The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 624: All secret mission squad needs a mole

We got startled by the shriek, and I had to calm Choco down so he did not throw us off his back. I decided to go down with Jade to investigate what happened and just as we touched the ground, Ignis fired up another fireball toward a boulder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa--why are you attacking it suddenly, Ignis?"

"I’m not attacking it," Ignis scoffed. "I’m attacking the barrier."

Barrier? I blinked and stared at the boulder while stroking Choco’s head to calm him. The boulder melted strangely, as if only the outer edge was made of stone and it was actually hollow inside. In the middle of the hollow boulder, something was crouching and shaking.

All I could see was a gray ball of fur, blurry from shaking too much out of fear. It wasn’t even that big--probably as big as Jade in little bird form--so I didn’t feel any threat from this...creature.

What was it, anyway?

"That’s what Jade see!" the little boy ran toward the melting boulder without even an ounce of caution, dousing the smoking barrier with waterballs.

"Wait, Jade!" I told Choco to stay put before running after the little boy. Indeed, we couldn’t feel any threat, but we had no idea what that creature might do.

I mean...none of us three looked like a threat, but we could harm someone if we wanted.

But either due to his instinct or because he was just a fearless child, Jade already grabbed the creature with his hands. "Papa, look!" he raised the gray fur toward me, and I could see four metallic feet. "This what Jade see! Shiny stuff!"

"Ah..." I looked at the creature closer, who still curled up slightly, pliantly being lifted out by a child. "Is this...a mole?"

Ignis crawled back to my shoulder and glared at the creature. "Don’t pretend to be mute."

"Hey, I told you not to be so aggressive," I patted the flaming head.

"But that one is hiding," Ignis clicked its tongue. "Like a rat."

"But Ignis...we were the ones who came here," I told the Salamander. "If this little one lived here already, it might just hide because it didn’t know if we would be harmful."

The light blue eyes blinked. "Is that so...?"

Pfft--I guessed Ignis was a bit traumatized by the attack on Shwa that winter night, where the whole forest was covered in a barrier. Well, we were usually in a position of being attacked so...

Seemed like this Salamander still needed a learning curve.

That being said...

"Can this one really talk, though?" I looked at the grey fur mole keenly.

Perhaps because Ignis was no longer glaring threateningly, and Jade was doing nothing but picking it up, the mole started to get calmer. It peeked between its front metal paws, blinking at me before flinching when its gaze fell on Ignis again.

"It should be," Ignis scoffed. "It’s not a regular mole. It has core and mana particles all over its body."

"Oh?"

"Yes!" Jade nodded in support. "But not as many as Jade!"

Your inside was literally made of mana particles, Jade. Even mine wouldn’t be as much as yours. But...it meant all magical beasts could speak in the common tongue, huh? Was it because of the increase in intelligence?

As I tilted my head in wonder, Jade shook the poor mole. "Hey, speak! Come speak to Papa!"

The poor little thing opened its small pink mouth and let out a small screeching sound, like the shriek we heard earlier. But I didn’t hear anything intangible. Was it because we weren’t contracted? I could understand it somehow, however.

Scary. Big creatures come. Fire come! Boom!

"Uhh..." Ignis muttered awkwardly while Jade giggled. Seemed like they could understand the mole even better.

"I’m sorry," I patted the grey head. It looked so pitiful that all levels of caution were just thrown out the window. "You’re afraid, yeah? I promise we didn’t mean anything bad, but it’s wrong of us to attack you like that."

"Sorry, Shiny!" Jade, following me, also patted the mole. He already hugging the creature instead of grabbing it, and the poor creature got a bit more comfortable and stopped shaking.

Wait--he already gave the mole a name?

I glanced at Ignis, and the Salamander cleared its throat. "Uhh...sorry, I guess."

Good enough, considering it came from Ignis.

Alright; now that we all apologized, it was time to get information. "Can it understand me?"

Jade looked down and nodded after a few seconds, so I continued.

"Do you live here, little friend?"

The small head nodded frantically, but then paused and pointed further away, in the direction of my twelve o’clock. The pointing metallic claw continued to make a waving motion, like someone swimming, before pointing down.

