Episode 261
"Aria, calm down and look around. Frey isn't anywhere, is he?"
"Enough."
With a face full of anger, Aria strode into the inn.
"Excuse me."
"Ah, y-yes..."
Though she had a small and delicate build resembling her brother, the innkeeper, who had been pleasantly observing Frey, had no choice but to bow with cold sweat running down his face.
"W-what can I do for you?"
This was because Aria, armed with gleaming armor and dignified eyes, looked every bit like a young lady from a noble household to anyone who saw her.
".........."
Moreover, even if that weren't the case, the servants and soldiers standing behind Aria were glaring with fierce eyes, so it couldn't be helped.
"I need your cooperation for a moment."
Looking at the bowing innkeeper, Aria spoke with a haughty expression as she pulled something from her bosom.
"H-huh? This is..."
"I apologize for interrupting your business."
What she handed him was none other than a pouch of gold coins.
"Th-thank you..."
"...If the guests complain, please compensate them with that gold. I'll give you as much more as needed, so don't worry."
Cutting off the innkeeper who was about to offer thanks in a quiet voice while glancing around nervously, Aria spoke with a cool expression, then turned her head backward and said with a cold face.
"Search everything. Every corner, not even a single mouse should escape."
"...Understood!"
As soon as those words ended, the soldiers with menacing expressions spread out in all directions.
"Hmm..."
Aria, who had been watching those soldiers with stern eyes, began to walk quietly.
".......!!"
Toward none other than the place where Frey's group was sitting.
"M-Master... what should we do?"
"Shh, calm down for now. I'm under Serena's disguise technique, remember?"
"...Ah!"
Thanks to this, Lulu, who had been prematurely frightened, made a relieved expression upon hearing Frey's words.
"Hmm....."
"Eek."
But when Aria, who had come right next to them, looked at her suspiciously, Lulu looked down at the floor while sweating cold sweat.
"I'm sure... someone was sitting on this person's lap....."
She had descended to the floor with transcendent speed the moment she saw Aria entering the shop, but Aria had witnessed that fleeting moment.
"...Must be my imagination?"
However, like most people, she too considered it a misunderstanding and passed by.
"Phew."
Thanks to that, Lulu let out a short sigh and was about to look at Serena in front of her to ask for advice, but.
"Hmm, ugh..."
For some reason, she was nodding her head with sleepy eyes open.
-Thud...!
"Why, why is this happening?"
When she, who had been wobbling for a while, quietly buried her head in the table and closed her eyes, Lulu asked in a flustered voice.
"It's sunrise..."
"What?"
"The sun rose earlier than I thought."
Beside such Lulu, Frey was quietly glaring at the sun that had poked its head out the window.
"...When Serena wakes up, let's leave immediately."
"Ah, understood!"
Frey, having completely emptied his beer glass, spoke thus.
"Ahem, ahem."
"......?"
And at that moment, someone approached Frey's side while clearing their throat.
"I'll conduct a brief inspection for a moment."
"........."
Isollet, looking at the disguised Frey, was muttering with an awkward voice.
.
"Excuse me, just a moment for inspection..."
A soldier who had been searching the surroundings thoroughly slowly approached Frey's direction.
"I am currently investigating these people."
"Ah, is that so? My apologies!"
However, when Isollet, who was sitting in the empty seat at Frey's table and sipping beer, said so, the soldier saluted and immediately headed elsewhere.
"...Just wait a moment."
Then, after quietly surveying the surroundings, Isollet spoke to Frey in a low voice.
"I'll protect you until the inspection is over."
Hearing those words, Frey crossed his arms and quietly asked.
"How did you notice?"
"Didn't you swear an oath to me? You and I are connected."
"Is that so? I don't know much about knight oaths."
When Frey said so in a sulky voice, Isollet opened her mouth with a gentle voice.
"You are my lord, Frey. I am a knight who serves you."
"And?"
"I am in a state of being bound to you. That's why I can know where you are no matter where you are. So..."
Saying so, she cautiously took Frey's hand and whispered.
"...No matter where you are, I will always come running to you."
Hearing those words, Frey's eyes shook slightly.
"I'm glad you finally seem to know your place."
"Heek!?"
