Genius Swordsman of the Mage Empire

Chapter 8. First Mission (1)

“……You said you wanted to take on a mission?”

The current Acting Count of Elsyde.

One of the loyal follower family members of the Lord.

Executive Officer, Grantel Skyll.

His imposing voice echoed through the spacious office.

Enoch nodded briefly.

“That’s right.”

I had to avoid being disowned from Elsyde.

The reason was extremely simple.

I clearly remembered the original story's brief description of Enoch's end.

「After being disowned from the family, Enoch Elsyde wandered around and died away from home.」

In short, it meant that Enoch being disowned from the family was the beginning of all misfortune.

Then, what if I blocked the introduction, which was the starting point of the tragedy, from the source?

At least I could erase one possibility of facing death.

Now that I had made up my mind like that. It was now time to act for Enoch's position.

And as far as I knew, the most certain and quickest way to prevent or delay disownment was….

‘To create results with missions.’

Besides, there was another reason to act like this.

Enoch recalled the message he had seen in the inner world just now in his head.

-? Condition for Absorbing the Next Stage of Experience: Succeed in 1 Family Mission

‘It said to take on a mission in order to grow to the next stage.’

Just before learning how to project mana and escaping from the inner world just now. The inner world left him with a message to ‘take on a family mission.’

Like a quest in a game.

‘In the end, I should think of carrying out the mission as an essential condition for growing to the next stage in the inner world.’

For some reason, the condition that the inner world was setting was that it was giving a much more specific task to do than at the very beginning, which was a bit strange….

‘It’s meaningless to worry about it now.’

There were still too many mysteries to solve about the inner world.

I wasn't sure exactly how to use it, and above all, the fact that similar system messages that didn't even appear in reality only came to mind in the inner world was also somehow strange.

‘Well, I’ll find out little by little anyway.’

Tak.

Meanwhile, Grantel quietly watched Enoch, who was lost in thought, and put the pen down on the table and opened his mouth.

“……Do you know what it means for the Main House to give missions to its members?”

“I know.”

Of course, there was no way I wouldn't know.

It was a system I had heard of so much in the game that I was sick of it.

「Mission」 as it was said within the family.

This referred to the responsibilities given to all the Main Houses in the Empire in their respective fields.

The status of the Main Houses varied slightly, but the fact that they were all beyond imagination was the same.

For example,

-The ‘Elsyde Main House’, one of the two major houses represented by combat magic.

-The ‘Artigen Main House’, which was responsible for the modern Empire’s magic engineering, such as mechanical carriages, airships, and the latest artifacts.

-The ‘Arpeggio Main House’, a gathering of mages who presided over entertainment such as performances and concerts combined with magic.

-The ‘Bertin Main House’ of the tailoring lineage, which created the clothing of the Empire’s citizens with mana-imbued threads and sewing machines.

Etc.

As the twelve Main Houses of the Empire were ‘the pinnacle of mages in each field’. They also acted as the largest centers for mages where many talented mages of the Empire could gather and interact.

The discretion that they could exercise within their own territory was at the level where they could virtually exercise the autonomy of a country.

However, as much as they had such discretion, each Main House was obligated to cooperate with the Empire's rule and tasks within the area they were responsible for.

This customary system was the identity of the ‘missions’ issued by the Empire.

In this way, the Main Houses were responsible for adding strength to solving the problems that arose in the Empire.

Therefore, if incidents occurred that required the mages of the Main Houses that presided over certain fields, suitable people had to be appropriately dispatched and executed in the form of missions.

Of course, that was by no means an exception even for the precious children of the Main Houses.

‘No, it should rather be said that it was much more severe.’

The more excellent the successors of the family, the more they had to prove their value.

Grantel looked at Enoch for a while while sitting on the chair, then asked quietly.

“Lord, you tried to steal one of the magic tools that was being researched a while ago.”

Enoch didn't answer.

Grantel interlocked his fingers on the desk and added.

“I’m not trying to interrogate you. I understand that you’re in such a desperate situation. And I also understand that you’re trying to achieve results through missions that you haven’t touched even once.”

“Does that mean?”

“But I can’t simply assign you to a mission either.”

The Executive Officer replied with an extremely business-like expression.

“The failure of the mission is directly related to the ‘reputation’ of the Main House. It is my job to assign the right people and talents to the right missions.”

Grantel opened the lid of the ink bottle and hammered it in while filling the ink into the pen’s cartridge.

“Therefore, I can’t simply assign you, who still can’t use magic and doesn’t even have a follower family to accompany you, to any mission. Reputation is life for the Main House.”

This was the reason why Enoch had never been able to carry out a mission until now.

In this land filled with mages, what mission could be entrusted to a direct descendant who was merely a non-mage?

Leaving aside the failure of Enoch's mission. The very irresponsible act of putting a direct descendant who was known to be terribly incompetent into a mission could shake the reputation of the entire family.

But now that I had become Enoch.

There was no more room to back down.

“I already know that it’s difficult for the family to trust and use me. The risks are too great in many ways. Then let’s do this.”

