Sunlight filtered through the window's glass pane, hitting his eyelids. His consciousness was slowly dragged back from the blissful dreams of her into real life. He started to stir, signaling his near awakening to Melissa, who had been sitting on the nearby chair. She slowly approached the bed.
“Good morning, sleepyhead. I do hope you had a most wonderful night.”
The voice was the final push he needed to wake up. His eyelids fluttered open, remnants of his sleep quite noticeable in his eyes. The moment his eyes landed on her, they widened.
She is in a nightgown. It’s so short, I can see almost everything.
His brain short-circuited for a moment. He was openly staring, mouth opening and closing without a sound, like a fish caught on land. His gaze traveled up and down her frame; he wasn’t even trying to hide the way he looked at her with unadulterated hunger.
The porcelain-like pale skin, the long legs, her proportions, and silhouette in general are just not fair. Why does she have to be so perfect?
Still, he made no attempt to stop staring. He couldn’t stop even if he wanted to, and he, in all honesty, didn’t want to.
“You are staring again, Liam. At least say good morning before you look like you have lost your words.”
She laughed softly as she settled beside him.
He finally managed to regain basic control over his body and sat up, though he didn’t get out of the covers just yet. He was quite thankful to them for hiding the bulge underneath.
“Good morning, Melissa.”
His voice was groggy from sleep, as well as husky due to the sight before him.
“Go get dressed; there is no food in the house, so we will have to grab a bite elsewhere before heading into the dungeon.”
She tilted her head to gesture to the shirt on the chair in the living room, though Liam could barely process it. There was a teasing smile on her face as she continued to speak with a matching lilt in her cadence. Read the latest chapters at novelping(.)com.
“I will meet you outside; I do not think it would be entirely appropriate to strip and change whilst you are still inside.”
The statement was a call to action he didn’t feel he could refuse. He hastily got out of bed, while still trying his best to hide the evidence of the effect she had over his body.
“Yeah… That’d be inappropriate.”
There was no hiding the disappointment laced in his tone as he started to head towards his shirt. The top slid into place, no longer smelling of grime and sweat from yesterday’s dungeon crawl and instead faintly smelling of her.
Did she wash it for me? When? How sweet of her.
“At least for now.”
Her words were muttered under her breath, quiet yet still audible to his ears, even if just barely. They landed like a troll’s club on his chest, completely drawing the air from his lungs. He decided it would be best to ignore the comment and head outside, though internally he was practically screaming and beaming with excitement, so much so that the odd reality of there being no food for breakfast inside an admittedly simple, yet still furnished house didn’t register at all.
For now… So there’s a chance for later!
He stepped outside, letting the early morning chill and the sun’s familiar sensation wash over him and give him some semblance of control over his own mind and body. He stretched a little while waiting.
I must have slept very well. I am feeling lighter than I did yesterday.
His body was responding to his orders with an efficiency that it hadn’t before; the feeling was thrilling in the best way possible. Normally, his body would feel like it lagged behind his brain quite heavily; it was still doing so, but he could feel a difference, however small it was. The revelation was enough to drag his mind away from her words from earlier.
Soon enough, the creaking of the door behind him signalled Melissa stepping outside.
“So breakfast and then dungeon?”
He didn’t waste any time asking. He was too excited to see if the feeling was an illusion or if he could genuinely perform better than before. In his mind, the progress was due to his hard work finally paying off. He was slowly getting better, getting rewarded for countless hours of training and the past two days' rather harsh experiences.
His eagerness brought a smile to her face that didn’t escape his notice. She was showing him that she appreciated his desire to get into the swing of things, silently acknowledging his effort. At the very least, that was what Liam thought. He had no way of being sure why exactly she was smiling with what seemed like satisfaction, but his kind guardian angel wouldn’t smile like that for another reason. He just knew, felt in his very core, that it was because of him. He wasn’t entirely wrong about the last part.
The two ate their meals in a nearby place Liam had worked in before to make ends meet while he was in the academy. He could feel the gazes of his ex-coworkers lingering on his party member. He wasn’t happy about it. Instead of making a fuss, he just rushed to finish his plate. Melissa had ordered very little, so by the time he was done, she was done as well.
“Okay, let’s get going. We lost time already by missing the dawn; I want to try going a little deeper today.”
His admission of desire to go deeper made her smile even wider than she had earlier, cementing in his mind her support for his boldness. A smile was all she needed to encourage him to take risks he’d have never taken just a couple of days ago, but her appreciation was simply addictive.
The journey was an uneventful one. It was still morning when they entered the dungeon through the now-familiar cave entrance. No bodies around at this time; the dungeon was likely recycling the corpses left behind by earlier parties. He didn’t slow to find out. He headed deeper, emboldened by the woman beside him and his desire to make her smile at him again.
A goblin, then another one, crossed their paths. He had no trouble dealing with either. He was quickly realising the one-on-one combat from yesterday was easy, not because the goblin was weaker than the one he faced when he was alone, but because he had improved since then. He gleefully cut down another goblin unfortunate enough to cross his path. He was finally no longer the prey but the hunter; at last, he was feeling like an adventurer was supposed to feel. They were gathering cores at a pace he’d have found unreal if he had been asked just a couple of days ago.
They were now on the second level, further than he’d ever been, even when he had come inside with a mock party during academy training; students weren’t allowed to go beyond level one after all.
The difficulty spike was noticeable yet manageable for his now-experienced self. The goblins were more numerous, slightly stronger, and faster. However, his shortsword was still cleaving through them with an ease that was quite frankly alien to him. He couldn’t help but smile at his progress with satisfaction.
He’d lost count of how many he had killed. Thanks to Melissa’s healing, the very few swipes that’d managed to go through his defenses due to his own recklessness were patched up very rapidly; he was truly fighting without worry. His trust in her ability was unshakable despite the low rank she had. Somehow, no matter the danger, she was managing to pull through, which encouraged him to behave with significantly less care. The dangers that’d held him back slowly seemed less and less frightening.
By the time they were nearing the slight tilt that led further down, into the boss floor of what the guild had dubbed the beginner area, his confidence was at an all-time high. Two goblins stepped up; this time, they attacked together, much like the three from the last day. This time there was no hesitation.
He tanked the first hit; the pain made him flinch as he felt his rib crack under the creature's club. His stubbornness and pride, on the other hand, didn’t let him slow down. He swung without caring about his own well-being; Melissa would fix him as she’d done so before.
His shortsword dug into the green skin with a satisfying, wet squelch, freeing the black liquid from its veins. The first one was down. The second managed to give his arm a cut before joining his kinsman. As expected, Melissa’s healing magic stitched his wounds back together as he had gotten used to in just the span of two days. He glanced back to give her a gleeful smile. He was beyond satisfied with his performance; he’d just killed two goblins, and it wasn’t even close. He didn’t even stop to think that the only reason why it wasn’t close was that he uncharacteristically hadn’t bothered to defend at all.
He harvested the cores before turning to face her fully.
“Do you still have mana left? I want to try the boss.”
Her smile was ecstatic.