The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 3

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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 3

There are five Great Magic Families on the continent.

The five pillars of the Empire’s magical world, recognized by the Imperial Magic Academy. The territories they rule and their influence surpass most city-states.

I didn’t remember all the details of each Great Magic Family. Since the Archmage King who started the war burned down all the families and stole their unique magical formulas, by the time I was active as a full-fledged mercenary, they had already been in decline for a long time.

However, I knew well about Renia’s origins, the Benheim Count’s Family and its history.

Because Renia would boast about her family every other day.

I thought there was no point since the family had already fallen, but Renia treasured her childhood in the family as very precious memories.

– Reagan, our family, you know? We were the leaders among the Great Magic Families.

– Why is that?

– Well, historically Benheim was the Emperor’s faithful confidant. Moreover, Benheim’s unique magical formula is on a different level from the magic of the other four families. We restored the language of the divine age and created a new magical system. It’s called Rune Magic! It’s the magic I use. How about it? Tempting, isn’t it? Would you like to learn magic too, Reagan?

– No thanks. I’m already struggling to handle one sword, what use is magic.

– Tch.

According to what I heard from such Renia, the reputation that the Benheim Count’s Family held in the Empire was truly remarkable.

A family founded by the advisory mage of the Empire’s first Emperor. The progenitors of monster hunters. Masters of Rune Magic who restored ancient scripts and elevated them into magic.

With that historicity and legitimacy, backed by the royal court, the Benheim Count’s Family could be said to be the most prestigious family among the five Great Magic Families.

…It should have been.

“The atmosphere seems rather unsettled.”

It had already been two days since we started traveling by carriage.

The closer we got to Benheim County, the more I noticed an inexplicable tension among the passersby.

“Did some incident happen?”

War couldn’t have broken out already. The Archmage King raising an army was seven years in the future. They must be on edge about some other matter.

Rather than pondering alone, it was better to ask. I stopped the carriage and caught a passing merchant to ask about the situation.

“Excuse me, may I ask you something? Has something happened in Benheim?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll pay you generously for the information.”

Money is a good solution in most situations. When I slipped a few copper coins into the merchant’s hand, he swallowed nervously and cautiously opened his mouth.

“Well. From what I hear… it seems Benheim’s treasure was stolen.”

“…Treasure, you say?”

“Yes. From what I hear, it’s supposedly a symbol of the Benheim family head or something.”

“Do you know what this treasure looks like?”

“There’s a wanted notice over there, so check it out. I heard it looks like some kind of pendant…”

The merchant kept looking around while speaking, worried someone might overhear.

“Anyway, you’d better not go around looking suspicious either. It seems Benheim’s mages are going around and arresting anyone who looks suspicious for interrogation. Several merchants have already been taken in like that.”

“…I understand.”

“Take care of yourself, young man.”

The merchant pocketed the coins as if someone might steal them and hurried away.

“…Ha.”

I felt like I’d been hit hard in the head.

Benheim’s treasure had disappeared.

That treasure was a symbol of the family head and in the form of a pendant.

What that implied could only be one thing.

I reached inside my shirt and grasped the pendant Renia had given me.

This pendant in my possession. The fact that it was in my hands naturally meant that an identical pendant couldn’t exist in the same time period.

I had suddenly become a thief who stole Benheim’s treasure.

“Renia, you… didn’t plan this far ahead, did you.”

Toward the future Renia who was no longer here, I muttered in a disgruntled voice.

* * *

Sure enough, the notice board the merchant had told me about had a drawing that looked exactly like the pendant I possessed.

The official notice also included a statement promising to open Benheim’s Treasure Vault and provide massive rewards to whoever returned the treasure.

“This has become troublesome…”

Looking at the notice, I fell into thought.

The Benheim relic that Renia had entrusted to me. She had asked me to interpret these rune characters and spread them widely throughout the world.

Then wouldn’t it be better to visit experts in rune characters?

Having made my decision, I told the coachman.

“Sir, please take us to Benheim Mage Tower.”

“Really? Didn’t you hear what that merchant said? That Benheim’s mages are taking people away…”

“Yes. That’s exactly why we should go.”

“Listen to me, young sir. I’m saying this out of concern since you’re like a son to me, but mages aren’t such kind folk. Sure, if you become a mage you can live comfortably. But how many people manage that? I heard it’s less than one in ten.”

The coachman looked at me as if it were his own business and earnestly advised me.

“The rumors are very disturbing. Like how some famous Great Magic Family has built a secret laboratory underground and is creating chimeras…”

“Do you believe those rumors?”

“There’s no reason not to! Especially among the other Great Magic Families, there are experiments to turn humans into spirits…”

The coachman got lost in his own world and listed off lengthy stories.

