‘Won’t it be better to just die than be in this much pain?’ Eugene seriously wondered as he lay in bed.
Every time he so much as lifted a finger, his entire body was in such pain that Eugene had to grit his teeth to not scream. His body was so tightly wrapped with bandages that he felt stuffy. He was on so many medicines that smelled so disgusting they hurt his nostrils.
It wasn’t Eugene’s first time experiencing a rebound from Ignition; he had felt it in his past life too. However, Eugene was certain that the current rebound hurt the most. Even with his past life included, he had never been in this much pain.
“Errr…argh…” Eugene groaned, gritting his teeth again. He had just lifted a finger, but he felt like someone was shattering his bones with an icepick.
The damn Lightning Flame was why he was in so much pain right now. The Lightning Flame significantly increased Ignition’s power, but the rebound also became significantly stronger. As a result, Eugene’s muscles were in extreme pain. Although he had trained and trained, his body couldn’t handle the rebound from the upgraded Ignition.
“If you are now going to use Ignition and the Lightning Flame together, then should we call it Thunder Ignition?” Mer asked, sitting on a rocking chair beside Eugene’s bed. Putting down the book she was reading, Mer stared at Eugene with twinkling eyes.
“Or is it Lightning Ignition?”
“I might really kill you someday,” Eugene spoke as he glared back.
“I think the name Ignition is really cool, but the version you use right now is different. It’s on another level altogether, so shouldn’t you change its name?”
“MerMerMerdein, I’m really gonna kill you.”
“My name isn’t MerMerMerdein.”
“Ah fuck. Ignition is my technique, and I use it. Why are you trying to get under my skin by coming up with new names?”
“Think of it as necessary advice.” Mer pouted as she got down from her chair. “…If you give your techniques really embarrassing names, you might not use that brainlessly dangerous technique anymore because you would be too embarrassed.”
“You sound just like Sienna. She used to talk just like you, telling me to stop using Ignition.” Eugene grumbled, frowning. “I had to use Ignition in that situation. Yeah, it fucking hurts right now, but I don’t regret using it. I will continue to use it in the future when the situation demands me to. If I don’t, I will just regret it afterward.”
“…I don’t really know what pain is, but people are bound to hesitate if they know that they are going to be in pain,” Mer muttered, staring at the floor.
“I don’t hesitate. If I decide to do something, I always do it. Besides, it won’t hurt much the next time I use it. As my body adapts to Lightning Flash, the severity of the rebound will drop back to normal….”
“So is it Lightning Flash Ignition then?” Mer swiftly raised her head.
“I can’t move right now because I’m in pain, so would you please knock yourself on the head?”
“Unlike you, I don’t have a masochistic hobby of overtaxing my body or making myself suffer.” Mer puffed her cheeks in frustration, sitting on the edge of Eugene’s bed. For a moment, she looked at Eugene, feeling bad for him.
He wouldn’t suffer any aftereffects as he usually recovered very quickly. There were no elixirs available in the Black Lion Castle, but there were many expensive, effective potions. Since Eugene had received proper first aid, his left arm would completely recover after a week of bed rest. Although Eugene was in such extreme pain that he thought it would be better to die, he would feel much better after a couple of days in bed.
Mer also knew that, but that didn’t mean she could be nonchalant about Eugene’s injury.
‘What if Sir Eugene never recovers and he has to spend his entire life in bed? What if he sustains irrecoverable injuries in a difficult fight like the last one?…Or dies during the fight?’ Mer nervously thought.
Clicking this tongue, Eugene said, “Stop thinking about the worst scenarios. It brings bad luck.”
“…Huuh…how did you know? Can you read my mind?”
“You are an open book.”
“…I can’t help but worry. I don’t like to see you suffering. I’d hate to see you die even more.”
“You really think of me as a maniac, huh? Do you think I like suffering and dying? Stop chattering. Just come and cut me an apple.”
“…I don’t know how to cut it.”
