My Uncle is the Strongest Dark Mage

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 4

“I’ll enjoy the meal.”

Steam rose gently from the rice placed on the table.

Taking a warm mouthful of rice, he tore apart the fried egg in front of him and followed it with another bite.

The slightly salty seasoning balanced the bland rice, and the half-cooked yolk mixed with the grains, melting softly between his teeth.

And to wash down the slight dryness at the end, there was miso soup.

Was it because finely chopped chili peppers had been added?

The broth, with a faint spicy kick at the end, slid down his throat, leaving his mouth feeling refreshed.

“Not bad.”

The miso soup perfectly catered to his preference for spicy broths.

It might have been a bit stimulating for breakfast, but his tastes clearly leaned in this direction.

“I’m glad.”

Arina, relieved by his words, scooped up a bite of rice with her chopsticks and placed it in her mouth.

The slight blush on her face hinted that compliments always lifted her mood.

Slightly firm, fluffy rice, a half-cooked fried egg, and a spicy miso soup.

Perhaps it was because they had been living together for almost two years now.

Arina had grown adept at crafting meals that perfectly matched his tastes without needing to be told.

‘Two years.’

Has it already been that long?

Since his older sister had passed away.

The news had shocked not only Cain.

Arina had been equally devastated.

When she heard about the mysterious accident that caused the airship to crash, leaving no body to be found, she had cried her heart out at the funeral.

Exhausted from crying, she had fainted, and the conversation around her had shifted to her living arrangements.

At the time, Cain had no intention of getting involved in the matter.

“Damn it! What’s so special about her that she’s being brought into the family?”

If not for the words of Hemon Grant, the third son of the Grant Association and younger brother of Hughes Grant.

“It’s her fault that our brother died! Send that woman, who ran off with a nobleman, packing!”

“Calm down. I know you’re upset about our brother’s death, but don’t take it out on someone who did nothing wrong.”

Huren Grant, the current head of the Grant Association and its second son, shook his head at Hemon Grant’s words.

But Cain could see it clearly.

Even though there was no outright hostility, Huren also held no positive feelings toward Arina.

No, if he had to choose, it was obvious that his feelings leaned toward the negative.

‘Isn’t that only natural?’

His older sister had said so herself.

The Grant Association didn’t particularly welcome Arina’s presence.

“Anyway! I can’t stand to see her face, so send her to an orphanage or throw her out on the streets right now!”

Huren Grant tried to pacify him repeatedly, but Hemon Grant’s resistance was fierce.

At this rate, even Huren Grant might sigh in resignation and agree with the suggestion.

It was all too predictable.

Abandoning a child under the guise of unavoidable circumstances was all too common in the underworld.

In fact, putting on such a hypocritical act made it all the more distasteful.

-Take care of my daughter.

“Damn it.”

Why did those words come to mind now?

His older sister’s final words before she left kept echoing in his head.

-Still, the reason I’m asking you this is because I trust you that much, right?

Don’t trust me.

I’m not the kind of person who takes responsibility.

After all this time, did his older sister still not understand him?

-Because Arina is my daughter.

He clicked his tongue lightly.

It really didn’t sit well with him.

What was supposed to be just a few days of babysitting had turned into a lifetime of raising a child.

Raising someone who wasn’t even his blood, the child of a man who had stolen his sister away.

But above all, there was one fact he couldn’t stand.

‘Who dares to sell off my niece to some random place?’

Arina was his older sister’s daughter.

And he would never stand by and watch her life spiral into misery.

“Huh?”

He carefully approached and picked Arina up in his arms.

The members of the Grant Association looked bewildered at the sudden interruption.

Without even glancing back at them, Cain spoke.

“I’ll take her with me.”

“What?”

“I’ll raise her.”

He turned his head.

His glasses slid slightly down his nose.

Beyond them, his dark eyes flickered ominously with a foreboding purple hue.

“So don’t argue loudly about selling her off somewhere. Even when children are asleep, they subconsciously hear and internalize those words.”

At the sight of those eyes, everyone froze in place.

Like prey facing a predator.

An inexplicable fear rooted their legs to the ground, making it hard to even breathe.

A suffocating despair loomed over them, as if they might choke at any moment.

“Hah!”

Only when Cain turned his head did they remember how to breathe, collapsing to the ground and gasping for air.

Ignoring them entirely, Cain cradled Arina and quietly exited the funeral hall.

‘All the brothers are the same.’

The eldest had caused a scene at an upscale restaurant.

The middle and youngest had stirred up trouble at the funeral.

Instead of inheriting anything good, they seemed to have picked up all the bad traits.

Feeling disgusted by the thought, he gazed silently at the stars in the night sky.

“I must have told you.”

He held Arina even closer to his chest.

Covering her ears with both arms, he murmured in a low, chilling voice.

“If you make my older sister unhappy, I’ll destroy you without fail.”

It would’ve been better to make her cry.

To have a massive argument, hurt each other’s feelings, and at least have a reason to reconcile afterward.

Then there would’ve been a way to seek forgiveness and make amends.

Who do you think you are, taking someone along as your companion to the afterlife?

It’s infuriating.

“Don’t think you’re safe just because you fled to the afterlife.”

Death was more familiar to him than anything else in this world.

By that logic, even the afterlife was no different from his backyard.

Just wait and see.

When I reach the afterlife, I’ll make sure you regret today for eternity.

‘But before that, there’s something I need to do first…’

Investigating this incident takes priority.

A sudden airship accident?

Unexplained causes?

