The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 603: What can I do if my Spear wants to have fun?

Chapter 603: What can I do if my Spear wants to have fun?

Infusing the wind into my feet, I followed the forest’s guidance to find the rangers before they could find us while staying as quietly as possible. Just slightly, I blended myself with the forest’s mana, so the rangers’ detection wouldn’t work.

[I can burn them] Ignis spoke inside my head, as aggressive as ever. [I’m good enough not to burn the forest now]

Oh, look at our Salamander growing!

"Thanks, Ignis--but we can’t kill them," I whispered. "What if they are just innocent rangers who want to investigate a strange group entering the forest?"

[Would they take out their weapon so far just to investigate?]

I smiled and shrugged. It didn’t matter whether their intention was good or bad--we still shouldn’t kill them before any attempt at interrogation. Besides, we had the kind of people who avoided unnecessary killing as much as possible in our group, so...

"Just stay as a backup," I said, taking Alveitya out. "Although I don’t think I’ll need it."

When the rangers were in my vision, I kicked the ground quietly, moving from tree to tree and went to the back of the rangers’ formation. If this was the forest around the Lair and Shwa’s shed, I could ask the trees to bind those people. But the forest was still young, and the magical properties weren’t as thick, so I had to use physical force to subdue them.

Oh, well--I needed some exercise anyway.

"Let’s make sure we’re only incapacitating them," I whispered to Alveitya. "Hold me back if I couldn’t, okay?"

The spear vibrated in delight, after staying so long inside my arms. The last time I used it was during the night attack, wasn’t it? I hoped this guy could really hold back and not go wild from excitement.

[They are stopping]

The first ranger had stopped, probably finding our trace again and realizing they were getting closer to the camp. The person made some hand signs to the other four, and they split.

Oh? Wasn’t it good for me to take them down quietly one by one? But one of them seemed to be going back the way they came from instead of forward.

[I’ll follow that one] Ignis said before crawling away.

Oh, what a reliable brother. I smiled and kicked my heels again to chase the rangers. One of them went past the tree I was on, so I casually hit their back hard enough to make them unconscious and had Alveitya bring them by their clothes before throwing them toward another one who hadn’t gone too far. The muffled, surprised scream only came out for a split second as I swiftly sent a cluster of leaves to cover their mouth and hit their head with the spear’s staff.

Uhh...I hoped it was only a concussion.

But as expected of rangers, the little escaped sound was enough to draw them in--which was also nice since I didn’t have to chase them around. I retreated into the tree’s shadow and got them together as they arrived at the same time.

Honestly...there wasn’t much action there. If Alveitya could scoff in disappointment, it would.

Not me. I was as pacifist as your next druid, okay?

"Valen!"

A restrained shout came from the camp direction, and a small flowing light--probably from Fatia’s magic--approached where I was standing, beside the pile of four rangers.

"Oh, you’re here! Good, good--help me sit them up so I can tie them."

My physical ability ended with spearplay and did not include heavy lifting.

"You were...done?" Renna blinked.

"I’m just knocking them unconscious," I told them. "In case they’re innocent, you know? Not likely, but...I also thought we need to question them."

"Uhh...yeah, good thinking," Jin nodded and proceeded to sit them up with Ian as I asked.

I waved my hand and made a string rope from the vines and thin roots the forest provided me with. At that moment, Ignis’s shadow flame flickered on my shoulder. "That last person is leading a group of people here--kind of looks like those people raiding our forest."

Wasn’t it cute that he called the Castle’s forest ’ours’?

"What? More people?" Jin rose and took his sword out.

"Seems like mercenary," I shrugged. "Means this is really an ambush."

It didn’t make sense in the first place if they only sent five rangers to go against the Hero’s party. The rangers were probably only there to track and find the camp, maybe to poison us or something. Ah, right--

"Let’s loot--I mean, check their possession. Oh, Renna--can you question them while we take care of the others?"

"Huh?" the girl, who had been looking at the rangers with gleaming eyes, raised her head and blinked. "Oh, uhh...yeah, sure."

"How many are they?" Jin asked while staring at the dark forest.

"Around ten...twelve?" Ignis said nonchalantly.

