The Genius Son-in-law of the Swordmaster Household—Blessed by Authority Chapter 77

Advances (5)

The opening ceremony was about to begin.

The new cadets gathered below the platform at the training grounds according to the instructors' directions.

'Haa.......'

Ian, standing near the middle of the cadet ranks, rubbed his temples with a deep sigh.

'Asking me to let Charlotte stay in my annex......?'

Ian had just finished reading a letter he had received from Charlotte.

The letter contained various matters, but......

- Once the Sword Dragon Hall opens, I will entrust your affairs to Ian afterward.

- If Ian permits, serve as a maid in his annex and learn to temper your arrogance.

Because of these two lines, the rest of the content evaporated from his mind.

'Entrusting Charlotte's affairs to me....... And telling me to make her serve as a maid in the annex......?'

What a bolt out of the blue.

He disliked it. It was bothersome.

He was being asked to make that arrogant, foul-tempered, domineering, self-centered girl do housework.

As if that were an easy thing to do.

It was obvious she wouldn't listen, so just thinking about it made his vision darken.

However......

'...... Tsk. This isn't about what I like or dislike.'

The letter did state 'if Ian permits', but that wasn't the important part at all.

'What matters is that the Heavenly Sword Lord personally entrusted Charlotte to me.'

While he was away from the palace due to an expedition, he was asking Ian to look after his daughter Charlotte.

That was the only thing that truly mattered.

'This is an unrefusable request.'

The Heavenly Sword Lord was Ian's benefactor.

Thanks to him, he was able to live safely with Sophia in Lunabreeze, and Ian also received incredibly valuable gifts like the Heavenly Blood Band, Flostilla, Sky Thunder, Deep as the Clouds, a subspace artifact, and so forth.

He could freely use facilities like the alchemy workshop or the medical center in the Heavenly Sword Palace without any restrictions.

What's more, even though she was in a position to command him by force, she had taken the trouble to write several handwritten letters herself to entrust Charlotte to him.

How could Ian possibly refuse such a benefactor's polite and earnest request?

'All I can do is fulfill it with a sense of responsibility.'

Ian's gaze deepened.

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he could do it well.

Would Charlotte even listen to him in the first place?

It would be fortunate if she didn't just act high-handed and push all her work onto him.

'Still, I should try my best.'

The Heavenly Sword Lord hoped that Charlotte could learn to temper her arrogance by serving as a maid in Ian's annex.

By having her personally do the menial chores she used to look down on, it would teach her humility—that there is no work in the world so easy as to be looked down on—and allow her to develop consideration for others' labor and the caution to recognize she can be wrong.

'Well....... I don't know how it'll turn out, but since the Heavenly Sword Lord entrusted her to me, I should give it my all.'

The process would by no means be easy.

Changing someone's character is terribly difficult—virtually impossible, in fact.

It takes years for someone to change their own temperament, let alone for someone else to do it.

Moreover, Charlotte was more prideful than anyone.

The odds that she would listen to Ian, who was a year younger than herself, were slim.

'Still, this is the task given to me by the Heavenly Sword Lord....... I have to do it, even if it's difficult.'

He had never tutored anyone in his previous life, but as a swordsmanship instructor, he did have plenty of experience training cadets.

'I'll make the best use of those experiences, using both the carrot and the stick.'

However, he wouldn't develop any personal feelings toward Charlotte.

Charlotte had betrayed Yuria in his previous life and had already schemed against Ian twice in this one—a real troublemaker.

She was not someone he would benefit from getting close to.

For now, since the Heavenly Sword Lord had entrusted her to him, all he could do was do his best.

'Until the Heavenly Sword Lord returns....... I hope Charlotte can at least learn to consider others.'

That was enough thinking about Charlotte.

When he reached this conclusion—

- Bwuuuuuuuu!

A grand horn sounded.

"The Sword Dragon Hall Master is entering! All cadets──! Attention!"

The instructor in charge of the ceremony announced the entrance of the Sword Dragon Hall Master.

'The Sword Dragon Hall Master.......'

Ian bit his lower lip and looked up at the platform.

― Kugugugugugu!

The huge gate behind the platform, leading to the instructor's area, began to open with a heavy rumble.

Soon, the Master would emerge from within.

'In my previous life, I'd only heard the name.'

