Chapter 1209: 196. Angry
“Their ultimate target is most likely still you, Miss Dragon,” Muen said.
This city of New Tars.
The survivors’ repeated attempts to deliberately provoke conflict.
And the poison capable of affecting Miss Dragon.
There had to be an extremely deep connection between the three, and the one they were targeting was naturally Miss Dragon.
Muen had always thought that those survivors were merely using a few petty tricks to make a last-ditch resistance and were completely incapable of stirring up any real trouble. But now, it seemed that they truly were plotting an enormous conspiracy capable of threatening Miss Dragon.
In that case, they had to proceed carefully. They could no longer act as casually as before.
“You mean... those few rats may ultimately defeat me?”
Hamreign raised an eyebrow. Although her features were still indistinct, Muen could nevertheless sense the disdain and amusement she displayed.
“The probability is very small, but... we still have to guard against it, don’t we?” Muen said seriously. “Even if there is only a one-percent chance, as long as it is not zero, we must do everything possible to prevent that possibility from occurring instead of blindly stepping into the enemy’s trap.”
Besides, Muen already had the faint feeling that the plan’s probability of success was not actually that low.
After all... only Avik had appeared so far. What other hidden measures the rest of those concealed fellows possessed was still unknown.
“The probability is zero. You are thinking too much. This sort of poison is still not enough to defeat me.”
Hamreign flung Muen’s hand away and said coldly, “Rats are still rats in the end. Does knowing how to use poison somehow make them anything other than rats?”
“At a time like this, there is no need to say something like that merely to save face.”
“Do you think I am one of you humans? I am only stating the truth.”
“So am I.”
Muen moved closer again and stared directly into Hamreign’s eyes, saying solemnly, “Miss Dragon should at least admit that the probability is not zero. And since you admit that, what is wrong with being slightly more cautious? You are clearly so cautious when dealing with Pollution, so when dealing with matters concerning yourself, can’t you—”
The word “Pollution” seemed to trigger some kind of switch. The light within those majestic golden eyes suddenly blazed fiercely.
Muen instinctively wanted to tilt his head back and avoid her gaze.
But the moment he began to move, Muen unexpectedly gritted his teeth and forcibly returned his head to its original position, meeting Hamreign’s eyes directly.
The golden pupils flickered like surging molten lava.
Terrifying draconic pressure poured directly into Muen’s mind like a mountain flood. His mental strength, which had only just awakened and had not yet fully recovered, suffered a powerful impact, and his vision soon began to darken again.
Cold sweat poured from his forehead. Every instinct in Muen’s body was telling him to flee immediately. The existence before him was like... No, she was an ancient demonic beast capable of devouring him with ease.
But even so, Muen still did not retreat in the slightest.
“When it concerns yourself... you cannot be this careless. If a mighty calamity... were to stumble here... how humiliating would that be?”
Muen clenched his teeth and forced the words out little by little through the gaps between them.
At such inexplicable moments, he was always this stubborn... or, as Hamreign had said, foolish.
The two of them remained locked in a stalemate. Muen had thought that this would become a prolonged battle and had already mentally prepared himself to spend another period lying in bed.
But as those golden pupils inexplicably shifted slightly downward, Hamreign suddenly closed her eyes and voluntarily withdrew that terrifying draconic pressure.
Muen was delighted. He thought that he had finally persuaded her and made this mighty calamity choose to back down, and so—
“Put your clothes on.”
Hamreign said in an icy voice, “That thing of yours is polluting my eyes.”
“...”
The corner of Muen’s mouth, which had only just begun to rise, froze. He lowered his head and took a look.
All right. He really had forgotten about that.
But...
What did she mean by polluting her eyes?
His was clearly a dragon as well.
A dragon meeting another dragon—wasn’t that...
“It seems you do not need that thing either. I will show mercy and help you—”
“No, no, no... This is an extremely important thing that even concerns the peace and stability of the world, so there is no need to trouble Miss Dragon.”
Muen jolted, afraid that Miss Dragon would truly do exactly what she said. He hurriedly burrowed beneath the blanket and grabbed his clothes, dragging them inside with him. After squirming around several times, when he emerged from {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} beneath the blanket, he had once again returned to his previous respectable-looking... elegant and refined appearance.
At the very least, he no longer looked like a pervert who would suddenly stand completely naked and grab a woman’s hand.
“Let me make this clear first. I am absolutely not a pervert.”
Muen seriously explained to Morton beside him, “That was merely an emergency, and I had no time to concern myself with minor formalities. Please do not misunderstand.”
“I understand, Lord Muen.”
Morton was extremely cooperative and had voluntarily kept his eyes closed the entire time.
“Although you remained undressed for so long and even rushed over to grab Lady Hamreign’s hand, I know that you are definitely not a pervert... At most, it can only be considered a slightly unusual little preference.”
“...”
So he had seen everything!
...The yellow-haired villain’s reputation decreased by one once again.
“All right, enough of this nonsense. Let us discuss serious matters.”
Muen held his forehead with a helpless expression.
