The Genius Son-in-law of the Swordmaster Household—Blessed by Authority Chapter 81

Preparing One's Self to be Thrown into the Spider's Web (4)

'I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd eat a meal prepared by Charlotte.'

That would have been unimaginable in Ian's previous life.

Back then, Charlotte always looked down on Ian with an overbearing attitude.

'And she never cooked anything herself.'

This must have been the first time she'd ever cooked, whether in Ian's previous or his current life.

Even when camping, Charlotte would have someone else boil water for her, and whenever someone caught game, it was always the companions who handled the butchering.

Let alone in the Heavenly Sword Palace, which was full of servants.

'But this is unexpected.'

Tonight's menu was pork curry.

'I was sure she'd butcher the vegetables or serve up meat burnt to a crisp.'

Surprisingly, though, the curry had turned out just fine.

The meat and vegetables were cut into bite-sized pieces, and they were cooked perfectly.

It was probably because Sophia was right next to Charlotte, carefully teaching her step-by-step as she worked.

Given Charlotte's personality, I thought she'd lose her temper or clash with Sophia at least once, but it seemed Charlotte had obediently followed Sophia's guidance.

If she hadn't, the results wouldn't have been this good.

'Charlotte's not a fool. Maybe she's already realized Sophia is her lifeline.'

Sophia was the only person Charlotte could rely on here.

The only people in this mansion, aside from Sophia, were Ian, Ophelia, and Sheryl.

Ian made no effort to hide his dislike for Charlotte, so it would be hard for her to even strike up a conversation; Ophelia was strictly fulfilling her role as a monitor and didn't help Charlotte at all, and Sheryl was either in the manager's room or out, appearing only briefly when ordering food or supplies.

If Charlotte managed to get on Sophia's bad side in this situation, she'd be completely isolated in this mansion.

Charlotte was quite sharp in her own way. She seemed to have instinctively realized how she needed to behave around Sophia.

'I hope every day continues like today. That would take a lot of worries off my mind when it comes to Charlotte.'

Now, it was late at night.

Just as planned, it was time to absorb the aura stored in Vladiark until dawn.

― Swish.

Ian pulled out the white ring, Heavenly Bone Ring, that he had received from Yuria from his pocket.

A small ring, as white as pure porcelain and flawless, like precious jade.

Yuria had lent the Heavenly Bone Ring to Ian because it was necessary to activate the protective necklace Corgadin.

Corgadin was an artifact that protected Yuria's body.

And since the Heavenly Bone Ring was a ring made from Yuria's milk teeth, wearing it would allow him to be protected by Corgadin.

'However.'

Yuria probably lent the ring to protect Ian with Corgadin, but Ian knew an even more useful way to utilize it.

'With this, I can speed up my plans by more than twice the original pace.'

Training internal energy is much like breathing.

Breathe too hastily, and your throat burns; your airway gets hot.

It's the same with aura cultivation.

Absorbing the aura stored in Vladiark too quickly would inevitably cause the mana circuits to overheat, and if you kept pushing through, the circuits would tear or burst.

Pain could be endured, and damaged mana circuits could be healed by laying a projection over them, but that would be a waste of time and magic power.

But using the Heavenly Bone Ring could solve all those problems.

'The Heavenly Bone Ring can transform normal mana into Heavenly Energy and even store it.'

If you injected aura into the ring and rotated it once, the aura would instantly be imbued with the energy of the heavens.

Heavenly Energy held the power to grow mana circuits to their ultimate form.

That's why, no matter how fast you absorbed Heavenly Energy-infused aura, the mana circuits wouldn't overheat.

Rather, the faster you drew it in, the deeper the power of Heavenly Energy would soak into the circuits, making them tougher and wider.

That's why the Heavenly Bone Ring was primarily used to heal swordsmen whose mana circuits had been damaged.

'It would have been even better if I could store that Heavenly Energy in my dantian.'

Regrettably, Heavenly Energy could only be maintained inside an extremely blessed body, like Yuria's among the Hisperion.

