The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 302: Conspiracy theory shouldn’t be on the menu of a vacation

Chapter 302: Conspiracy theory shouldn’t be on the menu of a vacation

"What do you mean betrayed?"

Suddenly, the fact about my father wasn’t interesting anymore.

"Giving no blessing meant the Goddess wasn’t favoring the humans anymore," he said. "But then, we also found out that she gave your father one, so it meant she’s still around, just...how should I say this? Doing things secretly?"

Wait wait wait...this made me dizzy. Let’s say that she gave a blessing in a secluded church because she wanted to move in secret. But if that was so...why? And...

"Could they do that? Betraying their Goddess? I mean...how?"

Natha blinked. "Well, I don’t have an answer for that yet," he shrugged. "in the first place, I don’t know what it feels like to want to betray your God."

Ah, right. Natha was a devotee—even if it was mainly because the Demon God was the one who allowed him to meet me on Earth.

"Anyway, that’s just a thought," he let out a heavy breath. "You don’t need to think about that—at least, not now."

"Mm," I agreed and turned back to watch the scenery. Natha was right; with such nice scenery in front of me, I shouldn’t fill my head with conspiracy theories. Especially because my little bird was coming at me after sensing the heavy atmosphere of our conversation.

[Master! Master alright?]

The little bird flew to my chest, looking up while perching on Natha’s arm. "Yes, I’m alright," I patted the bird, and glanced at Ignis between Vrida’s horns; tail curling tightly around one of them. "How do you like flying, Ignis?"

"...good," the Salamander said shortly, quietly, almost inaudible between the belting of the wind.

I held myself from laughing at the way this Salamander tried to maintain its dignity. "You don’t have to humor Jade, you know. You can just stay with me."

"I’m...I’m older," Ignis replied firmly, but the little gecko hadn’t even moved one bit in its place, just the flame trembling on its head.

"I’m older too, but I would never sit there even if I turned myself small," I told the Salamander, who finally turned its head slightly.

"Re-really?"

"Uh-huh; why don’t you come here to talk with me?"

The red tail carefully unraveled, and like a comet, the little gecko shot into my chest, as if teleporting. Ignis crawled inside the opening of my coat and squirmed there, before poking only its head out.

[Huh? Ignis don’t like sitting in front?]

"Everyone has their own favorite spot, Jade," I stroked the green head. "Go on, you can take that spot all for yourself."

Jade looked at where Ignis was lodging itself in, frowning slightly as if it was in a deep ponder. I could feel that the little bird wanted to say that my chest was actually its favorite spot too. But the reason Jade sitting on top of Vrida’s head wasn’t just to experience the thrill, but also because the little bird wanted the wyvern to not feel bored, and kept chatting with her.

"Chat with Vrida for me, mm?" I told the little bird, who finally made a decision with a nod.

[Hmm...Okay!]

"Hmm...evidently, that’s also my favorite spot," Natha leaned his head on my shoulder, looking up at me with a fake childish pout. I bonked his head slightly, and he laughed before pointing toward the southeast. "There, you can see the palace city of Sarteriel."

Just like he said, I could start to see the shape of a grand palace on the horizon. Even from afar, it already looked beautiful, shining under the sunlight with its white marbles and embedded crystals.

As we flew closer, I could see the area around the palace clearer. The palace of Sarteriel was built in the middle of a vast lake, with four bridges in four directions connecting the palace with the land, where the city of Sarteriel created a fantastical urban landscape with its high-rise, pointy homes, and countless tower-like structures.

"What are those four big towers?" I asked Natha. Aside from the palace in the middle of the lake, there were four towers with big crystal statues on top of each tower. They looked beautiful and almost glowing, with runes carved along the structures like intricate reliefs. Curiously, those towers did not look like a place to live in or even to be climbed.

"Putting it in your language, it’s a solar mana generator," Natha replied. "They harnessed the mana contained in the sunlight and processed it into energy to be consumed by the whole city."

My eyes widened by the new technological marvel. There was a mana generator in this world? Like...like a power plant?

