Chapter 113: Going Back to Sleep: "My One Iso Ate My Five Isos."

W-wait?

What did they mean by a romantic photo of the two of them?

They just meant a photo together, right?

The good news was that, in order to disguise his identity, he'd gone all out with his makeup and costume, and the mask hid his face.

The bad news was...

The only way he knew how to pose for photos was standing stiffly.

Standing stiffly with the Marshal should be enough, right?

Most official photos of national leaders (or Zerg leaders) consisted of them standing stiffly. At most, they added a handshake.

An Ruo's mind immediately conjured up an overly formal scene, like two countries establishing diplomatic relations.

At that moment, the Marshal handed him the holographic control panel for selecting backgrounds and let him choose.

An Ruo glanced through them.

They were either spectacular, flashy settings...

...or incredibly intimate ones.

His scalp tingled.

"How about we choose something simpler?"

An Ruo suggested.

"Mhm."

The Marshal responded, manually switched to the simple backgrounds, and selected the first one.

A plain white wall decorated with a large red cloth.

Simple.

Elegant.

"This one?"

Ulysses asked for his opinion.

An Ruo: "..."

It wouldn't be a problem for a solo portrait.

But for the two of them...

...it looked rather like a wedding photo.

"Let's change it."

Ulysses selected another.

Stars.

Moonlight.

Flowers.

A peaceful, tranquil scene.

Having already rejected one option, An Ruo thought for a moment before saying,

"Let's use this one."

In the end...

They still took a stiff standing photo.

The photographer reminded them to stand a little closer.

Ulysses shifted half a step backward, positioning himself slightly behind An Ruo.

From the camera's perspective, their shoulders overlapped just a little.

It looked fairly intimate.

Click—

The shutter fell.

That moment became eternal.

Two copies of the photograph were printed.

One for An Ruo.

One for Ulysses.

The studio thoughtfully included a beautifully crafted picture frame suitable for displaying it on a wall.

An Ruo accepted everything and paid with Iso Coins according to the listed price.

Even while taking the payment, the staff member kept glancing toward the Marshal.

Even if they were merely game tokens...

A Male Zerg paying was still an extraordinarily rare sight.

Ulysses stared at his copy of the photograph for quite a long time.

Only after the male walked over did he finally put it away before asking gently,

"Would you like to visit anywhere else?"

For some reason...

An Ruo felt like he was in an especially good mood.

Even the atmosphere around him had become unusually pleasant.

"Let's keep looking around."

It wasn't often that he got to see the great villain in such a good mood.

An Ruo simply treated it as accompanying him around for the sake of peace and stability throughout Zerg society.

Not long after they left...

A white figure rushed into the photo studio.

"Where's An-shen? Is he here?"

Aira asked, slightly out of breath.

The military female employee looked at the elegantly dressed albino Male Zerg...

...and then at Council Speaker Cassian following closely behind him.

Meeting the hopeful, pleading gaze of the Male Zerg, the employee finally pointed in a direction.

"They went that way."

He couldn't reveal the Marshal's whereabouts.

But revealing a Male Zerg's direction didn't count.

Aira immediately chased after them.

Because of his health, Cassian hadn't allowed him to visit the bookstore during the day.

He had missed An-shen's first public appearance and the signed books.

The outdoor movie screening hadn't been suitable for him either.

He had been forced to wait until the evening masquerade.

Then...

His formal clothes had tripped him.

He'd arrived just one minute late.

By then, An-shen had already disappeared from the ballroom, forcing him to search outside.

"My Lord, please slow down. Be careful not to fall."

Cassian stayed close beside him, using his own body to separate the surrounding crowd.

Just thinking about that made Aira angry.

If he'd known this outfit would be so inconvenient, he'd have picked something simpler.

He was so irritated he wanted to tear off the decorative white gauze cape.

Cassian hurriedly lifted the gauzy fabric, as delicate as cicada wings, to stop him from hurting his own hands.

After all, it was woven from the silk of a deep-sea star beast.

It looked fragile, but it was remarkably tough.

An ordinary Male Zerg couldn't tear it apart.

As they hurried past...

Hill, standing by the roadside, glanced back once before losing interest and buying an ice cream.

Isidore looked at him pitifully with sparkling puppy eyes.

"Only one? Is it for me?"

A female hatchling still in the adorable stage of life possessed devastating levels of cuteness.

Hill remained unmoved.

"You already had one."

"Hello, here's your ice cream. Five Isos."

The vendor handed an oversized deluxe ice cream to the Male Zerg wearing the black winged mask.

He was so captivated by his appearance that he couldn't look away.

Hearing the currency unit...

Hill's eyes flickered.

No matter how many times he heard it, he still couldn't help smiling.

Standing beside him, Iso kept a perfectly straight face, pretending not to hear anything as he expressionlessly reached for his money.

But Hill beat him to it, producing five Iso Coins and paying first.

Then he handed the ice cream to the large-sized Iso beside him.

Because Isidore adored ice cream, they'd eaten it together so often that the two adults had gradually fallen in love with the cold treat as well.

The two adults walked along while eating.

Isidore followed behind them resentfully.

