I Stole The Duke - Chapter 132

The first day of September.

“Michal, could you stop for a moment and help me with something?”

“Of course.”

Michalis welcomed Eliana into his office with a smile. Just seeing his wife’s cheerful face was enough to melt away the weight of his afternoon duties.

“I’ve got everything ready. You just need to come with me.”

Eliana gently tugged on his hand, and his large frame followed naturally as she led him out of the office.

“Eliana… where are we going?”

Michalis paused mid-step, confused as he realized they were heading toward the ground floor of the main building.

“We’re almost there.”

“Isn’t this… the bathhouse?”

He stopped in front of the familiar door, and his heart suddenly dropped. This was the largest bath in the entire estate. He had always enjoyed bathing alone and had never used it together with Eliana before.

“Come in, Michal.”

“Ah… yes…”

Four months into their marriage. It seemed his wife was ready to try something new.

Thump. Thump.

Michalis’s heart began to race. It was the first time Eliana had ever been so direct. Today, inside that bath, he would have to give her his all and make sure she was fully satisfied!

“Eliana, if you keep surprising me like this…”

He was completely on board. Taking a deep breath, Michalis slowly began unbuttoning the top of his shirt.

“Michal, we’re both busy… so let’s try to finish quickly.”

“I don’t mind taking my time.”

Click. As he undid the second button, he boldly opened the bathhouse door.

“Today’s the day I—!”

And in that exact moment, his pink daydream shattered into icy shards.

The bathtub was filled to the brim.

“Greetings, Your Grace.”

Damn it. Someone was already here.

“Alright! To make ten tons of ice, we’ll do one ton a day for ten days.”

With a clap of her hands, Eliana pulled a magic card from her small crossbody bag and skipped over to the bath.

“Imperial Ice.”

The large, rectangular tub—big enough to fit ten people—instantly froze solid.

What on earth had I been expecting?!

Michalis’s dreams froze over along with the water.

“Your Grace, please use my sword. I apologize for taking up your valuable time. My skills aren’t yet refined enough.”

Joel handed his sword to Michalis, then picked up the shovel leaning against the wall. Carving the ice without damaging such an expensive tub required precise aura control, and Joel knew he wasn’t there yet.

“If you could cut them into 2-centimeter cubes for cups, that would be perfect.”

Eliana encouraged Michalis with a bright smile.

“Ah… understood.”

Receiving her expectant gaze, Michalis stepped forward.

Damn it. Damn it all…

His sword lit up with icy-blue aura, tracing brilliant blue arcs through the air. The solid block of ice sliced cleanly, making a crisp shrrrk sound as it broke into smooth cubes.

“Wow, that’s amazing, Michal!”

Eliana watched proudly as Michalis swung his blade—his embarrassment and frustration barely hidden beneath his precise movements.

He looks kind of… angry.

Joel, suddenly nervous, felt a chill down his spine unrelated to the ice. Silently, he resumed his shoveling. The small, neatly carved cubes were being stacked into enchanted storage boxes.

“Michal, I have a meeting with the Count soon, so I’ll be going now. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Eliana had been busy these days, working closely with Count Terius to finalize the coffee and refrigerator project. She smiled encouragingly as she backed away and quietly slipped out.

Click.

The door shut behind her. Now only the two men remained.

“Sir Joel Terius.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“How many hours are you training each day? Your progress seems… disappointingly slow.”

Michalis, with nowhere to direct his lingering frustration, took it out on poor Joel.

“I’ll increase my training time.”

“If you fail to join the First Knight Order before the year ends… I’ll be deeply disappointed.”

Getting into the Azure Knights in one’s early twenties was already considered extraordinary. But Michalis clearly wasn’t in the mood to consider fairness—he pressed on.

“I’ll do everything I can to meet Your Grace’s expectations!”

Joel’s shoveling grew faster. The ice, soon to be used at his own engagement party, was steadily piling up.

Fifteen days into the voyage. Life aboard the ship had become unbearably dull.

“…Oh my god.”

The mages on deck gripped the railings, mouths agape in perfect unison.

As the ship glided over the sea, catching the wind, it reached a certain point—and in the middle of the open ocean, an overwhelming magical surge erupted.

“What… What kind of absurd amplitude is this…?”

“I’m usually not very sensitive to mana, but I just got goosebumps all over.”

“Ha… haha. I can’t even… speak right now.”

Their hearts were pounding—not from fear, but from sheer awe.

“Will this location be acceptable?”

“Y-Yes! Please stop the ship here!”

“Drop anchor!”

“Lower the sails!”

At the first officer’s booming command through the speakers, the crew jumped into action.

“One, two, heave-ho!”