Pfft--this Salamander didn’t think the number mattered at all. "I think just the two of us is enough," I told Jin. "It’s better to not use any light at all."

Jin and I had enhanced vision, so we could see even in the dark. In a place like this, a quiet sneak attack was the best. Fortunately, Fatia understood things easily even without further elaboration. "In that case, I’ll stay here to guard Renna."

"Yeah, that’s good," Jin agreed. "Ian, go back to guard the camp."

With the quick task division, I rushed through the forest again--this time with the Hero. Ignis accurately gave us the direction and the approximate distance until we were close enough to use detection.

But that also meant the ranger would be able to detect us. "Ignis, you can burn the ranger’s clothes."

"Okay."

The flame lizard on my shoulder flickered to return to Ignis’s real body and veered to the side. "I’ll take care of the long-range dealers."

"Alright," Jin nodded and rushed faster the moment a shout could be heard following a blazing fire further down the path.

It was kind of weird that we managed to work perfectly well despite it being the first time, but then...I remembered that it wasn’t really our first time. I mean, not this body anyway.

While Valmeier and the Hero never really be in the same party, they served in the war together and faced the previous Demon Lord of Wrath. I guess, there was a degree of understanding between our combat style, even if I did it unconsciously.

You know, just like how I unconsciously mastered spear play? Heh...

Oh, right--battle.

The burning of the ranger made the group halt in surprise because I was sure not even the magician could sense where the fire came from. They wouldn’t be able to extinguish the fire too, unless they were high-rank water elemental. But why would that kind of manpower be in a mercenary group?

Within this window of bewilderment, we launched a two-prong attack; Jin rushed against the vanguard with his sword while I shifted through the trees to circle the group and got behind the archers. There were two of them, and I’d just say that Alveitya had a bit more fun this time.

In their surprise, the three magicians who came with the group forgot about supporting the vanguard and turned around in panic. This time, I infused elemental mana into Alveitya since magicians tended to cover themselves in mana barriers.

Well, more fun.

It was rather hard not to make them bleed, so I covered the sharp edge of the spear with mana to blunt it a bit. Thankfully, the stereotype about magicians and archers being low on defense was true, so it wasn’t hard knocking them down with a blunt instrument.

Err--sorry, Al.

With their long-range dealer compromised, some of the warriors turned back to face me and my spear finally had real fun this time. Since they also used sharp weapons, it wasn’t my fault if they bled...right?

The whole fight wasn’t very long. Between us, it took around five minutes to take care of twelve mercenaries. I told Ignis to put down the flame on the ranger, tied everything with a slightly damp natural rope from the forest, and got them chained to each other. The ones who were still conscious had to walk, and the ones who didn’t have to get dragged across the forest floor.

"Should I say this is slow or fast?"

"A bit fast, considering we departed from a friendly kingdom," Jin replied while pulling the rope forward. "Must have been anyone who wants the bead in the auction."

Haa...I knew this mission wouldn’t be easy, but getting chased before we even reached the hidden church was...

It wouldn’t delay our journey, right?

"They didn’t send anyone good, though..." I tilted my head. "Are they underestimating you or something?"

Jin chuckled while glancing at the mercenaries. "You’re making these mid-rank mercenaries sad, you know?"

Why? They were...mid.

"It was probably an advanced force?" Jin shrugged. "Just the quickest group they could form in a short time. High-ranking mercenaries or assassins are not people that can be called in a day or two."

Oh, that made sense! I nodded in agreement, but wait--did that mean we would face strong people in the future? Like...mini bosses?

"Oh, what about knights and stuff?"

Jin was laughing for some reason. "Ah, well...maybe? Nobles typically try not to leave any trace that could identify them."

The hovering Alveitya vibrated in a low register.

"Sometimes they put on a disguise, though."

Bzzt!

I laughed at my battle-thirsty spear feeling happy about more worthy opponents. Well, I guess it wouldn’t be a much-delaying obstruction if Alveitya could take care of it quickly.

"Huh? That’s fast," Fatia’s greeting told us that we finally reached the place where I had taken care of the rangers earlier. She careened her head to look at the ’prisoners’ behind us. "That is quite the collection you have."

Honestly, the process of bringing them along was longer than subduing them, but...oh, well--it’s time for interro...questioning!

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