TBR CH271: Extra

The first to accept the invitation was Roland, who found it interesting to be a guest in a strange world.

The dining table was laden with main courses such as rosemary-roasted lamb chops, salt-and-pepper shrimp, and toast stuffed with butter pudding, as well as wine as red as blood. The faint clinking of the great magician’s silver knife and fork was incessant; it seemed someone was quite satisfied with today’s menu. The housekeeping robots at the entertainment center could satisfy the personal pursuits of the most discerning diners, a choice that was hard to go wrong with.

However, there was still a guest who hadn’t touched his utensils.

“Ah,” Roland said knowingly, “Don’t mind him. Kriesmeier has been… not very hungry these past few days.”

Really? The Black Book felt an inexplicable nervousness.

The Demon Lord’s dark golden eyes held an immense pressure; even when the great magician wasn’t speaking, he was constantly staring at him. He indeed wasn’t eating, just taking a sip of wine from time to time. The Black Book admitted that it certainly wouldn’t be able to swallow a thing under such a gaze, but Roland seemed to be eating very naturally, even joyfully.

He carefully cut a piece of rib-eye steak. The beef had been cooked to a fragrant perfection, sizzling the moment it touched the iron plate. Its cross-section was a beautiful pale pink, and as the fork pierced it from above, a thin layer of ruby-like blood flowed out.

Then he offered it directly to Kriesmeier… not into his bowl, but towards the Demon Lord’s mouth.

“But this is delicious,” the great magician said with a smile. “Trying a piece won’t do any harm.”

Kriesmeier lowered his eyes, glanced at the piece of meat, and then bit down. The Black Book realized with horror that it had heard a subtle snap, and had caught a glimpse of the Demon Lord’s sharp teeth, used for tearing and chewing, flashing for an instant. Just one look felt very dangerous.

Roland blinked, looking at the half-fork in his hand.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” the Black Book said quickly. “There are many similar utensils here.”

It stared at Kriesmeier, thinking it was quite possible for the Demon Lord to chew up the metal fork and swallow it. However, the great magician glanced at the utensil in his hand, set it aside, and naturally extended his hand towards the Demon Lord. The human’s hand was long and fair, mainly engaged in the most delicate magical research. Seeing such an unguarded hand offered directly to the beast’s mouth, one subconsciously felt that something terrible was about to happen.

His fingers lightly pressed against the Demon Lord’s pale lips, and then he pulled out the fork that Kriesmeier had bitten off.

It was only two millimeters away from Kriesmeier’s hunting teeth.

“Darling, open your mouth a little wider—”

The Black Book almost shot up from its seat, but it managed to hold itself back with sheer willpower. Firstly, that was the great magician Roland Xavier, not some powerless human. Although it had been a long time, it shouldn’t forget that. Secondly, although it believed Kriesmeier’s expression at that moment definitely meant he wanted to bite down, and he was staring at the oblivious human with an incredibly fervent gaze, the Demon Lord probably wouldn’t actually do it. Er, probably.

Besides, there was a third reason…

Roland let out a low “hiss.” The canine tooth that had just severed the metal had grazed the pad of his finger. He looked up at Kriesmeier and happened to fall into the Demon Lord’s eyes, which were as cold as blades and as golden as honey. For a long time now, his lover had barely been able to look away from him. At this moment, his insignificant wound might have been seeping a little blood. The taste of iron must have been very real to Kriesmeier, and it was quickly and thoroughly licked clean.

Speaking of which, Kriesmeier was a Demon Lord; his main source of food should be his own kind, just as a king cobra preys on other snakes. From a magical biology perspective, it was unlikely he had an appetite for him.

So perhaps this was some kind of… external manifestation of other desires?

Roland couldn’t help but curve his lips into a smile.

“Was it delicious?” The small wound had mostly healed by the time he looked at it. He casually stroked Kriesmeier’s hair, thinking he was like some large canine, or perhaps something more dangerous. The cross-section of the metal fork was neat; among the souls claimed by Kriesmeier’s hand, its death was a relatively dignified one.