"So it’s like...solar panel?"

"You can say that," Natha nodded. "They do absorb the energy contained in the sunlight to power most of the tools used in the palace."

"And those smaller towers in the land are for powering the city?"

"That’s right."

Oh...that was fascinating. I was taught that elves received the blessing of the sun, but I didn’t think they would do it in this way. No wonder they sought places that were exposed to the sun as a place to live.

"The energy from those towers is also being sent underground, to the drows’ settlements," Nathe explained. "In return, the drows would send mana stones and jewels they mined as payment."

Mm, cooperation was the heart of a healthy society. "Why don’t we have them back home?" I asked him. Demon Realm did have something like a power plant, but they used mana stones and mana crystals instead. "Wouldn’t it be cheaper to use sunlight?"

"It is," Natha smiled wider than usual, perhaps because I called the Demon Realm ’home’, which was true for me. "But the technology for harvesting energy from sunlight is only known by the elves. I had tried to ask, but as expected, they wouldn’t disclose it even when I offered a generous fee."

"Oh?"

"I even offered to pay them annually for ’renting’ that technology, for as long as I used it. But they were adamant about keeping the formation to themselves."

"Why?"

Instead of answering, Natha looked at me and smiled, throwing the question back at me. "Why do you think."

Hmm...alright; thinkVal. Was it to show off their superiority? No; in that case, letting a Lord from another realm use it would rather show it, wouldn’t it? Especially if they accept the offer of an annual payment; they wouldn’t have to necessarily give away their technology while still raking in benefits.

But the fact that they still reject the offer despite their cordial relationship with the Realm of Greed also meant it wasn’t done out of animosity.

Hmm...I pondered about it while stroking Ignis’s warm flaming jaw. What did I know about elves? They were proud devotees, that would go as far as punishing their citizen for blasphemy just because he decided to ’upgrade’ the bow given by Mother...

"Oh!" I exclaimed as the towers got even closer and clearer. "Because it is a power bestowed by Mother! They must have thought that no one but the children of nature has the right to enjoy it!"

The pat I received on my head told me I answered correctly. Well...I guessed people do have the right to gatekeep their blessing—or even their tech, in general. But it was fascinating to learn that there were various ways people harvested energy in this world.

"Wait...if we go technical...am I not some kind of power plant too?"

Umm...no pun intended.

"You are," Natha smirked. "Don’t you remember what kind of explosion your purified mana bullet caused?"

Agh—my dark past!

"Ah...are the druids using the elemental mana to power their tools?"

"That is something you should find out yourself once you visit them, no?" Natha smiled and flicked the tip of my nose.

Oh, true. Finding out by seeing was often better for learning purposes. "I wonder if they also use water and wind to harvest energy; you know, like on Earth?" I looked at the lake that seemed to be so much bigger now that we were only less than a kilometer away from the city. "Hey... are there water creatures here?"

"They are, especially in the sea. There’s a kingdom underwater in the far southeast ocean," Natha said. "But like the dragons, they were under the management of a Sacred Guardian instead of the Goddess."

"Oh!"

Wow...I had been holed up in the Castle so much that I didn’t realize how fast and fascinating this whole world was. There was so much more than the three realms under the three Gods, even more than what the books had recorded.

Alright; that underwater kingdom would be added to my future adventure list—you know, the one we would do after Natha stopped being the Demon Lord.

For now, let’s enjoy the elvendom spread beneath us as Vrida flew above the city. With Natha’s instruction, I told her to fly toward a large platform on the west side of the palace, where a group of elves had waited for our arrival. Leading them upfront was the familiar voice of an elegant beautiful elf lady.

Vrida landed smoothly on the platform and lowered her body seamlessly. Natha climbed down first, and, holding into his hand, I alighted next as Jade flew to parched on my shoulder.

Issa bowed her head and bent her waist as my foot landed on the white stone cliff, a smile on her lips and her golden eyes gleamed.

"Welcome to Sarteriel, Your Highness."

Ah...seemed like it’d be an exhausting stay.