"That way?" I stroked my chin. "You were going through the ground and surfaced in this place?"

The mole nodded frantically again, and it made a soft screeching sound again, which Jade translated loosely. "Shiny curious because the ground shaking! Brating!"

"Vibrating?"

"Yes!"Jade nodded together with the mole. "This place very quiet before, but suddenly shaking, and bug creatures come! Oh--that us!"

I looked around and understood immediately. This place looked like a savannah, but the kind that only small to medium animals lived in. The bigger ones were probably big cats or flight predators--nothing as big as a horse galloping swiftly.

I didn’t think there would be humans around here too. This path was intentionally left alone because there was nothing but a stone cliff at the end--you know, because no one supposedly knew that an organization existed behind that stone wall. The ground was not fit for agriculture, and I heard there would be a wide gorge between here and the nearest city, so it might be the mole’s first experience with...’big creature’ as it called us.

And it got attacked with a Salamander’s fireball right away.

Oh, poor thing.

"Why are you going so far from your home, anyway?" Ignis asked skeptically. "There’s nothing here."

The mole made another voice, and Ignis’s tone became a bit softer. "Oh, right--that mountain is a nice place. Is your home not a nice place anymore? It should be, right, considering you have this much mana."

The mole lowered its head to look at its belly, where the core was located. Ignis told me that this mole could process any kind of soil, rock, and metal, condensing them into a precious mineral.

Huh. Perhaps Jade did have a naming sense.

"Hmm...Shiny say lots of tall creatures back home now, looking for something. Shiny don’t like it."

"Tall creatures?"

"Like Papa!"

"Humans?"

The mole nodded, still tapping its belly. Ignis jumped from my shoulder to Jade’s, and the mole flinched again. But this time, Ignis intentionally reduced the flame around its head and gently touched the mole’s belly with the tip of its tail.

"How do you get this?"

A clanking sound could be heard when the mole clasped its metallic claws, and a series of low screeching came out of the no-longer-terrified mole. I waited patiently for the translation as the mole energetically conveyed its story, because the thought was flashing by so fast I couldn’t keep up with it.

"So you were lost while exploring your burrow, and then you entered big, complicated chambers? Lots of statues...stone paths...small holes in the corner--and?" Ignis took over the interpreter job. "Ball? You found a ball?"

The mole was making a circle with its claw; a bit too small for a ball, however. "Marbles?" I offered an alternative, but the mole, who probably never saw a marble before, only looked at me blankly.

"What happened after you found the ball?" Ignis pushed the story forward. "You stay there? The ball is warm and shiny, you said? Make you strong?"

"Strong, pain, and stronger!" Jade gasped. "Like Jade when Jade grow!"

I snapped my fingers. "So, the ball was what turned you into a magical beast?"

The mole nodded with sparkling eyes, before pointing at me. To be exact, pointing at my solar plexus. Same--I heard its thought. Similar. Nostalgic.

Huh?

"I think the mole is talking about your core," Ignis told me. "But I doubt it’s about your druid’s part."

Yeah; this place was far away from the realm of nature, so there was no way that ball had anything to do with a druid. Although...it could be something from the treasury.

No--I shook my head. Something from the treasury wouldn’t be lying around underground in a place that seemed like a ruin, since the humans would keep them as trophies.

Wait...

Ruin? A small ball that gave out power similar to what was etched in my core?

I gasped and took out one of the Goddess’ beads from my storage ring, showing it to the mole. The dark eyes immediately sparkled, and the metallic claws clapped enthusiastically. The mole nodded, almost jumped off Jade’s arms to reach out for the bead.

"Nuh-uh," I shook my head, and the mole clasped its mouth, covering its face as if embarrassed about its conduct. Oh look--it even had manners and whatnot. I patted the gray head and smiled. "Can you take us to where this bead is?"

The mole shrunk a little bit, looking hesitant. From how it immediately hid from us earlier, this little guy must have been traumatized. With the most reassuring smile I could muster, I spoke in confidence.

"Don’t worry. We’ll protect you from those tall creatures."