The Price of Ambition and the Tale of a Gnome’s Revenge

“What was the relationship between your parents?”

Big Brain’s eyes, nose, and mouth scrunched together in confusion; he couldn’t fathom what the blonde woman meant.

‘What else could parents be? Spouses, of course!’

Had a simpleton like Bupa posed such a question, he would have certainly scoffed and offered a stinging retort. Yet, the query came from a genuine ‘Bloodline Ancestor’—a being possessed of profound wisdom.

‘She must have some deeper meaning in mind!’

‘But what profound meaning could it be?’

As time slowly trickled away, Big Brain felt his very grey matter threatening to overheat and overload. He cradled his head in his hands, shaking it ceaselessly, muttering incoherently.

“Speak quickly.”

Noren’s fist clenched with a soft *snap*, the indigo veins tracing intricate patterns across her jade-like hand, lending her a peculiar allure.

‘Her patience was wearing thin.’

“I know!”

Catching a fleeting glimpse of Bru and Bupa on the ground, a sudden flash of insight illuminated Big Brain’s mind. He finally understood what the blonde ‘Bloodline Ancestor’ truly wished to know!

Taking a deep breath, he began to speak fluently and at length:

“My parents shared no close blood relation. While we are a wizarding family, not every wizarding lineage pursues the ultimate goal of ‘pure blood.’ After all, achieving ‘pure blood’ is exceedingly, impossibly difficult.

The family of Bru and Bupa, for instance, was one such overly ambitious wizarding lineage. They strove for that ultimate ‘pure blood’ goal. What was the outcome?

Bru is a fool, Bupa an imbecile, and both are sterile. A perfectly good wizarding family thus died out, a clear consequence of blindly chasing ‘pure blood.’

Breeding ‘Bloodline Ancestors,’ however, is comparatively simpler. It merely requires introducing individuals with excellent traits into the family and allowing men and women with different qualities to unite.

Nevertheless, it remains quite challenging, as the probability is minuscule. If both parents possess the ‘Genius’ and ‘Hercules’ traits respectively, the chance of producing a ‘Hercules’ or ‘Genius’ infant in a single birth is only one in sixteen. Furthermore, there’s a very high likelihood of degeneration, with a third-tier trait regressing to a second-tier one.

One must understand that even kings often suffer the early deaths of several children. Thus, most wizarding families aiming to cultivate ‘Bloodline Ancestors’ do not choose direct bloodline marriages. Deformed bodies make infants more susceptible to early demise, and wizards are already widely ostracized by Christians.

To prevent their lines from dying out, wizarding families typically marry cousins at most; direct bloodline unions are exceedingly rare.”

Big Brain spoke with spittle flying, as if a dam had broken the moment he touched upon a subject he excelled at, his words gushing forth like a torrential river.

Noren’s beautiful golden eyebrows furrowed together. She listened with extreme earnestness, her pearly teeth gently biting her pale red lower lip.

“From what you’re saying, your wizarding family chose to breed ‘Bloodline Ancestors.’ Yet, why do you and the one beside you both possess the appearance of gnomes?”

Far from gaining clarity, Noren found herself plunged into an even deeper enigma after hearing Big Brain’s explanation, prompting her to pose this new question.

“This…”

Big Brain instantly froze. A moment later, he offered a bitter smile. “My brother and I are the inevitable outcome of an accident.”

He lowered his gaze, staring at the weeds on the ground, lost in recollection: “My ancestors were Counts of East Francia, once illustrious, commanding hundreds of soldiers, over a dozen knights, and countless manors and lands.

Yet, glory is ever fleeting. A vassal rebellion brought an end to that former eminence. My family was reduced to mere knights; former vassals ascended to countships, while the counts of old became vassals themselves.

Even so, during my great-grandfather’s time, three wealthy manors remained, a final vestige of our dignity.

By my grandfather’s era, he had become infatuated with witchcraft. After becoming a wizard, he taught it to everyone in the family, establishing a clandestine coven.

