The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 26

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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 26

The next day, the atmosphere in Benheim was chaotic.

The Hunting Festival that should have lasted three days was halted on the first day, and the fact that black mages had infiltrated Benheim was revealed to the world.

In such circumstances, with ominous rumors spreading that Kaiden, head of the Rucen family, had flown into a rage, it was no wonder that Benheim’s household members were trembling with anxiety.

“Everyone, pay attention.”

In this situation, Steren summoned all the key family members and retainers to the great banquet hall of the territory. Standing at the head seat, Steren’s expression was more solemn than ever.

As everyone tensed and swallowed nervously, Steren opened his mouth.

“As you’ve all heard, last night’s Hunting Festival left an indelible stain on Benheim’s thousand-year history.”

Steren’s heavy voice filled the banquet hall.

“Former Elder Beron of Benheim dabbled in forbidden black magic and conspired with spies within the family. He also brought in outside forces to target the heirs of Benheim and Rucen. This is a grave act of treason against the family.”

After catching his breath briefly, Steren spoke firmly.

“Therefore, by my authority as head of the family, I have summarily executed Beron and all the black mages within Benheim.”

Murmurs spread like waves.

Bewilderment and fear appeared on the retainers’ faces. This was a situation where a bloody purge could sweep through the family.

But Steren continued without wavering.

“However, cutting off rotten branches is no time for complacency. This is not merely Benheim’s problem alone.”

Steren’s voice continued calmly.

“Until now, Benheim has protected the discipline of magic for hundreds of years against the threat of black magic. That these creatures penetrated to Benheim’s very heart means their claws have already reached beneath the chins of the Great Magic Families… and is clear evidence that the black mages who have been lying low for decades are stirring once again.”

At those words, the assembly fell silent, barely daring to breathe loudly.

The stirring of black mages.

Those words were enough to recall the nightmare of the terrible war that had stained the continent with blood hundreds of years ago.

“Therefore, we of Benheim will convene the Great Mage Alliance Council at the end of this year. There we will formally present this incident as an official agenda and draw our swords to eradicate the black mages.”

The Great Mage Alliance.

Even I, an outsider to the workings of the magic world, knew this well.

It was the name given to the Empire’s Five Mage Families collectively recognized by the Imperial Magic Academy.

The Council was generally not convened during peacetime, but could be summoned by a family head’s individual authority when matters of grave importance to the Empire’s fate arose.

For Steren von Benheim, head of Benheim, to convene the Council meant declaring this issue not merely as internal family deviance but as a problem for the entire continent—tantamount to a declaration of war against the black mages.

‘Clever.’

Watching from a distance, I clicked my tongue in admiration.

Rather than simply exposing and purging Benheim’s internal shame, this was a political calculation to use it as justification to seize leadership of the entire magic world.

At the same time, it could strengthen internal unity within Benheim—truly an efficient and shrewd choice.

Sure enough, the expressions of the retainers who had been trembling with anxiety visibly brightened.

“As expected of our lord! An excellent judgment!”

“A great council—now that Benheim has stepped forward, those black mage bastards should tremble in fear!”

Just as the atmosphere seemed to settle with sighs of relief.

“Wait.”

A red-haired man cut through the crowd and walked to the center of the banquet hall.

Instead of Benheim’s black robes, he wore Rucen’s white formal uniform—it was Kaiden Rucen.

“The internal family matters seem well resolved, so congratulations, but there remains one issue to settle.”

Kaiden’s snake-like gaze turned toward me in the corner of the banquet hall.

“The matter of responsibility for that lowborn stealing Rucen’s secret techniques.”

The hall fell silent as if doused with cold water. The head of Rucen was directly pointing to Benheim’s outer mage and demanding accountability.

Moreover, the alleged cause was theft of unique magical formulas.

Anxiety flickered in the retainers’ eyes.

“Responsibility… Kaiden, do you really want to crush a young talent so thoroughly?”

“That’s not the issue. Rucen’s blade magic is pride inherited from our ancestors. To tamper with it is tantamount to insulting Rucen.”

“He’s the boy who helped your daughter Petra. Must you treat a benefactor so harshly?”

