(EP-121.1) Hunting #1

121 – Monster Hunt #1

It was very early in the morning, people were just starting to wake up.

The time when only the early birds chirped, and when the cool honey-like dew flew down the soft petals-.

“Heuik, heueek-.”

I was running the perimeter of Ark.

I was heaving for air, my eyes were turning yellow, my heart and chest hurt like they were being ripped apart, and my throat was throbbingly dry.

It was very tiring and difficult, but if I showed any signs of slowing down even a little bit-.

“Hey, what are you doing!? There’s not much time left! Don’t stop and run! If you can’t run, then walk!”

Thanks to Elga poking me in the back with a stick, I had no choice but to keep running.

“Run a little more! It’ll be two laps soon!”

“Heuieuk, hieuek, heeek…!”

An ugly groan escaped from my mouth.

When was the last time I pushed myself to the limit like this? But what was certain was that this would be the most physically exhausting thing I’d done as of late.

“Heeuu-.”

“Good, you’ve done 2 laps-. You took 30 minutes-. Now, cut this down to 15 minutes-.”

“Heuu-. Heuuuuu-.”

Elga was saying something, but I couldn’t register it at all.

Taking in the morning wind, I spread eagle on the ground whilst soaked in sweat.

It’d been a few days since I started jogging at dawn, but today, I felt like Elga was being particularly hard on me. I didn’t know why, though…

“Theo Gospel, it seems that you ran faster today than last time.”

Probably because Mirna was watching me jogging today, but she came over to where I was laying down. She then took a water bottle and poured everything on my head.

Chareuuuu-.

The cold water felt pretty good.

“Here’s a towel.”

As I wiped the water off my face and neck with the towel Mirna handed me, Elga, who hadn’t broken a sweat despite running with me, snorted.

“Are you his sister? What’s with this concern all of a sudden?”

“Theo Gospel is my suitor.”

“Heuung-, a suitor, huh?”

Elga looked at Mirna with thin eyes. Mirna didn’t say anything and just replied with, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

But Elga looked like she was waiting for this and continued.

“The word ‘suitor’ means that you’re not yet family, right? Strictly speaking.”

“… And? What are you trying to say now? I don’t like that look, Lady Lioness!”

With her sensitive intuition, Mirna seemed to have noticed that Elga was plotting something. But Elga was not merciful enough to let go of her prey’s vulnerability.

“If he hasn’t become your husband yet, then Theo is single. And if he’s single, it means he can do whatever he wants with other women, right? Like this.”

Elga suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me up into a hug. With her tracksuit half open, my face got buried between the valleys under her tank top.

Malrang malrang.

The warmth and softness of Elga’s chest touching my face made me feel like I could just fall asleep right now. Her apple fragrance wafting into my nose felt pleasant and relaxing, but-

“What are you doing…!?”

Screaming in horror, Mirna quickly yanked me away from Elga.

It felt like I lost something, the same sense of loss from a child missing his mother’s warmth.

It was sad. But then, another soft thing touched my face. It was a handkerchief.

“How blasphemous! A man and woman committing a thing like this so early in the morning…! Ah, Lioness’ frivolity is now smeared on my suitor’s face…!”

Mirna took out a handkerchief and wiped my face. Seeing this, Elga frowned.

“It’s just a hug, why are you making such a big deal out of it?”

“It is inappropriate for an unmarried man and woman to hug…! Does Lady Lioness have no sense of virtue…!?”

“Virtue-.”

Mirna looked solemn while Elga merely chuckled as if she had heard something funny.

“Why, why are you laughing?”

“Then Mirna Draco, are you saying you have virtue?”

“… Of course I do!”

Mirna’s response was delayed by about half a beat. Perhaps something or an event came to her mind, and created that brief moment of silence?

Those who didn’t know would probably have just passed it off.

But my fairy ears were sensitive enough to distinguish that half beat, and Elga, who had been dodging arrows on the battlefield, couldn’t have missed that brief moment either.

“Then the pious Lady Draco would never kiss a man before marriage?”

“… Why would you ask such an obvious thing?”

“Nothing, just curious. As expected of the devout Draco Family. Truly impressive.”

Elga’s demeanor seemed like she was smirking, but somehow also angry. Still, she was in a better state than the extremely nervous-looking Mirna.

In fact, the latter was now shaking like a frightened cat.

For the devout Mirna, lying was a pretty big sin, especially when it came to virtue, which was like a taboo.

Needless to say, Mirna and I had already done things before we were even married. And unbeknownst to Mirna, Elga knew about it.

How much trouble did I suffer because of this?

━What? Mirna and I are family? You’re saying that WE are family. You really want to die?

━Elga-nim, please calm down…! Just calm down for a moment…! Hieek…!

I almost died that night…

If Elga hadn’t suppressed her anger and compromised ━”Do the same thing you did to Mirna to me,” then I would have really perished.

That night, I had to do it four more times to satisfy Elga, before eventually passing out. I could clearly feel “my s£men being harvested and extracted” from my balls.

The next morning, after Elga had calmed down, we had this conversation.

━Does she know? That you and I have this kind of relationship.

━She doesn’t. I haven’t told her yet.

━Heung, I will forgive you for I am generous and broadminded. But if it’s Mirna, you would really die. Do you really think that narrow-minded Draco can tolerate being a concubine?

Elga said as if it was set in stone that Mirna would be my concubine and that she was the main wife.

In reality, there was no such thing as a hierarchy in a true family. It hardly matterred whether they were a concubine or the main wife since I loved all of them equally.

Of course, there was one helpful thing in Elga’s words, which made me realize the possibility of what might happen if Mirna found out about my relationship with Elga.

“Your face looks pale. Would you like to drink some water?”

Mirna might be treating me like a kind sister now, but once she found out about my relationship with Elga, she might react more strongly than Elga and kill me on the spot.

━I can’t believe you commit adultery with another woman behind my back. Pay back this disgrace with your life, even after death…!

It might not end with just my death and she might make me her undead slave for the rest of eternity… That thought sent shivers down my spine…

Of course, I didn’t just rashly have an affair with Mirna Draco.

The Draco Family had pledged loyalty to the Angmar Family for generations, and that contract had not been broken and was still in effect.

If she knew that I was the last Angmar, Mirna might be as cool as a cucumber.

Conversely, she could also very well run wild with sh¡t like, “Now that the legitimate owner of the throne has appeared, let’s drive out the cowardly usurper Tarantera!”

So I wanted to keep it a secret if possible….

“Well, since I’m a woman with no ‘virtue’, I could hold hands with Theo like this.”

“Put that hand away…!”