༺ Youngest Paladin ༻
A week had passed since vacation had begun.
“Kyah…”
“……”
Sitting in front of the bed in my room, I found myself gently stroking Lulu’s chin, wearing a placid expression.
“Chomp…”
After stroking her chin for a while and cautiously offering an apple slice, Lulu, who was lying face down, devoured it like a dog receiving a treat.
“Hmm…”
As I continued stroking her head, lounging comfortably in the armchair, I mumbled softly.
“I feel so happy…”
The past week had truly been a succession of tranquil days.
I had never imagined that I would be able to have such days until just before the final showdown.
Just a few months ago, I had been personally scrambling to manage tasks due to severe shortage of both time and manpower.
But now, even if I were to sit idly in the mansion, everything would run smoothly. It feels like a dream, to an extent where I still struggle to believe it’s real.
“Let’s see…”
Before I knew it, Lulu had finished eating all the apples I was feeding her and had started to rub her cheek on my legs—a recent habit of hers. Ignoring her behavior, I reached out to the letterbox by the window, leaning back in the armchair.
“Of course, it’s here.”
I had recently installed a new bird shelter and letterbox by the window for Serena’s owl, Ferloche’s dove, and Clana’s canary, so they could take a rest without much difficulty.
However, it was not only the three of them who used it; occasionally, even wild birds and carrier pigeons sought refuge there.
For some reason, a few of the carrier pigeons chose to drop letters into the letterbox by the window rather than delivering them to the designated location, making it unclear whether they were clever or just lazy.
– Ssk…
Nevertheless, as I reached into the letterbox, I discovered two letters.
What kind of letter could they be? A Daytime Serena’s cheesy love letter? Or a Nighttime Serena’s passionate and intense love letter?
Maybe they were letters from Kania, who lately had been expressing her desire to finish work quickly because she missed me, or letters from Clana, who persistently asked about things I wanted to have.
Or it could be a threatening letter from the now cute but still stupid Ferloche, warning that she would scold me if I misbehaved…
No, that didn’t seem to be the case. Both letters were properly enclosed in envelopes.
“Hmm?”
Without further ado, I checked the letters, and the senders turned out to be none other than Princess Aishi of the Cloud Kingdom and Isolet.
Receiving letters from both of them at the same time felt oddly coincidental, especially given the concern I had been harboring about them.
With that thought in mind, I began by reading Aishi’s letter, and her neatly written words soon captivated my attention.
My brows furrowed as I tilted my head in quiet contemplation .
Come to think of it, why hadn’t the ‘Frozen Heart Curse’ effect shown up?
During the ‘Slave Market Liberation Quest,’ I had transferred the Frozen Heart Curse that Aishi carried onto myself.
The only way to completely neutralize the curse, which inevitably leads to death, was for me to meet my end while still carrying it.
The Light of Annihilation that occurred when the Hero’s Armament went berserk in the final battle was unstoppable, even against the most potent curses. As such, the Frozen Heart’s curse stood no match against it.
I could be resurrected anyway, so it was the right choice.
But why hadn’t the curse’s effect appeared until now? The incubation period should have elapsed long ago.
Had I failed to transfer the curse?
I briefly entertained the possibility, but then I shook my head.
I definitely recall feeling a chilling sensation behind me at the time, and there was no longer any shadow of death from Aishi, indicating that the curse had indeed been successfully transferred.
Then, why wasn’t the symptom showing up?
“Hmm…”
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find a definitive answer. So I shook my head in frustration and continued reading the letter I was holding.
“Good timing.”
I had already been planning a meeting with her, but her reaching out personally left me uncertain about what to expect.
My first order of business once I meet her should be to discuss the curse and also observe if there is “any change.”
“Phew.”
With that in mind, I sighed and placed the letter on the desk.
“…Then, let’s check the letter Sister sent me.”
And then, I was about to check the letter sent by Isolet.
– Creak…
However, at that moment, the door opened and two girls entered the room.
“……..”
The two girls were Arianne and Alice, the ones responsible for the recent protest incident. A few days ago, they were almost in trouble when they got caught by the security forces.
Of course, since I didn’t want that to happen, I spoke to the security forces and agreed to have them serve as my maids as a condition of the settlement.
And now, here they were, staring at me with cold expressions, wearing a maid outfit.
‘…So plain.’
Over the past few days, I had become accustomed to Irina’s distracting maid attire, so I just stared blankly at the two girls. Then, while still maintaining their cold demeanor, they slowly spoke up.
“I brought… breakfast… for you, sir.”
“Please… enjoy it… Master.”
I accepted the breakfast offered by Arianne, yawning widely upon hearing those words.
“…Trash.”
Arianne softly muttered as she stared at Lulu, lying on her belly on the floor and nudging her cheek against my legs. In response to her words, I ordered Arianne with a low voice.
“Lie down.”
“Heik!”
In an instant, she was on the floor.
“Nudge your cheek on my leg, like Lulu.”
With an expression as if on the verge of throwing up, Arianne crawled towards me and slowly nudged her cheek on my leg.
“Grrrr…”
“Calm down, Lulu.”
“…Oh, yes.”
