The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 174: It’s not everyday we have a fox as a caretaker

Chapter 174: It’s not everyday we have a fox as a caretaker

[Master! Big water!]

After traversing the dry land for quite some time, the ground turned more lush little by little, with plants sprouting until it became a rich forest. It was thanks to the massive river that ran through the central plains to the northwestern region.

And what a river it was; stretching far and wide that people would need a ship to cross it.

"Whoa...that almost looked like a sea..." It was my first time seeing such a big river, easily dozen times wider than the one in the Lair. Should I transmorph in this place, I would be completely lost, swept away by the river’s consciousness. "Wouldn’t it be nice to travel through the water too?"

"I hope so," Natha replied with a smile.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, you don’t know, Young Master? We will use the river from now on, until we reach the port city," Arta told me, grinning at my astonishment.

"What--really?" I turned to Natha, eyes widened in excitement.

"Since there’s no place to land the airship on land, and since we’ll be staying long, we can’t just let it hover in the sky," he explained.

Ah, that made sense--there was a reason why this was an airship, because...well, it was basically a ship, and functioned just as well on the water, probably. I looked at the river below with renewed delight at the prospect of my own first voyage. And Jade was excited about my excitement, while the Salamander...

"Water...hmmm," the little gecko muttered as it perched on the railing, looking below like me.

"Why, Ignis? You don’t like water?"

The Salamander answered quietly. "Not really..."

"Why? Are you afraid your flame will go out?" I poked the gecko’s cheek teasingly.

"I’m not that weak!" the little gecko protested, blue eyes flaming as it turned at me and slammed the railing with one of its front feet. "But if I go near the water, they started to evaporate and it’s steaming and fogging everywhere! I can’t see!"

"Huh...that’s right,"

I had always thought that fire creatures like Ignis would hate the water because it might douse them, or because their power wouldn’t work on water. But it wasn’t as if strong fire couldn’t evaporate water, and it wasn’t water that killed the fire--it was the lack of oxygen, wasn’t it? And rather than his attack not working, it would be more annoying to be surrounded by water vapor and robbed of the vision.

[Oh, oh--ship’s fall!]

"Let’s go inside, the water will splash everywhere," Natha pulled on my waist and got me away from the railing. Hearing about the ’water splash’, Ignis scurried away to my arms and climbed onto my shoulder.

"Alright,"

While I liked to be able to see how it landed, I didn’t want to get wet in the middle of the day and changed my clothes again.

It didn’t take long for the ship to enter the river, with the water splashing hard into the cabin’s window, startling Jade that was peeking from the sill. The little bird flinched and jumped behind my neck, grumbling and scolding the river.

But afterward, as the ship set sail--not really with a sail, though, still with mana stone-fueled propellers--we enjoyed the breeze in the deck, and Jade even having fun flying on the side of the ship as we went through.

And yes, truly, when it was seen from below, from the river itself, it felt like we were sailing the sea. Of course, I could still vaguely see the shape of the riverside, and some settlements along the way, but they looked tiny, like random islands popping in the middle of the sea. And perhaps, because it was a large river, the aquatic creatures were also big.

Big and delicious.

The crew fished out some and cooked them for our lunch, which we enjoyed right on the dock, while watching our meal’s friends swim beside the ship. Kind of brutal, if I had to be honest. But the fish tasted good, so...

Since we were traveling through the water and not the air, we need to follow the ’road’ now, and the journey became slower than before. But it felt nice being able to relax on the dock while spectating aquatic creatures jumping around, and the various riverside terrain; from lush forest to rich farmland. There were also floating villages along the way, and if the ship passed close enough by the riverside, the villagers would wave their hands to us.

Right after breakfast the next day, we started to see some traffic, as smaller merchants ship passed and gave their greetings from the dock. There were also passenger ships, and the river felt more and more like a highway the closer we got to Mi’Reah Eed, the port city.

The port, evidently, was crowded--even more than in Lu’ann. They filled the riverside too, as soon as the terrain allowed them to. There were also those who boarded a passenger ship without the ship departing.

"Whoa...the crowd is even bigger here," I muttered quietly. "Even though we’re off schedule..."

"They would already know," Opti responded, even though I was practically whispering. "This city is known as the center of information. The communication system is better, and there are lots of information guilds."

So, like...the birthplace of spies and paparazzi, it seemed. "Oh, did you come from here too, Opti?"

The shapeshifter grinned before replying. "That’s right! As expected, Young Master is perceptive."

"I told you not to overpraise me!" I turned my head and pursed my lips in protest, but Arta immediately held my head in place.

"Don’t move too much, Young Master, I still need to fix this piece,"

She held my hair and do something that I could see, fixing a string of bejeweled hairpieces in my hair. She also made me wear fancier clothes this morning. "Why are you dressing me as if we’re going to a banquet?"

"Because this is the city of fashion, Young Master! This is where all beautiful people gather, where trends are being born!" she explained with vigor and rapt excitement.

"Uh...okay?"

And then, she leaned forward and whispered in my ears. "And you need to be prettier than foxes to defeat them."

