Chapter 160: Succubus Queen (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 160: Succubus Queen (2)
“I’m thinking of holding a festival.”
The count brought up the rather sudden topic during breakfast.
A festival?
The count, seemingly aware of how sudden it was, explained his reason for holding it.
“Thanks to the efforts of Lady Frillite, Lord Cloud, and the Platinum Knights, this city of Aiken Hard is now safe from the undead threat. This festival will be to honor the dead and praise the surviving heroes.”
At the mention of honoring the dead, Frillite’s hand, which was cutting her bread, paused. It seemed she was still thinking about her fallen subordinates.
She’ll probably feel a bit better after honoring her subordinates at the festival.
I played along with the count’s words.
“That’s a wonderful idea. When are you planning to hold it?”
“We plan to hold it as soon as preparations are complete. And on that note, there is something I’d like to ask of you two heroes.”
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Cloud, we need to talk.”
“…Alright.”
After breakfast, I was dragged away by Katarina and Leslie. We entered Katarina’s room, and as soon as the door closed, she started grilling me.
“Alright, care to explain? The reason why you have to hide the fact that I’m your girlfriend. And the reason that hero, Frillite or whatever her name is, keeps giving you those tender looks.”
Katarina asked with a smile, a vein throbbing on her forehead.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call them tender looks…”
“You think you have time for word games? Because I don’t.”
“I don’t think I can be patient for much longer either, Lord Cloud.”
The two women ganged up on me as if they’d planned it. Left with no choice, I confessed everything.
Hearing the story, Katarina’s eyes widened.
“M-Marriage? Are you serious?”
“You have to understand, this isn’t what I wanted. It was just something I said as a joke… Leslie? Where are you going?”
I asked Leslie, who was about to leave the room. She replied, radiating a chilling aura.
“I’m going to confront Frillite. How dare she try to steal another woman’s man. I don’t care if she’s a hero, this is unacceptable.”
I grabbed her as she threw the door open to leave.
“Calm down.”
“I can’t calm down! She’s going to have an engagement ceremony that even I, your fiancée, haven’t had. How can I possibly be calm?”
The words “Since when are you my fiancée?” rose to my throat, but I forced them down. That was because I spotted Katarina picking up her dual scimitars.
“Katarina? What are you doing? Put those down.”
“You know what I learned from living in poverty? That you have to fight for your own rights.”
“What are you talking about…”
“Move. Or I’ll cut your dick off first.”
Her voice was chillingly serious. But I was far more afraid of what would happen if I let them go than I was of their anger.
“Nothing will change even if you go! If you mess with Frillite, you could end up dead. Both physically and socially!”
“So you’re saying you’re going to marry that woman, Lord Cloud?”
“That’s not it! I’ll convince her somehow, so…”
“Shut up! I don’t trust you anymore!”
“Ka-Katarina?! Hey!”
I grabbed Katarina’s arm as she tried to leave.
“Let go!”
“Please, let’s just calm down. Okay?”
“Let go, Lord Cloud. I’m not the same person I used to be. If Miss Katarina can just buy me some time up front, I can freeze that woman solid.”
“That’s what I’m saying won’t work!”
It won’t work!
*
After a long persuasion, the two agreed to watch the duel between Cloud and Frillite at the festival before deciding what to do.
Two days passed, and the festival began.
The women danced joyfully while the men competed in arm wrestling and other contests. The festival was in full swing.
Amidst it all, people gathered in the town square, forming a large circle in the center. Inside that space stood Frillite with her greatsword and Cloud with his orichalcum sword.
“A duel in the middle of a festival… The count certainly makes unreasonable requests,” Frillite muttered.
During the breakfast where he’d announced the festival, the count had asked if Cloud and Frillite would duel to liven things up.
I wondered if a mere duel could liven up a festival, but this was the Polichian Duchy. A land of barbarian warriors.
Watching a fight was their favorite pastime.
Especially if it was a fight between heroes.
The square was now packed to the brim with all the warriors of the city.
Frillite sighed, looking at the surrounding spectators.
Dueling Cloud itself wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, she had been wanting to see how much his skills had improved.
But with so many people around, it was a different story.
They would have to hold back to avoid injuring the crowd. In other words, it would be a bland and uninteresting duel.
Cloud, seeing right through her thoughts, chuckled and said to her, “Eri and Leslie agreed to put up a barrier. So you don’t have to worry about the crowd getting caught in the crossfire.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
That was welcome news.
