The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 16
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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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Chapter 16
“This is unprecedented.”
Sheril, who had brought me the elixir, continued speaking as if she couldn’t believe it.
“The elixirs produced in Benheim are superior to any artificial elixir made in any magic workshop. Moreover, a non-blood relative taking an elixir is something that can be counted on one hand in Benheim’s thousand-year history.”
“Yeah. I can tell without you saying it.”
I looked at the long case placed on the table, and the elongated bottle inside it.
In my previous life, I had seen things sold as elixirs countless times. From tiny pills to dried and twisted roots. Whatever they were, they came with ridiculously expensive prices, but people were willing to pay extra to buy them.
Whether swordsman or mage, elixirs were the easiest and fastest means to raise one’s level.
Absorbing the pure energy contained in elixirs brought far superior effects compared to training mana day and night.
If cheap elixirs could do that, then Benheim’s elixir, considered the finest among artificial elixirs, went without saying.
– Benheim has elixirs. Excluding elixirs made naturally, they’re naturally the best! They’re family treasures that take several years just to make one.
Renia’s eyes would light up whenever she talked about elixirs. Indeed, elixirs were Benheim’s treasures, and even she, a direct descendant of the family, had only drunk elixirs three times at most.
Such a precious item was now before my eyes.
‘I suppose this level of compensation is natural since I helped root out the family’s informant.’
Benheim’s family head, Stern, was a magnanimous person uncharacteristic of nobility.
“Will you drink it now?”
Sheril asked with strange anticipation. She too seemed to be seeing an elixir in person for the first time, unable to take her eyes off the golden bottle.
“Well, there’s no great meaning in saving it.”
Originally, excellent elixirs only had value when backed by the appropriate level. Storing it and drinking it later when my level increased was one method.
However, at least for me, such assumptions were meaningless.
‘How could I not be able to?’
This was a body that had already reached Sword Master. No matter how precious an elixir this was, fully accepting its energy was not difficult at all.
I grabbed the bottle and opened the cap. The dreamlike liquid that seemed to contain the light of dawn gave off a strange fragrance that was both sweet and bitter, as if it contained all the scents of the world.
“Be careful, Reagan. This is a highly concentrated elixir above all else. Take your time slowly, divide it into three portions…”
Sheril, who had been continuing her explanation, opened her mouth wide.
And for good reason, as I had just poured the entire elixir into my mouth.
“Mm.”
The taste wasn’t very good. But the energy was real.
As the cold, slippery liquid flowed down my throat, violent sensations swept over me as if every mana circuit in my body was expanding.
In my previous life, I had received elixirs instead of payment for mercenary work a few times. However, they were all third-rate to second-rate at best, providing no significant help.
But what about this elixir now?
“This is ridiculous.”
―Kuuuuu.
The flow of energy that surged wildly as soon as it entered my body contained mana concentrated for several years.
The pure energy of the elixir swept through my entire body. This sensation was similar to when I received Renia’s mana in the mana vein last time.
But the stability was different.
It was comfortable.
The elixir’s energy permeated my body as if it were my own. Befitting an elixir among the highest tier of artificial elixirs, the elixir properly grasped the characteristics of my mana core and began to naturally permeate.
“Reagan, now you must draw the elixir’s energy to your mana core as much as possible through meditation. It will be difficult, but following my guidance…”
Sheril was explaining, but I raised my hand to interrupt her.
“Sheril, I appreciate the help, but could you first get me a sword?”
“A sword… you say?”
“Yes. A sword. One of appropriate size to wield with one hand.”
Originally I had a sword taken from mercenary group captain Gerkin, but it was confiscated when I was imprisoned.
However, even though Benheim was a great magic family, there was no way they wouldn’t have a single sword. From what I heard, they even operated a small knight order.
“But now is the time for meditation…”
“That’s why I’m asking for it – for meditation.”
Though half-doubtful, Sheril quickly brought me a sword.
It was an ordinary standard iron sword.
“But what do you intend to use this sword for?”
“What else? To swing it.”
I took the sword and went out to the annex garden.
Originally, after drinking an elixir, one should meditate for half a day to a full day. This is because circulating mana throughout the body and accelerating the metabolism of mana circuits increases the absorption efficiency of the elixir.
However, sitting cross-legged in meditation wasn’t the only method.
Sring.
I drew the sword.
Rather than a mage’s meditation method that didn’t suit my nature, the method of gripping a sword and directly swinging it while spreading energy throughout my body was more familiar to me.
Even though I decided to live as a mage in this life, my foundation was ultimately that of a swordsman.
―Swish.
I gripped the sword and swung it.
A simple horizontal slash.
It wasn’t flashy. Rather, it was ordinary. My sword didn’t contain any profound mysteries that could reach the heavens. There were no fancy techniques or famous martial arts.
The only swordsmanship I had learned in life was third-rate street swordsmanship that only included basic slashes and thrusts.
