The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Household Wants A Divorce-Chapter 28: Helmonts Sword

“Antonio–-!”

Isaac burst through the always-opened door of the blacksmith’s workshop.

Antonio, who had been diligently hammering, jumped up and shouted back.

“I told you not to shout when I have a hammer in my hand!”

“Screw that, if I die, then I die! The sword you made for me broke again, I can’t block your hammer coming for me!”

As Isaac raised and shook the broken tachi, Antonio’s momentum momentarily softened.

But it wasn’t easy to make an old blacksmith admit his mistake.

“You fool, what did you do to it?!”

“What’s your excuse gonna be this time, huh? That I swung it wrong? That I used it against the wrong opponent? That it’s part of the learning process? If so, say that from the beginning! Why do you always say it won’t break every time you give it to me?! You know how dangerous that is!!”

“A-Ahem, i-it’s a matter of pride, you brat.”

Antonio, holding the sword hilt, patted his belly and shouted.

“Oh, that’s why! You took this one! This one’s an unsightly object I made as a test piece! The proper sword is over there!”

“At least it’s a new excuse this time.”

“Ahem.”

He was the one who handed it over himself, it would be absurd if it was actually a test piece.

Antonio, who had made a new tachi, as if he knew that the one in Isaac’s hand would break, handed it over with an embarrassed smile.

“This one absolutely won’t break.”

“Hold onto it.”

Isaac drew his falchion, suggesting they see its performance right now. Antonio hastily snatched the tachi away.

“Hey! There’s no way this one’d survive clashing against that!”

“Just use it gently then, surely it’ll survive if.”

“A-Ahem.”

Isaac sneered.

Finally, Antonio put his arm around Isaac’s shoulders and led him outside the workshop.

“Do you smoke?”

“...I’ve quit.”

Back when he was called the Ink Sword, he started smoking due to the stress.

But that didn’t last long.

He had subconsciously avoided it, thinking it might be a problem for his stamina if he were to wield a sword in the future.

Although, it ended up as a needless worry.

“You actually could quit this? Damn, you’re quite something.”

Antonio put the cigarette in his mouth and brought the hammer he was holding to its end.

The heat remaining on the hammer lit the end of the cigarette. Its smoke gently scattered to the air.

“Listen, kid, forging this sword is harder than you think.”

For the first time, a weak voice came from Antonio’s mouth.

“Forging a sword to be light and durable at the same time... It’s the first time I’ve attempted to do such a thing.”

“Of course I’d never expect you to finish it on the first try. I just want you to stop with the boasting.”

“Think about how ridiculous I’d look if I were to hand you a sword that would break soon in front of my apprentices.”

“...”

Silence fell between the two.

In any case, it wasn’t like they couldn’t understand each other’s issues.

“It’s the first sword of its kind, so obviously the technique in handling it will be lacking. So, we need to make up for that in other areas.”

“What do you mean?”

Antonio, who had thrown his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it firmly, shouted at his apprentice to bring his thick coat.

“Here in the North, there’s an ore called Argentite. It’s a very precious material used to make the spears of the Cardias Family.”

“...”

“No one distributes it outside the North. Except for the ones that the margrave gifted to the royal family, most of them sitting inside Cardias’ warehouse.”

Isaac recalled Silverna’s words during the battle.

She had said her spear was something she absolutely couldn’t throw away.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

“If we make it with that, we can maintain its strength while ensuring its lightness. Of course, it will take some time.”

“It’s a precious ore, isn’t it? Will the margrave even give it to us?”

From what he heard, it seemed even Cardias didn’t have much of it either.

“He won’t. But we should still try.”

‘Why are you going this far to help me?’, the question reached Isaac’s throat, but...

He deemed it as an unnecessary question to ask, so he swallowed it back down his throat. But Antonio seemed to notice that and gave his answer.

“I saw your training.”

“...”

“You were acting as if you were holding an unfinished sword.”

“Ahem.”

“You’re trying to fight against Helmont, no?”

Isaac’s eyes widened.

As he slowly turned his head to look at him, Antonio grinned like a child caught playing a prank.

“Isn’t it interesting? The sword of Helmont, praised as great from birth. They are born to wield swords.”

“That’s right.”

“Helmont’s greatsword and your tachi. Their great physique and your commoner physique. Two complete opposites.”

He couldn’t deny that.

Reality had always been cruel to Isaac.

“Still, the sight of you sincerely trying to win...”

“Is remarkable,” Antonio added, patting Isaac’s back.

To those words that felt like an encouragement for him to do his best, Isaac nodded slightly.

*   *   *Recently, Isaac had been focusing on sparring with Sharen.

Clang!

Sharen’s greatsword violently pushed Isaac’s falchion away.

There was an overwhelming difference in their strength.

But, the problem here was that Sharen was considered weak even among Helmont’s direct line.

Except for Edel, the youngest, she could be considered the weakest.

“Inferno Surge!”

Aura, red mixed with pink, burst from the greatsword.

Isaac’s eyes widened for a moment, and he tried to block with his falchion, but.

In the end, he was the one who got pushed back, thrown into the air, and fell to the ground.

“Ugh!”

Although he wasn’t badly hurt due to his technique, a frown appeared on his face.

It wasn’t because he got hurt.

