New Century Warriors

Chapter 31. The Bride Part 2

Lei Ye knew that his life now contained a secret that could never be told.

forever.

He knew better than anyone how difficult it was to build trust with Ais, and that once she found out what he had done to her family's stream, he would never easily get forgiveness from her.

Why is Raino on Line 2 so mean? Why did he put the flying sword there?

According to Ye Lei, Lei Ye from Line 2 doesn't know Ai Si, and judging from Ai Si's behavior, she doesn't know herself either.

They just randomly picked a scenic spot, and it just happened to be right above someone's head, right?

Speaking of which... lately I think I've been drinking a lot of water because I find it fun to pee without taking my pants off. I'm sorry, I'll never do that again, please forgive me.

Seeing that Ye Lei's attempts to comfort him had no effect, Lei Ye felt he had to find a way to explain. Fortunately, he knew that although Ai Si was not easy to get close to, she was easily deceived.

"Hey, listen..." He took a half step closer, not to Ais but to Ye Lei. "You should have heard my lover say that I'm also an engineer, right? Yesterday you smelled my scent on that strange thing, not because it was related to me, but as a gift for our first meeting today, I stepped in to solve that problem for you ahead of time."

Showing off his closeness to Ye Lei is a clever and cunning tactic.

This is based on experience from Line 1. Ais almost never talks to strangers, but when facing strangers who are close to Raino, she will act a little less distant, showing a bit of affection for Raino.

In other words, you need to act closer to Ye Lei to gain her favor.

...There are cows.

Suppressing his inner pain, Lei Ye took out something from his storage bag and continued, "If you don't believe me, I can show you the evidence. Look, this is what you saw yesterday, right? I used it to help you capture the culprit."

What Ais showed was a mysterious little gadget that looked a bit like the satellite from the first season of Armor Hero, only a super miniature version and hollow.

There is a square hole directly below it, which seems to be specially made to discharge something, but Raino is not sure what exactly is being discharged.

Aisi looked at Ye Lei, then at Lei Ye, and then at what Lei Ye was holding.

He quietly pinched his nose and didn't say anything.

But her expression clearly said:

"He smells like a guy."

What does that mean?

"Alright, alright, you don't trust him but you don't trust me? Don't worry, he's not the kind of man who would do bad things. Instead of that, do you want to guess what delicious food I brought today?"

"!"

Well done, Ye Lei! You handled it so easily.

...On the other hand, the fact that it was so easy to handle also left Raino with mixed feelings.

Ye Lei swung the storage bag in her hand while putting her hand on Ai Si's shoulder. The two chatted about food as they walked towards Ai Si's secluded little nest, like an affectionate mother and daughter, completely ignoring the dejected man behind them.

"I was here first..."

Forget it.

My ex-mother became my current girlfriend's daughter, and my girlfriend is also my mother. Isn't it a wonderful thing that they can get along so well?

Lei Ye sighed and followed.

At first glance, it looked like the kind of small hut that champions in wilderness survival shows that Lei Ye likes to watch, making Lei Ye wonder how Ai Si could keep herself clean living in such a place. However, upon closer inspection, the place was filled with all sorts of magical gadgets made by Ye Lei, so it probably wouldn't be too inconvenient.

I didn't see any magical artifacts that could create water. Is it because there's a stream right next to it, so there's no need for them?

...It's best not to ask about this anymore; we've finally moved on.

Lei Ye found a spot, dusted himself off, and sat down, listening to the two girls over there eating and talking.

"How have you been lately? I noticed your clothes are so white, you must have washed them a lot. I brought over a few new ones, would you like to try them on later?"

"it is good."

"You seem to have lost some weight. Have you been eating well? Is there enough food I left for you?"

"I'm eating very sparingly, so there's still more than half left. I've been hunting."

"Why be so frugal? Living here is already hard enough, you should treat yourself better."

What did this elderly mother say to her college-aged daughter who was studying away from home?

Suddenly, Ye Lei changed the subject.

"Why don't you come and stay at my house? I'll provide you with plenty of food, drink, and nice clothes. It's not good to stay hidden here any longer. You probably don't know this, but starting today, this area is open to the public. Some explorers might happen to pass through here."

"Then I'll have to move."

"Why move? I have plenty of empty rooms. Come on, come on."