Within Ian's dantian, Heavenly Energy would keep its properties for a short while, but soon after, it would revert back to ordinary attribute-less magic power.

'But that's not really a big loss.'

Right now, just the fact that the Heavenly Bone Ring would completely eliminate mana circuit overheating was more than enough.

'If I wear the Heavenly Bone Ring while absorbing the aura in Vladiark...'

In the original plan, it would have taken about two weeks to reach the early-stage Swordmaster, but with the Heavenly Bone Ring, it could very well be possible within one week.

'Projecting the spatial storage magic of the artifact should also be possible within a month.'

Even using Sky Thunder, Deep as the Clouds without Vladiark, as long as Ian was wearing the Heavenly Bone Ring, he could operate without worrying about mana circuit overheating and train much more boldly.

'Yuria... Thank you so much.'

Ian squeezed the ring and pressed it to his forehead.

The original plan wasn't impossible, but it was quite a stretch in many ways; thanks to Yuria, he could finally breathe easy.

Now, he had leeway to handle any variables in the deserted island test, and, if any time remained after finishing all the essential tasks, he could train Sophia or focus on further strengthening Sky Thunder, Deep as the Clouds's thunder force.

'Yuria has given me this time. I can't waste it. Let's start right away.'

Ian slipped the Heavenly Bone Ring onto his ring finger.

Then he sat cross-legged and held Vladiark vertically before him.

Soon, aura began to be slowly drawn in through the Heavenly Bone Ring.

Vladiark gradually crumbled, dropping iron filings, and the aura absorbed by the Heavenly Bone Ring turned pure white, flowing down Ian's ring finger and, following the Sky Thunder, Deep as the Clouds incantation, into his dantian.

Heavenly Energy gently caressed Ian's mana circuits—

The power that had saved him in his previous life.

Embracing the sensation of Heavenly Energy and snatches of memories with Yuria that floated up from time to time, Ian continued his cultivation until the moon set.

* * *

Two months passed quickly.

Every morning, work started at the Sword Dragon Hall; every evening, Ian practiced magic power training and worked to project storage magic bit by bit—a daily routine that repeated.

Through two months of training, Sophia managed to reach early-stage User.

For an ordinary girl to reach early-stage User a mere three months after starting aura training was an impossible pace under normal circumstances.

It was thanks to Ian sharing the Sky Thunder, Deep as the Clouds incantation with her.

By using Sky Thunder, Deep as the Clouds—one of the most supreme cultivation techniques with countless legends—Sophia grew rapidly.

Of course, it was extremely challenging to operate as such a top-tier cultivation method, but Ian sat with Sophia, directly circulating aura for her, helping her get a feel for Sky Thunder, Deep as the Clouds.

Of course, even with that, she was an utter mess at first, and even now she still couldn't operate it properly. But just muddling through for two months of steady practice let Sophia, who had only started learning aura three months ago, soar to early-stage User in no time.

Truly, it had the power worthy of being one of the continent's greatest cultivation methods.

It drove home how precious a gift the lord of the Heavenly Sword House had bestowed.

― Shhhhhh!

After dinner, Charlotte was washing dishes.

― Clatter! Clatter!

― Achoo!

Charlotte had gotten quite used to the household chores in the past two months.

Every day, Sophia and Ian took turns teaching her the work; maybe because she was naturally bright, she learned things quickly once taught.

Sometimes she'd make weird groaning noises like, "Heeeng...,"

"Huung...," or "Ugh...!"

Especially when made to clean the bathroom, she'd mutter, "M-me, doing this...!" and stand there, spaced out, looking soulless for a while.

Still, no matter how easy, you can't learn anything without the will, and Charlotte, surprisingly, did her best and followed along with any task she was given.

'But this is only the beginning, Charlotte.'

The biggest enemies of household work aren't hardship but tedium and annoyance.

At first, there might be some fun in learning new things, but from now on, Charlotte would just be repeating the same chores, so her real test had begun.

