Chapter 222: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (4)

༺ War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (4)༻

It had been two months since Master passed away.

I wandered around for a long time.

With nothing much in mind, I traveled across the kingdom clearing quests upon quests.

By some point in time, the world started calling us heroes.

"Congratulations, Knight Korin. Or would you prefer Lord Korin now?"

"It's just an honorary title."

Sihu became a marquis while I was given the peerage of a count. It was for evacuating the citizens during the fall of Merkarva... cleansing Nazrea... and a part of it was also for defeating Fermack Daman and Eochaid Bres.

Well, Sihu did most of it though.

Inside the fancy banquet hall of the royal capital, I was doing okay dealing with people but that wasn't the case for most of our members.

"Mhmm...!"

"Goodness gracious! S, sorry. I mistook you for a wall..."

One of them was Beazeker the half-giant. Not only was he from a race that wasn't often seen around the capital, he also had a pretty frightening appearance.

I could also see Rashid, Lunia and Yuel. Most of our members were here, but my mind kept wandering off to those who couldn't attend.

Kranel and Dorron.

The emptiness created by the loss of those two, who had been with us just 2 months ago, was difficult to bear.

"..."

Even though I killed Fermack, that son of a bitch, with my own hands, that couldn't bring the dead back to life.

Fermack Daman and Eochaid Bres.

It was a miracle, in fact, that we were able to defeat Eochaid Bres. However, it came at the cost of being unable to properly stop Tates Valtazar.

"Fuu..."

Master passed away.

It was painful. It felt like there was a hole in my chest.

She was the most important person I had spent time with in this world.

Who cared about peerages or honor? What was so important about being praised as a hero that would save the world?

I didn't need any of that. I could do anything if it meant Master could come back to life.

However, she, along with many others, were already dead.

The people whom I had formerly considered as just NPCs and characters of a game, had become a bigger part of my life than I expected by the time I noticed it.

It was hard to appease the anger and self-hatred I was feeling for myself.

In the end, everything boiled back down to the single sentence.

If only I was stronger...

I wasn't the player nor the protagonist. I didn't have a system window, and the only thing I knew how to do was swing a spear that I had learned for 2 years.

'...But I still have to do it. Even if I die doing it, I'm sure Sihu would.'

That was the only option available right now. Help Sihu, crush everyone under Valtazar and save the world.

The only thing I could do as a side-character was lend a hand to Sihu, and do whatever I was capable of.

"There's no other option."

I was taking a break, sighing to myself on the terrace when a voice echoed from behind.

"I wonder what the hero of our country is doing here all by himself?"

With her unique, coquettish voice, the beauty in a red dress limped over to the terrace with the help of a walking stick.

"Your Highness Elizabeth."

"Miruam is enough. It's between us two, after all."

She was like a scorching flame. Everyone knew how she was a venomous serpent carrying a lethal dose of poison.

Miruam Elizabeth El Rath.

The 2nd Princess of the El Rath Kingdom and an ally of Tates Valtazar.

It's not like I couldn't understand her situation, so I couldn't bring myself to hate or antagonize her. She had one of the worst background stories out of everyone in <Heroic Legends of Arhan>, after all.

I did have my own share of pity for her, and I did try to persuade her whenever I had the chance. These days, it was just that I wasn't in the mind to do so.

"What brings you here?" I asked.

"Can't I just come see you if I want to? I thought we were close."

"Well. We're not that distant, I suppose."

Miruam grinned before walking closer and clenching my tie.

"Knight Korin. You look lonely. Let me... comfort you."

"What the..."

"It's a joke."

Saying that, she let go of my tie and distanced herself.

"I'm feeling a bit tired. Can you escort me back to the resting room? It is in a slightly deserted area, and I would like the escort of a dependable knight."

"Well... I guess that's fine."

I escorted Miruam to a corner of the banquet hall, to the deserted resting room reserved for the royal family.

"Have some tea, since you're here anyway. Let me boil it for you."

"Uhh..."

"Aren't you bored with the banquet? Don't you need an excuse to waste some time before going back?"

She did have a point. These days, we were busy trying to persuade the royal family, the order and the Association. Even though we were being referred to as heroes, it was hard for us to persuade the higher-ups with not a single sturdy foundation supporting us underneath.

As such, we had to attend banquets and social events quite often, which were boring and tedious.

"In that case... By the way, I don't think the ventilation is very good in this room. It feels a bit stuffy here?"

"Really? I don't feel anything."

"And where are the maids...?"

"I told them to take a rest since it was getting late. Here you go. Here's some tea."

