Reincarnated as a Genius Prodigy of a Prestigious Family - Chapter 1

I was born on the battlefield.

My mother was a young widow who was taking refuge in a refugee convoy.

The convoy my mother was in had been attacked and was evacuated to the camp of friendly forces, where she gave birth to me. However, she was utterly exhausted, and not long after giving birth to me, she passed away.

I grew up on the battlefield.

At first, I was an errand boy for the soldiers. I carried various supplies back and forth and cleaned their weapons. In return, I grew up eating leftovers.

Suddenly, at the age of fourteen, I was sent to the battlefield.

I awoke my talent on the battlefield.

It was a hopeless battle they sent me out to because they were short on troops. During that battle, my spear broke, and I came upon a sword by chance. I immediately killed ten of the enemy soldiers.

Someone told me I had a talent for swords.

From then on, I was no longer an errand boy—I was a soldier. Within such an environment, and without proper training, I began to swing my sword and hone my skills.

I came to the realization on the battlefield that my talent was actually pretty impressive.

Three years later, I managed to form a single ‘mana core’, which most people would find difficult to achieve within their lifetime, and attained a warrior’s ‘class’.

The mana core residing within my heart boosted my movements and senses to an entirely different level. I was able to cut down many more enemies, and the sword skills that I had developed on the battlefield were able to improve more quickly.

Then, after another three years, I was able to form my second mana core.

At that point, I was no longer a soldier. I became a commander, placed in charge of hundreds of soldiers. Through my experience and battle-forged talent, I began to accumulate countless achievements.

Finally, after acquiring my third and then fourth mana core, I received the opportunity I had been unconsciously longing for.

“I’ll be recommending you for a special appointment as a knight.”

Appointment as a knight.

It was the chance of a lifetime for someone like me, who was born on the battlefield, would die on the battlefield, and would have no idea what to do with their life should the war somehow finish.

“All of the current hexa class knights were unable to achieve quad class at your age.”

Quad class.

From the moment I formed four mana cores, I had basically been qualified to be a knight.

Despite awakening my talent late, it had only taken me eleven years to form them. The commander who had recommended me told me I had a good chance of becoming a hexa class knight, of which there were currently only five in the empire.

I thought I would finally be able to live the rest of my peacefully should the war come to an end.

However—

The day before I was to head to the city for the approval of my special appointment as a knight, a cry rang out.

“It’s an attack!”

I died on the battlefield.

* * *

I had thought that even someone like me, who had been entrenched in the battlefield where my talent awakened, could have a new life unfold before me.

I had thought that in that new life… I could even start the family I longed for.

However, all of that was a delusion.

The 3rd division of the Drenik Imperial Army I belonged to had engaged with the 5th division of the Altheon Imperial Army in a large-scale battle and was completely wiped out in the end.

Countless soldiers died, and finally, only I remained standing.

The reason for this was simple.

I was stronger than those who had died.

However, I was to die soon, myself.

“What a persistent fellow.”

After all, I had encountered someone who was a hundred—no, rather, hundreds of times stronger than me.

“It’s been quite a long while since someone has made me swing my sword more than ten times. Would you be the famous Argrik, whose talent bloomed on the battlefield?”

How surprising. That person had heard of me.

I never thought I would be so happy.

“It pleases me greatly to hear that, Duke Thermion.”

“Haha, so you know my name?”

“Even if someone had been on the battlefield for only a single day, they would have undoubtedly heard about the famed ‘Black Wave’.”

Duke Thermion laughed out loud.

He was one of only six hexa class knights in the Altheon Empire. I had exchanged blows over ten times with such a figure. It resulted in wounds all over my body, but I was happy.

“You are worthy of respect.”

Of course, he had blocked my sword. No matter how hard I tried, the result was the same. His skills were on an overwhelmingly higher level than mine.

“I have to ask you. Won’t you consider surrendering? It would be really quite a shame to waste your talent. For you to be a quad class at your age… I somehow feel you could surpass even myself.”

I shook my head and said, “No. Since I was born on the battlefield, I will die here as well.”

He grinned, indicating that my response was to his liking, and mused, “How interesting. Your swordsmanship is impressive. If it had only been a little bit better, you would have been able to compete with me.”

