"What did you say? I think I heard you wrong……."
[I told you to become the Family Head of the Runei Family.]
Mitchell picked at his ear.
Calian should at least say something that made sense.
Not only was it impossible for an outsider like him to become Family Head, he had no particular desire to take on such a headache-inducing position.
Wouldn't it be more productive to spend that time training even a little?
So Mitchell answered firmly.
"No."
[What?]
"What would even be good about becoming Family Head? I'd just have to deal with one headache after another. And I have no connection to the Runei Family at all."
[Then why are you here?]
At those words, Mitchell remembered something he had forgotten.
Calian had entered his body when he went to the Rapel Family.
So naturally, Calian did not know why Mitchell was staying with the Runei Family.
Thus, Mitchell briefly explained everything that had happened so far.
[Hah…… To think they let it collapse like this instead of developing what they already had.]
"To be precise, they did build it up. It just fell to pieces after the war."
[Silence! The result is the same!]
It wasn't as though the Family had completely collapsed and disappeared, so why was he getting so worked up?
But Mitchell soon let it go.
Mitchell himself didn't particularly care whether the Family survived or collapsed, but it might be important to Calian.
"Anyway, I just want to train."
The desire to grow stronger.
That was all Mitchell cared about now.
[Ugh…… Even so, should not a man know what it is to lead a family?]
"I've never really thought that way. And honestly, Runei isn't exactly in a good situation right now, so why would I bother?"
[What do you take the name Runei for?! Do you dare look down on Runei and its five-hundred-year history?!]
"Tch. It's not like I said anything wrong."
Mitchell muttered under his breath, then noticed something odd in Calian's words.
"But what do you mean, five hundred years?"
[To carry on the name of Runei is to inherit the Sword of Death.]
According to the explanation that followed, Runei was an ancient branch that had passed down the Sword of Death.
But finding someone with talent for the Sword of Death was not easy, and in the end, Calian became the final inheritor.
Thus, instead of searching for a disciple, he built up a family and sought to continue Runei's lineage through it.
[However, because those with talent for the Sword of Death are exceedingly rare, I poured all my strength into creating new martial arts in my later years. Martial arts that could be used not only by those who wield the Sword of Death, but also by those who wield an ordinary sword. The Heaven-Breaking Sword is one of them.]
Well, he understood that much.
But Mitchell asked about something more important.
It was a question he had not had the chance to ask last time because of the nonstop fighting.
"You've kept saying since last time that I use the Sword of Death, but what exactly is it?"
[What? You wield the Sword of Death without even knowing what it is? Did you not learn it here?]
"I told you, Runei's a complete wreck."
Words that would break Kayden's heart if he heard them.
But apparently they hurt Calian too.
[Hah…… Has everything truly been lost……?]
"So what is the Sword of Death?"
Mitchell's question snapped Calian back to himself.
If what Mitchell said was true, then Calian needed him all the more.
Calian considered how to explain it, then remembered that Mitchell came from a family of black mages and began speaking.
[If magic explores the laws of nature, then black magic explores human life and death. Though it has branched and changed over time, the fact remains that black magic began as a means to explore human life and death.]
Mitchell wondered why Calian was suddenly talking about magic, but he began listening closely as the explanation continued.
[Martial arts are the same. The difference lies in whether one seeks the laws of nature through the martial path or seeks life and death. Thus, even the realm reached at the very end of the martial path, beyond Master and Grand Master, differs. Raise your sword.]
Mitchell raised his sword as instructed.
Calian's energy swept over his body, then drew in yin-laden energy from the surroundings.
[All things eventually meet death, then cycle back into life. Through death, life is conceived.]
Hearing the explanation, Mitchell unconsciously moved the energy Calian had gathered and scattered it over a small, nameless fruit on the ground.
The fruit began to rot in an instant.
Soon a fly landed on it, wandered across the flesh of the rotten fruit, then pressed its abdomen against it.
It was preparing to bring forth life.
