0. Inheritance>
With nothing to his name, he could hardly be called a noble at all, and in the year he turned fifteen, after his noble house collapsed completely, he had no choice but to wander as a mercenary.
His personality, which had never been good to begin with, only worsened through mercenary life, and since his skills were on a level to match it, he found himself facing death after just one year as a mercenary.
While waiting on the mercenaries and helping explore a suspicious laboratory beneath the Sky Mountains, he was the first to be abandoned the moment a trap was triggered.
And so he was left behind and trapped in the deserted laboratory, on the verge of starving to death.
As he desperately searched the research facility for something to eat, he discovered a suspicious heart stored deep within it.
It could not help but be suspicious. The investigation had shown that this research facility had been built hundreds of years ago, yet the heart still looked vivid and fresh, as though it had just been pulled from a body and was still alive.
Of course, Kuntarian had no time to concern himself with such things. Having lost his reason to hunger, he immediately devoured the strange heart ravenously, and the moment he finished eating it, he collapsed unconscious amid excruciating pain.
When he came to, he could not collect himself because of the bizarre knowledge drifting through his mind and the immense power coiling around his body.
But he understood one thing.
What he had eaten was the heart of a
-Gul>, who had perished together with the ancient empire in war. And by eating that heart, he had swallowed its power whole.
Apparently, he had eaten something the empire had been researching here in order to win its war against the Kal
-Gul.
Of course, he could not digest all of its power and memories. One thing, crucially, was lacking.
The weapon that the one who had been a warrior of the Kal
-Gul had used.
Because the power of the Kal
-Gul was passed down through the heart and the weapon, he had to find that weapon to properly use the power contained in the heart.
At first, after gaining the power, Kuntarian had not even thought of looking for the sword.
If the owner of this heart was of the Kal
-Gul race, then the sword was probably somewhere in the territory of the ancient empire. How was he supposed to find it?
Moreover, as he fought, his thought that there was no need to seek out the sword became even clearer.
Because he had realized that his power was already strong enough without finding it.
Even without digesting all of that power, there was no one who could block his path.
He found the mercenaries who had abandoned him and tore them to death, and while being employed by a noble house and savoring his own power, he entered the capital. The moment he entered the capital, he knew.
His sword was somewhere in the capital.
As he first became aware of the powerful existences known as Gran
-Banders, his longing for the sword grew even stronger.
Because he simply could not tolerate the fact that someone as powerful as himself had to be wary of others.
And the heart was violently urging him on. The moment you obtain that sword, you will no longer need to care about anyone.
Because you will inherit the power of the great race, the Kal
-Gul.
He had even been considering stealing the sword if necessary, but by chance, he learned that the sword was included among the prizes for winning Kaloan.
“The heavens must be looking after me! Hahaha!”
Laughing loudly, Kuntarian immediately entered the tournament. Having already defeated numerous Masters in the succession competition, he knew there was already no one in Tian who could rival him except for Gran
-Banders.
And everything proceeded smoothly, until before his eyes lay the sword once used by the owner of his heart.
“Hehehehe… Hahahahahaha!”
Laughing loudly, Kuntarian picked up the sword held out before him.
Then, as if trembling, he took one deep breath and slowly pushed the sword toward his heart.
And just as when he had obtained the heart, he collapsed unconscious amid excruciating pain that stimulated his entire body.
“Mm……”
When Kuntarian came to, he looked around to grasp the situation, then soon realized he had to know how his body had changed and examined the inside of his body.
Then, as if unable to hold back the laughter bursting from within, he began to laugh like a madman.
“Kahahahaha! Hahaha! Yes, now I understand why I couldn’t sense that old man Kirain’s ambush. Hehehehe… To think there was such power!”
The immense power raging within him left Kuntarian unable to collect himself.
The realm known as Gran
-Bander was far greater than he had imagined.
On top of that, far more knowledge and experience than when he had first obtained the heart had taken root in his mind.
All the combat experience and memories that the warrior called Kal
-Gul had gained through battle had been transferred intact into his head.
The power of a warrior of the Kal
-Gul, a mighty race that had commanded both Exar and Bander at the same time, had manifested in him across time and space!
