18 The Swordwick Duke’s Perspective (1) (Arc Prologue)

[Intrinsic Art- Infinite Swords!]

Many Barbarians of different shapes and sizes died at my hands as I walked around the battlefield outside the Drakeyol Kingdom's borders.

No matter how many attacked my group of well-trained Warriors, a sword made from my Water Aura would always cut them apart and cause the morale of our soldiers to increase.

[Skill Root- Cloudy Blue Sword Eyes]

I used the unique power only those with exceptional talents could wield among the human race. Both my iris' turned an azure hue as Water Aura focused into the depths of my eyes.

The myriad of astral swords around me turned into raindrops that assimilated into my Skill Root. I could shoot and control the Water Affinity Astral Swords created by my family's Intrinsic Art with just the power of my thoughts alone. I deactivated my Skill Root only after I was finished cleaning up the largest group of invaders that tried to attack me.

One hundred and twenty aquatic swords hovered above me as I made my way towards my servant, who was fighting hard to keep me 'protected'.

Although I didn't really need his protection, it still warmed my heart to see such dedication in my noble household of Swordsman. A smile of content curved on my face as I leisurely fought the Barbarians who were fighting with all their might.

As a noble of the kingdom, I normally talked to many people with ulterior motives concerning any and all matters at hand. This made me feel more guarded towards others while growing up as the successor for the grand lineage of Swordsman who were respected by all races of Sphera.

In the long years after I inherited the title of the Swordwick Household's House Master, I fought Barbarians periodically. This was especially true in the great Holy War that had corrupted many lands and destroyed many kingdoms. My heart has tired over these long and pointless years... I no longer feel like fighting for anything other than my honour!

Humans have been turning on other humans over the years and traitors now exist within the main force of the Royal Family's great army. I wonder how they are going to cleanse the Drakeyol Kingdom of the corrupted vermin who have been burning weaker Nobles to the ground?

Though I can't blame them for not being able to deal with the traitors within our own ranks considering how thorough crimes have become...

Our Drakeyol Kingdom's Royal Family has become the leader of the five kingdoms left in the human race due to their strength and intelligence. It isn't for me to judge them when the greatest nemesis the Drakeyol Kingdom's Royal Family now face are those they have sworn to protect...

Hah... This is why I'd rather become a paranoid Duke with no trust in anyone... The way I handled matters regarding the Holy War had now become colder and more ruthless.

However, who could have predicted that I would one day come to trust others like I do now? It's laughable how fate seemed out of the control of a mere man such as I...

My boldness in battle wasn't because of my own courageous heart but due to the stubbornness of my Personal Butler and Maid had to protect me.

A feeling of nostalgia ran through my heart as I remembered the two mercenaries who eventually became my servants after healing the severe internal injuries they suffered.

Not only was their Magical Talents among the cream of the crop, their combat abilities were pretty strong as well. This was the reason I tried to hire them as servants when we met.

Some people would say that I'm as arrogant as a King for thinking that two high-level Mercenaries would serve my household, but I didn't care about that one bit. Becoming my servant shouldn't be unacceptable for them since I DID spent a large amount of resources to heal their wounds.

"Master Swordwick, is something wrong?" My Head Butler asked.

"It's about your son." After hearing my words, he couldn't help but helplessly smile since he knew what I was going to advise him. I'm only saying what needs to be said out of kindness... Not out of malicious intent.

"I don't want him to live the life as an 'ordinary' servant of the household." I couldn't help but furrow my brows after hearing these words from him.

I didn't think this old friend of mine would be so cruel towards his only son... Wouldn't putting too much expectations on the talentless child only become a burden to him? I've seen too many unable to overcome their limitations and ended up falling into madness due to their cruel upbringing

I've experienced what it's like to battle Warriors who only know how to complain about their lack of innate talent... Those who give in to the temptations of shortcuts because they believe themselves to have no ability to improve themselves the orthodox way.

Most of these Warriors who are unwilling to stay weak end up becoming Barbarians after making contact with the Elites of the Blood Nation. They take in the powers of the Blood Attribute to bolster their power.

