Although it was shaped like a normal sword, even an adult would struggle to connect their thumb and index finger while grasping it.
The young boy had been swinging the wooden sword for almost an hour now.
His fist strength had been depleted long ago. All he could do now was to use his fingers to barely hold.
The boy used his last drop of energy to swing the wooden sword once again, marking his 2000th swing.
After the swing was completed, he fell onto his back and cursed his daily routine.
“I’m gonna die..."
By now he had completely lost track of how many times this phrase had been uttered. He looked up at the sky, still out of breath.
Even though the world was huge and wide, the only family that made an 11 year-old child go through dreadful training, such as the one the boy had gone through, was probably the Cornelius family.
It was a fact that amongst all the royals the boy had met while working with his father, none had training such as his. The literature work and trainings their tutors set them only seemed like child’s play to him.
"I see... you’re going to die. It was such a short life. Bard, my son, have fun in heaven."
"That’s not something a mother should be saying, damn it!"
Bard barely dodged the arrow-like spear that seemed to rain down from the heavens. The spear landed where Bard had just been, making an enormous ringing sound.
Following his instincts, Bard jumped up immediately.
Had he not dodged, the attack would have taken his life. . Bard felt something cold rise up his back, as he roared.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?"
"Hey, you can still move? You’re young, you shouldn’t be slacking off."
"I would have died if I didn’t move!!"
Magotte, his mother, completely ignored the angry roar her son let out, and whipped her hair.
Within the beastly laugh, there was surely a drop of love towards Bard, however, the love that could be seen was shown through the eyes of her husband, Ignis.
Of course, through the eyes of Bard, this laugh only seemed to foreshadow the deadly training he was about to experience.
"Come on! What’s wrong? If you don’t hurry up and get ready, I won’t hesitate!"
"I’m gonna die! I’m really gonna die this time!"
Magotte mercilessly attacked the worn out Bard with her wooden sword. Her wooden sword was as thick as Bard’s, and, if struck at a critical point, could be lethal.
In order to survive, Bard held back his tears, and dealt with all of Magotte’s attacks.
Bard was having difficulty holding onto the huge wooden sword, as his strength was almost gone.
If he lost his grip and dropped the sword, he would have to receive Magotte’s attacks with his body alone.
Bard had many broken bones and bruises because of Magotte’s relentless strikes. It was actually quite astonishing that Bard was still alive.
The reason why they used a thick wooden sword was simply to get used to the weight and the impact of a real sword. However, in order to withstand this you must be able to relax and loosen your body until moment of the impact.
No matter how much energy you had, it's impossible to continue gripping the sword with full strength through the entire battle.
Having understood that he will never win the battle of pure strength, Bard focuses on eluding the incoming strikes.If a sudden mistake was made, Bard would receive a merciless strike.
"That’s right, use your pinky finger as your focus point and convert your grip strength directly to elude the attacks."
"There is zero persuasiveness from your words! You’re having too much fun out of this!!"
"Hahaha! Don’t say that. This is just some mother and son time."
"In what world does the mother almost kill the son during this ‘mother and son time’?”
An instance of negligence leading to certain death was a traditional scene of morning training in the Cornelius family.
Bard used the last drop of energy he had in order to grip the wooden sword. Soon after, the training ended.
"Man, how amazing it is to be alive..."
He gazed up at the sky, his heart full of graciousness, as he had managed to survive another day.
"Here is your drink, Young-Master."
"Thank you, Sei-nee"
Bard chugged the lemon water given by a maid, whose golden brown hair shone beautifully in the sunlight. It was as if the sourness of the cold lemon ran through his entire worn-out body.
After giving an old-man-like chug of the water, Bard awkwardly returned the cup to Seirun. Seirun, although two years older, had always been his childhood friend.
When Seirun received the cup, she made a small grin, and asked, much in the manner of an older sister talking to a younger brother,
"Would you like another one?"
"Yes, please."
Magotte watched the two having a happy conversation, and narrowed her eyes.
To those who did not know Magotte, it may have seemed like she was giving a vicious glare.
~~
“Would you please marry me?”
It was the absolute truth however, that Ignis fell in love with Magotte.
It was a given fact that from this point on, the Cornelius family would be given the cold shoulder at any social parties at the kingdom.
Magotte knew this fact, and felt something for Ignis, who took on this huge risk for his family.
Thus she decided to offer an idea to Ignis.
The well known ‘Husband and Wife huntdown’.
This was something unbelievable to the two, as they were both confident in their hunting skills.
The two sensed the divine words.
They thought that God was telling us to become together.
Once they made the decision, their actions were as decisive as a warrior. .
The next year, they were blessed with a new baby boy.
Although, he sometimes spoke an incomprehensible language randomly, as if he had just remembered something.
