《The Demon King Above the Gods》 1. Dethroned I was waiting for a servant of mine to serve me my dinner. I was hungry beyond measure yet no one was by my side. When I was a strong young man, the people beside me were trustworthy and loyal as I had begun my conquest. Now, most of them were either dead, or had abandoned me long ago. While waiting for this period of time, I had realised that my chambers were empty. Not a soul passed by. I was sitting on a throne all alone. It was as if the kingdom was no longer in my hands. Rumours had long since spread about me being evil and about my wrong-doings, which simply never happened. I had always been a righteous king, a truthful man providing justice to those who deserve it. I, reigning over a kingdom as old as I am, didn''t do anything to stop these rumours. I had long since done my part. All I wanted now was the fruit of the effort I put into this kingdom. I have a son, about 30 years old. He was an orphan when I found him. During my conquest, back when I was a youthful king, I found a child silent in the awful cold. There was no one around that poor child. Looking at the child, I decided to adopt him, simply because he reminded me of myself, when I was abandoned, before I became king. But now, now my own child had betrayed me. He no longer cared for the old man who raised him. I was waiting endlessly, hoping someone would come to my chambers, hoping there would be someone who would care about me. Yet all there was, was silence. 30 minutes later, my son stepped in with all my ministers. I was so happy to see that my son actually cared for once. My eyes were teary as I got up from my throne and ran towards my son. "Son! Son!..." I ran towards my son with my weak, frail body. Yet when I got close to him, the unexpected happened. He shoved my down to the floor. My own son! Without a word he walked towards the throne and sat on it, as if it belonged to him, as if I was no longer present. The ministers clapped as this happened. One of the ministers in the crowd, my right hand, Servor, the wise, spoke, "Well done your majesty! You have beaten the evil lord of this country. Even though he was your father, you took the measure of ending his reign once and for all. All hail the new king! All hail the majesty!" The other ministers resonated, "All hail the majesty!" I couldn''t take it any more. My eyes were filled with blood, my mind was filled with rage. While on the floor, unable to get up due to my feeble body, I yelled, "Helios, the light in the darkness! That was the name I had given you. Now I''ll take away all that I gave you! For what you have done, I, Fataliaque Daemonium SHALL END YOU. This is the word of a king. The word of the man who was your father." My son smiled as he glared down at me, "Father?! Father!! You were never my father. I was an orphan. Even as a child you were too busy building a kingdom. Now you think of me as your son? Now of all times? Guards! Remove this filth from the kingdom. I no longer wish to see this dirt." Two of my royal guards entered the royal chambers. They held my hands and dragged my feeble body outside of the palace. I could open my eyes no longer... I was malnourished beyond measure. Before fainting, the last thing I heard were the ministers happily cheering, "Bravo! Bravo! You have done the job of a true king!"
I woke up surrounded with greenery, with trees well apart, with the wind as fresh as it could get. The sun was shining bright with clouds sweeping through the sky. As I tried to move I felt the pain of my wounds. My right leg was injured and my hands were profusely bleeding. I dragged my body around to reach the nearest town, to meet another person. While dragging my body, a stain of blood made a trail. Before I could move another metre, I had fainted once again, due to excess blood loss.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. When I woke up this time, I was in a hut. My body was covered in bandages. I tried moving, but only accomplished in moving my neck. I was on a shabby bed made of hard wood with nothing else in the room except for a wooden table and two wooden chairs. A young child entered through the door of the hut. He looked as if he was 9 years old. The child walked up towards me and asked in an adorable voice, "Are you alright mister?" The child reminded me of my son, back when he was young. I moved my shaking hand towards the child''s head and spoke, "What''s your name young one?" The child spoke, "My name is Deus. What''s yours mister?" I moved my hand across the child''s hair and looked up at the ceiling. "Hahaha.... Child, you''ll know my name when the time comes. For now you can call me Uncle Ius." While conversing with the child, a man, well-built, walked into the hut with an axe in his hand. His attire was made out of jute, unlike the clothing nobles wore, he had a rough looking beard with a height that made him look like a giant. The man spoke, "Deus, don''t disturb the old man. Go out and play." The child ran out with his little legs. The man walked towards me and sat on a chair kept beside the bed. "Don''t mind him, my son tends to get social with whoever he meets." The man took a pause before speaking again, "So, what happened to you?" I spoke, "I was abandoned by my own son. He did this to me. I always cherished him as a blessing given by the gods, yet this... this happened." "It''s alright now old man. You can stay here as long as you want. I bandaged your wounds with healing herbs. With my salary, I can''t afford a healer...I''m sorry to make you suffer like this." What a kind boy. If only my son was like this... Delighted to hear his words, I smiled and spoke, "What you have done is already enough. I won''t ever forget this favour. I''ll repay you when the time comes." The man got up from the chair and walked towards the door. Before exiting he looked towards me and said, "I''ll get you your breakfast."
