Chapter 410: I’ll Protect Him No Matter What
But he recovered quickly. His eyes took on the gleam of a man about to play his trump card.
"I didn’t harm you." He said smoothly. "In fact, I did you a FAVOR."
Riley’s jaw dropped. "A FAVOR?!"
"Think about it." Luca stepped forward, and his voice dropped into something gentler, almost thoughtful.
"When you drank that milk, what did you feel? Warmth. Comfort. A sense of...nostalgia."
He looked at each of them in turn.
"You were transported back to when you were very small. When all you had to do was sleep, and drink your mother’s milk, and play, and repeat."
"No responsibilities. No burdens. Just warmth and love and safety."
The courtyard had gone quiet again. A different kind of quiet this time.
"I gave you a few minutes of that feeling back." Luca said. "A taste of childhood. A reminder of what it felt like to be completely, utterly cared for."
He spread his hands. "If that’s not a favor, I don’t know what is."
And the truly infuriating thing, the thing that made Riley want to scream was that he was right!
Every single one of them had felt it. That inexplicable warmth. That sense of comfort.
Their bodies had recognized what they were drinking long before their minds caught up, and they had responded with pure, animal contentment.
Luca’s words were technically correct.
But there was absolutely no way they were going to accept that.
"Damn it!" Riley snarled. "I’m not letting you off that easily, Hero!"
She took a step forward, her eyes blazing.
"Yesterday, you defeated me in a proper duel, and I accepted that completely. But this—" She gestured furiously at her cup, at her lips, at the evidence of her shame. "—what you did just now is completely unacceptable. I’ll definitely beat you up to vent my rage!"
The other centaurs immediately followed her lead, drawing their swords with a series of metallic shings that rang through the courtyard.
"We’ll get our revenge, Hero! Don’t you dare try to run away!"
"I understand why the children call you Evil Hero now! You truly are evil!"
"Let’s make him drink the breast milk instead!"
There was a pause.
"He’d probably enjoy it, though."
"He absolutely would! Look at that face! That’s the face of a man who drinks his wife’s breast milk on a regular basis and feels no shame!"
"He’s a pervert! An evil, milk-peddling pervert!"
The herd of enraged centaurs began advancing toward Luca, their swords gleaming in the afternoon light.
They were going to attack him from all sides to vent every ounce of their frustration and humiliation on the one who had caused it.
The children, naturally, were watching from the sidelines with expressions of pure entertainment.
"Finally!" Nella cheered. "Fighting! REAL fighting! Get him, Big Sis Riley!"
"Aim for his knees!"
"No, aim for his—actually, just aim for whatever! This is so EXCITING!"
Luca tensed, mentally calculating his options.
His powers were neutralized by the divine restrictions—the centaurs were technically "facing" him with swords drawn, which meant he was operating at mortal strength.
He couldn’t simply portal away without it being considered an escape. And he wasn’t particularly in the mood for fighting right now.
But before he could formulate a plan—
A shadow fell over him.
Luca blinked in surprise.
It was Sigrid!
She had stepped directly in front of him, her powerful body creating a barrier between him and the approaching mob.
Her posture was protective as though she had claimed him as someone worth shielding from harm.
"Commander?" Riley’s sword wavered. "What are you doing?"
"Get out of the way, Commander! We’re going to beat him up!"
"We’re going to hang him in front of Lady Poppy’s castle!"
"We’re going to make him write a formal apology for the milk thing! We’ll even use the breast milk as ink!"
But Sigrid shook her head. "I’m sorry, Riley. I can’t allow you to harm Sir Luca."
Riley’s jaw dropped. "What? Why?!"
"He tricked us into drinking breast milk!" Another centaur shouted. "That’s beyond outrageous! My friends are going to make fun of me for this forever! They’ll never let me live it down!"
"My grandchildren will hear about this! This is going in the family ancestry! ’And here lies Great-Aunt Calli, who was tricked into drinking booby milk by the Hero of the Continent.’ I’ll never escape it!"
"Even the CHILDREN are laughing at us!"
Nella waved cheerfully. "It’s TRUE! We ARE!"
But Sigrid simply shook her head.
"I’m sorry. But I cannot allow you to harm Sir Luca right now."
Her eyes held a sharp glint of determination as she said,
"After all...he is the rider I share the Covenant with. And as someone bound to him by that sacred oath, I simply cannot permit you to harm him."
The declaration struck the courtyard like a lightning bolt.
Even Luca, standing behind her, felt his eyes widen in surprise.
He had expected Sigrid to step aside—maybe even join in the pursuit. But she was actually defending him. Using the Covenant as her justification.
Riley’s voice cracked with disbelief. "Commander, you have to be joking! You’re protecting the Hero because of that? "
Another centaur stepped forward. "He did something wrong! You can’t defend him just because of some ancient oath!"
"We were all there, Commander! We all drank the same milk! You should be angry too!"
"Are you not furious about what he did?!"
Sigrid’s cheeks colored slightly.
"I...I am angry!" She admitted, and she shot a brief glare over her shoulder at Luca. "I’m so angry that I want to chase him around the village while smacking him with my sword."
Luca quickly averted his gaze, looking like he had nothing to do with anything.
