[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-problematic-child-of-the-magic-tower":3,"chapter-the-problematic-child-of-the-magic-tower-the-problematic-child-of-the-magic-tower-chapter-281":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1334819,1778,"Chapter 281","the-problematic-child-of-the-magic-tower-chapter-281",281,"\u003Cp>[Translator - Night]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Proofreader - Gun]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chapter 281: Happy End (6)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mages who returned to the House of Heavenly Sword were led to the conference room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, you’re back?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chenko Verstappen, the Sword Lord, gave them a light nod.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thanks for coming late at night, everyone.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Not at all.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“First, thank you for bringing the bodies of the knights.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It was something that had to be done.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A total of twenty-three people died in this operation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ironically, not a single one of them was a mage—only the knights who had gone into the building lost their lives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knowing that, the mages tried not to offend the Sword Lord’s mood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I noticed earlier that people who inhaled the smoke showed strange symptoms. What’s the situation with that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Luckily it rained, so the damage wasn’t too severe. Still, about four hundred people were affected.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a somewhat harsh way to put it, but for a biochemical terror attack spread across the city, the casualties were comparatively small.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Speaking of which... you’re called Oscar Crucian, right? I have something to ask.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Please.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I heard a rumor that you treated patients with those symptoms at Saint Hill. Is that true?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Oscar remembered Saint Hill, his face darkened for a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had done his best to treat the patients there, but in the end he hadn’t been able to save a single one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If the drug composition wasn’t drastically different from before, then it's possible.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In that case, could you manufacture medicine for the citizens of Sicadel? I’ll pay generously. I’ll get whatever ingredients you need.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That wouldn’t be difficult... but—are you sure?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The royal court doesn’t like infected people being treated and released back into society.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, Saint Hill had sent a fixer named Sever Harben to eliminate all the patients.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I understand your concern. But don’t worry about that here. This is Sicadel.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That confident assurance made Oscar nod without realizing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Right, this isn’t Saint Hill.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This place was both the city of the Heavenly Sword household and the seat of the Heavenly Sword himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how powerful a court noble might be, they’d think twice about messing with it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, we can’t leave Sicadel’s citizens to die because of a few cowardly rats.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>True to the Sword Lord’s character, he was bold and blunt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you need anything, let me know.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Understood. For now I’ll need noctecha leaves, purple coral, and—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm. Fortunately, those are not hard to find. Have them gathered by morning.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then I’ll start work at dawn.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the meeting was dismissed, the mages streamed out of the conference room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The House of Heavenly Sword had offered rooms to everyone, but some mages prepared to leave immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching them leave without even saying goodbye, Killian asked,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oscar, what should we do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why? You want to go back first?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I thought it might interfere with work. I intended to train.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If that’s the goal, you’ll do better here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Opportunities for a level-5 mage and a knight to spar didn’t come often.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Generally the Tower and the Sword House didn’t get along, so exchanges were rare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ll learn far more sparring with the knights here than training back at the Tower. You can’t buy that experience with money.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was an attractive offer even for the knights.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They also didn’t often get to test themselves against mages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Killian’s eyes widened at the suggestion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh... what an idea worthy of a genius!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But won’t it be awkward? With the casualties, the mansion’s atmosphere might be bad. People might call it tasteless and harm the Tower’s image.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t worry about that. If anything, everyone will train harder—some will fight as if it were life or death because of the dead comrades.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knights were certainly tougher about that than mages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t the first time Oscar had seen them train with the fire of wanting to be stronger for fallen comrades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you say that much, then fine. That’s right.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I do need experience against knights—fighting only mages all the time isn’t enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, the three of them decided to stay while Oscar made the medicine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At dawn, an apprentice knight sent by the Sword Lord came to their room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How’s this amount of ingredients? Is this enough?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...We don’t actually need that much.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t be shy; use plenty. I expect good results.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Making the cure itself wasn’t particularly difficult; the recipe was already in Oscar’s head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After half a day of work, he completed the medicine and took a sample to the Sword Lord.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve already made it? So soon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. This combination worked at Saint Hill.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then there’s no need to delay. Go to the patients.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the medicine was administered, the patients’ conditions improved rapidly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Sword Lord watched and clicked his tongue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve lived a life far from magic and alchemy, but even I can see that you’re remarkable.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems the composition isn’t very different from Saint Hill’s.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, since it had worked there before, there was no real need to change anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once they discovered that the medicine worked, it became a matter of manual labor—making it all day long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ugh.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By nightfall, after making more than five hundred bottles, Oscar finally left his room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Sword Lord had said to take his time, but lives were at stake—how could he?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By morning he’d probably have treated all the patients.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hm?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rubbing his stiff shoulders as he headed back to his room, Oscar stopped and looked out the window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite the late hour, someone was practicing sword swings energetically on the open training ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Isn’t that the grandson of the Heavenly Sword?