Swordsman Youngest Son

Jin Runcandel often had this thought.

Am I destined for failure?

This young man full of potential had yet

to reach his thirties. He didn't always

have this belief in mind while he was

growing up. There was a time when he

had ambitious goals and grand dreams

like anyone else.

For example, one such instance was

the day he first held a sword as the

youngest child of the Runcandel Clan.

During his childhood, Jin believed that

his future held great success, honor,

and fame, just like his father and

siblings.

However, Jin had no talent.

For generations, nembers of the

Runcandel Clan became 1-star knights

by the age of 13. In the long history of

the family that exceeded 1000 years,

there was not a single child that had

failed to become a 1-star kmight before

turning 14.

An average Runcandel would become a

3-star knight by the age of 16, and would

later travel the world after becoming a

5-star knight before turning 20.

But Jin was 25 by the time he became a

1-star knight.

Even a clown with absolutely no talent

at all could accomplish this feat, as

long as he put in a sufficient amount of

effort.

Because they had seen Jin's noteworthy

efforts, his siblings banished him

without killing him.

But it wasn't that I had no talent. It

wasn't that at all...?

After leaving his family, Jin was

surprised to learn that his talent lay

within a field other than the sword.

Magic.

Jin was extremely talented in magic.

While he was wandering aimlessly,

he accidentally became a magician's

disciple, and within 3 years of training,

the God of Shadows offered him a

contract.

He was on a solid path to becoming the

grand magician of his era. The God of

Shadows 'Solderet' was a being that all

magicians yearned for.

Furthermore, Jin learned that he

was also gifted with the sword from

Solderet.

[Contractor, it seems that someone

bore a grudge against you since your

childhood. You haven't been able to use

your full potential due to a trivial curse.

That mightve been the reason why I

was so captivated by you.]

Trivial'.

That was how Solderet described the

curse that had been suppressing Jin's

talents. A 9-star magician was the cause

of the curse in question, which was

called the Bladed Illusion'.

Needless to say, Jin was unaware that

he had been cursed until Solderet

informed him.

Solderet easily dispelled the curse that

had been tormenting Jin. The blood-red

chains hidden inside Jin's body were

absorbed by the shadows.

[You can now become an unparalleled

magic swordsman, Contractor. Pll be

watching over you with excitement.]

It was true.

Following Solderet's words, Jin picked

up the sword he had once thrown away.

With every swing, he was reaching new

levels of mastery. The greatest failure of

Runcandel's history Jin Runcandel, was

no more.

In one hand, magic.

In the other, a sword.

Within 10 years, he would become

so powerful that he wouldnt have to

hide from his clan, the family that had

thrown him aside. All that was left to do

was to become history's strongest magic

Swordsman and to rule over the world.

Seems like I truly am destined for

failure.

Cough!

Jin spat out a mouthful of blood. He was

bleeding everywhere, including his

eyes, nose, and ears.

Death was looming over him.

He hadn't even had the chance to use

his magic or Solderet's power.

Three 9-star knights had attacked the

Akin Kingdom's capital out of the blue,

and Jin had received a fatal wound

during their rampage in his sleep.

In his sleep.

A single 9-star knight could raze a

nation the size of the Akin Kingdom

within half a day. And since three of

them had raided the capital city, there

was nothing Jin could've done.

He couldn't even react because he had

just finished training and had fallen

asleep from exhaustion.

What a ridiculous death he had. He

wanted to cry out in madness due to the

absurdity, but all that escaped his blood-

filled mouth was delirious laughter.

He was on death's door, and nobody

was by his side.

Not his teacher who cared for him, not

his siblings and family who had cast

him aside, not a single person.

He was on death's door, and nobody

was by his side.

Not his teacher who cared for him, not

his siblings and family who had cast

him aside, not a single persSon.

Even Solderet showed no response.

Why... Why did the heavens bother

giving me an opportunity just to take it

away immediately?

And so, Jin Runcandel closed his eyes.

While he held no lingering feelings, he

had many regrets about his past life Waaah, uwaaah.

Is it normal to hear a baby's cries as you

die...?"

Jin thought to himself.

Was he having auditory hallucinations

from the blood loss? Or was the

neighbor's child crying from the 9-star

knights' attack?

