Chapter 57
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: The Man Who Opens His Eyes to a New World
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Baron Yuteron headed straight for the Sun God Church branch located in his territory.
No matter how noble he was, summoning them would have been rude, so he went in person.
Sun God Church, Yuteron Branch.
As soon as he entered the grand temple, a priest came out to greet him.
Despite the sudden visit, the priest showed no sign of discomfort.
He naturally took charge of guiding him.
There was one reason Baron Yuteron had rushed to the church.
To hear the answer about whether Hero Ashy Greyfield had truly vanquished the demon.
'Not even a week has passed. How many days since they set out? To catch and kill a demon already and return? Does that even make sense?'
Baron Yuteron had met many heroes, befitting his position.
Some were strong enough to seem beyond human limits, while others were so frail they hardly seemed like heroes.
But a case like Ashy's was a first.
Even for the most exceptional hero, slaying a demon in just three or four days was...
'Impossible, utterly impossible...'
It wasn't that he doubted Ashy's words.
Since he had a rough idea of her prowess, Baron Yuteron trusted what she had affirmed without question.
'I just need to know how grandly to receive her.'
Baron Yuteron wanted to repay Ashy for protecting his territory's peace.
As the family head, he felt obligated to do so on behalf of his people and retainers.
It absolutely wasn't because he distrusted her.
"Baron Yuteron, what brings you here?"
"...Branch Chief Soile..."
Soile, who oversaw the Yuteron branch.
Soile had a hunch why Baron Yuteron had come.
The timing was too perfect to pretend otherwise.
"It's about the hero, Ashy Greyfield, isn't it?"
"...Yes."
Baron Yuteron didn't deny it.
There was no need to wear a mask around a church priest.
The Sun God Church burned with zeal for the continent's peace, far removed in morality from corrupt nobles.
"Ashy Greyfield, the supernova hero. Not long out of Hero Academy, and already she's slain a great evil..."
"She has slain the great evil...?"
Baron Yuteron looked at Soile.
A firm light gleamed in the priest's keen eyes.
'Impressive.'
Baron Yuteron couldn't close his gaping mouth in time.
He stroked his neatly trimmed chin with a dry hand and let out a long-held breath.
Other nobles would have gossiped behind his back about his lack of decorum.
Baron Yuteron caught his breath.
He forced himself to regain composure and faced Soile.
Soile added one more word to Yuteron.
"That's not the important part."
"Is there something more important than the hero vanquishing a demon?"
To Yuteron, the church's top priority was demon extermination.
Ashy's feat should have set the church abuzz.
'Something more important to the church than that?'
He couldn't believe it.
If it had been another noble, he would have dismissed it out of hand.
Soile glanced around cautiously.
As if signaling to listen carefully to what came next, he covered his mouth and spoke.
"Ashy Greyfield... she erased the demon from existence."
"...Erased?"
Baron Yuteron pondered the meaning of "erased" for a moment.
The object preceding it had thrown him off.
Soile gazed steadily at him.
Even at Yuteron's odd reaction, he blinked twice as if understanding.
Yuteron realized.
The priest before him didn't fully grasp what he was saying either.
Still, he phrased his understanding and asked back.
"By 'erased,' you mean the demon's very existence vanished...? Not just repelled from the mortal realm, but wiped from the demon world too?"
"Yes, exactly."
"How is that even possible...?"
Soile shrugged.
For a devout man like him, it was incomprehensible.
He could only repeat his usual refrain.
"It was the will of the Sun God."
He attributed phenomena beyond human wisdom, marvels beyond perception, to the Sun God's power.
Just as primordial flames or lightning were seen as divine might.
Thanks to that, Soile's mind felt lighter.
"Even within the church, meetings are underway. A conclusion will come soon enough."
The higher-ups would handle it, Soile thought with expectation.
His role was simply to pray to the Sun God.
Yuteron left Soile behind and returned to his mansion.
The sun had set, making it dinnertime.
'How should I receive her?'
She was a hero who had erased a demon from existence.
A hero who granted eternal rest to a demon rampaging across the continent.
He wanted to satisfy Ashy, who had achieved an unprecedented feat.
He hoped the Yuteron name would engrave itself in the mind of this hero whose fame would soon spread across the continent.
"Master...!"
Yuteron entered the baronial mansion.
From afar, nanny Hailin came running in a panic.
"Hailin, what's with the uncharacteristic fuss?"
He had known her since childhood.
He knew her temperament well.
Her unusual behavior furrowed his brow.
He worried for the old woman's health.
"Master, you must pretend not to know."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Pre, pretend not to know!"
Hailin shouted urgently.
A familiar, nostalgic yell, awkward yet oddly comforting.
'She used to yell like that often back then.'
During his turbulent puberty, his stoic father had all but left the young baron to fend for himself.
For the sake of growing into a proper man.
Hailin had shouldered the parental role in his place.
Whenever the wild Yuteron crossed the line, she would scold him fiercely.
'But pretend not to know? Pretend not to know what...'
He drew in a breath.
Only then did he understand Hailin's words.
'Out, outrageous...!'
The Yuteron estate boasted a vast garden.
Beautifully tended, it was his pride.
A hobby he managed alongside the gardeners, sweating over every detail.
