Chapter 275: A Poetic Painting of Wind, Flowers, and a Maiden
Ren still remembered the unyielding, defiant look in Lucifer's eyes when she had left. He hadn't thought she would actually hold out for long, but he certainly hadn't expected her to compromise quite this quickly.
He held his phone to his ear, a faint smile playing on his lips. "What's wrong? Why are you calling me now?"
A moment of silence, then his smile widened. "Huh? Did that really happen...? You're genuinely unlucky, you know that?"
He listened for another moment, his amusement growing. "Alright, go find Courage first. I'll come pick you up tonight."
"Yes, really. I'm not fooling you."
After hanging up, Ren let out a soft chuckle. "As expected," he said to the woman beside him. "She has a constitution that makes it impossible for her to act alone with Cerberus. Her luck is just abysmal."
Kirari tilted her head in confusion. "Eh? Lucifer? What happened to her?"
Ren's expression was one of fond helplessness. "Cerberus dragged her off to look for some small animals, and she ended up falling into a river. After she managed to climb out, Cerberus ran over to pull her up, slipped, and pushed her right back in."
Kirari couldn't help but let out a peal of laughter. Ren just shook his head, a helpless sigh escaping him. Fortunately, it seemed Lucifer hadn't seen anything strange or supernatural this time. Otherwise, things could have been much, much worse.
Meanwhile, on the back mountain of the resort, Lucifer had already used a flicker of magic to dry herself completely. She stood with her arms crossed, staring helplessly at Cerberus, who was still struggling to stifle her giggles. It was true. She absolutely could not go out with Cerberus!
Then again, if Cerberus hadn't insisted on searching for small animals, Lucifer wouldn't have followed her in the first place, worried the triple demon would get lost or cause some catastrophic damage. Who could have known she would be so incredibly unlucky?
'Indeed, that smelly man is better... I'll just follow him from now on,' she thought, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. 'But it seems I couldn't hold out again...'
She clenched her fists. 'Forget it! It's not the first time anyway! Next time, I will definitely succeed!'
Seeing the sudden fire of resolve ignite in Lucifer's eyes, Cerberus blinked in confusion. She had a nagging feeling that Lucifer had been acting very strange these past few days, but this particular state seemed… interesting. Still, she didn't dare to continue laughing and forced herself to swallow her amusement.
"Cerberus!" Lucifer's voice was sharp.
"Hmm?!" The triple demon snapped to attention.
"Let's go back!"
"Oh!"
To Cerberus, Lucifer didn't seem quite normal right now, so she wisely decided to back down. If she behaved, maybe Lucifer wouldn't hold the whole 'pushing her into the river' incident against her. Most of the time, Cerberus appeared innocent and simple-minded, but at critical moments, she was anything but naive. In fact, she could be quite clever. Not that Lucifer blamed her anyway.
As Lucifer and Cerberus began their walk back, far away in a nondescript office in Hell, a white-haired woman wearing glasses was sprawled across her desk, looking as if she were about to expire. One might have thought she didn't have long to live, yet despite her exhausted posture, an inherent elegance still clung to her.
"Ah… so tired… I feel like I'm going to die…" she groaned, her voice muffled by a stack of paperwork.
"But I haven't seen the boss in a long time… Where did she go?"
She lifted her head slightly, a flicker of awareness in her eyes. "Eh? I just felt the boss's magic upstairs… Never mind. That was barely enough power to dry some clothes."
She let her head fall back onto the desk with a soft thud. "Even if she's useless, she wouldn't do something as foolish as running up there by herself and then falling into a river, would she…?"
"Sigh… I really want coffee… Without coffee, I feel like I'm going to collapse…"
Her hand fumbled for a receiver, her voice shifting into a deadpan, professional monotone. "Ah, hello. I'm Pandemonica, Hell's customer service…"
With that sound, the metaphysical location of Hell seemed to snap back into its proper place. Lucifer, however, had no idea that her whereabouts had, in their own way, been discovered. The most crucial question remained: if the other denizens of Hell knew that Lucifer, their formidable Queen, had a man—and was completely helpless against him—would they all mock her relentlessly?
One could almost hear their collective, gleeful response: Huh? Of course we would. To which Lucifer would undoubtedly reply: Then let's hurt each other.
