaking your nose.”
“Otherwise, we’re going to make you look just like that bird we hung on your door yesterday.”
Five of a seven-year-old’s paces. That was the distance separating Jin from the Tona brothers in the castle corridor.
“Aagh!”
Suddenly, Heitona let out a short scream and collapsed. A startled Daytona turned his head to see Jin already pressing a foot down on his brother’s back.
In the blink of an eye, Jin had closed the distance and buried his fist in Heitona’s stomach.
“Huh?”
Oof.
Next, Daytona took a punch to the jaw and crumpled. It was the first time either brother had been hit like this in their lives, and seven-year-old Jin’s fist felt as cold and hard as a block of ice.
W-what is this?
In that fleeting moment, Daytona saw a dark energy swirling around Jin’s fist.
He had no time to ponder what that energy was. Before his eyes could even stop spinning, another fist crashed into his face.
Crack!
“Mmph!”
The scream wouldn't come out, as if his throat were blocked. Tears streamed from his eyes from the sheer pain, and the only thought filling Daytona’s head was that something had gone horribly wrong.
There was no one else in this corridor.
They had intentionally chosen this spot to bully Jin, but the Tona brothers had never imagined that their choice would backfire so spectacularly.
“I buried that poor bird you crushed to death.”
Thud, thud, crack.
Speaking in a flat monotone, Jin moved between the two fallen boys, straddling each in turn as he swung his fists.
They’re still just kids. Am I being too harsh?
The thought crossed Jin’s mind for a moment, but it vanished instantly. In his past life, the nine-year-old Tona brothers had once forced him to eat horse dung.
If Jin had simply taken their abuse today, something just as bad was bound to happen.
“Phew.”
Twitch, twitch!
After a long beating, the brothers lay on the floor, trembling. Jin stood and looked down at them with indifference.
“From now on, stay out of my sight. It's the only way you'll stay alive.”
“Young Master!”
A guardian knight of the family, sensing the unusual atmosphere, came running down the corridor.
He was a top-tier guardian knight. This meant he wasn't the type to be easily surprised by a mere scuffle between children, even in the Runcandel family.
However, the guardian knight couldn't help but widen his eyes when he saw the fallen Tona brothers and the calmly standing Jin.
Seven-year-old Young Master Jin beat up both nine-year-old Young Masters?
It shouldn't have been possible. There was a significant physical difference between a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old, and the Tona brothers had already begun learning Runcandel martial arts.
Jin, on the other hand, had yet to learn martial arts or anything else, for that matter. At least, as far as the guardian knight knew.
“Uuuugh.”
“Young Master Jin, what on earth happened…?” the knight asked as Daytona managed a groan.
“The two of them suddenly started fighting each other.”
“Pardon?”
“I said they fought each other.”
The guardian knight immediately knew it was a lie, but he couldn't argue. Jin’s smirk told him the boy had already calculated how this would play out.
The guardian knight’s role was strictly to protect the children from external threats. He was not in a position to interfere in the family's internal affairs.
I knew it… the Runcandel children are terrifying. I’ll have to report this to the Patriarch.
Thump.
The guardian knight bowed respectfully. Even if he was only seven years old, Jin was a pure-blooded Runcandel.
“Understood. Then I shall take the Young Masters Tona to the doctor.”
“No. The Tona brothers have somewhere else to go.”
“Somewhere else? Where exactly?”
“The grave.”
“The… grave?”
“Help them up.”
When Jin’s gaze hardened, the guardian knight had no choice but to hoist the Tona brothers onto his shoulders.
“Let’s go.”
The guardian knight followed Jin hesitantly. Jin led him to a small burial mound in the backyard of Storm Castle, where the wind and rain were raging.
It was the spot where he had buried the bird the Tona brothers had killed yesterday.
Despite the torrential rain, the mound had not yet washed away.
“Put them down here.”
“But Young Master Jin, the storm is…”
The fierce wind and rain seemed ready to swallow Jin, the guardian knight, and the Tona brothers whole.
Jin didn't answer, simply staring at the guardian knight.
It was a silent command. The guardian knight understood. This wasn't a child's tantrum; it was the demeanor of a Runcandel issuing an order.
He had never imagined a seven-year-old boy could display such a regal presence.
The guardian knight had no right of refusal, even if it meant harming other Runcandels. Since the Tona brothers were in no condition to give orders, he had to follow the command of the Runcandel who could.
Whatever happened afterward was for the Patriarch and the elders to judge, not him. Even if the Tona brothers were to unfortunately die of hypothermia, the family would not hold the guardian knight responsible.
Conflict between blood relatives was a common occurrence in the Runcandel family.
“I shall obey, Young Master.”
The guardian knight set the Tona brothers down in front of the grave. The brothers only twitched intermittently, unable to offer any resistance.
About two hours later, the Tona brothers were discovered and rescued by Gilly, who had just returned.
They suffered from severe pneumonia for several days. From then on, they didn't dare even make eye contact with Jin until the day they finally left Storm Castle.
*
The lawless eastern region of the continent, commonly known as the Black Sea.
Cyron Runcandel had been sitting in silent meditation for several days in this demonic realm teeming with monsters.
Though he was merely sitting there, the house-sized monsters nearby didn't dare approach him.
A man, covered in blood, had struggled through countless monsters to reach this place and meet Cyron.
“Patriarch. It is Khan.”
It was the guardian knight who, ten days ago, had left the Tona brothers out in the storm on Jin’s orders.
“What is it?” Cyron asked, slowly opening his eyes.
“I have come to report a conflict between the Young Masters that occurred at Storm Castle.”
“You wouldn't interrupt my training for a common children’s quarrel. Speak.”
As Khan explained the fight between Jin and the Tona brothers, a faint smile appeared on Cyron’s face.
“So, are the Tona brothers dead?”
“They contracted pneumonia, but their lives are not in danger.”
“Then they must have learned a valuable lesson. Very well. You may leave.”
“Yes, sir.”
Khan had fought monsters for three days just to deliver this short report. Yet, without a hint of resentment, he silently turned and went back the way he came.
I should go see the youngest.
Cyron visited Storm Castle one month later.