Damn Reincarnation

boring a grudge against the main family have all disappeared.”

Doynes listened silently.

“It’s a good time for a change,” Eugene insisted as he glared at Doynes.
“If you’re going to die before the end of the day, then you should leave a will before closing your eyes.
You are the Immortal White Lion, after all.
Your death may not be the most honorable, but your name still holds sway over the other elders.
So if you abolish the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony in your will, even the elders won’t be able to raise any strong objections to it.
No one wants to be the first to say it, but they all know that this situation arose because of this fucking tradition rotting the clan from the inside.”

Doynes didn’t respond immediately. 

While Doynes closed his eyes and pondered the matter for a few moments, Eugene snickered and continued speaking, “Actually, who am I to try to pressure you into this? You don’t need to leave a will if you don’t want to.
Because after you die, I’ll take this mess apart and try to fix it on my own.
Of course, it would have to be a rough fix that wouldn’t really compare to a will left by the Immortal White Lion, but what can you do?”

“Hahaha…” Doynes burst into laughter at this blatant threat.
“To receive advice from not just anyone, but from a hero who lived three hundred years ago….
Alright, I understand.
I’ll make sure… to leave it in my will.”

The Bloodline Continuation Ceremony had been a tradition for three hundred years.
As someone who had lived for a hundred and twenty years, Doynes was a living witness to the history of the Lionheart clan.
As a former member of the main family, he had been one of the beneficiaries of the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony.
Therefore, denying the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony felt the same as denying the foundation of the Lionheart clan, which he had held such pride in for his entire life.

However, it needed to be done.
Doynes acknowledged just how much of a disgraceful affair this incident had been and also recognized that the grandson who had stabbed him through the chest hadn’t felt the same sense of pride that he did….

“My grandson… Dominic, did he die with regrets?” Doynes asked.

“There shouldn’t have been any room for regret,” Eugene replied thoughtfully.

“That’s disappointing,” Doynes chuckled before continuing.
“I wanted him to die while regretting his choices and actions.
But, if he died without even having any chance to feel regret, doesn’t that mean his death was so painful that he couldn’t spare any thoughts for regret?”

“It was quite a terrible death,” Eugene agreed.
“…But the deaths of those who covet what they do not deserve and fall to evil are always terrible.”

“I owe you a great debt, Sir Hamel,” Doynes said as he got up once more and deeply bowed his head to Eugene.
“…At the same time, I have committed a great many sins.
If Sir Hamel hadn’t stopped them there, all the children of the main family would have been offered up as sacrifices… and Eward would have been completely possessed by the remnants of the Demon Kings.
For the descendant of the Great Lionheart who slayed the Demon Kings… to be used as a tool to revive those same Demon Kings… such a thing could never be allowed to happen.”

Eugene coughed.
“Hm, now that I think about it… it doesn’t seem like they would really have been reborn… since they were just some remnants.
In other words, it really wasn’t all that serious.
They were just a couple of scumbags.” 

Eugene had been trying to say all this with a dignified expression, but he had raised his chin a bit too high, and now his neck was throbbing in pain. 

Strangely enough, the cloak he had left on the sofa appeared to be wriggling.
Eugene imagined Mer covering her mouth with her hands as she tried to hold back her laughter inside the cloak.

“…Ahem… by the way, how did you realize the fact that I’m Hamel?” Eugene questioned Doynes, trying to change the subject.

“I saw it in a dream,” Doynes confessed.

“A dream?” Eugene repeated in surprise.

That was quite an unexpected answer.

“After being ambushed by Dominic and collapsing… it seems that my consciousness still had a slight connection to the Demon Spear.
It must have been because it’s been in my hand for dozens of years, and it’s quite an ominous and mysterious weapon.
In this dream, I saw how you drove Dominic to his death, Sir Hamel,” Doynes paused for a moment as he finished speaking and stared down at his own hand.

His one remaining hand was trembling in fear just from imagining the scene he had witnessed in the dream.

“That strength and that technique could never belong to a twenty-year-old young man.
Also… the rage that you showed at the tomb of our great ancestor was closer to the betrayal that someone would feel towards their friend rather than towards a revered ancestor,” Doynes explained.

“…Indeed,” Eugene muttered with a nod of understanding.

When he had discovered that Vermouth’s coffin was empty, Eugene hadn’t been able to fully restrain his emotions.
A sense of betrayal towards Vermouth had taken hold of him and had shaken him to his core.

Doynes hesitated before continuing, “…The Demon Spear and the Annihilation Hammer—”

“Mer,” Eugene called out without allowing Doynes to finish his words.

At his call, Mer’s head popped out from between the folds of his cloak.

“Yes, did Sir Eugene, who has been injured to the point where he’s unable to move after a fight with a couple of scumbags, call for me?” Mer asked teasingly.

“…Watch your words,” Eugene warned her.
“I’m not injured.
This is just muscle strain.”

Mer nodded.
“Understood.
You are suffering from so much muscle strain that you’re unable to move after a fight with a couple of scumbags, correct?”

“You’re really going to get it once my body is all better,” Eugene threatened Mer.

Ignoring the threat, Mer asked, “So why did you call for me, Sir Eugene who’s only able to move his lips?”

