Chapter 1: Starting with an Annulment, Everyone Rejoices (New Book, Please Support)

Mysterious Calamity Main Volume Chapter 1: Starting with an Annulment, Everyone Rejoices. Inside a dark, damp cave.

Pale candles emitted a dim light, illuminating a dozen figures clad in black robes, twisting and writhing hideously against the rock walls...

"Mother of Nature, Queen of the Forest, Source of Ten Thousand Lives!"

"I offer sacrifice to you with fanatical piety, offering the blood of enemies, the flesh of prey, and the bones of ancestors!"

"Please grant me a bountiful harvest, please grant me youth, please grant me strength..."

The leading figure prayed aloud, using the silver dagger in his hand to cut a piece of succulent venison and offer it to the stone Altar.

On the Altar, there were also large patches of mottled blood, viscera, intestines, and several pale bones.

Drops of dark red blood flowed down through the crevices of the stone platform.

Bloody, terrifying, Mysterious...

Everything about it was as if some followers of an Evil God were holding a Ritual.

Aaron Sotos wore a pious expression, following the trend step by step, yet his heart was completely calm, and he even felt a bit like laughing.

'Sixteen years since transmigrating, I am certain and sure that this region has no extraordinary power, including this primitive worship of the Sotos Family—the Foreign God—the 【Green Banyan Tree Grandmother】.'

'Of course, in this barbaric era where such religious habits are deeply rooted, rashly revealing oneself as a non-believer is also a foolish act. When in history has a religious reformation not resulted in deaths? Even in another world, it's the same!'

'What's more, the high priest of the Sotos Family is the father of this body I inhabit, a rigid aristocrat, and I am merely the second son. To go against him and say that the gods are just illusions... is that seeking death?'

'Besides, I have to admit, religion is still very useful for numbing the lower classes and consolidating feudal rule.'

Therefore, even if it was just acting, Aaron Sotos had to follow the people around him and play the role of the lord's second son well.

He had a head of jet-black, slightly curly hair, light purple eyes that seemed to contain infinite wisdom and mystery, lips beneath a high-bridged nose that often carried a hint of a smile, and a slender, upright figure that made it easy for others to feel a sense of goodwill upon seeing him.

Although Aaron complained a bit about the Sotos Family surname, he was still very fortunate to have been reincarnated into an aristocratic family.

After all, in this ancient society where the infant mortality rate is extremely high, the literacy rate of commoners is extremely low, and one could die at any time from a rain shower or an infected wound, being born an aristocrat meant at least not starving to death and having the opportunity to receive an education.

Because he had lived two lives and his personality was relatively cautious, even though he was a second son, Aaron lived quite well, and because he was afraid of dying from illness, he insisted on exercising and had a strong physique.

While his mind wandered, he followed the large group of black-robed men—who were actually the high-ranking officials of the Sotos territory—as they completed the Ritual, and the group walked out of the cave one by one.

Whoosh!

Fresh air rushed toward his face, making one want to breathe deeply involuntarily.

Aaron looked back and saw that the original cave was situated beneath a huge Green Banyan Tree, its massive canopy blocking out the sky and sun, with many aerial roots hanging down from the branches, and ten thousand root hairs deeply submerged into the stone walls, forming a Weird symbiotic state.

In the distance, the sun was bright, the azure sky was cloudless, and at the end of the road filled with mud and gravel was a group of European-style buildings built mainly of logs; some of the log surfaces that hadn't been stripped clean of bark still retained a few buds full of vitality.

A breeze blew, and black ravens circled and danced, emitting hoarse and unpleasant cries.

An exceptionally spirited black raven, with a cylinder tied to its leg, landed on a window of a castle Tower built of huge rocks at the very center of the buildings.

"Raven's cry, an ominous sign, but in this world, ravens are just used as messengers for the lord, so there isn't really that kind of unlucky saying..."

"The messenger raven has arrived; it seems something has happened in the castle."

Aaron thought casually.

"We are returning to the castle!"

The leading black-robed man, the high priest who had presided over the sacrifice, also took off his black robe, revealing the gray wolf-skin coat he was wearing. There was a slash mark from a long sword on the wolf's head, and he wore deer-skin boots on his feet. His face was firm, like granite, and his deep purple eyes were also gazing toward the direction of the castle.

This was Theodore Sotos, Aaron's father, the protector of the Lower Green Forest, the lord of the Sotos territory, and a majestic ruler.

He gave the order in a low voice, tossed the black robe to Aaron without a glance at this son, and mounted his warhorse.

The group left quickly. One young man in his twenties with golden hair looked back, seemingly to comfort, but also seemingly with some showing off and smugness.

He rode a pure white steed, following closely behind Theodore, as if to declare his status as the heir to the territory.

Aaron acted as if he didn't notice; after all, he didn't have much affection for this half-brother Colin, so he waited quietly until the end.

He could feel Colin's faint hostility toward him, but it wasn't much, probably because he didn't pose much of a threat.

After all, as someone who transmigrated into a fetus, acting cute and coquettish as a child would definitely be awkward, and any affection requires investment and cultivation.

Someone else's son raised for more than ten years might even be closer than a biological son who had never been nurtured.

The young Aaron found it truly difficult to get close to a stranger.

Over time, Theodore's indifference and distance toward Aaron became a matter of course.

However, Aaron did not regret it.

A threatening heir would be a greater stimulus to Colin; his third brother, who fell off a horse and broke his leg, was a good example.

Well, this third brother was born to the third wife Theodore married. His first two wives died, one in childbirth and one from illness, and this third wife, Sonia, not only gave birth to a son for him but also a daughter.

Aaron skillfully mounted his packhorse and followed the group back to the castle.

At the castle gate, a group of people was already waiting.

Leading them were Theodore's wife Sonia and his sister Jinni; besides them, there were the castle steward and the scholar.

At this moment, the scholar was holding a letter in his hand.

Theodore took it and scanned it hurriedly, his expression becoming very ugly, and he said in a deep voice: "The Davis Family of the Upper Green Forest wants to annul the sacred marriage contract signed under the banyan tree. This is a declaration of war!"

Aaron immediately saw that Colin's originally proud face looked as if it had been slashed by a knife.

'Well, after all, the one engaged to the Davis family is Colin... It actually isn't me, the transmigrator, getting the annulment; this is unscientific! Although... I don't have a fiancée...'

He complained to himself in his heart and looked at Colin with some sympathy.

Even for some transmigrators who have lived two lives, being annulled is a great humiliation, let alone for an ordinary teenager?