Chapter 1186: 173. Innocence

"Your body... actually has no Pollution?"

Her golden eyes stared fixedly at the little girl. To prevent the girl, who possessed no powerful aura whatsoever, from fainting on the spot, Hamreign completely restrained her dragon might within her pupils. Thus, to the little girl, they were merely a pair of very beautiful eyes.

But even with her dragon might suppressed, Hamreign could still clearly see the little girl's true nature—a simple human being, nothing more.

As for Pollution, it simply did not exist.

This was completely beyond her expectations, because if this was that place...

Then as a resident of this place, this human girl should absolutely have Pollution on her as well.

"Pollution? What is Pollution?"

The little girl timidly hugged the toy in her hands more tightly...

That was not a paper pinwheel at all. It was merely an ordinary toy. Just like the words "Dragon Sister" from moments ago, it seemed as though they had only been an illusion Hamreign had experienced in the midst of her extreme fury.

Had she been affected by the appearance of this place?

No.

That was not right.

She would not be influenced so easily. Those words just now definitely had not been her hallucination. They had reached her ears through some method.

"Is this the show of force you rats prepared for me? I have to admit, it is somewhat interesting."

Hamreign's expression did not change—or rather, no change in her expression could be seen from the outside. Her palm slowly descended, but it no longer carried any power. It merely stroked the little girl's head gently.

The violence from moments ago and the gentleness now were worlds apart.

"There truly is no Pollution. But if that is the case, why is this place..."

She turned and looked around.

The scenery was indeed the kind of scenery she was familiar with. Even after so many years, she would absolutely never forget it.

But...

"Miss Dragon, when we entered, apart from the traces of the ancient relic from before, I did not detect any signs of an additional flow of time."

Muen finally had a chance to speak.

"So that conjecture... the conjecture that this place is Tars—I believe it is basically impossible."

Tars.

Muen still spoke that name aloud.

It was not some kind of taboo, nor did it seem to fall within the restrictions of the Oath of Silence. But to Miss Dragon, that name was far more than merely the name of a place.

Those survivors were not dead, and the story of Tars had still not completely ended even now.

"I never said this place was Tars."

"Stop being stubborn."

Muen sighed helplessly.

"Everything you've done has already told me that."

"Hmph!"

Hamreign turned her head and glanced at Muen. The scorching dragon might made Muen instinctively jerk his head backward.

At that moment, Muen discovered that fury was still surging within those majestic golden eyes, but it was clear that it had already been brought under control...

It seemed she would not suddenly begin slaughtering everyone.

Muen breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he was somewhat surprised that Miss Dragon's overwhelming fury just now had truly been stopped in an instant.

He had thought the little girl was definitely dead.

"I'm going to inspect this place thoroughly. Don't wander around."

Hamreign said nothing more. She merely left behind that brief sentence before her figure flashed and vanished from where she stood.

...

...

"Honestly... she's still as willful as ever."

Muen sighed, still extremely helpless regarding Miss Dragon's habit of coming and going like the wind.

At the same time, he also felt astonished.

To be honest, Miss Dragon's abnormal behavior just now had indeed given him a small shock. After all, Miss Dragon had already thoroughly demonstrated to him what it meant to have a violent temper and what it meant to immediately resort to physical force at the slightest disagreement.

But whether in Annabawei or throughout this entire journey, her emotions had never undergone such an intense change.

A thousand-year-old dragon had lost control merely because of a landscape and a name. No matter how he looked at it, that was somewhat beyond Muen's imagination.

So much so that, at that moment, Miss Andri's words once again surfaced in his mind.

[Dragon Sister... lost her true self... in Tars eight hundred years ago...]

"This place is absolutely not eight hundred years in the past."

Muen once again looked around at those ancient and simple streets and alleys. The walls carved with decorative patterns did indeed appear weathered, but they were definitely not eight hundred years old... much less over a thousand.

Muen lightly ran his fingers over them, sensing the traces of time...

"Hm? That's not right. These aren't old at all. Forget a hundred years—they haven't even existed for ten..."

Muen narrowed his eyes and rapidly spread his perception farther outward.

"Were they newly built? And not only here—the entire city was deliberately given this ancient atmosphere through artificial aging techniques? Who would be this bored?"

No matter how good the craftsmanship was, it could not falsify the passage of time. Perhaps that lost ancient relic could accomplish it, but if someone had truly gone that far...

Then Muen genuinely felt that the builder of this place must have had something seriously wrong with their head.

They had gone to such enormous trouble merely to create a fake city that looked as though it had not been destroyed eight hundred years ago? And then make Miss Dragon's heart waver just a tiny bit after she entered?

Did they have nothing better to do?

A false city could never replace the real city.

And something forged could never compare to the genuine article that had already been destroyed and lost to history.

Muen did not understand what exactly had happened in Tars eight hundred years ago, nor what it truly meant to Miss Dragon. But he did not believe that the surrounding scenery alone could genuinely harm her.

The little girl who had just taken a trip to the edge of death was proof of that.

"Little girl, what's your name?"

Muen rubbed his cheeks, forced out a kindly smile, and crouched in front of the little girl.

"D-Daphne."

