Genius Gamer Reborn into a Family of Heroes

Chapter 26

Secret of the Sword King’s Throne

After finishing all the Rank Duels, Harang was separately summoned by Lauren Chaygan.

“Here, this is a certificate proving that you graduated as the top student. Every member of the Kaladan bloodline has one, but since you’re so young, it’s particularly meaningful.”

“You’re calling me young master now?”

“Of course. You’ve completed the training. Although you won’t be leaving White Night Castle, you’ll be heading to the Second Raw Stone Training Squadron to learn the Kaladan Swordsmanship. We likely won’t see each other much.”

White Night Castle was massive, almost like a small city. Unless Harang intentionally sought him out, there would be no reason for him to run into Lauren.

‘Hmm, I wanted to learn some magic, but maybe that’s just being greedy.’

The fact that he used magic was a secret he kept from others.

Using magic wasn’t a crime. From what Harang knew, some members of the Polden Knights also learned magic as an auxiliary skill.

Similarly, it was said that wizards from magic families learned martial arts to enhance their physical strength.

The reason Harang didn’t reveal his magic usage was largely to keep it as a secret weapon.

In a life-or-death battle, using magic unexpectedly could offer a significant advantage.

“Remember that you need to participate in the Honorary Sword Conference in six months. You’ll be competing against kids around your age. You’ll probably win most of them easily, but… be cautious of a girl named ‘Chorien’ from the Emblitz family.”

“Chorien? Who is she?”

“She’s not quite at your level, but she reached the first star at the age of eight and has been defeating older swordsmen.”

“Oh.”

Harang’s eyes sparkled with interest. Seeing his curiosity, Lauren continued with enthusiasm.

“She’s a year older than you… She’ll likely participate in this year’s Honorary Sword Conference as well. Although she’s only a second-star swordsman, and you’ve defeated third stars, she has already mastered the Emblitz family’s ultimate technique and secrets.”

The ultimate technique (極成戰奇) was the strongest skill a martial artist could use, typically passed down to a select few within a family’s direct lineage.

Not every family possessed it, and it was known to be transmitted among the direct bloodlines of only a few prestigious families, including the three major swordsmanship families.

Of course, the Kaladan family also had its own secrets and ultimate techniques, but Harang had not yet learned them. Having just completed basic training at White Night Castle, he had no time to learn such things.

He would go to the Second Training Squadron to learn the techniques and secrets, but mastering them within six months would be challenging.

‘Hmm, ultimate techniques. I think I’ll learn the secrets through a quest soon, and I could probably create the techniques if I set my mind to it.’

While Harang was having such presumptuous thoughts, Lauren continued his advice.

“You’d better not lose to Chorien. If you do, His Grace will be very displeased.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The Emblitz family was one of the three major swordsmanship families.

In other words, they were rivals of the Kaladan family, so it was natural for Duke Kalel to react sensitively.

‘Even without such circumstances, I have no intention of losing.’

Seeing Harang’s determined resolve, Lauren smiled with satisfaction and pulled something from his pocket. It was a thickly bound spellbook that seemed recently compiled.

“This is a graduation gift. A combat spellbook I compiled myself.”

“Is this really a spellbook?”

“Yes. Though you’ll be busy mastering the sword for now, you’ll eventually face wizards. Having magical knowledge will be quite helpful then. I’m giving this to you because you’re an exceptionally promising student, so don’t show it to anyone else.”

“Of course. Such a precious thing…”

‘Precious?’

Normally, the scions of knightly families tended to look down on magic.

From the perspective of those striving to be the strongest with the sword, wizards who threw around flames and lightning with weak bodies seemed pathetic.

So, Lauren half-expected a response like ‘There’s no need to study to deal with wizards,’ and was slightly disappointed when he didn’t get one. Instead, he was taken aback by Harang’s unexpected answer.

