The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 68
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 68
Eastern Castonia.
The grand gates of the Mekain Cartel Headquarters burst open with a thunderous crash.
“Vice-leader! Breaking news, breaking news!”
A man stumbled in with his hair disheveled in complete disarray.
One foot wore a sleep slipper while the other was bare—a testament to his desperate urgency.
“Hey, Jikan. Why the commotion at dawn? If it’s not urgent, call me later.”
Elio, the vice-leader of the Mekain Cartel, lay sprawled across the sofa, waving his hand dismissively as he drifted back into the embrace of sleep.
“No! This isn’t the time to sleep! Demon Beasts, there are Demon Beasts!”
“Haaah… What?”
Elio’s mouth, which had been open mid-yawn as he shifted about, froze in place.
Jikan, the action commander of the Mekain Cartel, shouted again loudly.
“Demon Beasts! Demon Beasts, I’m telling you!”
“What the hell are you talking about!”
Elio sprang from the bed like a coiled spring, launching himself upright.
His eyes, which had spewed curses, rapidly sharpened with clarity.
“Where? In the area we anticipated?”
“Yes. Fortunately, the organization members who were stationed there handled it quickly, but it seems the Eastern Guard still doesn’t know about the Demon Beast outbreak.”
“Ha, the guards are useless. Those bastards can’t do anything right. All they’re good for is cleaning up corpses after the Demon Beasts slaughter everyone.”
Elio, speaking with derision, grabbed the jacket draped carelessly over the sofa.
“So no more Demon Beasts have appeared since?”
“Not yet. But given that Demon Beasts have appeared, it seems certain that more will emerge in the Eastern Region as we predicted.”
“Hmm…”
Jikan asked quietly.
“Should we inform the leader?”
Elio, who had been stroking his chin thoughtfully, rolled his eyes.
This was finally the moment for the Demon Beast outbreak information he’d been collecting all this time to shine.
A chance to get ahead of that damned prophecy.
Jikan, sensing Elio’s thoughts, murmured softly.
“If we take the initiative this time and defeat the Demon Beasts, perspectives on the prophecy might change. The belief that we can defeat Demon Beasts without such vile practices as sacrifices will become even more certain.”
“…Yes. That’s right.”
Elio nodded in agreement.
Sacrifices offered under the pretext of appeasing divine wrath and repelling Demon Beasts.
Perhaps they could be liberated from such practices, once called the sacrifice of the few for the greater good.
The first step toward that liberation.
Elio and Jikan’s eyes met.
In the gaze of the two men meeting, the fear and rage of the past surged forth.
“Please, save me! I don’t want to die as a sacrifice like this!”
“Let me fight instead! Please, release me!”
The helpless past, where I had to resign myself to fate, vanished the moment I met Blake.
‘Then don’t die. Fight. Survive.’
Blake’s words, spoken to save the two sacrificial victims, echoed vividly in my ears.
Do not surrender to your predetermined fate.
If you don’t want to die, charge forward with the resolve to perish.
Even if it means defying the will of some grand divine entity.
Elio clenched his fists and grinned wickedly.
“So we’re going to defy the will of the gods?”
With his fists still clenched, Elio strode purposefully from the room.
Following behind him, Jikan shouted to the organization members standing in the corridor.
“Relay this to the boss at the Leblanc Mansion! Demon Beasts have appeared in the Eastern Region!”
***
“A fish!”
“I’ll catch it! Oh!”
A small boat floating on the tranquil lake rocked dramatically.
Nix frowned and flung her fishing rod aside.
“I missed it….”
“But I had it!”
As I clutched my forehead in disappointment, Blake, sitting on the lake deck beside us, let out a soft chuckle.
“You had it, sure.”
Far behind the Leblanc Mansion.
Nix and I were fishing while admiring the lake’s surface, shimmering like fragments of light beneath the summer sun.
Of course, Blake was contentedly watching over us.
“You don’t have Training Ground drills today?”
“No. It’s my day off.”
“But you mentioned the Military has training because of the Demon Beasts.”
“Rein is handling it. I get the day off.”
“You get days off, Commander?”
At Nix’s sudden interjection, Blake hesitated before nodding.
Then he added slowly.
“I’m trying to rest a bit now. Someone told me to cherish my time.”
Nix blinked her wide eyes in surprise. I wondered if that was really so shocking.
“Rest is good. I’ve always lived this way—leisurely and carefree. It’s the secret to staying young.”
A life spent lounging lazily at the bow of a boat, swaying my feet.
Isn’t it splendid?
When I glanced over, Blake smiled softly.
Blake had been smiling more often lately, and it suited him well. The icy coldness that once emanated from his gaze had softened, and the darkness that shadowed his eyes had brightened, making his handsome features shine all the more.
