Chapter 4

“I’m not sure about it myself,” Jin replied plainly.

“You’re not sure?”

Ciaron raised his head. He had not expected to hear that his youngest son didn’t understand it either.

The boy had answered everything else with such cleverness.

“No, father. This power is not an aura, so I do not know what to call it.”

However, this answer had been planned out, just as he had intentionally feigned the childlike innocence earlier.

Fwoosh!

A flaming sound arose, and a dark energy formed over Jin’s palms. This was the power he had used to beat the Tona twins into pulp.

This was the magical power he attained through entering a contract with Solderet, the god of shadows. To his father, he claimed that he was unaware, but in fact, Jin knew more about this power than almost anyone else.

And he was certain that his father did, as well.

“If it’s alright with you, could you name it for me, father?” Jin asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Ciaron dropped his jaw in surprise for the first time since he became a demigod and a divine knight, and muttered to himself. Oh, exalted Solderet...

Ciaron gulped as he stared at his son’s hands.

Do you mean to say this child is the reincarnation of our forefather? Such reflective inquiries raced through Ciaron’s mind.

Solderet. The god of shadows. A being highly exalted by every sorcerer in the world.

# # #

But Ciaron and Jin were aware of the truth.

Solderet was closer to being the god of swords more than he was a god of magic. Furthermore, Solderet was the god who had watched over the Runcandels by entering a contract with their first patriarch.

I thought he had abandoned the Runcandels upon the death of our forefather. It would seem that he has taken an interest in my youngest child.

Would this be the catalyst that signaled the resurgence and prosperity of the Runcandel clan?

Or was this merely the whim of a god who had once abandoned the clan? Ciaron lost himself in thought as he watched the shadow that loomed over his youngest son’s tiny hands.

It is certain that Jin has not entered into contract with him yet, for if this power was brought forth by the contract, he would certainly know of it.

Jin could clearly tell what his father was thinking about.

In fact, it made him nervous that everything was going too perfectly. He expected some troubles from his father’s suspicions, but certainly, being seven years old made it much easier to get away with a lie.

“My dear youngest child.” Ciaron broke his silence.

“Yes, father?”

“That is a power held by a god named Solderet. It is not something I am entitled to name. He is one of the ancient secrets of our clan.”

“Solderet...”

“He is the one who brings shadows to the world. Clever as you are, you are too young to understand it yet.”

“Is he...”

Ciaron nodded when Jin hesitated to ask.

“The god named Solderet, is he stronger than you, father?”

“Hahaha.” Ciaron let out a weak laughter at the bold question. There were barely any occasions that had managed to make him laugh since he became a demigod.

The question stirred the placid soul hardened by years of training and meditation.

“Well. I cannot say, as it had never occurred to me that I should dare challenge a god.”

A truly proud answer bordering arrogance—to say one does not know because they haven’t tried.

However, this answer came from no other than Ciaron Runcandel.

Jin trembled at his father’s answer.

He expected nothing less from the most powerful man in the world.

Not even Keliac Zeifl, the patriarch of the Zeifl clan, could contest this man.

Ciaron smiled wide.

“My dear youngest child, I am glad I came to see you today. Your innocent question ignited yet another cause for contemplation in my heart. I thank you. Come closer.”

Could one win against a god? Ciaron said he considered it a cause for contemplation.

When Jin came closer, Ciaron patted his head. Jin still maintained the bulbs of energy on his palms, even until this moment.

“What do you wish to use this power for?”

“I would like to use it for the clan, father.”

I want to use it for myself.

But there was no need for such honesty. All that his family had given him in his past life was scorn and disdain.

He’d never felt the warmth of inclusion in the family beyond the age of seven, therefore, there was no will left in Jin to sacrifice himself for the family.

Unless he became a patriarch himself one day, rising beyond all his monstrous siblings.

“Bwahahaha!” Ciaron suddenly exploded into laughter. His booming voice shook the entire castle.

Ciaron’s other children—who had been waiting outside—all jumped to their feet, for they had not heard their father laugh so openly in years.

After much laughter, Ciaron withdrew his smile and brought his face closer to Jin.

“That is an interesting lie. You can be more honest with your daddy, you know?”

This was something Jin hadn’t anticipated, but he collected himself from his surprise and answered.

“For myself.” He paused. “I would like to use the power for myself.”

“Good. You used the power to subdue your brothers and left them in the pouring rain. It would be a lie to say you wished to use it for the clan. I shall be watching you from now on.”

Ciaron walked past Jin and out of the central hall. For quite some time after the sounds of his father’s footsteps disappeared, Jin stood there, feeling cold sweat run down his back.

Jin let out a satisfied sigh of relief as he pulled the sweat-drenched shirt off his back. Not in all 28 years of his past life had he ever confronted his father as boldly as he had done today.

