Episode 41
Episode 41
While I was pondering how to travel, I sensed a massive energy approaching from afar.
Frowning, I looked in that direction and clenched my fist.
"Someone seems to be coming?"
Meanwhile, Aron lay leisurely on the bed, answering as if it were impossible.
"They're probably not coming for us. Don't worry too much~ It's obviously a knight captain or duke rushing down because magical beasts descended."
Boom!
Rendering Aron's words meaningless, the wall immediately shattered and fragments flew everywhere. Simultaneously, thick dust billowed up.
Within the dust that filled one entire wall, blue eyes flashed.
'They're stronger than me.'
I immediately took a step back, and Aron had already risen from the bed and was standing beside me.
His thick arm immediately pulled me behind him.
I entrusted myself to his touch and quietly hid behind Aron.
"Ack! Why is there so much dust... Cough! The wall is weaker than I thought."
A voice came from within the dust.
A voice that was high for a man, but a low alto for a woman.
"Tsk. I'll have to send a bill for this later. More importantly..."
Suddenly, a strong wind swept over us.
It seemed like they lightly swung their arm or emitted a powerful burst of mana to create the wind.
Clutching Aron's clothes with both hands, I asked him quietly.
"Can you win?"
"It's not that I can't win... but if we fight, the whole area will probably be destroyed. It'll also take some time."
"So you mean you can't win easily. Hmm..."
Still tense, I watched as the dust completely cleared to reveal our opponent.
Snow-white hair that reached down to her waist.
And two blue eyes, half-open emotionlessly, silently observing Aron.
The Frost Duchess smiled mysteriously and asked Aron.
"Sorry if I startled you. I sensed a suitable energy for my husband. Are you perhaps around the level of a Swordmaster?"
Aron looked at me for a moment, seemingly flustered, then nodded.
"It's been a little while since I reached Swordmaster."
"Then, by any chance, are you married?"
Aron glanced at the Duchess for a moment before answering.
"Not... not yet."
At Aron's answer, the woman standing in front nodded as if she knew.
She slowly approached, offering a handshake, and said.
"Then how about marrying me! You don't really have to do anything, just rest at the mansion. But you'll have to perform your nightly duties consistently."
"Uh... That's..."
Perhaps because of the woman's appearance, Aron hesitated for a moment.
His complicated expression seemed quite different from a simple refusal.
Having lived as a man, I could understand to some extent.
Massive breasts and hips that would make you look back if you saw them on the street. Combined with white hair and blue eyes, it's a combination that works anywhere.
The atmosphere was also a new feeling I'd never seen around Aron before.
I think she's literally someone you can't help but be interested in.
'But didn't he ask me to play the role of his lover?'
It's not important what kind of woman Aron is interested in.
But if he asked me to play the lover role, he should at least be faithful himself.
I immediately pulled on Aron's clothes.
"Hey. Aren't you going to answer quickly?"
"Ah. As you can see behind me, I have a lover... Marriage is a bit..."
I stared at the woman with an annoyed expression before belatedly realizing who she was.
There's only one person this strong in the Northern Region to begin with.
"Ah! The Northern Duke! The Frost Duchess, right?"
Apparently I spoke louder than intended, and the Duchess nodded upon hearing my voice.
She didn't seem to mind that I used informal speech.
"You know me. Hmm... Judging by that, are you the famous Black Iron Wall? You've grown so much since we last met that it was hard to recognize."
"Is it that obvious?"
"Before, you had the feeling of someone growing into adulthood, but now you're definitely mature. More importantly, I didn't expect you to have a lover... What a shame."
Surprisingly, the Duchess immediately gave up upon hearing he had a lover.
Seeing my surprised expression, the Duchess shrugged.
"I'm looking for my own partner, not trying to steal someone else's. More importantly, what brings the famous vice-captain of the Flames of Harmony here?"
"Ah, actually... I need to meet a dwarf, so I'm heading to Red Canyon. If I just walk, the distance is too far, so I was looking for a merchant caravan."
"Hmm, in that case, I might be able to help."
The Frost Duchess thought for a moment before continuing.
"Red Canyon has been a bit strange lately, you see. The ducal house has been managing exchanges with the dwarves. I'll help you get there comfortably, so could you investigate for me? I'd be grateful if you could solve it too."
I fell into brief thought.
I wondered if Red Canyon's strange changes were due to the dragon or the Cult of the End, but nothing came to mind, so I just nodded.