Maegor Hisperion, Sword Dragon Hall Master.

A grandmaster of a collateral line and quite influential within Hisperion as a member of the Elder Council.

By all accounts, he was an old man with a gleaming bald head and long, sleek, sage-like beard.

'I wonder what kind of person he is.......'

It was always interesting to see powerful people firsthand.

Ian looked up at the long stairway behind the platform with keen interest.

Soon, a slender figure appeared from the massive gates at the top of the stairs.

"......?"

He couldn't clearly see the face due to the dazzling sunlight.

However—

'That's... not a bald head?'

It was immediately obvious there was no bald head.

Instead of a gleaming scalp, what appeared was a head of beautiful, silky platinum hair.

"...... Huh?"

Below that, a pair of burning, red eyes wavered like glowing embers.

And lips smiling even more brilliantly than sunlight.

"W-what......!"

A shocked outcry escaped from Ian's throat before he realized it.

'Ah, it's Aris!'

The eldest daughter—third child—of the Heavenly Sword Lord.

A lunatic, a hypocrite, a villainess, a black widow.

Where had the Sword Dragon Hall Master that Ian knew gone? Aris was now descending the platform in his place.

'That, that woman......!'

Why was Aris at the opening ceremony......?

She should have been frantically busy purging the Theo faction and securing that vacant power.

'And why isn't the Sword Dragon Hall Master present......! Why is Aris descending in his stead!'

― Tok. Tok.

Each step Aris took down the stairs made Ian's heart pound.

'No way.......'

A chilling premonition ran from the crown of his head to his toes.

'It can't be....... Can it?'

Ian struggled to dismiss the intuition darting through his mind.

There was no way Aris had come here as the Sword Dragon Hall Master.

No way. Unthinkable.

'She must be acting as a deputy for the Hall Master. Or maybe as a deputy for the Heavenly Sword Lord. With the expedition underway and the purge of the Theo faction, it's an especially chaotic time.......'

Besides, Aris had no reason to take the position of Sword Dragon Hall Master.

There was nothing for her to gain in that post.

It was a role laden with both heavy duties and endless obligations.

And Aris, as one of the strongest heirs to the clan, was incredibly busy.

She had no reason to shut herself in the Sword Dragon Hall and train juniors.

'Yeah....... She must be here to oversee the ceremony for a short while.'

He clung to that faint hope.

However—

― Tok.

Aris slowly ascended the rostrum.

"All cadets──! Salute the Sword Dragon Hall Master!"

At the same time, the instructor's shout struck Ian's mind like a hammer.

― Hea! Ven! Sword!

A mighty salute reverberated from the new cadets.

'No.......'

Though all the cadets were placing their hands over their chests and saluting, Ian alone stood frozen, unable to move.

"......."

He could only stare up at Aris standing above, stiff as a stone.

'This can't be......!'

Aris was still smiling serenely on the platform.

To some, that smile would seem warm and beautiful, but to Ian, it was nothing but ominous and terrifying.

― Swish.

Soon enough, Aris's red eyes found the gray-haired boy amidst the cadets.

[It's been a while, young master Ian.]

"......!"

As soon as their eyes met, Aris whispered to him via aura message.

― Smirking.

Her radiant smile bent even deeper.

[You look very flustered. You didn't even salute with the others. Are you nervous?]

"......!"

Only then did Ian realize he hadn't saluted.

His fingers twitched, but he didn't bother to salute belatedly.

As Ian continued to look up at Aris with a grave expression, she licked her upper lip.

[You look really serious. 'Why has this woman suddenly shown up here? What is she plotting, coming to take the Hall Master's seat?' It's exactly that kind of expression.]

"......!"

Ian's cheeks flinched at her precise guess.

[You know what kind of person I am, don't you?]

"......."

[I was curious. How did you sense my true nature from our first meeting? And your strange talents, the inexplicable abilities you showed in the West. I want to know about all of them—every last secret.]

"......."

The crowd waited for Aris to begin her speech, but Aris looked only at Ian, as if there was nothing else in this place but him, again whispering through aura messages.

[That's why I came here. Because of you.]

Hearing that, goosebumps prickled all across Ian's body.

'Damn.......'

Ian clenched his jaws.

He'd wanted above all to avoid getting entangled with Aris in this life.

