Reincarnated as the Adopted Son of a Prestigious Swordsmanship Family

Chapter 69: Arnea Dujeu (1)

“What brings you back together?”

“We happened to meet in front of the Magic Gate.”

“Did the mission go well?”

“Yes, it was just an outing.”

The Black Tower and Beden.

Simurtr had no connection to that incident. He had asked the parties involved to keep it that way, and had also silenced the mouths of the 3rd Sword Order and the Black Snake.

“Saana will do well.”

Saana's 3rd Sword Order owed a debt to Simurtr. If they had any sense, they wouldn't go around spreading rumors.

“Degrate is strangely respectful.”

Jiaren's influence was at play in the Black Snake. Simurtr thought so.

He recalled the Vice-Leader of the Black Snake, who was at his beck and call. As they were a tight-lipped group, there was no way they would blabber.

“There's nothing good about it being known.”

The white Master. He had already become a target.

He couldn't stand out any more here. In his past life, he would have rampaged more, but not now. It was hard to deal with even one clumsy Great Magician. Simurtr keenly felt his current situation.

“Young master!”

Meram was waiting at the main gate of the annex.

There was no sign of anger. The Mectera, excluding the parties involved, knew that Simurtr had gone to Kainan to carry out the mission given by the 6th Sword Order.

‘I've done all I can.’

He had silenced all the mouths he could.

All that was left was to trust Raphaelo. He had to hope that no strange rumors would spread from Serepes.

‘He's trustworthy.’

Raphaelo Drecie would keep his promise, and would only tell the truth to Grand Duke Lushuala.

He didn't know when their meeting would be, but Simurtr hoped that Lushuala wouldn't do anything foolish.

“Have you been well? Did you sleep?”

“I've been sleeping until just now.”

Simurtr looked at Meram's dark face.

Pure white hair. Her matching white skin had become very dry. The distinct dark circles had come down to near her cheeks.

“Why don't you trust me? It was just a mission.”

“I trust the usual young master.”

“But you waited like this without sleeping?”

The calculation of the Warp coordinates had failed, and the Black Snake had found the way, but Meram still hadn't rested.

“I slept.”

“Whatever.”

She had probably been waiting all along.

Opening the main gate of the annex, until she saw Simurtr walking in perfectly fine.

“Let's go in and sleep.”

“What? Your meal...”

“I ate with my father. Why, are you hungry?”

“I'm fine.”

Simurtr poked Meram's stomach with his finger. Having lived together in the exile mansion, he knew just by poking this much.

“Let's eat and sleep together.”

“...Yes.”

Instead of the tired Meram, Simurtr prepared the food himself.

“It's a relief that you became an adopted son, young master.”

“You're telling me not to cook?”

“Yes. If a situation arises where you absolutely must, I recommend you only prepare the ingredients and leave the rest to someone else.”

“As long as it's edible, what's the problem?”

“Ptui.”

***

Meram.

An orphan of the Doom War.

She had met Aran Lubeil at the end of the war, and he had sent her to the orphanage where Exa had grown up, and she was raised there as his ward. Orıginal content can be found at novęlfire.net

It had already been determined that she had no talent for the sword. Not by Aran. Then who?

“You're up?”

However, despite being born with a talent for magic, she had kicked aside the position of a disciple at the Magic Tower and the Sage's Castle and dedicated herself to Mectera, which was Meram's choice.

“Yes…”

“Do you know what the siblings are doing?”

“A mission... they went out on a mission...”

Meram, who had just woken up, answered with a drowsy face. She was trying to wake up by rubbing her eyes that wouldn't open.

“No wonder I didn't see them. When? With whom?”

The fact that she had dedicated herself to Mectera, Simurtr couldn't understand, but he could accept it. It was Meram's choice. Who could stop her if that's what she wanted to do?

“It's a joint mission with the 6th Sword Order. With the high-ranking swordsman Kehellan…”

But Meram had purposely remained at the exile mansion. Even after the promised period was over, she had insisted. What was supposed to be a year had stretched to a full seven years.

