The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 312: what is the right response if your child acting like a gangster?

Chapter 312: what is the right response if your child acting like a gangster?

"Good girl," I stroked the side of the wyvern I hadn’t seen for two days, who came just after breakfast and called out to me immediately.

She nuzzled the side of my face until I felt ticklish, which told me that she was happy to see me again. "You don’t have any problem looking for your own food? What a good girl--even coming back on time."

We were set to go later today, but I didn’t see the need to wait now that Vrida had arrived. We had done everything we had to here, even gained a bonus of several dozens of fish waiting to be transported back home. I wasn’t the only one who was eager for the continuation of our journey, however.

[Vrida! Jade miss you! So much to tell Vrida on the way to forest!] Jade landed on the wyvern snout and jumped its way to the top of her head.

The wyvern let out a deep purr to greet the excited little bird. Ignis, however, learned its lesson and stayed on my shoulder to later settle behind my coat.

"Your wyvern truly comes back," Irra said in awe, clapping softly while staring at the playful bird-and-wyvern pair.

"I told you Vrida is a smart girl," I told her proudly while taking out the saddle.

A pair of elves who were going to put the saddle back on Vrida chuckled in response. "We did not doubt it, Your Excellency," one of them said. "But smart wyverns who were let to roam around without saddle will usually take the chance to run away and regain their freedom."

"Really?"

"Wyverns are as cunning as they are smart, Your Excellency," they smiled as they took the huge saddle off the ground. "It was said that they had to craftfully maneuver among dragons in the past, who were much bigger and mightier."

I blinked and looked back at Vrida, who had been very nice since the start. Well...it had been hundreds of years since dragons roamed the world, so perhaps the craftiness had washed away?

"It must be because Your Excellency treated her kindly," Irra said with a small laugh. "Wyverns without binding only came back to their masters if they considered the masters to be their safe place."

"Is that so?" I scratched my cheek, feeling bashful about doing nothing at all.

I mean...what did I even do? Natha was the one who purchased Vrida, and the one who groomed her was a designated keeper. The most that I did was probably play with her occasionally. In fact, the one who talked and played with Vrida the most was Jade.

"Valen is kind," Ignis, however, patted my cheek with its flaming hand, as if trying to reassure me.

"That’s right, Your Excellency truly is kind," Issa’s voice suddenly came from the pathway leading to the platform. She walked along with Natha, who did the farewell thing while I checked on Vrida. She smiled and added; "You went out of your way to take care of your friend, after all."

Was she talking about Izzi? I perked up when I recalled her promise to give me news regarding his status. And, seemingly realizing what my sudden enthusiasm meant, she did not waste more time with useless chat.

"Forgive me, Your Excellency, but changing a fugitive status must be done through reassessment by several committees, especially because the verdict is blasphemy," she shook her head, but continued before I had the time to sigh. "But I managed to schedule the reassessment and reopen the case formally."

Blinking, I asked dumbly. "Meaning?"

"Reopening an old case temporarily absolves the subject’s status," the one who explained was Natha. "So, until it is determined again whether he was truly committing what he was being sentenced to, your friend is a free man."

My eyes widened and I grabbed his arm in reflex. "Free? Truly?"

"To be exact, he is under bail," Natha said.

"Normally, he would be put under observation and supervision," Issa said, glancing at Natha. "But Lord Natha agreed to be his guarantor, so he will be free until we finish the reassessment."

And if the verdict came out as not guilty, he should continue to be free, right? I looked at Natha, whose smile seemed to answer my unspoken question. With the bubbling happiness I felt in my heart, I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek, before running to Vrida and Jade to tell them the good news.

With this, I could concentrate fully on tackling the mission I had to undertake in the druid territory--convincing them that I would marry Natha no matter what, and find out how to conceive a child.

As I told my flying companions about it, they suddenly perked up. Both of their eyes trained upward, and I followed their gaze just in time for me to hear a screeching sound and a gust of wind. Jade flapped its wings and landed on my shoulder, staring intently at the newcomer.

