“Wow!”
“It’s Miss Saintess!”
As if finally confirming their suspicions, the eyes of several demon children suddenly lit up.
In the next second, they charged straight toward Lin Ling.
Before Lin Ling could even strike a pose for “The Great Miss Saintess Accepts the Cheers of the People,” a thick arm suddenly barred the way in front of her.
Baroque stood before her, reaching out to block the children as they lunged forward.
“Hey.”
“You kids, watch yourselves.”
Being blocked, the children immediately puffed out their cheeks in dissatisfaction.
“Uncle Baroque is a meanie!”
“Meanie!”
One second they were calling him Lord Baroque, and the next, he had been demoted directly to Uncle Baroque.
One child even hid behind the others and stuck their tongue out at Baroque.
A vein throbbed on Baroque’s temple.
“Hey!”
“You little brats!”
“Your parents really should teach you some manners!”
As he spoke, he reached out to grab the child making the face.
However, the children seemed prepared for this, scattering in every direction with a flurry of movement.
They were far too practiced for this to be their first time.
“Uncle Baroque can’t catch us—!”
“Hahaha!”
“Goodbye, Miss Saintess!”
Their voices drifted back from deep within the alleyway.
Soon, they vanished entirely.
Baroque stood frozen in place, his hand still hanging in mid-air.
Lin Ling stood behind him, trying her hardest to stifle a laugh.
Baroque slowly pulled his hand back.
“Good grief.”
“Those stinky brats.”
Though he spoke harshly, there wasn't much actual anger in his tone. Even his expression didn't look truly annoyed.
Lin Ling looked in the direction the children had run, her eyes crinkling into crescents.
“They’re such energetic kids.”
Baroque also looked toward the alley entrance.
The children were long gone, with only the faint, blurry sounds of laughter echoing from the distance.
His expression gradually softened.
“Yeah.”
“Who would have thought that just a few days ago, they were in a state of extreme weakness?”
Lin Ling blinked, startled.
Baroque looked down at her.
“It’s all thanks to you, Lin Ling.”
His voice was deep and heavy.
“We cannot thank you enough for this kindness.”
After saying this, he actually bowed his head and gave Lin Ling a solemn salute.
Lin Ling stiffened instantly.
“U-Uncle Baroque?”
She hurriedly took a step back.
“Wait, what are you doing?!”
Lin Ling was terrible at handling sincere, formal gratitude. Her ears turned red in an instant.
Then, she spotted something on the ground in the distance.
“Hey, Uncle Baroque, come here, look!”
Just as Baroque raised his head, he saw that Lin Ling had already used Levitation Magic to float a distance away.
She hovered in the air, turning back to wave at him.
She was smiling brightly, though it was clearly an attempt to flee the situation.
Baroque was silent for a second.
Then, his face flushed a bit more from the heat of his own embarrassment.
“Hey!”
“How many times do I have to tell you? You can’t just use Levitation Magic whenever you want!”
He strode after her.
He scolded her with his words, but in his heart, he knew exactly what was happening.
This girl was shy. He had seen it—the moment he thanked her, Lin Ling’s ears had turned a very obvious shade of red.
Lin Ling floated ahead for a short distance before suddenly stopping.
“Uncle Baroque, look.”
“It’s a puppet those kids dropped just now.”
Baroque walked over.
Lin Ling was holding a small, half-carved wooden puppet.
The wood wasn't of high quality, and the edges were quite rough.
It was clear the carver was unskilled, as some parts were even crooked and uneven.
However, the silhouette was already recognizable.
The area representing the platinum blonde hair had been carved with great care. The clothes were also in the style of the Saintess vestments.
The figure even seemed to be holding something in its arms.
Baroque looked at it for a few moments before suddenly remembering something.
When he had been on patrol before, a few children had secretly come up to ask him questions.
“What is Miss Saintess’s hair like?”
“Are her eyes blue?”
“Does Miss Saintess glow?”
“Is she very tall and powerful?”
At the time, he had been annoyed by the kids' endless questions and had given them dismissive answers.
Looking at it now, they had actually been secretly carving this.
Baroque pointed at the half-finished puppet.
“This wood carving... it’s of you, isn't it, Lin Ling?”
Lin Ling looked down at the carving in her hand, then back at herself.
“So this is a carving of the Great Miss Saintess?”
She immediately put on an extremely exaggerated smile, covering one cheek with her hand while waving the puppet with the other.
