The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 322: It’s okay to be stupid, just make sure to study afterward

Chapter 322: It’s okay to be stupid, just make sure to study afterward

"There’s another one," Tiralein added.

I straightened my back unconsciously. "Alive?"

Tiralein made a strange expression then. "We don’t know," she said. I raised my brows, and waited patiently for more explanation by putting my hand on my lap. "He’s His Majesty’s uncle; Princess Yuralein--and my--grandfather, so to speak. Never one to settle down; always went around doing his own adventure, and came back with lots of souvenirs from the demon realm, even the human realm. I still have some of the things he gave me when I was a child,"

She paused with a nostalgic smile on her face. And yet, her eyes seemed to be filled with sorrow. Even though he was presumably alive? I took an untouched glass of shirac fruit juice on the table and offered it to her.

"Thank you, my dear," she drank the juice, before continuing her story with a slow regretful exhale. "He was on one of his adventures when the war broke out. He came running back immediately when he heard the news, but by the time he was there...everything was over," she took a deep breath. "Everything had been destroyed, and the last Prince was dying. He was..."

Tiralein frowned slightly as if hesitating with her own memory, so Amarein took over. "He was very distraught, rightfully so. He was so devastated--no, I wasn’t sure what state of mind he was in. Insane..." she paused to contemplate on her choice of word, but in the end still nodded. "Yes, I think that was it. He turned insane; howling, wailing, and hurting himself. We tried to calm him, but he ran away to the Great Forest of Aphen, and we haven’t seen him since."

I blinked my eyes slowly at this tale, which suddenly filled the table with a somber mood. "Do you think he tried to go the palace?" Natha asked, but the druids shook their heads.

"No; the palace was in a different direction from where he ran toward," Tiralein said. "Also, we had never seen him personally, but there were people who did."

"Oh?"

"Mostly drows, who said they saw him in a mountain or a cave during their rounds. Some said they saw him underground, in one of the drow’s cities," replied Amarein.

Ah...so that was why they said they didn’t know.

Tiralein sighed, her kind face filled with regrets. "We wanted to find him, bring him to the settlement, and care for him. We asked for the elf’s and drows’ help, but the last time they tried to speak to him, he instantly screamed and ran again, like he was...scared."

"Perhaps...he felt guilty," she continued. "Not being there during the entirety of the war, and coming back to everyone getting annihilated..." she exhaled heavily, clutching the front of her tunic. "Perhaps looking at us reminded him of the others that he lost."

The atmosphere grew more and more somber, the festive spirit turned into mourning. But I had no idea what to do or say to lift the mood, because I didn’t think it was my place to do that. I wasn’t there when the war broke, I wasn’t here to feel the devastation of having your kingdom fall. I barely understood what it was like during a war, only experiencing it from Valmeier’s point of view.

As I got confused about what to do, I felt my sleeve being tugged. It was Jade, looking at me with unblinking beady eyes. [Master, druid child like candy?]

Oh, I forgot that Jade had been watching the children playing earlier. I glanced at those children, who were running around following Alveitya, before asking Amarein quietly. "Is it alright for the children to eat candy?"

"Of course," Amarein nodded, but immediately added after pondering about it for two seconds. "Elven-made candy, I mean. The ones from the Demon Realm contain too much sugar--it will mess slightly with their mana circulation."

"It will?" I raised my brow, suddenly feeling scared.

"They are still children, after all," Amarein smiled. "Their circuits and circulation are still unstable. It won’t affect adults too much, so you don’t have to be worried," her smile suddenly became craftier. "Although it’s never good to over-consume something, I was told."

Ouch--that sounded like a jab to my conscience. I coughed and cleared my throat in embarrassment, and somehow, it made Tiralein and the other druid seniors laugh, clearing the heavy mood around the table. Even Natha was pressing his lips to stifle his laugh, and I kicked his shin under the table.

Well, that was nice and all, but let’s not ignore our confused little bird. "Can I take some mana from around here?"

"Oh?" the druids around my table perked up. "Are you going to do some purification?" Tiralein asked.

"Y-yes," I felt nervous all of a sudden. "C-can I?"

"Of course!" Tiralein clapped excitedly, even standing on her feet with wide, sparkling eyes. "Let’s see it, dear!"

Amarein nodded"Ah, this is good; I need to know how you do it before giving you any lesson."

Uhh...I never felt shy about doing it before, but then I remembered that all the Chiefs had been doing it all their life, and...it made me feel like a student having to perform in front of all the teachers and the headmaster.