"But." Sigrid continued, turning back to face the crowd. "No matter what, he is still my rider for this life. When he is in trouble, I have no choice but to step in."
The gathered centaurs exchanged looks of pure exasperation.
"Then what if he committed murder, Commander?!" Riley demanded. "Would you step in and protect him then?!"
Sigrid shook her head immediately.
"Absolutely not! If my rider were truly an evil person who committed atrocious deeds, I would never stand before him. I would be the first to bring him to justice."
She paused, and when she spoke again, her voice was softer.
"But Sir Luca is different. He...He is not a bad person."
Luca blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected praise.
"I do not believe he would ever commit such terrible acts. I believe he is a man worth protecting."
Thump!
Luca felt that. Felt it somewhere in his chest, in a place he hadn’t been paying much attention to.
Sigrid then looked at each of them in turn, her expression becoming pointed.
"Besides—every single one of you, despite what you drank, enjoyed every aspect of it."
The centaurs shifted uncomfortably, their cheeks coloring with embarrassment.
"I will admit he was wrong not to tell you the truth. But he didn’t give you poison. He gave you something that made you all genuinely happy, even if only for a moment."
She had them there too, and they knew it.
"So really." Sigrid finished. "I can’t consider what he did a sin."
Silence fell over the crowd.
And surprisingly, the anger in the young centaurs’ eyes slowly faded, replaced by a quiet, profound awe.
They had been humiliated, yes.
But right now, standing before them, was the living embodiment of centaur legend:
A Covenant Steed stepping up to shield her Rider from danger, standing tall against impossible odds.
It was a sight every young centaur dreamed of seeing, a bond of absolute loyalty that transcended petty squabbles.
And even though the scene was ridiculous, almost comical compared to the noble legends they had grown up hearing, it was still something deeply honorable. And watching it unfold replaced the sting of shame with quiet admiration.
The crowd’s anger began to fade, replaced by a grudging respect.
It seemed as though Sigrid’s single act alone was enough to soothe everyone present.
Nella, watching from the sidelines, shook her head in disappointment.
’How boring.’ She thought. ’I was hoping for a fight to break out.’
But apparently, Luca had heard her silent wish.
Out of nowhere, he produced a small notebook and a pencil, and began writing down names.
"Riley...Penelope...Tamin...Delialah..."
Riley felt a chill run down her spine. "What exactly are you doing?"
Another centaur echoed the question. "Why are you writing down names?"
Luca finished his notation with a flourish, then looked up with an infuriating smirk that would make anyone want to punch him in the face.
"Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just making a list for the future."
"A list? A list of what?"
"Of all the people who drank my wife’s breast milk!"
The courtyard went deathly still, but Luca still went on to shamelessly say,
"That way, when my child is born, I can show them this list and say: ’Look, sweetie. These are all the knights who stole food directly from your mouth."
The troop stiffened.
"I’ll tell her that you guys are supposed to be dignified centaurss who protect the weak."
Luca mused aloud, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"But instead, here you are—stealing precious nourishment from an unborn child. How shameful!"
He flipped a page casually and finally said with a devilish grin,
"And in the future, when each of you produces your own breast milk, my child can come and demand compensation from you directly."
"Fair is fair, after all!"
BOOM!
It was as if an artillery shell had detonated in the courtyard.
"SHAMELESS!" Riley shrieked, her face turning purple with rage. "ABSOLUTELY SHAMELESS!"
"Don’t hold me back—I SAID DON’T HOLD ME BACK—I’m going to KILL him!"
"Send him back to the human continent! Let THEM deal with him!"
"I’m going to—I’m going to—I don’t even know what I’m going to do, but it’s going to be VIOLENT!"
Every centaur who had been on the verge of forgiveness was now surging forward with renewed fury.
Swords rose. Hooves stamped. The air crackled with righteous indignation.
Sigrid, who had thought she had successfully resolved the situation, was completely taken aback.
"Wait—hold on—DON’T!"
But no one was listening.
Seeing that peaceful resolution was no longer an option, Sigrid made a split-second decision. She spun around, seized Luca by the back of his collar, and with surprising strength lifted him bodily and deposited him onto her back.
Then she bolted.
The other centaurs immediately gave chase.
"COME BACK HERE, COMMANDER!"
"LEAVE THE HERO! JUST DROP HIM! DROP HIM AND WE’LL PRETEND YOU WEREN’T INVOLVED!"
"WE’RE GOING TO CATCH YOU! WE’RE GOING TO CATCH YOU AND MAKE HIM EAT HIS OWN NOTEBOOK!"
"PAGE BY PAGE!"
"WITH NO MILK TO WASH IT DOWN!"
The children, far from being left behind, joined the chase with gleeful enthusiasm,.though they were laughing and cheering rather than shouting threats.
"Yes! This is so exciting!"
"Run faster, Hero! Run faster!"
"I didn’t get to see the Evil Hero fight yesterday! This is my chance!"
"GET HIM, BIG SIS RILEY! But also don’t get him because I want this chase to last forever!"
And just like that, an entire procession—dozens of enraged centaurs, a pack of delighted children, and one fleeing commander with her shameless rider—began tearing through the village at full speed.