"Although I've been given information regarding your son's exceptional performance, there's no way for him to help my daughter with his limited potential in magic... not unless he is able to create his own personal Skill Root like I have... or break laws of nature like my ancestor." As Fredrick heard my opinion, his smile stiffened because he most likely understood that no one could replicate the Sword God of the Chaotic Era of the past.

"No, he will... He's a genius!" A deep stubbornness appeared in his voice.

"A genius? I agree." I gave him that since I've already heard a lot about this youth through these two seemingly doting parents... The surprise I felt from learning their child was actually able to train at the age of five really made it clear to me that I needed to be stricter with my daughter's education.

"His imaginative ways of using Mana is something I have never seen before whilst his martial art capabilities far outstrip those his own age... perhaps it's best to say that he has already reached the peak of his potential in close-combat, but that is all he has to rely on." I spoke without any formalities since they needed to understand the dangers of having too much expectations on their son...

I myself always believed in 'training correctly' rather than 'training hard'. I am unable to watch as they're making their way towards a tragedy. He may not be completely talentless, but that is even more of a reason to stop him prematurely before he ends up realising that all his effort were for naught. The great barrier between those with higher Magic Talent and those with lower talent wasn't that easy to overcome.

"You just don't understand. Even if he doesn't create a Skill Root, with his strength, he will still be able to keep up with your daughter as a rare Universal Specialist. I believe in him!" Fredrick's eyes lit up with a mysteriously confident light as he spoke.

But to me personally: Although I understood that Universal Specialists were extremely rare, that didn't exactly mean that such a Specialist with low Magic Talent would be able to compare with my highly talented yet hard-working daughter...

"Fine then. I'll give him a test. If he's unable to pass this trail, you must give up on trying to groom him into my daughter's Personal Butler. You must understand the responsibilities and implications of having that particular position, right?" I gave up in trying to change his decision and instead tried a different approach to persuading him. One that seemed to work wonderfully...

"... I understand." Fredrick reluctantly agreed, and with that, the duel between the two little butlers of our 'Monster House' was set in stone.

I know that with that little guy's cold personality, he wouldn't agree to a duel easily. That's why I'll make sure that more talented boy called Jack goes over to Simon in order to infuriate him with his unusually sharp tongue. I've already given him clear instructions on what needs to be done!

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I thought that Simon would lose to that arrogant foo- I mean, talented Personal Butler candidate, but who could have guessed that the mind of Fredrick's son would be so devious?

Throughout the entire duel, he was always thinking one step ahead and used every trick that was probably taught by his parent to gain victory! Even his martial art capabilities were far beyond the scope of any normal child who was only ten years old.

His combat prowess far exceeded any Rank F Magical Talent I have ever seen before. However, the only reason he won was due to Jack's overconfidence in his Magic Talent being able to suppress those weaker than him. I'm sure a second battle between them will be much more interesting to watch once Jack learns to be more modest about his spear techniques. He's not exactly a true Warrior yet!

Would a talented Warrior really be that shocked by Simon's Spells?

Hah... I'm giving that child, Jack, way too much credit for being able to keep up with him. The crux of the matter is that Simon displayed a great amount of potential! It has almost opened my eyes to how Magical Talent isn't everything! Well, almost...

A Universal Specialist and an Expert Swordsman with seemingly high mastery of martial arts... This kind of genius can't be found just anywhere... I 'trail' of mine really would help him growth significantly.

"Greetings, House Master. Is there anything wrong?" Simon spoke after I 'invited' him to my office. I looked at Simon's calm and composed eyes with a complex expression. Unable to put into words what I wanted to advise.

Fredrick's a fool who'd put too much faith in people while Martha was a naive woman who only looks at her child's smile and nothing else. Both of these two doting servants aren't able to properly judge Simon as whole.

From his academic results, I can say that he has a higher chance of becoming a Scholar in future that a Warrior. My daughter, Sapphire, and even Jack Steelwell, are destined to surpass him no matter how he shortens the gap between them with skill or intuition. That's due to how the power of all Specialists rely heavily on Magical Talent.

I, despite obviously seeing his potential in other areas, have already seen the difference between the talentless and the talented. I've already seen countless aspiring fighters regret their life decisions when they found that they were unable to overcome the hurdle that was their Magical Talent. Blood trickling down their lips in utter defeat...

