The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 252: Sometimes, answers came from unassuming conversation

Chapter 252: Sometimes, answers came from unassuming conversation

"This is going to be alright, right? Nothing will go wrong, right?"

I asked Natha while holding the seed in my embrace. There was a smile on his face as he took out a huge tube where we would put the seed in. "I only put it in my bag when I took it from the ruin. I’m pretty sure this tube is luxurious enough."

"But is it safe?" I insisted, frowning until he patted my head with a soft laugh.

"There’s an anti-shock barrier, a preservation spell, temperature formation, and it’s made of anti-magic tempered glass," he slammed the tube into the floor as if to prove that it was, indeed, resilient. "And it will be safely stored inside a specially made dimensional cage," he pointed into a necklace circling my neck. "Sounds safe enough for you?"

My new necklace--well, new pendant, was kind of a storage ring. But it was made to transport living beings--usually mount beasts or precious rare animals--so there was air inside, and time moved as usual. The medium had to be a high-quality mana gem, and this one, especially, was cradled inside a throne made of Mythril, which was also the material for the chain.

Due to these properties, it was crazy expensive, but what was money for the Matsa Ra Natha, right?

Hmm...alright, I guessed it was safe enough. I finally nodded and Natha picked up the tube again, setting it on the table so we could put the seed in.

"See you later, okay?" I stroked the patterned surface and sent a thick layer of pure mana to coat the surface before giving it to Natha, who did the same with a chuckle.

Well, if not for protection, then It could snack on the mana during the journey, at the very least.

Carefully--perhaps because I was looking with rapt attention--Natha put the seed inside the protective tube. I watched it closed and sealed, waiting until every spell and formation carved on it activated, before touching it to send the tube inside my necklace.

Once it was safely stored inside the cage, I closed my eyes to see if I could still feel the pulsing core. Only after I could feel it that I let go a sigh of relief. The moment I opened my eyes, Natha grabbed my cheek and squeezed it.

"God, you’re so cute," he leaned down and kissed my forehead. When I pouted because it felt like he treated me like a child, he proceeded to kiss my lips. "Let’s go and have your goodbye."

"You make it sound like we’ll go for a long time,"

"Well, who knows?" Natha shrugged, and added when I looked at him confusedly. "I won’t be there long, but who knows if Teacher would make you stay."

Ah, that made sense. But...she wouldn’t make me stay for five years like Natha, right?

Well, there was no way Natha would allow it though, because it would delay the wedding even more.

"Ah--is that why you packed a lot of clothes for me?" I suddenly realized why there was a whole closet in the storage ring just for a week-long trip.

"Better safe than sorry," he shrugged.

Well, I wasn’t the one who would have to tidy it up, so...whatever. We left the collection room and Jade flew to my hand as a greeting. [Master, Jade’ jelly!]

The little bird pointed to a small cooling crate filled with jelly and candies--its staple food--that Esra, the maid in charge of Jade’s daily needs, had prepared. While I put the crate inside my regular storage ring, Jade poked the small black gem on my neck.

[Egg is here?] the little bird asked. [Jade’s sibling?]

Oh, gosh. "Yes, the egg is here," I patted the cute little green head. I knew now that it was actually a flower bud, but it did look like an egg, and I already called it an egg the first time, so it stuck with Jade.

Hmm...now that I thought about it--

"We should give the seed a nickname," Natha said, and I almost gasped because we thought about the exact same thing. "We can’t go around calling it seed and egg and child all the time."

[Name? For egg?]

"Yeah, we should," I tilted my head here and there, to think of a good name. Well, it would just be a nickname, so anything goes, I guessed. But it was still the seed of a God, so it should sound nice, right? I couldn’t just go around calling the Primordial Seed jellybean or peanut.

Hmm...what should it be? Egg...seed...flower--ah, yeah, we should just go with something simple.

"Shwa?"

Natha raised his brow, digesting the name. "Wait...from Old Tongue?"

"I learned a few words from Eruha," I grinned, feeling embarrassed suddenly for using words that I only knew superficially. Well, it was a simple word, just like jellybean and peanut, but at least it wasn’t a food.

