Enchanting Embers: Dance with the Divine

Chapter 6: Night Chat

Aurora stared at him dumbfounded for a while, unsure where to start complaining—whether it was about his eerie way of appearing or his penchant for snatching others' food.

Taking a few steps forward, she said, "...You know you need to pay twenty copper coins to get in here, right?"

"Copper coins?" The little imp took a bite of the pastry. "The stuff on you?"

In a flash, his terrifying tail was right there, its scales shimmering, the blade-like tip poking at the metal coins in her pocket.

They were standing very close. The next moment, his tail suddenly flicked, hooking around her waist and pulling her in front of him.

The imp let go of his tail, stuffing all the pastries into his mouth. He reached for her pocket, grabbing a handful of shiny coins. "Twenty?"

Just as Aurora recovered, this jerk snatched her money and snatched it back, "Yeah, you're the one skipping the entry fee, relying on your ability to fly."

He didn't stop her from reclaiming the coins; otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten them back. The imp looked at her strangely. "I don't fly. I don't like flying."

Aurora felt like she was getting used to this kind of conversation, continually using her wits to figure out what he meant, analyzing the truth from simple sentences.

The ladder was in front of her, and he had approached her from behind. The girl thought for a moment. "You don't make any noise when you walk?"

The imp gave her a contemptuous look, seeming too lazy to answer such a stupid question. His gaze swept around the stalls in the square. "That—"

Before he could finish, Aurora felt a flicker in the figure before her.

She blinked, seeing the imp standing in place. In his left hand, a basket of almond milk pudding, his tail wrapped around a basket of cranberry biscuits. His expression hadn't changed, as if he hadn't teleported dozens of meters away to steal dessert.

In Aurora's complicated gaze, this guy was eating seriously. "I liked the previous ones."

Aurora didn't know where to start correcting him. "You can't bring all the baskets here—wait, what did you say?"

The imp shoved a cookie into her mouth. "The ones in that room tasted better."

"Um," the girl's smile grew. She quickly chewed and swallowed. "You mean the ones in the storeroom? Those are made by me! And yes, I agree, they're good, even though you've eaten all of them—though, you shouldn't eat them all, leave some at least and put the baskets back."

This time, he ignored her again, eating for a while before carelessly tossing the baskets onto the rooftop. He glanced disinterestedly at the humans dancing below, mingling with scattered vampires and dark elves. These attractive dark species seemed to be quite popular.

The imp raised his head lazily. "What are you doing here?"

Aurora looked at him, feeling drained, grabbing the two baskets and climbing down the roof amidst the amused stares of onlookers, blushing as she put the things back in place.

The imp remained on the chimney, tail swishing around. The shadows of its bone spurs looked exceedingly sharp, as if ready to slice through the moon's strings in the sky.

"You didn't follow me here, did you?" Aurora returned to the rooftop. "Where's your home? Is this your first time in Makas, this town?"

The imp tilted his head. "Home?"

Aurora wasn't sure how to explain. She tried to use demon language but realized she didn't know the word. Maybe there wasn't an equivalent in the demon language. "Do you live in the Dark City? I mean, that word, Antherleris? Is that how it's pronounced?"

"Hahaha," the imp suddenly laughed, seemingly entertained by her unfamiliar pronunciation. "You're really dumb."

Aurora knew her pronunciation wasn't great. She hadn't had many chances to practice speaking. ViVi had only tried to help her understand. Maybe she should practice more in the future.

"Well, maybe it's ridiculous," she looked at him annoyedly, "but I can speak Elvish and Dwarvish. Their common languages, you definitely can't."

The imp glanced at her and casually uttered a string of convoluted sounds.

The gist of that sentence was: You're a fool; I can do anything.

The girl widened her eyes. "Are you speaking Ancient Elvish? How do you know that?"

The elves in the West Continent rejected the existence of dark elves. Each of the higher elf tribes had their own language. Communication among them, besides using human languages, primarily used a common elven tongue, derived from and simplified from their languages. Many non-elf races could grasp it with practice. However, some syllables could only be pronounced by pure-blooded high elves; not even half-elves could do it. Nevertheless, anyone willing to learn could understand it.

"You can't..." Aurora looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be an elf! Even though the Magma Elves have your skin color, they don't have tails or horns, and they don't raid pantries and steal fish like demons..."

"Of course, I'm not an elf. And I've said I'm not a demon," the latter looked at her puzzledly, furrowing his brows for a moment before his eyes brightened. "I'm a god!"

Aurora: "...Pfft."

Sorry, but that answer lacks any credibility coming from you.

The imp might not have realized he was being mocked or simply didn't care. "What are you doing here?"

