C382 - Who Is The Real Runcandel? (2)
Drip, drip...
Blood flowed from Jin's severed arms.
Puddles of blood quickly formed on the ground, and the law-enforcing knights took a step back, their swords still pointed at Jin.
Jin maintained a serene expression.
And he never took his gaze off Jorden.
For Jorden, that calm look from the rookie couldn't be more unsettling.
Even as Jin approached him with severed arms, Jorden felt a chill down his spine, as if a blade were cutting through his back.
"It's a reflex...!"
Such a thought briefly crossed Jorden's mind.
A reflex.
What he saw in this insolent boy now was a reflection that reminded him of Cyron's youth.
Back then, when Jorden competed with Cyron as the Second Flagbearer, Jorden had received a warning from Cyron.
A look.
A look that said, "If you keep challenging, I will eliminate you."
Young Jorden only truly realized the weight of Cyron's casual warning after facing him.
They were on different levels, lived in different worlds, and were beings of different dimensions.
He was nothing more than an ant Cyron could crush at any moment.
"At that time, the Patriarch was already at the pinnacle of the world. He truly was a supreme ruler."
But then, why did this Twelfth Flagbearer with severed arms possess the same aura?
A terrifying aura that Jorden had never experienced from anyone since Cyron!
Blink...!
He closed his eyes for a moment, and in that instant, all those thoughts passed as fast as light.
All that deja vu feeling melted into a fleeting moment in which he barely blinked.
"Call the medical team, now!" someone urgently shouted, and he heard the sound as if it were coming from underwater.
Hah!
It was only then that Jorden could finally swallow the lump in his throat and break free from the deja vu.
Goosebumps covered Jorden's entire body.
"Get the medical team here quickly! Damn it, hurry!"
The one shouting was Butler Petro.
A mere butler couldn't use such language when Elders and Flagbearers were present.
But in Petro's mind, there was only one thought: Start treatment before Jin's arms necrotized.
Even for high-level healers, completely healing an amputated limb was not an easy task.
Reattaching a severed limb might seem simple, but a Warrior's arm was different from that of an ordinary person.
If it didn't fully regain its original function, a Warrior was no different from a bird with broken wings.
Even the most renowned healers on the continent couldn't restore an amputated limb if even a moment had passed after amputation.
"Medical team!"
Mary also called for the medical team, biting her lower lip.
The knights ran to the medical facilities as if possessed.
In less than twenty seconds, the knights returned with the medical team.
Meanwhile, Dyfus and Mary did their best to stop Jin's bleeding and applied pressure to his arms.
"Uncle Jorden, your ending won't be a good one."
In the midst of the chaos, Jin suppressed a victorious smile.
However, even though Jin hid his smile, everyone present in the central court who had witnessed this scene knew who the winner was between Jin and Jorden.
"Make way!"
"Both of you, go get the necessary medicinal herbs! We need emergency treatment first, and then we'll move the Twelfth Flagbearer to the operating room!"
The healers of Runcandel shouted as they examined Jin's body.
"Is the little brother okay!? Can you give him his arm back!?"
The Tona brothers, who had been watching with bated breath, rushed over to the medical team to ask.
"We can't give a definite answer."
The situation was dire.
Jin had accumulated fatigue from battling assassins even before returning to the clan, and his bleeding was severe.
Although Runcandel's medical team consisted of the best healers, they couldn't be certain they could fully restore his arm.
"Make sure to treat him perfectly, no matter what!"
"Seventh Flagbearer, don't worry too much about me."
Jin gave Mary a faint smile.
The healers were working diligently to infuse mana into the amputated limbs.
"And I apologize for leaving you alone during the meeting."
"Don't worry. Damn it. I still have to spar with you for a long time."
"Petro."
"Yes, Young Master!"
Jin nodded toward Fey in the carriage.
"That's my spoils of war."
It meant not to let anyone touch or inspect it during its operation.
Originally, it was a difficult order for Petro to fulfill.
In such a situation, if the Council of Elders demanded it, Petro and Jin had no choice but to hand over Fey.
But with this incident, Jin Runcandel's name within the Family had gained a higher status.
No one could casually interfere with Jin and his possessions.
Even the President of the Council of Elders had pressured Jin with some plausible reasons but ended up with such a disgrace.
Now, it had become a matter that required serious determination to touch Jin within the Family.
"Understood!"
Despite still being concerned for Jin, Petro's chest swelled with pride from the depths.
"Twelfth Flagbearer, we will move to the operating room!"