As the days passed by, the young man and the child took care of me. The man''s wife, who was a struggling peddler took care of my wounds each time she would come home. Through the passing days, I realised that the man was a wood-cutter. The children''s parents were poor and unable to maintain a proper living. Yet, even in such circumstances, they helped an old man like me. When food wasn''t enough, they distributed most of their part, and made sure I was fed well. They did everything they could to help me. Over the days my hands healed yet my leg was still broken. I could move around while hopping on one leg. In a world abundant with magic, I tried to heal myself with the low amount of magic I had. My magic was weak due to being physically feeble. To use magic, one''s physical body must be well developed. It is for these reasons that we don''t allow children to practice magic. Based on what I had seen, I could tell that the child''s parents had an inert potential towards magic. To live in such conditions... I could help but feel sorry for them. I decided to train the child. Though the child couldn''t practice magic at this age, he could very well improve his potential at such a developing age. In the human realm, it was a fact that if two people with a low amount of magic or with no magic at all, bred together, their child would have an inert potential in magic as well. People like these were assumed to be limited at completing tasks. Many, thought of such people to only be capable to become knights in the future. However, they were unaware of the demonic powers. Demons, at a young age could improve their magic with the help of the Asura chant. By devoting their entire life under the great demon god, they could change their future. The beautiful thing about this chant was that the chant did not force anyone''s perspective. For example, you could be a farmer for the rest of your life and still be devoted to the demon god Asura. While in the hut, I saw the child playing outside in the forest. I walked towards the child while dragging my right leg. I called out to the child. The child responded, "What is it mister?" "Today, I''ll show you a way to practice magic?" The child was taken aback, "But mister, my mother told me I couldn''t practice magic." I laughed looking at the naive child. "Of course you can. Only if you believe. Believe, in the truth, believe; in yourself." I was about to force a child to become a devotee of a demon god, yet at the same time, I was ready to do anything to protect him. It was as if I had found my long lost son. 2. Teachings of a King "Before we begin child, how many species do you think co-exist among us?" The child replied, "Aren''t there only two mister?" For a child, it would be understandable if he didn''t know much about the realms and the species. Determined to drive this family out of their grief-stricken situation, I explained, "We live in a world of magic. A world where power can mean everything. However, more than power what truly has meaning is intelligence. Only the intelligent survive. The intelligent species we live with are the Demons, Humans, Elves, Giants, Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, the Undead and last but not the least, Animals." The child was awe-struck hearing all these things he had never heard before. "Whoa! But aren''t animals really dumb, Uncle Ius?" "Not at all. Animals have instinctive behaviour that makes them sharper than all of us. They live a basic lifestyle without any improvements, but they are truly smart. The creatures in this forest may be weak but if you go out and adventure, you''ll find some of the greatest beings out there to be animals. There was a time when I roamed around in the land of the Gods. It was then I saw a creature on the zenith of wisdom, a Dragon. You may be young now, but when you get older, someday, maybe you''ll have the privilege to see one too." I sighed as I remembered the good old days, the times when I could freely travel through the realms and my name was renowned. About 700 years ago, I was at my peak. Ever since then, I''ve been slowly rotting. For a demon the average lifespan is about 400 years, however due to the large capacity of magic I had, I was able to live for over a thousand. Yet, now, I have become as weak as a human. I continued, "Child, today I''ll show you something you had never seen before, your true potential. All you have to do is repeat after me," I made the child remember the Asura chant. He obediently listened and did whatever I told him. What a good kid.
