Reincarnated as the Descendant of a Fallen Noble

Chapter 49: The Great Brother’s Record (2)

At midday, in the center of the lobby of the Daphne residence.

‘What is that...?’

‘Isn’t that thing in his hand a hammer? Why is he carrying something like that...’

The servants, busy with their chores, kept glancing sideways in his direction as they passed by.

Receiving their stares, Hardin waved his hand dismissively and spoke.

“What, is there something to see here? Shoo, shoo, hurry along your way.”

“Ah... yes!”

“Understood.”

Bowing their heads, the servants quickly scattered in a rush.

Hardin grinned, then set the hammer he was holding down on the floor. When he lifted his head, an unsightly object entered his eyes.

A statue of a knight riding a wave, riddled all over with gaping holes.

Just thinking of how, in the past, all sorts of gold and jewels had been embedded in those holes made his insides twist.

The Wave Knight Statue.

Back when I had been Varlach, I had received this as the champion’s prize in the “Dawn of Knights” tournament.

‘If it was something supreme, of course it had to be this.’

Even as the family’s lands were all lost and everything else disappeared, this alone remained—a relic of the past.

It was a symbol of Daphne’s golden age, and an ancestral treasure.

‘Somehow, I thought it was strange.’

To my eyes, it was nothing but an ugly monstrosity. That they had gone so far to keep holding on to this all this time... it was suspicious.

At that moment, a conversation I had once heard from Cobalt came to mind.

[Father, why do we still have that monstrosity?]

[A monstrosity? Watch your tongue. That object is a treasure honoring our great ancestor, Varlach Daphne.]

[If you want to honor him, you could do it in some other way without something so cumbersome, couldn’t you?]

[That... was the will of the former Lords.]

[Their will?]

[Yes. No matter what else was lost, they warned us to take special care never to lose that.]

Of all things, why did they insist on keeping that in particular?

The reason was obvious.

‘There must be something hidden inside it.’

In childhood, I had been trained by my eldest brother’s blasted treasure hunts, and in my younger years, I had scoured dungeons from the moment I opened my eyes.

My instincts were telling me.

A key... or perhaps a map that could lead me to the Great Brother’s Record.

In any case, something was inside it.

‘I’m sure of it.’

My intuition... was speaking to me.

Hardin stepped forward, placed his hand squarely atop the statue, and closed his eyes, sharpening every sense in his body as much as possible.

And then...

Wuuuuum.

‘There it is.’

From the bottom upward, he could feel a very faint but steady flow of mana rising.

‘Yes, I knew something was off.’

Opening his eyes, Hardin smiled slyly.

Something supreme, something the former Lords had repeatedly warned never to throw away.

And now, mana was flowing within the statue itself?

This, without a doubt, was the answer.

“Perfect.”

Hardin grasped the hammer with both hands.

Then he lifted it up.

Kwaaaang! Kwaaaang!

He began pounding the Wave Knight Statue without mercy.

Jjeojeojeok! Jjeok!

Soon, cracks began to form on the statue.

The problem was...

“Cough! Cough! Haaa... this is damn exhausting.”

His stamina had fallen to wretched levels.

Hardin crouched down for a moment, leaning on the hammer like a cane to catch his breath.

After resting for a few minutes and rising back to his feet, it was then.

“Hiiiiiik!”

At the voice ringing from behind, he turned his head and saw Gadolph standing there, his face pale as a sheet.

“Oh, you’re here.”

“Young Master! What on earth are you doing?”

“...I’m trying to smash this thing. If you’re bored, lend me a hand.”

“Ha-have you gone mad? Do you have any idea what that is?”

“Yeah, I know very well.”

Kwaaang! Kwaaang! Kwaang!

Hardin swung the hammer again, striking the statue’s knee.

“Stop! Stop it at once!”

Grab!

Gadolph hurriedly grabbed Hardin around the waist and pulled.

“This is a family heirloom, an heirloom! You know how much the Lord cherishes it!”

“Let go.”

“I can’t! Absolutely not!”

“Ah, why are you being such a nuisance. If you won’t help, at least don’t interfere.”

No matter how many times Hardin tried to shove him away, Gadolph kept stubbornly clinging to him. Eventually...

“Damn it, I said get off!”

Buuuum! Buuum!

Hardin scowled and swung the hammer through the air.

“Hiiik!”

Gadolph fell backward with a thud and retreated with a terrified face.

