The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 151

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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 151
“Renia, so… what I mean is, it’s quite complicated…”
“Complicated? I don’t think it’s that complicated, is it?”
Renia continued with a slight smile playing at her lips.
“Reagan seems to be taking quite an interest in that woman, so I was just wondering why~ and asked about it.”
Despite her words, Renia’s eyebrows had angled downward noticeably—not sharply, but considerably. It wasn’t the same as when she’d been upset before, but her mood was decidedly sour.
Truth be told, we were currently on a night walk alone, having left Rashek and Yusefin behind at the Lodging.
Given that I’d been staring intently at another woman in such circumstances, it was hardly surprising that Renia had misunderstood.
Yet I couldn’t very well tell her that this woman was someone I’d forged a connection with in my past life.
Soon enough, I conjured up a passable excuse.
“Renia.”
I placed my hands gently on her shoulders.
“Would you do me a favor and hear me out first?”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
Renia gestured with her chin, as if to say: let’s hear this excuse.
“You know I was with a Mercenary Group before I came to Benheim, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“The truth is… I went through some harsh times there.”
“Harsh… times?”
Renia’s eyes widened. She was aware that mercenaries had a reputation for being rough, but hearing that I’d endured hardship in such a place naturally shocked her innocent sensibilities.
Yet I wasn’t lying. Everything I was about to say was the absolute truth.
Even if it wasn’t from this life.
“You see… I was an orphan without even parents. When I was young, some Mercenary Group captain picked me up off the streets.”
“Oh… oh my.”
“I did all the chores and menial work, and after breaking my body with labor, I was lucky if I got a bowl of thin gruel to eat. Despite living such a grueling life, I never received a single coin in wages.”
“That… that’s…”
“In the end, I barely escaped before being sold into slavery. It’s truly a memory I’d rather not think about.”
“…oh…”
By the time my lament had finished, tears were already glistening in Renia’s eyes. She truly was a woman of profound sensitivity.
Just as I was about to continue, the sound of a scuffle erupted from deeper within the alley.
“Let go! I said let go!”
“Shut up, you wench! You need to get a proper scolding from our Captain!”
A rough-looking man was shaking Seila by her hair.
Only then did Renia realize the situation over there was far from ordinary. Immediately, she succeeded in connecting the story I’d just told with the scene unfolding before us.
“…Reagan, then that is…?”
“Yes. It’s exactly like what I went through when I was young. You could say we share the same misfortune. Seeing that woman brings back memories of my old self.”
Gulp.
Renia swallowed dryly.
I drove the point home with a wistful expression and continued speaking.
“So you see, Renia. I truly don’t harbor even the slightest special feeling toward that woman, but surely it’s not wrong to feel compassion for someone in the same circumstances as I was, is it?”
Renia nodded vigorously.
“So there’s no reason for you to resent me helping that woman, right?”
“Right, of course not!”
Renia’s nodding accelerated even further.
With that, I had my permission.
However, the place we were in was Eltora—a city that could rightfully be called the mercenary capital.
While violent conflicts were commonplace in Eltora, if a noble mage—especially one from Benheim—carelessly involved herself in mercenary squabbles, the situation would become complicated.
But if I intervened not as a mage of Benheim, but as an ordinary wandering mercenary, there would be no problems whatsoever.
“Renia, could you hold onto this for me?”
I removed the robe I was wearing and stuffed it into Andvari’s Cube. I also stored the Barisa dagger inside, deciding I wouldn’t need it for this.
Once I handed over my belongings, my appearance had transformed into that of a green recruit swordsman—dressed in shabby casual clothes with only a single Benheim longsword hanging at my waist.
“Good, not bad at all. Renia, I’ll call you once things are settled. Just go into some shop and wait. I’ll be back within an hour, even if it takes that long.”
“U-uh, okay….”
Renia accepted my belongings and nodded as if entranced.
I turned and made my way toward the shadowy streets of the Mercenary District.
“…This brings back memories.”
The acrid stench of sweat and the reek of sewage.
I felt a strange nostalgia wash over me.
* * *
Seila, a low-ranking mercenary, had always lived a life of oppression.
Seila’s father had been an executioner. Because the stench of blood had seeped into his very bones, Seila had been despised even by the orphans of the back alleys during her childhood.
Then one day, her father failed to cleanly sever a condemned criminal’s neck in a single stroke, and was beaten into disability by the enraged crowd.
Eventually, her father wasted away from illness and died, and when he was laid to rest in the Graveyard, not a single soul came to mourn him.
– Are you the butcher’s daughter? Since your father is dead, you’ll have to repay his debts instead.
Instead, a mercenary came to collect on those debts.
In the end, Seila was handed over to a mercenary group as an orphan.
Ten years passed after that.
Seila toiled in the harsh underworld to repay the enormous debts her father had left behind.
Yet clearing those debts seemed impossible. No matter how grueling the work she performed, she received less than a tenth of the earnings, and even that pittance barely sustained her for a week.
The only possession Seila had was a keepsake from her father—a crude executioner’s blade honed solely for severing necks. She had contemplated turning that blade on herself dozens of times.
Seila lacked even that much courage.
Yet apparently, she possessed enough courage to resist the mercenary group.
“That’s why! This is my share! This is money I earned with my own labor!”
She had resisted for almost the first time.
She had reached her limit. Of course, she would be beaten until something broke, but she refused to spend her entire life as a slave without even attempting resistance once.
“Let go of it!”
Seila cried out as her hair was seized. The passersby showed no reaction. In the Mercenary District of Eltora, violence was simply an everyday occurrence.
“You ungrateful wretch! Forgetting the kindness of those who fed you!”
