《Life of the dark god》 Prologue: Birth of the devil ?Where am I¡­?¡±(?) With this thought I woke up in the middle of a dark room. As I opened my eyes I could see one person standing in front of me. As I turned my sight around I saw another person lying in a bed and holding me. My eyesight was so bad that I could only recognises silhouettes ¡°Who am I?¡±(?) I looked at my hands and feet but they were really small. I tried to move my fingers and it felt like I was able to. I didn¡¯t know because again I saw almost nothing. As I thought that those two people were probably something like my mother and father, I was lifted up in the air. The person holding me, guess that was mother, said something. Oddly enough I could understand every single word that was spoken. ¡°So it¡¯s a boy.¡±(Mother) ¡°You should decide on a name for him. I am bad at such things.¡±(Father) ¡°Right, haha. You really suck at naming. I mean naming a demon in flames fire and another using the wind, air is not really creative, haha.¡±(Mother) They laughed for a while. Embarrassed, the man buried his head into his palm. After a few seconds he restarted their conversation.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Yeah, yea you are right. So, what will his name be? If you want my opinion it should be something like first. I mean we hopefully will get another one and we could name it second so there will be no problems with naming.¡±(Stupid Father) ¡°Definitely not. I won¡¯t torture my lovely son just because his lazy and stupid father Primus has a bad naming sense.¡±(Mother) ¡°I am sorry. Don¡¯t be angry. So what name would his intelligent Mother Krysta come up with then?¡±(Primus) I finally knew both of my parents¡¯ names. My mother thought for a moment. While she was thinking, she massaged her forehead. Suddenly she pointed her finger at him and said. ¡°How does Hikaru sound?¡±(Krysta) ¡°I kind of like this name, mostly because you came up with it honey. So be it. From this day on, this son of us shall be called Hikaru.¡±(Primus) After they decided on my name my mother put me in a small bed in another room and left somewhere else. I didn¡¯t know where I was. There was probably no one who even knew that I can understand their words so who would tell me anyways. To my left and right side were some grids. It would be really hard to get out of this bed for a while. I felt like I was lying in a cage and my parents wouldn¡¯t want me to leave it. I wanted to move around but couldn¡¯t. Actually even if there were no grids around me I don¡¯t believe that I had enough strength to move around anyways. After pondering what to do from now on, guessing where or what I am I started to feel sleepy. Just before I fell asleep I had some thoughts on what had happened in that short time in my mind. [So my name is Hikaru, huh. I would really like to know where I am, or if there are any other people aside from my parents and me here. The other thing that¡¯s bothering me is that I am not even strong enough to stay awake for more than a few minutes, that¡¯s pretty bad I guess. I should see into it and train my body in the future.] This was the beginning of my long life as a dark god. This was also the beginning where I set the first 2 goals of my life. First get stronger! Second get knowledge! Chapter 1 Circumstances (1) I sat there in a dark room reading a book. My parents called it a library. In this room was one desk, one chair and 4 bookshelves. I wouldn¡¯t really call it a library. It had already been 4 years since I was born. I had blue hair and blue eyes, always had that innocent child look even when I tried not to have it. I got quite a sturdy body due to training constantly. How would I know I was 4 years old you ask? Since the day I was born I could understand the language of my parents as you know but there was something else. I was also able to¡­ ¡­read and write. I could read every book I wanted! Not that we had much. I was able to write every letter of the alphabet, if I put my mind to it I was even able to write words. My problem was just that I didn¡¯t have much reason to write something as I was the person who wanted knowledge not the person who wants to share or teach knowledge. I don¡¯t know why or how but I was able to read every book we had in these past 4 years without any problems. I found it odd at the beginning but after some time I thought everyone could do that since birth. First of all those books were written by my parents or more precisely by my mother. If I wanted to know something but she was busy she would write me a book. Another good thing that happened in those years was that I was now able to see a lot more things. I could for example describe my parents. I will start with mother because I like her more. She has red long hair but her eyes are yellow. It was an odd combination but I liked her anyways. She has always been nice to me. She was probably 2 times my height and I was already standing 90 centimetres. She always wore a blue dress which contradicted her hair but she looked beautiful anyways. My father had no special features. He had black hair, black eyes, was exactly 2 meters tall, wore a black T-shirt and black pants. He annoyed me sometime when I was reading but when mother noticed that she took him by the ear and since then he stayed away if I was skimming through a book.Stolen novel; please report. To come back to why I knew I was 4 years old. When I asked my mother, she told me that our calendar has 12 months. Every month has 30 days. 7 days are one week. Every day has 24 hours, one hour has 60 minutes and every minute 60 seconds. I really respected her pool of knowledge, not like a certain someone who hasn¡¯t taught me anything in the past 4 years. She taught me a lot of common sense and told me some stories from the outside. Yes I said outside. Apparently we were living on a little island with no one else near it. What stunned me was that my parents told me that with 8 other people, which were actually 4 other families, they were the very first 10 existences ever. These 5 families decided that their race should be called god and they were above others. My parents with these other people created the world with an item they called key of creations. They never told me where they got this key from or where it is now so I could only endure not asking anymore. If I get the chance to, I would definitely try to get my hands on that key and research it. In order for their world to flourish every family created one race. The funny thing is we got our family name from those created races. One family is human, one is beast, one is spirit, one is dragon and at last but not least, our name is demon. I haven¡¯t seen the other races but the demons my parents created are strong, smart and friendly¡­ ¡­at least to me. Why do I know that? We had 5 demons who served us here on this island. They would do the cleaning of the house, preparing breakfast and dinner, etc. Every housework we had was done by them. I had more time for training and reading book because of that, so I was really thankful. ¡°Son are you in the library again?¡±(Primus) ¡°You can¡¯t really call it a library but yes I am. What do you need from me?¡±(Me) ¡°Come on. Don¡¯t talk like you see me as an annoyance.¡±(Primus) ¡°What are you otherwise? I mean you only come to play or get on my nerves. You don¡¯t help me if I need help and won¡¯t tell me any stories. Again what are you otherwise?¡±(Me) ¡°Wow why so harsh and direct my son? Ah, but I gave you this library.¡±(Primus) ¡°With books mother wrote. Never mind. So what did you want to tell me?¡±(Me) Yes these past 4 years my dad always talked like some a child, never got serious nor angry. It felt like he had no worries in his life. But please tell me what else he is except an annoyance. Seriously, he should act like an adult. ¡°You know every other child would love to play in your age. They would fall asleep at the sight of a book. I guess that shows that you are our son. Sigh.¡±(Primus) He started smiling and looked at me. ¡°Your soon to be brother or sister will be born in the next few hours want to watch and learn something new?¡±(Primus) Chapter 2 Circumstances (2) Those words picked my interest even though the smile on my father¡¯s face annoyed me and I wanted to punch him in the face. I nod silently and followed my father to the chamber, where my mother was currently lying. A few minutes later we arrived and my mother was holding my little brother in her arms. In the door stood earth, one of the demon servants who helped. We were too late so I glared at my father. But I soon didn¡¯t care anymore as I was curious if every race had the same way of giving birth to their children? [If I get the opportunity I will research and write a book about nature and research every race in it.] I said in my mind. As my mother saw me standing there she probably thought I was overwhelmed by emotions of love or something like that. They were probably one of the first emotions I showed but unfortunately it was only curiosity. ¡°Hikaru come over here and say hello to your little brother Hibiki.¡±(Krysta) I didn¡¯t really feel much towards my own brother. It was more like an interest towards what happened or what he will accomplish in the future. As I held my brother and mother noticed my thoughts weren¡¯t what she hoped, she made a sad expression, so I faked a smile and gave him back to her.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. She than told me that it was ok for her if I don¡¯t interact a lot with Hibiki but I should at least look after my little brother for a bit. I let my mother rest and left both of my parents and my brother in the room and went outside of our little mansion. In the past years I also learned that the house we were living in was called a mansion. It was really big and had over 20 rooms. Everyone who lived here had his or her own room, we had a dining room, living room, ¡°library¡±, working room, an entrance hall and a cellar. I have been to every corner in the mansion already and got bored of it. From one of our books I could study the geography of this world. My mother made a world map especially for me because I seemed rather bored and I have been studying it ever since. Our home was located at literally the end of the world. Nothing near our house except forest, mountain and water. Did I already mention forest? Even with so much nature around us there were no animals, beast or other races. There weren¡¯t even bugs, bees or other insects. The only live on this island were our family of now 4 and the 5 demons who stayed behind to serve our family. The other 4 families got highlighted on the map. They were surrounded by various points which indicated habitants from other races and they were even near themselves. Except us that is. After some years, exploring the surroundings got boring so I only stayed at home, read books and trained my body. I didn¡¯t feel lonely but I would really like to go to the outside world and travel around. As I thought what I could do, the demon water my father created, and named, crossed my sight. A thought came up in my mind. I read books and gained quite the basic knowledge. I trained my body but my strength and speed won¡¯t develop further. I probably lacked real fighting experience there. So what else could I do? I moved around more till my feet got tired and I fell to the floor. ¡°I will ask my parents tomorrow to tell me how to create something myself. Perhaps I will be able to create my own demon then.¡±(Me) I said to myself and fell asleep. Chapter 3 Magic studies (1) I wanted to ask father to write me a book on how he created the demons. Sorry my mistake. After the ¡°hey, let¡¯s play¡± I turned around and searched for mother. I saw her sitting in a chair in the dining room, holding my brother in her arms. She really gave him a lot of love. I wasn¡¯t envious of him because she gave the same love to me from time to time. I was the one who didn¡¯t return it. ¡°Mom, can you please write me a book on how to create demons.¡±(Me) ¡°I will do it later some time. I need to teach your brother how to write, read and speak properly.¡±(Krysta) ¡°Hmm, odd. Why does he need to learn that?¡±(Me) I thought to myself and looked at him. ¡°Did you say something, dear?¡±(Krysta) ¡°No. Please just don¡¯t forget to write my book.¡±(Me) As I thought I was pretty cold with my own mother I turned around, smiled a few seconds and thanked her for making me a book in the future. She looked quite frightened as I did so but assured that she will finish the book in a few days. I also learned that I should not fake my emotions in front of mother because no child would do that and mother saw directly through my lie which explained her shock.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Actually I found it odd that my brother couldn¡¯t speak yet. I mean I could speak, write and read from birth. He probably got unlucky or he is just stupid. I don¡¯t know but I was kind of happy to find new information for my book on races. And later I learned that I got some common sense from this and I was the abnormal one. I don¡¯t mind my brother being stupid as long he doesn¡¯t get on my nerves. Please at least not more than father. The next thing I did was training and exploring again. That was my daily routine. I switched clothes and started running through the forest. I didn¡¯t go further than to the foot of some mountains a few times but in the forest I had no problems navigating till I reached my destination. I knew the forest so good that I would find my way to my destination even with my eyes closed. As I reached a fairly high mountain I looked up astonished and started to think how to climb it in the future. I noted my thoughts on a piece of paper in order to collect it and put them together in a book. Before going back I ran a few laps through the forest to kill time. After taking a little break I went straight back home and waited for my book to be completed. I was really nervous. I was always nervous when mother would write me a book containing information I really was interested in. I was predicting how many pages it would have. Which headlines she thought about. How the creating would work. I hoped that I was able to do that creation thing too. A few days later, when I came home from my running routine, my mother was waiting in the entrance hall and finally gave me my book. After that she smiled at me and went away. I ran to the library put it on the table and sat down on the chair. I couldn¡¯t wait any longer to read the book with its title¡­ ¡­magic for beginner? [Huh. Guess mother made a mistake naming it.] Or so I thought. But in the next few days the opposite was proven to me Chapter 4 Magic studies (2) Before mother gave me the book she told me that she couldn¡¯t write everything in one book and will give me other bands of magic later. I opened the book and started reading its content. I really love mother for writing more complicated things in an easy-to-understand way. When I finished skimming through it, I knew what she wanted to tell me. To sum everything up. ¡°The human race was physically the weakest and the least intelligent race out of all 5. But humans had a hidden card. They adapted the fastest to their surroundings. So eventually some of them invented magic. It can be used for daily necessaries, experimenting or for fighting against stronger races.¡± Till there I understood everything. It was simple history and described how magic got created. Now came the tricky part and how to use it. ¡°In order to use basic magic you have to feel mana. Feeling mana is like feeling Energy in your surroundings and controlling it is something like telling it to do what you want. For starters try to feel mana in your surroundings and try to gather it in one point.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. That was actually easy, at least for me. I could feel this so called mana since birth. I quickly got the hang out of it how to focus mana in one point so I started experimenting with it. I created a line of mana, a ball of mana. After some time I started forming the silhouettes of a demon but I was sad when I noticed that it dispersed after I stopped filling it with mana. What wondered me was that mother also wrote something about so called elements. ¡°Magic can be categorized in basic, advanced and unique magic. Basic magic can be activated, if you try to fuse your mana with one of the elements. There are 6 basic Elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light and Darkness.¡± That was all this book for beginner was about but it was quite helpful to understand the basic principle of magic. I didn¡¯t know what advanced or unique magic was but I would come to know it if my mother writes the rest or I will come across it through experimenting. I was eager to try to use those 6 elements and to see how far I could come when trying to control them. Would I be able to form a ball with fire magic for example? As I hoped that my mother will finish the rest of the books for magic I succeeded with fusing mana, like mentioned in the book, with the basic element, which sounded to me like the most interesting one, Darkness. I was quite happy to succeed after only 3 tries and experimented with the rest of the elements through the whole night. I failed a lot of times with the other elements but in the end I was able to at least form a ball of magic of every element. I was bad when it came to light magic but I even succeeded with that. I finished my magic experiments with every element and as I did I ended it when I formed a figure with the element of Darkness. I was able to control that element like I could control normal mana. I exhausted myself too much and fell asleep on the spot after dispersing the Darkness Magic. I fell asleep and nothing could wake me up for quite some time. Chapter 5 New discoveries (1) Since starting my studies for magic 3 years have already passed and I am now 7 years old. Nothing interesting happened except that I grew to about 1, 30 meter in size and mastered a lot of new magic. I barely saw my family or the demons during that time. All I did was train and experience with magic, ask for more books from my mother to read, or exploring our surroundings. I was really happy when I got my band 2 and 3 for magic because it explained what advanced and unique magic was and that really helped me not to get bored. Advanced magic is fusing two kinds of different elements together to get a new element. That was fairly easy. It backfired and exploded a few times when I tried to mix fire with water for the first few times but with enough training and adjusting the right amount of mana, I managed to master advanced magic. When I mastered basic magic I started writing my own magic book and stated my experiments and thoughts in it in order not to forget them. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Secondly, unique magic has 4 aspects which were really difficult to learn, even for me. There were 3 elements in unique magic which were space, time and creation magic. After 3 years I was only able master basic unique magic but I have set more goals to use it for in the future. I would eventually try to fuse unique magic with other kinds of elements in the future. My little brother is now 3 years old and could finally understand the language. He sometimes came to find me but as I often ignored him he stopped bothering me. Dad for the first time in my life helped me there. Yes MY father did something useful. He played with Hibiki so he would stop crying when I ignored him. Back to the important parts. I now had a few ideas which kinds of magic I wanted to create with the unique magic. As I told my mother of my plans a few days ago she reacted in a rather strange way. ¡°Fusing basic magic is easy but fusing unique magic sounds rather interesting. But it will probably take a lot of time and hard work doing it. But I guess you will be able to do it somehow.