Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 146

146.

I was left alone in the Empress Palace.

Lost in deep thought, I watched the starlight spill over the worn garden.

My vision cleared, and memories surfaced like scenes from a film.

-This is a Sylph.

At my mother’s voice, I toddled along.

Unlike now, the garden was filled with well-kept flowers and trees, fountains, small streams flowing around its edges, and spirits playing everywhere.

‘Even back then, my affinity was incredible. It wasn’t a talent that suddenly appeared one day.’

The spirits my mother summoned constantly circled me, and I played with them.

“Ah!”

As the memories faded, the movie-like recollection gradually subsided.

“A curse!”

I returned to reality.

She was such a benevolent mother, with no desire for power. If my father’s words were true, he wasn’t the war-crazed emperor he is now when my mother was alive.

Then why did she have to die from a curse?

-It was the same when I lived as a prince of the Dyer royal family. Everyone feared me and wanted to kill me at the same time.

Did they target my mother because my very existence caused fear, not my father?

They must have known that my mother was my father’s weakness.

‘Wouldn’t they have tried to control Father by cursing Mother? It’s much more efficient to reduce Father’s influence through Mother than to kill her.’

If they knew that my mother was my father’s weakness, they wouldn’t have committed murder, because that completely erases the weakness.

But for some reason, my mother died from a curse, and my father’s anger has been ongoing for over ten years.

“I don’t know. I don’t know.”

No matter how much I racked my brain, there was no clear answer.

Today’s gain was only realizing that my father acknowledges me, but it was enough.

And I can’t just move past my mother’s revenge.

I left the Empress Palace, contemplating the world ahead.

The night was already deep, and the moon was waning.

As soon as I left the Empress Palace, the Crown Prince Palace’s servants flocked to my side.

“Your Highness!”

“Were you waiting?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I hurried my pace to allow those who had been waiting a long time to serve me to rest as soon as possible.

I soon arrived at the Crown Prince Palace.

‘It was so close.’

The Empress Palace was really not far.

It must have been my mother’s request. She must have kept the Crown Prince Palace close so she could see her son quickly at any time.

“Where is Lady Olivia?”

“She said she would come tomorrow and then returned home.”

I nodded.

‘I need to sincerely apologize tomorrow.’

I wanted to be alone today.

“Go in and rest.”

I went straight up to the bedroom.

After tidying up my clothes, I lay down on the bed.

Tiredness washed over me.

* * *

In the morning, I was waiting for Olivia at the training ground. She gave me a brief bow.

I returned the bow and said, “I am really sorry about yesterday.”

“I heard you had dinner with His Majesty. Before that, you were in the library. Everyone thought something must have happened because Your Highness looked so urgent.”

That meant it was okay, but I apologized politely once again.

It was clearly my fault for breaking the promise and making her wait.

After finishing the short conversation, Olivia and I immediately started training.

It was only basic training, but everything was unfamiliar and difficult for me, who was new to swordsmanship.

“I looked into Spirit Swordsmanship a bit, and it seems His Majesty is the first to use it.”

“There are no records at all?”

I asked, somewhat surprised.

“You can answer while maintaining your posture.”

I groaned and straightened my back, focusing on an accurate thrust.

“Yes. There are no records at all. There are only rumors floating around.”

I wanted to say something or ask a question at Olivia’s words, but I felt like my posture would be disturbed the moment I opened my mouth.

How long did I practice thrusting with concentration?

Olivia spoke when my body felt heavy.

“Let’s stop the first task here for now. After a short break, we’ll move on to the second task.”

I immediately used the Breath of Wind technique.

Tiredness disappeared in an instant.

The physical fatigue could be sufficiently alleviated by the Breath of Wind effect, but it was difficult to calm the mental fatigue at once.

“We’re going to do thrusting again this time, but how about Your Highness adding the breathing technique very slightly?”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous? My breathing technique is the basis of spirit magic. It’s completely different from that of a knight.”

“Then how are you going to find the path to Spirit Swordsmanship? My own conclusion was that we should just try it.”

I hummed and pondered.

“That’s right. We should just try it.”

While using the Breath of Wind, I slowly got into the thrusting stance.

The mana didn’t react at all.

‘Well, if I knew how to do this, I would be a knight, not a spirit mage.’

I was thinking it was a waste of time when I suddenly thought of Sylph.

“Lady Olivia.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“What exactly is the correlation between swordsmanship and breathing technique?”

I wondered if I had asked the question properly even after saying it myself, but Olivia understood perfectly and answered.

“The biggest purpose of the breathing technique is to accumulate mana.”

“That’s right.”

That was no different for the breathing technique of spirit magic or the breathing technique of swordsmanship.

You have to feel the mana, grab the mana, and accumulate it in the mana hole [a term for the body’s center of magical energy] to become stronger.

“The knight’s breathing technique is about putting breath into movement.”

“Into movement?”

“Yes. If Your Highness was not a spirit mage but a knight trainee, I would have taught you the breathing technique first and then taught you how to maintain the breathing technique when wielding the sword in any form.”

* * *

The short conversation became a very long theory lesson.

Olivia answered each of my questions in detail because she was also a first-time knight trainee like me.

Who would have experience teaching swordsmanship to a spirit mage, not a knight, and a spirit mage who has reached a considerable level?