Miruam might surprisingly be quite nice to her vassals. Or maybe she liked brewing teas and doing whatever she could by herself?

"Then... Thanks for the tea."

"Yeah."

She continued staring at me while I slowly sipped the tea. She was looking at me so directly that it kind of—

"Huh?"

Kukk!

I suddenly felt a clog in my throat.

Everything started to turn hot as the tea traveled down my throat. It felt strange - my body began to turn warmer and warmer all over.

"What did you... put in the..."

"It's working better than I thought."

Damn it. Was it a sleeping pill? I thought it was still too early for her to receive orders from Valtazar...!

I had to go to Sihu right now.

He knew how to dispel lethal poisons so I had to quickly go and...

"Don't try so hard."

She limped closer and closer. Her coquettish voice dug deep into my ears and led my mind astray.

As a result... A little push was enough to drop me on the bed.

"Uhk... Princess. Wait...!"

"It's futile... Serpents don't lose their prey."

She got on top of my body. My body was burning like crazy - it was scorching hot and yet...

"Remember what I said before?"

Her voice... sounded excruciatingly sweet.

"What I said about comforting you. It wasn't a joke."

After saying that, the princess slid her dress down from the shoulders. Her silk dress grazed past my skin and that was enough to send a sharp stimulus down my body.

"Uguk...!"

"Don't try to hold yourself back."

"Y, you're... t, the princess... W, what... are you...!"

"Fufu... The virginity of a princess for a hero of the kingdom... is a pretty cheap price to pay, don't you think?"

Like a snake wrapping its body around its prey, her soft skin landed on my body as she whispered into my ears. An unbelievable weight was pushing down on me from above.

"My knight. Dominate me - ravage me and swallow me alive. Make everything that is mine yours and whisper love into my ears."

She was a serpent closing in on its prey. Like a venomous serpent she injected me with her venom and...

...

"Haa... Does it feel good? You're like a baby... but it's good. Kyaa...! That tickles."

...

"Huht...! W, wait... Knight Korin! Can we take a little... Huht!"

...

"Hehk..."

.

It was morning.

Wait. What the fuck?!

- Chirp! Chirp chirp!

It was morning.

Like, already?! I don't even remember how it went!

Despite my urge to yell out loud, I could feel that my body was indeed quite fatigued and exhausted.

Did I... really do it?

Did I? I must have.

No, I did.

Last night, even though I was under the influence of a drug... I did spend the night with Princess Miruam!

"Mhmm... Did you wake up?"

The indisputable proof of that was how Miruam was rubbing her eyes on the bed next to me, naked.

"Ahh... You were too violent. My body's sore everywhere."

She complained with a wide stretch. Her defenseless state fully revealed her armpits as well as the lines of her breasts.

- Gulp!

It was just last night that I had been greedy for that body. Like a traveler lost in the desert... I devoured every part of her body to satiate my endless thirst.

"My gosh..."

On December 25th, roughly 3 years since my arrival in this world, I spent the night with the princess of this kingdom.

What was I supposed to do now... Commend myself?

"Knight Korin."

"Y, yes...?"

"Stop glancing at me, and if you want to do it more, just do it."

"Huh?"

Seeing my reaction, she wrapped her arms around my neck, unafraid of revealing her naked body, and said with a smile.

"This time, pour your love out on me with your free will. Whisper me love and make me bear your child. And take responsibility. If you do so, everything that is mine will be yours. My husband."

Her coquettish voice, chubby cheeks, shallow but soft valley, her squishy belly button, bouncy thighs... the cute mole on her butt and her long, slender legs...

I had to admit.

This woman... was a fox that could lead men to their downfall.

She was a quagmire that made it impossible for men to escape using her deep and sticky charm.

"I will love you, Knight Korin. So you... have to love me and endlessly crave for me."

We kissed as the tongue of the serpent slithered through the cracks. A sweet fragrance seeped through all parts of my body as her soft tongue wrapped itself with mine.

Damn it.

It felt like I was about to explode underneath, and her butt cheeks in my hands were mind-numbingly soft.

"Haah... Shall we do it again?"

"..."

I ended up losing once again to the temptation before me.

****

"December 25th. You know it, right?"

"Lia Fail must have shown it to you."

"...I see. So it really wasn't just an illusion."

Gazing down at me, she slid her hand up all the way from my belly button to my neck, as if trying to take the same track as what she did in the past - in the previous timeline.

"I... thought about it a lot. Memories that I had no clue of... and emotions, kept surging up."

"It's already over. Just... think of it as a dream."

"That is not what you think of it as either, is it?"

"..."

