Chapter 5

Jin’s third sister, Mary Runcandel, had been given the nineteen-year-old the moniker of Mistral Mary by the world.

In the thousand-year history of the clan, none had failed to become at least a one-star knight by the age of thirteen. A pure-blood Runcandel would reach three-stars by the age of sixteen and five-stars by the time they turned twenty, on average.

Mary was the very opposite of Jin in his previous life.

She exceeded the Runcandel average by some margin. She was able to reach her first star-class at twelve years of age, a feat Jin had only achieved when he was twenty-five, and already attained the status of a five-star knight by the age of sixteen.

Currently, she was a six-star knight.

She already reached a class most people revered before she even turned twenty. To exceed the Runcandel average meant she clearly outclassed the so-called prodigies in other parts of the world.

In the Runcandel family, prodigies were the norm.

Interestingly, she was one of the few people who always showed compassion to Jin in his previous life.

I’m convinced Mary is certainly not right in the head, but it indeed is a great gift. I was starting to get frustrated about my growth too.

A month passed since Ciaron departed from the castle.

For the entirety of the month that followed, the Storm Castle was filled with the smell of the phoenix heart being boiled down to a broth. In fact, the characteristic heat emitting from the phoenix heart kept an entire hallway at a steamy temperature.

Mary acted like it was but a trivial gift she had left him.

However, phoenix hearts were known to be elixirs of incredible medicinal power, which even kings had a hard time procuring.

The texture of the meat was softer than veal. Its fragrance was richer than truffles. And its medicinal properties were beyond comparison to most elixirs.

“Young master, in about two hours, you’ll finally get to taste the gift lady Mary gave you. You must’ve waited long for this day. Congratulations.”

Jin nodded with a twinkle in his eye. He’d had to wait an entire month for Mary’s gift to be fully prepared, and to achieve that end, Gilly barely got any decent sleep for the same duration.

But Gilly was only too happy to oblige. What was good for Jin was good for her as well. The growth and success of the Runcandel child given to their care directly affected the future of the nannies.

In that sense, Jin carried a sense of guilt toward Gilly. After Jin was banished from the clan in his past life, Gilly’s life was torn down in ways words could barely describe.

“You may not be aware of it, young master, but phoenix hearts are particularly good elixirs for growing children. One has to eat it at a young age for it to raise their tolerance to fire. Lady Mary has given you a truly precious gift.”

“Really?”

His knowledge on the matter was at least a thousand-fold more detailed than hers, but he asked anyway.

He used to study the properties of the phoenix heart countless times while learning magic.

Although I studied it for the sake of understanding the traits of a phoenix, not to eat one for myself, of course.

It wasn’t anything special, as every sorcerer dreamt of summoning a phoenix. Jin died right before becoming a six-star sorcerer, by which point he could’ve summoned a phoenix.

“Certainly! I did shut your eyes, young master, as it was drenched in blood, but it’s so precious that even the imperial family of the Vimenth Empire have a hard time...”

As Gilly droned on, Jin’s mind wandered, thinking about phoenixes.

It was the excitement upon realizing he might be able to summon one in this life. Learning magic was strictly forbidden in the Runcandels, but Jin had no intention of giving up magic.

He just had to make sure he didn’t get caught—or become strong enough to defy being killed even if he did get caught. Or have enough influence or a justifiable reason for doing so.

Sword and Magic.

Becoming a spellsword would bring out the best of both principles, and he would gladly take the risk to achieve that.

I would have never let my enemies prey on my phoenix.

It was widely known that phoenixes were immortal creatures. They resurrected themselves in nature after a century, even if they were killed and lost their heart in the process.

But what was the point? The summoner of the phoenix would be long gone after a century.

“Make sure to tell lady Mary a thank you next time you see her.”

“Yes, I won’t forget.”

The phoenix heart was now ready to eat. A thick, savory smell filled the entire castle.

“I’ll go and prepare your meal, so please come down shortly, young master!”

Gilly left the room with a skip in her steps, humming a tune to herself. Jin let out a low sigh of relief as she left.

Meanwhile, the Tona twins were loitering about. They’d been at his door trying to get his attention ever since Gilly left the room.

Jin let out a small laugh at the sight of his elder brothers desperately hoping to share the spoils.

Oh, look at these cute little rascals...

He motioned with his finger for them to enter, and the twins hurriedly came into the room.

“So why are you loitering about?”

He obviously knew it was about the phoenix heart, but he asked them anyway in a stinging tone. The twins fidgeted like little pups in need of a toilet.

They meant to ask him about sharing the phoenix heart, but they were too afraid. The reprimand they got from their father after getting beaten up by Jin had turned into a traumatic experience.

This amused Jin. The twins always took anything Jin owned in his past life. It was unimaginable to think they’d ever fumble about before him.

It was probably Emma who made them ask and convince me so they could eat the phoenix heart too, somehow.

Emma Neiltro was a nanny to the Runcandels, just like Gilly. She’d been put in charge of the Tona twins. Emma lived a fancy life thanks to the success of the Tona twins in his previous life, unlike Gilly, who met a tragic end.

The twins never forgot to come back to thank Emma. They had turned into murdering maniacs, mostly due to her crafty ways.

