To become a king and a magician

"Not every day..."

"I didn't come here the day before yesterday."

"Wasn't that because you were off duty that day?"

Natsukawa Tiger and Weber continued eating and chatting intermittently. They were so hungry that they only realized the entire plate of seafood curry had been eaten when they sipped air with their spoons.

Touching his stomach, Natsukawa Tiger looked at Meryl and asked, "Ms. Lillian, is there anything else? I'm still a little hungry."

"Don't eat too much tonight, this is enough."

"I'm already full," Weber said, glancing at the time. "It's getting late, I'm going back to my room. Luckily I have a day off tomorrow, otherwise I'd be yawning and going to class again."

"Then I will too—"

Just as Natsukawa Tiger was about to follow Webber upstairs, Meryl beckoned to him with her finger, signaling him to wait. Only after Webber's footsteps had completely reached the second floor and the door had closed did Meryl speak, "Natsukawa, tell me more about what you just experienced."

"Huh? What are you going to do?" Natsukawa Tiger frowned warily. "You're not planning to get involved and join in the fun, are you?"

"How could that be? Does he look like that kind of person?"

Looking at Mary, who was feigning pitifulness with her hands clasped together, Natsukawa Tora gave a disdainful snort, looking at her with contempt without saying a word—"I'll give you a look, you'll understand."

After a couple of dry laughs, Meryl continued, "Well, it's pretty much the same, but this time I'm not trying to make things more complicated. I just have some ideas I want to verify, and I'm just joining in the fun."

"If you reverse the order of the two objectives, then I will believe you."

Based on Meryl's statement, probably only someone who has just met her and doesn't know her well would believe it—Natsukawa Tora, for one, didn't believe a word of it. Meryl doesn't cause trouble? Nobody believes that!

"If you want to know, go investigate it yourself. If I tell you, I'll be digging my own grave. I'm sleepy. I have class tomorrow. I'm going to sleep now."

After finishing his sentence, Xia Chuanhu dashed upstairs to the second floor, giving Meili no chance to cosplay Er Kang.

Watching Natsukawa Tora flee the scene quickly, Meryl sighed helplessly. Then, as if she had just remembered something, she scratched her head in distress: "Oh dear, I forgot to mention, there seems to be something... in his room... could this be a bit ominous?"

That's what she said, but the corners of Mary's mouth were clearly turned up.

36. She's still a child!

Xia Chuanhu felt that he might be under some kind of illusion. Considering that there was Meili by his side, it was not impossible. Even though he was confident in his mental strength and willpower, he could not find any other explanation for the current situation except that it was an illusion.

"Can someone explain this to me...?"

After swallowing hard, Xia Chuanhu, who was standing at the door, took a step or two back.

Why is Grey dressed as a maid and lying in my bed?

What's going on? Did she go into the wrong room? It's not impossible; she's only six years old, it's normal for her to make mistakes. But what's with the maid outfit? Who dressed her in it? No, it should be said, why would Grey agree to wear a maid outfit?

(That bastard Merlin!!)

Even a fool would know who did it! Only that scoundrel of a dream demon, who thrives on chaos and deserves to be executed hundreds of times, would do something like this to frame him!

Thankfully, he walked into the room sober. If he had just gone to bed without thinking about anything else, a photo of him and Grey sleeping in the same bed would probably have been on the front page of The Times the next morning!

"That damned nightmare..."

With a jerk of his leg, Natsukawa Tiger immediately wanted to go back downstairs to demand an explanation from Meryl.

"Boom--!"

However, just as he turned around, Xia Chuanhu's face was struck hard, as if he had hit an invisible wall, and the pain made him feel like his nose was about to break.

"Holy crap... what is this thing?"

Reaching out and touching what appeared to be nothing in front, the solid feel in his palm sent a chill down Xia Chuanhu's spine.

Just then, on the other side of the unseen barrier, Mary, now dressed in her pajamas, walked towards her with a smile, waving the camera in her hand: "Hehehe, you've been tricked~~~~~"

"You wretched dream demon, you schemed against me!"

"How can you call it scheming? They specifically told you to stay down there for a while, but you were in such a hurry to come up."

It was clearly a trap she set, but Mary acted like a victim, making Natsukawa Tora want to take off his glasses and give her a good beating!

What do you want to do?

"It's nothing, I just thought it was fun, so I did it. Also, consider it a little punishment for you. You came back so late this time and made that child worry for a long time. You should have some self-awareness as someone important to that child. So as punishment, you should spend some time with her tonight—I'll be taking pictures the whole time."

"Please remove your last sentence, thank you." Taking a deep breath, Natsukawa Torama knocked on the transparent wall in front of him. "Even so, there's no need to use this... barrier to lock me up, is there?"

"This is purely because I personally want to see you make a fool of yourself."

That nightmare really deserves to die a few times over!

With a smile, Mary turned around: "Then I'll leave the child in your care. After all, you brought him back, so you should take good care of your role as guardian. Good night, Your Majesty."

