Episode 239
"Everyone, step back."
Isollet raised her sword, her eyes sharp.
- Bzzzt...
At the same time, sword qi began gathering on her blade.
"It would be best to take one more step back."
Sensing not her usual agile and soft mana, but mana that felt purely of killing intent, everyone felt chills and followed her words.
- BOOM!!
As her sword qi was released, walls collapsed with a roar.
This was already the eleventh wall she had broken.
"Hah... hah..."
But perhaps from the aftermath, Isollet once again fell to the ground, dropping to one knee.
"Um... are you alright..."
"I'm fine."
Isollet stood up, speaking firmly to one of the maids nearby.
"...Let me ask one thing."
She questioned a maid who was particularly short and young-looking even among the maids.
"Is it true that among the servants... rumors actually spread that Frey raped servants?"
"Huh?"
The maid, who had scratches on her arm, tilted her head.
"Well... such rumors... do circulate."
Then the maid spoke with a dark expression.
"They've been told as jokes or ghost stories since long ago... but not many people believed them."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, in the first place, he... disliked lowly people like us immensely, so he wouldn't even look at us. He never actually touched anyone even once..."
As the maid bowed her head saying that, Isollet fell into thought.
"But recently... such rumors suddenly started spreading here and there."
"What?"
"Probably since the investigators investigated our mansion. Back then, the investigators asked us strange questions too."
"For example?"
When Isollet asked with a stern expression, the maid spoke with a frightened look.
"Whether we had been taken by Lord Frey at night... whether there were any awkward gaps in memory... such questions were common, and some even asked directly how many times it happened..."
"So, what did people answer?"
"Most servants said they had never experienced such things. Instead, they testified about experiencing verbal abuse and threats."
"........"
When Isollet fell silent at those words, the maid continued while watching her expression.
"But... some servants with grudges... told stories that were quite exaggerated."
"...I see."
"And some received bribes. Those people were all scouted as servants for the Hero Party."
Hearing that, Isollet began grinding her teeth quietly.
"People who spoke even slightly well of him or defended him... were all assigned to do hard labor for the imperial family."
"This is maddening."
"Most of the maids who couldn't evacuate in time and were trapped in the building before being rescued are people who were assigned that way."
The maid who finished speaking glanced at Isollet standing blankly, and seeing no reaction, quietly stepped aside.
"Servants of the Hero Party... investigation teams from the imperial family and the religious order... I clearly told them to have their swords inspected..."
Isollet stood in place with an expression of disbelief, muttering.
"...I'll kill them all."
She began emitting terrible killing intent, releasing fury toward those who dared spread false rumors about the lord she served.
"Vener."
"...Yes."
Isollet, who had been radiating terrible killing intent while standing alone for a while.
"If you mention unverified rumors even once more, next time it won't be a wall you'll be buried in, but the ground."
"...Understood."
After growling at Vener like that, she began walking forward slowly.
- Thud, thud.
Thanks to Isollet's unusually large armor, her footsteps echoed in all directions.
"Hoo..."
Of course, Isollet's anger still hadn't fully dissipated.
"...So."
"Hiek."
When Isollet, who had been walking briskly, suddenly spoke again, the young maid who couldn't find the right timing to leave and was walking alongside while watching her expression, looked startled.
"You there, what did you answer about Frey that you were assigned here?"
"W-well..."
When Isollet asked with a slightly softened expression, the maid who had been hesitating slowly began to speak.
"I, I said he didn't seem like such a bad person..."
"What?"
"Ah, no... I said he is a bad person but... not someone who should be arrested..."
"Why did you think that?"
When Isollet asked, the girl closed her eyes and slowly began to speak.
"Originally... I used to sell vegetables in the back alleys with my younger brother."
"Vegetables?"
"Yes, back then Ruby was a regular customer. She used to always give us a gold coin each time."
"Hmm..."
When Ruby's story came up, Isollet's gaze sharpened.
"I felt good during those times... but for some reason, business never did well."
But the young maid, not noticing her reaction, continued speaking.
"So I couldn't treat my sick brother... one day I was almost dragged off by thugs... but Lord Frey... um... drove away the thugs and..."
"Did he save you?"
"...He took us as slaves."
Isollet's expression frowned at those words.
