“The Human Who Helped the Demon Princess Reclaim Her Kingdom”

 

Even though the golden hue of twilight had long since disappeared completely, the night view of the city-state illuminated by lamps still revealed a beauty no less than before.

Beside the ancient buildings on both sides, pedestrians wearing various costumes all had leisurely smiles on their faces.

In a corner of the residential area several hundred meters from the city gate.

Apart from the torches placed on the wall by the guards and the lights coming from the residents' windows, there was no other illumination.

After Lanqi's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he slowly approached his destination.

He could see something curled up against the wall at the corner of the street—actually, there were many curled-up creatures.

Fragile-looking things shivering from the cold.

Lanqi continued walking towards that place, and he could hear the sounds of those lives.

"Meow~ Meow~"

Stopping, crouching down, he opened the food container in his hand.

Just like that, the aroma began to spread.

And when Lanqi threw the cooked chicken inside onto the ground not far away, kittens gradually began to approach him.

At this moment.

He seemed to have not noticed at all that not far away on the opposite side of the street, there was another figure leaning against the wall, looking like a homeless person from the slums.

Although this street corner was not a good place, isolated with only some stray cats.

But there were no other vagrants, and few guards.

Talia hated humans, so this place made her feel more comfortable.

No one would have thought that such a girl dressed as a vagrant would actually be the former demon princess.

Time passed like this.

Almost all the kittens around had been attracted to Lanqi's side.

Lanqi just watched the cats eating with a blissful expression on his face.

He had learned from the butler that Talia had been sleeping on this street for the past two days.

So before dinner, Lanqi had asked the manor's chef to prepare enough specially scented chicken for him, which cats could eat and humans would find even more delicious.

Then a bit later, he deliberately came here pretending to feed cats.

"..."

Although during these few minutes, Lanqi had not looked at Talia once.

But Talia had already noticed this human who had rashly intruded into her "territory" early on.

If he had just stayed here honestly, Talia might have treated him as air.

But why would that damn human use such high-grade meat to feed stray cats?

Thinking back on her years of living rough, Talia could only come to one conclusion: even cats ate better than her.

Finally, she couldn't help but look towards Lanqi.

But out of dignity, she seemed unable to utter any words of rebuke for a moment.

She could only stare at Lanqi with a death glare.

But Lanqi still didn't seem to notice her for a long time.

"Can you go feed cats somewhere else?"

She spoke, saying coldly.

Lanqi raised his head slightly dazed, looking blankly in the direction of the voice, and after seemingly understanding the situation, he calmly replied:

"I come here more often than you."

He declared as if asserting his ownership, stating the fact that "he often feeds cats here".

Hearing this, Talia let out a faint cold snort, no longer paying attention to him.

Because this human indeed hadn't lied.

Lanqi didn't say much more either.

What he just said was indeed the truth.

As a native of this town, he had certainly come to this place more often than Talia.

And Talia had only recently arrived in this town, so naturally she wouldn't have seen whether Lanqi had come here to feed cats in the past few days.

However, Talia had a stubborn temperament.

She both disliked Lanqi and was unwilling to actively walk away and give up the spot she had stayed in for two days.

At this point, whoever retreated would seem like they had lost.

So she sat in the corner trying to fall asleep while enduring her hunger.

Just like that, a little while passed.

"Can you help me with something?"

Lanqi's sudden voice rang out in the quiet street.

Talia slightly raised her head to look in Lanqi's direction, confirming he was talking to her.

"What?"

Talia originally didn't want to pay attention to him.

But according to the rules of human countries, since someone was asking for her help, there should be a reward.

She really needed all kinds of rewards right now.

"Help me feed the cats, don't let the big cats bully the little ones. I'm tired and want to go home to sleep."

Lanqi said, then raised the box in his hand and added,

"The leftovers are yours."

"..."

Talia fell silent.

If it wasn't charity, but a transaction, she could consider it.

However, for demons, following the rules of a deal was an especially important matter.

It even concerned their dignity.

The more noble the demon, the more they would rather die than break the rules of a deal.

Even if this human didn't know she was a demon.

But as a member of the demon royal family, even if she really starved herself to death, she would never violate the rules of the deal and covet even a bit of the kittens' food.

She counted the number of cats in her mind, making sure she would still be able to eat a little chicken in the end.

"Deal."

Talia felt accepting this deal was fine.

Although she didn't quite understand what pleasure humans could derive from feeding cats.

Lanqi temporarily covered the food container, placed it on the ground, stood up to stretch his back, and then leisurely left.

......

The next morning, at a wealthy merchant's mansion in this town.

Today was another self-disciplined day. After getting up early and finishing breakfast, Lanqi left home.

The plants in the courtyard seemed to be covered with a layer of misty color by the rising sun, and goldfinches were chirping songs in the surrounding trees.

It couldn't help but make Lanqi, walking in the courtyard, feel happy.

However, he had just stepped out of the gate when he stopped in his tracks.

Because he saw Talia sitting across the street, as if she was staking out for him.

But he wasn't panicked at all.

It was unlikely that Talia could have investigated his misdeeds so quickly.

Talia in the distance quickly came to Lanqi, and the guards standing at the mansion gate behind Lanqi immediately became alert.

Lanqi raised his hand to indicate to the guards not to be nervous.

Being nervous was useless anyway, if she wanted to go on a killing spree, no one here could stop her.

"Box."

She just raised her hand and handed the food container that had held the chicken last night to Lanqi.

She was able to find Lanqi so quickly because in this town, just by asking around about a "black-haired, green-eyed young man", one could learn about the deeds of this noble young master with a not-so-good reputation.

