Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Demon Sword Reincarnation (1)
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I was born in a pit of evil.
The Dialogue Church, a secret society where all the vices of the world congregated.
I was born as a disposable assassin in this religious organization with a thousand years of history.
But as I was dragged into the internal power struggles, I became the leader of an execution squad with several subordinates under me, and by continuously racking up achievements, my position steadily rose.
Archbishop Hausel von Agraion.
Before I knew it, I was addressed by such a grandiose title.
It was due to my feats in defeating the Holy Knight Order of the Holy Spirit Church—the greatest religion on the continent and the Dialogue Church's archenemy—several times.
Before long, I became a being whose name echoed across the continent as the vanguard captain of evil threatening the world.
However.
That life ends today.
* * *
"To think this is the end for the merciless Archbishop Hausel. How tragic."
As I heard Archbishop Gateus's sneer, I vomited up a gush of blood from my mouth.
"You should've tried to get in the Grand Archbishop's good graces. Living like you were the greatest thing ever meant you were bound to end up hated."
It was simple.
I had achieved too much.
From the perspective of Aquilast, the Grand Archbishop and head of the Church, I was a highly uncomfortable existence.
If things continued like this, I might grow stronger and eye his position as Grand Archbishop—that's the thought he must have had.
And so, he ordered his confidant, the 'Executor' Archbishop Gateus, to purge me.
"Even so, no matter how great Archbishop Hausel is, he can't stand up to this."
"Of course... not..."
I turned my gaze to the sword Gateus held.
"Since I borrowed the Demon Sword Igzard, the treasure of the Dialogue Church, from the Grand Archbishop..."
Demon Sword Igzard.
One of the treasures representing the Dialogue Church, a famed sword said to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the holy swords of the Holy Spirit Church.
Though most of its legendary mystical powers had faded, its performance still surpassed imagination.
The sword I had been wielding was also a renowned blade, but the moment it clashed with Igzard, it snapped like a toy.
"To kill a monster like you, I had to bring a weapon of this caliber. Without Igzard, even if you'd been bare-handed, I would've lost."
"That... you would have..."
"Well then..."
Gateus slowly raised the Demon Sword as he looked down at me collapsed in a wretched state.
"Time to finish this."
"......"
"Any last words?"
"Nothing in particular."
"You're truly detached. I thought you'd at least beg for your life once."
"Ridiculous."
I scoffed.
"Born in a pit of evil, living a life of nothing but wicked deeds—what right do I have to beg to be spared?"
"...I think Archbishop Hausel was simply faithful to orders his whole life."
A flicker of pity appeared in Gateus's eyes.
But that didn't mean he would show mercy.
"Understood anyway, Archbishop Hausel."
"......"
"If you're reborn, live a different kind of life next time."
A different life.
Not a bad idea.
'Yeah, if I'm reborn... differently from this life...'
Gateus swung the Demon Sword toward my neck.
With perfect swordsmanship, without the slightest tremor.
As I felt the chilling sensation pierce my neck, I accepted death.
[Yeah, you seem like you'd be fine.]
[Let's start over.]
[Together.]
What is this?
* * *
I came to my senses amid deafening baby cries.
"Wahhh! Wahhh!"
"Wahhh...!"
Had I fallen into a hell where I had to endure endless baby cries from all directions?
I wanted to plug my ears, but I couldn't.
My limbs wouldn't move properly.
'What happened?'
After struggling for a while, I finally realized.
I seemed to be a newborn baby.
'I've become a baby? How is this possible?'
What kind of twist of fate was this?
After pondering for a long time, I understood that I had been reborn.
'Reincarnated? In a new body?'
It was astonishing.
I had never believed in the afterlife. I thought people just ended when they died.
Right before dying to Gateus's blade, I had wished to live a different life if reborn, but that was just a fleeting thought at the end.
Yet here I was, actually reincarnated.
'No, that's not the important part.'
More important than the reincarnation itself.
It was that I retained my previous life's personality.
'I remember everything.'
Right now, I remembered every bit of Archbishop Hausel's life.
Moreover, even as a newborn, I could think rationally like a full-grown adult.
'Is something like this even possible?'
Whatever happened, I had to accept it.
I had reincarnated into this child while keeping my previous life's personality intact. That much was clear.
'But what's the situation now?'
I thought I was lying in a cradle.
But rolling my eyes, I saw I was in something like a wooden coffin.
And the area was filled with baby cries. There seemed to be at least ten babies lying around like me.
'Is this some kind of nursery?'
It was dark around me.
My infant eyes weren't sharp enough to make things out clearly, but it felt like indoors.
