TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 53

Thorn City.

“Good morning, Uncle Jacques!” Albín and Xiao Hei came out of their room together. Jacques had already prepared breakfast for them.

Albín noticed that Jacques looked a little weary.

“Uncle Jacques, did you stay up late last night? Staying up late isn’t good for your eyes, you know.”

“Thanks to Xiao Bai’s help yesterday!” Jacques lifted Albín high into the air, then joyfully held him in his arms, affectionately ruffling his hair, almost like he was cuddling a cat.

Yesterday, he had sent back the information he had investigated. Although he hadn’t yet found a solution, it should be enough to make Zeman realize that the Sun God is far from a deity of light, justice, or protection of humanity.

Jacques smiled and looped both children’s necks around his arms, pressing his face against theirs alternately.

“Good morning, my two little darlings.”

“Don’t call me that!” Xiao Hei pouted and struggled, “Stinky old dad, your beard is scratchy!”

Jacques touched his beard—it had grown a bit after a few days without shaving.

Albín eagerly volunteered, “I’ll help Uncle shave! My control over magic has gotten stronger recently!”

“Impressive, Xiao Bai, very capable,” Jacques agreed happily.

After breakfast and the shave, they began today’s activities.

It was a bright, sunny day. Jacques planned to follow the clues in some old texts to search for ancient ruins in the nearby forest, and Albín quickly insisted on coming along.

Of course, Albín wasn’t really interested in any ancient ruins—he just wanted to scout the area to find the forest where he had encountered Zeman.

He didn’t know why his father would appear in the forest. Could it be that his father also lived nearby?

He had woken up in the forest after the fire, and later Zeman had taken him out of the forest while he was asleep, so he had no sense of his original location.

Missing the spot would be bad, so he had to scout ahead and find the right location—maybe he could even bring his father home directly, avoiding a night in a cave.

He chuckled to himself—he would give Uncle Jacques and Xiao Hei a surprise!

Forests were everywhere around Thorn City. Albín had visited several areas, and they all looked similar, none with the cave he remembered. He had to search carefully.

Since they were all going, Xiao Hei naturally insisted on coming too.

The three set off for the forest.

Due to forest law, most of the surrounding forests belonged to the nobility. Even a single fallen leaf was considered the property of a noble. Commoners were forbidden to enter, collect resources, graze animals, or cut trees unless they paid.

But the three of them didn’t care—they weren’t going to let a forest ranger catch them.

“Don’t go too far. If anything happens, Xiao Bai, remember to use your firework magic to signal me. And don’t eat any mushrooms or berries you collect before I check if they’re poisonous,” Jacques instructed the children skillfully.

The so-called “firework magic” was a signaling technique Albín had invented—they agreed that different colors had different meanings.

“Got it,” Albín and Xiao Hei confirmed.

The two of them collected ingredients for that night’s dinner. Besides picking mushrooms and mapping the area, Albín also kept an eye out for signs of snakes passing by.

Emerald should have returned to the past with him, but he hadn’t seen him yet. Even when he went to the border forests, he didn’t encounter him.

Perhaps it was because the forest was too vast. There was no telling when they might meet.

Whenever Albín saw signs of small snake-like creatures, he carved Emerald’s name into a stone, hoping Emerald would understand that he was nearby.

He wanted to write more, but he worried about forest rangers discovering him, and also that Emerald couldn’t read! Even his name had been taught to him by Albín—he wasn’t sure if Emerald could remember it.

Albín hummed as he picked pretty mushrooms, thinking idly, “Red umbrella, white stem~”

Sunlight filtered through the treetops, casting dappled shadows. Albín was picking mushrooms when he suddenly felt the ground shake slightly.

“Strange, I haven’t eaten any mushrooms yet.” He looked up in confusion—and met a pair of black, star-shaped magical eyes.

Compared to other magical creatures he had seen, this pair had an eerie red glow surrounding the black star pattern.

It was a bear-shaped magical beast, radiating dangerous, ferocious energy, showing sharp teeth with drool dripping, its throat emitting a low, menacing growl.

Although he had seen many dangerous beasts in the arena, Albín’s heart still skipped a beat, a bad premonition settling in.

As soon as he moved to leave, the bear charged at him like a storm, its massive claws slashing the ground, leaving deep marks.

“Wait, Mr. Bear, I mean no harm!” Albín dodged through twisted roots like doorways, yelling at the bear as he ran, “I’m sorry if I disturbed you!”

Normally, he could hear the bear’s voice and communicate with it, but this time, all he could hear was ferocious roaring and the sound of violent attacks behind him.

He was almost caught!

Albin hurriedly released fireworks magic into the sky and used wind magic to block the Demon Bear’s attacks.

The effect was minimal. Albin then quickly switched to other types of magic.

He had no combat experience and had never faced any real danger. His magic attacks weren’t particularly strong, but that wasn’t his main goal.

When fire magic collided with water magic, a cloud of misty steam formed. Albin took the opportunity to use dark magic to conceal himself, hiding behind a large tree.

He pressed his back against the rough trunk, holding his breath and focusing, his heart pounding fiercely, blood rushing through him.

He simply couldn’t understand why the Demon Bear was attacking him.

Could it possibly be because it thought his singing was terrible?

Albin felt frustrated.

After the water mist dispersed, the Demon Bear didn’t stop attacking. Black, dangerous magical energy emanated from its body. Its strong, sharp claws accompanied by the magic instantly destroyed the surrounding trees, sending leaves flying everywhere.

The small Albin was also thrown back by the force.

Even with dark magic hiding his form, the Demon Bear still relied on its sense of smell to locate him.

After flattening the surrounding area, it suddenly accelerated, opening its gaping mouth and biting Albin’s arm, immediately drawing a gush of blood.

