My Dad Is a Popular Villain in a Comic Book - Chapter 20.2

Zeman’s icy gaze scrutinized him. This was a monster with considerable intelligence; at the very least, a mid-level monster.

[I need you to help me find a few types of herbs.]

He detailed the names and appearances of those herbs. Zeman couldn’t transform into a human for the time being; his massive size made such tasks inconvenient. Moreover, with such a monster of unknown motives nearby, he couldn’t leave Albin here that would be no different from delivering a sheep into a tiger’s den. He hadn’t forgotten that due to the unique properties of Albin’s blood, many monsters coveted the child; the news should have spread by now after so many days. Logically speaking, he should have cleared out the surrounding monsters so where had this fox come from?

The fox was startled for a moment upon hearing the request, but quickly realized the situation. [Certainly, I will complete your request as soon as possible.]

The fox strode away. The pink figure dashed through the woods, easily avoiding the humans who had come to capture him. Recalling the demonic dragon’s request, the fox, who moved among the nobility, recognized them as medicinal formulas for treating fevers, and he thought to himself.

It seems the demonic dragon doesn’t intend to eat that child immediately. Perhaps, as Emerald said, he plans to keep that child as a blood slave. Regarding the act of keeping humans as blood slaves even though he himself was coveted for his flesh, skin, and fur, he would not sympathize with humans. Naturally, he wouldn’t object to such a thing, and even harbored a secret malice.

What I have experienced, humans are now experiencing.

It’s just that I don’t need a palliative medicine.

He hadn’t yet encountered a situation where he had gone berserk; even if he did, he would just be killing humans anyway. However… he was curious about how that child would treat monsters if he really became a blood slave. Would he really, just as Emerald’s dream had claimed, harbor no hatred whatsoever?

The fox slipped back into the Earl’s villa and turned back into the human butler, Padma. As the butler, he easily obtained the herbs prepared in the villa and prepared to take them away. Before leaving, he remembered something, paused, took off the red scarf from his neck, and placed it on the pillow.

Returning to the dragon cave deep in the forest, he displayed the dried herbs one by one to the demonic dragon, and the fox not surprisingly was given the task of preparing the medicine.

Watching Albin, who looked pained, the fox felt uneasy about the demonic dragon performing such a task. The demonic dragon used dense demonic energy to grind the herbs into powder, and the fox prepared the powder into a medicinal potion. After letting it cool slightly, he took the wooden bowl and walked over to Albin.

Albin was running a fever and felt his throat was dry; feeling the moist liquid on his lips, he licked it subconsciously.

He was instantly shocked into crying by the bitterness.

“So bitter…” He stubbornly turned his head away, calling out muddledly, “Dad… Brother, don’t want medicine, bitter…”

His tone was coquettish, his mouth pouted, and he was filled with resistance.

The demonic dragon’s blood-red pupils revealed a look of helplessness.

The fox, however, suddenly said: [Your dad has clearly abandoned you anyway.]

Throwing a small child out in the middle of winter to the fox, that was completely the mark of a “scumbag dad” who was absolutely not worth this child’s care and effort in searching everywhere. This child had been betrayed by his human father, leading to his current fate of falling into the hands of a monster and being on the verge of becoming a blood slave. This child’s experience was so similar to his own.

The moment he finished speaking, a terrifying killing intent locked onto him. The fox was squeezed until he couldn’t breathe. Fortunately, Albin turned his head in a rush just then; the moment he opened his mouth to retort, the fox was quick, feeding him a mouthful of potion.

Albin’s face instantly scrunched up, his eyes brimming with tears from the bitterness.

The fox ambushed me; he’s insidious and cunning!

Foxes are evil!

But in order to refute the fox’s earlier words, he endured the bitterness and “glug-glugged” the terrible, bitter medicine down, just so he could open his mouth to speak.

As soon as he swallowed the last gulp, Albin didn’t even care about the lingering bitterness in his mouth and blurted out hurriedly: “Not true! Dad and I made a promise! He won’t abandon me!”

