Ch.368[Episode 368] Tailing

Sir Dominic was like an impregnable fortress.

“Is it because it’s daytime? Then what about at night?”

“I’m fine.”

“Come on, the code of chivalry only says to refrain from it, not to refuse it completely.”

“Alcohol only dulls the senses. If you had many things to forget, perhaps I’d understand, but when all your memories are pleasant ones, what’s the point of drinking?”

Lady Alice had started this as a joke, but now she was becoming stubborn.

“Won’t you do it as a favor to your former lord?”

“…”

Finally, Lady Alice resorted to her secret weapon.

The secret weapon of persuading Sir Dominic by leveraging their past connection.

Surprisingly, this secret weapon seemed effective on Sir Dominic, as he couldn’t respond immediately like before.

“…”

Sir Dominic’s silence lasted for quite some time.

Perhaps he was constrained by his own words.

Lady Alice, wanting to ease his burden, gave him a little leeway.

“If it’s difficult, you can refuse.”

“Then I refuse.”

“Oh, come on!”

Sir Dominic promptly expressed his refusal, as if he had been waiting for her words.

“Why are you putting up such a wall? What’s the big deal about having one drink?”

Lady Alice finally exploded.

No matter how much Alice’s personality had softened while working as a Star, her frustration when things kept going wrong wasn’t much different from that of mortals.

Perhaps it was because she was originally a mortal herself.

Anyway, Sir Dominic flinched momentarily at Lady Alice’s words, then stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Even he thought it strange to put up such a wall against an old acquaintance.

Why, why?

As Sir Dominic sank into thought to find the reason, suddenly one person’s face came to mind.

The face of the person called Hime.

“…Hmm.”

Sir Dominic didn’t know why Hime’s face was the first to come to mind, but he pushed it to a corner of his thoughts.

He didn’t think it was particularly important for solving the current problem.

But somehow his thoughts kept wandering.

Finally, Sir Dominic surrendered to Alice.

“I don’t know either. There doesn’t seem to be a reason to refuse so stubbornly…”

Just then, Sir Dominic suddenly noticed two pairs of eyes watching him and Alice.

Two people peeking out from behind a wall in the alley, poorly hidden.

“Um, would you excuse me for a moment?”

Sir Dominic asked Alice for understanding and walked toward Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and the Hero who were staring at him for some reason.

Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and the Hero didn’t realize they had been spotted even as Sir Dominic approached, only realizing they’d been discovered when he stood right in front of them.

“Why were you hiding and watching us?”

“!”

“…!”

The Demon Lord and Hero looked at Sir Dominic with surprised eyes, as if wondering how he had found them.

Of course, from their perspective, it was perfect surveillance, but to others, it was incredibly obvious.

The Demon Lord and Hero, seemingly flustered, began taking small steps in circles, then started dancing like troubled Indians.

It was a dance they had learned from a children’s program they watched recently, which supposedly solved problems when danced.

But would dancing really solve their problem?

They were simply having fun while still unable to escape the situation.

Finally, the Demon Lord and Hero looked at each other, then faced Sir Dominic with determined expressions.

As if they had decided to break through head-on.

That’s when it happened.

“Oh? Who are these children?”

A woman’s voice was heard from behind Sir Dominic.

Alice had followed Sir Dominic to approach the Demon Lord and Hero.

Alice’s eyes lit up at the sight of the small, chibi-like little Demon Lord and Hero she had never seen before.

For some reason, despite feeling slightly uncomfortable, her first instinct upon seeing something soft and cute was to hug it.

Alice ended up embracing and lifting the Demon Lord and Hero, who were confused by the appearance of this new person.

Both were light and soft, so it wasn’t difficult for Alice to lift them simultaneously.

“My goodness. They’re so squishy.”

Alice was delighted by their otherworldly softness.

So much so that she forgot about Sir Dominic’s wall-like refusal just moments ago.

The Demon Lord and Hero, startled by Alice suddenly lifting them, flailed their short limbs briefly before going limp.

Given Alice’s considerable height, they might hurt their knees or elbows if they struggled and fell.

Instead, Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and the Hero chose to relax in Alice’s arms.

“Who are these children? Are they acquaintances of Sir Dominic?”

Alice, seemingly more pleased with these well-behaved children, grinned while nuzzling their cheeks.

Watching this, Sir Dominic began explaining about Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and the Hero.

“They are Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and the Hero. Despite their names, they’re quite harmless… that’s how you should think of them. Though I don’t know why they were watching us like they were following us…”

Sir Dominic looked closely at Teu Le Vante and the Hero.

