At this moment, Ashton felt somehow he had never felt before. Completely alive.
At this point he wasn’t looking at some grayed-out world or a colorless place; he was looking at a bright and vibrant world.
"Is this how things really look?" he muttered.
Even the crazy amount of pain he had been feeling earlier was lessened. Everything just seems so much easier.
With the amount of Willforce Ashton got now, though it was still extremely risky, it was possible for him to become a lord, and he himself knew it; the only thing determining the amount of risk was the level of what he chose to lord over.
He looked at the entrance to confirm that the two guys had actually left before actually releasing his grip on the door frame. With his battered body, he entered the bedroom to see Selene’s face looking just as peaceful as he had left her.
"Hope you had a great night," Ashton said with a smile despite not expecting a response.
"Can you wait for a little bit more? I will be back."
After saying those words, Ashton turned around to leave the room with a tiny limp in his step and his face shining like never before.
He entered the bathroom to prepare a bath for her while also prepping the right tools for her normal bodily function.
Ashton had noticed that since she had been dropped here yesterday, he hadn’t gotten a single whiff on urine or anything like that from Selene.
’Her body must be so uptight it actively keeps all those things without her own effort.’
Since he was done with his preparation, Ashton returned to the bedroom. He attempted to pick Selene up, but unlike yesterday, his body was extremely sore.
Every single attempt results in him having a sharp pain rush straight into his head. He couldn’t afford to forcefully pick her up like that; reflex could force him to drop her.
Helplessness descended on Ashton as he tried thinking of a solution to his current circumstance.
"There’s no one I can call over, not a single person." The nickname "Crazy loner" was just too befitting.
[Willforce -1]
[Willforce -1]
[Willforce -1]
The longer he spent on the ground without any idea of what he should do, his Willforce slowly began draining away again, resulting in his new Colored World slowly getting dimmer.
Ashton had gotten the taste of how it feels to live with a not abysmally low Willforce, and he wasn’t willing to go back. So he decided to do something about it.
"If I remain like this, I will end up in the same condition I was previously; it might even be worse."
He could feel the pain from his injuries already getting worse the more Willforce he lost.
’Get up and do this,’ he screamed at himself.
He rushed to his feet, bent his waist, and slid his hands behind her back and under her leg. Exerting strength, he attempted to lift her and carry her to the bathroom, but the pain came flooding back.
Unlike the last time, though, he didn’t stop because of the pain; instead, he pushed through it and tried even harder.
’Haaaaaaa,’ he screamed in his mind.
In the end, he successfully lifted Selene with all his strength while also making sure to be careful with her.
He looked at the face that was now cradled close to his chest, and a feeling of success arose in him.
[Willforce +1]
[Willforce +1]
Successfully picking her up actually gave him a little bit more of his lost Willforce. He didn’t waste any more time before he continued to the bathroom.
In the bathroom, he took off the nightwear he had put on Selene into a bowl he had prepared earlier before guiding her body to sit on the toilet.
Almost as if she could sense that the time was right, Ashton heard the sound of waste being passed.
"Typical Selene," he muttered.
After making sure she was all done, he cleaned her up and then proceeded to the bathing stage and then the cleaning stage and finally the dressing-up stage.
Thirty minutes to an hour later, he was done with all of Selene’s sanitary care, and she was back on the bed.
"I am sorry, Selene, but the only thing we have for now is sweet potatoes, so that’s what I will be making again."
"I promise to find something else soon," he told her before leaving the room.
In the kitchen, he began with peeling off the potato skins using a knife and then rinsing them before throwing them in a pot of boiling hot water and adding some spices.
"I am not sure she can taste it, but it doesn’t hurt to add. If anything, it should do more good."
With the food already on the fire and the other part left to the cooker, Ashton left the kitchen and proceeded to the living room, where he took off all his clothes and entered the bathroom.
Sanitation was part of the things Ashton had never neglected; he always made sure to have his bath every single day, even during days when water was scarce.
His own bath was much faster, though, as he left the bathroom in less than ten minutes. With a towel wrapped around his waist, he moved into the bedroom, picked up some clothes, and got ready to head to his farm.
Before that, he went to the kitchen and served both his own and Selene’s meal, the only difference being that Selene’s portion was mashed up into an extremely soft and easy-to-swallow form.
Remembering what happened last night, he set his own meal aside first and proceeded to feed Selene.
He was just about to stand up to leave the bedroom when he noticed something on her face.
"You got some mashed potatoes on your face, miss," he joked while bending over to clean it off.
He looked for a bit longer to make sure there was nothing else on Selene, not even a speck of dust, before actually deciding to leave
"I will be leaving for the farm soon, but I will make sure to come back and check up on you as soon as possible," Ashton said while standing at the entrance.
When he finished saying that, he turned around to leave the room, completely oblivious to what had happened behind him.
The lantern on the cupboard had moved.