Hardin, scowling, spoke.

“If you won’t help, then get out of the way, you idiot. Cough! Cough! Damn, it hurts like hell.”

Gulp.

Gadolph swallowed hard and thought.

‘Ha... has the Young Master finally lost his mind?’

His condition had been bad until now, but he’d never gone this far.

Was it that, this time, his body was in such terrible shape, so exhausted, that he’d finally snapped?

If not, then how could this make any sense...

Gadolph stared at Hardin.

“Cough! Cough! Hehehe...”

Coughing, letting out hollow laughter, and smashing the statue—Hardin looked just like a madman.

Gulp.

‘If I provoke him now... something terrible might happen.’

In the end... Gadolph had no choice but to make the reasonable (?) decision.

“I-I will take my leave.”

Gadolph slowly backed away and disappeared.

Watching that, Hardin shook his head and let out a deep snort.

“Ha, the steward running away, huh.”

Well, what could he do?

He would just have to finish smashing it alone.

Kaaang! Kaaang! Kaaang!

Hardin kept pounding on the statue’s knee.

“Damn it, why is this thing so damn hard!”

He kept coughing, and his arms felt like they were about to fall off from the pain, but what choice did he have?

He couldn’t exactly ask someone else to break the heirloom for him.

“Haaa... Just... just a little break.”

He stood still in place, catching his breath.

And then, again...

“Cough! Cough! Damn it.”

With a cough, blood gushed out of his mouth.

His teeth were stained a vivid red, and droplets splattered onto the statue.

And then...

Drip.

A nosebleed began to pour down, soaking his clothes.

Ptoo!

‘At this rate, I’m going to bleed to death.’

Wiping his nose roughly, Hardin lifted the hammer once more.

“There, over there! My Lord!”

“Ha... Hardin?! What are you doing?!”

“Brother?”

From the second-floor lobby, Gadolph’s cry rang out.

When he lifted his head, he saw the Lord and the Third Young Master staring down at him with round eyes.

Hardin furrowed his brow and glared at Gadolph.

‘That damn Gadolph... he tattled.’

A steward, resorting to something so cowardly...

But what could he do? The deed was already done.

“I needed to look for something.”

Kaaang! Kaaang!

Hardin smiled as if it were nothing and kept swinging the hammer.

Everyone’s faces turned deathly pale.

He didn’t realize it himself, but right now, Hardin looked...

‘Good heavens...’

‘Has he lost his mind?’

Swinging a hammer while covered head to toe in blood, wearing a wide grin—

Anyone looking on would say that...

“Look, my Lord! The Young Master has gone mad!”

“S-stop it, Hardin! You’re not in your right mind right now!”

“B-brother!”

Everyone shouted with faces full of concern.

‘Mad? What did I do?’

Regardless, Hardin kept gleefully swinging the hammer.

Just breaking the rest of the knee, and it would be finished.

“Hardin!”

Dadadada!

Cobalt and Malion came racing down the stairs in a panic.

Gadolph quickly reached out an arm and shouted.

“D-don’t run down!”

And at that very moment—

Kkwwaajik!

“Huh?”

Thud! Thump!

The stairs shattered, and the two of them tumbled down head over heels.

Just as Hardin himself had once done in the past.

When they finally rolled to the bottom and landed sprawled in the first-floor lobby—

“Hrah-cha-cha-cha!”

Kaaang!

Hardin’s hammer smashed the statue’s knee clean through at perfect timing.

With nothing left to support it, the statue toppled backward—

Kwaaaaaang!

And shattered into hundreds of pieces, scattering like broken glass.

“...T-the heirloom!”

“God above...”

Cobalt and Malion, still sprawled on the floor, lifted their heads just enough for despair to flood their faces.

Who could have imagined that the family heirloom, passed down since the days of the former Lords, would meet such an end?

The two of them scrambled up and rushed over.

“H-Hardin! What have you done?!”

“Why are you acting this way, Brother?!”

“Ah, hold on a moment.”

Brushing them off with a wave of his hand, Hardin crouched down among the shattered fragments, rummaging through them to find something.

“What exactly are you doing! Do you have any idea what this is?”

“Hardin, what the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind?”

“Ugh, so noisy. I’ll explain everything, so just wait a moment.”

“What is it you think you’re going to explain?”

“Inside this statue, there’s something very important.”

Now, let’s see, let’s see... where is it...

How long had he rummaged through the fragments?

“...Huh?”