¡±(Krysta) She looked rather like it was something she heard for the first time when she told me that. I didn¡¯t quite understand what she meant or why she reacted in such a way. Seriously that was not like my mother normally would react. I guess she is just tired because it was hard work for her teaching Hibiki how to read and write. He was rather clumsy when it came to it. So today I was finally going to experiment with unique magic. I already had plans what I wanted to do so the first thing was a space-time where time would flow slower than in the real world so I would need less time for experiments. First attempt: fail. Second attempt: fail. . . . 109th attempt: fail. ¡°Fuck why is fusing just 2 elements so hard?!¡± (Me) Chapter 6 New discoveries (2) After exactly 1000 times trying to fuse it, I counted it myself so it was accurate, I succeeded. It took me 2 weeks for only one success. I was really happy because it bothered me and I started to think of myself as stupid and incompetent for failing 999 times. I called my new created magic [Room: space-time] and if I was in there for one hour only a half passed in the real world. I thought to myself that I created something really convenient there. So now that I achieved my biggest goal I went for fusing space with creation magic. At least it only took me 4 days in my [Room: space-time] to succeed this time. It wasn¡¯t something to be proud or happy about, at least for me. What I created was rather disappointing. It wasn¡¯t even magic, it was just a random looking box. At least it could store a lot more than it looked like to be able to store. I called it [space inventory] and looked forward to upgrade it sometime in the future. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. For now I had enough from failing in magic experiments and wasting time so I went outside touring through the mountains. After climbing up the highest I found yet. I looked down on the forest our house was located in and turned around facing the water surrounding everything. I really loved watching down from the highest point. Last year mother told me that this was the sea and it covers 2/3 of the whole world. That was rather stunning to think there existed so much water. It was something worthy to be noted in one of my books. She also told me a lot about the state of the world. For example that the races hate each other and are always fighting. I don¡¯t know why they hated each other but my mother neither. Also, there was a king for every race which would rule over them. And that the 10 first existences were not allowed to interfere with the world¡¯s affairs. Actually my mother came up with this rule and I really respect her for that. This rule was a trap for the other families saying that your children were allowed to interfere and change the world. But if the other people were something like my father it wouldn¡¯t be so hard to trick them. After staring at the ocean for another 30 minutes I turned around climbed back down the mountain and went back home. As I arrived I heard screams from inside and rushed in to see what was wrong. After a few seconds the screams intensified and I knew that they were from my mother. I arrived in her chamber and saw my father and brother standing in front not moving at all. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±(Me) I got no answer but at least my mother stopped screaming. I was relieved for a second but received a shock in the other when I was able to look at her. Chapter 7 Horror gets born I looked at my mother. She was lying in her bed. After a few seconds I noticed that something was wrong. I didn¡¯t know what it was but something was wrong with her. She stopped breathing. She lied there not moving at all. I didn¡¯t know what to do or to say. I hated this feeling. It was the same when I was born and almost couldn¡¯t move or didn¡¯t know anything. The feeling of being useless. As I tried to talk to dad I couldn¡¯t release my voice. I saw that he started crying and standing there powerless. Shortly after Hibiki started crying too. We stood there for about 5 minutes not moving nor saying anything. I didn¡¯t cry I just stood there and looked at the dead body of my mother. I was sad but I was not able to show emotions on my face. I wanted to do something. I wanted to save my mother somehow. I took a step closer to her. ¡°Stop it. You can¡¯t, Krysta is already dead. Don¡¯t make it worse, Hikaru. There is nothing we can do about it.¡±(Primus) He said that with all the strength he had left. I didn¡¯t know why he was so against trying to save mother but strangely enough I listened to him for the first time. Suddenly the dead body started glowing. It transformed into light and shortly after, into a sphere of mana. It flew above the bed. Both my father and brother stared at the sphere but I noticed something else. When I moved my gaze on what was underneath on the bed mother was lying at, there was a baby lying. It was a girl.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The sphere flowed down again and the baby started absorbing it. Before the last bit of it was gone I got an idea and took out the [space inventory] and the rest of the mana got absorbed by it. ¡°Sigh.¡±(Me) I was relieved knowing that not everything of mother was gone and that there was little hope left. Shortly after I regretted letting my guard down. The new born baby started crying, stood up and jumped at my brother. She had so much strength for a new born child I could only be in awe. I noticed something was different from her and us. 2 of her teeth were bigger and looked rather sharp and she had deep red eyes. In the same moment I thought that, she bit in my brother¡¯s neck and started drinking his blood. My father didn¡¯t move. It looked like he fainted while standing. He has been real emotional all these past years, which is why it didn¡¯t surprise me. All the things he just witnessed, were probably too much for his kind heart. But for understanding and thoughts were no time. I could only think of ¡°You should do something about it you are the adult and my father¡±. As I panicked, I slowly moved closer to her, she finished drinking his blood and stared at my eyes. I stared back at her and silent filled the room again. [She is not the same as me but yet she is.] Those were my thoughts before my brother lost all his energy and fell to the ground. A few seconds later his body became black and disintegrated into thin air. Nothing was left remaining. Nothing. I wanted to know what happened but my father only said one thing before all of this broke his mind in a way. ¡°Did this day have to come so early?¡±(Primus) I didn¡¯t understand what he meant with it but I understood one thing. My mother and brother were dead, the only thing remaining was a little bit of my mother¡¯s mana. The killer was the little baby and she is my sister, part of our family. This fact alone was enough that my father would love her. Shortly after finishing her drink, the baby fell asleep on the bed. From this day were two of my family members died and the one who killed them got born, something inside me started to come into existence. I didn¡¯t know what it was or what it would do to me, I just left it unattended. I knew it was there but I couldn¡¯t do anything against it. Again this feeling I despised not being able to do anything. I eventually started calling it my inner darkness. Since that day I was trying my best to achieve 3 things. First to analyse this darkness and make it my own strength. Second, to get to know what my father was hiding from me. And third, to think of a method to prevent the thing called DEATH. Chapter 8 Planning for the future After everything cooled down for a bit, my now new born sister without a name fell asleep and I was left there standing and thinking about what just happened. My father was lying on the floor and it looked rather unsightly. It didn¡¯t seem like he would be able to call for help. In the end, I called 2 of our demons and told them to take my father to his bedroom and tell him to wait for me when he wakes up. I thought to myself that if those demons weren¡¯t just contracted for housework they would have been able to prevent this outcome but I couldn¡¯t change time. Now that I think about it, time? It would be one way to prevent death. It was a good thought so I would try it in the future when I get the opportunity. I picked my sleeping sister up and went to my bedroom. I put her into my bed and sat down on a table picked up a pen and noted what happened today in one of my books. During the last few years I added 3 bookshelves into my room and started writing a lot of things down. There were now 2 important things for me to do.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
  1. Decide on a name for my sister
  2. Plan what to do from now on
As I tried to come up with a name for my sister one of our demons servants knocked on my door and entered. ¡°Your mother wanted me to give you something, young master.¡±(Fire (demon)) ¡°Can we do this later fire? I need some time for myself and I need to think of a name for her.¡±(Me) I pointed at the baby and the demon nodded. ¡°As you wish. But Mistress Krysta told me that if she will get another child it should be called Tatsuya if it is a boy and Lucy for a girl.¡±(Fire) ¡°If that was what my mother wanted then I will respect her wish. From today onward she will be called Lucy.¡±(Me) After telling fire to watch after Lucy and thanking him for his help, I went to see and discuss things with my father. When I arrived he sat there and looked rather sad. At least he looked more like a sane person again. ¡°I know you are sad about the sudden death of mother and Hibiki but we can¡¯t change it now.¡±(Me) He didn¡¯t say anything he just quietly sat there and looked at me. I let him be and turned around. Before leaving I directed some words at him. ¡°I am going to leave this island in a few days and tour the world. I will not let this place bind me any longer. I don¡¯t know what you or Lucy will do but you should think about it. Ah by the way, Lucy is the little baby. Mom decided on that name.¡±(Me) I went outside to start training magic again as my father whispered something I couldn¡¯t here anymore. ¡°I know. But even then I wasn¡¯t able to prevent the outcome.¡±(Primus) Chapter 9 Preparations and farewell In order to leave the island I needed a boat that would take me to the next coast, pack my belongings and be prepared for what will await me. If the map of my mother was correct this island was pretty far away from other continents and islands. First I needed a boat. I instructed 4 demons to help me build my boat and get the recourses for the building process. As I let them build my boat I started packing everything. For that I used a lot of mana to upgrade my [space inventory] to be able to store more things. I was lucky and could store all my books with their bookshelves some paper a pen and a few living necessities like food supplies for a few weeks. In order not to lose the energy of mother even if I were to lose my box, I created a mini replica of it and hid it deep in the forest where no one except me would find it. Now that I thought about it I only got one set of clothes. And they were pretty old and dirty. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Before I knew how to get my hands on new clothes for me my father came into my room. ¡°Before you go I need to give you something your mother and me wanted to give you for a long time now.¡±(Primus) I looked at him thinking that he would say nonsense but to my surprise, he took some clothing out of a box and continued talking. ¡°It is a full set of clothing and with enough magic energy it will adjust to your body. But in order to fully utilize the defensive system magic we implanted into it you would need a huge amount of mana. I sacrificed my own mana as a substitute so you will be able to use and experiment with it as much as you want. This is also my farewell gift to you.¡±(Primus) He seemed like he was in deep thought. ¡°I will watch after my daughter for a while and will then also leave this island. Perhaps I will hear from you.¡±(Primus) I didn¡¯t know what to do or to say so I just nod silently. For the first time in my life my father wanted to do something to help me. I was really moved by his actions. 3 days later the boat was finally built and before I started my journey I told myself I at least have to give my farewell to this island where I lived for almost 8 years. I started my farewells by going to the highest point of this island the mountain I loved looking down from. I looked at the forest, at our house and at then at the ocean and thought to myself that my journey will soon begin. After going back to the mansion and telling the 5 demons to look after my remaining family. I went to see my sister. She still remained sleeping even after 3 whole days. I gave her my farewells in my mind and moved onto the new build boat to start my journey. I set my goal to travel the world, beginning with the human continent. Epilogue (of Arc 1) the Sea I was sitting there in my little boat. Yesterday I departed from home to life live to its fullest and go on adventures, at least I thought it would be like this. I was really bored. Training was no good because I had no room for it. Experimenting with magic was no good because if I failed I would blow up my boat. I had nothing to do except sitting or lying in my boat and using some wind magic to blow at the sails in order to move forward. Before I set sails, I had a clear goal where I wanted to go. The human countries. My main reason was to research how they came across magic. But therefore I first needed to get there. I had to navigate through the ocean. At first I thought it would be rather easy because I only had to sail straight ahead and would somehow reach a human continent. But after a few hours I lost my sense of direction so at the moment I am drifting through the ocean and had absolutely no idea where I was. ¡°Please someone, I don¡¯t care who are what just please tell me where I am!!!¡±(Me)If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I shouted as loud as I could. No response. That was an obvious result though. Suddenly the water started to get active. Waves formed. First small and after some time they got bigger and bigger. My little boat had no chance of surviving. Before it sunk, I jumped off of it and used wind magic in order to fly. I knew I needed to find land fast before I had no magic energy left, would fall into the water and drown. At first I flew slowly in order not to waste too much energy but after a few hours I panicked because there was no land nothing. I could barely hold myself in the air. I felt my energy draining. I wasted a lot of energy to fly faster. I couldn¡¯t find anything, only water. With no energy left I fell into the water. As I used all my remaining energy I had left to keep my head out of the water for air, I started losing my consciousness. I tried to think about what I could do but nothing would come up in my mind. Fighting to stay above the water with no strength left was impossible. I had to stay awake. ¡°Don¡¯t lose your conciseness now or it will be over bevor it even started.¡± (Me) I constantly told myself. I didn¡¯t want to die before my journey even began. These were my last thoughts before I got pushed under water by the big waves and lost conciseness. I was scared for the first time in my life. Not exactly of death but of my own weakness. I didn¡¯t want to let it end like this. These were my last thoughts on the sea. [End of Arc 1 Home] Prologue (Arc 2) First contact I opened my eyes and stared at the sky. Where am I? I then looked at the wide ocean. Am I dead? I looked around and noticed that I was lying on a beach. I sat up and glanced at the forest behind me. For the first time in my life I wasn¡¯t depressed about seeing a forest. Why? Because I could feel the Mana of other living beings which made me really happy. As long as I am not strong enough to fly for a few days I should not go back to the sea and risk my life again. Did I unconsciously swam until I reached the shore? Or have the waves washed me ashore? Well, who cares about that when I can finally start to interact with other races? Hopefully it would be the human continent though. I guess sailing on a boat with nothing but water around and almost dying made me kind of insane because I spoke so much with myself. I needed to calm down first. Inhale. Exhale. After calming my body and mind I set foot into the forest. There I noticed lots of new species of trees, animals and plants I have never seen before. Actually I haven¡¯t seen any animals before. Suddenly I noticed something. I was hungry. If I can get my hands on some ingredients I have knowledge of, I could cook them. I looked around for something I knew of but in this forest were only a lot of new plants and I didn¡¯t want to take the risk of getting poisoned or paralysed. Why didn¡¯t I take something out of my [Space inventory]? I fucking lost the box. But I didn¡¯t care too much about it at first because I have already read and memorized all the content of the books in there and everything of value or only mom¡¯s mana was at home. I don¡¯t know how many hours I wandered around but I started losing my sense of direction due to my hunger. I turned around to look for the ocean and the beach but I was lost. Actually on my way through this forest I saw a lot of animals which looked edible. But as I don''t know anything about them, I didn''t want to risk getting poisoned. Also I wanted to study them if I have the time and the possibility to do so. Also if they were the only one of their species I would have killed and eaten some valuable information. All in all I refrained from killing animals. Suddenly I smelled something really nice. My senses where all keen because I trained them to their maximum capabilities through the years. So my nose could pick up smells from far away.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Good job nose. Sad enough I started talking to myself again. I looked around restless searching where the smell originates from. When I located from which direction it came I sprinted there with all my might. After some time following the smell, I somehow left the forest and entered a huge field which was probably used for farming. I could see a lot of little houses at the other side of the field. I walked through the path next to the field in order not to ruin the crop as I would if I trampled on it. The field was definitely in use but there were no people outside even though it was day. Or was it? I didn¡¯t know because I didn¡¯t even know where I was. It was odd so I walked around to search for any signs of life. When I focused more intensely, I knew that they were hiding in their hoses. ¡°I know you are there you can come out I won¡¯t do anything to you!¡±(Me) I shouted but got no reply. It got on my nerves that they knew I was here but didn¡¯t want to interact with me. I wanted to shout again but got interrupted. ¡°We are very sorry as we are only simple farmers. We were afraid of you because we often get invaded by beasts. Some of them can even change their appearance and look like humans. So please don¡¯t get angry at us.¡±(Old Man) The Old Man grinned at me and spoke politely. Actually you could say I was something like that. I mean I was by any means human, but I didn¡¯t care. In my mind I was really happy. I knew that there was definitely a race called humans, so I wanted to learn more from them. But first I needed something to eat. ¡°I am sorry to have scared you. You don¡¯t need to talk so politely. I was just wandering around here and got really hungry. I smelled something nice coming from here so I came here. I hope you could share something with me.¡±(Me) It was really embarrassing as I said it but I couldn¡¯t do anything else. The old man just looked at me. I think he thought that I wanted to kill or rob them or something like that. He probably never expected this outcome. ¡°Guys don¡¯t be so mean to our young guest and come out to greet him.