The Softest And Cutest Of The Dukes - Chapter 58

CHAPTER 58

Duke Panteur thought that Eugene would like Rafi, who resembled Serapahina, so he sent her on his way.

“It’s ironic that she didn’t take after her mother.”

Who would think that Eugene, who was born into a wizard family, would have magic sickness? Eugene didn’t know anything and had once traveled through a warp gate to the Huangdo.

That day, his complexion suddenly turned pale. He vomited and called a doctor as if he were about to die. It was only then that Eugene realized that he had a severe case of magic sickness.

Going to Huangdo was very comfortable, but the way back was long and treacherous. Seraphina, holding young Eugene, didn’t relax her expression.

Duke Panteur, who remembered a brief happy time long ago, assumed that Rafi had met Eugene by now and attempted to communicate. However, the communication did not connect.

“Is the communication device malfunctioning? That’s not possible.”

He had given Max a top-notch communication device, so it couldn’t be malfunctioning. Whenever Duke Panteur frowned with suspicion, cold sweat ran down the wizard’s spine.

Several hours passed like that. As night fell, the communication device suddenly lit up.

“Rafi? Why did it take so long to connect…?”

Duke Panteur immediately stopped talking as if Rafi and Eugene were fighting.

[My, my lord! W-we’ve been attacked.]

Max, bleeding profusely, explained what had happened so far. At the same time, Duke Panteur got up from his seat and shouted.

“Gather the knights immediately. Eugene and Rafi have been attacked.”

* * *

Suddenly, the ground beneath us gave way, and we began to fall without being able to defy gravity. In a moment, I closed my eyes tightly and lost consciousness, only to wake up with nothing in sight.

“Oh, brother?”

“Why are you calling?”

“Where are you?”

I looked around, but I couldn’t see my brother. Instead, his voice flowed into my ears, heavy like thick air.

“Underneath you.”

“Huh? Oops! Brother, are you okay?”

It was only then that I looked down and realized I was sitting on my brother’s back. Strangely, I didn’t feel any pain from the fall. As I quickly got up, my brother, frowning heavily, struggled to sit up.

“Phew, you’re as heavy as glutinous rice soaked in water.”

“I told you! My Brother-in-law said I’m heavier than a chicken. And he called me ‘Injeolmi.'” 

My brother looked at me in disbelief as I bumped my fist against his head. 

“He must have said nonsense after eating stale rice cakes. He probably wanted to impress her sister-in-law with nice words.”

“But I am heavy, though.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll admit it, then.”

With a hint of reluctance in his words, my brother raised his head and looked up. Looking up at the sunlight streaming in, it felt like we had fallen from a great height.

“Hey, brother, are you hurt?”

Considering the height from which he fell while holding me, the impact must have been significant. Plus, he didn’t have the chance to use any martial arts to lessen the impact when we hit the ground.

“I am a man of Duke Panteur, after all. Just because I fell from that height, it doesn’t mean I’ll get hurt or feel pain…” 

My brother was confidently talking, but as soon as he patted his chest with his hand, he let out a groan. When he hunched over, his face twisted in pain, I reached into my bag.

Rummaging around—

“This.”

“What’s that?”

I pulled something out of my bag and tossed it into my brother’s hand. 

“I brought it on the way here.”

“You… how much is this thing, and you brought it on the way here?”

My brother, holding the item in his hand, said with an incredulous expression. 

“Seriously. I brought it on the way here. It’s for you.”

I shrugged nonchalantly as I watched my brother attach a healing patch to his chest. As my brother had mentioned, the healing patch was on the expensive side. However, it wasn’t so expensive that it would cost as much as one or two mansions.

Healing magic was imbued in the patch, and when applied to a minor injury, it would work wonders, often healing it within a few hours. It was something my grandfather had given me as an extra precaution when he gave me a few warp scrolls in the past.

Even though I insisted I wouldn’t need it since I wouldn’t get injured while staying inside the house, my grandfather had tucked it into my bag, saying that I might get hurt even rolling around on a soft bed.

With my grandfather’s foresight, I had promised to always carry it. He applied the healing patch, but the pain didn’t immediately vanish. It would take some time for the pain to subside. That’s why I placed my hand on my brother’s chest, which was still slightly grimacing, and muttered a small incantation.

“Pain, pain, go away!”

“…”

“It won’t hurt as much now.”

I tried to sound cute while reciting the incantation, but my brother remained speechless for a while. He simply let my hand touch his chest. 

“Who could have set a trap here?”

Naturally formed pits were unheard of here. Looking at the rocks around, there were clear marks made by something sharp. It was undoubtedly a sign that something made of metal had been sliced into pieces. Maybe it was set up for hunting, but it was so high that even a hunter wouldn’t be able to jump out.

“Um, this place was the stronghold of those who rebelled against the royal family a long time ago. It’s clear that they dug these pits.”

My brother recited the information he had learned from a textbook not long ago. This place used to be a base for the rebels against the royal family. In any case, the conclusion was that there were pits like this because they had fought their last battle here.

“Do you understand what I said and are nodding?”

“Yeah, they’re going to fight here and set up pits. Is that it?”

