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

✦  Chapter 40  ✦

「Translator — Creator」

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ᠃

“…………”

“…………”

A cold wind whispered between the two figures standing face to face.

The tip of the curved sword pointing downward seemed to mirror its wielder’s dejected posture.

“People naturally accumulate mana within their bodies. They absorb it from what’s dispersed in the atmosphere.”

Rianna began her explanation in a low voice.

“It doesn’t accumulate infinitely just because it isn’t used. The body has an innate limit to how much mana it can accept. Anything beyond that is naturally expelled.”

Breathing, sweat, waste, sleep, and more.

The body prevents excessive mana accumulation through various means.

Too much mana could lead to ‘Mana Saturation Syndrome’ where the body swells, or ‘Mana Crystallization’ where crystallized deposits forming in the organs, could occur.

Mentally, it could cause one to develop ‘Mana Madness.’

“Your mana reserves… they’re overwhelmingly low. To be honest—” Rianna hesitated, stumbling over her words as if unsure how to phrase it delicately, “A wolf… no, perhaps slightly less than a dog. No, maybe even less than that.”

“………..”

“I’m not even sure about a tree. But definitely more than a flower. That much, I can say with certainty.”

“You meant the ‘more than flowers’ part to be comforting, didn’t you?”

Rianna pressed her lips together in silence.

Isaac, who knew her well, caught on that she had intended her last remark as encouragement; to an outsider, though, it might’ve sounded more like a mockery.

“Well, it’s not like aura is absolutely essential, right?”

Silverna, who had been listening nearby, awkwardly chimed in, attempting to lift the mood. And indeed, not being able to wield aura wasn’t necessarily a crippling weakness.

The Grand Master hadn’t used aura at all.

“I’ve managed just fine without it so far. My father rarely uses it either,” Silverna added.

The Caldias held somewhat skeptical views about aura.

However, this wasn’t due to an inability to use it but rather a practical approach; their spear techniques were designed with ordinary soldiers in mind, and only a small fraction of common soldiers could wield aura.

“I agree. Wielding aura isn’t the sole measure of strength.”

Rianna added to Silverna’s opinion. Though she meant there was merely a threshold, not that mastery guaranteed excellence.

“Still, I need it.”

Isaac needed aura.

This conviction had only grown stronger after sparring with Shauron’s crimson aura.

“…………..”

“…………..”

The two women fell silent, watching Isaac wrestle with his thoughts as if the matter weighed on them just as heavily.

But from afar, a bell rang out.

*Dong—!*

*Dong—!*

*Dong—!*

Three chimes.

“Seems there’s an attack at the front Wall.”

Silverna, shouldering her spear, immediately broke into a run, with the other two following close behind.

🎕

The assault on the front Wall continued until midday.

Yet the situation only came to an end when Silverna’s spear pierced the heart of the named troll leading the monstrous charge.

The battle, which had started early in the morning, finally concluded sometime after lunch.

Now, Isaac found himself back at the infirmary within the castle walls.

“Th-thank you- ugh!”

“Stay still. You still have thorns embedded in your body. Don’t speak.”

Isaac had brought in a soldier wounded by the troll’s spiked projectiles.

The soldier had been hit by the very same thorn Isaac had narrowly dodged, and feeling responsible, Isaac made sure to escort him personally to the infirmary.

“Ahh, what a day… right from the crack of dawn,” grumbled a mage with prominent dark circles under his eyes, bustling about as he tended to the wounded.

Isaac had expected to see healing magic at work, but instead, the mage simply disinfected a massive pair of tongs before using them to yank the thorns out and staunch the bleeding.

As Isaac watched the process unfold, the mage flashed a weary grin and tapped the tongs against his palm with a loud clink-clink.

“When I was first dispatched here, I brought tweezers. Now they’re all discarded. For pulling out spines as thick as human forearms, tongs work best. Got these from the head chef.”

“I’m Isaac.”

“Ah, where are my manners?”

The mage wiped his hands against his robe.

“I’m Vivian, a mage from the Magic Tower.”

“Seems you do more than just handle magic.”

Isaac murmured, glancing at the other treated soldiers on their beds.

Rather than healing magic, his basic medical knowledge appeared remarkably profound.

“Haha, healing magic is precious, you see. Unless it’s truly critical, I treat patients directly. To use healing magic, you need this kind of knowledge anyway.”

