Chapter 2 : Regression(1)

..A dream?

Or is it just a simple illusion?

I simply, simply couldn’t believe it.

Someone was flickering before my eyes.

A face I thought I would never see again.

“…Ian?”

“Brother! Are you alright?”

Ron Ian Lepent.

The little brother who willingly offered himself as bait for me, the face I longed to see but never could again.

My brother, whom I felt sorry for and grateful to.

“Brother”

“Bro…Brother?”

Without realizing it, Glenn hugged his younger brother.

He still couldn’t believe it.

Is this really reality?

Or did I die and meet them in heaven?

Crash!

“Glenn! Glenn, are you alright?!”

With a loud noise, the door burst open and someone rushed in.

His pupils widened, and longing surged over him like a wave, drenching him in emotion.

He stared at the person as if possessed.

“…Mother?”

Ariane Marie Lepent.

The one who always believed in me, even when I was a troublemaker.

The person I regretted not being able to protect the most.

Glenn barely managed to move his trembling steps and embraced her tightly.

Strangely, he couldn’t muster much strength, but it didn’t matter.

Now, whether this was a dream or not didn’t matter anymore.

Feeling as though something was about to spill out, he bit his lip to hold it back.

“…Mom.”

But it didn’t last long.

Like a dam bursting, the feelings he had held back came pouring out.

Moisture welled up, and his vision blurred.

“…Yes, Mother is here.”

Marie was slightly surprised to see this side of her son for the first time.

But she didn’t ask anything, and Glenn cried in her arms like a little child.

“ugh”

Oh Goddess, if this is a dream, please don’t let me wake up.

Please, I beg you.

***

“Is that Glenn crying over there?”

“Yes, Duke.”

Ron Grand Lepent.

The eyes of Duke Lepent, Glenn’s father, widened.

For a man usually so stern, it was a rare sight.

He was shocked to hear that his eldest son, who had been in a coma for nearly a month, had finally woken up.

And seeing him now, hugging his mother in the hallway and crying like a child, was simply astonishing.

That prideful, unruly boy?

“Tch, what’s a grown man doing clinging to his mother in broad daylight…”

“I’ve never seen the young master act like this before, either.”

The head butler standing beside him also looked surprised.

The young master, who always wore a scowl and had an extremely arrogant personality.

He would never have shown such a shameful side, even on purpose.

“Strange. Is it because he nearly died and came back?”

Returning to his usual expression, the duke turned away without hesitation.

“Duke, still, he is your eldest son—wouldn’t it be good to at least show your face, even for a moment?”

“Hah, do you know how much that eldest son has troubled me? Hmph, and seeing him bawling like that, I can tell he’s healthy. No need to worry about some ‘eldest son’s disease’. Let’s go.”

“Understood.”

The head butler nodded once and followed behind.

He didn’t bother to mention that the duke’s voice was more emotional than usual.

***

The next day.

Glenn could finally accept it.

“I’ve come back.”

He didn’t know why. Of course, he didn’t know the cause.

But it was certain.

He had returned to the past.

To the time more than twenty years ago, when he was eighteen.

He heard that he had been unconscious for almost a month.

In his previous life, he had also suffered from the so-called ‘eldest son’s disease.’

The only difference was the duration, perhaps?

“Back then… I remember it lasting three or four days.”

He cried so much, even surprising himself, and eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.

It was the first peaceful sleep without nightmares in a long time.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt relieved that he wasn’t Riclang.

He was grateful that it hadn’t just ended as a vivid dream.

“I will never… repeat it again.”

Sitting on his bed, he looked down at his unfamiliar arms.

Then, slowly raising them, he clenched his fists tightly.

His ruined House, his dead family, his destroyed homeland.

This time, he would protect them all.

He would never repeat the same mistakes as before.

For the next two years.

If his memories were correct, when he turned twenty, the great Orc invasion would begin.

Of course, stopping those monsters alone wouldn’t solve everything.

