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

Chapter 371 Don't put out the fire yet, let me burn and pretend to be the Flame Demon first.

After receiving a definitive answer from Cellina, Roland took a deep breath.

Then, due to the excessive movement of the chest and abdomen, the slightly recovered muscles and blood vessels were pulled, resulting in severe pain.

"Cough cough cough... It's not a big problem... At least we're safe for now, right?"

Cellina nodded: "For now."

"That's good." Roland finally breathed a sigh of relief: "The backlash from overusing powers that don't belong to me is quite severe, and it will take me some time to fully recover."

"Based on the current progress, I should be able to regain my normal mobility by tonight."

"But casting spells and fighting... I doubt it. If it weren't for the magic circuits implanted beforehand, Xiao Yuan would probably be ruined... cough cough cough..."

Roland gave a wry smile and said, "It seems I'll have to ask you to take care of my security again after a long time, Miss Bodyguard."

“…Don’t you really want to eat?” Cellina looked at Roland, her expression somewhat hesitant.

It was unclear why Cellina suddenly started rambling incoherently, as if she had been possessed by Kalia and was obsessed with food.

But when Roland saw the eager excitement in Cellina's eyes, he nodded: "Okay... I am indeed a little hungry."

"However, this trip was impromptu, and we didn't bring much food with us, so let's eat sparingly."

"It's just bad luck... There are so many places where you can teleport, but you ended up in Enwa."

Upon hearing this, Cellina immediately stood up, then jogged out of the room after opening the door.

Are you going to prepare food?

The timing was perfect; I could try to fuse with that fragment of divinity.

Therefore, he specifically asked the silent Tongzi if fusing with the divine fragments would cause any disturbance.

Only after receiving a negative answer did he feel relieved enough to begin the fusion process.

The fusion process proceeded very smoothly, as if the thing had always belonged to Roland, and was not affected in any way.

Perhaps it's because it's unclaimed?

Never mind.

After the divine fragments merged with him, Roland felt a warmth within his body, and the fire on his body seemed to burn even brighter.

The flames that were originally just attached to the surface of Roland's body now leaped up, fiercely as if they wanted to burn Roland to ashes.

If the flames hadn't failed to keep the bed beneath Roland afloat, Roland would have started to panic by now.

However, with his body burning so intensely that his face was barely visible, he felt he could easily impersonate the Flame Demon.

Tsk...right, being in enemy territory, you also have to consider the issue of disguise.

It seems we should ask Celinina if she has any ideas.

I wonder if her headband can be used backwards, for example, to disguise a human as a demon. Anyway, she doesn't need to pretend to be a demon here.

After fusing the fragments, Roland felt his body become lighter.

The damage to the small parts of the body was repaired in a short time, and the muscles and blood vessels in the key areas began to return to normal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Although he still cannot use magic smoothly, his innate spells have also been greatly reduced in power due to the damage to his body and the resulting decline in his mental strength.

He can only use runic magic and a portion of the World Tree's power. He can't even use Blink.

"These are truly serious injuries..."

"Overusing magic can even worsen the injury."

"It seems that it's best to stay hidden until I've fully regained my mobility."

Roland sighed, struggled to sit up, and then, despite his aching muscles, chose to lie back down.

Although I can move around with difficulty, I'd better lie down for a while longer.

Although the pain has changed from excruciating to aching and swelling, discomfort is still unavoidable.

Not long after Roland lay back down, Cellina's footsteps came running back from outside.

He was holding a stone pot, I don't know where he found it.

The stone pot was steaming and had a pleasant aroma.

"Roland! You...you...you...why is the fire on your body burning even brighter!?"

After bursting in excitedly, Cellina was so startled by the flames on Roland's body that she almost dropped the pot of hot soup she was holding.

Roland waved his hand: "It's nothing. The power of the rune has been activated and it's starting to accelerate the healing of my injuries. Look, it can't even burn this folding bed."

Cherlinina stammered, "But...but you look almost exactly like a Balrog right now!"

“That’s perfect. Until my injuries are fully healed, at least I don’t have to worry about my identity being exposed because of my appearance, right?” Roland was quite optimistic.

It's just an extra layer of special effects; it doesn't do any damage, so it's not a big problem.

"What did you do? How could you find ingredients in a place like this?"

Roland was very curious about what they would have for lunch today.

"Mushroom soup!" After seeing that Roland was alright, except that the burning effect on his body was a bit more intense, Cellina moved the bookcase that was originally used to block the door and placed the stone pot on it.

“I suddenly remembered that before my family was wiped out, there was a basement where we stored food.”

"Although most of the food was no longer edible, some mushrooms seemed to have started to reproduce on their own due to the relatively warm and damp environment of the basement."

"I checked it, there's no poison, it's perfectly safe to eat... I just don't know what it tastes like."

"I still have some dry food on me, let me have a meal with some hot soup."

Roland smiled, though the smile was barely visible due to the flame effects, but his tone still revealed his surprise: "I didn't expect you to be able to cook, and it smells pretty good."

"When you're in exile, cooking for yourself is an essential skill, right?" Cellina said, taking two iron cups out of her storage ring.

