The Great Duke Ares

The return journey was difficult in a different sense.

Roderick panted, carrying the two men on his shoulders in turns.

And Serina followed behind, lost in thought.

The Witch’s last words to her as she left the Ice Castle kept echoing in her mind.

The fallen Witch looked up at Serina with bloodshot eyes.

“The Grimoire wasn’t just one…?”

“What? Grimoire? Don’t tell me… you didn’t meet a Goddess?”

The Witch then burst into a chilling laugh.

“You’ll be thirsty… you’ll feel hunger… Hehehe…. Ah, Krios.”

She muttered ominous prophecies before finally breathing her last.

Serina pondered that scene over and over again.

She tried to piece together the puzzle by analyzing the Witch’s last words.

‘Grimoire… So, I didn’t receive power from a Goddess? This was magic?’

Above all, what complicated Serina’s mind was the Witch’s Mana.

‘It was definitely the same Pleasure magic as mine. And who is Krios? Besides…’

She found it strange that she had absorbed the Witch’s Mana, even though it was clearly stronger.

Roderick, who had been panting, turned his head.

“Hah, you look comfortable? Hah, what are you thinking about so much?”

Serina glanced at the men slung over his shoulders.

“Huh? They’re awake?”

“What?”

Roderick was surprised and shrugged his shoulders.

The two men simultaneously slid off Roderick’s shoulders.

“That is… I missed the timing to get up. I apologize.”

They walked for quite a while after that.

Finally, Seoripul Village began to appear.

The villagers spotted them from afar and rushed out, cheering.

The first to run over was the old man who had asked Roderick and Serina for help a few days ago.

As soon as he saw the haggard-looking man, he wore an unbelievable expression.

“My son…! Is that really my son!”

The two embraced each other and shed tears of emotion.

Another man cautiously approached the villagers.

He was a member of the village guard.

He, too, was overwhelmed with emotion as he set foot on his homeland again.

“Thank you so much, heroes! Thanks to you, I was able to return to the village like this!”

The villagers constantly expressed their gratitude to the two heroes and led them to the tavern.

The place where the festival had been held a few days ago was once again filled with life.

The tavern owner was taking out boxes of liquor.

“Welcome back safely! We can’t miss out on drinks on a day like today!”

The villagers gathered in a circle around Serina and Roderick.

Cups of liquor were constantly exchanged with gratitude.

Especially Serina, who was constantly offered drinks.

“Hero, thanks to you, my son has returned! Please accept this drink!”

The old man offered a glass with trembling hands, and other villagers also urged her to drink.

“That’s right! You were so brave! Have another drink!”

Serina accepted the pouring drinks without any chance to refuse.

Serina’s drinking capacity, which she had shown at the festival a few days ago, was already rumored in the village.

Today, even more liquor than then passed down Serina’s throat.

“Ah… I can’t… drink anymore…”

Serina mumbled.

The villagers filled her glass again, not caring.

It seemed like a tipsy feeling was rising.

Her cheeks turned red, and her eyes glazed over slightly.

A hot heat seemed to spread throughout her body.

“Ah… it’s hot.”

Feeling suffocated, Serina threw off the robe she had been wearing as if it were stuffy.

Serina’s body was much more defined than it had been a few days ago.

A voluptuous pelvis leading from a slender waist, firm thighs.

And even a sensual chest that seemed to forgive everything.

Drunk, Serina raised her glass, not caring about the pouring gazes.

“The thaste of thul… ith tho… goood!”

It was a night filled with laughter and gratitude.

After a few days of reorganization in Seoripul Village, Serina and Roderick were on their way back to Highgrant Castle.

Thanks to gulping down the villagers’ liquor, Serina’s head throbbed.

“Hey, do you really have to keep taking off your clothes when you’re drunk? You’ll end up completely naked later.”

Roderick nagged from the side.

“Ah… stop talking, my head is ringing…”

Serina muttered, pressing her temples.

“That tavern owner… I think he kept feeding me on purpose…”

The memories of last night suddenly came to mind, and her face flushed.