"Hey--"

Watching Meryl return to her bedroom as if she were a hands-off manager, Natsukawa Tora remained silent for a while, then sighed helplessly as he returned to his room, pulled out a chair next to the lab bench, and sat down.

As he sat down, Natsukawa Tora saw the birdcage on the bedside table and Yad inside.

Xia Chuanhu carried the birdcage to the window and shook it twice: "Yade, wake up."

"Ah~~~~ Ah?"

As if he had been woken up, Yad's tone was very lazy.

"What's up... Oh, buddy, you're back."

"Well, I ran into some things on the way back and was late—but more importantly, explain that to me, what's going on with Grey? Even if it was Mary who instructed her... didn't you even try to stop her?"

"Ah, this—don't you think it's wonderful, maid?"

Alright, let's sink this colorful magical costume, along with the birdcage, to the bottom of the Thames.

Natsukawa Tiger pretended to throw it out the window, and seeing this, Yad hurriedly begged for mercy: "No, no, no! Just kidding, just kidding, calm down, bro!"

"Are you willing to explain?"

"Well... actually, it was that succubus who caused trouble. She said that men would be happy if they saw a woman waiting for them when they came home. Stupid Gray believed her and thought she would make you happy, so she changed into a maid outfit and came to wait for you."

"Aren't you going to stop me?"

"Why would I stop you? Isn't this quite interesting? And aren't you happy to see this?"

I wasn't happy at all, but I was terrified.

With a helpless sigh, Natsukawa Tora leaned against the window: "From now on, whenever Meryl wants Grey to do something, you should stop her no matter what it is. Don't let her corrupt Grey. She's only six years old and can be easily led astray."

"Well, that's true."

Yad swayed twice in the birdcage.

"But you know, this is also a way for silly Grey to show her dependence on you, after all, you're the one who brought her out of there."

"Do you depend on...?"

Looking at Grey sleeping on the bed, Natsukawa Tora pondered for a moment, then pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, gently brushing the hair from her forehead.

"Um... Brother..."

She let out a soft murmur, and Gray subconsciously rolled over toward Natsukawa Tora, her petite body shrinking slightly before she opened her eyes a little.

"Ah... I'm sorry, Grey, did I wake you up?"

"elder brother?"

Looking at Natsukawa Tora with sleepy eyes, Gray rubbed her eyes and, after finally seeing him clearly, immediately hugged him tightly: "Brother!"

"Okay, okay, I'm here, I'm here." Patting her little head, Xia Chuanhu said with a hint of apology, "I'm sorry, something happened on the way back today, which made me late. I'm sorry to have worried you."

"Something happened... Oh, I see..." Grey breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought... Brother, you didn't want me anymore..."

"That won't happen. Stop worrying all the time."

"Um... Oh right, brother."

Grey stood up from the bed, lifted the hem of her maid outfit, and twirled around. "Um, this was dressed for me by Sister Lillian. She said that if I lay like this in bed, Brother, you'd be very happy to see me when you come back..."

"Yes, it looks great."

"Ha~~~~"

Grey was immediately delighted, but Natsukawa Tora ruffled her hair and said, "Grey, remember this: you can't just do things like this. And you can't just believe your sister Lilyn's words either; she'll turn you into a bad kid."

"Bad boy... So you don't have to listen to Lillian anymore?"

"Doing some housework is fine, but if she asks you to wear weird clothes or says weird things to you, you should just cover your ears and run away."

Although she didn't quite understand why Natsukawa Tora said that, Grey, who was always a good girl, nodded very seriously: "I understand."

"Very good. It's getting late, go to sleep, or you won't grow tall."

Lying back down on the bed, Gray looked at Natsukawa Tora sitting beside her and asked timidly, "Brother, aren't you going to sleep?"

"Well..." Natsukawa Tora covered his face, "I still have some homework to do, I'll go to sleep after I finish it."

"Oh, goodnight then, brother."

Goodnight, Grey.

Gently stroking Grey's hair, and watching her fall asleep, Natsukawa Torama finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Damn... I feel like I sounded like a pervert. And sleeping with a six-year-old girl like that..."

If Xia Chuanhu really does it, he'll be in jail for at least three years and could face the death penalty.

(That bastard Merlin, what has he done to me...?)

37. The fever came on so suddenly.

The next day, noon.

Looking at Natsukawa Tora lying on the bed with an abnormally flushed face, Meryl and Weber exchanged a glance, then both sighed helplessly.

"She actually caught a cold and got a fever because she stayed up all night doing experiments..."

"I don't even know what to say to you, Tiger. You didn't deliberately get a fever because you had Kenneth's self-defense class today, did you?"

"Cough cough cough... You think I wanted this... cough cough..."

Natsukawa Tora coughed as he glared fiercely at Meryl.

If it weren't for this scumbag encouraging Grey to come to his room last night, he wouldn't be sleeping on the lab table with no bed to sleep in. Although sleeping with Grey was an option, well... to put it bluntly, he had something to hide.