A Night in the Forest

Outskirts of the Ancient Moon Forest

"Ah, I knew this would happen. We should've hired a carriage back then." Qian Guang trudged forward with a backpack bigger than he was strapped to his back.

He felt like he was about to collapse after walking all this way. They had ultimately chosen this daddy-tier job. The train had brought them to the nearest city, but for some reason, Mirajane had refused to hire a carriage.

"Have you thought about what we'd do with the carriage after we got here? Were we supposed to just leave it here?" Mirajane spoke as if it were perfectly reasonable, though her eyes kept darting away.

"So, did you consider hiring a driver along with it?" Qian Guang knew something was wrong the moment he saw her acting so righteous despite being in the wrong. "Tell me. What happened?"

"Well... I lost the wallet." Mirajane turned her head away and confessed the embarrassing matter in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

Qian Guang froze. The blazing sun could do nothing to warm his ice-cold heart. They had brought a hundred thousand with them! They had even planned to have some fun after finishing the job. Now, never mind having fun—they should start thinking about how they were going to afford the tickets back. Or maybe one of his brothers from another father and mother had brought money.

Qian Guang looked at the foolish child guiltily avoiding his gaze and felt exhausted.

You were supposed to become the Demon Mirajane in the future!!! And you got your wallet stolen by a pickpocket? That thief had really made it in life.

Mirajane grew a little embarrassed under Qian Guang's stare. She grabbed his hand and started walking. "Hurry up. Once we find that missing guy, we'll have money again. Hmph! I did it on purpose, to train you."

Qian Guang did not even want to complain anymore. With dead fish eyes, he let himself be dragged forward mechanically. What else could he do? He could not win an argument against her. In the future, he should leave the financial authority to Lisanna. At least for now, her older sister was hopeless.

The Ancient Moon Forest felt lifeless. The black trees were towering, and only sparse rays of sunlight filtered through the leaves into the forest. The entrance seemed like a passage into another world.

"So why did this rich second-generation kid come in here for no reason?" Mirajane fell silent at the sight. She had an ominous feeling, but well, they were already here.

"Maybe his life was too comfortable, so he wanted some excitement. You can use Laxus as a reference—he likes running off to the desert for no reason." Qian Guang had already given up dwelling on the question and simply checked the things he had brought. At the very least, they needed to be prepared.

"Let's go. Find him quickly and get out of here. The plants here aren't very friendly." Qian Guang silently reached out to the plants in the forest, but only a few responded. The rest ignored him completely.

These plants had no eye for talent! And they grew so well, too—making them hard to control.

The two searched through the forest continuously. That rich kid had very distinctive features: buck teeth, pockmarks, and red hair. There could not be many people who looked that unique.

"Qian Guang, look at this! Do you think that person might already be..." Mirajane found something inside a tree hollow.

Qian Guang walked over and looked. It was a skeleton wearing a blue jacket. Well, the clothes were pretty nice.

"Come on, Mira. Read more books. You need to know basic common sense, okay? He's only been missing for less than a month. How could he possibly have turned into a skeleton already?!"

Qian Guang wanted to make her experience what it meant to study from six in the morning until ten at night!

"Tch, what if it was some kind of magic?"

"The clothes are different too."

"What if someone changed his clothes?"

"Stop being stubborn. Let's go. We've barely gotten anywhere. Let's find somewhere with water and set up camp. We can hunt tonight."

"Okay!" Mirajane stopped arguing decisively. After searching for so long, she was hungry. She needed to eat her fill before she would have the strength to keep looking!

By the stream

A tent, a campfire, and the hind leg of some unknown magical beast.

Grrr~

"Ha, how much longer will it take?" Mirajane poked her head out of the tent. Having just woken up, she was starving.

After Qian Guang and Mirajane found the stream, they began setting up the tent. Though really, Qian Guang did most of the work while Mirajane caused trouble.

After it was set up, Mirajane volunteered to guard the camp. Then, when Qian Guang returned, he found her already asleep in the tent. Her heart was really huge.

Still, the demon's power had raised her vigilance close to max level. She woke up when Qian Guang came back, then peacefully went back to sleep after seeing it was him.

"It's ready to eat. By the way, will you even be able to sleep tonight? Why don't you keep watch? There's only one tent anyway." Qian Guang sliced off a few pieces of meat with a small knife and handed them to Mirajane.

"Mmm... no! I didn't sleep well yesterday, and I'm so tired today! You keep watch instead." Mirajane took the meat and immediately stuffed it into her mouth, letting out a satisfied sound.

