The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 168: Sometimes I feel like I’m the protagonist

Chapter 168: Sometimes I feel like I’m the protagonist

"Who are you?!" a voice reverberating loudly in the crater. It sounded young, boyish, and came from everywhere and echoed like a ball bouncing through the wall. "Are you with those uglies?!"

Wow...I knew they were monsters, but...

"Do we look like those things?"

"You all look the same," the voice scoffed.

Pfft--I let out a giggle in reflex. It was so funny because there was nothing similar between corrupted beasts and abyssal monsters and demons, much less humans. So it sounded like a boy being petty for no reason.

Jade, meanwhile, tilted its head here and there, confused at the new voice while trying to pinpoint the source.

"But not you," the voice somehow came so close to my neck, even though there was nothing there. Jade flinched and Natha narrowed his eyes while looking around slowly, observing every crevice of the craters.

"You are weird," it continued, and I felt like a mischievous boy--a real boy, unlike Opti--was sniffing me around. "Your soul...is weird."

If my heart was connected to a device, it would beeping mercilessly right now.

Why? What did it see? Did he know I came from another world? Could it detect that? Should I reply? Should I not? But...wouldn’t it be more suspicious if I just stayed silent?

"My...soul?" I responded, trying not to sound suspicious.

"It’s whole and also not whole," it stopped intangibly sniffing me, and staring keenly at my core instead. "Weird."

"Uhh..."

I had no idea if I should feel worried or offended by this unrequested appraisal. Just as I was wondering what should I do with this creature, which I inferred must be the legendary beast, It came to sniff me again.

"And you smell nice,"

I could hear the sound of Natha gritting his teeth beside me, but I couldn’t afford to divide my attention now, because I needed to pinpoint the source of this cheeky voice.

Also...I raised my arm and sniffed myself, but couldn’t register anything because of the burning smell around me. "What smell?"

"Like trees," it sniffed my hair, "...and water," sniffed my neck, "...and wind," it retreated then, and I followed the gaze to its source.

"Oh, those have a smell?" I tilted my head following the curve of the trace, going around a rock and into the pool of magma.

"You’re a shepherd," it concluded.

"...I guess," I shrugged. It felt weird being called that, honestly, since I wasn’t a full-fledged druid--not yet anyway. But anyway, I was indeed here as a druid, since the objective was to absorb the fire elemental mana.

The Salamander--I assumed--asked again. "What are you doing here?"

[Jade wanna play with fire!] the one who answered was the little bird that had stood on my shoulder again. After the Salamander talked to us, the heat was actually decreasing, so it seemed like our legendary beast didn’t mean any harm then.

It was quite cute, by the way, staring at us with only its eyes above the crimson pool.

"Why would you want to play with fire?"

Huh...so it could hear Jade? That was interesting--perhaps because they were both magical beasts. "My familiar means it wants to play with you," I told the Salamander. "You are the fire, aren’t you?"

"Hoh! So you know that!" the Salamander exclaimed, raising its flaming head within the fire. "Hahahaha yes! Indeed I am the fire!"

The sound of hearty laughter reverberated around the crater again, and Natha grabbed my waist almost instinctively. It was almost cute seeing him so guarded like that, because...this famously dangerous legendary creature just looked like an over-excited and haughty child. One that was older than Jade, but...a child still.

Like now--it was swimming around while watching us, traveling from one rock to another hiding within the flame.

"So...are you taking a bath right now?" I tilted my head, observing the big lizard that was rolling around the molting rocks.

The Salamander’s crimson eyes blinked in surprise. It flipped to its belly again and stared straight at me. "You can see me?!"

"Am I not supposed to?"

Actually, it was quite hard at first, and it was still hard now, with its flaming body blended with the magma and the fire licking on the surface.

But the Salamander didn’t have to know that.

"I’m resting," it replied nonchalantly, but swam closer to our direction.

[Fire fight with uglies?] Jade asked--now that I could recognize the Salamander, Jade could see it too.

"Yep," the magma splashed and we could finally see the Salamander clearly without needing to find Waldo-ing the magma pool. "There are lots, so it’s annoying."

