Chapter 1305

<Episode 1305> 1305. The Plum Swordmaster Reincarnated Into a Viscount Family

I tread through the Secret Passage.

It’s not exactly pleasant. It’s dark and damp. What really gets on my nerves are the Bugs. Spiders, cockroaches, centipedes—you name it, they’re everywhere.

ZAP!

A flash of lightning! The venomous spider that lunged at me got electrocuted to death by my electrical surge.

ZAP! ZAP!

Every time those Bugs dared approach me, they met their end.

The Brainwave Current Flow (雷天流) generates an Electromagnetic Shield (電磁氣幕). Though it’s not very durable in terms of endurance, it was perfect for frying these light-attracted bugs. Right now, I’m like a walking electric flyswatter. Well, my output is far superior to any ordinary flyswatter, but you get the idea.

“There sure are a lot of filthy things around here. Does the Argon Dukedom not even bother maintaining their Secret Passages?”

“Only the direct lineage within the Argon Dukedom knows about the existence of these passages. Do you think they’d waste their time cleaning them?”

“Still, there are way too many Bugs.”

TAP! TAP! TAP-TAP-TAP! TAP!

The noise from the Bugs rushing toward the flashlight beam was deafening.

“This level of annoyance is tolerable, right? Hmm. I’m glad I came with you, Master.”

“If you hadn’t been here, you would’ve probably used magic. Yuria told me you recently reached the Master level, huh? In both swordsmanship *and* magic?”

“Hmph. My lady talks too freely around you. Thanks to that, my plan to surprise you has gone down the drain.”

“I was genuinely surprised when I heard it. Mastering two paths isn’t easy, you know?”

“My lady helped me. Without her guidance, it might have taken decades longer, if not been impossible. And your assistance was also significant. Those elixirs you gave me—I could feel myself growing stronger after taking them. You’ve been sharing them with the maids and the Golden Rose Knights… how many elixirs do you actually have?”

“That’s a secret.”

Most of them come from the [Radiant Ascension Path] World. There, over time, you can obtain these elixirs. When brought into reality, their effects diminish significantly, but in the [Rebirth] World, they still show decent efficiency.

“It’s boring. Tell me something about the Argon Dukedom.”

“Hmm. There’s nothing particularly interesting about the Argon Dukedom.”

“How about family stuff? Don’t you have a younger brother? How’s he doing?”

“Berthold, you mean? Honestly, I don’t know much. We weren’t particularly close to begin with.”

Melissa has a much younger brother. Originally, she was being thoroughly trained as the heir to the Argon Dukedom, but when her younger brother was born, she lost her position as heir—simply because she was a girl.

In this world, it’s a common occurrence.

In another noble family, a woman might have retained her position as heir, but the Argon Dukedom values archaic traditions above all else.

“After Berthold was born, I became yesterday’s news. I lost all the privileges I enjoyed as the heir. From the retainers to the servants, everyone’s attitude changed instantly.”


“The successor training has just ended as well.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? You don’t have to deal with the annoying training anymore.”

“It was like that now. But back then… the sudden change in environment came as a huge shock. Duke Argent had spent his entire life running solely towards that one goal. And when that goal disappeared, he became useless. All that was left was marrying into the royal family.”

“Do you resent your younger brother?”

“At the time, I think I did. But not anymore. On the contrary, I feel sorry for him. He’s probably spending most of his days now working hard for his successor position—training both sword and magic, studying management and history that give me headaches just thinking about them… Hmm. The most irritating part was etiquette.”

“Etiquette?”

“The Cobalt Kingdom basically regards asceticism as a virtue. It’s natural to preserve purity, and you’re not supposed to eat too much food. From trivial matters to practicing asceticism… in other words, they enforce strict etiquette.”

“If you’re saying it like that, how bad could it possibly be?”

“Hmm. Let’s take dining etiquette as an example. In the Cobalt Kingdom, when a meal begins, you must first drink a sip of water. It’s some kind of respect for the dishes, cleaning your mouth with water… something like that. And you absolutely must hold the fork in your right hand—it’s not considered proper etiquette even if you’re left-handed. Moreover, before tasting three different dishes, you’re not allowed to open your mouth. You can’t eat too fast, nor make noise while eating. And during the meal…”

“Stop, stop! I get it already, how messed up Cobalt Kingdom’s etiquette is. Stop it.”

Just hearing about it makes my head ache.

“While these are indeed the etiquettes of the Cobalt Kingdom, there’s no need to follow all of them strictly. Most high-ranking nobles can’t adhere to every single detail. Since it doesn’t interfere with daily life, they don’t obsess over it. However, the Argent Dukedom is an exception. They are fixated on even the tiniest details.”

“That’s so annoying.”

“I only realized how strange it was after entering Goldway Academy. Before that, I’d always been in the Argent Dukedom, so following all the etiquette seemed normal to me. Well, once I realized it wasn’t necessary, I intentionally started ignoring the rules.”

“By that point, it must’ve been habitual, so it must’ve been tough.”

“Not at all. I discarded all the etiquette within a day. Habits? They mean nothing compared to convenience.”

Thud thud.

