The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 216: It’s such a blessing to have many places you can call home

Chapter 216: It’s such a blessing to have many places you can call home

When Zia heard I was going to join the month-long inspection, she said she would go into seclusion.

No, not to reach enlightenment or develop her martial art--which she had none--but to finish her new book.

I had no idea how long someone would need to finish a book, but...a month should be enough to finish one that was already half-done, right? But eh--even if she wasn’t out yet, I still needed to go there anyway.

First to feed my greedy familiar, and then I needed to talk to the demons there about the possibility of the Hero’s visit. I mean...I certainly didn’t want any fights happening in my backyard. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, whether it was the Lair’s caretakers or the visiting humans.

"Ignis, we’ll go visit my first home," I told the Salamander as we walked through the hallway to the garden where the portal was.

"First home?"

[Jade’s home!]

"It’s where Jade was born," I patted the excited little bird. It had been a while since Jade met the other elemental birds, so it must have been so hyped to tell them about all of our adventures. "It’s where we’ll live once Natha stops being a Lord."

"So, the real home?" Ignis hummed from my shoulder, a bit more enthusiastic now.

"You can say that," I laughed at this sudden reaction. Ignis wasn’t really keen of the Lord Castle because it was too crowded for the great Salamander--or so it said. I had a feeling Ignis would change its mind once Natha finished arranging a private room, though--I mean, cave.

But for now, Ignis would be more excited about this large estate with only a handful of demons and golems, with tall, huge towers made of stones where it didn’t have to mind its flame too much while running around.

With that renewed enthusiasm, we arrived in the garden that already lost the colorful bloom and foliage. Soon, it would get covered in pure white snow, or so I hoped. Natha said it would, and this time, I would make sure to play in the snow to my heart’s content.

With this body that would no longer catch a cold.

"You’re slow," a voice greeted us with a grumble, crouching on top of the bench not far from the portal gate, wrapped tightly in a thick coat even though it was barely winter.

At first, I thought that getup was to hide himself on the journey from the research tower to my garden. But I remembered that the realm of nature did not experience winter, so Izzi was terribly bad with low temperatures.

"That’s the first thing you say after a month?" I rolled my eyes--so much for a reunion.

When I decided to visit the Lair after so long, I had asked Izzi, through Panne, whether he wanted to come with me. The elf who had been trapped in the tower for so long did not even bat his eyes to say yes--or at least, that was what Panne reported. So here he was, wrapped like an elven burrito.

"It’s just a month," the lone elf scoffed. "It’s not like you were going to a battlefield or anything."

"Tsk--I guess I’ll just give your share of snacks to Jade,"

[Yes!]

"Hey, hey, I’m just kidding, okay? Boss?" he replied with a grin and grabbed my sleeve, and that was when he saw Ignis on my shoulder. "Huh? A Salamander?"

Oh, he didn’t mistake Ignis for a gecko! But then, I guessed he was still someone from the realm of nature, and we shared the same Mother--I mean, Goddess.

"I’m not a Salamander!" of course, our little gecko still finds something to nitpick. "I am THE Salamander!"

At the elf’s confused look, I told him. "You know the legendary one in the northern volcano?"

Izzi tried to dig into his memory for a while, and after he realized what I was talking about, his eyes widened, blinking slowly. "Shit," he stared at the smug-looking gecko, before looking at me while raising his thumb. "Cool--you’re collecting or something?"

What do you think I am? A p*oke*on trainer?

"I’m not the one who picked up Ignis," I shrugged.

"I’m just tagging along," the Salamander too, replied coolly.

"Okay, whatever. Can you use your fire for the smithy? I think it’ll bring better results if we use a legendary salamander’s fire,"

Ah, so that was why he said ’cool’. I could feel the gecko twist its lips at the thought of being used as a torch, but you know what--it was actually not a bad idea.

But let’s ask the ’great’ Salamander when it was in a good mood.

"Let’s just go, we have to go back in time for dinner," I pushed the elf toward the portal, and after waving to Panne and the guards, we crossed the threshold.

The first thing that greeted me was Angwi’s silent, expressionless face.

"Angwi!" I went and hugged her along with Jade, who chirped energetically at our previous caretaker. Was it because we hadn’t seen each other for a long time? She looked at us with a softer gaze than usual, and even served us a smile, albeit briefly. She even held my shoulder, pulling away to look me up and down as if checking if they fed me well in the Castle, and only let me go after nodding in satisfaction.

Ah...truly tasted like home.

"Oh, this is Ignis, and this one’s Izzi."

I introduced my new companions and as usual, Angwi just nodded silently. Being used to isolating themselves for so long, both the elf and the little gecko hid behind me while greeting the maid back.

"She’s scary," Izzi whispered quietly behind my ear.

"I don’t understand, but I don’t want to cross her," Ignis reluctantly told me, conceding to his unreasonable fear rather than his inflated ego.

How interesting. I patted them both and we followed Angwi to the drawing room on the guest floor; because I didn’t want to risk burning the library.

"Has Zia come out?"

Angwi nodded, but made a sleeping gesture. Was she still sleeping even though it was almost luncheon? Or was she just gone to sleep after pulling many all-nighters to catch her deadline?

