Best Friends!

“Hey, miss, have you fallen for me?”

Looking down at the red-haired elf staring at him, Cecil decided to use his pride-and-joy humor to defuse the slightly awkward atmosphere.

Granted, his current appearance was indeed a bit of a mess.

But that didn't stop an outstanding member of the demon race from showing off his charm.

At least, that was what Cecil himself believed.

Standing by the window, Zona couldn't even maintain her dignified expression. She gave Cecil, who was currently running a hand through his hair, a look of utter disgust.

“If what I saw first thing this morning wasn't an upside-down demon gentleman, I think I might have actually been charmed by this beautiful morning.”

Hearing Cecil's sickening attempt at flirtatious humor, only one thought remained in her mind.

Just last night, he was fighting a succubus with knives and forks in the dining hall.

Then, he was personally hung from the clock tower by the Demon King.

And now, having just been let down, he actually had the nerve to say such things to the first woman he met.

What kind of mental state was this?

Cecil fell silent for a moment.

Then he shook his head, wearing an expression of profound heartbreak as he looked at Zona.

“If that's how it is, then I have no choice but to erase this unpleasant memory.”

In the next instant, Cecil's figure vanished from the clock tower.

“What?!”

Zona couldn't even register how he had moved.

A faint fluctuation of magic drifted from behind her, accompanied by the demon's flippant tone.

“Don't worry, it'll be quick.”

Zona's pupils dilated in shock.

She whipped her head around.

Cecil was standing less than half a step behind her.

He raised a hand, dark purple magic rapidly condensing at his fingertips.

Just as Cecil's magic was about to touch Zona—

“Cecil, that's enough of the jokes.”

A slightly anxious voice rang out from beside them.

The wrist of Cecil's magic-channeling hand was firmly gripped by another hand.

The magic in his palm was instantly disrupted.

Phelan materialized in an instant, shielding Zona.

Cecil glanced at his captured wrist.

Then he looked at Phelan's somewhat irritated expression.

Finally, he shrugged helplessly.

“Fine, fine. Just treat it as another dark history of mine that got exposed.”

He withdrew his hand.

His face once again wore that nonchalant smile.

“It's not like I was the only one hanging upside down from the clock tower last night, anyway.”

Phelan: “...”

Cecil adjusted his sleeves.

Then, he cast another glance at Zona.

“You two chat. I'll take my leave.”

Cecil waved at the two of them.

With that, his entire body transformed into a streak of dark purple magic and vanished from the room.

He decided to leave them to their private space.

Judging by the female elf's reaction, it probably wasn't the first time these two had met.

As for what would happen here next...

He would just find a way to peek at Phelan's recording stone later.

Meanwhile, Kainster was still lost in the corridors of the Demon King's Castle.

He even swayed with every single step forward.

His stomach let out another loud growl.

Clutching his stomach, Kainster looked up at the various signposts hanging on the wall.

They were decorated with drawings of demon horns, bat wings, and all sorts of other incomprehensible symbols.

“What on earth are these signposts? I can't make heads or tails of them!”

He pointed at one marker that featured a giant bull horn.

“Is this the dining hall?”

“Or the livestock area?”

“Or maybe some minotaur's bedroom?”

Kainster had completely lost his ability to reason.

He slowly slid down against the wall.

In the end, completely abandoning his image, he collapsed face-first onto the floor.

“I can't go on. I'm completely drained. Out of energy.”

He reached out a hand, trying to grasp at a hope that didn't exist.

“Zona... even though you're usually really terrifying, I really need you right now...”

Just as Kainster was about to accept his fate of collapsing in the castle corridor, a familiar voice suddenly drifted over from nearby.

“Waaah! Niya~ Miss Saintess needs you!”

Kainster followed the sound and looked over.

Above the corridor, a white figure was floating in midair.

Lin Ling was sitting cross-legged in midair, looking like a little white cloud that had lost its direction.

As she slowly drifted forward, she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.

Clearly, she was also thoroughly lost.

Hearing a sound from below, Lin Ling stopped drifting.

She slowly looked down.

And Kainster happened to lift his face at the same time.

Two pairs of blue eyes locked onto each other in that moment.

“...”

The corridor fell into a brief silence.

A second later—

Both of their stomachs let out loud growls in perfect unison.

In each other's eyes, they saw the exact same suffering—getting lost, starvation, and a desperate craving for breakfast.

“Waaah!”

Lin Ling dropped straight down from midair.

Kainster also summoned the very last of his strength to scramble up from the floor.

The two of them bolted toward each other.

Finally, in the middle of the corridor, they met in an emotional, mutual rush.

“My soulmate!”

