The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 372: The Tower of Greed

Chapter 372: The Tower of Greed

As darkness veiled the sky, a group of people, rather than producing fire to light their way, were snuffing their torch instead. After letting their eyes get used to the darkness, they walked to the river not far from where they had been waiting for the night to reach its peak.

"Fatia, are you still unable to get close?" the young man who seemed to be the leader of the group asked the oldest member, the Elementalist.

"No, my detection kept bouncing off a barrier," she shook her head. "It seems that what Zarfa said is true; the place is guarded by a colony of elemental birds."

A short girl who was in the middle of setting the boat in the river looked back. "I told you to stop doubting me!" she clicked her tongue.

"But your vision still couldn’t locate him," a young boy in armor grumbled.

"That’s different!"

"Stop arguing," the leader, who was also still young if they looked closely, just sighed at the constant bickering. "We’re supposed to be infiltrating someone else’s home, so please be quiet."

The young paladin scratched his head awkwardly, while the rich girl Zarfa just stuck out her tongue and got back to activate the boat together with their little inventor. But her bowed face was slightly frowning, with concern and confusion that kept on haunting her these days.

"Well, w-wouldn’t it be weirder if the Lair of a Demon Lord doesn’t have any protective barrier?" the girl who was already on the boat, clad in bulky clothes made of who-know-what

Fatia nodded. "Especially when there’s no fence."

"The forest itself is a fence," Zarfa shrugged, before tapping the side of the boat with her foot. "That’s why we use this. Let’s go, then."

The leader nodded and, with that signal, the group entered the boat one by one and started to go against the current so they could reach the tower they could see from afar. Even though the hill and the cliff where it stood were shrouded in darkness, the tower glimmered beautifully in colorful light coming from its rooftop.

"It’s really different from what we’ve been taught..." Fatia whispered breathlessly. To make a contract with elemental birds was all elementalists’ dream, much more to have a colony of them guarding their home.

Regardless of their objective or mission, Fatia would be willing to come here just to see the elemental bird colony.

And just for that, she couldn’t see the owner of the tower, the Demon Lord of Greed, as an evil demon who would threaten the human’s existence as the church had been saying. The church that did nothing but watch as her land was engulfed in a civil war, whose priest ran away to another nation instead of helping those being crushed by the war.

Meanwhile, she knew elemental birds were not an entity that could be subdued and made to serve someone. She had no idea if this Demon Lord was a good or bad person, but anyone who could make a contract with elemental birds was good in an elementalist’s eyes.

But truly...they came here by crossing the border of the realm of nature, and when they entered the demon realm, they had thought that the place would look like a lawless space--like the empty field, where fugitive and notorious persona might be seen.

But no; all they encountered was this lush forest and clear river. She detected nicely maintained pathways leading to farmlands that looked just like any farmlands, with native crops and cattle, and dedicated workers who seemed to love their jobs. She didn’t see any slaves, other forced laborers, or even the fear-mongering of ’human farms’ made of kidnapped villagers.

"If it wasn’t for the roadsign using demon language, I would have thought we’re still in the realm of nature," Fatia said while pulling up the hood they got from the Island Witch--which could mask their presence to some extent.

"I agree," the leader--Jin--nodded, and the other echoed the sentiment.

All but Zarfa, who only scoffed and grumbled about how they should trust her from the start. Of course, Jin already knew that the demons weren’t as they seemed, because he already found out that the one who started the war was the human. Thus, he had been questioning all teachings about demons and children of nature from human sources.

Still, aside from the rocky field of the Realm of Wrath’s border, he had no idea what the real Demon Realm looked like. This would be his first time since then, and...it was sufficient to say that he felt like he was being scammed.

As they were busy watching over the surroundings, Aina warned them from the helm while stopping the mechanical boat’s movement. "The boat detected a cluster of mana twenty meters ahead."

"Must be the barrier," Fatia said, and proceeded to shape a butterfly out of the wind and the leaves, before sending them toward the human realm. The butterfly flew with a speed that only something like a falcon could have, on its way to tell the Lady Governor that they were going to start their mission. "Alright, go on."

The boat moved again, and a slight shimmer enveloped the boat as they crossed the barrier, into the estate owned by Matsa Ra Natha, the Demon Lord of Greed.

"Doesn’t seem like anything different," the young paladin, Illian, commented quietly.