Enoch calmly gazed at Grantel.

“A task that wouldn’t harm the family’s reputation if I didn’t respond noticeably, but a mission that has no particular effectiveness compared to the effort it takes. Send me to such a mission.”

He continued to speak to Grantel, who frowned slightly as if lost in thought.

“Even if I’m a non-mage, I’m still a direct descendant. Therefore, it would be appropriate if it was a type of mission that could superficially convince the world that I had dispatched a direct descendant even if I failed.”

“Hmm.”

Grantel's expression had already changed to a slightly surprised one.

There was definitely nothing wrong with Enoch's words.

Besides, contrary to his expectations, he was not just desperately asking him for a mission in a desperate state driven by the situation. To see him unfold a logic that objectively objectified himself was quite an impressive attitude for a seventeen-year-old boy who had tried to steal magic tools a while ago when he was cornered.

Grantel, who was slightly interested by the conversation just now, looked straight at Enoch.

“Since you say so much, I’ll ask you. Can you tell me a mission that meets those conditions?”

Enoch answered without any hesitation.

“For example, the transportation mechanical carriage belonging to the Order that was hijacked by an unidentified group a while ago.”

Grantel's eyes widened slightly at Enoch's words, and then he frowned slightly.

“I don’t know how you knew about this… but this mission is by no means simple. Of course, it meets the conditions you mentioned, but the relationship between the [Order] and the Main Houses involved in the mission is quite complicated….”

“I know.”

Enoch looked at Grantel without batting an eye.

“But don’t you know my situation?”

He tilted his head slightly.

“If I don’t get this mission approved now, I’ll be locked in my room as scheduled without being able to do anything and then be kicked out in a month.”

“…….”

“It’s going to happen anyway. If you don’t give me this mission now, I’m afraid I’ll give the Acting Lord quite an unpleasant experience.”

Enoch's formal disownment schedule had already been announced.

But even so, he was still a direct descendant.

If Enoch took any unexpected actions before his disownment here, good rumors would not circulate about the family.

Rumors tend to be easily inflated with unnecessary speculation.

And whether that rumor was true or not, the image was easily tarnished by such inflated rumors.

When I used the self-destruction through the family's ‘reputation’ as a card, Enoch was in a relatively dominant position.

“It’s my last chance from my perspective anyway. If this request is rejected, I’m curious to know what kind of misdeeds I will commit after that.”

Grantel wouldn't want to think about it much.

What kind of misdeeds could a direct descendant who had been caught stealing magic tools commit without even caring about his reputation?

“…Alright.”

Grantel tapped the ink-filled pen on the table. Then he took out a document from the drawer and scribbled his signature on it.

Swish-

The family's official seal that Grantel had been approving until just now.

He raised it as if to confirm it to Enoch.

“Even if it’s a solo mission, you won’t be able to avoid disownment with just one completion….”

Clatter!

Mana shining at his fingertips swirled once.

A seal made of transparent material. The elaborate gears inside moved with mana as the driving force, changing the shape of the seal.

Enoch watched it with calm eyes.

He already knew the pattern of that seal well.

‘The Elsyde family's official mission approval insignia.’

A seal that was engraved with that, which only the Lord and his trusted Executive Officer could use.

Stomp!

Grantel slammed it on the document and looked straight at Enoch.

“I will have a mechanical carriage waiting at one of the back gates of the fortress. The butler outside the gate will guide you.”

***

The Elsyde family’s fortress was too wide and high.

Looking up beyond the solemnly 펼쳐진 stone corridors, there were bridges crossing the air to connect the corridors among the endlessly high and wide ceilings.

Above them, crowds of people made up of numerous family members were coming and going.

‘This is the daily scenery of the Main Houses, called the pillars supporting the Magic Empire.’

In the game, I only guessed the status of the Main Houses with a few paragraphs of settings. But seeing it like this in person, I could feel it on my skin.

-Look over there, he has black hair. Could it be….

-Is that the Lord who’s rumored to be an incompetent non-mage? But he was definitely locked in his room until a few years ago….

Of course, whether it was a magnificent sight or whatever.

Now, it was just that the gazes I had to avoid had increased.

‘By the way, how rare is black hair if it attracts this much attention?’

Well, even in the original illustrations, Enoch was the only supporting character with black hair.

In fact, no matter how much I looked around, I couldn't see any black hair among the numerous mages walking around in the family.

‘I should get a hood, at least.’

If I left this noticeable hair as it is, things that could be done would not be done.

At the back gate of the huge fortress, a driver wearing a hat pulled down low and a mechanical carriage were waiting.

Enoch got into the carriage and said to him.

“To the outer city of the northern fortress.”

Soon, with a soft mechanical sound and the sound of springs, the mechanical carriage started up and began to pick up speed.

Leaning back in his seat, Enoch continued his thoughts.

The outer city of the northern fortress.

In fact, considering the mission he had received earlier, it was quite a strange destination.

