Chapter 1190: 177. Cooling Off

Slaughter the city...

Muen shuddered.

Those molten-gold eyes were like ancient brass lamps, flickering with an imposing light.

But at this moment, what they brought Muen... was only coldness.

"Miss Dragon... are you joking?" Muen hesitated for a moment before asking.

"Do you think I’m joking with you?" Hamreign asked in return.

"It doesn’t sound like a joke."

Muen shook his head.

He had indeed never seen this calamity joke before.

But...

"I don’t think this method will work." Muen’s tone was extremely firm.

"Why?"

"Because they’re only ordinary people. Innocent ordinary people."

Ignoring the stinging pain brought by the dragon’s might, Muen stared into those golden eyes and heavily emphasized the word "innocent."

"They haven’t committed any crimes, and they haven’t done anything wrong. They don’t even have any Pollution on them... The words ‘slaughter the city’ are far too heavy."

The people here, in Miss Dragon’s own words, were completely spotless, so clean that it was unbelievable.

They were even different from the people of Annabawei. Although the people of Annabawei were also innocent, they truly did bear the original sin known as "Pollution."

But the people here did not even have Pollution.

No crime, no sin, no Pollution.

Killing all of them merely to drag out a few rats from eight hundred years ago... Muen felt that this was very wrong.

"Are you going to show me that laughable kindness of yours again? The people here are only strangers to you, aren’t they?" Hamreign’s tone grew colder.

"This isn’t overflowing kindness. It’s distinguishing right from wrong."

Muen said, "If what happened in Annabawei truly involved some selfish motives of my own, then this time it’s purely a matter of right and wrong. Killing these innocent people merely for our own convenience—how would that be any different from evil believers casually sacrificing ordinary people?"

"...There truly would be no difference."

Hamreign seemed to seriously think about it as well, but her face was shrouded in mist, making her expression impossible to see.

"Right?"

Muen suddenly stood up.

Then, under Hamreign’s strange gaze, he used a fork to pick up a piece of pastry and brought it to her mouth.

"...What are you doing?"

"Feeding you." Muen lightly flicked his bangs aside, revealing an alluring smile.

"Feeding...?"

Hamreign felt that there were times when she truly could not understand the way this human’s mind worked.

"Why are you... feeding me?"

"Because according to my experience, when a woman is angry, if you feed her a fragrant and sweet little cake, most of her anger will probably dissipate. I hope this can help you calm down."

He was not making this up. There was theoretical evidence behind it.

For example, Ariel. No matter how excessive the things he did to her at night were, if he personally fed her a piece of cake first thing after she woke up in the morning, she probably would not bare her teeth with tears in her eyes, draw the Heavenly Flame Greatsword, and try to cut him down.

Since they were both gluttons, Muen felt that there should be at least a tiny bit of similarity in that regard.

Of course... he was still only trying it out. After all, the other party was...

The fork suddenly became lighter.

Muen’s eyes widened slightly in astonishment.

Because the calamity before him had actually leaned forward slightly and bitten the little cake into her mouth without the slightest hesitation.

The tip of her tongue licked the cream from the corner of her lips. Her golden eyes remained as calm as an ancient well... It seemed that the feeding play that humans considered extremely intimate meant absolutely nothing to a dragon.

Now it was Muen’s turn to feel somewhat at a loss.

He once again recalled that terrifying feeling of trying to control the other party, only to end up being controlled by her instead.

"It tastes good."

"Ahem. A cake personally fed by me has always received universal praise..." Muen coughed dryly twice. Fortunately, his skin was thick enough that this was not enough to make him lose his composure.

"But I don’t feel that my mood has improved."

"Don’t be so irritable. You shouldn’t resort to fighting and killing at the slightest provocation."

Having already gone this far, Muen shamelessly offered her another piece of cake.

"For women, anger is a natural enemy. It easily accelerates aging."

"I am not killing indiscriminately. From the perspective of the greater situation, this truly is the most efficient and safest method."

Hamreign swallowed the second piece of cake in one bite as well.

"You should know that those rats have now attached themselves to an Evil God. If we cannot deal with them here, the harm they will cause after escaping will definitely far exceed the loss of a single city."

"...I know."

Muen fell silent for a moment before helplessly nodding.

He had no choice but to admit that point.

Although Miss Dragon constantly called those people rats... that was only from her perspective. Only to her, the strongest creature beneath the sky, were those people merely rats.

They had survived the destruction of Tars.

They had lived for a full eight hundred years... Although that had clearly depended on the power of that ancient relic, it was still terrifying enough.

And throughout those eight hundred years, they had evaded Hamreign’s pursuit countless times... Those people were absolutely not easy opponents.

Muen did not know about the others he had yet to meet, but Andri and Priscilla alone already possessed the raw strength of Crowned Ones. In the outside world, they would definitely count as extraordinary powerhouses.

Not to mention that, judging from Priscilla, the remaining people had very likely already become connected to the Withering King.

Five or six powerful old monsters.

Along with the help of an Evil God.

With that kind of lineup, forget destroying one city—they could destroy ten with ease.

"The greater situation is indeed important, but we can’t look at everything solely from the perspective of the greater situation, can we? Otherwise, wouldn’t what that old madman, Holy Lord of Salvation Gaius, did be the most correct thing in the world? Kill all of humanity and settle everything once and for all. Then there wouldn’t be so many troublesome matters left, would there?"

Muen carefully offered her another piece of cake.

"We always have to start with something slightly simpler and move forward one step at a time, don’t we?"

"Foolish."

Miss Dragon closed her eyes, appearing somewhat angry. She refused to eat the third piece of cake as well.

"Actually... Miss Dragon never intended to slaughter the city directly in the first place, did you?" Muen watched her for a long time before suddenly speaking.

"Heh. You think I was deceiving you?"

"No... It’s just that with Miss Dragon’s personality, if you truly intended to slaughter them, you would have acted long ago. Why would you possibly sit here and discuss it with me?"

Muen smiled.

"You knew I wouldn’t agree."

"...Do you think I care whether you agree or not?" Her voice became cold again.

"Of course you don’t care, but it’s always better to discuss things a little more."

Muen’s smile grew even brighter. He turned his hand around and stuffed the piece of cake Hamreign had refused into his own mouth.

It was smooth and rich in texture, sweet and fragrant while still perfectly restrained. He had to admit that it truly was a delicious piece of cake.

Mm. As expected of a cake fed by him.

"...I truly have no intention of directly slaughtering the city for the time being," Hamreign suddenly said. "But I also will not follow your gentle approach and slowly drag them out one by one. Knowing that the other side wants you to play hide-and-seek with them, yet still following their rhythm, is an extremely foolish act. Besides, those rats may be brewing some kind of conspiracy. I will not give them that opportunity."