“Sniff, sniff…”
A moonless, pitch-dark night.
In the secluded hills, where not a single human shadow could be seen, the sound of crying echoed, unbearably sorrowful.
“Tch, can’t you hold it properly?”
At the sound of a boy’s voice, not yet fully through his voice change, the two thugs, whose eyes were swollen from crying, recoiled as if they’d heard the voice of a demon lord, raising both hands in surrender.
“Yes, y-yes!”
Lucas sat astride a rock in front of the men, holding his forehead as if in pain.
Sniff sniff.
Even though he had already beaten them thoroughly, the faint scent of dirt lingering on his palm and clothes kept teasing his nose.
‘…Should I have hit them a bit more?’
Lucas briefly clenched his fists, glaring at the thugs, then let his tension melt away with a sigh.
There was no point in venting on such petty criminals right now.
“Phew… Alright, let’s calmly go over this one more time.”
His hands, delicate and fair, unfamiliar with hardship, still felt strange in his eyes.
Lucas’ original hands—hardened from countless battles alongside Geumcheon Chain, soaked in blood and life—were as solid as steel.
So, these soft, baby-like hands that couldn’t even crush a single flower naturally felt awkward.
‘Huh, I can’t believe my own eyes.’
Even watching his hands move on their own accord, he couldn’t grasp reality.
When a person dies, that’s the end.
Since the creation of the Middle World, since the rise of the Aghena continent, death had always been an unchanging truth.
Yet he hadn’t died and returned.
Not only was he reincarnated, but his consciousness had awakened in someone else’s body.
If such a thing were possible, Lucas would not still be alive.
After all, he had been one of the most hated men in the continent.
‘…Let’s not think about how this happened just yet.’
Lucas had been one of the continent’s top experts in ending lives and sending souls to the afterlife, but he had never cared to deeply ponder life and death.
That kind of curiosity could wait until later, for some twisted necromancer obsessed with death.
‘First, I need to accurately identify the original owner of this body.’
At the very least, he needed to know whose household this body belonged to, so he wouldn’t blunder into someone’s home uninvited.
Swish!
Lucas turned his trembling arms toward the sobbing thugs.
“Hic… hic!”
Hiccups burst from the throats of the two men as their eyes met Lucas’.
‘Damn it… what kind of kid’s gaze is this…’
Naturally.
Even though it was the body of a child, the soul within was Lucas—the Overlord of the Aghena continent and tyrant of the Alexandor Empire.
His gaze was far beyond what a pair of lowly thugs could handle.
‘Damn, I thought he was just some rich brat.’
Their job was simple.
They were supposed to find the collapsed Lucas at the designated spot and bury him deep in the hills, unnoticed.
A huge reward had been promised for such a simple task, and they thought they’d hit the jackpot.
But of course, no one gives a high reward for nothing.
‘Damn it, I shouldn’t have been greedy…!’
Blinded by the pile of scrolls, their greed had cost them their cut.
Once Lucas confirmed that the thugs’ hearts were fully broken, he spat out a word.
“Tell me everything you know. Where this is, who I am, what time it is.”
“…Eh?”
The thugs blinked dumbly at Lucas’ question.
Fear notwithstanding, confusion marked their eyes.
Where am I? Who am I?
Typical questions from village fools.
But their doubts didn’t last long.
The fists and feet of the child-like monster crawling from the grave were far too vicious for local thugs to question anything.
‘…Hmm, Ian.’
Lucas rifled through the thugs’ belongings and found his ID, tossing it in the air and catching it repeatedly.
The ID gleamed, elegantly finished with gold, dazzling but not gaudy.
Its impressive appearance alone proved that the original owner of this body was no ordinary civilian.
“Who told you to stop talking?”
The thug who tried to pocket the gold-trimmed ID got another beating, rubbing his swollen eyes before squeaking out an answer.
“Hic! Y-Yes, it’s currently the 273rd year of the continent, and this is the back hill near the Titan territory of the Asran Kingdom.”
Lucas read the surname on the ID while listening.
‘Ian Lichtenauer of the Asran Kingdom…’
As he followed the thug’s explanation, Ian let out a wry laugh.
“You lot can’t read, can you?”
“Wh-How did you…?!”
The thugs’ eyes widened, thinking it must be some kind of mind-reading used by wizards from the East or West.
Of course, it was obvious.
If they weren’t insane, no one in their right mind would dare steal from the Lichtenauer family in Asran Kingdom.
Bravery born of ignorance, nothing more.
The Lichtenauer family—a martial lineage.
Even Lucas, conqueror of the northern continent and tyrant of the Alexandor Empire, had heard of them.
A prestigious family in the only kingdom splitting the southern continent, bordered by the Forbidden Great Forest and the Grand Sea, renowned for martial arts.
The Lichtenauer family’s survival was rumored to prevent the northern Alexandor Empire from invading south, giving a sense of their prestige.
Lucas had never cared about other continents, of course.
Yet, these village thugs had dared to mess with such a family’s heir? Unthinkable, unless their brains were made of spaghetti.
‘They say ignorance is bravery—this is exactly what they meant.’
Once again, Lucas’ mind flashed to Stion Valantie, who had always said similar things.
‘I wonder if he’s doing well…’
Ten years had passed since Lucas’ original body fell in the Kairen Plains.
‘With that cunning, he won’t starve anywhere… Ah.’
Lucas’ curiosity led him to ask the thugs:
“Do you know what happened to the Alexandor Empire in the northern continent?”
He didn’t expect much.
The continent was vast.
No matter the empire’s stature, how could countryside villagers in the southern lands know the northern political situation?
