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Chapter 2: Same Name, Different Lives (2)

Baronet Hans Morris.

He was a veteran who had participated in the Unification War, and had been granted the title of Baronet for his military contributions.

In the Empire, a Baronet was a middle-of-the-pack Noble; a lower rank than a Baron, but higher than a knight.

Baronets were entitled to a private estate, which was one of the many privileges given to Nobles. Hans was given a small piece of land located on the edge of the Empire, which he named ‘Morris Estate’.

Henry was the eldest son of Baronet Hans.

‘Given the title of ‘Baronet’ because of his great deeds, huh?’

A Noble not quite a Noble, and a commoner not quite a commoner. That was what a Baronet was.

Henry was studying the Morris family’s genealogy records, which the servant had brought to him earlier.

‘Nothing of particular interest in this family.’

There was no particular information that stood out.

The father had no desire to advance his career, and his mother had died giving birth to Henry.

And despite being the eldest son, it seemed that the mage had difficulty finding any kind of success, whether it was due to lack of talent or a weak will.

Any chance of a successful career laid instead with Kevin Morris—the son of Hans’s second wife and half-brother of Henry Morris.

‘Is that why he meddled with black magic?’

A second wife’s son excelling over the legitimate successor.

Henry could vaguely understand why the mage, who was supposed to be the main successor, had involved himself with black magic.

No matter how remote this estate might have been, to him it must have meant the world, heightening his resentment toward a second wife’s child becoming superior to him.

‘I don’t know where you got this magic book, but it was a foolish choice.’

If he had tried to grasp the subject clearly without being blinded by his jealousy, he may not have lost his body.

But there was no use in dwelling on such matters.

.

His body had already been transferred to an Archmage of the same name, and even if there had been a way to reverse the spell, Henry would have surely rejected it.

Having gathered his thoughts, Henry closed the genealogy records. He had obtained all the information he needed.

‘So, do I have to start from nothing all over again?’

He had no wealth, no talent, and no connections.

Truly a nameless existence.

Whatever he wanted to do, he would have to do it all on his own.

Henry suddenly remembered the first time he met the emperor’s predecessor, Golden Jackson.

Henry and Golden were both from a small country called ‘Mumbadum’, which had since disappeared. Together, they had built the present day Empire single-handedly, from nothing. Henry was no stranger to new beginnings, and he did not fear having to do it again.

But since he possessed nothing in this new life, he had no choice but to make use of what he already knew.

‘Looks like I’ll have to get reacquainted with magic quickly.’

At this moment, Henry truly felt fortunate that he was a mage.

After all, mages were welcome in all parts of the world.

Normally, mages would have to go to the Magic Academy in the capital city in order to be recognized for their talent in magic. But to Henry, the academy was just a waste of time. The academy’s teachings were child’s play for Henry.

Henry set the closed genealogy records aside and crossed his legs.

At first, he had found it difficult to create a Circle from scratch. But, he had adapted somewhat to his new body, and felt much less fatigued making the same attempt.

Henry glanced at the hourglass on the other side of the room to check the time.

‘It’ll take around 5 hours for dawn to break… I suppose I’ll increase the number of Circles as much as possible during that time.

He had too many things to do after dawn, thus he felt it was better to take care of more pressing matters first.

Henry began focusing all of his concentration once again.

* * *

“Phew…”

As the sun slowly rose across the window, Henry’s eyes opened, signaling a new beginning.

Henry’s gown was drenched in sweat as if he had been out in the rain, and it had become stained with Henry’s salt due to the repeated soaking and drying.

‘That should do it.’

Henry confirmed the three clearly defined Circles rotating around his heart.

It was a truly difficult task. Most mages could not even fathom increasing the number of Circles from one to three in such a short time.

But the awakening needed to increase the Circles was an easy task for someone like Henry.

Creak.

At that moment, the sound of a door opening broke the silence of the still room.

It was the servant who Henry had beaten.

“Y-Young Master. Have you not slept?”

“That’s right.”

“I have brought water for your cleansing… but perhaps, shall I prepare a bath as well?”

It was a sensible question from the servant, who noticed that Henry was drenched in sweat.

“There’s no need. I’ll take care of myself, so wait outside.”

“Y-yes! As you wish.”

