Chapter 376 Let's Take Things Easy Instead

"I'm sorry, but I don't have any ring to make this proposal more formal," I said, reaching out and grasping Mia's hands. I then brought them to my lips and placed a gentle kiss on her fingers. "Still. This is the one desire that I always held dear to my heart. One wish I always hoped I could fulfill," I continued to ramble for a little bit longer.

There was no real need to explain the situation to Mia. Her wide-open eyes, tensed-up face, and twitching corners of her mouth were more than enough to prove she fully understood what was going on.

I kept on rambling… because I couldn't help but feel anxious, now that I uttered those magical words.

"Arty…" Mia muttered. Her expression mellowed down. She then leaned her head to the side while reaching out with her hand only to caress my cheek. "Do you really need to ask?"

Mia then pushed herself a little bit forward, leaning in for a gentle kiss.

Her lips brushed against mine. Her forehead rested upon my head, allowing me to taste her breath when she took a break from kissing me.

Yet, even after kissing me… Mia wasn't anywhere near being done.

She freed her hand from my own fingers only to catch my head between my palms and go in for yet another kiss, this time one that involved not only lips… but our tongues as well.

For a single instant, the world around us ceased to be. All that we could care about, all that we could perceive was limited to just the taste of each other saliva, the movements of our tongues, and the greedy attempts of our lips to consume the mouth of the other.

Mia leaned over me so hard that I failed to keep my back stable. With no other choice, I leaned to the back, using both of my hands to support my new position.

And Mia quickly made the most of my defenseless stance, locking her hands behind the back of my head before devouring my lips with even greater enthusiasm.

"Haaa…" I released a small sigh once the girl finally allowed me some rest. My mouth was all wet from our sloppy intimacy. And yet, just a single look at Mia's delicate facial features was enough for me to tell she didn't have anywhere near enough.

"I would be honored to be yours, silly," she then said, allowing a gentle smile to creep up on her lips at last.

At this point, I already knew her answer. And to a degree, I always knew what it would be. It was only my own sense of insecurity, an effect of the traumatic past I went through, that made me unable to believe it before.

And yet, knowing something from my heart and actually hearing Mia say it right in my face, those two were completely different things.

"I really wish we could just fuck until we would drop," I muttered, bringing up one of my hands only to rest it on the girl's waist.

"Now that I'm fully yours, you just can't help but desire to plant a kid in my belly, don't you?" Mia tuned in to my words, her lips forming a bright, cheerful smile as she looked deeply into my eyes.

"That's right," I admitted, not allowing my shame to spoil this moment.

But there was one side of me that held enough influence over my brain to put a stop to our light flirt.

"But this isn't the time for that, is it?" I muttered, my expression souring right away.

Mia didn't bother replying at all. Instead, she rested her head on my forehead before turning silent for a few moments.

For the next while, all I could care about was the sound of her breaths, the proof that she was right there, right by my side.

"You are right, this isn't the time," Mia then agreed only to pull herself away and take a look around. "Which way should we go to get back to that city, I wonder?" she then asked, bringing up a point that I completely forgot about.

In my rush to get as far away from where the dragon was battling its hunters, I didn't really bother to pick any final direction. All I cared about was getting Mia out of the danger. And as such…

I was now completely lost.

"To be frank, I don't think this is a problem at all," I suddenly announced, despite knowing it went against everything I acted on in the recent past.

"Huh?" Mia shrugged, not expecting this kind of development. "What are you talking about?" she asked, reaching out with her hand for my cheek as if worried if I was okay.

"It's simple," I replied, smiling lightly while allowing the side of my head to rest on the insides of the girl's hand. "Think about the last few days," I then pointed out. "Don't you feel like… everything was too damn hard?"

If I were to describe everything that we went through in the recent past, there was only one way a former gamer like me would call it.

A silly attempt of a filthy causal at conquering the game on super hard difficulty.

Just like in a game, doing so in the real world would grant us much greater rewards than if we were to take our time to slowly go through everything on a  normal if not even easy mode.

And yet, in my rush to make sure I would be strong enough to protect Mia… I unknowingly pushed the two of us into constant danger, the danger that brought us well past the limits of what we were willing to suffer through.

"Are you not interested in the meaning of your name anymore?" Mia asked, twisting her face in a worried expression, clearly not expecting me to suddenly change my mind about everything.

"It's not that I'm not interested," I countered Mia's worry. I then leaned forward, planting a gentle kiss on her full, tasty lips. "I just realized that I don't have it in me to constantly worry about you. Or rather, it was stupid of me to throw ourselves on such deep waters from the beginning."

"I don't really understand…" Mia said with hesitation. She then shook her head only for a renewed resolve to flash in her eyes. "But it doesn't matter. I trust you," she then said, only to take the charge herself and take her turn at stealing the kiss from my lips. "I trusted you ever since you took me as your slave," she said, only to press our lips together once again. "And I will continue to trust you," she said, this time pulling out her tongue and licking my lips clean only to finish me off with a charming smile.

"You have no idea how happy it makes me," I replied, only to reach out with my hand for the girl's chin. I then pushed it down only to lean my head to the side before pressing our lips together.

Right now, I felt weird if I didn't add a kiss as a coma between two sentences I would utter.

"I do have a clue," Mia grinned only to then shake her head and move her hands on my shoulders.

This time, however, rather than going for another kiss, she used my shoulders as a support to help herself to stand up. And as soon as she got back to her feet, she reached out and offered me her hand to help me stand up as well.

"What do you want us to do, then?" she asked, looking at me with a simple smile on her lovely lips.

"Let's do exactly what we wanted where this entire apocalypse started," I said, looking up to get a general idea of the world's direction. "And I do recall you hoping to find out the whereabouts of your teammates," I added with a grin. "So let's do just that!"