Xyrin Empire-Chapter 722: The Arena - Demons Who Have Eaten Their Fill

Chapter 722: Chapter 722: The Arena - Demons Who Have Eaten Their Fill

The morning sunlight flooded the bedroom with a warmth that made it exceptionally difficult to leave the coziness of the bed. However, due to the constant fiddling on my head, I opened my eyes in a daze to find the girl beside me was already awake, busily pulling hair from my head to braid Chinese knots.

Oh, now I remember... last night’s incident, a peculiar but not entirely illogical series of events caused by the absurd reasoning and behavior of this scatterbrained lass.

Even now, thinking about Qianqian’s logic still makes my liver ache—and my back, too.

"Got a grudge against my hair or something?"

Seeing me wake up, Qianqian showed no sign of stopping. She still leaned over the bed braiding her Chinese knots, occasionally yanking a couple of strands of adequately long hair from my head. I must say, it’s a remarkably challenging task, not everyone can craft from such short hair, and this girl’s interests are so random, entirely incomprehensible.

"Ah Jun, good morning," Qianqian finally spared my hair, turned her head, beamed a brilliant smile my way, and planted a kiss on my cheek, "Don’t wanna move."

I chuckled, pulling Qianqian’s head onto my chest, savoring the tender warmth from her body. My heart was flooded with emotions, thinking back to the days when that crazy Loli and I used to shoot the teacher’s window with slingshots. She had grown up so much... But reflecting on time passing this way always felt somewhat odd.

"What’s so funny?" I noticed Qianqian’s quirky smile that occasionally burst into laughter. Curious, I asked. She lifted her head to look into my eyes, "It’s like getting to know you all over again, so strange. You’re still Ah Jun, but somehow it feels different?"

I wasn’t sure how to respond to her question, but I did share that odd feeling. After pondering for a while, I could only come to one conclusion, "Do you feel like the normally silly goofball can also be quite wicked at times?"

Qianqian wholeheartedly agreed.

For various reasons, Qianqian still clung to the bed, refusing to get up, so we started to chat idly. First, she commented on last night’s events, admitting it wasn’t quite as blissful as legends claimed. Mindful of the usual direction of this book, I quickly stopped her flights of fancy, and we began recalling our happy childhood memories—starting from the first fight when we were four and a half to the Iran nuclear crisis, from smashing the teacher’s window at seven and a half to the depletion of the ozone layer, from playing in the flood channel after our first time skipping school in fourth grade to the inner workings of the Imperial Admiral. We talked about how we became a sweet couple and moved on to how to maintain the long peace in the Azeroth world. What do couples who have just broken the final barrier in their relationship talk about on the first morning afterward? I’ll tell you: the economic and administrative issues of over sixty-seven thousand worlds.

Our conversation meandered through topics like racial wars, world peace, and the pros and cons of carbon-based life, all while peppering each other with light kisses, playfully nudging noses, and scratching ticklish spots. No one cared what we actually discussed—it was as if the greatest happiness was simply to cuddle quietly, endlessly talking. Qianqian’s happiness was so modest it compelled one to protect it with every fiber of their being. So, I did just that for an entire hour. By the time hunger finally drove me out of bed, I felt like the world’s greatest economist, political scientist, humanist, and military strategist, while my First Lady was still on the bed, pondering whether not peeling prawns could eventually trigger a global financial crisis—an issue not at all laughable, because in Qianqian’s logic, these matters were bound to become entangled eventually.

"Ah, wait!" Just as I finished dressing, Qianqian suddenly called out as if she’d remembered something. Then, her face flushing with shyness, she tossed a pillow, knocking me to the floor, "Don’t look! I’m getting dressed!"

"But I saw everything yesterday..." I grumbled, lying on the ground, just as I heard a very faint "squeak squeak crunch crunch" coming from the nearby closet. It sounded like a rodent gnawing on something, which startled me, "Hey! Dingdang might be up! She’s making a hole in the closet—about to chew through the particleboard!"

"Done!"

Qianqian’s voice rang out at the same time. I turned around to see the girl, who had been dragging her feet just moments ago, now dressed in clothes she’d retrieved from her Personal Space. Even the bed was meticulously made, complete with fresh sheets, and the air began to fill with a light scent of air freshener.

"Time warped for a bit there, or else I wouldn’t have managed."

Although Qianqian and I should have naturally progressed to this point and theoretically had nothing to be embarrassed about, the maiden’s modesty flashed briefly through the mind of this girl with her strangely developed nerves. She quickly tidied up the room and herself, then we headed downstairs for breakfast as if nothing happened. Behind us followed a Little Thing that had been locked in the closet all night, which finally managed to gnaw a hole through the door in the morning, now grumbling and grunting in confusion.

The first to encounter me was Big Sister, who glanced at me and Qianqian, stepped forward, gave me a noogie, and then began to laugh strangely.

The second was Sandora, who bit my arm and then dragged Qianqian away to whisper something to her.

The third was Anwina, the timid little maid glowing faintly as she looked at her master. Before I even managed to ask, she let out a soft "eep" and dove into the television, refusing to come out.

