Chapter 25 - Finally Dressed

After Lucien left the mine, Mia followed his orders and went looking for the girls. She felt her speed increase even more and couldn"t help but thank him.

"Maybe after we... Will I become faster?"

"Ahhh... What am I thinking?!"

Mia was running quickly and quietly like a shadow. Not only had her speed increased, but so had her senses. It didn"t take long for her to hear Marie and Anne, but then she stopped when she listened to their conversation.

Mia remained hidden in the shadows following the girls and listening to everything. She always acted alone because she couldn"t trust anyone.

Now, she found Lucien, and their relations.h.i.+p had only improved, but she didn"t think well of anyone other than him and her mother.

She wasn"t even neutral about the girls; in fact, she didn"t want them around. The girls didn"t seem to be grateful to Lucien after he almost died to save them. And why wouldn"t Mia want Lucien only for her?

Mia wanted the girls to take different paths, but it seemed like Lucien wanted them, and she didn"t know how to feel about it... Mia understood that most men wanted a lot of women, and she wouldn"t blame Lucien for that.

But while listening to Marie and Anne"s conversation, she became more and more upset with them. She heard Anne say she would stay with Lucien if he helped her with a werewolf and couldn"t help but be furious.

"Do you need him to save you how many times? I will not let stupid women approach my..."

Mia thought many things but continued to follow them in silence. She just wanted to hear a little more s.h.i.+t about Lucien and would kill them both, even if he rebukes her afterward.

Then she saw when the girls found the secret room and approached them in silence.

Marie came from a wealthy family, but she wanted to go her own way, and she needed to earn her own money. When she saw the copper chest, she quickly approached because she thought they deserved what they found.

It was usual for adventurers to keep anything extra they found on missions. But Anne quickly took Marie"s hand because she had different thoughts for the chest.

"Anne?!"

"He saved us twice and almost died the second time. Even if you don"t want to serve him, this chest could be some compensation."

Marie couldn"t deny that they had to make up for Lucien. But the s.h.i.+ny chest seemed to be very valuable... maybe they could share...

"Ahem! Or I can take the chest to him and say that you died from a fallen rock."

Marie and Anne quickly turned to see Mia behind them with small bombs in her hand. It was not difficult to understand that she was not joking.

Anne saw Marie holding her staff tight and interfered before things got out of hand.

"We are all allies here!"

"Why would you attack us, Mia?"

"Not only do you not show grat.i.tude that my man almost died saving you, but you also want to take all the treasures from this mine for yourself..."

"Why should I be your ally?!"

Marie and Anne couldn"t help being surprised. But what they found most incredible was that Mia called Lucien "her man." Hadn"t they met less than two hours ago? Anne had to work harder to convince Mia.

"Yes, we have a lot to thank him for saving us. If you heard what I said before, you know I want to give him the chest. So it"s not a problem..."

"I also didn"t forget the promise I made to him. I just need time..."

Mia really wanted to throw the bombs on Marie"s proud face. But she didn"t attack them. She had met Lucien very recently and did not want to do anything that could cause disagreements between them.

"Okay, but I"m taking the chest."

Mia pa.s.sed Marie and Anne, then put her hand on the top of the chest... and the chest disappeared.

Marie and Anne couldn"t help thinking the same thing.

"Storage ring!"

Even among very wealthy people, storage rings were quite rare. They had great magic backpacks, but it didn"t even compare...

Mia looked very mysterious. Anne didn"t want to be Mia"s enemy, but Marie didn"t like her at all.

"Lucien sent me to keep an eye on you while he bathes with the tigresses. So let"s finish exploring the mine."

Marie can"t help but try to provoke Mia.

"Do you obey all his orders like a little wife?"

Mia could only smile as she didn"t think the idea was bad.

"You must be very stupid if you think being his wife is bad."

Marie could only roll her eyes. Anne had a silly smile on her face wondering if it would be that good.

The girls continued to explore the mine. Mia was very eager to look at what was in the chest because she needed money so badly, but she felt it was Lucien"s right to have any loot after fighting such strong enemies.

-----------------

*Splash*

*Meow*

Lucien was having a great time in the bath with Oya and Ko. He never had a pet before and found it amusing to play with them.

He washed well and then started to wash Oya with Anne"s soap. He also cleaned the little Ko, who was meowing by fear of water and did not leave his shoulder.

After everyone was clean, Lucien came out of the lake. Oya shook her body to dry her fur and then ran and jumped at Lucien, throwing him and Ko on the gra.s.s.

She started to lick his face, which without blood was much better. Lucien liked to play with her and patted the good mama tigress" head.

After a little more fun, he thought about getting dressed. Mia had given him Gerard"s storage ring. He knew how to use storage treasures. Just focus the mind on the ring and close the eyes.

Then he would see the treasure"s inner s.p.a.ce in his mind. Thinking of the objects inside, it would appear in his hand.

