The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 673: While fishing a big one, it is advised to recruit as many resources as we can

Chapter 673: While fishing a big one, it is advised to recruit as many resources as we can

For a few seconds, there was only silence. The one who broke it was a certain little boy.

"Stan! Papa, are we going to see Stan?" Jade stood up and started to jump up and down on the couch, before stopping and gasping. "Shiny too??"

I told Jade to calm down and asked the orb. "Neel?"

[I’m done with my research, but I won’t know whether I can do it until I see the golem’s system] the half-naga said. [So, I should at least see it first. If I can do it, then we’ll proceed right away]

"Ah, okay!"

"Then, get ready and come here," Natha told her.

Right--unfortunately, Tsalinade was too busy practicing with the spear to make some trans-realm teleportation scroll. So, to get to that ruin, we had to go to that city first through the portal in the bank. I couldn’t use Uncle Sol’s token either since Zarfa was in another place.

But Neel, who hated going out so much, replied quickly. [Alright]

The communication orb dimmed, and I turned toward Natha. "Nat, umm--"

Honestly, the only one who needed to be there was Neel. I could just send someone who knew the place and, as long as I gave her something with my mana on it, Shiny would come to guide her to Stan.

But that would be quite irresponsible, right? I mean...I was the one requesting this job.

That being said, leaving the base to do something else while the grand plan was in progress felt uncomfortable. Not to mention...

"Go," Natha said with a chuckle, pointing at the squirming bundle in my arms with his chin. "I’ll take care of Shwa."

Yeah. The biggest problem--even bigger than my guilt of leaving the base while my friends were hard at work--was this son of ours.

"Shwa..." I looked down and stroked the plump, pink cheek. "Papa needs to go."

"Aaah?"

"It’s something important, so I have to go," I swayed the baby in my arms and spoke with my best coaxing voice. "I promise I won’t take long this time, okay? Just one or two days, I promise!"

As if he understood what I was saying, Shwa frowned slightly. "Waa..."

"If Shwa want to come, Shea have to grow big like Jade first!" my firstborn bragged with a giggle, poking the baby’s plump cheek.

"Whether or not Neel can do it during those two days, I’ll return--promise!" I raised my pinky, hooking it with the baby’s tiny fingers. "So...can you promise me not to cry too much?"

"Waa!"

Shwa responded with a giggle, perhaps because I was swaying our hooked fingers.

I shall take that as a good sign.

"Really? Promise, okay?"

Natha chuckled and joined in stroking the baby’s hair. "Even if he cries, I’ll manage it somehow."

"How reliable," I laughed and kissed his cheek in gratitude, before looking down again and whispered. "Stay with Daddy for a few days, okay?"

Who knows? Perhaps the process could be done in less than a day. Or perhaps it was so complicated Neel had to study again. If that happened, we could return quickly.

I hope so anyway, because I’d feel anxious not knowing about what happened with the others.

Anyway, it did seem like Shwa had returned to his original setting. I put my hope in the fact that Shwa no longer felt anxious when I left the Castle--only became fussy if I did not come back before the twilight. Hopefully, he only got fussy at night when he realized I did not return--if I did not return.

I was wrong.

Because I stood there, in front of the carriage that would bring me, Jade, and Neel--who had turned her tail into a pair of legs temporarily and wore a human disguise--to the bank in the city, while facing my protesting child.

"Uwaa...waaa! Waaaaah!"

Shwa did not cry, but the baby was sure as hell could scream. Perhaps we should record this voice and use it as an alarm.

"No, no, no," I hooked my fingers on Shwa’s again while he was in Natha’s arm. "I’ll be back tomorrow, baby. Just sleep tight with Daddy tonight, okay?"

"Wah!"

The scream of protest did not wane, even after I peppered kisses on his face. He was scowling angrily, looking at me in betrayal, but...all I could see was mini Natha sulking, so it only looked adorable.

Natha chuckled and used the sulky baby’s arm to wave at us. "Good luck."

"Good luck with him," I smiled wryly. He’d need it more than me. I took Jade’s hand and turned to enter the carriage before Shwa started shedding tears. "Let’s go."

"Go! Go!"

* * *

Our journey was comprised of portaling to Natha’s bank in Dailamy, before using a teleportation scroll to our previous base--that Midas’s hotel we used before. I had told Zarfa about this sudden schedule, and she told the hotel manager for me, so a staff had already been waiting for us with Choco.

Yeah. We left Choco in that hotel because the horse refused anyone but me. I got to think of a way to bring this horse over to the Demon Realm. Maybe once Tsalinade was done with this mission. It was hard because Choco was just a regular horse, and the mana in trans-realm teleportation would torture it.

