“So you are telling me she got drunk from your blood, right?”
“Yes… It seems that my blood has high alcohol content, maybe because it was modified.”
“That’s a convenient joke…but I won’t buy your crap.”
“Ahahaha…no seriously…”
“…”
After Diyu fell asleep, I carried her from outside the capital to the Demon Lord’s Castle. As one of the soldiers guarding the entrance saw us, he immediately called for a servant and had the servant prepared a room for Diyu.
I carried Diyu to her room prepared by the servants and lay her down myself. Nothing malicious happened, I swear.
It’s not that the personnel here is lax, but they know Diyu since she was young. Everyone here knew well that Diyu and Cattleya are childhood friends and so, they treat Diyu as someone on equal standing with Cattleya.
But I would appreciate it if they don’t gossip anything about us causing a huge misunderstanding…
And so, I returned where Susanoo and Cattleya are but…
“Susanoo, that aside…”
“…?”
“Why is the demon lord herself sleeping on your lap?!”
“She fell asleep. She must be really tired and filled with fatigue, and at the same time, really sad that she and Diyu had a fight.”
“…No, I understand that but, you could have called anyone to take her to her room.”
“…You wouldn’t understand Ichirou. I like doting on children.”
“Cattleya isn’t a child… she just looks like one.”
“I am well aware. She is as old as Diyu… but I think there’s nothing much difference between them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think they are both child.”
“…I think I kind of get what you are trying to say but… you are basically saying that Diyu is childish…”
“Isn’t that the case?”
“You’re not wrong. I guess she is a bit of a child.”
“Well, doesn’t matter. As long as they are my ally and they need help, I shall be there.”
“Wow… then you are also saying that you would be there to help me?”
“Fuck off…”
“Geh…”
Joke aside, It’s surprising to hear Susanoo speak about protecting or helping an ally. I think he was colder and indulging on his own interests. He did say he is fond of children, but that’s it. He never really cared for anyone. But right now, Susanoo is showing interest for others wellbeing.
Excluding me from those people, he seems to look out for Diyu too. No…it’s not the person he cared for…it was life…
I don’t know what kind of situation Susanoo has been but, he seems to have change for better. I like the way Susanoo now than before.
“You hold back yourself earlier. You could have snapped their necks in an instant, Susanoo. But you didn’t…why is that?”
“It’s funny coming from the Hero of Justice. You could have waltzed in there and massacre them.”
“I am not a hero of justice. There’s no hero of justice who always drink liquor.”
“…”
“I don’t want to show something unsightly to Cattleya.”
“See? The same reason as I.”
“…”
“I don’t want to…traumatize her. Also, she is putting so much effort. She wants to change everyone and everything. She wants to prove herself to those people. She wants to be recognized. It’s just a speculation but, those might be the reason too that Cattleya works hard and never breaks.”
“But…”
“Doing something like killing them would be disrespectful to her efforts.”
“I see…”
“And…politics is so much vast than you thought.”
“…”
“Killing one or two people in the system, or even everyone, won’t yield to anything good. People just ruin their own self after removing their competitors. People are always uncertain so they will always rely on brute force when in a pinch. I, as an assassin, have known many people who indulge in their own selfish interests for power, fame, and wealth.”
“…”
“In the end, they were nothing but trash in human guise. That’s how trashy our politics back in our own world.”
“You’re… more talkative… than I thought…”
“In times…but right now, I’m in a good mood.”
“Ahaha…”
“You always laugh weakly like that when you resign into something…”
“Ahahaha… sorry…”
Susanoo has already thought clearly about it. As for I, I am still furious for her plight. I cannot blame Diyu for getting angry at Cattleya for pushing herself over and over but, I cannot voice out any complaints too.
We’ve just met Cattleya, and not even a whole day passed yet.
I already know that we shouldn’t stick our nose to a place where it doesn’t belong. It will be up to Diyu to persuade Cattleya.
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They really should talk this thoroughly.
As I was contemplating, Cattleya slowly wakes up.
She saw Susanoo’s face first and felt a bit relieved. As she gets up from his lap, she then saw and…
“Hii!”
“Eh…”
She hid behind Susanoo while trembling when she saw me.
That hurts me a little…
Even so…those breasts do shakes violently.
“Hey…Where are you looking at, Ichirou?”