Despite his haggard appearance, he seemed surprisingly sociable.

The exhaustion on his face likely reflected the sheer difficulty of being stationed in a war zone like Malideen.

“May I ask you something?”

It was the perfect chance.

Isaac had been mulling over his mana-related concerns since early morning, and here was an expert who might have answers.

“Well, I doubt the dining hall has anything better than watery soup right now, so…”

Vivian jested with a smile.

“What’s on your mind?”

“I was born with an abnormally low mana reserve,” Isaac began.

The curve of Vivian’s grin straightened as his expression shifted.

His once-amiable gaze sharpened, his eyes suddenly piercing and bright with intelligence.

“I’d like to increase it, if possible. Do you know of any methods that might work?”

“Hmm.”

Vivian nodded thoughtfully, walking over to the window. Then, with a faint smile, he pointed outside.

“Jump out.”

“…………”

“Being reborn – that’s the only way. Do you know where mana is stored in your body, Lord Isaac?”

He delivered the line as if on stage, performing a well-rehearsed act.

Vivian strode back to Isaac with purposeful steps, his voice rising with barely contained excitement.

“The heart. It’s the heart. Good heavens, have you ever seen anyone survive with a replaced heart? I certainly haven’t. Never even heard of such a thing.”

“…………..”

“That’s why we call it a core. ‘Mana core.’ And this is precisely why mages are so rare.”

A gentle smile graced Vivian’s face, brimming with pride, his palm resting against his chest as if guarding a precious treasure.

“This is determined at birth, nothing more, nothing less.”

‘So this is the chosen people’s mentality they speak of.’

He’d heard that mages operated under a different hierarchy altogether.

The Magic Tower, beholden to no kingdom, operating on its own authority.

Their hierarchy was brutally simple — just two tiers.

Mages and everyone else.

To them, even nobles and royalty were mere commoners who couldn’t wield magic.

“There are various elixirs in this world. As you must know, Helmund’s Rosericer is one of them.”

Though his words maintained a veneer of courtesy, his bearing and atmosphere had already shed such pretense.

“Physical enhancement is deeply intertwined with mana, true. But that doesn’t mean it increases mana reserves.”

Isaac’s question had evidently touched on a concept mages held sacred, something that seemed to irk Vivian deeply.

“Tragic, isn’t it? But some things in this world are set in stone from birth.”

Vivian bowed slightly, smiling.

“And that’s why people are so fascinated by prodigies—they possess what others can never hope to have.”

“………….”

“Was that answer satisfactory?”

“In its way.”

Isaac nodded, his expression unchanged from before he’d asked.

His face, still deep in contemplation, showed no hint of accepting surrender as an option.

“…It doesn’t look like it, though,” Vivian muttered, displeasure flashing across his face. To him, it was irritating — spending so much time explaining and persuading, only to see the listener remain just as unconvinced as before.

“Listen carefully. The Magic Tower once published a paper titled ‘The Correlation Between Upbringing and Mana Reserves.’ It—”

“If you had a low mana reserve, you’d have given up on becoming a mage, wouldn’t you?”

“…Interrupting me now, are we? Naturally, I would have. It’s all about talent. Why waste time chasing the impossible? You have to let it go.”

For those utterly devoid of talent, magic was a domain they couldn’t even approach.

“But some people just don’t know how to give up.”

Only someone like Isaac, who had never abandoned the sword even after injuring his leg, could speak such words.

“You and I don’t seem to get along very well,” Vivian said, his tone sharper now. Deciding the conversation wasn’t worth continuing, he turned to check on the injured soldiers again, muttering under his breath.

As Vivian’s back disappeared into the busy infirmary, Isaac scratched his cheek, looking slightly awkward.

‘I suppose I get along better with the Jonathan types than ones like him.’

Jonathan, who had abandoned even his instincts to become a knight of Helmund, driven by his admiration for Arandel. Watching him, Isaac couldn’t help but see a resemblance to himself.

With the conversation in the infirmary unlikely to go anywhere, Isaac turned to leave.

“Ah, there you are.”

Standing in the hallway was Silverna, who had performed exceptionally well today.

“…Weren’t you going to eat?”

“I was planning to eat together, you see. Ta-da!“

She held out a basket neatly packed with sandwich ingredients.

