I AM A MAGE BUT WITH MILF SYSTEM

But the Count had different thoughts. His smile widened, and he glanced at the Duke, who had the same goosebumps as Julian all over his body. The Duke’s expression was tense and his hand instinctively hovered near his side as if ready to intervene.

Vanessa and Olivia, who were less sensitive to subtle shifts in mana, could not feel the full change in the atmosphere. But they too knew that something big was being prepared. The tension in the air was palpable even to them.

**

Unlike the Count, the Countess despised Kraven and the Astran Duchy with a burning intensity that she made no effort to hide, at least not in the privacy of her own thoughts.

Honestly, who would not feel the same after learning that the man entrusted with her daughter’s future would treat her as though she were nothing more than an insect? And as if that were not frustratingly enough, the same psychotic man was rumored to harbor an unnatural, twisted lust for his own mother and sister.

The day she had first heard of this, she had gone straight to her husband and begged him to sever every tie they held with the Astran Duchy. But her husband, being the righteous and stubbornly principled man he was, only spoke of virtue, duty, and other such nonsensical ideals that meant little to her in the face of her daughter’s safety.

To the Countess, the well-being of her family mattered far more than any act of duty or any promise made decades ago. She would rather watch the entire alliance crumble to dust than stand by and see her daughter suffer at the hands of a man like that.

So she had fought, quietly but fiercely, against re-forging the ties and traveling to the Astran Duchy at all. And with her daughter now showing such promising talent in magic, an undeniable gift that seemed to grow stronger by the day, Elara was bound to make a name for herself in the kingdom regardless of any political alliance.

If such a thing came to pass, her daughter could forge her own destiny entirely, free from the need to rely on anyone.

But the thing that surprised the Countess most, more than her husband’s stubbornness, was how willing her own daughter had been to come here and personally reforge the ties herself.

She had wondered, does she like Kraven? The longer that question lingered in her mind, the more frustrated and unsettled she became.

It was entirely possible as Elara was still unaware of Kraven’s scandals. To her young and untainted mind, the young lord of the duchy, the future duke himself, would have sounded like something out of a dream: powerful, mysterious, and worthy of admiration.

But how could the Countess possibly imagine entrusting her innocent daughter to the barbarian son of the duke? She was against it. She had been against it from the very beginning, and she remained against it even now as she watched them fight from outside the barrier.

**

As her internal monologue continued in silence, the drama inside the barrier progressed smoothly.

Julian had already suppressed his initial surprise and was now looking at Elara with an expression of genuine admiration.

”What are you planning, Lady Elara?”

Elara simply smiled, a determined and slightly playful glint sparkling in her eyes, as though she already knew exactly how this would end.

”Be ready, Lord Kraven. I won’t hold back.”

With that, she whipped her hands forward and called out,

”Water Guardian!”

A massive surge of mana erupted from her. The air grew thick with moisture as a towering figure began to materialize around her, taking shape rapidly. Within moments, everyone could see a majestic, feminine presence looking down at the courtyard as though she were a goddess descended from the heavens.

She stood nearly as tall as the barrier itself but one thing.... stuck out.

The guardian was undeniably striking in its design: a voluptuous, curvaceous female figure with an exaggeratedly massive bust that strained against the flowing, semi-translucent water forming her ”armor.” Her waist was impossibly narrow, flaring out into wide, seductive hips and long, toned legs that shimmered with rippling water. Long, flowing strands of liquid hair cascaded down her back, and her face held an ethereal, alluring beauty that seemed almost too perfect to belong to any mortal spirit.

Julian was caught off guard. He could not tell whether the spirit had been conjured purely for combat, or whether it was meant to seduce and distract him in equal measure. The combination of raw power and undeniable sensuality was striking, and for a brief moment, he simply stared.

Even outside the barrier, the reaction was much the same. Gasps and murmurs rippled through the gathered crowd. The Count’s eyes widened with awe and unmistakable pride. The Duke raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed despite himself. Vanessa’s mouth fell open in amazement. Olivia watched with a mixture of concern and reluctant admiration. The Countess, however, looked horrified, her hands clenched tightly at her sides as she feared the toll such a demanding technique would take on her daughter.

Meanwhile, Elara stood at the very center of the guardian, her own body sheltered within the spirit’s chest. The Water Guardian then raised one massive arm, and a swirling vortex began to form in its palm.

”This is my strongest guardian,” Elara called out, her voice echoing with confidence despite the visible strain etched across her face. ”Let’s see if you can break through it, Lord Kraven!”

The spirit moved with surprising speed for something of its size. It swung a powerful fist downward, sending a crashing wave of pressurized water hurtling toward Julian. The ground cracked and split beneath the sheer force of the attack.

Julian dodged to the side, but his eyes never once left the guardian towering above him. He could sense the immense mana fueling the summon, and beneath it, a faint but unmistakable instability.

Elara was pushing herself hard, perhaps too hard, to maintain something so complex and demanding. He countered with a focused blast of fire, striking the guardian’s arm and causing it to splash apart momentarily before the water surged back together and reformed as though nothing had happened at all.