Chapter 118
Extra 4: Big Little Feather Raises Little A-Ran
When the words “Congratulations, quest completed, coordinate reward obtained” and a smiley face appeared on the Time Mirror, it was grabbed by a large hand from the void, and its expression instantly changed to one of panic.
[Warning! An evil demon is attempting to cheat and kidnap the Time Mirror! This is a serious violation! Immediately cease your illegal…]
But no matter how much the mirror struggled and resisted, it was still pulled to Little Feather.
Several grayish-black demonic auras surged forward, firmly binding the mirror within a magic array.
At this moment, in the academy’s huge observatory, dense space-time law symbols surrounded the area, grayish-white demonic aura faintly flowing, the scene extremely spectacular.
Since Lin Ran’s disappearance, the entire Prinskar Academy had established a Space-Time Magic Research Institute, dedicated to studying this profound and mysterious magic.
Qiao Qi, who had initially mistaken Lin Ran for a little bird who had just arrived at Prinskar from the countryside, had been promoted to chief researcher over the years and had successfully monitored a strange magic fluctuation a few months ago.
He finally confirmed that this should be a fluctuation caused by the Time Mirror, a long-lost treasure of the Demon World!
But at this moment, the entire research team looked at Eno Gard, this reckless demon, in fear. He had actually reached into the space-time turbulence and forcibly brought back the strange Time Mirror.
The space-time turbulence was extremely dangerous, and one could easily die if they weren’t careful, not to mention capturing a target from it, this was unheard of.
However, after capturing the mirror, Little Feather asked with an expressionless face: “Why am I third?”
In fact, ever since the research institute monitored the activity of this strange item, Little Feather had been waiting for it to come find him.
But he hadn’t expected that it had already contacted two time coordinates and hadn’t tried to approach him!
This was an intolerable neglect… and jealousy for Little Feather.
Although A-Ran had said that jealousy wasn’t a good quality, he still couldn’t control the emotion secretly growing in his heart.
And the slightly dizzy Time Mirror, suddenly being questioned about the order, naturally explained fairly:
[The connection order is determined by the natural order of meeting A-Ran.]
[So, strictly speaking, the third one should be Ossi, that little fish. Your natural number is 4, please return it as soon as possible…]
“Heh, determined by natural order?” “And number four?”
Before the words on the mirror could fully appear, Little Feather sneered and interrupted.
The Time Mirror, completely unaware that it had stepped on a minefield, finally realized that something was wrong.
[Wait, what do you want to do… if you break me, you’ll never see A-Ran again! Ahhh, I’m so dizzy]
The Time Mirror, sensing the approaching danger, started to warn Little Feather, but it was spun around fiercely by him.
“Issue the quest, now.”
Little Feather didn’t want to waste any more words with this mirror and sat in the main seat with an expressionless face, looking like a bully who wouldn’t let go unless he got his way.
The Time Mirror dared to be angry but didn’t dare to speak, trembling in anger, its surface almost hardening.
Damn it, it should have directly arranged for Dilan Ossi, that little fish, to be third and this bad bird to be last!
However, facing the fatal threat of being shattered if it didn’t comply, the Time Mirror obediently issued the quest.
[Ding——Please place the Cage of Purification in front of the mirror for space-time connection…]
Eno Gard subconsciously gripped the pendant on his chest, which was the exquisite little cage item given to him by Lin Ran.
As the Cage of Purification touched the mirror’s surface, light green ripples appeared.
[This is an encrypted message] [Ding, due to threatening the mirror, which violates the rules, the difficulty of this instance has been increased by 200%! And added competing characters: Branvichis Pepe, Anvers!]
Since it was being threatened, the Time Mirror decided to let this evil and jealous bird taste the consequences of having A-Ran’s attention diverted!
Hmph.
Otherwise, wouldn’t all demons dare to threaten it next time!?
So after the item was activated, Eno Gard didn’t notice any change.
But in the Cloud Feather Forest, a small figure that had suddenly appeared was hiding among the branches and leaves, a little lost, reaching out and pulling a leaf, looking into the distance.
Lin Ran was a little dazed. He had clearly been sleeping on Snowball’s back a second ago, and now there was nothing.
His dark eyes drooped, and he felt a little sad.
“Cheep, cheep?”
But just as Lin Ran was hugging his knees in dejection, a small, round bird landed in front of him, curiously folding its wings and tilting its tail feathers, looking up at the cub with his head down.
“Little bird?”
Lin Ran looked at the little bird in front of him and reached out to touch its feathers.
“Cheep cheep! Cheep cheep!”
But it didn’t fly away. Instead, it rubbed against A-Ran’s fingertips, hopping and circling around him happily.
