The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Family Wants A Divorce

✦ Chapter 31 — A Knight Of Helmund  ✦

「Translator – Creator」

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THUD!!!

Through the heavy stillness, the sound of Silverna’s spear shaft cracking against Jonathan split the air with a sharp thwack! He collapsed to the ground in a heap, still covering his mouth as he raised his face skyward.

“Whatever your reasons, I cannot tolerate such behavior right now.”

A menacing aura surrounded Silverna. It was as if she was forcibly holding back her instinct to swing the spear at any moment, gripping it tightly.

“Kihih! Puhahaha!”

“Hey! I said stop it!”

Shauren shouted angrily, and Jonathan clamped his hands tightly over his mouth. But his gaze still wandered toward the piles of bodies; that instinctive desire to burn the sight deeper into his eyes.

Until finally…

“You bastard-!”

Silverna’s patience snapped, and her spear shaft whirled viciously, striking Jonathan’s temple with a sharp crack.

Wham!!!

He crumpled unconscious, yet that unsettling smile remained frozen on his face like frost on winter glass.

“What in the world is this?!”

Silverna, already overwhelmed by the massacre of the Andes villagers, now had to deal with Jonathan’s outburst as well, giving her a headache. She grabbed her head with a long sigh and looked toward Shauren.

“Since he’s Helmund’s, Shauren, keep watch over him. The rest of us will go inside and assess the situation.”

“Ah, got it!”

Shauren planted one foot firmly on the fallen Jonathan as she stood guard; the others approached the pile of corpses, with Isaac and Silverna taking the lead.

“What kind of madman…”

“Just as Anna said, specific parts were carved away.”

Though the writhing maggots, parasites and flies obscured the details, there were clear signs of targeted removal – eyes, thumbs, and other distinct parts.

“Urgh.”

Anna stepped back, claiming nausea, and began searching the village perimeter. Meldick too maintained his distance while scanning the surroundings, mindful of Isaac’s earlier observation about how recent the deaths were.

“Why would someone do this? Organ trafficking?”

“If that’s the case, they must have kidnapped them. There’s no need to take things like eyeballs or thumbs, though.”

“True… So what? Was it pillaging? And then torturing them for entertainment?”

“It’s possible.”

Isaac glanced around carefully.

“But it seems unlikely.”

Silverna bit her lip as she grasped his meaning.

“The valuables are still here. This wasn’t robbery.”

Typical bandit raids strip a village bare like fish picked clean to the bone.

Yet Andes village stood intact, its possessions undisturbed – only its people were gone.

“Then I really don’t understand. What is this?”

Silverna drove her spear shaft into the ground in frustration, the sound echoing through the eerily still village like a hollow drum.

Silverna’s heart weighed heavy with questions about these deaths.

“Damn it, if we’d arrived just a bit sooner, we might have saved them.”

As her voice carried traces of lament, Isaac’s mind churned with possibilities.

He had come to his own certainty.

‘This is sorcery.’

Neither bandits nor organ traffickers would mutilate specific body parts in this way – this wasn’t about stealing possessions, but about turning people into sacrificial offerings.

‘Looking at how they’ve been stacked like this, maybe they haven’t even started yet? If this is a ritual that uses people, it’s not just any ordinary magic.’

Likely something even more -sinister than the vassalization that claimed Pollux.

‘Wait…’

A thought suddenly struck Isaac.

‘Did Pollux die in my past life?’

Learning the Blackson family’s secret from the Transcendent Beom baek had been entirely due to Isaac’s efforts.

That’s why Pollu, from the Blackson family, had joined the 5th Scouting Unit and triggered the Vassalization ritual when confronted by the Yeti.

‘Pollux didn’t die in my past life.’

He was almost certain of this.

Assuming the Andes village massacre hadn’t occurred in his previous life either, and examining the connection between these events…

‘The common thread is sorcery.’

Did the Transcendent who cast the spell on Pollux come here?

Did his death somehow alter the course of events?

As goosebumps prickled across his skin, Isaac’s hand found its way to his swords.

“Silvern-!”

Just as he was about to urgently call out, he caught sight of someone walking up from the mountainside, connected to the village; the air grew thick and heavy.

The once-pure northern winds, now thickened with foulness, made Isaac’s throat feel sticky and uncomfortable.

Long hair reaching the ankles, attire reminiscent of a priest’s, and in hand, a book so thick it seemed to strain even one arm to hold.

Pale skin and a pair of horns sprouting from the head marked this being as something other than human.

“That must be our culprit?”

Silverna had already fixed her gaze upon him.

The others too swallowed hard, overwhelmed by his presence.

“Oho.”

If Beom Baek had resembled a tiger among the Transcendent beings, this man embodied a demon straight from mythology; though his protruding fangs gave him a savage appearance, his manner and speech carried the air of a refined gentleman.

“The 5th Scouting Unit! I’ve been so looking forward to meeting you!”

He seemed intimately familiar with their group.

“You know of us?”

The man smiled brightly at Anna’s question.

“Why, of course I do. Did you not engage splendidly with my vassal? That spell took quite some effort to cast, you know.”

He pressed the book to his heart, closing his eyes reverently as if in memorial to Pollux.

“I was quite startled when the vassalization ritual activated at such an unexpected moment. That’s what brought me here.”

“You are…?”

“Ah, how remiss of me! I am Nortemus! You might say I’m Pollux’s master!”

Pollux’s death – an event that never occurred in the past life.

And now, this new calamity it had birthed.

‘This is maddening.’

Though his hand rested on the sword, Isaac remained skeptical about whether drawing it would be wise.

