Chapter 1266: 23. Bathing

"How am I a scumbag?"

After Blaze left, shaking his head, Muen bared his teeth, his face full of indignation.

Seriously, the one he was holding was his lover, and the one whose hand he was holding was his companion. How did that make him a scumbag? Even Miss Dragon herself had said that the relationship between the two of them was completely innocent. He really had no idea what those outsiders were spouting nonsense about.

They simply did not understand anything and only knew how to smear him, Belrand’s number one good man. These days, sure enough, being a good man was not easy......

Muen sighed melancholy and could not be bothered to dwell on this matter for too long. The soul of a solitary, noble good man was always easily misunderstood. He had already gotten used to it. Rather than agonizing over it, he might as well spend his time on other, more important things.

His figure flashed, and he brought Ariel back to the inn where he had been staying earlier.

The streets were still very lively. The people here were spontaneously cleaning up the mess left behind after heaven and earth had been inverted just now. Fortunately, it had merely been chaos. The fighting earlier had all taken place outside the city, so the various buildings had instead suffered almost no damage.

With so many adventurers who could use magic helping out, he believed the city would soon return to its original state.

After once again greeting the innkeeper with his disguised face, Muen came to his room......before entering, he still subconsciously glanced to the side.

Next door was Miss Dragon’s room. The door was tightly shut, and there was clearly no sign that she had returned. Ever since disappearing just now, no one knew where she had gone.

However, she was a mighty calamity, after all, so there was no need to worry about her safety. Muen had merely inexplicably thought of what had happened earlier."

At that time, Miss Dragon’s sudden question had seemed somewhat abrupt and strange.

But as for exactly what had been strange about it, he could not quite put it into words.^

"Companions......for Miss Dragon, what exactly do those two words mean?" Muen subconsciously murmured.

For Miss Dragon, the word companion clearly did not mean the same thing normal people understood by companion. After all, normal companions would not establish an eternal contract and support one another as they moved forward together..

It seemed to be a relationship of an even higher level, more secure, and more intimate.

Yet the concrete manifestation of this higher, more secure, more intimate relationship......was still extremely difficult to grasp./

Sometimes even Muen would momentarily fall into a daze and feel that Miss Dragon actually......

"No......I’m probably thinking too much."_

Shaking his head, Muen gave a self-mocking bitter smile.

That was Miss Dragon, after all......although lately he kept feeling that she was somewhat naturally clueless, surely it could not be to that extent.^

An illusion, it had to be an illusion.

That fleeting thought just now was absolutely one of the easiest illusions for a person to have in life. He would never make such a low-level mistake.*

Temporarily throwing aside these thoughts that he had no way of knowing the answer to, Muen walked into the room, closed the door, then gently placed Ariel on the soft chair beside the room first.

"Mm......"_

The sleeping Ariel seemed to sense something. She twisted her delicate body, unwilling to let go.

Despite normally being so confident and independent, at a time like this she was like a sleeping little koala, desperately wanting to press herself closer and tightly wrapping her arms around Muen.

Muen had to expend a great deal of effort before he could gently pry open, one by one, the fingers clutching his clothes.

Having lost the source of warmth, Ariel instinctively curled herself up.

Her figure could not exactly be called petite and could even be described as slender and tall, but once she curled up, she still became such a tiny little bundle......perhaps because there was nothing getting in the way, allowing her to "fold" herself together more effectively.

"So cute."

Seeing her like this made Muen unable to suppress a smile. He casually scraped the bridge of her nose with a finger, got up, left the room, and quickly brought back a bathing tub and hot water.

He did not know what Ariel had gone through inside the ruins, but that battle must have been extremely intense. After all, under her body’s formidable regenerative ability, her injuries had already recovered, but the dust and battered appearance covering her entire body were not things that could recover on their own.

Muen "spread out" the curled-up Ariel, turned her over, and then slowly removed the somewhat tattered skirt armor from her body.

This kind of skirt armor designed for convenient combat was usually enchanted with powerful protective magic. The instant Muen’s hand touched it, he realized that this was an extremely expensive piece of enchanted soft armor.

Unfortunately, the magical patterns inside this skirt armor had already been completely shattered, leaving it with no possibility of being repaired. It could not even fully conceal its owner’s snow-white skin anymore.