Soon, a small boat lowered to the ocean’s surface by rope. Twenty high-ranking mages climbed down the ladder and boarded ten boats, two to each vessel.

“Keep a one-meter distance—maintain triangular formation.”

One of the two vice-captains remained on the main ship, while the other, along with the speaker, took charge of the boats.

“One, two! One, two!”

Thanks to the soldiers’ well-practiced rowing, the boats glided swiftly over the water.

“This distance should be enough.”

“Stop!”

Since the main ship had anchored directly above the ruins, they didn’t need to venture far.

“Mages, please wait here. I’ll check the area to see if there are any man-eating sharks or sea serpents nearby.”

Without hesitation, the speaker tossed aside his clothes and leapt into the water wearing only his undergarments.

Splash!

“……”

The mages fell into stunned silence. Was that a human or a seal? The chatty captain, built like a beast from the wild, swam with shocking grace and skill.

“There are no sharks or large fish in the area. However, this terrain is known for sea serpent activity. Do not drop your protective shields under any circumstances. You may now begin your descent.”

Ten minutes later, the captain’s head suddenly popped up beside the boat, and instead of gasping for breath, he let loose a flood of speech he’d clearly been holding in.

“Uh—yes! Understood!”

“Shield.”

Each pair of mages surrounded themselves with a spherical protective barrier.

“Shall we push them in?”

At the mages’ nod, the soldiers carefully pushed the transparent spheres overboard.

“Sink.”

The bubbles slowly descended into the deep.

“Hand me my harpoon.”

The speaker had a mission personally assigned by his lord.

“Here it is.”

Even underwater, the mages needed protection. If a giant shark appeared and attacked, they would be in real trouble. The speaker took the harpoon and dove in again. Anyone who had completed squire training under the Ducal House was expected to be able to hold their breath for at least seven minutes and free dive to a depth of thirty meters.

Is he even human? Or some kind of sea monster?

The mages barely noticed the colorful tropical fish swimming past. Deep beneath the waves, they saw a terrifying gorilla-like figure gliding through the water.

“Oh… my god.”

At 40 meters below sea level, at Southeast Point 280 off the coast of Flencia, the legendary ruins of Sardis finally revealed themselves.

Once the foundation of the floating continent Sardis, massive stone fragments now scattered across the seabed, covered in coral and sea creatures, made it hard to tell what they originally were. But among the ruins, one monumental structure lay tilted—intact and majestic, untouched by time.

“Stay focused. One of the shields just wavered.”

“Ah, sorry.”

The ten protective spheres began their official exploration of the underwater site. In each pair, one mage maintained the shield and created oxygen, while the other handled movement and direction using wind and water magic.

“What do you think this structure was built for?”

One of the bubbles passed by a massive statue, easily nine meters tall.

“It’s too early to say without translating the inscriptions, but any structure requiring this scale of protective magic… I’d say it was likely a temple.”

The statue at the entrance depicted a majestic man, overflowing with a commanding presence.

“I think so too. But… what is that?”

About fifteen minutes into the exploration, as the mages studied the building’s form and the geometric carvings on its walls, something unusual caught their attention.

“Doesn’t that look like a gravestone?”

It was made of a completely different material from the rest of the ruins.

“There’s a magic circle inscribed on it.”

“Let’s pull it up!”

“Bring it to the surface!”

The two excited mages shouted in unison.

“Ah… but I’m already maxed out. I can’t cast a third spell.”

Maintaining two spells at once was already draining their mental energy fast. Adding a third would be dangerous.

“Same here…”

“Let’s ask that monster—no, I mean, the captain.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

They began pounding on their shield, calling for the speaker.

“Hey! Take it easy! You’re going to make my ears fall off!”

“Oh, he saw us!”

Blub-blub.

Bubbling air floated up as the speaker swam over.

“Can you bring that stone tablet up to the surface for us?”

“……”

He gave them a quick okay sign with his fingers, tucked the tablet under one arm, and swam upward.

“Let’s go after him.”

Smiling from ear to ear, the two mages floated gently to the surface in their bubble.

“Let’s have a look!”

“Oh… wow. That’s definitely a magic circle.”

The moment they climbed back onto the boat, they rushed to examine the stone.

“This… this is…”

One of the mages clutched the stone tablet and teared up. This was a discovery that could change history.

“We’re the first! Sniff The first to uncover a Sardis magic circle!”

One mage leapt to his feet on the boat, laughing and crying all at once.

“Could you set it down for a moment? I’d like to see too.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Doesn’t this stone look… recently made?”

“This is incredible. It’s been thousands of years, and yet it’s so perfectly preserved! That protection magic is extraordinary.”

The tablet was small and light enough to be easily carried, but it radiated waves of protective magic.

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