Chapter 22

“Where did this come from?” Erna thought she’d only selected books about the human body, but in the book, there was also a short description of the experience of intercourse. Perhaps because it was an academic book, the explanation was written in complicated words that seemed quite similar to the books Erna usually read to gain knowledge, so luckily she didn’t struggle to read it. ‘Before s*xual intercourse, foreplay, such as caressing, is one of the ways to reduce pain.’ Her eyes narrowed while reading the sentence and she reread it to be certain, before closing the book.

So, rather than just inserting it right away, it’s best to touch the other person’s body and create sexual excitement to reduce pain.

In the past, Erna wouldn’t have cared less. She would’ve been indifferent and would’ve said that she didn’t see the point in spending time on all of this when the experience itself was already painstaking. But after seeing the size of Kalion’s p*nis, her mind changed completely! A successor was important, but she was more important. I don’t want to feel pain!

Erna felt it was unfair that she had to do it in the first place and the thought of feeling pain made the situation worse. However, that didn’t mean she wanted pleasure either. To her, that seemed worse.

She recalled the last time she’d seen Kalion. After slapping him on the cheek, she’d noticed that his hazy eyes had returned to normal instantly and his face had looked shocked. If he did those actions out of respect for me… It made no sense that she slapped him then since he was only trying his best to make the experience more pleasurable for her. However, it had hurt when he’d grabbed her chest. What was the point of grabbing my chest as if he was grabbing a loaf of bread?

Erna’s mind was getting more and more befuddled when she heard the knock at the door.

“Are you in there?”

It was the voice of the librarian. Since Erna had told the librarian to leave her alone, she knew it must be urgent so she hurriedly unlocked the door and went outside.

“What’s going on?”

The librarian looked back with a troubled face to where people in parliamentary robes stood.

“Chairman Vanessa is urgently requesting to visit with you.”

*

“Vanessa!” Erna almost ran into the parliament conference room, bursting through the open door. “You’re here!”

Not only Vanessa, who was sitting but also the other lawmakers who were talking with her, quickly rose to show their respect.

“I heard it on my way here. There are mystical creatures in Haldis?” Erna said, waiting for confirmation.

Haldis was a small city not too far from the capital and it took about five hours by carriage to get there.  Surrounded by large lakes and several smaller ones, it was also a beautiful place for people in the capital to enjoy during the holidays.

“Yes, they appeared at Lake Haldis, but fortunately, the security guards noticed something odd happening in the lake and were able to quickly evacuate the people. However…” Vanessa led Erna to the map on the table, “the creatures appeared here, and there, at the same time, so not just in one lake. Currently, the middle of the city is surrounded by these creatures. As you know, the water in the lake flows through Haldis. As the creatures also move along the water, we don’t think it will be easy to get the people out.”

While listening to Vanessa’s explanation, Erna became calmer, “How many people are trapped?”

“It’s estimated that there are about three thousand people now.”

“How many people that are there can fight the creatures?”

“Some of the security guards remain inside. They say the number is about a hundred.”

“That’s not enough. Do you have any information on the characteristics of the creatures?”

“With the collected information we have received so far, they seem to appear only where there’s water. It says they don’t come on to the land. However, there is a possibility that that will change as time goes by. And it is presumed that they are poisonous. It’s also been said that the fish in the lake have died since the creatures appeared.”

“That does sound like a difficult situation, most likely, all the drinking water in the city is also contaminated.”

“We think so too. Fortunately, the security guards have banned the use of lake water after noticing this and they somehow managed to save some water for the public to use. But…it’s a massive outbreak of creatures and although they are small they seem to be multiplying rapidly.”

“We better hurry then,” Erna replied.

Erna bit her lip at the words “massive outbreak”. The ongoing problem in Hessenguard was that these magical creatures constantly appeared in large numbers.

When the previous Grand Duke was alive, Hessenguard was one of the most stable lands in the Kingdom. Compared to other kingdoms, the number of creatures appearing and the number of places these creatures appeared, had been significantly less. But now, it had become one of the most notorious places in the kingdom for creatures.

