My dear witch, please turn evil according to the script!

Chapter 285 Stealing a Precious Night

"Eh?"

Suren scratched the back of his head, not quite understanding what Roland meant.

Judging from their expressions... they didn't seem to be being mistreated, and they actually seemed to be getting along quite well.

It's really strange. Was that seemingly harmless old man, who was actually full of bad intentions, unexpectedly kind to these two?
I feel like something that belongs solely to me has been taken away from me, and I'm inexplicably unhappy about it.

Suren's feelings were somewhat complicated.

I'm happy that my friend wasn't mistreated, but I'm also upset that some of the love I feel from my elders has been taken away.

But she quickly adjusted her mindset.

After all, being unhappy about something like this is like a child being unhappy because their elders gave their candy to their friends.

This is not good.

In short, after learning that everything went smoothly, Suren breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that they didn't make things difficult for you. By the way, I heard that Roland, you had the legendary magic circuit implanted this time?"

"Wow, do these bio-alchemical products that only exist in theory and legend actually exist?"

Roland: “?”

Is this thing really that precious?

There were tons of discarded circuits or circuits that could be easily used with just a little modification that I saw in Russell's lab.

Wait a minute... I seem to have overlooked a problem.

That is, how many people in human society today still possess the technology to create and implant magic circuits?

After all, Russell's technology was technically inherited from the Holy Lagnacia Empire six hundred years ago.

Those were two of the only massive empires in the long history of humankind that almost unified all of humanity.

This period can almost be considered the second peak of human development.

At that time, alchemy and rune magic were still the mainstream practices for humanity.

Modern magic, after its refinement, will only emerge when the empire collapses, the former electors of the empire begin to fight their own battles, and are then defeated one by one by the Demon King's army.

Russell, who has lived from the Imperial era to the present, might not value these technologies so much.

But people in the last hundred years or so may not think that way.

After all, countless books have been lost during the millennia of war.

Historical texts are relatively few; what has been lost in large quantities is humanity's research on alchemy, magic, and runes over the past thousands of years!
Otherwise, humanity wouldn't have suddenly shifted to studying modern magic after the war.

There's really no way to inherit the wisdom of our predecessors.

Faced with Suren's surprise and curiosity, Roland could better understand just how valuable those techniques Russell spoke of as if he would teach anyone who wanted to learn them were.

Hmm... As the Grand Duke of the Empire, it seems I should take some responsibility for the Empire's education system.

I just don't know if Russell has any plans to offer courses.

Although Russell usually seems carefree, Roland could tell that he had his own principles and requirements when it came to taking on apprentices.

Let’s talk about it later anyway.

Once I've settled her debt issue, I won't have to worry about not being able to get her to teach a course at the college.
"Want to see it for yourself?" Roland smiled at Suren.

“I do want to, but… I’m not in a rush. You should spend more time with your fiancée. It’s been a month since you last saw her, hasn’t it?” Suren smiled at the two of them and then pushed them out of the hotel with both hands.

"Alright, alright, you two should go enjoy your time alone! Although the winter nights are cold, you can see some rare things there."

The two, who were forcibly pushed out of the hotel, were stunned for a moment, and then quickly left the scene under the gossipy gazes of the high-ranking paladins standing guard at the door.

Today, Isfar experienced an unusually quiet day without a blizzard.

Scattered snowflakes fell on the snow-covered streets, illuminated by streetlights, under the moonlight.

Roland and Iluvia strolled along the deserted street in silence.

They simply maintained this tacit, unawkward silence.

"call……"

Iluvia exhaled, her breath becoming clearly visible in the cold air and under the lamplight and darkness.

After a long silence, the woman broke it.

Iluvia moved closer to Roland, put her arm around his arm, and then slipped her hand into the pocket of his coat.

"Roland, it's been a long time since we've walked together on the street like this, hasn't it?"

"Hmm." Roland nodded without turning his head, even though the faint fragrance emanating from the princess had already entered his nostrils on the cold wind.

"Last time... was after the assessment, right?"

As Roland spoke, he stopped and leaned on his toes in the empty street.

Iluvia and Roland stopped in their tracks and replied, "Yes... it was late summer then, and the weather was terribly hot."

"Summer, even though it's only been half a year, it always feels like this period of time is much more complicated than the previous ten years of my life."

"I've met a lot of people and experienced a lot of things... It's like someone pressed the accelerator button on my life."

Roland gave a wry smile, then continued walking forward.

"Roland," Iluvia called softly, then tightened her grip on Roland's arm and rested her head on his shoulder. "You've worked hard."

"Why are you suddenly bringing this up?" Roland asked with a light laugh.

“…Is that not allowed?” The princess protested weakly, then continued, “I just feel it’s a little unfair to you.”

Roland picked up his other hand and began to vigorously ruffle Iluvia's hair until her clearly meticulously styled light chestnut hair was all tangled up.

"Aaaaaah! What are you doing?! I spent so long doing my hair!"

Iluvia, feeling slightly dizzy, offered futile verbal protests.

