(BL) I teleported again and now all demons want me!

"Ha," Eric got a headache.

"Are you ok?" Del once again cheekily hugged Eric while they were sleeping on the bed.

"A shortcut..."

Eric only said but Del immediately understood.

"Do you think we can trust it?"

"I don't know but I feel like the plot will force me if I want to or not..." Eric sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll be by your side and protect you."

Ugh, Eric's heart was stabbed and moved. He even let overly cheekily Del hug him now. Their warmth mingled and the comfort spread. Eric somehow felt better knowing that there was someone he could talk about the plot with. At least Del was more rational than Fil and more useful than Lyna the dog. Although Lyna was definitely more useful than horny Fil!

So, in the end, Eric was reduced to a tiny ball in Del's arms who meekly answered, "Ok."

Very cute, very adorable, very tiny. Del, hearing this, only held Eric closer and kissed his forehead. In return, Eric curled up even more, becoming even cuter than a kitten. Del's heart beat fast at this realisation and sight. 

Warm, fuzzy feelings spread through his body as he felt like he held his whole world in his arms. It was actually... a wonderful feeling despite the slight aloofness a demon like him had but something he started to crave now. With both males calming their swirling emotions down, the night passed and the next morning came.

Everyone assembled at a nearby restaurant that was selected after a long consideration to match Eric's expensive and exquisite taste, to discuss. The topic of the conversation: The shortcut!

After all, dishes were ordered and they started to dig in, Eric asked, "How did you find out about the shortcut?"

With a full mouth, Dan spoke, "Atually-"

But Tani interrupted him, "Don't speak with a full mouth!"

"It's disgusting," Éclair grinned. So, Dan swallowed the food stuck in his throat down with great difficulties, while Del spooned countless amounts of food onto Eric's plate and cunningly said, "Eat more. You need more strength."

Ah... everyone else sighed at this and the atmosphere became weirder, until Dan quickly resumed the topic, "We heard about the shortcut. On our way to this city, we coincidentally ran into other contenders."

Dan took another spoon before continuing, "They were acting very suspicious, so I came to the brilliant idea to trail them," he ripped a piece of bread into half and stuffed it in his mouth, "That's how we heard of it."

"How are you sure they're contenders?"

"Simple," this time Eclair answered, "They were arguing with each other. One wanted to use the shortcut, the other wanted to proceed normally."

"So we don't know if we can trust this clue," Eric concluded. It was after all too risky. If Eric could, he had to hold out as long as possible to avoid the shortcut. Let's see how the plot would force him to take it. Obviously, this shortcut was a trap and tempting one on top of that.

"We aren't going to pursue it?" Tani's innocent expression and her sweet charm she spilt around, caused all gazes to turn their way. Luckily, Del understood Eric's secret tap on his leg and used his oh-so-great Demon Lord aura to scare away the people who dared to look at them.

Oh, your eyes accidentally fell onto our table? Worry not, my immense powerful villain aura will melt you away, so you'll never do such an obvious noob mistake again.

Oh, you were only curious and it's human instinct to look? I'm sorry but I'm a demon and I don't understand, so begone tho- mortal.

Oh, your horny stick signals you to come and harass someone? Worry not, my laser beam can also properly cut it off without even needing to glance at it. 

Oh, you-

"Cough," a certain burning aura made Eric feel very uncomfortable, so he tried to get Del to focus on the breakfast again. Eric slightly patted Del and whispered, "You've done enough."

"Mhm," like a dog, Del's tail started to wag and he was very satisfied by the treatment Eric gave him. Very nice. Much wow. Amazing. Outdated memes. Let's keep going and pretend nothing happened.

"We'll just continue the checkpoint, it's safer. We don't know anything about the shortcut," Eric answered Tani's question yet just at the moment, Eclair's surprised, "Oh!" gave Eric a very bad feeling.

His face blanked and he tried to be very emotionless when he said, "Eclair, why... just why is the back of your hand glowing?"

At this Eclair grinned and showed Eric the round circle with an intricate pattern on her hand that glowed in a light green light, "This is a mark I left on the victims. You know my torture magic can mark a person for a week, so I can torture and find them at any time. By the way, I can only use it once a week then and the cooldown is a week as well."

Thank goodness, why the fuck do you sound so sad? The cooldown should be forever! What the hell is this vicious power? Torture someone whenever, wherever you want just because you fucking marked them? Get out! Calling them your victims? Get your damn ass out now!

"It only works when they're close."

Eric absolutely didn't want to ask because obviously the plot was about to fuck him over but he still grit his teeth and resigned to his fate, "Who did you mark?"

"The two contenders who know of the shortcut. Say," with a playful smile Eclair continued, "Isn't this a good opportunity to ask them personally?"

Eric wanted to scream 'No' but calmed himself.

"With Elas here we've got nothing to worry about, he can easily tie them up, so they won't escape and I'll torture them until they spit out relevant info."

ECLAIR! YOU WEREN'T SUCH A CHARACTER!

For how many fucking times do I have to continue calling you flat 2D, inconsistent and heavily expositional character out? For the rest of my life?

"I'm against it!" straight out of the bullet came Tani's answer, "I also think that's too much..."

Dan sided with Tani against Éclair. The latter only shrugged her shoulders and stared at Eric, "Elas, what do you think?"

Hah... Eric wanted to shoot down her idea too when all of a sudden his, usually very obedient and emotionless system spoke up, "Host, please follow the plot."

The system didn't need to say more. This much was enough for Eric to understand. Eric looked at Del who was too immersed to feed Eric to the brim, so once Del got a taste of Eric, it'd be super delicious.

"I also don't like the idea but,'' Eric sighed and Eclair's grin grew, "it won't hurt to question them. Of course, Eclair, we'll do it the civilised way."

"Yeah, yeah, as long as you can get it out of them, I don't care," Eclair waved with her hand and closed her eyes, "I'm gonna track them now."

Eric took this opportunity to ask his system, "Do I really have to?"

"Does the host want to leave this story earlier?"

"Yes..."

"Also, you'll meet someone else."

"Someone else?" but the system didn't answer. Eric was in deep thoughts as he contemplated. Someone else? Who could it b-

Wait! How on earth could Eric forget? Leon! He totally forgot about the damn author himself!

Then Leon would finally appear in the shortcut? Heaven, Eric already saw how useful this lazy guy was. Obviously, not at all! Eric's head hurt, but if this meant he was able to leave faster, then Eric had no right to complain.

"Ah, found them. They're in this city in a restaurant not for far from here," Eclair proclaimed and mischievously smiled.