Chapter 1350: 108. Rest

"Sorry, I seem to have said some strange things."

Ariel suddenly straightened up, her beautiful eyes becoming clear in an instant, as though she had finally come back to herself from that hazy state.

"Forget what I said. No matter what, this school has already become like this. Even temporarily prolonging its life is an extremely difficult thing, let alone making it prosper and continue on forever."

A desolate school, a severed road. No matter how one thought about it, there was no possibility of it being reborn again.

Ariel actually understood very clearly that everything Muen was doing was nothing more than for the title of school leader, simply allowing this school to barely cling to life for a little longer.

In the end, he did not belong to this school, and neither did she.

"I was overthinking it."

"How could that be?"

But at this moment, Muen reached out and rubbed Ariel's little head.

"It's perfectly normal to have thoughts like that. No one wants to watch something they care about become an existence as insignificant as dust."

"Hm?"

"Although I can't restore the Enhancement School to what it once was, if you want, perhaps after all of this is over, I can still make sure it continues to exist."

"Really?"

Ariel's eyes immediately lit up.

She said she didn't care... but in the end, she still cared.

How adorable.

"Of course. Who am I? Don't let the way I look fool you. I still have a little bit of influence in the magical world."

Muen raised his head somewhat proudly.

No matter what... afterward, he would ask that old loli for a favor.

With her status, preserving a single school shouldn't be difficult.

He had stepped into so many pits while helping her with her work. Asking her to grant him such a tiny wish afterward, she probably wouldn't refuse him over something so trivial.

Even if she refused, that was fine too. At worst... he'd give her ** and force her to agree!

"You're so good to me."

Ariel suddenly threw her arms around Muen, burying her little head against his chest and nuzzling back and forth. Her warmth instantly drove away the chill of dawn and spread into both their hearts.

"Only now you realize how good I am to you?"

Muen patted her little butt and teased: "Then what was with all that temper you were throwing at me earlier?"

"Hmph, who was throwing a temper?"

"Oh? You weren't? Then who nearly twisted my waist off... hiss, again?"

"Stop pretending. I didn't even use any strength this time."

Ariel withdrew the little hand that had only pretended to twist him, snorted softly, and then left Muen's embrace.

"Huh? That's it? Just one hug?"

Muen blinked like an aggrieved golden retriever puppy.

"Stay there and don't move."

Ariel ordered.

She turned around and found a relatively sturdy table in the corner of the classroom, then reinforced it with magic.

After that, she set up an alchemy furnace on top of the table, placed a vessel forged from some mysterious ancient bronze over it, and poured into it springwater that carried a refreshing fragrance and was obviously anything but ordinary.

Then, with a wave of her small hand, despite usually being so poor that she even had to think about mooching accommodation from the academy, she now took out a large amount of precious medicinal ingredients.

"An alchemy furnace that cost five hundred and twenty thousand Aimiers, the Vessel of the Ancient One I obtained from the ruins two expeditions ago, the Immortal Spring I got after killing the giant demonic beast entrenched in Kadomon Mountain... and all these things. Any single one of them is worth enough to buy more black bread than I could eat in a lifetime. That guy is really getting a bargain."

Ariel pursed her lips, clearly pained by the expense.

But there was not the slightest hesitation in her movements. Flames rose, instantly melting the medicinal ingredients and condensing them into medicinal liquid before dissolving them into the springwater.

Soon, accompanied by Ariel's exquisite control over the flames, the firelight within the alchemy furnace gradually faded. A bowl of pitch-black liquid carrying a rich fragrance was brought before Muen.

"Come on, darling. Drink your medicine."

"Drink your medicine..."

Muen's face stiffened: "Why does that sound so wrong to me?"

"Cut the nonsense. Are you drinking it or not?"

"I'll drink it, I'll drink it. Of course I'll drink it."

Muen hurriedly took the bowl. Hot steam brushed against his face, warming even his heart along with it.

He had been watching the entire time, so how could he possibly fail to understand the value of this bowl of medicine? How could he not know how much determination it took for Ariel to take out so many valuable things all at once?

"So, is this your thanks for the promise I made?"

Mm... he had already been thinking of giving that shameless loli **, so receiving this kind of reward naturally also...

"No."

But Ariel shook her head:

"It has nothing to do with that. Actually, the main reason I called you over here was for this."

"Huh?"

Muen froze.

But Ariel didn't give him any time to react. She grabbed him by the collar with one hand, supported his hand with the other, and directly forced the bowl of medicine into him.

"Mmph mmph mmph..."

With Muen's level of control over his own body, even something this sudden couldn't make him choke. He was merely still surprised by what Ariel had just said.

Soon, he finished the medicine, but the two of them still stared at one another with wide eyes.

"You still don't understand?"

Ariel irritably flung her hand away: "You idiot. It's the same this time, and it was the same before. Whenever something serious happens, you always stop caring about your own body!"

"Do I?"

"I told you to sleep last night. Did you?"

"With my current physical condition, even if I don't sleep..."

"......"

Muen fell silent for a moment.

He could feel the powerful medicinal energy flowing through his body. It was surging yet not overbearing, rapidly driving away his exhaustion.

But compared with the physical fatigue, the warmth in his heart and soul was what truly made him... unable to restrain himself.

"You're so good to me."^

Muen grabbed Ariel's small hand and gazed into her eyes, staring at her beautiful face. He wanted nothing more than to kiss those soft, sweet lips right now and fiercely show her his affection.

"Hmph, only now you realize how good I am to you?"

Ariel flung his hand away again.

But this time, before Muen had much time to feel disappointed, she suddenly knelt down on a spacious table nearby and patted her thighs.

"Come on. Come over here and rest for a while."

"This is... a lap pillow?"

Muen, who already had considerable experience with such matters, naturally understood Ariel's intentions at a glance.

"This is bad. You're being way too nice to me today. It's giving me the feeling that I've already developed some terminal illness and don't have long left to live. No, I need to examine myself."

Muen hurriedly closed his eyes and concentrated on inspecting his own body.

"What do you mean you don't have long left to live? A disaster like you has the vitality of a cockroach. Even Evil Gods get headaches because of you!"

Ariel bared her teeth: "Are you coming or not?"

"Of course I'm coming."

Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, Muen had already moved onto Ariel's thighs at a speed almost like teleportation, lightly shifting his head around until he found the most comfortable position.

The entire sequence was smooth and practiced, so efficient that Ariel couldn't help giving him a look of disdain.

"How is it?" But disdain was disdain. Ariel still reached out with her small hands and began massaging Muen's head.

"Perfect."

Muen praised sincerely.

It wasn't deliberate flattery. He meant it from the bottom of his heart.

Even Muen, who by now had experienced all kinds of different lap pillows, had to admit that Ariel's thighs were wonderfully springy and comfortable to the extreme.

He really wanted to lie like this for the rest of his life and never care about any of those troublesome matters again.

"That's good."

Ariel's cheeks flushed slightly. She clearly wasn't very accustomed to doing this.

But Muen's praise still made her extremely happy.

Only, after massaging him for a while, she discovered that Muen still hadn't obediently gone to sleep. Instead, he kept his eyes wide open and stared straight at her.

"W-What is it? Is there something on my face?"

"Cough... no, nothing."

Muen coughed lightly and turned his head away slightly in embarrassment: "It's just that when I usually use someone's lap as a pillow, it's rare to have this kind of completely unobstructed face-to-face situation, so I'm a little embarrassed... I can't fall asleep."

Ariel froze.

Then the small hands that had been massaging him suddenly transformed into venomous snakes, sliding toward Muen's neck:

"Go die!"