The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 427: When your child is a convenient translating device

Chapter 427: When your child is a convenient translating device

My heart felt like they were stopping for a second. "S-someone here? What...y-you mean visiting this place?"

Amarein turned and smiled, suddenly caressing my head. "Don’t get panic," she said softly. "It’s a converging mana point, so someone is bound to find them if they are traveling. It’s not like the place is ours, right?"

Oh...oh, that’s right! Silly me! Why did I think someone trespassed the place or something? This wasn’t my backyard. If we could find this place, then what was stopping others from finding it?

"What I didn’t understand is that those fairies didn’t say anything--the trace showed the person was staying here for a long time, days or...weeks," she continued, looking at the flying little things that were heading toward us. Apparently, because Jade was running toward me.

"Papa! What happened?" Jade grabbed my legs as I welcomed him, brows scowling in worry.

Ah...he must have felt my momentary distress earlier. "It’s okay, Jade. I was just surprised because we found out there was someone here. Can you ask the fairies why they didn’t say anything about it?"

"Oh, okay!" Jade, feeling relieved, turned around and faithfully carried out his task. His arms were flailing the way Jade’s wings would in a bird form. It was adorable! But back to business. "Fairy say someone here make tents and everything, but...no danger? Oh, it’s not dangerous so they don’t think it’s not important!"

"Why do they think it’s not dangerous, Jade?" Amarein asked, and Jade was back on interrogating the fairies, who suddenly flew toward us.

"Person just stay still? Sleep and eat?" Jade tilted his head, trying to interpret.

"So, that person only sleeps and eats here without doing anything? That’s why they don’t think it’s dangerous?" I looked at the hovering fairies who held onto my hair.

"Yes! Yes!" Jade nodded excitedly before adding. "Hmm? Look...like...you? The person look like Papa?"

"Huh?"

The fairies buzzed and two of them flew toward Amarein, perching on her long ear. "Look like Aunty too?"

I looked at Amarein, and we came to an answer in two seconds. "You mean a druid?" I asked.

The fairies buzzed and Jade translated again. "Don’t know what’s the name but long ears and tree hair...grass eyes?"

So a druid with my hair color and green eyes--which was basically the whole genealogy of the druid.

"Person watch lake, only watch. Sometimes go away, sometimes back to sleep," Jade continued. "Friend?"

"I see...so you don’t think it’s dangerous because the one coming here is a druid and that person didn’t do anything to the converging point," Amarein concluded, before turning to me. "Fairies don’t really care to differentiate us, unless there’s a specific signature like you with Jade and the scent of candy. They probably thought the druid was one of us, and coming here to keep guard of the place like them."

"Ah, I see..."

Nodding at the explanation, I looked at the traces that Amarein told me. Some of the grass looked flattened, and there were some depressions on the ground, perhaps from cooking utensils or a firepit. The burned woods were no longer there, but there was a bit of ash mixed with the soil, and leftover fire mana that shouldn’t be here naturally, unless someone created a spark with magic.

"Perhaps they just want to camp here for a while?" I looked at Amarein.

"Maybe," she said, although there was still a trace of suspicion in her voice. "Whoever it was, it’s not from Alnin--since we never told anyone to do it."

"I see..."

"But then again, not all druids lived in the settlements. Some like to travel the forest, so maybe..."

Again, I could sense she felt suspicious about it. But she didn’t say anything further and just smiled at me. "It seems like there’s no danger, like the fairies said. But I’ll check the place from time to time after this, so you don’t need to worry."

"Okay..."

There was nothing I could do anyway, so I nodded. Again, this wasn’t my private property, so what right did I have to prevent others from coming here anyway? I just needed to keep in mind that someone could come, so...we would need to be careful when ’doing’ it in the future.

"Alright," Amarein clapped her hands. "Should we start now, or do you want to rest first?"

I shook my head and looked up at the sky; the sun was above us already, so it would be better not to waste too much time since we had no intention--or the equipment--to camp here.

