Chapter 52
Chapter 52
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Kyle Ragnar (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Kyahaha! My daughter! My precious baby girl! Where are you? I heard you were right here!”
The Camellia Palace suddenly grew noisy.
It was because of Magic General Kirson’s visit.
Naturally, the maids’ chatter increased as well.
-Oh my, the Magic General’s here again. She’s been showing up a lot lately.
-Yeah, tell me about it.
-Rumors say Cecilia was her foster daughter. Looks like they’re true.
-Yeah, yeah. No wonder Cecilia has such sharp eyes.
-Oh, come on, don’t lie without even wetting your lips. Didn’t she say the General was so strict she’d spit out pumpkin seeds?
-I wasn’t the only one trash-talking her.
-Of course, I joined in too. Hohoho!
Kirson barreled through the whispering maids and butlers, bellowing at the top of her lungs.
“My daughter! Oh, my daughter, where are you!”
But no answer came back.
So Kirson began throwing open every door in the Camellia Palace with gusto.
“Are you here?”
Bang!
“Nope. How about here?”
Bang!
“Then maybe here?”
Boom!
After tormenting a dozen innocent doors,
Bang!
“There you are!”
Kirson finally found her desperately(?) sought-after youngest daughter, Cecilia.
Cecilia happened to be in the middle of designing a tailcoat for Theo with some clothing designers.
Irritation was plain on her face.
She’d planned to finish the work as quickly as possible before the third exam ended in a day, but now she’d been interrupted.
“...Everyone, please step out for a moment.”
The designers glanced around nervously and cleared out.
Cecilia then glared at Kirson with blazing eyes.
“What kind of rudeness is this, Mother? I specifically asked you to maintain some dignity in the palace!”
Kirson flinched a little but soon broke into a beaming grin.
Her nostrils flared wide, as if steam might pour out.
“Dignity? Maintaining dignity in a situation like this would be the weird part! I’m about to become filthy rich!”
“You’re already rich, Mother.”
“Even if I say I’m not just rich, you argue. Filthy rich—I mean filthy rich! Kyahaha!”
Cecilia shook her head at Kirson, who was laughing half-madly.
Ever since Theo gained fame,
Kirson had been dropping by like this unannounced more often.
The advertising effect from Theo was beyond imagination, or so she’d heard.
Thanks to that, the Basque Workshop’s order backlog was filled through the end of next year.
And yet, reservations kept pouring in.
No wonder a capitalist elf slave to money would lose her mind over it.
But Cecilia didn’t like Kirson’s attitude.
It felt sleazy, like she was profiting off her son,
but more than that, she was anxious about whether Theo had been seriously hurt during his Awakening Ceremony.
‘When my son stayed cooped up in the Rose Palace, I nagged him endlessly, but now that he’s out there shining, I’m even more frustrated... I guess I’m just not cut out to be a mother, my son.’
Looking back now,
she hadn’t been a good mother to Theo.
She’d only ever scolded him for not doing things properly.
-A tool to cling to my husband’s drifting affection.
Sometimes she’d even seen him that way.
She’d thought if Theo shone, Kyle’s visits to the Rose Palace would pick up again.
But Theo hadn’t followed her wishes,
and their mother-son bond had only grown distant.
Then, their stale relationship started improving thanks to Theo’s courage.
As Theo began to stand out, Cecilia’s heart opened wide,
and Theo matched her pace.
Back then, she hadn’t realized it at all.
She’d been too busy worrying how to give Theo wings,
how he could withstand the scrutiny and pressure around him.
But now,
with Theo away for so long, she finally realized it keenly.
How harshly she’d treated her son all this time.
He was still just a fifteen-year-old boy.
At an age when he needed his mother’s embrace most, she’d let him grow up so fast. She felt guilty about it.
‘The third Awakening Ceremony is coming up soon. Will he be okay?’
Her husband’s reunion wouldn’t be all warm and fuzzy.
That worried her too.
“Kyahaha!”
“......”
The problem was that this immature woman had no clue about her daughter’s pensive mood.
‘...First things first, chase her out and think later.’
Cecilia glared at Kirson with fiery eyes.
Then, a casual remark from the butlers long ago popped into her mind.
-There’ve been a lot of inquiries about Young Master’s swordsmanship teacher lately.
-Your son had a sword teacher? And I didn’t know...! Who is it?
-Evelyn Nereville, who manages the Fourth Training Grounds. She used to be the White Dragon Knights’...
Her mother’s face came into view—still infuriating, but with skills unmatched in the North.
“Mother.”
“What is it?”
“Have you ever made a prosthetic arm?”
* * *
“Ugh...!”
After Theo and Erika’s sparring ended,
Erika grimaced from the throbbing muscle pain.
She hadn’t noticed during the heated fight, but her whole body was screaming now.
A Ragnar beating Ranke with sheer power?
What kind of nonsense was that?
「Heh heh! See? Told you it wouldn’t be easy.」
Then, Holkus’s mocking chuckle wormed into her ear.
Erika’s eyebrow twitched.
「...Could you shut up? I feel like I’m dying here.」
「I told you so. Even you couldn’t win, sis. Ignored me and look at you now. Puhahaha!」
「You little—?」
If he kept scratching at her nerves, she’d really deck him. Sensing that, Holkus quickly stifled his laugh.
But he couldn’t stop his lips from twitching.
Twitch twitch—
‘Kill that punk? Or nah?’
Erika desperately wanted to smack her smug little brother’s head,
but with no strength left, she just sighed and gave up.
Even standing was a chore right now.
Holkus was thrilled at her state.
It felt like decades of pent-up frustration melting away.
‘Puhahaha! Gotta use this trick more often!’
Truth be told, Erika charging at Theo had been Holkus’s scheme(?).
