The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 154

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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 154
Splash—!
Plunging into a river in the dead of night was far from pleasant.
Especially considering the fall speed exceeded that of most peregrine falcons.
“…Tsk.”
As a mercenary, I’d swum countless times before. I cut through the current with practiced ease and hauled myself onto the riverbank, Seila’s unconscious form gripped firmly by the scruff of her neck in my left hand.
I tapped her cheek lightly several times as she lay sprawled on the ground.
“Ugh…”
With a groan, Seila’s eyes fluttered open with difficulty.
“Are you conscious? Any injuries?”
“…Everything… hurts…”
“Well, that’s to be expected.”
It had been unavoidable. At that catastrophic speed, crashing into a residential building or structure would have caused unnecessary casualties, and if we’d impaled ourselves on some sharp spire, it would have meant certain death.
At least falling into the river meant we’d escaped with merely bruises.
“So… do you know where we are?”
As a native of Eltora, Seila glanced around and nodded.
“The heart of the city.”
“Well, we did fall into the middle of the river, so that makes sense.”
I helped Seila to her feet and climbed toward the main street. Though it was early summer, the hour was late, and with her clothes soaked through, Seila trembled from the cold.
But there was no time to slip into an Inn and warm ourselves by a Fireplace.
“Be careful.”
“Ugh.”
I quickly grabbed Seila and pulled her into the shadows between buildings.
Several armed mercenaries carrying torches passed by the street where we’d been standing moments before. From the way they were conducting a thorough search, they appeared to be a search party dispatched by the Stork Mercenary Company.
“…They’re certainly persistent.”
“Are those people… chasing us?”
“Of course they are.”
The mercenary captain had nearly been killed in his own chambers—a catastrophic incident. And that captain led the Stork Mercenary Company, the finest mercenary group in Eltora. The entire company had no choice but to mobilize.
But there was another reason they were so desperate.
“Because I have this.”
I produced a bundle of letters. The paper appeared to be waterproofed; despite the plunge into water, only the surface was slightly damp.
“What… is that?”
“Evidence that your mercenary captain colluded with the Black Mages.”
“….”
Seila’s eyes widened at those words.
“So what do we do now? If we’re caught, we’re dead, aren’t we?”
“Of course they’ll kill us. It’s the easiest way to silence us.”
“Gasp.”
Seila’s breath caught at my words.
Watching her fragile form, I felt an odd sensation. It was so different from the bold, commanding woman Seila had been in my past life that it felt somewhat unfamiliar.
After all, the current Renia is hardly the same person as in my past life. A prolonged war had a way of reshaping even one’s very nature.
“S-so what do we do now? Should we leave the city?”
“I’m not sure. If they’re not complete fools, they’ve already stationed search parties at the gates as a priority.”
In truth, these search parties were nothing more than mediocre swordsmen at the Sword Expert level.
I could brush past them easily enough with my current abilities, but…
“There’s a better way than fleeing the city from here.”
“What is it?”
“Going to the Lodging where I’m staying. Everything will be resolved once we get there.”
All I had to do was go to the Manor where the Alliance Subjugation Force was staying and explain everything to Valen. Even the finest mercenary group in Eltora was nothing but a dwarf hurling pebbles against the giant that was the Great Mage Alliance.
However, we were currently in the heart of Eltora, and the Manor where the Alliance Subjugation Force stayed was on the outskirts of the city.
The Stork Mercenary Company’s search parties were scattered everywhere. If we were discovered and a sword fight broke out in the streets, Valen would surely collapse from the shock.
I could use Surge Magic to fly there again, but if I did, neither my body nor Seila’s would remain intact.
In other words…
“We’ll make it to the city’s edge without being detected. If you follow my lead, we won’t be found. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes.”
I traced the Fehu rune in the air, erasing our presence from the world. Then, opening my senses as a mercenary to their fullest, I moved through the alleys where no patrols lingered, keeping us hidden in the shadows.
If a skilled Covert Mage like Sheril had been here with us, breaking through would have been far easier, but lacking that, I had to make do with what I had.
Of course, the mercenaries weren’t fools either—they’d stationed people at the key chokepoints we’d inevitably have to pass. But that presented no real obstacle for me.
“Mmph—!”
I crept up from behind, clamping a hand over his mouth while driving the edge of my hand into the back of his neck.
There was no need to draw my sword. The mercenary, struck at a vital point, collapsed without even a cry, unconscious.
Seila, watching from her hiding spot, gasped in admiration.
“…Reagan, what exactly is your level…?”
“Sword Expert… at the highest tier.”
There was perhaps some inaccuracy in calling it the highest tier.
In my past life, I had reached the level of Sword Master, and the martial knowledge I’d gained through that journey remained perfectly preserved in my memory.
Divine Blade Unity.
A realm equivalent to a Mage’s Embodiment.
If I were to apply that enlightenment to this body, I could likely reach Sword Master within a month.
But I chose not to.
The martial arts and insights a person cultivates are always subject to change. How much more so now, having experienced death and living a second life?
