Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Holy Sword - 5
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While being held like that, Leo sobbed for a few minutes before a question arose in his mind. It was certainly good fortune for him, but the situation was one that couldn't help but raise doubts.
‘...Where the hell did that old man really go?’
The Sage's disappearance—like a parasitic tumor that had clung to him endlessly—couldn't help but spark questions.
“Ah... but... Miss...”
“Yeah?”
“Where are the others...”
The absence of the rest of the group felt a bit off too. If there was a reason, they should have been informed right away once he woke up.
Squeeze
Was it his imagination, or did Ariasfil's arms tighten even more around him when he mentioned the others?
“Others?”
“...Pardon? Yes, Family Head...”
Squeeze
It wasn't his imagination. The strength in her arms grew, starting to constrict his breathing. Was it because of the scars? Even a bit of pain began to creep in.
“I only see you right now, Leo, but you're worried about others?”
This wasn't the direction he expected at all. More than that...
“Maybe I should give you a little punishment?”
Squeeze
She pinched his flesh lightly. With no fat and only muscle on his body, it normally wouldn't hurt much, but...
“Aaaah...!”
Pinching the areas dotted with scars across his body was enough to make even Leonardo hurt.
“Right now, you should only be looking at me, okay?”
“Got it...! I got it, so...! Please stop...!”
At his words, she released her hand and looked at his face. The swelling around his eyes and pooled tears from his earlier sobbing revealed yet another vulnerable side of the boy.
“...This might be fun...”
And that expression was more than enough to stir Ariasfil's sadistic urges.
“...Pardon? What’s...”
Ariasfil pushed Leo straight down onto the bed. Normally, he might have resisted, but exhausted and injected with mana stabilizers, the boy who had pulled the holy sword couldn't overcome the strength of one of the two great heroes.
“Don't make any loud noises.”
This feels dangerous. Ariasfil's expression right now went beyond little devil—it was more seductive than a succubus.
Pop...
Delicate technique, yet brutally rough at the same time.
Slipping her hand under the edge of his hospital gown and pulling down, the buttons came undone with just the side of her hand.
“No, wait a second...! This is...!”
His exposed skin—nothing but scars and muscle—was plenty appetizing to Ariasfil.
Smooth...
“Hah...!”
Soon, her touch began to caress the boy's scars in a seductive manner. It should have ended there, but stroking the scarred areas brought a faint pain mixed with intense itching that crawled up his body.
“I said no. If you make loud noises, the others will hear.”
Yet even as she said that, she seemed to crave even louder reactions, roughly stroking the scars with greater force.
“Haa... please... stop now...”
His face flushed red, and the body pinning him down glistened with a sheen of sweat.
“You have to properly take your punishment, right?”
Ariasfil's hands began to explore Leo's body.
Not just roughly groping,
“Stop...! Please...! Enough already...!”
but learning which areas were sensitive, which ones caused pain when touched.
Sweat began to seep into Ariasfil's hands as well. Finally pausing, the man beneath her gasped for breath.
“...Is that... enough now...? Please stop...! No more...”
The boy who normally sliced through massive beasts without breaking a sweat was now begging and panting beneath her.
Indulging her sadism brought a strange sense of dominance surging within Ariasfil. A twisted desire to make him submit even more overflowed.
“I told you, right? This is punishment. If you want the punishment to stop, what do you say~?”
With a playful expression, Ariasfil moved down from his fully conquered chest to his uncharted territory: his abdomen.
To touch his abs, she gradually pushed her hips back.
Leo's expression changed drastically.
“Miss! I was wrong, so get off right now...!!”
The moment he shouted and forced his upper body up, his lower half—pinned beneath her—lifted as well.
“Eek...!”
And Ariasfil's hips were straddling that lower half precisely.
“Ahh...”
Their most sensitive and intimate parts had no choice but to touch. And in their most aroused state, no less.
“...Oh no...”
Dropping down hastily, Ariasfil recalled the sensation of the ‘object’ she had just felt.
Too soft to be bone, too hard to be flesh.
A long, thick club-like thing.
“...Sorry!!!”
Shouting loudly, Ariasfil hurriedly apologized for brushing against Leo's thing before fleeing the hospital room.
It was late, so fortunately, no one was around the hospital room.
‘...She definitely felt it... right...?’
She had felt the soft texture of that part too... There was no reason she wouldn't have.
“...No one's... here... right...?”
Leonardo's treatment room was in the most remote part of the estate—a special arrangement by House Reinhardt just for him.
Confirming no one was around, Leo finally released the urges he'd been holding back.
A dark, personal desire he could never indulge with the Sage around. The pent-up frustration deflated as it was released, gradually shrinking in size.
In that pleasure, Leonardo finally fell into a peaceful sleep.
It was a good night.
The next morning, the people from House Reinhardt came rushing back. The moment they heard he was awake, they all piled in at once—enough to fluster even Leo in the room.
