The hero's gender is yet to be determined after rebirth.

Back then, Kurara was also taught by a female housekeeper in the palace, who taught her quite a few tricks of the trade. For example, she learned that you can use a hickey to declare ownership of your lover, as if you're labeling the guy with your own mark.

To her utter astonishment, she found a hickey on her boyfriend's neck that wasn't hers! Kula gritted her teeth.

"No, no, no, it's not a hickey!" Loren shook his head like a rattle-drum.

"You still have the nerve to say it's not a hickey? You're not going to say it's a mosquito bite, are you? At least a mosquito bite would make a bump, but this is... wait? A fingernail mark?"

"Yes, it's not a hickey, is it? This red mark is from being pinched! It hurt so much!" Loren protested, feeling wronged. It was a pinch mark from reciting poetry underwater, hiding among the sparse green seaweed, not a hickey at all!

"A fingernail mark... that's almost as serious as a hickey!" Kurara held up her finger to show it.

Oh no, what should I do? Loren's mind raced.

"Yesterday I was chasing after a master of the Black Robe Organization. Although I blocked most of her attacks, she pinched me in mid-air with a curse spell. Since I didn't feel any residual curse magic, I didn't pay much attention to it. I didn't expect that after soaking in the hot spring, red marks and pinch marks would appear." Loren was truly a genius; he immediately came up with an excuse.

Kurara: "An expert? A woman?"

"Yes, it's a woman! She's like a zombie, all skin and bones, always shrouded in a misty aura, but her nails are fierce!" Loren explained. "I promise, there's nothing between us! She's not even as good as one of your nails, Kurara!"

Kurara, of course, believed that Loren wouldn't be interested in the woman in the black mist: "Ah, it's that woman in the black mist. So you were the one chasing her. No wonder we were able to destroy the evidence so easily..."

Loren pretended not to know and asked in surprise, "You two ran into each other? Are you alright?"

"It's alright, we've already disposed of the body." Kurara's smile returned.

Loren seized the opportunity to change the subject: "No, I mean, are you alright? Let me see..."

"Oh no..." Kurara quickly dodged backward, her face turning bright red, and her exposed fair shoulders were flushed with a faint pink.

She then realized that although they were both wrapped in large bath towels, it was still too embarrassing and too ambiguous... after all, there were only the two of them, a man and a woman, in the hot spring.

While objectively speaking, her judgment was completely wrong...

However, just as one problem was about to be solved, another arose, as if to prove her judgment wrong, and someone else rushed into the hot spring.

Yes, they rushed in.

On the other side of the artificial hill, where Siruf had left, came the sound of a dragon entering the sea.

"Oh yeah——————"

Splash—the sound of hot spring water splashing.

Meilan cried out joyfully and plunged into the hot spring like Nezha stirring up the sea.

"Hahaha! This is the first time I've ever swum in such warm water!" Melanie exclaimed joyfully. "Hey, Kurara, where are you? Sylph said you were here."

The splashing sound of water quickly moved from the other side of the artificial hill towards Kurala and Loren!

Kurara and Loren looked at each other, both seeing the panic in each other's eyes.

When Meilan moved to the other side of the artificial hill...

*Splash*—Kurara was frantically pressing something down in the water in front of her...

Chapter 136 This Hero's Life Is Too Hard... Meilan Discovers Things That Disappeared After Making Wrong Oaths!

In her past life, she was pinned down in the hot spring by the golden-haired Silph; in this life, she's pinned down in the hot spring by the green-haired Silph; and now even Kurara has pinned her down in the water!

Loren choked on two more mouthfuls of water, and after swallowing them, he wondered if he should skip dinner. The beautiful woman had drunk so much hot spring water; what voyeur gets such treatment?

Loren was filled with sorrow at the bottom of the water.

"You're here! Kurara, what are you playing?" Meilan asked curiously.

"I... I was playing a farting game, hahaha!" Although Kurara was very clever, she was still worried about being discovered in the hot spring with a grown man—even if that was what she thought...—so she couldn't quite process it and could only come up with such a lame excuse.

"A farting game?" Meilan didn't react.

"Ah, yes, haha, just kidding, look, I have a lot of bubbles here, right? I accidentally farted just now and I thought it was really fun..." Kurara forced a smile, "I use my hand in the water with a towel to compress a lot of air into the water, and then a lot of bubbles will float up."

