The start of a night and muscles

"It is the hero!!!!!!!" They screamed.

The guards surrounding Connor quickly backed off while apologizing.

The priestess approached Connor and apologized again for their rude behavior toward the hero and asked him if there was anything she could do to gain his forgiveness.

Connor told her that he is the one who should be apologizing for suddenly interrupting an execution. and that he felt that the dwarf was important for the plot.

"What is the -Plot-" She asked.

"It's like a premonition of the future, and I felt that I will need this dwarf in the future." I can't tell her that I just thought of it as a quest you get when entering a city!

"Is that so?" She is a little confused.

"By the way, what is your name? and why were you executing him?" Connor asked the Priestess.

"My name is Mary, and I'm the responsible for this town church. This dwarf has made a pact with a devil and the tattoo on his body is the proof therefore he has been deemed a heretic and been sentenced to execution." She replied as if giving a report.

Connor was a little confused.

"Hey, Alice didn't you say demons were the good guys?" He asked.

"Connor-sama it seems you have confused demons with devils, they are not the same race even if they look similar!"

Alice then explained that the devils live in hell while demons live in this world with the other races and the fact that it's true that demons and devils share the same ancestors but they are different.

"Shall we go find a place to spend the night in?" Connor asked, looking at Alva.

"You are right it's getting dark!" Alva replied with a tired voice.

At that moment a few people from the crowd that was watching the execution started running toward the town. Connor and the rust on the stage noticed them.

"What is their problem?" Connor made a statement.

"Please don't be mad at them, they are probably the owners of the inn, and probably just want to prepare for your stay Connor-sama!" Alice said with a smile.

"By the way Alice, why are you walking barefooted?!" Connor asked.

"Sorry, but running with high heels is annoying." She sounds apologetic.

"That more like it, a woman who takes actions and pushes forward is far better than one that is just sitting and being useless!" Connor told Alice with a nod of approval.

"Yes Connor-sama," Said Alice with a happy face.

After that, they sent the dwarf to the church for healing and care while they headed toward the inn, but before they could go the priestess Mary called to Alice.

"What do you want to do with the church? What are the directions of the hero and the holy maiden?" she asked while bowing behind Alice.

"Clean the church and prepare for me and Connor-sama to give a word to people tomorrow at noon. Also, send a message to the noble family in charge of this town and tell them that the hero will be visiting them in the evening alongside with the holy maiden and her paladins."

"As per your order!" And with this Mary was about to run toward the church to get the work done, but Connor stopped her with a hand on the shoulder.

"I know I was the one who said that I like active women, but don't overwork yourself, Ok. How old are you by the way? You don't look like you can handle hard work." Said Connor with a worried face.

"Sorry for being a feeble old woman, this year I will be 59. If only I was a trained warrior I would have been able to do more at this age." She said with a sad face.

"As I told you It's fine, also Alice there is a fine line between hard work and overworking. Next time think about who you are giving the work to and if they can do it without hurting themselves, this also implies to you too!"

As Alice heard that she bowed her head a little and replied in a gentle voice.

"Your words have reached me, Connor-sama!!"

After this Mary headed toward the church and Connor and Alice started walking toward the inn that Alva and Lydia were waiting in.

As they were walking.

"Ouch…" Alice stumbled a little.

"You okay?!" Connor asked.

"It's nothing!" She said with a smile, but the pain is clearly showing in her face.

As Connor looked at her feet they were bleeding, she got hurt when she was running barefoot before.

"Why didn't you heal it, you could have done it, No?!" Connor asked.

"Sorry I used almost all my MP with the appraisal Orb and I didn't want to spend what was left to heal myself since I will fall unconscious! and then won't be able to do my work!"

Connor took a look around him, he saw what looked like a bench.

He then carried Alice.

"What are you doing Connor-sama!" Alice said with a red face.

"You can't walk right, I'm taking you to a place where we can sit and I can heal you with ease."

"But Connor-sama, I've been walking like this for some time now so I need to clean the wound with water first!" She said, trying to stop Connor.

"Cleaning the wound won't be a problem, just stay calm!" Connor is thinking - what her deal? we are just going to heal you so you can walk also those roads have been used by horses so who knows what kind of bacteria live here-.

"Yes." Said Alice as she stopped moving and closed her eyes.

Connor carried her to the closest bench.

"Show me your feet," Connor asked as he cast his magic. [Water Magic],[Fire Magic] to create hot water.

Some people were watching from their windows and from the street.

"Must be nice being young!"

"Isn't that the hero and the holy maiden?"

"What happened?"

"Is she alright?"

Alice hears all of the commotions and gets embarrassed.

On the other hand, Connor is more oblivious to the fact and is only focusing on her -Wash the wounds as best as you can, if she gets an infection in this world where there is probably no antibiotic, she could die-.

After Connor had completed washing them he used [Healing Magic].

"Now I can walk on my own!" Said Alice trying to stand up.

But Connor stopped her.

"No, you won't, what if you get injured again, then will have to wash and heal you another time!" As he carried her again.

"Connor-sama!" She said in a faint voice.