Well, in that case, I would just go ahead and feed Jade first.

"I bring souvenirs from my inspection trip," I told her. "Can you gather everyone later?"

She turned her head to glance back at me with a raised brow, and I repeated in a firmer tone. "Everyone."

She blinked twice slowly, before nodding without showing any more reaction.

"Ah, since Zia is unavailable, I’m going to go down to the clearing to feed Jade," I told the maid and Angwi immediately narrowed her eyes, so I added swiftly. "I’ll be back in time for luncheon, promise."

She still staring hard at me, the doubt strong in her gaze. "Don’t worry," I laughed and held her hands, swinging it back and forth. "I can do it faster now."

[Yes! Master better now!] My little bird gave me a supporting stance.

Obviously, Angwi couldn’t hear what Jade said, but the cheerful chirping seemed to convince her a bit. For a bonus point, Ignis even made a promise to look after me.

"I--I’ll remind him about the time," Izzi added to that, to my surprise.

"Oh, you’ll come too?"

"Of course!" Izzi replied, rather too quickly. "I’ve been indoors for so long, why would I stay inside when I have the chance not to?"

Hmm...you’re sure it wasn’t because you were afraid to be left alone with Angwi?

Well, whatever the real reason was, Izzi ended up following me to the forest clearing. As we crossed the grass field outside, he looked up at the tower while walking backward. "Whoa...this is a nice place," he exclaimed. "People usually have mansions or vacation homes, but he has a whole Tower, huh?"

Well, to be fair, he had a mansion too.

"This is almost like a skyscraper," he continued. "But why would he make something this massive if he’s not even living there?"

"This is his pension house," I told him with a laugh, which was true too. "And when he stopped being a Lord, most of his vassals would step down too, following him. At that time, we could just stay in this Lair."

Izzi finally turned around to walk normally. He pulled his coat closer around his body and peeked at me behind the big lapel. "What about me? Can I come too?" he asked sheepishly, before adding fast. "I mean, if I’m still bound by the contract..."

"Well...aren’t you my people, now?" I glanced at him, and he shrugged. And we ended up grinning at each other.

"Will I get a cave here too?" Ignis suddenly asked.

"We can ask Natha later,"

"But you know, if he is to step down...I can’t imagine someone being richer than him in the demon realm," Izzi shuddered at the thought. "Although he didn’t really look like it."

Yeah...I couldn’t imagine it too. I mean...I couldn’t even imagine the extent of Natha’s actual wealth. Eruha and Malta once showed me his ledger and I was so dizzy looking at the various numbers and assets. The list of companies, banks, and patents he owned took up more than a page, and I wondered how he could still do his job as a Lord. And then I wondered if he used the Lord’s position to acquire even more wealth.

Eruha and Malta did not really deny it, but they also gave me a long study session on how making regulations that only benefited one group or individual would be a recipe for disaster, because it would make the whole economic system collapse or whatever.

You know what; I didn’t understand it either! Hahaha...

"Oh, we’re here!"

My dearest clearing! Because this place was close to the realm of nature, it was slightly affected by the tropical climate, and wasn’t really on the verge of hibernation at all. Jade chirped happily above, transforming into its adolescent state and nudging me to start extracting.

I told Izzi that it might get boring when he waited for me to finish the process, but he said he would just read some book or scribble some design in his notebook. It seemed like he truly just wanted to breathe some outside air without the fear of being found out by other elves.

Surprising even for me, however, was the speed at which I absorbed the elemental mana. I knew I was getting stronger and more proficient, but this speed was beyond my expectations. It only took me less than an hour to process everything, when it took me half a day that first time. Was it because I had become so familiar with this place? Or was it that the forest itself helping me?

Jade was the happiest then, after holding back from eating Ignis’s share the other day. See, Angwi didn’t need to worry about me being late. We even finished ahead of schedule! Jade digested the energy ball while we walked back to the Tower, because Izzi wanted to regain some heat.

"Vaaaal!"

The moment I stepped into the garden, I could see the succubus run and after a few seconds, she jumped at me. Jade chirped loudly and I laughed as I caught her, and we ended up spinning around while giggling. Izzi just watched us blankly on the side, blinking at the display of merriness that was foreign to him.

When we stopped, Zia squeezed my cheeks with her palms and rubbed them. "Why are you got even prettier after running around the realm, huh? Did something happen? Huh? Huh? You have to tell me all about it, okay?"

Well...a lot of things did happen, alright. After my soul merged and mended, I did feel I changed internally; it was apparent through my stronger circuit and mana core. And I guessed, it translated well externally.

But how far...should I tell her?

"What happened?" Zia frowned slightly when my expression unconsciously turned solemn. She grabbed my arms and threw me a worried look.

"There’s something I want to tell you," I told her, smiling so she wouldn’t get worried and alarmed.

Zia stared at me silently for a while. And, knowing that I was alluding to something important, she nodded while stepping back.

"Umm...should I go?" Izzi asked awkwardly from the side, but I shook my head, and also stared at my two little companions.

"No, you can stay if you want," I told them. "It’s about who I really am."