It was Sylph's embarrassing fart earlier that gave her the inspiration...

The two are very similar in this respect; both caused the embarrassment of farting in order to hide someone else's secret.

"Haha, this seems interesting." Meilan swam towards Kurara.

"Hey, don't get in front of me!" Kurara exclaimed in alarm. She was holding Loren in front of her; if Melanie came over, wouldn't they bump into each other?

"Huh?" Meilan was taken aback.

"Because I was farting in front of me, hahaha." Kurara even felt her humor was incredibly silly...

I'm so embarrassed. I actually said such childish things. I feel like I can't lift my head up. How old am I?

If Loren knew what she was thinking, he would definitely say: You're a G-cup! That's pretty big!

Kurala was more worried that her excuse was too silly and that Meilan might become suspicious.

“Oh! That’s right! Hahaha!” Meilan agreed wholeheartedly, without a trace of doubt, and laughed as she circled around to Kurara’s side.

Kurara: "..."

Well, I overestimated Meilan's mental age. After hearing her serious views on love, I thought she was already very mature.

Since most of Meilan and Kurara's bodies were submerged in the water, their chest sounds still vibrated in the water, and Loren could vaguely hear them.

Despite his inner complaints, Loren knew he couldn't let Meilan find out he was spying on him while he was bathing! That stubborn girl might really beat him to a pulp, and at the very least, his favorability rating would drop drastically, and he'd be categorized as a scoundrel.

Loren quickly continued using the same method, trying to release some air from the spatial ring. But surprisingly, amidst the chaotic items, he discovered a crystal magic wand!

"Great!" Loren exclaimed inwardly, "What incredible luck!" His magic power was almost depleted, but now that he had the magic wand, he could greatly reduce the magic power he needed to control the air and water!

Loren felt reassured as he took the magic wand out with some air. He then began to create an air diving suit around his upper body.

On the surface of the water, Meilan pressed her hand down in the water a few times and laughed, "It really looks like farting in the water, except there are fewer bubbles."

As soon as she finished speaking, Meilan noticed that many bubbles were bubbling up in the water in front of Kula, far more than the bubbles that could be made by hand.

As the bubbles churned, one could vaguely see what appeared to be a large bath towel in the water in front of her.

"Hey, when I pressed my hand down, there wasn't enough air in my palm. You're so smart, you actually took two big bath towels." Meilan [how clever] immediately guessed the reason.

Although Kurara was submerged in water, which had the characteristic murky white hue of a hot spring, it was still clear that she was wearing a large towel around her chest. So where did those huge bubbles in front of her come from? Combining this with the barely visible glimpse of the large towel beneath the bubbles, Meilan easily guessed that she had an extra towel to play with.

"Let me borrow your bath towel and play with it!" Meilan reached out without any politeness, grabbed Kurala from behind, and ripped away the large bath towel she was wrapped in.

"Huh? Ah!" Kurara exclaimed in surprise.

Distracted, she was caught off guard when her bath towel was snatched away.

"Meilan! Give me back my towel!" Kurara quickly covered her chest with both hands, but then realized it wasn't right—Loren was underwater—so she hurriedly covered herself again. However, the area was too large; covering her lower body didn't completely conceal her private parts, leaving Kurara utterly embarrassed.

"Let me play with it! Hahaha—" Meilan wrapped a lot of air in Kurara's big scarf and pressed it into the water. Sure enough, countless bubbles came out, which was really interesting in the murky white hot spring water.

Kurala watched her play for a couple of rounds before quickly reaching out and forcefully pulling back the large bath towel: "Are you done playing? I feel uncomfortable without a bath towel."

She pulled back the large bath towel, soaked it in the water, and held it in front of her, quickly estimating the time in her mind.

It's been a minute already. So many bubbles just surfaced underwater. Loren must have been unable to hold his breath and exhaled the bubbles to relieve the discomfort of not being able to breathe.

No, we need to get him up to breathe right away! Kurala felt a pang of heartache at the thought of Loren struggling to breathe underwater.

Before, when I worried about Loren getting arrested in the locker room, I could describe it as feeling sorry for him; now, it's heartache...

