2. Running Away (1)
Several months passed, and at last I turned nine.
In the meantime, while teaching the youngest brat, I threw myself into training like a madman.
Recently, after turning nine, I had been moving about extremely busily. There were several reasons for that, but the biggest was a change related to my martial strength.
First, as I drew close to Stage 2, I began focusing even more on training.
One might ask how I could have reached Stage 2 when it had not been that long since my mana awakened, but choosing the simplest sword path had helped.
Based on the fundamentals of swordsmanship, every time I swung my sword, mana accumulated in my muscles and began to resonate with my mana heart.
That was helping me grow even faster.
In other words, a growth acceleration phenomenon had occurred due to the swordsmanship imprinting.
Then one might ask why everyone did not simply train mainly in basic swordsmanship, but this basic swordsmanship ultimately had clear limits.
As one’s realm rose, those limits would reveal themselves, which was why, difficult as it was, people imprinted themselves with high-level swordsmanship from the start.
Second, I had secretly submitted an enlistment application to the military without the family finding out.
The Northern Army was peculiar in that, even at the young age of nine, one did not need parental consent. The reason was that too few people volunteered for the Northern Army, so many with their own circumstances were allowed to enlist.
To be precise, there were enough people who wanted to volunteer, but it was more accurate to say that too many of them died every time.
As a result, the Northern Army was always crying out that it lacked manpower.
Third, I had learned what my incomplete talent was.
This was truly by chance. While teaching the youngest brat, I suddenly grew curious about divine beasts and asked him about them, and that became the starting point.
“What does it feel like to have a divine beast? I heard spiritists have a strange sort of sense too...”
It was a question I asked when, the more I sparred with him, the more I felt as though everything I possessed was being scraped down to the bottom, leaving me with a sense of self-loathing.
At that, the brat answered with a puzzled expression.
“Like communicating with nature? And also like I’ve gotten really close to animals?”
When I looked at him with an expression that said, “What kind of nonsense is that?” the brat looked troubled, saying it was hard to explain beyond that. Then, when I happened to ask the white lion whether I had any talent related to divine beasts as well, I found out.
The incomplete family talent the system had mentioned.
It meant talent related to divine beasts.
“You said I have talent related to divine beasts too!”
“That’s... They said beasts of prey don’t like the weak...”
“Don’t I seem stronger than a feeble little thing like you?”
“That’s... true, but...”
When I spoke in disbelief, the white lion beside him partially materialized and growled at Jaden.
It was clearly as if it was saying that Aiden possessed an aura far more befitting a strong one than he did.
“A-anyway, since they say you have talent with divine beasts too, please look into it carefully, Brother.”
“Hoo... How am I supposed to search blindly when I don’t even know what kind of talent it is? I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
“Still. It’d be a waste.”
“I’ll look into it when I have time.”
That was how the conversation had ended.
Of course, after that, I did look for a few animals.
Honestly, I looked for quite a lot.
Squirrels, sewer rats, pigs, cows, dogs, cats, and so on. I looked into pretty much everything.
But strangely enough, when I saw a chicken, I did feel a sort of familiarity. I gave up because there was nothing beyond that, though...
I wondered if it might be related to birds, but I did not have time, so I had yet to find out for certain.
Birds were difficult to catch and annoying to commune with, so I kept putting it off until this day arrived.
In any case, after spending such busy days, I eventually reached a day close to my scheduled enlistment.
‘Enlisting at nine years old...’
And that in an army where I was scheduled to serve for a full twenty years.
Of course, after leaving the training camp, I was scheduled to receive six years of education at a military academy, but even so, it was a place with much stricter discipline than other academies and a hierarchy like the army, so it simply felt like a children’s military.
The one fortunate thing was that those six years were also included in my military service.
If not, it would have been twenty-six years, and I would have erased it from my options immediately.
“The Path of the Lion...”
Jaden, who had finished training and was resting, muttered to himself.
At first, thinking it would be twenty years, I had wondered if it might be better to stay with the family, but after thinking carefully, I remembered that something insane would soon happen in the Leonhardt family and erased that idea from my mind immediately.
Because the Path of the Lion involved throwing children into the Forest of Beasts and making them survive for more than a week.
After that, they would be sent into the forest every time, the duration extended, and missions assigned one by one.
It was a method of raising children created by one of Leonhardt’s ancestors, who had been inspired by the tale that lions drop their cubs off cliffs to raise them strong.
I thought it was truly an insane upbringing method, but was this bloodline an ordinary one?
Since that insane method produced plenty of people who became stronger through it, some families even wondered if it was truly a good method of raising children and began imitating it.
In fact, the current head of the family had also endured three months in the Forest of Beasts at the age of thirteen.
He had even brought back the heads of one hundred orcs.
Not long after that, he entered Stage 4, so it could not be said to have had no effect at all. But considering that children died every time the Path of the Lion was carried out, it was unquestionably madness.
“This place really is insane.”
The more I thought about it, the more I could only conclude that this place was insane.
It was to the point that I thought the army might be comfortable.
Right now, I was young, and because I had the image of being trash imprinted on me, I was free. But once the Path of the Lion began, the family’s true colors would be revealed in earnest.
When that happened, the savage nature of my younger siblings would inevitably be revealed as well.
