The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 159: Turns out you can learn something even while flirting

Chapter 159: Turns out you can learn something even while flirting

"Oh, isn’t that a goma?"

I looked up from the book I was reading in the airship’s bedroom, feeling surprised that Natha knew about it. He looked at the goma laid on the table, above the handkerchief Arta lent me.

"Huh, you know?"

Arta was familiar with goma since the three siblings used to live off the street, but I didn’t expect the elite-bred Natha to know. Or was it because he was the Lord, and supposed to know everything, including the pleb’s food?

"Of course, it’s one of the best food for adventurers during the fall," Natha said as he took a seat on the other armchair beside mine, clad in his nightrobe already.

I rose from my slumping position and shot him an intrigued gaze. "Really?"

"It contained sugar and carbs, so it’s fulfilling and energizing. We don’t even need any seasoning, just roasting it would bring out the nectar," Natha touched the goma and rolled it around the handkerchief. "Mercenary usually made camps in forests and mountains, so all they got to do was dig around to have free, delicious food."

I watched Natha play with the tuber and put my book down. "Have you eaten it before?"

He raised his brow at me, and then laughed. He seemed to find it amusing that I thought he never had a goma in his almost a century of life. "Did you forget that I used to be active as a dungeon explorer?"

Oh--I truly forgot!

"Seems like you really are," he chuckled and picked up the goma. "But it’s been decades since I ate this, so this is nostalgic."

"Ah..." I giggled and leaned forward, propping my cheeks on the table. "I bring it home to share with you, hehe."

He blinked twice, before leaning back and patting his thigh with a smile on his face. So I scooted over, taking my usual place and giggled again. Maybe because I’ve been going around nice places without him, I missed Natha terribly. The nice food that I ate, the beautiful flowers that I spectate--I wanted to share them with him.

"It’s the nicest when it’s warm, although it can get messy when the nectar is still running," he said while channeling mana to his palm. Swiftly, I could see steam coming out of the goma that had grown cold.

"Oh!"

Damn--I wish I could do that. But Druid’s magic was strictly elemental, and I had yet to know the temperature regulation spell. Hmm...maybe after I experience a pure fire elemental, I’d be able to master delicate transfer heat.

Mm, mm, I couldn’t wait to check that eternal volcano on the border. Natha said we’d stop there for a bit, right?

While I was drowned in my thought, Natha had already finished peeling half of the goma, and brought it in front of my mouth. "Let’s finish this quickly before the brat come and ask for a bite," he whispered, and I took a small bite of the goma after laughing.

"Jade is having a candy party with Lesta, so it’s fine,"

And after eating the candy, the little bird would probably fall asleep immediately there.

"He’s become a good babysitter,"

"You mean bird-sitter?"

Natha chuckled before starting to eat the goma too. Between the two of us, it only took a few bites for it to disappear. Especially because it was night and the air had gotten colder, the warm goma tasted even better. It tasted even better than the delicious pastries this afternoon.

"This is really nice, but why it’s treated like peasant food? It’s as good as cakes and pastries," I muttered while washing our hands inside the water ball.

"Because it is peasant food, and it should be maintained that way," Natha answered casually.

Huh--what was this? A classism? Was it because it didn’t look pretty? I shifted and made a half-turn so I could look at him.

He looked taken aback by my frown, but laughed softly while rubbing the knot between my brows. "Do you know what differentiates luxury goods and other commodities?" he asked suddenly.

"What?"

"It’s ’value’," he smiled, taking my hand and bringing my fingers to the necklace on his chest. "When a good deems to have high value, people will put a price proportionate to that value. That’s why we regulate the mining of mana stones and precious metal, because if there’s too much of them in circulation, their value will drop."

"And thus their prices," I nodded, fiddling with the green gem of the pendant. "Okay, I got that. But what it’s gotta do with goma?"

He leaned back and put his hands on my waist, maneuvering me so I straddled his lap instead. "If goma is being popularized in the city, being framed as something other than peasant food, what do you think would happen?"

