Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi

Chapter 116: A Midwinter’s Ghost Story

–Aegir POV–

I sit on the sofa and relax as I listen here and there to Adolph’s report while giving my approval. I don’t remember much of what he said already, but I just have to ask Celia if I need to know. As I lay around leisurely, it became night before I knew it.

「Geez......as a noble, your territory is the most important, you know? It’s dangerous if you always let your subordinates handle everything.」

「Even if you tell me that, I don’t know what is the right or wrong thing to do. It’s fine to leave it to you.」

As I lean back, Nonna gives me a lap pillow. Like the time when I was playing around with Celia by touching her face, my face is being touched, but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable being touched by Nonna’s smooth fingers.

「It’s not good to leave everything to that person. That person gets in the way when I want to buy something.」

「That’s because you overdo things.」

「Ouch!?」

I flick Nonna’s forehead with a finger. She’s helpless even when it comes to just a little bit of decoration or silverware. She really spends a lot when she wastes money. That theatre is also too big for traveling entertainers to perform in.

「Muuu!」

Nonna rests her boobs on my face as a retaliation. It feels great, but because of their incredible volume, I can’t really breathe. It would be regrettable to push her away, but I still have the promise with Lucy so I can’t let myself be suffocated by breasts. What should I do......?

「Heey......is it a good time?」

This voice, it’s Carla’s.

「What do you want?」

「I need Aegir, but I can’t see his face when your monster tits are covering him.」

Aah, that supreme feeling is going away.

「The midwife said it. It seems Maria is close to going into labor.」

Aah, is that so? Maria’s close to giving birth to her kid and Mel is also going to have her fifth child. The women in the separate building should be giving birth altogether a little past spring too. I did impregnate all 20 of them together after all.

「......」

Nonna is quiet. Whenever this topic comes up, she’s usually always making a fuss out of jealousy or pulling me to bed to ask me for my seed though.

「Well, it is a boon......I’ll eventually get one too.」

She’s strangely quiet and it creeps me out. I wonder if something happened.

I was about to get up and ask her, but the door opens with a clang. The one who appears is Yoguri......although she usually doesn’t come out of her room besides meal times.

There are two entrances to the living room. If she came in through the side where the entrance is, it means she’s been outside all this time? How rare.

「-gh!?」

But Yoguri doesn’t even say anything to us and hurries pass the room and runs straight towards the door leading to her own room.

「What is that!? She didn’t even say hello to my husband!!」

Nonna becomes furious, and I also thought that what happened just now was pretty bad.

「Yoguri? What happened to your face?」

Carla quickly chases after Yoguri and grabs her arm. As expected, she’s quite agile.

「Let go! It’s nothing!」

「What do you mean nothing, it’s swelling up......」

「Like I said-!」「Let me see.」

I grab Yoguri and hold her face still. Her area of her face from her cheek to her jaw is swollen. The wound itself is nothing but a common bruise, she seems to be breathing frequently and her bones seem fine. If it was one of my soldiers, I would have just told them to drink some water.

But when it’s a woman, it becomes completely different.

「Did you get hit? By who?」

「............」

Yoguri looks downward and doesn’t answer.

「It’s probably that piece of trash, that guy named Hannes.」

「T-that’s......」

I see, so it’s Hannes? It’s a bit of a hassle to search for him based on name alone. I carry my Dual Crater on my shoulder and get ready to go out.

「Wait! Are you going to kill Hannes!?」

I still don’t know whether he’s going to die or not. I’m just going to slash his neck and cut off his hands.

Yoguri, who’s trying to stop me, is caught and is sat on the sofa. Rita quickly brings a towel chilled with cold water and rests it on her face.

「Then, you’re going to explain what happened. If you don’t say anything, I’ll have to think about it after cutting him up.」

「......I understand.」

The story was simple. Yoguri was supporting that man named Hannes using her own allowance. She told him to use it to buy writing paper and pens, but she probably guessed that no decent books were being finished.

And when she told him ‘I won’t be giving you any more money but I’ll be cheering you on’, the man got upset, told her to bring him money somehow, and beat Yoguri as a result of an argument.

In the end, she found out during that argument the man had no intention of writing a story and used up all the money on alcohol and playing around.