If it were the latter, then it was unfortunate. The Akin Kingdom would

fall today, so there was no way a

newborn could survive the destruction.

l'd love to save it, but Im in no

condition to help others. My body was

cut in half. I hope Pl be reborn in a

blissful world instead of a miserable

one.'

Waaaaaaah!

The wail was getting louder and louder.

It wouldn't surprise him if the baby died

of asphyxiation from crying at the top of

its lungs.

What a pathetic death. I couldn't even

save a baby in front of me.'

His vision was filled with darkness.

There was no sign of the baby stopping.

As he endured the shame and listened

helplessly, Jin wondered why he wasn't

dead yet.

Not only had he received countless

fatal wounds, his body had been sliced

in two at the waist. There was no way

he could've survived for another 10

seconds. Nonetheless, the wailing never

stopped...

Wait, the sound is coming from my

body!

He couldn't understand what was

happening.

Jin was the one letting out those cries.

Today was September 9th, 1780.

The youngest son of the clan of

Swordmasters, Jin Runcandel, was born.

100 days have passed since his rebirth.

Jin could now skillfully crawl around,

and he had no choice but to accept the

truth unfolding before him.

He had been reborn after his death.

There was no other explanation. And

there was no way he could explain it

to others, as he could barely form any

words.

'And even if I tell people after I become

5 years old, no one would believe that I

have 28 years' worth of memories in my

head.'

They would just dismiss it as a child's

joke or delusion.

If he were to mention the detailed

history or secrets of the family, then

some people could potentially believe

him. However, the chances of him

being treated as a cursed child were

extremely high.

Therefore, Jin was once again destined

to live as the youngest son of the

dreadful Runcandel Clan.

The youngest child of the Runcandel

Clan!

It was an incredible privilege.

Most people living in the world would

consider being born as the Runcandels'

youngest an extraordinary blessing.

However, Jin was at a loss.

I would've preferred being reborn in

an ordinary family:

In that scenario, it wouldn't have taken

him 100 days to accept the truth about

his situation.

He was reborn in the same family, as

the same child, on the same day as his past life. In other words, he was most

likely gifted with the same talents as his

previous life.

Swordsmanship and magic.

However, the Runcandels hated magic.

The Zipfel Clan, the clan of magicians,

was the Runcandel's greatest enemy.

"The youngest child of the Runcandel

again. I wonder if the curse that

Solderet dispelled is still on me. How

should I run away from this family and

learn magic this time?"

There was no way he could learn magic

without leaving the Runcandel House.

If the curse that Solderet had dispelled was affecting him again,

then he wouldn't be able to learn

swordsmanship either.

As he pondered deeply, Jin's eyes slowły

began to shut.

His body couldn't obey his mind and

resist its natural needs. And so, he fell

into a deep sleep.

1 year has passed since his rebirth.

Time was trickling slowly, one day at a

time.

Jin was sick of coming up with plans for

the future now. His body could never resist the temptation of a snooze, and

he was bored to death of living as an

inarticulate baby.

I want to grow up faster! This is so

frustrating! I can't do anything as I am

right now!'

All he could do was drink milk from

a bottle and fall asleep when the time

came. And whenever he relieved

himself in his diapers, Gilly, his nanny,

would come replace them. It was an

extremely shameful experience for Jin,

who had the mind of an adult man.

That was all his daily schedule had

entailed during the entire year.

Step, step.

A certain woman entered Jin's room.

She was the mistress of the house, Rosa

Runcandel.

She had ebony hair and a sharp

gaze decorating her straight, pointy

nose. Despite her allring charm,

she appeared quite shrewd and

overpowering, which earned her the

nickname Black Panther from others.

"Are the preparations over, Gilly?"

"0f course, ma'am. Today's the day

the young master ´selects', so Ive paid

special attention to everything."

"Good. Then let's go immediately."

Jin realized that today was his birthday

from their conversation.

The children of the Runcandel family

go through a certain ritual called

'Selection' on their first birthday.

It was a ritual where the adults laid

around dozens of items on the floor,

and made the baby crawl towards one

of them and grab the item.

There was a superstition that when

the child 'selected' an item, the item

would be a representation of the child's

future and destiny. Strangely enough,

the Runcandels were obsessed with this

superstition.

