The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 732: One does not simply stop when taking a walk with a baby

Chapter 732: One does not simply stop when taking a walk with a baby

I didn’t expect many things to happen since it was only three days since I kicked more than half of the humans out of this city. Just getting used to the situation itself, I supposed, would take quite some time for them.

I mean, shops were losing their customers, and customers also lost their merchants. The houses beside them were suddenly empty, and just as suddenly, being occupied by another race--who probably did some reconstruction already. No matter how ready they were for a change, it wouldn’t just happen in a day or two.

But color me surprised--the city looked like they were functioning well as usual.

People walking around to their businesses; returning from their lunch or going to an afternoon tea; family going around; and children running on the street. Sometimes, we could see a glimpse of other races, though not so much.

I guess, the most active part of the city was still where the humans were, since most demons and the children of nature were busy with reconstructing their future residence.

Ah, I was so thankful they even did it at all. I mean... how many people would agree to move somewhere they had to build first when they already had a completely fine house in their homeland? Even the merchants wouldn’t usually want to move somewhere new when they didn’t know if they would profit from it.

Thankfully, I had Natha’s company and Midas to lure those merchants. The pillar of society, after all, was economic activity.

"The construction already starting?" I looked around in amazement. Of course, it was only the beginning stage, but it meant the material was already available--in just three days.

"It’s not like we build something from scratch," Natha said. "Well, except for the Magic Tower. Most work is just repurposing existing buildings. The elves, however..."

I turned to the side, at a section on the right side of the main avenue where the elves could be seen a lot. They seemed to be doing total reconstruction, tearing the building down instead of just modifying it.

"Hmm..."

"Ah, Your Highness," one of the elves recognized me and walked toward us. "It’s an honor to finally meet you."

A High Elf, probably the leader of the migrating elves. Turns out, they didn’t just send soldiers the other day, but merchants and young elves who wanted to try new things.

"I’m glad you seem to settle in," I said while looking at the reconstruction site. "At least, I hope so?"

"Oh, we managed," the elf nodded. "But the houses here are too..."

Ugly? Not pertaining to your aesthetic?

"Short," he smiled wryly.

"Ah..."

Right. These elves were too tall for human architecture. Forgive me, Sir, for the bad thought.

"Do you have anything you need? If there’s something you need, you can ask my agents," Natha said.

"Thank you, Lord Natha. We expected this already, so we had prepared the materials from the realm of nature ourselves," the elf smiled politely. As expected, elves had a strict aesthetic standard. "Is this the rumored Little Prince?"

Holding onto Natha’s shoulder like he was way older than a hundred days, looking at the elf with a dignified gaze. "Awuuh!"

Weren’t you glad you were with your daddy, Shwa? You could stand as high as the elf.

"Such a bright and beautiful little prince," the elf smiled and bowed politely. "May the grace of Mother shine upon you."

"Uuah!"

The elf bowed once more before returning to the construction site, and we continued our walk.

Cheerfully, Jade assumed the position as a tour guide, merely because he had scoured the place while in a bird form before. Of course, the places he pointed at me were mostly food stores--especially the ones selling candy.

But it was a good place, coincidentally. A town square with a lot of stores and eateries, as well as a small park in the middle. From there, we could see the palace, and the plaza in front of it, where Alveitya the Great Tree grew slightly over the fence. One day, it would grow so big that everyone in the city could see it.

"This is a good place, don’t you think?" I asked Natha while looking around. "For a memorial, I mean."

"Yes, I think so," Natha nodded. "A reminder should be where everyone spends their time a lot."

"Papaa~Jade buy the candeeey!" my oldest son ran from one of those confectionary stores, full of energy after his first errand.

Look at him using his own allowance to buy things by himself--oh, I almost cry. But it seemed like he wasn’t just buying candy over there, because he was dragging someone’s hand.

"Look, look--Jade found princess!"

Yeah, he came with the human princess, who was looking bewildered. Who wouldn’t, if a little boy with luxurious-looking clothes suddenly pulled her hand and dragged her to the town square? The lady-in-waiting from before was also running after them in panic and confusion.

Yeah. Even I was bewildered.

"Y-your Majesty?" the princess widened her eyes.