Iso offered the first bite to his Male Lord.

Hill gently pushed it back.

"You eat first."

Without blinking, he watched Iso take the first bite.

Then he smiled.

"My one Iso ate my five Isos."

As he said it, he laughed even harder, hugging Iso's arm and leaning his whole body against him.

They rarely acted this intimately outside.

Iso, still unable to understand Male Zerg humor:

"..."

Forget it.

As long as his Male Lord was happy.

Isidore quietly opened his terminal and took a picture from behind.

Every well-behaved hatchling was an excellent photographer.

The composition.

The lighting.

The atmosphere.

Everything turned out exceptionally well.

So...

Trading one photograph for one ice cream wasn't unreasonable, right?

Xi'an and Claire were participating in a shooting game.

Even though the Legion Festival had increased the difficulty of every game...

For military Male and Female Zergs like them, it was still child's play.

"So if I hit ten bull's-eyes, I can get the little strawberry plush?"

"That's right. We also have Claire plush dolls. They're all merchandise released alongside the movie."

Then he simply had to collect every plush he wanted!

Brimming with confidence, Xi'an adjusted his mask, declined the protective goggles offered by the stall owner, and immediately raised his rifle.

A Male Zerg aiming a gun looked incredibly handsome.

A crowd quickly gathered to watch.

Cyril's family happened to pass by with their Male Lord.

The pink-haired Male Zerg wearing a flower mask pouted unhappily.

"It's all your fault! You wouldn't let me leave after my Psychic Soothing session. I missed meeting An-shen!"

"There will be other opportunities."

Cyril comforted him.

He had already heard that the Marshal and An had appeared together...

...and left together.

He found their relationship somewhat puzzling.

Still...

This was probably for the best.

His precious Male Zerg was safe.

"By the way, where's Hill?"

Philor suddenly remembered his son.

Cyril: "..."

"Probably off playing with Iso."

He'd deliberately told Iso to take Hill away from the Marshal.

Now that the crisis had passed...

Iso had once again become that black-haired military female constantly whisking his precious Male Zerg away.

...But...

Forget it.

It wasn't so bad.

Cyril caught a trace of a familiar lingering scent and glanced toward the nearby ice cream cart.

Philor thought he wanted one and immediately took his hand.

"No. You're carrying an egg. You can't eat something so cold."

The female attendant beside them nodded vigorously.

"Exactly. Female Lord needs dietary restrictions."

Cyril: "..."

What dietary restrictions did an S-rank female Zerg need?

He could chew raw energy ore.

Since he hadn't wanted any ice cream to begin with, he couldn't even be bothered arguing.

Looking at the silent Female Lord whose hand he was holding, Philor suddenly felt heartbroken.

When had his Female Lord ever suffered such injustice?

Then he remembered how resilient female Zergs were.

A little probably wouldn't hurt.

"So..."

"You can have just a tiny bit. Not too much."

The sensible female attendant had already gone to buy ice cream.

The not-so-sensible one continued adding fuel to the fire.

"Right! You absolutely mustn't overeat. Female Lord's abyss-sized mouth could swallow—"

Cyril stepped down hard onto his foot.

Applying exactly enough force to avoid breaking bones, he slowly ground it down, allowing a certain Zerg to demonstrate what an abyss-sized mouth looked like while screaming in pain.

Only then did he apologize without the slightest sincerity.

"Sorry. My foot slipped."

Hearing that his Female Lord's foot had slipped, Philor hurriedly steadied him.

"Be careful of the egg."

The brown-haired female attendant whimpered,

"My Lord... my foot cramped."

"Huh?"

Philor blinked.

"Then... should I carry you?"

The attendant looked at the Male Zerg's slender frame...

...and immediately gave up.

"Never mind. It's better now."

"Oh, alright. Then be careful while walking. I'll hold your hand..."

"But then I won't have a free hand for my ice cream..."

...

Meanwhile...

Ulysses put down a military-themed souvenir he'd been examining.

He glanced behind them before asking the male beside him,

"Are you tired from walking? Shall we go back and sleep?"

Every nearby Zerg instantly pricked up their ears.

Envious expressions spread everywhere.

The Marshal wasn't wearing a mask.

The Male Zerg beside him was.

But everyone recognized An-shen's distinctive outfit.

Even if they didn't know his true identity...

Being able to go home and sleep with a Male Zerg was enough to make any female Zerg jealous.

Originally, An Ruo hadn't felt tired.

He could have kept going.

But the moment he heard the words "go back" and "sleep in my little nest," exhaustion washed over him all at once.

"Alright. Let's go back."

An Ruo didn't forget to buy the little souvenir the Marshal had been looking at earlier.

It was a little yellow duck.

Squeak.

He secretly squeezed it once before pretending nothing had happened and carrying it naturally in his hand.

Seeing that he liked it, Ulysses bought several more.

This time he used his own Iso Coins.

All one hundred of them.

The unwanted inventory was completely cleared out.

Then...

He opened a spatial passage.

Taking the male with him, he disappeared.

Aira, who had finally managed to catch up:

"??!"

"Ah?!!"