The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 387: Girls get closer through gossips

Chapter 387: Girls get closer through gossips

"Can I ask something?"

"You can," I shrugged. "Me answering is another matter, though."

He laughed and leaned back on his arm, forgoing the ’proper’ Hero posture. Closing his eyes and tilting his face up to receive the sunlight, he looked like any other young, carefree man out there whose biggest problem was where they would work after graduating college.

Ah, this guy also came here before he could taste college life, huh?

Not that I had any experience with that.

Despite his seemingly nonchalant look right now, his question was heavier. "Did you hate me?"

Huh. That came out of nowhere. Or perhaps not? I wonder if he still felt guilty about Valmeier. "Why do you think so?"

"Hmm...your gaze," he opened his eyes and smiled wryly. "It was cold--at least last night."

"Wouldn’t you be cold when someone infiltrates your home?" Ignis quipped from my shoulder, scoffing when the Hero just chuckled quietly in return.

Ah-ah. With how Jade and Ignis acted--not to mention Natha--I could see now why he thought I might hate him. My cautious gaze could be mistakenly thought of as cold and spiteful.

"Do you think I’d hate you because of what happened to Valmeier?"

Jin glanced at me for a second before turning his face away.

"Did you come to Ian’s church because of it? Because you feel guilty about indirectly causing misery to Valmeier?"

He twitched when I called the young paladin by name, but my question about Valmeier had a greater effect. He chewed the inside of his cheek for a while before finally confessing. "Yes," he said. "I did feel guilty--well, I still do. I looked for him--you?--immediately after finding out the truth, but I found your...uhh...corpse, instead."

"Ah, yes. It’s a dummy that Natha set up so the kingdom wouldn’t look at me anymore--although I guess they are still looking for the spear," I told him.

He must have thought as much, because he didn’t seem surprised. His eyes glazed for a second, before he looked at the distant sky with a dazed gaze. "I often think about what would happen if I realized about the kingdom scheme sooner," he said with a voice full of regret. "Do you think...do you think I can be his friend? Or do you think he would hate me?"

"He didn’t hate you," I said while swallowing my sigh. This Hero had more useless thoughts than I thought. "He didn’t even hate the kingdom. Everything is just a duty and mission for him; nothing more, nothing less."

A perfect personality for a toll, even if it was such a cruel thing to say. But that was also why he was so peaceful when he had to be gone. For him, it just meant that his duty was over, and he could rest. That was the end of his story, and he was content with it.

"Is that soo..." he muttered and continued to look at a distant past that he couldn’t redo. "Can’t we become friends...still?"

Jin asked when I was standing up after feeling my legs were getting numb. Patting my back to get rid of any sticking grass, I titled my head and looked at his careful eyes. "...uhh, sure?"

Well, I couldn’t say no when I basically befriended everyone else. It wasn’t like there would be any harm in doing so. Natha might grumble about it, but...it wasn’t like we would meet often, anyway. Right?

Besides, he looked rather pitiful while he was asking about it...

"Haa..." Ignis sighed from my shoulder. I looked at the Salamander inquisitively, but we suddenly heard a loud shout.

"Vaaal!"

[Masteeeer!]

Ah, the flying squad finally came back.

* * *

Vrida would have had to fly around all day with how enthusiastic the humans were if it wasn’t for Angwi’s disapproving gaze that was telling us to have lunch. Like a good nanny, she had gathered all the kids who were inside in the dining room.

"Aina, Aina! You should have come with us too! We were riding the wyvern!" Zarfa approached the inventor girl excitedly.

"No!" the girl shook her head and stepped back, hiding behind Neel. "I don’t want to!"

Huh...they were already that close?

"Eeh...but it’s so fun!"

"What? So you’re afraid of heights like Izzi?" Zia tilted her head, glancing at the elf with s smirk.

"I’m not afraid of height! I’m afraid of falling," Izzi argued and grumbled. "There’s a difference!"

"Right! I won’t fly before I can make a working parachute!" Aina shouted in support.

"What’s a parasyut?"

The banter ended with the three inventors--plus Zarfa--explaining what a parachute was to Zia, who wouldn’t be able to relate since she had a pair of wings anyway. But the succubus was enthusiastic about Earthling devices and listening to them keenly. She told us she was thinking of making a story about someone from here getting transmigrated to Earth--the opposite of us.

"Uhh...so basically, Natha?"