Good. I did it!

Now that the relief had come and gone, his heart was beating faster than ever.

The conversation they had today granted Jin the freedom to use Solderet’s powers, and even planted a seed of hope in his father’s heart.

I died not long after entering the contract in my past life, and I’ve never imagined my father having hopes about me, not in my wildest dreams.

He hadn’t had the freedom to use Solderet’s powers as he liked then, even after he was banished from the clan.

Runcandels saw to it that outcasts never gained any power of any kind.

That had been the reason why Jin was training in secret in the Arkhin kingdom. That kingdom was under the Luthero Magic Federation at the influence of the Zeifl clan, and Jin was registered as a sorcerer at the time.

The ancient secrets of the clan. The contract between Solderet and the First Patriarch.

He had known about that, even in his previous life. His father described it merely as an ancient secret, but Jin knew far more details than his father did.

This was no surprise, as Jin heard the story from Solderet himself after entering the contract. Solderet used to talk with Jin as one would with a friend, for some time following the contract.

But he never did tell me why he left the Runcandels to become the god revered by sorcerers, when he was actually a god of swords. Nor did he intervene when I was dying either.

And Solderet remained silent ever since Jin was brought to life a second time.

Jin speculated that his rebirth was caused by Solderet’s powers, but there was no way to confirm the notion.

# # #

He was a year old when he realized that he still retained the power gained from the contract.

It happened right after he picked Balisada in the rite of choice.

That night, he was struck by the curse of a nine-star warlock, The Blade’s Delusion, while he lay in his cradle. The same incident from his past life was recurring in the present life.

“Jin, you seem to have incurred envy in another’s heart when you were little. You have been unable to tap into your potential all this time due to a trivial curse. But perhaps that was precisely why I was drawn to you.”

Those were the words Solderet had told Jin right after the contract.

He recalled those words as he carefully watched the crimson web of the curse creep slowly up his cradle. His mind was alert, but there was no way for his one-year-old body to resist the curse.

While he was busy lamenting this infantile blob of a body, he was subjected to a nightmarish state wherein he could neither resist nor call for help even as he saw the curse coming toward him.

That’s when Solderet’s power unleashed itself

The curse’s web could not touch his body and was sucked into his shadow.

Curses had no effect on anyone who entered into a contract with Solderet. To borrow from his magic teacher’s words from his past life, it was quite the cheat.

You just wait until I grow up. I swear to find the one who tried to curse me, and kill him myself.

Jin had in him the power to control shadows, the magical knowledge accumulated over his past life, and the mastery of the sword he gained later in life.

He was set for an entirely different future from the time the curse robbed him of his talent, which led to his banishment.

“Young master.”

“Yes, Gilly.” He turned around to see Gilly standing by the entrance to the central hall.

“The Patriarch will now be returning to his post. You should bid him farewell.”

“Yes, okay.”

“By the way... Are you alright?” Gilly asked with a concerned look on her face.

She had seen the Tona twins returning to their rooms pale with horror before she came to Jin.

“I am fine. Will my elder brothers and sisters be leaving as well?”

“Yes, since they have only come to assist the Patriarch. But one more thing, Lady Mary has left you a present, young master.”

“I shall open my sister’s gift later. Let us go and see my father off.”

The Runcandel flag bearers and 200-strong guardian knights had come to the castle.

Now, they were leaving the castle, along with Ciaron. Once they all left, the castle would once again be empty and dull, and Jin would be left to spend solitary time with himself without being bothered by the Tona twins.

Solitary and secret time for his training.

“Loyalty to the Clan!”

“Loyalty to the Clan!”

The guardian knights raised their swords in salute in honor of Ciaron, now departing from the Storm Castle. Jin and the Tona twins stood alongside them and bowed their heads.

The next time I see my father, I suppose I’ll be at the main castle, not here at the Storm Castle.

Ciaron set his course back to the Dark Sea.

This would leave the people who were looking forward to bloodshed between the Runcandel and Zeifl clans in disappointment. Likewise, the Runcandel flag bearers and the guardian knights returned to their posts.

Ciaron didn’t return to the area until the day Jin left the castle. Instead, Kahn the guardian knight, reported to the Dark Sea to update on Jin’s condition from time to time.

My elder sister Mary isn’t sane either. Come on, I’m just seven years old. Hahaha. I can’t believe she gave me such a thing!

Jin kept these thoughts to himself as he unwrapped the gift his third sister, Mary, had given him. Upon seeing the present being unwrapped, Gilly’s face turned pale in horror, and she scrambled to cover Jin’s eyes.

The present Mary had left him was the heart of a summoned creature from the Zeifl clan that she had killed in the Southern continent.

The heart of a phoenix. A rare gift he never received in his past life.

She meant it as a well wish for him — to grow up healthy by concocting it into a soup.

# # #