The next second, the surrounding birds looked at the beautiful cub curiously, like a beautiful scene from a fairy tale.
So beautiful.
Lin Ran stared at the beautiful little birds, completely unaware that he was also
Just as a sapphire blue bird flew over, all the colorful little birds made way, letting Pepe land in the center and look up at A-Ran.
“A-Ran…?”
It really was A-Ran!
“You know him?”
Lin Ran was a little surprised and looked at this strange blue bird with wide, dark eyes.
The next second, the little bird transformed into human form and directly lifted A-Ran up with both hands, blinking and looking incredulously at the soft and cute cub A-Ran, who was as fair as a pink jade dumpling.
A-Ran, caught off guard and lifted high: O.O!
“Pepe? You picked up a human? Are you sure this is safe?”
An even more surprised familiar demon appeared not far away, it was Anvers.
However, Anvers, who had lost his position as the Feather Clan leader in this world, clearly looked much calmer and more mature.
He no longer had that innate arrogance, but a subtle melancholy instead.
This made Anvers even more captivating, after all, the Feather Clan was a demon race known for its beauty.
In fact, ever since Eno Gard, who was considered the “cursed egg,” wasn’t destroyed but instead seized control of the Feather Clan’s territory with an iron fist, many Feather Clan demons had been forced to become exiled rebels.
And the Heresy Tribunal was the organization responsible for hunting down and killing these exiled demons.
The biggest difference between the two was undoubtedly the color of their wings.
After all, the wings of the Feather Clan members who could still stay in Prinskar had all mutated into black, while the exiled faction still insisted on keeping their colorful wings.
But the turning point came after the sudden purification of the territory.
The Heresy Tribunal, whose goal was to eradicate them, suddenly stopped carrying out the purge orders and even let these exiles gradually settle in a forest near Prinskar.
Initially, many demons thought that this was a trap set by Eno Gard, that he was waiting for those exiles to gather before killing them all.
Strangely, Eno Gard did tacitly allow this to happen and didn’t even bother with them anymore.
Many demons felt that this change was related to the suddenly established Space-Time Research Institute.
Perhaps, compared to killing those rebels, Eno Gard, this demon, seemed to have a greater interest, that is, he had become curious about space-time magic.
But only Qiao Qi and a few other demons knew that Eno Gard had never given up on searching for that human who had suddenly appeared and then left with a wistful look.
Lin Ran.
This name was like a taboo, almost all the demons in the research institute knew it, but none of them dared to mention it casually.
Strangely, not long after Lin Ran left, the mask that Eno Gard had always worn was also taken off.
Many demons were shocked to find that Eno Gard, this fierce, dangerous, and terrifying demon, actually had incredibly beautiful features under the mask, not demonic at all.
If they didn’t know about this demon’s past deeds, just looking at his face, they might think he was an angel.
And since then, the wings of newborn Feather Clan cubs no longer turned completely black, and more and more colorful and beautiful wings appeared in Prinskar.
Many demons suspected that Eno Gard had completely changed.
But Little Feather simply remembered A-Ran’s words: More colors on wings would look better.
Although black wings were cool, they were a bit too depressing.
If A-Ran liked it, then it didn’t matter if the wings had more colors.
But Eno Gard never expected that the mirror would dare to disobey him and tamper with A-Ran’s teleportation location!
When Little Feather arrived at Cloud Feather Forest with a gloomy expression, a group of little birds were playing hide-and-seek and amusing the cub.
“Caught you!”
Every little bird that was found in the forest would chirp happily, hop around, and obediently stand on A-Ran’s shoulder.
He watched as A-Ran continued to intently play hide-and-seek in the forest, catching the remaining little birds.
For a moment, there were four or five beautiful little birds on A-Ran’s shoulders, almost too many to fit.
“Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep!”
So some little birds quickly discovered that some birds were very cunning, deliberately raising their tails high, just so that A-Ran could find them! This was a serious act of cheating!
Pepe started to act as a referee, not allowing any bird to deliberately expose its feathers and passively compete, just to be held by A-Ran.
Many guilty birds immediately put away their feathers obediently.
Even Anvers, who was originally worried that the suddenly appearing cub might be a trap set by Eno Gard, gradually couldn’t resist that strange sense of closeness.
He let this beautiful and innocent human cub widen his eyes and admire his wings.
The tips of Anvers’ wings were milky white with a light cyan gradient, and they would sway gently when touched by his small palm, dreamy and beautiful.
“Do you like them very much?”
Anvers couldn’t help but ask softly, and A-Ran nodded.
