The Wizard’s Progenitor

Two golden blurs leaped down from the colossal rock, their radiance gradually absorbed by the forest’s deepening gloom. Beneath the shimmering light, a striking man and woman emerged.

It was Noren and Tolke. Noren’s eyes curved into crescents, a radiant smile gracing her lips, while Tolke, with one hand, gripped Little Brain by the scruff of his neck, as if holding a docile kitten.

“Hercules…”

Big Brain knelt on the ground, his eyes wide and vacant, as he slowly spoke. He recognized at a glance that the golden-haired woman was the possessor of ‘Hercules,’ and he had never expected to witness the purest form of ‘Hercules’ in his lifetime.

“What on earth are you babbling about?”

Noren walked up to Big Brain, covering the neckline of her dress with one hand as she leaned closer. She hadn’t understood the Latin Big Brain had uttered.

Her emerald eyes reflected Big Brain’s astonished, vacant face, and Noren’s own eyes gleamed with bright curiosity. This large-headed doll intrigued her.

However, after observing Big Brain for a moment, an unpleasant odor assailed her nostrils.

Her delicate nose twitched slightly, and her gaze dropped, spotting a puddle beneath Big Brain. Disgusted, she recoiled a step.

“Ew!” She fanned her jade-like hand, lightly pinching her nose.

Her interest significantly diminished, the golden-haired woman returned to Tolke’s side.

At that moment, Tolke was stroking his chin, his gaze lowered in contemplation. “He’s referring to Hercules, a Greek demigod.”

“Oh, not bad, you know!” The golden-haired woman nudged the young man with her elbow, hooking her arm around his shoulder and poking his cheek with a finger.

Her eyes sparkled with cunning as she teased, “I didn’t realize you knew about Greek mythology. Was he speaking Greek? You’ve been secretly learning a language behind my back!”

“No, Latin,” Tolke averted his face, dodging the fragrant breeze. He tried to pull his arm away, attempting to avoid the soft, yielding sensation, but it was his shoulder’s deltoid muscle that was being touched, making escape impossible.

“Ah, Father taught you.”

The golden-haired woman’s expression softened with understanding. It was no wonder her father hadn’t bothered to teach her other languages. Firstly, she already had a plethora of languages memorized, including 21st-century Chinese, Norse, Slavic, 21st-century English, and various regional dialects from her past life; she simply lacked the capacity to learn more. Secondly, she had little interest in language acquisition, viewing it as merely a tool. Noren also held the belief that language learning required immersion in the language’s societal environment; if everyone around her spoke Latin, she would be quite willing to learn it.

Noren’s intelligent mind grasped her father’s foresight. ‘Father intends for Tolke to learn Latin, a noble language, to complement me,’ she mused. ‘Father is truly meticulous, though I wonder if he plans to teach Tolke German, French, or Anglo-Saxon.’

‘Never mind, why overthink it? Best to deal with the immediate task at hand.’

Noren shook her head, dispelling her wandering thoughts. She pointed at Big Brain on the ground and instructed Tolke, “Keep an eye on him.”

Then, Noren drew a short axe from Tolke’s waist and walked directly towards the corpse of Bru, the ‘Giant.’

Indeed, she intended to deliver the finishing blow.

“One! Two! Three! Damn it, this axe is dull! These bones are impossibly hard!”

After three forceful swings, the ‘Giant’ Bru’s skull was cleaved open with a large gash, but the short axe’s blade was severely blunted. Blood trickled from the gaping wound in his skull, yet Noren remained uneasy without seeing the crimson and white of brain matter. She seized all the remaining short axes, discarding each one as its blade dulled, until, having used every last one, she had finally smashed the ‘Giant’ Bru’s head to a pulpy mess!

“Hmph!” Noren spat at Bru, indignantly declaring, “That’s for smashing my carriage and killing my common horse! Serves you right!”

“Now, it’s your turn, you two little devils.”

Seeing the golden-haired woman smiling sweetly at them, Big Brain and Little Brain shivered, their faces instantly turning ghastly pale.

“Answer whatever Noren asks,” Tolke said, lifting each large-headed child by the scruff, his hands like iron clamps firmly pinching the flesh at the back of their necks.

“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm!” They nodded frantically.

“Good!” The golden-haired woman smiled with satisfaction, though her grin vanished in an instant, replaced by an utterly serious expression.

“First question: What is your relationship with those two dead men on the ground? The one on the left speaks first.”

The two large-headed children exchanged glances, unsure from which direction ‘left’ or ‘right’ was meant, and for a moment, neither knew who should answer.

Noren couldn’t help but frown. They didn’t even want to answer the first question?

She barked, “Speak!”

The two large-headed children flinched again, one of them even clamping his legs together, terrified of losing control of his bladder once more.

