"After going all the way around, you still like this place best after all?"
"Mhm, Human. I want to go inside and have a look. Is that okay?"
Luna gazed longingly at the HOMU Amusement Park before her as she spoke. Music, fireworks, and people's laughter drifted out from the bustling, lively amusement park.
The vampire girl could no longer conceal the longing in her eyes.
The two of them had visited many places throughout Sapphire City.
But compared to tasteful attractions like shrines, parks, and museums, Elias discovered that Luna clearly preferred dazzling, colorful places like amusement parks, shopping streets, and arcades.
Elias wholeheartedly approved of and appreciated her taste.
"Of course. They happen to be running a holiday event today too. An amusement park on Children's Day is much more fun than usual."
Elias held Luna's little hand as he bought their tickets and entered the amusement park. Incidentally, he bought an adult ticket for himself and a children's ticket for Luna. After all, the vampire girl was only 145 centimeters tall.
To outsiders, they looked like a handsome older brother bringing his exquisitely adorable younger sister to an amusement park on Children's Day. In reality, however, ordinary people directly ignored the two of them under the influence of the Herrscher of Transcendent Sentience's authority.
To be fair, this HOMU Amusement Park was considerably inferior to the amusement park in the Elysian Realm. However, it was much livelier, and only a place filled with laughter and joy truly deserved to be called a paradise.
On that point, Elias admitted that his own paradise had lost.
"Human, there are so many interesting things here."
"Yeah. What do you want to try, Luna? But I'll say this first. Don't tell me you're satisfied just watching again. If you only look and don't play, we'll have wasted the money we spent on tickets."
Elias deliberately put on a stern expression as he spoke.
Though he really had no right to criticize anyone for wasting money. After all, two amusement park tickets cost less than one hundred and fifty yuan in total, yet Elias had paid with an entire gold coin.
Luna froze for a moment, then nodded vigorously, indicating that she would definitely play properly and enjoy herself to the fullest today.
And so, the two began their amusement park date.
...
At a shooting-game stall.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Holding a toy gun that fired cork pellets, the vampire girl closed one eye and aimed at a target less than five meters away. Then, without hesitation, she pulled the trigger and fired.
Unfortunately, reality proved that she was an extraordinarily talented master of outlining. All three cork pellets struck the invalid area along the very edge of the target with uncanny precision. The shooting-stall owner watched with a cheerful grin.
His expression practically said, If you're bad, practice more.
"Grrr!!"
Luna puffed out her cheeks in frustration, then somehow produced a blood-red battleaxe taller than she was.
If she brought that axe down, forget the target. The entire shooting stall would probably be split in half. Elias hurriedly grabbed the vampire girl's little hand, signaling that there was absolutely no need to go that far.
Elias: "I'll teach you how to do it, Luna. Shooting is actually very simple. It doesn't matter if your first shot misses. Keep your shooting posture steady, correct for the error, and your second shot will definitely hit."
Luna: "So that's how you're supposed to do it? Human, you know so much. Then I'll try again!"
Owner: (Hehehe~ As if I'd make it that easy for you to hit the target. I've tampered with the gun. The pellets won't fly where you aim at all... What?!)
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The shooting-stall owner's eyes widened in astonishment at the sight before him, and his mind involuntarily erupted into incoherent barking.
After Luna missed her first shot again, the vampire girl suddenly became a flawless marksman. Every shot afterward struck dead center, and in the end, she achieved a perfect hit rate.
Owner: (Could she actually be a shooting genius?)
Elias: (Nope~ Luna really is just a master at outlining. She couldn't hit the target even if there were nothing wrong with the gun. I just turned on cheats for her.)
Invisible currents of wind precisely delivered every one of the girl's pellets onto the target. Although Elias' principle was that cheating while playing games was forbidden, the Galactic Baseballer had once said it best.
[Rules are made to be broken!!]
Watching Luna happily jump in place while holding the toy gun, Elias graciously applauded and praised her.
...
Inside the dimly lit haunted house.
"H-Human, you absolutely can't let go of me. Don't leave my side. Please. This place is terrifying."
Luna's little face was deathly pale as she clutched Elias' hand tightly. In the dark, cramped space, the vampire girl's legs had already gone weak, and she was trembling so badly she could barely continue walking.
Elias looked at her, caught between laughter and tears.
Luna herself was clearly a vampire, yet moments ago she had nearly fainted from fright because of a staff member dressed as a vampire.
"Don't be scared, Luna. I'm right here with you."
"Mhm. Human, you're so nice..."
"I~ hate~ you~~"
"Eeeeeeeeeek—!!"
A staff member dressed as a ghost suddenly appeared, holding a flashlight. Just as the two passed by, he abruptly switched it on and illuminated his face from below.
The technique was simple, but devastatingly effective.
Luna let out an adorable shriek, tears instantly flying from her eyes as she wrapped herself tightly around Elias' arm.
Meanwhile, the haunted-house staff farther behind them immediately understood from that scream that an adorable guest who couldn't handle scares had entered their domain.
And so... they all brought out their finest tricks!!
By the time Elias finally carried Luna out of the haunted house on his back because she had been frightened too badly to walk, the vampire girl had already lost all color.
She clung tightly to Elias' neck, and a white little soul almost seemed to be drifting out of her mouth. She looked ready to ascend to heaven.
"Wuuuuuu..."
"There, there. Don't be scared, don't be scared. Luna doesn't need to be afraid~ Those were all fake. Don't take them to heart."