“Returning to what I asked earlier, what exactly happened after I lost consciousness?”
“What do you think happened?” Hamreign glanced at him.
“What do I think? Surely they did not...”
Muen shuddered. He could almost already imagine the members of the Dragon-Slaying Team angrily resisting because of Kran’s death, only to be slaughtered by Miss Dragon until rivers of blood flowed.
“...”
Hamreign seemed to let out a faint snort, but she said nothing further.
Morton, however, suddenly spoke.
“Regarding that... Mr. Muen, please do not worry. The things you were concerned about did not happen.”
“Huh? Is that so?”
“I temporarily suppressed all of it. Although everyone was indeed extremely angry at the time, in the end, Kran was the one who suddenly launched an attack first. I used what little influence I had left and somehow managed to make them temporarily abandon the idea of revenge.”
Morton’s expression was bitter, and his entire person seemed to have aged considerably again.
One of the most painful things in this world was probably having to stand on the complete opposite side from the people one had once protected.
“You have worked hard.”
Muen did not know how to comfort him, so he could only pat Morton’s shoulder.
“You are a good Proxy. I promise you that everything you have done will be meaningful.”
“Being able to hear Mr. Muen say that puts me at ease.”
Morton sighed and said, “However, when I think about it carefully, I also bear some responsibility. The members of the Dragon-Slaying Team have always been young, hot-blooded, and proud. They believed that there was nothing in this world they could not defeat. I once thought there was nothing wrong with that, but now it seems... this could also be considered one of the roots of the disaster. I should have made them change sooner.”
“No.”
Muen shook his head decisively.
“You do not need to blame yourself like this. Your disaster had nothing to do with those people’s personalities. You were merely used.”
After all, had the members of the Dragon-Slaying Team who resisted Miss Dragon done anything wrong?
They had done nothing wrong at all.
They had merely been protecting their homeland.
Resolute and courageous, if not for Morton’s order, they probably would have sacrificed their lives in that battle that never occurred.
From this perspective, they were worthy of respect.
The only problem was... the path they had taken was wrong. From the very beginning, those survivors hiding behind the scenes had pointed them in the wrong direction.
And the darkly humorous part was that Muen could not even use this reason to persuade them. After all, to the people of New Tars, those survivors were heroes, leaders, radiant beings who could be trusted completely.
If Muen said such things to them, not only would he fail to earn their trust, but he would also provoke even greater resistance by slandering their “heroic lords.”
This was also why, after “Kran” died before everyone’s eyes, there had been no way to explain the truth. Saying that Miss Dragon had not killed Kran and that the one she had actually destroyed was Avik, one of their heroic lords... would have been even more disastrous.
At that point, even Morton probably would not have been able to suppress their fury.
“You did very well. You prevented that bastard’s final scheme from succeeding.”
Muen praised Morton once again.
“It was what I should have done,” Morton replied without arrogance or servility.
“As for this side...”
After confirming the current situation, Muen turned his head with a deeply aggrieved expression.
“Respected Hamreign... mighty calamity, since nothing happened, why did you not simply say so? You made me jump around like this and that, looking like a clown.”
“Why should I tell you?”
Hamreign did not even shift her gaze.
“Do you think everyone is as foolish as you?”
“...”
Muen was speechless.
For some reason, he had no response.
When he slowly thought back over many things, he really could analyze them himself. But for some reason... he simply wanted to obtain a definite answer immediately.
He seemed to have become considerably more impatient... Was it merely his imagination?
“What about Avik? You caught him. Were you able to learn anything from him?”
“No. At the final moment, he self-destructed.”
“What about his soul? Was there no information left within it?”
“Do you think he was like those weaklings you encountered before, incapable of even defending against abilities involving the soul?”
Hamreign gave a cold laugh.
“He had prepared long ago. There was no useful information to be found within his soul, apart from the Pollution attached to it.”
“...All right.”
Muen said helplessly, “It seems that before we completely uncover those fellows, it will already be extremely difficult to obtain any more information.”
“Obviously.”
“...”
Why was this person angry again?
Could it be...
All right. It seemed that she truly disliked his earlier display of “complete honesty.”
Muen shook his head. He felt that for a mighty calamity, she was being a little too petty in this regard.
But complaints were one thing. He did not show any of them. After all, she was a mighty calamity. Even if his own dragon was incomparably mighty, it was still extremely fragile before her, so naturally he did not dare act recklessly.
“Then next... we proceed with the search according to our original plan, right?”
Muen stood up.
His head was still somewhat dizzy. He did not know whether it was a lingering effect of the poison or because of his recent eye contact with Miss Dragon. In any case, his condition was not particularly good.
But Muen still forced himself to gather his energy and immediately entered working mode.
“Lord Muen, will you not rest a little longer?” Morton asked in surprise. “Surely we are not lacking this small amount of time.”
“No.”
Muen shook his head.
“If not for what happened with Avik, I would definitely be sleeping comfortably beneath the blankets right now. But it is obvious that this is not the time for me to rest. When we do not know what kind of plot the enemy is preparing, acting one minute earlier may give us one additional measure of advantage.”
