The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 394: It’s good that I’m gay, right?

Chapter 394: It’s good that I’m gay, right?

"Hmm...I don’t like this one," Ignis whispered behind my ears.

You hardly like anyone, Ignis.

[Master, this one’s weird] Jade chirped--quietly, because I said to mind the noise, and Jade was a good little bird. [Why wear pajamas during the day?]

Ignis snorted and I had to press my lips not to laugh. The Salamander must have seen a lot in the Realm of Lust, but my baby bird was raised in an environment that condoned revealing clothes.

"I don’t know, Jade. Maybe this is her bedroom?"

[But there’s no bed, Master! And Master don’t wear pajamas when the sun is up!]

Valid reasoning.

[Oh! Maybe that one’s sick? Master wears pajamas in bed during the day when Master is sick!]

"Technically, she is sick," I felt Ignis’s flame graze my neck in up-and-down movement. "Not as bad as Valen was, though."

Ignis’s flame felt ticklish and I couldn’t help but let out a giggle. She snapped.

"I ask who are you."

It was no longer a question, but a reminder. She still held her book, but the page she turned was rather crumpled. Pretty temperamental, this one. It was slight, but her back had also straightened. The lazy gaze she gave me earlier turned sharp and started to be filled with annoyance.

I held back from scoffing. I hadn’t even reached the hall in front of her ’throne’, still walking from the door to the first two pillars supporting the dome, and she already demanded an answer.

"Well, if you just let me in together with the others, you would still hear the answer anyway," I shrugged and looked around the hall. "It’s not like we come here secretly."

"And yet you shroud your face," she tilted her head. "And the one I gave permission is those kids--not you."

"That’s why I’m coming here with them, ain’t I?" I stopped between the first two pillars, and, rather than stepping forward, steered to the side so I could look around.

There was a window on either side of the hall, and I wanted to see if I was in the tower or some sort of pocket dimension--you know, kind of like the Great Tree in the druid tribe? I could feel her sharp gaze following me, and I would have cowered in the past. I mean...I could only face Natha because I was drunk. But now...I had met enough deities to disregard a shut-in magician.

"Why do you have to single me out, anyway?" I ran my hand along the creeping ivy and the climbing rose; their torn and poison did nothing to my unprotected skin. "If you want to interrogate me, you can do it in front of the others, or..."

I turned my head to look at her, who was now narrowing her eyes in a mix of amusement and annoyance.

"Are you worried they would try to defend me?" knocking on the window, I peeked outside and saw the spread of garden and meadow. Oh, so this was really the tower. "A Hero and a noble--must have thought it’s a risky move to fight them."

I heard the sound of a book closing; it slammed to the stone table beside the throne. From the reflection in the glass, I could see she was leaning against the armchair, propping her cheek as she looked at me in amusement.

"I’m holding myself back because I thought you were acting amusing, but..."

My cloak suddenly moved as if there was a wind, but it was an air pressure created by her mana wave.

"You have to know that my patience is wearing thin."

Oh, we’re moving to intimidation, now?

"And what are you going to do if you run out of patience?" I walked to the center of the circular hall now. "Are you going to attack me?"

Surprisingly, she let out a laugh that must have sounded heavenly to regular people like Ian. Even though her eyes and smile were cold, she still looked beautiful and alluring.

I see. One of her ancestors must have had a lust demon as a partner.

"Attack you?" she covered her mouth and looked at me as if the notion was ridiculous. "Why would I need to attack the likes of you? A little punishment is enough."

"Funny coming from someone who needs to isolate me first before confronting me."

The hand covering her mouth fell, and I could see the anger started to take over her annoyance. It was just her curiousness that kept her...civilized.

"You’re standing on the edge, boy."

Her tone too, had dropped considerably. Her attractive voice had a tinge of playfulness before, but now it was as cold as her gaze.

"Why don’t you tell me who you are now before you really step over the line?"

"Me? I’m just a curious merchant," I shrugged, stopping at the center of the circular hall, a few meters in front of her. Looking closer, she truly was a great beauty. Even if I couldn’t be sexually attracted to her, I could still tell that she had a great appeal.

Couldn’t really blame Ian now, could I?

"A merchant?" her brow arched.

"You sent people to look for something, didn’t you?"

At the end of my sentence, her expression shifted. The annoyance vanished from her eyes, followed by a repressed excitement. She almost straightened her back, but she paused after raising her upper body slightly and went back to acting nonchalant.

