“Don’t you think we should just send someone strong to that place…? Is my presence needed…? Hey, is your Nekomancy (Catmancy) working…? I thought you’re going to summon some of your Generals…? Hey, don’t ignore me.” Colt was getting irritated by being ignored by the little fat cat.

“Nya?”

Only when he raised his voice did the cat notice him…but, he couldn’t stay angry for it held a shield Colt couldn’t go against.

“What was that, Father? Is there a problem?” The shield that is Filla asked.

"No my dear, sorry about that."

Fluff looked over at Colt while having its belly rubbed by Filla and Lyra. They were at one of the training grounds watching Hylda train in the way of the spear from Shickly and Liron.

Filla on the other hand, was on belly rubbing duty while reviewing the important points of magic and mages she got from Mina. Although Filla was having a hard time adjusting to Mina being her Mother. Filla still looks up to her when it comes to magic.

She was the greatest Mage Filla met in this life.

“Mina, can I…” Colt tried talking to Mina, who was busily teaching Filla, but all she got was a snort and then was ignored.

“Hmph!” Mina pouted before returning to the lesson.

Colt looked at Mina, who avoided his gaze. Mina was ignoring him, and he found it kind of hurtful. It had been two days, and he had been trying his best to woo her. But nothing seems to work. She even stopped sleeping at Colt’s room.

‘I can’t blame her. I asked her to postpone the marriage after all.’ All of it started the day after he asked Mina to suspend the marriage.

At first, she was cool about postponing the marriage, but the very next day, she stopped talking to Colt and even exchanging gazes with him.

Colt had already talked to his parents about him leaving. The Marquis was disappointed, but after hearing his reason of, “Needing to find an appropriate gift for a “Bride Token” and make the nobles shut their mouths.”

That was enough for everyone to give Colt a green light and let him head out. The Bride Token is an essential culture in not only the Kingdom but also the continent.

It started when the three Goddesses descended from the heavens and chose an Apostle. The Apostle was tasked with saving the world and was given Three Blessings.

The Blessing of Light: The Blessing of Darkness: and The Blessing of Origin.

The Three Blessings however, came at a price. In exchange for power, the Apostle would ascend to heaven, and there she will stay with the Goddesses.

When the Apostle finished her tasked, she was ready to ascend. But, along her journey, she fell in love with a companion. They were fated to separate. But the man pleaded for her to stay.

The Apostle was touched, and her love for him was reaffirmed.

The Goddesses took pity in them. But because the Apostle is like their child to them, the Goddesses asked for a suitable exchange so they can marry each other.

The man did what he was told and gathered many treasures and presented them to the Goddesses. From this point on, depending on the region and culture the legend changes.

Some say the hero presented the Goddesses the most precious of gems. Others claim that it was pure love.

“I say they were offered food.” This is Colt’s opinion.

Long story short, that legend became acknowledged as a religious belief after the ladies found it romantic. With that, the culture of Bride Token was born.

To marry a girl, one would need to offer something in return. Commoners also practice this, but they follow the “Pure Love” kind of mindset to save money.

As for nobility, they must see something precious, or else the bride will get looked down upon. His Father Shickly offered victory in a war.

It was said he took a thousand head and offered it to Faerith, who laughed at the sight of a bloodbath…this is one of the few reasons why they are feared.

‘Welp, I just need to find something perfect to make it up for my action. Sigh, I don’t want to go there, but I must, getting that treasure would be pretty hard at the moment.’

Colt sighed at his position. According to the cat, the egg will only surface when he, Colt, appears in person. If he doesn’t go, then the egg will hibernate for ten years…which was pretty shitty considering a war can happen at any moment now that the butterfly effect had been unleashed.

Colt looked at Mina and was once again ignored, he was saddened by this development, but at least she wasn’t pissed enough to kill him.

‘Best to leave it alone for now.’ Colt could only accept the situation as is; he was left without an option for reconciliation and then went to make necessary preparations.

Fluff followed Colt as it felt something was up. It got up and ran towards Colt. It left Filla and Mina behind.

Mina watched Colt leave and then felt her heart in pain. She pouted as stared at Colt's back with a hint craziness on her eyes, 'Darling, I...'

Fluff hopped onto Colt’s shoulder and then said, “Myaaaa.”

“It’s here? Finally, good news.”

Colt left for the front gate; there, he awaited the arrival of a mysterious being. He arrived at the front entrance where two guards kept watch and stood there for hours, stupefying everyone who saw him.

They asked him what’s wrong, and all he said was, “I am waiting for something to come.”

So, Colt stayed there for hours until 2:00 pm, and a cat walked out from the crowd and reached the gates.

It was two cats with fluffy red fur. It looked like a leaving ball of flame.

The guards saw the cats wanting to enter the manor and tried shooing them away, but Colt stopped them, “That’s the one I’ve been waiting.”

