The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 88

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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 88

As I plunged my sword into Malik’s chest, the brilliant illusion of the flower garden vanished, replaced by the dreary underground cave scenery.

“Now fall, Malik.”

I pulled out Benheim’s treasured sword.

Malik’s corpse plummeted into the bottomless pit at the end of the mana vein.

“Let’s never see each other again.”

This was the end of the one who had so brutally ravaged the resistance army in my previous life.

Though I felt secretly relieved by this fact, there was no time to indulge in sentiment.

‘Renia is in danger.’

Even though I had dealt with Malik as quickly as possible, allowing the mental interference even once had cost considerable time.

It was more than enough time for the deadly poison to spread through Renia’s body.

I immediately turned around and retraced my steps. Blood flowed from my reopened side wound, but Renia’s safety took priority.

Soon I crossed the sky bridge and arrived at the Thorn Tower’s greenhouse, where I was startled to see a woman with red wine-colored hair leaning against the doorframe.

It was Rosaline Blair, the Thorn Tower Lord I had just fought a bloody battle with, looking at me with an displeased expression.

“….”

As I cautiously placed my hand on my sword hilt, Rosaline sighed softly and waved her hand dismissively.

“No need to be so wary. I’m in my right mind now.”

“…Has the brainwashing been lifted?”

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

Rosaline snapped her fingers.

Tree roots grew from beneath my feet, wrapping around my side and beginning to stop the bleeding.

“No. Please tend to Renia rather than me….”

“If you’re talking about Benheim’s daughter, I’ve already finished detoxifying her. And your condition is more serious than that child’s.”

Rosaline spoke curtly and gestured to the side with her chin.

In the center of the innermost basin of the greenhouse connected by wooden vines, Arno and Renia were sitting.

“Reagan!”

As soon as Renia saw me, her face lit up and she ran over. She frowned deeply upon seeing my wound, but didn’t press me about it.

“Renia, how are you feeling?”

“Yes. I’m fine. Lady Rosaline detoxified me.”

“…Right.”

It was Rosaline’s poison that had poisoned Renia. For Rosaline with her brainwashing lifted, removing the poison she had injected would have been child’s play.

I turned to Rosaline and bowed my head deeply.

“…Thank you for saving Renia.”

“I already heard those words from her earlier. And I’m not really in a position to receive thanks from you.”

Rosaline looked toward the mana vein and continued speaking.

“You dealt with Malik Elrayson, I assume?”

“Yes. He fell into Trion’s mana vein….”

“I heard that story from those children too.”

Rosaline, who had cut off my words, sighed deeply and approached me, handing me something.

It was a reddish-tinted potion.

“Drink this. It’s a special potion made by the Thorn Tower. With a wound like that, if you drink the medicine and rest for about a day, it should heal completely.”

I accepted the potion without complaint and drank it down, then Rosaline spoke.

“…Regarding this incident, I want to express gratitude on behalf of the entire Thorn Tower, no… the entire Spiral Tower. Without you, we might have faced an even worse fate. Damn it. This incident will remain a lifelong stain.”

It seemed Rosaline felt extreme self-loathing about the fact that she had become Malik’s puppet and contributed to ruining the city.

“It’s not your fault, Tower Lord.”

“Save the consolation. This was my failure. Regardless of the reasons, it’s true that the Thorn Tower was manipulated according to that brat’s will.”

Rosaline ruffled her own hair and let out a deep sigh.

“…Reagan, was it? Get some rest for now. From here on, it’s the Spiral Tower’s turn to clean up this mess.”

Hearing Rosaline’s words, I nodded obediently and sat down right next to Renia and Arno.

“Reagan… are you okay?”

Renia approached and asked. Her eyes looking at me were filled with worry.

“….”

Looking at that youthful face, I naturally recalled the conversation I had in the hallucination just moments ago.

– Reagan, you have someone ‘real’ you need to protect, don’t you?

“…Ugh.”

Renia pouted her lips.

“Reagan, you made that expression again.”

“Expression?”

“That longing look! I told you I hate that expression!”

“….”

At Renia’s reproach, I chuckled softly and looked out the greenhouse window.

Before I knew it, the sun was rising beyond Trion’s eastern wall.

Watching the sunrise, I continued quietly.

“Don’t worry, Renia.”

“Hm?”

“I’ll never make that expression again.”

With the ‘real’ one by my side in this situation.

There was no reason to long for an unreachable past.

* * *

Everything proceeded swiftly after that.

With the death of Malik Elrayson, who had been the mastermind behind all the incidents, all the mages of the Spiral Tower regained their senses.

“To think this old body was being controlled by a wet-behind-the-ears brat…. Truly… shameful.”

