Reincarnated as a Genius Prodigy of a Prestigious Family - Chapter 257

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Reincarnated as a Legendary Talent Genius of a Noble Family Episode 257

168. To the Jungle (2)

Ernest was sketching the garden and mansion exterior with the cheerful permission of the Count and his wife.

Scratch, scritch scritch.

“As expected, the architectural style of the Southern Region is beautiful.”

Since it was visible from anywhere in Sogress County anyway, and he was only drawing the exterior, there were no particular security issues, making this possible.

Ernest thoroughly enjoyed this leisurely sketching.

Considering that exploration is a process of seeking out new things, this too could certainly be called exploration.

While doing so, he thought.

How envious he was of Dane’s family.

“I wonder if Father is doing well on his exploration.”

Of course, it wasn’t that he resented his father or anything.

He was the one who taught him the joy of exploration, and was both a father and a respected senior.

It was just that, how should he put it, there was a lack of memories.

During his childhood when he was being bullied, his father did try his best to do something about it…

It’s just that he lacked the power.

That was the limitation of a baron’s house, if you could call it that.

“Dane must want to come home all the time too.”

Anyway, with such a harmonious family, he would want to come home anytime to rest peacefully.

And the territory residents welcomed them so warmly too.

Since Ernest had never seen such a scene in his entire life, he could sketch with an even warmer heart.

So that the atmosphere of the Southern Region would come through naturally, and the coziness of the Sogress County would be fully felt.

Bang, kabang!

In the midst of this, a faint explosive sound suddenly came from somewhere. Had some kind of terror attack occurred?

“What’s that?”

Could it be those guys who held a grudge against them?

Though it was unlikely anyone would be bold enough to attack the Sogress County, since he heard an explosive sound, he needed to check.

Ernest threw aside his sketching and ran toward the sound, only to encounter—

Bang, kabakabang!

An unexpected sparring scene.

Moreover, it was a sparring scene between Dane and Count Sogress.

“Oh, you’re here?”

The other guys greeted Ernest, having arrived at some point.

Then they immediately turned their heads back, absorbed in watching the two people’s sparring.

Ernest’s gaze naturally turned to the training ground as well.

“…”

After that, like the other guys had initially done, he stood there with his mouth agape, at a loss for words.

The level of sparring was different.

The explosive sounds bursting forth as spear clashed with spear, entangling and colliding.

It seemed to have already transcended the category of ‘sparring’.

“They’re both fighting with mana wrapped around them, right?”

“When mana and mana collide, do they normally make sounds like that…?”

“I really can’t see the spears. How many exchanges just happened in that instant?”

Dane Sogress, the greatest talent in Academy history.

Count Sogress, the Empire’s greatest spear master and one of the Empire’s finest Hexa-level warriors.

The exchange of spear strikes without an inch of retreat made their eyes dizzy without rest.

“Here I come, Father.”

“Come on!”

And the two, regardless of who was watching, relentlessly exchanged spears and aimed at each other like madmen.

Was this truly sparring between father and son?

For the guys who had been feeling the coziness and atmosphere of the Sogress County just moments before, it was a shocking sight in many ways.

Anyone watching would say it was sparring between mortal enemies.

At least since it was ‘sparring’, both were holding practice spears without blades, but…

Given that they had wrapped them in mana, that fact was already meaningless.

“Let’s clash one last time!”

“Sounds good.”

Finally—

Kwaaaaang!

A massive collision between mana and mana occurred, the training ground floor beneath the point of impact shattered, and the sparring came to an end.

“That was good sparring, Father.”

“Indeed. I feel the same way. How did the match turn out?”

“You won, of course, Father.”

“And yet this fellow made my heart skip a beat several times? Ha, what exactly have you been doing at the Academy?”

And Dane smiled.

He had ‘almost’ succeeded in landing attacks on his father several times.

While Professor Keltas controlled his strength during sparring so there were many opportunities to touch his collar, Father hadn’t held back from the start.

“Your skills have improved tremendously. How many cores do you have?”

“Three.”

“…It would be quite a sight if rumors spread that I went ‘toe-to-toe’ with a Triple-level.”

And Count Sogress was clicking his tongue in amazement right then.

Not because he was his son, but as one warrior recognizing Dane.

Not only did he have a different kind of experience, but his timing for using mana and control of pace were incredible.

But why was such behavior being displayed by a 14-year-old fellow?

‘What on earth is that fellow Keltas teaching him?’

At this level, he had already surpassed Academy standards.

If Dane had been from some other mediocre noble family instead of the Sogress County, various knight orders would have been drooling over him.

Naturally, that would include the Imperial Palace as well.

‘His Majesty the Emperor would covet him.’

But there would be no reason to go to the Imperial Palace.

Unless Dane wanted to.

Count Sogress muttered happily.

“Thanks to you, it was an exhilarating sparring session. Now, let’s go to the bathhouse.”

“Sounds good. Shall we have a glass of wine when we come out?”

“Indeed. Will you join me?”

“I’ll have milk. And tart too.”

And so the father and son, as if nothing had happened, walked side by side back to the count’s castle in good spirits.

Not only the friends watching their retreating figures, but even the knights who had been watching from who knows when, wore dazed expressions.

But that was only for a moment.

“What are you all doing! Everyone gather round and start training!”

At the knight commander’s roar, stimulated by the sparring they had just witnessed, the knights rushed together and began physical training…

“Sh-should we train too?”

“Why waste energy before going to the jungle?”

Everyone was exhausted and thinking about resting, but Leila was a bit different.

“I want to do it. I asked Dane and he said there’s an empty training ground we can use.”

Leila was truly burning with determination.

The sparring match just now had given her a huge shock.