As he wondered what he should do with this newly gained power, Kuntarian decided first to trample that old man Kirain, who had insolently ambushed him.
And in front of him, he would ruin Celine, that arrogant woman.
In his current state, he felt he could win even if the three Gran
-Banders in the capital attacked him together, so he was not the slightest bit worried.
“Hehehehehe… Wait for me, old men. Hahahahahaha!”
“Done laughing?”
“…
What!”
Kuntarian was startled by the voice that came from directly behind him.
After awakening his power with the sword, his senses had been enhanced to an astonishing degree, enough that he could sense even a single ant within several dozen meters. No matter how drunk he was on his newly acquired power, he had failed to notice someone who had come close enough for a voice to sound from right behind him!
When he turned around in shock, a face he had seen somewhere was glaring at him while grinding his teeth.
“You bastard. I was afraid it’d hurt less if I beat you while you were unconscious, so I deliberately waited here for an hour.”
As he looked closely at the face of the fellow spouting incomprehensible words, he finally remembered where he had seen him before.
It was the fellow who had been talking with that bitch Celine last time.
Because of old man Kirain’s attack, he had not been able to punish him then, but now he had come right before his eyes!
Forgetting even his shock, Kuntarian looked at the youngster before him with delight and gave a sardonic smile.
“Hehehe. This works out perfectly. I needed a subject to test this new power on until I get used to it. It would be no fun to experiment on empty air, but you’ve appeared at just the right tim—”
Baaam!
“…
Kuhuk!”
With a heavy sound of impact and a burst of agony from his stomach, Kuntarian could not finish speaking and fell to his knees.
“…
Kuhuk… Kk… What is this……!”
Kuntarian writhed in pain, unable to understand what was going on.
“Stay sharp, you bastard. This is only the beginning. I used up all 15 days of annual leave I’d saved and came out here, you know. Grit!”
“……!”
He had not even released his power, but he was so enraged that informal speech came out naturally.
Thinking once again of his vanished vacation, Sian ground his teeth and began fiercely swinging his scabbard at Kuntarian, who still had not grasped the situation.☆ ☆ ☆“Ah… now that Sian’s gone, it’s really boring……”
With Sian having used his leave and disappeared, Celine was tossing and turning from a strange sense of boredom.
“Did he go traveling somewhere… What a petty jerk. He could’ve taken me along… Is he the only one who gets to enjoy himself…….”
As she spoke, Celine flinched in surprise. Traveling with Sian?
Thinking she had misspoken out of boredom, Celine hurriedly ran to the Royal Guard Knights’ training grounds to clear away her useless thoughts.
She felt that only by swinging a sword could she rid herself of such pointless distractions.
While Celine was diligently swinging her sword, Sian, whom Celine was wondering about, was contrary to her expectations diligently repeating manual labor.☆ ☆ ☆“Kuhuk… Krrgh… Kuhuk……”
Paaak! Bbeok! Ttaaak!
Kuntarian could not collect himself because of the beating that had been going on for nearly two weeks. For over two weeks, that devil-like bastard had not said a single word. He had not gotten angry either.
He had simply hit him, hit him, and hit him again… repeating that act endlessly for two weeks without resting for even a moment.
It was the first time he had cursed the fact that he possessed immense power.
The power of the Kal
-Gul race had granted him tremendous regenerative ability and mental strength.
Thanks to that, he could neither die nor faint, and was being beaten while suffering unbearable agony.
Even when he had been hit only once, it had hurt more than when he had been stabbed with a sword and had his back cracked in the past.
He had now been continuously beaten by such blows for 15 days since it began, without even a single second of rest.
Now, he could no longer think of anything. He no longer even thought that he wanted to live.
Why this bastard was doing this to him had long since ceased to matter.
Kuntarian was enduring while thinking of only one thing.‘Krrgh… the leave is 15 days… 15 days… 15 days…….’Today was that fifteenth day. Since he said he had used his leave and come out, that meant this sickening beating would end today.
In a situation where he felt he might lose his grip on sanity, Kuntarian endured by thinking only of that.
Thinking that there was not much time left, hope appeared on Kuntarian’s face.
Perhaps noticing that subtle change in expression, Sian opened his mouth for the first time.