And what flustered him even more was...
“Are you okay?”
“...You survived somehow.”
“How's your body? You good?”
“Hey, how's the body?”
“Sorry for being late. The meeting dragged on... Leonardo. You alright?”
Surprisingly, no one scolded or lectured him.
Leo didn't know it at the time, but the incident had blown up so much because of the ‘inquiry into guilt and punishment.’ This was their way of showing consideration.
Thwack!
“Ow...!”
Of course, not everyone held back.
“Commander!!”
Marken lightly smacked Leo's head to exact his due.
“Just checking your head's condition.”
Considering Marken's usual self, it was an incredibly light punishment.
“Is that your excuse?”
“Just confirming if your head's so messed up you'd lay hands on the lady you serve.”
Marken remembered how Leo had beaten Ariasfil.
“That's fine. It wasn't as severe as Leo's injuries...”
In truth, the injuries Leo inflicted were mostly from blunt impacts—painful and limiting mobility during the fight, but easy to treat and leaving no scars like Leo's.
“Even accounting for that, it's still fitting punishment. So...”
Crucially, Marken knew that too.
“It'd be best if you don't even think about quitting as a knight and running away.”
“...Grandpa, overall, that’s more embarrassing, so maybe stick to normal well-wishes...”
Thud
Rios got a firmer, stronger head check too.
In the meantime, Family Head Gladio spoke up again.
“...Truthfully, we should be the ones apologizing.”
Soon, everyone bowed their heads with the Family Head at the center.
“We're truly sorry for causing such a disturbance.”
It was an apology.
A noble family—descendants of the Hero Family at that—bowing their heads to a single commoner knight.
It was probably unprecedented in history, even before his regression.
The Family Head raised his head and explained the reason for the apology.
“We placed too heavy a burden on you. Having ability and forcing responsibility are two entirely different things.”
In their eyes, Leo was a fifteen-year-old boy. The feats and responsibilities he'd shouldered were burdens no child that age could bear.
“We're truly sorry. It's natural to resent us or feel disillusioned.”
He hadn't been angry from the start... but it felt like some pent-up frustration was releasing.
“No. I've never resented the family.”
Such feelings should be expressed right away to mean something.
“Truth be told, just when I was about to give up on finding my mother, this place gave me a goal. If anything, I'm grateful for the burden—it made me feel trusted.”
Everyone's eyes trembled. From the Family Head to the matriarch, all their pupils dilated.
Why are they like this?
“...You found your mother...?”
“So the mercenary work was because of that too...?”
To be precise, it was faces struck with shock. The fragments of Leo's story carried that much weight.
“...Pardon? You didn't know? Didn't I mention it...?”
Thinking back, in his previous life, he'd told Chris right away upon meeting her, but in this life, he'd become a knight purely on merit, so there'd been no real chance to explain.
Plus, Ariasfil had seemed to know a bit, so Leonardo had unconsciously assumed he'd mentioned it.
“Explain. What happened?”
“...Ah, sure, well... roughly three years—no, five years ago now...”
The story matched word-for-word what he'd told Chris.
Exactly.
“...Hic...”
“...Hic... We didn't even know that...”
But why did the mood feel like a funeral?
Not a single detail to nitpick—various causes and circumstances intertwined, amplifying the story's sorrow and pity.
“...For now... please don't cry...”
“This isn't crying...! It's... sweat from the heart...!”
Chris's metaphor made perfect sense that day. The sweat pouring down their entire bodies seemed to gush out all at once through their eyes.
“Sorry... I'm sorry...! I had no idea...! I just spouted nonsense...!”
Rios sobbed continuously, tears streaming from squinted eyes. More than worry, Leo wondered if it was physically possible to cry from squinted eyes.
“...You did well.”
Marken stroked Leonardo's head while staring at the ceiling. Sorry as he was, Leo wished he'd either just look at the ceiling or pet his head—but not both.
The spot he was touching was the bump from earlier.
“...Sorry... You must be the one who really wants to cry...”
The Family Head shed a few tears too. But for him, it was an old story from decades ago—no fresh tears came.
“...We're not your parents, Leo. Still... feel free to lean on us. You're at that age.”
Matrriarch Sirica hugged him and stroked his back. Grateful as he was, last night's indecent deed flashed in his mind, leaving his expression awkward.
“...Leo, if it's tough, just say so. I'll be there anytime.”
Surprisingly, the one holding steady without crying was Ariasfil. Her warm words were appreciated, but why did she keep glancing at his crotch? It was seriously bothering him.
‘...I don't want to be aware of it either...’
The Sage's voice rang in his mind, instantly calming his lingering arousal.
[Sage?]
But he wasn't visible anywhere around.
Now the mystery was solved. No wonder he hadn't seen the Sage since pulling the holy sword...
[I want to ask the same thing. I just told an old story...]
Honestly, it was worth crying over.