“If we go to the dining hall now, it’ll be chaos all over again. It’s more peaceful eating separately.”

“When did you even prepare this?”

Judging by its condition, it didn’t seem freshly made. It looked like something pre-packed, perhaps since yesterday. However, it didn’t seem like the type of thing Silverna would prepare herself.

“Hmm hmm, does that really matter?”

So Anna made it.

Well, not that it really mattered anyway.

“Come on. I’ve got something special for you too.”

Rummaging through the basket, Silverna pulled out a large piece of smoked meat wrapped in fresh green leaves.Still steaming and fragrant with the distinct aroma of smoke, it was clearly freshly prepared.

“Impressive, right? Ever heard of Northern troll meat? It’s tough if you eat it plain, but smoke it Northern-style and it becomes something truly special.”

“Pfft.”

“Hey, why are you laughing? This is a real delicacy you can’t find just anywhere.”

With a playful nudge to his shoulder, she laughed and began to tug him along.

“Let’s go, let’s go. We’ll find a spot where the wind isn’t too strong and have sandwiches together.”

I really shouldn’t be thinking this, Isaac mused.

If she had a tail, you’d mistake her for a puppy. It would probably be wagging happily behind her.

*Clunk—*

“Ah.”

At that moment, Vivian emerged from the infirmary.

Presumably heading to lunch, he glanced their way, giving only a slight nod before heading toward the dining hall.

Silverna watched them both, looking back and forth between Isaac and Vivian before asking after Vivian had walked away.

“Did something happen? He’s usually quite personable, you know.”

“Hmmm…”

Isaac gave her a brief explanation, mentioning how he seemed to have touched on a sensitive topic. Silverna nodded with a conflicted expression.

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of anyone increasing their mana reserves either.”

Isaac hadn’t either.

Not even a decade into the future had he come across such a person.

Seeing the somber look on Isaac’s face, she cautiously asked,

“Are you going to give up?”

“Hm?”

“On aura. Are you going to give up on it?”

“No?”

Isaac’s response was so matter-of-fact that she couldn’t help but let the corners of her lips twitch upward into a smile.

“Why? They said it’s impossible. You don’t have enough mana for it.”

“It’s always been that way.”

With a wry smile, Isaac followed Silverna, his steps falling into rhythm with hers.

“Impossible, pointless, delusional. I’ve heard those words so many times that they barely affect me anymore. And besides—”

Vivian’s truths, no matter how sharp, couldn’t leave so much as a scratch on Isaac’s resolve.

“I suppose I’ve never yet made a truly meaningless effort.”

Isaac added, scratching his cheek thoughtfully.

Indeed, wasn’t the knowledge he’d built up during his Silent Sword days now serving as his foundation?

Though still laying the groundwork and setting up the foundation, Isaac was undoubtedly moving forward one step at a time.

“You brat.”

Silverna gave his back a hearty slap and laughed.

“Tell me, is it worth it? Hmm? You should pray to the Goddess every night.”

“Why?”

“You never know! The Goddess might be so moved by your prayers that she’ll bestow upon you an ‘absolutely absolutely absolute gift!'”

Silverna raised both hands with theatrical flair.

By the time the two had stepped outside, their conversation had turned casual and light.

“Absolutely absolutely? Why add the extra one?”

“Because it’s that absolutely absolutely absolute!”

“What are you even saying?”

“Never mind! Let’s just find a place to eat! Because a sandwich with smoked troll meat is absolutely absolutely absolutely delicious!”

Perhaps her good mood stemmed from her successful feats earlier.

Isaac, brushing off her antics, scanned their surroundings for a suitable spot but hesitated briefly.

“Wait, just the two of us eating?”

“Does that make you uncomfortable? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Well- that’s true?”

“Don’t overthink it, married man. You’re fine.”

What was this?

Isaac had been sure that invoking his status as a married man would serve as a polite barrier to maintain some distance.

Yet, it seemed like she had taken that same excuse as permission to grow even closer, without hesitation.

“What’s the matter, married man? If you’re so worried, call your wife and have her join us.”

“No, that’s fine.”

Isaac’s reply was firm, leaving no room for argument.

“I thought you’d say that.”

Silverna’s impish whisper, stolen away by the northern wind, sadly failed to reach Isaac’s ears.

END of CHAPTER

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