The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Household Wants A Divorce-Chapter 12: Effort and Admiration

A week had passed since the nobles had been dispatched to the Malidean Wall.

Though it seemed like a lot had happened, everything was just the beginning.

The nobles were slowly adapting to the North, while slowly building their own bonds with the Malidean soldiers.

At 4 am, just before sunrise.

It was a shift change time for Silverna. She yawned, slinging her spear over her shoulder.

“Hoooaahm... So sleepy...”

The nobles’ arrival didn’t make duty hours any more relaxed.

If anything, they only became more busy since the Demonic Beast’s Hive became even more active. Oftentimes, they barely even had time to sleep after finishing their dawn shifts.

“Young lady.”

Anna, who had been on duty with her, popped out from among the other soldiers, approaching Silverna.

“Hey, Anna. I was going to ask the chef to make soup before bed. Want to eat together?”

“No, young lady. Rather than that...”

Anna stuck up close, whispering her words so that the soldiers couldn’t hear.

“Why aren’t you wearing your chest binder lately? You know that the soldiers have been talking about it, right?”

“...”

How could she not know?

Especially when she could feel their glances coming her way.

While the soldiers tried to avert their gazes the best they could, the dispatched nobles would just stare at her openly.

Those gazes were unpleasant, but due to her pride, instead of hiding from them, she just faced them boldly.

“Is it really that noticeable?”

Silverna glanced down at her chest.

As a woman, she knew that it was an excellent asset, but as a spear wielding warrior, it was just cumbersome to carry these around.

“Very. Why are you doing this all of a sudden? Usually you’d refuse to let that binder go even when sleeping.”

“Well, t-that...”

Silverna let out a sigh.

After letting the soldiers who were under the same shift as them pass, she continued.

“Someone told me it would be better to get used to this.”

“What?”

“They said I should get used to wielding my spear while carrying my chest from now on. That there might come a time when I can’t use the chest binder...”

“A time when you can’t use the chest binder...?”

“...When my chest gets so big that it just won’t fit...”

Anna stared at Silverna with a blank expression.

It was cute to see her young lady’s rare blush as she tried to avert her gaze, but...

Even bigger than this?

Are you trying to say that they’d grow so big that even the binder won’t be enough to contain them?

When she asked who on earth had said such nonsense, Silverna answered in a half-mutter, half-whisper.

“I-Isaac did.”

“What?!”

Anna didn’t expect his name to come out here.

“H-He said that changes in one’s body is something to be accepted, and that’s part of the reason why he gave up on Helmont’s greatsword...”

“T-This is this, and that is that, isn’t it?! This is just sexual harassment!”

“What are you even saying, Anna? He said it out of concern for me!”

“No, but still...!”

Anna knew that her mistress had been spending a lot of time with Isaac recently.

She knew how amazing the depth of his understanding of the spearmanship was from the thing that he did during his second day of the basic training.

In fact, she had even heard that some of the soldiers often sought his advice.

They said that their growth under his teaching was noticeable, and they were extremely satisfied with him.

“A-Anyway! I don’t think he’s completely wrong either. It’s not just about them getting bigger. There will be times when I can’t actually wear a binder, no?”

“That’s true...”

“Like if the binder suddenly breaks during a fight and such.”

“I’ve lost count of how many shirt buttons I’ve sewn back on for you, young lady.”

“A-Ahem, anyway!”

As the two were walking back to their lodgings.

They heard the sound of wind being cut coming from the training ground.

Both turned their heads at the same time, only to see Isaac, all alone, swinging a sword in a corner of the dark training ground.

“Isaac?”

“He’s out again today.”

Then, Anna added.

“He comes out like that to train every day. He also attends morning exercises without fail.”

“Doesn’t he have to go on duty?”

“Yes. Plus, he keeps his light on until really late at night. Do you know how many candles he’s taken in just this week?”

The reason why Anna knew this was because she was in charge of the supplies to some extent.

“There’s even talk among the soldiers that every Helmonts are like this. All in all, everyone’s motivated by him.”

“...Amazing.”

Silverna muttered, staring blankly at Isaac.

Looking at her, a chilling thought crossed Anna’s mind. She quickly warned her mistress.

“Young lady, he’s a married man! Moreover he’s Rianna Helmont’s husband! If you hang around him too much, bad rumors will start to spread!”

The family they came from were supposed to be rivals.

Just the idea of Cardias’ only daughter making advances on Helmont’s eldest daughter’s husband was already an extremely good fodder for gossip.

“I-I know, I know! I’ve never even seen him as a man in the first place! As someone who’s trying to strive to get stronger, just like him, I just thought that he’s really impressive!”

“R-Really? That’s really all there is to it, right?”

“Stop worrying about strange things!”

Silverna raised her hand high and greeted Isaac with a smile.

“Hey! Isaac! Working hard this early in the morning, are you?”

Isaac, who was crouching, seemingly writing something after putting down his sword, turned his head around.

Then he waved with a faint smile and gave a simple reply.

He is handsome.

Anna had to admit it.

There was a reason why the Blood Rose got seduced by him.

His sweat-soaked appearance was strangely sexy, completely different from the rugged men of the North.

“What is he writing, though?”

Anna asked, trying to turn her thoughts elsewhere, and Silverna also expressed curiosity, tilting her head.

“Yeah, I wonder what too.”

What is it that he’s writing that warrants him to stop swinging his sword?

The two trotted towards Isaac.

