The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 343: It’s a good thing construction workers aren’t paid by hours here

Chapter 343: It’s a good thing construction workers aren’t paid by hours here

"Is everything fine?" I scooted closer to Lesta, who was in the middle of examining the formation arrays across the pond.

He crouched next to the wall, ignoring me for a few seconds. There was a monocle with a vision enlargement spell over his eyes, just like what Izzi used when he was working with his component. I counted until twelve in my mind, before he finally answered.

"Good so far," he said while moving his gaze to another formation.

I glanced at the workers, who let out a small sigh of relief. They still looked anxious though--would be, until Lesta deemed everything was okay and gave them a pass. If there was an error or something was considered dangerous, they would have to change a whole section, not just one formation. After all, every spell here was connected.

Reminded me of every time Eruha examined my homework.

Was it because they were lovers?

Anyway, the pond was very pretty so far. They had made a beautiful fountain with a statue of an elemental bird as the centerpiece, which made Jade chirp in delight. The little bird had jumped to the statue and perching there ever since.

The fountain, I gathered, was actually the filtering system. The formation embedded there functioned to suck the water and cleanse it, before expelling it back to the pond--much like how I purified mana. The formation around the pond’s walls, if I wasn’t mistaken, was supposed to regulate mana and air around. Aside from that, there were also temperature control arrays, preservation arrays, and...other formations I had yet managed to decipher.

Everything was designed to be white, to make it stand out among the many colors in the garden. The pond itself was made of white stones--a special one; hard and contained mana. The magician worker crushed them into sands, and with the help of the alchemist, molded them into a firm structure. Another, thinner substance would be poured over them as the last layer before they filled the pond with water.

Ah--honestly, I couldn’t wait. It would be marvelous to have the wedding feast in this garden, by the white pond with colorful fish swimming around. The flowers would be in full bloom at that time, the hedges green, and the forest trees full of colors.

Gosh--I’m blushing.

I let Lesta with his work and Jade with its excitement, walking toward the tea table over in the upper garden where Zia was already sitting leisurely with a book in her hand. As I approached the table, I looked up to see another work in progress--the completion of Jade’s room.

"Hmm..." I glanced at the forest and the cliff as I took a seat. "This Lair is full of...construction activity," I said with a laugh.

"Huh..." Zia put her book down and paused, tilting her head. "The pond, Jade’s room, and your other companions’ nest...right, there’s a lot!" she laughed. "Well, it’s better to do it at once than one after another."

"True," I nodded, also for the golem who offered me a nice cold freshly squeezed juice. "Please offer some to the workers to soothe their anxiety."

The golem footman bowed and brought a tray down the lower garden. Zia closed her book and set it aside, leaning forward to look at me. "Should we have a lunch here? Or go have a picnic in the field?"

"Here, I think," I glanced toward the tent. "I want to talk to Lesta, and I think he’ll be done shortly."

I leaned back and enjoyed the sunbathing session until Angwi came out with her golem maid troop, trays of delicious luncheon in their hands. When the plates were laid out on the table, we suddenly heard a cheering sound from below--so it seemed like everything was truly fine, then.

Not long after, I could hear Jade’s excited chirping as the little bird rode Lesta’s shoulder. "I smell something good," the demon said, removing his monocle to enjoy the sight of the feast before taking a seat. Jade, as usual, jumped straight into the jelly plate like a freestyle diver.

"Angwi’s cooking never missed," I gave an honest review, and was rewarded by a light ruffle from our babysitter demon lady. "I gather that everything’s good? No miss?"

"No," Lesta picked a glass of water and sighed in contentment after taking a sip. "I shall dock their pay if they make any mistake. It’s quite a great motivation."

Pfft--no wonder they were so anxious earlier.

"Have Izzi contacted you?"

"He did," Lesta narrowed his eyes slightly. "But the imp that brought his letter found me in a...not-so-ideal condition, yesterday--so I haven’t visited the research tower yet."