A month passed by. Over the course of the month, I forced the child to repeat the Asura chant everyday until it became a habit for the child. His magic potential increased exponentially. I was delighted to have such a hardworking student. As a gift, I taught him basic martial arts and demonic arts that were practiced by a few of my peers back in the day. During this time, I had completely healed. I no longer required the shelter of this kind family. After I was satisfied with how the child had progressed, I decided to leave. I walked out of their house waving goodbye. The young man insisted in making me stay for a few more days, yet I refused. If I became too attached to this family, I would be unable to complete my goal. My work here was done. I moved into the forest to meditate and improve my magical power. Out of the 50 stages of magical power one can achieve, I was at the lowest. For a demon who was once on the 48th stage, this may seem ironic, but the truth is, after stage 30, the magic in my body began to condense. A transition took place where all impure forms of magic transformed into a pure, dense mana. When this happened, the amount of mana stored in my body also decreased. Over the years, I could''ve trained to maintain my stage, but busy with the tasks of a King, I was unable to get much time. However, being at a higher stage isn''t exactly what determines strength. Now that I had mana in the purest form, I could combat people uptil the 15th stage. The only problem was that I could only store a small amount of mana. And so, I began finding a place to meditate in peace, in the large forest.
An hour later, I encountered a large tree near a waterfall. I had decided to meditate here of all places. However, I could sense the presence of an animal nearby. I stayed alert for the time being. If the animal had no intention to harm me, nor did I. I sat down below the waterfall and began.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I concentrated all of the surrounding mana around me. Next, I absorbed all of the mana in my central core. I repeated this process about a thousand times before I reached stage 2. Normally, this would have taken a repetition of a 100 cycles, but now, due to the pure mana I possessed, it would take me ten times the effort it would take anyone else. With no idea of how much time had passed by, I got up. My body felt physically stronger. My muscles were bulging due to the mana. I felt a several hundred years younger. My hair had turned silver instead of the normal white. I had completely transitioned from an feeble old man to a hunk. However even with all this progress, I was still hungry. (Mana acts as a temporary energy reserve, so hunger can''t be completely avoided.) I made a staff out of a tree trunk by sheer strength, and left the forest to reach a nearby town. I scanned the life forces of any nearby creatures and avoided them throughout the forest. Later to look for the nearest town, I scanned through the surrounding mana and tried to find a cluster of life force. To my surprise, the nearest town itself was 10 kilometres away. To prevent applying unnecessary effort, I imbued my staff with mana, to use it to levitate. By cycling mana from the staff to the ground, I could create a current of mana which would allow me to levitate. While doing this, I absorbed a large amount of mana in my staff to create a low amount of mana in the surroundings. This would then result to the large amount of mana in the town attracting my staff with the simultaneous repulsion from the low density of mana I created around me. Within a moments time, I came crashing into the town like an asteroid. People around me shrieked as they saw me. Of course, flying for mere humans was almost impossible. I didn''t pay any attention to their melodrama and walked on. A while later I realised my clothes were torn to a pathetic state due to my progression to stage 2. Thus, I decided to buy a few items from this town other than food. But of course, before doing so, I had to have enough money. I advanced to the nearest magical equipment store. On entering, a man with a small stature pushed me out of the door while yelling, "Get out! I have no time for beggars!" For the first time in my life, someone had dared to belittle me. With the anger I felt, I couldn''t help but enter the store once again. This time, I didn''t care to follow any sense of formalities. I broke the door and walked through. Then, I grabbed the little man by his collar and lifted him up. What I did next was obvious. I pulled my hand back and threw the man ''lightly'' on the wall. With his head half covered in blood, the man hid under the counter and asked, "W..W...What can I do for you s..s..sir..?" With a bold smile on my face I replied, "I''m here to sell this staff." The man analysed the staff and