Ch 153: Tailing The Couple

That morning, Phia woke up in Bal’s arms. The first thing she did after opening her eyes was to kiss the old ox who had been exhausted last night.

“Humph hum～”

Phia seemed to be in a good mood. Bal had worked very hard last night, and she had enjoyed it very much. She was now quietly waiting for Bal to wake up in his arms.

More than half an hour later, Bal still hadn’t woken up, and Philia came to their room.

“Good morning, Father and Mother!”

Philia opened the door and walked in. Seeing the couple still lying in bed, she puffed out her cheeks.

“Really, Philia is already up, but Father and Mother haven’t gotten up yet!”

Phia heard Philia’s approaching footsteps. She was a little flustered; she and Bal weren’t wearing any clothes yet. This wasn’t something a child should see. So Phia turned around in Bal’s arms, poked her head out of the futon, and looked at Philia.

“Philia, Mommy will get up later. Why don’t you go find Sister Xiaoyue to make you breakfast?”

“Okay, Mommy～”

Seeing that Phia was already awake, Philia kissed Phia’s face and then left the room to go downstairs to get breakfast from Xiaoyue.

Phia had just breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the arm of someone around her waist becoming stronger.

“Good morning, my little juice machine.”

Bal buried his head in Phia’s neck. His warm breath tickled Phia.

“Get up quickly after waking up, trash fish?～”

Phia was about to get up when Bal pulled her back into the futon.

“I won’t allow others to call me trash fish, let alone my wife. It seems I need to let you see what a strong man is like!”

Bal pressed down on Phia, and their morning exercise began.

More than two hours later, Bal carried Phia downstairs. Philia had already gone to school. Xiaoyue, who was clearing the table, heard the couple bickering as they came downstairs, but she didn’t even look up.

“Master, Madam, breakfast is ready. Should I reheat it?”

“Ah, thank you, Xiaoyue.”

Bal sat on the sofa with Phia in his arms. Phia was still arguing with him.

“You bad dog, lecherous dog!”

“But you seemed to enjoy yourself last night and this morning, wife～”

“I… I don’t care!”

Phia blushed and stopped talking. She let Bal’s hand knead her waist.

After eating breakfast sitting on a single chair, Nia and Grey came downstairs together.

“Why did you two come down together today?”

Bal watched the two come downstairs, but they didn’t sit at the dining table to eat breakfast.

“Who’s as late as you? We just discussed things for a while before coming down to go out.”

Nia looked at Bal with disdain, and Bal was saddened by Nia’s expression.

“Wuwuwu, Nia has grown up and started to dislike her brother.”

Bal hugged Phia and pretended to cry. Nia, extremely helpless, approached Bal and punched him on the head.

“How could I have such a stupid brother? Shouldn’t you look at the clock? It’s already past ten o’clock. You two can have lunch after you finish eating.”

“Hehe, you don’t understand. You’ll know after you get married.”

Bal chuckled. He kissed the little juice machine in his arms and then looked at the blushing Nia.

“You!”

Clearly, Nia’s blush wasn’t from shyness but from anger. She was about to lash out when Grey stopped her.

“Calm down, calm down! Impulsiveness is the devil!”

After Grey calmed Nia down, Grey walked to Bal’s side. Bal nodded, and Grey went to Snowdrift and Moony. He took out two small dried fish and placed them under the perch.

“Snowdrift, Moony, can you take me there?”

“Chirp!”

The two Fairy Birds rubbed against Grey’s hand and chirped happily. Grey glanced back at Nia. Good, Nia was still chatting with Bal.

“Nia, we should leave.”

“Okay～”

Nia’s sweet response gave Bal and Phia goosebumps. Who is this? Is this still the Nia who can do alchemy to blow up the house and use physics to break the door?

But Nia didn’t care how these two viewed her. She held Grey’s arm, her greatsword already on her back.

Grey extended his free hand, allowing Moony and Snowdrift to hop onto his hand. He placed Moony on Nia’s head and Snowdrift on his shoulder, looking just like Bal and Phia. After confirming their preparations, the two held hands and left the house, leaving Bal and Phia staring blankly at the sofa, although their thoughts were different.

Bal was thinking, what’s wrong with Grey? Didn’t he say he would give Nia herbs as a surprise? Why did he swagger out with his Fairy Birds and Nia?

