The guards spoke one after another. The malice and dangerous intent in their words were obvious, and they looked at Eris as though she were a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Seeing the noble's guards surround her and feeling their undisguised malicious gazes, Eris turned deathly pale with fright, her body trembling involuntarily.
She widened her eyes in terror and frantically backed away, but there was a cold wall behind her. She had nowhere left to retreat.
"You... Don't come any closer! Don't you dare do anything! My grandfather will never forgive you!"
Eris shouted angrily despite her fear, even waving her arms around in an attempt to intimidate these noble guards who looked even more like bandits than actual bandits.
But the guards merely burst into laughter, their faces filled with ill intent.
"Little girl, come with us nicely. Struggling is useless. If you make Lord Alvin unhappy, you'll have a hard time," One of the guards grinned, showing a row of uneven buck teeth, while slowly approaching Eris.
"Who cares about him!! Do you know who I am? I-I'm—DIE!"
At this final moment of danger, Eris was surprisingly tough. Gritting her teeth, she summoned her courage, raised her hand, and swung a punch at the foremost man's stomach, preparing to fight with everything she had.
However, this time... she still failed to reach her target. Her wrist was grabbed, and her legs left the ground as her entire body was lifted straight up.
"You little brat looks like you've got some skill, but that's all you've got! I wonder if you can last a little longer! Just don't break before it's our turn!"
As he spoke, the middle-aged man with buck teeth lowered his head and stuck out his tongue, trying to lick her. Eris felt so disgusted that it was as if she had been thrown into an ice cellar, her entire body trembling uncontrollably.
But suddenly, a sharp flash of cold light passed by, followed by splattering blood.
The guard's arm was instantly severed and fell to the ground. He screamed as he clutched his wound and rolled around in pain, causing Eris to fall back to the ground as well.
The other guards were horrified. They all drew their swords and nervously looked around, shouting, "Who? Are you tired of living? Do you know who we are?"
"I know, but I'm not interested."
Ash appeared on the street without warning, still holding a steaming-hot loaf of bread. He merely glanced at everyone as he spoke, and an extremely cold surge of magic instantly swept through the surroundings.
None of them had time to react. They did not even realize an attack had appeared before the earth froze, and in the next instant, they were completely encased in ice.
Eris's thoughts could not keep up with reality. She simply stared blankly at the many ice sculptures before her. An indescribable sense of fear sent a chill down her back... Though it might also have been because the surroundings had frozen.
"How strange... I was already being as gentle as possible and basically didn't shed any blood. How come she's still gone stupid?"
Looking at the child who was still sitting blankly on the ground, Ash silently extended his hand toward her, "Don't just sit there like an idiot. Get up."
"Hmph! Hmph! I'm not... not that fragile."
Eris pushed his hand away. Her legs trembled like a newborn fawn's as she struggled to push herself up from her knees. Then she crossed her arms over her chest, spread her legs, and assumed the arrogant stance she had shown when they first met.
However, perhaps because she remembered their previous agreement and what she had just experienced, the firmness in her voice at the end was somewhat lacking, and there was also some fear in her gaze when she looked at Ash.
Ash nodded with some satisfaction, "All right, not bad. Good spirit. So, are you planning to take down the pervert behind all this?"
"O-of course! A pervert like that... We absolutely can't let him off!"
"Then before that, don't you think you should show some sincerity and properly apologize for being rude to me earlier?"
"I'm not..."
"I say you are, so you need to apologize to me," Establishing a relationship of obedience was important. This was the main point Ash had just read about at the bookstore. With a smile, he proudly threatened her, "At least I feel like you've offended me."
"Wuw... F-fine, I'll apologize!"
Faced with that teasing smile, Eris was extremely unwilling, but she still lay flat on her back on the ground.
'Hmm? What is this child doing?', The smile on Ash's face gradually turned into confusion. Just as he crouched down as well, Eris silently lifted her shirt, revealing her smooth, pale little belly, and said with a face full of humiliation, "O-okay! Hurry up and touch it!"
"Hmm... I don't really understand, but like this?", He followed her instructions in confusion and rubbed Eris's belly.
"Th-this is enough, right?"
"Although I feel a little strange about this, and it's different from what I expected, I suppose I can accept it?"
Although she was apologizing, Eris still urged him in an arrogant tone. But this behavior genuinely made Ash feel her sincerity, so he accepted the apology with a smile.
However, not long afterward, Eris, who had curled up and endured the ticklish feeling, stood up and stared at him warily for some reason.
After a long while, seeing that he still did nothing, Eris could not help asking, "What? Aren't you going to do it?"
"Do what?"
"You really don't understand? You're such a grown-up, and you don't even know the proper way to apologize?"
"Don't shout so loudly... Keep your voice down," Ash covered his ears in frustration.
"I mean! Normally! After touching the belly, you're supposed to punish the person!"
"Punish?", Her unclear explanation made Ash feel that something was strange. He could not help wondering if there was something wrong with the way she apologized.
"You're supposed to go 'Ah~ Ah~' and make a somewhat strange cry of pain."
"Could you please explain that in more detail?"
"Hmph! You're really hopeless! So it's only your strength that's impressive? Looks like I know more than you after all!"
Eris became smug again. She put her hands on her hips and explained the situation to him with a superior air.
It was only then that he understood... influenced by her grandfather, Eris had never apologized even once in her entire life.
And this method of apologizing was supposedly a beastman version of the act of kowtowing to apologize.
She had learned the belly-rubbing part from watching the beastman servants in her household apologize. Her grandfather would do this, and he had told her that this was the complete form of an apology.
It was just that afterward, while her grandfather was still rubbing her belly, she would be driven out of the room, and the female beastman servant who had made the mistake inside the room... would let out painful groans after that.
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