"You can die you know! I am not taking any chances when your life is at the line, so just bear with it." Connor said.

Alice agreed silently with a nod, as Connor carried her to the inn.

they reached the inn.

Alice is almost dead from embarrassment, The hero gave her the princess carry through half of the road while the townspeople were watching.

They quickly make their way to the inn.

The Inn is large, very large. Connor thought this should be the best inn in this town. that to be expected they are going to host Alice a noble after all.

The inn is called Avanar Inn named after the name of its first owner. The one in charge of it now is Avanar's son, Lim.

Lim now is 61 years old and he is running the inn with the help of his wife Ana.

As Connor and Alice entered the Inn they were greeted by the owner and his wife.

"We have been awaiting your coming Hero-sama, Holy maiden-sama. We have prepared a room for both of you and a bath, the food is almost ready too. feel free to use this inn as you like everything is in the house." they said at the same time while bowing at the entrance of the inn.

Connor felt something in their voices, it sounded scripted.

"You made a good effort practicing but in the end, you didn't manage to pull it well maybe because of the time shortage. You should try to sound more natural than perfect." Connor realized that they were speaking a scripted line.

the old couple was embarrassed, they were trying to impress the hero but he saw directly through their act.

"Ahhh you weren't supposed to notice that you know? and even if you did you should keep quiet!" Lydia showed from behind the counter looking kinda angry.

"Sorry, it was in my line of work so I just said what was in my mind."

"W.. would you mind putting me down already Connor-sama?" Said Alice in an embarrassed voice.

"Oh, of course!" Connor replied after hesitating for a second.

Once Alice was back on her feet, she turned directly to the elderly couple.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Alice, would you direct me to my room?" Alice said in a faint voice.

"Of course! Please follow me Alice-sama I will guide you to your room." Said Ana.

Ana then took Alice to her room which only left Connor, Lim, and Lydia.

"What do you want Hero-sama?" Lim asked Connor.

"Just Connor, you can drop the hero, I actually wanted to take a bath but I don't have a change of clothes. Can you direct me to where I can get some new clothes?" Connor asked Lim.

"You don't have to worry about that, I already sent Alva to buy you some clothes for you and Alice on her way to pay for the appraisal orb, she will be back soon!" Said Lydia.

"Hold up, how did you get my measurements?"

"Just by looking at you I can tell how much muscle you have on you, your height, and even how much strength you can output, so telling your measures is easy!" Said Lydia with a confident face.

"That's kinda creepy you know?" Connor said.

"It's not! Knowing your opponent is critical knowledge in battles if you can't guess their reach nor their strength you won't know whether to dodge or block and with the measures, you can guess if they are hiding any other weapons or wearing armor under their clothes!"

"Oh, I see, well I am going to take a bath now."

"Yes of course Connor-sama, this way please!" Lim led Connor to the bath.

Ohh the bath looks nice, this looks like an onsen!

He then waited for the others.

A few minutes later, Connor hears a voice calling out to him.

"Connor-sama, I brought your clothes, they are here in the changing room, you okay inside?" Lydia said from the changing room.

"Thanks, Lydia, Sorry for troubling you!" he replied.

Then he heard the sound of the door opening, maybe it's Lim getting in to take a bath too. No, he won't enter since the hero is using the bath.

Who then? Connor thought to himself, the only one who could do that is Alice. She is the only one crazy enough to act like this in front of the hero.

I should give her a long talk after this he thought.

he turned toward the door to complain.

"You shouldn't be here…" he stopped mid-sentence as what he saw wasn't the slender Alice.

What he saw were muscles and a lot of them at that. it's Lydia.

The lines of her muscles are extremely visible, her arms are twice as large as Connors.

Multiple scars can be seen around her body as she walked toward Connor.

"I shouldn't do what? I'm joining you!" She said with a smile.

"Ah yes do as you like" Connor replied as he was thinking.

Those muscles are out of this world she isn't even at the level of bodybuilders.

She is naked… no this isn't important right now what important is that she is ripped.

How did she get those muscles? Connor is visibly confused.

"What never seen a naked woman before?" Lydia said as she entered the water next to Connor.

"That's not it. I have seen ones before but you are a different story, how did you get a body like that!" He said while showing an amazed face.

"So you are saying I don't have any attractiveness? That is to be expected, I'm just a muscle woman who only knows how to fight!" Lydia said with a sad face.

"No no no! You are attractive, it's just that your muscles are just that amazing!" Connor panicked a little before finding a response to her reaction.

Connor thought to himself -safe- didn't know it was this sensitive almost crying from that.

Even so, we haven't talked about the fact that we both are naked right now, is she that clueless, airhead, or she doesn't care maybe I should ask?

"Hey Lydia, you don't mind being naked here in front of me?" He asked directly straight to the point.

"Well I wanted to get myself a strong man who can defeat me, you don't meet that right now but in the near future, you surely will. so I wanted to get you early. Therefore I asked Alva for advice and this is what she came up with." Lydia answered directly.

"That Alva had some weird idea! doesn't matter, on another topic let's talk business!" Connor said with a serious face.