The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 83
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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 83
The first thing I felt was a dizzying sensation of floating.
Next came the cold night wind fiercely slapping my cheeks.
Last was the shock that made my entire body jolt.
——Crash!
We flew over the heart of Trion and crash-landed on the roof of a manor.
Fortunately, thanks to Renia casting protective magic just before we crashed, we were able to survive without a single injury.
“Phew….”
Buried in the debris, I took deep breaths to calm my frantically beating heart. As the tension eased, laughter naturally flowed out.
“Well… for a first time, that wasn’t too bad.”
“Not too… bad?”
Renia reacted to my muttering. Buried in the debris alongside me, Renia wiped the cold sweat beading on her forehead and continued speaking.
“Reagan… you, were you trying to kill me?”
“How could that be? Think about it carefully. Thanks to me, we got out of there without major damage, didn’t we?”
“We almost died!”
“But we didn’t die, did we?”
Renia shook her head as if she was fed up and stood up from her spot.
However, perhaps because she had lost her sense of balance.
Renia staggered and tripped over nearby debris, falling down. The sight looked exactly like a newborn calf, making me chuckle.
“D-don’t laugh!”
Renia shouted angrily, but she must have found it absurd herself as she let out a hollow laugh.
Was it because of the forced laughter from the Laughter Festival?
The naturally flowing laughter was unexpectedly welcome.
“Anyway, Reagan… don’t ever do that again. Promise me.”
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of doing it again either. If I tried it twice, I’d probably end up a corpse.”
Of course, if I could do it skillfully, I would do it again.
To fly freely like Kaiden Rucen had shown at the Hunting Festival, it seemed I would need much more practice.
“Good. What’s important is figuring out exactly where we are.”
I stepped on the debris and poked my head over the roof.
The Spiral Tower visible in the distance was much closer than before.
It seemed we had flown quite a considerable distance.
“We’ve ended up… much farther away from Valen and Sheril.”
“Yeah….”
“We can’t return to our lodging either.”
Renia looked at the streets with a troubled expression.
The streets were already packed with Trion citizens. They were desperately turning their heads this way and that, searching for us. It seemed they were under Malik’s command.
A situation where we could do neither this nor that.
How troublesome.
As I pondered for a while, Renia cautiously spoke up.
“You know. My brother… he’s been brainwashed, right? By that guy called Malik?”
“Yeah. Probably so.”
“….”
Renia’s expression darkened.
“But I have a question.”
“Huh? A question? What question?”
“How exactly did Malik, who’s in the Spiral Tower, manage to brainwash Arno who was far away in the town square?”
It wasn’t just Arno.
Even now, the Trion citizens wandering the streets were acting according to Malik’s will.
Even in my previous life, Malik’s brainwashing magic had an effective range of only a few hundred meters.
Considering Trion’s area, what was happening now was logically impossible.
“Moreover, your brother is a 4th Circle mage. He wouldn’t be brainwashed so easily. That guy has something. The problem here is that I have no idea what that something might be.”
After hearing my explanation, Renia pondered for a while with her hand on her chin.
After a moment, Renia’s eyes sparkled as she raised her head.
“Reagan, I… I think I know.”
“You think you know?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s the mana.”
“What mana are you talking about?”
Renia looked up at the sky. Since it was the night of the lunar eclipse, there was no moonlight in the sky. However, whitish fog was diffusely reflecting the lantern light, creating a milk-like color.
Looking at that fog, Renia answered.
“The mana floating in the air.”
“Is there some problem with that?”
“I didn’t notice at first. But… after the festival started, I think I understand. The mana here is… slightly contaminated.”
If there was a more reliable indicator than my senses, it would be Renia’s mana sensitivity.
So I requested an explanation.
“So according to what you’re saying, Renia… the mana surrounding Trion has been contaminated?”
“Yeah. I don’t know why either.”
No magic could manipulate atmospheric mana over such a vast range. Such massive flows were closer to natural phenomena than magic.
