12 Feeding

The warmth of a human... so comforting.

For the first time, Ritsu was this close to someone, and for the first time, he felt human body heat so intimately and vividly.

The Elf Codex once recorded:

Human warmth is very comforting; to elves, it is neither too hot nor too cold, just right to hold close and caress freely.

Due to differences in size, when a human partner curls up in their arms and tries to struggle, they are firmly held, unable to move, trembling like a small creature wrapped in the cold power of the Abyss.

When elves caress their partners, they must restrain their movements carefully—not too rough or forceful—to avoid accidentally tearing the human apart.

At such moments, the human’s body temperature rises, almost boiling, melting like wax in the palm, manipulated at will, whimpering in surrender.

The warmth of the person before him... seemed comforting too.

But if only it could be warmer.

He wanted a warmer... burning heat.

The elf’s eyes narrowed slightly, unaware of how his own temperature registered to the other.

Zong Ming held his son, not related by blood, for quite some time before finally snapping back to reality and asking the elf:

“What exactly happened to you to end up like this?”

The elf child turned in his arms, letting out a soft hum.

Strangely, Zong Ming seemed to glimpse the silver-haired elf before him humbing softly, despite his current form. That image, that posture, was still vivid, almost escaping his mind.

Zong Ming squinted.

But what could he possibly ask of a child elf in this state?

Never mind.

Zong Ming thought, “What do you need to recover quickly? What can I do for you?”

The elf child turned to look at him, then pointed to the wall: on it hung Zong Ming’s cherished demon blade.

Zong Ming: “...” Please spare my collection.

“Do you need the demon blade, or the magic within it, or... the abyssal power?”

The elf child hissed. Zong Ming couldn’t understand what he meant, but recalling the original scene, he remembered:

At that time, Ritsu was betrayed, forced to revert to his original form after falling into the shallow Abyss.

He had lost almost everything, severely injured, betrayed by those he trusted, stabbed in the back by supposed comrades, nearly killed by the Temple of Light, and then transformed into an elf child.

He was in the most hostile part of the Abyss, a domain full of monsters.

Zong Ming never wrote exactly what Ritsu had endured. Back then, he didn’t consider what such a portrayal meant for the protagonist. He only wrote that Ritsu was utterly desperate and terrified, suffering the worst pain since birth. Then he went mad, turned dark, and upon awakening, mysteriously regained human form.

In just a few words, that sentence symbolizing Ritsu’s complete transformation summarized everything he had been through.

He was betrayed, suffered greatly, and so sought revenge on all.

Even Zong Ming didn’t truly know what Ritsu had experienced.

A sharp, prickling pain swelled in Zong Ming’s chest. For a moment, an image flashed before his eyes: the severely wounded elf child crawling with difficulty, filled with pain and confusion, driven only by survival instinct, with no memory of that life afterward.

At that time, Zong Ming had only written it as a means of venting.

A heavy, indescribable guilt weighed on his heart, almost crushing him. But he forced down the emotion. It was alright. Now he had saved the elf early. He would treat him well. Ritsu would no longer suffer those things. He had saved him.

So there was no need to feel guilty, because none of that had happened yet.

Zong Ming took a deep breath, glanced at the elf, was silent for a moment, then finally took down his demon blade.

Although... his heart bled as he did so.

But there was truly nothing else in his estate containing abyssal power.

“...Eat,” Zong Ming placed the demon blade before the elf child, closed his eyes, and endured the pain of looking away. “Except for my favorite demon blade, eat whatever you want.”

“Just get better.”

Ritsu lifted his face to look at him, seemingly looking, yet not.

His gaze was hollow, for a moment almost scrutinizing.

But the next second, that illusion vanished. Lowering himself, he began to devour the demon blade without hesitation before Zong Ming’s eyes.

You chose this yourself.

Ritsu narrowed his eyes, already noticing Zong Ming’s unusually boundless tolerance toward him.

It was as if burdened by guilt, desperately throwing all his best things before him to win favor.

Guilt? How could he be guilty? Where would guilt come from?

This man was no saint; Ritsu was merely a captive imprisoned by him. A superior looking down on a prisoner would feel no guilt.

So Zong Ming’s tolerance and flattery must have other reasons.

Who exactly was he? What was he trying to do?

Ritsu bit the edge of the demon blade, the crunching sound chilling. The blades, radiating solemn magic, shattered into fragments in the elf child’s mouth. After one blade, he kept going.

Zong Ming’s tolerance seemed bottomless. Glancing from the corner of his eye, he saw the blue-haired man nearly in agony, several times gritting his teeth and clutching the blade to hide it, yet for some reason, at the silent urging of the elf child, he continued to offer his treasured possessions and watch him consume them.

Only one demon blade remained.

Zong Ming was nearly exhausted in body and soul, his eyes reddened. To describe it in one sentence, it was as if dozens of precious, rare collectibles painstakingly gathered were shattered before him. Having made this decision, he tried not to show pain, but still...

Still, he did.

Ritsu’s gaze fell on the last demon blade cradled in Zong Ming’s arms.

Zong Ming stepped back a few paces, protecting his most beloved treasure, his posture faltering: “Enough, you’ve eaten so much already...”

He was almost finished eating his collection!

Zong Ming’s eyes landed on the elf child’s expressionless belly. Beside him lay a dozen gems—remnants of the demon blades.

Zong Ming nearly blacked out. Seeing Ritsu still dissatisfied, he said sharply: “Enough. If you still need more, I’ll find it for you. But no more eating!”

The handsome man looked as if someone had touched his last nerve, infuriated beyond measure. Ritsu quietly watched him. For some reason, the elf’s gaze made Zong Ming feel dazed, as if his very essence was being touched, as the other looked at his anxiety, his anger.

Zong Ming calmed slowly, locking eyes with him. After a moment, the elf child softly called out and swam over.

Zong Ming, clutching his treasure, cautiously stepped back. Then Ritsu let out a soft whimper.

That sound was light and delicate.

Almost like a lullaby.

Then the elf child’s small hand rested on Zong Ming’s wrist, slipping into his embrace.

Zong Ming’s arm tensed, then slowly relaxed. “...You’re not eating anymore?”

“Goo...”

Zong Ming frowned. “Are your wounds healed then?”

“Hiss hiss.”

Zong Ming still didn’t understand what he said, nor whether he was healed. But the demon blade he held remained untouched.

The elf child fiddled with the gems he had expelled, seeming to extract something.

After Zong Ming hid his demon blade, what he saw in the room was a nearly perfect gem formed after distilling all essence and removing impurities.

This crystal-clear gem, radiating pure magic, was a near-perfect crystallization, usable as material for crafting spirit awakening elixirs—something Zong Ming had long sought but never found.

Because the technique to create these gems originated from the elves.

But the elven race had been wiped out.

“Goo.”

The gem was handed to Zong Ming. The blue-haired man reached out, took it, opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, accepted the gift.

Looking again at the one before him, the frustration in his heart suddenly dissolved. Looking at Ritsu now, there was no trace of resentment.

It was like being struck and then given a sweet reward.

Like being touched at the core, gently trained.

“Why be angry?” came a low voice, “From now on, what I give you will only be more, and better.”

Unfortunately, as a human, Zong Ming did not understand what the elf truly said.

And he didn’t need to know.