But odd incidents had piled up one by one, and before he realized it, he'd properly caught Aris's attention at the worst possible moment.

[It's unfair, don't you think? You seem to know all about me, but I know nothing about you.]

Aris's lips curved into a long smile.

The cadets, seeing that smile, blushed slightly, but Ian's face turned even more severe.

[So I decided to become your teacher. I'll instruct and raise you, so I can gradually learn more about you. Consider it just self-defense, yes?]

With the air of someone savoring a delicious dish, Aris licked her lips again.

[Ian Greysel. From now on, I'll take special care to guide you. You'd best not hide anything from me anymore.]

― Crack!

His clenched teeth ground together.

'...... I'm thoroughly caught.'

Aris, still standing silent and elegant on the platform, never took her eyes off Ian.

Her smile glittered in the sunlight, flawless and beautiful, but in those eyes, the burning obsession was clear as day.

'...... If I'm not totally on guard, this could go really bad.'

Looking back, there were more than a few reasons why Aris might have become interested in him.

Utterly defeating Yuria—said to be a genius without equal—in the entrance exam.

Putting up an iron wall against Aris from their first meeting in Lunabreeze.

From the moment he entered Morbeng village in the west, everything had been exposed to Aris......

'No, but still......'

Even so... as much as he'd revealed, would she really go so far as to take the Hall Master's seat herself, just to keep him close under observation?

'She's always impossible to predict.'

What Aris would do next unsettled him most.

No matter how much Ian was favored by the Heavenly Sword Lord, Aris was the type who couldn't care less about that.

She would watch him silently, then, if she saw something she wanted to take, she'd just take it—and if she felt like harassing him on a whim, she'd do so without a second thought. She was a true lunatic.

'Aris is as wicked as any Grand Duke of the Demon Realm.'

― Hoo.......

Ian exhaled deeply, locking gazes with Aris.

He steadied his wavering eyes, calming his agitation.

Soon, resolute determination filled Ian's gaze.

[Oh my.]

Aris's eyes widened a little.

When the nervous, frozen boy's gaze settled into calm resolve with a deep breath, her red eyes sparkled with interest.

Ian didn't look away, clenching his fist tightly.

'In any case....... Seems like fate just won't let me have even a moment's peace.'

Truthfully, he'd grown a bit complacent when he reached the level of Swordmaster at just fourteen.

But—

'With Aris targeting me like this, there's no time for leisure. I have to reclaim my former life's level, even a second faster.'

Aris's level was Grandmaster.

A supreme rank even Ian had never reached in his former life.

But that didn't mean she was an utterly invincible opponent.

'As long as I can reach the peak of Swordmaster as I did in my previous life... I won't be pushed around unilaterally by Aris.'

Ian had a history of defeating Grandmasters several times at the peak-stage Swordmaster even in his previous life.

Now, with the Authority of Projection, Vladiark, and far more advanced swordsmanship, his chances should be even better.

'But until I regain my past level, it's as if I'm standing naked and unguarded. I need to stay sharp and reclaim my former strength as quickly as possible.'

Along with regaining his aura level, he needed to train his body even tougher than before, and recover the swords he had used in his previous life as soon as possible.

For now, the closest, tangible goal was the twice-yearly final assessments.

The awards granted to the top student in those assessments.

He had to claim every single one of them.

'But until I reach the peak of Swordmaster, I need to act with utmost caution.'

Ideally, Aris would lose all interest in him, but it was likely too late for that now.

Ian had already shown Aris far too much.

Especially by demonstrating strange abilities and ultimately defeating Dellen, a Swordmaster, he had given the most decisive reason.

At this point, if he tried hiding his strength clumsily, she'd just assume he was faking weakness.

Then, who knew what Aris might do to force him to reveal his true skills.

She might even kidnap people precious to Ian to provoke him.

'Given the situation, it'll be better to reveal my power gradually, bit by bit.'

He had to satisfy Aris's curiosity little by little to buy time—and strengthen himself as quickly as possible.

'...... It's going to be an incredibly tough life in the Sword Dragon Hall.'

Still, Aris never blinked or averted her eyes, staring directly at Ian.

He didn't avoid her gaze, swallowed dryly.

This was it.

The very moment his hectic, chaotic life in the Sword Dragon Hall began.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

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