Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Mutation - 1
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“What were you doing that you’re only coming now?”
As I rode the carriage back to the mansion, Aurora—who had been pacing anxiously in the garden, waiting for me—approached with a bright smile. Lana hopped down from the coachman’s seat and stood beside her.
One of the knights climbed into the carriage and took hold of the reins. Soon, it slowly vanished behind the mansion.
“I had some personal business to take care of. But why are you out here? What about the guest?”
“That guest you mentioned kept hounding me, so I slipped away for a bit. This is all because you’re never at the castle on time and keep wandering off, Delta.”
Aurora grumbled.
“What was she like?”
“You already know who came, right? You heard from Lana.”
“Yeah. Lady Minerva, isn’t it?”
“That’s right, Minerva. Even if I have a bit of a silver tongue, I can’t match her. She’s lived far longer, has far more experience, and her mind is sharper than mine by miles.”
She didn’t look it on the surface, but Minerva was a grand archmage who had lived for over four hundred years. No way could Aurora, who was barely in her early twenties at best, outtalk her.
“It started as normal conversation, but as you kept not showing up, at some point the topic shifted to my first time.”
“That’s... quite something.”
“Well, by the time I realized, it was too late. She teased me endlessly about it, so I said I’d wait for you to come back and bolted outside.”
Aurora shook her head in exasperation.
“You didn’t spill everything about what we did, did you?”
Aurora’s expression shifted from annoyance to beet red the instant she heard my question.
“N-No... not that. Just that you and I, uh, had sex. And that it felt good? Honestly, spilling the details of what we actually did to others would be too much, right?”
She stammered out disjointed words.
Well, yeah. Her first time involved getting pounded by Lana while her face melted in ecstasy, and at the end, she squirted everywhere. Not exactly the kind of story you share with the world.
Lana was the obvious exception.
“Anyway, good thing you got here quick. Otherwise, I’d have had to go back to the drawing room and... Oh.”
Suddenly, a blue orb materialized in front of Aurora’s eyes. It blinked and began circling us clockwise. It was a sphere of pure mana.
“Minerva’s handiwork, I take it?”
“Obviously. Looks like that’s her way of saying we should cut the chit-chat and bring you in quick. She’s in the drawing room.”
“Me alone?”
“No point in me going in—I’d just get kicked out again. She said it’s something for just you two.”
“Got it.”
It had to be about the scroll—something civilians couldn’t hear. I nodded and started toward the mansion, but paused and glanced back.
“Milady.”
“Hm? What?”
“Lana says you’ve been having trouble sleeping lately. You need to take it easy. You’ll wear yourself out.”
“What are you talking about? Why would I have trouble sl—... sleep...”
Aurora trailed off as realization dawned. Her ears flushed first, then her entire face turned crimson. A dazed “Uh, wha?” slipped from her half-open lips.
Lana beside her looked just as flustered. She’d clearly never expected me to rat her out like this. Her mouth hung open as she stared at me with betrayed eyes.
I turned away just as Aurora whipped her glare toward Lana. From behind came a shriek—“How much did you tell him?!”—followed by the frantic sounds of Lana scrambling.
With my petty revenge on Lana complete, I headed to the mansion’s drawing room. Sure, Aurora got caught in the crossfire, but she was the one who taught Lana that kind of joke in the first place—karma.
“Welcome, child.”
Minerva sat in the drawing room. Just like before, her long white hair cascaded down her back, and she wore a bathrobe that looked ready to slip off at any moment.
Minerva gave me her signature archaic smile. The robe draped precariously over her chest slid down a bit. Through the gap, something pink flashed briefly.
“Long time no see, Lady Minerva.”
I returned the greeting and moved to sit, but Minerva shook her head. Then she patted the spot to her left—the seat beside her—with her palm. Sit here, she meant.
I eyed her, as if to ask if she was serious. She nodded firmly, as if to say of course. Pat pat—the sound echoed from the sofa again.
After a moment’s hesitation, I sat. No real choice anyway. As if waiting, a small plate and teacup appeared, and the teapot floated up on its own to pour.
“There we go. It has been quite some time.”
With those words, Minerva grabbed my right hand.
I wondered what she was up to, but she plopped it straight onto her thigh. My palm felt something soft yet warm and yielding.
My wrist tugged further inward. Now it was sliding past her thigh, under the bathrobe. My whole palm enveloped in even warmer heat. The softness intensified.
Minerva finally stopped once she’d pulled my hand up to her pubic bone.