“Of course I heard about that day’s events from Petra. I am grateful. However, public and private matters must be distinguished. Rucen is not soft like Benheim.”

“Then what do you intend to do with Reagan?”

“Since he hasn’t reached adulthood, I won’t demand his wrists be cut. Instead, destroy his mana core.”

Destroy the mana core.

That was tantamount to a death sentence ending his life as a mage.

Petra, standing behind Kaiden, looked at me with an almost tearful expression.

I looked at Kaiden nonchalantly and thought.

‘Renia’s words were somewhat correct.’

The epitome of incompetence who ruined Rucen.

A figure steeped in mage supremacism, bloodline elitism, and authoritarianism.

The reason this man was being so aggressive was simply because the very fact that a lowborn like me had imitated Rucen’s great magic was disgusting to him.

To him, magic should be a privilege only noble bloodlines could enjoy. He couldn’t tolerate a lowborn like me imitating unique magical formulas.

However, Kaiden would never destroy my mana core.

“Responsibility… Kaiden, you’re making a grave mistake.”

“What?”

“You’re currently pointing a blade at a member of Benheim’s family. Would you have done the same if that boy before you were my son Arno?”

“A meaningless hypothetical.”

“No, it has meaning.”

Steren walked down from the platform and approached me. Then he placed his hand firmly on my shoulder.

Kaiden’s eyes narrowed at that affectionate gesture.

“Because Reagan is no longer an outer mage.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since everyone’s gathered, let me formally introduce him here.”

Steren pressed his hand on my shoulder and looked around at the Benheim retainers gathered nearby. Then he declared loudly.

“Reagan von Benheim.”

“…!”

“This child is engaged to my daughter Renia and will become the son-in-law who will shoulder Benheim’s future.”

A cold silence flowed.

An even greater shock than when Kaiden had questioned me earlier swept through the banquet hall.

Not only the Benheim people, but even Rucen’s direct family members gaped with their jaws nearly dropping.

It would be hard to understand with common sense. A lowborn of unknown origins had suddenly snatched away Benheim’s precious daughter.

“…What on earth… wh-what are you saying?”

Even Kaiden stared wide-eyed, looking back and forth between me and Renia in the distance.

Renia, embarrassed by the pouring gazes, quickly turned her head away.

“…Hah. Duke Benheim, are you in your right mind? Selling off your own daughter just to protect some lowborn wretch?”

“Watch your tongue.”

Steren’s eyes sharpened. He glanced briefly at Petra, who was hiding behind Kaiden with her head bowed, then continued.

“Selling off, you say. Children are not tools, Kaiden.”

“…”

“I simply wish for my child’s happiness as a father. I brought them together because the two children want each other. My daughter’s happiness is more important than family interests or appearances.”

Kaiden’s brow wrinkled like paper.

“So, do you still intend to be stubborn? Kaiden, you are now demanding that I destroy the mana core of Benheim’s son-in-law. If you continue this unreasonableness, I will consider it a challenge to Benheim’s authority.”

“…Duke Benheim, are you serious?”

“I am serious. If Benheim’s son-in-law continues to be slandered, this will become a matter between both families, Benheim and Rucen. Ultimately, I will have no choice but to formally protest against Rucen at the year-end council.”

As soon as the word council was mentioned, Kaiden’s complexion darkened.

The Five Mage Families. Though Rucen proudly occupied one corner of them, its short history couldn’t compare to Benheim’s.

Finally, Kaiden clicked his tongue and grabbed his cloak.

“…I’ll be taking my leave.”

“A wise decision.”

Only then did Steren smile.

“However, Benheim must take responsibility for hunting down the black mages who were behind this incident.”

“Of course that’s my intention. But Kaiden, Rucen’s interior should also be carefully examined. Just like our Benheim, who knows if vermin might be mixed in under Rucen’s roof as well.”

After staring at Steren with narrowed eyes for a moment, Kaiden sighed deeply and nodded.

“…Thank you for the advice. I’ll keep it in mind.”

Kaiden left the banquet hall with Petra. The direct members of Rucen followed suit. With the outsiders gone, naturally all eyes focused on me.