"Let’s start now, Aunty. We should get back before sunset, right?"

She smiled and nodded. "In that case, let me check how good your purification is now," she looked at the lake and the tree before pointing. "I want you to absorb the mana in a specific route, to see if you can really guide it well."

I told Jade to play with the fairies again, to get rid of some distraction. Amarein told me to absorb the mana from the converging point--which was the lush, evergreen tree in the middle of the shallow lake--and move the mana along the side of the lake before absorbing it inside my body. She said I could use Alveitya if I wanted to, but I didn’t--not because I was confident, but because I wouldn’t use Alveitya during the deed, so...

Taking a deep breath, I started immediately. Thanks to the real experience in the Human Realm, absorbing mana felt even more natural now. The hard part about it was moving it the way I wanted to--not directly inhaling it with my pore. Moving it along the edge of the lake meant it would have to pass the section near where Vrida was sunbathing, and where Jade and the fairies were playing. I had to be extra careful not to accidentally absorb their mana instead.

But real-life experiences were indeed important in the study. During the purification in the Human Realm, I was always self-conscious in case someone accidentally strolled in, or if there were animals still staying around the polluted area. So I had been very careful when I pulled the mana into my body--and what do you know? It didn’t feel as difficult now, even without Alveitya.

Sure, it became slower, but hey--we weren’t in a race, were we?

Carefully, I kept the mana channel narrow and went past Vrida, who I could feel watching me with interest despite the leisure position. Jade and the fairies were trickier, since they ran to the edge of the lake to see the moving elemental mana. Being spirits, they could easily see it. The fairies even tried to get close, and I had to dodge their advance. Thankfully, Jade grabbed them and pulled them away from the lakeside--what a good child.

And so, the mana came inside my system without any accident--although I almost stumbled when the fairies rushed to the moving elemental mana.

Afterward, the process was even easier, since it was semi-automatic already. But Amarein touched my shoulder and gave me further instructions. "Now, move it to your abdomen instead of your hand."

Ah...that’s right. I had to train to focus on things in my abdomen--or rather, the lower part of it.

This was where my usual morning meditation came to fruition. After training on how to circulate my mana manually, I became familiar with every gate that existed inside my body. Usually, I tried to spread the mana evenly to breathe out through every gate, but now, I only moved the mana toward one point.

"Good, hold it there for a bit until I tell you to stop."

Uhh...okay? Honestly...it was kind of weird--like there was an added weight in my stomach. Not exactly like feeling full of food, because the place where I held it was different, and...there was a bit of pressure, like things pushing the place below my belly button.

Making me kind of restless, not gonna lie. Like...am I going to pee? But not? But...gaseous? Am I going to fart? That would be bad, wouldn’t it? I mean...Amarein was there behind me and...

How did I even manage to succeed with all these random thoughts?

Huh...could it be...?

Could it be I was good enough now to do this without full concentration?

"Good, you can circulate it again."

I suck in the air and moved the mana again, sending it to my hand as usual to expel it. As the purified mana started to gather, Jade ran toward me with the bright face and sparkling eyes he always had when looking at jelly and candy.

Ah, yes, yes...of course he would want some more ’yummy ball’.

"That’s quite nice," Amarein nodded. "Still need to work on it a bit more so it goes smoother and faster, but overall, you managed to control the flow--and that’s the most important thing."

"Would that mean you’ll give me that letter of approval?" I looked at her with expectation.

"Sure."

Yes!!

"Oh, would it be alright for Jade to eat this?" I glanced at the running, laughing boy who was only meters away from tackling me--or the purified ball of mana gathering on my palm.

"Of course," she gave me an approval. "But absorb some for yourself since you’ll need some extra energy for our next training."

"Oh?" my brows raised. What kind of training might it be, to require more energy than usual?

At my intrigued face, she replied to my unspoken question with a smile. "Didn’t you say you want to try it?" she looked up, at the trees on the edge of the forest, and the birds perching on their branch. "Fusion."

...Oh!!