Kurara hesitated for a moment, looked at the water which was as murky and opaque as milk, and indeed had very poor transparency. She gritted her teeth, grabbed the large bath towel she had snatched, and threw it in front of her, preparing to set up a tent. Then she reached out and pulled Loren underwater, wanting him to come up for a breath of fresh air.

If it were a proud and aloof girl like Silph, she would never have even considered offering Loren ice cream in exchange for his help. Melanie, with her straightforward personality and strong moral compass instilled by the older generation, wouldn't help the lecherous Loren who was spying on her. Only Kurara, with her gentle yet decisive nature, and realizing that Loren had also witnessed her actions, had a fleeting thought of sacrificing herself.

As Kurala was thinking, she pulled up the large bath towel and let Loren stick his head out to relax. But as soon as she pulled Loren underwater, she found that Meilan also reached out and pulled her towards her.

Meilan didn't mind the towel being forcibly taken away, since it was stolen. However, she still hoped for another towel and exclaimed, "Don't you have another towel in front of you? Fine, I'll take the one in front of you."

She reached out and grabbed the edge of the towel underwater.

Just pull it with all your might!

Loren, underwater, was shocked! Meilan had snatched his towel!

"Huh?" Kurara was startled. What had Meilan seen?

"Don't be stingy, I didn't bring a towel." Meilan took the towel, pressed it into the water, and suddenly had an idea. She wrapped the towel, which was completely submerged, around her legs, then stretched out her arms and started swimming, shouting, "I'm a mermaid, hahahaha~!"

"..." If Kurala hadn't been so nervous, she probably would have rolled her eyes.

However, Meilan really does have a bit of a mermaid feel, especially with the towel wrapped around her legs, forming a [fish tail] that splashes water.

Don't get distracted, don't get distracted," Kurara shook her head, blushing as she pulled Loren out of the water, then quickly spread out the large bath towel to cover him again.

Blue hair appeared on the surface of the water, and Loren surfaced.

"Phew—" Loren quickly took a breath, as his underwater diving suit was unstable due to low magic power.

Loren was surprised to find himself on the surface. He saw that Kurala had set up a makeshift tent made of a large bath towel for him on the water.

"Be careful not to make a sound." Kurara's heart was racing. Being completely naked and having actually pulled Loren up, this unavoidable and embarrassing situation gave her a strong urge to run away out of shame.

But Meilan was playing mermaid princess cosplay not far away. In order to ensure that Loren's lecherous identity was not exposed, Kurara could only use her hands to support the large bath towel to cover Loren.

"Don't talk, take a breath before diving down again," Kurara whispered.

Fortunately, Melanie was swimming loudly, so Kurara wasn't worried about her whispers being heard. But to be safe, Kurara still leaned close to Loren's ear and spoke.

However, she underestimated how close the two of them were, and soon realized that they could almost hear each other's breaths, and immediately felt her face burning.

And that wasn't all. Just as Kurara realized they were too close, she felt Loren bump into her again. It seemed the boy's muscles were so strong and unreasonable that the bump made her quickly step back, her face flushing even more. This was much hotter than a hot spring bath; it was practically scalding and steaming.

"Ouch..." Kurara hurriedly took a step back. But as soon as she moved, the scene in front of her resurfaced on the water.

Before she could even think about what that thing was, Kurala was so embarrassed she was about to cry. She quickly slid down, leaving only her head and arms above the water.

Fortunately, her long-standing knightly training prevented the princess from loosening her grip even at the crucial moment, and she maintained the large bath towel covering Loren.

Loren naturally felt the sensation on his chest and was embarrassed, unsure of what to do.

"Don't, don't look at me, turn around..." Kurara whispered.

“Oh, okay.” Loren turned around.

Kurala felt that columnar object touch her thigh again. What was that?

"Is Meilan imitating the Little Mermaid?" Having heard the Little Mermaid's words underwater, Loren turned his head to check on Meilan's condition.

"No, don't look!" Kurala was still quite frightened by that thing, but when she heard Loren want to see Meilan, she immediately sobered up. If she hadn't been holding onto the large bath towel with both hands, she would have definitely pinched him hard.

"This guy, I've sacrificed so much for him, and he still wants to watch me take a shower?" Kurara huffed, looking at the red marks on Loren's neck, and had an urge to give him a hickey too. No, no, no, that's too embarrassing, just a pinch would be fine.