Chapter 17
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: A Father's Shock
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And so, the matter of the butler Cox, which had turned the Cazar County upside down, came to a close.
Fortunately, there were no major repercussions.
This was because Chris had swiftly dealt with Cox.
‘The Young Master made a wise choice.’
‘If he hadn't taken Cox's head then, the Cazar County would have been in great trouble.’
Everyone thought Chris had taken Cox's head to cover up the incident for the sake of the county.
Although Chris's true intentions were different, that was how it appeared on the surface, and people marveled at his wise judgment.
‘He’s truly changed completely.’
‘He’s not the scoundrel he used to be.’
People watched Chris doing physical training in the training grounds with looks of surprise.
As soon as he had caught the rat he was after, Cox, Chris dropped the scoundrel act and once again devoted himself to training.
The intensity of his training was also immense.
It was surely difficult, yet the sight of him jogging with an arrogant, cold expression, without a hint of faltering, was the very picture of a Majin.
Of course, this was what Chris was thinking to himself.
‘Damn this physical training. It's killing me. Why can't talent improve stamina! I'll endure it for the wealth and glory I'll enjoy as the Demon King. The Demon King's wealth and glory! Wealth and glory!’
In any case, watching this Chris, the Majin were completely convinced.
That Chris had changed.
He was no longer a scoundrel.
He was a respectable young master of the Cazar County.
A scene unfolded that proved this fact.
Count Cazar himself appeared at the training grounds.
To give Christian a lesson!
‘For the Count to teach him personally.’
‘I heard even Young Master TERN hasn't received his direct tutelage yet.’
It was unexpected that TERN had not yet received Count Cazar's instruction.
Count Cazar, claiming TERN's fundamentals were lacking, had him train with the Black Swamp Knights.
He had only gone as far as pointing out TERN's shortcomings from time to time, yet here he was, stepping forward to teach Christian directly.
‘It’s probably because he’s late.’
‘He may have come to his senses, but he’s fallen far behind.’
The Majin wore regretful expressions.
‘I wonder if the Young Master can endure Count Cazar's teachings.’
‘Even the high-ranking knights dread Count Cazar's training.’
Count Cazar had said the reason he hadn't begun teaching TERN, his chosen heir, was because he was not yet strong enough to endure the training.
That was how notoriously merciless Count Cazar's teachings were.
The Majin thought there was no way Christian, who had lived so dissolutely, could withstand it.
"Let's go."
"Yes, Father."
Chris followed Count Cazar to a secret training hall set apart in the mansion.
The Majin shook their heads at Chris's nonchalant expression, as if he were oblivious to the harsh future awaiting him.
‘I wonder how long he’ll last.’
‘I hope he doesn't get pushed too hard, give up on training, and revert to the scoundrel he once was.’
Thus, everyone worried for Christian, who was now to receive Count Cazar's training.
But there was something the Majin didn't know.
About the scene unfolding in the secret training hall.
Count Cazar's mouth hung open, unable to close.
It was an endless series of astonishments.
* * *
"Is this the right way to do it?"
A sword of ferocious momentum was unleashed.
It wasn't the Mud Sword Style, which entangled an opponent's feet.
It was the Black Scythe Sword Style, which harvested the neck of a cornered enemy.
Like the Grim Reaper's scythe, it was a sword style that dealt a devastatingly fatal blow in a single strike, the main offensive art of the Black Swamp Knights.
"...Yes, that's right."
"So you bind their feet with mud, break them with a curse, and reap their necks with a scythe. Simple enough."
Simple?
If anyone else had said that, Count Cazar would have roared that they were arrogant.
After all, to actually put it into practice, one had to perfectly master the sequence of feinting, cursing, and attacking.
But Count Cazar couldn't get angry.
Because Chris, just as he said, was doing it with 'simplicity'.
-Kiyaaak!
Demonic beasts summoned for training rushed at him.
Chris blocked and checked their attacks with the light movements of the Mud Sword Style while casting black magic.
It was the 1-Star basic curse, 'Shadow Vine'.
Shadows bound their feet like vines.
It wasn't a strong bind.
