The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 317: To be fair, I rarely came to a family gathering

Chapter 317: To be fair, I rarely came to a family gathering

"It’ll be fine, right?" I whispered as quietly as possible, so close to Natha, as we walked toward the plaza.

"I don’t believe they’ll harm you," Natha replied soothingly. "So it should be fine."

Well of course they wouldn’t, but it was endearing that Natha’s standard was only around whether or not something would harm me. "But what about the other things?"

They might not harm me, but they might demand that we postpone the marriage, or that I should live here until then in exchange for the conception secret. That was one of the worst-case scenarios we predicted might happen.

"If nothing works, then we’ll tell them about Shwa," Natha said, but I could feel the hand holding me go tighter for a second. Just like me, I knew Natha wasn’t fond of the idea of telling others about our future child.

Well, telling the druids about our mission might indeed smoothen the request. But even then, they could argue that I didn’t have to be united with Natha until I reached thirty-five, which was the adult age of druids.

"What if that didn’t work?"

"Then," he leaned down and whispered right in my ear, "I’m going to kidnap you again."

He said it so dramatically that I couldn’t help but giggle. I wanted to argue that he might incite a war if he did that, but then I remembered that he said he would wage war for me.

...haha--suddenly this nervousness felt a bit different.

[Master, lots of people come out!] Jade suddenly told me, jumping on my shoulder to distract me from Natha.

It got me to start looking around, and realized the druids were coming out of the houses. They didn’t exactly fill the street, but they stood on their patio, or looking for their window. Obviously, at us. The only thing that prevented them from checking closer, just like yesterday, was probably Amarein’s presence walking in front of me.

"There was a lot of talk about you last night," Natha told me; I almost forgot he could sense others’ thoughts.

"Y-yeah?"

"Mainly curiosity," Natha added with a smile. "They wanted to see what their Little Prince looks like," he whispered. "I couldn’t sense any malicious thought, so, everything seems good."

So that was why he said he didn’t believe they’d harm me. Well, I guess it was nice to know, although...I glanced at him and pursed my lips. Why were you calling me that too, my Lord?

He chuckled and stroked the back of my hand with his thumb. Whoo...for now, I would ignore all of these gazes and focus on the upcoming meeting.

"Are all of the Chiefs inside the hall already?" I asked Amarein quietly.

"Yes," she replied with a sweet smile, probably to calm me. "I asked them to stay inside and for the plaza to be emptied for the morning, so you don’t have to worry about being crowded."

Oh, how excellent! Amarein truly knew me well, although we had only met for a few days the first time. True to her words, the center of the settlement, where the big tree stood, was almost empty. A few druids who looked like guards were there, and I saw Halurean talking with Ilya beneath the steps that led to the biggest building there, which I presumed was the tribe hall.

My attention, however, was sucked by the big tree. The huge tree. It was probably as high as the research tower, and the width of the trunk was easily as wide as some of the houses. Between the white roots, a platform was built with some kind of podium on one side. I couldn’t see it from afar before, but now that I got closer, there was a hollow part between the roots that looked like a cave opening. And in front of that hollow part was a small structure that seemed to be an altar.

[Whoa...Giant Tree is so cool...] Jade flapped its wings and looked up. I could tell that my little bird wanted to fly to the top of the tree, whose trunk was the same white color as the tree I saw in Mother’s abode, and probably...

I looked at my left arm, which responded to the thought with a soft vibration.

"Aunty, is there another tree like this in the...kingdom?" I asked Amarein carefully.

She looked at my face, and then at my left arm which had stopped vibrating. The corner of her eyes dipped down, before a forlorn smile formed on her lips. "Yes, there was."

"Oh...did...did the Empire...destroy it?"

"Not really," she looked at the tree and sighed. "But the tree could not survive without being fed purified mana, so in the end, it perished."

"Oh..."

I stroked my left arm, where the remnant of the perished tree was embedded. I was glad that I managed to awaken Alveitya to its true form, so I could bore witness to the beauty of the tree’s branch being fashioned into this sacred Scepter.

But the fact that the other tree met its end meant there was no druid left in the land that the Empire took from us. My heart hurt at the thought of it, but also relieved. At least, it meant the druids weren’t enslaved there. I hoped so, anyway.