The next second, a few fallen feathers appeared in the palm of Anvers, who had half-squatted down.
The beautiful light cyan gradient at the tip of the feathers was very complete and would reflect a beautiful luster under the sunlight.
“Here you go.”
Anvers tried to hand the feathers to A-Ran, and A-Ran, suddenly receiving a “gift,” became a little shy and silently held Pepe’s hand, as if asking his guardian if he could accept it.
“Hide-and-seek, reward, can accept.”
Pepe, after growing up, was very tall, but her eyes still had an ethereal feeling, only showing a soft and lively look when she looked at A-Ran.
After Pepe said that he could accept it, Lin Ran looked up at Anvers and gently took the beautiful feathers.
“Thank you… brother.”
The cub’s “thank you” was so soft that it gave Anvers an indescribable feeling of tenderness, his heart almost melting.
And he actually called him brother! Who understood the significance of this “brother”!?
Did this mean that he still looked young?
One word, “brother,” inexplicably gave Anvers a bit of his former flamboyant demeanor.
He felt the urge to sell the entire Cloud Feather Forest to buy toys for the little guy.
Oh, god, this crazy thought was really bad.
Although Cloud Feather Forest was currently their settlement, if he wanted to buy more toys or interesting little things to please the cub, he still had to go to the city center of Prinskar.
In the forest, they could at most play simple games like hide-and-seek.
But he, as an exiled Feather Clan member, was no longer qualified to return to Prinskar.
“But, A-Ran, likes it here very much.”
Pepe, noticing Anvers’ dejection, softly comforted him.
A-Ran was having a lot of fun playing with the little birds.
He didn’t seem disappointed that there were no toys.
“That’s true.”
But if he had been more firm back then and hadn’t let the Council imprison that cursed egg on the Heights, taking out all their resentment towards Rhine and Yin Er on a cub egg,
Then would Eno Gard, after hatching, not have such deep-seated hatred for the Feather Clan?
The birth of a cub with top-tier talent was enough for a race to continue its glory for another hundred years.
Unfortunately, all of this, under his weakness and the Council’s stubbornness, had turned into a disaster.
The more powerful Eno Gard became, the more terrifying the power of that hatred.
The feeling of regret had been tormenting Anvers even more than sadness and loss over the years.
However, the only thing Anvers couldn’t understand was that Eno Gard hadn’t made any moves for a long time, as if he had completely ignored the existence of their group of exiles.
Did he think that they were no longer a threat?
“All, found!”
But as Lin Ran gently poked the last little bird’s tail feather, all thirteen little chubby birds had been found, and the hide-and-seek game was a great success!
“Cheep–” “Cheep cheep!!”
The dozens of other little demon birds instantly chirped excitedly, all saying that they also wanted to play hide-and-seek with A-Ran~
“No, there’s one more.”
But before Pepe could organize a new round of hide-and-seek, A-Ran suddenly let go of his hand and looked intently at the unfamiliar little bird squatting on a branch not far away.
This little bird was exceptionally beautiful.
Its fluffy and soft fur was plump, like a glutinous rice ball hanging on a branch, although it was a black sesame-filled glutinous rice ball…
Anvers and the other Feather Clan members, staring at this unfamiliar little bird, hadn’t yet reacted, a hint of confusion appearing in their eyes.
They didn’t remember there being such a small bird in their clan?
“Excuse me… can I catch you?”
Lin Ran looked at the unfamiliar little bird, blinked, and asked.
“Ee!”
The little bird chirped and pounced into A-Ran’s arms the next second.
Lin Ran: !
What a clingy little bird.
“Cheep cheep!!”
The other little birds, seeing this unfamiliar bird break the rules and actively pounce into A-Ran’s arms, were instantly indignant, all feeling that this was the most scheming little bird!
He deliberately waited until the end to appear and attract A-Ran’s attention, and even specially cleaned his fur before coming, just to make A-Ran feel that he was pleasant to touch!
What a disgusting and scheming bird.
But just as they were about to fly over, all the little birds “thumped” against a translucent gray barrier.
“Eno Gard…?”
Anvers looked at the grayish-black demonic aura and finally slowly said the terrifying name.
He had actually come!
But Anvers’ mood was very complicated at this moment, even a sense of relief.
But when his light cyan demonic aura rapidly attacked the demon disguised as a beautiful little bird, Anvers was surprised to find that his magic power actually hit the demon without any obstruction!?
Had his magic power suddenly become stronger?
Or had Eno Gard suddenly become weaker…?
“Ee… ugh.”
However, the injured little bird slowly curled up on the ground, and the next second, he finally transformed back into human form, groaning and covering his chest with one hand, the other supporting himself on the ground.