Moreover, Lunabreeze Mansion was not just a grand mansion but also a dormitory for swordsmen, so the scale of the chores was on a different level from a regular home.

The areas to clean were absurdly large, every day she had to prep food for four gluttons, and after personal training in the underground training hall, the cleanup always fell to Charlotte.

'However...'

Whether this would actually change Charlotte's arrogant personality as the lord of the Heavenly Sword House wished was uncertain.

'Well. At the very least, she might come to understand the hard work and perspective of the servants.'

If Charlotte realized how much convenience the servants had provided her, she might come to appreciate and respect them.

Whether that's exactly what the lord wanted, Ian couldn't be sure.

'But...'

Despite Charlotte having become a bit more cooperative recently, Ian's heart had not opened to her in the least.

Charlotte's unexpected compliance was only because of the authority of the lord of the Heavenly Sword House and Ian's own position.

'Charlotte is the epitome of the strong oppressing the weak, and bowing down to the strong.'

Ian hated people like that, having grown up abused by Hugo, someone who was just like that.

And Charlotte was a perfect example—a coward who oppressed the weak and submitted to the strong.

'Charlotte betrayed Yuria in my previous life because of her cowardly nature, too.'

That's why, as soon as Aris and the second prince threatened and enticed her, she immediately caved.

'Charlotte's overbearing attitude and arrogance aside, as long as her cowardly nature doesn't change, I'll never open my heart to her.'

Regardless of Ian's feelings, Sophia and Charlotte had grown quite close over the two months.

Whenever Charlotte ran into something she didn't know how to do, she always went to Sophia first, and Sophia never spared her praise, constantly stroking her head or hugging her.

Charlotte didn't seem to particularly dislike Sophia's physical affection.

Sometimes, she would even blush and try hard to hide a shy smile.

Charlotte had even allowed Sophia to call her by the nickname 'Lottie.'

Given that, in her past life, those who called her Lottie were mostly her mother or older siblings, it showed how quickly Sophia's geniality had melted Charlotte's heart.

'I thought Charlotte only listened to those stronger than her, but I didn't expect her to be weak to someone like Sophia.'

It was a new side to Charlotte Ian had never seen in his previous life.

'Well, Sophia is so outgoing, after all.'

Maybe that's how she quickly melted Charlotte's heart.

Ian himself had benefited greatly from Sophia's friendliness.

Thanks to her, his childhood hadn't been lonely.

'Honestly, I don't really welcome Sophia getting close to Charlotte...'

Sophia hadn't liked Charlotte from the start.

She knew that Charlotte had tried to steal Ian's Vladiark, and during the entrance examination, had even hired a mage to try getting Ian eliminated early.

But when Charlotte first came to the mansion as Ian's guest, Sophia tried hard not to show any displeasure and to be kind.

Then, as they spent more time together, she found Charlotte listened well, and as they talked more, Charlotte seemed to reflect on her own actions, even admitting they were foolish—and Sophia said she started becoming fond of her.

Sophia said it was only "a little," but with her, that might mean a lot.

Ian didn't like that much, but he also thought Sophia needed a female friend, so he didn't try to stop them from getting close.

'I just hope Sophia never gets betrayed by Charlotte from trusting her too much later on.'

Since Charlotte was someone who bowed to strength, as long as Ian kept climbing as a strong person, Charlotte would never dare betray Sophia, who was Ian's close companion.

― Swish! Swish!

Early in the morning, if he went out into the garden, he would always find Ophelia training alone.

"You're up, young master Ian."

"Sir Ophelia. You're diligent. The sun's barely risen."

"Well, my duty is to stick close to Lady Charlotte... I'm not complaining, but I only get personal time at this hour. Young master Ian, if it's all right, could I ask for a bout as well today?"

"Starting the day with a spar... Sounds good. I'd like to ask you for a bout today myself."

Thanks to Charlotte, Ian saw Ophelia every day and often exchanged swordplay with her.

― Clack! Clack!

― Tatata!

― Fwaah!

After a while, as the sounds of wooden swords clashing faded in the morning mist—

"Hoo..."

