The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 45: The philosophy of a tamer, or something like that

Chapter 45: The philosophy of a tamer, or something like that

Haa...it felt never-ending.

When I solve one headache, another came as if it had been waiting in the queue. I just finished sorting out the problem of my heart, and now had to walk on another eggshell.

I wanted to ask about it badly: what was wrong with my soul?

My main question was about whether or not they could differentiate a soul from this world and another world. I kept on thinking about it even as I followed the gardener, which felt more like a ranger, to the forest.

Hmm...but that slip-up about my soul came regarding my question about whether or not I looked fragile. So it was highly likely that the problem with my soul was that it looked...fragile, right? Weak, perhaps?

Or...was it looking as ugly as I thought it would be?

I felt like I had become a horrible person these days after all.

"Hnng..." it was hard.

"Young Master, you’ll get lost if you’re distracted," the cheerful gardener, Doun, clapped his hands to woke me up from my agonized thinking.

When I lifted my gaze, I realized I was straying from the path that Doun walked, steering to the left. "Ugh—sorry..." I walked sheepishly toward the brown-skinned demon.

We actually weren’t that far from the grass field—the house staff being adamant about not letting me venture deep into the forest. Still, Doun said the forest could be mischievous sometimes, and I might get lost even after only entering less than a hundred meters.

And with my head being who-known-where, I might as well get really lost.

We planned to reach the part of the forest that was still considered young. Theoretically, the life force and raw mana produced by the young forest were still ’tame’ compared to the other parts. As a shepherd in training, I should start from the lowest difficulty, like how a tamer should start from a slime.

"Do you think the plants will tell me the way out if I ask them nicely?" I asked as we passed through two tall and wide trees.

Doun laughed heartily, but it didn’t sound mocking or anything. "Of course, but you have to get acquainted with them first,"

Well, that was true. Forest with dense life force could be said to be sentient. If I could ’befriend’ them, I could have a conversation somewhat, just like how I did with Jade. And to be able to befriend them, I got to know them well enough first.

Yeah, so there was no time for me to be worried about my soul or whatever.

We arrived at a small clearing then. There was a huge tree stump in the middle as large as a carriage. I could only imagine how huge and tall that tree was. The area around the stump was devoid of shrubs, but the soil was still fertile with wild grasses. Young trees were forming not far around the stump, as if they were just growing a few decades back.

"When His Lordship acquired this land, he had a fight with that tree," Doun started to explain while patting on the waist-high stump.

Fighting...with a tree...

What kind of shenanigan did Natha have in the past?

"It absorbed too much life force from the surroundings, and almost made this section of the forest die. If left alone, it would turn into a cursed treant and destroy the forest, so the elemental birds asked His Lordship to get rid of it in exchange for becoming the Tower’s guardians,"

Ah...so that was why the shrubs and trees around were comparably younger than the rest of the forest. Even without concentrating, I could already feel the raw mana was less dense, softer, and gave out a less mischievous feeling.

"Mm—yes, this place is good," I patted the stump too, and climb it. The place also provided a sitting area, how nice.

Jade flew toward me after circling the area for a minute, perching on my palm as usual.

"In that case, I will make sure to stay out of sight so you can concentrate, Young Master," the gardener smiled and retreated.

I knew he wouldn’t really leave though, and would stay in the vicinity around the clearing. I knew enough now how cautious and overprotective the Lair’s staff were. I used to think they were worried about me running away, but now...would it be alright to presume that my well-being was in Natha’s prime interest?

Ah...thinking about him made me curious about the fight he had with the tree. I wished I had something like psychometric skills that allowed me to see the past of certain things.

But it was alright; just this area alone already made my mind busy enough. It was much more complex than the grass field. Not just because there were more varieties of living beings here, but because everything felt so closely intertwined.

After a week of constant training, it had become easier for me to spread my consciousness and merged them with the environment. I didn’t see them with my eyes, but everything felt clear. It was like they breathed their mana into me, asking me to feel them.

The wood attribute mana of the young trees, which roots intimately mingled with the earth as water flowed like veins between the fertile soil and the sturdy barks. The soft breeze of the wind, carrying seeds and playing with the leaves, was creating a harmonious melody with the wriggling of the worms and bugs, with the flapping of butterflies wings.