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He always had that hollow look in his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oscar had been curious, with access to elixirs like water, why did he look so gaunt?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pondering for a moment, Oscar went out to the training grounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoosh! Ssssh!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Translator - Night]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Proofreader - Gun]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eastern dawn was still cold, but steam rose from the young man’s body as he swung his sword shirtless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The movements were clean and precise—befitting the grandson of the Heavenly Sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had he noticed the staring?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced over, startled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, I’m sorry if I startled you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oscar awkwardly apologized and scratched the back of his head as he approached.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m Oscar Crucian, a level-6 mage of the White Tower.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, the White Tower’s alchemist... wait. Level six?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man showed an incredulous expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t sense any mana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he were an enemy, he’d have been beheaded without a word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even now, it was hard for him to read Oscar’s mana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man, relieved, pulled on his shirt and said,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nice to meet you. I’m Cheon Ajin, the junior Sword Lord of the Heavenly Sword household.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The junior Sword Lord of the Heavenly Sword—he’d won the White Night Festival’s duel championship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oscar was seeing him up close for the first time and noticed how very young he looked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t help asking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pardon me for asking so suddenly—how old are you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I turned twenty this year.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At twenty and already just inside level seven—amazing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A prodigy on an absurd level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Comparatively, for a knight, he was probably as talented as Oscar’s best students.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re already level seven? Impressive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oscar, you don’t seem that far behind me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, until last year I was only level one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…haha.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheon Ajin gave an awkward laugh, the kind of forced smile someone gives to be polite at a friend’s dull joke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That made his hollow eyes and dark circles look even worse; his cheeks were gaunt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noticing that look, Cheon Ajin smiled bitterly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Does it look bad?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m sorry if that sounded rude. I guess I get drawn to it because my work is making potions.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I understand.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hesitated a moment, then spoke up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s a kind of curse.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A curse?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you were the grandson of the Heavenly Sword, you could easily arrange curses—people would be eager to help since you owed a favor to someone known as the strongest in humanity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Come to think of it, I saw him at the temple. He’d been treated there, but there was no improvement.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oscar, who himself bore a curse, was curious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What kind of curse is it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Every day my muscles and mana gradually disappear. I have to swing the sword while sleeping less than an hour to barely keep my muscles, and my mana disperses even if I inhale it like water.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What? That’s... impossible.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, muscles are essential to a knight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You need basic strength to swing a sword faster and harder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And mana is no less important.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How did you end up cursed like that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That is—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hey, what are you doing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, both of their heads turned in the same direction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The voice had come from the Heavenly Sword himself, who had approached without a sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stared at his grandson with a stern look and said,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You shouldn’t be idly chatting when you should be training.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“S-sorry.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheon Ajin, visibly frightened, resumed swinging his sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oscar, watching this with a pang of pity, turned his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is there no way to treat it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was outright ignored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Sword stood with his hands behind his back and glared at his grandson for a long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Why stare at your grandson like you want to kill him...?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after watching a moment, Oscar noticed the Heavenly Sword’s gaze was fixed on something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Realizing this, Oscar looked where he was staring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘The heart?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Sword was staring at Cheon Ajin’s heart as if it were the source of his anger. When Oscar examined it, he was surprised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around the area inside Cheon Ajin’s heart, Oscar sensed an alien presence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each time the heart beat, that presence absorbed a bit of Cheon Ajin’s life force and mana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So that bug was the real cause of the curse.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing that murmur, the Heavenly Sword was silent for a long while, then finally spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’d like nothing more than to swing my sword and tear it to pieces right this instant.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then why don’t you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...If I act hastily, he’ll die.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His sword was praised as if it could reach the heavens.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he couldn’t act rashly because of the bug’s location—deep inside the heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even someone like Cheon Mujin wouldn’t be able to carve the creature out cleanly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait until the perfect opportunity. You must remove it without a single mistake.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So that was why he had been glaring at the heart like he wanted to kill it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, the bug seemed lodged there, completely still, not even attempting to move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You know, in the Yan Kingdom they have some state called the ‘heart-sword’ or something, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t talk nonsense. If you’re going to spout rubbish, leave and stop bothering us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Sword snapped and scolded him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Oscar, who was staring at Cheon Ajin’s heart, tilted his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm. I think I can remove that.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Translator - Night]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Proofreader - Gun]\u003C\u002Fp>",1843,"2026-06-05T20:00:10.789Z",1,"novelbin.me","115389f0701f53c272a484b36f839064d374474418f95b1b5fe095240753ef09","the-problematic-child-of-the-magic-tower-chapter-43","the-problematic-child-of-the-magic-tower-chapter-280",375,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-problematic-child-of-the-magic-tower-cover.jpg"]