"No," Ais shook her head firmly, "it would cause you trouble."

Lei Ye, who was eavesdropping not far away, smiled knowingly. He was not at all surprised that Ai Si would say such a thing.

-

Ais had said something similar to him before.

His encounter with Ais is a very clichéd hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress scenario in a lighthearted and joyful adventure story.

One day, a group of well-equipped and generous slave traders arrived in Hillius. They immediately set up a big deal, offering one hundred gold coins to local explorers to capture an ice dragon alive.

Then, because he was too rich, he was targeted by a fraud gang that roamed around Hillius and was swindled out of everything. In the end, he was sold to a local slave trader, who then received the relevant information and took over the project.

With such a generous reward, Mori no Kawa, who was still in the developmental stage at the time, naturally participated as well.

The battle with the ice dragon was extremely fierce.

While its combat power is far inferior to that of Cepolis, which can easily crush Hillius and his group of explorers, it can at least defeat any explorer squad, including the River of the Forest.

Its only weakness is that, despite being a dragon, it cannot fly; it is a ground dragon.

The explorers of Hillius can take turns attacking it, using a war of attrition to inflict wounds and deplete its energy. It keeps running away, and each time they fight it, they find that its condition is much worse than the last.

One day, its footprints suddenly disappeared from the area, and even the most skilled hunter in the guild could not find any trace of it.

However, Lei Ye was able to find a very inconspicuous female footprint near the place where the dragon's footprint disappeared. He could tell at a glance that the owner of the footprint had very beautiful toes and had stepped very deep, obviously having a weight that was different from that of an ordinary human.

The people of Hillius couldn't think of these things because they genuinely believed the ice dragon was attractive enough to justify such a high price. However, the initial source of this news was a slave trader from another region. The reason they valued this ice dragon so much was undoubtedly because it was quite special, such as... being able to transform into a dragon girl.

So Lei Ye searched all the way and found the naked girl who was on the verge of death by a babbling brook.

"I must make her my mother." That was the only thought in Lei Ye's mind at that time.

As soon as Ais, who was lying on the ground, saw Lei Ye, she began to pant and show her white teeth, like a trapped wild beast baring its teeth at any creature that approached. But she really had no strength left, and could only let Lei Ye put his clothes on her and stuff some delicious jerky into his mouth.

...Hmm? ...Chew.

Ais retracted her teeth and watched as this strange person began to treat her wound, her large eyes filled with great confusion.

"Using Soft Ice Breath, which consumes even more magic, means you have no intention of killing anyone. I've been wondering about that for a while now. After so many battles, not a single person has been injured. The enemy is a dragon, after all; they shouldn't be this weak. So, tell me, what are you doing here?"

After a long, questioning gaze that doubted whether someone could be trusted, she slowly uttered two words.

"...Looking for someone."

It was as if he had received a key quest from a key NPC. Raino asked for some information such as names and characteristics, and then ran back to Hillius. But after asking around, he found out that this guy had left the city more than 20 years ago under the guise of searching for a beautiful alien girl.

"The alien beauties in Hillius are too low-quality; they're basically just humans with animal ears or extra tails. I can't accept it!"

He left behind those words and never came back.

When Ais returned with some supplies to report the news, she was setting up her small shelter. She showed no surprise at the man's disappearance, only asking, "What about his family?"

"I found out from his family. Why are you asking this?"

"I want to see them."

"Ah, well, that might be a bit troublesome. First of all, you're now a walking hundred gold coins, and secondly, that family doesn't seem very..."

Ais remained silent for a while.

She suddenly stood up, bowed deeply to Lei Ye, and then, guessing the direction Lei Ye had come from, walked in that direction.

"I want to see them," she said.

"No, you're going to insist on going? Otherwise, I'll try to think of another way for you..."

"No, it will cause you trouble. Mom said we shouldn't cause trouble for others." Ais said without turning her head.

That's probably what struck Lei Ye: "If you listen to your mother, there's no such thing as a bad child."

He was determined to help this little dragon girl, even though he knew the story would never have a happy ending. Of course, he wasn't doing all this because he wanted to turn this obedient and beautiful girl into his own mother.

This process lasted quite a long time. Bringing a dragon into the city was no easy feat, especially since this dragon was on a high bounty. Lei Ye could only raise her while causing a ruckus in the guild. It was only with great difficulty that he finally put the dragon hunting behind him.