I clenched my fists. Don’t be shy, Val--I told myself, Eruha would scold you if you ran away! Right, that was right; I was a student. I was a child who never received a proper education before, so even if I did it clumsily...so what?

Why would I need a teacher if I could do it perfectly already?

Before my determination waned again, I closed my eyes and immediately spread my consciousness. Oh...it was rather hard doing it when there were other magical entities here--and by that I mean the druids--so I had to sort out the mana. Thankfully, I had been doing the breathing technique that Amarein sent me, and using that made everything easier.

I only need enough mana to sustain Jade’s transformation, so I didn’t do it much. In the process, I was awed at the rate of my absorption--easily thrice faster than when I did it in the Lair. Part of it was thanks to the breathing technique, but most of it, I was sure, was due to how rich the mana was. I didn’t need to look far and wide to have the amount I needed, because it was so abundant around the settlement.

Opening my eyes, I concentrated on dividing the output of the mana into two; one for Natha, and one to be released back to the environment. I could hear Jade chirping in delight, because the little bird could feel how high the quality of this meal was. I condensed the one meant for Jade into a marble so the little bird could nibble on it instead of bathing inside the bubble as usual.

It didn’t take long before I felt it was enough, and Jade was shaking a little bit, waiting eagerly as close to my hand as possible. Oh, what a good bird--properly waiting this time, instead of snatching the marble instantly.

"Here you go," I threw the dense marble and Jade jumped to catch it energetically, nibbling on it without care immediately.

I looked at Amarein next, holding the ball containing the rest of the purified mana, waiting nervously. She had no significant expression on her face, just her usual smile which could mean anything from disappointment to delight.

But the Chiefs were more expressive. "Very good! You did so well, my dear!" Tiralein clapped her hands, and the others started to do it as well.

Instead of feeling proud, I felt embarrassed. They looked like family elders who always hyped what the youngsters in their family doing, which told me nothing about the actual assessment. "D-don’t lie," I retorted quietly.

"It’s not a lie," Amarein said, the smile looked softer now. "You did very well, Valen, considering no one had taught you how to do it," she said. "Of course, there’s room for improvement--especially for the level of purity. But it was truly a job well done, so you can feel proud."

Tiralein added eagerly. "That’s right! If you can do this much with self-study, I’m sure you’ll improve so much after Amarein teaches you."

My heart fluttered and the corner of my lips twitched. I glanced at Natha, who was looking at me with palpable pride in his eyes. When I looked at the druids again, I couldn’t help the smile creeping on my lips. For a moment, I felt like returning to a time when I was just a child with loving grandparents.

"But, umm...should I just release this?" I asked, lifting my palms and the ball of purified mana.

"Oh, why don’t our Little Prince give his first purification to the Great Alzeriya?" one of the Chiefs offered an idea, which was met with an enthusiastic voice from the others.

"To the Tree?" I blinked, recalling that the druid tree needed to receive the druid’s purified mana to survive. In return, Alzeriya produced a massive amount of life force to be shared with its surroundings, making sure the land stayed lush and rich in mana.

Kind of like breathing, don’t you think?

"I agree," Tiralein nodded. "What do you think, my dear? Should we go over there?"

"Oh..." I looked at Jade, who was halfway eating the marble. The little bird might transform shortly, so I was a little worried.

"Go--I’ll take care of the brat," Natha said. "Just leave his clothes here."

Thanks to my groom sharing the parental responsibility, I proceeded to follow Amarein and Tiralein to the Great Tree, clutching the mana ball in my arms.

Getting closer and closer to its roots made me realize how big this tree truly was. The elevated platform was built using two big roots as the foundation. I followed them to climb the stairs beside the platform, which went all the way to the altar behind the platform--the one located in front of the small opening.

Amarein stood beside the empty dais, aside from a beautiful embroidered cloth draped over it. "You may release it toward the opening, Valen."

I let go of the mana ball, and it floated into the opening. The void glowed slightly as it swallowed my mana ball, and not long after, the tree shook, just like how it greeted Alveitya earlier.

Feeling the vibration closer, however, made the experience feel more wonderful, as if the vibration was resonating with every cell in my body. I couldn’t help but let go of an awed sigh, looking up at the majestic structure.

How great would it be, to have this majestic tree in front of the palace? It made me wonder what the kingdom looked like, and how the atmosphere was. Would it be as homely as how I feel in the tribe, or would it feel like an elvendom? There was a regret creeping in my heart, for not being able to witness the Kingdom with all its glory.

And it was probably this regret that made me blurted out a question thoughtlessly. "Do you...have any intention to rebuild the kingdom?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.