A weak restraint that could be broken by stamping a foot down hard once.
But Chris didn't miss that brief opening.
Each time a movement faltered, the Black Scythe Sword Style slashed at the beasts' necks.
"......"
Count Cazar was silent.
‘When did he become able to cast black magic so naturally?’
It went without saying that casting black magic while wielding a sword required immense control. In terms of control alone, he was already at a 2-Star level or higher.
And was it only his control?
‘The Black Scythe Sword Style... I just taught it to him for the first time today.’
Then what was with those movements?
Of course, it was still unrefined.
Nevertheless, the essence was perfectly alive.
Exploiting the opponent's opening to inflict a fatal wound.
There were so many things to be surprised about that he didn't even know what to be surprised about anymore.
Worse, while Count Cazar was still reeling from his shock, Chris showed him something even more stunning.
"But do we really have to do it this way?"
"What?"
"I feel like there might be a more efficient method."
Chris grinned.
"Look, a suitable opponent is coming just in time. Please watch."
A new training monster was summoned from the magic circle.
A 2-Ma Class 'Human Mushroom'.
Just as swordsmen, mages, and Majin were categorized by Star levels, there was a system for classifying demonic beasts.
They were divided by Ma levels, and a Ma of a certain number possessed power similar to a Star of the same grade.
In other words, the 'Human Mushroom' just summoned possessed power that overwhelmed Chris, a 1-Star Majin.
"I don't know what you're planning, but that's a 2-Ma Class demonic beast. Don't let your guard down."
"I don't let my guard down. I just have to match my opponent's strength, so why would I? In any case, watch."
Thump, thump, the Human Mushroom charged.
As its name suggested, the Human Mushroom was a demonic beast with a mushroom's body and stem-like appendages for arms and legs.
The limb-like stems were as hard as logs.
Chris launched an attack as before.
A checking attack. The Mud Sword Style.
It was a swift charge, yet a perfect check, and Count Cazar was once again secretly impressed.
‘But it won't be as easy as with the previous beasts. The limbs of a 2-Ma Class Human Mushroom are sturdy enough to ignore the checks of the Mud Sword Style.’
Count Cazar thought to himself.
‘It might not be a bad thing for him to get a good beating this time.’
Chris was outstanding, but arrogant.
He thought that a sound defeat might be an opportunity to shed that arrogance.
But that didn't happen.
It was the moment the Mud Sword Style touched the beast's leg.
A scene completely different from Count Cazar's expectations unfolded.
Slice!
Chris's sword cut through the Human Mushroom's leg.
The beast's leg, tough as a log, was cleanly severed.
"!!"
Count Cazar shot up from his seat in surprise.
"No, how?"
As repeatedly stated, the Mud Sword Style was primarily a checking sword style.
The attack Chris had just used was also a light leg slash.
So what was with that power?
By concentrating his magi?
It would be possible if he could use the Black Sword, a blade of magi available to 3-Star Majin and above.
But that wasn't it.
Chris couldn't use the Black Sword yet.
Then?
‘He combined the Black Scythe with the Mud Sword Style!!!’
Even as the thought occurred to him, Count Cazar found it unbelievable.
Combining two sword styles?
But the strike Chris had just delivered clearly contained both the essence of the Mud Sword, which checks the opponent, and the Black Scythe, which inflicts a fatal blow in a single strike.
"How did you do that?"
"Well, it was nothing special. I just modified the movement so that a burst of power is applied the moment the Mud Sword Style makes contact with the opponent."
"...And how, exactly?"
"Hmm, it's complicated to explain in words. Watch."
Chris pointed to his feet.
"First, I widened my stance a bit more than for the Mud Sword, and shifted my center of gravity to my right back foot. This allows for an instantaneous explosion of power."
"...But wouldn't that throw you off balance?"
"I compensated for the imbalance by manipulating the weight of the sword's pommel."
"......"
"The overall movement of my upper body mostly followed the Mud Sword's form, but I contracted my upper arm muscles more and twisted my wrist slightly more, like with the scythe."
"......"
"And also..."
Chris explained in detail what he had done.
