The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 357: Why do I keep collecting runaways?

Chapter 357: Why do I keep collecting runaways?

The demon was of a beast tribe, with light green skin that reminded me of Vrida. She was half naga, and some part of her body was covered in emerald-colored scale, including the skin around her jet-black eyes. She was called Neel, an orphan, and did not adopt any surname.

"I didn’t think you’d really come through...smuggling," I said as we sat in the drawing room on the guest floor.

Natha did say something along that line, but I thought he was just kidding while referring to how Izzi was brought here. The vault, from afar, looked like a container one might use on shipment--except that this one had wheels for mobility. Unlike Izzi who was basically being shoved inside a box, the vault Neel traveled in had amenities inside, and looked like a proper room in a tent size.

Still made little boy Jade disappointed by the lack of candy.

"Special circumstances need a special measure," Natha shrugged beside me.

It didn’t feel special when you had already done it once before. I observed the demon who had been looking cautious since earlier, glancing around in a defensive posture as if she expected someone would ambush her behind the door.

"Are you a fugitive too?" I asked curiously.

"What? No!" the wary eyes glared at me. "I have no problem with the law!"

"Just with the people who made the law," Natha added.

"So...fugitive?"

She gritted her teeth and raised her fist indignantly. "No! I’m someone who seeks protection from exploitative practice!"

"I see," I clasped my hands. "So you run away from your government?"

"I’m not running away!" she argued, crossing her arms and pursing her lips while muttering. "I just don’t want to be found."

Like any runaway and fugitive, I see. It seemed like our otherwordly inventors all had problems in their respective homelands. Interesting. Perhaps novelty did invite dissent.

"Fine," I let out a sigh to stop this back and forth and chose to interrogate Natha instead. "Anyway, why do you bring her here instead of the Castle?"

"She doesn’t like places with a lot of people," Natha replied nonchalantly. "There’s only six--no, seven people here, so..."

Ah, I didn’t think this. The fact that she lived in a bunker meant she didn’t like interacting directly with other people; probably even being around people in general. While living in the Castle didn’t mean you’d see a lot of people, those with general social anxiety would still feel disturbed and, well...anxious, by the sheer fact that hundreds of people share the same roof with them.

"Hmm...then it means we need to call Izzi here instead."

The black eyes flashed. "Izzi? Is that the elf you’re talking about in your letter?"

"Yep," I nodded just as Angwi came inside the room with a golem footman bringing our refreshments. "I don’t think you can collaborate just through letters, do y--"

"What the hell..."

I couldn’t finish my sentence because Neel suddenly stiffened and widened her eyes at the footman, staring without blinking. She even stood up and started to move around the footman, who was now stopped and blinked in confusion after serving us tea.

"What is this?" her eyes moved like a scanner, staring at the footman from head to toe. "Is this...is this an android?!"

"Uhh, no--that’s a golem," I turned to Natha. "Right?"

"Right," Natha took his tea and replied without much care. "They are programmed through the core inside their chest."

Oh, that was how golem operate? I didn’t know the details about their working system, just their maintenance schedule, and that Angwi was responsible for all of them. Certainly, they were amazing and moved exactly like how regular people would, although they were only programmed to move according to our command, so you couldn’t expect a discussion when talking to them.

I was also amazed when I first knew they were golems, but I merely thought it was a wonder of the magical world and moved on. Neel, however, went crazy over the fact.

"Golem?! How do you even make a golem that looks this...this...!!"

Her mouth opened and closed without producing any word, so I offered the word. "Natural?"

"Natural!" she snapped her fingers. "Are you sure this is not homunculus? Can I examine this?"

Natha looked at the golem, as if asking for his consent. Of course, the golem merely bowed in his direction. "As you command, His Lordship," he said, before standing straight like a statue.

"Thank you," Natha nodded and signaled to Neel that she could examine the golem footman. "Anyway, no human part is used in their creation."

Her eyes widened as she touched the golem’s neck. "Not even the hair?!"

"No."

"How?!"

Natha shrugged nonchalantly. "You should ask the maker, not me."

Holding Jade in my lap, I scooted closer to Natha to whisper. "Is it D’ara?"