That was enough.
My vision was sufficient to support that swordsmanship, and I had my own talent.
Having reached Sword Master with simple swordsmanship alone, I was confident I could climb even higher in this second chance.
I had also grasped the clue. The fusion of magic and aura. A stepping stone toward Sword Saint.
The second chance Renia had created.
—Whoosh.
At that moment, the sword dance movements came to a quiet stop. The pure mana from the elixir spread throughout my body, and my mana core had become accustomed to the newly entered mana.
I opened my eyes that had been closed.
At the tip of my sword, like dew, pale blue mana had formed.
The blue membrane that appeared as if surrounding the blade was a surprisingly familiar color.
I lifted the corners of my mouth.
The feeling of grasping the thread of enlightenment is always exhilarating.
‘Has it begun?’
The entry into being a 3rd Circle mage, and simultaneously an aura user.
* * *
Covert Mage Sheril quietly took in the sword dance unfolding under the moonlight.
When Reagan first asked her to bring a sword, she couldn’t understand it at all. Why would he suddenly swing a sword after drinking the elixir? It would be more normal to sit quietly in a comfortable position and meditate while observing the inside of his body.
—Swish.
However, the moment Reagan began his sword dance under the moonlight, Sheril could only watch that sight in fascination.
‘That is…’
Sheril was a mage. Therefore, she possessed no knowledge whatsoever about swordsmanship.
But the sword dance unfolding before her eyes was something that made even Sheril admire it.
It wasn’t beautiful or flashy. In some ways, it could even be considered crude.
However, it was sharp enough to make one’s eyes sting. It was clean and disciplined.
Sheril thought that sword dance was extraordinary. In her view, the sword dance Reagan wielded was the movements of a swordsman who had crossed countless lines of death. Reagan’s expression with his eyes closed showed no emotion whatsoever, but the sword he gripped held a strange trembling along with exaltation.
‘What exactly is that boy…’
Eventually, the moonlight in the night sky concentrated on the sword Reagan held.
A faintly rising bluish light.
It was clearly a crystallization of mana.
“A, aura?”
She was shocked.
Why was he, who had entered as a mage, using aura?
It was something beyond common sense.
“Sheril.”
Reagan, who had opened his eyes at some point, spoke to Sheril who had momentarily lost herself. With a satisfied expression, he swung the moonlight-imbued sword this way and that.
“How is it? Doesn’t my body seem somehow different?”
“…Surely not.”
The sudden use of aura was shocking enough, but inside Reagan’s body, in his mana core, she could feel a powerful energy distinctly different from before.
He had excellently guided the tremendous energy of the elixir to his mana core.
And that with just a single consumption.
“Lord Reagan, have you ever consumed an elixir in your life?”
“No. I’ve never had such an experience. As you saw, until recently I was an ordinary person without even a speck of mana.”
“Then why were you able to accept all the energy of the elixir? No…”
That wasn’t what was important right now.
Sheril, being a mage herself, had noticed the change that occurred in Reagan’s body. The mana concentration inside his body that was distinctly different from before.
“Lord Reagan, surely you haven’t reached the 3rd Circle?”
“I suppose that’s about right. Well, it’s only half-complete at best. It’s a circle raised through dependence on an elixir.”
“…”
It was a shocking speed.
Sheril was a prodigy who had received training to become a Covert Mage since she could barely walk, and had been called a genius countless times. Even she had only reached the 3rd Circle when she turned twenty-three.
In contrast, Reagan had reached the 3rd Circle at only eighteen, before even passing adulthood. Moreover, it had been barely a month since he entered the path of magic.
Was such a thing even possible?
Above all…
“Lord Reagan, what exactly is that thing on your sword?”
Sheril asked while looking at the mana blooming above Reagan’s sword. In fact, she knew well what its identity was.
It was undoubtedly aura.
Why was someone who had awakened a mage’s mana cultivation technique using aura?
She had roughly heard that Reagan had modified the mana cultivation technique to suit his body, but even after seeing this sight with her own eyes, she couldn’t believe it.
However, even to Sheril’s question mixed with surprise, Reagan only answered indifferently.
“A mirage.”
“A… mirage?”
“Yes. They say the moon drives people mad. Fragments of the past, or perhaps the future, reflect on the blade like a mirage.”
Reagan chuckled and withdrew the thin thread of mana that had bloomed at the tip of his sword.
Looking at the moonlight reflected on the blade, Reagan murmured.
“That’s all it is.”
Reagan’s expression was filled with melancholy.
Sheril had many things she wanted to ask, but those questions were not permitted to her. She could only nod her head obediently.
* * *
That evening.
“So Reagan has reached the 3rd Circle. The elixir must have been effective.”
Stern himself didn’t seem particularly surprised despite hearing Sheril’s report.