"If you really considered it to be over, there would have been no reason for you to try to save me nor try to stop my revenge."

"I just chose the method that would have the least people die."

"No."

Miruam refuted.

"If you only valued the lives of those demi-humans... You wouldn't have been so restless or risked your own life trying not to hurt us... and me."

"..."

"But... What about our baby?"

The world went back in time. Many were saved and were able to escape their original fate but...

"Where is our... baby?"

The baby wouldn't come back. Our offspring, whom I had killed with my own hands, had already crossed a river of no-coming-back.

"This... We can't let this be."

She took off her dress. Without a sliver of hesitation, she revealed her bare body which was still beautiful and fragrant.

"Don't do this."

"...Why? It's today. It was today. It has to be now."

If we did it today, she might become pregnant like last time. The baby we lost last time might come back.

"Something like this won't bring the baby back."

Rewinding the time and everything that happened, I saved a lot of people but that didn't include the baby. The thought of again seeing our child, who left without seeing the outside world, was an unachievable illusion.

"But you never know..."

"It's different."

"How is it different!"

She was half in tears and desperate.

Suddenly, I thought back on Erin, who had to repeat endless repetitions inside Nazrea.

Just like how Erin, who lived in a different plane of time for 300 years by herself, was a different person from the Master I knew, would the baby conceived at the same time on the same day be the same baby we had in the last iteration? I didn't think so.

At the very least, I didn't want to repeat the same mistake just to hang on to that sliver of false hope.

Like how that night back then was a result of greed and desires, this was just a similar result forged of guilt and memories.

"Korin. I... I..."

She cried, unable to stop her tears, as I pulled her into my body and tapped gently on her back to soothe her.

"Why didn't you just forget about it? Having one person to remember it... was more than enough."

It wasn't up to her to shoulder both the sorrow and those painful memories. Her current self was a different person from who she was right now.

"I... forced you into such a horrible thing."

"It's not your fault."

"Because I was so selfish, and couldn't give up on revenge... You..."

...had to kill your child and your wife.

Saying that, she wept constantly in my arms. The only thing I could do was give her a hug, console her and calm her down.

"It's okay. I'm, fine."

Like that, December 25th went on very differently from last time.

****

I indulged myself in the task left behind by the Sword Emperor.

[Think about just one thing, and one thing alone. Combine all of your future aspirations and the Domain into your profound 'truth'. Only through a harmony of the heart, mind and body added with your perception, realm and truth will you reach the ultima.]

Those were some very ambiguous words.

A harmony of the heart, mind and body.

An explosion of the harmony of the heart, mind and body was what we referred to as Condensed Aura - one of the important factors in the way of the 'Heavy'.

So what did it mean to add your perception, realm and truth to it?

Aspirations, the Domain and the truth? What was all this about?

Getting rid of all the trivial thoughts, I forced myself to focus again.

I slowly let the aura permeate through my body.

Human bodies were tougher than steel, and a single sword strike could slice apart mountains. 'Martial art' was something that couldn't be built up just by opening a skills tab to click on a few stats.

No matter how strong one may be, one without the understanding of martial arts was just a ruffian and a backstreet bully. Meanwhile, a scrawny man with a profound understanding of martial arts could topple men that were three heads taller than them.

Martial arts was about enlightenment; something gained from experience and a realm.

Grade 5, Grade 4, Grade 3, Grade 2, Grade 1, Semi-Unique Grade, Unique Grade.

Although there was a classification made to make it streamlined, it was impossible to assess this 'understanding'.

It was something that even the player couldn't obtain through their status window.

Inside the dimension of darkness, I tossed a pebble on the calm surface of the water. A ripple was probably formed, but it wasn't perceived inside the black dimension. The only thing I could do was feel it.

I... had to embed 'truth' into this dimension. And yet—

What I could feel with my skin was something as cold as...

Snow?

I opened my eyes in a flash.

Stopping the meditation, I turned towards the window and looked outside at the snow falling from the sky.

It was such a small interruption from the outside and yet it was enough to interfere with my meditation. If this was in a wuxia novel, I might have even woken up vomiting blood. Honestly, I didn't read them that much so I wasn't sure.

"Snow, huh..."

Looking at the white trash* falling from the sky like it was in the peak of winter reminded me of the time I scraped the snow off the ground in the military.

It was March.

Currently, it was supposed to be spring.

"At last."

This year, there would be no end to winter.

It was the start of the long and seemingly unending winter.

[TLN]

* Snow is commonly referred to as 'beautiful trash' by those that were in the military, because they have to clean it up after a heavy snow.