If he was not a human, what was he? Could it be that he was a demon? Lara knew that it was a reasonable speculation, but she did not want to admit it that easily.
There was love in Demian’s heart. He cherished Lara, sacrificed his life for her, and strived for her happiness. He also showed favor and kindness to those around Lara simply because he loved her.
How could such a being be a demon? Something was wrong with this. If he was a demon, it might be that humans had the wrong understanding of a demon’s existence.
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Barbarian’s Love
Seeing the Barbarians in the prison, the law enforcement knights thought that it went very well at first. They considered it would be an opportunity to give hell to the arrogant slaves. They thought it would be enough to lock them up for a few days and let them realize their positions.
It was obvious that the Crown Prince would order them to release them soon anyway. The victims of the thrashing of that dessert shop would make some complaints, but there was nothing they could do when the Barbarians were the savior of the Crown Prince and fellow soldiers who fought on the battlefields.
But that was not the case. A few days after locking up the Barbarians, anxiety began to grow among the knights, they thought that their judgements might be wrong.
The Crown Prince did not order them to be released and the captured Barbarians did not try to go out of the prison. It was so weird, nothing went as they thought.
First of all, Demian remained silent and did not even use his immunity. He did not even say a word to the law enforcement knight who came down to investigate him. Far from testifying, he did not even give any excuse. So did the other two Barbarians. They complained about the unfair treatment they had received because they were Barbarians, but let alone beg, they did not even ask to be released.
Rather, they seemed to have enjoyed prison life. They had no choice but to do so. A woman showed up once a day and provided them hotel-grade meals, clean towels, and snacks.
Daughter of Isadora, Lara. She not only fed the three Barbarians but also served snacks to the law enforcement soldiers and knights who monitored them. It varied from Dandelion’s most delicious chicken skewers, Dandelion’s most traditional lamb steak, to Dandelion’s most luxurious desserts.
Lara became a celebrity among the law enforcement members. From the drunkards that were caught every night, petty thieves, thugs, and even scammers, most people in the law enforcement prison knew who she was. She was no different than the soldiers and knights guarding the prison.
As time passed, the law enforcement soldiers came to wait for the time Lara came to visit Demian. At the same time, they began to feel the pressure for capturing them.
“Milady, I found a famous restaurant again! Look at this, the ladies in the kitchen told me that the bread in this bakery is really good. They told me to line up early in the morning, so I already sent Valentine there. Did I do good?”
“Valentine? I thought he’s busy preparing for his business?”
“It’s okay. I’m helping him from one to ten. The problem is not the preparation of the business, the staff, however…”
“Staff?”
“Valentine is someone who can’t even welcome a customer, rather, he only hides behind the door. He might even tell the customer not to come near him. As the boss is like that, we need tough and adamant staff. But it’s hard to find someone reliable.”
Even in Lara’s opinion, that was the problem. Valentine had renovated the store and used it as his laboratory. The items that Valentine made and sold were not ordinary by any means, and Valentine himself was also someone who was hard to get along with. So it would be difficult to hire just anyone.
“Not you.”
“Pardon?”
“Konny, you’re my maid. I won’t send you to anyone.”
As Lara spoke seriously, Konny’s cheeks were flushed and she screamed while laughing.
“Whew! Milady, that was so cheesy!”
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Towards the end of the morning, Valentine bought a bunch of delicious bread as Konny requested. He no longer ran away or took a step back like he used to when he ran into Lara.
“Hello, milady.”
Valentine greeted Lara with an awkward face and bowed his head. She greeted him with a smile.
“It’s been a while. I heard you’ve been busy these days.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes, but I still have time to make the receiver. All I need are the diamonds…”
“The items will come from the mine soon. If you need anything else, just tell me.”
Valentine conveyed his thanks. Lara waved her hands, implying that she was the one who should say thank you. But he went back, muttering that he would pay back her favor by earning a lot of money.
“What do you mean favor? You don’t have to pay it back…”
“Milady, let’s go!”
Konny rushed Lara and told her to ride the carriage.
When Lara’s carriage arrived in front of the watchmen station, the soldiers guarding the prison approached her.
“Hello! You are working hard today!”
They smiled pleasantly in spite of themselves when they watched Konny greet them warmly in a loud voice. Then, when Lara appeared with her cold, arrogant face, their expressions quickly froze following hers.
“I brought sweet potato cheese bread today! I heard all natives of Dandelion know about it. Have you tried one?”
“Oh, this… It is really tasty!”
“I thought so! Can you hold this for me? This too, it’s heavy. Oh, I’m sorry but hold this one too.”
As if put under a spell, the soldiers carried the bread and drinks that Konny gave away. Lara’s lips flinched as she looked at the sight. Then, guided by the knights, she went down to the dungeon.
Demian was waiting for her. He stretched his arms through the bars. Lara walked up to him without hesitation and took his hands.
“Did you have a good dream?”
“Oscar just came here.”
No wonder Lara had not seen him since morning. It seemed that he went to visit the prison.
“What did he say?”
“He said that he got a reply.”
“From the West?”
“Yeah.”
Demian leaned his head against the bar. Then, he looked down at Lara’s face and stroked her hair slowly.
“They are coming.”
The Barbarians were coming. The Barbarians who were living and hunting for demonic beasts in the West Gorgon Mountain Range were moving. If so, the news would have been passed on to the Tarragon Imperial Family by now.
It was very important to control the number of the demonic beasts so that they did not come down the mountain range. So the Empire either had to convince the Barbarians to return to the West or dispatch their knights there.
“Lara, what are you going to do now?”
Demian asked. His blue eyes were full of interest. Lara said firmly.
“I have to make them realize that the Barbarians are not Tarragon’s slaves.”
This was just the beginning. Lara smirked.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
That evening, Acerus found out about the incident at the dessert shop.
“Which crazy bastards… What? They told the Barbarians to leave?”
“Not only did they kick them out, they even used violence first. But as the Barbarians are powerful, they were no match for them. So the law enforcement knights who arrived at the scene only saw the merchant horribly being beaten up … The Barbarians should have been locked up.”
The face of the knight who reported the incident did not look good either. They shunned Demian but at least they knew what was right and what was wrong. Even though he said that the law enforcement knights had no choice but to do that, his expression was bitter.
“Hah! The knights that I trust and cherish are now screwing me over! Damn it, what a great fuckin job. Look what you've done! You ass-faced, piss-drinking, piece of goddamn fucking bullshit!”
Although Acerus had a righteous personality with a lot of laughter and enjoyed joking around, he was basically gifted with the qualities of a King. He was even a knight hardened by rough training and brutal warfare. So, once he got angry, it would be hard to stop him.
“Why the hell did you do that? Do you know how much I regret it after the Barbarians left this land? Do you think they risked their lives to fight because they adore you? Even a wandering wild dog would not do that to its life savior! You’re worse than a dog!”
“My apologies.”
There were many who did not understand why the Crown Prince was being so angry just because several Barbarians were imprisoned. For them, it was something that would soon be forgotten anyway. Punishing Barbarians and releasing them was not that big a matter for them.
“I will tell them to release the Barbarians immediately.”
“Forget it.”
“Pardon?”
“Just forget it! Do you think releasing them will solve this? If you have eyes, read this!”
Acerus threw the report he was holding at the knights.
It was a report that the Barbarians were leaving the West border and moving towards Dandelion. Acerus belatedly realized how serious saintess Lara was taking this matter. And he scoffed at himself for being idle. He called Demian his friends and he clearly knew how unfairly his comrades were treated, but he stood by with optimism that time would solve it.
Instead of chastising him, the saintess decided to act directly.