“…Get the Demon Spear and the Annihilation Hammer… out of my cloak,” Eugene ground out while holding back the anger boiling away inside of him.

Mer just stuck her tongue out at him before popping back inside the cloak.

Turning to Doynes, Eugene demanded, “Did you just laugh?”

“Not at all,” Doynes denied.

“I feel like you were laughing, though?” Eugene accused him.

“Not at all,” Doynes repeated.

“You were laughing on the inside, weren’t you?”

“Not at all.”

By the end of this brief interrogation of an old man who was scheduled to die later today, Mer came out of the cloak dragging the huge Demon Spear and the Annihilation Hammer with a strained whimper.
Both these weapons were patently larger than her own body.

“I’m holding on to these.
You don’t have any complaints, right?” Eugene stated as he gestured to the Demon Spear and the Annihilation Hammer with his chin. 

Those were no longer the same former armaments of the Demon Kings.
Although their form hadn’t changed, the demonic power that had formed the foundations of these weapons had been cleanly erased.

Instead, a portion of the lightning-flames that flowed through Eugene’s body had been poured into the Demon Spear and the Annihilation Hammer.
Due to this, Eugene felt like there was a strong possibility of a specific thing pertaining to those weapons.
He wasn’t able to test this suspicion right away, as his body wasn’t strong enough.
But considering the fact that the lightning-flames now resided in the place of the spirit of darkness that had disappeared along with the demonic power….
He might not be able to reproduce their special attacks, but it might still be possible to use the Demon Spear and the Annihilation Hammer as powerful weapons.

“…Who else could be the master of those weapons if not Sir Hamel?” Doynes said, having already decided not to show any further resistance to Eugene’s words.

Though they had only chatted for a while, this great hero from three hundred years ago still had the same fiery personality as described in the fairy tale passed down throughout history.

“I’m sure you have a lot to attend to,” Eugene prompted Doynes.

The aura of death that he had been feeling from Doynes had continued to deepen over the course of their conversation.

“….Dominic might have been your only descendant, but… even so, shouldn’t you at least say goodbye to the elders you’ve known for such a long time,” Eugene suggested.

“I also need to prepare a will,” Doynes agreed with a chuckle as he stood up.
“…Thank you so much for your consideration, Sir Hamel.
…As a knight, I feel it’s a great honor to have met with you like this.
If I only had enough time, I would have liked to ask you to regale me with some of your past sagas, Sir Hamel.”

“No way, that would be too embarrassing,” Eugene expressed his rejection with a disgusted look as he shook his head.
Then, changing the subject, Eugene asked, “…So, who is going to be the next Head of the Council?”

“I’m thinking of Carmen, but she probably won’t be willing to take the position,” Doynes admitted.

“If that’s the case, then her younger brother will probably become the Council Head,” Eugene mused.

“Yes,” Doynes agreed.

Eugene suddenly asked, “Is it alright if I make just one request?”

“Please, speak freely.”

“Leave the main family out of it.”

Doynes, who had withdrawn respectfully, raised his head to look at Eugene.

“I mean, you shouldn’t pointlessly harass the Patriarch over this issue,” Eugene specified.
“Because, without anyone adding on to his troubles, he must be the one whose heart is suffering the most right now.”

“…Hoho,” Doynes chuckled with a faint smile at these words.
“It’s a blessing for the main family that you cherish them like this, Sir Hamel.”

“That said, I have no intention of becoming the Patriarch,” Eugene insisted cautiously.

“However, as Sir Hamel cherishes both of the twins and the main family, even if you don’t become the Patriarch yourself, I’m sure you will lead the main family to unprecedented glory,” Doynes declared confidently.

The only regret that remained in Doynes’s heart was a desire to see such a sight in person.
However, it was impossible to sustain his life, and someone had to take responsibility for this situation.
So with his death, he would ignite the sparks of reform for the clan.

‘…My death might be tainted with disgrace, but….’ There was a bitter smile on Doynes’s face as he turned to leave and thought to himself, ‘It seems that with my death, I can still be of some use to the family.’

While being called the Immortal White Lion, he had lived for a hundred twenty years.
Yet he had never once imagined that he would actually die like this.

However, Doynes didn’t resent being consigned to such a death.
In the end, all of that was inconsequential.
With his blind trust in his grandchild and his own arrogance in thinking that everything he did was for the sake of the clan, Doynes had dug this grave for himself.

Sure, it was an ugly and dishonorable death, but before he died, he had learned that a legend from three hundred years ago now resided in the Lionheart clan.

Doynes quietly closed the door behind him.
Outside the door, Genos was waiting patiently.

Genos approached to offer his support, but Doynes shook his head in refusal.

“Let’s go,” Doynes said.

The two then headed off to the Round Table, where all meetings of the Council of Elders were held.

Doynes insisted on walking toward the Tower of the Round Table on his own two feet in order to leave behind his final will.

1.
Doynes is talking very respectfully to Eugene while Eugene is talking very informally to Doynes.
Kind of a role reversal in their manner of speech.
☜

2.
The original Korean idiom puts it as ‘forcefully keeping their necks straight,’ meaning going around with their heads raised with pride.
☜