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Humans were adaptable and many had become vigilant and managed to somehow protect themselves, but when creatures appeared in large numbers, it became too much to handle.

“We ask you to send your wizards,” Vanessa requested desperately.

Erna nodded her head, “I’ll send them right away. And, I’ll go with them.”

“Thank you.” Vanessa who would’ve normally said that Erna didn’t have to step into the situation, unusually bowed her head in deep respect. Judging by Vanessa’s gesture, Erna realized that the situation in Haldis was very serious.

“Then I’ll get ready and leave immediately. Tell Haldis that the wizards are coming soon!”

“I’ll send word right away,” Vanessa replied with a smile of relief.

The members of the parliament moved quickly at Erna’s command. She then rushed out of the conference room and headed to the wizard’s quarters, thinking about what needed to be prepared. She also wondered if there was any work she had to finish before leaving.

Come to think of it, it’ll take me a few days to get to Haldis and clean up the mess. This logically meant that Erna didn’t have to see Kalion for the next few days. They’d promised to be together almost every day, but performing official duties had been an exception. Erna felt relieved and walked with a light heart. She felt good that she didn’t have to worry about the situation with Kalion for a while because it was driving her nuts.

Eight hours later she arrived at her destination and promptly nearly lost her mind! Why in the world is he here? Erna was face to face with Kalion, who’d been looking down at Haldis from a hill.

Am I seeing things? Looking at Kalion who was staring down at the city, Erna seriously worried for a moment if her intelligence had diminished. This was a massive outbreak of magical creatures. In addition, the number of people trapped was high and the situation needed to be resolved as soon as possible.

In such circumstances, Vanessa would not have sought help only from wizards. No, Vanessa would have contacted the knights first, before asking help from the wizards, since the knights had been guarding Hessenguard for a long time. I wouldn’t have expected him to come in person though. The moment Erna saw Kalion standing in front of the knights her disposition had changed to one of irritation. And it seemed that Kalion felt the same way, otherwise, the moment he saw her, his face wouldn’t have become so stiff.

As much as Erna was baffled, Kalion also stood in disbelief. I thought we wouldn’t have to meet if I came here.

Kalion was now afraid because Monday was approaching. It was ridiculous for him to even think that way. He’d never been afraid of confronting a house-sized demon nor a million creatures, yet he was currently afraid of just one small human. To make things worse, he’d been afraid of meeting this person face to face. Well, I guess that technically it was my fault.

While Kalion had been thinking about an excuse to give to Erna, to avoid having to spend time with her, Vanessa had reached out for help. Thus, under her request, Kalion had led his knights to Haldis. It was nothing special to him. It was something he’d been doing for the past ten years.

Throughout their journey to Haldis, Kalion’s head had been full of thoughts about Erna, as opposed to thinking about the creatures.

It may take a week, maybe two to resolve this situation so we may not meet anytime soon. Kalion was glad he had a good excuse to avoid seeing Erna. He even promised himself that he’d take as much time as possible to delay his return date to Hessenguard. But not long after he’d arrived, he was soon faced with a group of people.

“What’s going on?”

“The Grand Duchess Erna is here. She is leading the wizards herself,” one of the people in the crowd announced.

“What?” Surprised, Kalion looked back and saw Erna riding on a white horse, approaching fast. When the carriage arrived, wizards who’d turned white due to motion sickness, lined up outside of it. After they’d come to their senses, they’d stood apart from the knights, at arm’s length.

The relationship between the knights and the wizards was neither too bad nor too good. They rarely ran into each other enough to be on bad terms. Not long ago though, there was a complaint among the knights that the wizards had stolen the limelight and had accepted the people’s gratitude for work that the knights had done. But it wasn’t enough of an issue to show hostility.

As they faced each other awkwardly, a man dressed in a security guard’s uniform raced up the hill. He seemed truly pleased to see the knights and the wizards and soon found Erna and Kalion. He stood in front of Erna, captivated by her beauty. Kalion’s expression changed and he made a disapproving sound, which was frequently made by his knights as well.