Lin Ling tightly grabbed Kainster's hands.

Tears welled up in her eyes once more.

“You couldn't find the dining hall either?”

“No!”

Kainster grabbed Lin Ling's hands with equal excitement.

“All these corridors look exactly the same! And I can't understand the signposts at all!”

“Me too!”

Lin Ling sobbed.

Looking at Kainster, whose stomach was rumbling just like hers from hunger, she felt as though she had finally found someone who truly understood Miss Saintess.

“To think that in this cold Demon King's Castle, there would actually be someone else who got lost just like Miss Saintess!”

“I didn't expect it either,” Kainster said, his eyes filled with deep emotion, “that there would be someone who could comprehend my suffering right now!”

The two stared at each other.

Their faces wore the expressions of two kindred spirits who had finally met.

At this very moment.

They were only a bowl of wine away from kneeling toward the rising sun outside the window and swearing an oath of brotherhood.

“Today, I, Lin Ling, and I, Kainster, though we were not born on the same year, the same month, or the same day...”

Before they could finish their oath, a violent tremor suddenly shook the wall beside them.

The entire wall exploded outward.

Bricks and dust flew in all directions.

Lin Ling and Kainster's oath-swearing ceremony was abruptly cut short by this sudden disruption.

“Miss Saintess!”

Niya stepped out from the shattered wall.

She immediately spotted Lin Ling, who was covered in gray dust.

Her long white hair, which had just been neatly arranged by Ivelia, was now covered in a thick layer of dust.

Niya's expression instantly changed.

She paid absolutely no attention to Kainster standing nearby.

She quickly raised her hands.

“Cleanse.”

Dozens of cleansing spells rained down on Lin Ling almost simultaneously.

White light flashed continuously.

The grime on Lin Ling's body vanished in an instant.

Even that stubborn cowlick of hair, which Ivelia had failed to smooth down despite multiple attempts, stood proudly back up.

“Niyaaa~”

The moment she saw Niya, Lin Ling felt as though she was looking at the first ray of dawn.

No.

The current Niya was far more dazzling than sunlight.

She was the beacon of hope that would lead her to breakfast!

“Miss Saintess has finally found you!”

Lin Ling lunged forward and threw herself at Niya.

She clung entirely onto Niya's petite frame.

She wrapped her arms tightly around Niya's neck.

She even gently rubbed her cheek against the top of Niya's head.

“Niya.”

“Miss Saintess was almost starved to death here.”

“Miss Saintess...”

Feeling the warmth of the body pressing against her, Niya instantly went completely rigid.

She stood as stiff as a board.

Her cheeks flushed bright red in a split second.

“U-Um... I will take you to the dining hall right away.”

Her voice gradually grew softer.

She didn't even know where to put her hands.

“Though it might be highly impolite to interrupt you two at a time like this,” Kainster lay slumped on the side, weakly raising a hand, “but if I don't eat breakfast soon, I...”

Before he could finish his sentence, his raised hand limply dropped to the floor.

“Soulmate!”

Lin Ling's pupils shrank.

She immediately leaped off Niya.

She rushed to Kainster's side and grabbed his limp hand.

“Soulmate! Don't you die on me!”

Lin Ling's tears began to flow on command.

She knelt beside Kainster, shaking his body frantically.

“You bastard! We haven't even finished swearing our oath of brotherhood yet! How can you collapse like this!”

Kainster weakly fluttered his eyes open.

“Lin... Ling... I might... not be able to join you... for breakfast...”

“Don't say such things!”

Lin Ling wept even harder.

“Didn't you say we would face breakfast together, Miss Saintess and you?!”

Niya stood nearby.

She listened to the constant rumbling coming from Kainster's stomach.

Then she looked at Miss Saintess, who was currently putting her heart and soul into a tragic performance.

In the end, she could only shake her head helplessly.

...

“Mmh! This is delicious! Thank you, Head Chef, for making this food!”

Kainster sat at the dining table, stuffing bread and roasted meat into his mouth non-stop.

Even though his words were completely muffled, he still didn't forget to express his gratitude to the Head Chef.

“Mhm, mhm!”

Lin Ling was currently biting into a huge chunk of bread.

She couldn't even form coherent words.

She could only nod vigorously while giving the Head Chef a big thumbs-up to show how delicious the food was.

The way the two of them ate was almost identical.

The plates in front of them were emptying at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Looking at these two ravenous gluttons, the Head Chef shook his head and placed two bowls of hot soup in front of them.

“Eat slower. No one is going to steal it from you.”

Although he said that, when he heard the two of them praising his cooking, his yak-like tail couldn't help but thump gently against the floor a few times.