“Ahahaha…sorry…”
But seriously, those are some incredible knockers for her size.
As Cattleya realizes what she has done as she recognizes me from her dazed state, she became flustered and immediately bows down in front of me for an apology.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I am really rude! Please forgive me!”
“Um…No…it’s fine. You don’t have to apologize like that. It was might fault for being scary…”
“N-no…you’re not scary…appearance at least… You and Sir Susanoo are both handsome.”
“Oh. Thank you for the compliment! So, how do you feel now?”
“Ahh…sorry…I am a bit tired…even though I have slept for a while.”
“You should probably head to your room too. Diyu fell asleep too because of this and that… so I carried her to the room your servants prepared.”
“Thank you for being nice to Diyu. She can be difficult at times but she is really kind.”
“I know… I don’t want to keep you up. You should take rest now.”
“Yes, but, how about you two? You guys have taken care of Diyu…at least let me repay you guys for that. Please stay the night here! I’ll have the servant immediately prepare a comfy bed!”
“Thank you but, we are fine. I want to do something, right, Susanoo?”
“I’m ditching you.”
What?!
Susanoo you bastard! You just heard the word comfy bed and you are now ditching me?!
I can’t blame him, though. I just approach Susanoo and whispers at him.
“Hey…could you lend me some…coins there?”
“You are…going to drink again…?”
“T-that’s…part of it…”
“Nevermind, here…”
Susanoo hands me a pouch filled with coins.
Cattleya then speaks to me.
“Um…I’ll just have the servants prepare a room if ever you need room to stay.”
“No need to. I’ll just hang out in this room after I did my business outside.”
“I see. I will let the guard knows about it so they will let you enter…”
“…Is it really okay?”
“Muh?”
“What I am saying is that…how could you easily trust us?”
When I ask that question, Cattleya begins to panic and becomes flustered. It seems she already have an answer but too shy to tell it.
After panicking for a moment, she faces me and Susanoo and speaks out what’s in her mind while fidgeting…
“It’s true…that I just met… the two of you… At first…I was really…intimidated but…something tells me about that two of you…that…something about you guys…are…um… not from here… or…something like that…ahaha…sorry… but…my intuition tells me that…you guys are somewhat different…”
“Intuition huh…”
“Also…I need…strong people like you two! I…I have a favor to ask!”
“I see. We can hear about your favor in the morning. You look like really flustered. Don’t push yourself.”
“Un. Thank you…”
Scary!
Women’s intuition, at any age, is scary! There’s really no harm to let her know that we are summoned heroes, but better be safe than sorry. At least, I am thinking of their safety, not mine nor Susanoo.
…
So with that, I parted with Susanoo and Cattleya and headed out of the demon castle. I walk towards the street where Diyu and I were walking earlier.
Where am I going?
To the pub of course!
To collect information…and drink a little…
…
I arrive at the pub that I saw earlier. It has a weird sign but I am sure that it is one because of the smell and the atmosphere. I can hear a loud laugh from the patrons as they drink.
Of course, as I entered, I immediately drew attentions from the burly men sitting in some tables. Some are analyzing me and some are just staring quietly.
I walk my way to the bartender’s table and sat in one of the circular chairs.
The bartender just made a quick gaze at me and returned to his own business ignoring as four large men approach me. They are a gang of a demon, a dwarf, a beast kin who is a bear and another demon with weird skin color.
They patted me on the shoulder and sits beside me as if they are teaming up on me.
This is…really cliché…
“Hey there brother, you look like you are on your own.”
“In the pub of Gale and Manes, you don’t walk alone.”
“Strangers like you should know more about the place.”
“I say, brother, you have nice pecs and broad manly shoulders.”
“Pretty face boy, this ought to be interesting.”
Crap!
CRAP!!!
CRAAAAAAP!!!!
They aren’t here for the cliché Fight me situation!
My hair all over my body stands up and I am having the most incredible goose bump of my life!
“Ummm..I…I…”
“What is it, brother?”
“I…already have a lover…and I’m…hella straight…”
“Aw…too bad…”
“He does have a scent of a woman sticking into him”
“Let’s leave the man alone.”
They left…
Yes!!!
Wait…scent of a woman sticking into me?
