The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 650: Even a mature baby is still a baby

Just like last time, we left these people in the hands of fate.

We stripped them of their belongings--not their clothes, needed to keep it PG--and tied them with the vines. There was a river not far from the clearing, so we made a raft from dead logs and placed the belongings there, letting it flow away. If we just dumped them in the river, they might pick it up again, after all.

Since we were in a clearing not far from the road, someone would probably find them quickly. It wasn’t a highway, but at least someone would pass by every three days. Merchants and such. freewёbnoνel.com

Anyway, Alveitya and Jade were pretty energetic, so none of them were spared from cuts and burning wounds. Shiny somehow found a way to tell the girls what those people said before, so some of them had their...umm... genitals probably non-functioning in the future.

I myself didn’t use mine much except for peeing, but I couldn’t help the shudder as we heard the stomping and crunching sounds. Ian even crouched in a corner while covering his ears. We did not look at the groaning and screaming bandits again after that, hurriedly leaving the premises.

That was why, I didn’t see the ponytail guy looking at me with widened, surprised eyes as I climbed the horse and galloped away from the crime scene.

But I would only find out much later.

Despite passing midnight, we decided to trudge forward while casting light balls to shine the way, and we reached the nearest town at dawn. Still, we decided to wait until the sun came up higher to avoid suspicion--because people who traveled all night were mostly up to no good.

The first thing we did after entering the town was look for an inn, have a late breakfast, and catch some sleep. Thanks to those mercenaries, we lost a precious day, as we only woke up in the afternoon. A bit too late to enter a ruin unless we wanted to sleep inside.

Which...was rather a fascinating thought, until Shiny told us a lot of bugs crawled out at night. Nope. Nope nope. Most bugs were naughty, and they didn’t listen to me. They were like, ’I only have a short lifespan, so I won’t listen to you and do what I want’, which wasn’t wrong of them to do, but I’d rather they weren’t around me.

Thus, we stayed in the town for the night and used the chance to have some proper rest since we had been hopping from ruin to ruin for a week. We also encouraged Ian to choose a form quickly so we wouldn’t get targeted by bandits anymore.

Like bugs, bandits weren’t a danger to us, but they were annoying.

When we entered the ruin the next day, our paladin had a shield in one hand and a mace in the other. Slowly, we were pushing the church boy into the dark side, mwahaha!

Anyway, except for a few mana crystals, we didn’t find anything. But we let Ian deal with the beast to get him used to the mace. The rest of us couldn’t help but smirk, watching him gradually have fun with it. He was rather adorable, feeling proud for finally dealing some damage instead of defending.

"Don’t get too disappointed," Zarfa patted my shoulder. "Let’s just see it as we managed to eliminate four places from the list."

"Yeah...I guess it’s too much to expect another good luck," I exhaled slowly as we searched for a quiet place to teleport. "I probably used up all my luck this year."

"Only this year?"

"All my luck before had been spent to be with my first love."

We reached a secluded place while giggling and, after making sure no one was around, we ripped an updated teleportation scroll that could transport all of us plus the horses. Hopefully, the hotel manager had cleared the yard for our landing.

"Oof!" Ian fell into the pond, but the rest of us were alright, so I guess Tsalinade still got a pass.

Once we had a shower and a good meal, I did a long-distance call with my contracted beast.

"Ignis, when will you guys return?"

A blazing shadow flame appeared on top of my palm. "Probably tomorrow--we’re going to spend the night in this last one since it’s so vast," the Salamander paused for a bit, probably conversing with the others, before continuing. "You can go now if you want, no need to wait for me."

"Really? You’re not going back this time either?" I raised my brow. "I’m going to take Shiny this time."

The flame on top of my palm twitched and the head moved around as if in contemplation. "I’ll stay," Ignis decided at the end. "I’ll go to that chamber again."

"Oh, what a great idea! You can talk to Stan again!"