The guards found this weird but didn’t question his intentions. But the guards and the nearby servants found it exciting and observed what was going on from the corner of their eyes.

One of the cats stopped in front of the Young Master and released a single, “Meow.”

Colt creased his brows and nodded his head, as he answered, “That’s good, thank you for coming here when you are training.”

“Nyaa.”

Colt looked at Fluff and snickered, “It’s for the Lord they say, heh, what a joke.”

Pah!

He was secretly slapped on the back his head by the cat on his shoulder…Colt ignored Fluff.

“The Fire Generals have been working hard. Thank you for your hard work. You may leave now.”

The cats bowed to Colt and left the premises.

His brows met each other for the reports of the cats was simply something he feared.

‘The Valley of Death is being overrun with undead…it seems like this is not going to be easy.’

Fluff’s catnection is very useful, for he can give out orders to his ten vassals wherever he was. Though it was one-way communication, and the cats would need to come back to him to make a report, it was still useful.

The two red cats called the Fire Generals were ordered by Fluff to head East and see if anything bizarre is going on. Colt remembered one of the two remaining events that he had yet to encounter in the timeline.

One of these events concerns a villain, and the other is something pertaining to one of the heroes.

The Valley of Death is a focal point in the creation of one Major Villain, and it appears that Colt’s suspicions had been cleared.

‘The cats said there’s an outbreak of the undead…this event was mentioned once in the novel. There was a time when the Valley of Death was overrun with the undead, and an invasion almost happened.

‘But then, the undead was suppressed and later at that timeline, one particular name surfaced, Avern the Necromancer. This incident was supposed to be one of the few reasons why Avern became so strong.

‘By absorbing the energy of the dead, he enhanced his Dark Magic and became stronger than anyone could predict. The hero first met Avern when he was going through the Valley of Death as he was headed for the Genesis Family territory. By then, the reason why the two fought was that Avern tried taking his soul and turn him into a puppet like the others who came before him.

‘But now, Avern should still be in the capital city. No one is there to suppress the rising of the undead, and I don’t think going there is safe. Hmm, should I call Avern on this one? He owes me one anyway...no, he’s not the same person in the novel; there shouldn’t be any reason why he should go there?’

Colt asked himself but immediately left, leaving a stunned audience behind.

The servants saw this exchange between human and animal that it made their jaws slack.

‘What the hell did we just witness?’ Is what they all thought.

That night, Colt ate dinner with his family and told everyone about his plans to leave for the Valley of Death. He didn’t tell them about the rising of the undead, but he did ask for Neun to come with him for protection.

The Count agreed. Colt felt a little relieved about this fact. Colt sighed and then, trained for some time and decided to rest after collapsing once.

He has a big day tomorrow.

He entered his room and then closed the door. The room was not lit, the light was off, but it didn’t matter for Colt only wanted to rest by now.

Clack!

The room closed behind him, and he unsteadily walked over to his bed. However, what he didn’t notice was a pair of glowing pupils inching closer from behind.

Two arms came from behind and grabbed Colt.

“Hiiiiiii!”

He wanted to scream, but a hand covered his mouth. He tried escaping but was instead pushed down on the bed.

‘Who’s there!? An assassin!?’ Colt’s mind was racing. His heart was beating like crazy, and he was even praying to the three Goddesses to send some divine intervention to save him.

While in a state of mixed fear and anxiousness, he was flipped over, and there he saw a pair of glowing pink eyes.

It was Mina whose face was flushed because of unknown reasons.

Mina let go of Colt’s mouth and mounted his body. She held both of Colt’s hands and locked eyes with him.

Colt was shaking in fear. Retaliation was possible, but he didn’t dare to as it might become a reason for something to happen to the child she was carrying.

So, with the gentlest voice he could, he asked, “Why are you doing this, Dear?”

But Mina didn’t give him the answer that he wanted.

She leaned forward and began penetrating Colt’s mouth with her mouth. A deep and torrid kiss was exchanged between the two as Mina didn’t let up for at least five minutes.

As Mina finally left Colt, her eyes finally regained a sane light as she spoke.

“I-I am very sorry Darling…but you see, it has been a veryyyy long time since we had this much skinship. I know that we can’t risk anything since I am pregnant, but you have not given me even a single kiss…I thought I could last until I give birth by making do and simply stare at you all day. But after I realized I wouldn’t be able to see you for a long time, my body began to shake and hot…so, at least for tonight, let me stay by your side to settle my heart so that I shall last for the next months without being able to have a single gaze of your visage.”

Mina leaned forward and once again delivered Colt a kiss.

Finally, Colt understood why Mina was acting in such a manner for the last few days. She was not angry. She was simply horny.

That night, there was no sexual intercourse that happened…however; it was a restless night nonetheless.