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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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“W-What…?”
An unbelievable scene unfolded before Lucas’s eyes.
His mother was looking at Edgar Fix with a suggestive expression.
Not only that, but she called him her husband and urged Lucas to greet his new father.
“Kekeke… Darling. It seems our son needs a bit more… discipline.”
Fix, with a sinister smirk playing on his lips, leaned in close to Adela and whispered in her ear,
“Why don’t you teach him some manners?”
Adela, with her cheeks flushed, nodded and turned to Lucas.
“Lucas. Is this how I raised you? To glare at your new stepfather is an act of defiance against me. You should greet him properly.”
The world spun.
Lucas’s legs felt weak, and his stomach churned.
What was happening?
“Lucas! Are you going to disobey me? Apologize to your stepfather this instant! He’s the man I love, the only man I’ve ever accepted as my partner!”
His perception of reality twisted.
Like a dream accepted as truth, Lucas believed this impossible scenario.
Fix, that bastard, had stolen his mother.
“Kekeke… Lucas, you better start behaving. Unless you want to be cut out of the inheritance. Adela’s carrying my child, you know, the new heir to House Elmar.”
“…What? What did you say?”
“Oh, or should I say, the heir to House Fix? My apologies.”
Lucas trembled.
His mother… carrying Fix’s child?
Was he being abandoned?
Why did his mother always choose lowly commoners, leading to this kind of—
– Lucas.
Suddenly, Adela’s voice, the familiar, clear voice he knew, echoed in his mind.
– I truly loved your father. So don’t listen to the whispers of insignificant gossips.
He remembered his mother’s words from his childhood, when rumors about him being the child of a rapist circulated.
She had assured him that he was the product of love, not violence.
‘This isn’t real.’
With the memory, clarity returned.
The scene before him was impossible.
His mother would never behave so crudely.
‘The powder… Charlotte Verdian used…’
He recalled the duel between Charlotte and Cardmos.
The hallucinogenic powder that had driven Cardmos to madness.
And the illusion formula designed to amplify fear.
‘That’s it.’
Everything clicked into place.
The connection between Ed and Charlotte.
The strange powder that had hit his face during the duel.
What he was seeing was a manifestation of his deepest fears, conjured by the powder and amplified by his own subconscious.
The fear that his mother would abandon him, choosing a more worthy partner than his lowly mercenary father.
His insecurity about his own lineage.
His desperate desire for his mother’s approval.
The pressure to be the perfect son.
All these emotions had coalesced into this nightmarish illusion.
His own unresolved insecurities had trapped him.
‘I was consumed by vanity…’
He had believed he was making progress, growing stronger.
When nobles flocked to him at social gatherings.
When he was chosen as the representative for the incoming academy class.
When he led a group of followers.
Those moments hadn’t been about growth, but about filling the void left by his insecurity about his common blood.
Look at me, I am Lucas Elmar.
The true heir, a genuine noble.
I have inherited the prestigious Elmar bloodline, worthy of my mother’s legacy.
He had been boasting like a child, desperate for validation.
His mother had never been ashamed of his father, but he, trapped by his own insecurities, had used upholding her honor as an excuse to inflate his own ego.
‘It’s not about what others think…’
His mother was impervious to the opinions of others.
She had her own unwavering values, her own definition of what truly mattered, and she focused solely on that.
But he had been consumed by vanity, mistaking the number of his followers for a measure of his own worth.
‘…I was behaving like a child. How embarrassing.’
He had longed for her acknowledgment, for her to say, “You’ve become a man.”
He craved her approval, her recognition of his worth.
But she had never referred to him as a “man.”
To others, she always spoke of him as her “child.”
‘It’s no wonder.’
He now understood his mother’s criteria for manhood.
A man forged his own path.
A man stood by his convictions, unwavering in the face of adversity.
A man attracted others through his own merits, not through his family name or connections.
That was her definition of a man.
And Edgar Fix fit that definition perfectly.
They were not on the same level.
‘I was jealous of him.’
Acknowledging his own weakness brought clarity.
He had been jealous of Ed since the entrance ceremony, since Ed’s declaration that he wasn’t ashamed of his family name, his common origins.
Because Lucas himself had tried to bury that part of himself, clinging to the Elmar name, denying the other half of his heritage.
‘I… rejected my own roots.’
Ed had embraced his origins.
He had proudly proclaimed himself a blacksmith.
He had retained his common name even after receiving a title.
He wasn’t ashamed of his commoner father and always prioritized his family.
He hadn’t let fame and fortune corrupt him, even offering guidance to those who had mocked him.
He was a positive influence, not just in the academy, but throughout the Empire.
‘That’s not Edgar Fix.’
The sneering thug in the hallucination wasn’t the real Edgar Fix.
It was a reflection of Lucas’s own insecurities, his own unwillingness to accept Ed’s superiority.
He had demonized Ed to protect his own fragile ego.
“Haa…”
It was time to wake up.
Lucas exhaled, focusing his mana, calming his turbulent emotions.
He ignored the taunting voice of “thug Ed,” bragging about Adela’s “bedroom skills” and his own prowess.
It was just another illusion, a manifestation of his own weakness.
With a surge of mana, he dispelled the illusion.
Like paint melting under the scorching sun, the fabricated scene dissolved.
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Adela, watching from the stands, frowned.
Her son, who had been attacking relentlessly, was now trapped in the hallucinogenic powder’s illusion.
‘He lost his composure…’
Despite the flashy display, his performance had been disappointing.
He had allowed his emotions to dictate his actions, underestimating his opponent.
– Waaaaah!
– He finally did it! Go, go, go!
He had given Ed the opening he needed.
While Lucas was disoriented, Ed began summoning and equipping his suit.
– Oooooh!
– Is that the legendary…?!
Ed, aiming a repulsor beam at Lucas, started assembling his suit.
The pieces, as if drawn by magnets, flew towards him, assembling themselves with mechanical precision.
The detached boots, lying discarded across the arena, shot towards Ed’s feet and locked into place.
– Whirr… Click…
The other parts followed suit.
Simultaneously appearing from spatial rifts, they attached themselves to Ed, self-assembling with incredible speed.
Lasers scanned, gears shifted, screws turned, bearings rotated – a flurry of controlled motion as the components combined.
– Pssshhh…
Steam hissed as the suit, complete except for the helmet, materialized around Ed.
The academy’s strongest student had returned.
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Thanks for the chapter
why the heck did he not suit up before the tourney start tho?
He’s confident and too pre-occupied about his dinner plans. That’s why he didn’t bother suiting up. And could be a violation of rules.