Suddenly, the trees flanking the river shook and shuddered, filling the dark night with the sounds of whispering leaves. Except for Aina, who was concentrating on driving the boat, the others looked at him with sharp, warning eyes.

"Sorry..."

"This forest is rich in elemental mana; they are ’alive’, you know...almost sentient. This is why we don’t go through the forest, do you forget about it?" Zarfa clicked her tongue.

"I said I’m sorry," Illian hissed in return, but Jin immediately covered his mouth tightly.

All of them were suddenly on alert, as the leader’s eyes pointed at a specific place upfront. Slowly, carefully, they looked up, and were greeted by a pair of huge yellow eyes--each was bigger than their head. Illian swallowed, head recalling the fairytales that the blind nun used to tell him.

A wyvern. The streamlined body was as big as a house, even when it was crouching on its nest with folded wings. As the yellow eyes blinked, the humans held their breath.

Another one. Another change. I don’t know about this. Zarfa clasped her mouth and shook her head at Jin’s gaze.

Carefully, Jin gripped the hilt of his sword, but told Aina to continue driving the boat. He gave the elementalist and the paladin a signal to stand by with his eyes, and watch the wyvern vigilantly as the boat passed below the cliff where the wyvern stayed.

One second, two seconds...ten seconds, and the boat passed without the wyvern raising its head. The yellow eyes just kept on watching them without doing anything, but only after the river bent and they could no longer see the wyvern did they dare to slightly loosen their tense nerves, letting out the air they didn’t know they held all this time.

"Zarfa--"

"I don’t see anything about this," the rich girl shook her head again. "B-but...it doesn’t seem to have any interest in harming us, so...doesn’t matter, right?"

Jin sighed and shook his head slightly to shove out any pessimistic thought inside his head. "Right. The wyvern doesn’t seem to be dangerous, probably just a resident of the forest," he said, glancing back at where the wyvern’s nest was. "But let’s remember it in case anything goes wrong later."

"Hey, don’t jinx it!"

They continued the journey through the river with alerted minds, alighted at a point that Fatia sensed to be the shortest way to the outer yard of the Tower.

"Ian will stay here with the boat ready in case we need to escape immediately," Jin said, repeating what they had talked about yesterday.

The young paladin nodded, albeit slightly disappointed to be away from the main mission. But he understood his role well, and received the key of the boat from Aina. The rest of the group continued their journey through the forest with Illian’s gaze watching their back, following Fatia who was reading the way with her elemental detection.

"Stay closed and don’t touch the plants, ever," Fatia warned the people behind her; especially the two girls with no particular power but for some devices and foresight, who were nodding obediently. She glanced at the leader who took the rearguard, before leading the group out of the forest.

It took them at least half an hour before a field of blue grass which care not about the cold weather greeted them. A gust of wind prompted Zarfa and Aina to tighten their coats even more, but aside from the wind, they couldn’t find any guards patrolling about.

"How many are there, again?" Jin asked for a reminder.

"Two guards, but there should be at least three more demons inside," Zarfa recalled what she could from her memory. "The rest are golems."

"And those birds," Fatia looked up, at the rainbow storm of light above the Tower.

Jin swept his gaze across the field. He could see a beautiful two-tiered garden and a majestic fountain with his enhanced sight, leading to the side door of the tower. He couldn’t see nor sense any guards, however, which was confusing and suspicious. But then again, there were only two guards, and they probably stayed near the front door instead.

At any rate, they don’t have enough time to fall back and strategize more. Perhaps they were lucky; they could just infiltrate the Tower and use the three non-combat demons as bargaining chips.

Honestly, it felt dirty, and a part of his conscience condemned him from doing this. But...there would be thousands--tens of thousands--people who would live in misery if he didn’t do this.

So, he took a deep breath and turned to face the other three. "Let’s split up," he said. "I will go through the lower floor with Aina, and you two will climb from outside."

Zarfa looked up and pointed at a particularly large balcony, which was strangely decorated with evergreen plants. "There. I think that is the master suite. Let’s meet up there."

If the Lord was there, then they could negotiate directly. But if the room was vacant, they could use it as a place to regroup and start their plan.

"Alright," Jin nodded and moved his sword to his back so he could move better. "Good luck, and stay hidden."

After looking at each other briefly to strengthen their conviction, they split into two, and the infiltration began.

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