"You really don't make any sense."

"Girls never make sense."

"Then we'll sleep together!"

"If you dare come over, I'll make you my sister!"

In the end, Mirajane still compromised. He did not know whether she had truly believed Qian Guang when he said, "It gets so cold at night. I'm afraid of the coldest things. I'll catch a cold."

They lay in the tent in separate sleeping bags.

This is bad, this is bad!

Only after lying down did Mirajane realize something was wrong. She had thought it would be fine with sleeping bags, but it was different when they were inside the tent together!

Breathe, breathe!

Mirajane turned into a teapot once more, feeling as if she could not even breathe normally.

She secretly turned to glance at Qian Guang, only to find him staring at her without blinking, a smile in his eyes.

!!!

Seeing the amusement in his eyes, Mirajane felt nothing but shame and indignation. She never should have let this big pig hoof into the tent! Catch a cold? And she had trusted him!

Qian Guang grinned at Mirajane's adorable expression and slowly wriggled toward her like a caterpillar.

There was only a fist's distance between them, but Mirajane was still turned away, thinking about how they were sleeping together, and did not notice. Not until Qian Guang's breathing drew closer and closer.

Mirajane turned her head and met a pair of ordinary black gemstone-like eyes, filled with tenderness.

Mirajane sprang up along with her sleeping bag. Who knew how she managed such a high-difficulty move?

She no longer knew what expression she was making. She only felt incredibly hot before crashing down onto Qian Guang.

"Hiss... You didn't have to react that strongly. Get up, you're crushing my stomach." Qian Guang felt as though he had taken a punch, but seeing something this entertaining made it worthwhile.

Mirajane had been a little embarrassed at first, but upon hearing that, she immediately returned to normal. Not only did she refuse to get up, she rolled around on top of Qian Guang. "Hah? You still have the nerve to say that? I'll crush you to death!"

"Hahaha, stop messing around. We still have work tomorrow."

"Chomp!"

Looking at Qian Guang's ugly smug face, Mirajane did not know what came over her. Even while sealed inside her sleeping bag, she directly bit his face! Just like that nun biting Touma!

"Ah! You little dog!"

"Mmmph!"

Mirajane refused to let go. Her eyes were full of smug delight as she watched Qian Guang wince in pain. But because it hurt, Qian Guang did not dare roll over. The scene remained frozen with two caterpillars, woman on top and man below, while the man's face was bitten and he could not move.

Qian Guang glared at her from the corner of his eyes! It was as though he wanted to kill this caterpillar with his gaze, but what he was really thinking was, Holy shit, this is a breakthrough victory!

What am I doing?!

Coming back to her senses, Mirajane felt what was in her mouth and thought about what she had just done—her smugness and everything. She wanted to immediately search around for a time machine. Supposedly, time machines appeared near people suffering social death!

This time, she gave up thinking entirely. She stopped biting Qian Guang's face, and the force of her bite became like that of a kitten nibbling its owner—tingly and soft.

"Mira~"

Qian Guang felt the sensation on his face and felt he had no regrets in life. But Mirajane did not move for a long while, so he tried calling her.

What answered him was a headbutt!

Bang!

Qian Guang fainted!

Mirajane figured it out. Since she could not find a time machine, she would just become a physical time machine herself! Anyway, only one person knew about it, so it was convenient!

Morning came, and the birds were already hunting caterpillars.

"Hiss... What happened to my head? Why is there such a huge bump? Did something happen last night?" Qian Guang touched his forehead and felt like he had grown a horn. Was he about to become a little dragon person? Still, it proved that the physical time machine had worked quite well.

"Ah, you sleepwalked last night. You kept hunching over and smashing into rocks. It was terrifying!" Mirajane said without changing expression, though she let out a sigh of relief inside.

"Oh, was that it? Then why is your forehead red too?" Qian Guang looked at Mirajane in confusion, feeling as if something he had lost was about to come back to him.

Mirajane's gaze grew increasingly dangerous. "Look over there! A walking daddy-tier bonus!"

"Where? Where?"

Qian Guang's eyes lit up! He turned and searched all around. "I don't see anything, Mira. Did you hit your head too and start hallucinating?"

Qian Guang did not notice Mirajane behind him, surrounded by purple aura and wearing a demonic smile, with a rock in her hand!

"Physical time machine!"

Bang!

"Hey, good morning, Mira. Why am I sleeping outside? And why does my head hurt so much?"

The facts proved that everyone who used the physical time machine said it was good! If once was not enough, then do it twice!