The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 392: There are no crumb leading to the Witch’s hut--I mean, tower

Chapter 392: There are no crumb leading to the Witch’s hut--I mean, tower

I felt a slight chill on my lower body, and as I looked down, I found out we were in a body of water.

To be exact, we were on the shore of the island. Almost. I was waist-deep in the lake, which meant Aina and Zarfa were drenched almost to their chest.

"Agh!"

Was this why they held on to my arms?

"Aack--why are we in the water?!"

...I guess not.

"Did she not tell you where we would land?" I tilted my head and grabbed the two girls by their waists, carrying them toward the shore.

"Whoa...you’re pretty strong Val--but no, there was no warning about it," Zarfa shook her head.

The water actually helped me lessen their weight, but they were already light in the first place so I had no difficulty hauling them off the water. It also helped that none of us three wore armor--Aina had shed her bulky clothes the moment she deemed the Lair was a safe space. Thanks to this, we arrived at the shore faster, while Ian and the Hero waddled difficulty with their plated armor.

Ignis immediately helped dry us after I put down the girl on the sandy beach of the lake. "Do you not have like... a weight-reducing spell on the armor or something?"

"The ingredients for that kind of spell formation are expensive," Zarfa pursed her lips. "But even if I can provide the money, it’s such a rare ingredient that could only be obtained from the black market."

"Really? What is it?"

"Liquid air elemental stone," Zarfa pouted in annoyance. Indeed, it was one of the most frustrating things; having the money but not finding the goods.

Just like how frustrating it was to look for the remaining artifacts from the druid kingdom. Natha was ready to spend however much it needed be, but all the stuff that was available in the market--including the black market--had already been purchased. The rest was...

Well...we would need to steal it if we wanted to have it. Natha’s connection in the human realm was limited, so posing as a credible collector who wanted to buy a druid collection was not so easy. After all, most of them were owned by aristocrats.

And even then, more than half of their whereabouts were still unknown. That was...if they hadn’t been destroyed during the war.

But I digress.

"So...you have to smuggle it from the wandering drows, huh?" I shifted my gaze toward the lake, staring at the fog which obscured the view across the water; of the Empire who robbed my people of their kingdom. "If only they didn’t fucked my grandmother’s land, huh?"

"Ugh..." Zarfa tugged on my sleeve and looked at me with pouting lips. "Just so you know, my guild didn’t establish any branch in the Empire, okay?"

I raised my brow at her reaction, and couldn’t help but smile. Was she doing it out of guilt? But I raised my hand and flicked her forehead.

"Ouch?!"

"Stupid," I scoffed--and Ignis also scoffed. "If I were you, I’d put a branch there already and grow it so big that their own merchant guilds wouldn’t be able to contend with me. I’d make it so that they would be economically dependent on me that every single decision-making process needed to go through me for approval."

Zarfa blinked her widened eyes, and Ignis snorted. "Sounds familiar," the Salamander muttered. "I think I read it once in that book you read about Natha."

"Damn, Doc..." Zarfa remarked and looked at the fog again. Her cautious eyes suddenly turned contemplative. "Thinking about conquering a nation through the economy in this warring climate..."

"They’re not in a war, are they?"

"Not with another realm, no--" Zarfa shook her head. "But the human nations are basically at odds with each other. That’s why they could go around relatively easily," she pointed at the Hero and Ian who finally reached the shore. "Since Leenar is not necessarily in a good relationship with the other countries."

I see...so there was almost no concern about people tattling on their whereabouts to Lenaar.

Ah, well...it was indeed humankind’s biggest weakness. They had such a large number of resources, but they were not united. Even the source of their commonality, the Goddess of Light, was absent.

"But you know...it’s worth a try just for the spying aspect," I shrugged, and Zarfa giggled before covering her mouth and glancing at the more righteous people in the group.

I smirked and turned to look at the center of the Island; at a stone-colored tower peeking out above the canopy of yellowing trees. "Anyway, do you think the magician did it intentionally, or this is some kind of a mishap?"

"Could be because we tampered with the scroll," Jin replied while ruffling his just-dried hair. "This is so convenient. Can you do this too, Fatia?"