It was a shame.

I was unable to maximize my talents. I had wanted to start a family should the war end.

How envious I had been when the soldiers talked about their wives and children waiting at home for them. It was an incredible blessing to be able to have a place to return to.

“Haha. What talent you have. Your swordsmanship is more intimidating given that you don’t have an established form. You seem to be the type of man who would take the sword in your mouth and continue to fight if both of your arms were to be cut off.”

Duke Thermion took a step forward.

I raised my sword.

“Your eyes are full of regret. In your next life, make sure to rid yourself of all that regret.”

Slice.

Without having a chance to even block his strike, my sword and neck were sliced through. My field of vision raised, spun around and around, and finally stopped.

“I also feel regret. If we had only met somewhere other than the battlefield, we could have grown to be good rivals.”

As Duke Thermion’s voice slowly faded, my life came to an end.

My talent had been cut short, and my dreams had faded away.

At least, that was what I thought.

Until I opened my eyes again.

* * *

Reaper Scans

[Translator – Kyuri]

[Proofreader – Harley]

Join our discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics

* * *

“Look at his eyes. Don’t they look so bright?”

“They do indeed, dear. It feels like we’ve given birth to a gem at such an old age.”

“What does our age matter? And gems can’t even compare to him. This child is a gift—a gift from God.”

“Haha, you are right. He’s a gift from God. Dane, you’re going to become a great spearman and follow in your father’s footsteps.”

“What are you saying?! Dane’s going to become a first-rate assassin.”

“Hey, hey. How could you suggest our youngest become a fearful assassin when he was born to us so late? Men should have spears! Spears are the ultimate weapon, embodying the aesthetics of martial arts…”

“What does us having him late have anything to do with it?! It’s much more impressive to use stealth to hide, assassinate your target without anyone knowing, and escape! Why should he have to do anything so messy?!”

“Hey, hey. Look at his foundation. It’s clearly a foundation for wielding a spear!”

“Oh, my. But anyone can clearly see it’s a foundation for excelling at assassination?”

The two of them were engaged in a heated discussion about the path for my future. I wondered if they were more insistent on having me follow in their footsteps because they had me so late.

“Then how about we try this? Let’s have him do both!”

“Sounds good! After all, Dane’s going to become an assassin for sure!”

“Spearman! Spearman!”

How in the world did they even manage to get married?

It was quite the loving conversation. It would not always remain so, but for now, it was a spectacle I was unfamiliar with.

Since I had only been born a mere month ago, there was only one expression I could make.

“Wahhh.”

I had reincarnated as the youngest son of a count of the Altheon Empire, which had been the enemy of the Drenik Empire, where I had lived in my previous life.

My father was an elite spearman of the empire.

My mother was a (former) elite assassin of the empire.

“Oh! It looks like our Dane is hungry!”

“Let’s hurry back!”

“Sure. Here, take my hand.”

“Goodness. What if the castle staff see us?”

“What is the problem with holding my wife’s hand? Take my hand…”

I had been born to a pair of lovebirds more lovey-dovey than any other couple in the world.

And…

The family I reincarnated into was a house of incredible power.

“Let’s go back to our own castle.”

I could tell due to the size and scale of the castle and the region spread out before my eyes.

Given this setting…

It may actually be a simple matter for my talent to finally flourish.

* * *

“Ahbbb.”

Now that I was two months old, I was capable of more expressions.

This was a fortunate development.

I had been debating on whether or not to adjust the octave of the sole “waaah” I could belt out in order to convey different meanings.

“Oh, my. Our Dane’s finally babbling!”

I see. This was considered babbling. I would have needed to have raised a child to have known that. I had not even been married before.

There were few opportunities to be around children when moving from battlefield to battlefield. The only ones I saw were always swaddled babies who were crying all the time.

Of those, about half had lost their parents. The other half were starving, and their cries would slowly grow quieter.

In that sense, House Sogres was truly blessed and was a bountiful place. I would never need to starve.

“Haha. Dane! This is what you call a spear!”

Arken Sogres, my father, was truly crazy for… I mean, loved spears very much.

He had come to show me a spear when I had not even reached 100 days of age and had gotten smacked in the back by my mother.