"Hmm...people will put value on it?" it’s was rather hard thinking in this position, with his hands on my hips. "Because people will want to buy it, there’ll be people who sell it."

"And where will the people who sell it acquire the gomas?"

"From the mountains and the forests..."

"And where will the villagers get their goma if the merchant took it to sell it in the city?"

Oh? Was he implying that merchants would empty the gomas in those places? Hmm...but it didn’t have to be merchants who sold them, right?

"Uh...can’t the villagers sell the goma themselves?"

"They can, but they wouldn’t be able to sell it in the city by themselves, because it needs money to travel there and put up a stall. It’ll be hard for them to rely on commercializing it by themselves,"

Hmm...that made sense. Goma was part of a fall harvest, so it was very seasonal. Peasants wouldn’t have the capital to start, unless they only sold it to the villagers. But villagers would just dig the goma themselves, so why would they want to buy it?

"Meanwhile, the city merchants would prefer to have their own goma rather than buying it through a supplier, because it’s cheaper that way," Natha continued. "Even if the villagers managed to become suppliers, now they have to pay for the goma if they want to eat them too, because there’s now a higher value attached to it. Or, since they can gain money from it now, they would rather sell it than have it for themselves."

I couldn’t help but gasp at that--also because Natha sneaked his hand into my nightshirt.

"In that scenario, the low-income citizens and mercenary, who could get that delicious and nutritious food for free before, would lose that little privilege they have," Natha said in a low voice, almost like a whisper. "Your little friend wouldn’t be able to freely dig some gomas on her own anymore, because the land where it grows would be restricted to the money-hungry merchants--"

"Uhh...yeah, okay--I got it now!" I interjected him quickly, because why did he have to use his bed voice when giving me educated insight?! I couldn’t help but squirm because his fingers had been stroking my back too. "So it’s better if it’s considered peasant food so it can stay free...right?"

He chuckled and give me a light peck as affirmation, pulling me even closer by my waist. I bit my lips and laid my head on his shoulder, feeling excited and heavy at the same time.

"Haa...life is so complicated,"

He lifted my head gently, whispering against my lips. "Isn’t that what makes it interesting?" the last thing that I saw before our conversation comes to an end was his sultry, charming smirk.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up feeling extremely uncomfortable.

It was like something crawling across my skin, like an invisible ant traveling my limbs. It wasn’t painful or anything, just...icky, like wearing wet socks. Like there’s something clinging to me and I wanted to get rid of it, only I had no idea what it was.

"Urk--"

The airship vibrated slightly, and I felt a shiver running down my spine then.

"Sweetheart?" Natha came out of the bathroom then, looking surprised at my hunched position on the bed.

"Uhh...I don’t feel so good," I bit my lips, and Natha hurriedly came to my side.

"What happened? You looked pale," he stroked my cheek, and I shook my head to tell him I had no idea. His frown went deeper, and his face turned serious. "Was it too rough last ni--"

I clasped my palm over his mouth and glared at him silently. How embarrassing! People would think we were having a wild night or something! Isn’t that too much for a virgin like me?!

I could feel his slight chuckle against my palm and retreated my hand with a pout.

"Forgive me," he smiled and kissed my temple in apology. "But what is it? Nightmare? Motion sickness?"

Again, I shook my head. "I don’t know, I just suddenly felt uncomfortable when I woke up," I told him. Or rather, I woke up because I felt uncomfortable. "What was that vibration earlier?"

"Ah, we’re entering highland, and there’s a storm ahead," he looked outside the window, and as I followed his sight, I could see grey clouds ahead. "It’ll be alright since our ship had a barrier, but we’ll go around it if it’s uncomfortable."

But...I felt like the darkened part wasn’t just made of condensed water. There was something else absorbing the light over there, the thing that made me uncomfortable.

"Natha," I gripped his sleeve, staring hard at the grey cloud. "Can we get close to it without entering the space?"