Flying through the clouds of the now thawed tundra, a hint of gentle calm carried through the wind washed over Haruki's face. Closing his eyes shut, he submitted himself to the gust and let himself be carried by the winds wherever it deemed fit. His companions, on the other hand, were looking on with worried expressions at the innocent smiling child being carried in Haruki's arms.
Frolicking around happily, the girl was moments away from disaster, but reluctant on breaking their master's peace, none of them dared voice their opinions.
"Ahaha! Fu! Fu! Ahaha!" Incapable of words, the little girl accepted by everyone as Haruki's daughter, kept giggling as the winds passed by and even tried to make the same noise as the wind as they flew through the skies.
"Uhmm…Master?" Noticing his fingers on the girl uncoiling, Asuka finally broke the peace. However, taken out of the trance so suddenly, his grapes around the girl were instinctively uncoiled. "Ekkk!"
"Shit!" Being the most timid flier of all, Margarette's body stiffened up from the sight.
"I'll get her!" Riley on the other hand, wasted not even a second before propelling herself towards the falling child with the use of wind magic.
Low on sleep because of the girl's crying all night, Haruki was oblivious as to what they were all so concerned about. Following Asuka's concerned gaze, however, he finally noticed the cause of their worries.
"Fuck!" He uttered, shooting himself down right behind Riley.
Falling through the sky, the little girl had little awareness of what was happening, and since she'd flown with Haruki without knowing the threat of height, her laugh and giggles continued to resonate through the skies. Even with Haruki's teleportation and Riley's enhanced speed, getting hold of the girl was astonishingly hard.
"Come here!" Riley screamed, trying to clutch onto her clear sundress.
Bouncing off the girl's luminous silver hair, a beam of sunlight blinded Riley with the refracted colors of the rainbow. Forced to retreat her hands to cover her eyes, Riley couldn't chase the girl further for the moment. Still right behind her, Haruki tried to use shadow hands to grab the girl, but it only ended with the shadows being incinerated under the sun.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Shooting up from the ground, a thunderous voice shouted out to the devils maneuvering through the sky.
The very next moment, a huge ball of flame flew up toward the girl. It made Haruki fear that it was some sort of attack by a creature hiding in the spring forest. But as the familiarity of the voice clicked into his mind, he knew exactly who it was.
"Why would you fly with a wingless child?!" Catching the kid in her arms, Roselia Ironfrost shook her head with a look of disappointment. "And whose child is this? You're not kidnapping kids now, are you, demon?"
His heart still pumping from the horrifying situation, Haruki tried to get closer to Rose and the girl out of her hands. Hiding the child by wrapping her wings around her, Rose made sure Haruki couldn't touch her without giving her an answer.
"Okay, okay, I get it, and no I'm not kidnapping kids, even back in the duchy they're living happily through illusions," watching the little angel crawl up Rose's chest, and touch her on the chin, Haruki knew she was safer in Rose's hands at the moment.
Beaming up a smile from the toddler's touch, Rose turned her head to look at her. Not knowing that her hair was as reflective as a mirror she too was blinded for a moment but shadowing the kid under her left wing, she rubbed her nose against her. Hearing her giggling innocently at the act, Rose turned to Haruki once again.
"Keeping children trapped in illusion, is that supposed to make me feel better about you kidnapping a child?" She muttered.
Catching up with Haruki and Rose, the rest of Haruki's crew followed the dragoness's lead as she began slowly descending down towards a riverbank.
"She's Fay's child, and I'm not kidnapping her," Haruki retorted a bit frustrated by now.
"And master's too," Riley's contribution to the conversation only infuriated the other servants and left Haruki a bit embarrassed.
"Your child?" Getting her feet back on the ground, Rose was extremely confused by the statement. "I thought demons can't reproduce like other species."
Picking the child high up in her arms, she began inspecting a pair of wings and the heart-tipped tail of a lust demon. When she didn't see anything of the sort, she held the girls comfortably in her arms and turned to question Haruki further.
"She's not a demon, what the hell are you talking about?" Upon hearing that question, Haruki knew a lot of explanation was in order.
"A lot has happened since you've been living out here with your brother and children," once again moving forward, he held his hands towards the child. Being familiar with Haruki's demonic face, the cute little angel stretched her arms towards him, and even Rose who knew better couldn't hold the girl from getting back into Haruki's arms.
"As I've said before, I don't care what you do with your duchy, just leave the spring to us and we'll do as we're told," handing the kid back to Haruki, the image of her own children popped up in her mind. "And can you please not use that appearance of yours, I do not want any of my children to see you like this."
Changing his appearance, Haruki glanced down at the girl in her arms, expecting her to be shocked by the maneuver, instead, amused by the change, her eyes widened up and she began chuckling out cute giggles.
"Before I tell you why I'm here, do you know of any names that would suit her?" He asked, turning his gaze back to Rose.
"Why would you ask me? Are you trying to get me to be her godmother or something?" Although she wasn't opposed to the ideas, she didn't wanna seem too excited about it either. "Sure, sure I'll do it. Now just tell me why you're here?"
Not even waiting to formally be offered that position, Rose wanted to move on from the subject since in her mind the deal was already signed.
'She's too easy to read sometimes.' Knowing full well what she was trying to do, Haruki couldn't help but smile.
"The truth about Laria is probably on its way to the king at this point, and I have a plan to deal with it," taking a deep breath, he pressed his lips together. "But in case it fails I'll be requiring your help."
"And what exactly is it that you want our help with?" Crossing her arms, she returned a sharp gaze to Haruki.
"That is…I want you to kill a kingdom," with those words, Haruki began explaining everything including the story behind the child to one of the strongest beings in Atlas's history.
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