"Lady Selene," I chuckled as Jade finally let go of her hand and ran to hug my leg. "I see that my son had caught you."

Jade innocently grinned, while I had to face the princess’s confusion. After all, Jade was a bird the last time he was in this place. Her eyes widened even more when I used the word son.

"S-son?" and then her eyes glanced at the baby in Natha’s arms, who was focusing on the colorful bag in Jade’s hand.

I smiled and stroked the baby’s cheek. "Yes, this is my son too--Navardi."

"Awaah!"

"And this is Jade!" the boy patted his chest, always proud to introduce himself.

"O-oh..." Selene was absolutely confused, looking back and forth between Jade, who looked just like me, and Shwa, who looked like Natha with my eyes. I could see her brain was swirling through many laws of the world to find an explanation, and through that, only managed to say a simple "T-they look just like you...Your Majesties..."

I had to press my lips to stop my laugh, and Natha didn’t really help with the explanation. "He is a miracle baby," my husband said while stroking the dark hair, combing it neatly so the tiny horns were slightly visible.

"Aah-uuuh!" Shwa waved his hand, and pat-pat his chest to copy how Jade introduced himself. Such a cutie.

But, well...Shwa was indeed a miracle baby. It was cruel, however, to make this poor girl feel awkward because she didn’t know how to react to the situation, so I asked her instead. "I heard you leave the palace? You know you can stay there, right?"

At this point, people had also stopped to stare at us--after all, it was a town square. They had been glancing at us anxiously before, but had no courage to make it too obvious. With the princess there, however, they had an excuse to stare at her instead.

"Yes, Your Majesty. It’s just...I can see the people’s condition better if I live among them; I can hear what they want directly without them needing to look for me in the palace," she said, before adding sheepishly. "Besides...I don’t like the palace in the first place."

"Understandable," I chuckled. From how she was treated, and how the citizens behaved toward her, it seemed like she used to be the one roaming around the streets and interacting with the civilians. "How’s the citizens?"

She perked up as the talk shifted to the people’s condition, and proceeded to tell me how they were managing to live as usual. Many things had changed, and at first, people thought there would be some kind of oppression. That only persisted for a day, because the shapeshifters, the druid guards, and the drow rangers didn’t do anything to them.

Instead, those guards and the elves who came afterward bought food from the stores and the officials who came afterward--meaning Lesta and Eruha--employed those who lost their jobs because the employers returned to the Empire. Whether it was to do construction work, or to help with the city administration, we didn’t let this city die.

"Thank you, Your Majesty...for letting them keep their land certificate," Selene bowed deeply.

"I already told you my intention, Selene. I want people to live here, together in harmony," I said. "As long as they do that, they are part of this city."

"I understand, Your Majesty," she nodded, a firm gaze on her eyes. "I will make sure we follow the law carefully to repay your generosity."

Mm--it was good that she seemed to understand her role. She even talked about knowing the people’s condition and listening to their voices. Very apt for what I envisioned about this city.

"We’ll reconstruct a part of this city so more demons and children of nature can live here. Of course, there might be more humans from other regions," I told her. "Once these residents settle well in the city, we’ll gradually shift the governing system. Representatives from all races will be invited to discuss this matter, so prepare some people from your side."

The princess widened her eyes slightly, before looking down in deep contemplation. Yes; if she was as smart as I thought she was, she would understand the implications for this.

"Choose carefully," I told her in warning.

None of us were naive; choosing to stay in this city did not mean all of them were open-minded people. Some of them might just be desperate and have nowhere else to go, and just agree for the sake of not losing their place. Some might even stay to take advantage of the situation--who knows?

But the princess should realize: if a problem arose from the human side first, all of their status might be in jeopardy. If someone rotten got chosen as a representative, it could be catastrophic.

If anything, they should know that I was not merciful.

"I shall heed your words, Your Majesty," the princess nodded.

I smiled in satisfaction, before wincing at the sudden pull on my head.

"Agaah!" Shwa reached out to pull on my hair, pursing his lips. "Uhaah!"

"He’s bored," Natha chuckled.

"Well, that’s our cue to continue our journey," I laughed and waved at the princess, who once again bowed at me--this time, together with the lady-in-waiting and the people in the town square.

It felt nice, knowing that the future I envisioned wasn’t just a pipe dream.