If I were to ascend directly to Sword Master based on my past life’s enlightenment, it would be no different than abandoning the realm I’d built as a Mage in this lifetime.
And a mere Sword Master’s level would never be enough to defeat the Archmage King.
In the end, I was a person who had to forge a new path. So even if progress stalled for now, what mattered was taking each step forward with certainty.
“…You said if we turn here, the path opens up?”
“Yes.”
I cast aside my wandering thoughts and followed Seila’s guidance down the path.
After several dozen minutes, we finally managed to escape the heart of Eltora.
Following this road ahead, we would eventually reach the Manor where the Alliance Subjugation Force was staying. Once there, I could explain everything to Valen.
But…
—Click.
Footsteps echoed through the darkness, and a figure emerged. Their silhouette blocked the path ahead of us.
The person wasn’t particularly large—in fact, they were rather petite and delicate, almost appearing fragile at first glance.
Yet the oppressive aura radiating from that small frame filled the entire alley. It was more formidable than any opponent I’d faced before.
I let out a small gasp and called out the figure’s name.
“…Lyrnia Erahan von Benheim.”
The golden-haired woman, Lyrnia Erahan von Benheim, lifted her head and fixed me with a direct gaze. Her violet eyes gleamed with an unsettling light.
“Reagan.”
Then Lyrnia Erahan von Benheim smiled faintly.
Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes were not.
“One hour.”
“….”
“You said one hour, Reagan. You told me to wait just one hour.”
That was true.
I simply hadn’t anticipated it would take this long.
“Moreover.”
But Lyrnia Erahan von Benheim’s displeasure seemed to stem from more than just the wait. She lifted her head and examined Seila’s appearance, who was pressed close behind me, before continuing in a chilling voice.
“Why are you both soaking wet?”
“….”
“Did you go for a pleasant swim? In the middle of the night? Just the two of you?”
The situation had been too urgent for me to pay attention to it, but we had indeed fallen into the river moments before.
Regardless of the reason, the current circumstances were perfectly designed to inflame Lyrnia Erahan von Benheim’s anger.
* * *
“Still haven’t found them?”
“My apologies, Captain. Not yet….”
Thwack!
Gord, his face wrapped in bandages, couldn’t contain his fury and brutally kicked the leg of a mercenary kneeling nearby. The mercenary cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, but Gord’s rage remained unabated.
“Damn it!”
Gord was the Captain of the Stork Mercenary Company.
A master swordsman of Sword Expert rank. He had clawed his way up from nothing, crawling through bloody mud and filth to reach his current position.
The humiliation and suffering Gord endured along that path were beyond words. If someone annoyed him, he’d slit their throat in the dead of night and toss them into the river. If there was money to be made, he’d gladly chew and swallow rotten meat.
Sell the sword, take the gold. That was the mercenary’s creed.
Gord had faithfully upheld that creed, and after crossing countless lines of death, he had reached the pinnacle.
Yet Gord’s thirst remained unquenched. What had always held him back was the wall of his realm.
Sword Expert.
Certainly, it was a formidable rank. But Gord had reached Sword Expert ten years ago. Which meant he had been stagnating for over a decade.
Those beneath him were soaring to new heights, their realms ascending endlessly, while he—who should have been ruling over them—was trapped against an insurmountable ceiling.
That was what drove Gord mad.
That was why.
Gord had grasped the hand of the Black Mage.
‘If only I had those elixirs they provided….’
The vitality elixirs the Black Mages had given as compensation were in an entirely different league from the garbage sold in the markets.
Simply consuming them would unblock stagnant qi and elevate one’s realm.
If I continued taking them for just a few more years, I might even reach the level of Sword Master. By then, Gord would no longer be merely the mercenary captain of Eltora, but a king dominating the entire mercenary industry of the Orelion Empire.
But now.
“Damn it!”
The brilliant future Gord had envisioned was on the verge of complete collapse.
Moments ago, Gord had been beaten one-sidedly by a mere brat a dozen years his junior. He’d taken three blows to the face, and his nose bone was shattered.
Gord trembled as he wiped away blood seeping through the bandages.
‘…That bastard….’
He didn’t know the name. But he’d heard well enough that this brat was a mage belonging to the Great Magic Families—the one who’d dismantled the Black Hyena mercenary group.
He was even the one who’d personally killed Barg, the madman of the industry.
That was precisely the problem. The bastard knew no restraint. Had he been just some ignorant pup, Gord would have simply scared him off, but his backing came from the Great Magic Families themselves—no, from the entire Great Mage Alliance.
The bastard had taken the evidence. If this fact reached the Great Mage Alliance… the Stork Mercenary Company would be finished.
“By any means necessary, kill him. No matter what, he must die and be buried.”
Thus, Gord had no choice but to be desperate.
* * *
At this moment, the most desperate person in this world was surely me.
“Renia, what I mean is….”
I found myself breaking into a cold sweat trying to calm Renia, who looked ready to unleash magic upon me at any second.
That this was all a misunderstanding.