¡±(Old man) After he said that one after another went out of their houses and came to greet me. As I looked around almost all of the people present here were humans. They all had a smile on their face but as an expert at faking my emotions, I knew they were faking it. Except one little girl everyone else was human. She was a child probably of my age, about 7 years old. She looked like a normal human girl with black hair except that she had black cat ears and a black tail which she tried to hide. She was standing in a corner where no one would see her. She didn¡¯t look that healthy nor clean and when I looked at her she noticed and quickly turned around to run away. Odd girl. All of the humans were dirty. Not as dirty as the cat girl though, and they looked ever fearful as though something was out to get their lives. Every time I would move or act weird or somehow out of their expectation they got scared for no reason. Moreover, they only had plain looking clothes. Actually it was interesting to see which kind of clothes humans had. ¡°Sorry about that. We rarely get any visitors and as I mentioned about beasts taking human form you can tell why we''re so cautious. But leaving that aside, it''s only natural we will share our food with you and give you a bed to sleep for the night.¡±(Old Man) I looked at the old man, thanked him and went after him. At first he showed me around. The inhabitants called this place a village and sadly they didn¡¯t have much information and no books for me because they themselves knew nothing of the world. We arrived at the house of the old man and his wife cooked something to eat for me. I finished eating some meat. I am sorry I couldn¡¯t resist but as I didn¡¯t kill the animals myself it is fine I guess. The old man showed me where I would sleep. He also showed me around that place. It was a little hut made out of stones and wood. It wasn¡¯t that big but it was enough for me to sleep. After he went away I put up some wind detection magic, so I would know if someone would approach the hut, allowing me to react if something would happen. It worked like some kind of sensor. If something disturbed the mana in the air I would know instantly. I ended up putting a lot of security up. I was pretty sure they wouldn¡¯t be that nice to a person they met for the first time. At least not if they have almost nothing themselves. They definitely plan something. They didn¡¯t even ask me anything. They didn¡¯t want to know of my name or where I come from. Just a big honest idiot would fall into such an obvious trap. So my first day interacting with humans came to an end. Chapter 1 Betrayal I didn¡¯t sleep that night. I would practice my control on magic, check my detection magic or I would close my eyes to meditate and to get some rest but I didn¡¯t fall asleep. I couldn¡¯t. I was sure the villagers would come and do something to me when I sleep. I just felt that they were people like that. ¡°It is not something nice but I shouldn¡¯t trust them. No one would in this kind of situation right?¡±(Me) Yes I was pretty cold and showed almost no emotions, and yes I was talking to myself again. I never really cared that much for others. But I would trust people who were trustworthy like my family and the demons at home. But definitely not them. They will betray my trust. I was 100% sure. The feeling of something or someone activating my detection magic interrupted with my thoughts. I sharpened my senses, erased my presence and scent with mana, used a combination of wind and light barrier to repel light so that they couldn¡¯t see me and went into hiding to observe the situation. Shortly after I heard someone talking and coming near my hut. I got excited and needed to calm down. ¡°These stupid humans. They would betray someone they met for the first time only for a little bit of money. Humans are really greedy creatures.¡±(?) ¡°Shut up. Don¡¯t wake him up.¡±(?) At least now I knew what was going on. The villagers told someone else of my existence for something called money. My prediction was right on target. Not that it was something good though. After organizing my thoughts again the 2 people entered the hut. I could see that they were not humans. From the stories of my mum they were definitely beasts or beastmen. The only big difference between the 2 species is that beast men have intelligence on par with humans and demons, while beasts practically only have their instinct to survive. These two looked like they had a lot of battle experience so I would rather try not fighting them. One of them had a scar over his left eye. It was hard to tell if he could see through it. But if it came down to fighting I knew I had some chances to win. And I noticed something else. Both of them were carrying weapons with them. One of them had a spear while the other carried a heavy sword. Both looked rather sharp and shiny. I really wanted them because I haven¡¯t had the chance to hold or wield a weapon yet. I almost started drooling because of how much I wanted them. They probably wanted to use those to fight and kill me. So their goal was clear.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I thought he is here. Did the villagers lie to us?¡±(?) ¡°I don¡¯t think they are that dumb yet. He probably has some intelligence and escaped.¡±(?) By now they noticed that the bed I should be lying in was empty. They looked around and almost found me once. I got a little heart attack there. After searching through the little hut and not finding me, one of them put on a wicked smile. Seriously why did not finding me make him happy? What¡¯s wrong with all those people? ¡°Hoho. It has been a while since we had an intelligent prey.¡±(?) ¡°Don¡¯t get overconfident we don¡¯t know anything about him.¡±(?) And they finally left. I was excited all the time since they entered my detection range. When I checked that they were far enough away I dispelled my barrier and left the hut. I was standing in front of it. ¡°What do I do now?¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t want to follow those two because I didn¡¯t know who they were or if they would be able to detect me somehow but I knew something will happen if they are not able to find me. I thought what I should do now and the best idea I could come up with was to sneak into the village and observe the situation further. I reactivated my wind-light barrier again and headed to the village. When I reached it I saw all the people were gathered in one place and formed some kind of circle. I hid behind a house. It was far away that they wouldn¡¯t notice me as long I kept silent and I was close enough to be able to see everything. When I focused my sight on what was inside that circle I could see the two beastmen from earlier. Next to them about 6 human children were lying on the floor. There could be more but there was a crowd in front of me so I couldn¡¯t see everything. What I saw was that 5 of them were seriously injured. In my opinion it looked like they were beaten up to the point where if they didn¡¯t get treatment soon they could even die. ¡°Find your young guest and bring him to us, than we will spare your children.¡±(?) One of the two beastmen said. As I looked back at the villagers they seemed rather depressed and sad. They knew that if those two were unable to find me they would be even more helpless. I didn¡¯t plan to interfere with them because I had no reason to, so their children were as good as dead. They should do their last prayers. Not that there would be a god to hear them though. ¡°Why does it have to be the future head and the future hopes of the village who will support you in the future? Why can¡¯t you take some of the other children or adults?¡±(Old man) The one who grinned like a devil before in my hut grinned wickedly again. It was such a disgusting smile. What¡¯s wrong with him, seriously? ¡°We need you to be motivated to find him. Would you search him if we took someone else? For example you old man? I don¡¯t think so. You should start your search now or I will not refrain from hurting them further.¡±(?) At his words the villagers didn¡¯t dare to say anything else because of fright. They shook nonstop and were too afraid to scatter and to look for me. The one who said that just now took his heavy sword and attempted to swing it down on one of the children. I could see in the villager¡¯s eyes that no one would try to stop him. That child also said farewell to his life. I was rather interested to see how sharp his weapon would be. Before he could swing it down he got interrupted by a sudden shout. ¡°I beg you it is enough. Please stop this!¡±(?) Someone rather interesting got on stage to save the human child from the beastmen in the last moment. Chapter 2 To the rescue ¡°I beg you it is enough. Please stop this!¡±(?) This one shout woke everyone up. After a few seconds everyone focused in the direction it was coming from. The person who shouted and tried to save the child in the last moment was none of the child¡¯s parents and none of the humans living in the village. It was the little cat girl I saw before. Considering that she wasn¡¯t even human and tried to save one I got interested in why she did that. ¡°Hoho, what have we here? A demi-human trying to save a human even when his own parents gave up every hope? What courage you have little girl.¡±(A) The one who always grinned spoke. Suddenly the parents of the boy lying on the ground and who just escaped death saw hope for their child to survive this. Packed by greed they assumed. ¡°Why don¡¯t we switch the hostage from our son to her? She is so in love with him that she even tried to save him.¡±(Father of the child) ¡°Huh?¡±(Demi-human girl) She didn¡¯t know what just happened so she gave a dumb reply. I have to be honest I did expect they would try something but I didn¡¯t think they were that stupid. Betrayed by the ones she just tried to stand up for the girl made a sad and disappointed face. I could see the pride on the face of the parents. I don¡¯t know from where they got it because their idea was nothing other than stupid and desperate. If you took a glance at them now they looked like they probably thought that they had a really good idea. ¡°What a nice idea to take her a hostage too. But letting the other one go, I don¡¯t know about that? Hmm, we should do it more interesting.¡±(A) And he smiled again. Are there only stupid humans and weird beastmen? Nah, I shouldn¡¯t make a prejudice so fast and after only meeting a handful of them. ¡°How about this, I am going to kill one kid every hour you need to find him but I will start with her and finish with the boy she tried to safe. That is fair isn¡¯t it?¡±(A)Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The parents of the child got frightened by that idea and just noticed what they have done, but knowing that they had some time to save their son they were relieved. They were even more scared to try and save him like the little girl did, so his fate wouldn¡¯t change much anyway. I tried to take a glance at the little girl. And the demi-human child made an even more depressing face than she did before. I expected that much. ¡°Well you reap what you sow, but I just got interested to ask her for information and reasons why she would rescue the boy. I shouldn¡¯t let her die so fast.¡±(Me) I whispered to myself. I found (stole) a black hood in one of the villager¡¯s houses and wore it while moving around the place to cover my face. I was slowly moving to the middle through the crowd. No one noticed me yet, because I also used my light deflecting barrier. Every time I bumped into one of the villagers they would stare at nothing. ¡°Start searching now! We will start killing the children one by one in one hour if you can¡¯t find him.¡±(B) The one who was normally quiet spoke. All of the human children fainted out of fear and everyone else of the villagers scattered to search for me. I needed to hold back my laughter because I was right next to them. The little girl I wanted to rescue didn¡¯t feint. Well I don¡¯t know if she even heard the shout because she looked like she lost all her hope and made a face from which anyone could tell she already gave up on living. Back to the important part. I needed to think of a way to save her. Suddenly she looked up. I was standing right there were she looked to. I quickly checked my barrier and it was still working. But she could see me. No wait, that wasn¡¯t possible. My barrier was well made. I mean it was made by me. She probably used a technique I don¡¯t know of yet and just felt that something was there. Now I was even more interested to know how she did that. I waited till the villagers got away far enough, to engage the enemy, without involving them in the fight. My plan was easy. After waiting a few minutes I would go near one of the two beastmen in order to surprise and then kill him as fast as possible to have an easier fight in a one vs one. Even if I couldn¡¯t kill him in one go he would be severely injured. I thought my plan was perfect but before I could use mana to activate a spell I would have been detected. I had no weapon, nothing sharp and my fists wouldn¡¯t be enough for the job. I was back to think on how to engage again but it got cut short because one of them noticed and attacked me. I didn¡¯t know what gave me away. Was it because I let my guard down? I don¡¯t know I needed to focus on the fight now. ¡°There he is. I told you he would come if you take some hostages.¡±(A) ¡°Yeah you are right but focus now.¡±(B) I didn¡¯t have much experience fighting but with all the magic I should have an advantage I thought. I widened the gap between the attacker and me and used a basic fire spell [Fireball]. He dodged it. Not that I expected it to hit him. Suddenly I got attacked from behind. It was the other guy. He used his spear and tried to pierce me. I reacted a little bit late and got a cut in the shoulder. I didn¡¯t know how he could have moved so fast. Blood started flowing out. It wasn¡¯t that deep to endanger my life but it hurt like hell. I knew it would be a hard fight. But even than I couldn¡¯t beat them with raw strength or mana capacity. I didn¡¯t have a weapon which they did have. This lowered my chance of winning even more. I needed to think of a strategy to beat those two. And I needed to think of one fast. Chapter 3 Darkness I got pushed back the whole fight. I wasn¡¯t able to attack them at all because if I attempted to attack one, the other one would attack me from my blind spot immediately. Their teamwork and usage of their skills was excellent. Even with all of my mana, all of my strength, all of the things I have trained in before I was unable to do anything. I tried to defend myself by producing a barrier out of mana. But I only had enough time to make a weak and basic one so it shattered a few seconds after I created it. I wanted to attack but felt that one enemy was always behind me. If this fight would progress like this I would definitely loose. I tried to think of something I could do. There was nothing. If I would try to escape they would find me immediately and the girl I tried to save would die. I had a lot of strength, speed, mana and spells but absolutely no idea how I could use them for a fight where I can¡¯t even attack. I had the feeling of being weak and useless again. But there was an even bigger problem now. It was that every time they attacked and it seemed to me like they would miss I get another wound on my body. I don¡¯t know how they do it but I am unable to defend or dodge that attack. At least this attack only deals a little bit of damage. After some time I started feeling funny and less strength coming from my body. I had lost too much blood. I knew this was bad. I needed to do something. I definitely underestimated my enemy. I regretted another mistake I did. But what could I do? ¡°Fuck!¡±(Me) I received another wound. I lost even more blood and could barely stand anymore. As I got aware of the fact that I had no chance of winning against them as I am now, I let my guard down and the one with the sword stabbed his weapon right into my chest. He barely missed my heart so I was still alive. Badump. I suddenly felt something new. Badump.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! I thought it was what everyone called emotions and when I felt them the world seemed like it stopped at that moment. Badump. I felt: Pride. I didn¡¯t want to lose the first serious fight of my live. Wrath. I was angry at me for being so weak. Badump. Badump. Greed. I wanted their weapons for myself. Envy. Envious because they had so much experience in fighting which I didn¡¯t have. Gluttony. I wanted to devour their mana and make it my own. Badump. Badump. Badump. Sloth. I stopped thinking because I lost too much blood to do so. Lust. I wanted to feel the joy of killing them, of feeling their blood on me and not my own. My heart beat faster and faster. My emotions overcame me in a single moment. Before I was aware of it my mind got transported into another space and left my body behind in the stopped world. I looked around. I was located in a white space. I didn¡¯t calm down yet. All I could see was one pitch black giant sphere in front of me. When I tried to touch it, it suddenly tried to devour my mind. It tried to eat the body of my mind. It didn¡¯t let me go. It would stick itself to my body and tried to cover it to absorb me. This situation was similar from outside of my mind. It felt like I would lose again. I felt the same emotions as before, I felt that my heartbeat quickened even more. But this time I wouldn¡¯t lose. ¡°If you try to devour me, I can do the same with you!¡±(Me) As I said so I started absorbing the energy of the black sphere. As it would have felt danger it tried to get away from me but I wouldn¡¯t let it. I would devour everything. I would win. I held it in one place and didn¡¯t stop absorbing the energy. The black sphere was only as little as my finger before I came back to my senses. As if it was frightened of a monster it tried to flee again but this time I only need to grab it with two fingers. I calmed down. I tried to remember what happened or what I did but I only had fragments of it. When I focused on the surroundings I was in the white space from before. But I felt more power coming from within me. It felt like I could do everything. When I thought about it I knew it came from absorbing the black ball. I focused like I would if I would train with mana and forced my mind back outside to the battlefield. When I returned the time flew and some seconds have passed since I lost control. How did my situation look like? It changed drastically. Not only the fight. The sun was shining until a few seconds ago. Now you couldn¡¯t even see the sky because another black sky was there and covered it. When I looked down at the beastmen and the little girl they all looked at me the same way the black sphere did. Frightened. Full of fear. When I looked down my body I could see that I emanated an enormous amount of dark black mana. It was almost impossible to even see my body. You could say I looked like death itself from stories. Like a monster that you couldn¡¯t beat. I have to say it didn¡¯t felt that bad. Another new feature I saw was that the dark mana was eating my wounds and even healing me. The process looked exactly the same as when the dark sphere in my mind tried to eat me. After a few seconds of silence all my wounds disappeared like they were never there. I knew that I could just overpower them and they couldn¡¯t do anything at all with all the new power. Basically, our roles got reversed. Now they were the side which couldn¡¯t do anything. I was really happy about that. Before I started to move and wanted to restart fighting, one of the beastmen shouted. ¡°Y...You who or what the fuck are you?!¡±(A) I stopped and thought for a second. I came up with a really good idea. I made a big evil smile and said. ¡°Me? I am Darkness.¡±(Me) Chapter 4 Agreement I moved near them and I wanted to fight with them again. But this time I would use my new gained power. I couldn¡¯t really call the rest of the battle a fight. I would have rather called it a one sided massacre because everything happened extremely fast.