"Yes," Natha winked. So I was right, the golems were of the same kind as the ones working in D’Ara’s castle. "Very expensive, but lasts longer. They stay in peak performance except during their maintenance schedule."

Suddenly, an idea sprang to mind. "Angwi did maintenance twice a year," I told her. "You can probably see the next one if you sta--"

"I’ll stay!" she said without hesitation, grabbing the golem’s arm as if she wanted to take him to her room to dissect. "I’ll definitely stay! What do you want me to do? Oh--but I need a clear contract, and you bet I’ll read every single point on it!"

Pfft--I thought she would be too blinded by the golem, but it seemed like she still retained her rational thinking. Or perhaps, it was such an important thing for her that her alarm warned her to be cautious.

I wondered...perhaps she had a bitter experience regarding signing a contract before. Most likely with the government she was running away from.

"Sure," I nodded. It wasn’t like we were planning to do it without a contract--Natha was a meticulous one after all, and merchants relied on their contracts.

In fact, he was already drafting one, based on our discussion, and he took it out for Neel to peruse--and to free our golem from her scrutiny. And just as she claimed, she carefully read every word in that contract with a pencil in hand.

"That’s...easy?" I whispered to Natha.

He shrugged and smirked, and we waited for her while enjoying our tea and snacks--less-sugar ones for me. While I was chatting with Zia about the plot for her new book, Jade crawled off my lap to enjoy his cookies and candy away from me so as to not feel too guilty.

With a cookie in one hand, he raised a picture book to get Natha’s attention. "Nightmare, Jade have question!"

Natha looked at the little boy amusedly. "What is it?"

He put the cookie in his mouth and climbed up Natha’s lap, spreading the picture book that we made together for him and Natha to see. It was one that I and Zia made while gossiping about Natha’s pastime shenanigan. This particular one had Jade’s attention because the Lair was in it.

"Is this you?" the small hand smacked a picture of a small blue demon with blue tattoos and dark horns.

Natha raised his brow and glanced at me, who only grinned cheekily--this would be his first time knowing we made picture books about him. "I think so?"

"Is this Lair?" the little boy pointed at a picture of a tower next to the blue demon.

"Yep," Natha’s answer was firmer now.

"Why are you fighting with Lich?"

"Hmm...because that Lich is annoying."

"Should we fight annoying people?"

"Only if you’re confident in winning."

Hey, that kind of question needed an elaborate answer, my Lord! Jade frowned at Natha’s reply and pursed his lips, muttering quietly.

"...what if Jade not confident?"

"Then wait until you think you can win," Natha replied nonchalantly, and Jade clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Who do you want to fight anyway?"

"Probably you," I told him.

Natha laughed and ruffled the green hair, causing Jade to shake his head and grunt. But the little boy didn’t move away from the demon’s lap, taking another picture book that we made crudely on sketchbooks and kept asking Natha questions.

I let my Demon Lord babysit Jase and turned to Zia. "Let’s just call Izzi now."

"How?"

I took away the red orb from my storage ring and put it on the table. "I put a communication orb in the research room since I have to be away from the Castle until the wedding."

Zia raised her brow. "I see..."

"You can use it too if you want," I added.

The raised brows dipped and knitted. "Why would I want to?"

"To talk to Izzi," I shrugged.

"Why would I want to talk to him?!" she pursed her lips and mumbled in annoyance, tempting me to tease her more.

"You don’t want to? Oh--it’s connected," unfortunately, I couldn’t continue since the orb let out a static sound. "Izzi?"

[What?] his voice was slurred; seemed like he was taking a nap.

"Come here," I told him. "The person from Envy has arrived."

Neel flicked her black eyes when she heard her name being mentioned.

[Now?]

"Now."

There was a few seconds of pause before we finally heard his voice again. [Ugh--give me a minute]

The call was cut off just like that. "That minute probably means an hour," I chuckled. He would spend some time grumbling first before getting ready--and elf took a long time to get ready, even the one who didn’t care much about tradition like him.

But then again, anyone would spend extra time to look good in front of someone they were interested in, wouldn’t they?

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