“What’s with you? Why are you making such a hopeful face?”
Sian felt pointlessly annoyed.
Then, while continuing to beat him with his right hand, he counted off numbers one by one with his left hand, and as if realizing something, laughed.
“Hey, don’t tell me you’re happy because today is the fifteenth day? Because my leave is over?”
Flinch!
Even while being beaten, Kuntarian shuddered when his inner thoughts were exposed.
Seeing that, Sian sneered and said,
“Hey, when did I ever say my vacation was 15 days? I said I put in 15 days of annual leave. If you add my regular days off, there are still 6 days left. Weekends are days off anyway.”
“Huh… Hrrk!”
The moment he heard those words, Kuntarian felt his breath stop and all the hope that had sustained him until now snap.
He had barely endured 15 days with the immense mental strength based on the power of the Kal
-Gul… but upon hearing that 6 more days remained, his mind collapsed entirely.
Seeing Kuntarian’s head loll to the side as he was being beaten, Sian tilted his head.
“What the… there’s no way he should be able to faint yet… I’ve been controlling my strikes……?”
But judging from the atmosphere, it was not a trick. He had truly lost his mind.
Sian was dumbfounded by this unexpected situation.
To think he would make such a beginner’s mistake!
Just then, Kuntarian suddenly opened his eyes wide again. He had regained consciousness.
But Sian was not pleased.
Instead, he frowned sharply, glared at Kuntarian, and uttered incomprehensible words.
“…
Who are you? Where did that half-wit from earlier go?”
Hearing Sian’s incomprehensible words, Kuntarian did not panic and looked into Sian’s eyes.
It was not the eyes from earlier, swirling with a murky aura; an extremely refined energy now flowed proudly within Kuntarian’s pupils.
A warrior of the Kal
-Gul.
He had no name.
A name was something arbitrarily attached so that individuals who could not perceive one another could distinguish each other.
For them, whose entire race was linked from birth and who could sense and distinguish each other, names had no value whatsoever.
With his last memory being the experience of being surrounded and dying during the war with humans, and with no memories after that, he felt himself awaken and instantly sensed sensation returning to his entire body.
Then he focused his mind to grasp the situation around him.
Judging by the situation, it seemed the side effect of the
Because the side effect known as
The subject of the rite ate the heart, which was the source of the target’s power, and pushed the cherished weapon, which was the source of the soul, into the heart.
Once that happened, the subject could obtain all of the target’s power and experience. Through this method, they had ceaselessly inherited power.
However, during the ‘Rite of Succession,’ there was a side effect that occurred occasionally—very occasionally.
If the subject of the rite received a ‘powerful shock enough to shake the soul,’ then the consciousness and soul of the target within would push out the subject’s consciousness and soul and take their place.
Then the previous recipient would borrow the body of the ritual’s target and be revived.
This side effect was called
From the target’s point of view, it was an extremely undesirable side effect, but there had been almost no cases of
Given the traits of the Kal-Gul race, even the warrior class possessed souls of indescribable solidity.
Simply completing the succession ritual granted the target incomparably mighty power and mental strength.
To shake such a soul, the shock would have to be truly intense and sustained. And to receive a shock great enough to shake the soul, the body would usually shatter first, which was why
“…
Who are you? Where did that half-wit from earlier go?”
The man before him, speaking to him, was likely the one who had succeeded in the ritual.
Because he had absorbed all the memories of the ritual’s target, he could understand him.
Having quickly grasped the situation through the target’s memories, he opened his mouth.
“That… that… one will no longer… come out. His consciousness can never return.”
At first his speech was unnatural, but his pronunciation gradually became smoother, and before long he was speaking the language of the Kingdom of Tian fluently.
Sian realized that his words were not a lie.
His appearance, energy, and aura were no different from Kuntarian’s a moment ago, but his very
The half-wit from earlier had vanished, and something exceedingly refined was coiled up inside him.
The one Sian had wanted to vent his anger on was that fellow called Kuntarian, not this sort of
“Ah… damn it… hah… haaa…….”
Sian, who had meant to beat him for six more days but had ended up letting him slip away, let out a deep sigh of regret.
Then he began trudging toward the capital.
His business had been with the half-wit, not with a being like that.