“Are you never gonna do it because you don’t know how? There can be stuff you are bad at or don’t know how to do. But you still have to try and practice in order to be good at it.”
“Ok, geezer.” Mer pouted, looking at a fruit basket sitting on Eugene’s bedside table. Genos and Gion had brought the basket while Eugene was unconscious.
Geezer—Eugene couldn’t really refute Mer, but he still felt a strange sense of incompatibility.
Including his age from his past life, Eugene was over sixty years. His body had changed, but his soul hadn’t, so it wasn’t technically wrong to call him an old man, was it? However, the young girl who had just called him ‘geezer’ merely looked like a young girl. Wasn’t she actually a 200-year-old familiar?
“Preposterous, my personality is that of a youthful mademoiselle,” Mer spoke like a character in an old novel.
“What is up with your way of talking….” Eugene mumbled with a disgusted face. Mer dramatically stuck her tongue out at Eugene. Then, she picked up a big apple and started peeling it with a paring knife that was as small as her palm.
Knock, knock.
While Mer was having trouble peeling an apple, someone knocked on the door to Eugene’s room. It was Genos.
“Come in,” Eugene answered.
Genos entered the room and looked back and forth between Mer, who looked serious as she held the paring knife, and the bunch of apple skins, with a lot of apple flesh still attached, that fell on the floor.
“…Let me do it.” Genos offered.
“I don’t need to know how to neatly peel off an apple while I live because I don’t need to eat apples. On top of that, you don’t need to peel off apples when you make an apple pie or apple juice,” Mer quickly said. Eugene wasn’t sure if she was making up excuses or just randomly babbling.
Mer handed Genos the paring knife, and Genos skillfully sliced the apple as he spoke. “…The Council Head…No, Sir Doynes regained his consciousness.”
“Is it fortunate news?”
“…The Black Lions and the Council of Elders may think so, but Sir Doynes doesn’t think his survival is good news. The first thing he said after he regained his consciousness was, ‘Why did you save me?’” Genos put down the paring knife as he bitterly smiled. There was a plate full of bunny-shaped apple slices in front of him. Mer swiftly picked up a slice and ate it.
“It’s impossible to save him anyway,” Eugene said calmly.
“Yes, Sir Doynes refuses any further treatment. But… he says he wants to hear the whole story from you and express his remorse, Senior Brother.”
‘Remorse, huh?’ Eugene thought as he made a sour face.
The Council Head wasn’t the one who had requested Barang to kill Eugene. It was Dominic. However, the Council Head wasn’t blameless; he had talked too much to his grandson.
Of course, this incident would still have happened even if the Council Head had kept his mouth shut. Dominic, Hector, and Eward’s conspiracy had nothing to do with Barang trying to assassinate Eugene. Dominic had done that on his own.
“…When?” Eugene reluctantly asked.
“If you are okay with it, I will bring him here right now,” Genos eagerly spoke.
“I don’t mind, but wouldn’t it be better for me to go? I’m asking a dying grandpa with a hole in his chest to come.”
“Your injury is also severe, Senior Brother. And the Council Head insisted that he should be the one to visit you.”
“Why is he insisting?”
Genos didn’t answer, hesitating a bit. After checking whether or not the door was closed, he also checked if anyone was eavesdropping.
“I don’t know the exact reason, but I have some ideas.”
“Ideas?” Eugene asked, tilting his head in confusion.
“…You have told me the whole story of the recent incident.” Genos began to speak, carefully choosing his next words.
Before losing consciousness due to the rebound from Ignition, Eugene desperately held on and told the whole story to Genos. It included everything from the darkness spirit, which turned out to be the remnant of Demon Kings, Eward running amok, and Dominic and Hector’s betrayal.
“…I know you are strong, Senior Brother. But… no matter how strong you are… you are still young…. It’s impossible… to kill Dominic, Hector, and Eward, particularly since they were together with the Demon Kings’ remnant.”
“But I did kill them.”