Then, suddenly wearing a devilish smile, he placed his leg on top of Isollet's leg, and thanks to that, she was startled and let out a moan.
"F-Frey. This isn't the situation for this..."
"Use honorifics."
"...This is not the situation for such things."
"Hmm, is that so...?"
Frey's 'villainization,' which had withered for quite some time due to the release over one night, revealed its form to the outside once again.
"But didn't I clearly tell you not to follow me?"
"T-that's... there were circumstances..."
"Anyway, I guess I need to give you some punishment for disobeying my command?"
It was something that happened as a chain reaction because Frey, who was already drinking alcohol, ended up thinking that Isollet, who was being faithful in her pure love alone, was cute.
-Slither...
"Ugh."
Frey's leg, which had gone up on Isollet's knee, slowly moved inward.
"Stay still... sister."
"Frey... sir. If you do this now..."
"What's wrong? Doesn't receiving punishment in this kind of situation feel more immoral and better...?"
"...Ugh."
When Frey's foot finally touched her lower abdomen, Isollet lowered her head with a red face.
-Swish, swish...
"What's wrong...? Sister? Are you perhaps getting excited?"
"N-no..."
Looking at Isollet with a mischievous expression, Frey, seized by the desire to torment her, began to slowly rub his foot against her lower abdomen.
"P-please stop..."
"Hm? What did you say?"
"N-nothing..."
Isollet, who had tried to stop Frey, had no choice but to hold back her moans to deceive the surrounding attention and sit quietly when Frey raised his voice to ask a question.
"T-that outfit is..."
"What about this?"
"........"
She, who had been sitting still and trembling for a while, discovered that Frey was still wearing the shirt he had personally put on her head yesterday and had whipped, which she had kept for a week.
"N-now really stop...!"
Thanks to this, feeling dizzy and clenching her fists, she tried to warn Frey who was smiling with eyes while stimulating her lower abdomen, but.
"A pervert who gets turned on by a disciple she's watched since childhood."
"........!"
"Really hopeless... a pathetic excuse for a master."
"........."
When Frey, covering his mouth and giggling while hurling insults, suddenly pressed his foot hard against her lower abdomen, she quietly bowed her waist and fell into silence.
"M-Master..."
"You're the same, Lulu. I'll scold you twice as much later, so be prepared..."
Lulu, who had been looking at such Frey with eyes full of expectation and pounding heart, began to feel anxious that he might be eaten by Isollet too.
"...P-please clear my mind!"
Thus, after sufficient agonizing, Lulu, who ultimately chose her master's safety over her own desires, issued that command to Frey who was reaching for her neck while shining her magic eye.
"...Ah."
Then, Frey, who had been wiggling his toes with his foot placed on Isollet's now intermittently twitching lower abdomen, finally came to his senses.
"L-Lulu?"
"Ugh..."
Frey, who wobbled for a moment from the feeling of his mind clearing, which had happened countless times today alone, began to look worriedly at Lulu who was holding her head, but.
".....?"
Feeling a soft yet firm sensation from his foot, he tilted his head.
"...Oh my."
Frey, who lowered his gaze beneath the table, discovered that his foot was still touching Isollet's twitching lower abdomen, and that she was completely limp, and began to sweat cold sweat.
"P-punishment ends here... sister..."
Frey, who removed his foot from Isollet's soft lower abdomen, spoke while quietly checking the mood.
"A-anyway... it seems the search is coming to an end...?"
As Frey said, the soldiers and servants who had searched diligently but ultimately come up empty were gathering one by one on the first floor of the shop.
"Are you sure you searched every nook and cranny? There was definitely a decisive tip?"
"There was definitely no one!"
"We couldn't find even a trace."
When the soldiers and servants reported so, Aria, who was standing at the front, asked.
"Hmm..."
Thanks to this, Aria, who was making a dark expression while resting her chin on her hand in contemplation, soon began shaking her head.
"Everyone withdraw. Frey has already escaped from here."
"T-then..."
"However, his traces definitely remain here."
The expressions of the troops who heard those words changed seriously.
"Though faint, I can sense star mana. The energy is weak, but the fact that it still lingers here means he hasn't been gone for long."
"T-then...!"