Perhaps because Duke Kalel had recognized him as a wizard earlier, Harang’s words were especially pleasing to hear. Harang’s broad acceptance of even magic as ‘strength’ overlapped with Duke Kalel’s vision in Lauren’s mind.

Schwing!

Proving he wasn’t just saying it, Harang immediately opened the spellbook and started reading it intently, completely absorbed.

His remarkable concentration made him forget that Lauren was standing right in front of him.

‘A descendant of a knight family, even a Kaladan, showing such interest in magic…’

The more Lauren saw, the more astonishing, peculiar, and fascinating Harang seemed. Lost in the spellbook, Harang’s eyes sparkled.

‘Wow, this is amazing. I’ve never seen magic used like this before.’

Contrary to Lauren’s thoughts, wondering if Harang even understood it, Harang was already grasping the details.

‘Combat magic, huh? It focuses on memorization and accelerated casting.’

Since the magic was highly intriguing, he was deeply engrossed in it until Lauren snapped him out of his reverie by snapping his fingers.

“Come on, you can read that later. We’ll part ways now, so I’d like to give you one last piece of advice, if that’s okay?”

“Do you need my permission? I welcome any advice from a seventh-star wizard.”

“…Ha, thank you for saying that.”

Because he was often disregarded by knights for being a wizard, Harang’s respectful treatment was a refreshing change for Lauren.

“From now on, you’ll be seriously learning the Kaladan Swordsmanship. It might be frustrating to continue living in White Night Castle, but keep this one thing in mind. Don’t leave White Night Castle until you’re strong enough to protect yourself. Not even a step. Understood?”

Harang nodded.

He shared the same thought. He had no plans to leave White Night Castle until he reached the fourth star in swordsmanship.

His current achievements were:

Swordsmanship second star, magic first star, dragon speech first star.

Although clearly exceptional and extraordinary for his age, he was still insufficient to protect himself fully.

‘The moment I officially become a Polden, I might get caught up in the family’s ranking battles. Surely there will be siblings trying to attack me.’

White Night Castle was the ultimate defensive system to protect young Kaladans, where rank wars were forbidden no matter what.

‘My goal is… swordsmanship fourth star, magic third star.’

Reaching that level of achievement would allow him to take care of himself to some extent.

“I have no intention of leaving White Night Castle until I achieve the goals I’ve set for myself.”

Seeing Harang’s determined gaze, Lauren smiled.

‘I hope that young master before me survives and brings great change to Kaladan.’

* * *

After finishing his conversation with Lauren, Harang returned to his quarters and opened the door.

“Huh?”

Gift boxes were piled high on his desk.

“What is all this?”

As Harang stood bewildered, staring at the boxes, a girl’s voice came from behind.

“There’s a tradition of giving gifts to the first graduate from each class to celebrate. I didn’t expect the first graduate to be just one person, though.”

When he turned around, Charen was standing with her arms crossed, looking at Harang. Next to her was Theon, who had an unexpectedly proud expression as he watched Harang walk ahead.

Charen had grown taller than the boys, and Theon was also taller than average, making Harang feel a bit strange as he looked up at both of them.

“A gift for the first graduate? I didn’t know there was such a thing.”

Theon chuckled and delivered a sharp remark.

“You wouldn’t know since you’ve been alone without making a single friend.”

“……”

That was true. He spent all his time, even after training sessions, locked in the private training room studying magic, meditating simulations, or training with his sword, constantly striving to become stronger.

Seeing Harang standing there blankly, Charen pursed her lips.

She also knew. As a ‘pure-blooded direct descendant,’ Harang was born with the most perfect qualities of a king.

Charen had only managed to maintain a ‘friendly relationship’ with the trainees, becoming somewhat like a friend to them. Undoubtedly, she had become a bit closer with them.

What about Harang? He didn’t maintain close relationships with the trainees.

Instead, he had become a ‘trusted and reliable leader.’ A far cry from the mere friendly relationships Charen maintained.