"We don't have bowls, so let's make do with cups for now."

As she spoke, Cellina began ladling a cup of hot soup into the pot, with a few grayish-white mushrooms floating on top.

It appears to be a type of mushroom similar to button mushroom.

"Do you want me to feed you?" Cherlinina asked quite naturally. "If you can't get up, I'll feed you."

"no need."

Roland said, barely managing to stand up. He took the cup of hot soup from Cellina and the bread that had hardened a little from her.

Instead of immediately eating the bread, Roland took a sip of the mushroom soup and then froze in place. Seeing Roland drink the hot soup, Cellina excitedly asked, "How does it taste?!"

"This mushroom soup...it really is mushroom soup." After a long silence, Roland finally managed to utter a comment that was difficult to decipher.

He couldn't describe the taste.

Well... it's hard to describe.

Of all the mushrooms he had eaten in his past and present lives, none were as special as the one he was eating now.

The moment Roland drank the soup, only peace filled his mind.

Ah... the taste of mushrooms.

Yes, it is like that.

It tastes exactly like mushrooms should.

It's not bad to eat; some parts are even quite delicious.

But it's hard to describe.

Cellina quickly asked, "Is it good?"

"It tastes good... Have you tried it?"

"Not yet." Cellina shook her head, then picked up her cup, scooped up a spoonful of hot soup, and took a sip.

"!!!"

Cellina was startled and looked down at the familiar yet unfamiliar mushroom ingredient.

Why does it taste different from what I tasted before my family was destroyed?

She recognized the mushroom; it was a particularly resilient mushroom unique to the North.

It's slightly chewier than regular mushrooms and has a very umami flavor.

but now……

It's not that it's gotten worse.

Rather, the umami flavor seemed to have undergone some subtle change.

Although it doesn't affect the overall taste... it seems to lack something special.

It tastes ordinary, just like the mushroom soup you'd imagine.

"Ah...it really is a mushroom soup that tastes like mushroom soup..."

Although this assessment might seem meaningless to outsiders, the two people drinking the soup had already reached a silent consensus.

After finishing his dry rations with a simple pot of hot soup, Roland, burning with rage, looked at Cellina and said, "Now that we're in the North, there's no need to keep up the disguise, right?"

"In fact, if you continue to maintain your disguise, you'll be more likely to be exposed."

Reminded by Roland, Cellina belatedly realized what was happening and reached out to touch the headband on her head.

She forgot.

Having lived in the human world for far longer than she had in the demon society, Cherinina had become accustomed to this life of maintaining a facade.

So much so that the headband seemed to become a part of her body.

The last time I didn't keep my disguise up in front of others was back in Blackthorn Territory.

She had only known Roland for a short time and was trying to extract information about the Primal Runestone from him when she was taking a bath in Kalia's treehouse.

After hesitating for a moment, Cellina took off her headband.

With a bang, a pair of black pointed ears appeared on Cherlinina's head, and a black tail of just the right length sprouted from behind her.

"Don't you find this strange?" Cherlinina turned her head away, somewhat unaccustomed to it.

Damn it, I didn't think anything of it before... why am I starting to get nervous now?

"Why do you find it strange?" Roland tilted his burning head, and the flames on his head began to flicker.

"Compared to before, you've only gained a pair of ears and a tail, right?"

"At most, it's just missing a headband."

"Everything else is the same as usual, right?"

Cellina paused for a moment, then asked, "Um... are you really planning to impersonate the Balrog like this?"

"The Flame Demon is different from ordinary demons; it is essentially a high-level elemental spirit."

"What holds their bodies together are the three core magic cores within them."

"In essence, they can only be considered elemental spirits with souls, not complete life forms."

"You look... too complete."

Roland continued, "Wouldn't it be easier to just add some disguise? It's just three magic points, isn't it?"

As he spoke, Roland began to slowly manipulate the flow of magic within his body. From Cellina's perspective, Roland already had three magic core-like aggregates on his body.

Roland laughed: "After all, I have fought against the ruler of the Flame Demon Royal Court. Although we have never actually met, I still have some understanding of the special magical properties of the Flame Demon race."

"Although it's impossible to completely replicate it, it's still possible to fake a similar effect."

Cellina fell silent.

You know what, you really have to admit, Roland's body was so engulfed in flames that he was almost unrecognizable as a human; you could only make out a vague outline of him.

However, there is still one problem that must be solved in the disguise of the Balrog – the Balrog race has a very small population.

In other words, most of the fire demons, who each have a name and possess intelligence, know each other.

Roland clearly lacked this social network.

After she pointed out this potential problem, Roland waved his hand dismissively: "It's alright, just pretend for now, and we can change our identity if we get exposed."

"Doesn't the Blood Demon look a lot like a human?"

"It's just that its ears are a bit more pointed like an elf's, and its eyes are still red."

"We can handle it with a little disguise."

"Especially before my injuries heal, I have to burn these flames to recover. I have to burn them anyway, so I might as well use them as a temporary disguise so I can escape in time if something goes wrong."

(End of this chapter)