“I really embarrassed myself out there didn’t I?” Eiru said as he slowly descends somewhere without people. The magical energies in his horns are now depleted and only exhaustible for a safe and soft landing.

Without any further delay, Eiru dashes towards where he left Ivy. Although now, running feels a little harder and he just realizes that inconvenience of a woman’s clothing. He is confident that Ivy won’t perish in any circumstances presented earlier, however, there is one thing that perplex him the most.

As soon as the final turn was made, Eiru saw Ivy in the same place where he left her. Albeit she was mildly covered with snow, she was smiling with lively eyes. He approaches the Vampire Demon Lord and kneels down in front of her.

“Ahh!~ I need a lift!” Ivy said as she presented her body by stretching out her arms towards Eiru, however, the man paid no heed to her pleading and instead, asks a question.

“Ivy…where is the purse?” He asked with a serious face. He can worry anytime about Ivy but that won’t take him anywhere, however, the many that he earned through his dignity takes priority.

“Well…” Ivy nervously muttered as she steers away from Eiru’s gaze.

“Where.Is.It?” Eiru menacingly asked.

“You see…while the…snowstorm was raging earlier when you left…a couple of carriages passed by and…” Ivy paused with a pursed lip and looks at Eiru with apologetic eyes as of not to upset him.

“What happened?” Eiru exclaimed as he beckons Ivy to speak further.

“Um…it was stolen. It was stolen by one of those carriages that seemed to be in a chase. I’m sorry…I swear I will do something about it if I can.” Ivy said as her face falls downward with saddened and reclusive eyes.

Upon the sudden news of the tragedy, Eiru fell on his bum as if life has been sucked out of his core. His eyes become dilated as if he lost someone very dear to him. He is utterly shaken by the fact that he lost the cost for his pride and dignity.

“Yeah…don’t worry. It’s not your fault…ahh…I want to die…” Eiru forces himself to cope with the tragedy and even assured that Ivy has nothing to feel guilty about.

“What’s inside that purse anyway?” Ivy asked with a tilt of her head.

“Huh? Ah, coins…around sixty thousand.” Eiru replied immediately after snapping back from his great loss of profit.

“Oh? You got me going there for a second! Why lament over for just a few amounts of coins?” Ivy questioned with an innocent face. The question seems to stab Eiru’s heart like a stake being thrust deeper.

“Just…huh, your sense of value is a little broken. Geez! I don’t care anymore! I don’t care anymore if I lost that amount of coin together with my fragile masculinity!” Eiru scratches his head in frustration and shot up with standing gait.

“Hey Eiru, it has been a while now. Won’t you carry me? I still feel a little weak.” Ivy said with an obvious act of being in pain.

With a steep and silent sigh, Eiru looks at Ivy with skeptical gaze but in the end, he had no choice but to do something embarrassing since they haven’t met for years. Eiru walked closer to Ivy and slovenly lifts her body from the ground. After fixing her posture for a moment, Eiru noticed something.

“Ivy…you…” Eiru said with a pause as he looks at her with eyes half-closed. “Did you…immensely gained weight?” Eiru continued with a mocking tone.

From Eiru’s question, Ivy’s face becomes dyed in red. She unconsciously clasps her hands together in embarrassment and digs her head further downward.

“That’s…I was a bit younger when you left. I am still growing and because of my work as the Demon Lord, I tend to eat a lot from time to time…” Ivy said as she twiddles with her forefingers with a still embarrassed face.

Eiru started walking and looks at Ivy’s embarrassed face. Then he notices one important thing…

Because Ivy was fiddling with her fingers and on top of that, being carried like a princess with Eiru holding her legs closed and her spine curled up, there was one part of Ivy that was greatly emphasized.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“T-This…! H-Her breasts are a lot bigger than I remembered! Do most of her weights come from there?! She was a little flat when she arrived at the Demon Capital. I think she was around twelve years old. Talk about puberty…” Eiru’s mind suddenly flies at the thought of Ivy’s development. He tried averting his eyes from the spot.

“What’s wrong?” Ivy who noticed his unrest asked.

“Nothing!! Don’t ask anything! Don’t tell anything! Don’t breath!” Eiru exclaimed with panic overcoming his senses.

“Don’t breath?! Eh?!” With a confused and flustered face, Ivy said.

“Anyway, I can’t go out there looking like this anymore! We are getting out of the city and wait for Falikh and the others!” Eiru said as he started to hasten his strides.

“O-Okay…” Ivy could only say after that.