Rosa picked up Jin and moved to the castle's central hall.

At the hall's center stood a man, arms

Crossed,

He was Jin's father, the strongest knight

of the present era, Cyron Runcandel.

Father.:

It was Jin's first time seeing his father

after his rebirth. Having reached the

demigod realm, Cyron was very rarely

present at the castle.

He was always away fighting wars or

training in some remote location.

'And my siblings..'

His 12 siblings were also present.

While they had treated Jin like a

weakling and a useless insect in his past

life, they hadn't committed such acts as

of yet. They were all waiting for Jin with

wide smiles on their faces.

As he remembered the suffering he had

gone through because of them, his chest

began to feel stuffy.

"Rosa, put jin down."

His mother followed his father's

instructions. As his limbs reached the

cold marble floor, a slight shiver shook

his body.

Two meters away from him lay the

items for the Selection ritual.

He could see a book, two coins, a single

grain of rice, along with over twenty

different types of swords impaling the

hall floor.

Jin just had to choose one item among

all these.

This is crazy. I couldn't remember the

ritual from my past life because I was

too young back then, but now that I see

it in person, it's insane. Do they actually

plan on making a baby crawl through

countless swords and grab one by the

blade?"

In his past life, Jin had selected a sword.

Since the book, coins and grain of rice

were hidden amongst the countless

swords, it was no surprise that all the

Runcandel children had selected the

weapons.

"Now, choose one of them, son."

The members of the Runcandel

family watched Jin crawl with great

anticipation.

They were all curious to see which

sword the youngest child would select.

Whether it would be twinswords,

a greatsword, a longsword, or a

completely different one.

As the tense gazes focused on Jin, he

began to crawl towards the sword he

had selected previously.

The people around the world probably

had no idea that the renowned

Runcandels made their children go

through such a ridiculous ritual every

time.

Ugh.

Jin was frustrated that he couldn't

advance faster. Crawling was taking so

long and so much energy.

"The sword I subconsciously chose in

the past was quite an inconvenience,

but this time, I'll intentionally select

that same sword.'

Badump. Badump.

He could feel his tiny heart beating with

power.

The weapons were planted in a circle.

The itenm Jin wanted was in the middle.

As he rolled and crawled around, Jin

passed by the sword closest to him.

The eyes of all the observers in the hall

went wide.

Even if the child were from the

renowned clan of swordmasters, balbies

would almost always select the item

closest to them.

However, Jin was zigzagging through

the forest of swords, and the others

couldn't help but gulp with each of his

movements.

They were all thinking the same thing.

"Could he be... going for that sword?"

Jin continued swerving through the

blades as the eyebrows on Cyron and

Rosa's frozen faces began twitching in

response to each sword he grazed.

"Gah gah!"

Jin had finally selected his sword.

Blood began dripping down the fingers

touching the blade.

Everyone's gazes slowly moved from

the baby towards the sword in question,

and the silblings' jaws instantly dropped.

They all believed that Jin had

coincidentally selected that sword, but

the truth couldn't be more different.

He had crawled like a madman to reach

this specific weapon. He ended up

depleting all his energy, as controlling

a 1-year-old's body wasn't simple, even

with the mind of an adult.

'Crawling all the way here intentionally

was so exhausting, so how on earth did

I accidentally select this sword in my

previous life...?

His hand was touching Barisada.

It was the sword's name, and was the

clan's enmblem.

For marny generations, this sword could only be wielded by the Runcandel

patriarchs. To be more specific, the

patriarchs that had been recognized

and acknowledged by all the members

of the Runcandel Clan.

The number of times Barisada had been

'selected during the ritual in Runcandel

history could be counted on one hand.

And every single child that had

selected Barisada grew up to become

the patriarch of the Runcarndel House.

Every single child except for Jin

Runcandel from his first life.

"Tin chose the Founder's sword."

Cyron spoke in a solemn tone.

the patriarch of the Runcandel House.

Every single child except for Jin

Runcandel from his first life.

"Tin chose the Founder's sword."

Cyron spoke in a solemn tone.

A few people were cheering in joy, and

a few others were trying their best to

hide their displeasure.

This was what the Runcandel

superstition was about.

"The ritual is over. And bring Jin to the

Storm Castle,"