Even when she was attacked by the 3rd Sword Order, she did not leave his side. She had entered the castle with him, and she was still guarding his side.

‘Why?’

She did it because she liked it? But he couldn't accept this. He wasn't talking about entering the castle together later.

Seven years was a long time, and a bond had formed during that time.

“It's about time to dye it again. I can see a lot of black.”

“Ah.”

A knot tightens the more you pull it. But Meram's choice to stay at the exile mansion after the first year was a story from before the knot was formed.

Seven years. Why did Meram stay at the exile mansion even after the one-year contract period was over? What was so good about that mountain that she stayed with him?

‘She didn't come to Mectera to be with me.’

Meram must have had her own thoughts and purpose. The reason she chose Mectera.

What Simurtr could be certain of was that the reason was at least not the exile mansion or the fourth adopted son.

“Meram.”

To know the reason, he had to start from the beginning.

Simurtr asked Meram, who was checking her own hair.

“What is your relationship with Aran?”

-Aran Lubeil is crazy.

The reason that would be in Gerehk Mectera's coffin, perhaps Meram knew.

“He is my benefactor.”

“To be precise.”

It was a sudden question with an unknown intention, but Meram answered without minding.

“It was the relationship between a guardian and an orphan.”

It wasn't a secret in the first place. Even when she was enrolled in the academy, everyone knew of Meram's origins.

It was just that no one treated her carelessly because her guardian was the famous 6th Head of the Sword of Mectera.

“Aran and an orphanage don't really match.”

Mectera had contracts with many Imperial orphanages. It was to find outstanding talent, and for the orphans, it was a chance to be adopted.

But that was something Mectera did, not something Aran had done. The Aran Simurtr remembered was a person who would disparage such things as giving false hope.

“He started sponsoring since the end of the war?”

“Yes.”

That Aran had taken in Meram, acted as her guardian, and sponsored the orphanage with a jaw-dropping amount of money every year.

“Is that place some kind of talent development center?”

Such a change was unfamiliar. The Aran Simurtr remembered was not that kind of person.

Unless all the children in the orphanage were born with a talent for the sword.

“It's an ordinary orphanage. I was just lucky enough to have talent.”

“Then why does he sponsor it?”

Simurtr tilted his head.

According to Meram's words, Aran should have no interest in that orphanage at all. It was also strange that he had shown favor to Meram. She wasn't a swordsman, but a magician.

“There are circumstances.”

“What are they.”

“I would like to tell you, but I don't think it's right for me to speak of Sir Aran's circumstances.

I think it would be better for you to hear it directly from him.”

“It's okay to tell me.”

“Then you will be able to hear it directly from him even more easily.”

Meram drew a line.

That Meram. It was a firmness that even Simurtr, who had been with her for seven years, had seen for the first time.

Knock, knock.

It was then that someone knocked on the door.

“Why…”

Simurtr was about to answer reflexively but stopped abruptly. Not the entrance of the annex, but Simurtr's room.

The one who knocked on that door was usually Meram's hand. But Meram was right in front of him.

The 4th-Star level Sword Net was limited to 5 meters. That distance was a line that did not burden Simurtr.

Simurtr slightly extended that distance. He passed the door and put the someone beyond it into his Sword Net.

As the place was Mectera, there was naturally no hostility. However, it was unfamiliar. A familiar... but unfamiliar presence, mana.

“The main door was open. Shall I come back later?”

The mistress of Mectera, the mother of the siblings.

Arnea Dujeu.

***

It wasn't a bewildering situation.

From the moment he had given his permission to Ael, Simurtr had instinctively felt that Arnea would come to visit someday.

‘That type of person needs to see with their own eyes to be satisfied.’

If anything, she was a bit late. The main castle had been turned upside down due to the kidnapping of Janya and Beden, and in the meantime, Simurtr had gone on a mission.

‘Arnea Dujeu.’

The Sword Tower of the East.

A tower for swordsmen, comparable to the Mectera of the Empire. The bloodline of Dujeu, the master of that Sword Tower.