No matter how great his sister was, he’d teased her that she couldn’t win.
Of course, competitive Erika wouldn’t sit still,
and this was the result.
‘But seeing my cool sister lose to that guy... He really human?」
Unlike Erika, Theo’s breathing was only slightly ragged, and he looked plenty energetic.
‘Handsome face, fights well, great stamina, beats sis—what can’t that guy do?’
More than that,
Theo’s words during the spar kept echoing in his head.
-The head of Ragnar becoming Ranke’s son-in-law? Come on, we’re a great house at least.
-Any Ragnar heir could dream that big, sure.
‘So damn cool.’
It wasn’t dramatic or angry.
Just casual, like it was no big deal.
As if he’d only done what was expected.
That’s why—
It probably hit Holkus even harder.
He’d known Theo was cool before.
But this was different.
It wasn’t just his looks or style—it was his speech, his actions, all screaming hidden dragon eyeing the throne.
The bold ambition any man would dream of.
Thump thump!
Recalling it made his heart race again.
-Like I’d been swept up in Theo’s resolve.
‘Sis always said she’d become head. Not settling for Ranke—putting them way below Ragnar.’
As a kid, he’d dismissed it as nonsense—how could a vassal house surpass a great one?
But now, watching, he got it.
How grand her dream was.
And Theo had an equally awesome one.
So here’s the question.
What’s my dream?
Just getting cool?
Or just getting strong?
‘Dunno... Not yet.’
Holkus’s mind swirled with tangled thoughts.
-I want to find a dream.
He’d lived day-to-day chasing whatever seemed fun or cool, thoughtlessly.
Now, he craved throwing himself into something bigger.
Like Theo or Erika.
Thump thump thump—
His heart pounded faster.
‘If I keep watching them, maybe I’ll figure out what I want?’
As Holkus fidgeted in a way that didn’t suit his bulk, a gaze watched him from afar.
‘Young Master Theo’s hooked another one.’
Wellington chuckled wryly at the Fourth Training Grounds dawn crew gaining one more member.
He knew exactly what Holkus’s reaction meant.
He’d been the same once.
That magnetic pull drawing people to his dream.
That, perhaps,
was Theo’s greatest strength.
* * *
“Ughhh... Can’t just sit here dying forever.”
Erika slowly stood and turned to Theo.
Her body still creaked everywhere, but she was in the middle of the third exam.
Quitting was out of the question, even over her dead body.
“Hey, Zziriri.”
“...You mean me?”
Theo stared in disbelief at the nickname that seemed aimed at him.
But Erika nodded like it was the most natural thing.
“Yeah. You’re Zziriri, he’s Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes, and missy here’s Ice Queen.”
Wellington let out a hollow laugh.
“Why am I Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes of all things?”
“You look too straight-laced.”
“That’s your only reason...!”
“And your speech is all old-man.”
“......”
“You really fifteen?”
While Wellington reeled from the comment on his speech, Ray blinked in confusion.
“Why am I Ice Queen?”
“You shoot ice everywhere.”
“......”
“What? Need another reason?”
It basically meant she’d picked sides.
‘So I’m just tagged for thunder attribute? Why Zziriri of all nicknames...?」
Theo recalled some cartoon character from Earth and sighed lightly.
“Whatever. So?”
“How’re we climbing that? Meeting your dad looks impossible.”
Erika was probably the only one bold enough to phrase it that way to the Ragnar head.
“The Family Head’s presence will grow stronger the closer we get to the mountain lodge. Better abandon any thought of resisting it.”
“Then?”
“We match the mana wavelengths.”
“Wavelengths?”
Erika tilted her head, not getting it.
Holkus and Ray looked lost too.
But Wellington seemed to catch on.
“Interfere with the reverse-phase waves to cancel the displacement?”
“Exactly.”
“Hmm! Easier said than done, though...”
“It’s tough, but no other way. The third exam’s all about mana control and regulation.”
“True enough.”
Erika, standing blankly, scowled fiercely.
“Reverse-phase? Waves? Interference? What’re you even saying? Explain so I get it.”
Holkus and Ray nodded vigorously beside her.
Wellington smirked and turned to Erika.
The “you don’t even know that?” vibe.
It irked Erika, but she held back and listened quietly.
“Mana’s a kind of wave. It has vibrational properties. The Family Head’s presence is waves too, so to cut through, we calculate the counter-waves to cancel them out.”
“...So make mana opposite this damn pressure and blast it?”
“Roughly, yeah.”
“Then just say that, smartass! You picked hard words on purpose ‘cause I called you Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes?”
Wellington just shrugged without answering.
Erika glared daggers but soon frowned.
He was right—talk was cheap; the difficulty was insane.
They were newbies who’d only opened their mana channels less than a month ago.
Even with the rapid channeling method, such fine control was beyond them.
But.
“Don’t obsess over perfect wave cancellation. No matter how hard we try, we can’t block the Family Head’s presence. Not even the Nine Dragons could.”
Theo stepped forward casually as he spoke.
Boom!
The pressure on his shoulders intensified far beyond before.
His balance wobbled slightly but quickly steadied.
Not even the Nine Dragons could.
The others’ eyes automatically turned to the judge.
The judge stood with hands behind his back, just smiling.
“We just need to secure enough space to move. That’s plenty doable now.”
Step, step—
Theo started walking slowly.
With each step, faint ripples spread along the ground.
His balance stabilized, and his pace quickened.
“I’ll go first.”
Whoosh—
Theo began ascending the slope,
“Better hurry, all of you. Third exam scores are tiered by arrival order.”
and at the judge’s offhand remark, the four sprang into frantic motion.
How the Illegitimate Son of the Returning Sword Family Lives