The Ancient Imperial Calendar, Year 1819
"I'm on the verge of losing my mind now. How did things get to this point? Every regret from my previous and current life is being thrown in my face, one by one. Is this place some kind of purgatory or is it trying to heal the wounds of my soul? I don't understand. I don't understand what kind of place this is. Who could have made such a place? Is it the work of the Soul King? Whatever. Let's see where I'll find myself now."
"Ricardo."
"That familiar voice..."
"Ricardo."
"It can't be... that voice..."
"Ricardo, wake up."
Ricardo suddenly shot up from his bed. He first looked around, then at himself. His body was small, resembling his eight-year-old self.
When he noticed the concern on his mother's face, he turned his head towards the door.
"Master."
He saw his First Master and Personal Guard, Richard Kislavein. In that moment, he understood where he was.
"The day Master Richard died."
Ricardo wasted no time and sprang into action.
"I will finally have my revenge for this day, which has eaten away at me for years and poisoned my nights."
Ricardo wanted to cast the most powerful spells he knew, but due to his age, there was a limit to what he could handle.
"Damn this child's body."
When Seliarnevre saw her son's frightened and anxious state, she wanted to calm him down.
"Ricardo, calm down. Master and I will protect you."
Ricardo became angry.
"I'm not afraid of the assassins, Mother. I must protect my Master."
When Richard heard these words, he felt an unusual emotion.
"He will protect me? I'm supposed to be protecting him. If he's already like this towards his subordinates, he'll never have trouble winning people's loyalty when he grows up."
Richard drew courage from his Young Lord's words. He raised his sword and prepared for the attack.
"Young Lord, even if I die today, I will have no regrets. I believe you will become the next Lord of the Kislavein House."
With great courage, Richard kicked the door and attacked the assassins at an unexpected moment.
"It's happening again. Everything that happened 16 years ago is repeating itself. If I don't act, I'll never have another chance to be free from this regret."
Ricardo broke free from his mother's arms and lunged forward. He channeled his mana into his feet, performed a jumping spell, and leaped all the way to the floor of the room.
"While the assassins are focused on Richard, I need to take advantage of the opportunity as much as I can."
Ricardo stabbed his short sword into an assassin's head and split it in two. Without giving the other assassins a chance to react, he pulled his sword from the head and slit the throats of the two assassins standing nearby.
Richard watched this in admiration.
"You are amazing, Young Lord!"
As Richard and Ricardo were cutting down assassins, Seliarnevre killed ten assassins with ice spears.
Only five assassins remained.
"What are we going to do? We're going to die at this rate."
"Calm down. Look, they're getting tired too. We still have a chance to win."
The five assassins attacked. Richard was tired but still managed to kill the first assassin with difficulty.
Seliarnevre slaughtered two more assassins with her ice spears.
The last two assassins, disregarding everything, directly targeted Ricardo.
Ricardo channeled his mana into his hand, increased his wrist strength, and threw his sword at an assassin with all his might.
The sword pierced the assassin's throat at a speed he couldn't react to.
The last surviving assassin dodged Seliarnevre's ice spears and advanced towards Ricardo.
"DIE!"
Seliarnevre ran towards Ricardo and shouted in alarm.
"RICARDO, RUN!"
Ricardo didn't run. He clasped his hands together, shaped his Aura, and just as he was about to be killed by the assassin, the Aura he had concentrated in his hands took the form of a spear and split the assassin's chest open.
The assassin was bewildered by what had happened and suddenly realized his head was flying through the air.
"What's going on?" he thought to himself.
Richard had beheaded the last assassin. The severed head floated in the air for a few seconds before falling to the ground and rolling a few meters.
Richard knelt down from exhaustion.
"Are you alright, Young Lord?"
Ricardo tossed the Aura spear aside and embraced his Master. At first, Richard hesitated, but at Seliarnevre's signal, he hugged Ricardo back.
"Everything will disappear in a moment. At least while I have the chance, let me hug you as much as I can."
When the white light appeared, Ricardo looked into his master's eyes.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you that day, Master."