“How have you been?”
“...Why start like this the moment we meet?”
I tried to pull away, but it was stuck fast—like magic had sealed it there. All I could do was savor the plush sensation of her inner thigh.
“A modest token of thanks for your gift, child.”
“This?”
“Four hundred years, and no one has ever been permitted in this spot. Quite the fine gift, wouldn’t you say?”
“...”
Even as I stared in disbelief, Minerva ignored it and pressed her legs together. Her thighs softly squeezed my palm from both sides.
“Where did you find that scroll, child?”
I’d expected the question, so I ignored the thigh under my hand as best I could and explained what happened at the ancient ruins.
Of course, I glossed over anything involving Fechi. With Minerva’s personality, she’d track him down and “persuade” him for more ruin locations—no surprise there.
Minerva nodded slightly as she listened.
“Ancient ruins... So even there, a scroll lay hidden.”
“Didn’t you say you once scoured the entire continent with magic?”
“My search focused solely on the mana signatures the scrolls emit. A mage of my stature can’t go tromping around everywhere on foot. Besides, I ignored anything that wasn’t an ancient scroll.”
That explained why scrolls kept turning up despite Minerva’s continent-wide sweep: she hadn’t bothered with the non-ancient ones.
She truly hadn’t found the ancient scrolls, but the rest? She had, and left them be.
Classic backstory for why scrolls pop up everywhere even after the Eternal Mage ransacked the continent.
“But you didn’t come all this way just to thank me, did you?”
My hand remained wedged between Minerva’s thighs—perilously close to brushing the slit between her legs if I stretched even a little. No luck pulling free.
“Of course not. I came to share the fruits of my research with you, child.”
“The research results... You mean the crystal scroll?”
“Since you found it for me, you deserve to hear first. I haven’t even told Kaikilia yet, so rejoice. On this continent, you’re the second after me to witness that magic.”
I already knew about the magic the crystal scroll produced from the game, but I nodded obediently. Minerva looked so pleased; no need to spoil the mood.
It might differ from the game anyway. Her showing up here proved that much.
Minerva smiled and finally released my hand from between her thighs.
“Now then, shall we go, child...?”
But then she frowned. I caught it too, and a question arose. What could make her face twist like that?
After furrowing her brow for a bit, Minerva spoke in a voice laced with irritation.
“Something’s happened at the palace. Forgive the sudden change, but could you hold off on heading to the Magic Tower, child?”
“Sure. No issue here.”
If something cropped up at the palace, handling it took priority. And for Minerva to look like that? Had to be serious.
“Thank you.”
With those words, we were suddenly in a palace corridor. No magic circle, not even blue mana visible. Her casting speed was insane.
‘...Another research breakthrough?’
As I reeled, Minerva strode ahead. A few robed mages stood waiting ahead—likely the ones who contacted her.
They turned at the sound of footsteps. Spotting Minerva, color returned to their pale faces.
“What’s going on?”
“The Knight Captains suddenly...!”
Before the mage could finish, a boom echoed from down the hall. Followed by a menacing shout. Minerva’s face hardened further.
Minerva teleported the mages to safety and hurried forward. I gripped the sheath of the Wingless Nightmare with my left hand and followed.
The shouts grew louder. Just around the next corner. We turned—and the scene unfolded before us.
In the hall’s center stood a giant in golden armor. Silver and golden-armored knights blocked the corridor front and back, tangled in chaos. All weapons drawn.
Leading them was Iris. Lize beside her, Claudia and Erika on the other side. Iris’s voice boomed through her helmet.
“You’ve lost it completely, Knight Captain! I tried not to meddle in how you handle your subordinates since it’s another order’s business, but killing them off on a whim? That’s a whole different story!”
‘Killing?’
No brushing that off. Minerva’s already sour expression crumpled—just like mine.
“Weaklings like these can’t protect His Imperial Majesty. Failing to protect him sullies our honor. Better to die by my hand than stain our honor. What’s wrong with that?”
In stark contrast, the golden-armored knight’s voice was eerily calm. No inflection at all—almost unnaturally flat.
“Weaklings? Ha, forgotten what our newbie did to you when you showed up at the castle to ‘supervise’ us?”
“It happened. But now is different.”
The golden-armored knight brushed off even Lize’s taunt with flat detachment. No rise or fall in his tone.
A bit off from the game, but I clocked the situation instantly.
‘So it came to this after all.’
The Golden Twilight Knights Captain’s mutation event.