Well, this was how ordinary people viewed mages.

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s really dangerous!”

“I have my reasons.”

When I emphasized again, the coachman clicked his tongue helplessly and turned the horses around.

Soon the Count’s buildings came into view.

Behind the mansion that looked somewhat like a castle, a massive tower rose up.

“So that’s the mage tower…”

A mage tower, of which there were only seven on the entire continent.

Benheim Mage Tower was massive and imposing, befitting one built in a major city. Even for me, who had once wandered the world as a roaming mercenary, the scale of the mage tower was truly amazing.

“Halt! This is Benheim territory!”

A guard protecting the mage tower garden spotted our carriage and shouted.

I could feel a dense aura of mana from the guard’s body. It was faint enough that even someone who hadn’t yet entered the realm of mana could sense it.

His level was roughly 4th Circle.

Since it was said that someone who practiced magic their entire life could barely knock on the door of the 5th Circle, even Benheim’s gatekeepers belonged to the veteran mage category.

“Please stop here.”

I had the coachman stop the carriage, then looked around through the window.

Five guards protecting the gate.

Across from the gate, several merchants were half-pleading desperately.

“What kind of tyranny is this! Losing your family treasure is your own business, so why are you blocking the feet of innocent merchants! Give them back! These are goods that must be delivered today!”

Despite the merchant’s desperate plea, the guard was inflexible.

“The Tower Lord’s orders are to inspect all goods passing through the county. There are no exceptions whatsoever. If you don’t step back immediately, we’ll throw you in the dungeon.”

He merely waved his hand dismissively as if annoyed.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue.

The atmosphere was deadly serious.

Sure enough, the Benheim Count’s Family gate was like a ticking time bomb.

‘If I pull out the pendant there right now…’

It was obvious.

They would see me not as a benefactor who returned their family treasure, but as the most likely suspect.

They would lock me in an underground prison and interrogate me about the pendant’s origins.

I couldn’t start negotiations after losing the initiative.

That was my principle as a mercenary.

‘I’ll need another method…’

It was while I was considering alternative plans.

“…Hmm?”

I caught a familiar scent.

Pink pepper. Rose. Patchouli.

I could never forget it. That fragrance belonged to the person I knew best.

“…No way.”

I quickly turned my head.

Just then, a small figure emerged from the fence and walked away.

With quick steps, they hurried away as if afraid of being caught by someone.

They wore a robe pulled up over their head so their face wasn’t visible, but I couldn’t fail to recognize their identity from this fragrance and those movements.

“…Renia?”

There was no doubt.

Lyrnia Erahan von Benheim.

The woman I was searching for had just passed before my eyes.

But my daze was brief, as I watched the direction Renia had gone and felt suspicious.

‘How strange.’

There wasn’t just one or two things that puzzled me.

The Renia of this time period was at most a teenage girl. Would it be possible for the youngest daughter of the Benheim Count’s household, treated like a precious jewel under the family’s protection, to come outside the family castle without even a single escort?

As I pondered deeply, I soon arrived at one possibility.

I turned my head and asked the coachman.

“Sir, what’s today’s date?”

“Hm…? Today is… probably… right. It’s the day of the lunar eclipse, isn’t it?”

“Ha.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

What a perfect coincidence this was.

It seemed my employer had no intention of giving me any rest.

* * *

Before my regression, on that last night, I heard many stories from Renia.

Her childhood growing up in Benheim was the main topic of conversation.

– It was when I turned sixteen. It was exactly on the day of the lunar eclipse.

– That was exactly ten years ago.

– Yes. Around that time, dark mages attacked me when I was isolated and alone. Because of that, I ended up with this scar. Fortunately the family mage saved me, otherwise it could have been a disaster.

Renia pulled back the blanket and showed me her collarbone. A vivid lightning-shaped scar ran across between her collarbone and shoulder.

Coincidentally, the current point in time I had regressed to was also ten years ago.

Renia’s current age was sixteen.

From this, only one conclusion could be drawn.

‘Today is the day Renia gets attacked.’

There was no longer any reason to hesitate.

I followed Renia’s trail.

Stealth and tracking were basic skills for a mercenary.

Above all, since Renia was completely unaware of being followed, I could tail her without much difficulty.

Eventually, the robed Renia arrived at a quiet hilltop. There was a graveyard there. She stood still in one corner of the graveyard, gazing at a tombstone.

[Lillian Isilia von Benheim]

Only then did I realize why Renia had snuck out of the family grounds.

This was where Renia’s birth mother was buried. Today was the anniversary. Renia had come to visit her unfortunate mother who couldn’t be buried in Benheim’s family mausoleum.

