Chapter 1270: 28. Resentment

“Whew......that felt good......”

After a round of battle, Muen felt refreshed from head to toe and stretched comfortably.

This was great. None of that running completely dry after several starving wolves took turns squeezing him dry, and none of that bone-deep exhaustion from having to watch the front, back, left, and right all at once. A simple one-on-one duel was, for the current him, ridiculously easy.

A piece of cake.

In fact, Muen still felt somewhat unsatisfied. He thought he could take another two......no, at least three!

Of course, this result was not only because his own combat ability had risen another level, but also because, when all was said and done, a certain someone was still as weak as ever.

“Mm, weren’t you acting pretty cocky just now?”

Thinking of that, Muen found it rather amusing. He could not help bending down and gently biting the girl’s little ear.

A girl’s ears should have been an extremely sensitive area, something Muen had already verified through practice long ago, yet at this moment the girl gave no reaction whatsoever.

She could not react even if she wanted to.

Because right now, her pretty eyes were still rolled upward, the tip of her little tongue sticking out, her flushed, delicate body trembling faintly. She clearly had yet to recover from the peak of ecstasy she had just reached."

“Next time, don’t bother with all those flashy tricks. A little slut should have the self-awareness of a little slut. As long as you spread yourself open and obediently beg for mercy, I’ll be a little gentler with you.” Muen gave her already reddened, perky little ass another slap.

To be fair, compared with last time, Ariel really had improved a great deal. If she had not kept thinking up all those flashy tricks, perhaps she could have lasted even longer.^

Unfortunately, as always, she was terrible at it and still loved playing around.

Take the improved version of that magic she had used just now, for example. Its practical effect was outstanding. It could, to a certain degree, reduce, enhance combat ability, and was far better than that previous technique with its side effects by who knew how much..

But this improved magic also had an extremely obvious weakness: the caster actually had to split their attention to maintain it. During that process, the moment their concentration was disrupted, not only would the effect immediately disappear, but the caster would also suffer magical backlash, and everything that had previously been reduced would come flooding back all at once.

Therefore, after her defenses were broken through this time, the surging tide was several times more violent than the last time./

“I really don’t know how that little head of yours is put together for you to invent such strange techniques. Don’t tell me you get all your inspiration from our usual battles.”

Muen rubbed his chin, for a moment unsure whether he should admire her......or admire her?_

All he could say was, as expected of Ariel.

A genius when it came to battle.^

A battle genius in every sense of the word.

Still, he had to admit that he rather liked this trait of hers. After all, when she entered that state, she could basically strike any humiliating pose imaginable.*

Compared with the Destiny Protagonist who was usually so fiercely proud, the contrast was overwhelmingly cute.

“Maybe next time we should develop some new avenues.”_

Muen smacked his lips, already looking forward to it.

But for now......

“Get some proper rest first.”

Muen gave Ariel one final kiss on the cheek. This girl had speed-run an entire ruin in a single day, defeated a Truth-Rank enemy, suffered a major psychological blow not long ago and passed out on the spot, and afterward had still been able to fight him fiercely for an entire round......he had to admit, both her stamina and recovery ability were almost absurdly impressive.

That was enough for today. He truly could not bring himself to keep tormenting her.

After one last kiss, Muen stood and quickly put on his clothes.

Although it would not exactly be impossible to simply take advantage of the situation and sleep beside Ariel until morning, Muen instinctively felt that doing so would be......very inappropriate.

After all......

Ahem. Better go outside and take a look first.

Muen suppressed his presence and tiptoed toward the door. Holding his breath, he spread out his perception and sensed the surroundings, then stood there listening quietly for quite a while.

Perhaps because the night had already grown deep, the entire inn was unbelievably silent. Muen hesitated for a long time before finally pushing the door open ever so gently.

Outside......of course there was no one there.

Muen stuck his head out, looked left, then right. Only after confirming that he could not see that fiery-red figure anywhere did he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Exactly. She was Miss Dragon, a mighty calamity. How could she possibly come over just to listen through his wall?

Worrying over nothing. Worrying over nothing......

Muen lowered his head and patted his chest, just beginning to feel relieved when......a meaningful voice suddenly sounded.

“Junior......what guilty thing did you do to make you this nervous?”

“......”

Muen immediately froze.

The corner of his mouth twitched. Like a puppet whose joints had been locked in place, he turned his head with great difficulty.

“Senior?”

Muen thought he was dreaming.

But beneath the bright moon and sparse stars, with a beauty before him like a painting, there was not the slightest sense of a dream.

In the courtyard, that gentle yet seductive figure sat quietly, her head tilted upward as she admired the moon. She looked like a goddess descended into the mortal world, beautiful enough to make one sigh.

As gentle as ever, as irresistibly charming as ever, and yet for some inexplicable reason......Muen’s heart gave a violent tremor.

“Am I scary?” Anna rested her cheek on one hand. Only after quite some time did she lower her head, shifting her gaze from the bright moon to Muen as she asked softly.

“No......absolutely not!” Muen immediately puffed out his chest. His brain had not even caught up yet, but the heartfelt words of a good man had already escaped almost instinctively. “Senior is as beautiful and captivating as the moon in the sky. I can’t get close to you fast enough, so how could I possibly be afraid?”

“Then why aren’t you coming a little closer?”

“Coming.”

Muen’s figure flashed.

He appeared directly across from Anna.

Incredibly fast.

And seemingly incredibly composed.

But a few little movements still betrayed the nervousness he had unconsciously developed. For example, the sudden dryness in his throat made him grab the cup of tea in front of him and drain it in a single gulp......

“Excellent tea!”

Muen praised loudly, “Wonderfully fragrant, with a rich lingering aftertaste. The tea Senior brewed is exquisite!”

“Oh?”

Anna, however, raised one elegant brow.

“Doesn’t Junior dislike drinking tea?”

“It’s only black tea that I don’t really like. I have some psychological trauma from it. Other kinds of tea......Senior, are you angry?”

Muen looked completely baffled. He could not understand why the senior who had been so gentle just a moment ago had suddenly begun radiating a faint resentment.

The resentment was slight, but for Anna, who was always smiling sweetly and rarely exposed any other emotion, it was already extremely obvious.

“It’s nothing. I just think a certain someone is far too infuriating.” Anna glanced at that teacup......if she had known, she should have put it away first.

“Is......is there someone like that?”

“Isn’t there? We’ve been working ourselves to the bone for your sake, and meanwhile, a certain fellow has been spending all this time being lovey-dovey with that dragon and traveling all over the place. How could that not make someone angry? I’m only this calm because I have a good temper. If it were a certain Her Majesty, she’d probably already be thinking about chopping you apart.”

“......”

At the thought of a certain silver-white figure, Muen’s heart trembled again.

Indeed, he had imagined that possibility before. If the one who had run into him strolling through the night market and watching fireworks with Miss Dragon had been Celicia......

He did not dare imagine it.

He felt as though he could already reserve himself a nice spot in the priest’s graveyard.