The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 96: A fantasy cheat key for someone who never swims in his life is...

Chapter 96: A fantasy cheat key for someone who never swims in his life is...

"You have to remember the path, Jade," I told the little bird as we followed Doun deeper inside the forest. "I don’t really have a spatial gift, you know."

Jade chirped energetically while hovering beside me. The bird was a bit sulky yesterday, perhaps to express its frustration with my prolonged stay in the Castle. But after I fed it with a lot of mana, and spent the night sleeping beside me on the pillow, Jade was back to being the energetic bird that it was.

And not just energetic, it also became clingy, way more than before.

When the little bird was just born, it stayed with me most of the time, sleeping as close as it could to me. But after evolving once, Jade had this independent streak where it would fly around from time to time or spend time with the older elemental bird instead. It also preferred to sleep on the cushion I prepared above the table below the window—unless Natha came, during which Jade would disdainfully and aggressively peck the Demon Lord once and wordlessly flew away.

But now, the little bird even came with me while I bathe. And while we were walking inside the forest, it stayed hovering around me instead of flying above like the time we frequented that small clearing.

"I think if you ask the trees, they would tell you the way for a bit, Young Master," Doun told me with a smile. "Although you might need to be patient while at it."

Huh? Why? Did they talk in a really loong and slooow way like in the stories?

"They liked to give it in riddles," Doun answered my silent question.

Oh, ouch—I wasn’t good at it. Especially since I had no power of native knowledge. So I looked at Jade and repeated my order sternly, The green orbs looked at me in earnest and the little head swayed up and down, wings flapped quicker as if saying ’leave it to me!’.

Anyway, we went deeper, past the small clearing to the part where the trees were older and higher—so high I couldn’t see the tip clearly. They were big too, with wide leaves that felt like a canopy. The deeper we went, the more it felt as if the world was getting bigger.

"It’s fascinating..." I muttered, feeling not only the trees, but everything around and below with my senses.

Another thing that I started to train was the ability to sense everything even as I did mundane things like walking and staying still. In the book that I read, it said that doing so would help me become more aware of my surrounding. Like how Natha sensed others’ thoughts, I could train to sense nature’s thoughts.

It was of course different from sensing a clear sentience thought, like if I sense Jade’s thought as my familiar. It was more like a collective consciousness, like sensing where the wind wanted to go, or how many fruits a tree wanted to bear.

But with that, I could also sense if there was a disturbance within nature’s course, or if there was something that wasn’t supposed to be there, like intruders. Wouldn’t that be useful for my safety? Not that I was in any danger, but...

"We’re here, Young Master," Doun cut my thought, and I shifted my focus from the fight between a flower and a weed over the soil to the front. There, about a hundred pace from us, I could see the glimmering reflection of sunlight between the fence of trees.

*chirp chirp?*

"Sure," I nodded, and Jade flew away from me for the first time. It should be the little bird’s first time looking at a river too, so I got its excitement.

I mean...I was excited too.

The last time I saw a river was probably during my forgotten childhood, before I was sick. I remembered a bit about going to the countryside—my grandma’s convalescence home, even though it was just her deathbed. There was a river behind the house, if I recalled correctly, and we could see it from the second floor’s balcony.

There was something about this particular memory that tickled my mind, but I couldn’t remember what.

Well, I had no leeway for that too, since soon the full expanse of the river was gracing my vision. And that...that didn’t look like a river.

It was like a road—a road made of water.

It was so wide that I was sure a medium-sized ship would be able to sail there. The river in my imagination—as well as memory—was no more than two or three meters wide. You know, the kind of river where people used to frolic and had a picnic on the side. River that looked like a blue sparkling ribbon, that I could safely enter without any aquatic skill because it would be shallow.

Instead, I got a river people used to do commerce in. Or doing secluded cultivation training.

"It’s huge!" was what came out of my mouth the moment we stepped at the beach—yes, it even had a sandy beach.

"Well, this is the mainstream," Doun explained. "The ones outside the forest are smaller, but that would be outside of the Tower’s territory."

"Oh..."

