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

Chapter 118 : Grandmaster (2)

Grandmaster (2)

Once the castle gates were breached, everything moved forward without a hitch.

Ian immediately rushed into the castle.

It was to cut off the power sources of the automated interception artifacts.

The knight department students from the Imperial Academy blocked Ian's way, but it was useless.

Ian broke through the knight students with agile movements like an acrobat and ran swiftly.

His target was the gigantic magic power sphere at the center of the castle—the power source for the artifacts.

― Shaaaak!

With a single slash from Ian, the magic power sphere was split in two.

In an instant, all the defensive artifacts became useless, and at the same time, the Sword Dragon Hall students began their full assault.

The archers and mages on the ramparts unleashed desperate attacks, but soon even they were unable to continue.

That was because Ian climbed up onto the walls, smashed their bows and staves, and began disrupting their formations.

The knight department students chased after Ian desperately, but that only made the formations atop the walls even more chaotic.

In the end, the Sword Dragon Hall students broke through the gates with ease and captured the castle in no time.

That marked the end of the mock castle siege against the Empire.

It was an overwhelming victory for the Sword Dragon Hall, and in that moment, Ian's name was deeply engraved in the minds of the Empire's high-ranking personnel observing the test.

Naturally, Ian was the top student for this test.

He was the one who had led them to victory.

The top prize was the Flame Demon Sword (炎魔劍), Infernachs.

This too was a reward that Aris had prepared for Ian after consulting him in advance.

It was a treasured sword made from the remains of Infernachs, the Flame Demon Spirit—a great spirit from a thousand years ago who once turned the southeast of Hisperion into a sea of fire.

When imbued with aura, it would emit fierce flames, and when invoking Sword Spirit Release, it would cause a powerful explosion of fire, turning the surrounding area into hellfire.

However, this hellfire spared neither friend nor foe—it would even burn the wielder.

That was why it was called the Flame Demon Sword.

A difficult weapon to use, with strength that amounted to nothing more than sheer firepower.

If one prepared thoroughly against flames and was on a battlefield surrounded only by enemies, it could be invaluable. But, for now, it did not look like a sword Ian would need immediately.

However, there was another reason Ian had specifically requested this sword from Aris.

'Because this sword is one of the keys to unsealing the Emperor of Thousand Swords Arkazenon.'

Emperor of Thousand Swords Arkazenon.

It was a sword discovered together with Yuria during the reconstruction of Hisperion after the civil war in his previous life.

'How absurd the way we found it was.'

At that time, Yuria and Ian had been selling everything in Heavenly Sword Palace that could fetch money.

That was because, with only Yuria's Authority of Projection, recapturing the ruined Hisperion territories nationwide was far too slow.

Resettling the countless refugees from the civil war required enormous manpower and resources, and thus, money.

That was why they even raided the shrine of the first head of Heavenly Sword for the palace's most precious and expensive items.

'Back then, even the glass, columns, bricks, and floor tiles of the first head's shrine fetched money.'

Arkazenon was discovered while tearing up the shrine's floor.

They unearthed the entrance to a ruin unrecorded in history.

The entrance was a staircase that descended underground, very deep.

And at the end, they encountered a massive stele.

The stele was covered with text in an unknown script.

Neither the era nor the country in which it was written was clear.

One even wondered if it was truly a script from this world.

'It took quite a while to decipher.'

The mages of the Heavenly Tower extracted the consciousness embedded in the script with magic and gradually pieced together its meaning.

Soon, much was revealed.

According to the scripts on the wall...

The Emperor of Thousand Swords Arkazenon was sealed inside the massive stele.

Whoever grasped Arkazenon would gain the ability to control ten thousand swords simultaneously.

With almost telekinetic freedom, they could move countless swords, performing sword techniques in the air without touching the blades, as delicately and powerfully as if held by hand, and even invoke Sword Spirit Release in that state.

If he'd been able to wield it, he would have learned even more...

'But I couldn't.'

To break the seal on Arkazenon, ten special swords were required.

The inscription stated that if all ten swords were inserted into the Sword Pool, Arkazenon could be withdrawn from the stele.

At that time, three were already in the Sword Pool, but the remaining seven were outside.

One of those had been broken, four had gone missing, and only two could be obtained.

That was due to the Hisperion civil war.

Had it not been for the war, those swords would have been attainable.

'If I'd had that, I would have achieved far more in my previous life.'

Ian's signature technique was to use multiple swords for Sword Spirit Release, deploying each at the critical moment.

Back then, he struggled and was rushed from constantly changing blades during battle, but with Arkazenon, Ian's fighting style could have been drastically improved.

'It would have been like wielding ten thousand swords at once.'

Having Arkazenon was no different from growing ten thousand arms.

Each one long and flexible, not obstructing each other, more supple than that of an octopus.

'I must grasp it in this life.'

Ian remembered exactly which swords were required to break the seal.

He planned to gather them all, insert them into the Sword Pool at once, and secretly retrieve Arkazenon when the seal broke.

Thus, his next request to Aris for a top-student reward would also be a sword.

'If I receive one per ranking until graduation, including Infernachs, that's a total of four.'

The final graduation exam's top prize was particularly generous, so if two were given then, he could have up to five.

All those swords were tightly guarded in the secret armory of Heavenly Sword Palace without an owner.

Because each was a powerful strategic weapon, they were deliberately not left in the Sword Pool and kept as reserve forces for immediate use.

