Chapter 23: The Sinner of Blackson (1)

[Are you joking? You can't even do this? Do you intend to live as the disgrace of our family?!]

The boy's fault lay in one thing: He wasn't interested in swords.

[Why are you so spineless? Are you planning to tarnish our family name? How do you expect to welcome them like this?!]

Another of the boy's faults was his inability to muster courage in the face of threats.

[Cooking? Praise? Look at this lunatic! Bring the cane immediately!]

His love for cooking, and his desire to showcase it, was yet another fault.

[Why was a child like you… Ha, you should have been born in some slum, not from my womb.]

But perhaps the boy's greatest fault… Was being born here, in Blackson, when he had no right to be.

***

"Kehahahahahaha!"

A crazed, almost deafening laughter erupted as Polo was running wild, almost in a frenzy. The black liquid pouring from his body was now seeping back through every orifice.

He walked through the snowy fields. The yeti beside him, consumed by the black liquid, followed him obediently.

"Sskurrm, sskeurmm."

Though his slurred words sounded as if his brain had been destroyed, the yeti was undoubtedly walking with clear purpose toward a specific goal.

Before long, they arrived at a frozen creek.

There, Polo's former comrades from the reconnaissance team came into view.

"Polo…"

"It's really you."

Hearing Isaac and Meldrik murmur his name, Polo smirked and curled his lips upward.

"I've returned, everyone."

He looked entirely different from his once timid self.

His once pale, smooth skin was now riddled with bumps and was turning black.

If not for the "bone" still lodged through his heart, no one would have recognized him as Polo.

"I'm back! And I even subdued a yeti! Kehahaha! Look at me! Haven't I been helpful to you all? Right? Yes? Isn't that right?"

The reconnaissance team couldn't respond to Polo's obsessive questions.

Confusion about the situation overwhelmed them, but Isaac stepped forward slowly.

"Polo, listen carefully."

"What? Isaac? Who are you to talk to me? You abandoned me! Get Silverna to speak instead!"

Frowning, Silverna stepped forward, and Polo opened his mouth wide.

Drool dripped from it, resembling that of a feral beast.

"You… abandoned me? Silverna? Huh? But it's okay. You're pretty, so it's fine.

But… did you really abandon me? Am I that useless? Did I do something that wrong?"

"…Polo?"

"No, no. Don't be scared. I won't kill you. But I might. Actually, I don't know. But Silverna, you're so pretty. I thought that from the moment I first saw you. You handle a spear so well. We're completely different, huh?"

Polo spoke endlessly, a stark contrast to his usual self.

It was as if the filter for his thoughts and words had completely vanished.

In the midst of his ramblings, the light in Polo's eyes dimmed, and he nodded to himself.

"I'll kill you."

BOOM!

The yeti's massive fist swung toward Silverna. Having anticipated the attack, she leapt back in a single bound, narrowly dodging it.

"I'll handle the yeti! The rest of you, subdue Polo!"

To her command, ironically, Polo was the first to respond.

"Subdue? Subdue?! Subdue Polo?

Yes! Kill me! Kill this worthless trash! Cleanse the sinner of Blackson! The grayest of stars! The darkest star in the family! Purge the disgrace!"

"W-what's wrong with him?!"

Anna's startled question was met with Isaac biting his lips in frustration.

Leaving the yeti to Silverna, the rest of them charged toward Polo.

The first to attack was Sharen Helmut.

Swoosh!

She unleashed her "Crimson Aura" from her entire body, lunging toward Polo in an attempt to end the fight swiftly.

Clang!

"…!"

Sharen's crimson eyes trembled slightly.

With a light flick of his thin sword, Polo effortlessly blocked her strike. Sharen stared at him in disbelief.

Not a hint of hesitation.

It was as if he was casually catching snowflakes falling from the sky.

"Hmm?"

Polo himself seemed surprised as well. His eyes widened as he glanced at his sword. As he began to push Sharen back, his lips stretched into a wide grin.

"Heh-heh, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Father! Can you see this? Are you watching? I'm pushing back Helmut!"

Polo erupted into maniacal laughter, but a spear pierced his side this time.

"Huh?"

It was Anna, who had hidden behind Helmut's Crimson Aura to land a strike.

However, the spear bounced off as if hitting steel, and Polo casually swatted the weapon away with a wave of his arm.

Meladik, who had been preparing to throw a punch instead of using his sword, stopped dead in his tracks.

Everyone quickly realized that no attack was having any effect on Polo.

"He's turned into a monster."

