The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 434: Not all familiar faces are transmigrators

Chapter 434: Not all familiar faces are transmigrators

Uhh...this was...

Seeing me blinking awkwardly, the Mayor added without flinching. "Nothing romantically, of course," he said, turning his head to look in the direction of his house. "More like...how I see my children. No, it’s not that too. More like...a nephew?"

Oh--I nodded swiftly. Yeah, I didn’t feel like he looked at me in any weird way too, honestly. But people had been telling me I was too dense and whatnot, so I wasn’t going to trust my own judgment about this.

Thank Mother it wouldn’t be another case of the Hero.

And...to see me as a nephew...I couldn’t help but smile from the warm feeling coming from my past. I wondered if the soul of Grandpa’s subordinate somehow resonated with the Mayor. That man did feel like an uncle; he was the one who usually drove me to Grandma’s house and picked me up a few days later.

I remembered vaguely playing with him when I was a child, but I rarely saw him again when I was in the hospital--seemed like Grandpa started to let him run the group since all of his children were a disappointment. But I saw him again when he told me that Grandpa was dead, and he stayed there until I stopped crying and told me about Grandpa’s will. Afterward, he became my appointed guardian somewhat. He’d be there when the doctor needed legal permission for procedures, but otherwise...

I guessed he was too busy trying to hold the group after Grandpa left, so I didn’t blame him or anything.

This sense of affection that Tourma felt for me...if it was truly coming from a resonance with his other soul on Earth, did it mean that my Grandpa’s subordinate also saw me as a nephew?

That warmed me better than Ignis’s spell.

"You also reminded me of this uncle I liked so much in the past, who used to work for my Grandfather," I told him finally, breaking the silence as we looked at the landscape of Ahrat.

"Oh?" Tourma turned around with an arched brow.

I wasn’t sure how well he knew about Valmeier’s story here, or about what happened to my grandmother. No one knew about Grandma’s face after the war after all, including the druids, and I had no way of telling them the truth without telling them everything about my transmigration and the Deities’ plan.

That being said, with just a little investigation, he would find out that my grandmother’s husband in this world was already dead before I was even born. So, this was also a little bait to see his reaction.

Although, he wasn’t particularly showing anything...

"He’s also stern and stiff like you," I added with a sheepish grin, and he cleared his throat with this awkward expression that shed his hard outer shell a little bit. I laughed and added. "And very kind."

There were not many people who were kind to me in my previous life, and among the few was this uncle who had the scariest face, but kinder to me than my own father.

"I know his kindness was out of loyalty to my grandfather, rather than affection," I looked at the beautiful ceiling that made me feel like looking at the Milky Way. "But...I felt thankful regardless."

"I see..."

He didn’t make any notable reaction even then. So, either he really didn’t know anything or was a great actor.

"Did you know my grandfather, Mayor?"

He shook his head. "Unfortunately..." he paused for a few seconds before continuing. "When the war happened, I was but a child who couldn’t even decide what meal I should take next, so..."

"I see..."

Unexpectedly, he was actually quite young--younger than Natha, even. I truly couldn’t tell with these people’s lifespan.

I see...so not everyone who looked like someone I knew was a transmigrator. I just had been meeting these kinds of people because I was looking for them--like the inventors and Zarfa, as well as the Hero. But Natha did tell him about people like him and Nathanael, who would have an identical soul and even appearance--kind of like twins in different worlds. I just hadn’t seen them before.

Or rather, I didn’t know enough people to recognize it. Who knows--perhaps there were more people out there who had their counterparts in another world.

Yes, perhaps even...

"Paaapaaaaa! Why Papa outside so long? Jade is huuungryyy!"

The loud, crisp shouting that almost sounded like a chirping resounded in the garden. When I turned around, I saw Jade half dangling from the window of the room we used earlier, being held by a laughing Sarttite. The crown was no longer in his head, probably inside the box once more, which was held by Amarein now.

"Seems like our cue for dinner," Tourma said with a smile that was a bit wider than before.

Mm--even if he wasn’t the uncle I knew, I was happy seeing his face. Perhaps this was what the druids felt when they saw my grandmother in me.

"Thank you, for the...umm...crown," I said bashfully, still feeling flustered by the item. "I promise I’ll wear it for the wedding banquet."

"You don’t have to, but I appreciate it, Young Master."

"Would you...attend it? The wedding banquet?" I asked, and added when he raised his brow. "I mean...I already invited the druids and the elves, but I didn’t know any drows before, so..."

He chuckled when I started to fiddle with the blanket. "If you would have me, of course I shall attend."

"Thank you! I’ll--"

"Paaapaaa!"

I paused with parted lips; words disappeared in Jade’s loud call. We looked at each other and then, for the first time in my two lives, I saw he laughed.

* * *

The meals of the drows were the meatiest among the children of nature. They were delicious though, using the herbs cultivated by the druids to get rid of the gamey smell and keep the meat succulent. Most were made of meat I had never consumed or seen before, since they came from underground creatures.

Including a very delicious, juicy steak made of an underground giant worm.

I was sooo glad they only told me right before I got back and everything was digested already. I mean...it was tasty but...I didn’t think I would ever eat it again.

After dinner, I had a short tour around Ahrat’s commercial district to look for souvenirs as usual. Unfortunately for Jade, the drows didn’t have confectionary stores, and the boy got bored fast. I ended up looking for some equipment for the demons back in the Lair, and asked for a bottle or so of their liquid elemental mana--for the inventors. Thankfully, they allowed me to purchase some.

All in all, it was a nice short trip with an even nicer twist. I told Amarein about inviting the Mayor, and she gave one of the invitations I gave her to Tourma before we got back to the surface.

Originally, I had planned to get back to the Demon Realm the next morning, since I checked out all of my itinerary already. But during breakfast, I was attacked by the grandmas and grandpas who begged me to stay another day.

They argued that they hadn’t seen me enough since I had been doing my stuff rather than...well, socializing. For a close-knit tribe like them, it was unbearable not having a garden feast when I was there.

And this time, they also brought a weapon. Weapons.

Their grandchildren.

The children who looked at Jade with sparkling eyes. "Oh! Jade promise to play with them!" the little boy ran toward the children, before coming back and asked me for a jar of candy.

Damn, these old druids. They played it cleverly this time.

The druids really threw another feast under Alzeriya, and I spent a whole day talking with the Elders, watching them making threads from the elemental mana stones, and trying to help them with some cooking.

I found out that I was the kind of person who might blow up pans in the kitchen that day.

Without realizing it, I was spending the whole day among the tribe, including playing around with the children. Because of this, I ended up only leaving on the fifth morning since my departure.

This time, there was no need for a guide, but Halurean still accompanied us to the border of the Great Forest. I had no idea if it was because of the more comfortable saddle, or because she got more familiar with the path, Vrida got even faster and the journey back home felt even more smoother--for us, not Ignis. Jade was back in the bird form and claimed its spot between Vrida’s horns again.

Oh, it was fun and thrilling. We even arrived in the Lair before sunset. What a record! I told her keeper to give Vrida a nice bath and especially nice meats before heading to the tower. Initially, I planned to distribute the souvenirs I got for the demons, but...

I asked Zia to birdsit Jade for tonight, and slipped away into the portal.

It had been too long, and I missed my Demon Lord terribly.

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