「Good grief......wasn’t that obvious? You’re so stupid.」

「Why did you get tricked by that no-good man, when Aegir-sama is around?」

Carla and Nonna mercilessly rebuke her, while Yoguri cries as she cools her cheek. Maybe she also got a cut in her mouth because the way she’s speaking is awkward.

「Well......Well, everyone was mocking me......and Hannes was the only one who understood me......Uuuuu......」

「Don’t blame the injured person anymore. She’s probably the most aware of it herself.」

When I stroke Yoguri’s head, she falls onto my thigh and sobs loudly. She was raised in the rural area so it’s easy to fool her with sweet words.

「Haah......you’re really too kind when it comes to girls.」

「That’s right. She wasted the money that my husband gave her......」

「You have no right to say that.」

「Why not!?」

I leave Nonna and Carla, who have begun to argue, and call Rita over to take care of Yoguri, who has fallen asleep while crying.

「Take her to the doctor to check on it just in case, and make sure the wound doesn’t last, since it’s on her face.」

「Alright......are you going out?」

「Yeah.」

I said it would be finished without me judging if Yoguri was simply tricked and abandoned, but since she got hit, that’s not going to happen. I won’t kill him, but he’ll get a suitable punishment.

But when I opened the door, I saw something unexpected.

（Only taking the money and being abandoned, then also getting hit in the face.）

Casie is standing in front of the door, probably coming over because of she heard the fuss, but her expression is pallid......more like pure white, and the blacks in her eyes are disappearing. In addition, the remains of rope are appearing around her neck.

（Unforgivable, I can’t forgive a man who deceives a girl, unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable, aaaaaaaaah.）

「Hiiih!」「What the-!?」

I can hear the screams directly in my head. Nonna and the others are also surprised and stop arguing.

Casie, if anything, is warping her soft-looking face with her eyes rolled back and blood dripping from her mouth. She’s practically the embodiment of a vengeful ghost, who had lingering attachment to this world before dying.

（Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah）

Casie phases through the wall and heads to the city in that state. Her speed is incomparable to her usual speed. Maybe she’s going to where that man called Hannes is.

「I guess I can’t just leave her alone.」

At that rate, Casie might return to being a vengeful spirit again. I’ll have to retrieve her after the man gets his punishment.......

The usual stuffed bear Casie holds to make us aware of her presence was dropped at my feet.

「Uu......」

I tried picking it up, but something was transferred from her, and the simple, cheap-looking stuffed toy wriggles its entire body automatically while its eyes are spinning all around. It doesn’t seem like it’ll hurt me, but it honestly grosses me out and I don’t want to hold it.

「Nevertheless, there’s no other option than to chase after her.......Here, take this.」

I hand the stuffed toy to a maid I spotted in the hallway and leave.

「Are you leaving, Master? Ara, this is......gyaaaaaaah !!!」

As soon as I exited the entrance, I heard a terrifying scream from the maid.

–Third Person/Hannes POV–

At the same time, Rafen, Bar

「Only the cheap stuff today, Hannes? You’re quite broke, huh.」

Two men calls out from behind the man sitting at the counter and drinking his alcohol.

「Even though you’re always drinking happily while women are serving you.」

「......Shut it. The situation has changed a little.」

The two men sit on either side of Hannes and smile sarcastically.

「Hehe, so that woman you’re sponging off of finally got sick of you.」

「You ensure your luxurious spending based off the wallet of that woman after all.」

「I told you to shut up!!」

Hannes swings away the two men and stands up from his seat violently. He slams down some copper coins on the counter to pay for the bill and leaves the bar.

「Fuck......that woman told me she was going to happily give me the money too.」

The sun has already set completely and the only places with light in the city are brothels and bars. Since Hannes has no income, he has no money to spare for a prostitute.

「It was a mistake to hit her......as expected, I can’t string her along anymore.」

Although with that said, she was a convenient woman who provided money, so when she said it wasn’t possible for her anymore, it was rage-inducing.

「So she’s really the feudal lord’s woman......if so, then that’s not good, but she’s probably just a servant who he’s laid hands on only once or something.」

Moreover, even if she really was the feudal lord’s woman, she’ll have no place to say anything if it was found out that she willingly allowed other men to play with her. He would want the incident to be covered up no matter what.

