Chapter 1313: 71. Victory

“This should... be the place.”

Glein River, by the bank.

Ariel looked suspiciously at the desolate surroundings and scratched her head in confusion.

She really had followed the directions given by Lion King Grand Duke Campbell... no, that wasn’t right, it should be Uncle Lorne. She really had come here according to Uncle Lorne’s directions. Logically speaking, Muen should have been right around here.

But she couldn’t see Muen anywhere. How had she ended up at such a remote stretch of riverbank?

Although this section of the Glein River was wedged between the Lower District and the Upper District, and from here she could even see the prosperous lights of the Upper District... who would come running to the riverside for no reason?

To feed the mosquitoes?

“Damn it, why are the mosquitoes out so early this year?”

Smack. Ariel killed a mosquito that was trying to approach her and muttered unhappily.

Normally, even if she couldn’t find him for the moment, her mood wouldn’t have become this bad. As someone who had fought her way out of the Lower District and grown to where she was today, a powerful mentality was also one of her weapons.

But for some reason, there had been a constant uneasiness deep in her heart tonight."

It was as though... if she didn’t hurry, something irreversible was going to happen to Muen.

“Looks like I can only use my final method.”

Ariel took a deep breath. At this critical moment when everything was going wrong, she resolutely prepared to use her ultimate move!

And that was....

“Heavens... guide me in the right direction!”

Ariel shouted, picked up a branch from beside her, and tossed it upward...

The branch spun through who knew how many revolutions in the air before finally falling to the ground, one end pointing in a certain direction.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ariel followed the direction indicated by the branch and pushed aside the reeds along the riverbank.

“Huh?”

She exclaimed softly in surprise: “Why would there be a small boat at such a remote stretch of riverbank?”

Behind the reeds, a small boat swayed gently in the night breeze. Judging from its relatively new hull and all the equipment aboard it, someone clearly maintained this boat regularly. It had definitely not been abandoned.

“If there’s a boat, then naturally that means someone intends to leave from here. And going one step further, that means...”

Ariel continued deeper in the direction the boat was facing. Sure enough, at the end of the reeds, she discovered an extremely concealed passage.

And within that passage, she caught a slightly different scent...

“It’s that evil dragon’s slutty smell!”

...

...

“We... are companions. True companions. Pure companions. Innocent companions... so we absolutely can’t...”

Hamreign’s voice, already as faint as the buzzing of a mosquito, echoed over the swaying purple bed.

Those words seemed to be proclaiming her determination, carrying unquestionable resolve, yet deeper beneath them, there seemed to be a hint of... pleading?

Muen did not understand.

Nor did he know whether this legendary Calamity, on the verge of having her door breached, would actually plead with a little yellow-haired brat like him.

He only knew one thing...

He became even angrier.

The word “companion” in those words, that repeatedly spoken word “companion,” was like some kind of stimulant, causing him—already completely out of sorts because of everything that had happened—to lose even more of his reason.

“Companion, companion again!”

Muen finally cast aside every last restraint. He even abandoned the offensive with which he had been trying to break through the door, leaned over her, pressed both hands against Hamreign’s arms, and roared at her:

“Do you really care that much, insist that much, on this so-called ‘companion’ of yours?”

“...”

Hamreign froze in confusion.

As a dragon who had lived for a thousand years, her vast knowledge meant there were very few things left that could leave her at a loss. Yet at this moment, extremely complicated emotions appeared within her golden eyes.

Surprise, astonishment, something completely beyond her expectations.

That sudden shock and confusion even made her briefly forget the resistance she was maintaining right now.

She looked into Muen’s eyes, her lips moving slightly, before suddenly saying:

“Companion... you don’t like it?”

“...”

“...”

Another strange silence.

So quiet that even the sound of the night wind blowing outside was exceptionally clear.

In an instant, all the beastlike fury and wildness drained out of {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Muen, and he too froze where he was.

The two of them simply stared at each other.

For a moment, neither knew what movement to make, nor what words to say.

Much less how to answer what might, at this moment, have been the most complicated question in the entire world.

Who knew how long they remained like that, seemingly on the verge of turning completely into statues... when Muen suddenly shuddered.

Because he could clearly feel that the door obstructing him seemed to be gradually giving up its resistance.

“To be taken by a mere human or something like that... would be an enormous humiliation for me. I probably wouldn’t want to show my face to anyone for several hundred years.”

Hamreign’s hands, still bound by the shackles, remained raised high, revealing everything beautiful about herself.

Her fingers tightly clutched the bedsheets, and she turned her face to the side, seemingly unwilling to let Muen see her current expression. Yet the flush across her profile was still perfectly clear:

“But if you really want it that badly... I can...”

The night wind was not only blowing outside the window. It also poured into the room, stirring the gauze curtains.

Because Dragon Lady’s power had been sealed, the restriction here had also disappeared at some unknown point.

And disappearing along with it was something on Dragon Lady that Muen, at this moment, had wanted more than anything to erase.

Her lofty superiority.

Her cold gaze looking down from above.

As a Calamity, the Dragon of Death and Doom, the strongest creature beneath the heavens, that was something Muen could not reach at this moment, yet had always wanted to “defile.”

It truly disappeared.

All that remained was the gentleness hidden deepest within Dragon Lady, now laid completely bare before Muen.

All Muen had to do was move slightly, and he could possess it completely.

“But...”

Muen looked at Dragon Lady’s profile, an expression she had never shown him on ordinary days, then looked at himself, seemingly stripped of reason and behaving like a beast... and suddenly slapped himself across the face.

“What the fuck am I doing?”

Forcibly taking a girl?

Although the one before him was dozens of times his age, and whether she could even be called a “girl” was still open to debate, if he really did something like that...

What difference would there be between him and a beast?

Hamreign kept her eyes closed and continued waiting.

Her heart pounded like a drum. That powerful lust was still gradually eroding her, and she had already decided to give up resisting and wait for that moment to arrive.

But...

“Forget it.”

She suddenly felt the weight on her body disappear, and the door that had been on the verge of collapsing was no longer under attack.

She opened her eyes in surprise, only to see Muen suddenly rise and leave the bed.

“Why are you...”

“I decided a long time ago that I’d never force a girl into something like this again. Don’t forget, I’m Belrand’s number one good man.”

Muen grabbed the clothes beside him and began putting them on. At the same time, he tossed Hamreign a blanket and a key.

He turned his face away, leaving his expression impossible to see:

“The key’s yours. This trial... or wager, whatever it is, you won. Dragon Lady, you were right. We can just stay companions forever from now on.”

“...I won?”

Hamreign took the key in confusion.

She had won.

Without question, she had won.

She had successfully endured this trial and had not lost to her own instincts and desires.

Even what had happened just now had merely been something she had willingly... offered. It did not count as submission.

But...

“Why?”

Why, at this moment, did she feel no joy of victory?

And moreover...

“Mm!”

She let out a soft sound. The instant Muen pulled away and left her, she felt an intense emptiness surge through her. It was like an ever-expanding black hole, continuously devouring her heart.

At the same time, the powerful desire brought about by instinct had not weakened in the slightest. In fact, after losing its source of comfort, it became even stronger.

With the two combined, it was no longer merely at the level of a great river...

It was an ocean!