Behind Alexei, the Azure Tower Lord who approached us with a reddened face of shame to express his gratitude, Valen waved his hand showing his white teeth.

Valen looked like he had fought so fiercely that he was covered in mud from head to toe. At least he didn’t seem to have any serious injuries, which was fortunate.

“Where is Sheril? Don’t tell me she was hurt?”

“As if. What kind of people are better at taking care of themselves than Covert Mages? She just went to take a bath, saying she couldn’t show her dirty appearance to outsiders as it would be beneath her dignity as Benheim’s attendant.”

“That’s just like Sheril.”

“Indeed.”

While we were having such idle conversation, I noticed the Spiral Tower mages holding an emergency meeting.

As Alexei muttered something with a troubled expression, Rosaline kept nodding. They seemed to be deciding on the direction for handling the situation.

“So, what do we do now?”

“Treating the brainwashed citizens of Trion should be the priority.”

I nodded at Valen’s words.

Since Malik, who had been the source of the brainwashing, was dead, the brainwashing of Trion’s citizens would have been lifted just like the Spiral Tower mages.

However, unlike the mages who had relatively solid mental worlds, ordinary citizens would inevitably experience extreme confusion from the sudden release of mental interference.

Even though they had escaped the brainwashing, the gap between forcibly manipulated memories and emotions would have accumulated in their unconscious minds.

Dealing with this was also primarily our responsibility, or more precisely, the Great Mage Alliance’s responsibility.

“I’ve already sent word to Orelion. Since it’s not that far, relief personnel should arrive by today if we’re quick.”

“That’s quite fortunate.”

The Spiral Tower mages began moving for the citizens’ safety despite having just regained consciousness.

A temporary treatment center was set up in the city’s town square, and dozens of carts began moving back and forth, carrying unconscious Trion citizens.

I watched this scene for a while before asking Valen.

“So, what do you think the aftermath of this incident will be?”

“…I don’t know either. Mages are all eccentric, so they cause trouble frequently, but….”

Valen looked down at the vast panorama of Trion and shook his head.

“There haven’t been many incidents of this scale in the Empire’s history.”

“Then I suppose we’ve made our mark in history.”

“…Well, if you think about it optimistically, yes. Fortunately, despite the scale of the incident, there were almost no casualties, so the situation is better than the incident in Mist Valley. However… Emeric Eleison’s death will cause major ripples in the Empire.”

There were only about ten 7th Rank mages in the entire Empire.

As such, each one was like a massive pillar supporting the Imperial Magic Order.

With one of them dying in an unexpected accident, it was clear as day that the power structure of the Great Mage Alliance would be greatly shaken in the future.

“And… one more thing.”

Valen’s expression hardened as if something was bothering him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Before coming here, I visited Malik’s study for investigation and discovered this book.”

Valen pulled out an old tome from his coat and showed it to me.

On the cover, along with bizarre symbols, the words ‘Dream Demon Scripture’ were faintly written.

I had seen countless such magic books in my previous life.

And most of those magic books were…

“…It’s a black magic tome.”

“Exactly. Moreover, it’s a new type of black magic unknown to the magical world until now – one that dominates people’s minds and uses them as puppets. What Malik used was probably this magic. More precisely, he likely used it in combination with Mirage Tower’s illusion magic.”

Valen tapped the book’s cover several times as he continued.

“There’s no way the next Tower Lord of Mirage Tower could obtain such a dangerous book from some back alley bookstore. In other words, there’s a high possibility that someone intentionally gave this book to Malik.”

“…That certainly seems likely.”

“Honestly… I’m dying to investigate where he got this book from, but…”

“We don’t have the authority for that.”

“Right. That’s not our role.”

The one who gave this book to Malik was most likely the Archmage King or his subordinate.

If we investigated Malik’s activities, we could probably predict to some extent where he obtained this book.

However, we currently had no justification to follow that trail.

Since this was a major matter involving black magic, the group responsible for officially investigating such cases was already determined.

——Dong ——Dong

Sure enough.

Around noon, bells began to ring.

This was a notification that there was a visitor to the city.

And a visitor of such status that all the Spiral Tower mages had to look up to them.

Soon, a carriage engraved with a black sun emblem glided through the gates.

“…They certainly arrive quickly.”

The black sun engraved on the carriage was the symbol of the Royal Court.

As Valen had said earlier, investigating this incident was beyond our authority.

Since black magic was involved, all investigations were to be handled by the Imperial Magic Association as a matter of principle.

—Click.

“…”

The investigation of this incident also belonged to the black-haired man who had just stepped out of the carriage.

‘Archmage King…’

Thus, the Imperial Magic Order was absurdly having the king of black mages hunt down black mages.