"Yes! I should interview Lord Uncle for first-hand experience," she replied with an energetic nod after swallowing her food. "Except that I will make my character go around the world instead of spending time in one building trying to seduce a sick person."

"Hey!"

Zia grinned and Zarfa giggled. They sat side by side and I spotted them whispering about me and Natha throughout lunch--Zarfa told her about my crush during that winter and Zia told Zarfa about my story after coming here.

Haa...I wanted them to get close, but I didn’t mean they should do it while gossiping about me!

"That other world sounded...fascinating," Fatia commented beside me. She had been listening to the conversation on the other side of the table with a mix of confusion and wonder.

"Have you never heard any of it from Jin?"

"Ah, he never talked about that place," she said in a quiet voice. Perhaps she realized that the Hero didn’t like to be reminded of his homeland since it kind of depressed him.

I glanced at him, who had never chimed in any talk about Earth. There was always a complicated look on his face, and I still remember his narrowed eyes when he found out about the other transmigrators. I wondered if he felt betrayed that Zarfa and Aina never told him that their soul had once lived on Earth, or perhaps, he just felt detached from this group who had found their home here.

Unlike him, who still wanted to find a way back home.

Well, I couldn’t blame him for that.

"Excuse me, Sir Valen. May I know when you plan to go visit the magician?" Fatia changed the topic. "Ah, I’m not trying to hurry you or anything, just--"

"Don’t worry," I smiled at the nervous elementalist. "I know you must feel anxious about your home."

She pressed her lips before letting out a wry smile.

"I do think we have to do it as soon as possible--I mean, I also had my own wedding to think about."

"Oh..."

"Oh, that!" Zarfa suddenly pointed at me. "You’re not going to tell me you won’t invite me to that, aren’t you?"

"We’ll talk about that later," I gave her a look to get back to her meal and gossiped quietly, before getting back to Fatia. "Anyway, I’m thinking we can go tomorrow if you’d like."

"Oh, really?" Fatia perked up instantly. She must have been really worried about the state of her country.

"Mm. I want to finish everything in a week at most," I told her, and she practically gasped in gratitude.

Ignis, who was still on my shoulder, flicked its tail to get my attention. "Don’t rush it," the Salamander said. "Jade told me what happened during that flight."

"It’s fine; don’t you know I’m miles better at purification right now?" I patted the flaming head and caressed the little bird who was flinching at the memory. "Besides, I wasn’t cured yet at that time, remember?"

"Hmm...I’m going to watch."

[Jade too! Jade will tell Master to stop if it’s too much! Jade will call Nightmare too if Master don’t want to stop!]

"Hey, since when did you become his spy, huh? Tell me," I poked the little chubby cheeks. "What did he bribe you with?"

Jade blinked and turned around, hopping across the table to join Zia and Zarfa. This little traitorous bird.

"Umm...is there a problem?" Fatia asked cautiously.

"Not at all," I shook my head and gave her a customer service smile.

"Ah, yes," she smiled understandingly. "Oh, but Sir...if it’s a week..."

"Yes?"

"I don’t think we can go from the Island to my country in a week..."

"We can just ask the magician to make another teleportation scroll," I shrugged.

"Huh? But that’s...would she do that?"

I smiled and pointed at my storage ring. "You should know how to use your bargaining chip."

"Oh!" she clapped her hands and nodded enthusiastically. She must have thought that we could have her do some favors in exchange for the Amrita. That was not wrong, but also not exactly what I had in mind.

Well, it was all fine. I couldn’t afford to waste too much time on this. After dealing with the magician and the purification, I still have my promise to visit the realm of nature. I had to finish those in half a month at most, because Arta told me I shouldn’t go out again until the wedding day. I shouldn’t even visit the Lord Castle, she said.

After the luncheon, Fatia and Jin took out the scroll from their shared storage pouch for me to look at--perhaps as a show of trust. "I also want to ask permission to send an update back home," she said.

"Ah, right; you do that."

I nodded and looked over the scroll. Magic scroll for an active spell was made through magic formation, and from its state, I could tell that it was made recently. That would mean the magician’s illness wasn’t as severe as mine, since she could still use her mana.

But that would be the only thing she could do right now; making formations by utilizing mana little by little. She wouldn’t be able to execute big spells, including mana purification.

Hmm...it should be enough for my plan though, so it was fine.

That being said, I found a glaring problem as I looked at the magic scroll.

"Hey, this spell..." I looked at Fatia and Jin. "It can only carry five people."

"...oh."