Gilly was the type of nanny who would raise a child with love and affection, while Emma, on the other hand, stuck to her carrot and stick approach. She never bothered emphasizing things such as virtue, nor selflessness.

Although, perhaps, such traits weren’t necessary for a Runcandel anyway.

Emma certainly played a major role in the character formation of the Tona twins.

“It’s about the phoenix...” one twin said.

“I mean... Isn’t it quite big... To eat it all by yourself?” the other said.

“What was it? I can’t hear you,” Jin responded

“We’re talking about the phoenix heart soup. Do you think you could spare us a dish? Emma will punish us if you say no.”

“Please, Jin.”

They seemed to fear Emma more than they feared Jin, even after what happened.

Jin scoffed. “No.”

“Oh, please.”

“Please!”

The twins were on the verge of tears. Not that Jin felt any sympathy for them.

He knew just how well they had been conditioned for the carrot and stick approach, which meant he could leverage the soup to task them with a laborious job.

“Since you ask so eagerly, you leave me no choice. But there’s a condition.”

“Sure, what is it? Tell us.”

“Do you remember the grave I made back then?”

Their faces turned ghastly pale at the mention of the word, grave, as they recalled how they were beaten to a pulp and discarded there on that stormy day.

“If you look carefully, there’s a small hole in the ground behind the grave.”

“A hole?”

“Yes. There’s a small one there. I want you to dig the hole deeper. Keep digging through the night and you don’t get to rest until you’re done.”

Simply put, Jin was making his nine-year-old brothers to toil for no apparent purpose.

“Why would you want to dig a hole?”

“I wanted to bury the bird that you two killed in a deeper resting place.”

The twins wobbled their legs at the sound of his words.

However, if they could get a piece of the phoenix heart from their fierce brother just with this simple request, they couldn’t ask for more.

“How deep do we have to dig?”

“I thought I told you to keep digging through the night without stopping.”

“Okay. But you promise to share the phoenix heart with us if we dig like you ask, right?”

“Of course. But you’d better dig diligently, because if I don’t like how deep it is, this deal is off. By the way, there are plenty of shovels in the dungeons, so take those.”

“Okay!”

“I’m sure you understand you have to do it yourselves without ordering others to do it for you, right?”

The twins nodded and set off to shovel the ground immediately.

# # #

Once the twins were off to begin their grueling task, Jin sat on the table and dined on his phoenix heart soup.

“Young master, does it taste that good?” Gilly asked, for she could see Jin was extremely happy. She apparently thought it was the food that had pleased him.

“Yes, it’s really good.”

“There’s enough for you to eat for three days, so let me know if you need more.”

He could almost feel every spoonful of the soup strengthening his bones and muscles. If he kept eating it for three days straight, he would also be able to grow a tolerance and an affinity to fire.

But that wasn’t the only reason that made Jin smile.

In a few days, I’ll finally get my hands on the secret tomes...

The Tona twins fervently dug the hole.

They were nine years old, but being pure-blood Runcandels, their physique and stamina were well beyond that of their peers.

Such was the physique the Runcandels were blessed with.

If they commanded their bodies to shovel through the night, they would dig deep enough to reach the base wall through the hole.

Although they would have no idea whether it was a wall or just a boulder.

The secret underground dungeons of the Storm Castle hid some traces of the Runcandel clan’s dark deeds.

The tomes of the other clans were held there. These were the secret tomes Runcandel had taken from the clans they had conquered or extinguished altogether.

For apparent reasons, entering the dungeon involved more than simply getting the twins to dig a hole to the wall. One had to get past two secret guard mechanisms to enter the dungeon.

Needless to say, Jin already knew how to disable them for though he was treated like he was no better than a servant, he did manage to scurry and find ways to survive within the clan for 25 years.

I should spend my time studying the tomes until the day I leave this castle.

Jin cleaned out two bowls of soup.

“Gilly.”

“Yes, young master.”

“Give a small amount of soup to the Tona twins in the evening.”

“Oh, I see. How much shall I give them?”

“A spoonful each.”

“Just a single spoon? You might as well just have everything for yourself.”

“I have a promise to keep. But if they ever demand more, do tell them I’ll teach them who to be afraid of: Emma or me.”

Gilly managed an awkward smile and bowed her head.

Master Jin. Has he become influenced by his ruthless family already? He’s too young for that, she thought.

Just as her smile turned from awkwardness to bitterness, Jin buried himself in Gilly’s arms.

“My sister Mary gave it to me as a present, and you had to watch the oven for an entire month, all for my sake. I don’t want to share it with those fools.”

“Young master...”

# # #

Thup. Thup.

The twins’ shovels never ceased for a second, even in the stormy weather. It was only by midnight that their shoveling came to a halt. They had hit the wall.

“A single spoonful!?”

“Just a single spoonful? That’s ridiculous. We shoveled all day!”

The twins were infuriated to find out that the promise held no mention of quantity, so there was nothing they could do about it.

Jin glared at them, demanding that they be grateful for what they were given.

People would jump at the opportunity from all corners of the world if one could earn a spoonful of phoenix heart soup for a single day’s worth of digging, you little brats.

Therefore, the twins should’ve been grateful for getting that spoonful at all, Jin thought to himself.