Normally, the servant would be tasked with washing Henry from head to toe himself. He had surely noticed by now that something in the Young Master had definitely changed.

Creak.

Thud.

The servant left and closed the door, and Henry was left alone again.

He took off his drenched gown and tossed it aside, before flicking the sweat off his fingers and speaking softly to himself.

“Clean.”

Sparkle—

When he used ‘Clean’, the cleaning spell, his body, which was pickled in his own sweat and salt, instantly became smooth, dry and clean.

“Charming.”

Henry cast another spell.

This time, it was a spell intended to beautify his appearance.

When ‘Charming’ was cast, Henry’s skin was revitalized, and his hair was trimmed neatly to Henry’s taste.

“Phew, this is going to be tough for the time being.”

Henry had achieved the three most basic Circles of magic overnight.

He wanted to devote himself to creating the 4th Circle right away, but he had no choice but to leave it for another time. The amount of magic required for the 4th Circle was significantly higher than the first three.

After grooming himself, Henry opened the closet and looked at his clothes. But the more he looked at the clothes, the more deeply he frowned.

“How out of style,” he briefly remarked.

The capital of the Empire was the epicenter of the latest fashion trends, and seeing as how the Morris Estate was located at the very edge of the Empire, it couldn’t be helped that the sense of fashion here was years behind.

Henry chose the most classic-looking set of clothes and dressed himself neatly. He then called out to his servant, who had been waiting for him outside as he left the room.

“I’m very hungry, so hurry up.”

“Yes, understood.”

In his old body, Henry had had no appetite and would not eat very much. But perhaps because he was now in a young and healthy body, his appetite had suddenly become stronger. In addition, he had been exhausting himself all night long, which only increased his appetite.

Henry followed his servant into the estate’s dining hall.

The rest of the Morris family had already arrived at the dining hall.

Henry gave them a brief, wary glance before finding a vacant seat and planting himself onto it..

‘It was stated that he didn’t have a mother, and by the looks of it, it’s true.’

Henry carefully observed the individuals seated in the dining hall one by one, cross-referencing his observations with the information he had obtained from the genealogy records.

The Morris family had a total of four members. It consisted of himself, the head of the family and his second wife, and the second wife’s child.

“Did everyone get a good night’s rest?”

The head of the family, Hans Morris, began the conversation.

The other members of the Morris family greeted each other briefly before starting on their breakfast.

Nom nom.

There was a common saying in the Empire that one should eat like the Emperor at breakfast in order to start the day off well.

Henry nodded as he looked at the spread of breakfast in front of him, which was prepared relatively well in spite of the sparse household.

‘At least they know how to keep themselves well fed.’

The quality of food, clothing, and shelter in the estate was very important to Henry, as he knew he would have to live here for a while.

Henry recalled his own dining table, which just a few days prior had been set up luxuriously.

But now that that was all in his past, he decided to put aside all feelings of regret, and be content with his current meal.

Slurp, burp, chomp.

‘What the hell?’

Henry had begun eating, but he had no choice but to turn his attention to the young man who was ravenously eating across from him.

It was Kevin Morris, the second wife’s son who surpassed the main successor.

Slurp, slurp. Burp. Slurp.

Kevin ate like a wild mercenary that had not eaten for days. It was truly an off-putting display of poor table manners.

‘Is it because he’s a Baronet? He hasn’t even gotten the basics right.’

Henry was not a stickler for etiquette, but he was someone who adhered to a certain degree of dignity, and he could not stand watching Kevin eating so disgracefully. Eventually he could not help but speak up.

“Kevin.”

Kevin paused.

When Henry called out his name, Kevin’s spoon paused in midair. With his mouth still stuffed full of food, he glared at Henry and replied.

“What?”

Kevin’s tone sounded rather aggressive.

Seeing how everyone around him, from the servant to the bastard child, had been interrupted by the confrontation, Henry had no choice but to say something.

“I just wish you would eat a little more quietly, like a gentleman.”

“What!? Fuwahaha!”

Plink.

As Kevin burst into laughter, a small morsel of food flew out of his mouth and fell into Henry’s soup.

Henry could feel the back of his neck tingle once more.