If Orcs were the arch-enemies of the Northern Region, then the Empire was the true enemy.

Before the Orc invasion, he had to escape the shadow of the Empire.

And for that, he needed to clean out the trash within the Duchy itself.

It was a daunting task.

But he could not give up.

Never.

In this life, he would protect them all.

If necessary, he would even sell his soul to the devil.

“Absolutely.”

Glenn’s mind began to race at full speed.

At the same time, he picked up a quill and paper from beside his bed.

To protect them, he needed a thorough plan.

He had learned the hard way in his previous life that blind vengeance and desire alone would solve nothing.

As he wrote down everything he recalled from his previous life, the paper soon filled up.

***

Four days later, before the dawn mist had even lifted.

The early spring dawn was still quite chilly.

But in one corner of the Lion Knights’ training ground, the heat was rising.

“Huff… huff…”

Glenn wiped the sweat from his brow and glanced around for a moment.

Familiar training clothes, the beloved sight of the training grounds.

It was nothing special—just a dirt ground with patches of grass here and there and trees growing at random.

But how he had missed this ordinary scene.

Hoo…

After a brief rest, he gripped his sword again.

While his body swung at the training dummy, his mind organized his thoughts.

‘My condition is definitely good.’

In his previous life, ruined by drugs and alcohol, his body had been pushed to its limits.

Compared to that, his current body was in such good condition that it was incomparable.

It truly felt like being reborn.

And above all, the thing that made him happiest—

“Mana gathers properly.”

In his previous life, he had been gravely wounded while escaping from the Northern Region.

Because of that, his body had been unable to gather more than a certain amount of Mana.

He had spent a fortune in Ricklan to learn Blood Magic to compensate for this.

‘Blood Magic… It’s not something I can learn right away.’

Even now, with Mana gathering properly, he planned to learn Blood Magic someday.

Because it was the surest way to grow stronger.

Blood Magic was a form of Magic that controlled blood and wielded the power of blood.

It was developed to deal with the night nobles, Vampires, who appeared in the Southern Region.

But the problem was, to start learning Blood Magic, a Vampire’s Heart was required.

‘How am I supposed to get a Vampire’s Heart in the Northern Region?’

Those monsters only appeared in certain parts of the Southern Region—how could he find one in the North?

Actually, even without a Vampire’s Heart, there was a way to take special potions regularly.

He even remembered the recipe, but the ingredients were just as hard to find.

Above all, he wasn’t sure if his current body could handle it.

Because it wasn’t an ordinary potion, but one that came with physical side effects.

In short, Blood Magic was still a distant goal.

‘For now, I need to focus on recovery, swordsmanship, and Mana training.’

The truth was, Glenn still needed to recover.

He had been lying unconscious for a whole month, so it was only natural.

The doctor had said as much, but Glenn knew his own body best.

Rather than just lying in bed, it was much better to swing his sword like this.

Of course, if his mother found out, she would scold him, but that couldn’t be helped.

“Good morning, Brother.”

“…Ian.”

He turned at the slightly awkward voice.

Ian was looking at him with a slightly nervous expression.

Judging by his training clothes and the wooden sword he held, he must have come to train.

Unlike Glenn, his younger brother had always been diligent.

“Training this early in the morning?”

He couldn’t help but feel a little curious.

“…Yes, I was going to, but I’ll do it later.”

“Hm? Why the sudden change?”

“Well, Brother, you told me not to come to the training ground at this time before…”

“What? Did I say that?”

Glenn’s voice naturally grew softer at the unexpected answer.

“Ah, no! I’m sorry! Brother, you never said such a thing. I—it’s just that I changed my mind! I’m sorry!”

Ian quickly bowed his head, looking frightened.

Seeing his brother like that, Glenn wore a blank expression.

Ah, I really was a troublemaker back then.

“To think it was this bad…”

Covering his face with one hand, he recalled old memories.

***

“Ian, are you saying a brat like you wants to use the training ground with me?”

