haytham_

In the church's prison, a man looked at his shackles.
'Little girl... is this the ending you wanted to see?' Thinking back to that resolute and pretty face in his memory and that golden hair like the blooming sunset, Lister sighed.
'If I had known that my end will be like this, I might as well have abandoned that little useless princess, opened a small tavern, and found a woman to spend my life with.'
"Man, how unlucky am I..."
Lister remembered that while he was playing with these little fluffy monster girls, he used to often tease a certain witch that she would accidentally end up on the stake, making her puzzled, but he didn't expect that he would be the one to go up first.
"If all this could start over... I should have chosen the monster girls after all."
"Oh? Really?"
A cold yet teasing voice sounded beside him. As he turned his head to look, powerful magic energy gathered and swirled, and finally, a tall female figure walked out of it. She wore a tight black dress that showed off her curvy, mature figure.
Lister knew her... or rather, should have known her. 
'The Sinful Dragon Demon Lord, Priscilla'
"Did you really mean it when you said you'd choose monster girls?"
"...I wonder if the mighty Demon Lord has decided to grace me with a heart-to-heart in this cozy little prison."
"As expected of the mastermind who single-handedly helped that incompetent woman to the throne. Even now you have the energy to crack jokes?"
"You flatter me. I think it's quite humanistic for a Demon Lord who has children for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to chat with a dying man in prison."
"Tsk, getting upset over a little teasing already?"
"Sigh, alright, I don't have much time either. Let me get to the point with you. What are you still waiting for here, waiting to die?"
"I don't know, maybe waiting for a female Demon Lord to come swoop in and save me?"
"You know Aurola has abandoned you. What are you still hoping for?"
"...So what does this have to do with the Demon Lord? We only have a very shallow cooperative relationship; I don't think it matters if I die or not."
"Of course it does."
Priscilla smiled and pressed the blunt end of her dragon horn against his forehead.
"Because I want you, but I'm different from Aurola. What she gave you, I can give. What she couldn't give you, I can also give. Didn't you want to choose monster girls? In the Demon Capital, there are all kinds of monster girls. You can pick whichever you like."
"Then, are there fluffy and warm ones?"
"...I think the ones with hard scales and slender, elegant physiques are not bad either."
"Ahem, I digress."
"Anyway, I understand you better than you think. As long as you come with me to the Demon Capital, I will satisfy your everything within my power. As long as you promise me one thing..."
"I know."
Lister picked up where Priscilla left off, smiling back at her.
"You want me, right?"
"What a smarty~. So, you agree?"
"Mm. I'll go with you."
'And come on, it's fluffy monster girls'
'I can't refuse.'

The Dragon's Shadow

The door of the tavern creaked as Ignis pushed it open. The evening breeze swept through the long street, carrying the cold moonlight that struck her face, a stark contrast to the warm, yellow glow of the lamps inside.

"It's quite chilly, isn't it?" Ignis mused, taking a pair of glasses from her dashing men's jacket and putting them on. After a few steps, she spotted Sister Maltese, the head nun, and a few accompanying black-robed nuns across the street, also in plain clothes.

"Here," Ignis said, handing Maltese a cup of pale yellow cold wine she had brought from the tavern. Maltese took it and sighed, looking at Ignis's rosy cheeks.

"Lady Ignis, drinking is one of the prohibitions in our discipline."

"Oh? As the most devout nun in the church, how come I've never heard of it?" Ignis chuckled, deftly uncorking another bottle of wine with her fingers and leaning against a lamppost to take a sip. "Ah... wine and electric lights... both are good things."

Chapter 238: Spring