After brushing away the dust accumulated on the tombstone for a while, Renia slowly removed her robe.

What came into view was a deep golden color.

“….”

I had fought alongside Renia for years on the chaotic continent, sharing hardships together. Perhaps because of that, even now I could picture her face just by closing my eyes.

Since Renia’s mana was a color close to gold, whenever I thought of her, golden light would always shimmer before my eyes.

That brilliant hue remained the same even now that I had returned to the past.

“Ha.”

Renia’s golden hair came into my view.

Renia, whom I had reunited with after going back ten years, had taken the form of a young girl and was now right in front of me.

Perhaps my concentration had wavered momentarily due to the relief of meeting Renia again.

―Crack.

I stepped on a tree branch, and Renia, sensing the presence, quickly turned her head.

“Who’s there?”

My eyes met with Renia’s.

In that moment, I held my breath. My heart felt like it was being squeezed.

Golden hair like melted gold, amethyst-colored eyes that shone deeply like lavender in sunlight, and snow-white skin that looked like white jade.

Though she still had some childish features remaining, I could glimpse her future appearance ten years later in young Renia’s face.

My most persistent yet precious connection.

“…Renia.”

When I called that name with a trembling voice, Renia von Benheim blinked several times.

The moment I saw Renia, memories from just before my regression surfaced in my consciousness.

Her face growing cold as her chest was pierced by the Archmage King’s magic.

Just thinking about it made my heart ache.

“….”

But what about now?

The vitality that had barely remained in the Renia of my memories was still present in her youthful face.

She was alive.

Thank goodness.

For now, that was enough.

“Who are you? How do you know my name?”

Meanwhile, Renia frowned and was wary of me. That was understandable. A complete stranger had appeared and called her name.

Above all, the Renia I had just encountered didn’t use formal speech with me. It was a distinctly different, somewhat sharp tone from before.

A sense of discord.

Perhaps it was natural.

The age difference between Renia and me was three years.

Before my regression, it hadn’t felt like such a big age gap. That was probably because the entire continent was in a state of war, and Renia at that time was relatively mature.

However, age differences are more pronounced in youth than in adulthood. Moreover, now that Benheim was still intact, Renia hadn’t even had the opportunity for mental growth.

“Answer me. Who are you! Don’t tell me father sent you?”

Her appearance that hadn’t shed its childish air, her speech pattern with a short tongue, her expression full of wariness.

The current Renia wasn’t the powerful mage who had been called the Golden Grand Witch on the battlefield, but just a young girl.

For me, who had been thinking of the gentle-spoken lady Renia from before my regression, this was quite a fresh shock.

“…I see.”

The woman who had roamed the battlefield with me and promised a future together no longer existed in this era.

She only settled somewhere in my consciousness, shimmering like a mirage.

I had vaguely thought that my reunion with Renia would be special.

That was entirely my delusion.

It might be special to me, but for Renia, it was just an ordinary meeting.

“Not bad.”

But it was fine.

Hadn’t I gained the opportunity to return to the past and set everything right?

Just as I was now steadily building up my skills, I could slowly build my relationship with Renia from the beginning.

Rather, the fact that I had seen a new side of Renia made me feel unusually excited.

Having finished my thoughts, I opened my mouth with a gentle smile.

“I’d like to catch up on old times, but we don’t have that luxury.”

I drew Gerkin’s sword from my waist. At that sight, Renia flinched.

“What, what are you doing!”

Instead of answering, I thrust my sword toward Renia. Renia stumbled backward and ended up falling on her bottom.

However, what I had cut down wasn’t her, but a dagger that had flown in from behind her.

Thwack!

“What a reunion this turned out to be.”

I frowned as I looked ahead. Faint silhouettes were approaching from beyond the bushes.

“Wh-what was that just now?”

Renia’s eyes widened, seemingly unable to comprehend the situation that had just unfolded.

“Be careful. There are attackers. They’re targeting you.”

“…M-me?”

“Yes. So stay close to me.”

When their ambush failed, the attackers revealed themselves.

Five masked figures. They tilted their heads in confusion upon seeing a young man with a sword standing beside Benheim’s young lady, who should have been alone.

‘Three swordsmen and two mages, I’d say.’

I coldly assessed their strength.

The swordsmen were at best barely at the level of having just stepped into Aura User territory. The mages were at most around 2nd to 3rd circle.

Before my regression, these would have been small fry I could have knocked down while scoffing.

However, I had to consider that my body had only just regressed.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and raised my sword at an angle.

“This is bothersome, so come at me all at once.”

Of course, I didn’t think I would lose.

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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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