'And right now, three of the required swords should already be in the Sword Pool.'

According to the records, none of those had been taken out for at least thirty years.

'After graduation, I'll need to collect the remaining two swords.'

Thunder Emperor Sword, Astrape.

Ghost Sword, Quiennio.

He knew where both were.

The Thunder Emperor Sword, Astrape, was possessed by Preben Hisperion, Captain of the Heavenly Sword Knights and the younger sister of the Heavenly Sword Lord, while the Ghost Sword, Quiennio, was held by Silence Doomraven, the Sword Fiend and a guest of Hisperion, like Ian.

'Neither will be easy. I'll have to be prepared for a tough fight to get them.'

But now was not the time to worry about that.

'For now, I need to focus on safely graduating from Sword Dragon Hall together with Yuria and Sophia.'

Since moving to Lunabreeze, Yuria had begun smiling much more.

And even at Sword Dragon Hall, she now socialized without minding Aris.

Surprisingly, Aris neither tried to keep Ian away from Yuria nor meddled.

'Based on her behavior this past year, Aris hasn't just not interfered—she's helped me as much as anyone could.'

She was helping him ascend to Grandmaster, letting him choose his own top-student rewards.

'A woman like that spider wouldn't just be generous for no reason...'

If Ian hadn't known Aris from her past life, he might have thought of her as simply a benefactor with a fierce personality.

But in her previous life, Aris was nothing less than a demon incarnate.

She killed elderly and children without hesitation, used people in live experiments, and was skilled at breaking people both physically and mentally—a true monster.

Even the second son, who had been her ally, was killed by her.

'But now she's so...'

Nice?

'Could it be I misjudged Aris?'

Back then, it was wartime.

Anyone could become cruel in such a period.

Even Ian had the epithet "Mad" for a reason—that time had driven him insane, too.

'It might be too early to say... I really don't know.'

He didn't know if he had misjudged Aris—or if he was slowly being caught in a web she'd woven.

'Either way, as long as I become strong, I can deal with Aris no matter what she does.'

Ian nodded and looked out the window.

Now, as his second year at Sword Dragon Hall began, winter break started—one month long.

Snow was falling outside.

Ian stroked his chin as he looked at the falling snow.

'Maybe I'll go on a hot spring trip during vacation.'

Making good memories for Sophia and Yuria was also one of his important goals.

'Anyway, there's nothing special to do during this break.'

Becoming a Grandmaster was his top priority, but that wasn't something accomplished just by sitting in the training room.

'Yes. Let's go. If not now, then when?'

Perhaps inspiration for becoming a Grandmaster would strike if he could sense the subtle interplay of cold snow and hot spring water.

Truly, advancing while having fun.

Ian got up from his office desk and went out into the living room.

He called the three members he lived with.

Yuria, Sophia, Charlotte.

When Ian suggested a hot springs trip for the break, everyone eagerly agreed, and plans were quickly made to leave the very next day.

Thus, for a month, they enjoyed a delightful hot springs trip.

They ate delicious food, admired snowy mountains—and unexpectedly, even Aris decided to tag along.

Still, it didn't interfere with the fun.

When Aris didn't show her sly side, she genuinely gave off the vibe of a normal, nice older sister.

Including Ophelia, who was Charlotte's chaperone, a total of six of them spent a happy month together.

On the way back, riding in the carriage,

Ian smiled quietly with satisfaction as he looked at Yuria and Sophia, who had fallen asleep with their heads resting on his shoulder.

* * *

Two years passed.

Two more top honors exams went by, and finally, the graduation exam.

Ian placed first in every exam, obtaining four more swords required to unseal Arkazenon.

Now he had a total of five. With three in the Sword Pool already, only two remained.

And thus came the graduation ceremony for Sword Dragon Hall.

It was winter.

"Ian!"

"Eek!"

Someone hugged him from behind—it was Yuria.

"Lady Yuria...! You startled me."

"Hehehe. So warm. Ian."

"......."

Yuria rubbed her cheek against Ian's broad waist.

Years of living together had made their relationship this close.

Now, both Yuria and Ian were eighteen.

When they entered Sword Dragon Hall, they'd been similar in height, but now there was quite a difference.

Ian was over 190 cm, while Yuria had barely grown, remaining in the lower 160s.

"Have you thought about where you'll go?"

Yuria, still hugging his waist, stuck her face out and asked.

"You have to decide soon, you know."

Yuria was talking about their future paths.

Sword Dragon Hall graduates would each apply to the order of knights or sword corps of their choice, and if accepted, go there.

If not chosen by any desired group, the Hall would assign them somewhere.

Those in the top ten by grades could choose wherever they wanted.

"Kargon and Charlotte were looking for you earlier. Seems everyone wants you for their own order."

"And you, miss? Where do you want me to go?"

"Hm?"

Yuria blinked her eyes wide, then smiled.

"Why? Will you go if I tell you to?"

Looking at Yuria, Ian shook his head in silence.

"No."

"Aw, really!"

Yuria let go of the hug and bumped her shoulder against his, standing beside him.

"So, where are you going, then?"

Looking at her quietly, Ian replied,

"I'm not joining anywhere."

Ian planned to establish his own order.

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

I agree with author-nim to speedrun the school phase...

It feels like the entire first hundred chapters were a prelude to the story...

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】