I tried to calm Lulu down, who had initially shown a shocked expression and started growling while she stared at Arianne.
“You still don’t understand?”
I stroked Arianne’s head while whispering in a low voice as she continued to nudge her cheek against my leg with an ashamed expression.
“You’re no longer Irina’s friend nor a promising mage. You’re not even ‘Arianne.’”
“……”
“…You’re just my slave number one.”
I grabbed her chin and lifted it.
“Spit.”
Arianne spat on my face, eyeing me with disgust.
“At first, Irina also did something like this to me.”
I peered at her coldly.
“But now that you’ve received the ‘Stigma of Slavery’, you’ve been legally judged to be merely a slave to me. So why don’t you stop denying it?”
My tone was frosty.
“Alright, let’s see whether you can endure longer than Irina or not.”
“Ugh…”
“…But you probably won’t be able to endure for even half as long as she can.”
I wasted no time sending Arianne back to her place and turned my gaze to Alice next, who had been glaring at me with burning eyes.
“I… I will never yield. So…”
“What are you talking about?”
I interrupted Alice’s murmur, her firsts clenched.
“You don’t even need to submit, you know?”
“…..!”
A corner of my mouth rose with me.
“The authority to activate the Curse of Subordination has already been transferred to me. You must have felt it too.”
“K-kill me. Just kill me instead…”
“Why should I? Besides, the servants have already left and I’m dying of loneliness as it is.”
To my smug provocation, Alice tightly closed her eyes and shivered.
“…So, when will you use me?”
A tremor accompanied the sudden question.
“Do as you wish. Use me to your heart’s content. Even if you do that, do you think something like that will make me waver?”
“Well…”
“I won’t even moan. I won’t feel a hint of pleasure. If enduring pain is a form of torture, I’ve been through it countless times, so this will be a walk in the park.”
Alice, undeterred by my lukewarm response, continued.
“But if you’re going to use me…”
Her expression was menacing as she concluded.
“…Be prepared for a knife in your back at any moment.”
And then, silence descended onto the room.
“…Both of you can leave now. After all, we have plenty of time, and I can educate you slowly.”
In a breath, they left the room, both anger and shame mixing with their features.
“…Phew.”
I stared blankly at the spot they had been just a moment ago. A deep sigh escaped before I turned away, immersing myself in the silence.
– Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in.”
Hearing the knock, I instructed the visitor to enter.
– Creak…
The door slowly opened and someone stealthily approached me before I could see who it was.
“G-guess who.”
In a shy voice, the visitor asked.
“Irina, what are you…”
Of course, it was Irina, so I tilted my head and removed her hand from my eyes.
“….”
I soon found myself blankly staring at her.
“I-I’m sorry. I thought you looked upset, so I tried to cheer you up…”
“Irina, what’s that on your head?”
“Huh?”
Irina had puppy ears growing out of her head.
– Perk, perk.
They were red puppy ears— I felt like I had seen them before.
“Heik…! W-why is this happening now…!”
Startled by my words, Irina touched her own head absentmindedly.
“Ah, well, y-y-you see, this is… a practice for transformation magic… No, it’s a substitute for a spirit… um, something like that…”
She stumbled over her words.
“Y-you see, this is a magic I specially developed just for you. Be grateful.”
After struggling for a while, she finally managed to explain her situation. Looking at her acting like that, I whispered.
“I didn’t know you could be so cute like this.”
Irina’s puppy ears perked up at my words.
“…Eek.”
She twitched at my words but soon fell silent when she saw the owl eyeing us after flying to the windowsill.
“B-by the way, Frey… What were you looking at?”
Suddenly, she leaned on my shoulder, pressing her upper body against me and nudging her cheek on my face as she posed the question.
“Uh, well… So, this is a letter from Sister Isolet.”
I read the letter, feeling a familiar, squishy sensation on my shoulder.
“…Huh?”
Soon, I furrowed my brow, completely absorbed in the letter’s contents.
“This is?”
Inside the envelope with Isolet’s name on it, a letter was written in my sister Aria’s handwriting.
The contents of the letter kept me engrossed for quite some time. But eventually, I placed it on the desk and muttered to myself.
“I think I need to go out for a while.”
“Huh? Go out? Where to?”
Irina’s puppy ears perked up in curiosity.
“To Sister Isolet’s house.”
After giving her a brief response, I got up from my seat and put on my coat.
– Ding!
Suddenly, the system window appeared, causing me to stare at it.
Isolet Arham Bywalker
[Conquest Progress: 85%]
Details…
Just now, it had increased by 1%.
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Meanwhile, at the Church of the Sun God…
“Professor Isolet has finally agreed to the meeting.”
“…Is that so?”
After relentless persuasion, the bishop, having secured Isolet’s consent, knelt before the Pope and reported.
“Of course, loneliness is inevitable. Even if it’s someone like h…”
“Then, let us go.”
“…Pardon?”
Interrupting the bishop’s never-ending speech, the Pope suddenly stood up.
“…To the underground of our Church.”
A cunning smile played upon his lips as he responded.
“Of course, we have to visit the pride of our Church, the Youngest Paladin.”
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