"Human, you're amazing. Those ghosts were so terrifying, but you walked through the entire place without even changing expression."
"Because Luna's reactions were too entertaining. I ended up focusing all my attention on you. Besides... it was only a Western-horror-themed haunted house. Child's play~"
Elias waved dismissively. Western horror simply wasn't frightening if you possessed enough strength and firepower. Compared to the psychological attacks of Eastern horror, it was ridiculously low-level.
Otherwise, forget everything else. If the staff of this haunted house had simply placed a pair of embroidered shoes inside, this Flame-Chaser who could casually crush heaven, earth, and everything between, bearing the names of Eternity and Deliverance, would immediately open a portal and flee with Luna.
...
After that, the two visited many more places.
Before they knew it, noon had arrived, so Elias and Luna went to the HOMU Restaurant to fill their stomachs first.
"Eh? I didn't expect them to sell black-truffle chocolate steak here too. I've actually been wanting to try it again."
"Human, do you like this? Then I'll have the same thing."
"Uh, Luna, you'd probably be better off choosing something else. To be honest, the taste of this dish is pretty difficult for normal people to accept."
Elias' expression became subtle.
"It's fine. I'm a vampire, remember?"
Luna smiled, indicating that she wasn't a normal person to begin with.
The two then found seats by the window. When the steaks drizzled with melted dark chocolate were served, Elias licked the corner of his lips and eagerly dug in.
The bitterness of the dark chocolate gave the steak a richer range of flavors, but to be perfectly honest, it wasn't particularly delicious~
It was simply that Elias' sense of taste was somewhat warped, much like his concept of money. Both his upper and lower limits for what he could accept as food were absurdly high.
After all, his usual meals included not only the delicious dishes meticulously prepared by skilled cooks like Rita, Mei, and Sakura, but also godslaying cuisine produced by a dark-cuisine master like MEI.
"Nom, nom... this taste..."
As Luna continued eating, her brows gradually furrowed. Even she couldn't decide whether it was delicious or awful. Evidently, black-truffle chocolate steak was a little too avant-garde even for a vampire.
Chocolate and steak were both delicious on their own, but once combined, the taste became strange.
Maybe it needs something to season it, she thought.
"I'll use this."
Then, under Elias' astonished gaze, Luna picked up a container of devilishly spicy seasoning powder and generously sprinkled it over her steak.
Looking at the black-chocolate steak now buried beneath a thick layer of devil chili powder, Luna took another bite. The vampire girl's crimson eyes instantly lit up.
"Mmm~~"
"Luna, is it good like that?"
"Mhm, mhm!!"
Luna nodded vigorously, then held the devil chili powder out toward Elias. The expectant look in her eyes clearly showed that she wanted him to try eating it her way too.
If it had been anyone else, there might have been ulterior motives involved. After all, anyone with common sense knew that devil-level spiciness was not something a normal person could tolerate. But this vampire girl possessed no such common sense.
Luna was simply sharing something she liked with Elias, and of course he wouldn't refuse.
Elias had never lacked a spirit of adventure. Besides, even if it tasted terrible, it definitely wouldn't be as deadly as MEI's godslaying cuisine. So he followed Luna's example and sprinkled on a layer of devil chili powder.
"Nom... Th-This taste!"
The extreme spiciness combined with the bitterness of dark chocolate, two intense flavors amplifying one another into something even more stimulating. Yet when paired with the steak's rich, springy texture...
"It's bitter, spicy, and weird, but... surprisingly good?"
Elias' eyes widened in surprise as though a door to an entirely new world had opened before him, and he immediately took another bite! At the same time, he thought that this was yet another dish that would make Rosemary loudly denounce it as culinary heresy.
In truth, however, Elias couldn't actually handle spicy food very well. Although he liked spicy flavors, his tolerance for heat was fairly low.
Before long, Elias' cheeks flushed red, and fine beads of sweat appeared across his forehead and neck. His lips, reddened by the devil chili powder, parted slightly as he began breathing deeply.
"Haa... haa..."
His beautiful mismatched eyes narrowed in pleasure.
Elias undid the top button of his shirt.
He stuck out his tongue and licked his stinging red lips. In the end, he drained his glass of ice water in one go. His slightly furrowed brows immediately relaxed, and his entire body radiated an enticing air of languid satisfaction.
Elias had always believed that spiciness possessed a kind of magic. Even when his body couldn't take it anymore, he still couldn't stop eating.
But just as he was about to finish the rest of his spicy black-chocolate steak, the crisp sounds of numerous forks falling onto tables and floors rang out around him.
"Hm? What's wrong with everyone?"
Elias blinked in confusion. He had clearly already used the Herrscher of Transcendent Sentience's authority to reduce his presence, yet everyone in the HOMU Restaurant was now staring straight at him.
Luna, sitting across from him, was blushing even more fiercely, like an innocent girl who had accidentally clicked into an adult website.
"N-Nothing, Human. You probably shouldn't eat spicy food anymore. Uh, I mean... you shouldn't eat spicy food outside."
"???"
Elias tilted his head in confusion with his fork caught between his teeth.
Meanwhile, not far away, the witch and AI girl secretly observing them while using an Ether Singularity to conceal their presence both had thin streams of red dripping from their noses.
Rosemary and Ai-chan exchanged a glance, awkwardly turned their heads away, then silently raised their binoculars and continued watching.
Ai-chan: (So weird. Why can a boy be this sexy too? Just one billion more looks!)
Rosemary: (I should study spicy cuisine when we get back.)
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