“Alexandor Empire? Uh…”
See, hesitation—typical of someone who knows nothing.
“Never mind, I don’t expect much…”
At that moment, a subordinate nudged the thug.
“You mean, the barbarian state that existed before the founding of the Duper Empire.”
“Ah, that? No wonder the name sounded strange. Why would an old, ruined country—”
“Wait.”
Ian’s eyes gleamed as he listened to the thugs.
“Which was founded, and which fell?”
Crunch, crunch.
As Lucas, now Ian, descended the hill, the thugs’ chatter lingered in his mind.
He had let them go.
He considered punishing them for attempting to bury him, but thanks to them, he now knew the current state of the continent.
‘Well, I beat them up enough.’
That was sufficient recompense for their crime.
Meanwhile…
“The Duper Empire…”
The Duper Empire.
A nation founded by the continent’s most renowned hero, Siegfried Duper.
Ten years ago.
On the day Siegfried Duper’s sword severed Lucas’ head, Lucas had thought:
Siegfried, that cunning fox, wouldn’t have dared to strike without gain.
He expected Duper to have taken at least 10% of northern territory, but Siegfried had far exceeded his expectations.
On that fateful day, Siegfried organized his expedition and marched directly past the Kairen Plains to the imperial capital, Hekaronia.
The Alexandor Empire’s strongmen had long perished with Lucas in the plains.
Siegfried swiftly seized Hekaronia, and with the expedition’s heroes, declared:
“The Alexandor Empire has fallen! Yet the suffering of those oppressed by Lucas’ tyranny persists. Though they were enemies, what wrong did they commit? I, hero Siegfried, shall, alongside gathered heroes, ease the pain of these people until their suffering ends!”
This was the official story of Duper’s founding without disbanding the expedition.
Ian immediately saw through Siegfried’s true intentions.
“The Alexandor Empire will be devoured amicably with heroes who share my will. Not a hair lost, all swallowed.”
That, and nothing else.
‘Still smooth-talking, Siegfried. Damn bastard.’
Even famed as a hero, Siegfried’s rising influence would worry the elite of other continents.
But the problem?
‘No legitimacy, none at all.’
Siegfried claimed to act for the northern people’s benefit.
He had already publicly framed the expedition as for the north, so opposing this “cause” would draw continental criticism.
Lucas had never cared for “cause” or “legitimacy.”
Ironically, Siegfried had used what Lucas neglected to take everything Lucas built in just ten years.
“…Interesting.”
Swish!
Again, the defeated remain silent.
Lucas had lost.
So Siegfried Duper could devour the Alexandor Empire however he pleased.
The dead Lucas had no say.
But…
“…Ian Lichtenauer will be different.”
A renowned martial lineage in the southern continent.
His bloodline growing into a new hero, or rather, a new tyrant, challenging a false hero?
That was an entirely different matter.
So first, he had a job to do.
Crack!
The edge of the hills.
Ian Lichtenauer’s steps stopped.
After the long night with the thugs, the sun faintly rising illuminated the sprawling estate.
Like its name, “Titan”—vast and solid land.
At its center stood the noble mansion of the Lichtenauer martial family.
“That will be my first target.”
Ian felt no worry.
With Lucas’ martial skills intact in memory, his rise to the top was inevitable.
Whether he was born to a martial family or a scholarly one mattered little.
All obstacles before the tyrant’s path could simply be crushed and swept aside.
Ian’s steps slowly advanced toward the Lichtenauer mansion.
“Found him?!”
“No! We searched under the stable straw but he wasn’t there!”
“Wrong! We even checked under the toilet pit, same result!”
“Ugh, the smell! Hey, you crazy fools! Why would you search there!”
“But we already searched all the proper places!”
Chaos reigned in the Lichtenauer household from morning.
The lord of the Titan territory, Marquis Paon Lichtenauer’s second son, Ian Lichtenauer, had vanished without a trace.
“Damn it, why today…! Did he disappear knowing what day it was? That brat is causing chaos from early morning!”
The search captain couldn’t hide his frustration.
A useless child of the martial family, knowing no martial arts or aura cultivation, capable only of eating and excreting.
He had to receive reports from a subordinate who already smelled of excrement this early.
“Damn it, just wait until I find him… that brat…”
“Hahaha, Captain. Even if he’s a child of Lichtenauer, can’t you go easy on the poor lad?”
A clear voice from behind made the captain flinch.
It shouldn’t have been heard here, now.
The subordinate reporting respectfully saluted.
“Your Highness! We present to you, the Grand Prince!”
“Ah, there’s no need. You’ve worked hard this morning thanks to my younger brother.”
The Grand Prince approached the two soldiers, casually patting their shoulders, speaking warmly.
The search captain froze.
No matter how much of a brat, he was the only younger brother of the Grand Prince.
Unsure of what command might fall, the captain couldn’t hide his tension.
“Captain,”
The Grand Prince spoke gently.
“Yes, sir!”
“Even if somewhat displeased, please understand. It’s an important day; imagine how nervous he must have been. I will apologize in his stead.”
“No, sir! It is I who… caused so much trouble.”
The captain lowered his head, impressed by the Grand Prince’s gentle charisma.
‘As expected, this is the rightful heir of the Lichtenauer family.’
Not just the captain, but the soldiers who smelled faintly of excrement thought the same.
Just then, a commotion came from the main gate.
“R-Reporting!”
A soldier investigating the outer wall ran to the captain.
“The Grand Prince is present. What reckless behavior is this?”
The captain scolded him, but the soldier barely noticed.
“The young master has been found!”
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