Ivy and Eiru set off outside of the Mesola Capital. Unable to give a chase to Victoria or to assist Reysha and the others, they deem that the best way they can help is to stay out of trouble. The battle between Ivy and Victoria can be concluded as a draw.

Meanwhile, turning back time for a little bit…

Reld, Sod, and Mes are being chased by some assassins who aimed for Meriyal’s life. Inside the carriage that Reld driving is the wounded Ries and Lala together with Princess Meriyal who is unresponsive as the shock, rather, the thought of failing shook her.

Because of Sod and Mes navigating the directions, they were able to avoid being completely caught by the assassins, however, their carriage, in a straight path, would greatly put them at a disadvantage as there are six people in their carriage while the assassins are only three.

Not only that, the weather, the snowstorm is hitting the capital that makes it difficult for the horses to run faster. In hindsight, with all of these factors, they will slowly lose their speed and they will be caught.

“It’s a miracle that they aren’t firing arrows!” Mes exclaimed as he wraps a cloth around Lala’s shoulder and leg. He was able to pull out the arrows, however, the first aid treatment was not much of a help as they only have herbs to use. He was able to stop the bleeding but the wound is burnt.

“Heck, with this snowstorm? They are a little afraid of misfiring. Well, this weather is a blessing in disguise as these two knight wounds close faster. Dick is freezing out there though.” Sod said as he finishes tying up the cloth around Ries’ flank.

Sod and Mes always bring some herb with them. Their life when they were younger is always harsh. The two of them, as young boys, live by stealing and tricking people. As such, they are always on a run and when they get hurt, it’s their only way of treating their wounds.

The cloths are also from them. They ripped their sleeves and exposed their bare shoulders to this temperature.

“Hell yeah, I’m freezing like my aunt’s foot soaked in cold ice! Are you two happy?! Sucks to be me!!” Reld shouted as he overheard Sod and Mes making fun of him.

“Ahahaha! Your aunt’s foot? Never heard anything in comparison with that! Anyway, with the presence of the assassins, we can conclude that the culpirt is not working alone.” Sod said as he laid down Ries on the available couch beside Lala who was also laid down by Mes.

“Well, yeah but, there’s no point talking about it right now. If we get caught, we are good as dead.” Mes added to the point, or rather, to the reality of their situation.

“Those…are known mercenaries…” Suddenly, Ries' voice resounded as she staggers to get up.

“Hey, hey! Don’t move yet! Your wounds are no joke!” Sod scolded her.

“Sorry for…being a burden like this. However, I overheard what you are talking about…Those people are part…of a mercenary group who are…paid to kill. We’ve been trying to catch them for a year now but…they are quite good. I never thought that they’d learn some military arts from Kerias…” Ries said weakly as she leans back and gasps for breath for each phrase.

“Geez, this runs deeper than I thought. By that notion, some hired to kill mercenaries from Breille has access to Kerias magic. That’s a little troubling…at least for you knights of Breille.” Sod said as he tried to determine something.

“if they are mercenaries paid to kill, surely we can overturn this if we have enough coins. However, what in tarnation can we find coins in this situation!?” Mes said with frustration and scratches his head.

“AAAAHHHHH! Sod, Mes! Look! Ahead!” Reld suddenly shouted.

“What is it Dick?!” Sod replied with a shout too.

“There’s a purse lying around! Three hundred meters ahead! Grab! By its size, it may be roughly around sixty thousand coins!” Reld shouted.

Reld is a man of coin. Not a man of coin because of greed, but because Reld is dearly in love with the concept of coins. His sight never misses a coin whether it is plain out in the day or even inside a person’s pocket or purse.

He has an ability that could roughly count a coins amount with just observation alone. In reality, though, Reld’s eyes are keen enough to see up to seven hundred kilometers or more depending on his mood. It is a sole reason why, as a lower noble, he is a tax collector back then.

“Gotcha!” Mes said as he opens the carriage’s door and cocks his head out. He lowers his body to the point where his hair grazes the snowy ground.

Upon doing this, Mes notices a woman leaning on a wall and in her feet is the said purse which looks so bloated. Since Sod, Mes, and Reld haven’t met Ivy yet, they don’t know what she looks like but Mes is certain that the woman is beautiful.

Mes immediately grabs the purse and Sod pulled him inside before hitting a post.

“Whoa, that’s so heavy! Who would let this amount of coins lying out there?! And poor girl left to die in this frozen land, she was so beautiful!” Mes angrily said as he stares at the purse.

“Well, with this, we may turnover this situation.” Lala said.