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Sponsored By: Wesley Brown, Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Maxamaicus, Emblyon, maou99sama

With the Brackishwaters River being so near the main city of the Shadowhunter clan, there was no way you could ever convince me that anyone could approach the city without being noticed. After all, the Dark Elves were not only expert assassins, they were expert trackers and scouts as well. In just those two fields alone, the Dark Elves were unmatched.

Despite knowing that, I still couldn’t help but furrow my brows as I asked, “invaders, perhaps?”

“Impossible. No one can approach our territory without being detected.” Paliseth confidently refuted my concern. “At this time… perhaps it’s the Blood Drake Riders returning from their field exercise?”

“Blood Drake Riders?”

“The Blood Drake Riders are the strongest mounted soldiers we Dark Elves possess. Every month, they would engage in a field combat exercise.” She smiled as she explained. “That was five days ago so they should roughly be back by now.”

Just as she finished explaining, the human-sized mushroom forest ahead of us was suddenly parted in half by a bunch of frightening, dark green monsters trampling over the mushrooms in front them.

These monsters were almost three meters tall and had the typical dragon head but without horns. It stood on its two hindlegs while a pair of comparatively shrivelled up looking claws hung in front – basically a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a dragon-looking head. However, that wasn’t all there was to these monsters. Each of them wore a simple set of black armor that covered their head, chest, neck and thighs. On their backs was a saddle with a fully armored knight dressed in black.

The armor on these knights wasn’t of the heavy variant. Rather, they seemed heavier than your normal light armor but just not to the extent of a plate mail. Every one of them had on a fierce mask that resembled the hideous visage of a Devil. Their headdress even had a pair of bull horns that curved upwards like a Devil’s. From far, they looked more like demons than Dark Elves.

(Rumbling noises.)

The Blood Drake Riders galloped onwards in a straight line towards the Brackishwaters Bridge, passing by us with several dozens of meters to spare. The lead rider seemed to have noticed our presence and ordered the riders to halt in the clearing. Then, with two other attendant riders, she rode towards us.

“The Blood Drake Riders are made up of our strongest warriors and Blood Drakes. They form the strongest fighting force in our clan and are an unstoppable force on the battlefield.” Seeing those three riders ride towards us in all their terrifying glory, Paliseth couldn’t help but smile proudly. “Recently, the Undermarsh Murlocs of Fluorescent Swamp has been poaching fish in the Brackishwaters River. A week ago, I ordered the Blood Drake Riders to hunt down these pests… seems like they are back earlier than I had expected.

“Wait… if those Undermarsh Murlocs can swim in water, and that Fluorescent Swamp you mentioned clearly is a swamp, then…”

I was a little confused about what she just said so I had to pause for a second there out of sheer puzzlement. “Those Blood Drake Riders don’t really look like they can swim or even move about freely in a swamp…”

Swamp, river, armor, dinosaur… hmm… no matter how you look at it, those armored riders don’t seem very buoyant. In fact, can they even navigate a swamp?

“Blood Drakes can all swim. Plus, their original habitat is a swamp so there is no better choice than them to hunt these Murlocs.”

The moment she said that, I swore my jaw fell right into the river. The fact that a tyrannous rex with a dragon head could actually navigate through a swamp with ease and was even proficient in swimming was just… no wonder they say you can’t judge a book by its cover, or a Dark Elf by her marital status. Even monsters aren’t an exception anymore… geez.

While we were conversing, what seemed like the leader of the Blood Drake Riders came up to us with a pair of attendants. The three riders hopped off their mounts and half knelt towards Paliseth. The leader in the center of them even took off her headdress as she did so, revealing a flowing head of silvery hair that fell to her shoulders. The face beneath was an androgynous one that lingered between the boundaries of handsome and beautiful. However, while her beauty was a little ambiguous, the resolve in her eyes were anything but. She was a warrior. And a proud one at that.

“Interim Blood Drake Rider Corp Leader Zurnalin pays her respect to the Matriarch.”