When Lucien looked inside the ring, he found several armors and weapons from Gerard"s soldiers. He also saw other things like food and even clean towels, and he couldn"t help but smile, thinking about how sweet is Mia.

He dried himself off with the towel, which smelled flowers like Mia"s body. After looking at the armors inside the ring, he found the black armor, which Brian wore.

Lucien really liked that armor. It was like a chain mail made of black metal, which resembled ebony. It was very malleable but, at the same time, very resistant. When he touched it, it also was warm as if it had some magical enchantments.

The black armor covered the entire body, except the head. The chest and legs part was completely dark chainmail.

The forearms were fully covered by a dark gauntlet. The foot covered by ebony metal boots with small s.h.i.+n guards. A thin triple belt and other parts made of dark brown leather.

The complete set looked very heavy, but in fact, Lucien found it very light. It seemed that it would not limit his movements even with the gauntlet and boots, which is made of very resistant metal.

Lucien found it perfect and wore a soft suit under the armor, which suited his body perfectly. He looked like a black knight now.

When Lucien finished putting on the armor, the girls came back close to the lake, where they were. Mia walked elegantly, but she couldn"t help but smile when she saw her red dagger on Lucien"s belt.

With the storage ring, he didn"t need to carry weapons, but he still chose to equip the dagger on his belt. Mia loved this act very much and rewarded him with a wet kiss without feeling any shame.

In fact, there was a little time to get something out of a storage treasure, and Lucien wanted to have some weapons that he could use at full speed. Even less than a second can be essential in a battle between swift opponents.

After Mia kissed a lot, she didn"t think twice before putting the bronze chest on the ground. She was going to talk about the chest, but Anne wouldn"t miss this chance and spoke quickly.

"Marie and I found this chest, but we agreed to give it to you for fighting for us."

Lucien nodded at the girls and smiled at Mia. He had to use a lot of force to open the chest, making a "creack" sound.

The chest shone because it was made of copper, but after it opened, it shone much more because it was full of gold coins and precious jewels.

On top of the gold coins was a golden bow. It had very delicate limbs and was straighter than curved. The string was also golden, and the grip was dark golden.

Like most weapons, Lucien was also proficient with bows. He took the beautiful golden bow and tried to tense the string.

"Heh?!"

Not only Lucien but the girls also thought he would tension the string easily, but he was unable to move it an inch.

Lucien did not use all his strength at first because it did not seem necessary to tension a bow. But after failing like that, he used all his power and still managed to tension less than half of the bow.

Anne couldn"t help commenting while staring at the bow with her eyes sparkling.

"It appears to be a high-level artifact. The harder it is to tension a bow, the better it should be, right?"

Lucien thought so too. He wanted to test the bow but had no arrow. Before he thought about asking if anyone had, Mia threw a quiver full of arrows at him. He can"t help but thank her.

"You"re soooo adorable, Mia."

While Mia blushed, Lucien tried to use an arrow on the bow but broke it before he could tension enough to fire. He tried more times but could not stop breaking the arrows by the force that was necessary to tension the bow.

Marie felt bad about having ungrateful thoughts, so she wanted to help by giving a suggestion.

"This bow looks very resistant to regular arrows. I know an excellent blacksmith in my town. I can go there with you so that she can make arrows out of some metal, which resists your strength."

Lucien didn"t even know where to go. First, he thought of following Marie and Anne, but after knowing Mia better, he prefers to go where she wants.

"Mia, where are we going?"

The girls were surprised. They didn"t expect that someone who seemed as dominant as Lucien would ask Mia"s opinion like that. Mia couldn"t help but be very happy with that consideration.

"I"m from Portgreen too... I need to go back there..."

Lucien saw some melancholy in Mia"s eyes when she talked about going back and then looked at the copper chest.

"Is there a problem, Mia?"

Mia didn"t want to hide anything from Lucien, but she still spoke quietly next to him.

"I make mercenary contracts because I need the money... In Portgreen, I cannot earn much..."

Lucien didn"t understand much because Mia seemed to be embarra.s.sed to talk about needing the money. But money was not a priority for him now, so he didn"t think twice...

"I"ll keep the bow, and the chest is all yours."

"What?!"

"Really?!"

"Why!?"

"..."

Marie and Anne couldn"t believe this. People could share loots, it was not strange, but he"s giving her the whole chest full of gold and jewels. They couldn"t conclude who was most in love with each other.

Mia had conflicting feelings. She wanted to accept it, but it seemed very wrong after everything Lucien did. She couldn"t take it quickly, but Lucien made his point clear by making her heartbeat like a terrified deer.

"Aren"t you entirely mine? So your money is mine, and my money is yours as well. Isn"t that how marriage works?"

"Marriage?!?!?!"

"Marriage?!?!?!"

"Marriage?!?!?!"

"..."