From Belrand to Saint Blancfazesiya and then to the present.
After dealing with so many scheming old bastards, Muen had accumulated some experience.
When dealing with them, the most important thing was to seize time. Otherwise, who knew what enormous scheme they were secretly preparing?
“Your attitude has changed quite dramatically,” Hamreign said, finally glancing at Muen again.
“This is my true form.”
Muen adjusted his bow tie. Beneath the magic stone’s light, his handsome face was divided into firm contours like carved marble.
“The version of me Miss Dragon saw before, slacking off, loafing around, and clinging to a powerful thigh, was merely my salted-fish state. Now I am going to become serious.”
“I do not care what state you are in. Do not hold me back. I do not want to wait several more hours for some embarrassing fellow who fainted again.”
Hamreign also stood. Her black thorn-covered gown unfolded like the night.
“Then...”
Morton glanced between the two of them and suggested, “I will prepare some food for you both. It will be easier to continue working after eating and drinking your fill, will it not?”
“Many thanks.”
Muen, whose facial contours had become deep and profound, gave him a thumbs-up.
He truly was hungry.
...
...
After eating and drinking their fill, Muen and Hamreign left Morton’s residence and stepped out onto the street.
Compared with before, the entire city was now considerably brighter. However, it was not because daytime had arrived. Morton had increased the brightness of the magic stones.
According to him, bright light always helped people feel slightly more at ease, especially in New Tars, where every aspect of the current situation was extremely tense.
Muen strongly agreed with that.
“Speaking of which, have all the members of Morton’s administrative system been inspected? They are among the most important people. If something goes wrong with them, it will be extremely troublesome,” Muen asked.
“Do you think I am as unreliable as a certain useless human?” Hamreign coldly asked in return.
“...”
...Why was she still angry?
Could his accidental disrespectful behavior earlier really be so difficult for Miss Dragon to accept?
“This is for you.”
Muen suddenly handed Miss Dragon something.
“What is this?”
“Candy Morton gave me.”
“Candy?”
“Sweet things always improve a person’s mood a little.”
Muen also unwrapped one and placed it in his mouth.
Hiss... It was so sweet.
In this “carefree place” where resources were not scarce, even the candy was much sweeter than outside.
“...”
Hamreign glanced at Muen, then looked at the candy in her hand. A trace of confusion appeared in her eyes, as though there was something she could not understand.
But in the end, she still placed it in her mouth.
Since the candy was meant to be sucked, Muen did not see her “whale-swallowing” way of eating this time.
“What is that?”
Muen suddenly pointed toward the enormous humanoid figure walking along the street.
It was not a human, but some strange humanoid creation. Its material appeared to be stone, yet the way it moved was eerily smooth.
“A golem. One of my collections.”
The sweet thing seemed genuinely capable of slightly soothing her anger, because Hamreign’s tone became much calmer as she answered.
“I had them patrol the streets to prevent any accidents.”
“Good stuff.”
Muen stared at it with extreme envy.
“Just two of these things would probably be worth as much as my father’s entire estate.”
“Stop looking. I will absolutely not give you one.”
“...”
Stingy.
He had not even asked yet.
Muen could only helplessly shift his attention away from the golem and unfold the map he had prepared in advance.
The map contained extremely detailed markings. During the meal, Muen had not merely been eating. He had also taken the opportunity to plan their search route.
“There are eight large districts in total. If we inspect them in this order, it should save the most time. Does Miss Dragon have any objections?”
“You can arrange such trivial matters yourself.”
“If there are no objections, then let us begin.”
Using the map and the previous register, Muen led Hamreign directly to the first household.
The living conditions throughout New Tars were extremely good. Even the worst residence was a small three-story building like the one Muen had previously been assigned, while the building now standing before him was an entire duplex with its own private courtyard.
Because of the previous order, everyone had been forcibly placed under “house arrest” inside their own homes. Therefore, both the streets and the courtyard were extremely quiet.
In such an enormous city, excessive silence instead caused a faint sense of unease.
Muen confirmed that the address and location recorded in the register were correct, then raised his hand and was about to knock on the door...
“Wait.”
Hamreign suddenly stopped him.
“What is it?” Muen asked, turning around in confusion.
“...I will do it.”
After remaining silent for a moment, Hamreign spoke.
“Huh?”
Muen was completely baffled.
But Hamreign had already walked directly past him and approached the door. A mighty calamity was actually going to personally knock on the door of an ordinary human residence.
However, before knocking, she suddenly added one more sentence.
“Do not get caught by something so carelessly again.”
“Ah.”
Muen stared at her in surprise.
“Miss Dragon... are you concerned about me?”
“No. I simply do not want the human I have indulged for so long... to turn out to be nothing more than a fool.”
Hamreign turned her head and gave him a cold glance.
“Do not forget. You still have not shown me how you intend to save those affected by Pollution.”
“Is... that so?”
Muen blinked, then suddenly grinned.
“Then I will certainly not disgrace Miss Dragon’s concern. Caution above all else.”