“Oh, you’re making me blush~”
Baroque stared at her.
“That expression doesn't look like blushing at all.”
Lin Ling immediately returned to normal.
“Ahem.”
“That is the stage presence of a Saintess.”
“Don’t use strange terms like that here.”
Baroque reached out.
“Alright, we should take this back to them.”
He reached out to grab Lin Ling, who was still floating in the air.
Lin Ling immediately floated back a little further.
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
“I won’t trouble Uncle Baroque with this.”
Clutching the carving, she slowly descended from the air.
Once her toes touched the ground, she very seriously patted down her skirt.
“Miss Saintess has decided to personally return this lost, precious holy relic.”
Baroque looked down at her.
“It’s just a puppet.”
“It’s a work of art.”
“It’s only half-finished.”
“Then it is an unfinished work of art.”
“Whatever you say.”
Baroque turned and began walking forward.
“As long as you’re happy. Follow me.”
Lin Ling followed behind him, clutching the wood carving.
She was clearly in an exceptionally good mood, and her footsteps were quite light.
As she walked, she even began humming a little tune.
It wasn't loud, and the melody was a bit off-key, but she sounded very happy.
After walking for a while, Baroque suddenly spoke up.
“You should be glad we aren't in the main building of the Demon King's Castle right now.”
Lin Ling was taken aback. “Why?”
Baroque glanced back at her.
“Otherwise, Phelan would definitely record that off-key tune you were just singing.”
Lin Ling froze instantly.
“Gah!”
“Uncle Baroque, you can’t tell Phelan!”
The thought of Phelan’s omnipresent recording board made her feel like she was about to burst into tears.
If something like—
【Lin Ling performed an impromptu song of unknown melody in the residential district】
—were recorded, it would be a disaster! Phelan might even transcribe the lyrics in full. That would be so embarrassing!
Baroque snorted.
“Him?”
“He probably doesn't have time to worry about you right now.”
...
At that moment, Phelan was standing by the clock tower on the roof of the Demon King's Castle.
And in front of him, Cecil had been hung upside down from the outside of the tower at some unknown point.
A rope was looped around his ankles, suspending him in mid-air. Whenever the wind blew, he would sway gently, his scorpion tail swishing restlessly in the air.
“Hey, Phelan.”
Cecil raised a hand to push back his hair, which was sliding down toward his forehead, trying his best to sound composed.
“Can’t you just skip recording something this embarrassing?”
Phelan didn't even look up.
“The reactions of one of the Four Heavenly Kings while being hung upside down are also very precious data.”
As he spoke, his pen scribbled another line.
Cecil’s mouth twitched.
“You really are annoyingly meticulous.”
Just as he finished speaking, Cecil’s scorpion tail swept to the side as his body swayed.
Slap.
The tip of his tail nearly brushed across Aliviel’s face.
Aliviel, who was hanging upside down on the other side of Cecil, had a vein throb on her temple.
She had originally wanted to maintain her elegance, but her long hair was hanging straight down due to the wind, and though her skirt was held in place by magic, her expression had become very dangerous.
“Cecil.”
She spoke through gritted teeth.
“Can you stop moving your tail around?”
Cecil struggled to tilt his head to look at her.
“Sorry.”
“My tail isn't like a succubus's; I can't just tuck it away.”
Aliviel narrowed her eyes.
“The Demon King should have tied your tail up along with you.”
Cecil’s tail stiffened instantly.
Phelan immediately looked down to record.
“Supplement: After mention of tail restraint, Cecil’s tail activity decreased significantly.”
“Hey!”
Cecil raised a hand while hanging upside down, attempting to protest.
“Don’t record that kind of thing too!”
Aliviel swayed gently in the wind and finally looked at Phelan, her patience at its limit.
“Phelan.”
“Just how long are we going to be hanging here?”
Phelan finally stopped writing and looked up at the two of them, then down at the base of the clock tower.
After a moment of silence, he replied calmly.
“My apologies, I do not know.”
“We likely have to wait for the Demon King to personally come and let you two down.”
Cecil: “...”
Aliviel: “...”
The wind blew across the clock tower again.
The two members of the Four Heavenly Kings swayed extremely slowly in the air.
Phelan lowered his head and continued writing.
“Supplementary Note: After learning the release time is unknown, both subjects fell into silence. Inferred significant psychological impact.”
Rate on N.U.
