I Became the Hero While Paving a Flower Path for My Niece - Chapter 50

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Uncle’s Niece Clears the Path to Heroism – Episode 50
At the same moment.
Blue Forest Inn.
Leo and Jake, who had enjoyed a delicious dinner at the restaurant Dein—now promoted to uncle—had recommended, and who had washed themselves clean with warm water, lay in the same bed, sleeping soundly.
Jake, whose face had worn a sorrowful expression as if searching for his brother even in dreams until now, slept deeply today with a genuinely happy look on his face.
Leo, who had been holding Jake’s hand with concern, also seemed to be happily at play in the land of dreams today, chuckling softly.
[Sleep well.]
Alex smiled and carefully tucked the blanket over Leo and Jake.
[All right. Let’s look at the next page then!]
Today, too, they had decided to study the basic grimoire, Introduction to Magic Theory for Fish.
Of course, Yibai was the one studying it, and while Alex tried to listen as well, her eyes kept falling shut.
Yibai’s magic only required will, Mana Control, and a clear mental image, but the magic of the Sollenium Continent was made up of magical characters and formulas.
If even the basic grimoire was this difficult, she couldn’t imagine how to study the formulas of high-circle magic.
“I don’t think I’m cut out to learn magic from this world.”
[That’s true.]
[Your memory is good, but theory and calculation are a bit….]
At Yibai’s sincere lament, Alex said nothing and simply decided that the next Sword Training session would have to be far more intense.
However, Alex had also come to realize that her own memory was better than she’d expected.
Though it was limited to the ‘Future.’
She suspected it was the effect of having been a ‘Ghost’ in the ‘Future.’
[Ah, tell me about the Magic Tower.]
[If you join the Magic Tower, you can’t become a noble, right?]
Alex nodded as she turned the page of the book she was holding.
“That’s right. Once you’re affiliated with the Magic Tower, you have to sever ties with your family. After all, you could leak the Magic Tower’s knowledge to your relatives.”
[So they’re cutting it off preemptively.]
“Exactly. And among the mages affiliated with the Magic Tower, there are commoners too, so if a noble-born mage started throwing their status around, it could cause chaos.”
A high-circle commoner mage versus a low-circle noble mage—
If a dispute arose between the two, the Magic Tower would naturally have to prioritize the former.
Conversely,
a high-circle noble mage versus a low-circle commoner mage—
one could imagine what terrible things might happen in such a case.
“Of course, mages from noble families do receive support from their houses through the grapevine.”
[True. It’s hard to avoid influence entirely.]
[Next page.]
Flip—
Alex turned the page of the book.
“That said, they’re not completely unrelated to their families either. They take commissions from noble houses and teach magic if paid enough money. Of course, they don’t reveal the Magic Tower’s important knowledge.”
[Didn’t you say the second son learned that way?]
[So disciples…or should I say aspiring mages? How are they recruited?]
“Around age nine, they come to take an exam at the Magic Tower Federation. If they pass, they become Apprentice Mages.”
Yibai asked.
[Isn’t nine a bit late?]
“The Magic Tower mages aren’t nursemaids. It’s an age where children can live and study on their own, and their parents won’t miss them as much.”
[Ah, I see.]
“Of course, if you’re rich, you can bring a nursemaid or attendants with you.”
[So money really is what matters.]
Alex continued.
“And Magic Tower mages travel across the continent looking for talented children. They either find disciples for themselves or find children to send to the Magic Tower.”
[Oh…?]
[I know something similar to this….]
[Things not related to the nation are like the Non-Interference Principle, things where you keep your original status and only teach general knowledge are like Secular Disciples, and taking in talented children sounds like Direct Disciples….]
[This is basically a martial arts sect!]
[Is it true that when you leave the Magic Tower, they sever your tendons and destroy your Circle and dantian…?]
It seemed this world also had groups similar to the Magic Tower.
Alex nodded.
“Some Magic Towers do sever the tendons of hands and feet, and I’ve heard there are places that establish Blood Pacts where using magical knowledge turns you into an idiot.”
[Wow. That’s terrifying!]
[Then I’d absolutely never leave.]
“Right. But I’ve heard there are rare mages who do leave.”
[So there must be something more important than magic.]
Alex agreed.
Like himself, everyone carried their own circumstances.
[Next page!]
[So if there are martial clans… are there magic clans?]
[Or, noble magic families?]
He grasped the general meaning well enough.
“Noble magic families—of course they exist.”
He turned the page.
As he did, Alex recalled several such families scattered across the continent.
“Not every Magic Tower thrives. When a tower loses power, even blood pacts mean nothing—they scatter like leaves in the wind.”
And so ruined mages became nobles, and in time those noble lines became magic families, and when they grew famous enough, noble magic families.
[Ah, I see!]
[So the second son didn’t go to the Magic Tower because he wanted to build his own magic family or something?]
“I’m not sure of his reasons, but looking at the ‘future,’ things did turn out well for him.”
Without the demon invasion, he’d have made quite a name for himself as an aristocratic mage.
[But something bothers me.]
[He becomes a high-circle mage later, but right now he’s stuck at third circle? It’s not unheard of, but….]
“And there’s something that troubles me about the second son becoming a count.”
For the head of the Brodell Count Family—a house of knights—to transform into a mage, something catastrophic must have occurred.
Alex found himself thinking of Klaus Brodell.
A sturdy, quick-witted knight.
“Klaus Brodell… he might be dead.”
[Agreed. And the young lady married that old marquis too.]
“That’s right…”
When he thought about it, only the second son’s fortune seemed to work out well.
“As for his personal feelings, I can’t say for certain.”
[True. He might grieve being the last one standing.]
[But who really sent the young lady to marry that old marquis? That person seems like the villain.]
