20 So…Is this what people called a date?

Ah…a familiar ceiling.

Again, I woke up feeling drained yet comfortable at the same time. Again, the sun had drowned the room in a brilliant light, and by the condition of my stomach, it was way past breakfast already.

For all I knew, I had skipped lunch too.

"Haa...I feel so lazy..."

Sinking my body into the soft mattress, I turned my head to the space beside me. But this time, I wasn't greeted by the sight of the Demon Lord's exposed chest and sculpted abs like before.

Too bad.

Instead, the Demon Lord made his presence known through his voice. "Feeling alright?" he was standing at the entrance leading to the bath chamber, and I had to crane my neck to be able to feast upon his handsome visage.

He was not in a nightrobe anymore, already in a proper outfit, albeit more casual than his usual attire.

Still...too bad.

"...hungry," was what I said after a long pause. "What time is it?"

"A little bit after lunch," he walked to the bed, but instead of approaching the mattress, he stopped in front of the bedside table instead.

It was then that I realized there was a box sitting atop the table. Natha drummed his fingers on the box before informing me of its identity. "I retrieved your belonging."

Belonging. I couldn't help but stiffen at that.

I didn't have any belonging.

I stared blankly at the box, the gears in my mind turning so sluggishly in the morning—afternoon. Or maybe it was because I was hungry.

The Demon Lord, seeing my blank reaction, kindly put the box, as well as himself, on the mattress. He brushed my fringe, and the cold hand stopped there for a while, probably checking my temperature.

"You should eat something," he said finally. "Let's just have a meal here."

He rubbed my chin for a bit, and then stood up and walked out of the room. It gave me a chance to open the box and perused the content without any observing eyes. Once I saw the stuff in the box, I immediately recognized this jarring feeling of dissociation.

Of course. It was Valmeier's belonging.

No wonder I couldn't register the word 'belonging' when I heard it the first time. Because none of it 'belonged' to me. They were things I had no emotional attachment to.

An old picture of little Valmeier and the priest who took him in. A notebook filled with Valmeier's study on light attribute magic and the way to utilize the Spear of Judgment. The debt contract that I'd rather burn to smithereens. Letters and postcards from the nuns and the old—now dead—priest, as well as some from his old frontline unit. A few trinkets, probably souvenirs from the soldiers and some people he saved in the past.

But the one taking the most space was another box. It was a plain wooden box without any decoration, but had been kept well. There was only one thing stored in there; the military tag of the dead soldiers under his command.

I stared at those tags, hoping that probably some kind of emotion would be stirred inside of my heart. Some kind of reaction, from the remnant of the supposedly dead Valmeier's soul.

But there was nothing.

I knew the memory, I could recall every face of the owner of the tags, and recite the letters with Valmeier's perfect memory. But they felt like a scene in a movie, or a text in a novel. While they invoke some kind of emotion, nothing felt personal.

This box, and the stuff within it, just reminded me that I wasn't Valmeier. That I had nothing. That I had no one. That I was in a completely strange place, in a strange body with a power that I didn't really understand.

"Why are you making such a difficult face?"

Without being aware of it, Natha had already sat himself on the edge of the bed, tilting his head to peer at me. His fingers reached out to rub the crease between my eyebrows, while his lips stretched into a gentle smile.

I wonder what kind of thought he sensed from me this time.

"Do you want me to put that away?"

Wow. That much?

Wordlessly, I closed the box, and he swiped his hand over its surface. And just like that, the weight vanished from my lap; the same weight dissipated from my heart.

"...thank you," I lifted my head, and for the first time since waking up, looked into his eyes.

The silver orbs were warm today, as if the owner was in a good mood. And the thin lips parted for a chuckle, before landing a cold sensation on my gradually warming cheek.

"If you're grateful, then do something for me," he brushed a stray hair from my cheek, and combed my messy bed hair.

My eyes narrowed as I stared at the playful gleam in his eyes. "You still owe me a hit, my Lord," I pulled out a clenched fist in front of his laughing face, reminding him of our 'deal' last night.

I didn't remember anything after the first ripple of pain, but I still remembered the part before that.

Although...it was quite a wrong atmosphere to bring it up.

