City of Sin Book 3, Chapter 23

Dedication

Seeing the change in Lord Moonbear’s expression, Richard continued lightly, “I heard Blackwing was almost a saint. I’m not long from levelling up myself, becoming a level 12 great mage. Tell me, Lord Moonbear, do you think I could kill one or two saints after that?”

The man huffed heavily, his expression ugly, but he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t much to offend a level 12 mage, but to anger one that wasn’t yet twenty was not smart.

Looking at his taciturn behaviour, Richard didn’t bother with him anymore. He waved Flowsand over; whether these bones could serve as an offering still depended on her. Flowsand cautiously checked the skeletal remains, even using both hands to carefully caress the dragon’s skull. Her expression was a little strange, but with her back to both Richard and Moonbear neither of them saw it.

Richard quelled the tension in his heart, asking in the calmest voice possible, “So?”

An hourgla.s.s appeared in the depths of each of the cleric’s two amber eyes, faint light s.h.i.+ning on the bones. A moment later, she nodded, “Can do.”

Can do. Two simple words, but the meaning behind them was something only Richard and Flowsand knew. He took a deep breath, but that did not manage to bring his heartbeat back to normal before he turned to Lord Moonbear, “It’s time. We should prepare to welcome His Grace.”

Lord Moonbear nodded, “Do you need some people to stay on guard?”

“Sure, but my lab is right behind us. n.o.body outside of you can be allowed to enter this courtyard.”

Moonbear gave Richard a meaningful look before striding out of the courtyard, instructing fifty knights to guard various points around the inn. He also took another 300 men and stationed them under Richard’s leaders.h.i.+p at the camp.

The Bloodstained Lands were undoubtedly dangerous, but that was only to ordinary people. The borders were no different from a smooth road to Lord Moonbear, and it was almost impossible for someone here to actually be a threat to the Direwolf Duke.

……

Once Richard and Flowsand returned to his room, he asked again, “When you said it’s possible just now…” The topic was so important that his voice was trembling.

Flowsand looked at him strangely, asking in return, “What do you think?”

“We can return to Norland now?”

Flowsand cast her gaze downwards, asking in a casual tone, “Are you eager to go back?”

“Are you not?” Richard was stunned.

“Of course I am!” she played it down.

“Who isn’t?” he asked with a dry laugh

“Alright, don’t worry about it anymore. The skeleton should be enough for us to get Norland’s coordinates.” However, her head was lowered to stop him from seeing her expression.

“Really?!” This joy had come too quickly.

When Flowsand raised her head once more, she had a sunny smile. “Really!” she said with energy.

Richard pulled her into a hug, spinning her a few times before setting her down, “I’m so lucky to have you!”

“Oh? Then how are you going to thank me?” Flowsand fixed her gaze on Richard, her eyes as bright as the stars in the sky.

“What do you want?” he puffed out his chest.

“First, I want to know what it is you saw that caused you to change so much,” Flowsand said seriously.

Richard was stunned. He did not understand why she would ask this question, and despite his great joy he hesitated for a long time. If possible, he did not want her to know about the two scenes he had witnessed. Instinct told him even the most generous girl would not tolerate something like that. But her gaze was too sharp, too bright. He couldn’t even look straight on at her, eventually unable to do anything but nod his head in agreement.

This immediately made her very happy. She hooked his neck with her arms, lightly licking her lips as she continued with her unique hoa.r.s.e voice, “Second. You’re not allowed to separate from me until dawn!”

It would be a fierce war.

Richard gradually grew more solemn, clenching his teeth and nodding hard. Looking at him gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth, Flowsand laughed heartily. Her showing off was unprecedented.

As night fell, an alluring but desperate battle began. If not for a silencing domain that Richard had set up, their screams would have reverberated throughout the inn.

Richard did not win the battle of will and endurance, giving way before dawn. Flowsand had been completely invested in herself for the first time and had no intention of letting Richard win. She tormented him to the point of extreme exhaustion, until even the st.u.r.dy physique he had cultivated in the Deepblue could not take it. He eventually ended up lying down, letting her wreak havoc from atop him.

It was only then that Richard learnt how good those of the Church of the Eternal Dragon were at close combat, and that Flowsand was excellent even amongst them. All of his intent to turn the sides in the second half of the battle had been mercilessly suppressed.

And thus, Richard could not persist until dawn. He ended up not knowing what exactly had happened, unable to keep track of how many times he had o.r.g.a.s.med despite his many blessings. As for Flowsand, the moment she shed her warmth she had become a ferocious beast. After one specific peak, all he saw before his eyes was darkness. As the last bits of his consciousness faded away, only two things were left in his mind.

Pain, and happiness.

The intoxicating night left Richard in a deeper sleep than he had been in for a long time. Most of his recent nights had been spent in meditation, but this time he was so tired that the sleep was extremely refres.h.i.+ng. Somehow, he still managed to wake up the moment the clock hit six.

Richard was a.s.saulted by a mind-numbing headache, every muscle in his body incredibly sore while his limbs were heavy as lead. He had to exert all his energy just to raise his hand a little, and with less than two hours of sleep he still wasn’t very clear-headed. The craziness of the last night was right before his eyes, but at times it grew blurry. It was like the experience was part of a confusingly realistic dream.

He shook his head heavily, struggling up and looking around him. The room was a mess, a silent record of the various ridiculous and crazy actions of the previous night. However, Flowsand was not beside him.

It took a ma.s.sage of his forehead to feel a little better. ‘This Flowsand!’ he thought a little helplessly, ‘She definitely went to study the bones!’ Sometimes, she was even more diligent than him. Still, he wasn’t too worried. Having known her for so long, he had figured out long ago that her physical strength did not lose out to his. It was like she wasn’t a cleric at all, her unfathomably flexible and nimble body hiding great strength. Without Eruption activated, he himself wasn’t much stronger than her.