By the time the three lords, Geoffrey, Felix, and Caleb, returned to the dining hall, dinner was over and the girls, along with Alfie, had left.
Ethan asked, "So have you three come to a conclusion yet? Who gets to claim and brand that pretty elf first?"
Victor said, "Is that all you think about, Ethan? You're still sexually frustrated, aren't you?" He laughed with amusement.
"Of course," Ethan said. "And I will admit that if you three... No." He turned to Lord Noah, Victor, and then Aaron, eyeing them intensely in turn, and then returned his attention to Lord Geoffrey, Felix, and Caleb again. "Six. If you six haven't already gotten yourself lined up for a taste of Alfie, I'd claim my spot first. Now it looks like I'm the last."
Lord Geoffrey said sternly, "No one is claiming and branding Alfie as their mate."
Victor said, an amused smile playing across his face, "Father Geoffrey is being protective of his beloved adopted child, I see?"
Felix said, "Geoffrey is right. Alfie's qi is weak. To mate the boy... He wouldn't be able to handle the likes of us beasts with dark qi. It'd endanger his life."
Caleb nodded in agreement with that.
Noah said, "Talking about Alfie, don't you think he looks fetching with that long hair?"
Caleb turned to stare darkly at Noah. He said, "You did it on purpose, didn't you? Giving Alfie that hair potion?"
Noah nodded. "Well, it has been such a long time since anyone who takes my interest appeared, and I simply couldn't help myself. I must say, though, I'm more astounded than I'd like to admit. I didn't expect Alfie to look so... enchanting with the changes."
All the lords agreed with that, Caleb especially, who had been overwhelmingly amazed at the sight of Alfie with such long, silky black hair that he had forgotten to breathe or even blink for a few moments.
As for Felix, he had been more than astonished at the sight. Of course, he hadn't been able to help himself and had touched Alfie's hair to make sure that he hadn't been dreaming. When he had felt the soft, silky strands against his skin, he had felt as though the wind were knocked out of him, and he simply wanted to grab Alfie into his arms and kiss the life out of the boy. But of course, he had held himself back, and that was when his dark qi, along with Caleb's, started reacting, which proceeded to bring out the dark, intense atmosphere. It had been so powerful—their overly excited, lustful qi—that Geoffrey had no choice but to call them both out to ease the electrifying sexual energy floating about the room.
Victor said, "By the way, I've read Alfie's soul."
That brought all the lords' attention to him.
Noah asked, "When did you do that?"
Victor folded his arms across his chest. "When I was chatting with him during dinner." He grinned devilishly. "I couldn't read shit out of the boy."
Aaron said, "That means Alfie does have some sort of illusion protection on him."
Noah nodded as he said, "Then it's confirmed. It has been a few days since Alfie consumed the golden pill, and from our point of view, there's no physical change whatsoever in the boy's appearance. Combine that with Victor's soul raider skill, which couldn't penetrate through to identify what exactly Alfie is, and we can safely confirm that Alfie does have a high-tier magic illusion protection on."
Aaron shut his eyes and shook his head as he said, "Ugh! I can't imagine Alfie changing in physical appearance. I just can't imagine him going all bulky and manly. I just can't. I love Alfie the way he is right now."
Victor chuckled. "You're not the only one." He fired a glare at Noah and said, "It's your fault if Alfie becomes too manly for our liking."
Noah rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, it's not official that Alfie has changed. There's a small chance that the golden pill didn't affect him. As with any newly developed potion, magic or not, the success rate varies between individuals due to numerous variables, such as metabolic rates, personal qi classifications, mechanisms, and levels, as well the type of species, gender, and of course, genetic inheritance and so on."
Aaron said, "Then let's hope the golden pill didn't work on Alfie."
Caleb said, "So how are we going to lift this illusion protection that Alfie has on? Personally, I doubt Alfie himself knows he has one on."
Felix nodded in agreement. "If he does have one on, then it was someone else who put it on him."
Geoffrey said, "That's for sure."
Noah said, "Illusion protection is normally cast in one of two ways. One is to cast the spell on the person by marking the person with either signs or symbols. The higher-tier ones have both."
Ethan said, "And the other?"
Noah said, "Cast the spell on an object marked with symbolic script." He tapped on the mask on his face. "Like ours."
Felix said, "Which is cast with a high-tier magic spell."
Caleb nodded his head. "For ours, it's to suppress our immensely dangerous power."
Geoffrey said, "While for the illusion protection, it's to hide the one wearing the object."
Noah nodded.
Aaron said, "But I've never seen any sign on Alfie's body."
Victor said, "At least not where we can see."
That dawned on them, and Geoffrey said, "I think I might just know a way to find out."
"How?" Noah asked.
"We'll invite him for a bath," Geoffrey said.
That very idea sounded good, and every one of them nodded in agreement. Of course, being invited to join the seven lords of Acaedien for a hot spring bath was considered an honor. Only high-ranking generals and noblemen of the kingdom, along with those the lords highly favored, had the privilege, and even then, it was only once in a blue moon.
Aaron volunteered as he stood. "Then I'll get Alfie."
As the door shut behind the youngest demon lord a few moments later, Victor said, amused, "He's very eager, isn't he?"
Geoffrey couldn't help but nod in agreement, knowing that Aaron felt somewhat left behind where Alfie was concerned.
A few moments later, the six lords left the dining hall and headed toward the common hot spring bathing chamber across the garden. There, the lords stripped themselves naked in the changing room and then headed over to the shower cubicles. After washing themselves thoroughly with magic shower gel until their toned, muscular bodies were clean, each then took up their favorite positions in the pool.
Immersed in the mystic water, the six lords relaxed, enjoying themselves, since soaking in a hot spring was one of their favorite pastimes. Of course, they were also waiting in anticipation for the appearance of Alfie, to finally put to rest and figure out who and what exactly Alfie was.
It wasn't long before their patience was rewarded and loud noises echoed from the entrance of the bathing chamber, announcing Alfie's arrival.
"I've already had a bath, Aaron!" Alfie's voice came loudly in panicky fright that made all six lords both suspicious and curious. Following that voice appeared the person, being carried over Aaron's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, no less.
Six pairs of eyes were glued on the commotion as Alfie kicked and screamed hysterically for Aaron to put her down. Meanwhile, Aaron said, "It's only a bath, for God's sake. Calm yourself down. It's not the end of the world."
Alfie cursed inwardly. She wanted to scream, It's not the end of the world for you, but it would be for me.
Caleb stood, water splashing around him in the process, and started walking across the pool as he said, "For God's sake, put him down."
Aaron did, gently releasing Alfie until her feet landed on the wet marble floor. Her socks instantly got soaked, and she groaned inwardly.
She muttered something under her breath as she stomped her feet a couple of times, and it was then Caleb asked from behind, "Are you all right, sweetheart?"
Alfie turned, her face flushed red from her panicky protestation. The moment she faced Caleb, she swallowed hard and wished that she hadn't turned in the first place. Suddenly, her heart started racing so furiously that she thought it'd pop out of her chest because...
Because Caleb was bloody naked, as in bare, with absolutely nothing on.
She licked her lips, more than a little dazed at seeing the dark demon lord in such rawness.