Aurora suddenly remembered it was the second time he'd asked the same question. If she didn't answer, he might toss her off with his tail. "I... My friend invited me here to hang out. I thought we'd dance, but she clearly has company now..."

The imp followed her gaze, spotting a bloodsucker and a human girl kissing in a corner. He eyed them with cold, golden eyes. "What's wrong with them?"

"Um, they're kissing," Aurora looked at him strangely. "Haven't you seen that in the Dark City? I thought orcs or demons did something similar?"

"It seems so," the imp frowned. "But why? Are they trying to exchange tongues?"

Aurora: "............"

Aurora took a deep breath. "No, they're just expressing their love for each other."

"What does that mean?"

The girl blinked. "My understanding is, seeing someone makes you happy. You want to be with them and make them happy. You want to fulfill all their desires, and if they're unhappy, you feel bad. If you lose them, you feel pain."

The imp pondered for a moment, vaguely understanding her, but not quite getting the feeling. Yet, he seemed somewhat interested in the topic. "Do you 'like' someone?"

"No, not in that sense," Aurora shook her head. "Though noble girls my age might already be engaged, my parents never pressured me in that aspect..."

The other guy stared at her intently, his thoughts unclear.

"I used to be a citizen of the Hayden Empire," Aurora recounted her story almost involuntarily, "while studying at the Academy in Magnolia City, a minor noble once professed his liking for me. But just before that, I happened to overhear him and his classmates betting on whether they could arrange a clandestine meeting with me in the garden the next afternoon. The wager was ten silver coins. Frankly, I was considering agreeing, on the condition that he share a few coins with me. That night I told my mother about this incident, she was very displeased and immediately gave me a gold coin. She also took me to my favorite jewelry shop and advised me not to engage in such matters again... So, the next day, I declined the proposal from that person."

Aurora wasn't sure if the other party understood. She found the incident somewhat amusing upon recollection, but the memory of her mother's angry expression made her feel a bit sad.

The little demon fell silent.

After a while, his eyes gleamed, and his tail swayed again. "You can 'like' me."

Aurora looked at him with some astonishment.

"Are you...?" The girl seemed like she wanted to say something but eventually sighed, "Forget it, you have no idea what you're saying."

"I know," the little demon said excitedly, "if you 'like' me, you'll fulfill my wish and cook for me!"

Aurora looked at him, feeling a mix of amusement and speechlessness. "...You used a conditional clause; maybe I should reward you with a pie."

Before he could respond, she continued, "Aren't you going back home? I mean, wandering around like this? Won't your mother worry about you?"

"My mother hates me," the little demon rolled his eyes, showing his disdain, "I hate her too, but I can't beat her right now."

He huffed coldly and turned away, not saying anything further.

"Well," Aurora sighed lightly as she gazed at the clear moonlit sky, "and I'll never see my mom again; even my dad died of a broken heart after she passed away."

The young girl gazed blankly into the night sky, a sense of confusion lingering in her frost-blue eyes, a faint mist of sadness enveloping her.

She began to exude a sense of sorrow, and the little demon seemed to sense this emotion too, staring blankly at her for a while. "Then, then, I'll share my mother with you, although she has a terrible temper and might end up beating you to death."

Aurora couldn't help but chuckle, "A mother can't be shared with anyone, unless you—anyway, thank you for your kind offer, but I just miss my parents. I just think you should cherish what you have now, even if you have conflicts."

"Really," the little demon didn't quite agree, showing his annoyance again, "she hates everyone."

"At least this aversion isn't directed at you. Perhaps she just has a bad temper or is troubled by something frequently," Aurora didn't know how to comfort him, considering her deep bond with her parents, who were pleasant people, "Maybe she's not good at expressing herself, but she still loves you."

The little demon sat on the chimney and looked down at her.

"She only makes me..." he struggled to articulate, "kill one or a group of idiots."

"Oh, that's...," Aurora didn't know how to react, "Are you talking about monsters? Aren't you all hunting individually?"

"Monsters?" he scoffed disdainfully, "Monsters aren't worth my time to kill."

"That's not right. All the continent's races hunt monsters. As far as I know, countless people die in monster hunts on the Eastern and Western continents every year. Even demons are at risk when battling high-level monsters. From a culinary perspective, the meat of many monsters tastes better than domesticated animals, but it's expensive, so ordinary people can't afford it. Even nobles only serve a few dishes with monster meat at banquets—"

The little demon glanced at her as if he had lost interest in listening to her lengthy explanations. Suddenly, he seized on a point, "Monster meat?"

"If you've learned the proper processing methods, the meat of some monsters is much tastier than regular animals, but—"

The little demon tilted his head as if not interested in hearing her long explanation, "I got it."

Aurora watched as he disappeared from the rooftop of the tavern, his figure passing through the town's buildings, vanishing in the moonlit night.