Courage had just finished her inspection of the resort's overall situation. She checked a few final boxes on a specialized WGO app on her phone and submitted the report, a satisfied smile gracing her lips. "Mr. Dojima, I didn't expect this! The resort can still get an excellent rating!"
Gin Dojima beamed with pride. "Of course! This is a place I manage, after all!"
"So…" Courage began, her tone shifting slightly. "Mr. Dojima, are you planning to spend your entire life managing this resort?"
"Naturally! This is my professional integrity!" he declared. "Just like you, Miss Courage! I'm sure you'll stick to your post as an Executive Officer with the same dedication!"
Courage's face twisted into a look of mild disgust. "No way."
"Eh?"
"Please, I have my own life to live. I still want to get married at the best age. Who would have the time to be an Executive Officer then? At most, I'd move into logistics or train new recruits. Only a fool would spend their entire life flying around the world as an inspector; it's very irresponsible to one's family!"
Gin Dojima's mouth twitched. Just as he was about to formulate a response, he saw Courage looking at him with an expression of deep pity, and a terrible premonition washed over him. He quickly tried to change the subject. "Miss Courage, let's prepare for the lunch tasting! Ten dishes have been prepared!"
Courage nodded. Just as Dojima breathed a sigh of relief, he heard her say with a helpless sigh, "So, Mr. Dojima, who plans to dedicate his entire life to the resort… is he going to be single his whole life…? How pathetic…"
Gin Dojima's blood pressure spiked. Joichiro Saiba would say things like this every time they met, but always with a degree of subtlety. Courage, on the other hand, had looked at the metaphorical chainsaw in her hand and decided to switch it out for a tactical nuclear warhead aimed directly at his heart. A critical hit.
He muttered under his breath, "Indeed, Joichiro is more reliable…"
When she heard this, Courage's eyes widened in horror. Gin Dojima froze, then, just as he was about to speak, he saw her give him a look that screamed, 'I understand completely.'
"Eek! Mr. Dojima… you're amazing…" she whispered, taking a half-step back.
"What I meant was!" he practically yelled, his face flushing. "Joichiro wouldn't push me to find a partner like this!"
Courage visibly relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief. "You should have said so earlier! The way you said that, I almost wanted to run back and protect Ren."
Dojima's eye twitched. "You haven't succeeded yet either."
"But I have a goal! And I will definitely succeed!" she declared, puffing out her chest. "That's much more reliable than you, Mr. Dojima!"
"I… I'm very popular with women!" he sputtered defensively. "Many of the female employees at the resort admire me greatly!"
Courage stared at him, incredulous. "You have such good conditions and you're still single?!"
"I don't have time!"
"Excuses," she sang, turning away.
"I… Tasting! We have a tasting to attend!"
Gin Dojima pressed one hand to his forehead, watching Courage walk away. After taking a deep, steadying breath, he slowly followed. As they neared the main building, Courage spotted Lucifer and Cerberus, who had finally returned.
Before Courage could say a word, she saw Lucifer stride over, wrap her in a brief, stiff hug, and then pat her shoulder with a firm nod of approval. Lucifer was silently acknowledging Courage's reliability, but Courage completely misinterpreted the gesture. She froze on the spot, her mind racing, assuming Lucifer had just received some wonderful, relationship-altering news from Ren.
While everyone was lost in their own thoughts and miscommunications, the door behind the dark green-haired maiden, who was lightly dozing while facing the sunflower field, suddenly began to glow.
A gentle breeze swept through the field, and a million perfect sunflowers displayed their radiant beauty to the sun. The maiden leaned against the doorframe, her breathing soft and even in a light doze. The sea of sunflowers, all facing the sun, rustled with the passing wind, its whisper gently stirring a few strands of her hair. It was a light, soft, and utterly serene moment.
The maiden's delicate face appeared exceptionally peaceful. A cup of floral tea, placed on a small table to the side, had long since grown cool, but its presence only added to the tranquil ambiance.
Flowers and tea. Flowers and wind. Wind and tea. Everything, together with the maiden, formed a perfect scene—a poem waiting to be written, a scroll ready to be painted, a beautiful, living masterpiece.
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]