For reference, she was able to catch him in the act because she could erase her presence. As expected of a former assassin.

“Didn’t I tell you? Early education is not allowed! If you’re going to be like that then I’ll start teaching him the basics of stealth, too.”

“Hey! Everyone’s doing it like this these days! House Teleport, a famous mage family in a faraway country, leaves staves next to their babies starting at birth!”

“You think a staff is the same as a spear? Spears are sharp!”

“Ah, but somehow leaving a dagger next to him while changing his diaper is acceptable?”

“That’s just a habit of mine! A habit!”

Still, it was clear this was a harmonious family.

I was their hope.

Even though I had two older sisters, neither of them had picked a path related to either spears or assassination.

My eldest sister, Arabella Sogres, was twelve years old. She could feel magic the moment she was born and was now walking the path of a mage.

“Dane. Look at this! If I do this, then… ta-da! Your cheeks get plumper!”

“Ahbbb!”

My sister, who would sometimes get bored and use magic on me playfully, would always treat me endearingly. She never had any malicious intent or used harmful magic on me.

For context, my parents could sense magic in my eldest sister when she was born and had called for a famous mage to evaluate her. They had fallen into great despair as a result.

“Daddy, I mean, Father said… ‘You could become a top-class mage!’ But he looked so sad when saying that. I wonder why?”

“Ahbbb!”

While she was very talented, she was much too talented. If her talent had been any less, she may have been able to choose a different path. However, her talent was so excessive that it left her no other choice but to pick the path of a mage.

For reference, even though she was barely twelve years old, she was a 3-chain class mage.

From what I knew, the highest level a mage could attain was the 9-chain class. At twelve years old, she was a genius who had already surpassed the apprentice level.

“Dane, do you want to learn magic with me later? I’m always learning by myself, so I get bored.”

It appeared my eldest sister wanted me to learn magic.

Then there was the younger of my two older sisters, Clare Sogres, who was nine years old.

“Dear, it looks like Clare is still having a hard time with Dane.”

“That’s understandable. She had received all the love as the youngest before, and now all the attention has shifted to Dane. I should pay more attention to her.”

She was also a daughter who had sent Father into despair.

She was a very promising summoner and had incredible talent. At seven years old, she had succeeded with her first summon, and now she was a summoner capable of handling two summons at once.

Considering the fact that the summoners I had seen on the battlefield struggled with just one, her talent was truly impressive.

“……”

I had thought that she didn’t like me at first. She did not look particularly happy when she saw me right when I was born. Unlike my eldest sister, she never doted on me.

However, I soon realized she was experiencing a feeling similar to the ‘jealousy’ that commonly afflicted children once they acquired a younger sibling. It stemmed from having all of their parents’ attention, which had been directed at them previously, stolen away in an instant.

However, that was only how it appeared superficially. Whenever my parents were not around, she would often secretly find me and touch my cheeks while pretending not to care.

“…How can they be so soft?”

Although there was a problem where she would touch them so much that they would swell and she would get in trouble with our eldest sister.

“…Dane, it’d be so much fun if you had any talent in summoning… I should teach you later.”

It appeared the younger of my older sisters wanted to teach me summoning.

A hexa class spearman as my father.

An assassin who may currently be retired but at one time had attempted to assassinate the emperor as my mother.

A genius mage as my eldest sister.

A similarly genius summoner as the younger of my older sisters.

House Sogres was the perfect prestigious family.

On top of that, there was me, Dane Sogres, who had reincarnated after having died due to my own impressive talent.

“Waaah!”

This place was not the battlefield, where supplies were always short and I had to worry about the person next to me possibly dying and not being there the next day.

It was the family I had always longed for.

A family with a count title, to boot.

I was lucky to have been born into a harmonious family, as I had always fervently wished for something I could consider family.

“Spearmanship! Absolutely spearmanship!”

“Are you saying that because you really don’t know how useful learning stealth and assassination skills can be?”

“Magic is the future, Father, Mother!”

“But summoning is also really nice…”

They made me think of families engaging in a fierce battle disguised as a discussion of whose specialty was the best whenever they gathered together.

It was a harmonious family……

Right?