Author's notes

The young doctor decides...

The demon deer requests...

Xiao Lanhua meets...

Chapter 29 – Xiao Lanhua's Unexpected Surprise

When he fell to the ground, the doctor made a decision and used her powers to design a special matrix whose function was to slow down the attackers' movements, which in fact happens, and then generate a strong light with a new technique forcing them closing their eyes and the intensity of the light was so intense that it momentarily blinded them, ending up blinding their patient as well, who felt someone pulling him by his antlers and whose odor that reached his nostrils indicated that it was from the human who had treated him.

Slowly regaining his vision while still seeing everything blurry, he realizes that the young woman has conjured a transportation matrix above them, with the stag demon feeling himself being pulled up into the air.

After they left the transport matrix in a place considerably far from where they were and whose formation disappeared after its use, the demon asks with his vision slowly normalizing, "Why did you treat me? And why did you rebel against that bastard?"

"You are injured. It is cowardly to attack someone so weak and I am against the act of attacking demons indiscriminately. I do not feel that you are dangerous. Besides, you are still my patient and I have not discharged you."

He is surprised by her response and realizes that the human next to her is different from the others he has met over the decades in his sporadic encounters with someone of her race.

Xiao Lanhua is overcome by fatigue because both techniques she used required considerable power and as she did not cultivate her powers properly because she focused more on medical skills, their use became doubly tiring, forcing her to sit on the ground while she was visible her tiredness would seem to anyone, with the stag admiring how much the demon master could handle and when the young woman bent forward a little, the necklace that her grandfather gave her became visible, making the demon widen his eyes, and then become astonished while looking at the young human.

Suddenly, it moves its ears and then, alarmedly turns its large head in a specific direction as it tracks the approach of its pursuer and remaining slave who, despite being kilometers away from where they were, were approaching faster and faster.

Then, he puts his nose on her arm and she is surprised by his action as she turns her face towards him who moved away after touching her, and then her eyes widen with what he asked for in a pleading tone, "We are tired and I am very hurt. That bastard is going to catch up to us because he still has one demon left. They are getting closer. I know that he doesn't want to kill me but rather capture me. Since I couldn't get away and my Fate is inevitable, I have made the decision to choose who I will serve. You have a hidden pulse. Therefore, we can make a master-slave contract."

"But if we do that you will lose your freedom and..."

"One way or another I will lose. I am fully aware that I will not be able to escape. If it is to be this way, at least I can choose who I will serve."

"But you do not know me."

She notices a gentle smile on his face that says, "Your attitudes and gestures say a lot about you. You are different from other humans."

"But..."

"Please make the contract with me. If I subject myself to the curse of the master-slave contract with you, he won't be able to capture me."

"Are you sure you want this curse?"

"Yes."

Then, the stag takes on his human-like form and that of a man with the appearance of twenty-four years old, leaving her surprised to see that he wore clothes that resembled a royal attire because only nobles of high status wore such clothes. His long black hair was partially tied up in a bun secured with a circular silver tiara with intricate details and pierced horizontally by a jade chopstick while his onyx eyes looked at her kindly.

A clearing of his throat makes her come out of her stupefied state and with her cheeks slightly flushed, and then showing sadness on her face, the young woman prepares to cast the curse on him.

After sighing, she makes a kind of drawing on his palm and then extends her arm, with him placing his forearm while they both hold each other's forearms, giving rise to an initially discreet glow that then slowly intensifies, with the demon stag transferring part of his power, and then a golden chain symbol appears around the wrist of the arm that was used to seal the master-slave contract.

Then, a few minutes later, the demon master emerges with a smug smile and his remaining slave beside him, speaking, "There's no point in running away. You'll be mine!"

Narrowing her brow while mentally cursing the demon master in front of her, Xiao Lanhua stands up and makes some seals showing her and stag's master-slave contract through the appearance of a small golden chain design on his wrist.

The demon master becomes furious and screams to the point where his eyes almost pop out of his eye sockets, "How dare you steal my future slave?!"

Then, he begins to make seals at the same time as the stag in his humanoid form assumes a protective posture in front of her while the red demon cobra also assumes an attacking posture until a silver formation appears in front of the couple which then radiates a wave of power towards the demon master and his cobra slave who are thrown violently backwards, forcing them to move away from the couple.

Xiao Lanhua and the demon look back and observe some demon masters with one of them speaking after looking with resignation at the young girl and then at the one who was in human form in front of her, shielding her with his body, "We saw her showing you the contract you made with this beast. It didn't steal anything. It's your bad luck that you weren't able to capture it in time. You lost your hunt and therefore, you don't have any right to claim it because it can no longer be hunted. Now he is the property of a demon master."

"That's right. Did you happen to forget the rules involving demon slaves and hunting them?"

The one who was thrown gets up and twisting his fists while huffing, walks away followed by his remaining demon slave, causing the young woman to sigh in relief.

"It was a shame that none of us managed to capture him. I see that you are a doctor. The fact that you didn't end up in one of the regions to be a demon master is incredible."

"True. Well, we need to return to our region. We came because of the report of his appearances. Now that he already has an owner, he has no reason for us to stay here."

"Come on. We need to get to the capital."

"I hope we can enjoy the beach or go sightseeing after the mission. After all, there is no mention of us returning to our home region as soon as possible after completing the mission in the summons letter we received."

"True. I also hope we can go sightseeing in the capital."

Then, they leave and she falls on her butt after her back slides off the nearest tree.

"That was close..." She looks at him after wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of her arm, "What's your name?"

"My name is Chang Heng. What is your name?"

"Xiao Lanhua."

"Do you want to go back to where you were camped?"