[Handling life and death in this way is what we call dark swordsmanship. And…….]
Calian drew a soul from inside Mitchell's body and placed it on the sword.
The soul seemed soothed by Calian's energy and rested quietly on Mitchell's blade without letting out a single ghostly wail.
Then, as the soul moved here and there according to Calian's will, a portion of it entered the fly sitting on the fruit.
BZZZ—
The fly flew over and landed on the blade.
It now gave off the same sensation as the soul on the sword.
[This is the Sword of Death that Runei has passed down.]
Mitchell understood what Calian meant without any further explanation.
'So if dark swordsmanship is like black magic, then the Sword of Death is like soul-type magic.'
This was practically made for him.
[It seems you are finally interested. Promise that you will become Family Head, and I will accept you as my disciple.]
He was interested.
The problem was that he did not want to become Family Head, and it was not a position he could take merely because he wanted it.
Mitchell shook his head as though there was no helping it.
"Do you think they'd just hand the position to me because I said, 'I want to be Family Head'? I'm not even related by blood."
[What does blood matter? In the Runei Family, all that matters is being able to wield the Sword of Death well.]
"But I can't wield it now."
[Who said you must become Family Head this instant? How could a brat who has only just become a Grade 3 Aura User lead a family?]
Huh? He thought Calian meant right now.
Mitchell realized he had been under a major misunderstanding.
Of course, that did not mean he wanted the position, but now he had something to say.
"Then you'll have to teach me the Sword of Death first, won't you?"
[……Indeed.]
"Then I'll do it."
[…….]
Because of what Mitchell had said before, his credibility plummeted in Calian's eyes.
Anyone could see that Mitchell looked as though he intended to learn everything and leave it at that.
[You brat! Do not tell such an obvious lie!]
"I'm not lying. I just don't know when that would be……. And what am I supposed to do when I really don't want to be Family Head?!"
[Haa…….]
Faced with Mitchell's unwavering attitude, Calian sighed and thought.
Mitchell's ability to handle souls was what had broken the seal on the Soul Stone.
The problem was that the one who had done it happened to be Mitchell, who was not a member of the Runei Family.
In any case, now that Calian had already entered his body, he only had two choices.
Either gently coax Mitchell into it, or simply disperse back into nature.
At least Mitchell showing interest in the Sword of Death was fortunate.
So Calian had no choice but to offer a new alternative.
[Then let us do this. I will not tell you to become Family Head. But you will become a member of the Runei Family.]
"Oh, I like that. Then allow your new disciple to pay his respects, Master."
[Very well…….]
Calian accepted the greeting, yet he could not shake the feeling that he was somehow being swept along by Mitchell's pace.
***
Kayden was handling various matters in his office when he paused to press at his dry, aching eyes.
"There truly is no end to it."
No. That's not right.
He had no right to complain about this.
The Family had nearly collapsed under his watch, after all.
The war with the Rapel Family that had dragged on for more than a decade was finally over.
Ranga might be a major city, but as the two families fiercely competed to secure influence, they had been carving away at each other's flesh.
The problem was that while Runei was based only in Ranga, Rapel had continued receiving financial transfusions with the help of a central noble.
Had that not been why Runei had even plunged into developing mana cars to expand the Family's businesses?
But a new business could never be that easy.
Meanwhile, they had lost their businesses one by one and nearly fallen into complete ruin.
'And yet everything changed after that boy Mitchell arrived.'
If Mitchell had not helped Grant when he was in danger, and if he had not gone into Rapel with him—
Kayden would undoubtedly have lost his son.
Mitchell had even helped him in his fight against Cain.
His battle with Cain had been evenly matched, but the situation had been unfavorable.
'If the combined attack formation had joined in as well, I really might have lost.'
He had rushed there without once looking back when he thought Grant was in danger, but as Family Head, it was a choice he should never have made.
If he had lost there, it truly would have been the end.
A man who led countless others had moved without thinking.