Though most of them ended up dying by sword after they became traitors of humanity... Becoming nothing but foolish Barbarians who sought nothing but to acquire more power through battle.

I don't want to give this talented youth false hope of the future. It would be far better if he chose a realistic goal like being a wandering Mercenary or Guard since both these occupations only needed people with acceptable combat prowess.

"Simon Rainglow, after seeing your strength, I've concluded that sending you to the Royal Academy would be a waste of time despite your hard efforts to overcome your weaknesses." Simon's eyes widened in disbelief as he heard my cold words.

"Is it because of my Rank F Magical Talent?" Simon asked in return. This obvious speculation that was spot-on. There's no way I'd want a liability that could one day self-implode in my Faction in the kingdom.

"That's only one of the reasons I'm unable to accept you as my daughter's Personal Butler. The second reason is due to the fact that you're untalented in sharpening your Aura, which is the only way to keep up with her." I said in a purposely tranquil tone. I've heard of Simon's results of sharpening his Aura through word of mouth and believe only a miracle could help him become someone worth 'cultivating'.

"I can increase the quantity of my techniques and bring them to higher levels. The magical abilities I've shown wasn't the true limit of my power." As I heard these words, I couldn't help but glance at my two servants standing besides me. Only once they nodded their heads to his words did I lean forward on my chair in order to get a closer look at him.

"From what I could tell, you increased your physical abilities through decreasing the Magic Resistance of your Aura. A true and experienced Earth Specialist would be able to bury you alive despite your powerful close-combat prowess. You wouldn't be able to escape falling into a pitfall of Earth Mana..."

"In regards to your unusual Fire Spell, it's still severely lacking in power. Do you think there haven't been others of Magical Talent who were talented in fighting or Spell casting over the years? And look at how they turned out... wallowing in self-pity about how their talent couldn't be greater than others." I retorted without bothering to care about what this 'limit' was supposed to be. Even if he luckily created a technique that could help him overcome the differences between power of Specialists, that Spell or Art would definitely take years to master.

And once it fails to live up to his expectations, he'll surely go mad from not being able to accept reality...

"I will adapt my magical abilities in future and will increase the quantity of my Arts and Spells to make up for my lack of Mana. I'll even use enchanted equipment to bolster my overall combat prowess to higher level than what you've seen." It seems Simon wasn't mature enough to understand my sentiments.

It was a little contradictory to see what his paren's considered a 'mature' personality not work in this situation. Is being dense inherent in Fredrick's bloodline or does it have something to do with how Simon was raised? Why is he being stubborn despite how I'm giving him reasonable arguments? Simon was still as calm as before but the words that came out of his mouth were irrational and immature.

I'm finding it difficult to decide whether I should allow him to become my daughter's Personal Butler or not... This important position might not come hand-in-hand with a noble status but Personal Butler's of my Noble Household had a relatively high standing as well as freedom. Their actions as well as mannerisms towards other nobility were something that would be closely watched by those around them.

"You want to increase the quality of your Spells? Do you think you're the only one who has personalised their own strong Arts and Spells over the years? Or do you think that every one of these abilities you're going to create will be as strong as the Sword God's Aura Sharpening? You ignorant child!" I felt angered by his arrogant statement and rebuked.

At these words, the little guy was unable to retort. It seemed he suddenly realised how ridiculous he was being by comparing himself to the strongest Swordsman of ancient times. An exception in the entirety of humanity that broke human limits.

"Let's take my Infinite Swords Intrinsic Art as an example. The first level of the ability lets me control 40 swords created through my Aura as I wish, the second level allows me to control 80, and the third level allows me to control 120. Every level of it allows me to store more and more swords within my body infinitely without any upper limits.

The drawbacks of the Spell is its powerful Mana consumption and the fact that mastering the ability is extremely difficult in itself. However, the power of this Art is something feared by all!

Many Intrinsic Arts and Spells of other Noble Lineages are inferior to my ancestral heritage when it comes to pure power, but that doesn't mean they are weaklings. Think about your future ambitions carefully and stop daydreaming about becoming another Sword God... because no one will ever have the ability to surpass him!" I said with conviction.