I glanced at his neck, peeking inside his high collar. It was faint, but there were two fang marks there, as expected. "Hmm...not-so-ideal, huh?" I leaned to the side and propped my chin with the heel of my palm. "Is it still hard, even after becoming his eternal?"

Lesta paused for a while, gulping down the entire glass of water. "It’s harder, actually."

"How so?" my eyes widened in surprise.

"Because I told him not to use the painkiller," he shrugged. Oh, right--he said that before. "But it’s fine, I just need some time to adjust. Losing blood is one thing, but losing mana too, well..."

"But...you’re okay?" I looked at him with a frown that I couldn’t hold back.

Lesta raised his brow; hand pausing before his mouth, biscuit between his fingers. "Okay?" his parted lips curled into a cheeky smile. "I feel wonderful."

My frown turned into a chuckle. "As long as you do."

"Anyway, good news; the fish had arrived at the border," Lesta announced, which prompted our little bird to resurface from the pond of jelly. "It should be here on time with the completion of the pond."

[Fish! Fish come to their house!]

"Fish’s house," I corrected the demon. "The completion of the fish’s house."

And what would you know? The completion of the fish’s house and the arrival of its residents coincided with the sponsor’s scheduled visit. Before that though, the demon lady fulfilled her promise to finish Jade’s room as fast as possible.

[Woow...] the little bird exclaimed softly, flying around the bigger room, which also had a higher ceiling. Cleverly, the demon lady had painted the ceiling with mana-infused paint, which made it seem like a real blue sky.

It’d be funny to see Jade fly up and bumped into the ceiling by a mistake.

The area near the window was not much different from the one in the Lord Castle; just with a bigger window. There was still a cradle-like swing I usually used when I visited Jade’s room, with a clear view of the garden and the forest from the big fire-proof window.

Too bad that Ignis was still busy filling his personal swimming pool down there to test it.

This time, however, there was another place I could use to rest aside from the swing. The big, nest-like bed in the corner looked comfortable enough that Zia instantly dove there. "It’s bouncy!" she exclaimed, and Jade gasped, joining her to jump on the bouncy mattress. Now, if Jade turned into a boy, he could sleep there.

In front of the fireplace, there was a fluffy-looking rug--above the nice grass flooring--and a low table that a child could use. The table had built-in drawers and bookcases below it, and I put Jade’s book, as well as some writing and drawing supplies there. As a bonus, I put a small jar of colorful candy as a centerpiece, with a label that said ’only once a day’.

Jade squealed and chirped joyfully, jumping from the bed to the table to the fireplace--examining each corner of the room with delight. This time too, there was a level that Jade could pull to call the golem for jellies.

"How about it now? Do you like it?"

[Yes! Jade will show Ignis and Vrida later!]

"Umm...I think it’ll be difficult for a wyvern to inspect the room, Jade."

[Oh...]

The bird got dejected, but only for a second. It perked up easily and started to fly around again; now with Zia in tow--these winged creatures...

"Then, you have to sleep here tonight, Jade," I heard Zia say while I was lounging in the swing, watching the construction workers finish the last layer on the pond.

*chirp?!*

"Whaat? Don’t you know that you have to sleep in a brand-new room as soon as possible?" Zia told the little bird, dropping her voice into a sharp whisper. "Otherwise, something else will claim the room."

*Chirp?! Chirp! Chiirp!*

Which was translated to [What?! No way! This is Jade room!]

"So anyway, you have to sleep here tonight, Jade. There’s a lot of...entities that would like to claim your beautiful room, you know..."

Jade gasped. [Oh, no! Jade can’t allow that! Jade need to sleep here tonight!]

Well, that was good and all but...what? What do you mean by entities?! Were there ghosts here?!

While I was gasping internally, Zia looked at me and winked, which made me forget about ghosts entirely.

You naughty succubus! Thanks, though.

At that time, my finger--my ring finger--suddenly tingled, and my lips spread into a smile almost in reflex. I stood up from the swings and called my winged companions. "Alright, get down here," I clapped and spread my arms to receive Jade’s diving figure. "Natha’s here."