If she fought against her father, Duke Termion, could she engage in that level of sparring?

She would receive tremendous praise if she could last five exchanges.

Since it would be a match between Hexa-class and Triple-class.

But Dane had left such an intense impression that no such handicap could be found at all.

“Th-then I’ll do it too…”

“Professors. Let’s do it together.”

“…Then I should do it too.”

“I wonder if the training ground won’t be too cramped…”

There was one person who was smiling while watching all these situations unfold.

Griffin Herald.

The Academy Daily reporter accompanying this jungle expedition.

‘This is a scoop!’

Griffin’s hand trembled with excitement as he wrote down the situation with his magic stenography pen.

It was absurd.

“Weren’t we going to the jungle? Why is everyone like half-dead?”

These were the guys who had volunteered to go to the jungle, and we had stopped by home to relieve some fatigue and start energetically on the way.

Why is everyone so dead?

“I-I can’t move my body…”

“D-don’t touch me! Ugh!”

“The muscle pain…”

What ridiculous… no, amusing fellows.

“What’s with this?”

I asked Griffin, who was relatively fine. Then Griffin carefully answered.

“A-actually… it seems everyone was stimulated by you, Dane.”

“Stimulated?”

“Yes. After seeing that sparring match with the Count…”

Ah.

No wonder.

Everyone was taking baths before dinner.

The next day too, I couldn’t see hide nor hair of anyone all day long.

I thought they were wandering around here and there on their own, so I didn’t pay much attention, but who would have thought they trained without rest.

“Anyway.”

Thanks to that, our departure was delayed by a day.

Griffin and Priscilla, who was relatively fine, earnestly shot out divine power, but I soon stopped her.

“Don’t use divine power. It’s wasteful. Let’s just take this opportunity to rest well for a day and then depart.”

Because it looked like Priscilla would get exhausted treating these guys.

So we decided to rest well for a day and then depart, and Mother was quite pleased.

“Then I can see our son for one more day and take care of our son’s friends for one more day? What a wonderful thing this is.”

“Indeed.”

Anyway, we were finally able to depart for the jungle again the next day.

The subspace that Mother packed with all sorts of things was a bonus.

“If you throw the black orb, an explosion will occur. Everything within a 10-meter radius will be shattered to pieces.”

“…Pardon?”

“The red orb creates a smoke screen. But if you inhale that smoke, it hardens your lungs.”

“…”

Mother explaining the world’s most dangerous items in the world’s most gentle tone.

Truly a legendary assassin (former).

“Have a safe trip!”

“Contact us when you arrive!”

With such farewells, we finally managed to set off on our journey.

“Neighing.”

Chiron, during the three days he stayed at our castle, whatever he did, his coat’s luster became even better than before.

Karnas’s belly was incredibly full after being taken by Mother and receiving lots of affection.

“Chirp, chirp!”

Thanks to that, he seemed to find flying burdensome and made struggling sounds as he settled obediently in my arms again.

Right, we stayed to rest like this, but those guys…

“Ugh… I didn’t know riding a horse would be this hard with muscle pain…”

“I have no sensation in my hands right now…”

“Professors, I feel like my arms are going to fall off…”

They’re doing that.

Still, it’s not entirely pathetic, and the thought that they’re working hard makes me chuckle a bit.

“Let’s work hard and go.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean I plan to slow down the pace.

Resting for a day was enough.

Four more days like that.

When everyone’s muscle pain was gradually recovering and they were returning to their normal condition.

And when the warm air was gradually changing to air that spread stuffy heat—

“That’s it, right?”

“It seems right.”

We were finally able to reach a small village near the jungle.

“Here it is.”

The distant view of the village.

Quite small scale and cozy houses catch the eye.

Checking the map, this is indeed the village we were looking for.

The place from legend that prospered through ‘magic’ but became too greedy and everyone ended up ruined together.

In the dense jungle visible beyond that village, the secret they coveted is hidden.

What might possibly be an ancient mana concentrate.

“Whose noble territory is that?”

“Bel Marquessate. But practically, it’s a place with autonomous rights.”

Ernest answered Leila’s question. I also had doubts.

“Is it because it’s near the jungle?”

“Right. It’s difficult to manage, and the residents are tough too. So they’d rather give them something like autonomous rights and let them live on their own.”

Villages formed in places where it’s originally hard for people to live are all like that.

Rather than struggling to manage them, it’s more like just collecting taxes appropriately.

Thanks to that, we could save the trouble of hiding our identities.

If it were a place under direct influence, just my presence alone would have caused a commotion about treatment and whatnot.

Even without me, it’s an expedition team composed of Leila and children of other noble families, so that says it all.

“Let’s go and gather information first. As quietly as possible.”

It would be nice to have information, but it was a bit disappointing since it’s a village in such a remote location.

“We’ll have to find a guide first when we get there, right? Then we’ll have to enter the jungle.”

“That’s right.”

But we encountered difficulties right from the start.

In front of the village.

There was one person who appeared to be a guard….

“Outsiders cannot enter the village during the ritual period. Go back!”

We were turned away right from the start.

And with an extremely firm attitude at that.

We tried talking several times, but the response that came back was the same.

“The door will not open. Go back, strangers!”

“….”

We had no choice but to retreat.

“I didn’t expect them to be so stubborn.”

“Ritual? What are they suddenly talking about?”

“Who knows. It’s such a remote place.”

“This has become quite troublesome.”

While everyone was throwing in their comments, I recalled the village scenery I had seen on our way here.

The tall wooden fence that rose high and surrounded the entire village.

A few houses that stood outside of it.

“Let’s look around starting from outside the village.”

We’ve hit a snag, but we just need to find a way around it.

That’s how I’ve always done things.

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