And yet Mitchell had resolved that crisis for him.
'It truly is unbelievable.'
He was not talking only about what had happened with the Rapel Family.
Kayden had been astonished from the first time Mitchell released his energy.
Anger over the matter with Chief Steward Hail and Grant nearly dying had sent Kayden's energy surging in every direction.
Mitchell had hurriedly raised his own energy in response, and Kayden had sensed the scent of dark Aura within it.
Among the things the Family had once sought to preserve was dark swordsmanship, and above all, the Sword of Death.
Kayden recalled something his father had told him long ago when he was a child.
'Father said the Founding Ancestor created the Family in order to pass down the Sword of Death.'
That was why, even as the lineage of dark swordsmanship died out across the Empire, the Runei Family had produced at least one person in every generation who learned the Sword of Death.
Of course, only until the war with the Holy Empire.
At the time, most of the martial artists who led the Family had lost their lives, and a fire in the library had caused most of the teachings to be lost as well.
'If I can just keep that boy here, couldn't we rebuild the foundation?'
Though it had now been lost, the Sword of Death was the root of the Family.
Once the immediate threat of Rapel was gone, Kayden found himself coveting a future farther ahead.
'If we took him in as a disciple of the Family…….'
After considering it briefly, Kayden shook his head.
That would not be enough.
He had to bind Mitchell more firmly to the Family.
More importantly, Grant had told him that Mitchell had used Heaven-Breaking Annihilation without any backlash.
Kayden had been too busy fighting Cain Rapel to see it properly, but his son would not lie about something like that.
That meant Mitchell had found a solution on his own.
He absolutely had to hold on to that boy.
'A mere trainee will never do.'
His daughter naturally came to mind.
Sylvia Runei.
Sylvia had left to study black magic because she wanted to help the Family.
Fortunately, she seemed to have talent for it, and before long, she had even sent word that she had joined the Black Tower.
When she heard that the Family had begun developing mana cars, she sent a letter saying she would wrap up what she was doing and return immediately.
"If they take a liking to each other, that would work."
Making Mitchell a son-in-law who married into the Family would not be a bad idea.
If the two truly did not suit each other, Mitchell could simply marry another member of the Family.
As Kayden considered one possibility after another, voices came from outside the office door.
What are you talking about?
How many times do I have to tell you?
How am I supposed not to ask again when you suddenly say something like that?
A smile spread across Kayden's face at their conversation.
Perhaps because they were the same age, the two had grown quite close before he knew it.
He had no idea what they were talking about to make such a fuss outside the door.
Kayden was just about to tell them to come in when the next words made him close his mouth.
Why? Don't you want me to become family?
No, I'd like that. But would Father allow it?
Become family?
I need to give permission?
His mind raced.
Putting those two statements together immediately brought Sylvia to mind.
So Kayden spread both arms toward Mitchell just as he opened the door and came in.
"What more is there to say? Of course I approve!"
Of course, he would have to hear Sylvia's opinion too, but that was something he could put a little effort into.
More important was snatching up the watermelon that had rolled in vine and all—no, the son-in-law who would marry into the Family.
When Kayden welcomed him so warmly, Mitchell bowed his head with a bright smile.
"Thank you! Father!"
But something about the wording was slightly off.
Father, not Father-in-law.
While Kayden was still wondering what Mitchell meant, Mitchell bowed deeply once again.
"To think you'd so readily accept me as your adopted son!"
"N-No…… That is a matter that has to go through a Family council……."
Flustered, Kayden reached out with the arms he had spread to try to stop him, but Mitchell covered his ears and kept bowing deeply over and over.
'Of course. If this is what it takes to gain the Sword of Death, I can put up with this much trouble.'
[…….]
Watching the scene, Calian shook his head.
He wondered whether he had just pushed some strange fellow into the Family.
[Well, they will sort it out themselves.]
Was this not all because his descendants had run the Family into the ground?
He decided to think of it that way.