I felt Natha’s hand tightening around my waist. The Salamander looked like a big lizard--or alligator--and as I said, was rather cute in my opinion. It had a rounded head and a tail that looked like a whip. Its body looked like those rock--black scales with glowing crimson underneath, like something that might explode anytime. It was also covered in dancing flames, which was probably why Natha got even more guarded.

Staring at the pair of glowing crimson eyes, I told him our objective of being here. "We can help you,"

"You?" it looked at me skeptically.

Well yeah, fine, this huge lizard had a bigger mana core than me. But it wasn’t like I couldn’t do anything. "Ye--" I started to answer swiftly, but then remember I was still grounded. "N-no, I mean...Natha will,"

I felt a cooling hand pat the side of my body. "Good boy," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

The crimson eyes shifted to Natha as if they only acknowledge his presence now. "Oh, is your mate strong?"

"...M-mate?!"

The flaming head nodded and repeated nonchalantly. "Mate."

"Mate," a low voice whispered in my ears, and a curious chirping followed.

[Mate?]

I thought this place was already hot enough--I didn’t know my face could still feel even more heat coming from inside. "Uhh, yeah, he’s the Lord of this land, you know..." I said while fanning my heated face.

"Hmm..." the Salamander walked out fully from the pool and stepped closer to us, leaving a burning trail on the ground. The crimson eyes observed Natha keenly, who returned the gaze with the same intensity.

After what felt like minutes of appraisal, the Salamander finally reached a conclusion. "You’re an alpha," it muttered. "You’ve met the Monarch."

"I did,"

It could know that simply by looking? Or perhaps...there was some kind of trace in someone’s soul after they met the King? Hmm...interesting.

"You’re going to help me?"

Natha answered with a smirk. "Only if you help my mate."

Now he just used the word?! I was already so flustered every time he said ’bride’ and now this?! I didn’t think I would survive if he continued to use that word in the future.

Damn Salamander.

And said Salamander was now stomping angrily on the ground, its foot made the rock melt and left a deep footprint. "You dare order me around?!"

"I’m negotiating," Natha answered casually.

"Hmph!" it stomped the ground again, no doubt feeling disrespected by how nonchalantly Natha faced it.

Worried that they might end up fighting, I asked the Salamander instead. "Will you?"

I used everything in my arsenal; a slightly tilting head, round eyes blinking slowly, a what I hope to be an innocent and pleading look. The crimson eyes regarded me for a while, the fire gleaming and glinting as if it was in the middle of deep thinking. It observed me keenly, just like before, and I could feel its tendrils of consciousness sniffing me all around.

But the one it spoke to first wasn’t me. "Bird, you want to play?"

[Play with fire! Sound fun!] Jade jumped excitedly on my shoulder, filling the crater with the sound of its chirping.

The Salamander grimaced--or was it a smirk? And it stepped even closer. I knew by the pressure around my waist that Natha wanted to pull me back, but since we knew this was important, Natha fought his instinct and let me stay there--let the big lizard come closer.

Now that I could see it better, the Salamander looked even more beautiful. The base of its body was charred black with glowing red permeating between the gap of the scale. The flames that came out of its body were brighter in color--a deep orange that slowly turned white on its peak.

It stopped right in front of me, and the fascinating thing was...it didn’t feel hot? It was like the Salamander controlling the heat so it wouldn’t hurt me.

"Shepherd--hand," it raised its front leg and pointed at its forehead.

"My hand?" curiously, I crouched down immediately and planted my palm on the warm skin before even asking Natha for confirmation.

Perhaps I should.

Because Natha immediately yelled. "Wait--"

Before he could say anything more, the rough skin beneath my palm was glowing so bright I had to close my eyes from the glare. And as I was blinded, I heard its cheeky voice.

"Too late!"

I opened my eyes slowly one eye at a time, peeking at the grimacing--grinning--lizard as the light started to recede.

Too late?

Too late...for what?

And then I felt a tingling on my hand so I looked down--and gasped.

There were flaming red veins climbing my right hand that was connected to the Salamander’s forehead. It was my veins suddenly crawled with fire--it felt hot, and tingly, and I squirmed a bit from the sensation. It wasn’t long, though, and once it stop, Natha yanked my hand away immediately. As he did, I saw a tiny little red flame stigma the size of a nail on my wrist, glowing like a neon sign.

Hmm...this felt familiar.

Did I just get branded by a Salamander?

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