The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 119

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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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Chapter 119
We couldn’t simply leave the Trading Post in such a state, so we enlisted the sailors’ help to clean up the scene.
The bodies were gathered and temporarily laid to rest on one side of the merchant ship’s deck. Moving the corpses, savagely mauled as they were, was far from pleasant, but the process allowed me to reach one certain conclusion.
‘The work of the Chimera.’
The wounds left on the bodies matched those I’d commonly seen on victims of the Chimera in my previous life.
So that grotesque abomination we’d witnessed at the Apsache Stronghold had swept through this Trading Post and the forest.
‘…The situation isn’t looking good.’
If the Beast Face Society had attacked this Trading Post at the forest’s entrance, the conditions deeper within must be far more dire.
Above all, Rashek’s earlier words troubled me—that not a single spirit was visible. The Beast Face Society was clearly up to something.
I rose to my feet and spoke to Cobin, the storyteller who’d been dragging corpses about.
“Cobin.”
“Yes? Y-yes! What is it, sir?”
“You’ve worked hard accompanying us this far. You’re free to return to Harfen now. This should cover your wages, yes?”
I pulled out several gold coins from Andvari’s Cube and tossed them to him—stolen goods we’d taken from the Apsache.
Cobin’s eyes went wide as he unexpectedly received the gold.
“Y-you’re telling me to leave, sir?”
“That’s right.”
There was no reason to drag along a man with virtually no combat ability, and besides, I needed Cobin to deliver information.
“Once you reach Harfen, go to the Great Mage Alliance Branch. Report everything that happened here.”
At my words, Cobin’s eyes darted about, his expression growing flustered.
“B-but… the Great Mage Alliance is… not a place someone lowly like me can visit…”
“…I see.”
He had a point.
There was no way the Great Mage Alliance Branch would take the word of a mere storyteller at face value.
After a moment’s thought, I retrieved one of Benheim’s tokens from my pocket and handed it to him.
“Show them this, and the branch director will understand immediately.”
I’d briefly considered the possibility that Cobin might disappear with Benheim’s token…
‘But that won’t happen.’
Cobin had heard tales of our exploits in completely destroying the Apsache. He wouldn’t have the audacity to flee with a family token.
In the end, Cobin accepted Benheim’s token with an expression caught between tears and asked:
“Then what will you lords do?”
“Well…”
I gazed beyond the Trading Post, toward the forest’s boundary shrouded in thick mist.
“We’ll find whoever committed this outrage and bring them to justice.”
Hic.
Cobin swallowed hard, then hiccupped.
* * *
After sending off the Captain and Cobin, we ventured into the Southern Forest.
Though we no longer had Cobin as our intended guide, fortunately we had a new one. And this guide possessed both greater courage and far greater strength than Cobin.
“If we head this way, we should reach Aconia Territory within seven days.”
Rashek el Maelern navigated the barren paths of the Southern Forest with the practiced ease of one born to such lands.
Despite the treacherous terrain—a maze of tangled thickets and muddy quagmires—his footsteps never faltered.
Occasionally, fallen ancient trees blocked the way ahead.
“Hah!”
With a single spirit-infused punch from Rashek el Maelern, the obstruction crumbled away effortlessly.
We had been walking for quite some time when Rashek el Maelern began to furrow his brow, constantly scanning our surroundings.
His expression grew increasingly troubled.
“…Something feels deeply wrong.”
“You mean the absence of spirits?”
“That too, but… no matter how I think about it, this silence is unnatural.”
I turned my attention to the sounds of the forest, listening intently.
Indeed.
Not a whisper of wind disturbed the stillness.
Despite the dense vegetation surrounding us, there were no rustling leaves, no branches creaking against one another—none of the ambient sounds one would expect.
And more troubling still…
“There are no animals either.”
“Precisely. This is… wrong. The ecosystem of this Southern Forest is distinctly different from what I observed before.”
Not a single wild beast, predator, or venomous insect was visible.
Animals possess sharper instincts than humans. When disaster or a apex predator emerges, they are the first to abandon their habitats and flee. This meant the Southern Forest’s ecosystem had been twisted beyond recognition.
“…It reminds me of the Hunting Festival from last year.”
Renia, who had been listening quietly, finally spoke. I nodded in agreement. A silent, desolate forest. This was exactly how Benheim Forest had felt when Elder Beron and his Black Mages had orchestrated their scheme during the Hunting Festival a year ago.
“…Then… Reagan, could those people at the Trading Post have been killed by that Mage as well?”
“Most likely.”
However, I still couldn’t fathom why the Beast Face Society—once the limbs and tools of the Archmage King in my past life—would venture so deep into this desolate wilderness at this particular moment.
Was there something here they needed to obtain, just as with Trion’s Mana Vein?
Lost in thought as I followed Rashek el Maelern, sunset began to descend. Just before pitch darkness consumed the forest, Rashek el Maelern skillfully located a cave large enough to shelter the three of us.
