Rivers of the Night

Chapter 820: Short Circuit

Theron lay on the back of a bird soaring through the air. His hands were behind his head, one leg crossed over the other, and Alpha acted as one of the softest pillows he had ever used.

Whether it was the beaming sunlight or the harsh winds, neither seemed to be bothering him at all.

He opened an eye to see Ayame cultivating nearby with a very focused look on her face. She seemed to be struggling to deal with the bird’s speed and the cold of the wind. Unfortunately, he had tried to help earlier, only to be viciously rejected. In fact, it seemed to have made her quite mad.

From what Theron could tell, she didn’t actually think that she could deal with it easily on her own. She was just very angry that he was interrupting her chance at training.

This was the most personally Theron had ever seen her take anything. But he had a feeling that this probably wasn’t an isolated incident.

Theron smiled and closed his eyes, remembering his mother. If she was here, she could probably tell him what to do.

Up on the head of the bird was Jun, who hadn’t spoken a single word. Though, Theron had noticed when the latter’s robes shifted in the air, there was the faint trail of a scar at his collarbone.

There was no way Jun didn’t have the means to heal from a wound properly. The idiot had decided to leave the scar Theron had left on him as a reminder.

’Bold strategy. We’ll see if that helps.’

Theron shook his head and went back to sleep.

...

Theron woke to the bird landing. He flipped up to his feet and seamlessly landed on Alpha’s back.

"There is a recruitment parade taking place in Momun City." Jun spoke his very first words since last night. "You will join through this method. Every week, you will report to me on your progress. If you need to use my help at any point in time, it will be considered a failed mission."

After he said this, he tapped a foot and the bird launched itself up, nearly knocking Ayame off her feet.

Theron gave her a glance. "Let’s rest. We—"

"No."

After saying this word with a particular edge of cold, Ayame began to walk toward the city.

Theron opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it with a chuckle. Honestly, he felt a bit helpless. It was just that he also couldn’t help but find it all a bit amusing.

He rubbed his nose a bit and then paused before erupting into wilder laughter.

How many times had he seen his father do that? He had never, not once, ever been compelled to do such a thing. And yet here he was.

Ayame shot him a glare that could freeze glaciers twice over and Theron hurried to seal his lips. But his reaction got Alpha laughing, which ended in them both walking the rest of the way in complete silence.

Well, they were silent. The forest and the city surroundings weren’t all that silent at all.

Theron had no idea how the Demon Corps managed to make it onto a planet with such tight security with a bird of all things, but either way, the surroundings were completely full of people—especially the young.

They had hardly traveled very far at all before they ran into their first group, and then the second.

’There are no roads here,’ Theron thought to himself. ’Odd for such a big city.’

In fact, let alone the fact there were no roads, there wasn’t even much of a division between the city and the forest. The tallest trees near the edge of the city wall actually had canopies that hung over them, and that was despite the fact the city walls must have been at least 50 meters tall.

They had landed quite far away, and yet it wasn’t long before Theron had to basically look straight up to see its peak.

The bustle was increasing the closer they got to the city, but the various groups remained fairly separated from each other.

"Hey, pretty lady, why don’t you leave such a bastard? I can’t believe he’s making you walk."

Theron raised an eyebrow and looked down at Alpha.

He was indeed riding on Alpha’s back while Ayame was walking ahead, ignoring the both of them. It sounded like this person was talking to him.

But... Theron usually noticed people quite early. Normally, if someone was going to be speaking to him, he would have noticed their intention a good few seconds before they did.

The real reason for his weird expression was the fact he hadn’t noticed anything. Was this person really so powerful? What was the level of the participants of this thing?

Suddenly Theron felt a flash of danger and he instantly turned to the side, reaching out with his pointer and middle fingers.

He caught a saber right before it pierced his nose through.

Once again, he was in shock. This person had managed to hide from his senses for so long. Were the earlier words a distraction tactic?

A bundle of something soft dove into Theron’s arms, and before he could react, it started shivering.

Wait... it wasn’t shivering, it was crying its eyes out.

And it wasn’t an "it." "It" was clearly a petite woman with jingling anklets around her feet.

Theron blinked and half felt a murderous death stare meet the side of his face. But he was so baffled by the sudden series of events that he didn’t even have the time or forethought to understand what was happening.

And yet he was taken aback once again as a pair of palms grabbed his face and a kiss was firmly planted on his lips.

’What the hell...’

Alright. Even if he hadn’t quite recovered from the amount of pressure the Demon Prince had put on his soul, this was ridiculous. He shouldn’t be taken off guard this many times in a row.

And how was he losing his first kiss like this? He might not have been a virgin, but it wasn’t exactly like he had crossed lips with those women.

Theron’s brain short-circuited a bit.