"Oh!"

An eagle’s head and a lion’s body; a griffin. The brown eyes were staring sharply at us, until Jade flew in front of me and flapped its wings, emanating pulses of mana that made the griffin flinch and take a half step back.

Haa...this little bird truly felt the need to assert dominance over all winged creatures, huh? Was that why Jade always relentlessly defied Natha? Because he had wings too?

Fascinatingly, the griffin was flinching and looking scared of this teeny tiny little bird, lowering its head until Jade stopped flapping its wings. Afterward, Jade landed on my shoulder again while sending out a scoffing sound.

[Hmph!]

I pressed my lips and looked at the elf who was riding the griffin apologetically for my familiar gangster behavior. They would be the ones to guide us over the land and through the forest of the druid territory, so it would be a bad step if they felt antagonized.

The elf, however, laughed at the interaction as he climbed down his cowering griffin. "As expected of an elemental bird."

Huh... were elemental birds like the lions of the sky? Although I wasn’t sure if lions would still be considered the king of the jungle in this world. I mean...there was Ignis who quite literally could cook lions in a second.

Oh! Would I be able to learn about the forest’s hierarchy with the druid? This journey became more and more interesting despite the thrilling missions looming over our heads.

Still, I couldn’t keep one of our guides fidgety from getting scared, so I asked the rider’s permission to greet the griffin. It was still flinching when I--with Jade on my shoulder--got closer. But after I touched its beak, the griffin calmed down and leaned into my touch, which I reckoned was a success.

"A true royal druid, indeed," the elf rider commented with a smile.

Was it because he was a rider? But I felt like he was less stiff and less formal than the other elves, despite the rich golden eyes and bright hair that told me he was a noble just like Issa. He wore a more practical garb than the other elf, favoring mobility more than elegance. The bow on his back and the dagger on his side reminded me of the elves I met in the oasis. Compared to those adventurers, however, this elf looked more well-kept and charismatic. His gears, obviously, weren’t ones worn down by weather and journey. That being said, they also didn’t look like mere decorations that he had never used before.

When he caught me looking at him, the elf just grinned and bowed slightly. "Illeanouer, at your service."

Ugh--elf and their hard-sounding name. "...Ilya?"

I tried to give him a nickname quietly, since Issa had also permitted me to call her with just that. Seeing how this elf seemed to be more outgoing, I thought why not?

And as I predicted, he accepted it easily. "Yes, you may call me that if you wish."

Glancing at the other elves who were still talking with Natha for the last time, I whispered closely. "Then, can you stop using ’your excellency’ too? It’s stuffy."

His lips stretched wider at my request, and he whispered back. "Certainly, Young Master."

Oh, better! I nodded affirmatively, and patted the griffin again before going back to Natha with Ilya in tow. Looking at us, Issa started to explain the route we would take to the druid tribe. "You will fly to the northern mountain and stop at the edge of the Alnin tribe’s territory. There’s a post there where you can leave your winged mount. As you already know, Lord Natha, it is impossible to reach any tribe by air."

Natha had told me about this too. The tribe’s territory was protected by a spell, and we could only ’pass’ through the barrier from the entrance to the forest. Only those designated as friends could pass the barrier, or so I heard.

"There will be a druid guide waiting at the post, and Illeanouer will come with you inside as a means of communication with the post and us," Issa continued. "I’m sure you know, but please don’t stray from the guide, because not even we could come out of the forest unscathed if we do so," she added a warning, before shifting her gaze toward me. "Although, well...you do have the prince with you."

Hmm? Would the forest behave like the one surrounding the Lair? If so...I had no idea if having royal blood would really help. I hadn’t even fully befriended that place after all this time.

But I knew now the treachery of the place we would traverse, so I reminded Jade and Ignis that we had to be together all the time--especially the little bird who liked to fly away in the forest ahead of me. Hearing the serious warning in my voice, however, they nodded solemnly, and we made a pinky promise with a tail and a wing.

Only after that, did we climb on Vrida’s back, and start the journey to meet my kin.