  1. I thought of the basic spell [swing of darkness]
  2. It activated on its own without me noticing it
  3. The spell flew towards the 2 beastmen in the blink of an eye
  4. [Swing of darkness] decapitated the both of them
  5. I wanted to start chanting
  6. I noticed they were dead
I just looked dumbfounded at how the situation turned out. I wasn¡¯t the only one who didn¡¯t believe what just happened. The cat girl had the same look as me on her face. It was over in an instant who would believe that if he saw me struggle against them just a few seconds ago. I really wanted to test this mana out but I heard some villagers shouting and coming back from afar. ¡°We don¡¯t have time to waste. Fast we need to escape before the villagers come back.¡±(Me) The girl didn¡¯t understand that I actually tried to save her and only looked at me with fright. I needed to first calm her (and me) down. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t kill you just come with me for now. Ah, by the way what¡¯s your name?¡±(Me) ¡°A¡­My. My. My name is Kylie Bricksl, sir.¡±(Kylie) ¡°You don¡¯t have to be polite to me if you don¡¯t want to. I think we are the same age.¡±(Me) ¡°A...O...Ok Darkness?¡±(Kylie) ¡°That¡¯s better. For now let¡¯s head into the forest and talk about the matters at hand.¡±(Me) ¡°A¡­As you wish.¡±(Kylie) I didn¡¯t want to tell her my real name. First of all I didn¡¯t want to tell anybody of it. And second I thought the nickname I came up with sounded really cool. Just imagine someone would call you darkness. It makes me happy at least. ¡°What should I do with the dead bodies?¡±(Me) I spoke to myself and stressed my brain again to think of a solution. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Ah, can¡¯t you just use a spell to store them? I think best would be to try something with the element of darkness if you ask me.¡±(Kylie) ¡°I don¡¯t know I have to try but nice idea.¡±(Me) She adapted rather quick to the situation. I also had to admit that her idea was really good so I went with it. Was I stupid or Kylie just a genius? She was definitely a genius because I am not stupid. And so, same as before.
  1. I thought about storing them with a combination of darkness and space
  2. A dark hole appeared
  3. It absorbed the bodies and stored them in the white space I had been before with my mind
¡°Ah it worked, somehow.¡±(Me) Embarrassed I smiled at the girl. She couldn¡¯t bring out any words so we didn¡¯t talk and just went into the forest. When we arrived at a safe place, far away from the village, Kylie stopped turned around, pointed at me first, than at the sky and faced me. ¡°Could you please stop your aura from leaking so much? It is giving our position away to enemies and makes me feel uncomfortable.¡±(Kylie) ¡°S¡­Sure. Sorry about that.¡±(Me) The sudden change of attitude made me baffled. Where did the person from a few seconds go? I had to take the lead again or she will start using and asking me questions. I won¡¯t let that happen. Not after going through so much hardships. I stopped my mana from leaking and I could feel that it went back to the little black sphere. Or now to the big black sphere. ¡°So what do you want from me? I can¡¯t really refuse your requests because first of all you saved me and second I wouldn¡¯t even be able to do anything against you. I am curious and just want to know.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Nothing much, all I want from you is to teach me all the things you know and answer my questions if you can.¡±(Me) She looked at me as if she didn¡¯t expect that answer. ¡°That¡¯s all? Nothing more? You know you could ask me to become your slave or something like that.¡±(Kylie) ¡°From the way you are talking about it, I assume it would be something bad for you, so I will refrain from doing so.¡±(Me) ¡°No it¡¯s just I want to somehow repay you for saving me and I don¡¯t think that simply giving you information is enough.¡±(Kylie) I was relieved because she didn¡¯t want to run away or try anything funny but that she would willingly want to do more than I asked her to I didn¡¯t want to let her down. ¡°Let¡¯s do it this way than. First you will travel with me for one year and you are not allowed to betray me. Second you will answer me everything I want to know and you what you can answer. And third you will do things I ask you to do as long as you are not against it because it will risk your life.¡±(Me) ¡°Just to be sure what things will you tell me to do?¡±(Kylie) ¡°I don¡¯t know. Ahm, buying stuff for me or fight with me. Why do you ask? Was I that unclear?¡±(Me) She looked at me and shook her head. I don¡¯t know what she expected but I¡¯ll leave that for later. So to come back to the important part. ¡°I will ask you my first question if it is okay now, so please answer it honestly.¡±(Me) ¡°W...W¡­What do you. Ah... What is it?¡±(Kylie) What was with that reaction? She suddenly got excited and her cheeks went from normal to red. Did I do something wrong? As I thought about it and nothing came to my mind what could have went wrong, I just ignored it and asked my question. ¡°You said something about slaves, what is that?¡±(Me) She looked at me with a dumb expression. ¡°Why did I¡­ You. You? So your question was about that?!¡±(Kylie) ¡°Yes is something wrong with it?¡±(Me) Her head and excitement cooled down and now she looked rather sad. With a depressed voice she formed some words. ¡°So, so you wanted to know about that?¡±(Kylie) She asked again and I nod. I was interested in everything I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s like my second nature. What can I do? If she reacts like this, are slaves something really bad? Why would she have thought that I wanted to make her one than? I am not that bad of a person, I think. Seriously what is wrong with all those people I meet? Chapter 5 Start of the Journey ¡°Okay I understand. I will tell you so please stop looking at me like you starved for months and just found food.¡±(Kylie) I stopped staring and waited for her to continue. ¡°I hope you know at least what the king is do you?¡±(Kylie) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) ¡°Good. The king has the power to establish rules in their own kingdoms which everyone of their race has to follow.¡±(Kylie) That was something new about the kings I didn¡¯t know by the way but I kept silent and just listened. ¡°When magic was created, the first king of the humans wanted something that can prevent a prisoner of war to go against orders or to rebel, so slave magic was created.¡±(Kylie) Before she went ahead with her little story she said to me that she had no idea of how to do slave magic so I wouldn¡¯t ask her. ¡°A slave has a collar around their necks and if he or she tries to go against their master they will suffer injuries or even death.¡±(Kylie) ¡°I will remember it. Thanks for your information and keep up the good work.¡±(Me) I said and smiled at her and she smiled back. It was an awkward situation but an interesting magic process. I will try to learn in the future if I get the possibility to do so. ¡°So what are we going to do from now on? I hope you don¡¯t plan to stay in this forest till I tell you everything I know.¡±(Kylie) I thought about it for a moment and answered. ¡°No, no. Rest assured we won¡¯t stay here for long. After what happened I just want to learn how to control my new powers. Also I am really interested in weapons after seeing them in action. Do you know of someone who would teach me how to make them?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes but to get to the place where he lives will take quite some time. He lives in the south of the far away human continent.¡±(Kylie) What? What did she just say? She knows of someone? Ah and what was the other thing? The human continent is far away? You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Now that I think about it, isn¡¯t this the human continent?¡±(Me) ¡°No why do you ask? Obviously this is the beast continent.¡±(Kylie) ¡°But why is there a human village on this beast continent?¡±(Me) ¡°They got captured by beastmen and are looking after the fields. They are hopeless and greedy people though.¡±(Kylie) Ah there was something like money too. I will ask her about it when I feel like it. ¡°Our destination is the human continent and on the way there I will train. Let¡¯s go.¡±(Me) ¡°Sure. But we have no map. I am not able to navigate you there without a map.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just tell me where this is. I studied a world map and can remember a lot of it. So I will be the guide.¡±(Me) After my words she got really excited. ¡°A world map? Where? Do you have it with you? No. Not important. Where did you see it where did you get it from?¡±(Kylie) ¡°I was in possession of one not too long ago. Why? Is it something important?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes it is. A world map can be classified as a legendary item because no race is willing to share their knowledge, so also their maps, with others.¡±(Kylie) I looked at her. She just started talking about something I really wanted to know about again. The problem is at the same I have the urge to train with this dark mana. What should I do now? ¡°I know!¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?! W¡­What? Don¡¯t startle me like that.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Ah sorry about that. I meant how I can train and you can teach me at the same time.¡±(Me) ¡°Is that what you were thinking about so hard? Is that even possible?¡±(Kylie) ¡°You can write correct?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes, why do you ask?¡±(Kylie) ¡°Please write down the information about that legendary item stuff you just talked about. There is definitely some more information where that came from right? Also if it is okay with you just write me a book with all the common knowledge and basic information you have in your head.¡±(Me) She looked at me and showed me her palm like she wanted something. ¡°If you can provide me with paper and a pen for me to note it down I will.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Yes I I I¡­¡±(Me) ¡°You?¡±(Kylie) ¡°I lost my inventory I forgot. Ah. Sorry at the moment I don¡¯t have them but if I get some in the future, please.¡±(Me) ¡°Sure I look forward to write it for you.¡±(Kylie) During the rest of the day, she told me about other stuff like she was in the village because she noticed that something went wrong, it got dark and night time came. Actually she told me that demi-humans got discriminated all around the world because they are not pure enough for the other races. ¡°Please enough questions for today let me sleep.¡±(Kylie) It was dark and she looked really tired. Mentally at least. ¡°Sure thanks for answering them. Good night.¡±(Me) ¡°Good night.¡±(Kylie) She turned around and went to sleep. After I was sure she fell asleep I stood up and went a little bit away from her to train my new black mana. I only went as far away as I could see her. I started focusing and tried to get into the same state as I was back when I fought the beastmen. It was really hard because now I didn¡¯t have that life and death struggle. As I did so, I felt nostalgic. I remembered that only a few days ago I would train in magic and do some experiments with it. Being bored all the time till I found something new and interesting to do. It was a peaceful time. But it ended fast and I was looking forward to the life that would await me. Then I suddenly succeeded. I haven¡¯t even tried to focus on going to the white space yet because my thoughts drifted far away. When I looked around I could see only white. Except the two dead bodies of the beastmen and the big black mana sphere. ¡°For starters let¡¯s absorb the mana from the bodies.¡±(Me) I spoke to myself and wanted to start and again the black sphere did so before I could. It absorbed all their mana in the blink of an eye. ¡°You really are something else.¡±(Me) I spoke to it. I don¡¯t think it understood me. Perhaps it did but it didn¡¯t move an inch even after it finished its meal. After that I tried to use some of the black mana but that turned out to be a more difficult task than coming to the white space. I tried all night long and succeeded one time taking a little bit, not even enough to use for basic spells before the sun was up. After succeeding one time I left the white space and went back to Kylie. She had already woken up and waited for me to finish with what I was doing. ¡°Welcome back and good morning.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Yeah good morning. Let¡¯s go.¡±(Me) Chapter 6 Town Our first goal was to reach the nearest town. For me everything I knew from the world map were just the points, lines and some names. I knew where something was located but I didn¡¯t know what that would be. When I asked Kylie for information on the difference between a town and a village she explained everything in details. Those definitions were used by all 5 races as far as she knew. But not every race had every kind of socializing. ¡°In order for the kings to rule their races they need to manage the places where their people live. But it is too much for only one person to manage a whole continent so there are some rules. ¡°Villages are the smallest places with at least 20 people and are located everywhere on a continent. As there is nothing noteworthy, they are managed by no one. The inhabitants have to follow the law and are all rather poor and simple farmers but have a lot of freedom on what they do.¡± ¡°After the village there are towns in case of size. It has to at least have 300 people living in it to be called a town. It is often surrounded by a wooden fence for defence and they are also located everywhere on the continent but not as much as villages. Sometimes a village gets managed by a person from a nearby town, and the inhabitants have different jobs like collecting and selling woods, building houses or a guard at the entrance to the town. It depends on the town but most have inns and even different guild branches. In rare cases you can find some form of nobility in a town.¡± The word guild and noble system picked my interest a lot and Kylie noticed it. She said if we were to reach the next town, the receptionist of the guild will explain the guild system to me and she will tell me the noble system later so I had to be patient. ¡°Next up there were cities. They were big. They had up to 10.000 people living in it and were surrounded by a wall for defence. A city would be the focus of everyone¡¯s attention. It has everything from a blacksmith to a lot of restaurants. From Inns to every kind of guild and moreover it is were a lot of nobility would reside in. There are only about 10 cities in every continent.¡± ¡°Last is the capital. It is the largest city of every race and some even hold up to 100.000 people. The royals, the family of the king and the king himself are living in the capital and it has every feature a normal city would have and some more. I don¡¯t know them because I have never been to a capital but it is said that the capital of the dragons has something called hot springs.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That was all I got for short introductions. ¡°So now to go to the noble system. It only applies for humans though. The highest human existence is the human king and the royalty. Second in influence to the king are only the 4 provincial lords who are responsible for ? of the continent. It is divided into north, east, south and west province. After that is the rank of earl, followed by count and the lowest noble is the baron rank.¡± That were the 5 ranks of the human nobility system. For all other races there is only the king who rules over them and some kind of military ranks, even Kylie had no idea of. She only knew of the human system because it was really famous but the other kings didn¡¯t want it in their country. ¡°All humans with no rank are called lower born and have to bow their head to nobles and follow their rules and wishes. The same rule goes for lower nobles to higher nobles. And all humans have to follow the king¡¯s and royalties orders. You can only become a noble by birth or by marriage but almost no noble would marry a lower born person than themselves, because it would lower their status.¡± That was a rather bad system, if I take my interaction with all the humans I met before into account. They are bound to abuse their authority and discriminate against other humans. Sure there would be nobles with goals and ideals for their people but that would only include a few, right? So we were on our way to the nearest town which was called Merrill town by the locals. It had a population of 500 beastmen and it had an adventurer guild as well as a few inns. At first I was full of energy and wanted to explore the whole town as fast as possible but the problem was, we had a little amount of money. Again I asked Kylie for help for information. ¡°There are Copper, Silver, Gold and black Gold coins. 100 Coppers are worth one Silver Coin. 100 Silver Coins were worth 1 Gold coin and 100 Gold coins are 1 black Gold coin. The normal monthly income of someone of a town is about 5 Silver Coins.¡± We had a budget of 12 Silver Coins which were all provided to me by Kylie and the entrance to town alone would cost 3 Silver Coins per person at the beast continent. But that only applied for beastmen and half beastmen like Kylie. It varies from town to town how much money someone from another race had to pay. So I would have to pay a lot more for my entrance. The only two ways to not have to pay for entrance was to have a guild card or to own a house in town. Actually it is also possible if you are a noble but none of us were. As nothing of those 3 situations applied to us we had to pay. Kylie was against sleeping outside all the time so she suggested to hunt for monsters so when we visit the adventurer guild later we could hand in some of the things we would get from hunting for money, so we could afford to sleep at an inn. She guessed that with the rest of the money I would be able to buy some paper and a pen. It was a good idea because I could also test out some things regarding the usage of the black mana. We hunted for 3 hours and I stored the teeth, leather and some other things Kylie told me were of some worth, in my white space. I was now able to switch from it back to the real world and the other way around in a few seconds but I was unable to breakthrough with the usage of the mana from the black sphere. So we went to the entrance where we only saw a guard standing with no one else around. Kylie went ahead and asked him how much my fee would be and told him I would be a human. In the end she succeeded to get my entrance fee down to about 4 Silver and 50 Copper Coins while she had to pay the normal 3 Silver Coins. When I entered the town I saw a lot of people. Some beastmen children running around while some of the adults were buying or selling daily needs like food or clothing. This was the first town I entered and with sparkling eyes and the urge of getting the information I desired, I headed together with Kylie to the adventure guild branch. Chapter 7 Guild We were at the entrance of Merrill town and our goal was the adventurer¡¯s guild branch. I had high expectations and tried to think of how the system would work. I had a few ideas but I wanted to know it from the receptionist first hand. Kylie and I went through the town and I noticed that it was a lot bigger than the village I was before. She showed me some shops were items she knew of got sold but we didn¡¯t buy anything. Actually I wanted a sword when we went to the weapon shop but the price was really high. We had only 4 Silver and 50 Copper Coins left and the sword would cost us 30 Silver Coins so I had to wait till I learned how to make them myself or till I had enough money. I would prefer the first option though because it would save me a lot of money. After we were through a lot of shops we arrived at the central of the town where the Guild building was located. I have to say¡­ ¡­I had my hopes up much too high. The building looked like every other normal house. There was only a shield with the word [Guild] on it. ¡°That is all?¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the Guild buildings in the cities are a lot bigger and eye catching. For now let¡¯s just go inside, ok?¡±(Kylie) I nodded and we entered. The inside looked like a bar of an inn with some counters on the left and a board with some papers on the right side. Yes I know now what an inn is. I had a short introduction earlier in the other parts of the town. ¡°Now is your opportunity to ask about everything you want to know about guilds. The person at the counter should be able to answer your questions.¡±(Kylie) She pointed at the counter and I looked there. Behind the counter was a woman in her 20s, I¡¯d guess. She had rabbit ears and noticed that we were looking (I was staring at her and drooling because I wanted answers to my questions) at her direction. ¡°Can I help you two kids? I haven¡¯t seen you in this town before. Are you new by chance? Tell me if you need something, ok?¡±(Rabbit-woman) Kylie noticed that I was drifting away. She hit me on my shoulder and answered for me. ¡°My friend here wanted to know about the basic guild system as well as the adventurer guild and wanted to register with it.¡±(Kylie) ¡°My my, aren¡¯t you a bit too young to be an adventurer? Ah, never mind that.¡±(Rabbit-woman) I came back to normal. After that short dialogue she started explaining. I listened to every single word and made sure to remember everything. ¡°As you may know, there are 3 different kinds of guild types. All 3 can be found all around the world. I think it is even the only thing every continent has in common. First the richest and the one with the most influence the merchant guild. Second the one everyone looks up to and wants to join, the mage guild. And last but not least, with the most members, the adventurer guild.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. She told us that she would only explain the adventurer guild system because she didn¡¯t have the permission from her boss to tell about others but she said that the other two guilds had similar systems. ¡°Outside of towns and city walls you can encounter monsters, which also includes some wild animals as well as most types of beasts. Every type of monster has a different danger level because of the chaos and destruction their kind can produce. Going from the weakest F rank normal slime Monster to the strongest ever recorded SS Monster, a chaos dragon.¡± Kylie than explained to me that even though dragons were an intelligent race there are some who would lose their mind and go berserk in order to gain power. ¡°Another thing you should be aware of is that Monsters are often more dangerous because they have various evolution levels and you never know when they will rank up. For example a goblin can evolve into a hobgoblin. No one knows why Monsters evolve but for further information on that you can buy the Monster guide from the Adventurer Guild.¡± I will definitely buy this guide if I have the money and I will do my best to get to know the requirements for the evolutions. Wait, did she just say the last line on purpose? ¡°The higher the rank of a target you beat, the more money you can get from our guild if you bring us proof of your victory. Also for adventurers there is also a rank system. It goes from F to SSS. If you finish a quest or you achieve something extraordinary we will note it down and after some time you can raise your rank. Everyone who registers would start from rank F but if you are successful on, let¡¯s say a B rank quest, you would be promoted to E rank instantly.¡± But after that came something I really wanted to try at least once. ¡°Sometimes a dungeon or a new territory will appear because of the mana density at one place and if you can bring back for example the dungeon core you will get a lot more rewards than you would by simply finishing a quest. This also depends on the level it is categorized in. If you want to know more about dungeon please buy the dungeon guide from the adventurer guild.¡± The last sentence she said with a smile. I already calmed down and put my poker face (normal face) with no emotion on again. She really did that on purpose. Now I know how they make money. ¡°How can I register with your guild?¡±(Me) ¡°You would have to pay a registration fee of 1 silver to register with us, after that we will conduct a short test to make you a guild card. Rest assured other people can¡¯t use your personal card and would only see your name and race. If they wanted to get more information from you they would have to do it in another way.¡±(Rabbit-woman) That¡¯s a really convenient and save thing. I asked Kylie to give me 1 Silver coin and gave it to the woman. After that I followed her into a room behind the counter to do the test. Kylie had to wait outside. When I entered the room I could see a small table with two chairs and a weird crystal ball on the table. I guess that will be used to test me. ¡°Please sit down and put your hand on this crystal ball. It will scan your level and produce your guild card. Don¡¯t worry as I said before I would only be able to see your name and race nothing else.¡±(Rabbit-woman) I nodded and put my right hand on it. The ball shone bright and when the light dissipated I was holding a card in my hand.
Name Hikaru
Race God
Unique Ability Darkness
Job /
Level ?
Health 5.000
Mana 10.000
Energy 100
Magic Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Creation
I looked at it. Isn¡¯t this situation bad? If someone would see this card he or she would see my race. I needed to calm down. Inhale, exhale. No matter how I looked at it the information showed on this card was quite accurate. I didn¡¯t know what some of those things meant but I had someone who would hopefully explain everything in details sitting in front of me. ¡°I am sorry could you please explain me this card. There are some things that are really weird.¡±(Me) I played the cute and innocent kid. It won¡¯t work though because I showed no emotions when I said that. ¡°Sure. Is it ok for me to look at your card, so I can explain some things?¡±(Rabbit-Woman) I nodded and held the card in front of her showing that she could take it. I was really nervous because I didn¡¯t know how she would react when she would see my race. But this never happened, because before she could take my card, a loud scream as well as a loud boominterrupted her and we went outside of the room to look for the cause. Chapter 8 Problems We went outside the room to look for the person who screamed. I was the last to leave the room and when I closed the door behind me and looked what happened I was quite surprised. All of the people were at the other side of the hall and it looked like something exploded here. Like some of my experiences with magic. Some desks were destroyed as well as some of the people were injured. When I looked at the centre I could see a strange person with a hood and a fat man standing behind him or her? I don¡¯t know. Why was the person strange? In my view a normal person would try to hide their mana because it is possible to tell which kind of spell someone would use. For example if I wanted to use a spell of the element of darkness my mana would fuse with it and my enemy would know I which element I wanted to use. This person was leaking a lot of fire mana. It was really odd for me. Another one. Am I gifted in meeting strange people? Facing those two was a little girl. A human girl. She was lying on the floor and had some light knee injuries as well as some harder ones on her arms. And standing before the little girl was another girl. She probably tried to defend the little one. I tried to identify the defender. When I realised who she was I was dumbfounded. First I checked if someone was seriously hurt and would need instant treatment. With a lot of luck no one had any worse injuries than the little human girl. Her only job was to wait here for me. I took the test don¡¯t look at her for one second and she does something stupid again. Even though she got betrayed only a few days ago she didn¡¯t learn anything. The one standing in front of the human girl was none other than Kylie. Now that I think about it she doesn¡¯t have any injuries so she defended against the explosion somehow. I should ask her about it later. ¡°Is there a problem, sir?¡±(Rabbit-Woman) ¡°None of your concern Halfling!¡±(Fat beastman) ¡°With all due respect sir. Even if I am not a full beastman I am the person in charge of the adventurer guild branch here right now so I think it is of my concern.¡±(Rabbit-Woman) Nice going. Keep it up Rabbit-Woman. I haven¡¯t asked her of her name yet and I won¡¯t because it would only be a bother. ¡°Shut up. I will tell you what happened. I wanted to make this human girl my slave and she dares to run away. To top it off another Halfling showed up to save that girl. I am really mad right now so get out of my sight now!¡±(Fat beastman)The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. He looked at Kylie. I hope he doesn¡¯t die of fatigue because he sweated like hell when he said all of that. I mean I am no good when it comes to talking but I can at least finish 3 sentences without shedding one drop of sweat. ¡°You are aware that if the little girl is part of this town or part of a farming village that you are not allowed to enslave her.¡±(Rabbit-Woman) I think I can learn a lot from her way of speaking. ¡°Shut up! Shut up! Don¡¯t make me angry even more than this. I checked her she just has a father and they are living in the woods south of this town. There is no problem enslaving her. So get out of my way now.¡±(Fat beastman) I knew the races hated each other but to be that extreme was a little too much. Does it feel that good to have a slave? I don¡¯t want to know what he¡¯d do with her. I didn¡¯t want to get involved with this either but Kylie thought other ways. When I looked at her she had a wide grin on her face. Did she learn that from me? I hope not. ¡°You want to enslave her? How do you plan on doing this? Do you perhaps know how to enslave someone?(Kylie) Everyone, including me looked at her. No one had any idea what she wanted do or why it would be important in this kind of situation. ¡°This is none of your business little girl. Step aside now and I will make this human my slave.¡±(Fat beastman) Kylie stopped looking at him. She turned my way and said. ¡°Do something. Or do you want let your information source for the enslaving process run away.¡±(Kylie) She grinned even wider. Wow. I didn¡¯t expect that. I just stood there looking at her. I needed some time to adept to the sudden change of the situation. Now everyone was looking at me. Why did she have to involve me? But if I compare wins to losses I would gain more wins from this situation so I planned to help. ¡°So as you heard just now, I would be interested in how you would enslave her so please don¡¯t run away and just tell me. That would make things a lot easier.¡±(Me) Again everyone looked at me. I guess no one would expect an 8 year child to say something like that. ¡°Another human. Today has to be my lucky day. I can increase my number of human slaves from 1 to 3. Go catch them both.¡±(Fat beastman) He instructed the person with the robe. I frowned. From my experiences I know that fire is weak against water so it would be best for me to fight with water against that person. I started chanting silently so no one would hear me. All that was left was to release my enchanted version of [waterball]. I used a little bit of wind magic to spin it so it would deal more damage. That was one of the things I learned while experimenting. The hooded person made a step forward and attempted to attack. ¡°Stop it this instant. If any of you go any further you will make yourself an enemy with the adventurer guild. Also I warned you so if you start fighting now I will interfere with it and stop you.¡±(Rabbit-Woman) ¡°I prefer not to fight I was just after the information.¡±(Me) I said and dispelled my [waterball]. I think they understood that it would not be wise to make yourself an enemy out of a guild only because of one slave. ¡°By the way. You will pay for what you destroyed here.¡±(Rabbit-Woman) She looked really scary when she said that. I have to say they got really lucky because I don¡¯t know what holding back is. Actually I know but I only had one serious fight until now and the result was speaking for itself. When everything cooled down, Kylie came to me with the human girl. I somehow knew this kind of situation would come. What awaited me next was obvious and I let out a sigh. ¡°Please help me.¡±(Human girl) Yep totally predicted. Chapter 9 Personal request ¡°Please help me.¡±(Human girl) She looked at me with teary eyes and tried to get my sympathy. Sorry girl you picked the wrong person for that. ¡°I am sorry I am not planning to involve myself any further with this.¡±(Me) I turned around and went to the Rabbit-woman from the adventurer guild to continue where we stopped with the registration. I just took a last glance and saw that the human girl left with Kylie. ¡°I have a bad feeling that they are together.¡±(Me) ¡°Did you say something?¡±(Rabbit-woman) I shook my head and we went back to the room with the crystal ball. This time I gave her my card. I was rather excited. When she finished looking at it she looked back at me. ¡°So your name is Darkness and you are a human. That¡¯s an odd name. Why are you called like the element? Do you perhaps have an affinity with the element of Darkness?¡±(Rabbit-woman) I smiled at her. I had to calm myself down again. Why would she see that? Not that I care though because now I know my information to others was fake. ¡°Yes my name is Darkness as you said I am able to use the element of Darkness. Is it something bad?¡±(Me) She looked at me and answered. ¡°No, no. It¡¯s the opposite you should be happy that you will be able to use magic. There are only a few people to be able to do that.¡±(Rabbit-woman) Really. That¡¯s something new. I thought everyone would be able to use magic. ¡°Is it that rare to be able to use magic? I am not from around here and I only have little knowledge in common sense.¡±(Me) I smiled ashamed. Here was it again the feeling that I had a lack of knowledge. At least it wasn¡¯t endangering my life. ¡°Yes only a few people are able to use magic. Most of them are humans. Every race has their own specialty but that doesn¡¯t mean beastman would be unable to use magic. But humans created magic in the first place so they have the most knowledge about it. There are some exceptional magicians but for that information you should ask someone else because I don¡¯t know that much about magicians anyway.¡±(Rabbit-woman)Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. When I asked for further information she gave me the business smile again and said. ¡°Please buy the guide for the adventurer card from our guild for further information.¡±(Rabbit-Woman) First I was stunned but then I thanked her for everything else, took my card back and went outside. When I exited the guild building I was welcomed by two little girls. Kylie was standing next to the human girl and both were smiling. Again this bad feeling. ¡°Darkness did you know the father of the girl here is rather famous.¡±(Kylie) I looked at her. I didn¡¯t care if he is famous or not. I was not interested. ¡°You definitely thought that you don¡¯t care right. I bet you will after I tell you that he is one of the best human blacksmiths there are in the world.¡±(Kylie) We only knew each other for a few days but was I that obvious? As she said I got really motivated to learn the art of blacksmithing. I faced the human girl. ¡°What do you need my help with?¡±(Me) ¡°My father is ill and needs a special herb for a medicine. It is almost impossible to get this herb because of its rarity. No merchant had this herb so I have already given out a quest to the guild for it. Please accept the quest and find the herb for the medicine.¡±(Human girl) ¡°I accept. Go home and tell your father we will find it. Come back to the guild tomorrow and we will search for it together.¡±(Me) She looked really happy and nodded. She turned around but before she could run home, I attached some of my mana to her so I could locate her. It¡¯s for safety nothing more. I was looking back at Kylie. ¡°Now that that is finished I really want to know how you blocked the fire spell [Explosion].¡±(Me) ¡°Is it ok when I say that I have some knowledge in water magic?¡±(Kylie) Now I was the one smiling. ¡°Sure but you go and buy paper and a pen and write me some notes regarding your knowledge on magicians and I will follow the little girl. Don¡¯t try to play a trick on me by the way. First of all I know that you will only need a maximum of 2 Silver Coins for it and that you know more than you want to tell me. As I said I won¡¯t ask you things you don¡¯t want to answer but please do your best to do the things I want you to do.¡±(Me) She gave up and said that she was ok with my demands. So we split up and I followed behind the human girl tracking her with my wind spell [Detection]. It is a really easy spell. You use your mana to spread through the wind and everything it touches will show before you like some kind of a map. I found her. She was located in the forest south of the town and her location wasn¡¯t changing. The fat beastman said that she was living there. Something told me that she wasn¡¯t home yet so I hurried. When I arrived at her location she was beaten up and lying on the ground. It was quite obvious who the enemies were. The fat beastman and the hooded person were standing in front of her. But that didn¡¯t catch my interest. I was focusing on the book in the right hand of the hooded man, or woman? I didn¡¯t know and didn¡¯t care. ¡°Let¡¯s say it¡¯s a him.