Regarding that Arnea Dujeu... he had heard bits and pieces about Ael.

‘She married into Mectera.’

A late bloomer. When Simurtr first saw Arnea, he had thought that.

‘That Dujeu.’

The Dujeu's Sword Tower.

Or the Sword Tower's Dujeu.

Outside the Empire. No, even within the Empire, Dujeu was a famous surname, as much as Mectera.

The further east one went, the more the fame of Dujeu reached the heavens.

Dujeu. A clan that has called themselves the masters of the Sword Tower for generations.

The family that holds the top position among the four noble families of the Sword Tower.

‘She's not weak either.’

At the banquet, Arnea had suppressed her aura, but now, seeing the smiling Arnea in front of him, he was certain.

‘Sword Master.’

As befitting the bloodline of Dujeu, Arnea had reached that level.

‘But why?’

That Dujeu in Mectera?

The relationship between the Sword Tower and Mectera wasn't bad.

The Sword Tower was in the east, outside the Empire, but it was still close to Mectera.

The holy land of the sword, the tower of swordsmen. They pursued the same thing. The swordsmen of Mectera and the swordsmen of the Sword Tower were bound to desire each other.

‘Mad for it, the Sword Demon; collected, the Sword Scholar.’

Just as Mectera was crazy about the sword, the Sword Tower loved the sword. The world welcomed such a structure.

Close friends and rivals. Mectera and the Sword Tower had such a relationship. In reality, they had quite a lot of exchanges.

‘But it wasn't a marriage alliance, was it?’

They pursued the same thing, but their methods were different.

That was why the exchanges between Mectera and the Sword Tower usually consisted of sparring or duels.

A sword demon and a swordsman were similar but different. They seemed like they could mix, but they couldn't.

Mectera was crazy about fighting with the sword, and the Sword Tower was crazy about the sword itself.

‘Because it's Orde?’

Come to think of it, the unfitting personality of Orde in Mectera might have stimulated the temper of Dujeu.

‘Lete Dujeu. What's the relationship?’

During the war, he had seen the army and delegation of the Sword Tower several times.

They had always come to greet Exa.

It was because a Dujeu bloodline was enlisted in the Baperr unit. He had seen the Sword Tower Master of that time, and had seen several of the Dujeu clan.

‘I've never seen Arnea.’

Age? She looked young, but that was thanks to her mana. Her powerful mana was maintaining the prime of her body.

Simurtr knew Arnea's age through Ael. She was older than that unit member.

‘I don't know. I'll find out someday.’

He didn't know the Dujeu family tree. What Exa was interested in was his unit member, not their lineage.

“Was I a bother? Shall I come back later?”

Arnea smiled sweetly.

It was because she had seen the hastily departing Meram.

“...It is not the kind of relationship you are thinking of.”

“Oh my. You sleep together even when it's not that kind of relationship?”

“She needed sleep, so I forced her to.”

“There's no need to deny it so much. If you like each other, you do it.”

“...I said it's not like that.”

“I heard you.”

Simurtr pressed his brow firmly.

Would Ael become like this when she grew up? The smiling Arnea was difficult to deal with.

“I heard the siblings went out on a joint mission.”

“Oh my. You're really close with my children, aren't you?”

“We are not that close. Our blood may be different, but we are still brothers, are we not?”

“Were you close with Beden too?”

For a moment, Simurtr raised his head higher. He looked into Arnea's eyes. She knows. She knows. Orde had hidden it from Medeoban, but he had not hidden it from Arnea.

‘Was he unable to hide it?’

Come to think of it, Orde was a father and a husband who was more suited to be led than to lead.

“I believe we are in the process of getting closer. We haven't known each other for long, have we?”

“Isn't it the same with my siblings?”

Arnea's smile is bright. It is serene, as if without a care. To have such a face while Janya was dead.

“Everyone progresses at a different pace.”

“Even after what happened?”

“They are still young. There is plenty of room for rehabilitation.”