In his youth, my father accidentally rescued the patriarch of another wizarding coven—the very convener of their assembly. This man gifted my father a book, detailing the methods for cultivating ‘pure blood’ and ‘Bloodline Ancestors.’

My father, following the book’s teachings, sought out and ‘enticed’ women possessing various traits.

Naturally, compliance meant ‘enticement,’ while non-compliance meant ‘r*pe.’ He consistently adhered to a broad-net breeding philosophy, and my brother and I were the products of his ‘enticement’ of a peasant woman.

However, copulating with a peasant woman and begetting deformed ‘demons’ was, after all, detrimental to the family’s honor. He unhesitatingly murdered the peasant woman and gleefully recorded the act in his diary.”

Noren interrupted him. “Didn’t you say nobles wouldn’t breed ‘Bloodline Ancestors’?”

Big Brain countered, “From the moment my grandfather began practicing witchcraft, could this group truly still be called a noble family?”

Noren nodded in silence, then subtly glanced at Tolke, noticing the blonde youth’s pensive expression. She inwardly smiled wryly, ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked this Big Brain gnome these questions. It seems Tolke has overheard something quite profound.’

Big Brain, oblivious to the blonde woman’s subtle observation of Tolke, continued with a bitter smile: “Father always showed us great care, teaching us Vulgar Latin, Anglo-Saxon, French, Italian Latin…

He imparted all he knew to us, and life was truly beautiful. I even fantasized about my father legitimizing my bastard status, imagining a day when I might inherit his title and become the master of our manors.

‘With my intellect, I was certain I could restore our family to its former glory’—that’s what I believed back then.

Quite naive, wouldn’t you agree?

Yet, even such illusions were fleeting. One day—I forget the exact date—Father brought home a small boy.

A ‘genius’ boy, his eyes so pure, untainted by a single speck of dust. He carried himself with a straight back and elegant posture.

Having studied witchcraft for two and a half years, I instantly recognized him as a pure ‘genius.’ Predictably, Father transferred all the affection he had for my brother and me to this new son.

What’s more, he intended to reclaim all the love he’d ever shown us—by murdering my brother and me, using our blood to perform a ritual that would make his new son even more ‘genius’!

Finally…”

“In the end, you denounced your father to the Church?” Tolke found the story quite compelling, believing it offered excellent inspiration for his aspiring poetic endeavors.

Big Brain’s face contorted in furious frustration, like one whose spell had been abruptly interrupted. He roared, “I’m a ‘genius’ too! Not an idiot! You idiot!”

Hearing himself insulted, Tolke grabbed Big Brain, lifted his arm, and gave him a shake, a small punishment for his insolence.

“Ugh…” Big Brain gagged, dizzied by the shaking, and dared not curse again. “My father had enforced an utterly idiotic ‘droit du seigneur’ in his territory, always trying to legalize the right to r*pe. I merely ‘persuaded’ the suffering local populace a little… hehe!”

Noren watched Big Brain’s sinister smirk, finding it easy to deduce the outcome. “They all died?”

“Of course. Especially that little bastard. He thought being a ‘genius’ gave him license to spout sweet nothings and fool me like an idiot. In the end, I impaled him with a spear, killing him thoroughly. Then, a great fire reduced him to charcoal. Even if he were Jesus reborn, I guarantee he wouldn’t have survived!”

Noren arched a brow. “So, in essence, the reason your family pursued ‘Bloodline Ancestors’ yet produced big-headed gnomes like you is simply because your father cast such a wide net?”

“Precisely!”

Big Brain nodded, his eyes gleaming with an unusual light, still lost in the boundless exhilaration of having killed his father and his enemy.

A sharp *smack*.

Big Brain clutched his face indignantly, his eyes brimming with tears as he gazed at the blonde woman, who was wiping her fingers. “Didn’t I answer your question?”

“But you talk too much.”