"Sure," he gave me a deep smile. "You want to do it now?"

"No, I'll save it until I'm in peak condition," I shrugged, and brought my fist down. "But what is it that you want me to do?"

The smile on his face deepened, but his eyes exuded something sharp and serious. "My name," he said in a gentle, but firm tone.

I blinked in confusion. "Your...name?"

"Call my name from now on," he leaned closer, enough for us to see each other's reflection in our eyes. "Not 'my Lord' or any other. What did I tell you to call me?"

Oh...now that I recalled, I had never called him by his name. "...Natha?"

"Again."

What was this all about? But was I crazy enough to argue with a Demon Lord?

"Natha," I repeated, staring at the silver eyes, trying to make my voice steady and not stammered like a fool despite the hard drumming sound inside my chest.

It was only after that, that the sharpness inside the silver eyes finally replaced with warmth again, and the combing fingers on my hair turned into a familiar caress.

"Good," the sweet and gentle smile he gave at that time felt like it brightened up the room more than the sunlight could. "Let's go on a date after you eat."

"...huh?"

* * *

What kind of flag had I triggered to produce this random event?

With a hand inside the Demon Lord's hold, I followed his step, climbing the narrow winding stairs to the top of the tower. No—not the room above the living quarters, but the very top. Would it be alright to call it a roof? Tower rooftop?

Anyway, I thought he would swoosh us again with that teleportation magic of his, but he just took my hand after I finish eating and showering, and led me to the stairs going up that I never used before.

When I was wondering why we didn't teleport like usual, he turned his head with a smile and told me before I could even ask it out loud. "Since this is a date, we should take our time, no?"

A date...a date...I kept feeling warm when I heard him saying that, even more than when he said 'bride'. Perhaps because 'bride' felt so distant and unrealistic, but something like a date...

I never did it before, and I couldn't help but get excited because of that.

Ignoring the fact whether we actually had romantic feelings toward each other or not, doing something new was always an exciting thing. And I was full of curiosity about what kind of 'date' a Demon Lord would—

Whoa...

The door to the towering peak was opened, and the first thing I felt was a swirling abundance of elemental mana. They swarmed at me like a gentle breeze, and I felt like I was plunged into a comfortable hot spring.

"Kueeekk!"

And then I heard the familiar screeches that always greeted me whenever I stepped out into the balcony.

There, in the open space of the tower's peak, was a gentle storm of rainbow. Dozens of ethereal-looking birds were flying around in various vibrant colors, each emanating different elemental magic that rather than clashing, were mingling harmoniously instead.

I remembered reading an encyclopedia, and seeing something called the bird of paradise there. Those birds, with vivid colorful plumes, and long feathers swaying elegantly from their tail, remind me of the bird of paradise. And with this kind of sight, where they were flying around circling the tower's peak, under the bright blue sky, I might as well glimpsed into a paradise.

"Wow..." I couldn't help but exclaim, holding my breath even as Natha led me to the center of the roof.

And it seemed like they heard my voice, because their head turned towards us the moment I let out a sound. Some were screeching, and a few of them swooped down towards the roof, perching on the ledge of the tower's peak.

When their brilliant eyes, which shone like jewels, gazed at me, my body responded with a flinch, and Natha stopped walking. He rubbed his thumb on my hand, and asked gently. "Are you scared?"

"No," I turned my head to look around. "It's just...I've never been surrounded by animals before..."

Now that I thought about it, I didn't think I had ever visited a zoo in my life. No matter how beautiful the sight was, it was still unnerving being surrounded by smaller living creatures in large quantities.

"Don't worry," Natha grabbed my shoulder and pushed me to stand in the center. "They won't harm the resident of the tower."

Huh? Would that mean they might harm outsiders?

"Also, it's quite incorrect to revere them as animals," Natha informed me, spreading one of his arms at the same time. "They are closer to 'familiar' if it came to distinction."

One of the birds flew to Natha's arms then, the swaying tail feathers trailed the air like a pretty green ribbon. When it landed on the Demon Lord's arm, the dark green orbs stared at me sharply, as if observing. The rest of its plumes were in various gradations of green color, as if emphasizing the wood-attribute mana emanating from its body.