Having recited for a few minutes, my brother’s one-liner summary left me shrugging my shoulders. 

“Anyway, we need to escape from here, but it seems impossible.”

The ascent was too steep and high for climbing up. If only I could properly use magic, I could use ‘Fly’ to get up. My mana was extremely low, and I had failed the Fly spell repeatedly, so I sighed.

However, I couldn’t ask my brother to climb such a cliff.

“We’ll have to wait here until they find us.”

It was a pit dug deeply, and there was no way my father would come to this mountain.

Thinking that we might end up trapped here and starving to death, I sighed softly.

“Brother, what should we do now?”

“Well, even if we climb up right now, there’s no way we can escape from them. Waiting until we’re safe is one option.”

I didn’t protest against waiting like this. Instead, as the faint light that had barely seeped out began to fade, I grabbed my brother’s clothing tightly. The night was falling earlier than expected.

The likelihood of the masked individuals finding us was high, but we were also exposed to other dangers.

There was no way that we were the only ones in this pit. As an example, something emitting a red light was aimed at us.

“Brother…”

I jabbed my side with one hand, which had become quite rigid. At that moment, my brother, who had shifted his gaze towards me, bit his lip in tension.

Something buried in the darkness that couldn’t be identified filled us with terror. The creature approaching, more frightening than the masked individuals, made my brother move his hand to the left. When he tried to grab his sword, Ciel who had been obediently waiting in the background stepped forward. Compared to the unknown entity in front of us, Ciel with its flimsy stick-like legs seemed insignificant.

This was not where Ciel should be. Instead of reaching out to grab Ciel in a hurry, I searched through my bag again, this time not to reach out to catch Ciel but to dispel the darkness.

At the very least, it seemed like we needed to know what was in front of us. When my hand touched something smooth and round while rummaging, I quickly pulled it out.

“What’s that one thing your bag?” 

It was a rare gem that shone like a cat’s eyes even in the night when the cat’s-eye-like light was gone. My grandfather had given me this gem, warning me not to trip over my blanket and fall while going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

“This gem was in my bag. But it doesn’t seem to be the problem right now.”

Ciel caught my attention again as he continued his pitiful stick-like actions. A large black snake flicked its thin tongue.

Snakes smell with their tongues. I remembered hearing it somewhere in the animal kingdom. Not being able to afford to roast that snout right away, I looked at my brother. He looked at the big snake, too, and said nothing for a moment.

Meo-oowng!

Even the tiny Ciel’s cry seemed insignificant. I wondered if he was thinking of committing suicide against a snake that was dozens of times bigger than him.

Hiss, hiss…

The sound the snake made as it rubbed against its body sent shivers down my spine.

“I heard that such large snakes don’t kill with venom but constrict their prey with their bodies, then swallow them whole.”

I was well aware of this information, but it didn’t seem like the right time to bring it up. Ciel was probably insignificant to the snake. So, it was clear that either my brother or I would be the next target.

Despite the dangerous situation, my brother remained calm and composed, pushing me back. Then he drew his sword.

Just like before, he said that he was undergoing knight training, so as a knight, he shielded me behind him. However, if my brother got eaten by the snake, I would be the next meal. I didn’t want to stay here, trembling in fear while the snake digested its prey in front of me.

“… Father, come quickly! Father, where are you…?”

There probably weren’t many children who liked reptiles. Seeing the large, frightening snake, I bit my lip hard. I wished my father would come quickly, but that wish was unlikely to come true.

No matter how much this place was considered a fantasy world, it was always a disappointment, as reality was often like that. When I tightly grasped my brother’s clothes, Ciel boldly cried out in front of me, as if performing a suicide show. Ciel was shaking the ground with his pink jelly-like soles and staring at the snake with sharp golden eyes.

Meo-oowng!

Unintentionally, I let out a deep sigh at Ciel’s pitiful appearance. However, as Ciel’s warning cry rang out, the snake that had been about to charge forward hesitated for a moment. The snake seemed confused and unsure of what to do in front of Ciel, who was far from being a suitable meal.

Ururung.

Huh? Did a cat just make a ‘growl’ sound like a predator?

They say that when a mouse corners a cat, the cat opens its mouth. Was Ciel the same? With his fur and tail standing on end, Ciel puffed up his body and showed the snake his small fangs.

Meo-oowng!

At this extremely sight, I involuntarily let out a sigh. Seeing Ciel’s defiant display, the snake that had been aggressive moments ago suddenly hesitated. It seemed like the snake had lost its direction and didn’t know what to do anymore.

Growl.

What’s going on? Why did this intense situation suddenly become so anticlimactic?

In this bizarre turn of events, I hugged Ciel, who had rushed towards me like a conquering general. My brother, who saw this, sheathed his sword halfway.

“This cat… Could it be a dragon from the legends, transformed or something?”

“No way.”

There was no way that the dragon from the legends, which shook the earth while trying to shift positions, would end up underneath my butt. However, I couldn’t understand why the giant snake had run away so easily after being confronted by Ciel’s bite. Nevertheless, I breathed a sigh of relief for now. With the snake that had threatened us now gone, a secondary danger approached.

Growling-