Natha smiled and caressed my hair in response, so I guessed he approved of it. "Flower, huh? Simple and nice. I guess you said it’s actually a flower."

Well, at least that was the image I saw on the statuary. A black flower; a drop of darkness, just like the beginning of the universe before there was a light.

"Alright, Shwa it is," Natha nodded in agreement.

[Shwa? Egg’s name is Shwa?]

"Yes, Jade. It’s Shwa now, not egg anymore,"

"Who’s Shwa?" Zia, who was waiting for us in front of the fireplace with Ignis, asked.

"My future child?"

The purple eyes widened. She stood up immediately and flew toward me like a rocket I almost thought she was teleporting, the small wings making a whooshing sound. "What the hell? You’re pregnant?"

"I’m not!" I almost screamed in panic, because everyone--the servant and the vassals--paused and looked at me with widened eyes.

What the hell, girl?!

"Just so you know, I’m still biologically a human male!" I pursed my lips and stomped my feet while walking toward the dining table.

Geez--could she brake her mouth a little bit? We’d be having lunch together before going to Gluttony, so some of the vassals were here too--and those who liked to tease me to boot.

Like Lesta, who tilted his head to look at my stomach, and Arta, who narrowed her eyes seriously. "You have to tell me if you do, Young Master. I would need to procure a whole new wardrobe for you."

"I would also need to alter your nutrient intake, so please inform me beforehand, Young Master," even Mara!

"I said I’m not!" I clenched my fists so I wouldn’t be tempted to slam my hand to the table.

Agh--I really need to look at my surroundings first before running my mouth.

Zia scratched her neck while grinning sheepishly. "Oh, but you’re also a druid, so I thought..."

"Druids are also born from female druids, you know," I crossed my arms--again, so my hands wouldn’t hurl anything at anyone. Especially at my fiance, who pressed his lips to stifle his laugh.

It’s your fault too, you know!

Zia tilted his head in confusion while taking a seat on my other side. "They are?" she looked up and tapped her chin as if trying to remember something, before clapping her hands after a few seconds. "Oh right, I was thinking about dryads!"

Commonly, people only saw Elf, Druid, and Drow as the member of the Realm of Nature, because they were the ones who were birthed by Mother. But children of nature were more varied than that. They did not live in a colony or made a distinct civilization, however, so there was no form of government or representatives.

Dryad was one of those. They were more of a spirit, and rarely formed a physical manifestation except if they had to communicate with other races. They mainly dwelled in trees, old ones, so they were often associated with druids.

Alright, so I got why Zia mistaken the trait between them. But unlike druids, because they were spirits, dryads did not reproduce in the same way as us. As spirits, just like Jade, dryads did not have sexual reproduction organs, and they could reproduce alone, without any partner.

"The Queen was a half-dryad," Natha informed them--informed me too, although I already knew that I had a dryad gene too. I just wasn’t sure where I had that trait from.

And then it was silence. Lesta raised his brow, while the others blinked at this new information.

"...whaaat?!" Zia stood up and pointed at me. "See, you can get pregnant!"

"No? Dryads don’t get pregnant either!"

"They don’t?" Zia tilted her head again, scratching her neck awkwardly while sitting down again.

The one who responded this time was Natha. "No, they put their essence in a seed and let it grow until the plants...bloom..."

"And a baby comes out of the bulb, yes--I remember now," Zia crossed her arms and nodded, before realizing Natha was suddenly frozen after his explanation. "Huh? What’s wrong?"

I too, was frozen, staring blankly at the table. Unconsciously, my fingers stroked the black gem dangling from my neck, feeling the pulsing seed waiting to bloom.

"...oh," I muttered blankly. Besides me, I could hear Natha sounding uncharacteristically dazed.

"Oh..."

I turned my head slowly at him, blinking, and he did the same. We looked at each other, feeling stupid and fascinated at the same time. That moment only lasted for a short while, however, before I heard a chirping sound.

[Oh?]