Chapter 1252: 9. Impossible to Clear One’s Name

“Something like the legendary calamity, the Dragon of Death and Doom, the strongest creature beneath the heavens, actually carrying Muen Campbell's child......I refuse to believe it!”

The shout was deafening.

In an instant, Muen felt as though a giant hammer had smashed hard into his forehead, leaving him completely dumbfounded.

What?

What did they mean by carrying a child?

What did they mean by Miss Dragon carrying his child?

Heaven have mercy, the most intimate contact between them so far had only been the lap pillow from before, so when had it evolved into this kind of negative-distance contact?

How come he didn't know?

Where exactly had this outrageous news come from?

“Miss Dragon, don't mind it, this guy is completely talking nonsense!”

After being dumbfounded for an instant, Muen hurriedly came back to his senses, because he realized that the person most shocked upon hearing this news was not himself, but the other protagonist behind him."

At that instant, he could even feel the hand he was holding suddenly tighten, almost crushing his bones, so Muen was also extremely nervous, afraid that Miss Dragon would really get angry and directly tear that nonsense-spouting guy apart.

Although Miss Dragon was a dragon, she was still a woman after all, having this kind of rumor made up about her, no matter what, would......^

“It's fine, something like this isn't enough to make me lose control of my emotions.”

Hamreign said indifferently, although she had been slightly shaken at the instant she heard that sentence, her overall emotions were much calmer than Muen had expected: “Besides, do you think I would care about what other people say? I know that the relationship between the two of us is very pure, and that's enough.”.

“Is......is that so?”

Muen let out a sigh of relief. That was true too, Miss Dragon had been called an evil dragon by the world for several hundred years, and even now she was still crowned with the title Dragon of Death and Doom, slander of this degree really did not count for much to her./

But......in his heart, it always felt a little strange.

“What's wrong?”_

“N-Nothing, I just don't understand how things became like this, this is a little different from what I expected.”

Muen frowned and looked around. Following that bold guy's loud shout, the people who originally had not noticed Muen's identity also suddenly looked over here curiously, all kinds of exchanges and whispers intertwining with one another, surging overwhelmingly toward Muen and Hamreign.^

Among them there was no lack of words such as scumbag, pervert, human-beast, fierce man, role model of our generation, good words and bad words mixed half and half, while as for the fearful emotions Muen had originally been wary of, they were not that strong.

Although there really were still many people vigilantly staring at Miss Dragon, under the effect of the powerful force of gossip, that fear and unease had temporarily been suppressed by the desire to know, and at this moment there was more curiosity and scrutiny."

“Is she really a dragon? So beautiful.”

“Not sure, but the features are the same as in the newspaper, red hair, black dress.”/

“The newspaper didn't show her face......”

“The other features are enough, a woman this tall and with such a special temperament, there aren't even many in the entire Empire!”

“......”

Hm?

Newspaper?

Muen keenly caught this key piece of information.

Could it be again......

“Miss Dragon, it looks like we have to leave temporarily, we can't let ourselves get surrounded here.”

As more and more people gathered, Muen realized that staying where they were was not a wise choice. Watching excitement was human nature, and if this continued, very soon the entire city would be thrown into an uproar.

He did not want to make the matter bigger, keeping a low profile was his main theme right now!

“Let's go.”

Muen pulled Miss Dragon and hurriedly ran.

The two of them moved nimbly and quickly passed through the crowd, hiding in a secluded corner.

Then Muen slightly changed his appearance, while Hamreign also cast a spell on herself, and in the eyes of outsiders she was now just an ordinary young girl.

“Sorry.”

Muen smiled bitterly: “I clearly said before that it would be best to integrate into a human city using your original appearance, but now it seems, that's impossible.”

“No.”

Hamreign gently shook her head: “It feels......already much better than I expected.”

There was no disgust toward her, nor was there intense malice and fear.

Although those humans' gazes still made her somewhat uncomfortable, compared with those gazes she had once suffered that looked at her as though she were a monster, they already made her feel much more relaxed.

What had happened back then in New Tars had not happened.

That was already enough.

“That's really great.”

