She felt like she should say something, but she didn't know what to say, so she silently lowered her head again.
But Ash obviously wouldn't get angry. Seeing her dejected look instead made him think she was very cute. He laughed and habitually placed a hand on her long pale golden hair, "What's with that look? Honestly..."
"Oh ho~ Completely different treatment," Milli, who had been watching from the side, narrowed her eyes and grinned, "So you actually like the small ones, huh?"
"This is care. What would you know?", He glared at the drunkard interrupting his head-patting, "Go drink your alcohol somewhere else. Stop getting in the way of me taking care of children."
"I'd drink even if you didn't tell me to, but, your wounds are still bleeding, yet you still have the energy to care about children?"
Milli looked at him with a half-smile. Watching the hand he never removed from Sense's hair, she felt like she had discovered some hidden secret.
Only after Milli mentioned it did Sense notice the clothes he had changed into were already stained red with blood again. She had thought it was leftover blood from before. Worry appeared on her face, "Your injuries still haven't been treated? Wouldn't it be better to find a priest first?"
"There are still some things to deal with right now. After a while.... Mm, after a while."
"What? Thing can't wait?"
"This injury only looks serious. It's actually not serious at all," As he spoke, he sat down on a nearby bench.
Then he casually pulled Sense into his arms, placed her on his lap, and rested his chin on her head with a smile while combing through the girl's long hair.
"See! There's completely no problem, right?"
Immediately, the small girl's face turned red like a ripe apple. Her lips parted slightly, but no words came out.
Ubel tilted her head and silently watched the scene in front of her. The smile on her face didn't change, but she couldn't figure something out, 'I have been flirted with him for quite a while already, so how did this absentminded girl leave me in the dust?'
The strange situation even made Ubel start doubting herself. She even suspected that despite saying he liked older women, maybe he actually just liked older people regardless of appearance.
———
To change the topic and distract himself from the pain by hugging a cute girl, Ash unconsciously hugged Sense again.
But while healing himself, he couldn't really ignore Ubel's strange gaze, so he turned his head toward her.
"What? Why are you staring at me like that?"
"You...", Ubel didn't bother being polite. With a smile carrying an unclear meaning, she directly asked, "Could it be... you actually like the small-sized, older type?"
"Do I look like that kind of man?"
"Then..."
"There's no way I could pull a normal girl onto my lap in public, right? What kind of person would that make me?"
"Oh ho~ So you mean, when nobody's around, you'd let yourself loose?", Ubel's lips immediately curled into a mischievous smile.
"Stop twisting my words and making me sound like some weird person."
The strange conversation made him sigh. He even wanted to bury his face in the girl's hair and quietly enjoy the happiness of hugging a cute girl.
Fortunately, his reason stopped him from doing that.
Otherwise... he would definitely be misunderstood even more.
———
After the brief farce, although he felt somewhat reluctant, Ash still temporarily stopped petting Sense.
Because he worried that the people he sent out to report that he was safe might fail to meet Fern and Frieren, and if those two barged into the imperial city, it could cause unnecessary conflict.
So after giving some instructions and leaving Milli, the strongest fighter in the imperial city, there to hold things down, he changed into clean clothes, treated his wounds again, stuffed cotton into the wound through his shoulder to forcibly stop the bleeding, then climbed over the wall together with the others to leave.
But unexpectedly, he really did spot Fern and Frieren at the entrance to the incident area, a city gate packed with guards.
Compared to Sense's overly versatile hair, which suited close combat, Fern and Frieren were both standard mages and simply couldn't climb over the walls.
Against the anti-flight barrier, they were completely helpless and could only choose to enter through the city gate.
Otherwise they would have to find a section of wall and blow it up, but that would attract too much attention.
Breaking in by force also wasn't impossible for them, but controlling casualties would become difficult, and they couldn't confirm the exact situation inside either.
So they ended up blocked at the gate. Frieren was currently being held by the shoulders and shaken nonstop by Fern, who wanted her to come up with a spell to solve the situation. But even after being shaken dizzy, she still couldn't think of a suitable solution.
The scene was strangely entertaining, so Ash watched for a while before slowly walking over with a relaxed smile, pretending he had just arrived.
"What a coincidence, Fern, Frieren, you came to watch the excitement too?"
"Lord Ash?", Hearing the familiar voice, Fern, who had been very worried, nearly cried from relief. She quickly ran over and carefully looked him up and down, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
"That's a sudden thing to ask. Why would I be hurt?"
"Because..."
"Because I was just together with Sense and Ubel?", Before Fern could finish, Ash cut her off as though answering for her.
It wasn't because he wanted to hide anything. He simply wanted to see their expressions when they met the Emperor, and then saw him standing beside the Emperor.
With that small bit of bad taste in mind, he casually rubbed Fern's head too, messing up her purple hair before pulling back his "evil hand" under the girl's dissatisfied complaints.
