*PREVIOUS CHAPTER*
The knights were attacking the monster with the duke, they didn't stand a chance looking at how they tried. I felt helpless, only being able to look from a distance at how they fought.
***
Multiple knights and guards got wounded, I felt even worse. I could only stand back and heal their injuries, some of the guards even had been poisoned by the monster and would die if there was no jewel weed here.
As my thoughts made me feel worse and worse, my seal started to glow. Naralia appeared next to me as her seal glowed too. "Master, we should defeat the monster!" Naralia's seal gave a red glow. Fire appeared out of nowhere and it hit the monster. The monster turned to our side and ran to us, leaving the duke and the knights' side.
"Master use this! It's your spirit weapon" A beautiful sword appeared in my hands. It looked better than the sword I had, it looked forged with a lot of care.
The monster ran harder, it was a few meters away from us. I held the sword ready on my side. Just as the monster was a few steps away, I slashed the sword through it. The sword was glowing as it slashed through it. Naralia used her fire magic to burn the monster to ashes, leaving only a bone behind.
"Master, he left a bone! It's a spell ingredient" Naralia hopped on my shoulders. I gulped and gave her an awkward look.
"Let's just keep it there.... We should minimise our magic use" I gulped again. 'What if the duke hates me because I used magic? Does he think that I'm a witch?' My heart felt uncomfortable, I didn't want him to think bad of me.
I turned around and the duke was running to my side. I could feel it, the feeling of him telling me to go away. I looked down and was waiting for him to confront me.
I closed my eyes and heard the duke's pants coming closer. Before I knew it, I felt a warm presence around my body. The duke was hugging me.
'Does he always do this when telling people to go away?' My face had a questionable look and I opened my eyes. The duke looked worried.
"I'm so relieved that you aren't hurt.... You shouldn't confront monsters like that!" He spoke with his face buried in my neck. He didn't sound mad, you could hear his worried tone clearly.
I patted him on the back. "I'm fine, I should check if you're injured" I rested my chin on his shoulder, it felt really comfortable.
"Duchess, the guards are waiting for your treatment" A knight came running. The duke removed his head from my neck and turned around. He gave the knight a death glare for disturbing the mood. The knight looked panicked and quietly walked away, pretending to not have seen a thing.
"I think you owe me an explanation though, my wife" The duke was right and I told him everything about the day Naralia and I met, how we formed a contract and why I wanted books about magic. 'Telling him about myself might be a little too early' I thought to myself. I will tell him, at the right time.
***
We arrived at a town and settled at an inn. The town was awfully quiet and the people didn't seem nice either. There were no children playing on the streets and the adults were always in their houses.
The keeper of the inn was afraid when he saw us entering. After we paid for rooms, he led us to the eating place and let the cook prepare food.
The tables looked dusty, it wasn't properly cleaned. The place looked unused for a while, it also explained why the inn was so quiet. The knights also looked suspiciously at the place, they kept inspecting everything bit by bit.
Our food was served, it looked delicious and smelled great. My stomach was starving after that fighting and having to walk to this town. The knights had a poison detection stone with them and scanned everyone's food.
I noticed that a woman was talking to the innkeeper, they probably were husband and wife. The woman walked over to our table and gave us some drinks. I wanted to ask her some questions and stood up.
"I'm sorry madam, but why is this town so quiet? Everyone is inside, it's not good for their health" I probably triggered something since her eyes started to look away. Her hands were trembling and her mouth opened.
"You should leave before midnight, the boss will come at that time...." The woman stopped trembling and her husband walked over to us. He comforted his wife and sighed.
"The boss took all the town's children. He told us that they need to become his future army and fight against the royals" The duke stopped eating and looked the couple in their eyes.
"Where are the children now? And where did they send the girls to?" The duke looked furious and had a dark expression. The woman fell on the ground and broke down in tears.
"Please help us! He took our daughter and the other girls as slaves! He's a pervert and he uses them to relieve that filthy hobby of his!" My mouth fell wide open in shock and my heart felt like it got stabbed.