Count Cazar was silent for a long time.
He didn't know what to say.
When he tried to follow his son's words, it was actually possible to maintain the Mud Sword's posture while momentarily unleashing the explosive power of the scythe!
‘...Insane.’
Count Cazar unknowingly swallowed a curse.
‘Isn't this an entirely new sword style?’
This was neither Mud nor Scythe.
It was something new.
‘He created a new sword style on the spot?’
Of course, strictly speaking, it wasn't a proper sword style yet.
It was just a single movement, and in many ways unstable; it had a mountain of flaws to be addressed before it could be called a 'sword style'.
If he had to classify it, it was closer to an improvised 'application' than a new sword style.
Still, it was an incredible feat.
Finding it utterly unbelievable, Count Cazar deliberately downplayed Chris's accomplishment.
"The power has certainly increased, but if you handle magi that way, isn't it difficult to use curses simultaneously?"
"Is that so?"
"Yes. You may not know, but the Mud Style has a magi circulation method specialized for use with curses. The Scythe, on the other hand, does not. It requires you to focus your magi."
Chris tilted his head.
Fwaaa.
As he performed the Scythe's motion, a black cloud of smoke billowed from his other hand.
"I can do both at the same time."
"......"
"Is it supposed to be difficult?"
Count Cazar's mouth fell shut.
He thought of a word he had already thought countless times today.
‘Insane.’
He was his son, but he was vexing.
* * *
And so, time passed.
About a fortnight?
Chris divided his day into three parts.
First was physical training time.
It was the time he hated the most.
‘Damn it, running is so hard!’
It wasn't just running.
Push-ups, sit-ups—basic physical conditioning was what Chris despised most.
‘If only I had been born into a black magic specialty house like Destruction or Curse, I wouldn't have needed to build up my stamina like this!’
But since the Dark Magic House was classified under Demonic Combat, physical training was mandatory.
He found himself once again resenting that he had regressed into the bloodline of a Demonic Combat house like Dark Magic.
The second part of his day was time spent with Count Cazar.
‘Still, training with Count Cazar is quite entertaining.’
What was entertaining was Count Cazar's expression of astonishment every time he did something.
For a man with such a cool demeanor, Count Cazar had a surprisingly diverse range of surprised faces.
‘My skills are improving quickly too.’
Chris tried moving the magi inside his body.
The magi circulated rapidly.
He had reached a higher state.
‘If I were to classify it as Upper, Middle, or Lower, I'd probably be at the Upper level. It's meaningless to classify since I'm only 1-Star, though.’
That wasn't true.
Even within 1-Star, Upper, Middle, and Lower were strictly distinguished.
'Lower' was the level of having just reached that state.
'Middle' was the level of proficiency.
'Upper' was the level of having perfected that state and begun to look toward the next stage, meaning Chris had already reached the end of 1-Star!
All in less than a month since reaching 1-Star.
‘No need to get cocky. I have a long way to go. Still, let's rest tonight and eat something delicious! I can't drink... so beef and strawberry juice! The happy life of a golden spoon Young Master!’
The last part of Chris's three-part schedule.
It was a sweet rest time.
‘To run a marathon, rest is important before you burn out.’
He was inherently lazy and couldn't bring himself to train day and night.
So he set a schedule to train hard during the day and rest at night.
The Magitech Empire, despite being a nation of Majin, did not permit drinking for fifteen-year-olds, so his pleasure was to soothe the day's end with delicious food and snacks.
‘When I turn eighteen, the legal drinking age, I'll drink every kind of alcohol there is.’
He was having such thoughts as he returned to the mansion.
An unexpected person called out to him.
"It's been a while."
"!!"
Chris flinched.
A beautiful woman with a cold image emerged from the darkness.
Black hair and blue eyes.
Her appearance, with aging suppressed by magi, seemed to be in her late twenties.
It was Melin, the Vice-Commander of the Black Swamp Knights!
Chris realized the reason for Melin's appearance.
‘The promised time is almost here.’
A month ago, he had agreed to a proper duel with her, with no restrictions on magi.
The time for their duel had come.