However, this wasn’t Harang’s intention. He was completely unaware that the trainees trusted and followed him. He was focused only on moving forward, not paying attention to those behind him.

“That’s not how you survive in Kaladan.”

“Huh? Why?”

Harang felt a strange emotion because he never expected Charen to say something like that. She averted her gaze slightly.

“No matter how strong you are alone, if you lose in the political game, you can’t do anything. You might get assigned only to tough missions and fail to build achievements, or lose all your training time. You need to have people in the family who support you. It’s not for your own sake. It’s essential to protect those precious to you.”

Harang couldn’t help but be slightly surprised at Charen’s words. He had thought she was mature for her age but hadn’t realized how deeply she thought.

‘She was thinking that far ahead.’

It was a remarkably difficult and dark topic for a mere twelve-year-old girl to discuss.

Harang smiled faintly, resisting the urge to pat Charen on the head. She was two years older than Harang, and such a gesture would certainly make her angry.

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“…As long as you know.”

As Charen grumbled and turned to leave, Harang hurriedly grabbed her arm.

“Charen.”

“…I’m your older sister.”

“Yeah, sister. Is your goal to become the family head too?”

Charen wore an expression that asked what he was talking about.

“As a direct descendant of Kaladan, everyone dreams of becoming the family head. There’s no more honorable thing than challenging the Pantheon.”

She intentionally didn’t mention the curse.

It was equally weak to express out loud that one trained the sword to ‘survive as a Kaladan.’

“Not that answer. Be honest.”

“What…?”

What kind of question was this? Charen stared at him blankly for a moment, as it was an unusual question for a pure-blooded Kaladan to ask another pure-blood.

Harang’s deep, bright silver eyes seemed to pierce through her.

“I, I…”

She hesitated for a moment.

Indeed, as Harang had said…

‘…I don’t want to become the head of Kaladan.’

Due to her parents’ oppression and the need to survive, she had no choice but to set the goal of becoming the family head and train her sword, but Charen had something she truly wanted to do.

“I have no reason to tell you.”

“That’s okay. It’s important that you have a real dream.”

“What?”

Harang smiled faintly.

“Someday, in the distant future. If I reach the pinnacle of Kaladan with my sword and become the family head… I will break the curse of all blood relatives. Not a single one left out.”

“What? That’s impossible.”

“There’s nothing impossible in this world. Just like how I defeated a 3-star swordsman and achieved first place in the Rank Duel.”

She couldn’t argue that this was in the same context as that.

Charen felt oddly enchanted. When she looked into Harang’s eyes, she couldn’t help but believe his words.

A powerful belief that it would happen as he said in the future.

“I will save everyone who helps me. Everyone who loves me. Everyone who protects me.”

Hearing those words, Charen blinked in a daze.

It felt as if she were conversing with a righteous knight…

It was hard to believe that her younger brother, shorter than her, was saying this.

“…Why are you telling me this?”

Harang gently smiled at her question.

“If you ever feel like giving up, tell me. I’ll protect you.”

Charen, with her eyes wide open, showed a typical expression of a girl her age for the first time and, flustered, shook off his arm.

“No thanks? I’ll handle it myself. Anyway, I’m going now, so say goodbye to the others properly.”

With that, Charen hurriedly ran back to her dormitory. Theon, still standing there, spoke to Harang.

“If you want to say goodbye to the others, let me know. I’ll gather them.”

Harang chuckled.

“No need. We’ll all graduate from here and see each other as disciples in the next training center. What’s the point? I’m leaving first. Tell them to follow.”

“…!!”

After Harang casually said that and packed his bag to leave, the trainees hiding near the dorm, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, were all moved to tears, putting their fists in their mouths.

‘He… was thinking that?’

Theon, with a bewildered expression, watched him leave.

Although Harang’s figure was small and slight as he quietly departed, he seemed towering and immense.