"You worked hard......"

Muen’s gaze softened. He knew that a large part of the reason Ariel had fought so desperately was because she wanted to "rescue" him after he had been stolen away by the evil dragon. Her grief, anger, and agitation earlier were also understandable. After all, from Ariel’s perspective, she had just gone through a life-and-death battle in order to save the "princess," only to turn around and see the "princess" she had been longing for acting "lovey-dovey" with the evil dragon......anyone would have been unable to endure such a scene.

"Get some proper rest. You don’t need to push yourself that hard anymore. I’m not going anywhere."

......Beautiful.

Extremely beautiful.

Although a certain area truly was rather regrettable, that still could not affect the beauty of everything else. Rather, as one favored by the heavens, the world had already bestowed enough blessings upon her. Whatever was lacking on this side had immediately been given back twofold in other areas.

For example, those long, taut, powerful legs.

Every single detail was so perfect. The proportions between those long legs and her body were like the golden ratio. She needed no assistance from high heels whatsoever to display an ultimate sense of beauty. ℴℴ𝘮

As for how they felt to the touch, that was even harder to describe. There were many wonderful places on a beautiful girl’s body that could make one reluctant to pull away, and with Ariel, this part was especially so.

In fact, when Muen had pulled her pantyhose halfway down just now, the absolute contrast woven together from black and white, the absolute taboo that was partly hidden and partly visible, and the artistic sensation created by the interplay between the two had made him reluctant for a moment to destroy it. He even wanted that half-removed, half-unremoved posture to remain frozen forever.

Muen placed his large hand on the smooth upper portion and rubbed it hard a couple of times. Then he gently moved it to the lower half and carefully felt it.

Two different sensations, two different responses, wonderful beyond description.

Unfortunately......

Nothing lasted forever. No matter how beautiful the scenery, he could not keep looking at it forever. Muen took a deep breath and removed Ariel’s final layer of protection.

In an instant, flower petals rippled across the surface of the water. Ariel’s beautiful naked body, accompanied by that floral fragrance, continuously teased Muen’s nerves. Whether in touch or in sight, what was displayed before Muen at this moment was a captivating scene sufficient to stir anyone’s heart.

Muen was naturally no exception, and it was not only his heart that was stirred......

Counting the time, he could already be considered to have been "abstinent" for several months. Although he had once been tormented by wicked beautiful girls until he hovered between ecstasy and death, at a time like this Muen still instinctively gave a physical response to the beauty of the girl before him.

He wished he could immediately pull this little minx into his arms right now and thoroughly shower her with affection.

But......also unfortunately, it was not quite the time for that yet.

Muen took a deep breath, cast away his distracting thoughts, placed Ariel’s completely naked delicate body into the bathing tub, quickly finished washing her, then used battle aura to dry the moisture from her body. Only then did he stuff the girl, now once again white and fragrant, beneath the covers.

Only after that soul-stealing naked body had completely disappeared beneath the blanket, leaving nothing but a sweetly innocent little face exposed outside, did Muen finally let out a long breath.

Too dangerous. If his willpower had not been strong enough, he would have committed a crime just now.

As a true good man, he was unwilling to lay his hands on a beautiful girl while she was sleeping. That would go against his character setting.

Of course, the most important thing was......although Ariel was certainly beautiful while sleeping, compared with when she was awake, it was ultimately still lacking a little something.

A little minx like her, naturally she had to be awake for it to really be......cough, cough.

In any case, he should let her get a good rest first.

She had not even woken up through something as disruptive as taking a bath. It seemed that she really was extremely exhausted.

......

Ariel continued sleeping soundly, while Muen sat beside her bed, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into his mental space.

Warm sunlight instantly shone down.

His mental space had already undergone enormous changes by now. It was no longer the pure emptiness from before, but had completely taken on the appearance of Tars.

Green bricks and red tiles, vines climbing the courtyard walls, flowers swaying, wind chimes swinging. Everything was so real, including even the warmth of sunlight falling upon his skin.

The only thing emitting light and heat in the sky was not a normal sun. That Black Sun still floated at the highest point of the heavens, coldly overlooking all things.

"Next......"

Muen thought for a moment, then waved his hand. A familiar figure began gradually appearing on the empty street.