Law of Space and Time

Erwin was rather hesitant about this, and he offered no reply. He knew that she was looking out for him, but he didn't want to discuss "Laws of Time and Space" with anyone in detail. Even when speaking with Professor Hawk, he only revealed some of his insights and understanding of the book back when he first picked it up. This was perhaps an instinctive self-protective measure, or perhaps he already had a feeling that this was a lonely path that he had to walk alone. In fact, there was even a rather ridiculous thought in his mind, which was that keeping the book to himself was a necessary gesture of respect toward both the book and himself.

As the conversation between the two of them petered out into silence, the airship arrived in the sky above Xeto.

...

In the face of the airship that had saved the city, the soldiers and citizens of Xeto naturally welcomed it with open arms. There were city guardians waiting for the Four Winds mercenary legion in the barracks inside the city, while Xeto's residents were eager to show off their hospitality, waiting eagerly in the streets with the special fruits produced in Xeto, namely ruler bananas and scale melons. Of course, there was also the ice orange rum, which was produced in Burmen.

Finally, the airship made a safe landing in front of countless pairs of expectant eyes in Xeto. Everyone got off the airship with Onean leading the way, followed by Erwin and his three friends, then Lanyon and Sherry, who were leading the rest of the Four Winds mercenary legion.

Erwin wanted to bring Christine with them, but she refused the offer, stating that her father's injuries were still quite severe, and that she had to remain on the airship to look after him.

The mayor of Xeto approached them with a wide smile, and he was quite surprised to see that their leader was a woman, especially one that was so breathtakingly beautiful and regal. Thankfully, Chase was kind enough to inform him that the woman leading the Four Winds mercenary legion was none other than Princess Onean.

The mayor was completely rooted to the spot upon hearing this, and he was so shocked that he even forgot to salute the princess. He wasn't even expecting any reinforcements to be sent to Xeto as he had been informed by Prince Lazaar that he and the 5,000 troops in Xeto had to prepare to defend the city with their lives.

As soon as he caught sight of the airship bearing the golden lion's head flag from the top of the city wall, he was overcome by an irrepressible sense of excitement, and he swore to himself that if they could successfully defend the city, he was going to welcome everyone on the airship with open arms and show them the best hospitality the city was capable of offering.

Upon learning that it was the princess who was leading the reinforcements in person, he felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning. Goosebumps were raised all the way from his scalp to the soles of his feet, and tears instantly welled up in his eyes to blur his vision. He felt like he would be happy even if he were to drop dead this very instant.

If Erwin knew just how emotional the mayor had become, he'd most likely be inclined to explain to him the circumstances that had led up to this point. Firstly, he and Larwood had only come to rescue the city as they had overestimated their own powers and underestimated the Skycourt Kingdom's mercenaries. Secondly, the princess had essentially been tied up and abducted to this place, so she wasn't even here according to her own free will.

"Mayor of Xeto, Francis Hugh, pays his respects to Her Highness!" The mayor immediately fell to one knee in a respectful salute. All of the Burmen soldiers behind him were also rooted to the spot upon hearing this, following which they quickly returned to their senses and fell to their knees as well.

Of course, the citizens of the city also erupted into a raucous frenzy.

The princess has risked her life to rescue our city in person! We have been blessed by the utmost of honors! All of the citizens of the city were overcome with emotion as this thought arose in their minds.

"Thank you, Your Highness! Ballads of your heroic deeds will be sung for generations to come!"

All of the city's citizens erupted into raucous cheers as they rushed forward in an enthusiastic frenzy to try and offer the food and wine they were carrying to the princess.

Erwin made a discreet gesture toward Lanyon and Sherry, and the two of them immediately nodded in response before positioning themselves in front of the princess, acting as her bodyguards while accepting the offerings from the citizens of Xeto.

However, the city's citizens were extremely enthusiastic, and soon, there weren't enough hands to accept all of the offerings, so Erwin and the others had no choice but to join in as well.

Only upon attempting to lift his own arms did Erwin discover that he was unable to put any strength into the arm that had been wounded during the earlier battle. It was clear that this was quite a severe injury, but he was too embarrassed to show that he had been injured, and he didn't want to come across as cold and forbidding to the citizens of Xeto, so he could only grit his teeth and bear the pain. Thankfully, the offerings consisted mostly of things like fruits and wine, so they weren't too heavy.

Erwin and his friends looked at all of the food and wine that had been thrust into their arms, and they all felt a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

"What did I tell you? There's no way we could lose a battle with me leading the way," Larwood began to boast with a smug expression.

"What a load of nonsense! If Her Highness hadn't swooped in to save the day, we would all be dead already," Chase rebuked in a disgruntled voice.

"You know, we've all eaten bananas before, but I've never seen any bananas this big," Kaiba said as he began to size up a ruler banana that he was holding.

Erwin felt like Onean should've been very grateful to him. Without him here to accept all of these offerings in her stead, she would be forced to hold these huge bananas, and that would be a very interesting sight. With that in mind, Erwin couldn't help but wonder what it would look like for her to eat one of those bananas, and he almost burst out laughing at the comical mental image.

