Chapter 23 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The Prestigious Family's Live-in Son-in-Law Wants a Divorce
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"Young Lady!"
Anna rushed toward Silberna, calling out to her in alarm.
But Silberna quickly regained her stance and gritted her teeth.
"I'm fine!"
She couldn't exactly call herself unharmed after taking a direct hit from the yeti's throw, but Silberna shook out her hand as if brushing off dust and boldly gripped her spear with both hands again.
"Sickensick."
The yeti toyed with a human skull like it was playing a game of catch.
And then.
"Kyaah! Aaah! S-save meee!"
Sharen, being corroded by the black liquid gushing from Pollu's body.
"Sharen!"
In the midst of this sudden crisis, the one who moved fastest was Isaac.
"Stay still!"
"I-I-Isaac! Isaac!"
Sharen grabbed onto Isaac as he approached. The black liquid writhing across her chest was spreading further.
Isaac tried to calm her down as she begged hysterically for her life.
"Save me! Please save me!"
"Ugh! I got it, just calm down and let go of my hand!"
Even for a seventeen-year-old girl, the grip strength of a direct Helmunt descendant was more than Isaac could withstand.
He couldn't shake off the arm she had latched onto, as she was already sobbing uncontrollably, out of her mind.
"Calm down!"
Smack!
In the end, Isaac swung his hand wide and planted his fist squarely in Sharen's face.
It wouldn't hurt much even if it landed, and it wouldn't leave a mark anyway.
"I-Isaac?"
Sharen momentarily loosened her grip, unable to believe that he had hit her.
"Stay still!"
In that brief instant as Sharen relaxed, Isaac gripped the flat back of his Pulsun blade short and pressed it to the nape of her neck.
Riiip!
Her clothes tore straight open, exposing Sharen's pale skin.
Isaac ripped her top clean off and flung it away. The black liquid clinging to the fabric writhed on the ground, devouring the cloth completely.
"It's off! Sharen! It's gone!"
"H-huh, hngh?!"
Sharen frantically felt over her body with both hands. Confirming it was truly gone, she burst into tears and threw herself into Isaac's arms.
"Waaah! Isaaaac!"
"Get a grip and back off! It hurts!"
This wasn't the time for this, and with a Helmunt's strength bearing down like that, it wouldn't be strange if one of Isaac's bones snapped.
While Isaac was handling the situation, Meladic Drakemoor stared at Pollu Blackhand, who had collapsed on the ground and was trembling violently.
"Pollu?"
Black liquid kept pouring from his mouth and wounds.
Meladic watched in helpless panic as it began enveloping Pollu more and more.
"Don't go near him!"
Isaac warned Meladic while still trying to pry Sharen off him.
Then he checked on the yeti. Over there, the fight had already begun.
Clang!
"..."
Silberna silently swung her spear, batting away the yeti's bone club.
In the rapidly changing situation, Silberna kept her lips pressed tight, looking coldly veteran-like.
'Damn.'
But Isaac knew the opposite was true.
She was just pretending to be calm, but she was acting more emotionally than anyone else.
Just moments ago, she had agreed that they needed to retreat now.
Yet the moment she clashed with the yeti, she was swinging her spear for all it was worth, desperate to kill it.
"Anna! Grab Silberna's and Sharen's greatswords!"
"Y-yes! Right away! Young Lady! Pull yourself together!"
Isaac ended up hoisting the still-shaking Sharen onto his back.
Sadly, there was no spare capacity to carry Pollu too.
"Meladic, leave Pollu for now and let's run—!"
"I-I-Isaac?!"
Meladic's voice was laced with bewilderment.
Whipping his head around, there was Pollu—buried in black liquid—slowly rising as if lifted by it.
"Forget it, just run!"
As Isaac started sprinting, the others matched his pace and bolted.
Silberna bit her lip until it bled, turning her back on the yeti.
Meladic shouted an apology to Pollu as he took the lead.
"Ingaaaan!"
Unlike the others, the pursuing yeti didn't pass by Pollu.
To the yeti, Pollu looked just like any other human, so it swung its massive bone club sideways to swat him.
But the black liquid blocked it, and the battle between the yeti and it began.
The two threats turned on each other.
And so, Silberna's scouting party managed to escape.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Slap!
A frozen stream bank.
A mountain hare bolted in fright at the sharp sound echoing through the piled snow.
Silberna's head snapped to the side from the slap, and she glared at the man who had struck her.
"That was the worst."
Isaac's words pierced her heart like an awl.
Silberna felt a surge of emotion for a moment, but she couldn't muster any retort.
She was the leader.
And she had no choice but to admit that everything had gone catastrophically wrong.
"...Sorry."
"Sir Isaac! The young lady did her best too!"
Anna desperately tried to defend Silberna, but Isaac's sharp gaze didn't soften.
"I clearly said not to fight the yeti there, and you agreed, Silberna. But the moment you looked away, you got fixated on it and didn't even notice what was happening with Pollu and Meladic!"
"That was..."
"If that fight had dragged on? A regular yeti would've been one thing, but it's a named beast. The second other monsters from the mountains swarmed us, we'd all be dead!"
"Anna, Isaac's right."
She hadn't fulfilled her role as leader.
As the certainty grew that her comrades from the Mallidan Wall had died by the yeti's hand, she had been overwhelmed by the urge not to let it go.
"For the sake of dead comrades by my side, I forgot the living ones right there with me."
"..."
"I'm sorry. There's no excuse for that."
