My Mind Sword’s Cooldown Is Too Long

Time passed quickly after the contract with Libra was established.
I was busy preparing to become the head of the Calderon family, gradually taking over the responsibilities one by one.
Libra, for her part, spent her time repeatedly searching for the cultists’ hideouts and punishing them.
Merchen is investigating the cultists, but hasn’t sent any special reports.
This part doesn’t need to be worried about, as it will eventually be found out no matter how long it takes.
All I need to do is wait.
However, recently something annoying has been happening.
“Ah, Cain… sir.”
Greymore Peldaron.
The head of the Peldaron family, a collateral branch of the Calderon family, and an elder of Calderon.
Lately, he’s been picking fights with me constantly.
Despite the considerable age difference, I clearly outrank him.
Adding “sir” should be natural, but he deliberately trailed off at the end of his sentence.
“Lord Greymore. I’ve been seeing you often these days.”
“In these peaceful times, an old man like me has little to do. However, the fact that you encounter me frequently…”
Greymore showed an unpleasant smile.
Every word of his is mocking, which I find quite distasteful.
It’s been a month since Libra came to the family.
During that time, Greymore has been picking at everything from her presence to my every move.
I had ignored it until now, but recently it has gotten worse.
The reason is obvious.
Gin Calderon. He must be acting this way because Gin left the family to handle collateral branch matters.
The Calderon family doesn’t have a knight order.
Instead, we strengthen our ties with collateral branches that have separated from the main family, and bring some of them in as elders to fill the potential lack of military power within the family.
As such, managing the collateral branches is also something the family head needs to pay attention to.
Gin Calderon left for the Peldaron family, a collateral branch, a week ago.
Since there are a total of three collateral branches of the Calderon family, it would take about another month for Gin Calderon to return after visiting all of them.
Greymore, thinking there was no one to protect me, was acting up, seeing this as his opportunity.
‘I can’t just kill him.’
[Mind Sword (心劍)]

Remaining cooldown: 1 day

Seeing the cooldown of Mind Sword was almost over, I felt an impulse rise within me, but soon abandoned the thought.
If I could kill him, I would have done so long ago.
Greymore might not know, but no one in the Elder Council views him favorably.
The reason other elders tolerate this self-centered man is simply to use him as a good amplifier.
From the other elders’ perspective, it’s good if they can weaken the next family head, and even if that fails, they can just expel Greymore, so there’s no loss.
It’s laughable that Greymore doesn’t realize he’s being used and acts as if he has a firm grip on the Elder Council.
“How are the preparations for the Sword Succession Ceremony coming along?”
“You seem strangely interested in the succession ceremony.”
“It’s a family matter, how could I not be interested? It’s just the foolish concern of an elder thinking about the family’s future.”
“I see. Foolish concerns indeed, as you say.”
“…”
At my words, Greymore’s expression instantly contorted with anger.
The next family head and an elder. These two must face each other for a long time as members of the same family, regardless of their feelings.
As such, while they might dislike each other, they usually maintain a certain level of decorum.
Greymore is scheduled to be executed soon on charges of collaborating with cultists.
There’s no reason for me to be friendly with him, nor any reason to maintain decorum on my part when he continues to mock me.
Unaware of this fact, Greymore thought I had made a mistake and showed his usual unpleasant expression.
“Yes… I hope from afar that you will lead us humble ones.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to do so myself.”
“…Cain.”
“What is it, Elder Greymore?”
“How dare you… Do you think the whole world belongs to you?”
“Elder. Your expression is strange. Aren’t those words coming from your own mouth?”
“You…!”
“N-Next head.”
Just then, Libra called for me.
“Then I’ll be going now, Lord Greymore.”
Greymore trembled with anger, his hands tightly clenched.
Seeing him like that made me feel quite refreshed.
I should have done this sooner.
“Master. What happened?”
“Same as usual.”
“…Bald elder. Face turned red. Refreshing after a long time.”
Libra, who followed me to my room, excitedly spoke to me.
She too seemed to have built up stress from being harassed by Greymore.
“I see your skill at annoying me hasn’t diminished.”
“I don’t recall ever annoying you.”
“Made a delicate woman with an injured leg walk for 3 hours. Didn’t give breakfast. Nearly choked.”
“All things you brought upon yourself.”
“…How can someone not feel an ounce of remorse.”
“Go to the training ground if you’re bored. You’re distracting.”
“…”
I waved my hand to dismiss her.