Taking care of her was also a difficult task. First of all, she had a big appetite, and Lei Ye was poor to begin with... In addition, she had a pseudo-human quality similar to Ye Lei at the beginning. Not to mention that she had a rudimentary understanding of human matters, she couldn't even speak very fluently. So every time Lei Ye visited her, he had to give her lessons.

Although it consumed Lei Ye's time, energy, and money, Lei Ye felt it was quite worthwhile. The little girl occasionally smiled and trusted him more and more.

Things took a turn for the better after Raino saved Antorola. At that time, Antorola was still the governor and had a lot of influence. Raino first took Antorola to meet Ais, and after confirming that her way of thinking was similar to that of a human and that there was no possibility of her suddenly going crazy, he arranged for her to have a guild card that allowed her to freely enter and leave Hillius.

So, on a bright and sunny day, Raino took Ais to that man's house.

Lei Ye knocked on the door, and a sharp-tongued middle-aged woman came out. As soon as she saw Lei Ye, she glared at him and started scolding, "What? It's you again! Didn't I say I'd beat you up if you came to ask about that scoundrel again? Huh! Huh! Huh!"

This attitude explains why Lei Ye didn't invite them to go out of town to see Ais, and why he knew the story wouldn't have a good ending.

The older woman immediately noticed Ais next to him. She opened her mouth, and Lei Ye knew at a glance that what she was about to say was definitely not a nice thing, so he subconsciously stepped in front of Ais.

But suddenly Ais grabbed Raino's hand—this was their first direct physical contact—and pulled him away.

"You haven't even said two words to them yet..." Raiye said, stunned.

"It's okay. My mother told me to come here to find my family before she died. She wanted someone to take care of me because she was afraid that living alone would be too hard for me. But I'm neither alone nor do I feel it's hard now, so it's okay."

After leaving that neighborhood, Ais let go of his hand and moved to stand behind Raino.

He said something that sounded like something a pig-man would say after being stuffed with a piece of raw meat.

"I follow you."

-

Mom's Coins +1... At that time, Raino had never mentioned the word "Mom" to her at all. He never expected that she could turn into coins directly. To be honest, Raino still hasn't fully figured out the conversion conditions for Mom's Coins. The skill description is too vague.

He patted his forehead, then looked at Ye Lei and Ai Si interacting intimately, and the little bit of resentment in his heart disappeared.

It's not like I helped her to make her feel closer to me, right? Even if she becomes a stranger to me in this world, it doesn't matter, as long as the child is happy.

But Aisi is really stubborn and won't listen to reason. When Lei Ye reminisced about the past, Ye Lei talked for a long time, but Aisi still refused to move to the city. Why is that?

Considering her initial goal was to find her relatives, she should have really wanted to go to the city.

Ye Lei looked troubled. She paused her conversation with Ai Si and went to Lei Ye's side.

"Please help me come up with some ideas. I didn't expect her to be so unwilling to go home with me."

This situation seemed unexpected for Ye Lei as well; she had originally thought that picking up the person would be a breeze.

Lei Ye carefully considered his words, "She... coming here must mean she has something she wants to do, right? Should I talk to her about it?"

"You mean her so-called family members?" Ye Lei shook her head. "I brought them here by force before, and it was a very ugly scene."

"Wow, the process was over so quickly... How about you do this instead..."

After thinking for a moment, Lei Ye whispered a few words in Ye Lei's ear.

Ye Lei shrank her neck and rubbed her arm with her palm, as if trying to press down the goosebumps on her arm.

"Why are you saying such cheesy things?!"

"This is how you deal with a child who lacks love. You'll see once you try it."

Hearing this, Ye Lei returned to Ai Si's side with some doubt. She took a deep breath, put her hand on Ai Si's shoulder, and looked deeply into those golden eyes.

"It's alright, Ais. I'm family too. It's normal for family members to help each other. How is that troublesome?"

As expected, when the killer move "Family" from the anime was used, Ais's face immediately changed, with a faint blush appearing.

He seemed deeply moved.

It took her a long, long time to regain her composure and speak.

Raino listened intently...

"It's precisely because I consider you family that I can't trouble you. If I lived in your house, how would you two manage?"