Frillite’s greatsword was dyed red with sword aura.
“But don’t go too hard. It’ll be a problem if the barrier breaks.”
Cloud’s sword was also dyed blue.
The two walked toward each other.
Then, almost simultaneously, they kicked off the ground. Thoom! The ground caved in as their figures vanished.
Clang!
When their figures reappeared, Frillite and Cloud were locked in a clash of swords.
Before the shockwave from their colliding swords could even hit the hemispherical barrier, the two vanished again.
CRASH! CLANG! CLANG-CLANG! CRASH! CLANG!
The ground shattered in various places, sending chunks of stone flying into the air. All the while, sparks flew as their swords clashed, and sharp metallic sounds rang out.
The once-noisy crowd had fallen silent.
As mentioned before, they were all warriors. Tough warriors who had undergone harsh training from their fathers since childhood. As such, they were proud of their skills.
But the scene unfolding before their eyes was shattering that pride to pieces.
‘I-I can’t see them.’
Most of the spectators couldn’t even properly follow Cloud and Frillite’s movements. They could only guess their positions by watching the snake-like afterimages of the red and blue sword auras.
Only a handful of exceptional warriors could properly watch the fight. And they, too, were just as frustrated. No, for them, it was even worse.
Because they were witnessing Cloud and Frillite’s brilliant yet delicate swordsmanship firsthand.
I’ll never reach that level in my entire life.
The thought filled them with a sense of deprivation.
The reactions of Cloud’s party weren’t much different.
“Wow… A hero is really a hero.”
Mars was purely amazed.
“…Tch.”
Isabelle, arm in arm with Mars, clicked her tongue in displeasure.
“As expected of a hero.”
Ophelia was in awe, while Eri and Marietta watched in silence.
As for Neria, “…” She clenched her fists, gritting her teeth.
Just when she thought she had caught up a little, he had already reached a place even further away. When would she ever be able to reach Cloud’s side? What if she could never even be of help to him?
Such thoughts only fueled her impatience.
Meanwhile, Katarina and Leslie, who had been furious just a while ago, stared blankly at the fight with their mouths shut.
Leslie thought that if they had charged in that day, Katarina, taking the vanguard, would have been dealt with in an instant, and she would have been next.
Katarina thought that if Cloud hadn’t stopped them that day, she might have actually died.
Crack.
A crack appeared in the barrier from the impact of Frillite and Cloud’s fight. Noticing this, the two distanced themselves from each other and sheathed their swords.
And so, the duel between the two heroes, which left countless people with their own distinct impressions, came to an end.
*
The bathhouse of Aiken Hard’s castle.
Cloud was relaxing in the ornately decorated bathhouse.
He was there to relieve the fatigue from the afternoon’s duel.
“Hoo…”
As he enjoyed the refreshing feeling of his muscles relaxing in the slightly hot water, he heard footsteps approaching from behind.
I told them I didn’t need anyone to attend to me.
Did they not get the message?
Cloud raised his left hand and waved it dismissively.
“I don’t need any help. I can wash myself, so go do what you need to do.”
“Hmm… It seems you’ve mistaken me for a maid.”
Cloud’s body, which had been waving, froze stiff. No way. It can’t be, right? Cloud slowly turned his head and… saw Frillite, her body covered with a towel.
Cloud’s eyes widened slightly.
Even though she was covered, her voluptuous figure couldn’t be hidden by a single towel. The valley of her cleavage was exposed, and the towel only covered half of her thighs.
“D-Don’t stare…!”
Frillite, growing even more embarrassed by Cloud’s gaze, blushed and used her arms to cover her chest and thighs.
Cloud wore an uncharacteristically dumbfounded expression.
“Um, Frillite? I’m using the bath right now…”
“Ah, I know.”
“Then why did you come in…?”
At Cloud’s question, Frillite fell silent and fidgeted. She recalled Isabelle’s advice and steeled her resolve.
She opened her mouth.
“I worked up a sweat, too. And besides, aren’t we… going to be h-husband and wife anyway…? Bathing together… isn’t… that strange… is it…?”
Frillite’s voice grew smaller and smaller as she lost confidence. Fittingly, her face turned as red as her hair.
“So… I told you not to stare so much…” she said in a barely audible voice, her head bowed low.