[Should we look at our timeline?]
“…Timeline?”
[The sequence of events, I mean.]
Alex nodded at Yibai’s words, set the book aside, and pulled out his notebook and pen.
This notebook held the events of the ‘future’ he’d written down so he wouldn’t forget them.
“From what I know, the count’s daughter marries next year.”
[When does the next count take the title?]
“Probably two years from now.”
[So the eldest son dies before that.]
[Wait, now that I think about it, the eldest son and his sister seemed close—so why didn’t he stop her from marrying the old marquis?]
“…You’re right. So the eldest son dies before she even marries?”
[Was there an accident? Or did someone kill him?]
Eldest son’s death.
Daughter’s marriage.
Count’s death.
Second son becomes count.
Brodell Territory + Caldis Territory collapse.
Alex examined the words he’d written down.
Something suddenly occurred to him.
“The engagement between the Caldis young lord and the count’s daughter—the current count would have decided that, wouldn’t he?”
[? I’m a lich from another world, so I don’t know your culture.]
Right.
Of course.
He felt a moment of ‘why am I only thinking of this now?’, but the point wasn’t wrong.
As if reading his thoughts, Yibai chuckled and spoke.
[But usually in stories—or among wealthy people—parents decide marriages.]
“It’s the same in our world. Usually the family head decides.”
Alex cleared his throat lightly and continued.
“If the current count had been ambitious for power, would he have agreed to marry her off to that old marquis in the first place?”
[That’s a fair point.]
The current count’s sudden change in attitude seemed suspicious.
Moreover, the people at the inn had mentioned that the current count might cede his position to the young lord because of his advanced age.
[Hmm.]
“Hmm.”
Alex’s pale green eyes sparkled as he paused in thought. Yibai let out an excited sound.
“Someone else?”
[Regency?!]
[Ah, a regency means the king is ruling.]
[But in any case!]
[It doesn’t seem like the current count made that decision, does it?]
Alex nodded in agreement.
“The current count was probably in no state to make decisions back then. Ill or unconscious.”
[Exactly!]
“So someone became regent for the current count and made important decisions for the family and domain.”
[Killed the inconvenient eldest son, married off the daughter!]
“And in the end, even killed the current count himself….”
Alex recalled the face of the Brodell Count that he’d seen in the Future — gaunt and cold.
“And became the count.”
[Oh! A complete family disgrace!]
[Well, we had quite a few like that on our side too.]
Of course, this was all conjecture for now.
There was no way to know if the second son had truly committed such acts, or if it was all coincidence.
[If the second son really did something like this, he’d have all the makings of a Dark Mage!]
It was unclear whether this was praise or insult, but Alex found himself agreeing.
“If he had the hunger for power to kill his own family, he’d naturally want to reach greater heights in magic as well.”
[And Dark Magic gladly grants those heights.]
Alex nodded.
Then he turned his head to gaze toward where the count’s mansion stood.
“I really should go see it for myself.”
[No kidding.]
[By my deduction, I’m a hundred percent certain the second son is the Dark Mage!]
“…Didn’t you just say yesterday that the Zenor Tower mage was the Dark Mage? Didn’t you even stake your grandfather’s name on it?”
[I don’t have a grandfather, so it’s fine!]
Alex let out an exasperated laugh at Yibai’s giggling.

* * *
The next day.
Leo and Jake were watching from the first floor of the inn, peering out at the street. Milo was supposed to arrive today.
“Jake, can you see him?”
“No, not yet.”
Since no one knew when Milo would arrive, both children had been waiting like this since morning.
Alex sat beside Leo, studying a Basic Grimoire.
[Go on, turn the page!]
Of course it was Yibai speaking.
True to form—this otherworldly lich was indeed sharp; he’d already finished the Introduction to Magic Theory for Fish and was now reading the Magic Circle Theory Even Crabs Can Draw.
Alex was planning to learn at his own pace from Yibai.
“Oh! Is that it?”
“A carriage! Uncle! A carriage is coming!”
As the two children leapt up so eagerly they nearly tumbled out the window, Alex quickly caught them. Then he saw the carriage approaching.
A young man’s head poked out from the carriage window.
“Jake!!!”
It was Milo.
“Yeaaaahhh!! Waaaaahhh!!”
Jake let out a sound that was somewhere between calling out and wailing. If Alex hadn’t been holding him, he would have hurled himself straight out the window and thrown himself in front of the carriage.
With a light sigh, Alex led Leo and Jake outside the inn.
Just as Milo stepped down from the carriage and thanked the driver, his eyes met Jake’s. With tears streaming down his face, he rushed over and pulled his brother into an embrace.
“Jake!! You! How did you even get all the way to Lord’s Castle?! It’s dangerous!”
“Waahhh! You didn’t come home for a whole month!! You said you’d be back soon!”
“I’m sorry! Thank you for coming to find me! Wahhh!”
The brothers wept openly, gripping each other’s clothes as if they’d never let go again.
The people around them watched with bewilderment, though the brothers seemed oblivious to their stares.
Alex found himself unconsciously overlaying the image of his sister and brother-in-law over the brothers reunited before him.
‘Will we be able to see each other like this again, sister? Brother-in-law?’
Then he felt a small hand gripping his own tightly.
Looking down, he saw Leo.
Leo lifted his head and smiled up at Alex.
As if Jake’s joy were his own joy too.
“That worked out great, Uncle! Didn’t it?”
“It certainly did.”
“Let’s find Mom and Dad too! We absolutely will!”
Alex smiled at the sky-blue eyes shining with longing and hope, and squeezed the small hand firmly in return.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
[Sniff, sniff!]
[Let’s hurry and go to the Royal Capital!]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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