Unlike Sheril, who was at most a 5th Circle level, Stern was a 7th Circle mage. He had already realized how high the completion level was of Benheim’s mana cultivation technique that Reagan had modified, and how excellent Reagan’s talent was for having directly modified it himself.
“But to think he used aura.”
The realms of mages and swordsmen are called by different names. A swordsman who uses aura is called an aura user.
In other words, Reagan could be called both a 3rd Circle mage and an aura user.
“So he had talent not only as a mage, but as a swordsman as well.”
I knew he had modified the mana cultivation technique to suit his body, but I didn’t know he had made it possible to use aura.
Come to think of it, Reagan had killed the assassins who attacked Renia with just a sword. I also heard he cut through Arno’s magic with a single tree branch.
Reagan has talent with the sword. Given that, it wouldn’t be strange for him to use aura now.
“Well, having many skills is a good thing. Sheril, summon Allet. I have work for him.”
“Yes.”
Sheril nodded and left the office.
Meanwhile, Stern sat blankly at his desk, lost in thought.
‘Reagan, what exactly does the mage who gave that boy the pendant want?’
Reagan was truly a peculiar young man.
Overwhelming magical talent, maturity that didn’t match his age, and insight that repeatedly escaped Stern’s discernment.
The Benheim mage hadn’t just given Reagan the pendant, but had even given him hints about the family’s intimate affairs and the beast that even Stern hadn’t fully grasped.
Stern could roughly guess the identity of the mage who had given Reagan the artifact.
‘Knowing the family’s circumstances means it must be a descendant of Benheim from the future.’
A descendant who witnessed a desperate future had turned back time to advise just one heir.
‘Why did Benheim’s descendant choose a boy who doesn’t even share our blood?’
The descendant’s choice of Reagan couldn’t have been mere coincidence.
That child is a chosen vessel.
Then what exactly is that mage trying to convey to Benheim through Reagan?
“…I cannot tell.”
He couldn’t tell, but one thing was certain.
A great event would occur soon.
Otherwise, a Benheim mage powerful enough to control time wouldn’t have intervened in the past.
A moment later, the sound of knocking echoed.
“Family Head, it’s Allet.”
“Come in.”
As Allet entered the room, Stern straightened his posture and spoke.
“Allet, Reagan has reached the 3rd Circle.”
“…That’s, yes. Remarkable.”
Captain Allet was genuinely amazed. He hadn’t just consumed the elixir but used it as a stepping stone for enlightenment. He could truly be called a once-in-a-generation genius.
“Therefore, he can be considered a proper mage. Move Reagan’s quarters to the separate residence where the branch family members stay.”
The separate residence where the branch family mages lived was a place of competition. If he mingled there, he would be able to grow even further as a mage.
Stern continued speaking before Allet could even open his mouth.
“Furthermore, I’m thinking of bringing Reagan into the family as a member.”
At Stern’s words, Allet’s expression darkened.
“Family Head, I think it’s premature. That boy is an outsider whose origins are unclear. The investigation into the truth behind Miss Renia’s attack isn’t even finished yet. Isn’t this too hasty a judgment?”
“Allet, the fact that my brother Markel is a black mage has been revealed. In such circumstances, are you still going to harp on about origins?”
“However…”
“Above all, that boy Reagan has ‘intuition.’ Didn’t you see it yourself? Markel’s disguise that fooled us for years – that boy saw through it instantly. He understood the very nature of black magic and their way of thinking. If this isn’t insight, what else could it be?”
“…”
At Stern’s persuasion, Allet’s lips twitched.
It wasn’t Allet who actually answered.
A small girl’s face peeked up from beyond the table.
“I like it. Reagan and I are family now, right?”
The youngest daughter Renia said with a grin.
When had she snuck in?
Seeing her, Stern let out a deep sigh.
“Renia, this isn’t a place for you.”
“Okay.”
As soon as the dismissal was given, Renia quickly left. Only then did Stern open his mouth.
“Anyway, according to your words, Allet, you still find Reagan suspicious.”
“…That’s correct.”
“Then there’s a perfect method.”
Stern could roughly guess why the family’s future generation had chosen Reagan and delivered him to himself.
‘A hunting dog.’
In the near future, a great crisis would befall Benheim. Just a few days ago, the fact that his brother Markel was a black mage had been revealed.
And it wasn’t just Markel. Numerous black mages were already lurking within Benheim.
To prevent the coming threat, perhaps the family’s descendant had sent him the raw gem that was Reagan.
If so, what Stern needed to do was crystal clear.
“Allet, then we just need to prove that Reagan is completely on our side.”
“That’s true, but… do you have something… in mind?”
“Yes.”
Stern’s lips curved upward.
“I will take Reagan to the upcoming Hunting Festival.”
The Hunting Festival.
A festival held once every four years in Benheim.
A trial that must be passed by all, whether direct or collateral lineage.
There, Reagan would have to prove his worth.
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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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