Phia was thinking, what’s wrong with Nia? Didn’t she say she would show a weak side in front of Grey? Why did she go out with Grey carrying a greatsword? What about the promised weakness?

So Bal and Phia immediately got up and returned to their room to change into their going-out clothes.

“Are you going out?”

Bal watched Phia change clothes in front of him. He was a little surprised because this little homebody didn’t usually like to go out alone.

“Um… something came up. Are you going out too?”

“Um… I also suddenly remembered something.”

Neither of them knew that the other was the love strategist for Grey and Nia. Their most important task now was to follow Nia and Grey to see what they were planning.

Phia went out first. Her tracking method was unique. She was tailing them, but while others walked on the road, she walked on the rooftops.

Not long after Phia went out, Bal also went out. He was a traditionalist who walked on the ground, but he could see Grey and Nia from a distance thanks to his magic-enhanced eyesight. So Phia on the rooftop didn’t see Bal, and Bal, with his enhanced vision, didn’t think Phia was on someone else’s rooftop. This foolish couple started their tailing in this way.

“Grey, I feel like someone is following us. How about you?”

Nia held Grey’s arm. She could feel eyes looking at her from two directions, but she couldn’t figure out who they were.

Needless to say, Phia is a Demon King, a true magic master. Bal is even heavier, a Top Student. Although a mortal body（, not really a mortal）, having mastered the skills of various professions. If these two could be discovered by Nia, they could announce their retirement.

“Don’t think too much. It’s probably your illusion. Think about it, you’re a girl carrying such a big greatsword; anyone would take a second look. So don’t mind it.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

Grey’s mastery in investigation allowed him to discover the foolish couple long ago. However, he thought Bal brought Phia to inspect him, so he didn’t care.

Thus, Grey and Nia, guided by the Fairy Birds, arrived at the forest outside the town. As soon as they left the town, Nia walked in front of Grey. She originally wanted to protect Grey, but when she thought of what Phia said last night, she leaned closer to Grey.

Grey was a stubborn person. He was focused on finding high-quality rare herbs to surprise Nia and didn’t notice Nia’s strangeness.

Phia was watching from the tree, utterly confused. She saw Nia walk ahead, then suddenly slow down and walk beside Grey.

Bal was also standing on another tree. He understood Grey’s plan but thought the process was too bland to surprise Nia. So he came up with a bad idea.

Bal whistled, and Moony and Snowdrift flew up. They landed on Bal’s shoulder, tilting their heads to look at him. Bal asked them to stay on the tree and used leaves and vines to make a disguise.

With his disguise complete, Bal lowered his body. He used a twig he had broken off as a weapon and moved in an extremely strange way to Grey and Nia.

“Wow! Wow!”

Bal shrieked at the couple, flailing his arms. Grey and Nia looked at the strange thing in front of them, surprised, and their surprise quickly turned into fear.

Bal charged at Nia with the twig. Nia raised her greatsword to counterattack, but Bal unexpectedly used the twig to hit her hand, knocking her greatsword away. Bal picked up the greatsword and started flailing his arms, shouting “Wow! Wow!” Nia and Grey felt a sense of fear. Nia chanted a spell to attack Bal with magic, but Bal was used to dealing with magicians. He grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at Nia, catching her off guard. Seeing Nia at a disadvantage, Grey immediately pulled Nia and ran away. This was exactly what Bal wanted, so Bal blocked their escape route, chasing them to the cave.

Grey and Nia held hands and looked at the dark cave in front of them. Grey glanced at Nia.

“Meeting you is my luck, Nia.”

“Grey, we can’t give up!”

Nia shielded Grey behind her. She planned to have a final battle with Bal. But could Bal not know his sister’s intentions? He threw away the twig and greatsword, climbed towards Nia, and used a joint lock to restrain her.

Restrained by Bal, Nia realized she couldn’t break free and shouted to Grey behind her.

“Run!”

Grey couldn’t bear to watch Nia fight alone. He wanted to fight, but Bal noticed Grey’s intention and threw Nia and Grey into the cave with a throwing technique, while he paced back and forth at the cave entrance.

“It seems like it doesn’t dare to come in?”

Nia pondered.

“Then let’s go in and take a look. If we can find the exit of this cave, we can go back. And if we don’t go back for too long, Bal and Phia will come looking for us.”

“Okay, let’s go in together.”

Grey held Nia’s hand, and the two supported each other as they walked into the cave full of herbs.