“Yes, you did. On top of that, the enemies were using the Annihilation Hammer and the Demon Spear, but the only injury you sustained was a fracture in your left arm. The reason you are on bed rest is that you are experiencing a rebound from using Ignition.”
Genos stopped speaking for a moment. Then, swallowing hard, he stared at Eugene.
“…Senior Brother…. Who are you?”
“Uhm….”
“You have found Sir Hamel’s grave, which no one found before you. Although you have told me that was where you found Sir Hamel’s secret manual… it isn’t enough to explain how you can be so strong. I know… I know how nonsensical this sounds, but… I have fought you, Senior Brother. While we fought using the Hamel Style, you used Asura Rampage and Lightning Counter so proficiently….” Genos desperately explained. 𝑖𝘦𝑎.𝗇t
“Stop.” Eugene raised his hand, heaving a long sigh. Above all else, Eugene really couldn’t hear Genos saying Asura Rampage and Lightning Counter. He could see Mer holding back her laughter after finishing half the apples on the plate.
“I get what you are thinking right now, Junior Brother. Yes, I see where the Council Head is coming from.” Eugene nodded very slightly.
He could deny their claims by making up excuses, but Eugene didn’t want to do that. Although he tried to sit as upright as possible, he could feel his injured body refusing to move. In the end, Eugene raised his head as high as he could as he lay on the bed and looked at Genos.
“I am Hamel,” Eugene said in a not-so-solemn way.
He had previously thought that if he was going to reveal his identity, he would do it more seriously in a situation that would suit the hero from 300 years ago. However, he now figured it would be more embarrassing to postpone this moment only to do whatever magnificent reveal later.
“…I knew it…!”
Silently urged by Mer, Genos had been cutting apples into bunny-shaped slices, but he instantly sprang up from his seat when he heard what Eugene said. He immediately put down the paring knife and apple, then kneeled in front of Eugene.
Genos didn’t doubt Eugene. Instead, he felt much better after hearing this. A twenty-year-old man being that unbelievably strong — it would have actually been more ridiculous to think that Eugene had become that strong solely based on his inborn talent.
Above all, if the hero from 300 years ago had reincarnated or possessed Eugene, Genos was now able to serve and respect Eugene as his senior brother without being embarrassed or complaining. Of course, Genos didn’t have complaints about calling Eugene his senior brother, but he was still a bit embarrassed.
‘If Senior Brother is Sir Hamel, it is only right to serve and respect him.’
Even Genos had a hard time respecting a man younger than his daughter.
‘No…if he is Sir Hamel, then isn’t it actually wrong to call him Senior Brother?’
When the thought crossed his mind, Genos trembled, feeling a shiver down his spine.
“Teacher!” Genos spoke with teary eyes. As the heir of Hamel Style, he couldn’t help but shed tears of joy. He was enjoying the great honor of calling the great hero his ‘teacher.’
“How am I your teacher?” Eugene said with a sour face.
“Everyone in the clan considers you our teacher, Sir Hamel…!”
“But…well… technically, I never accepted you guys as my disciples. So why would you guys call me your teacher on your own…?”
“You have taught me the new, correct Hamel Style, Teacher…! Why are you refusing to be called a teacher when you have accepted me as your junior brother and told me to call you senior brother?” Genos spoke with a hint of anger.
“Alright, don’t get angry now….” Eugene heaved a big sigh. “Tell the Council Head to come to visit me. Or shall I go?”
“No, I will go. Please stay in bed.” After neatly wiping off the tears on his face, Genos stood up. When Genos left the room, Mer also quietly stood up and lifted the Cloak of Darkness.
“I will be inside the Cloak.”
“If you were going to go in, you could have gone in sooner. Why would you go in only after eating all the apples?”
“I only ate it because you didn’t, Sir Eugene. Did you know that peeled-off apples turn brown over time? They look hideous. That is called the browning process.”
“Uh… is that so….”