Teu Le Vante and the Hero began flailing their limbs again, as if trying to explain why they had followed Sir Dominic.

“!”

“?”

“…!”

“!”

Sir Dominic still couldn’t understand the language of Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and the Hero, but he roughly translated their feelings to Alice.

“They were just passing by-“

“They were just passing by when they saw a new Star and were curious. They know all the Stars in Gachaland, but seeing an unfamiliar one, they wanted to know who it was but were too shy to approach. Then they were caught by Sir Dominic. So now, they’re being held like this. Therefore, kuk! Kill us!…is what they’re saying?”

Alice fluently translated the Demon Lord and Hero’s words.

She even perfectly translated the parts where they stumbled over their words.

“!”

“?”

“How did I understand what they said? Well… after becoming a Star, I studied the native language of demon tribes as a second language. Since Feralant suffered from demon invasions, I wanted to learn more about them.”

Lady Alice said this while tilting her head, as if something felt off.

“But why are they using an ancient language?”

“…Isn’t it because they’re a Demon Lord and Hero?”

“Ah.”

Alice looked down at Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and the Hero again at Sir Dominic’s words.

“But they don’t look like a Demon Lord at all.”

“This is Gachaland. I suppose they’re different from the Demon Lords we know?”

“I guess so…”

Alice nodded at Sir Dominic’s words.

In Feralant, a Demon Lord referred to the Dimension Devourer Legion, but here it seemed somewhat different.

Alice looked down at the Demon Lord and Hero once more.

The two were as docile as cats and dogs in Alice’s arms, and whenever Alice stared at them, they looked up at her with clear, sparkling big eyes.

That appearance stimulated some kind of… maternal instinct in Alice.

“If Sir Dominic hadn’t died back then, would I have had children about this size?”

“…? What did you say?”

“No, nothing.”

Alice said this as she put the Demon Lord and Hero back down.

The Demon Lord and Hero waited patiently to be put down, but then remembering they had an errand to run, they started struggling again.

“!”

“!”

As soon as their feet touched the ground, the Demon Lord and Hero gave a deep bow to Sir Dominic and Alice, then ran off into the distance.

Their minds were filled with the thought that they needed to run their errand before it got too late.

The fact that they said goodbye in the midst of this showed that the Demon Lord and Hero were quite polite.

Of course, it was a bit strange for a Demon Lord to be polite.

Alice silently watched Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and the Hero disappear into the distance.

With a somewhat blank expression.

“By the way, I didn’t know the Demon Lord and Hero were acquainted with Stars.”

Sir Dominic said, looking in the direction where the Demon Lord and Hero had disappeared.

“Come to think of it, there’s a lot we don’t know about the Demon Lord and Hero. Sometime I should meet with the Chief of Staff…”

Sir Dominic said this while looking at Alice.

And he found Alice standing there with a blank face, as if her soul had left her body.

“…My lord?”

“Huh? Oh. Yes. What?”

Sir Dominic, worried about Alice’s strange state, grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

Alice finally came to her senses.

“Are you alright? You suddenly went blank…”

“Ah, I’m fine. Just…”

Lady Alice looked once more in the direction where the Demon Lord and Hero had disappeared.

“I was thinking it would be nice if I had children like that too…”

Alice said, half-serious and half-joking.

In fact, that wasn’t the reason she had gone blank.

She was shocked by what the Demon Lord and Hero had said at the end.

‘Have a good date, you two!’

‘You make such a great couple. You are dating, right?’

To Sir Dominic’s ears, it would have just sounded like ‘!’, but Alice, who knew the language precisely, could understand the meaning.

A great couple, they said. Alice recalled those words and felt her face flush again.

Whether aware of this or not, Sir Dominic made an insensitive remark.

“…Were you single?”

“…Yes.”

Alice nodded at his words.

“That’s why I keep offering you a drink.”

Lady Alice gathered her courage and said to Sir Dominic.

“Won’t you give me one chance?”

“…”

One bold statement from Lady Alice.

Sir Dominic, surprised by the sudden attack, couldn’t say anything.

Seeing his dumbfounded expression, Alice watched his reaction, then began to laugh.

“I’m joking. I just wanted to have a drink, so don’t worry too much about-“

“-I’ll kill her.”

“…Huh?”

Alice suddenly realized she felt a chilling sensation behind her.

And she noticed something dripping down her neck, drop by drop.

“All I could think about was killing whoever confessed to Sir Dominic before me…”

Additionally, she realized that the person behind her was a woman gritting her teeth.