She stopped walking ahead through the secret passage.

She shone her flashlight on the uneven wall.

“…What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“There’s a trap ahead. It’s quite troublesome, so I want to deal with it before proceeding… Hmm. But I don’t quite know how to handle it.”

“I don’t sense anything… Is it a physical trap?”

“It’s an artifact. One that manipulates the human mind. It’s fine when moving from inside out, but coming in from outside causes issues.”

“So it’s a trap set up to catch intruders.”

“And when fleeing, you can manipulate the artifact to screw with the pursuers.”

“Screw? That sounds vulgar, Lady Duchess.”

“I don’t want to hear anything about ‘seal of forbidden knowledge’ from you, Master.”

Melissa glared at the wall. She kept glaring. After ten minutes, beads of sweat formed on Melissa’s face.

Five more minutes passed, and Melissa finally spoke hesitantly.

“…I forgot.”

“What?”

“It’s unavoidable. The information I heard about this secret passage is over 15 years old. Humans tend to forget trivial things after such a long time.”

“This isn’t a trivial matter. And Yuria probably wouldn’t have forgotten, right?”

“Don’t compare me to Lady Yuria. That’s like comparing a candle to the sun.”

I nodded. Comparing someone to Yuria does seem inappropriate. Compared to Yuria, most people…

“Just blow it up and go in. Step back.”

“But you said earlier that getting caught in the trap would mess with your mind.”

“I’m immune to mental attacks.”

If I were alone, I would’ve just gone through the trap.


It shall be. Since I possess an absolute spirit, mental attacks are meaningless against me.

Realizing how serious I was, Melissa stepped back to create some distance.

“Is this wall a relic?”

“That’s right. If you touch the uneven parts in a specific order, you can disable the trap… but I can’t remember the sequence.”

I casually ignored her excuse and approached the wall.

I swept my palm over the uneven surface of the wall.

Uuuuung.

The wall vibrated and emitted an intangible energy.

Zzzzttt.

The electromagnetic shield I had set up due to those bugs blocked the intangible energy.

‘…They call it intangible energy, but this is similar to electromagnetic waves, isn’t it? Is it manipulating the brain with electromagnetic waves?’

Uuuuung.

Zzzzztttt!

Once again, energy erupted from the wall. The electromagnetic shield blocked it once more. The output seems low.

“Melissa. There’s no need to destroy it. Let’s proceed like this.”

“It does seem that way.”

We passed through the trap.

“We’ll arrive in roughly 10 minutes.”

“Ten minutes… Do you even trust yourself after what happened earlier?”

“I said ‘roughly.’ Don’t start timing me.”

Tatat. Tatat.

These damn bugs keep charging at us, only to meet their end.

“Melissa. You don’t regret coming with me, do you?”

“I don’t regret it. Though recalling what you did to me back at the academy still pisses me off a bit… It’s far better than becoming the wife of Dulibard. If I had married him, I’d probably have ended up like a trapped canary in a cage.”

“Trapped canary, huh… Not bad.”

“Don’t get any weird ideas. Anyway, I’m satisfied with my current life. The house is warm, and the food is tastier than anywhere else. The work suits me, and I’ve become friends with the maids. I’m living happily.”

Melissa smiled and playfully moved her flashlight around.

“And Lady Yuria… or rather, Mistress, also told me something. She said that while the spot beside Master belongs to her, she could always give me the position of a concubine.”

“Yuria said such a thing…?”

“I’m content with that position. No matter what, my competitor is Mistress herself. I don’t think I could win against her, nor do I want to.”

“I didn’t know you loved me so much…”

“Don’t misunderstand. To be honest, I don’t particularly like you. It’s just your… well, you-know-what that I like.”

Melissa said this seriously. It was hard to tell if it was a joke or not.

“…Whatever. After I get Yuria pregnant, I’ll get you pregnant too.”

“Pregnant with Master’s child, huh? Not bad at all.”

The end of the secret passage came into view. A steel door blocked our way.

“Master, I have a request.”

“Request? If it’s asking me to kill the Argon Duke… That’s impossible right now.”

“How rude of you. Why would you assume I’d ask for something like that? I’ve severed ties with the Argon Dukedom, but cutting ties doesn’t mean they’re gone, right? We’re still heading to the Argon Dukedom, aren’t we? I don’t really hold any grudge against them.”

“Then what’s your request?”

“I want to humiliate Father, the Argon Duke. Tease me in front of him.”

“You want me to defile you in front of the Argon Duke?”

“No, I said tease me.”

“I understand what you mean. But will it even work? You’ve cut ties with the Argon family, haven’t you? Oh, wait, you mentioned they value etiquette, so it might actually work.”

Melissa absentmindedly played with her own hair.

Her navy-blue hair.

A characteristic trait of the Argon Dukedom.

“I inherited the bloodline of the Argon Dukedom. That’s an undeniable truth.”

“…Indeed. Was this the reason you deliberately wore such revealing clothes? Alright, I understand. I’ll do it.”

“Thank you, Master. As a token of gratitude, I’ll properly serve you later. Come on, let’s go.”

Melissa grabbed the handle of the steel door.