「Aaaah, she’s dumb but had a nice body......I should have plunged into her more.」

Returning his own house, he violently swung his door open. The man was about to roll on the wooden floor and sleep but froze.

「Y-you......Yoguri?」

The girl stands in the center of the room, facing the opposite direction. She doesn’t reply to Hannes.

「I’m sorry about before. I apologize for hitting you! So, why don’t we write a book or something together again?」

The backward-facing girl does not so much as quiver.

「......the hell!? Don’t just keep quiet, say something......」

When the angry man places his hand on her shoulder, the girl slowly turns around.

The girl’s eyes are blank, as if her eyes are dead, her tongue hangs loosely from her mouth and there are clear traces of rope around her neck. The girl sticks her hands in front as she faces the speechless man.

（How dare you, how dare you abandon.）

「Hiiih!? W-why are you......hiiiiiih !!」

When the man’s legs give out and he falls, that thing slowly sways side to side and approaches him. It looks like it’s swaying, but if you look closer, its feet are not on the ground. The woman’s hand reaches out to the man’s face rather quickly compared to slow swaying movement......

「Uwaaaaaaah!!」

The man rolled outside by a hair’s breadth. His legs gave out and he was unable to stand so he’s escaping in an unsightly manner on all fours.

「Shittttt! –the hell is that?!! Don’t tell me, did Yoguri hang herself!?」

He connects the dots, thinking of what if that actually happened.

「Dammit, she went and died on her own and haunts me after I hit her only once?!」

He picks up a rock at his feet and throws it at her, but it just passes straight through her body. It doesn’t seem to be someone who can be cut or hit.

（Unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable.）

「Stop it!!」

As if brushing away the voice flowing directly into his head, Hannes manages to get up and run away. Even though it’s late in the evening, the nights in Rafen are not empty due to its remarkable development. Hannes seeks help from the people walking along the path, with people scattered here and there.

「Hey, hey you! Please help me, I’m being chased!!」

The person he clings to in tears is a large man, who appears to be a bodyguard of a bar.

「Huh? What?」

「Over there! The ghost of a woman is trying to kill me......」

The bodyguard glances over at where Hannes is pointing......to the area where the fluttering woman is approaching.

「Keh, is he drunk? Move it, you’re in the way.」

Then, he kicks Hannes away.

「Wh-why?! It’s there, an incredible looking woman!!」

「Don’t bullshit me! If I catch you pissing on the wall or something, I’ll kill you.」

The bodyguard doesn’t listen to anything further.

「Can you not see it......?」

Maybe this is all a hallucination.

（I will absolutely not forgive you, I’ll kill you.）

The face full of grudge fills his head.

「There’s no way it’s an illusion at allll!!」

He seeks for help from several people after as well.

「What’s wrong with him?」「Something’s loose in his head......let’s go.」

He wasn’t able to get anyone to help at all.

Hannes has no choice but to leave the main road and starts escaping down a poor, unobstructed alley. But as he tries to shake her off somehow, he runs into a dead-end. There are walls on three sides of him and it doesn’t look like it will be easy to climb over them.

「Crap......no, I might have shaken her off. With this many houses, there will be people living inside. It won’t be so easy for her to find me.」

（Fo-u-nd you.）

「Hiiih!」

The woman’s appearance cannot be seen yet, but he could definitely feel that she’s found him. She’s heading for him in a straight line. He puts his back against the wall and desperately strains his eyes on the path in front of him but he couldn’t see anything.

「Where......where......」

What he felt was a chill on his neck. Like a broken windmill, he slowly tilts his neck to look up......and he found the girl sticking her head out of the wall.

（Found you.）

「Uwaaaaaaah!!」

Hannes felt that it was the end of the line for him and crouches while holding his head. But the final moment doesn’t come. When he opens his eyes slightly, an unbelievable sight spreads out in front of him.

「Hey, settle down.」

At a glance, a young and strong-looking man uses one hand to catch the female ghost. The ghost struggles to get free but is unable to escape from his bare hands. The man can obviously see her and is having no trouble suppressing her.