I harbored no personal feelings whatsoever toward Seila, and the reason my body was drenched was purely because I’d crash-landed while flying through the sky using Sword Aura magic….
“What? You flew through the sky using Sword Aura magic?”
But that too was a mistake.
Renia’s expression hardened the moment I mentioned using Sword Aura magic to fly again.
“I told you not to use that.”
“….”
Now that she mentioned it, she had.
During the Trion incident, Renia had sternly warned me never to attempt such reckless stunts again.
“But the situation was urgent. There were dozens of them surrounding me, and that was the only way to break through….”
“So? Did you almost die again? Are you trying to make me a widow?”
“No, I didn’t die. I landed safely in the river, see? I’m perfectly fine.”
I desperately offered excuses while gauging Renia’s mood.
Though Renia still looked dissatisfied, the misunderstanding regarding Seila seemed to have cleared, as she refrained from further reproach.
In the end, she released a small sigh and relaxed her gaze.
“Reagan, so you really were a married man….”
Seila, who had been watching blankly from behind, murmured to herself.
“Why would I lie to you?”
“No… it’s just, I can’t believe a mercenary like you married such a beautiful woman….”
Upon hearing the compliment about her appearance, Renia covered her mouth with her hand and smiled despite herself.
Admittedly, compared to Seila’s rather rough demeanor, Renia possessed the impression of a precious flower in a greenhouse.
However, I felt compelled to clarify one point where Seila seemed to be laboring under a misconception.
“Seila, I apologize, but to be precise… I’m not actually a mercenary.”
“…But you just said you were a mercenary?”
“I told you it depends on the situation. Right now, I’m not a mercenary—I’m a mage.”
“A mage of Benheim.”
That last remark came from Renia.
Benheim.
Even Seila, who knew little of the world’s affairs, was clearly familiar with that family name. Her eyes widened in shock.
“B-B-Benheim? You mean that Great Magic Family I’ve heard of…?”
“Yes.”
“Then this woman here is…?”
“Renia Benheim. Pleased to meet you.”
Renia smiled and extended her hand for a handshake.
Seila hesitantly glanced down at her own hand—rough and calloused from years of labor. As she faltered, Renia took her hand first and shook it warmly up and down.
“I heard you suffered greatly in the mercenary group. You won’t have to endure such hardship anymore.”
“U-um… Ah, no… Yes.”
“Feel free to speak casually. It seems our age difference isn’t that great anyway.”
“To be exact, you and Renia are only one year apart in age.”
“Reagan, how do you even know Seila’s age?”
“…”
As I fell silent, Renia narrowed her eyes and regarded me, then sighed before speaking.
“So Reagan, this mercenary group that exploited Seila was collaborating with the Black Mages, is that it?”
“Yes. They have a cooperative relationship with the curse sorcerers of the Airit Estate, where we’re being deployed.”
I withdrew a letter from my pocket and showed it to her.
“This is the evidence. I plan to hand it over to Captain Valen and proceed through official channels.”
“…Official channels…? Won’t that be too slow?”
Renia raised a valid concern.
Indeed, she had a point. For now, Gord has deployed the entire mercenary group to silence us through death, but once Valen or the Great Mage Alliance learns that we’ve escaped safely, the situation will reverse completely.
Ultimately, Gord will abandon the Stork Mercenary Company and flee, and the mercenaries will scatter in all directions.
That news would inevitably reach the ears of the curse sorcerers at the Airit Estate.
Then…
“Isn’t the solution quite simple?” Renia suddenly said.
Renia spoke without preamble.
“We subdue and capture them right now.”
Renia withdrew a small cube from her pocket and handed it to me. It was Andvari’s Cube, which I had entrusted to her moments earlier.
“What do you think? Doesn’t it sound like a good idea?”
“…Renia, but… us being mages of Benheim engaging in violence in the middle of another city…”
“Why would you worry about that, Reagan?”
“…Huh?”
“We are Benheim. And the Benheim name carries enough weight to bury such gossip without breaking a sweat.”
“…Valen will be absolutely furious.”
“Of course he will be.”
Renia continued with a sly grin spreading across her face.
“But Reagan, don’t you remember what Rashek always says?”
I grasped immediately what Renia was getting at.
“…Take what they give, and repay in kind.”
“Exactly.”
….
I regarded Renia quietly.
Truth be told, I hadn’t dismissed such thoughts myself.
This situation differed vastly from the previous Mist Valley operation, which had involved only the Rune Surveillance Unit. Since we represented the Great Mage Alliance, it was better to avoid drawing unwanted attention.
And yet….
“It’s not a bad idea.”
I found myself drawn to Renia’s proposal despite myself.
Take what they give, and repay in kind.
Every mercenary shares that same resolve. In that sense, Renia today embodied the mercenary spirit far more than I did.
“Right?”
She tilted her head toward me like a puppy seeking praise, and without thinking, I reached out and gently tapped that silken golden hair.
“Renia.”
“Hmm?”
“You are… how should I put it….”
I paused briefly before continuing.
“Truly… the queen of support.”
Renia’s face flushed crimson.

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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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