Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Nursing (2)
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Massage?
I have a piercing wound, you know.
"Thanks, but I'm fine."
I forced a smile and waved off the girl as she entered the warden's office.
Of course, the figure before me didn't feel like a girl's at all.
"Anje already used her healing magic on me, so I'm almost fully recovered anyway."
"……."
At the mention of Anje, she froze for a moment.
The Sword Sage's face darkened briefly before she closed the distance to me in an instant with overwhelming speed.
She gazed at me with eyes far more sinister than mine, her words laced with deep meaning.
"I can make it hurt even less."
Green eyes gleamed fiercely from beneath her black hair.
I thought her personality had brightened up since before, but today she seemed especially ominous.
'Did I make her uncomfortable by bringing such a dangerous figure like Jinjo into the prison?'
Well, with her already strong yin energy, and just turning nineteen, it was natural she'd feel uneasy.
She's at that sensitive age, so I should be understanding.
"Got it. So, what kind of massage is it?"
I accepted the girl's suggestion with a magnanimous smile befitting the head of an institution.
"……."
But after offering, she fell silent for a moment.
As if she hadn't prepared any specific plan.
"Well... when you get injured, your qi and blood get twisted up, right? You Westerners wouldn't know about that."
What is this?
It felt just like those cultists you occasionally run into on the street in real life.
'Brother, your qi is off.'
People like that would approach you saying things like that.
And the women who went around proselytizing were usually stunning beauties.
Of course, the girl in front of me was overwhelmingly more beautiful.
"Anyway, it's incredibly good for your body, so just trust me and let me handle it. You don't doubt my skills, do you?"
She set down the medicine box and sat beside me on the sofa.
Well, her intentions were cute, so I'd indulge her.
It felt nice having a little sister.
I looked at Myoran approvingly and said,
"Alright, do whatever you want."
Whatever you want.
At those words, the corners of Myoran's mouth twitched slyly.
In response, she took out the medicine box and began applying a transparent oil.
It had a subtle fragrance that amplified her sweet, peach-like body scent.
"Then, first, your clothes..."
I was only wearing a loosely buttoned dress shirt since Anje had healed me earlier.
Myoran knelt in front of me and reached to unbutton my shirt herself.
My silver hair, disheveled from the fight with Jinjo, and half-unbuttoned shirt already.
Not to mention my eyes, made decadent by the wounds.
She swallowed hard as she gazed at me up close.
Her eyes were more tense than when she'd fought the knight commanders who threatened her.
'How amazing must this massage be for her to be this nervous?'
Even someone as strong as her was still just a girl.
Seeing her so innocently unaware eased my mind as well.
"……."
She carefully slid off my shirt, revealing a body I thought was lean but filled with a manly vigor.
Not the bulky muscles of a brutish bandit, but the refined build of a noble practitioner.
"It's just like in the books. No, maybe even more exquisite..."
She recalled the men from the erotic books she'd secretly viewed with her junior sisters as a child.
Back then, it hadn't stirred her at all.
She'd just thought her giggling junior sisters were weird for fawning over those drawings of toned bodies.
But now, at the cusp of her twenties, Myoran finally understood.
Why they had pored over those books so intently.
"The wounds, right? Well, you're inherently so strong, you probably rarely get hurt."
She's still just a kid.
I smiled warmly, like a father figure, at her tense expression over a mere injury.
"Y-yeah. I've checked the wounds, so turn around now."
Myoran's ears were burning hot already, her qipao clinging even tighter to her body.
She tugged at the high collar around her neck to shake off the heat.
As if trying to hide her peach-reddened face.
"Got it."
But she immediately regretted telling me to turn around.
The eyes of the woman with the continent's strongest yin energy widened like a cat's.
For a lean frame, my back was broad, and the sharply defined muscles drew her in even more.
"Your body's better than I thought."
"Thanks for the compliment. I've been training lately."
'Well, the elixirs I've taken recently did most of the work.'
Those medicines unlocked the user's potential.
For me, who'd already exploded my potential in my previous life, it was just retracing a familiar path more easily.
Thanks to them, my body was swiftly regaining its prime condition.
"……."
Unaware of this, Myoran blinked as if convinced she'd fallen under some delusion.
Her face said no one's body could improve this much in just a few months.
"Even so, you're still far from matching me."
"Naturally. You think my realm is something you can reach easily?"
Myoran tossed out a line to maintain her dignity.
But for all her casual tone, her touch remained incredibly timid and careful.
When she finally placed her hands on the back that drew her in, she was no different from any girl.
"It's a bit sticky."
"I had a fever from the wounds and sweated a lot. If it's unpleasant, you don't have to—"
As I spoke, Myoran had already placed her hands on both my shoulder blades.
She sent forth the qi she'd refined through years of training.
I could feel her potent energy flowing through my bloodstream.
At first, it felt intensely cold.
Back during the third apocalypse, in the era of eternal night.
Her yin energy had frozen the entire world.
It felt similar to that, now filling my body.
But...
For some reason, the energy she was imparting felt warm.
I'd heard yin energy was supposed to be as cold as frost.
Yet it enveloped me like a mother's embrace, cozy and hazy.
'Did pre-corrupted Myoran still have this warmth in her?'
Or had my efforts helped her overcome her yin energy, letting her show human warmth?
Either way, it was a good sign, so I relaxed.
I closed my eyes gently and entrusted my back to her kneading hands.
"……."
Surprisingly, Myoran massaged diligently.
Starting from my shoulder blades, she softly stroked down my spine.
Her touch was so delicate.
