The Reincarnated Mastermind: Sundering Fate with Magic Swords Volume 1

At any rate, the description of the Wooden Magic Sword held Ren's gaze captive.

Nature magic? The type that creates plants in battle?

Ren recalled an enemy who wielded nature magic in the game-an elf the party encountered in a forest. He had tremendous physical abilities and could bind the party using vegetation created with nature magic. To add to that, he could also use a different kind of magic to control monsters, making it quite a troublesome fight.

His nature magic was strong...but the (lesser) tag on mine is a little concerning.

It was probably safe to assume that it was weaker than normal nature magic.

I'd love to try it out. In a world with monsters, living peacefully is a farfetched dream if I can't even fight.

With that in mind, Ren muttered "Wooden Magic Sword... Wooden Magic Sword..." over and over in his mind, but nothing seemed to happen. Ren hung his head, then suddenly looked at the bracelet before him.

Maybe Magic Sword Summoner only worked with the bracelet equipped. So, he brought his right arm closer and the bracelet latched on automatically. While surprised by this, he repeated the chant in his head and a crack formed in the empty air.

A wooden sword slowly appeared out of the crack like a blade being drawn from its sheath. Then, it plopped down pathetically onto the bed.

It's tiny...

Ren's joyful smile clouded over in an instant. This was pretty much to be expected, but while it was a magic sword, it was still the Wooden Magic Sword. It was also so short it would be presumptuous to even call it a dagger. At best, it could be taken for a kitchen knife.

I-I haven't leveled it up yet... Also, I can technically use nature magic...

Feeling somewhat dissatisfied, Ren picked up the Wooden Magic Sword. For some reason, his body felt heavy and he was getting a headache. Chalking it up to his imagination, he tightened his grip and tried to brandish the sword.

Ugh... Ah...

The headache was not in fact his imagination, and it was getting worse. Unable to withstand it, Ren fell into an empty-minded stupor. The bracelet that had attached itself to his arm vanished on its own.

? ? ? ?

Several weeks after passing out from that headache, Ren took a look out of the window at the leaves starting to fall from their trees. At about six months into his life, he had tried out Magic Sword Summoning. Currently, he was around seven or eight months old. Working backward from there, his birthday would be somewhere around April.

I get it now...

Ren smiled in satisfaction at the Wooden Magic Sword in his hand. Not counting the day after his first attempt, Ren had summoned this sword every day.

He hadn't tried that one day because the headache had frightened him. He refused to give up, however, and the second try turned out to be less painful than the first. After the third, then the fourth, the headache and weight on his body had been nowhere near as bad.

Did I get that first headache because I ran out of mana?

In The Legend of the Seven Heroes, characters who ran out of mana would temporarily suffer from stat loss. Ren figured this was what had happened to him.

If I had to guess, I'd say unlike the game, this world has no concept of stats and character levels. Otherwise, my growth would make no sense.

For example, physical strength didn't depend on level. Though it differed from person to person, it came with the body's growth. Alternatively, it could be improved by exhausting one's strength, much like Ren had done with his mana. That was simply how muscles worked. In other words, it was a matter of putting in the work to improve.

Anyway, one of my plans has already gone out the window.

Assuming that this was the same world as the game, Ren knew how to efficiently raise his level. He'd wanted to use that as a means to live an easy and peaceful life, but no such luck. He had to put in steady and honest work. That drew a deep sigh out of him.

"Ren? You awake?"

Just then, the door opened and a well-built man walked up to Ren. In a panic, Ren willed his bracelet and magic sword to vanish before they were discovered. This was something he'd recently discovered how to accomplish.

"Oh? Looking outside again? Then let your dad give you a closer look!"

As his words confirmed, this was Ren's father, Roy Ashton. He was still young, around the same age as Mireille. He had masculine features, so he and his wife were quite the picture when they were together. As he was scooped up, Ren looked up at the man's face, and Roy returned a refreshing smile, showing his white teeth.

"Take a look. Our nameless village is borderlanding as splendidly as ever!"

Using "borderland" as a verb for some reason, Roy opened the window, letting in a slightly chill breeze that tousled his blond hair.

Yup. As remote as ever.

This part hadn't been described in The Legend of the Seven Heroes. Ren Ashton's hometown was about as far into the countryside as it got. It was a small village that didn't even house a hundred people. The fields spreading out beyond the window were dotted by simple buildings.

"You see that over there? That's the forest."

Roy pointed to a dense growth of trees. At a glance, it looked like any other forest, but there was one outstanding feature: a stone that towered over its surroundings.

"Gah?" Ren cooed, pointing at it.

"They call it the Sword Stone. Look, it's tapered like a blade. It takes about an hour and a half to walk there from the forest's entrance."

It looked as tall as a skyscraper. Ren was calmly observing the Sword Stone when a somewhat strong breeze suddenly brushed against his cheek.

"But don't forget. You must never enter the forest beyond those fields. The monsters there are weak, sure, but they'll attack the moment they spot you."

Roy's next words piqued Ren's interest greatly.

"Well, this village manages to get by 'cause they're so weak. Hunting them is a good food source and we can sell the magicite for money. That's how I'm able to make a living for us."

Beyond just repeatedly training his mana, there was another way Ren could improve Magic Sword Summoner. He had to use magicite to gain proficiency with his magic swords.

I wonder if I can get him to show me some...

As Ren secretly thought that, Roy carried him out of the room.

"How 'bout we take a walk around?"

This was Ren's first time outside his room. The rest of the house was just as worn. The hallway's wood planks were a deep brown, their color dulled here and there. With any kind of decoration, things might've looked a little different, but Ren couldn't even spot any furniture.

"Mrgh... If I don't fix this place up soon..." Roy muttered, smiling bitterly as one of the floorboards creaked loudly under his weight. "Guess the house I inherited from my old man along with his status as a knight is reaching its limit. Well, I'll consider it if the village turns a profit. Ren, remember this well. Poor knights don't have any money to spend."

Dad, this isn't something you should be telling a baby...

As Roy's words implied, the Ashton family was a line of knights who'd been entrusted with this remote village. Ren had been under the impression that being a knight wasn't hereditary, but it seemed that wasn't the case in this world-or at least this country specifically.

After a short while, Roy stopped at a door at the end of the hallway and threw it open.

"Mireille! I brought Ren!"

The room on the other side was the kitchen. It was an old-fashioned design where over half the space had a dirt floor and a door that led outside.

"D-Dear?! What happened?! Why did you suddenly bring Ren out?!"

Mireille was standing next to a stone basin and a sooty oven in the dirt corner of the kitchen.

"Well, ya know, Ren seemed like he wanted to see what magicite looked like, so-"

"As if he could have wanted that! Good grief!"

That's exactly what I wanted, Ren said in his head. Mireille was convinced it was an utter lie, though. She sighed deeply, looking at Roy with suspicion in her eyes as he approached her.

"I suppose you've always been a sword nut," she said. "Spending all your time fighting monsters and collecting your beloved magicite. That's why you wind up with these strange misunderstandings of things."

"Y-You don't know that! C'mon! Let me borrow the magicite I got from this morning's hunt!"

"Yes, yes, I'm already done with it, so do what you like."

With that, Roy handed Ren over to Mireille, then headed to a corner of the kitchen. There was a muddy pelt there with a translucent stone sitting on top of it.

I'm guessing that's a little boar's hide.

That was the name of the first monster the protagonist fought in the game. It was very similar to a normal wild boar.

"Ren, your dad makes money by hunting...