"What nonsense!" Ignis denied it even though the blazing tail was flicking my fingers repeatedly. "I just think you need someone to inform you if people manage to break through."

"Yeah, yeah...okay," I patted the flame head, and it went poof with the sound of Ignis’s scoff.

Zarfa chuckled and placed the token on the floor, as usual. "See you later, Val."

"See you later, Boss! Bring back more of those purple berries!"

"Save travel, Brother."

At this point, they had become used to me going back to the Demon Lord every time we were done with a series of schedules. It was endearing seeing them wave at me as I activated the token with Shiny and Jade inside my cloak.

"Hold your breath, Shiny. It might get a bit rough."

Chii?

I could only smile wryly before the spell pulled us across the realm. A tiny scream was heard, and it persisted a bit more, even after we landed in the middle of the storage room. Only after Jade patted the surprised mole for a while did the scream fade.

Chii?

"We’ve arrived," I informed the mole.

Chii...The mole breathed in relief, and once Jade turned into a little boy, I placed Shiny in his arms and purified all of us.

"Let’s go and see Shwa!"

This time, I wanted to see my baby first because it had been so long. Before I could reach the nursery, however, we were startled by a loud cry, a cry I hadn’t heard before. Shocked, I immediately ran toward the nursery, but the door opened first.

"Uwaaaaa! Hwaaaaa!"

A loud, demanding, sorrowful cry came from the wriggling bundle inside Angwi’s embrace. She immediately caught sight of me and placed the crying baby in my arms.

"What...what happened?" I hugged Shwa tightly, stroking the crying cheek to check for his temperature. It was normal, so I got even more confused. "What’s wrong, baby? Are you in pain? Oh, why are you crying so?"

It was the first time I saw my child crying this much, this emotional. Shwa was such a gentle and calm baby that sometimes I forgot he was just a newborn.

Thankfully, the nannies gave me an assuring answer. "He only misses you, Young Master," one of the nannies said. "Little Master started to become restless when you’re not showing up after seven days, and just now...I guess he started to cry after sensing your mana nearby."

"Oh, baby..." I hugged him closer and showered his crying face with kisses. "Yes, yes--Papa is here, it’s okay. I’m sorry, yeah? I’ve gone for too long, haven’t I? Oh, my poor baby..."

How could he be so clever? He patiently waited for me for seven days, because I usually returned in that interval. I had no idea whether I wanted to cry from sadness or feeling proud.

The cry subsided a bit, just a tiny bit. The small hands gripped my clothes and my hands so strongly as if he didn’t want to let me go again. It was heartbreaking seeing him like this, as if I was betraying him, but...how should I describe this welling warmth knowing that my child had been missing me this much?

Seeing this usually gentle child throwing a fit and refusing to leave my arms made me feel that almost losing my life for having him was worth it.

"Alright--alright, baby...I won’t leave your side at all, yes?" I patted the miserable-looking baby, whose face was still adorable even while crumpling in sorrow. Hugging him gently, I shifted to Jade and the bewildered mole in his arms. "Jade, can you take Shiny around the Castle? Show it your room and your favorite place?"

"Okay!" Jade nodded obediently. "Can Jade pat pat Shwa first?"

I smiled and crouched so both Jade and Shiny could see the crying baby. Jade held the mole with one arm and reached out to stroke Shwa’s hair tenderly. "Shwa, Jade will let Shwa have Papa the whole day, okay?"

What a nice brother. I chuckled and kissed the boy’s cheek before sending him away. One of the nannies offered her hand to Jade and accompanied them down. "Shall we go to the pantry before starting our tour, Master Jade? Let’s take some jellies for the journey."

"Yes!"

Thanks to the nanny, my sweet first child got energetic again, and I didn’t have to feel guilty about pouring all of my attention into Shwa. Well...Jade had been with me all the time anyway, unlike this little flower of mine.

Looking at my child’s wet eyes, I smiled and asked in a whisper. "Now, shall we get your Daddy too?"