* * *

The mages from the Imperial Magic Association who arrived in Trion set up their base at the government office. With their help in managing the situation, Trion’s circumstances gradually found some stability.

It was around that time when the Imperial Magic Association summoned me.

An investigator had requested a private meeting with me for the purpose of understanding the truth.

——Creak.

When I opened the door to the reception room and entered, I saw a middle-aged investigator sitting in the seat of honor and a black-haired man sitting beside him, tilting a teacup.

I hardened my expression.

Damian Carius, the Archmage King.

The villain who had once driven the world to destruction and the enemy who had killed Renia was right before my eyes.

‘…Stay calm.’

If I failed to hide my anger here, everything I had built up until now would be ruined.

As I barely maintained my composure, Damian showed me an amiable smile.

“We meet again, Reagan von Benheim. Is this the first time since the Council?”

“That’s correct.”

“I never imagined we’d face each other again over such an unfortunate incident. It’s truly a regrettable affair. Ah, please sit. I’ve prepared a seat for you.”

I managed my expression as much as possible and took a seat across from Damian. He then leaned toward the middle-aged man sitting in the seat of honor and spoke.

“Senior Gideon, could I have a moment to speak with him alone?”

“That’s fine, but don’t interrogate Benheim’s son-in-law too harshly.”

“Haha, I’m not that kind of person.”

The man called Gideon shrugged and left his seat.

Thus, only Damian and I remained in the reception room.

“Would you like some tea? It’s one of Trion’s specialties.”

Damian offered me a teacup.

I examined the teacup carefully. I saw magical energy swirling in the tea in the cup. It meant some kind of magical substance had been added.

Judging by the shape of the swirl…

“This is the first I’ve heard that Trion’s specialty is truth serum.”

“…Ahahaha.”

Damian shook his shoulders as if delighted.

“Your mana sensitivity is remarkably good. You’re right. I did add something to the tea. However, it’s not truth serum. It’s merely a sedative to calm the mind and body.”

“…”

“I thought it might help since you must be tired from the fierce battles you fought from early this morning. I prepared it only to be helpful. If it made you uncomfortable, please forgive my rudeness.”

“I’m more alert than ever.”

“Yes. Youth is indeed a wonderful thing.”

Damian nodded and continued.

“Ah, by the way, I heard you encountered Markel Benheim recently. He was a black mage that the Imperial Magic Association had designated as a top-priority dangerous individual, but I never expected that Reagan, who was 5th Rank, would subdue him single-handedly.”

I quietly looked into Damian’s eyes.

‘Disgusting bastard.’

The mastermind who had planned all this carnage was casually bringing up such talk as if it were someone else’s business.

His shamelessness made me nauseous, but I didn’t avoid his gaze and replied dryly.

“I was merely lucky.”

“Is that so? However, that level doesn’t seem to have been reached through luck alone.”

“…”

“Though belated, congratulations on reaching 6th Rank. It’s a remarkable growth rate. The Royal Court is also very interested in Reagan’s progress.”

Damian’s gaze sharpened.

“Speaking of which… Reagan, you seem to have a constitution that brings disasters wherever you go. The Mist Valley incident, the Markel Benheim case, and now this Trion affair. Reagan is always at the center of major events that shake the Empire.”

“Well, I suppose I’m unlucky in that regard.”

“Ahaha. I see. A double-edged sword, is it?”

Damian smiled warmly and pulled out a file folder from his coat.

It seemed he intended to begin the formal investigation.

“Then let’s begin the formal investigation…”

“Excuse me for a moment.”

However, I suddenly spoke up before Damian could get to the main point.

Damian twisted his lips as if finding this interesting.

“…Yes. Do you have something else to say?”

“Yes.”

I pulled out an old and ominous tome from my coat and tossed it onto the table with a thud.

“This book was discovered in Malik Elrayson’s study. To save you some trouble, I brought it myself.”

“…”

It was only for an instant, but I didn’t miss Damian’s eyebrow twitching.

“…’Dream Demon Scripture.’ What an anachronistic title. So, what’s your point with this?”

“Inside this book were methods for manipulating people’s minds. It’s clearly a black magic tome.”

“…Hmm.”

I leaned back against my chair and stared directly at Damian’s face.

“Isn’t it truly strange? Where on earth did the next Tower Lord, who was holed up like a bookworm in the Spiral Tower, obtain such a dangerously forbidden book?”

“….”

“As far as I know, Malik Elrayson has only made one public appearance in nearly a year, and that was during the Great Mage Alliance Council.”

“…What exactly are you trying to say?”

“The council was held at the Imperial Mage Tower. Yes, at the ‘Imperial’ Mage Tower.”

“….”

A chilling silence fell over the audience chamber.

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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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