Glowing lanterns dotted the grounds.
The soft lights added ambiance.
There, Hero Ashy was taking a stroll.
That much was welcome.
He even wanted to show it off to her.
Introduce the well-kept garden, urge her beyond the corner to see more...
"Wha, woof!"
But he couldn't.
The strongest hero, the vicious one who had effortlessly butchered Drake, Ashy Greyfield, was walking a man.
A literal walk.
He had assumed their relationship was unusual from the dog collar, but he never dreamed she was serious about enjoying this.
"Hup...!"
Yuteron forced his expression neutral and turned away.
The moment his eyes met Ashy's, his breath caught.
Hailin, sweating profusely, explained.
"...Two have already been injured. Torah and Gail knew Mr. Kang Ajin personally and approached him... The hero shattered their legs..."
"Give those two paid leave and compensation."
Yuteron sensed Ashy's mana.
The prickly magic warned him and the mansion's people.
'So that's what she meant by pretend not to know.'
Ashy's voice began to reach him.
It wasn't that Yuteron had heightened his senses.
Ashy was projecting it deliberately.
— Puppy, doesn't the walk feel nice?
— Not answering?
— Good boy. Puppies bark like puppies. No talking.
— Time to mark our territory in the mansion...?
Chilling words drifted over.
Puppy, like a puppy, walk, marking territory.
Yuteron realized what she intended.
'N, no...!'
It was the garden he had lovingly tended.
A space beautified with his sweat.
Even for a hero, he couldn't allow it.
It wasn't a place for treating a man like a dog, strolling together, and letting him urinate like a dog marking territory.
'Guh...!'
His eyes met Ashy's.
The sharply honed air pressed down on him.
As if she might strike if he slipped...
"Ah...!?"
A stinging sensation hit.
Yuteron raised his arm to wipe his cheek.
Blood smeared his fingertips.
It was bleeding.
'From this distance, with killing intent alone...'
Ashy made no effort to hide her presence.
Glared in all directions as if daring anyone to approach.
"Master, let's go for now."
Hailin called to him.
Yuteron snapped to his senses and started walking.
— Puppy, Baron Yuteron is back.
— Take a break? But feels like he's coming this way...
— Better hurry past?
Ashy wanted to create that atmosphere.
Yuteron crossed the garden as naturally as possible.
He did his utmost not to notice Kang Ajin crawling on all fours like a dog.
Even negotiating with Baron Gertong over the gold mine at the territory border hadn't tensed him this much.
— Knees hurt? Should buy knee pads next time.
— Fufu, they all passed by? Good boy, puppy.
— Want to fight that bad? Fine, you behaved, so one swing allowed.
Ashy's words kept coming.
Not just to Yuteron.
Hailin beside him heard them too.
— Here...?
— Still a puppy. Can you talk or not?
— Woof...!
— Stick it out.
Kang Ajin rose to his knees and thrust his hips toward Ashy.
The pink chastity device gleamed.
Ashy unlocked the chastity cage at his groin with the key from her neck.
Then she took his cock in her mouth and began bobbing her head.
— Slurp, smack.
'...Di, didn't he just urinate?'
As if it were trivial, Ashy greedily sucked Kang Ajin's cock.
Ferociously enough that onlookers might mistake her for the one suffering in abstinence.
Kang Ajin entrusted his member to her and tilted his head back.
Gazing at the dark sky, he savored Ashy's service.
He had known about such hobbies long ago, but not that she would continue even aware of his presence.
Yuteron let out a hollow chuckle but didn't retreat.
Pure curiosity.
A gift for Hero Ashy.
The senses that had allowed him to run the Yuteron barony successfully, spotting countless opportunities through political acumen.
They now prodded him, urging him to seize this chance.
Poking at his solar plexus.
'The dynamic has flipped...?'
At some point, Kang Ajin was petting the hero's head.
Their hierarchy seemed reversed.
The ferocious aura the supreme hero exuded melted away.
She wore a pleased smile, delighted by the praise.
To Yuteron, the current Ashy was no hero.
Just a woman happy in a man's pleasure.
The young man and woman used the night sky as their curtain for lewd acts outdoors.
Licking at each other with the fervor of imminent copulation.
Yet they didn't cross that final line.
It ended with Kang Ajin ejaculating into Ashy's mouth.
The chastity cage was locked back on his cock.
Yuteron realized.
'...I see, so that's it.'
The pair sat at the tea table in the garden—his masterpiece—and chatted amiably.
Hero Ashy sat on Kang Ajin's thigh, beaming brightly.
From the purity of his heart, Yuteron thought she was truly beautiful.
Beautiful enough to make his meticulously tended garden feel sullied.
'I must make Kang Ajin mine!'
Gifting him would be more effective than gifting her.
It would work.
There was a saying about pillow talk.
It would work in reverse for them.
'One casual word from her man outweighs a hundred flatteries from me. Her eyes confirm it. She can't refuse Kang Ajin.'
The visible play was mere pretense.
Yuteron trusted Ashy's expressions.
"Let's head back."
He took Hailin and returned to the main house.
In his study, he pondered gifts to win Kang Ajin's favor.
Easier than choosing for Ashy, for certain.