Silberna bowed her head.
A heavy silence fell.
Sharen, wrapped in a robe, trembled as she tugged at Isaac's clothes.
"I-I-Isaac. I-I'm... s-so... c-cold."
"..."
Sharen had nearly died.
If that black liquid had overwhelmed her, her survival wouldn't have been guaranteed.
Thank goodness she'd come in leather armor for scouting.
'If it had been plate armor.'
It would've taken ages to remove, and Sharen would've been fully consumed by then.
Isaac hugged her to warm her up even a little.
Sharen's shaking finally eased as she burrowed deeper into his embrace, sniffling.
'She's still just seventeen, after all.'
She'd acted tough and nonchalant earlier, but she'd never faced real mortal danger before.
The moment she realized she could actually die, it terrified her deeply.
Especially since her sword—honed her whole life—had been utterly useless.
'That helplessness must've amplified into pure terror.'
"I-I messed up too. When we ran, I should've headed straight for the wall, but I just... went wherever without thinking..."
Meladic mumbled an awkward apology.
The atmosphere turned into a sudden contest of owning up to mistakes.
Meladic, who had charged ahead, had panicked and veered off course.
If they hadn't found the stream, they might still be running blindly.
"It's okay. We just took a detour; we're not farther from the wall."
Anna forced a smile, checking the map to reassure them.
"Uh, no campfire or anything, right?"
"Probably not. Technically, this is still monster territory."
Anna shook her head at Meladic's follow-up suggestion.
They had to conserve energy to trek back to the wall without even a fire.
But the cold made it hard to endure.
Sharen bit her lip, trying to tough it out, but the chattering of her teeth echoed.
She looked freezing.
Isaac undid the buttons on his shirt and pulled her close again.
"Skin-to-skin should warm you up a bit."
"I-Isaac..."
"It's to survive. You're our second-strongest after Silberna. Conserve your strength fully."
At his words, tears welled up in Sharen's eyes, but she buried her face again, trying to hide them.
"Okay. Got it."
As their breaths mingled with white puffs in the frigid air.
Sharen whispered softly.
"But Isaac... how are you so calm?"
At her question, everyone turned to look at him.
No one could deny that the man with the least combat experience had stayed the coolest and judged best.
If even Isaac had hesitated, two or three of them might not be here now.
"I've nearly died plenty of times?"
He muttered with a wry smile.
Before his return, his injured leg kept him from fighting.
But that didn't mean he hadn't been on the battlefield.
Amid the Transcendent Race's assaults, brushes with death were brutally fair to everyone.
'At least that's a relief.'
Isaac had worried his judgment might cloud once he gripped his sword.
But the recent crisis proved it was just unfounded fear, and he felt relief on that front.
"Achoo!"
All eyes snapped to Silberna.
She looked startled herself, wearing a dumbstruck expression.
"Are you cold too, Young Lady?"
"No, I'm fi—"
Silberna's reply cut off.
She recalled Isaac's words from earlier, alongside her own lapse in judgment.
"Yeah. It's cold."
Realizing that her condition—their top fighter here—directly tied to their survival, she nodded.
Then Silberna strode over and enveloped both Isaac and Sharen in a group hug.
"Mind if I join?"
At her suggestion to stick together for body heat, Isaac smiled faintly.
"Of course. Obviously."
She wasn't worrying about appearances, just making the best call possible now.
'Silberna learns fast—one lesson, and she improves.'
Action before thought, in her case.
"You two too. We need to preserve body heat."
At Silberna's order, Anna hurried over to join the huddle.
Meladic hesitated awkwardly before extending his arms to hug Isaac's back.
Clustered tightly to beat the cold and save their strength.
More than just shared warmth, a swelling camaraderie made their bodies feel truly warm.
But it didn't last long.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The ground shook with footsteps.
"Seekum! Seekum!"
The yeti's voice dragged differently than before.
It must've tracked them this far, the deodorant scent not fully faded.
As Silberna moved to act urgently, Isaac asked her.
"Silberna, can I trust your judgment this time?"
His question felt like a test, but Silberna nodded without hesitation.
"Trust me."
Even as the thudding grew closer, she calmly scanned Anna's map.
And then.
"We intercept."
She declared, gripping her spear at the ready.
"Running's impossible anyway. With our current stamina, we can't shake a named yeti."
Everyone nodded.
Even warmed a bit, their frostbitten bodies still creaked.
"So we kill it before it calls other monsters. Quick and clean."
"You sure?"
Silberna, who'd already clashed with it once.
A normal yeti wouldn't stand a chance against her.
But this one was named.
A beast with intelligence.
Those types were several times harder than regular monsters.
"I'll make up for it."
Just one firm word from Silberna.
She declared it, gripping her spear tight.
That was enough.
As the others readied for the approaching yeti.
Sharen slowly pulled away from the huddle, taking a deep breath.
"..."
Isaac stared at her plainly.
Could she really fight?
Doubt crept in.
But.
"I'll definitely—keep you alive."
Gripping her greatsword with resolve, Sharen murmured.
"So I can sort out these feelings. And have a chance to say whatever."
They say kids grow up in an instant.
Isaac felt like he'd witnessed that moment.
In the face of death, Sharen had felt and realized something that shifted her life's values.
"We have to avenge Pollu!"
"Yes! We absolutely do!"
Meladic and Anna agreed, preparing as well.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
From the direction of the yeti's footsteps.
"Kuhahahahahahahaha!"
Pollu's deranged laughter tore through the air.
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