Muen let out a sigh of relief, then immediately put on a stern face and said: “But no matter what, we still have to find the source of this rumor, and then cut off the source, otherwise if we let it continue developing, it will become very troublesome.”

“Mm.” Hamreign gently nodded.

“Let's go.”

Once he said they would move, they moved. Muen brought Hamreign to find an inn.

The owner of the inn was an old man dozing off. Muen walked over and handed him several small-denomination banknotes.

“Old sir, do you have newspapers?”

“Mm? Yes, yes, yes.”

The old man was muddleheaded, casually pulling several newspapers from the rack beside him and placing them in front of Muen.

Muen flipped through them a few times. There were all kinds of newspapers, current affairs, the situation, even including the new decrees recently issued by the Imperial Empress, as well as interpretations of them......but there just wasn't the kind he wanted to see. “Why are they all official newspapers, don't you have newspapers from small publishers about entertainment? Gossip news and things like that.” Muen asked.

The Empire controlled official newspapers very strictly, but privately, some small newspaper publishers were still rather uninhibited, ranging from the unspeakable past of the Pope of the Church of Light, all the way down to some baron being driven out of his house by his wife because he doted on his boyfriend......the culprit was probably a certain Imperial intelligence chief who outwardly wanted to use this method to establish a hidden intelligence network, but in reality simply took pleasure in it.

“Entertainment newspapers? Those kinds of newspapers sold out long ago, recently those are hot goods.” The old man swayed as he spoke: “If you want one, you have to reserve it in advance.”

“......That shouldn't be the case, they're just newspapers.” The corner of Muen's mouth twitched slightly, and the ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

“Sigh, who told Belrand to have such huge gossip break out not long ago? That matter has already become the hottest topic in the entire Empire, no, the entire continent right now. War, the Abyss, those things that were originally major events, now instead nobody cares about them anymore.”

“How popular is it?”

“Eh? Young man, you don't know?”

The old man opened his eyes and narrowed them slightly as he sized Muen up: “Where did you come from?”

“Cough......actually, I only just returned to the country, so I don't know much about many things, I hope old sir can enlighten me.” Muen remained completely composed and handed over a large banknote.

“So you're an adventurer who came back from the Abyss.”

The wrinkles on the old man's face instantly relaxed: “No wonder, information doesn't circulate in that damned place, it's normal not to know about these things. Here, see those guys outside? They're making a fuss again, also because of what happened before. But most likely it's just someone trying to attract attention, how could a small city like ours possibly see the real people? The same thing has happened more than ten times this month, all fake!”

“That hottest topic you're talking about, could it possibly be......the matter of Muen Campbell being taken away by a dragon several months ago?” Muen asked tentatively.

“Is there any other piece of gossip that could compare to this?”

The old man shuddered and suddenly became excited: “Damn it, that was a legendary calamity dragon! The Dragon of Death and Doom who kills decisively, is cold and merciless, and would be the final villain in any kind of story, yet she actually appeared in Belrand! Most importantly, she went there to steal a groom! She went to Her Majesty the Empress's wedding to steal the groom! News of this level probably wouldn't appear even once in a hundred years across the entire continent......no, not even once in a thousand years!”

“Wait......”

Muen interrupted: “She only took someone away, calling it stealing the groom is a little too......”

“That calamity said it herself.”

The old man shot him a sidelong glance: “So many powerful people of the Empire witnessed it with their own eyes, how could it be fake?”

“......”

I knew it.

Muen covered his face.

He had still underestimated the impact caused by Miss Dragon taking him away......no, because Miss Dragon herself had spoken the two words “steal the groom” back then, it had already become an ironclad act of stealing the groom.

After all, Miss Dragon's identity was simply too extraordinary. An existence so lofty and transcendent, suddenly descending into the mortal world solely to steal a groom—if this had happened before, even the wildest literature sold at a roadside stall probably would have found it difficult to write such a plot.

And what she stole was not an ordinary person, but the dignified son of Grand Duke Campbell, the future Imperial Consort who was about to complete the ceremony with the Imperial Empress!

Dragon of Death and Doom x Imperial Consort x Imperial Empress.

Those words alone were enough to make people excited.