It hurt so much!

Tears instantly welled up in Albin’s eyes, but compared to the pain, he felt even more fear.

If he couldn’t escape, the Demon Bear would eat him!

He didn’t want to be eaten!

He struggled and hurled a fireball at the Demon Bear’s face, hitting its nose, forcing it to howl and release its grip.

Albin pulled out his arm, ignoring the pain, and fled, hastily healing the wound on his arm.

This Demon Bear was clearly not the low-level, unintelligent monster that Mr. Lion had described. So why was it impossible to communicate with it?

He ran a few steps and noticed that the attack behind him seemed to have stopped. Turning around, through his misty tears, he saw a black figure dart through the forest, rushing forward to fight the Demon Bear without hesitation—but in the next moment, it was struck by a heavy punch and fell to the ground in a messy heap.

“Little Black!” Albin’s heart leapt.

He immediately turned back and unleashed powerful magic, transforming sunlight streaming through the leaves into golden beams, which wrapped around the Demon Bear like chains, binding it tightly.

The Demon Bear froze for a few moments. The red glow in its eyes faded, leaving it looking somewhat dazed.

Xiao Hei didn’t miss the chance and continued charging at the bear.

Although nervous, Albin, who had trained with him for a year, instinctively provided magical support.

Golden circular magic arrays suddenly appeared in the air, serving as footholds for Xiao Hei to gain leverage.

When Xiao Hei was pushed back, he not only used a gentle stream of water to catch himself but also switched auxiliary and control magic into attack magic.

The light bands restraining the bear were torn apart several times, so Albin made the previously smooth bands sprout sharp barbs, like thorns embedding into the Demon Bear’s flesh, causing it to howl in pain.

He had never done this before, but it was clearly more effective.

Xiao Hei repeatedly attacked the Demon Bear. Surrounded by black energy, he looked like a wolf. His pupils became sharp vertical slits and then gradually stretched horizontally into a black cross-star pattern.

Just like when facing the slave traders, he viciously bit the Demon Bear’s neck, his sharp teeth sinking into thick flesh, blood splattering everywhere. The Demon Bear roared deafeningly, trying to shake off his grip, but he held its throat like an iron clamp, unwilling to release it.

“Little……demon……”

The Demon Bear’s screams gradually weakened. Albin exhaled in relief and collapsed against a tree, holding his arm.

For some reason, he had been able to hear the monster’s voice again just now. Perhaps it was only that the Demon Bear had refused to communicate before?

Just as he relaxed, Albin heard the breathing of more beasts.

Looking around, he felt a surge of terror.

The forest was not home to just one Demon Bear. Deep in the dark woods, he saw more pairs of eyes glowing red like stars—large and small.

They all attacked Albin and Xiao Hei.

No, they absolutely couldn’t stay here!

“Little Black, let’s run!” Albin shouted, rushing forward to pull Xiao Hei away.

But Xiao Hei bared his teeth, his gaze dangerous, as if he didn’t recognize Albin at all.

Albin noticed that Xiao Hei’s eyes were also star-patterned.

His heart sank.

At that moment of panic, the heavy thuds of monsters falling reached him through the wind magic.

Looking curiously, he saw a gray figure moving through the forest, wielding a magnificent longsword, the gem on its hilt sparkling in the sunlight.

It was Jacques!

Dressed in a dull gray traveler’s outfit, Jacques looked like a spirited knight. Every swing of his seemingly ornamental sword released lightning-like slashes that pierced the air with a shrill whoosh. Each strike was precise, targeting the monsters’ vital points.

In no time, all the monsters were defeated.

“Uncle Jacques!” Albin called out joyfully.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!” Jacques arrived, smiling broadly with relief. “I saw your battle on the way here. You and Xiao Hei did well. Your reactions are quick, and your magic is proficient.”

“But Xiao Hei—”

Before Albin could finish, the irrational Xiao Hei attacked Jacques from behind.

Jacques tilted his head, holding the sword horizontally so that Xiao Hei bit it.

Having trained Xiao Hei for so long, he already knew his attack patterns.

He gazed at Xiao Hei’s star-patterned eyes and sighed. “As expected, when his power is overused, his monster bloodline takes over.”

Albin didn’t quite understand. “I heard monster flesh is poisonous. Is it because Xiao Hei accidentally ingested the Demon Bear’s blood?”

“Not that.” Jacques delivered an elbow strike, knocking Xiao Hei to the ground. “The reason I trained him is that he has monster power inside him. If I’m right, he might be a hybrid born from a human and a monster. I’ve been training him so that when he enters this state, he can control it and not attack humans in the future.”

Albin was extremely anxious.

“What should we do then?” He didn’t care about human-monster hybrids; he just worried that Xiao Hei might never regain his sanity.

“I’ve heard of this. Usually, after a while, when the power is exhausted, they recover.”

Jacques picked up Xiao Hei, giving him a fatherly “lesson,” forcibly wearing him out until his power was spent, then carried him out of the forest like lifting a sack.

Albin hurriedly followed, treating Xiao Hei’s injuries.

Jacques looked down and noticed that Albin’s arm was still bleeding.

“You fool, heal yourself first.”

“I’ll do it soon,” Albin said casually, not moving, his eyes fixed on Xiao Hei.

Xiao Hei was injured protecting him, and he worried he wouldn’t have enough magic to heal him.

“You…” Jacques sighed, picked Albin up with his other hand, and carried the two children out of the forest.

After they left, among the dead monsters, a seemingly weak rat monster cautiously emerged. It approached the Demon Bear that Albin and Xiao Hei had jointly killed, looking somewhat surprised.

【Why did it calm down from its frenzy so quickly?】

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