"My spear has been blocked too often lately."

Sharen and Anna backed off, forming a circle to surround Polo.

But Polo didn't care about their tactics—he was just rejoicing.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! So this is what it's about! Father! Mother! This is why you always told me to grow stronger, to wield a sword, to train every day!"

"..."

"I get it now! Now I understand what you meant all this time!"

Polo's shoulders slumped as he lowered his head, letting out a small sob.

"But I still hate it."

As Polo's conflicting emotions and chaotic state overwhelmed him, the members of the reconnaissance team grew increasingly confused.

"He's like a lunatic."

"What in the world happened to him?"

Sharen and Meladik murmured in shock, while Anna instinctively glanced over at Silverna, who was still engaged with the yeti.

Even though it seemed impossible for them to handle Polo alone…

"Silverna is not an option."

Noticing her gaze, Isaac answered firmly.

"What?"

"The yeti isn't in a normal state either. While it may not be as erratic as Polo, it's clearly under the control of that black liquid."

It was evident from the yeti's body, which had taken on a murky hue. Its strength and speed were far beyond their previous levels.

Under normal circumstances, they would have had to assist Silverna in the fight.

"Silverna holding off the yeti is our best opportunity right now."

If Silverna were to lose to the yeti, it would be over for all of them.

None of them would be able to withstand the combined assault of Polo and the yeti.

"Isaac, do you have a plan?"

At Anna's question, Isaac looked back at Polo. The black liquid, now oxidized, seemed to emit a smoky, dark aura around him.

To Isaac, it looked like a pile of firewood burning brightly.

"If we draw this out, we'll win. That state of his can't last for long."

"..."

"But we don't have the luxury of a prolonged battle. So, we'll have to aim there."

Isaac's finger pointed toward the bone embedded in Polo's chest-the result of the yeti's initial ambush, which had taken Polo away and essentially set the current situation into motion.

"We'll use that to kill Polo."

At Isaac's words, Meladik and Sharen looked at him in shock. Even as former comrades, was it truly necessary to kill him?

"We have to."

There was no hope left. Isaac knew this form all too well.

While he had never seen the black liquid before, he had encountered people who transformed like this in his past life.

"The moment he ended up like that, he stopped being human."

Isaac's voice was heavy with bitterness.

"If you can't do it, I will."

His hands didn't tremble as he gripped the Pearlsun sword tightly and stepped forward.

Watching him, Anna cautiously asked, "What is it that you know? Please, tell us too."

"…Subjugation."

"Subjugation?"

"A ritual used by transcendents to turn humans into their possessions."

It rapidly increases physical strength but distorts the mind into something grotesque.

It makes them act on instinct,

Spit out whatever thoughts surface in their minds,

And forcefully reveal their true feelings.

"I'm sorryyyyy! Father! Mother! I'm so sorryyyy! I'm just a worthless piece of trash!"

"That means-"

"Guhhhhh! I shouldn't have been bornnnn! Someone like me, even with this power, who doesn't want to wield a sworddddd!"

Anna's gaze filled with fear as she turned toward Polo.

"Kill meeeeee! I'm a disgrace who should never have been bornnnn! A sinner who makes his mother weep! A wretch unworthy of the Blackson family!"

Everything he was screaming now was the absolute truth, devoid of any lies.

"I'm a sinner! A sinner, I tell you! Aaaahhh! Kill meeeee! Only then will Father stop being disappointed! Only then will Mother stop crying! I… I must atone, even if it's like this!"

The sinner of Blackson pounded on his chest, consumed by tears and regret.

His life, filled with remorse and anguish, seemed to have erased even the name "Polo" from his memory.

Perhaps because of that-

"Polo! Snap out of it, you idiot! Don't let yourself lose to something like this!"

Meladik, overcome with emotion, cried out in anguish. He felt desperate, unable to accept Isaac's insistence that Polo had to die, clinging to the hope that there might be another way.

But-

"Ghhhhh!"

The sinner of Blackson snapped his head around, staring at Meladik before nodding while drooling.

"Yes, yes, yes."

And then-

"I want to live."

With those words, he charged at Meladik, swinging his sword.

Krish_Galeria

Hey everyone, I'm facing some issues with my translated novels. Both [The Son-in-Law of a Prestigious Family Wants a Divorce] and [I Took the Female Lead's First Time in a Romance Fantasy] are not appearing in the 'Latest Updates' section and in search bar.

Additionally, neither of them is showing up in the rankings.

Could anyone help me figure out what the problem might be? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!