With a dubious tone and expression, she cleared her throat and asked cautiously. "Are you saying you have what I’m looking for?" she sounded like she tried to say it condescendingly, but also worried I might get offended and refuse to sell my ware.

"Uh-huh."

She clenched her jaw slightly. "The elixir?"

"Uh-huh."

She frowned at my casual answer but I merely smiled. Unlike her, I wasn’t desperate. You must be frustrated, right? A normal merchant would probably show her the item right now, or at least show a willingness to sell.

But what to do?

I don’t even need to sell this.

She squinted and stared at me keenly in silence for a while, probably trying to figure out my intention. After slightly more than a minute, she scoffed.

"Don’t lie," she sneered. Do you think I wouldn’t know if a human have an elixir?"

Oh--this cloak was pretty neat, huh? It could shroud even the druid bloodline which had been showing strongly these days.

"Why would I come here if I lied?" I chuckled and knocked my heel onto the stone floor. "But anyway, you know people are coming, but you didn’t even prepare chairs or refreshments? How uncouth."

"Bo--merchant, I’ve told you to not cross the line."

"What are you talking about? I’m just stating the fact," I shrugged. "Right?"

[That’s right! She don’t even have candy! Or jelly!]

"Such a rude host," Ignis scoffed, crawling out of my hooded cloak. "Master even give the intruders a full meal."

Her eyes widened slightly when she realized the presence of my companions. She might have difficulty wielding magic right now, but she should be able to feel their mana core and soul complexity to determine their rank.

Hmm...it’s time to up the game, I guess.

Let’s see...I flowed my mana to the ground and a portion of the floor raised to form a chair--well, a throne--that was similar to her. It would be uncomfortable without a cushion, but oh, well.

As I took a seat on my own chair, she stood up.

"You..." she clenched her jaw to stop her trembling lips. It must be hard, right, seeing other people freely using magic. "What kind of merchant going around with contracted beast?"

"The kind who owned an elixir, of course!" I laughed softly. "You don’t think a regular peddler would have this, do you?"

I raised my palm and called forth the Amrita. Her anger and suspicion faltered; the hope and excitement that she had tried to suppress all this while surfacing all at once.

Finally, she left her throne, standing at the edge of the dais. Her shoulder tensed as she tried, once again, to quell her desire and prevent her arm from shooting forward and grabbing the golden bottle.

Although, even if she tried it, the Amrita would be back in my storage ring before she could reach it.

"That’s..."

"Like I told you, I didn’t lie," I put the Amrita back inside my ring and the golden light illuminating the hall vanished. I could see clearly the look of loss on her face as she lost sight of the elixir, and she had to bite her lips in regret.

Oh, but that regret would grow much, much bigger.

She took a deep breath to control herself again and straightened her back, maybe to appear tall and imposing. "Why are you putting it back?" she raised her chin indignantly. "That’s supposed to be a down payment for our agreement."

"You mean between you and those people you left somewhere in this tower?" I tilted my head. "But what to do? They no longer need your service, so...the agreement is no more, right?"

"What?"

"Uh-huh," I nodded. "They decided to not use your magic to purify the land, so you can’t buy the Amrita using that anymore."

"What are y--"

"Ah-ah...this is why you should just send all of us in," I let out a sigh and shook my head. "Now I have to explain a lot of things even though I’m only here to sell my item."

She curled her fingers into fists, and I could vaguely feel mana flowing from the ground through the tower. Ah, this must be the mana she absorbed from the environment to compensate for her mana core’s inability to produce mana quickly.

Her face twitched as she made a scowl. "Merchant, what is--"

"That’s quite the wrong attitude, isn’t it?" I pursed my lips and Ignis let out a snort. "I told you I’m here as a merchant, so you should have deduced that I’m here to sell something. Yet you keep on being rude."

Her lips trembled as she replied to my words in a sharp voice. "I’ve warned you, Merchant. Don’t you think just because I’m not in my peak condition that I can’t crush you and pull the elixir out of your--"

CRACK!

She blinked as a highly condensed elemental bullet flew past her ears and struck her throne until it cracked.

[Don’t bully Master!]

"Haa...I didn’t think you can’t beat me," I looked at her sharply. "I knew you couldn’t. I know you won’t be able to hurt me. I know, even, that the purification you promised those humans is not a real thing."

"You--"

"Don’t lie, Tsalinade!" I struck the armchair of my stone chair, and the wave of my seeping mana blew my hood back. "Not to me."

In front of me, the magician stepped back and clasped her mouth. But before she covered it, I heard her voice.

"...Master?"

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