Chapter 427: Milk Storage

Of course, as loud and joyful as the party was, it eventually had to end.

By midnight, the great bonfire had dwindled to glowing embers, and the lanterns that had illuminated the celebration were being carefully extinguished one by one. The elders, who had danced and laughed and drunk with abandon, were now being supported back to their homes.

But this time, it wasn’t because their legs had failed them. It was because they were absolutely, completely, utterly drunk.

"Let me go!" One elder protested, attempting to push away her granddaughter’s supporting arm. "I can walk on my own! I’ve been walking all night! I don’t need your help!"

"Grandmother, you’re swaying like a reed in a storm—"

"Nonsense! I’m perfectly stable! Watch this!"

She attempted to demonstrate her stability by taking several confident steps...and immediately stumbled into a bush.

"I meant to do that!" She declared with as much dignity as she could muster from within the foliage.

Similar scenes played out across the village as elders who had spent years confined to their homes, unable to walk without assistance, were now stubbornly refusing help as they celebrated their newfound mobility.

Even in their inebriated state, they wanted to prove that they were truly back.

But eventually, the last of the revelers made their way home. The village fell quiet, the only sounds the gentle whisper of wind through the grass and the distant song of night insects

And for the first time in a very long while, every centaur went to sleep with a genuine smile on her face, looking forward to tomorrow with something that felt almost like hope.

—

A little distance from the village, in a quiet hilly area where the grass grew soft and the stars seemed close enough to touch, Sigrid lay upon the ground.

Her equine body was stretched out fully, lying on its side in the way a horse might rest when completely at ease. Her legs were folded beneath her and her silver tail curled loosely around her form, as she gazed down at the sight beside her.

Luca was leaning against her body.

His back was pressed against the curve of her equine half, his head resting near her flank, his legs stretched out before him as he stared up at the star-filled sky.

The Sigrid of the past would never have allowed such a thing.

The lower portions of a centaur’s body were deeply private—sensitive in ways that went beyond mere physical sensation. To touch them without permission was akin to the gravest violation.

She had never let any man, rest against her in such an intimate manner.

And yet here he was, his warmth seeping through her fur, and she didn’t mind at all.

This realization surprised even her.

’How had he gotten so close, so quickly?’

It seemed impossible. Just days ago, she had been mortified by his presence on her back, furious at the indignity of carrying a human. And now?

Now she was lying beside him under the stars, letting him use her body as a resting post, and feeling nothing but a quiet contentment.

’It’s impossible to resist him.’ She admitted to herself. ’As annoying and irritating as he can be, he’s equally magnetic. Kind. Helpful. The kind of person you can trust with your life.’

So she let him settle, and they talked late into the night.

"The terrain here is completely different from the elf village."

Luca gazed out at the rolling hills, his eyes tracing the gentle curves of the landscape.

"Back there, it was all massive trees and flat ground—a forest, really. But here..." He spread his arms, gesturing at the hills that stretched in every direction. "It’s all rolling grasslands. Hilly. Open."

Sigrid followed his gaze, her eyes soft with affection for her homeland.

"That’s simply how it is across the continent. Every territory has its own landscape. The elf village has its tall trees. The centaur lands have these grassy highlands. If you traveled to the southern reaches of the Lamias, you’d find deserts—vast expanses of sand and dry stone."

She paused, watching his expression.

"The merfolk live in lands where water and earth blend together, half-submerged. The dragons nest high in mountain peaks where no one else can reach. And the salamanders..."

She shuddered slightly.

"The salamanders live in places of extreme heat. Volcanoes. Rivers of lava. Places where most races would perish just from the temperature alone."

Luca nodded slowly, absorbing this information.

"And the climate? Is it the same everywhere?"

"Not at all." Sigrid shifted, finding a more comfortable position. "Each territory has its own climate. It could be raining in one place while the sun shines in another. Windy here, calm there."

She pointed downward, then circled her finger to indicate the village.

"The centaur lands have mild weather, a balance of sun and rain. But the slime territories, just a few days’ travel from here, experience constant rainfall. Torrential downpours that last for weeks."

Luca frowned as he turned to look at her.

"That doesn’t make sense. How can the climate change so dramatically between territories that are so close together? You can’t just...magically shift from one weather pattern to another."

Sigrid chuckled, the sound warm and melodic.

"You said it yourself, Sir Luca. Magic. This isn’t your world. Mana may be diminished, but it still exists here. It still shapes the land, the weather, the very fabric of reality. Some things simply don’t follow the logic you’re used to." She looked at him with a gentle smile. "You just have to accept it."

Luca considered this, then nodded.

"I suppose you’re right. There are some things in this world that I’ll never fully understand." He glanced at her, his expression warm. "But I can accept that. Especially when it means I get to lie next to a beautiful centaur, watching the stars."

Sigrid’s cheeks flushed, but she didn’t look away.

"Which do you prefer?" She suddenly asked, her tone carrying a hint of challenge. "The elf village or the centaur lands? The forests or the highlands?"

It was a loaded question, and she watched him carefully, curious to see how he would answer.

But Luca simply glanced back at her, a knowing glint in his eyes.

"I’m not falling for that, Sigrid."

"Falling for what?" She blinked innocently. "I was only asking a simple question."