In exchange, his strange questions had multiplied.
“Never mind how to stay young—is there a way to look older?”
“Why would you need that? Are you sick somewhere, Blake?”
Looking older, of all things.
At words she’d never heard before, Nix also furrowed her brow as if she’d caught wind of something absurd. Then she shot Blake a look that clearly said: don’t you dare explain that.
But Blake, oblivious to Nix’s silent plea, continued spouting nonsense.
“I didn’t want to look young compared to my three-hundred-year-old bear doll.”
No wonder I could only let out a hollow laugh.
“Stop it, stop. Blake, you’d need to live at least another two hundred years to look like an adult to me.”
“Two hundred years….”
Blake fell silent in thought, then leaned back with his arms behind him and tilted his head up.
He murmured softly while gazing at the fluffy clouds drifting across the sky.
“An insurmountable span of time.”
I pretended not to hear that quiet murmur. The phrase was accurate, after all.
But that didn’t mean we couldn’t grow closer.
Blake didn’t linger in thought any longer. He rose slowly from his seat and reached toward the bow of the boat.
I found myself naturally taken by his hand and lifted from the boat, so I asked him.
“Hm? Where are you going?”
“To rest with my eyes closed.”
“You’re going to sleep?”
“No. Just to rest.”
“Do you really need me just to rest?”
“Yes.”
He held me close and spoke to Nix.
“Take Vivian ahead. She can rest too.”
“Oh, understood.”
Nix, absorbed in her fishing, cast her line out again.
While nestled in his arms, Blake’s thin shirt fluttered in the breeze, tickling my face.
As I rubbed my face frantically with my small hands, he looked down at me quietly and asked.
“How’s your mana recovery progressing?”
I answered as lightly as I could, trying not to worry him.
“Wonderfully. High-quality mana is filling me up nicely.”
He nodded. Then he whispered in a leisurely tone.
“Don’t cause trouble and stay close to me. Then I’ll give you everything you want.”
It was an unfamiliar line, yet not an unpleasant one.
As if he knew exactly what I desired.
Blake understood me perfectly—how easily my eyes were drawn to sweet and precious things.
The sensation that had been tickling my face seemed to shift toward my chest.
I nestled quietly in his embrace without a word. I was grateful he couldn’t see how hot my ears had become.
***
After indulging in a leisurely nap and waking, I found the sun already setting beyond the horizon.
The curtains swayed gently in the breeze.
Cracking open one eye to peek, I discovered Blake leaning against the bedside, absorbed in a book.
It was a beautiful sight—Blake in such perfect serenity.
The anxious, shadowed atmosphere from when I first met him had vanished without a trace.
Feeling as though I were looking at a different person entirely, I nestled against his side.
The moment I pressed close, pure mana flooded through my entire body.
“Ah, such refreshing mana.”
I asked him, watching as his eyes remained fixed on the page.
“Blake. Have you possessed this ability since birth?”
Now that I thought about it, I was curious how much Blake knew about his own ability.
After all, mana-charging ability users were rare in both the human realm and the Demon Realm.
Even as I burrowed deeper into his side, he answered calmly.
“I don’t know. I didn’t even realize I had this ability.”
“That’s unusual. Eren doesn’t seem to have one. I’m curious whether Duke Leblanc does. Is it an ability passed down through bloodline…?”
To learn more, I’d need to search through relevant texts, but when I’d glimpsed the Library with Nix, I hadn’t seen any books with similar content.
Where could I find such information?
Then a thought suddenly struck me.
“Blake. Does the Leblanc Family have a family chronicle documenting their history?”
“If I search, there should be one.”
“I want to see it!”
“I’ll find it for you.”
The moment his words ended, Blake rose to his feet, and my eyes widened.
“You’re going to find it right now?”
“Yes. You said you needed it.”
But as he moved briskly to stand, he glanced beyond the window and his expression darkened.
It was a fierce look I hadn’t seen in some time.
The contrast with his relaxed face from moments before was so stark that I couldn’t help but ask.
“Who’s here?”
Before I could finish speaking, he pulled me into his embrace.
Not long after, I heard someone tapping at the window.
Huh?
Tapping at the window?
I nearly gasped at something so unconventional, but then I recognized it as something Nix often did, and my composure returned.
As I lifted my head to look, Blake answered in a low voice.
“Come in.”
The window slid open silently and smoothly.
Two large men squeezed through and entered, bowing their heads swiftly like the wind as they greeted him.
“Boss!”
“We’ve arrived, sir!”
Blake, called “Boss” in a loud voice, furrowed his brow in annoyance.
Caught off guard, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“Pfft!”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————