Anyway, we rode Choco to the ruin, and Neel kept grumbling about how she would definitely finish her portable fortress after taking care of the golem.

To be fair, maintaining her legs was using a lot of mana, so she looked tired. Skin and hair could be disguised by glamour, but not her snake-part bottom part, which needed transfiguration skill. Fortunately, she had it.

"Ugh--crowd," she grumbled when we had to queue to enter the ruin, after sending Choco back with one of Heraz’s subordinates. I had to tell the horse to be obedient, but she managed to listen to the shapeshifter.

"Hold on a bit--we’ll be alone once we’re inside," I whispered.

I had thought that Neel might be excited seeing other humans, but her social aversion was greater than her longing for humanity--she said. Besides, what was the point of seeing a lot of humans when she wasn’t one herself? She said she was starting to learn to love herself too, so...

Once we were inside, I hurriedly moved to a deserted chamber and called out for our local resident. It didn’t take long--about five minutes--before the cute little head was poking out of the corner.

Chii!

"Shiny!"

[Shiny!] Jade, who had already turned into a bird since the city, hovered around the mole.

Chii chii chii!!!

[Jade miss you too!]

"Sush," I caught them and hissed. "We can do this later. For now, let’s go to Stan quickly. Shiny, can you take us through a different route? Not the narrow one."

Chii!

"You can?"

Chiichi!

"Oh--you’ve explored a lot more? Good mole!" I chuckled at how proud the mole looked. Well, it did deserve praise. "Let’s go to Stan right away."

Chii!

As promised, Shiny brought us through the nearest path to the stairs leading down to the second level. The traps on the first floor had been dismantled by the previous teams, so it was a quick journey. Not so for the second level.

Apparently, people had yet to finish even half of the second floor, so the journey was slowing down considerably. Shiny remembered the trap’s location, fortunately, but I still had to take care of the beasts we hadn’t killed before.

Eh--who cared? We didn’t need the decoy anymore.

Rather than splitting the lake, I turned the water into ice and made a bridge to cross. This time too, we did not bother crawling through the pet door, and used the medallion in my possession to open the huge door.

"Oof!" I coughed at the flying dust as the heavy door slid open. "Finally..."

"Are we...there yet?"

Neel was panting while gulping mana supplement, and I patted her back. "Yeah, you can change back now."

Immediately, a pair of legs turned into a snake tail. It was rather weird since her top part was still disguised as a human, but then again, there was no one there. "Phew..."

[Stan!] Jade flew inside and also turned into a little boy. "Stan! Jade is here!"

In response to the energetic call, a set of heavy footsteps came from the corner of the arena, and the big, robot-like figure emerged. "Hello, Jade," the heavy, low-tone, neighborhood uncle-like voice was truly nostalgic. "Greeting, Chosen One."

"Hey, Stan!" I patted the golem’s knee. "I brought someone to take a look at your commandment program."

"Is it this one?" the golem’s head lowered, and Neel flinched slightly since it felt like a huge boulder suddenly falling above our heads. She clutched the back of my cloak as Stan spoke again. "A demon..."

Her clutch on my cloak was getting tighter. "Why? Are you programmed to be discriminatory based on race?"

I could hear the scowl in her voice, and I thought...ah, I should have explained this whole thing first to Stan. While Stan had met Heraz before, the shapeshifter was in a human disguise. This would be Stan’s first time encountering someone in a demon form, and when he was a golem made for the Goddess...

"Umm, Stan--"

"No," the low voice replied flatly like always. "It is my first time seeing one."

There was no aggression in his voice. Actually--there was no aggression in his stance from the start. I guessed...we were just being presumptuous because of the bad relationship between the humans and demons.

Haa...even after getting back and forth between realms, I was still caught up in prejudice. Stupid Valen.

"Ah..." Neel loosened her clutch on my cloak. It seemed like she was also feeling guilty for the assumption. "Ahem. I’m sorry for being aggressive."

"Getting offended is not in my programming," the golem simply answered.

Wow. Oh, but that means he was also not programmed with auto-attack against non-humans...right? Huh...maybe the Goddess wasn’t so bad after all.

"Ahem," Neel cleared her throat in embarrassment. "Can I take a look now?"

"You can," Stan replied and carefully took a seat on the floor so Jade and Shiny, who were in the middle of climbing his leg, wouldn’t topple over from the impact. "The rune code should be carved on the back of my neck."

"Can he still talk while you’re checking?" I asked curiously.

"While I’m checking, yes," Neel replied while sliding onto Stan’s palm. "If I modify it...him, the system will need to be put to sleep."

"Alright," I nodded. At least, I wouldn’t have to watch in boredom. Besides, I wanted to catch up with this golem too. "How are you, Stan?"