¡±(Me) I said to myself. The thing the hooded man was holding was definitely a book containing information on slave system. I had a feeling. And my feelings were quite accurate. At least in the past. Now I had my prize for saving the girl and fighting them so I went into action. I appeared behind the two of them. ¡°Look who we have here.¡±(Fat beastman) ¡°Just shut up and fight. I want to finish this fast.¡±(Me) I said with no emotions. Why did I want to fight again after almost dying last time? I now had some advantages. First of all I knew I would win a one vs one and I would only have to fight against the hooded man. Second I now had a sword and a spear I got from my last fight stored in my white space. Third he had definitely no chance to win against me with magic. Moreover I had a really good strategy. The fight began. He started to prepare [Explosion] while I took a rock and threw it at his right hand. The other two were only spectators. The hooded man was surprised and stopped chanting. I used this one second to summon the heavy sword and I was already striking at him. He defended with his bare hands and that made me frown but I followed my plan, let go of the sword swiped the book and ran to the little girl. I picked her up and ran away. I didn¡¯t need the sword anymore because I would ask her father to teach me how to make one myself. I had everything I needed why should I continue fighting? In my opinion I won. After that, she navigated me through the forest to where she was living. We arrived at a house. It was bigger than a normal house from the town but a lot smaller than the mansion I was living in. It was made out of stone and wood and looked really comfortable. Chapter 10 First successful Quest As we entered the house, the human girl sprinted to a room at the end of the floor and opened its door while shouting. ¡°Papa, papa I got help with me!¡±(Little girl) ¡°Millie calm down.¡±(Man) When I entered the same room I saw a young man lying in bed. He didn¡¯t look that healthy. ¡°Are you the one to help us? I am sorry young boy if I am not polite it is just that you don¡¯t look like an adventurer to me because of your age. I am George by the way. And as you already know this 9 year old girl here is my daughter Millie.¡±(George) Seriously she was nine years old? She was older than me even though it doesn¡¯t look like it at all. I was had a feeling of defeat inside me. I put all thoughts away and answered him properly. ¡°Nice to meet you. I go by the name of Darkness. And I am an adventurer. At least since today.¡±(Me) I smiled at him but he doesn¡¯t look convinced. As Millie couldn¡¯t calm down she started telling her father about everything that happened and how Kylie and I saved her, George believed me in the end and thanked me for what I have done for his daughter. ¡°I heard you are going to find the herb for the medicine to cure my disease?¡±(George) ¡°Yes but before I do can I ask you of 3 things?¡±(Me) ¡°Sure go ahead.¡±(George) ¡°First if I succeed in helping you cure your disease can you teach me the art of blacksmithing?¡±(Me) Before he could answer I cut him short. ¡°Second I would like to scan your body with mana, so I would know the condition of your body.¡±(Me) ¡°I agree to both because. What would be the third thing you want from me young man.¡±(George) I looked at him because now I needed to get to the serious part. ¡°Could you please lend me 10 Silver coins so I could buy the medicine book from the adventurer guild?¡±(Me) ¡°The reason?¡±(George) I looked at him with a serious face (no emotions) and said. ¡°Good investment.¡±(Me) I looked like an idiot. George needed some time to comprehend what I answered him but he started laughing afterwards. He was ok with me ¡°borrowing¡± the money but I had to pay him back.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°By the way you should be careful from now on.¡±(Me) I warned him because he looked like a really nice guy. I mean he borrowed me money for a book. He has to be a nice guy. But my personality didn¡¯t allow me to trust anyone so I let it be with just warning him. Afterwards I went back to Merrill town to meet up with Kylie. I was really happy that I now had my adventurer card because I didn¡¯t have to pay the fee anymore. When I entered through the gate I could see Kylie leaning against a wall of a house clearly waiting for me. In her hands paper and a pen. When she saw me she smiled and ran to my direction. ¡°I¡¯ve waited really long for you, you know.¡±(Kylie) ¡°I¡¯m sorry. So how was it? Some Coins left?¡±(Me) ¡°No. I used everything. 4 Silver on paper and this pen and the other 50 Copper coins for my dinner.¡±(Kylie) She looked at me like some innocent child and asked. ¡°What are we gonna do now?¡±(Kylie) ¡°I got my hands on 10 Silver Coins. With the rest of the things we hunted earlier that day I will buy the guide for medicine from the adventurer guild and I will look how to produce the cure for Millie¡¯s father myself.¡±(Me) She looked really happy when I said that. I couldn¡¯t comprehend why she would be so happy that she could help someone else but as long as I get what I want I am okay with it. We slandered through the town and stopped by at the adventurer guild. This time we went to the board and took the Quest for the herb of the medicine. After that Kylie went to the Rabbit-woman and sold the leather as well as other products we got in the morning. When she finished she bought me my guide for medicine. ¡°All in all we would have 20 Silver Coins now. But 1 guide from the guild cost 12 Silver Coins. So now we are back at 8 Silver Coins.¡±(Kylie) I now had my hands on a new book. ¡°You can have the remaining Silver coins from now. Please start with what I instructed you before and write down everything you know about magic. Do with the money what you want but leave something for later if we need it.¡±(Me) Kylie nodded. We sat down at a nearby inn. She started writing while I started reading the guide. I began with the medicine George needed. It wasn¡¯t a hard to produce medicine but the problem was 1 single herb you would need for it. Everything else were normal things you would get everywhere. The special herb needed for the medicine had to be a 100 year old greenbey herb. This is also a normal herb you would get everywhere but the problem was that there are only a small number of them which would survive for 100 years. When I finished reading the description I had a really good idea. At the same time I started laughing. It was not really a nice laugh but at the same time not an evil one. I looked around and noticed that a lot of people were staring at me. Embarrassed I buried my head into my arms. ¡°Kylie let¡¯s go outside of town for a few hours. I need to test something. But first let¡¯s buy everything needed for the production of the medicine.¡±(Me) ¡°Sure but only if you promise me that you will never laugh like that in front of me ever again.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Ah, shut up. I¡¯m sorry ok. Do you think I did that on purpose?¡±(Me) She started giggling and afterwards we bought everything needed and left town. When we reached a place where no one would interrupt I wanted to start with my experiment. ¡°I will warn you beforehand. Don¡¯t tell anybody what you are going to see or about what I can do.¡±(Me) Kylie just looked at me not knowing what I wanted. I activated my [Room: space-time]. I was really happy that it worked on the first try. If it didn¡¯t I would have looked even more like an idiot. Kylie didn¡¯t understand what my magic did so I told her about it and what I am planning to do. When I finished explaining everything she looked at me like she would not believe me at all so I just let her be. I then took out one greenbey herb. I held it in my hand and used time magic in order to alter its age and it worked. I could clearly feel that it got older. The problem was that as soon as it reached an age about 70 years old, it withered and died. The problem was not to make it older but to make it survive. My solution for this was to create a space with a lot of nutrition. One herb would need a lot for its aging process so in the end I used up almost all of my mana to create such a space with creation and space magic. And I really succeeded in producing a 100 year old greenbey herb. After I finished Kylie looked like she had when she first saw me. ¡°Is something the matter?¡±(Me) ¡°No. It¡¯s just¡­ You know that you are probably the first person to use magic in such ways and that you are probably the first person to ever use time, space and creation magic together. Normally to only control one element is almost impossible but here is someone who can use all 3. I¡¯m okay so how are you?¡±(Kylie) Was it that impressive? Whatever. I broke my [Room: space-time] and mixed all herbs together to produce the medicine. How? I used water and earth magic to mix them and wind magic to hold the herbs and control their direction. After I finished Kylie said to me. ¡°If I take everything into account what I know about you, you would probably be a danger level on par with the chaos dragon.¡±(Kylie) I just smiled whirly and we went to give the medicine to George. Chapter 11 Secret training It had been 3 days since we gave George the medicine. When he got better he and Millie thanked us and he said that I wouldn¡¯t have to pay the Silver Coins back. They were also allowed us to stay at their house for a few days. Yesterday George taught me the basic concept of blacksmithing. He also meant that if I want to become a successful blacksmith I would have to train a lot. Every swing of the hammer had to be precise when making something. For that I needed a lot of experience. After watching him crafting a sword I tried it myself but I failed miserably but that didn¡¯t depress me. It even motivated me to practice more. I ended up swinging the hammer all day long. When I came to my senses it was already dark. When I wanted to leave I saw a note. ¡°We didn¡¯t want to distract you so we all went to bed already. We left you something of dinner. It is on the table. Good night.¡± The note was definitely from Kylie. I knew that because I already looked at all things she knew about magic and wrote down. It was exactly as the woman from the guild told me with some addition information. ¡°There is some kind of ranking systems between the magicians. If you can use 1 kind of element you can call yourself a magician. If you can control 2 you can call yourself a mage, with 3 you are a witch, with 4 a wizard and with 5 you would be a sage and with 6 great mage. There has only been one sage in the entire history and he was human. He was also one of the people who helped creating magic. Nowadays you can consider yourself lucky to find someone be a witch. Magic for battle dropped a lot in popularity because no one could make any further breakthroughs with the elements they could control.¡± Why did she knew so much about magic? I had no idea. And if she didn¡¯t want to tell me I wouldn¡¯t force her to tell me as long as she would do her job. What picked my interest though would be what rank I would be categorized in. I was able to control all 6 basic as well as all 3 unique elements. Probably like Kylie said a danger level of SS rank or even above. Another thing that I noticed was that unique magic was really rare. For human it was called forbidden magic and the king forbid the usage and experiments with those elements and all other raced didn¡¯t use magic or were not as advanced as humans with magic to use them. When I collected my thoughts I heard something from outside. I left the house and looked what it was. When I arrived at the cause for the noise I saw Kylie standing there and doing nothing. I concentrated a little more and noticed a flow of mana I didn¡¯t know about. When I moved nearer to observe the situation she noticed me.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°What are you doing outside so late at night?¡±(Me) ¡°I would really like to say nothing but you wouldn¡¯t believe me after seeing my mana correct?¡±(Kylie) I just smiled at her and she took that as an answer. ¡°I know I wasn¡¯t honest to you. I will tell you what my magic is but only under one condition.¡±(Kylie) ¡°The condition is?¡±(Me) ¡°You will tell me who you are. I mean I know you call yourself Darkness but I don¡¯t believe it even if your adventurer card shows this.¡±(Kylie) I looked at her and she was serious. It would be a bother to discuss this so I went ahead before she could say anything. ¡°My real name is Hikaru and my real race is a god. You happy now? So your magic is?¡±(Me) ¡°Huh¡­? What?¡±(Kylie) ¡°I gave you my name. I even told you my race so please fulfil your promise and tell me what your magic is.¡±(Me) She looked at me and couldn¡¯t bring out any words. ¡°If you are unable to tell me than just write it down at least. Or are you going to break your promise?¡±(Me) ¡°No I won¡¯t. It¡¯s just hard to believe so I will just continue to act like you are the human Darkness ok? And for my magic. I will write it down later. I¡¯m too tired to do it now. Good night Darkness.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Just to warn you my real name and race are valuable information. I hope you will be so nice as to not let someone else know of it.¡±(Me) When I said that I used a lot of mana to surround me and had an evil smile on. I looked like when I activated the dark mana. I just wanted to pressure her so she would keep it a secret. I think I overdid it a bit because she didn¡¯t move so I said something to ease her tense. ¡°Good night.¡±(Me) She nodded, went to her room and probably went to sleep. When I saw she left and checked the surroundings I started my training. First I activated [Room: space-time]. After I finished I meditated and went to the white space. There were only 2 things left there because I dropped the sword before. The spear and the black sphere. I tried to absorb more mana from the sphere and it took me the whole night in normal time so almost 1 whole day in [Room: space-time] till I had a breakthrough. When I left the white space to analyse my body I could feel a little bit of the black mana. Something else caught my eyes. Even with so little mana activated my hair and eyes turned black. Now I would definitely fit the description of the name Darkness. I didn¡¯t want to go further now. I was satisfied with what I achieved in one night so I stopped for now. I noticed that the sun would soon rise so I dispelled my [Room: space-time] and went to bed. I was really tired and fell asleep. I had a big problem though. George, Millie and Kylie were all early risers. So after a short time of sleeping my door got kicked open and Millie stormed into my room. With so much noise I woke up and had to start the day with only 2 hours of sleep. It would be obvious how motivated I was that day. We stayed for 2 more days and left Millie and her father after we were sure they were okay now and George wouldn¡¯t get ill anymore. Our goal? For now it was to travel in the beast continent. I wanted to visit as much villages, towns and even cities as possible. Also I wanted to raise my adventurer rank to see what I would get. I said travel but Kylie meant the better word for it would be touring so we went with that. She said traveling would mean you would trip over difficulties and through live and death situations and as long as I would get better with my magic and fighting experience that wouldn¡¯t be the case. Our goal was touring the beast continent. Chapter 12 Touring the beast continent It had been 1 and a half year since we left Millie and her father for themselves and Kylie and I went to tour the beast continent. Only a few noteworthy things happened. First I raised my adventurer rank from F to B. There were almost no S rank adventurers and only a few A rank were on the beast continent. So it was obvious how popular and adventurer would be if he raised his rank from F to B in 1 year. We had to do a lot of quests for this but it was worth because the adventurer ¡°Darkness¡± is really famous now. Some people said he would be a ruthless muscle head. Come on I was 9 years old. I was at least no muscle head. I disguised myself and always used [black form] when we did a quest. Kylie started calling it [black form]. In short it is when I use the dark mana and my eyes and hair turn black. We went to a lot of different villages and towns and after finishing so much quests we had a lot of money so we helped some of the poorer villages out with a 1 or 2 gold coins. By the way, it¡¯s obvious that all of that was Kylie¡¯s idea. The second noteworthy thing had something to do with the first. Because of constantly fighting I was able to utilize a lot more of the black mana. Not as much as when I first used it but more than enough to win every fight with ease. I also found out that as long as I would use magic with the element of darkness I would be able to cast them instantly without activation or chanting or something like that. The third thing is that I am now capable of forging swords on par with George. I had a lot of time and we found some good ores so I forged a lot of weapons. Mostly swords because I was really fond of them. A lot of them ended as failure but after a lot of errors I got pretty good. The fourth thing was that Kylie told me that she was 12. She is as big as me, looks like a little girl and is seriously 3 years older than me. I felt the taste of defeat. The last but not least was that I got to know of new magic. Kylie told me a lot of things but that was probably the second most interesting information after her age. ¡°The magic I am able to use is called [Zero] magic. The more mana I have the stronger would be the spells and magic of enemies I could dispel. Actually it is the race magic of the beastmen and really important because beastmen are physical and bare handed fighter. And if you want to use it, first of all you would have to be a beastmen, or at least a half and second you have to be lucky because you won¡¯t be able to learn it. It is inborn knowledge like breathing or moving. The only other race magic I know at least the name about would be the dragon¡¯s chaos magic and the demon¡¯s summoning magic. I have no idea what the humans or spirits are using because humans won¡¯t share anything and spirits are really hard to find.¡± When I got to know that, the first thing I did was logically testing the magic out but it didn¡¯t work. Probably because I wasn¡¯t a beastmen so I left that for later. But I got a lot of new ideas what I could do with magic then. I started to call advanced magic from my mother combination magic and started creating new unknown magic.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. With my combination magic I used the fused versions of the basic elements and trained my control with them and after some time, I think it was half a year, I got 4 new kinds of magic.