The Senior Mercenary bellowed and ruthlessly tore at Seila’s hair. A horrific pain seized her as though her entire scalp were being ripped away.
Seila held back her tears and instinctively placed her hand on the executioner’s blade at her back.
I’ve trained relentlessly with the sword to survive. With this blade, I could sever that Senior Mercenary’s neck in a single stroke.
I could certainly resolve the horrific situation before me right now, but even if I killed a Mercenary Group senior and fled, would I survive?
And even if I did survive, how could I live in this world as a murderer?
‘…Perhaps that would be better.’
Becoming a murderer would be better than living like this. Just as Seila finished her thought and reached for her short sword, someone spoke softly.
“Don’t draw that blade.”
The voice came quietly from somewhere.
At those words, even the Senior Mercenary gripping Seila’s hair flinched and stopped his movements.
“Who the hell are you? Can’t you see I’m working here?”
“Well, from where I’m standing, it just looks like a thug trying to grab someone. Is that really your job?”
“What?”
The Senior Mercenary’s expression darkened as he roughly released his grip on Seila’s hair.
“Ugh.”
Seila was thrown onto the alley floor. Thanks to that, she could now see the appearance of the man who had suddenly intervened.
Ash-gray hair and cool blue eyes. At his waist hung a single crude longsword that appeared ordinary. His attire was reasonably clean, but by any measure, he looked like a third-rate mercenary.
The Senior Mercenary seemed to share that assessment, letting out a snort of laughter.
“You must be new to Eltora, kid. If you’re a greenhorn, you should learn to read the room first. Don’t go running your mouth in someone else’s territory.”
“Hmm. Shouldn’t you be thanking me instead?”
“What?”
“I just stopped that woman from slitting your throat.”
The Senior Mercenary flinched in surprise and turned back to look at Seila. She swallowed hard, trying to hide her trembling hands. His face twisted with rage.
“Nonsense! Do you even know who I belong to?! I’m a squad leader of the Stork Mercenary Company!”
The Stork Mercenary Company.
One of the most renowned first-rate mercenary groups in Eltora. Merely hearing that name was enough to make people in the Mercenary District lower their eyes in respect.
Yet the man showed no sign of intimidation. Rather, he maintained an indifferent expression despite the threat, then frowned slightly.
“And what of it?”
“What?”
“…I understand you belong to some outfit called the Stork or whatever, but that makes the Mercenary Group impressive, not you, doesn’t it?”
The Senior Mercenary’s expression hardened as if struck by a truth he couldn’t refute.
“Besides, it’s pathetic that this supposedly great Stork Mercenary Company can’t even handle one woman and has to resort to dragging her around.”
“You… you bastard… you want to die!”
Shing!
The Senior Mercenary drew his sword from its sheath.
Only then did the gazes of passersby begin to turn toward them. Violence was commonplace in the Mercenary District, but the moment a blade was drawn, it crossed the threshold into something extraordinary.
“Hmm….”
The man watched the gleaming blade without alarm, crossing his arms instead.
“I’ll give you a chance to put that sword away.”
“…Shut up!”
Unable to contain his fury, the Senior Mercenary gritted his teeth and charged at the man. Seila hastily placed her hand on the hilt of her short sword, but the man turned calmly as if he had eyes in the back of his head and spoke.
“You stay put. Don’t get caught in the crossfire.”
“You, you! Behind!”
Seila cried out in alarm. The Senior Mercenary had crept close without warning, his blade raised high above the man’s back.
“Ugh!”
Seila instinctively sensed the gruesome carnage about to unfold and squeezed her eyes shut.
Yet only silence followed.
Seila cautiously opened her eyes. Contrary to her expectations, the man stood unscathed. Instead, the Senior Mercenary who had launched the surprise attack lay convulsing on the ground, foam flecking his lips.
“…What?”
Only then did Seila comprehend what had happened. The man had struck the Senior Mercenary’s jaw with the scabbard itself.
Until the moment Seila closed her eyes, the man’s hand hadn’t even touched his sword hilt. So when exactly had he drawn his blade, and when had he turned to deliver that strike?
As Seila stared at him in bewilderment, he suddenly asked:
“You owe this Mercenary Group a debt, don’t you?”
“…That’s….”
“If I recall correctly, it was about one million five hundred thousand Libre. Am I right?”
“How on earth do you know that?”
“Well, there are ways to find out.”
Seila was startled and questioned him further, but the man brushed it off casually, dusting the dirt from his clothes before sliding his scabbard back into his belt.
“Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“Stork Mercenary Company Headquarters. You need to settle your debt there.”
“But… I don’t have the money….”
“I’ll pay it for you.”
Upon hearing this, Seila’s expression darkened. Suspicion rose first. He would pay such a substantial sum—one million five hundred thousand Libre—without any compensation? There was no such thing as kindness without reason.
‘Surely not….’
Seila then recalled that she possessed rather attractive features.
“Are you planning to use me as a slave?”
She had heard of such things before.
In fact, she had witnessed it directly.
In these back alleys, lecherous men abounded who would buy women under the guise of paying off their debts, then subject them to unspeakable acts.
Seila stepped backward, fearing this man might be of that ilk.
“…This is insane.”
The man, meeting Seila’s sharp gaze, exhaled a heavy sigh.
“Don’t misunderstand. Whatever you’re thinking, that’s not my intention.”
The man cleared his throat awkwardly, his words hesitant as though embarrassed.
“Besides… I’m… a married man.”
“….”
Seila stared at him with a blank expression.
The man who had just subdued his opponent with such dexterity now appeared utterly clumsy.

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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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