"I would like to, but, I'm tired. I'm not good at fighting as you may have noticed. After all, I'm a doctor and not a warrior. I know how to draw formations and conjure arrays because I took private lessons with a demon master under the emperor's permission from Dacheng.

He then began to faintly glow a silvery hue as his body grew larger and changed shape. When the glow ceases, he reveals his true form, which was imposing, in addition to having a noble aura.

At least, that was the feeling she got along with the fact that she saw him wearing a long jade hairpin that went through his hair bun in his human form.

"I'm going to take you there. After you climb on top of my back, hold on to one of my antlers to stabilize your body while I run to the location."

He spoke while laying his belly on the floor because it was too big and at the same time showing his back to the young woman who was astonished.

Then, she recovers from the unexpected surprise, speaking next while stuttering, "But, you're not an animal. It's not right for me to do this. You're not a horse. Besides, you're hurt."

He smiles when he sees her consideration. The sincere words and gestures of the young girl beside her further confirmed that her judgment of her essence and character were absolutely correct.

"I don't care. Come up, please."

"But..."

Chang Heng looks at her and she sighs tiredly when she sees that she couldn't argue with the stag because she saw the purest determination in his onyx eyes, indicating that he wouldn't change his mind and that any attempt at argument would just be a waste of time.

Without having any choice in the matter, Xiao Lanhua defeatedly consents and climbs onto his back, who then stands up and starts running towards her camp, with the girl controlling her excitement for the run and the feeling of pure silk as much as possible which were his hair.

Then, recovering from the involuntary excitement that had arisen in her when experiencing that race mounted on a stag the size of an elephant and with imposing antlers, the young woman observed that the old wounds were open and that there were new cuts superimposed on the wounds. Torn bandages were also visible and revealed new injuries that aggravated some previous wounds.

"You're injured and it looks like you've gained more injuries."

"Yes. But, my injuries don't stop me from running. Besides, the distance is short and I'm not running quickly."

"Short?! She exclaims in disbelief, "I estimate we're over twenty miles away."

"For us demons, it's a small distance. Besides, I'm big and my legs are long."

"Indeed, you are right. After we arrive, I will return to treating you. I would like you to please assume your human form again when we reach the camp because it will be easier to treat you in a form similar to human. It was very tiring treating him in his true form and I'm still tired."

"I understand. Don't worry, I'll take on a human form as soon as we arrive."

As soon as they both arrive, she gets off his back after he lies down again with his belly on the floor, and then stands up.

Then, her body glows slightly, then takes on human contours and after the glow dissipates, it reveals its human appearance again.

Then, he sits elegantly and with majestic mannerisms after arranging his robes which were immaculate white and with intricate golden designs that were beginning to be dyed crimson in some spots as the blood came out of his old and new wounds.

She stares at him for a few minutes as if he were a fish with a third-degree blush on her cheeks while her mouth is half-open because she thinks he's beautiful, making her question whether the rumors about the unattainable beauty of many demons were indeed real.

Seeing that he was smiling, Xiao Lanhua shook her head to the side, wanting to dispel unwanted thoughts that wanted to appear in her mind while managing the shame that took her for having spent several minutes admiring him, the doctor began to treat him after making a point of reminding herself that he was her patient, applying medicines and applying bandages, with the young woman blushing even more when Chang Heng slightly opened the top part of her clothes where there were several wounds while showing off her clear skin without any hair and with an unexpected softness, making her question again in thought if all demons were so beautiful or were they just a few individuals, as well as questioning if they all had no hair on their bodies even if their true form was similar to a animal with fur.

She shakes her head to the side to dispel inappropriate thoughts that could only interfere with her work, and then takes a deep breath while refocusing, making a point of remembering the teachings of her beloved grandfather as well as the knowledge she acquired through books and parchments.

After all, she was a doctor and she had to act professionally because no matter how handsome he was, to the point of being the most beautiful man her eyes had seen and whose beauty transcended that of humans, the demon in front of her was her patient and therefore She should treat it appropriately, not letting other inappropriate feelings and thoughts take over her at that moment.

So, managing to control her mind because it wasn't the first time she was close to a male specimen, she did the best job possible, thanking the fact that he had a human form because it made treatment a lot easier and after finishing treating him and After putting on new healing poultices and bandages, the young woman prepares a potion and is moved when he takes it without hesitation as he trusts her completely, even though they only met a few hours ago.

As she began to put the objects away in their respective places at the same time that Chang Heng put back on the top of her clothes and lowered the hem of her pants that had been raised momentarily for treatment, she mentally confessed that she never imagined that she would make a master contract. slave by cursing a demon because he was against the slavery of any being.

Furthermore, the young woman always hated the existence of this contract which was like a curse on the poor demon who was forced to obey any orders given.

In fact, if the master ordered him to kill himself, the demon would do so because the curse forced him to obey.

Xiao Lanhua sighed as she put away her objects, starting to look into the eyes of the handsome male specimen who was in front of her and who was looking at her curiously while he mentally confessed that he enjoyed the idea of the human being embarrassed while treating him, thus showing that had feelings for him.

"I will undo the master-slave contract when you are completely healed and after I find a safe place for you. After freeing you, you may rejoin the members of your species."

Chang Heng is surprised while hiding the smile that wanted to appear on his lips because he was right about the young woman's heart.

Avoiding smiling at the fact that his assumptions about her are correct, he asks, "Do you really want to free me? You have seen my true form and part of my powers. I am powerful. Furthermore, my body shape and size allow I can be a mount, if you wish. In fact, I noticed how immensely happy you were as you mounted me and as I rode back to your camp. Even with all these benefits and the happiness you felt from the mount and subsequent race, I still do you want to free me from your control and dominion over me?"