“Wait a minute… natural phenomena?”
Only then did I realize one possibility.
“Mana Vein….”
Hadn’t Sheril mentioned this on the carriage ride here?
That Trion’s Mana Vein was the finest in the Empire.
‘Emmerich, who was the previous representative… died trying to calm the Mana Vein’s rampage.’
When I gathered all the clues together, the puzzle came together.
Malik had connected his illusion magic to the massive Mana Vein flowing beneath Trion.
The contaminated mana flowing through the vein spread throughout the entire city, allowing him to brainwash all of Trion’s citizens regardless of distance.
Which means….
Bang!
At that moment, flames shot up from the direction of the Spiral Tower with an explosive sound.
Illumination magic. It was a signal fired by Valen and Sheril.
“…Renia, let’s go.”
“Huh? Where? What about my brother?”
“Malik will be at the center of the Spiral Tower, at the Mana Vein. And once we eliminate him, your brother will return to normal too.”
“Really?”
“Don’t you trust me?”
At my words, Renia only gave a mischievous smile, neither affirming nor denying.
That was so like Renia.
* * *
We headed toward the Spiral Tower.
Since the main roads were filled with citizens brainwashed by Malik, we moved primarily through side streets.
Here, the thick fog actually served as good cover. The citizens couldn’t make out anything beyond the fog, and thanks to that, we reached our destination without being spotted even once.
“Alright, Renia. Let’s fire the illumination magic from here first.”
With that, I entered the alley beside the Spiral Tower with Renia.
That was the moment.
—Grab.
A hand suddenly shot out from the shadows of the alley and seized my wrist.
“…Don’t draw your sword. It’s me.”
What emerged from the shadows was none other than Valen and Sheril. It seemed they had been hiding their bodies using shadow magic.
“You were hiding here?”
“We were waiting for you.”
Valen asked with a frown.
“So, what exactly happened? The citizens suddenly turned hostile and we were chased all the way here.”
I immediately explained the whole story to Valen.
The fact that Arno had been brainwashed, and my hypothesis that Malik was using the Mana Vein’s rampage to scatter brainwashing magic throughout all of Trion.
“I see… that would make sense.”
After hearing the story, Sheril nodded in understanding.
“The 6th Rank tower masters also periodically receive mana from the Mana Vein. They too must have helplessly become Malik’s puppets after coming into contact with the contaminated Mana Vein.”
The reason we could remain unaffected unlike the tower masters was because the Mana Vein hadn’t rampaged yet.
However….
“It’s only a matter of time.”
Even with the Mana Vein in a calm state, Malik had succeeded in brainwashing Arno. If it began rampaging in earnest, we too would inevitably be brainwashed.
“Then there’s only one way.”
Valen let out a deep sigh and glared at the Spiral Tower beyond the alley.
“We break through that place.”
Everyone nodded.
“The south gate direction leading to the festival street has many crowds. From here, it would be better to detour to the north gate of the Spiral Tower.”
Sheril extended her shadow magic to envelop Renia and me.
With a sensation like entering lukewarm water, shadows wrapped around our bodies and concealed us.
Renia touched her shadow-covered body with fascination.
“We don’t have time. The duration is about five minutes.”
We moved toward the north gate without delay.
As Sheril had said, no guards were stationed at the northern entrance.
Just as we exchanged glances with Renia and were about to enter the Spiral Tower.
Whoooosh——.
A sudden strong wind cleared away the fog that had been surrounding us.
“…What the.”
It wasn’t just the fog that was cleared away. Even the shadow magic Sheril had cast crumbled as if washed away by the wind.
This meant that the wind just now wasn’t a natural phenomenon.
“…Ha.”
Valen let out a hollow laugh.
Before we knew it, a white-haired old man wearing a wide-brimmed hat was standing there, blocking the gateway.
“Elder Alexei, no less. A big shot has arrived.”
“Who is that?”