“We’ll make camp here for the night.”
I opened Andvari’s Cube and began withdrawing the supplies I had stored within—one item at a time.
Firewood for the campfire, cooking utensils, sleeping bags—everything we needed.
Rashek el Maelern clapped his hands together as he observed the Cube.
“That artifact is remarkably convenient. Is it a magical artifact?”
“Something like that, I suppose.”
After setting up the campsite, I hung a black cloth at the cave’s entrance.
The fabric’s surface became transparent, perfectly mirroring the surrounding environment and cleverly concealing the cave’s opening.
It was one of the magical artifacts I had stolen from the Shadow Tower’s Treasure Vault with Sheril’s assistance.
With this concealment, our presence would remain hidden from all but the most perceptive.
We kindled the campfire and sat in a circle around it, chewing on dried meat we had brought as provisions.
“Rashek el Maelern, but is the absence of spirits in this region really such a grave matter?”
As I tore into the dried meat, Rashek el Maelern nodded with a grave expression.
“The Southern Forest is the most saturated with nature’s essence on the entire Continent. Spirits are the measure of that nature and the very source of life itself. Their disappearance means this forest is slowly dying.”
“Have we ever encountered enemies like this before?”
“In the past… I heard it happened once when the forest was destroyed during the war.”
In other words, the current state of the forest was just as perilous as wartime.
“…Setting that aside, where exactly is the Aconia Family we’re looking for?”
“Truth is… I don’t know either.”
“You don’t know?”
At my bewildered response, Rashek chuckled and offered an explanation.
“Aconia is a family of mages who wield deadly toxins. The surrounding environment can’t withstand their poisonous miasma, so it dies off. That’s why they periodically relocate their base. Think of them as slash-and-burn farmers.”
“Then how do you plan to find Aconia’s base?”
“Don’t worry. Finding their encampment is simple. Didn’t I mention it before? Where they leave behind is nothing but a blackened, rotting forest. Once the mist clears tomorrow morning, I’ll climb a tree and survey the area. If I spot a dead forest, that’s where Aconia’s base is.”
“Well, at least it’s easy to understand.”
I began to understand why Maelrn and Aconia were at odds.
For Maelrn, who held the Southern Forest as their territory and revered nature and spirits, Aconia—which destroyed forests and scattered poisonous miasma—must be an absolute thorn in their side.
As that thought occurred to me, a good idea came to mind.
“Rashek. Wouldn’t it be better to send word to your father—that is, to Maelrn’s Head?”
“What do you mean?”
“A sorcerer commanding monsters has invaded the Southern Forest. Moreover, it’s an unprecedented situation with spirits vanishing. Wouldn’t Maelrn naturally consider this a serious matter?”
“…Hmm.”
If the main forces of the Great Magic Family Maelrn were to mobilize, we wouldn’t need to fight troublesomely ourselves—we could borrow their strength to sweep away the Beast Face Society entirely.
And we could make contact with the Aconia Family in the process.
It was a reasonable point, but Rashek frowned and trailed off.
“Probably won’t work.”
“Why? Because you left the family without permission?”
“That’s not it. Father wouldn’t abandon his duties for such a trivial reason.”
Rashek stared blankly at the campfire, clenching and unclenching his fists.
“It’s just… for Father, this matter isn’t… urgent.”
“What are you talking about? Monsters roam the forest, people are dying. Spirits have vanished. If this isn’t urgent, what exactly is urgent for Maelrn?”
“….”
When I pressed him, Rashek clamped his mouth shut and said nothing more. His demeanor was markedly different from what I’d observed until now.
“It’s getting late. We need to scout early tomorrow morning, so I’ll get some rest first.”
With that, he unrolled a sleeping bag on the cave floor and lay down without hesitation.
Naturally, my gaze met Renia’s.
“Seems like… he and his father don’t get along either.”
“…You can say that again.”
Though he seemed reckless and dim-witted, Rashek clearly carried his own complex troubles.
Pressing further would be impolite.
I poured water from my leather pouch onto the campfire to extinguish it, then settled down to sleep with Renia.
Incidentally, Renia went ahead and pulled out that enormous luxury bed of hers to sleep in.
* * *
From that point, we walked for a solid five days.
Contrary to my initial expectations, the Southern Forest was eerily silent. Occasionally, I spotted the carcasses of wild beasts bearing the marks of predation, yet we encountered neither Chimeras nor ferocious creatures. Thanks to this fortune, we were able to traverse the forest without significant difficulty.
“Found it.”
At last, we came upon the Dead Forest.
“This is where the Aconia mages made their camp.”
The sight of the Dead Forest was nothing short of devastating.
Tree trunks discolored to a sickly gray-black, leaves withered and twisted into grotesque shapes.
It was as though a drought had ravaged the land—not a single trace of life remained.
When I touched the nearby thicket, it crumbled to black ash, scattering like charred powder on the wind.