But nothing mattered in the face of a terrible hangover.

She just hoped that this damn headache would disappear.

“We’re almost there.”

The massive walls of Highgrant Castle appeared before their eyes.

The heavy gate opened with a creak, and a man in armor came out to greet them.

It was Company Commander Agni.

“Welcome, Marquess. And Miss Serina.”

Agni greeted them politely.

“Yeah, has anything happened?”

Agni bowed slightly.

“Something has happened.”

Roderick and Serina looked at Agni at the same time.

Agni sighed deeply, touching his forehead.

“You’ll find out… when you go inside.”

They followed Company Commander Agni into the castle.

It was when they passed through the corridor and reached the front of the dining hall.

“Kuh, this is really delicious?”

A loud voice that echoed through the hall was heard from inside.

“No way.”

Roderick roughly opened the dining hall door.

Before their eyes was a lavishly set table of delicacies.

And in the center of the table was a man.

He held a duck leg in one hand.

The man, who was eating while roughly tying up his black hair, raised his head.

“Oh, Roderick! You’re finally here?”

The man smiled brightly as he chewed on the meat.

Roderick’s face was a mixture of joy and bewilderment.

“Ares, what brings you here?”

“What brings me here! It’s been a while, don’t be so cold.”

Ares’s gaze turned from Roderick to Serina.

He lowered his head to look inside the robe.

“But who’s next to you?”

“Tell me why you came first, Ares.”

Ares grinned and wiped his fingers on his clothes.

Then he took out a scroll from his chest.

The Emperor’s seal was clearly stamped on the scroll.

“You know what this is, right?”

Roderick checked the imperial order and knelt on one knee without hesitation.

Serina was suddenly flustered when she saw the Emperor’s seal.

‘Don’t tell me it’s related to me?’

Serina also slowly knelt down.

Ares looked around at them once, then unfolded the imperial order and solemnly read it out.

“I will not tolerate the shadows of darkness that threaten the peace of this land and harm the well-being of the people. Uproot the human trafficking and kidnapping that are rampant everywhere, and the Black market behind them, to establish justice and return peace to the people. Grand Duke Ares, Marquess Roderick, obey the order.”

When the reading of the imperial order was over, Roderick quietly stood up.

Ares put the imperial order back in his chest and approached Roderick without hesitation.

“Long time no see, friend!”

After greeting Roderick, Ares immediately turned his gaze to Serina.

“This is Serina. She’s staying here for personal reasons.”

“Serina? Is she a woman?”

As befitting royalty, his tone was arrogant.

Ares scanned Serina up and down, then grinned and nodded.

As the Emperor’s illegitimate son and Grand Duke, he had no interest in succession.

Swords and women.

Ares thought that only these two things were his whole life.

Rough breathing was heard from the training grounds from dawn.

It was Serina’s breathing, who had spent a sleepless night.

Her Aura-infused movements were still fast and powerful.

But Serina’s expression was hardened.

‘Why is this happening?’

Serina pulled up her String Panties even more.

Normally, this level of stimulation alone would have been enough to maintain her Mana.

But recently, the phenomenon of Mana suddenly disappearing has become frequent.

There were times when she would leap in the air and suddenly lose her Mana, plummeting straight to the ground, or when she would try to attack with Aura in her fist, but the Mana would cut off, and the impact would be directly applied to her fist, causing injury.

It was something she had never experienced before.

Serina could not pinpoint the cause of this phenomenon, but she felt something instinctively.

The stimulation of the String Panties was becoming increasingly familiar.

Becoming accustomed to stimulation meant that the sensation of Pleasure was decreasing.

This was a fatal problem for Serina, who needed Pleasure.

It seemed like her body was demanding more intense stimulation.

‘What should I do…?’

Serina was confused.

She was gripped by the anxiety that she might not be able to control her Mana like this.

Then, clapping sounds were heard from one side of the training grounds.

When she turned her head, Ares was leaning against the entrance of the training grounds.

He seemed to have been watching Serina’s training for quite some time.