Chapter 19: Chapter 19

The Forest of the Last Days is a forbidden area.

Even if you wanted to enter, those who did not have the permission could never do so. It was because if you entered, you would end up dying.

That was why a forest keeper was stationed.

It looked like that magic tower head did not see the forest keeper and managed to step into the forest area.

Sometimes that did occur.

However, in those cases, only their corpses were usually discovered.

This Cidrane man had incredibly good luck.

“Head of a magic tower, huh? Then he must be a magic expert.”

“I’m sure he is. From what I know, he’s 8-chain.”

“If he’s 8-chain, then he’s even higher than Lady Arabella.”

Herman seemed to show an interest in today’s events.

Wooosh!

The sword I had been unable to wield in the past two days sliced the air.

Perhaps it was due to him forming a mana core much earlier than his peers that his strength and physique were much more developed than theirs.

The very first sword he laid his hands on, the short sword, now felt like a mere fork in his hands.

“Young master. This means that a powerful figure is indebted to you.”

“Is that really so?”

“Yes. Like nations, magic towers function as independent territories of this continent.”

Well, after saving him, it turns out he is the head of a magic tower.

Who would have thought he would be such a powerful figure?

“But I wonder what the head of a magic tower was doing wandering the forest.”

“I’m not sure. Looking at Arabella, it looks like being a mage causes a lot of stress. Maybe there’s some reason we aren’t aware of?”

“I’ll keep what you said a secret from Lady Arabella.”

“Ah, thanks.”

I replied vaguely to Herman’s show of consideration and swung the sword again.

The sword that stabbed and slashed at an imaginary enemy was slowly heating up.

It was because of the magic I was injecting it with.

“Seeing your sword’s bluish color is always impressive.”

“Is that how you feel?”

“Yes. It’s very impressive.”

In addition, I did not stop practicing gathering my magic and releasing it.

I released the magic I had injected into the sword the moment I struck with it.

The air rippled right where the sword had stopped and the wooden pillar right in front of the sword cracked and split.

Magic explosion strike.

“I did it.”

It was the skill I had used in my previous life.

It was incomplete, but I could execute the skill without problems, now.

It was an explosion in name only. There were neither fire nor flames, but it was a skill that could be more frightening than a real explosion.

It can be more frightening because if you land the skill just right, it can break an opponent’s weapon by just clashing with it.

Thanks to this skill, I managed to escape near-death situations several times and take down a few opponents stronger than me.

“That’s the skill you were talking about that other time, right? Are you refining it for completion?”

“Mm. For now. It’s not complete.”

“Consider your age, young master, that is a remarkable feat.”

I smiled at the words I had heard so many times I no longer had any interest in them and put away my sword.

It looks like the time has come for me to part ways with this sword.

It was too light and too short, on top of that.

It is time for me to start getting used to a long sword.

“Looks like I need to get myself a new sword.”

There were several usable swords in the castle.

The majority of them were spoils of war Father had brought back.

In my previous life, I was used to using swords until they broke so I did not have much of a sense of greed.

Suddenly I thought of the smithy’s crest Duke Thermion had given me on my seventh birthday.

It has already been seven years since that day.

It did not feel like a lot of time had passed, at all.

Time passed by so quickly since I was training.

Anyhow, shall I go get a sword made?

Mm.

I’ll think it over once I decide on the day I head to the capital.

“I’ll prepare a practice longsword for you starting tomorrow.”

“Yeah, thanks. I guess I should wrap up my training now.”

And so once I finished wrapping up my training for the day, I shared the tarts Herman had prepared with him.

Ah, that was good.

The sweetness melted in my mouth.

Eating this tart after finishing training was like being in heaven.

It’d taste just as good any other time.

If I had been reborn without memories of my previous life, I would have gained a lot of weight from eating this tart.

“Thanks to you, Young Master, it feels like I’m always able to eat such delicious desserts.”

“Let me know if there’s anything you want to eat. Ah, that’s right, how are your younger sisters doing?”

“Ah, Lia and Agnes are both doing well.”

“Is that so? If you ever need anything, let me know.”

“I’m very grateful for the thought.”

I was going to finish my training with that, but Father appeared at that time. Father smiled his ‘signature’ smile and spoke.

“Dane, it looks like you’re training incredibly hard today too.”

“Father. I thought you had matters to attend to outside the castle. I see you’ve returned early?”

“Mm… Indeed. Things wrapped up earlier than expected. And I had a reason to hurry back faster.”

“Is it because of the head of the magic tower?”

“More or less.”

Father seemed to be paying a bit of attention to this.

Probably because mages are so few, you could cross a bridge and know all of them.

“Who knows? Maybe he could be of help to Arabella.”

It seems like he has been thinking about whether Cidrane could be of help to Arabella who has already been active as a mage.

Well, if you take into consideration Arabella’s personality which led her to forcibly rearrange one nuisance of a senior mage’s face by breaking his nose, I would think he would not care what people would say…

“In any case, you did well. Dane, you saved a person’s life. Your mother would be incredibly pleased to hear.”

“I just did what had to be done.”

“It’s not something just anyone can do. What you did was amazing.”

Hearing Father’s words felt fulfilling and I slowly nodded.

“Ah. It looks like Arabella and Clare have gotten busier these days. Why is it so hard to be able to see my daughters’ faces?”

Ah for reference, Arabella was about to finish up her extended semester and was picking a magic tower to join.

It looks like she was looking to spend time as a researcher in a magic tower and then aim to become an imperial family mage. Anyhow, it was clear her life would be smooth sailing.

Clare was about to graduate when she received a request from her summoning skills professor to take up an appointment as an assistant professor.

The two of them were basically still at the academy.

“Once you leave us, this castle will become rather quiet.”