Onean just so happened to turn back around to look at him, and she naturally immediately realized what he was thinking upon seeing the sly smirk on his face. She made her way over to Erwin's side in an elegant manner, then pulled a scale melon out from the bundle of fruits that he was holding. Erwin didn't restrain himself in the slightest, continuing to look at Onean with the same sly grin.

"Have you ever had this before?" Onean asked with a smile.

Erwin took a glance at the fruit that she was holding. The entire fruit was completely encased in a layer of tight, dark red, scaly peel, making it impossible to see what the flesh was like inside. "I don't even know what this thing is..."

Onean carried the bottom of the scale melon with one hand, then spread open her other hand and gently brushed her fingers over the fruit's scaly peel. The outer layers of scales immediately fell away layer upon layer, revealing the delectable white flesh inside.

"So you've never eaten this before," Onean confirmed once again with a smile.

"No, but it looks..." Before Erwin had a chance to finish, Onean had plucked off a piece of the scale melon's flesh before stuffing it into his mouth in a scene that was rather reminiscent of how she had force-fed him that magic potion during the Pillow Sword Tournament.

Erwin began to chew on the fruit that had been stuffed into his mouth, and even though the exterior of the fruit had quite an intimidating appearance, its flesh was very sweet and juicy.

"Hey, this is not bad at all," Erwin said with a smile, then suddenly burped, and for some reason, smoke began to billow out of all of his orifices.

Larwood and the others were quite amused as they looked on from the side. White smoke was flowing out of every single hole on Erwin's head, giving him the appearance of a walking steam engine. Sherry and Lanyon didn't want to express their amusement at the expense of their deputy commander, but they were having a very hard time holding back their laughter.

"How do you feel?" Onean asked with a smug expression.

Erwin rolled his eyes to avoid the hot steam that was pouring out of his eye sockets, and with steam billowing out of his mouth as well, he asked, "Why do I feel so itchy? And it's not just itchiness in a particular place, I'm feeling itchy all over my entire body!"

Erwin hurriedly handed the fruits in his arms over to Onean, then began to inspect his own skin, albeit with great difficulty due to the steam that was obstructing his vision. As a result, he was given quite a fright by what he saw. As it turned out, small, dark red scales had already begun to grow out of his skin.

Larwood and the others were giggling uncontrollably at the sight of Erwin's transformation. They knew that Onean wouldn't actually feed him anything poisonous, so they weren't worried that any harm would befall him. Thus, they began to gather around Erwin to inspect the scales that had grown out of his body.

Onean looked on as Erwin gradually transformed into a monster whose entire body was covered in scales, feeling a sense of vindictive joy as she had finally managed to exact some vengeance on Erwin.

Meanwhile, Erwin was looking at his own scaly skin with a furious expression. The scales had torn through his magician's robe in many places, giving him a very comical and ragged appearance. However, the good news was that there was no longer any smoke coming out of his orifices, indicating that the fruit had most likely run its course in his systems. Immediately thereafter, he did something that had everyone in shock.

He suddenly lunged forward so that he was behind the princess, then wound his arms around her slender waist from behind. After that, he carefully rubbed the coarse scales on his own neck against the back of Onean's neck.

All of the soldiers and citizens of Xeto were completely astonished by what they were witnessing. They were all wondering who Erwin was and why he was able to be so intimate with the princess. Could it be that he was the princess's lover?

Meanwhile, Larwood and others could only shake their heads with resigned sighs. One could never predict what Erwin was going to do next.

"You may not believe this, but these scales are able to ward off spells. Isn't that interesting?" Erwin asked with a sly grin on his face.

To his surprise, Onean didn't retaliate with her magic. She knew that Erwin had completely exhausted his reserves of magic power, thereby leaving him completely vulnerable to attacks. Most importantly, for some reason, she suddenly thought of how Erwin had taken care of her along the way here, and even though he had taken advantage of her plenty of times under the guise of administering treatment, she was still very grateful for what he had done.

She didn't want to struggle free by force in fear of hurting him, but at the same time, she was feeling very embarrassed to be held like this in front of so many people. Right at this moment, Erwin inched his lips closer to her ear from behind, then whispered in an intimate manner, "Seeing as you're not resisting, I'll take that as a sign to do as I please."

Finally, Erwin's brazen actions were met with retaliation as Onean stomped down onto the back of his foot. Even though his foot was covered in scales, it was still certainly far from a pleasant experience to be stomped on by the thin and pointy heel of Onean's shoe.

Thus, all of the citizens and soldiers of Xeto were left with an unforgettable sight. A man whose entire body was covered in scales was holding the princess in a tight embrace, while the princess was holding onto an armful of fruit.

After that, the princess and her group were invited by the mayor into his manor to discuss a plan to protect the city. After all, there were still many Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries lurking outside the city, and they certainly weren't going to give up after just a single defeat.