"I'm counting on you."
"I'll do what I can."
The medical team, once they had completed emergency treatment, began to transfer Jin to the operating room.
Jorden and the older council members watched in silence for a while.
It wasn't the time for the council of elders to tell everyone to step back, reprimand the butler for calling the medical team, or for law-enforcing knights to punish the flagbearers for breaking the law.
The elderly council wasn't in the mood for such things.
Above all, Jorden had lost some of his fighting spirit.
"For a moment, I, Jorden Runcandel, felt fear from that boy just from his aura."
Was the fear he felt from Cyron in his youth really so tremendous, or had the Twelfth Flagbearer shown an indescribable will?
Jorden couldn't quickly distinguish between the two.
"One thing's for sure, he's not an opponent to be taken lightly...!"
Indeed, Jorden had recognized Jin's potential long ago.
Jin had some exceptional qualities that set him apart from other flagbearers.
Still, Jorden had never judged him as a 'true opponent' with whom he could truly spar.
He had always thought of him as someone he could crush at any moment, just as Cyron had done back then.
And today, that thought had completely changed due to today's humiliation.
For the first time in his life, he felt the bitterness of being defeated despite cutting down his opponent at will.
"He might be a greater threat to me than the Second Flagbearer. No, perhaps...!"
He couldn't turn to see, but Jorden was aware of Rosa's gaze from the main house.
"He might be even more dangerous than Rosa."
There was someone else who shared a similar thought to Jorden's.
Joshua Runcandel, the Second Flagbearer of the Family.
He contemplated the pool of blood that Jin had shed with a premonitory feeling.
"...At first glance, it seems reckless, but it's clear it was a calculated move. From the moment Mary made the issue of the first patriarch's tomb public, he was preparing to detonate this bomb within the clan."
What had just transpired between Jin and Jorden was only the beginning.
Joshua was sure of it.
"He's definitely not the kind of person who would let himself be pushed around so much. He must have had a well-founded reason for doing this."
After Mary had made the information public during the previous meeting, Joshua had been pondering Jin's intentions all along.
The legacy.
Undoubtedly, Mary had mentioned that Solderet had left legacies in the first patriarch's tomb for Jin.
Not just because he found it difficult to search for those legacies on his own.
There was something more.
"What is Jin exactly?"
Before Jin's operation could conclude, it was crucial to understand his intentions.
Undoubtedly, another disturbance would occur within the clan right after the operation.
Various scenarios swirled in Joshua's mind. He felt like his head was about to explode, and an inexplicable anxiety weighed on his chest.
"There has to be something fundamental. All of little brother's actions are ultimately directed at getting what he wants."
After much contemplation, Joshua finally arrived at a conclusion.
The battle for succession!
He wondered why he hadn't thought of it immediately.
"Why didn't I think that this little brother leaked information about the first patriarch to Mary to gain an advantage in the succession battle?"
Encouraging other Runcandels to participate in the search for the tomb through Mary, having Mary attend the meeting alone while he stayed on the sidelines, and even undermining Jorden's prestige by losing both arms – all of these actions were aimed at gaining an advantage in the succession battle.
"Having Mary leak information about the first patriarch's tomb was to gain legitimacy. Having Mary attend the meeting alone was to obtain the last legacy that could be obtained without relying on the clan's power. And weakening the prestige of the elderly council president..."
A show of presence.
Joshua, who had reached this conclusion, glanced around once.
What he saw was the agitated Runcandels.
It was undeniable that Jin's actions were having a significant impact on the Runcandel Family.
At a certain point, Jin had stopped observing the atmosphere of the Family, and instead, the Family had begun to follow the current created by Jin.
This meant that the position of the twelfth flagbearer carried considerable weight.
It also implied that cracks were forming in his position as the future patriarch, which he had built up until now.
"Howard."
Joshua called his butler.
"Yes, my lord."
"Starting today, those who seek to determine their own fate as the little brother will begin to appear."
Howard was surprised to hear this.
"No need to be surprised. From the beginning, he was someone our father had an interest in, so it's natural for this to happen. They may be few for now, but a snowball can grow in an instant."
"How do you plan to approach this?"
"Gather all my knights in the Garden of Swords. Anyone who can arrive before the little brother's surgery ends, without exception."
"I understand."
The reason Joshua was assembling his knights was for this very purpose: when Jin recovered from surgery, or when he detonated any bomb, they needed to show the dignity of the Second Flagbearer of the Family and the future Lord.
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