Lord Summoner's Freedom Philosophy: Grimoire of Love

As the dinner was served, Mia served 8 additional portions of food, and Lyan secretly sent them to the great spirits residing inside the grimoire's space. He wanted to pay her for the food, but Mia insisted that there is no need for him to pay her.

The dinner went lively because of Nia retells the story of Lyan's battle in the goblin king's subjugation, but she then gets scolded by her mother because of leaving her food unattended and cold because of getting too excited from telling the story.

Mia and Lia knew about the goblin king's uprising near the border of the Astellia kingdom from the traveling merchants, but they didn't think that Lyan also participated greatly in the goblin king's subjugation and ended up listening to Nia's story with great interest.

After the dinner, everyone retired to their room to rest. Lia was the one who went to her room first due to the exhaustion because of the various events occurring in one day. While Nia infiltrated Lyan's room and ask for more stories before she finally return to her room after getting scolded by her mother.

Not long after the ruckus subsided, the beginning of the seasonal storm finally happened.

"Ah... It's really pouring. I guess deciding to stay here was a good call, after all," Lyan uttered as he stared at the outside from the big window. There was a medium-sized couch that was facing the big window which was a great spot to drink while gazing at the stars and the scenery. As he don't really feel sleepy yet, Lyan decided to stay awake and enjoy the peace there.

The rain is quite heavy, but the thing that stands out the most is the strong winds. The winds are strong enough that he could see the big trees in the distance getting bent by a powerful force. But since the house has a small fireplace, the inside of the house is rather warm and comfortable.

"I wonder if those three girls are okay... But they occasionally went to the Astellia kingdom and the other sides of the northern part of the central plains, so they should have known about the seasonal storm coming. But this storm might help their investigation as well since the slave dealers will need to take shelter and won't be moving in great mobility because of the storm," (Lyan)

Lyan left some of the acid and queen's workers and guards to assist the Valkyries in their search together with two goblin champion shadow servants from his side. Lyan wants to lend them some of the skeletons as well, but the spotting of the skeletons might bring more trouble than a benefit so he refrains from doing so.

(Goblins, huh... I guess I should have the acid ant queen to spread her workers to scout about goblins as well. The thing about the goblin shamans had been bothering me for a while now...) (Lyan)

Lyan tried to think about the bothering feeling he felt when he saw the corpse of the goblin shaman back then. He tried to avoid thinking about a certain topic, but it can't be helped. The image of the slavery cells once again appeared inside his mind.

(Slavery, huh...) (Lyan)

Even in the demon world, there are also some human bastards that would enslave the other humans. But most of the human enslavement that happened in the demon world back then was done by demons rather than humans.

So for Lyan, the thing about human enslavement was something that was done by the vile and evil demons. Looking at how humans enslaving other humans left quite a bad taste in him. He had already heard about the story of Belle and the others, and how the Valkyries searching for their master that might be enslaved as well. But looking directly and just hearing it was something different.

(Well. That's reality, I guess. Looks like I just got forced to understand how humans could get as evil as a demon) (Lyan)

"Well, not like a man that once left my humanity for power could say anything about that though..." Lyan scoffed self-mockingly to himself.

As Lyan was getting absorbed by his thoughts, suddenly a soft and melodious voice appeared from behind him.

"Um..." (Mia)

"Eh? Ah... Sorry, did I wake you up?" Lyan asked her as he shifted his gaze. She's using her nightgown while holding two cups filled with hot tea.

"Of course not. I can't sleep, and I saw that you seem to be having difficulties in sleeping as well. Do you like some tea, Lyan?" Mia replied with a gentle smile as she handed one of her cups.

(I didn't sense her at all. And I didn't even hear her making the tea in the kitchen. Did I get too absorbed in my thoughts and lowered my guard down?) (Lyan)

"Yes please," Lyan took the cup and took a sip. The tea has an appropriate amount of sweetness and bitterness, while the herbal scent gives a soothing sensation and restores energy to the body. Just by taking a single sip, Lyan felt his body getting warmer because of it.

*Slurp!*

Mia took a sip after sitting next to Lyan.

(But sure... No wonder the bandits aimed for the mother and daughter... She has such an alluring body, after all...) (Lyan)

She's wearing an old knitted night gown that compliments the great curves of her body. She has a rather big size of breasts, a wide hips, a plump-looking ass, and a thick thighs. It was such an erotic body, that if combined with her beautiful youthful face and her gorgeous coffee-brown hair, she could be considered as irresistible by most of the men.

"About Nia, sorry for having her troubling you so much. I hope you're not irritated with her clinginess," (Mia)

"It's fine. Getting clung by such a cute little girl is an honor for any people," Lyan shrugs as he let out a chuckle.

"Nia... She doesn't really have much opportunity to converse and play with people openly because of my bad reputation in the village. She doesn't even really have a friend of the same age around her inside the village. So she was very happy to meet you, Lyan," (Mia)

Lyan remembered about how the village guard called Mia 'The cursed one' and treated her harshly. Not only she, but her children must have gotten the same kind of treatment as well. Especially for children that rely greatly upon their parents, the children around Nia's age must have heard about Mia and ostracized her because of it.

"Were there no other guests that have ever lodged here before me?" (Lyan)

"There's none. It's dangerous to have someone, especially a man to lodge in a house filled with only women, after all," (Mia)

"You're right. It would be dangerous, huh..." (Lyan)

Noticing the mood getting darker around Mia, Lyan skillfully shifted and drag the conversation to different topics. He asked about the village's economy, about the lord, about the rumors of the kingdom's state, and about the seasonal farming of the land.

As the conversation flows, private pieces of information started to flow out as well.

"As you know, I'm 34, and Lia is already 17. For a villager girl, 16 years old is a common age to marry, but it's still considered early. As I was so naive and filled with flowery imagination of marriage, I easily fell in love with a neighboring man that family has a land next to ours, and married," (Mia)

"From the beginning, it was only me tending him. I served him in every aspect and gave him everything, thinking that it was the duty of a wife. But as time goes on, his attitude keeps on getting worse, and it reached the highest point when Lia was born," (Mia)

"I heard from the neighbors and from my friends that he was cheating left and right, and I realized that I had got married to a scumbag. It's already late to realize, but I have a lovely daughter to take care of, so I can't have him using our money for cheating and gambling. So I force ourselves to separate," Mia gulped down the tea and looked down.

"After 9 years of peace without having him in my life, I calmed down and think back. Maybe I was too hasty in making decisions, maybe I didn't discuss things enough with him, and certain regret and longing started to appear. And together with that feeling, he suddenly appeared in the house with a neater look than before," (Mia)

"That was the beginning of the day I started to get called 'The Cursed One' by the whole village," (Mia)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1)

Grimoire's Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army