Last time with Beom Baek, they had fought knowing they could retreat to Malideen Wall where Ulderan Caldias waited. But here, they had no force capable of felling a Transcendent.

‘Could we manage it?’

No matter how much Isaac thought about it, the conclusion was that it wasn’t possible. Even if Silverna had grown stronger, fighting a Transcendent who could use sorcery was still beyond their current capabilities.

“Hoho.”

Nortemus, aware of the gap in their strength, carried himself with ease. His gaze, however, shifted to a rather unexpected man.

“Helmund’s Young Lady? I apologize, but would you mind removing your foot?”

“Eh? M-me?”

“Yes, you see, even half-witted, he appears as precious kin to me.”

Confused by his request, Shauren looked down at Jonathan.

Yet she didn’t remove her foot.

Perhaps feeling as though it would mean surrender.

“I-I don’t want to!”

“Haha, how troublesome.”

Nortemus closed his eyes briefly.

Then, with a gentle smile, he made his proposal.

“How about this? Leave my kinsman, and I’ll pretend I never saw you. You can do the same for me.”

“That’s bull-!”

“Mind your tongue, Caldias.”

In an instant, Nortemus’s killing intent instantly crushed Silverna’s carefully restrained words.

“I offer mercy because I dislike unnecessary interruptions. You should be grateful I’m granting you life without requiring you to beg.”

His tongue-clicking carried neither bravado nor empty threats.

Just absolute certainty that he could easily kill them all.

He turned his gaze back to Shauren with another gentle smile.

“The young Helmund must grant my request. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to kill all your companions.”

“Ah, um…”

As Shauren cautiously lifted her foot, black viscous threads materialized at Nortemus’s fingertips; they polluted the wind as they reached for Jonathan,

Finally, the tendrils wrapped around Jonathan’s body as though cradling him, and Nortemus carried him off to his side.

“Even half-witted, you are my kin.”

Nortemus caressed Jonathan’s cheek lovingly as

Jonathan’s skin flushed crimson, veins bulging beneath the skin.

“Now, our deal is complete. Ah! Could there be a more blessed day for us all?”

Nortemus raised both hands high, crying out with radiant joy.

“I have found kinship, and you have preserved your lives! Truly, this is a moment of grace and blessing! Let us praise the divine!”

The thick book in his grasp fluttered in the wind, its pages dancing like dark wings against the tainted sky.

At Nortemus’s display, Silverna whispered quietly to Isaac beside her.

“If we fight…?”

“We die. Without question.”

He was far more dangerous than Beom Baek.

“Farewell, everyone. And to the young lady of Helmund especially – may fortune smile upon you.”

Nortemus bowed deeply with refined grace.

While Meldick and Anna instinctively stepped backward,

Silverna remained rooted in place.

“Ah?”

Because Isaac hadn’t moved.

“And here I thought you were the wisest one, yet you prove surprisingly stubborn?”

Nortemus smiled gently as he gazed at Isaac.

“Didn’t you just say we mustn’t fight?”

So he had heard even their whispered exchange.

Though impressed again by the Transcendent’s superior physical abilities, Isaac answered—

“Because turning our backs now means death.”

“…………..”

Nortemus’s gaze turned glacial.

His gentlemanly demeanor dissolved as he relaxed his shoulders, pressing the book to his chest.

“How did you know?”

“The Transcendent don’t leave humans alive.”

“Hmm, you seem to know something of our kind. But just as not all humans are alike, neither are we all the same.”

“Perhaps.”

But not this one.

“I doubt a psychopath like you would let us leave here peacefully.”

“Psychopath? Have you ever met one quite so kind as me?”

Even as tension and cold threatened to freeze his limbs, Isaac answered without relaxing—

“Your kind doesn’t believe in gods.”

“………….”

“Yet here you are, dressed as a priest, clutching that book like it’s holy scripture. Those who pretend to be divine messengers without faith are usually psychopaths. Or frauds.”

“Heh… hehe.”

Nortemus twisted his head side to side, letting out a chilling laugh.

“Indeed.”

His eyes gleamed brightly as they fixed on Isaac.

“How wise.”

His low voice resonated, like the prelude of an orchestra, foreboding yet captivating.

Soon.

As the atmosphere grew heavy with the promise of impending violence…

“Kuh… hnngh!”

With a groan, Jonathan stirred awake.

Black patterns of unknown origin crept across his body like spreading vines,

His whites had turned black, indistinguishable from his pupils.

“Ah, my kinsman.”

Nortemus greeted Jonathan with a radiant smile.

“How does the world appear through your renewed sight? I have prepared the ritual, yearning for you to sever your ties with humanity!”

Pressing the book to his chest, he gestured toward the 5th Scouting Unit with his free hand, elegant as a waiter presenting a feast.

“Desire them. Take them. And thus, my kinsman! Prove that you are one of us!”

At his words, Jonathan raised his greatsword.

His once-neat teeth elongated with a grinding sound, giving him the appearance of a vampire from ancient tales.

“Come! Let us resist the world together, kins-!”

*Squelch!*

The greatsword pierced through the book, thrust skyward.

Crimson blood dripped from the blade’s tip, and Nortemus, impaled along with his book, jerked his head toward Jonathan like a broken puppet.

“Kins…man!”

“I am-“

Tears welled in Jonathan’s blackened eyes.

“…not. I am not your kinsman.”

“KINSMAN!”

“I am-“

Through his sobs, Jonathan struggled to speak, his words a desperate declaration.

“A proud and noble… knight of House Helmund.”

As Jonathan spat out these words, Nortemus’ face twisted into a vicious snarl.

END of CHAPTER

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