237 The Night Before (2)

Five minutes later, a group of five was walking through the streets of Thone.

Thone was a pretty small city, small enough to be considered a town instead. However, it had several features that made it popular in the Great Savannah.

As a city near the borders of both the Boerner Elven Forest and the humans' Sun Kingdom, Thone was a kind of hub for merchants of the three races. In other words, it was a very prosperous city.

You could find traces of the three cultures spread through the city, giving it a beautiful vibe. Moreover, in this city, you could easily buy things that would be hard to get in other parts of the continent.

In fact, the only reason Thone was just a small city was due to the military barracks located on the outskirts of the city. For the military, a big city would be harder to defend in case of an invasion. The current Thone, on the other hand, could be easily defended, thus becoming into a tough nail to defend against the invaders.

And one of the most famous features of this city was its night market.

Streets lit up by magic lights, stalls selling all kinds of strange merchandise, and people of all kinds of cultures and different races talking with each other.

Different from other cities in the beastmen countries, it was easier to find people of other races in this city. In fact, Bloed had already seen around seven humans and four elves just after five minutes of entering the night market.

"Even compared to Diadel Duchy, this city is pretty lively, huh." Bloed could not help but mutter.

Rana giggled. "Well, Thone is a place safeguarded by a military barrack, so the safety here is very good. Due to that, merchants of different races can sell their merchandise without being afraid of being robbed. Plus, as this city is on the border of three races, discrimination is not very common here. I heard that there are cities like that in the Boerner forest and the Sun Kingdom too, although apparently, the border city in the Sun Kingdom is not very comfortable.���

"The humans there preach human supremacy and practice slavery to other races. So neither beastmen nor elven merchants feel safe going there." Greta, the deerkin girl, explained with a sneer.

Bloed smiled wryly. Hearing someone condemning human supremacy felt weird, mainly because he was human too.

Seeming noticing Bloed's expression, Greta hurriedly apologized.

"Sorry, captain. I know you are not like that."

"Don't worry about it. I was not offended."

"Yeah, obviously our captain doesn't care for discriminates against other races. Otherwise, he would not be dating such a beautiful demon like Ying Ying~" Rana said with a smirk.

Liu Ying blushed slightly and Bloed shook his head exasperated.

In fact, humans were not the only race with such extreme thoughts. Each race had a portion of their population that believed they were superiors to the other races.

The situation was a bit better now because there had not been any big war between races in a long time, but apparently, before the disaster of the Blight one hundred years ago when all the races warred constantly, xenophobia was much worse than now.

Back then, even thinking of marrying someone of a different race was considered scandalous.

"Anyway, there are a lot of nice things here." Rana's eyes were sparkling brilliantly. "Look at that necklace. It's so beautiful!"

The other two girls nodded in consent. Both Liu Ying and Greta seemed very interested in many of the things being sold.

Strangely, the things they were interested in were not weapons, armors, or artifacts; but instead little trinkets with little value beyond its beauty.

That was not something Bloed and Rhone, the batkin, could understand. Different from the girls, they were mainly interested in the weapons, armors, and strange artifacts that were being sold.

They did not buy anything too valuable, though. Even although many of the objects here were pretty novel, the five of them could be considered as rich people in their own way. The things being sold here could not be compared to the things they owned.

Bloed, in particular, only bought an object. It was an elven hairband made with the sap of a valuable tree and two rubies in the shape of two small fishes.

When Bloed saw it, he could not help but think it was perfect for Liu Ying.

Therefore, he did not hesitate to pay for it despite the slightly expensive price. Anyway, it was not like Bloed cared much about money.

When Liu Ying saw the hairband, she smiled shyly and turned her back to Bloed, as though asking him to put the hairband on her.

Bloed did not refuse. With slightly clumsy movements, he tied her beautiful hair into a ponytail.

"How is it?" Liu Ying asked with a bit of red on her cheeks.

"It's not as beautiful as you."

Liu Ying rolled her eyes. "Since when are you such a smooth talker?"

Bloed smiled wryly. He could not tell her he used the spaceship database to study how to make women happy, right?

... He had to admit that the tricks he read were pretty effective, though. Even now, Liu Ying was smiling happily and sticking her body to him.

"Tsk. As expected, it doesn't feel nice to see others show off their love. Hey, Grey Grey, are you sure you don't want to be my girlfriend for one night?" Rana asked the deerkin girl.

"Psyco!" Greta rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Tsk. What about you, captain? A flower in each hand sounds nice, what do you think?"

"Ask my girlfriend." Bloed did not hesitate to evade the question.

And judging by the sharp gaze Liu Ying was directing to Rana, his answer was right.

Even Rana seemed a bit stiff after feeling Liu Ying's sharp gaze.

"… Rana, I can be your boyfriend if you want." Rhone raised his hand timidly.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not searching for a boyfriend right now. I would consider it if you were a girl, though."

Rhone put on a stiff smile.

Bloed could not help but chuckle seeing their interaction. With a smirk, he patted Rhone's shoulder twice.

"Good luck friend. You have it hard."

"… Get lost..."

Chuckling again, Bloed grabbed Liu Ying's hand and continued exploring the night market.

Eventually, intentionally or not, the pair of lovebirds distanced themselves from the rest of the group.

Soon, they had fallen behind and were watching how the others played around.

"Rana, that girl, she sure is lively," Bloed commented with a smile.

"I think that aspect of her is very likable." Liu Ying giggled.

"Really? I, on the other hand, pity the guy who marries her. Poor Rhone, he sure has it hard."

Liu Ying rolled her eyes and snorted. "Really? By the way, I think I felt your heart beating faster when she proposed the idea of a flower in each hand."

"You are imagining things. My beautiful demon is enough for me." Bloed praised himself inwardly for his smooth answer.

And as he expected, Liu Ying's lips curved up when she heard him.

"… I wonder what Regina would think if I told her your words of just now."

Bloed could not help but stiffen briefly.

"… Please, spare me of that, okay?"

Liu Ying giggled and hugged Bloed's arm. "I'm joking. I'm aware of how much you like her."

Bloed decided that the best answer in this situation was to not answer.

Just like that, the pair continued wandering through the night marker silently, holding each other's hand and occasionally joking about random things.

Eventually, they were left behind by the others and arrived at the end of the market.

Bloed and Liu Ying did not mind, though. Tacitly, both of them continued forward until arriving at an empty clearing.

"Being together like this feels nice." Liu Ying said with a small smile. "I wish my mother would have met you... She would have liked you."

Bloed fell silent. He could feel the sadness hidden behind Liu Ying's words.

However, there was nothing he could see to console her.

Thus, he just held her hand tighter.

Feeling Bloed's concern, Liu Ying smiled softly. She then looked around shyly before pulling Bloed behind a tree.

Seeing Bloed tilting his head, Liu Ying giggled mischievously.

"I promised you a kiss, remember?"

Bloed shook his head bitterly. This girl…

However, he did not refuse her.

The next second, he could feel her lips pressing against his, and her breathing blowing against his nose.

Liu Ying's lips tasted sweet, and they felt pretty soft. Instinctively, he could not help but compare them to Regina's.

In the end, though, he was unable to determine which felt better.

This was not Bloed's first time kissing Liu Ying, but for some reason, he felt this time was different than the previous times.

It felt more… romantic?

Even his heart was beating faster.

Unfortunately, the pair was forced to stop their romantic moment.

Because suddenly, they heard a cry coming from the distance.

"Damn you!"

Bloed and Liu Ying were startled. Exchanging glances, both of them realized they recognized the owner of that voice.

It was Rana!

...

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