was mesmerised with the power the staff held. After all, a King had created it. It was to be expected. The man bought the staff for 5000 numers. I left the shop and healed the poor man from afar. I walked into a clothing store later on and bought red, mana-imbued clothing equivalent to a wizard in the human realm. With loose clothes, I could cover my muscles and avoid the public eye to some extent. After all, it''s not common for a man my age to be physical fit amongst humans. I then advanced into the one place I had to go to ever since I had come here, a restaurant. With the remaining 2500 numers I had, I used 2000 on food. I ordered 32 salads, 20 steaks, 11 well cooked salmons, with 5 litres of beer to finish. After finishing my meal, I decided to explore through the town before the sun set. I walked along the streets and saw the structure of the buildings, I looked at the mechanism of the machines the humans had built, and took a tour around the royal palace. Humans surely had improved since the last time I had visited their realm. During the evening, I decided to sell another staff imbued with my pure mana, to retain enough money for a couple of days. While using magic to decrease the friction between my legs and the floor, I ran across the town, and reached the forest. I cut yet another trunk of a tree and made another staff. I enhanced this one with ancient demonic engraving to increase it''s power a 100 fold. While selling this staff, the short man was baffled by what he had seen. The man spoke, "T...T..This staff is way too supreme! Finding someone to buy this would be impossible! You''ll have to take this to the auction house if you really want to sell it!" Pleased with the man''s honesty, I took some time off from my day and repaired the man''s door. "So tell me little one, what''s your name?" * The man replied, "It''s Vagnolin Drakegrin." "So I see. You''re a Dwarf." The dwarf smiled while saying, "Indeed sir I am. And I''m proud of it." *
By the time I had left the store, it was already night. I walked to the nearest hotel to sleep, for once, in peace. 3. A Tiresome Day With a staff in my hand along with bag of 500 numers, I travelled across town to find a suitable hotel. 500 numers itself was quite a small amount, but I was too tired to go to an auction house at such a late hour, to sell the staff. Either way at this time, no one rich would sit for an auction in the human realm. After walking for about 20 minutes, I found a royal hotel decorated with a large, central, gold watch. I walked through the gates and met a man at a counter. Before I could speak the man started talking. "Good morning sir. My name is Adam. How may I help you?" Hearing search formalities, I could determine that the price of a room in this hotel would be expensive. Yet still, to confirm I asked, "I''m looking to book a single bedroom. What would be the price?" Adam replied, "The price for a single bedroom would be 1500 numers. However, if you do wish to buy a double bedroom, the price would only be 2000 numers." Hearing those numbers I was saddened, to know that I had to drag my body to yet another hotel. With a dreary eyes I replied, "Adam. I thank you for your service, but I must leave for now." While bowing his head to indicate his understanding nature, Adam spoke, "It''s alright sir, I understand." I left the hotel in despair, searching for another.
Hours had passed. It was almost midnight. I had searched and wondered across tens of hotels with prices far beyond the amount I had. Until finally, I decided to reside in a cheap motel. As I walked in, I was greeted by a young lady. She wore a metal armour that only covered her chest and her legs. She held a jug of beer in her hand and spoke, "Hi olddie! Come on in!" I was dragged by the young girl to a table. After sitting at the table, she gulped down a large amount of beer and sighed, "Haaaa.... This beer sure does pack a punch! So...how much can you pay?" I replied saying, "Well young lady, I''m ready to pay 500 numers for a single bedroom." I tried my best to make my intentions clear. I was tired and wanted to sleep. The young lady smiled, "Alright old man. Then it''ll be 200 for a ''single bedroom''. My name''s Risio. If you ever need any help, you can meet me at that counter over there." The lady pointed a shabby office room on the same floor. After that, she got up and led me to my room. I paid her the amount and she left. As I closed the door I sighed, "Huff...finally this old man can get some sleep!" I looked across the room. The first thing that bothered me was the bed. Of all things, it just had to be made out of hay. 900 years ago, when I was a lesser demon, I was given a hay bed just like this. But after over 700 years, this was the first time I had ever slept on hay. Dreary as I was, I forgot about it soon and slept.