“Alexei Petrov. Simply put, he’s the Azure Mage Tower Lord.”
“Ah.”
Azure Mage Tower Lord Alexei waved his hand broadly. Then the fog writhed like a living creature and enveloped us.
‘Weather manipulation…’
No wonder the fog covering the city was eerily thick.
Was it all the Azure Mage Tower Lord’s magic?
It was pathetic that I only realized this now.
“What will you do?”
At Sheril’s question, I placed my hand on Barisada.
“There’s no choice. To get inside, we’ll have to take down that old man.”
However, before I could draw my sword, Valen placed his hand on my right shoulder.
“Reagan, you stay out of this.”
Valen unfastened the watch from his wrist and walked toward the Azure Mage Tower Lord.
“Sheril and I will handle this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re the one who said we don’t have time. While we deal with that old man, you take Miss Renia and enter the Spiral Tower.”
“…”
“If we cause a big commotion here, the mages inside the tower will come pouring out too. Then you’ll be able to reach Malik more easily.”
I looked at Valen’s face.
Could Valen and Sheril really handle Azure Mage Tower Lord Alexei and the Spiral Tower mages with just the two of them?
Alexei was at least a top-tier 6th Rank mage.
“Don’t worry. You wouldn’t know since you have no respect for me, but I’m as strong as any decent tower lord.”
“That’s, yes. I suppose so.”
Right.
A powerhouse like Valen wouldn’t make a reckless gamble. This was all a choice made after coldly comparing our forces.
It was the same in my previous life. Valen always chose only fights he could win.
Then I had no choice but to trust him.
“Take care of yourself.”
“Hmph. That’s what I should be saying to you.”
* * *
Valen, wrapped in rune magic, charged at Alexei, and Sheril used dark magic to block his vision.
Thanks to that, we were able to enter the interior of the Spiral Tower without much trouble.
The inside of the Spiral Tower was quiet. Thanks to Valen and Sheril causing a disturbance, most of the mages who had been inside went out to join the fight.
Of course, there were mages patrolling here and there, but I had considerable knowledge of stealth techniques learned from my mercenary life, and Renia had the ring obtained from the ‘Claw’ assassins last time, so we could pass by undetected.
As we climbed a few more floors up the spiral staircase, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed.
“This place is…”
“A garden?”
Renia looked around with wide eyes.
There was a huge garden inside the Magic Tower.
No, it was closer to a greenhouse than a garden.
“They’re all poisonous plants.”
I could tell thanks to my knowledge as a mercenary.
The plants growing luxuriantly around us were all poisonous plants.
– The mages of the Thorn Mage Tower use various types of poison extracted from plants. I hear there’s a huge greenhouse inside the tower for supplying poison.
I recalled the explanation Sheril had given me in the carriage on the way to Trion.
“…It seems we’ve entered the Thorn Mage Tower’s territory.”
Having made my judgment, I signaled to Renia.
“Renia, be careful not to let your body touch those plants over there. They’re poisonous plants.”
“Okay.”
I carefully advanced through the greenhouse with Renia.
Perhaps because everyone had gone out to deal with Valen, there wasn’t a single person visible inside the greenhouse.
At this rate, we would quickly reach the center of the Spiral Tower where Malik would be.
However, contrary to such optimistic expectations.
Crack.
Suddenly, the wooden vines forming the greenhouse’s outer wall split apart, creating a passage large enough for a person to pass through.
——Click-clack.
Following the sound of footsteps, a woman with red wine-colored hair walked out from the passage.
“…Damn.”
It was a familiar face.
I had just encountered her yesterday, so there was no way I wouldn’t remember.
“The Thorn Mage Tower Lord.”
Peak of the 6th Rank.
A powerhouse beyond my level.
Rosaline Blair.
She was the most formidable enemy I least wanted to encounter right now.
“…Right. I wondered why things were going so smoothly.”
I sighed and drew Benheim’s treasured sword.
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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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