‘This is the poison that Aconia wields.’
Unmistakably.
While the poison used by Rosalindr, the Thorn Tower Mage Tower Lord, prioritized versatility, the poison of Aconia was….
‘Lethality.’
It was precisely the deadly toxin I had been seeking.
With such a virulent poison at my disposal, it would certainly prove invaluable in combat against Black Mages of the seventh rank and beyond.
Yet a question arose.
“Why would the Aconia mages employ poison? They make the forest their home, yet they destroy it. There must be a reason they refined a technique that devastates their own foundation.”
“Hmm… I’m not entirely certain, but it seems that in the days before the Great Mage Alliance existed, wars between Aconia and Maelern were frequent.”
“Wars?”
“Yes. In truth, my family absorbed all the nearby lesser families to become a Great Magic Family. Aconia was the only one we could never subjugate. They must have begun refining poison specifically to stand against Maelern.”
As Rashek el Maelern spoke, his expression grew subtly bitter.
‘They refined poison to survive Maelern, then….’
Like the poison dart frogs of this very forest, they had become venomous prey, defending themselves against their predators through toxins born of desperation.
In that moment, I finally understood why Maelern and Aconia harbored such profound animosity toward one another.
“In any case, there should be an Aconia campsite nearby. Let’s move.”
With Rashek el Maelern leading the way, we pressed forward.
The further we advanced, the more frequently we encountered patches of the Dead Forest.
Just as I judged that the Aconia Territory was within reach, I seized Rashek el Maelern by the back of his neck and pulled him back.
“Ugh.”
Rashek el Maelern turned with a disgruntled expression, and I pressed my index finger to my lips.
“Wait. Lower your stance.”
Renia, already familiar with such signals from previous encounters, wordlessly crouched low and concealed herself behind the thicket.
Rashek el Maelern looked bewildered, but when he followed my gaze….
“Tch.”
He fell silent at once.
Despite the absence of wind, a nauseating stench pierced the air, suffocating and vile.
“Look there.”
I pointed between the leaves.
As expected, dozens of dark, misshapen forms were clustered near a spring.
Human limbs grafted onto the heads of beasts, or multiple human arms sprouting from the bodies of creatures—their forms were grotesque, as though human and animal had been grotesquely fused and twisted together.
“Chimeras.”
At my words, Renia held her breath.
‘…Indeed, now I understand why there were no animals in the forest.’
The apex predators had appeared, so everything had fled.
And the fact that such a massive swarm of Chimeras was discovered near the Aconia Family territory….
‘The Beast Face Society and Aconia… do they have a connection?’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, Renia tugged at my sleeve.
“Reagan, look at that….”
Renia whispered in a hushed, trembling voice, pointing toward the Chimeras gathered at the spring.
At first, I thought the Chimeras were simply drinking. But immediately, I realized that couldn’t be right.
Chimeras were products of Black Magic. They had no need for water to sustain their life functions. With only the mana from the mana stones embedded in their bodies, these monsters could move for days, months, even years.
So if the Chimeras were gathered here, there had to be another reason….
“Ah.”
The next moment, I understood.
What the Chimeras were consuming wasn’t water.
‘…Spirits.’
Small clusters of light gathered around the clear spring.
The Chimeras were devouring those spirits whole.
‘…So they’re using spirits as a power source instead of mana stones.’
Only then did I grasp why the Beast Face Society had ventured into this barren Southern Forest.
As Rashek had said, the Southern Forest was the richest source of spirits on the Continent.
For them, this place was the perfect experimental ground for synthesizing Chimeras—an endless supply of power sources.
“Alright. Rashek, Renia. Let’s turn back for now.”
Facing such a massive number of Chimeras would be problematic in every way.
Fortunately, they were so focused on devouring the spirits that they hadn’t even noticed us yet.
As I thought this and looked at Rashek.
I realized I had made a grave miscalculation.
“…Grrr.”
Rashek ground his teeth, his fists clenching so hard they trembled. An anger I’d never seen before blazed across his face.
‘Ah.’
I knew Rashek’s temperament well enough by now.
This fool was fundamentally simple-minded, but righteously stubborn to a fault. He couldn’t ignore injustice when he saw it.
Hadn’t he charged alone at five Auror Experts in the Apsache Stronghold without hesitation?
And for Rashek, who cherished spirits dearly, the sight before him was….
“…You wretches! Stop this at once!”
A reverse scale.
“How dare you! How dare you defile the breath of nature with your filthy mouths!”
Rashek bellowed and burst from the thicket.
The commotion he caused was more than enough to draw the attention of dozens of Chimeras at the spring.
…More than enough, which was the problem.
[Croak?]
The Chimeras bared their fangs at Rashek in unison.
Renia turned to me with an expression of utter disbelief at the sight.
“…Reagan?”
“Well, what else can we do?”
After exchanging a glance with Renia, I let out a short sigh and drew Benheim’s sacred sword.

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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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