Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as a Beast Race Chapter 426 - 425 - Hitogami’s Hidden Move?

Timothy Britz had a relatively short reign as Sword God.

Even so, that brief period was marked by many battles.

He reached the position by defeating the other Sword Emperor, Clint. After that, successive challenges came to him.

Ambitious swordsmen believed they had found an opening, and warriors who desired renown tried to take the title of Sword God for themselves. Timothy defeated all of them with superior technique.

That was one of the advantages of practicing the Sword God Style. If you were faster, you were superior.

Period.

Despite that, Timothy never felt that the style was truly prospering under his guidance. He knew Gall Farion was still stronger.

He also knew that Rygar, who was only sixteen when he left the Sword Sanctuary, had already become far superior to him in combat. That kind of thing weighed on someone who carried the highest title of a school based on strength and victory.

The opportunity to join Queen Ariel might have been the right choice to revive the Sword God Style.

Or perhaps not.

Timothy constantly felt that he was making a mistake, but he saw no other clear choice. He was skilled, without a doubt, but he was far from being capable of contesting everything based only on his own strength.

He lacked the confidence that he could defeat Reida Lia in a single blow, something Gall Farion would have been capable of doing even in his youth. For that reason, little by little, he ended up entering more and more into the political field of the Asura Kingdom.

It was in that context that one of the noble houses allied with Ariel, House Whitespider, offered him its second daughter as a concubine to strengthen their ties.

Timothy accepted, and ended up having another child with that woman.

She grew under his direct influence, with little interference from House Whitespider, and that youngest daughter was still very small during the attack on the Asura Palace.

In truth, one of the reasons Timothy wanted to fight Jino was precisely to tell him that he had a younger sister.

Unfortunately, his path was interrupted by Eris, who killed him and took the title of Sword God for herself. With his death, his daughter ended up growing amid the political turmoil of the Asura Kingdom.

Livia Whitespider was one of the main people affected by the massacre, having lost her father at a young age. But her family was too busy trying to restructure itself politically to give proper attention to the daughter of the former Sword God.

Only her mother and a few sisters spoke with her with any frequency.

That, however, ended up being a great thing for Livia.

Without major interference, she simply followed the teachings left behind by her father.

Live by the sword.

Only strength can take you anywhere in this world.

While nobles, merchants, and members of royalty tore at one another in attempts to stabilize the Asura Kingdom, Livia Whitespider ignored all of it.

She had no interest in salon disputes, marriage alliances, or political schemes. Her world was much simpler.

At twelve years old, silently, she reached the rank of Sword Saint.

Timothy’s bloodline was truly impeccable, producing talent after talent. Although Jino was still superior, since he had achieved that same feat at ten years old, Livia’s achievement remained impressive.

In any other context, a twelve-year-old Sword Saint would be treated as a prodigy capable of changing the future of an entire school.

Obviously, after demonstrating so much strength, Livia’s life changed considerably. But contrary to what she expected, the Asura Kingdom hid her tooth and nail.

Her feats and identity were suppressed, and the rumors disappeared before they could begin circulating.

People who had known her for a long time were instructed to forget inconvenient details. Then, one of the Sword Kings who had once followed her father was employed by Queen Ariel and began training her directly.

Livia was pleasantly surprised by that, and continued her training happily.

It was also around that time that she began to learn more about the situation involving her father’s death, the current political circumstances, and her own long-term importance to the Asura Kingdom.

She understood, without much illusion, that she was being preserved as a hidden card. The daughter of the former Sword God, with enough talent to reach Saint Level while still a child, could become useful at some point.

Livia did not mind being used in that way.

There was a reason why, even today, she was so uninformed about many things. She saw only the sword.

In her view, inherited from Timothy, only strength would allow her to move without obstruction. Only power could free her from intrigues, political schemes, dependence on other factions, or submission to greater forces.

As the daughter of the Sword God, she practiced that style exclusively.

After mastering the Longsword of Light, her next three years were dedicated almost entirely to that single technique.

Faster, stronger, and more lethal. Every training session served to increase those three aspects. While other youths learned alternatives, defenses, and adaptations, Livia was refining a single path to its limit.

And now, she even had the secret support of her kingdom. Healing mages treated her injuries so she could continue training.

Sparring partners from various styles were brought in to broaden her experience against different types of opponents.

And she continued moving forward. Before she realized it, in about a year, she was already faster than the Sword King who trained her.

That left her slightly disappointed.

For a time, Livia seriously questioned whether that man was worthy of the title of Sword King. Even so, reluctantly, she accepted her own appointment.

From then on, the next two years were more of the same. Against Water Kings, specialists of various styles, and even against Emperors, she remained firm in her conviction.

A single attack was everything she practiced. She only tried to be faster, stronger, and more lethal than her opponent.

If someone looked back at past eras, perhaps they would see in her the shadow of Al Farion, the precursor of the Sword God Style and the strongest swordsman of his generation.

That was a conviction difficult to form naturally. In Livia’s case, it was born from a combination of unforeseen circumstances: Timothy’s legacy, his early death, House Whitespider’s silence, political isolation, Asura’s secret support, and a personality that accepted the sword as the only valid answer to any obstacle.

Now, that story was spreading everywhere.

Even more so after Livia openly declared, before everyone, that if she obtained first place in the Dawn Cup, she would like to become a disciple of the Technique God, Laplace.

----

Meanwhile, Aurora was complaining to her father about the injustice that had fallen upon her.

"This is completely absurd! How am I supposed to defeat that monster?! I’m eleven and she’s fifteen. Give me four more years and I’ll tear her apart!"

Rygar was laughing while training with Hubert and Harris.

"Weren’t you the one who told me a few months ago: ’It doesn’t matter how old they are, I can take all of them down with one hand behind my back’?"