「Sub Quest. 023 _ Solo Mission: Find the Stolen Carriage

A transportation mechanical carriage belonging to a merchant group affiliated with the Order, which had a base in the Elsyde territory, was hijacked by unidentified individuals while being transported on the outer southern road of the Elsyde Fortress.

Mages belonging to the Order soon began investigating, but they could not find even the whereabouts of the stolen goods, let alone the culprit.

Therefore, it was determined that the Order itself could not solve the problem with its own personnel. The Elsyde family was commissioned with a ‘search and annihilation’ type mission to secretly find and subdue the hijackers and recover the stolen goods.

Recommended Magic Lineage: Tracking. Detection. Scouting」

The solo mission he had accepted, .

The place where the Order's mechanical carriage was hijacked in it was the outer southern road of the Elsyde Fortress.

So, as it came out in the order form earlier, the Order had mainly investigated the southern road….

‘That’s why they can’t find it.’

Going there would only be a waste of effort.

「The mages belonging to the Order searched the roads leading to the outer southern area outside the fortress, speculating that they had diverted the hijacked mechanical carriage to the external area of the fortress where security was relatively weak.」

「But in the end, several years passed without finding any clues. No one thought that the hijacked carriage had boldly crossed the fortress city and gone over to the northern fortress.」

How many times did I run around like crazy, wandering around here and there trying to investigate in the game?

Of course, if I knew this, there was no need to go through all those troublesome processes.

I could find where the hijacked mechanical carriage was even with my eyes closed.

Enoch leaned back in the seat and felt the vibrations of the car as it accelerated and shook slowly and smoothly, lost in thought.

‘I need to briefly organize the current situation and make plans.’

In any game, you can only make the next plan if you know the conditions at the current point.

He recalled what he had obtained so far.

‘Currently, the people whose experiences I have absorbed are the original Enoch and the Empire’s Last Sword Saint. Among them, the experiences of the original Enoch were absorbed in a much faster time.’

First of all, it was certain that synchronization with the original Enoch was being achieved through the trait.

Combat senses, physical abilities, mental strength, and even the basic skills of handling the sword, which would have been the original Enoch’s. His specs had definitely increased rapidly compared to before.

‘Of course, even that isn’t perfect yet.’

So far, I haven't been able to remember any of the things the original Enoch experienced for sure.

But it was clear that when I projected Enoch's mana onto the sword in the inner world, the emotions and very fragmented memories of Enoch's childhood came to mind.

‘As the message from the inner world said, getting to know mana is ultimately getting to know the original Enoch.’

If I continue to use the sword, I will eventually absorb all the past about the existing Enoch.

Not only his sword skills, but also the childhood stories that were not revealed in the original story.

‘If that happens, I won’t be suspected by the family members.’

He indifferently looked at the black cloth sword that was leaning against the seat next to him.

‘Besides, there are still sword techniques to learn from the memories of the Sword Saint that I first met in the inner world.’

All I got from him was the ‘Sense of Mana’.

I haven't even learned the full-fledged swordsmanship yet.

Whether it was Enoch or the unknown Sword Saint. There was a lot left to take from them in the inner world.

It doesn't end there.

The unidentified voice that spoke to the young Enoch clearly said this.

[There were countless forms of swordsmanship in the world that you cannot even imagine, and they existed and disappeared by the Sword Saints who lived countless forms of lives.]

According to this, there must have been more than one or two Sword Saints in the Empire.

‘In the end, Enoch's potential is limitless in terms of growth.’

Then, keeping these things in mind, how should I act in the future?

First of all, the most important thing to keep in mind in the future was clear.

‘Maintain the flow of the original history as much as possible until the start of the original story.’

One of the biggest advantages that I, as a seasoned player, get in this world is that I know all the developments and possibilities after the start of the original story.

As long as my primary goal was to survive and reach the ending of the original story. Of course, there was no reason to abandon that greatest advantage.

‘I can’t do something stupid like being too greedy and interfering with the story and shaking the starting point of the original story.’

Of course, in order to maintain the flow of the original history, there were elements, events, and people that I clearly couldn't touch rashly.

But except for those things, there was no need to worry about them.

‘In that regard, the problem related to growth has been automatically resolved.’

Fortunately, the powers that Enoch would gain in the future were not the magical powers that were mainly dealt with in the existing .

The power of swordsmanship through the ‘Successor of the Sword’, a setting that was not even revealed in the game.

Even if I put together some of this, it wouldn't affect the original story.

‘…Anyway, I don't know if all of this will be as easy as I think, but I have no choice but to use my head as much as possible.’

It would be a very long journey.

It might be a difficult journey.

There was no guarantee that everything would be as easy as in the game.

But I knew all the processes and endings.

If I could utilize it appropriately at the right time….

‘Nothing will be a problem.’

Just as he was about to finish his thoughts.

A short voice was heard from the driver's seat.

“We have arrived. The outskirts of the northern fortress.”

And that journey was starting now.

Enoch opened the door of the carriage and slung the black cloth bag over his shoulder.

Successfully resolving this mission that I had done hundreds of times was already set.