After saying that, he opened his mouth, panting like a puppy with his tongue out, gasping and exhaling in an attempt to get rid of the bitter taste on his tongue. Perhaps because he had just drunk a bowl of hot water, he felt slightly better, and being shocked by the bitterness like that, he managed to gather his spirits for a moment.

He glared angrily at the fox, turned his head with an aggrieved look, and sought the demonic dragon to settle the score.

“Mr. Dragon, Mr. Fox is so bad, he actually said Dad didn’t want me anymore!”

Although his consciousness had been muddled earlier, he had vaguely felt the demonic dragon taking care of him.

The demonic dragon’s pupils contracted.

[You can understand his words?]

“Yeah,” Albin lifted his head proudly. “I can understand the Monster Tongue!”

The demonic dragon watched him, but no emotion could be read on the dragon’s face.

[Yeah, the fox is bad.] He gave the fox a deep, lingering glance, and then said to Albin, [Your father… hasn’t abandoned you.]

“Mr. Dragon is truly kind!”

With someone backing him up, Albin felt even more emboldened and gave the fox two “harrumphs.” He then whispered: “But thank you for the medicine, Mr. Fox.” He really didn’t like taking bitter medicine, but he knew that only by taking it would his illness get better.

There was also no expression on the fox’s face; his mouth seemed to be smiling all the time. Upon hearing Albin thank him, he elegantly pushed over a small cloth parcel. Albin opened it and found it contained some white cheese. He tried a bite; besides the rich, creamy flavor, the cheese actually had a hint of sweetness, which perfectly offset the bitterness in his mouth.

“Thank you, Mr. Fox!” He said this much louder this time.

Having suppressed the bitter taste in his mouth, Albin felt a bit better. He looked around and asked: “Where’s that baby? I have to take him away quickly.” He didn’t even know how long he had been delayed.

The demonic dragon lifted his dragon wing on the other side, revealing the sleeping infant. He used his claw to hold up the swaddle; feeling the movement, the baby woke up and began to wail. Albin grabbed the baby in a panic, teased him for a while, but discovered the child was still crying.

“Is he hungry…” He looked at the leftover cheese. “It’s made of milk, but it’s a bit hard; I don’t feel it’s suitable for him.”

“I’d better get him to the carriage quickly.” He stood up swaying, intending to leave the dragon cave.

The demonic dragon used his tail to block his way, watching him with disapproving eyes: “You are still ill.”

Going out like this, Albin would probably collapse again before long, and it would be in a place he couldn’t see.

Albin: “But I’ve already promised the uncles; I need them to pick me up and take this child to the Temple of Love.”

The fox spoke up: “I will escort you out of the forest.”

The demonic dragon immediately looked at him with warning eyes, exuding a chill. How could he possibly let Albin stay with this fox who harbored sinister motives?

He said coldly: [I will escort them out.]

Feeling his pressure, the fox became even more convinced that the demonic dragon planned to keep Albin as a blood slave.

“Then I’ll trouble you, Mr. Dragon… wait, no,” he suddenly thought, “I am ill now, I’m afraid I’m not suitable to be in a closed carriage with a baby; it would be bad if I infected him.”

He pondered what to do. I could sit outside the carriage with the coachman uncles. He nodded, having decided on his course of action. The demonic dragon, as if knowing what he was thinking, spoke up first: [You can temporarily stay here until someone comes to pick you up.]

Albin was stunned for a moment, and after pondering for a while, he nodded happily.

“Mr. Demonic Dragon is the best!”

They discussed how to send him over; Albin wasn’t fit to be in the cold wind, so he couldn’t ride the dragon, and a solitary dragon was too large and might scare the coachman off, potentially attracting the attention of the Earl and his party. In the end, they decided the fox would take him.

Albin felt very sorry about this; he had actually missed a chance to ride a dragon!

Riding a dragon! A Dragon Knight!

How cool would that be!