Ah…
It must be Diyu’s scent. I have to give my gratitude to Diyu later.
As the four…uh…people left… The bartender with horns sticking out from his head approaches me with a worried face.
“Young man, are you alright?”
“Ahahaha… it kind of made a mental trauma but I will be fine.”
“I see…please don’t mind them anymore. If they ever approach you again, feel free to fight back.”
“I’ll keep your word of advice. For now, may I have some Ale?”
“Sure do young man.”
The bartender professionally filled a wooden mug with Ale from a barrel with the faucet. It feels really retro when I see a barrel with a faucet like that.
“So young man, what brought you here?”
“You already knew I have a motive.”
“Bartenders ought to be sharp.”
“Hmm…I see…Say…can you tell me about the state of demon capital?”
“I don’t know young man. I really don’t go out much.”
As the bartender told me that, his index finger was tapping the table…
Ah…
This kind of thing huh…
I brought out a single piece of silver coin and slide it under his finger.
“You see, the demon continent is a place with rich magical power reserve. Anyone who can use magic can use it almost infinitely as long as their stamina can hold.”
“Why is that?!”
“The demon continent or known as the Land of Mana Gathering is a burial place for powerful demon lords from the past. Their body is so powerful that their magical power is imbued to the land.”
“What about the current situation of the continent?”
“I’m sorry Young man, I don’t really keep track of the events around me.”
I handed another silver coin again…
This guy…
“Because of the previous demon lord, the land is desolate and the people are suffering from famine. The current Demon Lord is doing her best to keep our food resources intact. She is trying to keep the bonds between the leaders strong. But the council around her are…you know…shitty…”
“…”
“Rumors also tell that the devils attacks are getting fierce. They even said that there are a huge number of devils coming from the west too. Also, there are also rumors about…embezzlement inside the council…something like secret trade with one of the beast kin officials…”
“Embezzlement huh…then… What of the devils?”
“Sorry. I don’t really acquaint myself with fighting.”
I, again, handed another silver coin…
This is getting a bit shady…
“Have you heard about the Archdevils? They are devils evolving from normal devils by gaining Arcana powers. You should watch out for them Young man as they are extremely powerful. The adventurer guild doesn’t publicize that kind of information so this is kind of a special service for you.”
“I see…”
I take another sip of the Ale in my mug and gestured for another round.
Actually…this was my fifth Ale…I was drinking as he talks. It seems his information has its credibility…I guess…
Maybe I should have asked Diyu beforehand…
…
Wait…Diyu said something earlier…if I remember correctly…
“Uncle…do you know about the Blooming Thorn…?”
“Young man, I don’t quite remember well anything about it. Could you jog my memory a bit?”
……….
I materialize a dagger in my hand secretly and pass it over to him.
“This is…”
“As you can see, it’s holy dagger. I’m sorry but you can just pawn it yourself. It’s quite expensive but I really don’t need it anymore.”
“Dearly. Well, anyway, about the Blooming Thorn, yes?”
“…”
“To protect the face of the adventurers who went and tried to subjugate it, they tried to control the information from spreading out. Now, only a few people knew about what really happened to that incident.”
“Well…what…do you know?”
“As everyone knows, the Blooming Thorn is the one who killed the sealed immortal Baal in the Cave of Vortex. That reports are true, however, the identity of it was confidential.”
The bartender scoot closer to my ear as to whisper.
“You see, the identity of the Blooming Thorn, as what the adventurers said, was a little girl…with white hair and dazzling blue eyes bathing in blood.”
“…No way…”
“She was around nine years old and she was using weird power that melts the flesh of the living.”
“…Uncle…did they also described her with hair sticking out from both sides that look like an ear of rabbit flopping down to the sides?”
“I am sorry…that’s all they said…they can’t go into further details like that. Also, she is reported to be blind.”
“I see…”
As I drink my twentieth ale, I ordered some more variety of liquors he has to have a taste. Because I enjoyed myself, I didn’t realize the time.
As the bartender told me to leave, I immediately left as I am the only customer left and he wants to close.
I walk away from the pub.
…
The dagger that I gave the bartender earlier is one of my conjurations…
If I ever leave a certain range, the dagger will disappear. It would be too late for him to realize by that time…
Hehe…
………
I just hope the Blooming Thorn they spoke of is not Asagao…