Amarein patted my shoulder then, and nudged me slightly. "Shall we go?"

I looked at Natha, who proceeded to rub the mark on the base of my ring finger, and kissed it softly. His gentle smile told me to be calm, but his sharp, hard gaze assured me that he would burst through the door as soon as I gave him a signal.

I nodded, more to reassure myself, and Natha patted the heads of my little companions. "He’s in your hands now."

[Okay!] Jade, in a rare moment of bonding, replied positively to Natha, while Ignis just hummed and flicked its tail as usual.

With a small chuckle at that gesture, I followed Amarein inside, leaving Natha with Ilya and Halurean beneath the steps. I heard they had prepared a room for him to wait for me, which put me in relief. Good, I could focus on whatever would happen in this meeting.

A pair of druids opened the tribe hall’s door and bowed as I passed the threshold with Amarein. We walked through a short corridor that ended up in another door. I could feel a handful of presence behind that door, at least a dozen. Each one felt...familiar.

I knew why after the door opened and I was face-to-face with those people; the Chiefs of the druid tribes. The first thing I recognized was the mana emanating from them. It was similar to mine, a harmonious mix of elemental mana that had been purified; the trace of royal blood.

The second thing was their eyes. Each was in different shades of green, but rich and deep, brimming with magic. The moment we entered the room, all of those eyes were trained on me, and surprisingly...it didn’t make me flinched or flustered.

Was it because their mana felt familiar? Or was it because their physiology more or less looked like me? It just felt like I opened the door of my grandfather’s house and all the aunties and uncles were looking at me. Rather than feeling scared or uncomfortable, I had this urge to raise my hand and wave it in greeting.

Which I actually did.

"Umm...good morning."

Really, Val? Not a good time for giving in to your intrusive thoughts, don’t you think?

I only realized I did it after I said it, hand pausing midair, and the plethora of green eyes blinked in surprise. This time, I truly flinched--in embarrassment. I unconsciously shifted behind Amarein, and during the second I took to do that, these elders moved.

And by moved, I mean they suddenly crowded around me.

"Your Highness!"

"Oh, he really looks like Princess Yura!"

"He waved at us, how adorable!"

They spoke a lot more, but their voices were stacked on top of each other and the interpreter formation behind my ear couldn’t keep up with the translation. It made me rather dizzy from the sudden crowding, and my a pair of hands grabbed mine.

"Your Highness, welcome to Alnin," the one who grabbed my hand said. It was an elder woman with faint wrinkles on the corner of her eyes. I could feel that she had the purest mana among the other Chiefs.

Just from that, I could tell that she was the Chief of the Alnin tribe, the host of this meeting. Supposedly, she was the descendant of the younger brother of the third king, and also the daughter of the last King’s--my great-grandfather’s--youngest sister.

In short, she was still my grandmother to some extent.

"Your Highness, I am the Chief from the Natki tribe in the east," someone from my left said eagerly, a middle-aged male druid.

"And I came from the west, Your Highness, of the Great Sbhann Forest."

"The Meadow of Herbra is where we dwell, Your Highness; I hope you visit us sometime."

"And I--"

[STOP!!]

In the midst of a flurry of greetings and introductions, Jade flew in front of my face and chirped loudly--so loud it echoed throughout the room. The flap of its wings sent air pressure that pushed the Chiefs away.

[Don’t crowd Master!]

The chirp continued, and Ignis’s flame blazing to envelop me defensively, causing the Chiefs to gasp and step back. The flame itself wasn’t destructive, but the heat was enough to stave people away.

"No, Ignis, it’s okay," I patted the salamander’s flaming head. "You can retract the flame. You too, Jade, came here."

Ignis scoffed and clicked its tongue, but the flame vanished in the next second, while Jade flew to my palms while grumbling.

[Rude! No one touch Master without permission!]

Haha...my little companions truly heed Natha’s words of protecting me, even though there were no apparent dangers. I looked at the surprised elderlies and bowed my head politely. "Ah, pardon me for their rudeness."

"Oh, no, Your Highness, that’s--"

CLAP!

Before the Chiefs could fully reply, Amarein clapped her hand from the side. With a smile on her face, she spoke gently. "Now, now; let’s not hound our little guest and have a more comfortable conversation, shall we?"