“But isn’t Mr. Fox’s size unsuitable as well?” Albin studied him doubtfully. The fox’s size was dainty; transporting small things was fine, but carrying a baby seemed a bit difficult.

[This will do.] As the fox spoke, a strange black magic circle appeared beneath his feet, filled with mysterious symbols that rotated slowly around him. Immediately afterward, the magic circle emitted a dazzling light. In the center of the circle, the fox’s fur faded, his figure gradually becoming tall and straight, and finally, an elegant man with a slender figure knelt on one knee in the fox’s original spot.

The same pink long hair that the fox had hung down on his shoulders; he wore a slim-fitting tuxedo and neat white gloves on his hands.

“Mr. Padma?” Albin gasped in astonishment.

The fox had turned into human form right before his eyes, and this person was actually Mr. Padma?

But the Earl said he wanted to catch the pink-furred fox, and Mr. Padma even said he would cook it for him… Am I cooking myself? That must have been to fob off the Earl; Mr. Fox doesn’t seem like the type to be that stupid.

And Mr. Padma is a fox turned human—is this… a fox demon?

How did the clothes appear? This transformation effect even had a magic circle; it’s just like a Magical Girl!

Albin’s already dizzy brain instantly became a mess.

“Mr. Padma is a fox?”

Padma answered with a smile: “A small number of high-level monsters can transform into human form.”

Albin thought of another thing: “Didn’t Mr. Fox have a fracture earlier?” He looked nervously at Padma’s arm.

Padma hooked his lips and elegantly picked up the infant: “I have already recovered.”

“Wait a moment, Mr. Padma.” Albin leaned in. He examined the infant’s appearance, found he couldn’t imagine what the child would look like when he grew up, felt around on his body, took off a decorative fine leather cord from his clothes, and tied it to the baby’s ankle.

“If his parents are good people, please tell them their son is still alive and has been sent to the Temple of Love.”

“I understand.” Padma nodded knowingly. “However, his parents likely won’t acknowledge this child; it would lead to punishment by the nobles.”

The moment he was carried away by the Earl, this child was destined to die; the slaves were well aware of this.

“It doesn’t matter, but they can still see each other when they grow up. If the parents think the child is dead, how sad that would be.”

Padma thought to himself that that wasn’t necessarily true; perhaps the parents would be jealous that their son didn’t have to be collared and branded as a slave. He was never stingy about using malice to speculate about human thoughts. But he didn’t say these thoughts out loud, merely smiling and acknowledging, and then turned to bow toward the demonic dragon.

“Then, Your Highness Demonic Dragon, I will take my leave.”

He walked straight away.

Albin turned to look at the demonic dragon, his eyes full of curiosity.

“Can Mr. Dragon also turn into a human?”

The demonic dragon turned his head away, lay back down, and closed his eyes, using his tail to curl around Albin to signal him to sleep, but he did not answer him.

Albin lay back down holding the tip of his tail and whispered: “It’s okay, not being able to turn into a human is great too!”

Dragons are perfect!

After lying down, Albin, whose condition was already poor, immediately drifted off to sleep. He adjusted his sleeping position, half-awake and half-asleep, saying: “Mr. Dragon has a feeling like Dad… as reliable as Dad…”

Both of them are great people!

Albin slept, but the demonic dragon abruptly opened his eyelids, his blood-red pupils gazing at him for a long time.

On the other side, Padma handed the infant to the two coachmen, informed them of Albin’s illness, and told them to send the infant away first and return to pick up the others later.

After finishing, he turned back into a fox, deliberately entering the hunting zone, and was discovered and caught by the Earl.

Having caught the monster, the Earl’s face was glowing with health, and he immediately ordered his attendants to send it back.

He said: “Let Padma cook this fox into a delicacy quickly. If he doesn’t satisfy me, I will never forgive him.”

Following Padma’s earlier instructions, the fox was placed in a small room where no one was allowed to enter. As a fox, he cut off his own limbs, and not long after, he grew new ones.

This was his ability: [Regeneration].