The Black Book said it could go get a new set of utensils, but the great magician shook his head.

He placed his finger on the broken end of the fork, and a faint white light floated from his fingertip. In less than a second, the fork was completely restored.

He looked at Kriesmeier with some regret. “If I had known someone was treating us to dinner these past few days, I should have stopped you a bit last time.” Roland’s voice was lazy, the pleasure in his expression unchanged. The Black Book knew it had done the right thing.

The final reason for not intervening: the great magician himself probably didn’t mind at all whatever the Demon Lord did to him.

However, not intervening was one thing, but it was getting a bit hard to suppress.

“Last time?”

Roland leaned forward eagerly, showing an expression more excited than if he had seen some super-rare prehistoric magic. “Ah, speaking of which. You know, I spend some time at the Mage’s Tower every year. News travels fast there. I’ve been trying to persuade them to send news to the Demon Lord’s castle too, but they think it’s still too dangerous, which is quite normal. Anyway, I meant the news from before.”

The Black Book had a bad feeling.

“‘The New Sovereignty of the Far East—The Strongest’—that’s how the headline was written, very captivating. In the Far East, a demon clan has occupied an entire mountain range, said to have some magical power, and has begun its tyrannical rule. The surrounding people have asked the Magicians’ Association for help, but as of today, no one has defeated it. Picking out a few familiar names, they should be ones Hilda brought out.”

That was basically equivalent to Roland’s direct lineage. After all, he himself rarely took students.

“And then you went personally?” the Black Book asked cautiously.

“Of course. It did, after all, declare itself the strongest in the world,” Roland said. “Back when Kriesmeier first appeared, not many people said that, which also led to my misjudgment of Kriesmeier. So this time I adjusted my attitude a bit, quickly packed some things, and used a teleportation circle to get there before six in the evening.”

The great magician Roland Xavier probably took pleasure in collecting powerful non-human creatures.

“Isn’t that a bit of a rush?”

“Because I had to hurry back for dinner with Kriesmeier,” he said as if it were a matter of course, then showed a regretful expression. “But when I got there, I found it was just a demon with a false reputation. It had a little bit of talent, able to confuse people’s minds, create illusions, and destroy the will of challengers. No wonder so many people were ultimately subdued by it. That reminds me of that child of fate from back then. It also wanted to have a whole harem.”

“I see,” the Black Book said, cutting in. “So you killed it.”

“Hmm? I didn’t.”

The World Consciousness couldn’t help but show its surprise, while Roland lightly extended a hand, pressing Kriesmeier’s fingers under the tablecloth, and smiled. His smile still had that strange infectious quality, and he took a sip of his wine.

“It was already dead when I arrived,” the great magician said with a grin, his amber eyes full of affection. “The entire palace was soaked in blood. Even the strongest spices couldn’t cover that thick smell. Kriesmeier was just pulling his hand out of its pierced, empty right chest, with traces of undried blood at the corner of his mouth, and his hair was soaked through with blood. The moonlight shone down from the palace’s dome. The moon in the Far East is very bright, like a layer of silver plating, illuminating his pupils so clearly. Kriesmeier looked up at me provocatively, and I could almost see the pearly white teeth he used to tear his prey. It was truly beautiful!”

“…”

Is this right? the Black Book thought in a daze.

“I didn’t want to disturb his meal, but he was almost finished anyway. Kriesmeier said to me, ‘Come here,’ so I went over. My god, I always knew Kriesmeier was the best, but sometimes I didn’t realize he could be this good. I swear my feet were floating at that moment.”

These were exactly the words a human immersed in passionate love would say.

“Er, I still don’t understand why the Demon Lord would have arrived before you…” the World Consciousness tried to steer the conversation back on track. It interrupted Roland’s description of his feelings and suddenly shivered. It turned out Kriesmeier’s golden eyes had lightly fallen upon it. Just one glance almost made the Black Book tremble so much it couldn’t speak, thinking it was better to be more polite to the great magician.