Aurora ground her teeth, frustrated.

Verdia was right behind her, holding back her laughter while drinking a cup of tea.

Months ago, Aurora had not known that Perseus had reached Saint Level and believed there would be no one capable of competing with her for first place.

So what if she was only eleven? She possessed countless talents, an absurd amount of mana, magic eyes, teleportation, and magic jumping all over the place.

Even without being able to use Touki, she did not believe anyone in that age range could present a true challenge.

That changed as time passed, and now her own words were turning against her. Verdia spoke, clearly provoking her:

"What is the matter, Aurora? She is only a Sword King, after all. Isn’t it enough to just teleport and everything is fine?"

Aurora’s little face began to turn red, and her green hair floated slightly as a bright yellow light appeared around it.

Rygar merely watched the scene with amusement while continuing to guide his sons.

"More focus, Hubert. Remember the trick of the Sword God Style. Keep your eyes on the tip of the sword at all times. That helps concentrate the intent of the strike."

"Hah... hah... yes, Dad!"

Aurora gradually calmed down, or at least tried to look as if she had calmed down. Then she looked at Verdia with a pleading expression.

"Mom, please help me disqualify her for lying in the registrations!"

Verdia, who had been laughing, grew curious.

"Lying in the registrations? What do you mean?"

Aurora saw a sliver of hope and immediately began:

"It’s simple! She’s Uncle Jino’s sister, the daughter of the former Sword God, and a Sword King, but when she registered, she presented herself as Livia Whitespider, not Livia Britz. Besides, she wrote that she was merely ’skilled’ with the sword, when the registration clearly says to write your rank in your main style. And she obviously hid that information just to look cooler. I mean, who waits until the last moment to reveal they’re that strong? Clearly someone narcissistic who wants attention!"

Verdia was stunned for an instant as she watched Aurora spit argument after argument with such seriousness.

Then she began to laugh.

"Hahahaha!"

Aurora was shocked.

Even Rygar was surprised for a moment, before he began laughing as well. Verdia dried the corner of her eye, still smiling.

"Ah, Aurora... did you just describe yourself? Aren’t you also hiding some abilities to look cool?"

Aurora froze after the accusation. Then she looked away and puffed out her cheeks.

And then she disappeared with a plop, using her teleportation.

Rygar merely observed the empty spot where she had been, still with a smile on his face, and continued training the red-haired twins until the two of them were completely exhausted.

Aurora’s only real concern was the Sword God Style and Beast God Style at a high level. She was not very strong physically and needed to compensate for almost everything with magic.

Although she did very well at disguising it, maintaining a haughty and arrogant posture, she was well aware of the weakness of being unable to use Touki.

Her Laplace Factor strengthened her body only a little, and that was not enough to physically compete with Advanced-Level swordsmen.

Since she was only eleven years old and did not put much effort into learning close-combat techniques, focusing almost all of her time on magic, her dependence on casting was enormous.

The problem was that she did not know whether that would be enough to defeat a Sword King like Livia, at the peak of her growth and strength.

Not even Rygar was certain about that point.

Ariel had done an excellent job hiding that diamond for so long.

When the two brats were already completely exhausted from training, one collapsed on top of the other, Rygar refused to heal them.

Sometimes, experiencing physical exhaustion was good for getting the muscles used to it. Hubert and Harris were pushing themselves to the limit because they were eight years old at the moment.

Five years from now, they would be thirteen, old enough to participate in the next edition of the Dawn Cup. Even years before the competition, they were already aiming for first place, and Rygar would obviously help them with that objective.

After sitting down with Verdia, he asked:

"How is Iris?"

Verdia set down her cup and answered:

"She is better after Eris comforted her. It seems Eris’s opinion is very important to her."

Rygar nodded.

Iris had ended up failing to qualify in the Battle Royale, which he had honestly already expected might happen. She was eliminated by Beatriz Kingdragon, until then the strongest competitor from the Kingdragon Kingdom.

It was not that Iris was weak.

She was Intermediate Level in the North God Style and the Water God Style, besides being able to cast some Advanced spells without chants.

For a girl her age, that was excellent. But Iris was not especially skilled in that kind of fight. She was not very fast, nor did she have particularly sharp combat instincts.

One could say that she had reached that point through training, specialized guidance, and effort, and she could have qualified with a little luck.

Unfortunately, she crossed paths with a North Saint.

And was eliminated.

She became very sad and disappointed. Nothing Rygar said truly helped. He tried to explain that it was all right, that she had done well.

But she was still frustrated with herself.

When Eris spoke with her, however, Iris ended up coming to terms with it better.

It also helped that Lara, one of her closest friends, was not even participating, claiming that she was not good at fighting.

Iris, at least, had tried. She defeated a few opponents before facing Beatriz and finished among the top fifteen in her group.

Verdia noticed Rygar’s silence and finally asked:

"What are the chances that this Livia girl is Hitogami’s Apostle?"

Rygar answered uncertainly:

"Thirty percent. I know she is hiding something, but she probably would not be a good choice for an Apostle. All she can do is fight, and fighting does not work against us."

Verdia observed his face for a few seconds.

"But, with that Apostle we already know about, are you certain Hitogami would not try to fight?"

Rygar considered that point of view.

They already knew who one of the Apostles was, but they had not revealed it because they wanted Hitogami to lower his guard, or at least believe that he still possessed some hidden advantage.

In a normal situation, Rygar would discard someone like Livia quickly. She was strong and talented, but strength was not the kind of thing that would change the result against them.

Even so, Hitogami was desperate. And someone desperate could try bad things simply because he no longer had any good options.

"Maybe..." Rygar said at last. "We’ll be sure during the final matches. For now, we wait."

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