I woke up as a ray of light hit my face through the window. Honestly, this was the best sleep I''d had in years. I guess not being a King has it''s perks too. I wonder how my son would cope up with all that paperwork. Hahahaa...Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. *Meanwhile, in the demon realm, Helios sneezes with dark circles across his eyes, doing paperwork. "Who would''ve remembered me at this time of the night?....I mean day....Huff, I''m losing track of time..."*
The first thing that I realised I had to do was, to sell the staff I had made. I asked Risio for the directions to the auction house. After 50 minutes of travel, I reached. The auction house had a large number of stairs at the entrance and a wide gate that was similar to a tunnel. Two guards were standing at the entrance, above the stairs. One of them was an elf and the other, was a human. They wore a heavy set of armour with their face unguarded. As I walked up all the stairs, the guards blocked my way with two large spears. "Halt!", said the human. He continued speaking, "What is your business here?" I replied, "I wish to sell this staff." The elf examined the staff and spoke, "You are permitted to go." The two guards moved their spears from the entrance. With this, I walked through. I approached a fat, short-statured, bearded man, who was sitting at the counter. With one look I could tell he was a dwarf. I looked at the dwarf and asked, "Where can I sell this staff?" The dwarf snatched the staff out of my hand and spoke, "This staff...are you a friend of Vagnolin?" I recalled the name of the dwarf I had met before and replied, "Ah. Yes. That dwarf. Why, yes I am." The dwarf was delighted to hear this, "Ain''t that nice. He recommended your staff to us last night." The dwarf squirmed around the chair before continuing, "I''ll take this staff for now. An auction will be held tomorrow. Your staff would be sold with a starting price of 1,000,000 numers. I hate talking so much, but I gotta ask according to policy; is that fine with you?" I complied saying, "Yes. That''s absolutely fine." After this conversation, I left the auction house, without a plan in mind.
While walking for a span of 50 minutes, I thought to myself, after selling my staff, I had nothing more to do. Thus, with all that had happened, I thought meditating some more would be feasible. I reached the motel and entered the shabby cabin. Unfortunately, Risio wasn''t present at the time. Therefore, I walked up to my room and opened the door of my room with my mana. (Each and every hotel door is opened and closed with the help of mana. While renting a room, the owner of the hotel inserts his or her mana along with the person renting the room. This makes the room accessible to that person. On renewing this process with someone else, the previous renter''s mana no longer helps in opening doors.) I sat on the hard wooden floor and started to meditate. This time, since the mana in the surrounding was low, (due to the presence of a large amount of people constantly using mana as a source of energy,) I decided to use my mana to help increase my life force. This process involved utilising the mana from the central core and spreading it across the body. Processes like these were only possible for grandmasters with a high level of experience, such as myself. I spread the mana slowly across my body. With a purer form of mana, I could build a better physical body simultaneously while increasing my lifespan. This process in general was one that was made using ancient demonic arts, which were readily available when I was young. But in this age and time, the demonic arts I was practicing would be considered as relics. Nonetheless, it wasn''t that this art was easy to practice if you had the steps. Even with the rules and instructions, only a limited few geniuses could practice this throughout the world. After hours of hardwork, while I was still meditating, the door snapped open. A voice spoke, "Yo! Old man!........... huh? wait. How are you so young?" I opened my eyes and looked at the person. It was Risio. I stood up and looked at the mirror present opposite to the bed. Most of my wrinkles were gone. I looked like a human in his 30s if you ignored the colour of my hair. I stroked my beard and laughed, "Hahaha! This pure mana was way more efficient than I expected it to be! All this time I thought that having such a low amount of mana was bad, however, with mana this efficient, I could be a God in no time! Just a couple hundred years more! Hahaha." Risio looked at me as if I had gone mad. She tiptoed till she was outside the room and left. Before I moved, I heard a voice outside the door, "What a weird old man..."