Basically, from the second floor to the living room, I was inspected by every single person in the house—what exactly went wrong? Although I wasn’t planning on hiding my thing with Qianqian, how did it all get exposed so suddenly?!

"Don’t ever underestimate Qianqian’s ability to screw things up," Big Sister finally resolved my confusion, "Before she went to your room last night, she basically barged into every single one of our rooms..."

Me: "..."

"Listen, don’t be an irresponsible man," Big Sister said, twisting my ear and leaning in to whisper like a fragrance, "Ah, having such a headache of a brother is really something..."

All I could do was respond with a sheepish chuckle. This was too embarrassing, too embarrassing indeed, Qianqian, your knack for messing up has truly reached MAX level.

After breakfast, I decided to take a stroll around Shadow City, starting with saying goodbye to everyone. The carnival had ended, and it was time for everyone to go their separate ways, back to their own homes and mothers. Due to a festival celebration that lasted half a month, we’ve caused a total of millions of cases of absenteeism, school-skipping, elopement, running away, and disappearances across tens of thousands of worlds; now it was time for their lives to get back on track. Starting from last night, all lines of the Time-Space Administration were fully opened, and batches of visitors (mainly public officials from the Administration, who had duties in their own worlds) were steadily heading home. When I arrived at the Dimension Hub, I happened to catch another batch of Space Gates opening.

The red-clothed, twin-tailed Miss was pulling a little loli with silver hair, waiting for a ride, while Emiya, Sakura, and several Heroic Spirits stood nearby. Seeing me, they all waved vigorously in my direction.

"Ah ha, big brother was bound to come see us off! Please treat Ilya to ice cream!"

"Tch, who would expect this guy to see us off." Tohsaka, dragging a large suitcase, glanced at Ilya, "Hey! Don’t just cling to someone as soon as you see them, do you even know what modesty is for a girl?"

I struggled to peel Ilya, who was swinging on my neck, off me and placed her beside Tohsaka, looking at the two girls—who I wasn’t sure whether to consider sisters, friends, or mother and daughter (thick fog)—and feeling heartily relieved in my heart. It seemed that after I left the world of the Holy Grail, their lives had been quite colorful.

Uncle B was standing right by the two girls, acting as a bag carrier. Although employees of the Empire, even those at the base level of the Time-Space Administration, were typically authorized with a personal space of considerable volume, some still enjoyed the feeling of returning from a trip burdened with bags and parcels. For example, Miss Tohsaka, who always considered poverty her life’s greatest enemy—her suitcase and Uncle B’s large bag contained all the wild purchases from the rare opportunity to shop freely.

"I’ll make sure everyone gets home safely," Uncle B responded with a reassuring, reliable voice soon after my gaze passed over to him, and I noticed a glimmer of relief from surviving a disaster deep in his eyes. That’s because in the past few days, little loli Ilya suddenly developed a strong interest in modifying her usual mount—every day, she would take a bunch of rearview mirrors, headlights, and clutches to fiddle around Uncle B’s body. I suspect she might have received some improper indoctrination from Bubbles that led to a strong desire to transform Berserker into Bersercar—now that this perilous ancestor was finally leaving, our great hero Hercules relaxed as if he had successfully transcended a tribulation.

"Alien uncle..." Tohsaka Rin, holding onto her suitcase handle, had a hesitant look on her face as if she had something to say but stopped herself. I couldn’t help but ask with concern, "What is it?"

"I’m about to leave, and you’re not going to give me some New Year’s money?"

Me: "... I’ll introduce you to Ling Meng in the future."

"Boss, Sakura and I are going to stay in that world for a few days," Rider, dressed in a simple sports outfit, with a flashy women’s motorcycle parked beside her, said, "I’ve already asked for leave. There seems to be a local motorcycle racing event there, and I want to try it out."

"Oh, then you’d better take two more lawyers over there."

Rider: "...Boss, that’s not how you treat people!"

No sooner had I seen them off, Tsuruya’s voice came from behind: "Wow, hurry, hurry! There are only two minutes before we have to ’drive’!"

"It’s all Black’s fault, flipping out so early in the morning!" This was Misaka’s voice.

I turned around, and sure enough, a whole host of people from the Magic Prohibition World I recognized was barreling towards us. I quickly waved at them from a distance to stop.

The crowd stumbled to a halt in a heap. Chichun took half a day to catch her breath and realize she needed to greet me, bowing in a fluster: "Um... Hello, Uncle Director!"

I waved at them: "Don’t panic, no need to rush for the ’drive’ anymore."

"Eh? Is there still time?" Tsuruya immediately dug out her phone to check the time in surprise.

"No, the ’drive’ just left..."

Mikoto immediately got angry, grabbing Black by the neck: "It’s all this guy’s fault!"

Tsuruya leaned in and explained to me in a low voice that all sorts of everyday fun had happened early in the morning. The basic process was something everyone could look up, involving various mishaps of girls playfully running late.

"So what’s your story?" I glanced at Lola, the Academy City girls’ group shouldn’t be in the same category as Lola’s, but this time they were all late together.