“Working hard this early in the morning, hm?”

“Hello.”

Isaac nodded briefly to Silverna and Anna’s greetings.

Did we disturb him?

Anna looked around nervously, feeling like they weren’t very welcome.

“What are you writing? Let me see~”

In contrast, her reckless mistress just approached him without hesitation, and blatantly stared at the book he was writing.

“A swordsmanship manual?”

Isaac showed it to her without any hesitation.

Because he wanted to see what her opinion would be.

“Hmm?”

“...”

Anna peeked at it from the side.

The book was written with beautiful words, handwriting, and even drawings. When they turned the pages, they could see improvements and supplementary points that he added.

“Are you writing this yourself?”

Wondering if this was something that he actually wrote rather than a compilation of existing manuals, Anna asked that. Isaac nodded in response.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But you’re... A Helmont, no?”

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Anna asked cautiously.

What she was trying to ask was, ‘Is it okay for Helmont’s son-in-law to use something other than Helmont’s sword?’. To that, Isaac smiled awkwardly.

“I can’t wield Helmont’s greatsword; I’m not strong enough.”

“A-Ah, I-I see.”

It was only natural that Isaac was unable to wield Helmont’s greatsword as it required one to have blessed genes to wield it. He was of common birth, after all.

“But Isaac.”

When the atmosphere started to turn awkward...

Silverna, who had been giving her full attention to the manual, asked without taking her eyes off it.

“What kind of sword did you take inspiration for this?”

“...”

“It’s not Helmont’s greatsword, and it’s not an ordinary two-handed sword either. It seems like you’re handling the sword with one hand, but you’re not holding a shield...”

Silverna’s observation was accurate.

Just by looking at the text written in the manual, she already noticed several points.

Impressed by her keen eye, Isaac smiled.

“You’re right. The sword I’ll use...is a weapon rarely seen in the kingdom. It’s the sword that my master uses.”

“Your master?”

“Yes. I can’t speak in detail, though.”

Isaac dodged the topic.

Silverna and Anna were curious, but Isaac seemed adamant to not talk about it.

If I could handle a sword, I want to become like you, Grandmaster.

For Isaac, there were two people who greatly influenced him when it came to swords.

Rianna Helmont, who made him—a ferryman—long for swords.

And the Grandmaster, who made him certain what was the right sword for him.

“We’re going to whine to the chef to make soup now, would you like to come along, Sir Isaac?”

Trying to prevent the atmosphere from becoming strange, Anna changed the subject.

“Yeah, let’s do that! I have some cheese I’ve been hiding, I’ll ask some to put that in too.”

Silverna followed up, playfully pulling Isaac along. He followed, pretending to give in.

“Also, if you ever need help, just tell me. I’ll help you the best I can!”

Silverna added with a smile.

With him being unable to use Helmont’s sword, she had an idea how he must’ve been treated back in Helmont.

To her considerate words, Isaac nodded, feeling touched.

“Yeah. Thank you.”

Meanwhile, seeing the two of them sharing such a warm moment of friendship, a certain feeling rose back up in Anna’s heart.

Surely they are not, right?

There’s just no way.

Even if it’s the young lady...

Yeah, there’s no way.

I mean, he’s a married man.

*   *   *She was a woman with long black hair.

Wolf ears perked up on her head, carrying a longsword that resembled a crescent moon on her shoulder, she opened her mouth.

[Call me Grandmaster.]

At her sudden words, the disciples standing before her expressed their doubts.

[Grandmaster?]

[We’ve been calling you Master just fine until now.]

[Did you have some kind of change of heart?]

All of these disciples had outstanding skills.

Among them was Isaac, leaning on a cane. She pointed at him, for some reason.

[Blame him, his existence is endangering my position! You all went to learn from him, not me!]

No one could deny her words.

Though he couldn’t wield a sword, Isaac was more proficient in martial arts than anyone.

In any case, that was how the woman—their master—came to call herself ‘Grandmaster’.

After sending all the disciples away.

The two of them were left alone.

The Grandmaster sat on the windowsill, tilting her wine glass with a smile.

Isaac apologized to her.

‘Forgive me for offending you. I overstepped my bounds.’

[Hm? What are you talking about?]

The Grandmaster answered with a laugh.

[You misunderstood something. I only said that because some of the other disciples got their pride hurt from learning from you.]

‘...’

[Child, your talent is special. That’s probably why the heavens took your leg away.]

‘Grandmaster, the reason I’m working so hard is—‘

[I know. You want to create a sword that you can wield even with one leg missing, right?]

But the Grandmaster’s eyes held pity for Isaac as she added.

[It’s impossible. No matter how hard you try, you will crumble helplessly when you meet real swordsmen.]

His grip on his cane tightened.

As his resentment towards his unmoving leg increased...

[Child.]

The Grandmaster didn’t comfort him.

She just calmly told him the truth.

[It’s a pity.]

‘Grandmaster...’

[If only we’d met a little earlier.]

She didn’t look at Isaac.

Instead, she looked up at the full moon floating far away and drank her wine in loneliness.

“Gather up!”

Silverna’s shout snapped his eyes open.

Being dragged out from his sleep, Isaac quickly got up from his bed like a real soldier and left the room.

In the corridor, Silverna—fully armored—was gathering the nobles.

“Assemble in the training ground within 10 minutes! Wear your full armor!”

The urgency in her voice and actions indicated this was not a simple drill.

With that, the unusually long night in Malidean began.