"Where is your family?"

"Mom is at home. Dad... is still working."

Daphne blinked her large, watery eyes. She seemed completely unaware of the danger from moments ago. In her eyes, a strange older sister had merely appeared, asked her some strange questions, touched her head, and then left.

She hated it when other people touched her head, so she did not like that older sister.

But this big brother...

He looked very handsome.

"Then aren't you afraid to be alone?"

"Mm, I'm not afraid! Daphne is already a big girl!"

"What a good girl."

Muen smiled and handed her two pieces of candy. Fortunately, he still had a few of the lollipops that the old little girl liked to eat.

When she saw the lollipops, the adorable little girl's eyes lit up. Without even the slightest hesitation, she immediately took them and happily began licking one.

"That thing you're holding is..."

Muen looked at the object tightly hugged in Daphne's arms. It was a doll woven from some kind of cloth. The workmanship was quite good, and the care put into making it was obvious. Its appearance was that of a cute, chibi-style woman.

This surprised Muen somewhat. After all, although the woman's appearance had been made cuter to appeal to children, from Muen's aesthetic perspective, she could not really be considered adorable.

"Huh? Big Brother, you don't recognize this?"

Daphne tilted her head. Evidently, in her eyes, not recognizing this doll was something extremely surprising.

"...Actually, Big Brother has lost his memory, so I've forgotten many things."

Muen thought for a moment before speaking.

"You lost your memory?"

Daphne's large, watery eyes widened into perfect circles.

"That's right."

"H-How did you lose it?"

"That is a long story."

Muen coughed dryly twice and said solemnly:

"Simply put, Big Brother was persecuted by a certain evil woman. I suffered tremendous harm both physically and mentally, so my memory became extremely poor. That is why I need your help, little girl."

"An e-evil woman?"

Daphne appeared extremely shocked, as though those words were very difficult for her to understand.

But the innocent little girl did not harbor the slightest doubt and immediately believed the nonsense fabricated by a certain utterly wicked blond villain.

After all, what bad intentions could a handsome big brother who gave her delicious lollipops possibly have?

"This is the Great Hero."

Daphne raised the doll high and carefully showed it to Muen.

"The Great Hero will definitely help Big Brother defeat that evil bad woman!"

"The Great Hero?"

Muen froze, then found the situation both amusing and ridiculous.

So that was why the doll was not cute.

That made sense. If it represented some heroic figure, it truly should not have been made too adorable.

"I didn't expect a little girl to like something like this. You're really something special."

Muen praised her.

"Hmph! I'm not a little girl. I'm already a big girl!"

Daphne planted her hands on her hips and snorted.

"Then... where is Miss Daphne, who is already a big girl, going?"

Muen smiled.

"Would you like Big Brother to take you there? It might not be safe for you to walk through the streets alone."

"I'm going to watch a puppet show! There's a puppet show today!"

At the mention of this, Daphne became visibly excited.

But then she suddenly blinked in confusion.

"Not safe? What does not safe mean?"

"Not safe... means there could be danger."

Muen explained patiently.

"What if you encounter a bad person? They might take you away."

"A bad person?"

Daphne thought for a moment, then shook her head vigorously.

"There aren't any bad people! Mom said New Tars is the best place in the world, and there are absolutely no bad people here!"

"...New Tars?"

Those words caused Muen's pupils to contract slightly.

Not Tars, but New Tars?

Combined with the surrounding environment, that name was clearly no coincidence.

Then everything made sense.

This was not a false city created in anticipation of someone's return. It was a new city born to replace the old city that had once existed.

As for who had built it...

"The abilities of those survivors... are somewhat beyond my expectations."

Muen looked around at the vast city surrounding him and murmured:

"I originally thought it would be a filthy little nest where dirt and evil gathered. I never expected... a vast and towering city."

Miss Dragon's slight loss of composure just now proved that this place was not some illusion. It truly existed, and to a certain extent, it had even deceived that calamity.

But that was precisely what made it so unbelievable.

If no other power had become involved behind the scenes, Muen would pull out every strand of blond hair on his head.

"Put that way, I can understand why Miss Dragon was so surprised at the time."

Muen examined the little girl once again and narrowed his eyes.

Regardless of whether this place was truly Tars, and regardless of the reason it had been constructed, the mere fact that it existed here was already extremely abnormal.

And what was even more abnormal was that the little girl living in this strange city...

Was actually normal?

There was no Pollution on her. Miss Dragon had already confirmed that.

But how could she possibly be free of Pollution?

The Tars survivors had been hunted by Miss Dragon precisely because of the Pollution on their bodies.

And whatever had helped those survivors was most likely nothing respectable either. Judging from the previous development of events, Muen suspected that it was most likely the Withering King hiding beneath a "female" disguise.

With those two factors combined, the residents of this so-called New Tars...

Were actually still unpolluted?

Was this an isolated case, or...

"Little girl, could you take Big Brother to see that puppet show as well?"

After thinking for a moment, Muen decided that he should first extend his demonic hand...

No, he should first obtain more information through the little girl.

"Sure!"

The innocent Daphne still agreed without the slightest suspicion.

"The puppet show is free. Anyone can go watch it!"