However, she always felt that the rich young master described by the humans in the town seemed a bit inconsistent with the young man she saw with her own eyes.

Although he looked a bit foolish and lazy, at least he didn't seem like a bad-tempered human.

"You can sell it, I didn't plan to take it back."

Lanqi looked at her puzzled.

Selling the high-end tableware from home would exchange for at least half a pound.

"This is outside the content of the deal."

Talia said expressionlessly.

Hearing this, Lanqi nodded and reached out to take the box.

This demon princess must have put in a lot of effort to disguise herself as human, strictly following the rules and regulations of human society.

Before Lanqi could say anything else, Talia turned around without hesitation and left indifferently.

"You didn't eat much?"

Lanqi asked, looking at Talia who in an instant had left him only with the back view of her dark gray cloak.

"I fulfilled the content of our deal."

Talia said without looking back.

"I see."

Lanqi lowered his head, looking at the box and speaking as if to himself.

This demon seemed to particularly emphasize that this was a "transaction", not a "favor".

Her pride did not allow anyone to give her charity, nor did she want to repay any favors. She was very clear that what's free is actually the most expensive.

So his little scheme of wanting to give Talia favors was shattered.

Even the box that could potentially become a "favor trap" was returned immediately.

Lanqi sighed and handed the food container to the guard beside him.

Indeed, trying to "give Talia favors" in order to offset the "hatred incurred with her" was far from easy.

However.

All of this was within his expectations so far.

Lanqi signaled the guards following behind him not to be on alert, he wanted to talk to this lady alone.

The guards didn't dare say anything and guarded the mansion gate according to Lanqi's instructions.

Then Lanqi jogged to catch up with Talia.

Talia turned her head to look at this human who had come to her side again, her expression becoming somewhat puzzled.

She didn't understand what this seemingly high-status yet weak fellow wanted to do.

"I want to propose another deal to you, I guarantee its fairness with my family's reputation."

Lanqi said respectfully and politely.

Talia's golden eyes stared at Lanqi, as if trying to penetrate his pupils.

It wasn't a lie.

She had magic that could judge the truth or falsity of the other person's words.

And they had already had one transaction experience.

It seemed that this wealthy human didn't look too bad, and should be able to give her the reward she needed now.

"Let's hear it."

Talia stopped and responded.

"Regarding the content of the deal next, I hope you won't ask me why."

Lanqi's expression became somewhat serious.

Talia nodded.

She didn't need to investigate much, because no one could deceive her with lies.

"There's someone in this town who wants to kill me. So I want to entrust you to keep an eye out for any suspicious people near my home, as well as help me eliminate dangers and protect me well. I will give you corresponding rewards."

Lanqi showed a somewhat difficult expression, not hiding the worry in his eyes, looking directly at Talia.

"Not a difficult task."

Talia listened to Lanqi's proposal and confirmed that everything he said was true,

"Your family should be quite wealthy and powerful in this town, and even your household shouldn't lack people who can protect your safety."

She thought for a moment, then looked at the not-so-weak guards in the distance and raised her doubts to Lanqi.

"Because the assassin might be right by my side, I can't absolutely trust anyone around me, so I need as much and as reliable insurance as possible."

Lanqi looked as if he particularly favored Talia.

His eyes did not hide his admiration for Talia, because of Talia's honest return of the box, and not having any prejudice against him due to his identity, status, or rumors.

"So you think I'm more reliable than those guards around you?"

Talia seemed to tacitly acknowledge the fact that she was not weak.

She understood that Lanqi had the discerning eye characteristic of some shrewd merchants.

"Relatively speaking, yes."

Lanqi nodded.

"Hiring me is expensive."

Talia just said so.

She had been judging the truth or falsity of every sentence this human said.

But he hadn't lied to her so far.

Among all the humans she had met so far, this was rare.

According to her judgment, he should belong to the kind of human who is honest, upright, and kind, a good trading partner.

"Three pounds a day, as long as you're still staying in this city, this agreement will be effective."

Lanqi had already taken out a checkbook with "Wilford Trading Company" written on it and a pen from his pocket.

It seemed that one-pound and half-pound gold coins were too troublesome for him to carry around.

Generally, 30 pounds was enough for an ordinary family in the South Vantina border territory of the Houghton Kingdom to live for a year.

Talia was obviously stunned.

Not just overwhelmed by Lanqi's rich guy aura.

For her, who hadn't encountered the currency unit of "pounds" for a long time and was still an undocumented resident in the kingdom, this was a deal hard to refuse.

However, she had absolute confidence in her own strength.

So this was not a "favor", but a "transaction".

Most crucially, the initiative to terminate this deal was also in her hands, which would not affect her freedom.

"...Deal."

Talia said in a low voice.

"Then I'll trouble you."

Lanqi directly handed the checkbook and pen to Talia, stunning her again.

Talia looked down at the check in her hand thoughtfully.

Does this mean, let me fill in the number myself every day, and then go cash it?

Indeed a wealthy and generous human.

And possessing many qualities such as kindness, honesty, and so on.

However, such humans were often the ones who got along worst with their demon kind.

......

At this moment, Lanqi turned around and was walking towards the street on the other side.

The corners of his mouth twitched, he was almost unable to hold back his laughter.

Talia didn't know yet that the person who wanted to kill Lanqi was herself.

By the time Talia discovered the truth that it was Lanqi who had hunted her familiar, she wouldn't be able to lay a hand on Lanqi anymore.

Because she must follow such a rule——

"As long as she's in this city, she must protect Lanqi well, and then receive 3 pounds every day"!