For a moment, Arnea's smile deepened. She knew the whole story of Simurtr's return from the exile mansion to the main family.

Although she had been away for a while, she was the mistress of the main family. She had also heard a lot from Ael.

“Aren't you the same age?”

“That might be why I think that way.”

That brazen attitude.

This was a child who had threatened the previous Sword Master and the current Sword Master at the Selection Ceremony, and Janya at the banquet by rolling a person's head.

He wouldn't be flustered just by facing a mere mistress....

“It seems you did not have a good relationship with her, Lady Arnea.”

“Hmm?”

“I can be like this because my brother Beden is alive, but that is not the case for you, Lady Arnea.”

“Oh my. Do I not look sad?”

Far from being flusttered, an attack.

It must be because she had tried to gauge his intentions first.

If you don't touch him first, he won't act. But if you touch him, he will surely repay you. Arnea understood Simurtr's nature.

‘Frightening, but kind.’

Now, seeing Simurtr's smile, Arnea unconsciously nodded. She understood what Ael had said.

“Have you no thought of calling me mom?”

Arnea said it unconsciously.

“...Wasn't it mother? The siblings called you that.”

“The youngest is supposed to have a cute side, isn't he? Our Jahar and Ael are too mature.”

“I think Ael has the wrong idea about me.”

“Then call me mother.”

“I have no thoughts of it yet, Lady Arnea.”

“If you ever do, come find me anytime. The siblings are doing well. Though the high-ranking swordsman accompanying them is a nuisance, they say.”

Arnea answered the question Simurtr had asked only after she had finished what she had to say.

“I see.”

“They were sad that they couldn't be with you. They were cursing, asking why you left alone.

Ael said that.”

Simurtr nodded. He roughly got the picture. The outline of Arnea's nature was taking shape.

She was the type of person who needed to control the situation to be satisfied. If not control, then she had a strong consciousness of needing to take the lead.

‘Because she's a Dujeu.’

Considering that her lineage were the rulers of the Sword Tower, it was natural. The opponents that the swordsman Dujeu acknowledged were set. The practitioners of the sword. Among them, they respected the strong.

“What do you think? Will you tell the siblings?”

She must be talking about the Black Tower incident.

Simurtr shook his head.

“It's already over, so what's the point of telling them?”

“You would have told them if it wasn't over?”

It wasn't over yet.

That was the reason he had passed the credit for destroying the Black Tower to Orde.

“Is there a need to do so? They're not even related.”

“Oh my. Why are they not related? They are all siblings.”

Just as Simurtr had called Beden and the siblings his brothers, Beden and the siblings were also brothers in the end. And their blood was connected.

Arnea was constantly trying to gauge Simurtr's intentions. She wanted to understand him completely.

To be precise, his feelings, his thoughts about her beloved siblings.

“The judgment of the parents would be more appropriate than that of a child like me. Please do as you wish, Lady Arnea.”

But Simurtr cut off the conversation. The siblings, Jahar and Ael. That was not the topic he was interested in right now.

Honestly. His thoughts about the siblings were not that great right now. If he could divide his brain into several sections, they would be in a corner. A very small compartment at that.

Right now, Simurtr was leaning not towards the siblings, but towards Arnea. He was drawn to Dujeu.

‘It would be strange to ask.’

If the opponent wasn't a Dujeu, he wouldn't have been this interested. That sky-colored hair, those eyes. Seeing them reminded him of a unit member.

‘I wonder what she's doing.’

Lete Dujeu.

A member of Baperr's unit, and the youngest daughter of the Sword Tower Master.

A troublemaker who ran away from the Sword Tower as soon as she came of age, saying she would succeed on her own without the family's power.

“May I ask just one thing?”

He was so curious about her whereabouts that Simurtr opened his mouth unconsciously.

“There's no need for such formalities between us.”

“Do you happen to know Lete Dujeu?”

“Oh my. She's not someone you can just call by her name like that.”

“Pardon?”

“She is the Sword Tower Master. My youngest sister.”

“Pardon?”

Her?