All of those life forces, the mana they breathed, were mingling like the dance of colorful lights that reminded me of the festival lanterns in the night sky. It was beautiful in its complexities, although it put me in a difficult spot.

As I thought, it was hard separating the mingling elemental attribute. But the sheer sensation of swimming in such a rich environment made me forget about absorbing them. I just wanted to stay within those colorful lights that covered me like a comfortable blanket.

Without realizing it, rather than absorbing only the wood elemental like before, I just ushered the leftover mana those creatures expelled from their pore into me, absorbing them into my core, where they were being condensed. The condensed mana force was circling my circuit once, twice, going slow at first, and then faster, and after doing it a dozen times, it came back to settle inside my core as a refined energy.

Just by doing that, I felt like my body getting lighter and purified, and I let out a loud gasp involuntarily. My eyes fluttered open as I felt so restless all of a sudden, prompting me to release that condensed energy out through my palm, where it formed an iridescent cocoon around Jade.

"Young Master..." I flinched at Doun’s voice, and realized the demon had been kneeling beside the stump, looking at me keenly without his usual cheerful smile. "Ah, you’ve come back."

It was then that I realized the forest had grown dark. No—it was dark. The day had turned into night already, and the only source of light was the cocoon of energy surrounding Jade.

"How long..."

"Almost ten hours," Doun answered while standing up, looking at the cocoon with an amused gaze. "We should get back, Young Master."

Ten hours? What...I had been sitting still for almost ten hours? Then it was past dinner already...

It didn’t feel that long though? I felt like I was only sitting for an hour at most.

Thinking about getting scolded by Angwi, I hastily climb down from the stump, and almost stumble down from the lost feeling of my leg. The energy cocoon in my hand jolted upward, but rather than falling, it floated. Inside, Jade was rolling around joyfully, its excitement rang loud in my mind.

I could tell Jade was absorbing the condensed energy little by little, and it would need time to digest. But even though the energy ball came out after being refined by my core, it was made from the life force and raw mana contained in this clearing, so the best place to absorb the energy was right here.

And it was clear through our connection that Jade wanted to stay here to absorb it. It was excited and restless, full of impatient.

"What—but to be here alone..." I grabbed the cocoon again, but Jade was flapping its wings energetically, telling me there was no time to waste. "Ugh...should I stay here too—"

"You can’t, Young Master," Doun cut me sternly. "You haven’t eaten for the whole day, and where would you stay? Just here in the open?"

"But I’m not hungry?"

The gardener sighed, and made the same face Angwi made when I stayed late to read in the night. "You feel that because you just absorbed the forest life force. But that only feeds your soul. Your body still needs proper nutrients."

He scolded me lightly while dragging me away, even while I looked back at Jade and waved my hand reluctantly. For the first time, the little bird didn’t act dejected about being separated from me. Perhaps because the energy ball contained my manaprints on it?

"This is the bad habit of young druids. They still haven’t developed awareness about their own body, so if left unsupervised, they continued to meditate until they collapse."

"Is...is that so?" he knew quite a lot about druids—more than me, for sure. Was it because his great-grandmother was a drow? Perhaps calling him a ranger would be more appropriate than a gardener.

"Please don’t do that again when you’re alone, Young Master. Always have one of us accompany you from now on, okay?" he looked back at me, and since he usually had a nice, cheerful face, his stern gaze felt scarier than Angwi’s.

"O-okay..."

I followed him while feeling bad about the situation. I guessed, if collapsing was a common case among druids, the same things could happen to me. Seeing that ten hours of session actually felt less than an hour, it seemed like the realm of consciousness while merging with nature came with a different sense of time.

Was that how trees felt, I wondered, as they grew slowly, and stood for a long long time. The passage of time must be different for them compared to us sentient mortals.

I looked around as Doun led me out of the forest, the trees somehow felt a little bit familiar after I understood them a little more.

"But...Young Master," the gardener—I mean forest ranger—glanced at me rather cautiously before we exited the forest, and I couldn’t help but feel curious at his sudden gesture.

"Yes?"

He made a contemplative look, before finally letting out his question. "Are you perhaps...a royalty?"

...huh?

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