"But... it was secretly quite livable. The food was tasty... the benefits were good... it was better than living on the streets."
"Is that so?"
"And, he even treated my brother's illness. Well, actually Lulu did it... but anyway, it was done with Lord Frey's money..."
Hearing that, Isollet asked with an expression of disbelief.
"Then why do you say he's bad?"
"...He said he saved my brother to work him as a slave for life."
Then she puffed her cheeks and said.
"And, actually he used to beat that Kania person often too... Irina got hit a lot too..."
"Frey hit them?"
"Screams could be heard at night."
".........."
Isollet's expression grew even more distorted at those words.
"When I asked, they turned their gaze aside and answered that they were hit by Lord Frey..."
"Enough, forget that."
"Anyway, he's definitely a bad person but... how should I put it? But thanks to him, my life has become a bit happier, right?"
The girl said with a slightly trembling voice while looking at Isollet.
"I still have to pay back my brother's treatment debt several times over... but from the position of having a rare disease treated, I'm grateful, and the meals were really delicious."
"Hmm..."
"Those behind also defended him because they received help knowingly or unknowingly. Some even contacted to return to the mansion but were refused."
The girl who said that.
"I also prefer staying there because of my brother... but I went once before and was chased out..."
She mumbled dejectedly and lowered her head.
"The imperial family only makes me do strange things so I hate it..."
- Swipe...
"Hiek."
Isollet, who had been looking down at her, quietly began stroking her head.
"This is why I... can't give up on education."
She muttered with a soft smile for the first time in a while.
"Even if the land is dirty, a few well-tended saplings will grow and change the soil quality in time."
And so, silence flowed for quite a long time.
"Hah..."
She, who had been walking silently for a while, quietly began deep breathing when a wall appeared before the group again.
"Hwaaaap!!!"
And following that, fierce sword qi flew with a spirited shout.
- KABOOM!!
Isollet, who broke the 12th space-distorted wall.
"Today... this feels easy."
She tried to walk with a more comfortable expression.
"Heee..."
But soon sat down making a strange nasal sound.
"Are, are you okay?"
"Professor!"
"...Don't come."
Isollet stopped those who started approaching her with worried expressions.
"I'm just... tired."
She held her stomach.
"It's nothing, so lead the way. We're reaching the 2nd floor now, there shouldn't be any more walls to break."
She said while exhaling rough breaths.
"...I'll follow at the very back."
"Meow."
From inside her armor, Frey had now wrapped his grown tail around her waist.
.
"...Hoo."
Isollet, walking at the very back of the Hero Party contrary to before.
"Frey."
She looked around, then blushed and muttered.
"What's the problem... ugh."
But unable to even finish her words, she trailed off and shuddered, then.
- Swipe...
She looked inside her armor with a flushed face.
"Lick, lick."
Inside the armor, Frey was clinging to her stomach, eyes gently closed, diligently licking the wound on her belly.
- Twitch, twitch.
He had shrunk considerably compared to before, and now even cat ears had emerged.
"Frey..."
- Swipe, swipe...
Isollet looked down at him blankly, and when Frey wrapped his tail around her waist again and rubbed his face against her.
"...Mmm."
She quietly stroked her stomach area while glancing around.
"For complete miniaturization... it'll take a few more minutes..."
Then Isollet, who had been muttering and sighing.
"...Meow."
When Frey, who had been wriggling inside the armor, looked up at her with a grin.
'.....Can't I get more of this scroll?'
She had such an absurd thought and let go of the armor she had been pulling.
- Click.
Then Frey, pressed against the armor, clung tightly to her body and began wriggging.
- Wiggle, wiggle.
'...I need to get used to this. If caught, it becomes troublesome.'
Deciding to adapt to his actions despite blushing furiously, because showing more abnormal reactions could arouse suspicion from the sharp Vener.
"...Hah."
".........."
Perhaps feeling stifled, Frey carefully bit her stomach, making her stop walking.
'Feeling lust for my master in this situation, I'm disqualified as a knight. Safety comes first above all.'
Though she muttered so inwardly, countless distracting thoughts were already passing through Isollet's mind.
The sense of immorality from the facts that she was harboring Frey in her armor, someone she had directly sworn fealty to and was legally her lord, and that she mustn't let others discover this.