"Please be careful to not go outside the boundary, Young Master," Doun’s voice turned serious suddenly, and he looked at me with a stern gaze. "The Lord’s protection only worked around the estate."

I blinked at the sudden warning, because it felt like it came out of nowhere. Why would Doun suddenly warn me about going outside when we were literally in the middle of a very vast forest, which was also located in the middle of a mountain?

"Why would I go outside the boundary?" I asked in confusion. Above me, Jade seemed to already finish scouting the place and landed on my head, looking at our interaction with interest.

"Because you are about to train in the water, and you tend to do things excessively,"

The answer only added to my confusion, and I tilted my head the other way. Jade too, tilted its little green head. Looking at my face, Doun took a deep breath and started to explain further. "You know how elementals have their own properties right, Young Master?"

I nodded in response and the demon continued. "Just like how you were ’rooted’ for a long time in the clearing from infusing yourself too much with the wood element, there might be a side effect this time too."

"...what side effect?" I asked carefully, in a quiet voice that was almost like a whisper.

Rather than answering my question immediately, Doun trained his gaze on the river, following its current. "From my grandma’s story, a lot of young druids from the water tribe went missing while having their training alone in the river. Some of them, however, would reappear someday in a completely different part of the region..."

Water tribe...it would be what they called the druid who preferred to mingle with water elementals. As I learned more about druids, I found out there were various tribes with their own specialties. Aside from conforming to their own traits, it was also because aside from those with royal blood, not many could handle more than one or two elements on their own.

Which made this body rather special, I guess? Well, knowing how to manage more than one elemental mana didn’t equal strength, though. The ’real’ royal might have been strong, but someone without proper guidance like me...well, it was just a matter of being a jack of all trades.

Didn’t matter though. It was enough if it could help me survive.

"So...the reason they went missing was...?" I tapped my lips while musing for the answer. From how Doun stared at the river, plus the hint, it wasn’t a hard quiz. If immersing myself in the forest made me rooted to the ground, then immersing myself in the river probably...

"They drifted in the water," Doun voiced out my guess. "The inherent characteristic of water elemental is transformation, so—"

"I could turn into water?!" I gasped. More like...I could turn into liquid?

Doun stared at my surprised yet enthusiastic face before sighing. "Most would need a lot of practice for that, but I have an inkling you’ll just suddenly do that on the first try, Young Master."

"Oh, my God!" I snapped my head back to look at the wide river. I was getting worried looking at the deep and huge place since...well, I had no idea how to swim.

But...but! If I could transform my body, making it aquatic...surely, there was no such thing as ’drowning water’, right?

*chirp?*

Sensing the spike in my energy, Jade flapped its wings enthusiastically, although I didn’t think the little bird understood much.

"I get that you’re excited, but I have to warn you that transformation is very dangerous in the first phase," Doun cleared his throat to get my focus back. "Your mind might get trapped and absorbed in the current, forgetting yourself, forgetting to turn back. That’s why those young druids went missing."

Ooh...

Well, it made sense. Just like how I forgot about the time during my first purification, staying still for hours even though it only felt like a few minutes—like the trees who saw time differently from other mortals. I guess, every ability had its own drawbacks.

That being said...

"You know a lot about this, Doun," I looked at the demon with a grin. He knew more than the book even, considering druids were rather recluse and not much known in detail about them.

At my words, the demon looked flustered for a bit, before replying with a smile. "Ah, well, I looked up my grandmother’s notes after your first time in the forest, Young Master."

Hmm? So he tried to find out more about druids?

"...huh? For...for me?"

With a slightly embarrassed chuckle, Doun shrugged. "I would like to be of help, Young Master."

Ah...looking at him, I was reminded of Natha’s vassals in the Castle. They were such kind and nice souls that kept making me feel like I finally earned a home in this foreign land.

"Ahem—I don’t think you’ll back down even after what I told you, so I’ll keep guard this time, Young Master," Doun spoke swiftly to hide his growing embarrassment, although I had no idea why he should feel embarrassed about that.

So I just laughed and thanked him, before shifting my focus back to the river.

Now, how should we do this?

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