"A little punishment." Roland grinned mischievously as he withdrew his wicked little hand: "I've told you several times already, you're not allowed to offer those meaningless opinions."

"Ugh...you have to fix my hair!" Iluvia complained as she lifted her leg and gently kicked Roland's shin.

"Haha, I have no objection, but at most I can only tie my hair up with a hair tie."

Roland laughed, then turned to Iluvia: "Although I think your hair looks beautiful even with a simple style, you probably don't like it like that, do you?" "Tch...who, who said I, I don't like it?"

"Then I'll give it a try."

"Hey! We're still on the street!" Iluvia said, somewhat reluctantly. "At least find a quieter place..."

Roland tilted his head: "I'm just helping you tie your hair, right? Do you have to force me?"

"Alright, stick your head over here!"

"Well……"

Just as Roland grabbed Iluvia's long hair, he used an incredibly rough, yet surprisingly careful and meticulous, technique to secure it with a hair tie.

perhaps.

Looking at his hair, which was thick at the top and narrow at the bottom, resembling a horse's mane, Roland raised his hand to his chin and pondered: "It seems this job isn't as easy as it looks."

"Whatever it is! Hurry up and come adjust it, you idiot!"

Iluvia let out an angry shout, urging the suspect to come and clean up the crime scene.

After several adjustments, Roland finally completed a simple ponytail hairstyle.

However, Iluvia didn't seem very happy.

Could it be that……

Roland looked down at the few strands of hair in his hand...

"Iluvia, are you starting to lose your hair because you're so busy with official duties?"

"You ripped it off by force! Don't pull your hair so hard!"

Iluvia, who had given Roland a playful punch, immediately retorted!

"Sorry, sorry..." Roland laughed awkwardly, raising his hands in surrender.

Iluvia sighed helplessly, then laughed easily: "It seems like... it's been a long time since we've had such a happy time playing around."

"Or perhaps this is the first time you've been on such a stage?"

"The two of them walked down the street at night, acting like a normal couple, playfully teasing each other. Thinking about it carefully, it really was once."

Roland sighed softly, "Yes, if you count it that way, it really is the first time. Come to think of it, there are surprisingly few occasions where it's just the two of us."

"...You knew that too?" Iluvia pouted and gently nudged the male protagonist, who had finally realized his mistake. "Aren't you going to do anything to make it up to the person involved?"

"Shall we continue our walk? I still have plenty of time tonight."

"Hmph! That's more like it. Let me show you around Isfar. Although the reconstruction isn't finished yet, it's still nice to tour an unfamiliar city, isn't it?"

"Haha, I don't find this place particularly unfamiliar... After all, the last time I entered the main city, it was full of deformed monsters..."

"Alright, tell me about your experience back then, I haven't heard it before."

……

West Tower City.

The Blood Demon Lord had a rare nightmare.

A past he doesn't want to recall.

Even though the Blood Demon's bloodline technique is to manipulate blood, he should be used to being with blood.

but……

When his thoughts returned to that morning more than three hundred years ago, to the day he plunged his hand into his father's unresisting chest, to the day his sister roared and fought him off, snatching his father's dying body, his thoughts were still somewhat complicated.

He hasn't dreamed in a long time.

[Father, I've come to kill you—]

But when those words appeared in his dream, he still couldn't help but imagine the scene from that day.

After a brief moment of melancholy, he looked at the pink-haired, horned girl standing in front of the bed with murderous intent: "You know what you've done, right?"

"A means of secretly targeting a ruler of a royal court in an attempt to exert control."

"Is the Demon King's Court no longer going to hide its ambitions?"

The girl didn't answer, but just looked at Danso uneasily.

Danso knew that the girl in front of him was just a puppet, and that he was not talking to the girl, but to the mastermind behind her.

"Heh... Surte has already reported the whole story to the Royal Council. See you at the vote, Blood Demon."

A sinister middle-aged man's voice rang out, and then the girl was swept into a spatial vortex and disappeared.

Only after the girl disappeared did the Blood Demon Lord, who was still in Xita City, go out to check the situation.

The Wang Tingjun he brought was unharmed; he had simply fallen into a deep sleep and showed no signs of being controlled.

But the people in the city...

Watching those who refused to participate in his talent recruitment program all die in his home, their bodies without any external injuries, but their souls completely destroyed.

This is a typical method of punishing one's inner demons.

Danso remained silent for a long time, then closed his eyes with some hesitation.

The Blood Demon King's Court has reached a critical moment of life and death... Must I follow in my father's footsteps?
Fortunately, she had no children.

This strange thought popped into Danso's mind.

Realizing something was wrong, Danso quickly banished the thought from his mind.

Next, he used bloodline magic to create a blood puppet that was almost identical to himself in every way except for its strength.

"We'll leave this in the army and use it to return to the capital of Plataea via the back road."

"As for the main body... we must contact the old lich and the stinky stone immediately."

"At worst, I'll drag these two brothers along and rebel with us! With the Demon King on board, who dares to say that my side isn't the legitimate royal court?"

"Done!"

(End of this chapter)