"The probability that my brother is within a 2km radius is very high. Therefore, scatter in all directions and begin the search."
Saying so, Aria turned around sharply, and the troops began to rush out of the inn.
"I'll wrap things up here and follow, so it would be best to search as wide a radius as possible."
Adding those words to them, Aria approached the innkeeper who was glancing at her nervously and began to speak while taking out a gold coin pouch from her bosom.
"S-sister, it went according to plan...?"
Frey, who had been watching that situation while holding his breath, looked at Isollet again and opened his mouth.
"Now that Aria leaves too, we can stay here for a while and then quietly exit. Right?"
"........."
"Hey, sister?"
But even then, when Isollet showed no reaction, a flustered Frey whispered in a low voice.
"Are you okay?"
"......Frey."
Only then did Isollet, who had drawn out her patience to the limit and was barely suppressing her impulse, raised her head.
"Later... let's talk..."
And saying so with a trembling voice, she tried to carefully rise from her seat while grasping her shaking legs, but.
"......!"
She discovered that Aria was already standing beside her and made a startled expression.
"Brother."
"........"
However, Aria was coldly glaring at Frey without even looking at her.
"How..."
"Did you think I wouldn't recognize my own brother?"
Cutting off Frey's words without mercy, she quietly moved her feet and spoke in a chilling voice.
"I knew from the moment I first came in."
"Then why did they..."
"Enough, follow me."
Saying so, Aria began to head toward the room Frey had been staying in.
"...We need to talk."
She added, coldly looking at Frey who was sitting blankly behind her.
"A conversation that might be the last."
Leaving those words, Aria quietly entered the room.
".........."
And, silence flowed in the inn for a while.
.
"F-Frey. Will you be alright?"
"It's fine."
"I-if something happens, I'll go too..."
"...I said it's fine."
Frey, who had been heading toward the room where Aria was, firmly pushed away Isollet who was approaching him.
"B-but..."
"This is family business."
"......"
Isollet, who had wanted to be with Frey somehow, had no choice but to quietly close her mouth when he spoke like that.
'Family.....'
The dream of her life, which she had put away in her heart after becoming his knight, began to stir once again.
'I also, want to be treated as family by Frey...'
The back view of Frey heading toward Aria looked somehow lonely and desolate.
"...Umm."
Moreover, Frey's expression as he swallowed dry saliva was wrapped in some inexplicable fear.
"Just wait a moment, Frey."
Thanks to this, she, who had put away the lust that had been dominating her until just before, felt surging protective instincts and maternal love as she grabbed Frey's arm.
"Take... this."
"...What is this?"
"It's a, a gift from me to you."
And then, Isollet took out the long-awaited oath ring from her bosom.
"F-for a knight, the ring of oath carries immense significance. It carries such grave and deep meaning that losing the ring would in principle require taking one's own life..."
"......."
"A-anyway... this ring will protect you. So don't be too nervous..."
"...Thank you, sister."
She, whose face was flushed red because it was the moment her romance was being fulfilled, stopped speaking when Frey said so.
"Do your best, Frey."
Looking at Frey blankly for a while, she quietly patted his back and spoke gently.
"...No matter where you are, that ring will prove that there is someone who will help you."
When those words ended, Frey, whose tension had eased, lightly touched her lower abdomen and said.
"For a pathetic sister... not bad."
Thus, the two approached the door in a warm atmosphere.
"B-by the way Frey... which finger does the ring go on..."
In that situation, Isollet, who was pretending not to care much while sneakily glancing at Frey's fingers.
".........!!!"
Finally, she was greatly shocked.
"What's wrong? Sister?"
On Frey's left ring finger, which she had turned her gaze to hoping he might put it there, a white ring was already fitted.
"........."
Of course, she had seen the ring of purity shining white before, but that wasn't the problem right now.
"...Sister?"
Frey's pure white ring was stained black.
"Ah....."
"Well then, I'll be going...?"
Isollet, whose mouth was gradually opening from emotions spreading uncontrollably throughout her body, blankly reached out her hand when Frey turned away from her and opened the door, but.
-Click...
The door was mercilessly closed.
"........."
Isollet's eyes, blankly staring at the door that only Frey's family could open, began to slowly die.