But Kriesmeier only glanced at it. The strongest demon on land said in a low voice, the possessiveness in his tone reaching an almost creepy level, “He can’t leave without telling me.”

Especially when the subject of the great magician’s investigation was another demon.

“That’s entirely my fault,” Roland was completely oblivious to this, or perhaps fully accepted it. “I thought I’d be back quickly, so there was no need to make a big deal out of it. Kriesmeier was a little angry that day, a completely reasonable reaction. I’ve since sworn it will never happen again. Actually, at that time, I really couldn’t think about anything else. Powerful demons, evil magic—they didn’t even count as one-thousandth of it for me. I just wanted to get over there and kiss him quickly.”

The human one hundred percent did just that.

“…So, Kriesmeier is really very romantic,” he concluded.

After that, he spoke for about another half hour. The precision of his description of the details reached a hair-raising level.

In the great magician’s description, the eaten-out corpse of that unlucky demon added a religious-like solemnity to the scene. The grim white bones, the cool night air, the moon of the Far East, and the thorns growing in the desolate wilderness outside the palace—all of this cast a dreamlike veil over the scene.

In such a distant and strange place, an incomparably powerful demon awaited him. His pale lips, arrogant eyes, and the crown of white bone on his head awaited him. Blood flowed from Kriesmeier’s fingertips onto his body. That night, he was bitten several times by the Demon Lord, whose appetite was fully aroused. His chilling hair spread on the ground. Night fell, and appetite and the most primitive desires began to rule everything.

“What if it’s dangerous?”

“Is there any existence more dangerous than you?” Roland had a strange smile on his lips. “I will do my best to kill it, at least I won’t be killed by it. I have to save my life for you, darling.”

“What if a demon even stronger than me really appears?” Kriesmeier asked that night. This was a very rare question for him.

“Impossible,” Roland said without a second’s hesitation. “That would violate the laws of the world; it doesn’t conform to eternal truth and logic. But if there really were, darling, I wouldn’t mind dying with you in a lovers’ suicide. To be honest, I sometimes imagine…”

The Demon Lord bit his shoulder blade. The kiss was more real than blood and pain, more real than the death beneath their feet.

The demon before his eyes was many times better than everything else in the world combined. The great magician’s honest words.

“Can we not talk about this while we’re eating?” the Black Book suggested.

The Demon Lord with golden eyes opposite him twirled the crystal-clear wine glass in his fingertips. The liquid in the glass, under the light, also looked like a splash of dark blood. The World Consciousness immediately changed its tune: “It’s fine to talk more.”

Roland laughed. “It’s okay, darling. If you still want to hear my personal feelings, I can tell you all about it in detail when we get back.” He raised his wine glass towards the Black Book. “As for today… I’m in a good mood, so I talked a lot. I’m very happy to see an old friend again.”

“To my world, and to this world.”

The World Consciousness suddenly came to its senses, feeling a little warm inside. The wine glass in front of it also floated up unsteadily. “To your world, and to many, many worlds.”

The glasses clinked lightly in the air. Roland clinked with the Black Book’s glass, then went to clink with Kriesmeier’s. Getting the Demon Lord to make a toast or say similar lines was obviously difficult for him. Kriesmeier was silent for a few seconds, then said, “Roland Xavier.”

To the great human magician Roland Xavier? Regardless of whether that was what he meant, Roland was clearly in a very good mood.

The corners of his mouth curved upwards. “To lovers.”

Then, the great magician drained the red wine in one gulp.

Time had unknowingly run out. It was time for them to go home. Roland had already taken Kriesmeier’s arm.

The Black Book felt a strange reluctance to see them go. It watched the figures of the human and the demon gradually disappear, secretly vowing to find a chance to visit them later.

But not now. Its dinner party was far from over.