Chapter 259 - 255: A Reasonable Fact

Chapter 259: Chapter 255: A Reasonable Fact

After that heavy "THUMP" of a punch, Hilbert cradled his hand, fighting the urge to wince. His mother, Mansa, and Old Corini also had their attention drawn to him.

Qin Xiaoxia’s expression remained neutral, but Su Su couldn’t help but make a sarcastic comment upon seeing the scene.

"With such a frail constitution, you’re lucky the one you attacked the night before last was a Yin Spiritual Demon. Otherwise, if you’d even punched a wall, you would have at least broken a bone."

Normally, such a remark would be a bit embarrassing, but Hilbert didn’t care right now. The only thing he wanted to know was what had happened to his father.

"Ma’am, can you tell me where my father was killed?"

Su Su looked to her Mentor, seeking his opinion.

"Tell them here. As his closest kin, they have a right to know."

"Yes, Mentor!"

With a wave of her hand, the Crystal Ball circled around Su Su once before returning to her bag.

Sister Su chose her words carefully before speaking. However, instead of directly revealing the divination’s results, she asked a question.

"Mentor, is there a type of Demon that can poison a person’s soul without the victim realizing it?"

"Poisoned?"

Qin Xiaoxia couldn’t help but think about how he had secretly finished off the remaining Soul-Devouring Monster. It had involved a latent form of Magic Power, the kind that would only work on a low-intelligence, low-ability creature like a Soul-Devouring Monster. Anyone with a slightly stronger soul would have noticed something was wrong.

"It’s very simple to poison a physical body without being detected, but poisoning a soul is considerably more difficult. The human soul is highly pure, and it tends to reject any foreign substance..."

He swept his gaze across the people watching him, his eyes finally meeting Hilbert’s.

"Not to mention when that person’s surname is Chakus!"

"Therefore, I don’t think it’s likely to be a simple case of soul poisoning..."

Su Su had also been racking her brain, feeling that something was off but unable to pinpoint it, which was why she had asked her Mentor.

"But if we think about it differently, it’s not impossible to achieve through other means. For example, the Red Demoness could easily achieve a similar effect!"

Sister Su’s eyes lit up.

"That’s right! A powerful Sound Illusion Ability is truly formidable. It would be even more terrifying if it were someone like Sister Hong, whose talent is inherently attuned to the Windsor Law. But Sister Hong would never do something like this. Mentor, could it have been a Demon with a similar ability?"

Her voice grew quieter toward the end, as the girl clearly found the idea of such a Demon very troublesome.

"Don’t worry. Even if that’s the case, it could never have the same level of power as your Sister Hong. If it were truly that powerful, the Old Baron wouldn’t have even made it home."

As if to verify something, Qin Xiaoxia looked at Su Su.

"Can you divine where the Demon is now?"

Hilbert, Mansa, and Corini also held their breath and looked toward the beautiful Witch.

But the latter’s expression was one of shame.

"I... I can’t divine it... Its Magic Power must be very strong. I can’t foresee any information about it at all..."

"So that’s how it is..."

Qin Xiaoxia sighed with emotion, seemingly not at all worried about their inability to foresee the location of this dangerous Demon.

"It’s not that its Magic Power is strong, nor is it that your ability is lacking. When it comes to divination, your Magic Power is number one in the entire world!"

At this praise, Sister Su’s cheeks turned visibly red. To the others, their impression of the mysterious Witch before them was once again refreshed.

The phrase "number one in the world" carried significant weight!

"No matter how strong a Demon is, even if you can’t divine its exact location, you should at least get a vague premonition when you have a related material component. At the very least, you would have suffered a backlash from the remote clash of Magic Power."

Su Su nodded thoughtfully. Indeed, that was how it should be according to common sense.

"There is only one possibility in this situation. That Demon is probably already dead—and I mean completely annihilated, dissipated into nothing!"

"What?" "Huh?"

Hilbert and Su Su voiced their confusion one after another. The former had a face full of questions, while the latter’s expression turned to one of sudden understanding after a moment.

"Yes, it’s dead. And the one who killed it was none other than your father, Chrisman Chakus, the former Baron Lion Heart!"

His breathing grew heavy, a wild hammer pounding in his chest. Hilbert’s heart felt as if it were being struck from within by molten lava!

A powerful emotion was about to erupt.

"Did the Demon discover Chrisman first? Or perhaps the Baron discovered the Demon... But that no longer matters. The curtain on that battle fell long ago..."

Qin Xiaoxia let out a soft sigh, one filled with such regret and helplessness that even the surroundings seemed to resonate with it.

WHOOSH—

A series of images faintly emerged in the minds of Hilbert, and even Mansa and Corini.

The stern and serious Old Baron, and a terrifying, evil shadow in the darkness.

Perhaps it was a chance encounter, or perhaps one was tracking the other. In any case, a battle unknown to the world and unimaginable to ordinary people unfolded in that dim, twilight moment.

Having used his "Bloodline Power" once himself, Hilbert could better imagine how breathtaking the fight must have been for his father, who possessed even greater strength!

Where did it take place? When did it start, and when did it end?

Just as the mysterious man had said, none of that mattered anymore.

The Old Baron dragged his exhausted body back to the Chakus Clan’s manor, calmly greeting his beloved wife just as he always did.

He knew his time was short. The Demon’s Sound Illusion Ability was the hardest to guard against. With his soul on the verge of dissipating, he had used all his strength just to make it home.

There was no dramatic, tearful parting like in the movies, no wailing and sobbing.

Perhaps he just wanted to leave his wife with the memory of his ordinary, departing back. Perhaps he couldn’t bear to feel her sorrow.

He went into the study alone, just like any other day!

The three family members, and even Su Su, all pictured it to varying degrees, their own emotions embellishing certain parts of the scene in their minds.

But the general "reenactment" was more or less the same for all of them.

"No... *sob*... Chrisman!!!"

Mansa covered her mouth and began to cry. Religion and custom meant the British usually didn’t weep at funerals, but that didn’t mean they didn’t feel sorrow. The tears she had suppressed for days could no longer be held back.

Corini leaned against the doorframe, his eyes clouding over, but he did not cry. Instead, he did his best to comfort Mansa.

As for Hilbert, he felt both agitated and somewhat relieved.

He might not be able to avenge his father anymore, but for that great man...

"Perhaps this... is for the best!"

「...」

The art of language doesn’t lie in telling the absolute truth, but in giving the listener a truth they want to hear. If this "truth" is also plausible, it can inspire trust and resonance.

Chrisman Chakus was undoubtedly a good husband and a good father. In Corini’s eyes, he was also a good child.

For such a person, having gained some Extraordinary Power only to be ignominiously killed by a Demon would have been a bleak ending in the hearts of his loved ones. A mutual destruction where he came out slightly ahead was far more moving, especially since it contained a hint of romance at the end of his life!

Of course, if not for a certain suspicion, it wasn’t as if Qin Xiaoxia didn’t have better methods.

Based on the results of Su Su’s recent divination and the subjectively judged time of the so-called "trauma," although there was a slight discrepancy, it didn’t seem to be too far off from when Qin Xiaoxia had found the map to the Secret Place.

Qin Xiaoxia’s one small doubt now was, what if he had immediately looked for the location when he found the Sheepskin Scroll, instead of putting it aside first?

’Baron, oh Baron, at least you’ve left a much deeper impression in the hearts of your loved ones!’

As for the Baron’s death, that was an unavoidable factor. Perhaps it really was just a coincidental heart attack!

However, the fact that Qin Xiaoxia made no other arrangements and simply let the matter end here showed that he felt a little guilty about it.

PS: First Chapter for Saturday.