With Aron here, we can handle almost anything.
For anything beyond that scope, we can just escape and solve it later.
"Alright. Then I'll resolve the Red Canyon matter for you."
"Good. Then let's discuss the details at the castle. Will your boyfriend who came with you be joining us?"
I nodded before Aron could answer.
"Yes! We were planning to go to Red Canyon together anyway. Let's go, Aron."
The moment Mia called Aron, the Winter Duke's eyes changed.
They transformed from the eyes of a relaxed woman to those of a predator who found prey in an instant. But the feeling was slightly different.
The feeling of finding prey but it being too strong to eat.
Aron, noticing her gaze, looked at her.
'...Should we talk separately later?'
When he silently mouthed the words so Mia wouldn't hear, the Winter Duke also nodded.
'Then let's meet later, just the two of us. Hero-nim.'
Sensing something strange, Mia sharply turned around.
Her half-lidded eyes turned toward Aron.
"You were having weird thoughts again, weren't you."
"Huh? This time I really wasn't thinking anything. More importantly, I'm glad it worked out somehow."
She looked at Aron with suspicious eyes but soon looked away.
'He said a fifty-year-old ajumma isn't his type anyway, so it should be fine.'
Mia still trusted Aron in her own way.
*
"What a relief. Right?"
Mia's expression brightened now that she had obtained information and even secured convenient transportation to Red Canyon.
Aron also nodded and slowly approached her.
"Aren't you going to do that today? It seemed like you've been holding back for quite a while."
At Aron's words, Mia approached, fidgeting with her fingers.
No matter how urgent she felt, she couldn't show a disheveled appearance in front of the Duchess, so she had been holding back.
She immediately buried herself in Aron's chest.
"Haaa... Good..."
As if it were natural, she tightly embraced Aron's broad back, though her arms were too short to fully encircle him.
In that state, she took a deep breath.
Huuu...
After that one big inhale because of Aron, she no longer controlled the amount she breathed in.
She was filling herself with Aron, inhaling as much as possible.
"How is it? Does it feel better today?"
Aron immediately began stroking Mia's head in that state.
Mia nodded, happily accepting even actions she would have told him to stop before.
"Yes, it's getting better little by little."
Though it wasn't her condition that was improving but something else, she had no time to care about that.
The scent filling her body, the repeated warm touch.
Those two things were filling her completely.
"Good, then let's stay like this a little longer."
"Yes..."
Not even realizing they were lying on the bed together, Mia lost herself in Aron.
In less than 30 minutes, she had fallen asleep.
After covering the sleeping Mia with a blanket, Aron got up from the bed.
"Mmm... Aron... Don't go..."
Seeing Mia fidgeting with her small hands looking for Aron, he gave her the clothes he was wearing.
Only then did Mia hug the clothes to her chest, bury her face in them, and make a comfortable expression.
"Hoo... Then I'll go out for now."
As Aron stepped outside, a waiting servant lightly bowed his head.
With a voice fitting his elderly appearance, he welcomed Aron.
"I've been waiting. I'll take you to where the Duchess is right away."
Aron lightly nodded and followed the old butler.
The butler, walking quietly ahead, glanced sideways at Aron.
"I think I saw you when I was young, but your appearance remains the same. Back then, you brought about four or three women with you, I believe."
"Ah, they're all busy, so they couldn't come this time. By the way, you're still the same."
"Well, I just keep doing what I've always done."
"Has Kabel still not married?"
The old butler let out a deep sigh.
"Since she uses you as her standard, she doesn't seem satisfied with just any man. So today, you'll have to take responsibility."
"Haha... That won't be easy."
"Anyway, I'll trust only you, Aron-nim. Then..."
The old butler opened the door and stepped back.
Passing through the door he opened, Aron saw the Duchess wearing a slip that revealed her skin underneath.
Aron slowly approached and called to her.
"Shavel. Is this how we meet after decades? How about having a relaxed conversation instead."
At Aron's attitude, Shavel took a step forward and answered.
"I even pretended not to know you had a cute kid... And now you tell me to hold back? If that's the case, you shouldn't have come here and taken me back then."
Shavel's mana burst forth, filling the room.
At a level where Aron would need to use his full strength to resist.
'I can't just recklessly destroy the castle... Hmm...'
In the end, Aron decided to surrender himself to desire.