Anyways, I couldn''t meditate again as I was disturbed. My mana was also nearly run out. Thus, I could no longer do anything else. It was around 12 o''clock in the morning. I had completed everything that I had to do for the day, so I decided to have some lunch. I strolled down the streets, found the same restaurant, and sat at a table. I looked at the amount of money I had in the bag. With 300 numers, I could only use a hundred. The other 200 would be used to pay of today''s rent at the motel. After selling the staff, I would no longer have to face such a situation, and thus, for once, I didn''t mind eating less. I ordered a steak with a little bit of wine. Little did I know that eating lunch would lead to a fight against the royal baron''s son. 4. A Slave Whom I Once Knew I took a bite out of the rubbery steak that was served. With the horrible taste it had left in my mouth, I grabbed the glass of wine. As I was about to drink it, I heard a whip. I looked at the source of the sound and saw a noble whipping his slave. The slave had seemingly dropped a pile of wood while lifting it....not that it mattered. I continued drinking my wine without a care in the world. Getting stuck in human matters was the last thing I wanted. I heard a voice from the same location. Presumably the slaves, "Stop! I''m sorry! I won''t do it again! Please!" Wait a minute. I had heard this voice somewhere... As I heard the sound of the whip again, it struck my mind. My eyes enlarged. I crushed the glass and released the remainder of my mana in the surroundings. With that, an aura of darkness surrounded me. Everyone stopped in fear. I got up from my chair and slowly walked up to the noble. The only sound that could be heard was that of my footsteps. click clack click clack click The noble was shivering in fear. He stuttered, "S...S..Somebody h..h..he..lp.." Somehow he mustered enough courage to raise a whip to my face. I caught the whip before it landed. Anger was no longer enough to cover what this noble had done. I choked him with his own whip and dragged him across the floor. With the handle of the whip in my hand, I crushed his ribs as he was squirming for breath. I tied the handle over a horizontal pole that was used as a signboard. The noble was trying to untie the whip on his neck as he was about to faint. After countless efforts, the noble managed to free himself. He gasped as he was free. Meanwhile, during this entire time I was observing him. After this incident he tried to heal himself with healing magic. But before he could, I grabbed him by his head and lifted him up in the air. I slowly began crushing his skull as he screamed with the last of his breath. No one stepped forward to defend him. With the eyes of the public I could tell he was a good-for-nothing noble. A noble, only in name. I looked into the noble''s eyes and smiled. Tears were rolling down his face. Before he stopped moving due to the pain, I crushed his skull. Blood splattered across my face. I laughed, "Ha...ha.....ha... ha.. haa..........." Killing this noble revived my thrist for blood. The vigour I had lost sitting behind a table returned. Killing this human reminded me what it was like to be a demon. I grabbed the man''s body and put it on a table. With the strength of my hands, I tore his body into two halves. While holding the upper half of the man high in the air, I said to the chef, "I''ll have this man''s ribs grilled with a hint of lemon." In fear, the chef did exactly as I had said and started cooking. I looked at the slave on the floor, the father of the child I had taught. I spoke with my heavy demeanour, "Stand." The man stood. I continued, "Why are you here? Why as a slave?" The man responded, "Deus somehow became great at magic. I wanted to put him in a magic academy, but I didn''t have enough money. So, I decided to sell myself...as a slave." I could understand his pain as a father. I put my hand on his shoulder and spoke, "Don''t worry. From today onwards, I''ll pay for your child''s education. And as for you, I''ll hire you as my servant."If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The man was delighted to hear this. Not only had I given his son a scholarship, but I also gave him a job. With teary eyes the man said, "Thank you for all you have done...thank you." I replied, "There''s no need for formalities. You helped me once, and now, in return, I helped you." After eating the dead man''s ribs, I ordered my servant to stay at his home. Soon after, I left the restaurant and walked back to the cheap motel. I cleaned my face with a bucket of water, and rested for a while.