And not even a body to be found?

This incident had far too many unanswered questions.

And an incident with so many questions naturally implied that something was hidden behind it.

‘I will uncover it without fail.’

And then, I will kill them.

I’ll make them regret ever daring to mess with me.

Grinding his teeth, he quickly sent a message to his subordinate.

To thoroughly investigate the truth of this incident from beginning to end.

Only after that did he finally remove his hand from Arina’s ear.

“Let’s go back. To our home.”

Cain whispered softly into her ear.

Yes, for the child, only these kinds of words should be heard.

Words filled with hostility or a thirst for revenge toward someone.

Those malicious words must not reach her ears.

Because even in her sleep, a child would unconsciously remember and imprint those words in her heart.

“…….”

While briefly recalling the past, Cain finished his meal and stood up with his empty bowl in hand.

He placed it in the sink and then walked straight to the living room sofa.

“I cooked the meal, so can’t Uncle do the dishes?”

At her complaint, Cain answered without even glancing away from his smartphone.

“That’s why I said we should just order delivery.”

“Who orders delivery just to avoid doing dishes?”

Seriously.

Shaking her head as if there was no other choice, Arina began putting on rubber gloves.

‘Still no word…’

Two years had passed since that day.

Even now, the incident from back then remained a mystery.

Despite mobilizing every bit of intelligence from the underworld—an underworld capable of uncovering any information, even the color of the Empress’s underwear or the number of chest hairs on the Demon Lord.

‘What is this? Seriously.’

This was a first.

‘That arrogant guy hasn’t contacted me, which means he hasn’t found a single clue yet.’

That guy was the type to handle everything himself, not wanting to bother me, and only reported truly important matters to me.

No contact meant that the underworld was running smoothly without any peculiarities.

And at the same time, it also meant there was no progress on the task I had assigned him.

By now, two years later, I didn’t even feel impatient anymore.

At first, I berated him for taking so long to find anything.

But now, that impatience had dulled with the passage of time.

However, the urgency of the matter hadn’t dulled.

Once I set my sights on a target, I pursued it to the end.

Even if I forgot kindness, I would never forget a grudge.

That was my creed, and following that creed, not a single person who owed me a debt had survived.

Even the nameless child who bullied me as a kid and sent me to the cemetery over a petty grudge.

“Hey, kid.”

Staring at my smartphone was only making me more frustrated.

Turning it off and tossing it onto the sofa beside me, I called out to Arina.

“Come to think of it, the entrance ceremony isn’t far off, is it?”

Benedict Academy.

The continent’s premier magic academy, established by the Demon Lord Ern Benedict, located in the Magic Kingdom in the west of the continent.

True to his philosophy that “Magic should be accessible to everyone,” Benedict Academy accepted students with a passion and talent for magic, regardless of whether they were commoners or nobles.

The average age for admission was twelve and above.

Fortunately, Arina had already passed the entrance exam, her talent recognized.

‘It was the first time.’

That this kid had ever asked me for something.

She said her dream was to become a mage or something like that.

I still vividly remembered how she fidgeted awkwardly during dinner, unsure of how to bring it up.

‘Well, it’s a relief.’

That her dream was to be a mage.

If her dream had been to become a spirit summoner or a swordsman, just thinking about it gave me chills.

The Empress and the Twin Ghosts weren’t exactly sane individuals.

No, if I had to pick the most reasonable among the Absolutes, it would be none other than the Demon Lord.

The reason I decided to settle down and take a break in the Elemental Kingdom wasn’t just because it was my homeland, but also because the Demon Lord was better than the other Absolutes.

‘The amenities here are better than anywhere else.’

Like smartphones, for example.

The Elemental Kingdom was a place where magic had advanced, and with it, magical engineering.

In terms of scientific civilization, it was centuries ahead of other nations.

Naturally, there wasn’t a more comfortable and convenient country to live in.

For instance, here, you could send a message with just a text, whereas in the Empress’s southern territory, you’d have to tie a letter to the tip of an arrow and shoot it.

“Yes, but why?”

At Cain’s sudden remark, Arina tilted her head in curiosity.

“The uniform is supposed to arrive here once it’s ready. So, shall we go buy the other necessities?”

Like a bag, school supplies, and so on.

Even though she had a smartphone, a wristwatch might also be useful.

Or maybe I should just get her a brand-new, top-of-the-line smartphone while I’m at it?

‘What else might she need?’

Cain casually organized a mental list.

“What?!”

Arina froze for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

She rushed over to him, her excitement evident, and asked for confirmation.

“Are we going out?”

“Yeah.”

“Together?”

“Of course.”

“Not just throwing your card at me like usual?”

“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve gone out. Think of it as a stroll. If you don’t want to, that’s fine too.”

“No! I want to! I really want to!”

Worried he might change his mind, Arina quickly nodded her head.

With that motion, her chestnut-colored hair swayed wildly, and the scent of apple shampoo tickled Cain’s nose.

‘She’s so diligent.’

At her age, shouldn’t she want to sleep even a minute longer?

Even though it must be a rush to prepare breakfast, she still managed to wash and dry her hair?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how diligent this kid was.

It was no wonder her older sister had entrusted her to me, saying she wouldn’t be any trouble.

Watching her small figure disappear into her room, likely to decide what to wear, Cain shook his head slightly.

“Just wear something simple.”

Let’s see.

The departure time was roughly an hour from now.

Picking up the smartphone he had tossed aside, he let out a long yawn, wondering how to kill time.