Maternal instincts she thought would never manifest in her life, and the absurd thought of 'Is this what it feels like to carry a child?' that crossed her mind whenever Frey wriggled inside her armor.
The eerie feelings whenever he licked her wounds, and all kinds of impulses she felt when he looked up at her and grinned.
"...Yum."
In that situation where all those circumstances overlapped and her lower belly was hotter than ever, when Frey inside the armor bit her stomach again and wagged his tail.
"Huu..."
She ultimately couldn't endure it and covered her face with her hand.
""...........""
And silence flowed for a moment.
"This, insolent, brat."
Isollet, who had been standing like a stone statue, slightly pulled her armor with her trembling hand.
"If you keep doing that, later, when I educate you... you won't see... a good..."
She muttered in a low voice while looking at Frey, who was peeking out between her armor and stomach.
".....Hm?"
Then her eyes went round.
- Swoosh, swoosh.
Frey was shaking his head with an expression that said he was frustrated.
"Meow... hoo."
Then he tried to say something but, realizing only cat sounds came from his throat, he grabbed his neck with a gloomy expression.
- Swipe, stroke...
He closed his eyes again and began licking her stomach.
"What on earth..."
Isollet watched him with disbelief.
"...Huh?"
She realized there was a pattern to Frey's licking and closed her eyes to focus.
'...Letters? Is he writing letters? Jeong? What kind of jeong?'
Soon she realized the lines created by Frey's licking were forming the shape of the Imperial language.
'Could it be, the reason he's been stirring so violently since earlier... is to convey something to me?'
Sensing seriousness, she focused once more.
"Hmm."
"Indeed, it's suspicious."
Vener and Aris, who had been watching her, slowly began approaching Isollet.
"Come to think of it, Frey's location on the tracking map keeps matching our position too..."
"It could be a trick Frey set up as a diversion, but if not..."
With cold expressions, they conversed while heading toward Isollet, who had been trembling with her eyes closed.
"Isollet, just a moment..."
"Professor..."
They started reaching for her ridiculously large armor.
"...Trap."
At that moment, Isollet opened both eyes wide.
"There's a trap... on the 2nd floor!?"
She cried out and began releasing her energy in all directions, even straining herself.
"Everyone fall back!"
Stopping her search, she began retreating while breaking into cold sweat.
"No wonder... I wondered why assassins kept appearing from somewhere..."
While people looked bewildered at her actions, she had already begun defensive preparations.
"It was strange that from some point, they were attacking without even speaking."
She muttered while spraying sword qi forward.
- Bzzzt! Bzzzt!!
Her sword qi spreading forward bounced off something.
- Clank, click.
What appeared before the astonished Isollet and the Hero Party was.
"".........""
At least a hundred knights filling the 2nd floor hall.
"How chilling."
"...I sense no souls."
The paladin and Isollet muttered with tense expressions.
"Puhehe..."
At that time, when suffocating tension filled both sides.
"Is everyone well...?"
A bishop from the Sun God Church appeared from among the knights.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Seeing his clearly ominous appearance, Isollet stepped forward and pointed her sword at him.
"Well... if you were to escape from here..."
The bishop, who had been wearing a benevolent smile.
"...it would be troublesome, you see."
Changed to a cold expression and made a hand signal.
- Thud! Thud! Thud!
Then the sound of spears striking from the knights filling the 2nd floor.
"I... I'm sorry about this. But this is a command given directly by 'Him', so I can't help..."
When all the knights pointed their spears, the bishop tried to retreat with a creepy expression.
"Everyone prostrate."
At that moment, a voice came from behind them.
"...Immediately."
The owner of the voice was Lulu, who had just come up to the 2nd floor, her eyes glowing ruby red.
- Creeeak... creeeak...
"W-what! This makes no sense!"
The bishop, watching his dolls helplessly kneeling, began to panic.
"Master... Master's mana array is definitely here..."
Lulu looked at where Frey was, full of expectations for praise and petting from him.
"Master...! Pet m... hm?"
But she started tilting her head.
"Grrr...?"
Where her master should be, there was some strange woman in odd armor.
- Lick, lick.
And inside that armor, something that looked like a silver cat was diligently licking her stomach.
".....!?"
And that unidentified presence had exactly the same mana array as her master?
"G, grr... huh? Huh?"
Confusion began to take hold of Lulu's worldview.