Blinking, I turned my head slightly and asked in confusion. "Defeat who?"

"The foxes."

"I...have no idea what you’re talking about," I looked at her with narrowed eyes, hoping for more explanation. But she just pulled back and muttered mysteriously.

"Hmm...you’ll see."

* * *

Oh, I saw alright.

I mean...I really ended up face-to-face with a...fox. You know; furred pointed ears, fluffy tail--tails--slitted eyes, angular face...

And very beautiful. Or should I say alluring?

Remember when Natha said there was a fox occupying his house? Yeah, this was the fox in question.

After alighting from the ship, we went straight to Natha’s mansion--the one he lived in before becoming the Demon Lord and stayed in Lord Castle. It was not as big as the Di clan castle-like manor, but it still had its own estate, and was almost as big as the largest hotel in the city. Even putting the whole crew that came with us from L’Anaak wouldn’t crowd the house.

And the one who greeted us inside the mansion was this tall, alluring fox lady. She had a humanoid form, but with fox ears and tails, and reddish-brown skin.

Lesta had told me that when Natha left for the Lord Castle, he hired the fox to manage his property in this city. She used to work for Natha’s business, but she was more of a partner than a subordinate, owning one of the biggest information guilds in Mi’Reah.

And she greeted us like she was the owner of the house, in a beautiful, luxurious-looking, yet still somewhat casual gown.

She was smiling subtly, eyes gleaming and voice drawled. "Well, hello there, handsome."

[Fox?] Jade chirped quietly.

"Fox," Ignis replied from my other shoulder.

The bright hazel eyes shifted from Natha to me immediately, and her smile curled higher and wider, as her eyes narrowed even more. "I see you have a cute one with you this time," she said, followed by a playful chuckle. "No wonder you never saw us again, how sad."

"Us?" I tilted my head, and immediately heard the vassals coughing behind me. The Demon Lord frowned, but he didn’t look angry or annoyed, just...nervous?

"I thought I told you to vacate the premise?" he asked in a low voice as if trying to put on a warning.

"You did," she replied relaxedly. "I didn’t do it."

Whoa whoa whoa...this lady blatantly told the Demon Lord that she didn’t want to follow order?

This was first, and oddly fascinating. Natha also didn’t lash out or spread his coldness for the disobedience. He made an exasperated face, instead, like facing an unruly child’s shenanigans. So, his ’fear’ either didn’t work on this fox, or she--as his business partner--knows too much of his dirt.

But anyway, who were those people they were talking about? The ’us’ in question?

"Well it’s too much of a pity, right? It’s such a big mansion," she spread out her arms, putting on a mockingly bright face. "You can’t possibly think I can run this place alone."

"I gave you servants."

"But I’m so lonely!"

"That’s not my business."

"Of course, it is!" she made a face as if she was offended by the statement, lips pursing as she added sulkily. "It’s because you’ve never visited me again."

"Ru..."

Oh, so her name was Ru--or at least that was her nickname, I guessed? They must have been close then, although that was apparent from the banter earlier.

"It’ll be lovely if we can all be merry together, right?"

"So there are other people here?" I finally asked, because standing there not knowing what they were talking about felt awkward.

The hazel eyes turned to me again, curled until they looked like a pair of crescents. "Why, of course, Honey. All nice and beautiful like me."

"Please," Natha rolled his eyes.

"Well, she is beautiful," I commented with a shrug, to which Natha responded while looking at me disapprovingly.

"Val, don’t feed her ego," he shook his head, looking fed up, and honestly...it was all so interesting. Like I was finally seeing Natha interact with one of his peer, like a friend.

"A-ha! So the name’s Val," the fox snapped her fingers, and before I knew it, already standing in front of me, close enough that I could see her brightly glowing eyes clearly as she added with a smile. "But I can’t call you that, so I’ll just call you Honey."

"H-huh?"

I never thought I would get flustered by a female before, but that sultry voice, and the way she said it as a fact rather than asking for permission, did bring heat to my face. Was this what they called femme fatale?

And she did not stop at that, suddenly grabbed my elbow and circled her arms there. "Now, now--Your Lordship is so busy, aren’t you? Why don’t you leave your sweetheart with me and be on your way?"

"Not a chance," Natha grabbed my shoulder and hissed aggressively, making my little companions jump off my shoulder from getting surprised--or at least Jade was surprised, and Ignis just didn’t want to be between too many people. "Val, you’ll come with--"

"Are you sure?" the hazel eyes narrowed, looking sharply at the Demon Lord. "You’re sure you want your sweetheart to hear what the leaders about to tell you?"

This was the first time I saw Natha’s face and felt like he wanted to curse out loud. But he held it in and now his face was crumpled menacingly.

But in the end, he let out an exasperated sigh. "Arta, come with him--guard him."

The ordered demon replied hesitatingly. "I’ll...try?"

"Dhuarta,"

"Yes, Sir! By your command, Sir!" She straightened her back at the low voice and saluted.

And that was how I ended up spending the rest of my day with a fox.

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