After seeing that Ash was completely unharmed, Frieren suddenly sighed.
"So in the end, we worried for nothing. What a waste of such a good opportunity."
"Lady Frieren, what exactly do you mean by 'good opportunity'?", While fixing her hair, Fern stared directly at her, making Frieren guiltily look away.
"N-no... Sneaking off to splurge while you went to buy groceries or something, absolutely not!"
"Your lying skills are really terrible," Even Ash couldn't bear listening anymore and pointed out the problem while repeatedly shaking his head.
His sarcastic remark not only annoyed Frieren, but also made Fern narrow her eyes and place her hands on her hips unhappily.
"Lord Ash! I've said this many times already, please stop teaching Lady Frieren unhealthy ideas. Do you think being good at lying is something honorable?"
"I suddenly remembered I left the faucet running after getting up this morning. You all continue watching the excitement, I'm leaving first, see you!"
He only wanted to watch the fun, but now the fire was about to spread onto him too. Naturally, Ash instantly turned around and left, abandoning Frieren alone to deal with Fern's lecture.
Looking at Frieren being lectured, Sense not only felt no sympathy, she even sighed, "Why is your taste so bad, and why do you like shopping so much?"
Then she ignored Frieren's pleading look and planned to leave together with Ubel and Ash.
But... what surprised everyone was that after only taking a few steps away, Ash suddenly turned back around and seriously said something that made them wonder if the world was ending tomorrow.
"Thinking about it seriously, abandoning your companion like this really isn't good. And I already promised before that at times like this I would stand. Mm? Why are you all looking at me like that? Did I say something strange?"
"Aren't you saying something strange right now?", Frieren looked stunned and instinctively replied, "I thought someone like you would definitely abandon me and run away immediately."
"Listen to yourself. Is that something a human would do?"
"Eh? Are you a human?", Frieren tilted her head and looked at him in confusion.
"You're right. Then I'm leaving."
Frieren's completely normal statement somehow sounded like an insult. After remaining silent for a long time, Ash turned around again and prepared to leave.
But before he could take two steps, Frieren quickly rushed over and tightly grabbed his arm like she was grabbing a lifeline.
"I was wrong! You're human! The gentlest and best person I've ever met!"
"You can actually say something like that?"
"To be honest, I think it sounds disgusting too," Frieren raised her head and spoke seriously from the heart.
That made him turn around and leave without another word.
"Ahh~ Don't go! I apologize, alright? Don't leave me alone with Fern. Angry Fern is super scary!"
The elf girl, afraid of being left behind and in need of someone to rely on, immediately hugged his arm tightly and refused to let go. Even while being dragged along, she kept apologizing nonstop, her body being pulled forward with Ash's steps.
The sudden humble attitude was honestly hard to watch, but, Sense simply stood there quietly without any expression, while Ubel crossed her arms and watched with interest.
Instead, Fern, who had originally planned to lecture Frieren, wore a worried expression and reached out to touch Ash's forehead.
"You don't have a fever either. Lord Ash, did you eat something strange this morning?"
After finally trying to act like a decent person and share hardship with his companions properly, everyone instead reacted with suspicion. Ash looked completely numb as he slapped her hand away with disappointment.
"I don't remember raising such a rude child!"
"I don't remember you teaching me anything," Fern puffed up her cheeks unwillingly.
"You've grown up now, huh? You can even say things like that? You used to be so honest and cute when you were little..."
He turned away looking deeply hurt and slightly closed his eyes, reminiscing about the old days when Fern respected both him and Frieren and was cute and straightforward.
Normally, Fern would more or less give in to him around this point.
But Ubel smiled ambiguously from the side and stabbed right at the key issue, "Has it ever occurred to you that Fern became this lecture-loving because the two of you always do weird things?"
"This is our family matter, there's no place for you to speak! And don't underestimate the bond between us! Fern absolutely would never..."
"Lord Ash! Please don't talk about bonds in relation to weird things, and stop forming little groups to bully Lady Ubel. Lady Ubel is also our companion," Just when Ash tried to redirect the topic, Fern once again started lecturing him with a serious face, "And Lady Ubel makes a lot of sense. Both of you should properly reflect on yourselves!"
"Mm, yes, what you said makes a lot of sense."
He originally had a moment of conscience and wanted to stop Fern, but unexpectedly became the main target again. Ash felt miserable inside.
But while Ubel watched gleefully from the side, he could only silently... end up completely sharing the burden of being lectured together with Frieren.
The two of them sighed at the exact same time, then looked at each other.... and sighed once more.
———
After returning to the base, both Ash and Frieren were mentally and physically exhausted. Almost at the same time, they collapsed onto their own beds and entered complete lazy mode with perfect coordination.