The strange thing was that with so many babies crying, there was no one coming to soothe them.
As I wondered what was going on, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Man is born with sin."
It was the heavy voice of an aged man.
"It is not individual sin, but the sin of humanity, and every human bears this sin from birth. Thus, the entirety of human life is a journey to cleanse this original sin."
I listened intently to the solemn voice.
What was being said now... was the doctrine of the Holy Spirit Church.
"You young children lack the strength to cleanse your own sins. Thus, we cleanse you with water imbued with the Holy Spirit's blessing."
Baptism.
Also called the rite of purification, the Holy Spirit Church ritual to cleanse believers' sins.
According to the Holy Spirit Church scriptures, all humans are born with sin. Thus, without baptism to wash it away, they must live as sinners.
Of course, it wasn't a one-time thing; they had to continually cleanse through faith as they lived.
'Is this the home of devout Holy Spirit Church believers? No, but with so many children gathered in one place...'
I tried to grasp the surroundings somehow.
But it was no use. An infant body that couldn't even hold its head up had its limits.
It was then.
"In the name of Ianus Aleyas, I shall cleanse your sins."
Hearing that name, I swallowed hard.
'Ianus Aleyas!'
A name I knew.
A name I could never forget.
'The head of the Holy Spirit Church's pride... the Holy Knight Order!'
Holy Knight Order.
The Holy Spirit Church—the world's largest religion's—'most sacred blade.'
Ianus Aleyas was the one serving as Captain of the Holy Knight Order and also the head of the Aleyas family, which controlled it.
From the perspective of Hausel, the Archbishop of the Dialogue Church who had clashed with the Holy Knight Order many times... he was a true archenemy.
'Then this is the Aleyas family's traditional group baptism?'
I'd heard of it.
The Aleyas family gathered the newborns from the main and branch families once a year for a group baptism ritual.
'Then this coffin-like thing I'm in...'
I sensed movement nearby.
And then... water began pouring into the wooden tub I was lying in.
'Right, they pour water in so the baby's body is half-submerged. That's how the Holy Spirit Church does baptisms.'
Everything finally made sense.
I had been reborn into the Aleyas family and was undergoing baptism.
'Really reborn into the holy knight family? Me, who was an Archbishop of the Dialogue Church?'
I had wished for a different life.
But I hadn't expected conditions this completely opposite.
'However...'
As the lukewarm water soaked my body, I sensed something off.
'Isn't there too much water?'
At this rate, my face would be submerged.
I thought it would stop just short, but no.
'From what I know, this isn't how it's done... Is the one pouring looking away?'
Before long, splashing water started entering my mouth.
Soon my entire body would be fully submerged.
'Surely they're not trying to drown me?'
I knew the Holy Spirit Church had fierce internal power struggles too.
I didn't know whose child I was, but someone might be using the baptism to take my life.
'Troubling.'
Right now, I was a newborn baby.
Flailing my limbs wouldn't get me out of this.
'The other babies around are crying too. No one would notice if I cried out.'
If this continued, I'd drown right after reincarnating.
Having gotten a fresh start in new conditions, only to drown without doing anything...
'No way.'
I couldn't die like this.
But what could I do?
In this newborn body where even flailing limbs was hard.
'If it were my previous life... I could've used sword aura.'
Sword aura.
A technique that drew out mana—life energy—and cloaked a sword in it.
Usually applied to physical blades to enhance power, but someone of my skill could generate it even from a fingernail.
But this infant body wouldn't have enough mana.
I couldn't use sword aura now.
[Sword aura needed?]
At that moment.
I felt a strange energy surging from deep within my body.
The energy gathered at my fingertips.
"......!"
My face was already fully submerged.
No time to figure out what was happening.
In a trance, I unleashed sword aura.
* * *
Crack!
Amid the solemnly proceeding baptism ritual, a strange sound suddenly rang out.
"The baptismal wooden font... split open?"
Ianus Aleyas saw it.
The wooden font cracking with a flash of light, holy water gushing out from within.
The people around panicked and rushed to the font. This had never happened during a baptism before.
"Whose font is that?"
"It's Young Master Sion, son of Heavenly Knight Kurt."
"Sion?"
Sion Aleyas.
Son of Kurt Aleyas, the youngest child of Knight Order Captain Ianus.
Meaning...
"My youngest grandson."
Ianus observed the grandchild who had been receiving baptism inside the font.
Despite the sudden accident, the child seemed unharmed.
Moreover... he lay still with a calm expression, not crying at all.
"An extraordinary one."
A smile formed on Ianus's lips.