The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 323: Not every secret room has to be placed secretively

Chapter 323: Not every secret room has to be placed secretively

I only realized how thoughtless it was after I saw both of their faces stiffened.

"I...I’m sorry," I lowered my gaze, feeling extremely awkward. "You don’t need to answer it."

"No, you must have been curious," Tiralein replied with a smile, taking my elbow and leading me down, back to the plaza. "I don’t know what kind of answer you were hoping for, but Valen," she looked up and stared straight into my eyes, "But we can not build it again; a palace, a city, a royal family," she looked at me apologetically. "The Royal Tree is no more, and even if we want to seize back the land...well, we had never been good at fighting."

"It is not our role to take on arms and hurt others," Amarein said, walking on my other side. "We are the shepherds of nature; our duty is to keep the land that Mother loves from being tainted with corruption. It is not in our nature to be... aggressive."

She said the last part in a lower tone, with a bit of hesitation as if she regretted it.

"Perhaps...that was exactly why they attacked us instead of the elves or the drows--who, as you know, more adapt to weaponry," she continued.

"Even though..." I frowned, remembering how powerful human elementalists were--and it was said that they had nothing on druids. Natha’s vassal had always said how powerful I was, although I never truly used my power to do anything or attack anyone. But in a world of sword and magic, typically, magic had always been seen as superior. "Even though you have magic?"

Tiralein seemed to be startled--and so was Amarein, although to a lesser degree, and immediately vanished from her face. "Valen," Tiralein said in a scolding tone. "Nature is not supposed to be used for violence. It is not supposed to be manipulated to give other punishment."

I was flustered, feeling like my grandma had just scolded me for being a bad kid. On the plaza, I could see Alveitya still floating around, and I came to a realization that yes...Valmeier had been using Alveitya as a spear, but while it had such a function, it was actually a scepter rather than a spear.

A scale to ensure a just punishment was of course different than a spear that could be used to harm someone indiscriminately.

Oh...

"I’m sorry," I muttered quietly. "You...you must be disappointed about...how I was in the war and used Alveitya to..."

Tiralein patted my arm, the sweet and gentle smile was back on her face. "Yes, it was rather...unfortunate, to know that the Sacred Scepter was used for such..." she didn’t continue, but we knew enough of what she wanted to say. "But you didn’t know, did you?"

Well...

"It’s not that we can’t take up arms, or that we can’t fight--especially if we were attacked," Amarein said, gazing at the Great Tree and something beyond. "But it would never be in our nature to seek for it. We shall live together with nature, side by side, and not challenge it."

"And aggression...is a challenge to nature," I concluded, and Tiralein patted my arm again.

"Were you not under the wicked command of the King, would you do it?" she asked. "The war, I mean."

"No," I answered immediately. And it wasn’t just my thought, it was also Valmeier’s. I understood him enough to confidently say that he would spend his days in the old, secluded church up in the mountain, taking care of the place and the old priest. Perhaps it was the druid gene talking.

"There we have it," Tiralein nodded firmly, closing the discussion.

We arrived at the end of the stairs, and I was greeted by Jade’s loud chirp--I mean scream. "Master!!" Jade ran and almost headbutted me in the stomach. He was already in the clothes I left Natha earlier; a plain light brown tunic with nice embroidery and darker-colored pants.

Tiralein and Amarein gasped as they looked at Jade, covering their mouth. "This is..."

"This is Jade!" the little boy, as usual, introduced himself excitedly, always enjoying other’s surprised reactions. And then the green eyes looked at me again. "Master, the candy!"

Oh right, I forgot! I only left Natha with Jade’s clothes, but not the candy he wanted to give to the children. As I took out a jar of elven candy from my storage ring, my lips curled on their own. "You like sharing now?"

"It’s fun!" Jade said. "They say thank you and play with Jade!"

I put the jar in his little hands, but didn’t let go. "That’s good, but Jade," I patted his head, "you don’t have to give people stuff to play with them or be their friends, okay? If you do have something you can share, of course, it’s good to share them. But it’s not a prerequisite."