The one inside Kuntarian watched him intently.
After a while,
Sian sensed that the new-version Kuntarian was following him, but decided not to care and kept walking.
☆ ☆ ☆
Seeing Sian return, Sellin forced herself to keep a calm expression and spoke to him.
“Oh! Sian! You’re back. Haha, what happened all this time—! Hey, what’s that behind you?”
As she was speaking to Sian, Sellin saw Kuntarian following behind him and asked again with a distorted face.
“Mm… It’s kind of complicated to explain… but this person isn’t Kuntarian anymore.”
“Huh? What the hell are you talking about?”
A face that handsome couldn’t possibly be common, and above all, there was no way she could fail to remember the guy who had chased her around for a month.
Sellin simply could not understand what on earth Sian was talking about.
“Hm… well, you see…….”
Sian was frustrated too. Kuntarian had gone “ugh” and disappeared, and then some other being had appeared with a snap—what was he supposed to do about that?
“I shall explain.”
As Sian stammered, Kuntarian, who had been behind him, stepped forward.
Sellin frowned when Kuntarian approached, but soon noticed that something was different.
His aura was similar, but the atmosphere around him was different. She couldn’t say exactly how.
Deciding for the moment that something had indeed happened, Sellin listened to Kuntarian.
“Um… so… you’re saying you were trapped inside the sword that the guy named Kuntarian won this time, and then you came out? And the guy named Kuntarian no longer exists in this world?”
“That is so.”
“Ha…….”
It was hard to believe, but hard not to believe as well. His atmosphere and feel were different.
The sense of a cocky brat had completely vanished, and she felt as though she were facing a grave and dignified warrior.
“Then… what should we call you?”
“Mm… simply call me ‘Kalragul.’”
Because there was no need for “him” inside Kuntarian to explain every detail, he mixed in lies and embellished the story.
As for his name, he suitably changed the name of his own race into the imperial language used here and created one.
“…
By the way, why do you keep speaking so casually?”
Even if his feel had changed, hearing him speak informally with the face of the obnoxious Kuntarian irritated Sellin, and she blurted it out.
“Mm? What is speaking casually? In this one’s memories, only this manner of speech exists.”
“…….”
It seemed Kuntarian had been a fellow beyond even her imagination.
To think the very concept of polite speech wasn’t in his head!
Speaking informally back felt somewhat uncomfortable, and Sellin had no confidence in teaching him polite speech from the beginning, so she decided to simply leave things as they were.
“Well… fine. Leaving that aside… what are you going to do now?”
“Mm… I came because I do not know that either. I still do not know what I should do.”
If everything up to now had been an embellished account, that last line was sincere.
Now become Kalragul, he was in a state where he could not decide what he should do with his life from here on.
That was also why he had followed Sian. Since he did not know what he should do right away, he had simply done as his instincts told him.
Back when he had lived as part of his former race, he had never needed to worry about such things.
The collective intelligence had told him what he ought to do. He had only needed to act as part of it.
But perhaps because he had undergone
Nor did he particularly feel any need for revenge. These people were not the empire, and his race had simply been weeded out.
Sellin studied Kalragul closely, then spoke.
“For now, let’s go meet His Majesty the King. This doesn’t seem like a problem we can handle at our level.”
Sian thought Sellin’s judgment was correct.
Sellin might not have sensed that Kuntarian had become far stronger, but even the
If so, she must have judged that it would be better to take him to His Majesty the King and report the matter.
“Mm… that would be best. I leave it to you.”
After speaking, Kalragul and Sellin began walking toward the royal palace.
Sian wondered whether to follow or not, but if that guy happened to cause trouble, the entire royal palace would be smashed to pieces, and if that happened, his older brother inside the palace might get hurt. So he decided to follow and keep watch.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Mm… so that is what happened…….”
When Sellin brought Kuntarian—no, Kalragul—with her, Count Roman, King Narasha, and even Sword Duke Kirain were all gathered in the great hall.
After hearing the circumstances from Sellin, King Narasha fell into thought.
“Huh? He believes it right away?”
Sellin was dumbfounded to see His Majesty the King, the count, and even her grandfather all believing her words and pondering over them.