He normally acted fine, but when he was sick, or when he felt a huge mental shock, such actions occurred.
At the age of 5, during spring, he got a critical infection through a bruise he made.
In a coma with a high fever, Bard saw a very, very, long dream.
A dream long enough to fulfill one man’s lifetime.
After 2 full months, on the verge of death, the first thing he said was...
“What the hell?”
This phase was not used in the official language of the continent of Aurelia, which was a part of the Kingdom of Mauricia.It was phrased in Japanese, a language no man in this world should know.
Oka Masaharu was the name of a man in one of Bard’s previous lives.
He was at an educational institute, known as high school, when one day, he lost his life.
The last thing he remembered was walking on the sidewalk, on the way to an University entrance exam.
He was either stabbed in the heart, or was hit by a truck, as cliché as it sounds...
Although the word ‘truck’ did not ring a bell for Magotte, the only thing he knew was that he died without knowing what caused it.
There was another problematic thing… more than one personality had reincarnated within Bard’s mind.
The doctor said that it was a miracle, as his brain was able to withstand the overload of information 3 minds brought.
Magotte guessed that it was because his young brain was able to hold his low ego personality.
Knowing such truth, Magotte decided to train Bard's mind and body.
In order to recall the personality of Bard, she tried to stimulate its life senses, such as pain, suffering, exhaustion and most importantly, the will to live.
However this hellish training gave unexpected results, as the last personality that awakened was the one who lived his lifetime as a soldier.
As Bard got stronger and stronger, Magotte felt unwillingly excited.
She was sure that at this rate, her son would definitely become the strongest warrior in the kingdom.
“Although it is rare for it to come out now, that was, an interesting personality of its own...Oka Sanai Sadatoshi.”
It was a definite truth that the memory of this soldier, who lived to the age of 70, had a huge impact on Bard’s soldier skills.
Although it seemed like the skills were from a country that lacked in magical powers, the moves were very logical and practical.
He apparently died of age, and out of the 3 personalities, he was the most mature, and least egoistic man.
However Sanai’s certain fetish, which would definitely affect Bard’s life, is something Magotte does not know yet.
On the other hand, Masaharu’s condition known as the chuunibyou is something that any young boy would go through. However, in his case, it might be a little bit over the roof.
“If I could reincarnate, I would definitely use some knowledge cheating.”
Masaharu must be the only high school student who uses such reasoning to surf over wikipedia and encyclopedia.
It was not as though the reality was too much to handle.
He had above-average marks in tests, and he was not extremely frail either. In fact, he was a frontline member of the basketball team.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he had a fulfilling student lifetime.
The sound of shoes clicking on the ground, traffic lights beeping, and the sound of lifeless vehicles’ exhaustion.
Masaharu’s vision of the beast ears in such reality were just about to complete…
Before the eyes of a bedridden man, was a beautiful rain of cherry blossom petals.
From the cherry blossom tree planted under the watchtower of the Inawashiro castle, to the west, you could see the surface of the Inawashiro Lake, one of the largest lakes in Japan.
This entire area was entrusted to one old samurai’s hand, as he was the leader of Aizugamou family as well as the follower of path of sage.
The man’s name was Oka Sanai Sadatoshi.
A samurai who lived his life in the battlefield until the age of 70.
Spending his life mostly in a war, Sanai decided to make the next advancement of Osaka Castle as his deathbed.
However with the internal discord within the family, the leader, the Gamou family was assigned as the guardians of Edo Castle. With this, the chance for the old samurai to receive the spotlight faded.
He was known as a miser, and his wealth amounted to a great fortune, easily reaching over 30,000ryo.
Knowing his death was near, Sanai freely shared it all.
To all those who knew of Sanai, his manliness was something unexpected.
"(I had always saved up money in order to be a part of war, just how a samurai should. It was my determination. However, from now on, in a world where there is now war, there will be something different.)" (Sanai)
An unforgettable scene rose as he shut his eyes.
On the other side of the famous scene at Sekigahara, in order to gain dominion over Oshu, there was another scene at a small village in the northeastern area.
The fight where ‘Dokuganryu’ Date Masamune advanced towards Fukushima, ruled by the ‘Army God’ Uesugi Kenshin is the ‘Battle of Matsukawa’
The Uesugi army, at a number disadvantage, used brave wandering samurais to fight against the Date army.
Within the Uesugi chivalry, there was a sight of Sanai, with his spear, defeating the Date soldiers one by one.
“What do you know, there is finally someone here with backbone.”
Those with clear eyes would instantly recognize the famous horse and the equally famous samurai on its back, who was stroking his spear.
With plain armor, imbalanced with the horse, Sanai thought he found a great target to raise his fame.
Until his last breath, the samurai who had spent most of his life in war, dreamt of himself rushing through the battlefield.