"Right. A ’simple’ question that has no wrong answers." He rolled his eyes. "It’s like having two wives and being asked which one you love more. Answer one way, and the other gets jealous. Answer the other way, and you’ve insulted the first."

"...There’s no winning!"

He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I’ve been alive for a very long time. I know exactly how to handle these sorts of questions. So no—I don’t have a general preference." He paused, then added: "But I will say that your homeland is beautiful. It makes me want to run through the fields all day, feeling the wind against my face."

Sigrid clicked her tongue, but she was smiling. "Smart man."

"I have to be. Otherwise, the entire elf village would be in chaos from my missteps." He sighed dramatically. "You have no idea how difficult it is to manage a harem. So many wives, all wanting attention, all needing to feel loved. It’s exhausting."

Sigrid’s smile turned into a scowl, and she lashed him lightly with her tail.

"You poor, suffering man~ However do you manage?"

Luca glanced at her here before they both laughed, the sound carrying across the quiet hills.

Sigrid leaned back, letting her body relax fully for the first time in what felt like years.

The problems that had weighed on her like the males, the challenge, the safety of her village hadn’t disappeared.

But tonight, under these stars, they felt distant. Manageable.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had simply...rested. Simply watched the sky and felt the grass beneath her and existed in a moment without carrying the weight of command on her shoulders.

She was about to thank him for that and everything when a prickle of awareness ran down her spine.

She looked down.

"?!?!"

Luca was staring at her. Not at her face.

At her chest!

His gaze was fixed on the generous swell of her breasts where they pressed against the fabric of her dress, and the intensity of his stare was such that she could almost feel it as a physical sensation.

She shifted slightly, and his eyes tracked the movement with the precision of a hawk watching a field mouse.

She shifted the other way. His gaze followed. She could practically see his pupils dilating.

"S-Sir Luca." Her voice came out higher than she intended. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Hm?" He didn’t look up.

"You’re staring."

"Am I?"

"At my chest."

There was a pause. Then: "I might be."

"Is this...is this some sort of human condition? Do your emotions run wild when the moon is out? Are you about to transform into some kind of creature?"

Luca finally tore his gaze away, looking almost offended. "I am not a werewolf, Sigrid."

"Then what—"

"I’m just wondering." He leaned closer, and his eyes had taken on that mischievous glint that she had learned to recognize and fear. "Do you think you have breast milk in there?"

The question was so unexpected, so utterly absurd, that Sigrid’s brain simply stopped working for a full three seconds.

When it rebooted, the only response she could manage was:

"WHAT?!"

"It’s a valid scientific inquiry." Luca’s voice was infuriatingly calm. "Think about it. Earlier today, you drank my wife’s breast milk—"

"YOU tricked me into drinking it!"

"—and I was just wondering if maybe, just maybe, the milk didn’t go straight to your stomach. Maybe there was some sort of...transfer. Some kind of resonance. The milk energy flowing up through your body and settling right—" He gestured vaguely at her chest— "there."

"That is—that’s not—" Sigrid sputtered. "That’s not how biology WORKS! You know that’s not how it works! You’re much smarter than this! Milk doesn’t just magically teleport from your stomach to your chest! That’s completely ridiculous!"

"So you’re saying you don’t have breast milk?"

"I’m saying the entire premise of your question is nonsense!"

"But you can’t prove it."

"I—what?"

"You can’t prove that you don’t have breast milk. There’s no definitive evidence either way. As a man of science—"

"You are not a man of science!"

"—I believe in verification. We should check. For research purposes."

"Sir Luca!" She pulled back, her heart racing. The thought of him touching her there, cupping her, examining her...

A shiver ran down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

"I may be a warrior." She said, her voice strained. "But I am also a lady. And such things...such things are not done before marriage."

"What if I marry you?" Luca’s eyebrow rose. "Would it be allowed them?"

The words hit Sigrid like a thunderbolt. Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

Marriage?! He was talking about MARRIAGE?! Was he serious?! He couldn’t be serious—this was Luca, he was never serious about anything.

But the way he was looking at her, that intense gaze beneath the playfulness...

"No!" She finally managed. "Don’t twist my words! That’s not—I never said—you can’t just—"

But even as she protested, a treacherous little voice in the back of her mind whispered: ’What if he did marry you? What would that be like? Would you let him then?’

’...STOP IT, SIGRID! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!’

She shook her head violently, as if she could physically dislodge the thoughts.

Luca was a playboy. A man who had an entire village of elven wives and who could probably seduce a rock if he put his mind to it.

She was the commander of the Galloping Brigade. She had a reputation to uphold. She could NOT fall for his tricks!

She straightened her spine, summoning every ounce of her commander’s dignity.

"I know what you’re doing." She said, her voice firmer now. "You’re trying to fluster me. It won’t work. I am not some naive maiden who can be swayed by a handsome face and clever words."

"Handsome face?"

"Ah that—!" She realised she misspoke.

"You think I’m handsome?"

"I think you’re INFURIATING!"

Luca just chuckled before finally asking,

"So...you’re absolute in your defense?"

"I am unbreakable." Sigrid declared proudly.

"But what..." Luca suddenly asked. "...if you don’t have any other choice and have to show me your hidden treasures no matter what?"