Ophelia wiped her sweat-drenched hair with a towel and spoke.

"Sparring with you is always astonishing, young master Ian. There's a poise you have that goes beyond your years. Each time, your swordplay surpasses my expectations. Honestly, I used to think hard work could get me anywhere, but watching your sword, I realize there really is such a thing as untouchable talent. You're not even fifteen, and fighting with you feels like sparring with a seasoned veteran. Haha."

"... You flatter me."

Ophelia wasn't wrong; Ian's experience was partly due to innate talent, but ninety-nine percent had come from clawing to survive his previous life.

He'd fought through two major wars, things many people never face once in a lifetime, and each time, he'd stood in the vanguard and fought until the bitter end.

Counting both lifetimes, he wasn't technically old enough to be called a veteran, but the density of his experience certainly surpassed one.

"Young master! Breakfast is ready!"

At that moment, Sophia called out, having finished preparing breakfast.

"Okay, I'm coming."

Ian sprang up and offered his hand to Ophelia, who was still seated.

"Let's go, sir Ophelia."

Ophelia took Ian's hand and stood.

"Thank you for always taking care of me as well."

"Of course. We live together now, after all."

"... Family..."

After Charlotte moved in, Ophelia ended up staying in the adjacent room.

While they lived together, they were nothing if not family.

After breakfast together, it was off to Sword Dragon Hall.

The daily routine at Sword Dragon Hall always began with theory classes in the lecture hall.

Yuria was always seated at the very back by the window.

"..."

When Ian made eye contact with Yuria, he could see her fingertip twitch a little, but she didn't wave.

Similarly, Ian only nodded slightly and sat in the middle of the classroom without greeting her.

'Haa...'

It was all because of Aris.

If Ian acted close to Yuria, Aris would surely find some vicious way to interfere.

There were eyes and ears everywhere in Sword Dragon Hall placed by Aris.

Even in this lecture hall, there were bound to be plenty of informants on Aris's payroll.

Both Yuria and Ian knew this, so they couldn't even properly greet each other.

To avoid provoking Aris...

That's why Ian had barely spoken to Yuria over the past two months.

He wanted to grow closer, to talk more, to become friends, but he couldn't do anything.

For the first few days after Sword Dragon Hall opened, they could just barely exchange secret notes, but soon surveillance devices were installed in every classroom and training hall, and Aris's eyes were everywhere on the way to and from class, so even exchanging notes became impossible.

'... This is so frustrating.'

What's worse, Yuria didn't get close to anyone else either.

That, too, was to keep from provoking Aris.

Yuria forming her own circle at Sword Dragon Hall would annoy Aris, and it would give her more weaknesses to exploit.

At the start of the semester, some students had tried to approach Yuria, but as she kept her distance, eventually no one tried to get close anymore.

'... Damn you, Aris.'

So Yuria spent the past two months with no friends, lonely in Sword Dragon Hall.

Ian, knowing how important friends are at that age, ground his teeth in frustration.

He'd wanted to give Yuria lots of good memories at Sword Dragon Hall, but now he could only watch her being isolated, all because of Aris.

'I have to grow strong enough to crush Aris as soon as possible.'

The elixir Millennium Golden Essence, awarded as the grand prize in the upcoming deserted island survival test, was the key.

'I'll use Authority of Projection to endlessly duplicate the Millennium Golden Essence and regain my former strength within this year.'

Once Ian reached his previous Swordmaster high-rank, combining the Frenzied Insight Style and his previous life's experience, he was confident he could at least keep up with Aris, if not overwhelm her.

And with Vladiark and Authority of Projection as well, he would surely gain a significant edge.

Aris might be a Supreme Grandmaster, but she was on the lower end of the scale, and she didn't possess any powers that defied common sense like Vladiark or Authority of Projection.

'Aris... Your reign over Sword Dragon Hall ends this year at the latest.'

The moment Ian regained his previous life's level, there would be no one in Sword Dragon Hall who could ever hold sway over him again.

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

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