“I’ll visit often. Really.”

“Your sisters said that before leaving as well. They left rather excited too.”

Father let out a deep sigh seemingly full of regret.

The time for me to leave was slowly approaching.

To, as Father said, see the world.

I have finished making preparations.

I learned the basics of spearmanship from Father.

I learned the basics of assassination from Mother.

I learned the basics of magic and summoning from my two sisters.

“But I have high expectations for you. Given that you have four, no five talents, I wonder how this world will treat you.”

As Father had said, if you add swordsmanship in there, I would have five talents.

I wonder which talent is the most dominant?

“I wonder, as well.”

Father smiled as if wondering when I grew so much.

“My son, you’ll do well.”

“Of course.”

“If I think about how surprised Duke Thermion, no brother Bout, will be, I can barely hold back my laughter.”

Duke Bout Thermion.

It was a name I had not thought of in a long time.

He is someone I wanted to cross swords with someday.

Come to think of it, I wonder how Leila is doing.

Over the past seven years, we exchanged letters sometimes, but I have not seen her since my seventh birthday.

The last letter had come maybe a year ago.

Well, guess I can just go meet her and find out.

Surely she would not say anything about me not having written a letter.

* * *

Reaper Scans

[Translator – Kyuri]

[Proofreader – Alissa]

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* * *

About four days after having been administered the antidote, Cidrane was able to put himself together and get out of bed.

That was the result of the resident physician of the Sogres castle being persistent in saying he should not.

However, he was unable to use magic temporarily.

It was because his magic reflux had not yet been refined and the poison had not been completely resolved.

If you also consider the vestiges of ancient magic left from his time in the Forest of the Last Days, Cidrane was a ‘convalescent.’

“It’s been a while since I was unable to use magic like this. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

As befitting his strong and harried personality, Cidrane ran about everywhere.

He went up and down from the ground to the roof of the annex tower dozens of times repeatedly. He had abruptly disappeared only to be found a few hours later in the back garden looking at flowers.

“Mages are either geniuses or nutcases. Tsk tsk.”

“Did you hear? The person the young master had saved is an incredibly powerful figure among mages.”

“Lady Arabella is thankfully normal, but…”

Despite the concerns of the residents, Cidrane paid absolutely no heed to the gazes of others upon him and went about everywhere looking around to his heart’s content.

“I’m a bit curious about the gardener. I had no idea flowers could possess such grand magic. Maybe I could learn the secrets behind this if I suck up to the person?”

Cidrane was enjoying to his heart’s content the unbounded peacefulness of the Sogres castle’s atmosphere.

“I had gone to check up on you, but it looks like you were over here.”

This is where Dane found Cidrane.

Cidrane slowly got up and looked at Dane.

“Haha, did you think I’d run off somewhere?”

“Since you’re the first person I’ve cured of poison, I was concerned.”

Cidrane waved his hand off as if dismissing the concern.

“I suppose that’s true. Hm. Well, it doesn’t hurt a lot.”

Actually, he was hurting quite a bit.

But as the head of a magic tower, he did not want to let on that he was.

“In any case, until I’m fully recovered, put up with my presence. As the head of a magic tower, I can’t exactly leave and then die unexpectedly due to being unable to use magic, now can I?”

Having said that, Cidrane turned his gaze to the flower garden.

Somehow it felt like the magic became even more intense than before.

‘That should be proof that my body is recovering.’

Experiencing ancient magic or magic reflux is so terrifying for someone who has not experienced either of them that they would find it difficult to imagine the feeling.

As a mage, there was no other time one would feel as helpless.

“This southern region is quite a lovely place. I finally get why nobles flock to the southern region when vacation season hits.”

“It’s an amazing place. It’s quite a good place to live in. I feel a bit of regret since I will be leaving soon.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes. Not too long from now I’ll be going to the capital.”

Cidrane tilted his head at those words.

‘Leaving such a good place as this…’

Means he is heading to the academy.

It was the dream of all teenage noble children.

But he did not look particularly excited about the notion.

The teenage nobles he had seen so far would have a dreamy look on their faces the moment the academy was even mentioned.

“Hm. Since you’re talented, I’m sure you’d do well. Ah, your older sisters are at the academy, aren’t they?”

“They are.”

“You’ll have an easy life there.”

Cidrane very carefully drew upon his magic power.

A trace amount such that he would not be affected by the aftereffects of the magic reflux.

‘I wonder just how great his talent is.’

He had done so to assess this interesting boy’s skills.

Cidrane concentrated his magic in his eyes and took a look at Dane’s body.

‘What is this thick mana…’

He was astonished.

He felt unbelievably dense magic.

The flow was incredible.

If other boys this age commonly called ‘geniuses’ were to be likened to a stream, then Dane was like a raging rapid.

A raging rapid that could immediately burst a dyke if slightly interfered with.

However, Dane, who possessed this magic, looked absurdly calm.

That amount of magic would normally be so unstable it would be bursting out!

‘Crazy. This is nuts.’

He could draw two conclusions.

That the boy had an incredible talent capable of handling that much magic.

Otherwise…

“Don’t you think that assessing another’s magic without permission is a bit rude?”

It was as if Dane had noticed what he had done. And it was as if Dane felt normal with that large amount of mana swirling around his body.

Dane’s affinity for magic was much higher than he had expected.

Cidrane saw how Dane was looking at him a bit annoyed and forced a laugh.

“Haha…”

“Are you able to do so if you become the head of a magic tower?”

“Ahem. I’ll apologize. That was thoughtless of me.”

Cidrane realized at that moment.

‘Wait, then that feeling I just had of the magic becoming more intense…’

Was not due to his body having recovered some, but…

Because Dane, who possessed incredibly dense magic, had been approaching.