A faint look of confusion began to surface on Hardin’s face.

‘Why... can’t I see anything?’

At this point, there should have been a map, a key, a magic tool—something.

He could have sworn... he’d felt mana flowing out from inside.

Just then—

Flash!

Between the broken pieces, he saw a chunk of stone faintly glowing with a blue light.

Hardin picked it up with one hand.

‘This is...’

A lump of stone emitting a subtle mana glow.

He looked at it from the front, the back, the side—and no matter how he turned it...

‘It’s a mana crystal.’

And not even a particularly special one, just a low-grade mana crystal.

This must have been what had been leaking mana from inside the statue.

Well, even something like this could fetch several thousand gold if he sold it... but it didn’t look in the slightest like a clue or key to the Record.

In the end, he’d smashed the heirloom to pull this out. Which meant...

‘I’m... in a bit of trouble right now, aren’t I?’

An awkward smile crept onto Hardin’s face. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead, and his face turned pale.

He could feel the scalding stares on him without even needing to look. When he slowly turned his head to the side—

“...”

Cobalt and Malion were gazing down at him, their expressions a tangled mess of anger and bewilderment.

“Brother.”

“Hardin...”

Hardin scratched his head, then stretched the mana crystal out in front of him.

“Heh, here, take this, Malion.”

“What is this supposed to be?”

“A treasure, a treasure. A very precious treasure. You know mana crystals, right?”

The two of them stared at the small blue gem in Malion’s hand.

A tiny, shabby, low-grade mana crystal.

“...You smashed the statue to pull this out?”

While the two of them blinked in disbelief, Gadolph’s shout came from the second floor.

“M-My Lord! He’s escaped!”

“Huh?”

When they looked up again—

“...Brother?”

“What?”

Hardin had vanished like a ghost.

---

Behind the manor, in the overgrown thickets.

“Lord Hardin! Where are you!”

“Young Masteeer!”

Led by Cobalt, the Daphne knights fanned out in every direction, searching frantically for Hardin.

After searching for some time—

“My Lord, we’ve... searched everything in this area.”

“Grrr, then let’s move on to the next.”

“Yes.”

At the knight’s report, they all crowded together and disappeared toward another spot.

When the woods finally fell silent again—

Rustle, rustle.

A patch of bushes rustled.

“God damn it...”

From within, Hardin crawled out on all fours and let out a deep sigh.

He wore a hollow expression, as if he had just lost his country.

Roughly raking his hair back, Hardin thought.

‘Why... wasn’t it in there?’

He’d gone to the trouble of smashing that statue, so why hadn’t there been anything inside?

Had that bastard Syllot lied? He hadn’t seemed like he was lying...

Countless thoughts tangled together in his mind.

The most supreme place on this land.

“Supreme” meant the highest place possible, didn’t it? But why hadn’t it been there?

Ha... this was enough to drive him insane.

Clutching his head, Hardin fell into thought.

‘The highest place possible...’

For no particular reason, he slowly turned his head.

Before his eyes stretched a steep hillside.

The path leading up the mountain behind the manor.

...As far as Hardin knew, that was the tallest mountain in the territory.

“Don’t tell me... ‘supreme’ literally meant that.”

There was no way it could be that simple.

No way... no way at all.

But what choice did he have?

‘I don’t have any other clues, and going back is...’

If he went back to the mansion now, he’d just end up exhausted again.

And if he just sat here doing nothing, his condition would only get worse.

‘For now... I’ll go. Whether it turns into soup or bread.’

In the end, Hardin hauled himself to his feet and began trudging up the slope.

---

“Haah... haah... haah...”

By the time the sun was sinking behind the mountain,

Hardin, completely drained, staggered up onto the plateau at the summit.

At this rate, he really would end up dying from the effort of trying to recover.

Catching his breath, he lifted his head.

There, in the middle of the wide grassy field, lay a large lake.

What stood out was the stone tablet set in front of the lake, with a single line of strange, unknown script carved into it.

As Hardin stepped closer, deep wrinkles formed on his brow.

“...”

Those letters were a cipher Daphne had often used during wartime.

Naturally, Hardin could read it perfectly.

What was written on that stone tablet was...

[The most ‘supreme’ place by the lakeside.]

Insane... so “supreme” literally just... meant the highest place?

Hardin blinked for a long moment.

“Nooo! Are you kidding me right now?!”

Clutching his head, he let out a roar with all his might.