Big Little Feather’s human form was also incredibly deceptive.
His gorgeous long hair fell by his ears, his handsome and heroic features now showing a hint of vulnerability, and the blood trickling down the corner of his lips made the cold and fierce aura around him disappear completely.
Anvers: ?
The more he acted injured and pitiful, the more wary and uneasy Anvers became, he had clearly only tested him?
“Brother, bullying little bird… why?”
The cub’s incredulous question finally made Anvers freeze. He instantly realized Eno Gard’s scheme.
What! This guy was actually scheming to make him look like the bad guy in A-Ran’s eyes!?
O皿O#
And the cub, who would usually smile and softly call him “brother” when looking at him, now had an incredulous and disapproving look in his beautiful, big eyes.
As if he had seen a bully who bullies strangers.
He hadn’t expected that the handsome monster brother who gave him feathers would do such a thing, even Grandma had taught him since he was young not to bully others.
“I, I didn’t, I didn’t bully him, it was clearly him…”
Anvers felt so wronged that it was like snow in August!
The real villain was clearly this guy.
Heavens, there was a devil here trying to turn black and white!
Heh.
Only Eno Gard, who suddenly left with the cub in his arms, sneered silently. This kind of first-come, first-served thing would never work on him!
After all, as the third fluffy creature to be taken home by A-Ran, Little Feather knew all too well how to turn the tables in this kind of unfavorable situation.
Later comers surpassing those who came earlier, of course, was because of fighting and snatching.
That naive fool from the Luna Clan already had no market. Did he really think that A-Ran would remember him just by being obedient?
As for that mutated demon, although he was quite smart, with those parents and that agent holding him back, he didn’t have time to cling to A-Ran…
In the end, only he could become A-Ran’s favorite!
Even though Eno Gard was also deeply jealous of the himself who met A-Ran in his childhood, he still felt that this was indeed his style.
And Lin Ran, who was brought back to Prinskar, raised his small head, looking at the magnificent buildings around him, almost thinking that this little monster bird lived in a castle.
This place was beautiful, but also a bit too big and empty.
And a group of demons even placed countless treasures in front of him, trying to ask which one A-Ran liked, afraid of displeasing the demon holding the cub.
Although it was also the first time they had seen Eno Gard suddenly wearing a white bandage.
But with his face, even with a bandage, he still had a strange beauty.
But Lin Ran looked at the toys in the room, then at the injured little bird.
No, it didn’t seem like a little bird.
When Little Feather stood up and held his hand, Lin Ran realized that he was so tall, his neck hurt a little from looking up at him.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like the toys?”
Noticing A-Ran looking at him, Eno Gard immediately squatted down and gently held A-Ran’s hand, asking.
His gentle actions almost shattered the worldview of the surrounding demon attendants.
“Does it really hurt?”
Compared to these toys, Lin Ran was more concerned about whether the injured area hurt.
Grandma would always be very worried when he fell down before.
“A little, but not very much, it’s bearable.”
Eno Gard responded, without any intention of deceiving the cub to gain sympathy.
But the next second, A-Ran reached out, touched the bandage on his forehead, and seriously stood on tiptoe to blow on it.
“Grandma said that if you blow on it, it won’t hurt anymore.”
“So, does it feel better?”
Lin Ran looked at Big Little Feather with his moist eyes.
Actually, it really hurt every time he fell down, but after Grandma blew on it, he always felt that it really didn’t hurt as much anymore.
Feeling the warm and soft touch of little A-Ran’s breath, even Eno Gard couldn’t help but tighten his grip slightly.
“Really, it really doesn’t hurt anymore after you blew on it.”
His usually fierce and gloomy eyes became truly calm for once.
Although he hadn’t been picked up by A-Ran in his childhood, he could pick up A-Ran in his childhood.
How good would it be if he could personally raise A-Ran?
When this thought quietly appeared, the Time Mirror, which had been silent for a long time, finally couldn’t help it.
[Warning, your current thoughts will have serious consequences, such as…]
But before it could finish, the communication channel was unilaterally cut off by Eno Gard, and the mirror trembled in disbelief.
If this continued, it really had to go and complain to a certain big lion!
And Dilan Ossi in another dimension finally realized something was wrong.
The huge prophecy crystal ball on the seabed showed that a demonic aura that had been trying to connect with him had suddenly lost contact.
[Ding——A demon has cut in line in front of you, your number has been postponed to 4, please wait patiently…]
The young and handsome merman watched as his number suddenly changed from 3 to 4, and his expression finally changed.
A wave of magic power suddenly erupted throughout the seabed, like a tsunami.