Greymore Peldaron.
He was what you would commonly call an ambitious person.
As a child, Greymore showed talent in swordsmanship and was always called a genius within the family.
It was a mediocre talent, but even that shines brightly within the small confines of a collateral branch.
This was something most children of swordsmanship families experienced.
However, Greymore truly believed those praises.
Despite being from a collateral branch, he constantly imagined that the Peldaron family would surpass the main house by demonstrating superior swordsmanship.
As he grew older, his training time decreased daily, but he thought this was a privilege given to someone talented like himself.
After all, even with the same amount of training, someone with outstanding talent like him would grow the fastest.
Around that time, he heard rumors that Gin Calderon, the much younger second son of the main house, volunteered for the Imperial Knight Order.
Greymore immediately headed to the Imperial Knight Order.
To show the world that a hidden gem had been covered in the filth of a collateral branch.
With high hopes, Greymore volunteered for the Imperial Knight Order, barely got accepted, but didn’t show any significant achievements.
It didn’t take long for Greymore to leave the order.
While Gin Calderon made a name for himself in the Imperial Knight Order, Greymore was busy doing nothing in his family.
He only blamed the world and the family for not recognizing his talent as someone born in a collateral branch.
Nevertheless, Greymore was the eldest son of the Peldaron family.
When the head of the Peldaron family died, he took over.
Thanks to this, he naturally gained a foothold in the Calderon family as well.
However, after 10 years, he passed the position of the Peldaron family head to his younger brother.
With his difficult personality, he didn’t even have a partner, and he wasn’t too fond of the position as the head of a collateral branch.
Instead, he decided to spend the rest of his life as an elder of the main Calderon family.
And so, currently.
As they say, better to be the tail of a dragon than the head of a snake, Greymore quite enjoyed his life in the main family’s Elder Council.
Currently, there were no members from the main family in the Elder Council; it was entirely composed of people from collateral branches.
To Greymore’s eyes, they all seemed like inferiors.
Indeed, no one contested his words.
His innate charisma and talent were impossible to hide.
However.
“Cain Calderon. This greenhorn dares to cross the line…”
Gin Calderon, the current head of the main family and Cain’s father, showed him respect.
Yet this young punk was already trying to best an elder?
His arrogance must have significantly increased since graduating at the top of his academy.
According to rumors, he was known for being arrogant within the academy, but seeing him directly, it was beyond mere arrogance.
To Greymore’s eyes, Cain acted as if the world was beneath his feet.
Like a frog in a well, not knowing how high the sky was, daring to challenge him.
But that shouldn’t be the case.
Calderon is one of the Empire’s five great houses.
For the sake of the family’s dignity as a renowned swordsmanship house, his behavior needs to be corrected.
“I must take action before he becomes the head.”
Everything has its appropriate time and place.
With the Sword Succession Ceremony approaching, it would be the optimal time to correct his behavior.
“The family head is away… The timing is perfect.”
Greymore immediately convened the Elder Council.
Since it was the optimal time, he had to act without delay.

“How can seven out of ten elders be absent!”
Bang-
The angered fist of Greymore Peldaron slammed down on the conference table.
A loud sound filled the room, but the other two remained calm.
They were Darias Bellog and Jerni Bellog, elders from the Bellog family, a collateral branch of the Calderon family.
“Didn’t I say it was urgent and important!”
“Lord Greymore. There are unavoidable circumstances in this world.”
“Darias Bellog! Are you saying there’s something more urgent than family matters?”
“That’s just a figure of speech. Where in the world does everything go as one wishes? Let’s proceed with just the three of us for now. We can inform the others of the results later.”
Darias Bellog slowly calmed Greymore’s anger.
None of the Elder Council truly listened to someone like Greymore, but with the next family head about to undergo the succession ceremony, he was still valuable enough not to discard, so the nine elders took turns controlling Greymore.
“But because it was Lord Greymore’s call, this elder and Elder Jerni rushed here. So please set aside your anger and let’s talk.”
“…If it can’t be helped, I’ll do so, but I’ll remember this incident.”
“I’ll inform the others.”
Greymore, somewhat appeased by Darias Bellog’s words, explained in detail what had happened to the two.
“…He’s certainly arrogant, but if he has the skills to back it up, it’s hard to make an issue of it.”
“Ha. It’s just a greenhorn getting carried away. He’s only been away from the family and in the academy for 3 years. How much could he have grown in that time?”
“Children in their growth phase grow quickly.”
“Lord Darias. I’m not in the mood for jokes. As an elder who has served the family for a long time, should I endure being insulted by such a greenhorn?”
“If that’s your intention… Do you perhaps have a good method in mind?”
“Of course I do.”
Greymore showed his characteristically unpleasant smile.
“The Sword Succession Ceremony. Let’s move it up. It would be good to hold the ceremony before the family head returns from the collateral branches.”
“…What relevance does that have, Lord Greymore?”
“It’s about showing reality to a greenhorn who mistakes his father’s power for his own.”
“But there will surely be talk behind our backs…”
“There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll take all responsibility, so Lord Darias just needs to inform the other elders of this.”
“If that’s your intention.”
Darias Bellog answered as if he had been waiting for those words.
After hearing his explanation, Cain’s arrogance indeed seemed to know no bounds.
Darias had also heard rumors about the academy incidents.
He just didn’t want to take responsibility, so he was going to beat around the bush until Greymore offered to take responsibility, but it came out of his mouth first.
Although it seemed like Greymore was wagging his tail when gently scratched, making him look like a puppy, it didn’t matter to Darias.
After all, it wasn’t his concern.
“Then I’ll be asking for your help.”
“Don’t worry, just inform the other elders of this matter.”