To be honest, Sellin herself was still half in doubt. The idea that a soul trapped inside a sword could push out its owner and pop out was not something that made sense according to common sense.
However, King Narasha and the two Grand Banders had no choice but to believe it.
They had felt a mighty presence slowly walking toward the royal palace, and all three had gathered to prepare for an emergency.
And when they confirmed the identity of that presence, they doubted their own eyes.
A fellow who had been nothing more than a half-wit had returned in just a few weeks as a Grand Bander more powerful than themselves.
On top of that, they could also feel that something inside Kuntarian had changed completely.
They had no choice but to believe it. Something other than Kuntarian existed inside him.
After pondering for a while, King Narasha opened his mouth.
“First, what should we call you?”
“Simply call me Kalragul.”
“Very well, Kalragul. You said you have nowhere to go?”
“That is so.”
Kalragul spoke informally, but King Narasha did not mind. He was a being fully qualified to do so.
“If that is the case, how about working for Tian while you search for what you ought to do? If you decide to leave, I will make sure you can leave at any time. And I promise you all manner of support.”
“Hm…….”
Kalragul fell into thought. For now, it seemed like a decent choice.
He had no particular task to do, and above all, there was a being here who currently drew his interest.
The one who had introduced himself as Sian. The one who had given him a new life.
Because he wanted to observe that being a little more, Kalragul decided to accept the proposal.
“Very well. I shall accept.”
“Good. The position to be given to you is… command of
“Hm… and the terms?”
“The details will need to be settled, of course… but I will do my utmost to support whatever you desire.”
Since he had nothing to do anyway, and if excessive demands were made he could simply leave, Kalragul thought for a moment, then lightly accepted.
In any case, he would need help to adapt.
When Kalragul accepted for the time being, King Narasha smiled.
If the Royal Guard Knights and other armed groups served as the shield that supported and protected Tian, Dragona served as the spear that resolved sudden and important problems arising in Tian.
Back when the former Seven Kingdoms had been fighting bloody wars against one another, it had been active, but as stability was gradually restored, its necessity diminished, until at some point only the name remained and the armed organization vanished.
It was not in this moment that King Narasha decided to revive Dragona.
Having already received reports over the past few days, King Narasha had been considering reviving Dragona.
The atmosphere in the Kingdom of Usharan was unusual.
According to Tian’s intelligence department, they had detected extremely covert and dangerous movements within Usharan.
Reports were coming in one after another from the intelligence department indicating signs that some major change was about to occur, with Usharan as its starting point.
The existing armed organizations and knight orders all had their own roles and duties, so a new armed organization was needed to be deployed in emergencies, and Dragona was suited to that.
Because Dragona’s nature required it to be deployed in localized wars or dangerous missions, it needed a high level of military power, and he had been troubled because there was no suitable person to appoint as commander.
He himself, Count Roman, and Sword Duke Kirain had to evenly guard the borders with Taran and Karan, as well as the capital. There was no one left over.
And yet, at a time like this, such a powerful being had rolled right in!
King Narasha cried out in delight inwardly. It felt as if the heavens were telling him to create Dragona.
If a Grand Bander became the commander of Dragona, external trust in Dragona would rise greatly, and smooth execution of missions would become possible.
And in the newly formed Dragona, he would assign Rian and Sian, those two.
Keeping Sian tied down in the capital any longer was a waste of manpower. Since the capital was now stabilizing, there was absolutely no reason for such a powerful being to remain there.
According to Count Roman, Sian was deeply worried that his older brother might go somewhere and get beaten up.
Because of that, he would put Rian in Dragona. In order to tie Sian down.
If it was to protect his older brother, even if Sian did not want to, he would have no choice but to carry out missions.
There were more than enough Masters to fill a position like commander of the 3rd Royal Guard Knights, so there was no need for Rian to take it.
Moreover, he did not fully trust
That was why Sian had to join Dragona all the more. If only to subdue that being in an emergency…….
No matter how much that fellow tried to cause trouble, if that child Sian was beside him, he would simply get beaten up and it would end there.
Seeing that Kalragul had accepted his plan, King Narasha was satisfied that the first button had been fastened properly, and after everyone had left, he began issuing various detailed instructions.