"Go ahead and beat me to death! If you don't kill me, I'll definitely—mmph!"
"Come to think of it, you just suffered the consequences of not listening to me, so why are you getting all cocky again? Really... do you still want revenge or not?"
"Grandfather will get revenge for me! I don't need... don't need you anymore!", Even though her bottom hurt from the spanking, Eris still thrashed and glared back at him, which only piqued his interest, "Heh~ Well, sorry to say, even if you want to shake me off, it won't be that easy."
As he spoke, from the castle stable that very day, the sounds of the young lady's angry shouts and pained groans echoed out.
Though some people initially wanted to intervene, the old master, that is, the lord himself, forbade any "rescue."
So that very day, Eris, the representative of the hard-headed faction, ended up with teary eyes and unable to walk properly. She wasn't allowed to use healing magic either, paying the price for going back on her word.
And since Ash couldn't be bothered to say much more, she had to go explain the situation to her grandfather herself. Naturally, she wanted him to severely punish Ash and the nobles in the neighboring town. However...
Reality turned out very different from what she'd imagined, neither of the two people she wanted to punish received any consequences.
Externally... since Ash had no intention of becoming their family's patron, Sauros could only claim that Ghislaine had saved them, using that to announce that their family had recruited a Sword King–level expert, thereby showcasing their family's strength.
As for Ash, there was no question of punishment. He was even given the authority to spank her without anyone being allowed to interfere.
As for the perverted noble... due to a lack of physical evidence, the fact that he had the protection of a high-ranking noble family, and his insistence on playing dumb, claiming ignorance and even accusing Sauros of arbitrarily killing his men, Sauros was completely unable to act against him.
The way the other side weaseled out of it made Eris so angry she could explode. But what she found even harder to accept was...
At breakfast that morning, Ash and Sauros were the first to dig in at the table, while Eris and her parents sat silently on the sidelines.
In this world's noble households, the hierarchy was stricter than she'd imagined. Until the head of the family finished eating, no one else at the table could touch their food.
So Eris had to go hungry, glaring daggers at Ash from the side. After a long while, she finally couldn't hold back and pointed at him, "Grandfather! Why does this guy get to eat with you?"
"Because he's a Sword Emperor! Isn't that reason enough?", Sauros bellowed.
"But I disagree!", Even if she lost in presence, Eris had no intention of losing in volume.
"Then fight him yourself!"
"I can't win!"
"Then shut up!"
"Ugh!"
The loud-mouthed grandfather-granddaughter conversation sounded oddly like a shouting match, and the brazen admission of defeat at top volume was a new sight for Ash. He quietly pulled his plate closer to himself, afraid that while these two were bickering, something strange might get added to his food.
At the same time, as he watched the humiliated Eris lying on the table grinding her teeth, he also felt the rather displeased gaze of the red-haired noblewoman beside him.
Her hair color was similar to Eris's, she was Eris's mother. Her chest size... was comparable to Sophia's. It looked like she was carrying two giant papayas, bigger than Eris's head.
And she was wearing a rather revealing low-cut top, with almost everything above exposed. Anyone with less self-control would probably have been unable to look away.
But she clearly didn't like him... probably because he'd spanked her daughter.
Still, even though she matched his tastes quite well, at least in build, he had no interest in married women.
So Ash unconsciously reached out and patted Eris's head, feeling oddly optimistic about her future.
Though... he'd tried to be gentle for once, his hand was immediately pushed away.
———
At night, Ash stood alone in his guest room, leaning by the windowsill and observing a strange point of magical energy in the distance.
From afar, it looked like a small red energy sphere, but with two Saturn-like rings around it, quite interesting to look at.
"But the energy feels a bit off. It's almost like an originally flat space was grabbed and crumpled into a ball. And..."
Even so, looking at it from another angle, it was a bit like two continental plates squeezing each other too much, creating mountain ranges.
Because of spatial instability and abnormal magical accumulation and distortion, a dense energy sphere had formed out there. Add a little stimulation, and maybe there'd be a peculiar explosion?
And when continental plates squeeze, earthquakes happen... when space squeezes, there might be spatial tremors, or even the whole space shattering?
"I don't understand. Need to study this properly to figure out this strange phenomenon," Just as he was considering flying over, his room door was kicked open.
Without even looking back, he could see Eris standing at his doorway, arms crossed, legs spread wide, head tilted back in that arrogant pose. She pointed at him forcefully and yelled, "You liar! Fight me without using magic or swordsmanship!"
"Are your butt cheeks itching again?"
"From today on, I'm calling you Liar! I'll call you that for the rest of my life!"
"Don't you have any gratitude toward your benefactor?", Ash held his forehead, but Eris argued convincingly, "You promised to help me get revenge! And then you did nothing?"
"When did I promise to keep our agreement? Those are your words, aren't they? Now I'm giving them back to you."
"Ugh!", Ash's all-too-prepared attitude, waving his hand as if shooing away an annoying puppy, made Eris's little face turn red with anger, "Then I'll beg you, okay?"
"No. Is that how you beg someone? And before you beg, you should apologize for breaking your promise first."
"You remember this. I will never forgive you..."
The first and second formal apologies of her life, both had to be given to the same person. Eris crouched down with a sullen expression, lying flat on the floor, glaring at him with cold eyes while lifting up the hem of her shirt.
Only then did Ash nod in satisfaction, crouching beside her and gently stroking her belly with practiced ease, "The Boreas-style apology, I've suddenly grown to like it~ And even though your personality is awful, you do have some redeeming qualities."
"Shut up! That's enough!"
"Your attitude's not great. And I haven't spanked you yet."
"You already spanked me in the stable earlier, didn't you?", Eris's eyes widened like saucers, looking like she was about to bite someone again.
"Fine, fine. I'll count that as done for now...", Since he had other mischief in mind, Ash simply smiled and contented himself with enjoying the feel of the girl's belly for the time being...
Nothing too special about it, just soft and smooth, but there was this odd sense of having tamed a beast... which it definitely was.
[🎉 Shoutout to Cash for joining p@treon. Consider joining to keep the stories going. Thank you very much.🤗]