“B-Brother, it’s not that…”

“A talentless fool like you, why can’t you just give up already!”

“But I—”

“I don’t want to hear it. Get out of my sight right now!”

***

…Yes, as a child, he truly hated his younger brother.

If there was a reason, it was simple.

He hated the fact that Ian attracted more attention than he did.

Why was a less talented boy more popular than me?

Why did everyone focus on him instead of me?

Petty, childish jealousy and envy.

The ugly inferiority complex hidden beneath it all.

Blinded by these feelings, he hated his brother.

He would openly humiliate him and pick fights over nothing.

In truth, the reason Ian was more noticed was simple.

Ian was so diligent that he made up for the difference in talent.

Meanwhile, Glenn only relied on his own talent and never truly worked hard.

It was truly a shameful past.

“Yeah, I need to fix this first.”

Steadying his burning face, Glenn spoke to his still-bowed brother.

“Ian, raise your head.”

“A-Are you forgiving me, Brother?”

Hoo…

Sigh.

After a brief sigh, Glenn bit his lip slightly.

“…Uh, well… Let’s walk together for a bit.”

“…Eh? Ah, yes.”

And so the two of them walked aimlessly toward the outskirts of the training ground.

Glenn, walking ahead, bit his lip or sighed, while Ian followed behind with a worried look.

Before long, Glenn stopped as the ground grew cold beneath his feet.

Brother…

He wanted to apologize.

He wanted to be honest and ask for forgiveness.

But the words wouldn’t come out as easily as he thought.

Was apologizing always this difficult? What if he doesn’t forgive me?

Come to think of it, even in Riclang, he’d never sincerely apologized to anyone.

As he hesitated, he glanced back at his little brother’s face.

Blue eyes, short brown hair, still with a round face not yet rid of baby fat.

He had tormented this child for such a trivial reason,

Yet in his past life, Ian had willingly offered himself as bait to save him.

Why did I hate this little boy so much?

Why did I commit so many sins against this pure, kind child?

Glenn slowly bowed his waist.

“…I’m sorry for everything, Ian.”

“B-Brother!”

“I really am a terrible person. I was jealous that you got more attention than me. I hated you because I didn’t want to admit my little brother was better than me. Those were ugly, disgraceful actions. I hated you to hide my own inferiority.”

“What are you—”

“I won’t ask you to forgive me just because I apologized once. But I want to make it clear. I’m truly sorry, and I want to apologize to you. Even if it takes my whole life, I want to earn your forgiveness.”

“P-Please raise your head, Brother.”

Ian looked up at him with teary eyes.

“You have always been my proud brother.”

Normally, Ian would have left as soon as he saw Glenn from a distance.

But after seeing how Glenn had treated him since waking up from his sickbed, he wondered if something had changed.

That’s why, today, he had gathered the courage to greet him.

He was truly glad.

Ian thought so.

“You’ll forgive me?”

“Of course. No, actually, I should be the one apologizing.”

“You? What did you ever do wrong to me?”

“Well…I’m not sure, but I always thought I must have upset you, since you were always angry with me…”

“You really are consistent.”

Somehow, Glenn felt as if a weight had been lifted from his heart.

What a good kid.

After a brief moment of clearing up misunderstandings, the two returned to the training ground.

“How’s your sword training going? Want to spar sometime?”

“I’d love to!”

Waiting for them was the head butler, with a rather awkward expression.

“Good morning, young masters.”

“Ah, head butler. What brings you to the training ground?”

The head butler of House Lepent, Viscount Lamial Nez.

A noble who had served since the previous duke, and his father’s right hand.

He certainly didn’t fit in with this place.

“I came looking for Young Master Glenn. But you two seem to be getting along well?”

“Well, we are brothers. Anyway, you were looking for me?”

The head butler, still wearing an awkward expression, nodded.

…Since when were those two brothers so close?

“The Duke wishes to see you, Young Master.”