It was hard to believe it belonged to a swordsman who gripped and swung blades.
Utterly feminine.
"You're surprisingly good at this."
"I used to do it for my father often when I was little."
"I see."
"...Surprisingly? What, you think I'm just some battle maniac?"
Isn't that obvious?
Not just in my past life, but her first impression in this one had been that intense.
I suddenly recalled meeting her in the underground cell.
The ferocious sight of her slashing her sword right in front of my groin.
And she was oppressively arrogant, unbelievable for a nineteen-year-old.
Yet now, she hadn't made a single such face in front of me.
This was definitely the result of sunlight and good food.
People really do mellow out with more light.
No wonder parents nag you to go outside.
'Look how much brighter she's gotten... Hmm?'
As I thought of Myoran's supposedly brightened expression, I glanced at the mirror on the wall.
But...
The girl's reflection didn't look strangely bright at all.
"Haa... Huu..."
Lurid eyes peeking through her black hair.
Her breath, secretly exhaled so hard it was visible.
'What the hell. It's kinda scary.'
"Stay still. If your side wound acts up, the latissimus muscles tense up too."
Her timid strokes on my back.
They began to grow greedy.
Like a cat, she slyly slipped over my back to caress my abdomen.
Was that why?
"You have to loosen this side too."
I felt two soft, ample mounds press against my sticky back.
A plush sensation I'd never experienced even in my past life.
'No way.'
She had to know her breasts were touching my back.
Yet Myoran acted as if she was solely focused on the massage.
'She's still too young to realize. I should warn her to be careful about this stuff.'
Even I, who prioritized stopping the apocalypse over desires, felt embarrassed.
What would happen if an ordinary guy felt this ecstatic sensation?
He'd delusionally think she'd fallen for him, confess, and get bisected on the spot.
As an adult, I should admonish her beforehand.
"Myoran, sorry, but just maybe..."
"Shh."
Before I knew it, she'd pressed her body fully against my sticky back.
Even her soft cheek touched mine as she felt my body heat.
Just like when she'd been piggybacked by her father as a child.
'Is this really a massage...?'
In my past life, I'd always avoided deep entanglements with women, so my senses were off.
Even then, her hands continued stroking my abdomen.
"It's good to work hard, but don't overdo it."
"I have to, to protect this place."
I answered while admiring her concern appreciatively.
I felt proud seeing her grow into someone who thought of others.
"There was someone like you before. Always trying to shoulder everything alone."
Who could that be?
Probably her father, the sect leader who tried to protect his disciples single-handedly.
"I was too young to help back then, but now I can protect him instead."
"You'll protect me?"
Her body against mine seemed to grow hotter.
Not from fever, it felt like.
"……."
Every deep breath she exhaled made the ample flesh pressing my back feel even more vivid.
The fruit so full it strained her qipao.
"You know, once you've achieved everything you want, how do you plan to live?"
"Hmm. I'd like to live leisurely in some peaceful place."
I'd run so hard all this time.
Solely driven by the conviction to avert apocalypse in time.
Once that grueling duty ended, I wanted at least a few years relaxing in the countryside.
Maybe some outskirts city near the capital.
It had everything, after all.
"A peaceful place, huh. I know just the spot."
"Really? Recommend it to me later."
Myoran's hand, stroking my stomach, suddenly intertwined her fingers with mine.
Then she lightly pulled my body toward her.
"A recommendation isn't enough. I'll guide you there myself."
"You don't need to go that far."
As I tried to say I didn't want to impose that much,
The pulling sensation suddenly intensified.
The flesh against me compressed, covering my entire back.
"I'll guide you."
"...?"
"I said I'll guide you."
"Uh... yeah. Okay."
One hand pulling my stomach released.
She shyly showed me her pinky finger.
"Promise me."
"Do we really need to go that far?"
The yin energy enveloping me thickened.
It felt like soaking in a hot bath, making me languid.
"Promise."
"Yeah...?"
"Promise."
"Alright, alright. I promise."
She seemed fixated on certainties due to the grief of losing her family.
As warden, I should respect a prisoner's trauma like that.
I hooked my pinky with hers and made the promise.
Only then did her soft, rice-cake-like cheek peel from my face.
And the bountiful breasts pressing against me too.
Myoran lightly rose from the sofa.
She stood with hands behind her back, looking down at me fondly.
"Now we've formed the plum blossom vow."
Plum blossom vow...?
Some kind of Eastern Continent promise, I guess.
There was hardly any info on it in the game or communities, so I wasn't sure.
Well, probably some custom I had to honor.
What was so hard about getting a retirement spot recommendation after achieving my goals?
"Then I'll head back to my cell. Rest well."
I smiled lightly and nodded.
After Myoran left, I turned my body lightly.
'Oh, massages really do work.'
It felt like her yin energy had mended the lingering pain and soreness.
The ache had faded, and my body felt much lighter.
"……."
Myoran walked slowly down the corridor alone.
She primly adjusted her qipao, sticky with sweat.
"Now that we've vowed, I just need to bring a house as dowry."
She gazed toward her homeland in the East.
A place blooming with apricot flowers, where she could tend a pond with her partner.
In the East Continent, the plum blossom vow meant engagement.
"Father will surely approve."
She thought of the sect leader who had always wanted to see his grandchildren.
His daughter kept his final wish tucked in a corner of her heart.
"Around five should please him. That's about right to rebuild the clan."
Her yin-filled eyes gleamed with sharp clarity, like tasting yang for the first time.
As if she wanted to indulge in it forever.