"This morning, the Archbishop got it into her head to make breakfast using the microwave— The big explosion set us back a whole half hour," the grumpy red-haired priest did not hesitate to spill the beans on his superior, then pointed to a girl saint with an embarrassed look who had caused the second explosion by volunteering to extinguish the fire after the automatic fire extinguishing system in the mansion was broken by the Archbishop a few days ago.

"And then?" I asked with a cold sweat looking at Lola and Shen Lie, these two mechanical idiots laughing in remarkably synchronized foolishness.

"And then?" shrugged the rogue redhead, "I tried to fix the automatic extinguisher, which caused the third explosion."

I found it incredible: "How did you even survive to this day?"

Shen Lie, Lola, and Stier simultaneously made the sign of the cross over their chests: "We just got lucky!"

I was speechless and could only turn to Tsuruya: "Take them through the military channel. You haven’t used your military passage privilege in so long it must be gathering dust. And Lola, you should have this privilege too... Ah, I get it, you don’t know how to use it."

"Ah, I totally forgot about this!" Tsuruya smacked her forehead as she suddenly remembered, and quickly dragged a bunch of people towards the other side of the square, but not long after, she ran back alone, "Ah, I forgot my travel bag!"

The scatterbrained girl slung the forgotten backpack over her shoulders and darted off, then reappeared after a while, "Ah, I forgot—bye, brother!"

I waited quietly, and sure enough, she came back after a few minutes. Why did I expect as much?

"Director Brother, where is the officers’ passage?"

I knocked on her head, not too hard, not too lightly, "How on Earth have you made it to this day?"

"Hehe, just lucky!" Tsuruya giggled, scratching her head, waved goodbye to me, took a few steps, then turned around again, "Brother, you haven’t told me where the officers’ passage is!"

After sending off this delightful bunch, it was almost noon, and the Dimension Hub Square was still teeming with people, showing no signs of thinning. I began to consider setting up several more diversion stations in nearby worlds and another backup hub in the Shadow City Suburb. The Macro World was growing increasingly larger, and with this massive organization’s continuous improvement, their job responsibilities were becoming clearer and clearer. With the Administration Bureau’s reviewers and special envoys bustling for world peace, using the Shadow City Dimension Hub as the sole primary port was proving inadequate. It’s not right for a transmigrator administrator to get stuck in traffic on their way to work, having to eat instant noodles while waiting for congestion to clear.

After much thought, I still felt that indeed this should be listed as an important task. So, I quickly called the Time-Space Administration office and had them dig up the Imperial Commander who had been a ticket scalper for two years: Some things are just better left to professionals.

Having seen off the last of the acquaintances, it was midday, so I simply scrounged a meal at Silvia’s place, then headed to Avalon. Two days had passed, and I wondered if the demons had gotten used to life here. It was time to check on the situation.

As soon as I arrived at the village where the demons had settled, I was stunned:

They had cleared an unprecedentedly large space next to the village, and now they were holding a fighting competition!

A vast expanse of grass had been flattened, and with large stones, they had built a huge square. Demons, Heroic Spirits, and Imperial Soldiers formed a large circle around the square, and from within came cheers and shouts of encouragement. Ling Meng was pushing a small cart through the crowd, selling mineral water laced with cola and sunflower seed shells mixed with peanuts. Cheng Miao was leading a group of Loli demons running wildly outside the circle, with Yakumo Lan and Shi Liu Ye frantically chasing after them: Flandre had also joined in the mayhem.

I approached the open field with a sense of wonder. Since I knew everyone inside the circle, I had to grab Yakumo Lan, who was running past, "Miss Fox, what are you all doing?"

"Ring fights, competitions," said the Demon Fox Girl in a flustered manner, her face coloring with embarrassment, "Um, may I ask... can you let go now?"

I looked down and realized that what I had grabbed in passing was one of Yakumo Lan’s tails: No wonder it felt so warm!

Yakumo Lan, noticing the strange look in my eyes, blushed even deeper, perhaps misconstruing my intentions, "Um, if you like fluffy things, you can touch the ears, but these on the tail are not to be touched."

I was speechless.

"Ahem, it’s not about the fluffiness," I managed to control the urge to actually feel Yakumo Lan’s ears on her head, even though the ears of the fox lady did indeed look quite cute. However, this gentle-natured fox was already exploited enough by Yukari Yakumo regularly, so it was better not to bully her excessively, "First, tell me what this ring fight is all about? Who are you all competing against?"

"Oh, it was Cui Xiang’s idea; she said it was boring to sit around doing nothing and suggested we challenge some people. Besides, we heard that the people here are very formidable, so she wanted to see who was stronger between the demons and the Heroic Spirits. Then, because the ring was set up so large, even many Imperial Soldiers were drawn in before the fights even started, so Cui Xiang simply made the ring open to everyone. Anyone with a skill could go up to accept a challenge or challenge others, even if it was just craftsmanship or music. Right now, two Heroic Spirits are dueling, and the next match is being drawn. Lady Ling Meng thought we shouldn’t waste such an opportunity, so she went to get a carton of sunflower seed cola, and I heard that Chiruno is even selling ice pops inside..." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)

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