I tried to find the path of Spirit Swordsmanship through the conversation with Olivia.

It was a strange state of knowing and not knowing.

After completing all the tasks Olivia gave me, I returned to the office.

“Ken.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Please take care of the remaining expedition preparations. I think I need to get a grasp on Spirit Swordsmanship before leaving.”

“Are you planning to focus on training?”

It might seem irresponsible as a commander, but I felt like I wouldn’t be able to learn Spirit Swordsmanship at all if it wasn’t now.

‘If I get a grasp on Spirit Swordsmanship, I won’t die easily even if I have a showdown with a Sword Master.’

My father was planning to set off to destroy the Sword Masters’ families, but there are always variables on the battlefield.

It was good to prepare at least for the event that they would not return to their families.

If Gale and Olivia take on two Sword Masters, one Sword Master and one mage remain.

‘If I take on one Sword Master and the entire knight order takes on the mage, we can achieve a sufficient balance.’

It could be a big stretch for the knight order, but I trusted Gale and Olivia.

If those two win against the Sword Masters and help the knight order take on the mage, the war can end in our victory.

In other words, before leaving for the Eastern Expedition, I needed to have at least enough skill to not be cut down by a Sword Master in one strike.

“I need to become a top-tier spirit mage to face a Sword Master, but I think that will be difficult for the time being.”

“Your Highness’s growth rate is dazzling. You might be able to do it.”

“Whether I become a top-tier spirit mage or get a grasp on Spirit Swordsmanship to some extent, I need personal training time. The conclusion is that Ken has to take over the remaining preparations for the Eastern Expedition.”

“I have no choice.”

Ken nodded at my logic.

“If His Majesty goes up to the Northeast, the Sword Masters will have no choice but to retreat, but you never know. It is necessary to balance the power in preparation for when they all remain.”

Ken added with a sigh.

“My workload will increase murderously, but I can handle that much.”

“Thank you in many ways, Ken. Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to come this far, and it will be difficult in the future.”

Ken smiled faintly.

“There is nothing more empowering to a subordinate than a lord who recognizes and trusts them. I will do my best. I will handle the preparations for the Eastern Expedition flawlessly, so Your Highness can focus on becoming stronger.”

I secretly decided to bestow a mansion on Ken when the Eastern Expedition was over.

‘He also needs a house to live in with his younger sister, and give him a suitable title.’

Ken bowed his head to me and left the office.

I decided to quickly process the remaining documents related to the Eastern Expedition and then train.

* * *

Spirit Swordsmanship is a concept I first encountered after becoming Arun Karl Leonhardt.

I didn’t set it up, and of course, I never wrote about my father using it.

But my father told me about Spirit Swordsmanship as if he had been waiting, and showed it to me directly.

I retraced the memories of that day.

‘I have no idea how to do it.’

I felt frustrated.

Since I had decided to train, I wanted to get at least a grasp of it, considering Ken’s workload.

It might become a hidden card while facing a Sword Master.

“Elraim!”

I summoned Elraim.

She had taught me skills before, so maybe she knew something about Spirit Swordsmanship?

She also had more contracts than other high-level spirits.

“Hmm, the master of the covenant seems to be deeply troubled.”

Since she already shared consciousness with me, Elraim immediately recognized the reason I called her and pondered.

“Have there been any contractors who used Spirit Swordsmanship?”

“No. I have contracted with a contractor who was originally a knight. I remember that his level as a knight was not very high. On the other hand, he had considerable affinity with water spirits and was excellent at spirit magic, so he became a high-level spirit mage at a rather young age.”

“How old was he?”

“Forty in human years?”

I briefly realized how amazing my achievements were.

Even Elraim thought it was amazing that he became a high-level spirit mage at the age of forty.

I achieved it at seventeen, and I contracted with not only water spirits but also high-level spirits of all attributes.

‘I feel confident for no reason.’

I smiled and asked.

“Elraim, have you never even heard of Spirit Swordsmanship itself?”

“I met a contractor who researched it once, but he was not a human but a fairy. He already wielded a high level of swordsmanship, and because he was a fairy, he rose to the level of high-level spirit mage master. Basically, fairies are much better at both swordsmanship and spirit magic than humans.”

Elraim continued calmly.

“But he used swordsmanship as swordsmanship, and spirit magic as spirit magic. It wasn’t Spirit Swordsmanship.”

“My father definitely used Spirit Swordsmanship, which combines swordsmanship and spirit magic. Elraim saw that too, right?”

“Yes. It’s not just about putting the energy of the spirit into the sword, but the sword itself is…”

“Wait, put the energy of the spirit into the sword?”

“Yes. The essence of the fire spirit! When the fire spirit is in the middle realm, each appearance is different, but in the spirit realm, the eternally burning flame is the essence. That human put that essence into the sword and used swordsmanship in that state. It was truly amazing.”

I was momentarily surprised and laughed at Elraim calling my father that human.

Humans other than the contractor are just other creatures to the spirit.

The important thing is to put the energy of the spirit into the sword.

“Let’s start by putting the energy of the spirit into it first. Elraim, what is the energy of the spirit?”

Elraim smiled brightly.

“The master of the covenant is finally ready to take a step forward. Truly feeling the essence of the spirit is the path to the highest level.”