「......I- I’m saved.」

A sigh that lasted about ten seconds escaped from Hannes’ mouth.

「I absolutely refuse to be hanged to death by this shitty girl.」

The strong-looking man in front seems to react to those words.

「She was the one chasing you, right?」

「Yeah, you saved me. How about a drink, I’ll treat-」「By the way.」

The man interrupts with a strong tone.

「What’s your name?」

Hannes felt that this man was quite the forceful guy, but after escaping death, he felt like he could forgive that.

「Me? I’m Hannes. By the way, you are......」

A tremendous force hits Hannes straight in the face and he loses consciousness without even understanding what happened.

–Aegir POV–

「Fumu, I guess that’s good enough. 」

The fist I swung at the man in front of me hit him square in the face and he flew back all the way to the wall. His nose is broken sideways and his front teeth have all shattered. I hit him like I swiped across his face so he won’t die at least. Considering the difference between a man and a woman, this much punishment should be sufficient.

I still have to deal with this one over here. After I punched out the man, I look at the struggling Casie, who was caught in my opposite hand.

（Kill, frustrating, revenge, hate.）

She’s completely become a rampaging vengeful ghost. She might return to normal if I kiss her, but her face looks really serious and since it’s aggravated her this much, I might need to do something more extreme.

「I guess I’ll try putting it in for now......」

Fortunately, there aren’t that many people walking around here. Because I was busy preparing, Casie escapes as soon as I loosen my grip, approaching Hannes and stretching out her hands.

Her translucent arms sink into Hannes’ head and the man’s entire body starts flapping wildly. He shouldn’t be conscious but he’s foaming at the mouth. Something obviously bad is happening.

「Alright, stop it already.」

I hold her from behind with two hands this time, binding her arms behind her back and pushing her against the wall. I’ll probably get turned off if I see her face, so I’ll just put it in from behind.

After that, I put my meat rod in the vengeful ghost spewing hatred and swing my hips without paying attention to what’s going on around us, all while Hannes is foaming at the mouth and twitching beside us.

At first, Casie was resisting a lot, but as her reason gradually comes back, she lets out sweet moans and starts moving her own ass.

I don’t particularly mind if people watch me while I’m having sex with a woman, but to the people who can’t see her, it looks like I have my dick out and I’m swinging my hips alone. I don’t want to become a pervert.

（That felt good. I’m sorry. When I saw that something horrible happened to Yoguri-san, I couldn’t really think straight anymore.）

「When it happens suddenly the next time, please stop it.」

（I apologize for turning this person’s head to mush.）

「It’s fine, he just wasn’t lucky.」

And so, Casie turned back to normal.

In addition, because her stuffed toy is now wiggling about endlessly, it was decided by the household members and servants that it felt too creepy, and should be placed in a box and buried outside the city.

According to Casie, it turned into a ball of resentment, and just having it close to us isn’t good. Now I just hope that nobody digs it up.

（If something bad happens to the girls, I’ll take care of it.）

Protagonist: Aegir Hardlett. 22 years old. Winter.

Status: Goldonia Kingdom Count. Great Feudal Lord of Eastern Area of Goldonia. King of the Mountains. Friend of the Dwarves.

Troops Commanded: Private Army – Escort Unit: 80, Others: still reorganizing

Assets: 8400 gold (labor -200) Loan: 20 000 gold

Weapons: Dual Crater (large sword), Dwarf’s Spear

Family: Nonna (wife), Carla (concubine), Mel (pregnant concubine), Melissa (lover), Maria (pregnant lover), Rita (head maid), Catherine (lover), Myla (lover), Leah (Self-declared Sex Slave), Yoguri (heartbroken), Casie (ghost), Sebastian (butler), Miti (lover), Alma, Kroll, Pipi (follower)

Children: Sue, Miu, Ekaterina (daughter), Antonio (son), Kuu, Ruu, Rose (foster)

Subordinates: Celia (adjutant), Irijina (commander), Luna (commander), Ruby (Luna’s follower and lover), Leopolt (staff officer), Adolph (domestic affairs official), Gido (escort), Claire & Laurie (official merchant), Schwartz (horse)

Sexual Partners: 99, children who have been born: 9