But in reality, there were still many things to do. Not long after lying down, Ash sighed and was forced to sit back up to properly think about what came next.
But at that moment, Ubel casually walked into the room with light steps, her green ponytail swaying as she moved.
The energetic girl directly sat down beside him on the bed, the corners of her lips lifting into a faint smile.
"Ash, You lied, didn't you?"
"That's sudden," Ash stayed seated where he was without moving. His expression remained calm, though a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes. His gaze briefly lingered on the girl before naturally shifting away, "Mind telling me what you mean?"
"Let me guess, you actually never let anyone treat your injuries, right?"
"What's the problem with that? Why would I lie about something like this?"
"Don't be so guarded~ I'm worried about you," Ubel slightly turned toward him and leaned closer. Her eyes carried a smile that was hard to read, as though she could see through his thoughts.
Looking at the girl, Ash felt a complicated emotion rise inside him.
"You misunderstood. I just think you have a lot of strange ideas and are kind of hard to control."
"Oh my~ Was that praise?", Surprise appeared on Ubel's face. That made Ash unconsciously place a hand on her head and gently rub her hair.
"What's there to be surprised about? You're actually a very good girl too, aren't you? And you're very charming. I admit that."
"Haha~ Of course I'm charming. You lifted my skirt the moment we met~"
"No matter how many times this comes up, I need to stress this again. You lifted it yourself first. Stop making me sound like some hooligan."
"Hm~", She slightly raised her chin with a provocative look, "Would a normal person react like that? Isn't someone who reacts that way still a hooligan?"
"You've never seen a real hooligan."
"What's a real hooligan like?"
"You're seriously asking me?"
"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you~ Hurry up and tell me~"
She laughed again. Her smile bloomed like a flower, beautiful but filled with teasing. She leaned closer to Ash until they were almost pressed together and lightly poked his chest with a finger, her tone carrying invitation and expectation.
Her pink lips were close enough to kiss with only a small movement.
And she seemed completely unconcerned about it.
That attitude... really made it feel like she was underestimating him.
Ash stared at the girl in front of him. After staying silent for a moment, he suddenly wrapped an arm around her slender waist and, ignoring her startled cry, lowered his head and kissed her without hesitation.
He wasn't gentle at all. Completely ignoring Ubel's shock and weak struggling, he forcefully pinned her onto the bed and took control instead, making the girl let out a cry.
———
Nobody knew how much time passed until light footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.
The faint sound was like a small stone thrown into a still lake, instantly breaking the room's intimate atmosphere. It was as if Ash had suddenly woken up. He immediately separated from the girl beneath him.
But at this moment, the girl on the bed had disheveled clothes and a flushed face as she breathed heavily.
Her hair was scattered messily over her shoulders, and her black dress had become wrinkled. She looked like a flower ruined by wind and rain.
Her cheeks were red like ripe apples, and her eyes held embarrassment and panic. Only after the footsteps moved away did the girl, who had instinctively pulled the blanket over herself, let out a sigh of relief.
But only moments later, she immediately sat up again and shrank into the corner like a startled deer. Holding her chest and biting her lip, she stared tightly at Ash, her eyes carrying both anger and embarrassment.
"Pervert!"
"You started messing around first. It's not entirely my fault," Ash looked slightly awkward but still spoke firmly. He knew his actions had been impulsive, but, "Even if I did something wrong, you share responsibility too. No matter how you look at it, it should be split half and half."
"Even if I'm partly responsible! Even if I flirted with you first! What normal person goes this far during their first kiss?", Ubel's voice carried shame and anger. Her face was red enough to look like it could drip blood.
"At times like this, humans have a hard time controlling their hands," He explained seriously, trying to find a reasonable excuse for his actions.
But while speaking, seeing her look like a wronged wife made Ash laugh despite himself.
"Thinking about it carefully, you're usually bold and aggressive, and you're always actively flirting with me. But once I fight back, this is your reaction?"
"Even I need mental preparation, okay?", Ubel gritted her teeth and argued back. For some reason, more than embarrassment, Ash felt she was more unwilling to accept being toyed with instead.
"Is that so? But if you flirt with someone, you should prepare yourself to get counterattacked too, right?", The corner of Ash's lips rose slightly, teasing visible in his eyes.
The way he was clearly trying to tease her made Ubel feel like she was the one being looked down on instead. The unwillingness on her face became impossible to hide.
"You'll take responsibility, right?"
"Of course.... Anyway, come sit over here first?"
"You won't do anything weird?", Ubel hesitated, caution still in her eyes, but she still slowly moved over and sat beside him.
That surprised Ash slightly. He unconsciously wrapped an arm around her shoulders, his movements gentle and natural, though he still couldn't help teasing her.
"I hadn't even answered yet and you already came over. Aren't you afraid I really would do something weird?"
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