They were even excited enough that ordinary people forgot that their own Imperial Empress's wedding had been disrupted by someone stealing the groom, which should originally have been a humiliating matter sufficient to arouse the indignation of the entire nation's citizens......but who told the one doing the stealing to be a dignified calamity?

What, you said someone stole the groom from my Empress's wedding?

Damn, the one stealing him was a calamity dragon, does your Empress even have the qualifications to have a calamity steal her groom?

......Like this, not only was it no longer humiliating, when the citizens of the Empire took it out and talked about it, there was instead even a strange sense of honor.

Thus, this matter that originally should have caused indignation immediately raced wildly in a strange direction, becoming a feast that sent countless people who lived for amusement into ecstasy.

However......

“For it to spread this ridiculously, there must definitely be someone behind the scenes adding fuel to the flames, not to mention something as outrageous as pregnancy......I refuse to believe nobody took the opportunity to spread rumors about me!”

Muen's teeth ached badly. After thinking for a moment, he continued asking the old man:

“Do you have old newspapers from the previous issues?”

“Old newspapers? Yes, yes, yes, I kept several copies of the exciting ones. It's only because the latest issues are full of fake news that I lost interest.”

The old man pulled out a small wooden box from behind him and carefully handed several well-preserved newspapers inside it to Muen, even warning him: “Be careful when you read them, these front-page newspapers were limited releases. Wait another few decades and they could exist as historical artifacts used to verify history, they're extremely precious!”

“......”

Damn it, it's just a crappy newspaper, what's so precious about it! Verify history my ass, fake news! Pure fake news!

Muen's teeth itched with anger, but he still suppressed the urge to directly tear it to pieces, spread the newspaper open, and read the contents on it.

First, what entered Muen's eyes was not the text on the newspaper, but a bear face printed across a huge section of the page, with a thick black line covering its eyes. “Special Headline: An eyewitness to the calamity's groom-stealing incident who wishes to remain anonymous reveals the details for you.”

“Yes, Muen Campbell is exactly this kind of person.”

A certain patchwork bear who did not wish to reveal his name said: “Without a doubt, Muen Campbell is a genuine playboy. As an existence who once had his feet on more than a dozen boats at the same time, and even sank the battleship Dreadnought, it is perfectly normal even if he has an unclear and indescribable relationship with the legendary calamity.”

“What? You're asking what lets him have an affair with a calamity? I think it's probably because he's shameless enough. You know, Muen Campbell is the thickest-skinned existence in the entire Empire, and he's also a pure pervert. Even if it's a dragon, he would absolutely dare lay his demonic hands on her.”

“As for the pregnancy......I can swear on my character that it's real. Think about it, why would a dignified calamity voluntarily come to steal a groom? Isn't it because this scumbag abandoned her after playing with her and wasn't even willing to take the corresponding responsibility? As for the evidence of pregnancy, many people can testify to this point: that calamity lady personally said that she had already undergone intense bodily-fluid exchange with Muen Campbell! They've already gone this far, isn't pregnancy a perfectly normal thing?”

“......”

Pink——Bear——!

It really was you!

Under the old man's dumbfounded gaze, Muen grabbed the newspaper into his palm, veins bulging violently on his forehead.

Bastard, spreading rumors about me again, you dog, may you die a horrible death!

And spreading rumors about me is one thing, but you even dare spread rumors about a calamity, aren't you afraid......eh, wait.

Muen first flung a handful of banknotes into the old man's face to stop him from making a fuss, then spread the newspaper open again and carefully read the words on it.

Then his expression became even more pained.

Don't say......

You really can't say.

Although some things about him, as well as the conclusion of pregnancy, were without any doubt shameless rumors fabricated by Pink Bear.

But the real reason that had caused all of this: stealing the groom and the so-called bodily-fluid exchange......

Were all things Miss Dragon had personally said!

And she had personally said them in front of many, many people, otherwise Pink Bear's words would not have been so persuasive!

So......

“We're screwed......”

Muen turned back toward Hamreign with a bitter face:

“This time, even if we jump into the Glein River, we probably won't be able to wash this misunderstanding clean.”