741 Brothers (1/2)

Once upon a time, there were two twin brothers.

They were really fortunate.

Just their very birth was celebrated by millions of citizens in their country. They were all delighted from their bottom of their hearts as they gave their sincere blessings.

\”The old king has sons now! The Mist Kingdom now has new successors!\”

Even though life was very difficult in this land and snow, everyone believed that the future would improve for them under the wise Mist Emperor's leadership.

The old emperor was already past middle age. Since he had been injured while young, his body's condition was now rapidly deteriorating. The Mist Kingdom was quite troubled about the issue of having no successors. Now that two princes had been born at once, perhaps this happy kingdom in the Northlands would become more stable than ever.

From that day onwards, the birthday of the twin princes became a new holiday celebrated by the entire country: the Twins' Festival.

\”May the Gods protect the twins. May the twins swiftly grow up strong and support this country. May the Mist royalty have wise rulers in every generation…\”

Maybe such a prayer addressed to nobody in particular had actually been effective. Maybe the heavens really were watching over the twins. The twins, who carried so many expectations from the Mist Kingdom's citizens, matured quite swiftly and soon showed off how extraordinary they were.

\”The heavens have blessed us People of the Mist! Not only are our princes outstanding, they're geniuses!\”

The older prince, Roland, behaved incredibly maturely despite his young age. His strange \”inventions\” brought much joy to the ice-and-snow filled Diffindor. He performed incredibly in his classes on politics and literature. He was renowned throughout the entire Mist Kingdom for being a child genius.

Every time that people heard him reading political announcements in such a serious tone with his child's voice, they would always say, \”Prince Roland will become a wise king in the future.\”

Meanwhile, the younger prince Karwenz was truly a genius regarding swordsmanship and magic. He would learn every single martial arts technique instantly. He was capable of learning any magic spell at a glance. His rapid progression through the power levels was inconceivable.

Every time when Karwenz easily outclassed everyone else in the same age group, and whenever he easily defeated his own teacher, people would say, \”Prince Karwenz will become an outstanding general in the future.\”

As the two princes became ever more renowned for being child geniuses, the People of the Mist became ever more hopeful about the future.

Yet, only the older Prince Roland knew that the two princes were really different.

\”Karwenz is the real genius here. I'm only a transmigrator who has knowledge from a previous world. All my so-called wisdom is only because of the head start that I have from reincarnation. If I don't work hard, I'll be left behind sooner or later.\”

Roland knew better than anyone that he was only an ordinary person.

He understood this all the more so because there was a true genius right next to him.

\”A so-called genius is someone who has better talent than others, more efficiency in using what they've learned than others, better concentration due to having more interest, and a more efficient method of learning. As time goes on, all of this added together will easily cause him to leave behind others of the same age. Ordinary people will probably think that's what a genius is.\”

That had been Roland's original impression of what a genius was. However, his younger by only a few minutes twin brother severely shattered Roland's idea of what a genius was.

Karwenz didn't use any sort of high-efficiency learning method. Instead, Karwenz had an instinctual ability: being able to learn anything with just one glance.

He didn't rely on accumulation with sweat and time at all. He was able to cast sword energy on his very first attempt. He became a Sword Saint in less than three days. He had such outstanding instinct for combat that he defeated an old general who had experienced hundreds of battles before in his very first ever combat simulation involving commanding armies.

Military tactics, martial arts, and magic. Karwenz would learn all such things instantly. He learned how rhythm worked and was capable of writing his own songs right after hearing someone else humming. He was capable of extrapolating an entire language's alphabet and grammar just by looking at hieroglyphics. Even though he was supposedly weaker at politics, he wasn't bad at all with his wild instinct and outstanding ability to get along with others.

\”It's really so simple. Why are all of you being so serious about it? Brother, you're so stupid. You don't even understand this? Hurry and finish your homework so that we can go play!\”

His childish words revealed to Roland how cruel the difference between them really was.

Perhaps there really were some people who were born superior to others in this world.

Perhaps, to some people, they only needed to casually play around in order to achieve what had taken others decades of hard work to achieve.

Perhaps, with a true genius right next to them, an ordinary person should have known their ordinariness, and obediently given up…

\”Ptui! I'm your older brother! How could I possibly be lesser than you?\”

However, Roland was someone who didn't know the meaning of giving up.

\”So what if I can't become a Sword Saint in just three days? I can probably do it if I work hard enough for three years, right? That will still scare plenty of people who hear about it.

\”So what if I'm not capable of learning everything with only a single glance? At the very least, I have two worlds' worth of knowledge and an adult mind. As long as I'm willing to work hard, I can learn anything as well!\”

Roland didn't give up at all, since he had his knowledge as a transmigrator. He kept becoming ever stronger through his trials and hardships, as well as becoming… ever more shameless.

\”Okay, I'm not capable of smiling in a sunny and naïve manner like you, but I can imitate such a smile to express my friendliness.

\”Okay, I'm not capable of learning everything instantly and mastering it all like you, but at least I can focus my limited time on what I'm the most skilled at, and focus on the most important areas, as well as use the highest efficiency methods to improve myself. The results won't be any worse at all.

\”I failed? I'll simply try again.

\”I lost? I'll simply try again.

\”I'm tired? I'll simply sleep it off and try again.\”

The ordinary older brother was unwilling to admit defeat to his genius younger brother because of pride from being the older twin. Although his heart was injured endlessly by constant comparison, he unknowingly achieved the peak of what a mortal could do, becoming a so-called genius in his own way.

\”Tsk, isn't it fine as long as the results are the same? Is there any foundational difference between achieving the goal easily and achieving the goal with great difficulty?\”

At that time, Roland still didn't know that not only was there a difference between the two, the difference was truly tremendous…

The twins were really fortunate. There were countless people who loved them.