“To stop the browning process, you have to put the apple slices in salt water or sugar water. It’s interesting, right? Lady Ancilla told me, but I prefer sugar water to salt water. Salt water is too salty.”
“Are you going in, or what?” Eugene asked in annoyance.
Mer sheepishly smiled and crawled into the Cloak.
Leaning against the bed’s headboard, Eugene organized his thoughts.
It had been two days since Eward had run amok.
Just like Eugene, the people who had been captured as sacrificial offerings were still on bed rest. According to Gion, they would be able to recover by the next day at the latest.
…The bodies of Eward, Dominic, and Hector hadn’t been recovered. There was nothing to recover, anyway. The only body found in the forest was of Deacon Lionheart. Deacon’s body had been laid in a coffin, and Carmen’s brother, Klein Lionheart, visited Deacon’s family to deliver his body.
Gilead had been notified of the events, but even though he wanted to return, he had to stay at the palace for the time being.
The Black Lion, dispatched to the Bossar Family, was found dead in their mansion’s warehouse. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only body that was found. Over a hundred dead bodies were found inside the mansion — Tanis, Count Bossar, and the servants. They were all rotting.
They had also found a diary in Eward’s room. However, no one had checked the diary’s contents. It was because Carmen, who had been dispatched to protect the main house, had threatened everyone to not check the diary before Gilead, Eward’s father and the Patriarch.
‘…It’s absolute fuckery right now,’ Eugene thought, his head aching.
‘The Council Head won’t be able to recover, so he must have delivered his will to the Council of Elders. He will probably die after he apologizes to me.’ .𝘤𝘰𝑚
People were still sorting out the situation. Eward and Dominic had died. No one could confirm Hector’s death. Dominic and Hector’s families had already been arrested by the Black Lions. Although Eugene wasn’t sure what the Black Lions would gain from interrogating their family members, he was sure about one thing — the Lionheart clan’s reputation was in the gutter now. On top of that, the Black Lion’s reputation had been trashed and dragged in the mud. They were too helpless in the recent incident.
‘…Carmen Lionheart… She would probably become the Council Head.’
After Doynes Lionheart’s death, Carmen Lionheart would become the highest-ranking elder.
‘…But she would never want that, considering her personality. She still wants to work in the field…. Then would Klein Lionheart become the next Council Head?’
Klein lacked dignity, but he didn’t seem to be a bad person.
‘What would happen to the main family? I’m guessing the Patriarch would resign to take responsibility for raising a wuss son…. Then is Cyan going to be the next Patriarch right away? Or is it going to be Gion? But they wouldn’t make the second son Patriarch, especially since he has already become a collateral family member.’
Gion wouldn’t want to become a Patriarch, either. Frowning, Eugene sighed.
There was one thing that troubled Eugene — too much spotlight was on him right now. Even Genos had doubts about Eugene’s real identity, so it was safe to assume the Council Head was probably thinking the same.
‘…I’ll just tell the Patriarch that I was able to do all that because of the Holy Sword.’
While he was entertaining these thoughts, he heard a knock.
“Come in,” Eugene answered.
The door opened right away. Eugene was expecting Donyes to be in a wheelchair or have someone help him walk. However, Doynes walked in without any support.
Still, looking at how Doynes was practically forcing himself to keep his eyes open, Eugene could see that the man was dying. Donyes’ face was livid, and his cheeks were hollow. As for the hole in his chest, Eugene couldn’t see anything because Donyes was wearing a uniform to cover it.
“Is it okay for you to move around like that?” Eugene cautiously asked.
Even though he was staggering, Donyes walked on his own. After he closed the door, he stared at Eugene for a moment, then bowed his head.
“It’s an honor to meet the Great Hamel.”
‘He is not even asking me whether or not I am Hamel,’ Eugene thought as he reluctantly nodded.
“Uhm…I…am also…uh…glad to meet my friend’s descendant.”
This content is taken from 𝘳𝑎.𝗇t