"Familiar?" even as I threw a question at the Demon Lord, I couldn't tear my sight from the crystal-like eyes. "Your familiars?"

"No, not mine," Natha moved his arms—along with the bird—closer to me. "They are the tower's familiar."

I blinked my eyes repeatedly—not because the bird suddenly moved its head toward me, but because of the revelation. "Tower...can have familiars?"

"Of course—try touching it, they don't bite—every prominent tower has familiars that protect it from harm or infiltration. You don't think I only stationed two guards for this place, don't you?"

Well...

Slowly, I tried to reach out my hand and touched the bird beneath its beak with the back of my finger. It craned its head, and I rubbed softly down its breast, unconsciously holding my breath while doing so. Gentle vibration ran across my skin by the mana emanating from the plumage.

The bird suddenly moved its wings to rub on my arm, and in a swift movement, jumped from the Demon Lord's arm to mine, making me almost step back in surprise. But Natha stood behind me, and hold me in place.

"They answer to the master of the tower," Natha ran his hand along my other arm, and held my hand up—the one with his mark on it. "And now, they will answer to you too,"

Just as he said it, the birds, which had been keeping their distance so far rushed to the center of the tower's peak.

Yep. To me.

The flap of their wings made a harmonious sound of the breeze, bringing forth the scent of fire and water and earth and every part of nature.

I supposed it should be a beautiful and majestic sight...but I panicked.

"W-wait! Wait! Ahh—time out! Time out!" I stepped back and sunk myself into the Demon Lord's sturdy chest. The birds hovered above me, beside me, all around me...flapping their wings and filling my vision with an outburst of vibrant colors.

But instead of doing something to calm those birds, he laughed instead, holding me from behind so I couldn't even run away.

'What kind of date is this?!'

When the birds started to poke me with their head, I flinched so hard my legs gave away, and disgracefully, I fell on my butt. But I had no room to even care about that since many of the birds landed on the ground and pushed their whole body into me, nuzzling my side and everything and...damn it!

"Uhh! Na...Natha! Help help what is thi—wait! Don't push—Natha!" I looked up and glared at his laughing face. It was only then that he whistled, and the birds retreated for a bit, even though they still crowding the floor around us.

"That's some interesting reaction," he crouched behind me and chuckled. "I told you they won't harm you, so what are you being scared for?"

"I...it's not—I wasn't..." I stammered like a fool and just decided to press my lips shut. A gentle nuzzling at my hand turned my attention back to the birds. "I just...surprised, okay?"

Various sparkling jewels stared at me, heads and wings pushing at my body. But it was gentler this time, and my initial panic subsided. Now that I wasn't as scared—I mean, surprised—my hands moved on their own, fascinated by the glow of mana and the sparkles of their eyes, carefully patting the birds' heads.

They nuzzled on my palms in response, and my heart fluttered at that. Without them frantically flapping their wings as if they wanted to attack me, these birds finally looked pretty and cute in my eyes.

Not to mention the soft vibration and the glow from the nature-attribute mana they emitted. They enveloped me like a blanket, and I felt as comfortable as bathing under warm sunlight on a nice spring day.

A cool finger brushed my cheek, and a soft, sweet voice rang from behind. "You look excited," he rubbed my cheek, and I craned my neck to peer at him. I was kind of forgetting that he was sitting behind me, or that my back practically touched his chest. "Do you like them?"

He was smiling so warmly, and this comfortable feeling made me feel good. So I answered him honestly, with a smile that I felt from my heart. "Yes,"

And then that heart of mine began to beat erratically as his silver orbs bore down on me. The hand that was rubbing on my cheek moved to tilt my face up, until my head leaned on his chest, and my vision was filled with his visage. Without saying anything, a cool thumb rubbed my lips, and my fast-beating heart felt like they stopped functioning.

There were no birds, no magic, nothing in this world seemed to register in my mind but the ripple of his silver irises. His face, which hovered above me with an expression I couldn't decipher, leaned down.

"Forgive me for this," his low whisper came first, and then his cold palm, covering my mouth.

But even through his palm, I could feel the familiar coldness of his lips.