When I woke up, I found myself chained to the corners of a room. My hands were wide apart and I was apparently kneeling on the floor. The room was made out of stone with a dull lighting. I was inside a prison cell. My upper clothing was removed. Scars ranged across the upper half of my body. A man was standing in front of me, presumably waiting for me to wake up. Looking at his clothing, he looked like a noble. As I looked at him, he spoke, "You nuisance! Do you know how much time I had spent raising that bastard! Who''s going to give all that time back, huh? You?" I could tell by a glance, that he was the father of the noble I had killed. Hearing his words made me realise that human tyranny oppressed public opinion. With such lousy rulers, no wonder humans were weak. They were divided from within. He continued, "I''ve captured you in metal bracers. However, these bracelets aren''t normal, they''re made of antimatter, which corrodes mana. Watch, as your incapability becomes your doom." The noble picked up the spear. Tired of listening to a long narrative, I spoke, "Did you honestly think, that a man who killed your son with sheer strength, would be limited to mana?" In a moments time, I broke through the chains, grabbed the noble''s spear and pierced his skull from his chin. I then broke through the prison bars and entered a hall of sorts. While walking through the hall I noticed that multiple people were present in cells just like mine. However, I couldn''t sense any life force in them. I advanced across the hall in the hope of finding an exit, but instead I found the presence of another being. Within one of the cells, a girl, that looked as young as my son, was chained down. Her eyes had lost hope, and her clothes were torn. I could tell, she was broken from within. I broke through the prison bars and freed her from the chains. Yet, she didn''t move. Looking at her condition, i decided to leave her be. If she wished to live on, it would solely be her choice. I could show her the way no further. I exited the prison cell, and continued searching for an exit.
Minutes later, I found another prison bar guarding the hall. As I was beginning to break through, two humans covered in a full body armour saw me. They were standing on the other side of the bars with spears in their hands. Somehow, I couldn''t detect their life force. For some reason, they didn''t attack me as I was breaking the bars. However, as soon as I passed through, both of them simultaneously started attacking me with their swords. While they were cutting through my flesh, I bashed their heads together and nearly flattened them. They fell down like puppets, imitating each other. The crushed helmet fell of their faces. It was then, that I had realised that they were skeletons, a part of an undead tribe. However, none of this made sense. The undead never served humans. In fact, even the undead''s with lesser intelligence attacked humans. The presence of these undead made it clear that a necromancer was nearby. After going through all these thoughts, I analysed the room. I was no longer in a prison. The room was rather royal... As I walked through the endless amount of rooms and corridors, I realised that I was in the royal palace. An hour later, I found an exit. As I opened the door, darkness spread across. It was late in the night. I walked out, and continued walking until I reached the motel. While walking, I constantly used my mana to heal my wounds. After reaching the motel, I hesitated and decided to stay elsewhere. I walked for a few more minutes and reached the first hotel I had visited. Adam was standing at a counter with a neutral expression on his face. I walked up to Adam and spoke, "Adam. I wish to buy a single bedroom for a term of 3 months. What would be the cost?" Adam replied, "Sir, those many days would ideally take 135,000 numers, however, since you are willing to make a large purchase, under the rules of the Magna hotel, we will lower the price to a 100,000." "Good. I''ll pay you the amount later." "Alright sir. I don''t like saying this to an aged man such as yourself, but if you fail to pay the amount at the end of this term, you will be evicted and sent to prison." The aura around Adam changed. I could feel a dark shadow lingering around me. The aura was dark enough to be equivalent to demons, yet at the same time, I could tell he was a human. I complied, "I understand." "Then allow me to show you your new room." Adam brought me to my new chambers and explained the significance of each and every detail of the room. The walls were painted in gold with the tiles made of polished marble. A lamp was present at each corner of the lavish bed made from cotton. There were two windows at the side of the bed with curtains covering them. At the centre of the ceiling, there was a magic stone that facilitated the functioning of all of the instruments present. This was unlike the cheap motel, where mana had to be diffused into the instruments to make them function. * Once Adam left, I locked the door with a chant to prevent any further incidents as before, from happening. I took a bath in a bathtub and slept in the comfortable bed. Another day had ended. However, tomorrow, was going to be the day I claimed another throne; as that of a baron.