They were people I had experienced like that in my previous life, so if I had to face them again... Just thinking about it made me shake my head.
“Brother, how about a spar?”
“Let me rest a bit.”
“Weren’t you resting this whole time?”
Aiden, who had recently gained confidence and had been requesting spars with me more often, fiddled with his wooden sword.
Seeing that, Jaden could not endure his younger brother’s provocation and got up right away to spar with him.
And, as always, he won.
“Little one, you still have a long way to go.”
“Hmph! I had a chance this time...”
Aiden, who had lost again today, made a disappointed, tearful face. He had countered the petty trick he had suffered last time and tried to aim for an opening, but Jaden, who had induced that from the start, blocked it leisurely and seized victory.
‘There’s a difference in the years we’ve lived. If he caught up in just a few months, I’d be too aggrieved to live.’
If a Stage 5 knight hardened through real combat lost to a brat who had not even entered Stage 2 yet, that would be humiliating in its own right.
In any case, after lightly suppressing Aiden once again, Jaden sat on a tree stump and sank into meditation.
He had to completely refill the mana he had consumed through mana breathing.
In the past, even when he trained in swordsmanship, his body had always overflowed with mana, but now his mana consumption had become quite significant.
That meant his body was gradually adapting to his swordsmanship.
Every time he performed swordsmanship, the muscles throughout his body were used, and at the same time, his mana also responded and moved accordingly. As a result, his mana consumption increased.
When this occurred to the extreme, mana would be emitted even through the sword as an extension of the body, and that was Stage 3.
In other words, the more his mana consumption increased during training, the more it proved that his skill was rising.
“Hoo...”
After finishing his mana breathing technique, Jaden sat on the tree stump and took out the sunflower seeds he had brought in his pocket.
The dried seeds, perfect as a snack, were good for replenishing stamina when eaten with water.
Aiden, who was training in the distance, had also begun imitating him at some point, on the grounds that his training method was the most efficient.
“That kid...”
Looking at the adorable Aiden, he let out a small laugh and grabbed a handful of seeds, about to toss them into his mouth.
Just then, a cute little crow-tit fluttered in from the side.
It was strange enough that a crow-tit that looked cute at a glance had approached him, but as if it was not afraid of people, it boldly came right up to him and stared.
-Chirp!
“Hm?”
The crow-tit lightly settled on his hand, tilted its head, then pecked at the hand holding the handful of seeds with its beak, urging him to hurry and open it.
Finding the sight cute, Jaden watched it for a moment before opening his palm to make it easier for the little bird to eat.
With a flutter, the bunting climbed onto his palm and began pecking at the seeds one by one, savoring them.
"This is healing."
Simply watching the cute little bunting made his stray thoughts disappear. It felt like a healing moment of blank staring.
The moment he welcomed this bewitching little bunting—who made him stare without a single thought—he forgot all about training and simply took in every single moment of it eating.
Then, just as it had devoured so many seeds that he wondered, "How can such a tiny body eat so much?" the bunting flew up onto his nose.
Landing perfectly on the bridge of his nose, the bunting stared intently at him before pecking his forehead with its beak.
"Huh?"
The moment the little bunting's beak tapped his forehead, his perception of his surroundings suddenly became strange.
The wind, which had only felt refreshing, now seemed to move along a current, and he could feel the trees communicating with it.
He could also feel the earth's energy reacting to the blazing sunlight, but the most shocking thing was sensing the wills of the birds flying around him.
"Could this be...?"
The moment Jaiden looked at the bunting with a "could it be?" expression, its feathers began to turn a bluish hue.
He could see bluish energy coalescing into clumps between the feathers of the red-eyed little bunting.
In that moment, as if only the two of them remained in the world, he and the bunting gazed only at each other. Then, a strange feeling arose, as if the two of them were the only beings alive in all of space and time.
As empathy bloomed between them and a strand of soul slowly intertwined, Jaiden pulled free from the world where only the two of them existed.
The moment he returned to the present world, rich with natural power, his mind grew hazy, and he began to feel the bunting's senses as well.
Jaiden still hadn't managed to gather his wits, overwhelmed by this strange sensation of feeling both his own and the bunting's senses simultaneously.
-The incomplete clan talent has awakened. Your talent is 'Bird Doctor'.
-You have attained divine beast resonance surpassing all others, limited exclusively to birds. Please take good care of your first contracted partner, the little bunting.
-Blue Bunting (Common): It possesses exceptional talent in mana recovery and vitality. Upon further growth, it can awaken the ability to heal internal and external injuries.
-Your Common-grade contract slot is full. You can no longer contract with Common-grade beings.
-A special bonus is granted for your first ability awakening. Reward: 1 Legendary-grade contract slot.
-Remaining available contracts: Rare (1), Legendary (2), Mythic (1).
Jaiden had been staring blankly at the bluish letters floating in the air alongside a sudden mechanical voice, and as the letters slowly faded, he came to his senses.
Having never expected his divine beast ability to awaken so suddenly, he stared dumbly at the bunting.
"You...."
The bunting that had awakened his ability tilted its head and gazed at him prettily.
At that moment, every question he had wanted to ask vanished completely from his mind, and he simply reached out to carefully stroke the bunting with his finger.
"Yeah, what does any of that matter? I have my pretty little bunting...."