Kevin then continued as if nothing happened, “Brother, let’s just eat how we’ve always eaten. Why are you suddenly acting so differently, talking about being a gentleman and whatnot?”

With that, Kevin resumed his meal.

But Henry had lost his appetite, and began to grow angrier.

After putting down his spoon, Henry wiped his mouth with his napkin and ordered the servant to fetch him a glass of cold water and some hot tea.

When the drinks were served, Henry held the glass of cold water and waited for Hans to finish his meal.

After a while, Hans finished and began to speak.

“So, have you boys decided who will enter the Swordsmanship Academy?”

‘Swordsmanship Academy?’

It was the first time Henry had heard of such a thing.

However, hearing the phrase, ‘Swordsmanship Academy’, he quickly grasped the situation.

‘So that’s what happened?’

There was a vocational school for swordsmanship, just like magic.

Anybody could enter, regardless of status, as long as they had the talent. But the tuition fee was so expensive that most families simply could not afford it.

‘Swordsmanship Academy, huh…’

It was something that he would not have even considered in his previous life. What he cared about was magic, not swordsmanship.

However, having died with his body wrecked by poison, he now found himself interested in swordsmanship, something that he had never bothered with before.

‘It’s not a bad idea. As long as I follow the classes diligently, by the time I graduate, I’ll be a full-fledged knight. My physique will be trained tremendously, too.’

It was somewhere worth attending, despite its high price.

However, the biggest drawback of the Swordsmanship Academy was the amount of time it would take to graduate.

‘It would be more efficient to raise the Circles during that time.’

It would take at least 3 years to graduate. If one was unlucky enough to fail, it would take even longer.

Moreover, Henry’s ultimate purpose was to take revenge on the emperor. He had no intention of wasting several years just to learn swordsmanship.

Suddenly, Kevin spoke.

“Father! There’s nothing to discuss. Given that I am the one with more potential, it’s only right that I am the one to go to the academy.”

While Henry was deep in contemplation, Kevin made a remark that completely belittled Henry.

It was an absurd remark.

If Kevin had been Henry’s servant, his jaw would have been broken by now. But given that they were related by blood, and that considering Henry’s actual age, Kevin was actually several years younger than him, he decided to put up with Kevin one more time.

Henry decided to act like an adult by not responding to the little child’s provocations.

At that moment, Baronet Hans Morris said, “You’re not wrong. But shouldn’t we listen to your brother Henry’s opinion as well?”

And that was when the trigger came.

Henry had intended to patiently hand over the chance to go to the academy to Kevin, but Kevin’s final words ignited Henry’s wrath.

“There’s no need to listen to him. Judging by his personality, it’s obvious that even if he does go to the academy, he’ll just be kicked out like a fool without even accomplishing anything. Brother Henry has always been that sort of person.”

“I won’t accomplish anything?”

Henry recalled the last moments of his previous life, where he could do nothing but be helplessly killed.

“Am I wrong? Do you forget how you always avoided dueling with me, brother? How you never had the courage to fight me man-on-man?”

Henry’s face grew more and more contorted with anger. He knew that Kevin’s words were not directly referring to him per se. However, this Henry coincidentally shared the same name as the Archmage Henry, and Kevin’s words strangely resonated with Henry’s past self.

But regardless of Henry’s clear anger, Kevin carried on.

“Rather than sending someone like him to the academy, I think it’s much more appropriate that I attend it.”

When Kevin finished, Hans looked at Henry with indifference.

“Kevin might have lacked elegance with his words, but he’s not completely wrong either. What do you think?”

Just from the look in his eyes, it was clear that he had no expectations of his eldest son. Those eyes were already expecting a certain outcome.

Just like the eyes of the emperor who had poisoned him in his previous life.

Henry responded coldly.

“I’ve changed my mind. This is the prestigious Swordsmanship Academy we are talking about, and I think the prestige of our family will grow stronger with my attendance, rather than this bastard’s.”

“What did you just say!?” Kevin burst out loudly.

Henry then responded in an even colder tone.

“There are limits to being deluded.”

“What?”

“I did not avoid fighting you because I lacked the courage. It’s just that your skills aren’t comparable to mine; you’re not even worth dueling against.”

A stiff silence filled the dining hall.

And after a while, everyone at the table burst into laughter.