"I can, but it’s such a waste of mana," she said. "It’d dry if we let it be, so I’d rather preserve my power for something better. Ah--of course, that wouldn’t be the case for the Great Salamander, who can do it as easily as breathing."

"Hmph."

Oho...as expected of a regent’s daughter; she knew how to talk to people--or a mythical beast.

"Well, only one way to find out, right?" Zarfa shrugged and gestured toward the forest in front of the shore. But she immediately whined after we entered the greenery. "We’ve been going through this kind of terrain for so long. I miss civilization..."

"But the air is better in this kind of place," the Hero remarked.

"I need me some chaotic noises," Zarfa clicked her tongue. "The clinking of money, people shouting for bargains--aah...I want to see unorderly buildings and damaged roads!"

I patted her head and told her to be careful since she was almost tumbling from a jutting root. Her frustration right now reminded me of her day in the hospital. She would whine so much about not being able to go out rather than the pain her heart was making. I guessed her being the daughter of a merchant was some kind of a reward, since she always wanted to be someone who worked with a lot of people and visited a lot of places.

Naturally, someone who preferred to hole up in the house like me could not relate.

[Forest is thin...] Jade chirped from the top of my head. Again, the bird was in a lazy mode, refusing to fly. Perhaps because I had been confining Jade to the little bird form--I still had not fully trusted them to let them know what my baby could do. [Forest for a stroll..."

"Indeed," I agreed with the little bird. "The mana of the forest is light, so the trees are slumbering."

"Huh? Oh, you mean...it’s different from the one around your Lair?"

My Lair...heheh. I cleared my throat to stop myself from giggling. "Yeah. I had thought it’d have the same intensity considering it’s situated right next to the realm of nature."

"Something is absorbing the mana," Ignis said, the flaming head lowered as it stared at the ground. "Deep deep underground, it flows toward the center."

"To the tower?"

"Maybe," Ignis replied nonchalantly, and then retreating beneath my hood.

I pondered for a bit as we walked further inside the forest. Grabbing Zarfa’s hand for an anchor, I tried to send my consciousness deep inside the ground to follow the flow of mana Ignis mentioned.

"Hmm...it is going to the tower," I nodded. "Perhaps..."

"Perhaps?"

I raised my head and realized everyone was looking at me. Even the Hero and Fatia, who were walking at the front, glanced at me over their shoulder.

"Perhaps she’s using the mana of the environment to do her magic," I told them my conjecture. "That’s why she never left the place. She needed other sources to do her magic now that her circuit is deformed."

"Mm," Ignis gave an endorsement, and Fatia clapped her hands in exclamation.

I looked around the forest that had started to welcome its autumn. This place...this place should also be an everlasting green. This island should be a gate separating the realm of nature and the human realm. But now, the island had followed the climate of the human realm, which meant it had lost Mother’s blessing.

Which meant the Great Tree from which Alveitya made was indeed...had died.

I grasped my left warm and stroked it as Alveitya buzzed in tension from my grieving thought. It must have sensed my anger too, because it was rather violent and asked to be let out.

But I couldn’t do it. Not yet. Now now.

Jade and Ignis must have felt my emotion too, because they patted me with their wings and tails. I took a deep breath to calm myself and told the humans my other guess.

"Or, it’s probably a system to purify the surrounding mana," I shrugged. "Could be both too."

Just that the amount being absorbed was much much larger than the amount being let out to the environment.

"Well, perhaps we could ask her later," Zarfa shrugged.

"Are you sure we can do that?" Ian asked dubiously behind us.

"Well..."

I tilted my head at the hesitant reaction. "What kind of person is this magician, anyway?"

"Ugh--well..." Zarfa bit her lips and made an uncomfortable expression; a mix of guilt but also amusement. "She’s kind of fun to write about, but...facing her face to face..."

"She’s annoying," Aina whispered by my side, scooting closely at me as if she was afraid a witch would snatch her away.

"She was difficult," Ian added, also in a whisper. "Very bossy and arrogant, but also...uhh," his whisper became even fainter. "Very pretty..."

Hah. Straight men!