“F-Father… What you just said… were you serious?”

It was Arnaud von Benheim who broke the silence. He stammered with a face that looked ready to faint at any moment.

“Of course I was serious. Do you think I would joke around in a place like this?”

“N-No… but… it’s strange… Reagan is… not even a noble…”

“He’ll become one now.”

“…He’s only been in the family for barely two months…”

“Two months is enough time to verify his qualifications. Arno, isn’t it true that you’ve received various help from Reagan? Just this Hunting Festival alone – who knows what would have happened without Reagan’s help.”

“…That’s true, but.”

Arno’s voice grew smaller as if crawling away.

However, his face was still pale as if he couldn’t understand.

Steren smiled bitterly and placed his hand on top of Arno’s head.

“Arno, I understand it’s hard to accept. But we’re family now, aren’t we? Moreover, Reagan will be your brother-in-law, so treat him well.”

“B-But… Renia…”

“Renia agreed to it too. So there’s no reason for us to argue further.”

Arno suddenly turned to look at me.

His bewildered gaze seemed to demand some explanation, so I shrugged and said.

“Please take care of me, brother-in-law.”

“Who’s your brother-in-law!”

At those words, Arno went wild.

* * *

Some time later, unable to bear the pouring gazes any longer, I fled the banquet hall as if escaping.

The matter of the engagement would obviously become a hot topic within and outside the family for a while.

“What a headache.”

From now on I’d be living in the main house, which meant I’d encounter the retainers more often.

Just thinking about enduring their sharp gazes made my head throb already.

“…Hello.”

As I was walking down the corridor of the main house pressing my temples, a girl with golden hair cautiously peeked her head around the corner.

It was Renia.

“Did you escape too?”

“Yeah. If I stayed there, my brother would obviously pester me endlessly, right?”

“True. From what I saw earlier, he was on the verge of foaming at the mouth and collapsing.”

When I agreed, Renia giggled.

“Want to walk around for a bit? I said yesterday I’d give you a tour of the main house. I’ll do it now while we’re at it. You need to get used to living in the main house too, Reagan.”

“Sure.”

I strolled through the main house with Renia. The famous paintings hanging throughout the corridors and the gorgeous decorations. I could finally understand Renia’s words about getting lost.

Benheim’s main house was incomparably more luxurious and complex than the separate residence where I had been living.

“That’s my brother’s room. You must knock before entering. If you don’t, my brother gets furious. And that’s my room. You have to knock on my room too. Otherwise I’ll get angry.”

“I don’t think I’ll have any reason to knock.”

“Knock.”

“…Fine, whatever.”

As I was being guided through the structure of the main house while walking down the corridor for a while.

I looked at Renia and casually asked.

“Renia.”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you… agree to the engagement?”

That was what I was most curious about.

Steren might have done it for the family’s benefit and political calculations, but Renia was different.

From her perspective, I was just a suspicious person of commoner origin who entered Benheim.

No matter how young she was, that Renia couldn’t have been completely won over by some teenage boy’s naive confession.

“Hmm…”

Renia stopped walking and brought her index finger to her chin.

“Well? How should I put it… I thought it would be fun to be with you?”

“Fun?”

“Yeah. It was only two months, but being with you made all sorts of things happen. You humbled my brother, completely changed mana cultivation methods, and we even fought black mages. It was pretty fun. I thought there might be more things like that in the future… so?”

Out of curiosity.

Compared to the previous life’s Renia who had lost even her laughter under the weight of the family’s destruction and revenge, it was truly a light and trivial reason.

However.

‘That’s fortunate.’

I really liked that bright smile that the current Renia was wearing.

I had gained one more reason to defeat the Archmage King.

“Ah, you smiled.”

Apparently my thoughts had shown on my face.

Renia grinned foolishly and poked my cheek. As I pulled my head back, finding her touch rather uncomfortable…

“So, you.”

Renia leaned toward me with a mischievous smile.

“You fell for me at first sight?”

“…”

I sighed inwardly.

Because I knew Renia’s personality better than anyone.

She would definitely torment me with these words for at least several years.

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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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