The green eyes, identical to mine, blinked slowly to digest my words. "Okay," he nodded. "Jade want to give candy because Jade have lots of candy! And we can share if we have lots of it!"

"Good boy!" I ruffled the green hair and let the little boy go. Apparently, there was already a group of children waiting for him, probably intrigued because Jade, taking on my childhood appearance, looked more like a human than a druid.

"My," Tiralein let out a hearty chuckle. "I’ve never expected this."

"Nor do I," Amarein did not hide her surprise. "How extraordinary; I have never seen it happen to other elemental birds."

For some reason, I too, feel proud of it--although I barely had anything to do with this achievement, aside from providing energy. "He had guidance from D’Ara--you know, the--"

"Vampire Progenitor," Amarein nodded, the surprise was yet to get away from her face. "I see," she smiled, looking at me with an amused gaze. "You have made some extraordinary friends, Valen."

Aww--you made me blush. I shifted my gaze elsewhere because my cheek started to get warm. "When will I be able to access the archive?" I asked, diverting the topic elsewhere.

"When the night has come," Tiralein smiled, looking at the Great Tree. "It’s not nice to have people spectate it, after all."

* * *

Jade stayed and played with the druid children for a long time. They didn’t just run around the plaza, but also went to the waterfall. Jade called Alveitya and hanging on the shaft, asked the Scepter to go around the small lake below the cliff. And then the other children wanted to do the same.

I almost had a heart attack, worried about how dangerous it looked, and concerned about how the elders would see it--using a sacred item as a plaything like this. But then, they were clapping and laughing when they saw it, so...

I still had no grasp of the culture here.

But my heart still clenched when Jade was swinging in the air, only holding on to Alveitya with his hand. In this human form, Jade couldn’t fly, and his magic mostly got used to maintain the form--perhaps, in the future, after Jade managed to evolve again, he could do magic in human form.

"Are you worried?" Natha asked in a quiet voice, which almost made me flinch since it came from behind me.

"Well..."

"That, sweetheart," he lowered his head and whispered behind my ear, "is how you always made me with your recklessness."

I slapped him lightly on his side. "You’ll never let that go, won’t you?"

"Trust is earned, my sweetheart," he kissed my temple, the smile on his lips was palpable against my skin.

Well...that was true. It was the whole reason we followed the druid’s custom, wasn’t it?

"Would you be entering the library too?"

"I don’t think so," he shook his head, turning toward Amarein. "Isn’t that so, Lady Amarein?"

"Lord Natha is not a druid, after all," she smiled amiably. Ah...that made sense.

Natha rubbed the black pendant on my chest gently, before stroking my chin. "I trust your insight."

"That is not a wise thing to do, my Lord," I shook my head dreadfully. "But I’ll make sure to remember the content as best as I could so we can decipher it together."

And I had to--memorize it, I mean--because I wasn’t allowed to make a copy of anything saved in the archive. No one was allowed to. It was different from the library; the archive held the most sensitive information about druids, and with the trauma from the war, it became even more sensitive.

It was reflected in how the archive room was hidden. Well...it wasn’t hidden, per se. The entrance was actually there, in front of my eyes; the opening on the tree. It was only as big as a trap door initially, but when the Scribe spelled an incantation, the void-like opening turned bigger and bigger, until it became as large as a door.

I see...

So this was why Tiralein said we don’t want people to spectate. After all, the entrance was on the plaza where we had a feast. That being said, it seemed that only the scribe could open the archive room.

It was nighttime now; the moonlight painted a sparkling curtain on the waterfall, and the druids were in the comfortable safety of their homes. I had filled myself with a hearty dinner, but also a cup of coffee--with sugar; that was what would keep me awake.

I looked around to face Natha, raising my palms. He looked at it with raised brows, before giving me his palms too for a double high-five. Okay. Good. Now I’m ready.

I scurried back to the opening then, and, holding Amarein’s hand, I stepped into the void.