“Their father’s brother’s wife’s sister’s husband’s mother’s lover is our grandfather!!!”

Big Brain disregarded ‘left’ and ‘right’ entirely, rattling off the long string of relations like a machine gun, leaving Noren utterly bewildered.

“What in the world???”

Noren suspected this larger-headed fellow was fabricating a story. A flicker of impatience crossed her eyes, and her jade-like hand pointed at the other large-headed child. “You repeat that.”

If their accounts didn’t match, then…

Hmph, hmph~

Little Brain blinked, recalled for two seconds, then swiftly repeated without hesitation: “Their father’s brother’s wife’s sister’s husband’s mother’s lover is our grandfather.”

Noren rubbed her temples, suddenly feeling a weariness in her heart. ‘Are medieval family relations truly this complicated?’

“Alright, alright,” she said, unwilling to dwell on the first question. She raised her second finger. “Second question.”

“What is the connection between them, you two, and Mayor Kunar? The one on the right speaks.”

The two large-headed children had already deduced from the golden-haired woman’s attitude that the older brother was ‘left’ and the younger brother was ‘right,’ so Little Brain answered the question.

“Bru and Bupa were Mayor Kunar’s thugs. They did a lot of dirty work for him. As far as I know, they’ve assassinated at least ten wealthy estate owners and five knights with noble titles. Sir Černý was killed by Bupa, and his wife was ravaged by Bupa and fed to wild wolves and dogs.”

Noren felt a pang of pity. ‘Johanna is indeed dead. No more onion pie.’

Her facial muscles relaxed instantly, all expression vanishing, leaving only a chilling killing intent in her green eyes.

Little Brain, utterly oblivious to the golden-haired girl’s burgeoning murderous aura, continued his eloquent speech:

“My brother and I have no connection whatsoever to Mayor Kunar. Kunar doesn’t even know we exist. It’s just that Bupa is illiterate, and Bru is an idiot, so they needed my brother to help them read letters.”

Having finished his answer, Little Brain closed his mouth. Noren nodded, moving on to the next question.

She raised her third finger. “A few days ago, when I passed through this forest, I was attacked by a strange large black bird, and someone was secretly following us. Does this have anything to do with you?”

Big Brain looked at his younger brother on his left, incredulous. “You actually…”

Little Brain swallowed audibly, then timidly raised his eyebrows to look at the golden-haired woman, meeting a pair of exquisite eyes brimming with murderous intent.

He forced a miserable smile. “Ah, yes, that was me. I recognized it then; you are a bloodline progenitor, possessing all three great traits. Your skin is porcelain-white, your eyes gleam with vitality, your lips are crimson, your teeth white, and your blood is vigorous, attracting insects, yet without a single bite mark…”

He sighed, a look of vexation on his face. “Alas… I should have known. As fellow wizards, there’s no reason my prying wouldn’t be discovered.”

With that, he lifted his head, assuming a righteous demeanor. “Kill me if you must! My brother and I don’t have many years left to live anyway…”

“Wait!”

Noren felt as if she had caught Watson. “You said… I am a wizard?”

Little Brain glanced at the golden-haired woman, confused, a series of wrinkles furrowing his forehead. “Yes, a wizard. Aren’t you, my brother, and I all wizards?”

“Why do you think I’m a wizard?”

“Are you not?”

“Tsk~” Noren clicked her tongue, believing the boy was playing games with her. She lunged forward, delivering several resounding slaps that left him disoriented.

Little Brain’s head spun. After shaking it weakly, his head lolled forward, having been knocked unconscious by Noren’s slaps.

“You’re not very resilient. You speak!”

Noren tapped Big Brain’s round head, using two points of force, which produced a large bump on his scalp.

Big Brain shed tears from the pain, but he dared not wail loudly. Bru’s death was still fresh in his memory, and he certainly wouldn’t risk angering the golden-haired woman before him.

He endured the pain, his voice choked with sobs:

“Only wizards can breed individuals who possess the three great traits of beauty, strength, and wisdom. Ordinary nobles are gluttonous and lazy; they are foolish and dim-witted. They constantly speak of valuing family bloodlines, yet they insist on marrying stupid women who lack any special traits. That’s why my brother said you are a wizard; only wizard families have the motivation to breed bloodline progenitors.”

Big Brain spoke at length, and Noren largely understood his meaning.

But her family wasn’t a wizard family!

Noren recalled her bearded father—his robust physique, his philosophical words, his wise mind…

A sudden image flashed into her mind: dim candlelight, creaking bedsprings, a Norse man and woman intimately entwined, and a golden-haired girl secretly peeking from outside the door.

Her heart suddenly lurched!

Noren’s eyes widened, looking at Big Brain in disbelief. A lump formed in her throat, and after a long moment, she slowly asked,

“What exactly is the relationship between your parents?”