Zurnalin had a short hairstyle which only reached up to her mantle. She herself was a mature lady that could be considered both handsome or beautiful at the same time. Even as she knelt with her headdress under her arm in subservience, that did nothing to lessen the imposing aura she gave off as a battle-hardened warrior. While one could not tell if her respect was genuine based on that emotionless expression she had on, but there was no faulting her etiquette.

The question then was this… does that iceblock of a face ever thaw?

“Zurnalin, before paying your respects to me, I would first like to introduce his holiness to you.” Paliseth gestured towards me. “Sir Mo Ke is the child of our great goddess, Lolthe. You may address him as his holiness. You must respect his holiness the same way you respect our goddess.”

“Your holiness.”

Zurnalin addressed me with that same icy look she gave Paliseth. However, I could detect a distinct aloofness in her tone like how one would address a pet dog or cat someone shoved in your face.

“Hello…”

Faced with an ice queen like her, even I wasn’t sure how to interact with her at this point. Thankfully, Paliseth was already well accustomed to this corp leader. She first gave me a mysterious smile then pointed in my direction again.

“Zurnalin, his holiness is the goddess’s representative in the mortal plane, the highest manifestation of the goddess’s will. You have to show his holiness the same respect you show the goddess…”

Suddenly, before Paliseth could even finish her sentence, Zurnalin’s otherwise frigid face underwent a huge gamut of changes. From aloofness, to neutral, to joy, then finally to fervor… she had basically cycled through the whole range of emotions a person could possibly show in a single second. Long story short, she’s scary! What the heck is going on here…

“Your holiness! Please allow me to bear your holiness’s seed!”

Zurnalin was shaking profusely at this point. Gone was her previous iciness, replaced by a scorching passion that threatened to swallow me whole… is this how a stud feels?

Her sudden change really threw me off-kilter. Even now, I still couldn’t figure out what caused this sudden change in her. The disparity she showed was even larger than my pee pee… ahem… I mean, her delayed reaction was really something…

Hey! Don’t grab my leg like that. Where’s my icy queen? Where’s my proud warrior?

Finally, with the aid of Paliseth and Jezsere, I managed to pry myself from her clawing grip. Geez, why did I ever think that she was mature… she clearly has a screw loose in her head.

While it was true that I had my fair share of fervent fans -like those Devils in Purgatory or Abaddon – none of them dared to grab my leg like that. Especially since their compatriots would have already clobbered them to death the moment they even thought about it. So, really, this was a new experience for me.

After a long talk with Paliseth, the corp leader finally realised how inappropriate she was acting right now. Slowly, she released her grip on me, albeit unwillingly, then turned her attention to Paliseth.

“How was the fight with the Murlocs?”

“Excellent.”

Now that she was back to addressing Paliseth, she reverted back to her icy self. Her words were curt but filled with vigor. Just based on that single word alone, one could tell that she was a tested warrior, a noble knight you could entrust your back to.

At least… that was before that whole leg grabbing incident. Had it not been for that, I would have never pegged her as a nutcase.

“Elaborate further.”

“I had our troops seal off the tunnel connecting Fluorescent Swamp and the Brackishwaters River. Next, I led a hundred elite riders right into the swamp to raid their nest. We suffered no casualties but killed nearly a thousand Murlocs.”

“Very good. I’m sure those dirty fishes won’t dare invade our river for a good long while.” Paliseth nodded her head in satisfaction. “How is the progress going with the hybrid Blood Drakes?”

“The rearing is proceeding smoothly but their personalities are too varied. They aren’t very good mounts.”

“That’s alright. Their combat strength compared to the normal Blood Drakes more than makes up for it. As long as they listen to orders, it’s fine…”

Just like that, Paliseth continued chatting with Zurnalin about her work for a while longer. Finally, after she was done with her report, Zurnalin offered her services as a guide for our little jaunt in the wilderness. However, before I could even respond to that offer, she had already commanded her second-in-command to lead the rest of the riders back to the city. As for herself, she pressed herself against my body, both arms wrapped tightly around my arms while her bouncy bouncies pressed themselves dangerously against my chest…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.