But rather because he faced the harsh cold reality; he couldn’t break through the Crimson Essence no matter what he did.

“Isaac, are you okay?!”

Sharen ran over, startled.

As she helped the fallen Isaac up, she started scolding out of worry.

“See? I told you! If I use my Crimson Essence, then, we can’t practice! I’m different from nobody like Jonathan!”

“Yeah, you’re different.”

Indeed, she was different.

When facing Jonathan, he could beat him by merely showcasing his understanding of Helmont’s swordsmanship.

But a Helmont’s direct line was on a completely different level.

“I’m saying this out of concern. I even told you the technique names as I use them.”

Sharen shrugged.

She was right. He could respond to her attacks because she shouted her technique’s name in advance.

But, it feels like she’s just enjoying rather than anything.

“Still, I want us to continue like this.”

Isaac requested to start again, dusting off the dirt on his behind.

“...You didn’t spar like this with my other brothers, did you?”

“Those couldn’t even be counted as spars.”

“Kuheum!”

Sharen awkwardly cleared her throat and returned to her position.

He thought they were going to start again right away, but.

“Ah! Wait a moment! I need to go somewhere real quick!”

“Hm?”

After saying that, Sharen immediately ran off somewhere.

*   *   *“Sister!”

Behind the quarters.

Rianna scolded Sharen, who had come looking for her, telling her to be quiet.

Then, she handed her a towel and a water bottle.

The towel was warm, and judging by the faint scent from the water bottle, it seemed to be boiled tea.

“Wow, thanks! But I hadn’t trained enough to sweat. It’s so cold here that I don’t sweat much.”

Sharen received them with a smile and thanked her, but...

Rianna frowned and corrected the misunderstanding.

“These are for Isaac. Not you.”

“...”

Sharen, who had opened the water bottle lid to drink the tea, quietly closed it again.

“But, I’m your younger sister...”

“Not important. Anyway, I saw your spar just now.”

“Ah! How was it? My Inferno Surge was—!”

“Honestly, I don’t know what Isaac is trying to do. The way he uses the falchion is like...”

For about 10 minutes after that, Rianna poured out her thoughts on the recent sparring.

Since all of them were advice for Isaac, Sharen’s expression gradually turned annoyed the more she listened.

“Go and tell him that. You understand, right?”

“Can’t you just go and tell him yourself?”

“I’m telling you to do it because I can’t.”

“...”

Something’s weird...

Sharen thought so as she tried to change the atmosphere a bit.

“Anyway, Sister, don’t you think Isaac just has that kind of charm?”

“...What kind?”

Rianna bit, seemingly interested in the topic. Sharen explained what she felt with a bright smile.

“The pitiable charm. You know, he can never really win against our Crimson Essence, right? But he kept on challenging me, again and again, and that makes my heart flutter!”

“...”

“How should I put it? It makes me want to take care of him? The way he tries so hard is... kind of attractive!”

“...”

“Sister, were you also–”

Thwack!

*   *   *“What’s that on your head?”

“Sniff, I don’t know!”

Isaac pointed at the bump on Sharen’s head, but she snapped back fiercely.

She had said she was going somewhere for a moment but came back with a bump on her head.

“Let’s continue.”

Whatever happened, Isaac had been thinking about how to break through the Crimson Essence until Sharen returned.

He was about to restart the spar again, expecting his theory to work this time, but...

“Isaac! Though you’re pretending not to, you’re obsessed over Helmont’s greatsword!”

“Huh?”

Sharen suddenly pointed that out.

“You’re using a falchion. You don’t even have the strength to wield a greatsword in the first place, so why are you obsessing over it?”

“...”

“The basic premise of Helmont’s greatsword is to overwhelm the opponent with absolute strength. Without strength, there’s no Helmont.”

“...”

“Your sword becomes clumsy because you’re trying to incorporate Helmont unnecessarily.”

“...”

“Forget Helmont. Just wield your own sword. Isaac, you have enough talent for that!”

Isaac tilted his head, confused. Because the way she said those words felt like she was reading a book or something.

“At what point did you feel that?”

“...Huh?”

“That I’m trying to borrow Helmont’s sword. There must be a part where you felt that.”

Isaac decided to be honest, as he hadn’t expected Sharen to have this level of depth.

“You’re right. I might dislike Helmont, but I don’t actually dislike Helmont’s sword.”

On the contrary, it was because he admired Helmont’s sword that he could be so obsessed with swords.

That was why he wanted to show them.

“There are parts of it that I admire. And I’m in the process of trying to make it my own... I’m curious when you noticed that.”

And here I thought I hid it well.

How did she notice?

As Isaac stared at Sharen and asked, her eyes trembled.

Trying to forcibly hold back her head that kept trying to turn on its own, Sharen shouted.

“I noticed it whenever you swing your sword! These things are felt with the heart, not the head!”

Then Sharen handed over the towel and water bottle she had brought.

“Take care not to catch a cold!”

“Take care?”

“Ah, no! I mean, be careful!”

“...”

Sharen turned her back as if running away.

Isaac sighed as he kept his eyes on the direction she had just come from.

“Could it be...?”

When Sharen first came to the Malidean Wall.

There was that one maid, whose face was completely hidden, and had left a deep impression on him.

He couldn’t help but think about that maid at this moment.