Name Hikaru
Race God
Unique Ability Darkness
Job Adventurer
Level ?
Health 7.500
Mana 15.000
Energy 300
Magic Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Creation, Combination, Lightning, Magma, Ice, Gravitation
That was all that happened during that time and after a lot of villages and towns, Kylie wanted to visit a city. It was ok for me because sooner or later I would have wanted to go to one anyways. Another reason I wanted to go to a city was because if you want a B quest or higher you would only find them there. The difficulty was just too high for people from towns. There was always a problem in the last 1 and a half year. Every time we went to the gate and I showed my adventurer card the guard would cause a commotion so we had to give him gold so he would be quiet. In the end we decided that we would just pay the fee for entering. We had more than enough Gold Coins. And sometimes it would be even cheaper to just buy the fee than to bribe the guard. As with all the other towns we went to the city gate of the nearest city called Dento city. After entering we asked around and went straight for the adventurer guild branch. The only difference I got to know was that this city was a lot larger than a town and the entrance fee was a lot higher nothing else. It was rather boring. When we went down the street to get to the adventurer guild I saw beastmen, Halflings, demons and some humans. All races hated each other true, but they wouldn¡¯t want someone with money or strength to leave their territory, they are not that stupid. So other races had only little disadvantages in the beast continent like higher entrance fees or the beastmen would look down on some that looked weaker than them. We arrived at the guild and the first thing we did was we went for the quest board. As always some dumb adventurers came and asked us if we were at the right place because we were so young. We just ignored them and they got pissed and left the building. Sometimes there would be someone to come after us when we left the town but all they got was an empty pocked as well as some light injuries. As I said before I wouldn¡¯t show much mercy to my enemies. After a while I didn¡¯t find any interesting quest and neither did Kylie. All of them were only escorting or to beat some random weak monsters like slime for their cores. All boring quests with almost no reward. We didn¡¯t take any quest and wanted to leave but before we could see the clerk from the guild, this time it was rather bulky tiger beastman, hanging a new quest on the board.
Difficulty B
Summary New Dungeon found
Danger Level not sure yet
Task Explore the dungeon and give a report to the adventurer guild
Reward Depending on the information
When we read it we both agreed on accepting it. I took it and we went to the counter to ask where the dungeon was located. The tiger beastman was a little sceptical but told us the location of it. Before we left he warned us that a dungeon is no playground for children but we just smiled at him and left. Chapter 13 Dungeon exploring We both have never been to a dungeon before. Kylie just told me what she knew about it and the rest I got from the dungeon guide I bought. ¡°A dungeon is in basic terms a cave filled with mana. It is managed with a Dungeon Core and by a Dungeon Master. With enough mana and an intact Dungeon Core it is possible to create your own dungeon. Everything can become a Dungeon Master but it is a rather unwanted job because all you create gets destroyed and your Dungeon would get captured by others. Because managing a Dungeon doesn¡¯t have much gains almost no one of the 5 races manages one.¡± I would definitely make my own Dungeon sometime in the future, or at least I would try to create one. I had so many ideas what I could create. It would be really fortunate if I could get the Dungeon Core of this Dungeon. ¡°Normally a Dungeon would get managed by a Monster and a lot of Dungeons are rather weak and for beginner Adventurers to explore or to train Mages. There are only a few higher ranked Dungeons but most of them were not captured yet. If the difficulty is higher than your guild rank it is recommended not to go into the Dungeon.¡± We entered anyways, not that my rank matters to us when it came to fighting. During the last 1 and a half year we did fight all sorts of monsters and difficulties. If I would evaluate myself I would be an average S rank adventurer, probably. ¡°It is not recommended because the Monsters would get stronger the higher the rank of the Dungeon. Also a Dungeon has a lot of floors and after a few the difficulty goes up even more. If you are distracted for only a second you could lose your life.¡± The Dungeon had no name because it had just rose to the surface for a short time and low level Dungeons normally wouldn¡¯t get a name because no one cares for them. The first floor was just like a normal cave and at the end of it was a wooden door which lead into the Dungeon. We were bulldozing our way through the first 9 floors of the Dungeon. In my [black form] I had no problems defeating all of the Monsters we encountered. So far we have fought against a lot of goblins, orcs, slimes and even some golems. If you don¡¯t know what those are buy the dungeon guide from the adventurer guild because those are basic Dungeon Monsters and I paid 1 Gold Coin for it. On the 10th floor the terrain changed and we were in some kind of magma zone. I analysed the surroundings and had some really good ideas to how I could experiment with magic later on or how I would build my own dungeon if I get the opportunity.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. When Kylie wanted to retreat back so she wouldn¡¯t be in my way of fighting she bumped into an invisible mana wall. She searched everywhere for an exit but all paths were sealed. That was probably to prevent invaders from escaping a boss fight. Suddenly a huge Snake came out of the Magma. It was really fast. Its target was me. I was confident that I would win with ease because the weakness of fire was obviously water, so as long as I would use water magic it was an easy win. I didn¡¯t want it to end that easily so I took one of my favourite swords out of the white space and fought it head on for a few minutes. It realised that it was no match for me and out of rage it wanted to attack with some kind of magic but Kylie countered it perfectly with her Zero magic. I was satisfied with my sparing after a while and beheaded the snake. Shortly after it fell to the ground and didn¡¯t move anymore. When we checked, the barrier was gone so we advanced further through another door. As the guide mentioned the difficulty of monsters got harder the deeper you are in the dungeon. From floor 11 to 29 we were in a really cold area with a lot of mountains. Kylie always wanted me to use fire magic to keep her warm. I was really in aw because the terrain was so real. It felt like we would be outside. You would never imagine something like that in a Cave. There was always a snowstorm and we encountered some Harpies, snow snakes and much more Monsters. Either Kylie or I were killing them. On the 20th floor the boss monster was a Yeti. Imagine a giant fur ball on 2 legs with some ice magic and strength that¡¯s a Yeti. The dungeon Guide said that a Yeti was a B rank Monster and really dangerous so we fought it serious and with all we got. Big mistake by the way. Before it could do anything I used a giant [Fireball] and destroyed half of the mountain with it. At the same time I used an [Earth shield] on us, so we didn¡¯t have any injuries. I think I overdid it a bit because afterwards I was so tired that Kylie had to support me while we walked. ¡°You did a little bit of overkill there you know.¡±(Kylie) She told me but I didn¡¯t care as long as I defeated my enemy. From then onwards to floor 29 all the Monsters ignored us. Probably because they were afraid. I was always in [black form] so I produced a really threatening aura. We finally reached the 30th floor through some kind of portal we found and the terrain changed yet again. This time we were transported to a giant graveyard and a Dark knight awaited us. It¡¯s basically a skeleton with a sword and a shield. Also the dungeon guide said that a Dark knight was a boss Monster of an A ranked Dungeon. After it saw it had no chance with its darkness magic, it challenged me to a sword duel and I won. It took quite some time though. I was so tired after it that I just fell asleep on the spot. Kylie stayed awake to carry me away if something dangerous would appear when I slept. We continued with this routine till the 49th floor. A normal A rank dungeon had about 25 floors, so this dungeon was far above it. From floor 30 to 49 we had an even easier way because all enemies were connected to the Dark element. You can imagine what they could do to me when I was in [black form]. With a lot of rest and preparation we entered the portal to the 50th floor. We were teleported elsewhere and blended by a bright light. When we opened our eyes we could see a huge throne hall and from the throne a loud voice echoed through the whole hall. ¡°Welcome to my domain invaders. You have reached the end, splendidly done. I am the Dungeon Master of this Dungeon and I challenge you to a life and death fight.¡±(Dungeon Master) Chapter 14 Boss fight ¡°Welcome to my domain invaders. You have reached the end, splendidly done. I am the Dungeon Master of this Dungeon and I challenge you to a life and death fight.¡± The Monster that said this was another Skeleton. But this time it wasn¡¯t a simple Knight. It had a deep black aura, not comparable to my black mana but it could frighten quite a lot of normal people. ¡°Am I right if I categorize you as a lich?¡±(Kylie) Nice going Kylie. I actually had the same thought and wanted to ask him. I stared into his non-existent eyes. I couldn¡¯t read the enemy at all. ¡°Welcome to my domain invaders. You have reached the end, splendidly done. I am the Dungeon Master of this Dungeon and I challenge you to a life and death fight.¡± He said not moving. ¡°Didn¡¯t he say that before? Is that the only thingshe can say?¡±(Me) ¡°Shut up and focus on the fight. I will think about it.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Don¡¯t order me around.¡±(Me) Unwillingly I stepped forward. I activated [black form] and the lich frowned. Finally it showed a normal reaction. After it realised that I accepted the challenge it stood up and summoned a black sword out of thin air. I wasn¡¯t surprised because I did the same. The fight began. I didn¡¯t let my guard down but I didn¡¯t want to do the same with him as I did with the Yeti. As long as I could win otherwise I would refrain from using so much mana. We exchanged quite a lot blows and I had some light injuries. I used a [fireball] to distract it. It defended but when it did I had already beheaded it. I turned around to Kylie indicating that I won the fight. When I looked at her face she wasn¡¯t happy or relaxed at all. She pointed at the lich and when I turned around it already finished chanting a spell. Suddenly a circle with some weird inscriptions appeared on the floor and I could feel a lot of mana coming from inside of it. The ground started to shake and the lich started laughing. Kylie was a little frightened but she cooled down when she saw that I didn¡¯t even bat an eye during everything.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°You are the first person I am using my Ace against. Feel honoured.¡±(Lich) ¡°You should probably finish your summoning first before you say something like that.¡±(Me) I was excited. I didn¡¯t want the fight to end so quickly. I would let him finish his summoning and would fight against him with all I had. In the worst case scenario I would use up all of my mana and if that didn¡¯t work we could still escape somehow. The ground didn¡¯t stop shaking. It was so strong that some stones fell down from the ceiling. When the summoning ended we confronted a huge Skeleton Monster with 2 wings. ¡°The S class Monster Bone Dragon!?¡±(Kylie) I read about it in the Dungeon guide. In general every S ranked Monster was on a Danger level of a catastrophe. The Bone Dragon was no exception. It was an undead with no heart and as long as it had mana and as long as its core was intact it would not die. What surprised me was that the Dragons are the race with the most pride. They would never lower themselves to another. I had no time to think anymore because the 10 meter high Bone Dragon started to move forward and attempted to attack us. We both dodged rather easily. It rammed into the wall of the hall and the whole room started to crumble. The wall collapsed and the portal was visible. Kylie tried to get to it but again there was a barrier keeping her inside. ¡°No choice but to fight then.¡±(Kylie) ¡°That was my plan from the beginning.¡±(Me) ¡°Just make sure you don¡¯t lose. I don¡¯t want to die in a Dungeon.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Sure.¡±(Me) I answered and smiled at her. After the Bone Dragon crashed into the wall it turned around and faced us again. ¡°Can you distract the lich for a while?¡±(Me) Kylie answered with a nod and I summoned a sword for her to distract the lich while I would fight the Dragon. It was my first time fighting a Dragon so I wanted to be able to give it my all fighting it. The fight was really weird. The Dragon attacked me with all it had, I dodged and it stormed into the wall behind me. It moved like it had no control over its body. As it had no chance harming me I had a similar problem because every time I hit it with my sword or magic and destroyed a bone or cut its leg or wing it would regenerate almost instantly. First I thought it would be a fight to see who had more stamina but when I got close and cut its wing, I saw that it regenerated but noticed something. The mana for regeneration didn¡¯t come from the Dragon. It came from the lich. ¡°We have to defeat the lich so the Bone Dragon can¡¯t regenerate anymore. Let¡¯s ignore the Dragon for now and focus on the lich!¡±(Me) I came over to help Kylie. The lich didn¡¯t predict that I would focus it too and was surprised. I took this one second to cut its right arm which held the sword. Before the arm fell down I swiped it of its sword and stored it in my white space. The lich didn¡¯t like that I stole its sword and gathered a lot of mana to attack us with magic. ¡°Now I am mad. Give me back my sword and die.¡±(Lich) I could feel a strong aura from the Bone Dragon. So that was its plan. It would distract us while the Dragon would use magic to kill us. ¡°You go for the magic I go for the kill.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t say something so stupid in this kind of situation.¡±(Kylie) She activated her [Zero] magic and I took my sword and stormed at the lich. ¡°[Chaos Breath]!¡±(Lich) When I reached it and killed it, it finished its magic at the same time and the Bone Dragon attacked with a breath attack. ¡°Not good I can¡¯t block it!¡±(Kylie) I ran up to Kylie after I killed the lich again. A bright light blinded me, indicating that the [Chaos] magic hit the [Zero] magic. A loud boom echoed through the hall. After some time, Kylie ran out of mana and fell unconscious. She did everything she could now I had to do the rest. Chapter 15 A Rank I used my remaining mana to form a barrier and it clashed against the [Chaos Breath]. I could feel the huge impact on the barrier. I focused all my mana and attention on one point because I couldn¡¯t defend otherwise, leaving us with some light injuries and bruises. I held out for quite some time but the breath attack didn¡¯t stop. I felt that I would have no mana left soon. All of my normal and my black mana was focused solely to defend against that one attack. I had no time to think of something else. My heart beat quickened the more mana I lost. In contrast to my heartbeat I concentrated even more because I didn¡¯t want us to die. I noticed that the attack lost a lot of power already but even if that would hit us, we had no defence and would probably die. I was again in a life and death situation but this time I had a clear mind. I knew if we want to survive this I had to drain more mana from the black sphere and support my barrier. In the end I succeeded to drain a little bit and could hold out a few seconds longer but I was unable to defend against the attack completely. I had no mana left. The barrier broke down. With my barrier down I wanted to at least save Kylie. In my last attempt to defend, I stood before her and wanted to take the attack head on. I closed my eyes and waited for it to hit me and for my end. That end never came though. I could feel the black sphere getting lively and moving through the white space. I received a strong mental blow and it was able to leave my mind. It was defending me and absorbed the remaining of the [Chaos Breath]. When it finished it entered my white space again. When it entered again it was even bigger than before. I lost all my power and fell to the ground. Before I lost my consciousness too, I could see that the barrier which kept us inside was gone. With that we defeated the end boss, the Dungeon Master of this Dungeon and could escape as long as we would wake up. ¡°Wake up!¡±(Kylie) I was woken up in a rather uncomfortable way. She slapped me in the face a few times. At least she didn¡¯t kick me out of rage. ¡°I am awake. I am awake.¡±(Me) She slapped me one last time after my reply but I kept silent because that was probably her revenge on me for risking our lives.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°So what are you gonna do with that?¡±(Kylie) She pointed at a crystal in the size of the fist of an adult. ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡±(Me) ¡°I checked it already. This is the Dungeon Core and a really big one at that. This Dungeon was at least A ranked. No I would even say it was S ranked.¡±(Kylie) Now that the Dungeon Master was killed the Dungeon had no way of functioning anymore. It would crumble soon and return to the form of a normal cave. I picked up the Dungeon Core and stored it in my white space. Before we left Kylie picked up some bones from the ground. ¡°The mana won¡¯t leave those bones for quite some time so let¡¯s take them as our proof that we defeated the Bone Dragon.¡±(Kylie) With the gains of an intact Dungeon Core, a really nice black sword and the bones from the Bone Dragon we left the Dungeon and headed for the city to finish the quest with our report. When we arrived at the guild building we were escorted to a separated room to give the report. In the end it would be better to call it Kylie¡¯s report because I didn¡¯t really say anything. I showed them my card and Kylie told them what happened. During our stay at the guild when I would show my card, I had to always be in [black form] because otherwise no one would believe anything we said or they would treat us like 2 children which lost their way. It was interesting to see how people would see you when you only change your looks. I left the room earlier because I was bored and wanted to look for new quests. I didn¡¯t find anything new so I waited for them. After a few minutes I could Kylie leaving the room with the tiger beastman we saw before. ¡°I have heard a lot about you. Darkness the adventurer who raised his rank from F to B in only a year of time. But now you even cleared an A or even an S ranked Dungeon on your own.¡±(Tiger beastman) It was with Kylie though but I kept quiet as she had no guild card anyway. ¡°Your reward has 3 parts. First you will get 3 black Gold Coins for clearing the Dungeon and for the report.¡±(Tiger beastman) I looked at him dumbfounded. 3 black Gold Coins was a huge amount of money. The yearly income of a normal A class adventurer was only 1 black Gold Coin. ¡°Second you will be promoted to A rank.¡±(Tiger beastman) I have already guessed that much. But I was still curious what the 3rd reward would be. ¡°Last but not least, the Adventurer Guild Master as well as the King of the beast continent would like to talk to you. A rank Adventurer Darkness you and your companion are hereby officially invited to travel to the capital!¡±(Tiger beastman) When he finished that last sentence he caused a huge commotion and a crowd started forming around us. All the surrounding Adventurers looked our way and waited for my reply. It was impossible to decline when we got officially invited so I had only 1 option to answer. ¡°I humbly accept the invitation and will go to the capital.¡±(Me) The tiger beastman only awaited my obvious answer and smiled. ¡°Good. With your reward as well as this invitation here you will have no problems travelling to our capital. As an A rank Adventurer you have to be a good example for all lower ranked Adventurers so keep up your good work young man.¡±(Tiger beastman) After our loud dialogue, he gave me the invitation and Kylie and I left the guild building. It was almost impossible to leave the guild because of the crowd that was standing outside. When we finally succeeded our struggle to leave the building we moved to an alley with no people and I dispelled my [black form]. ¡°So now after a city and a Dungeon we go to the Capital?¡±(Kylie) ¡°It seems like it.¡±(Me) After that day the word of Darkness the Adventurer who raised his rank from F to A in only 1 and a half year spread throughout the whole beastmen continent. Chapter 16 Capital We were on our way to the capital Ragnar of the beastmen continent. We didn¡¯t want to cause a commotion so we took an escort quest in a nearby town and went with a merchant. It had been silent and we had no bandits who would steal any merchandise. Probably because he had 2 wagons with 5 guards and 5 more adventurer to guard them. In only 2 weeks we arrived at the capital. During that time I trained silently in the night but had no major breakthrough. Probably because I didn¡¯t train seriously. I was really excited to visit the capital. Kylie and I parted way with the merchant and his group and went in separately. As usual we paid the entrance fee. For Kylie it was 3 gold and for me 5. It was really expensive but with our last reward that much money was no problem at all. Before we would go to the central district of the capital to go to the king we wanted to look around and enjoy the capital. The big attraction the Colosseum of Ragnar was a must for us. First we went shopping. I gave Kylie 1 black Gold Coin and we would meet each other at the entrance to the Colosseum. She would probably buy lots of food and clothing with it. My goal was primarily books and weapons. I didn¡¯t want armour because it would only hinder my agility. I walked through the streets and passed a lot of shops. The capital was really big and so was their shopping area. It took me about 4 hours to go through the whole market. I only stopped at one shop to buy more paper though. For a capital they sold awfully few books. I needed to ask a lot of time for directions to reach the Colosseum. When I looked around, I could see Kylie with a little bag around her waist. I went up to her and asked. ¡°What¡¯s in there?¡±(Me) ¡°Secret. Can you store it for me please?¡±(Kylie) ¡°Is it not possible to carry it?¡±(Me) ¡°Just store it please.¡±(Kylie) I sighed and put it away in the white space. Afterwards we paid a total of 4 gold for a day ticket for the Colosseum. It was a round building and inside were a lot of seats. They could probably hold more than 10.000 people. In the centre of it was a stage far below the seats. At the edge of the stage were a lot of iron doors.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. A lot of beastmen were already seated and looked down on the stage. ¡°Welcome with me the current champion of the Colosseum of Ragnar. The man who barehanded beat 100 enemies in a battle royal. Dewolf!!!¡±(Announcer) When he finished one of the iron doors opened and a big wolf beastman could be seen walking into the arena. Loud roars and applause echoed through the whole Colosseum. ¡°His name fits perfect right?¡±(Kylie) She giggled and I just nodded. It was really the perfect name. He looked like a wild wolf standing on 2 legs. He had black fur and a muscular body. He jumped a bit and fought with air to warm up. After a short while the Announcer was heard again. ¡°He has only been in the arena for about 3 months but he hasn¡¯t lost ever since then and now he is challenging the champion. In addition to his name he is a jack of all trades. He can use every kind of weapon as well as only his strength to beat an opponent. A loud applause for the challenger Jack!!!¡±(Announcer) Same as with Dewolf, another iron door opened and Jack went out of it. The cheering was loud but not as loud as Dewolf¡¯s. Jack looked more like a demi-human. He had brown dog ears and a brown tail. But races didn¡¯t matter in the Colosseum. ¡°Let the fight begin!¡±(Announcer) When he shouted that both fighters were storming at each other with a roar. They fought each other barehanded. Dewolf used his strength and speed while Jack focused on technique. He tried to make a counterattack every time Dewolf would attack. I was focusing with everything I could on their fight. In the end it came down to who would last longer and Jack would stand no chance in stamina nor endurance. With wounds all over their bodies they fought. Both had blood flowing down everywhere but the crowd just cheered louder with every injury one of them would take. It looked like no one would surrender or fall back. Jack gave his best not to fall but it was for naught after he received a kick to his face. He flew a few meters and landed on the floor. He couldn¡¯t stay up again and the winner was announced. ¡°And the winner of this exciting match is our champion Dewolf!!!¡±(Announcer) It was a really good fight. I learned a lot of it, like how I could use my speed to my advantage or new techniques to bring the opponent off balance. Satisfied we left the Colosseum. We had some more time so Kylie suggested that we should go eat something before we visit the King. We went to the most expensive restaurant we could find and in the end we paid a high sum of 60 Gold Coins for our food. After filling our bellies, we set for the centre of the capital. When we arrived I saw a huge castle and another big building right next to it. I focused my senses on the surroundings and could feel a gaze coming from the strange building. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±(Me) I pointed in the direction the gaze came from and the person fled. ¡°It¡¯s called school and young beastmen visit it regularly to learn and train. If you want to visit a school you should go to a human or demon school though, because they have much more knowledge. In this school you would probably only train physically and learn common sense.¡±(Kylie) I looked at it for a bit and we went to the castle gate. We were here to visit the king and the adventurer guild master not to go to school. Before we arrived in front of the gate I went into [black form] and we handed the invitation to a guard who bowed and led us inside the castle. The castle itself was huge. We were led into the throne hall. The king hasn¡¯t arrived yet so I looked through the hall and it was decorated with a lot of gold. The throne was far above the ground. I wanted to look around the castle more but before I could do so, the king arrived and we had to knee. It was a common ritual that you had to knee before the king and we were no exception. ¡°Welcome to my castle adventurer Darkness and his companion. My name is Sam Lionheart, the king of the beastmen and I am happy that you accepted my sudden invitation.¡±(Sam) Chapter 17 Royalty ¡°You may rise.¡±(Sam) We stood up and I checked him. He was a lion beastman with bright yellow-brown fur, almost gold. He wasn¡¯t that big for a beastman, standing probably only 1, 90 m tall, but he had quite the sharp look. I looked into his golden deep eyes and I felt like he could see through me. It felt like he could see every secret with his gaze alone about me. It was really uncomfortable so I tried to look or move away but it didn¡¯t work. First it was only a second but they got longer 2, 3, 4 and 5 I was unable to move. When I felt that he would see my inner darkness, the black sphere vibrated in my mind. When it did I could finally move again. ¡°Sigh¡± (Me) I let out a sigh and Kylie, who didn¡¯t know what happened looked at me in an awkward way. When I focused back on the King he was on one knee and was in pain. It was more of a mental pain than a physical. Then I realised that the cause was my black sphere. After a few seconds the King was back to normal but he refrained from using that strange eye. ¡°I am sorry that I have tested you. It seems like something in you really detested my analyse magic. I hope you may forgive me for my rudeness.¡±(Sam) I forgave him because, man he was the king. I couldn¡¯t not forgive him or I¡¯d be the enemy of all beastmen and I am not that strong yet. Kylie who just realised what happened looked at me with a stupid and innocent expression like she had no idea what we were talking about. ¡°I invited you for 2 reasons. The first is to ask you if you are interested in working for me. The second is a simple talk between us two. If possible, I would like to have your answer and the talk at today¡¯s dinner because I am very busy at the moment. I will assign a maid to you and she will guide you around.¡±(Sam) Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. With that he turned around and left the hall. I didn¡¯t have any time to reply to him so all I could do was stand there and look at him leaving. I would never work for someone so my reply for his question was already clear. Shortly after we were introduced to a little maid that looked similar to Kylie. She had black cat ears and a black tail. It was really hard to tell those two apart. Before we could roam around freely in the castle we were shown to our rooms. The castle was really big and probably over 300 people could live there. Our rooms looked exactly the same, equipped with a large bed, a wardrobe and a set of a desk and chair. It was not really somewhere I would want to live but our stay wouldn¡¯t be that long so I didn¡¯t care. I had some things I wanted to do in the castle because I had the opportunity to do so. First, I wanted to visit the library. Unfortunately I would need a permission from a royalty to visit the royal library. To my bad luck, the king was busy, his wife passed away, his son was away on a mission, while his daughter was visiting a friend. So for now, no entrance to the library. I wanted to train with the guards and knights. But again my bad luck. Only beastmen, loyal to the king are allowed to the train in the special technique of the beastmen. I wasn¡¯t even allowed to watch from afar. For now, no chance to have a physical fight. I wanted to train with magic. Guess what. The fucking castle was surrounded by an anti-magic circle so I couldn¡¯t use magic. The question I asked myself though was, how the king could use his analyse magic. But he was too busy to answer and I bet he had no minion who would tell me. So, first no books, second no chance for gaining fighting experience, and lastly no magic. I had a really bad day until then. What were my options to kill time till dinner? After I finished the tour through the whole castle, which was also boring, I sat down in my room and meditated. Actually there were some rooms I wanted to go into but, again I would need permission. I was so bored I almost died but Kylie told me some stories before I did. She probably understood my situation and had mercy on me. ¡°Now that I think about it wasn¡¯t your mission also to visit the guild master?¡±(Kylie) ¡°Yeah you are right but it¡¯s probably too late for that now.¡±(Me) Just when I finished my sentence, the maid knocked at the door. ¡°Sir Darkness and Companion, dinner is ready. Please follow me to the dining hall.¡±(Maid) ¡°Why am I always only the Companion?¡±(Kylie) She was really displeased with how things turned out and I had a hard time to keep my laughing to a minimum. ¡°Don¡¯t worry it doesn¡¯t matter. By the way if you are unsatisfied just tell them I am sure they will understand.¡±(Me) ¡°Mmh.¡±(Kylie) I didn¡¯t know if that was a yes or just a reply showing me that she was annoyed but I told her my opinion and she had to solve it herself. The maid guided us to a huge hall with a round table. Seated in the finest chair was obviously Sam Lionheart the king of the beastmen. To his right was an old man I hadn¡¯t seen before. His left seat was empty and a lot of other seats around the table were taken. A lot of the people present looked like veteran soldiers or experienced merchants. When I entered he winked me to his left side. As I saw that Kylie would have no seat for her, I demanded another chair from the maid for her. Wait a second. Didn¡¯t Sam say that he wanted to talk with me alone? With that the conversation on a hot topic started. Chapter 18 Shocking News We all set around the table waiting for someone to start the conversation. Tension filled the room till finally the king, as everyone hoped he would, stood up and spoke. ¡°My friends and companions, I have called you here because you are the strongest fighters of the beastmen continent. I am, no better all of the beastmen are in dire need of your strength. Adventurer Guild master Rowen here will tell you about the situation.¡±(Sam) He made a sign for the old man to his right to stand up. When he finished he sat down once again and waited for Rowen to make his report. ¡°As most of you may know me because you have seen or heard of me before I will keep my introduction short. My name is Rowen Milfort and I work as the Adventurer guild master of the beastmen continent. Just for your information so no conflicts will start in the future. I am a demi-human born at the human continent but I am absolutely loyal to the land of the beastmen.¡±(Rowen) With that he made a short introduction bow and continued. ¡°You all probably think that you were the only ones invited because it was mentioned in your invitation. At the beginning that was actually our plan but it changed due to a recent incident. In the centre of all 5 continents a new piece of land has ascended. Whoever gets the land will gain a huge advantage in the power struggles between the races. In order to secure it we would like to request of you to represent our beastmen continent.¡±(Rowen) A lot of people whispered to their neighbours. A lot of them probably knew each other. In the end only the king, Rowen, Kylie and I were left out of the conversations. Suddenly one of them hammered on the table. All of the attendants were looking at him. ¡°You said you gathered the strongest of the beastmen continent for this, right? I have a question to you then. Why did you invite some random children but not the A ranking slice and dice duo?¡± He pointed at our direction. I was really displeased at his verbal offense. After his aggressive shout everyone else started to support him. They shouted. ¡°Yeah. Where are Harry and Dave? Why are there some children? They probably can¡¯t even hold a weapon not to mention kill someone. Where is the famous Draxler duo?¡±(Random people) The situation escalated a little bit but the king made a hand sign for all to shut up. Surprisingly everyone did. To my surprise, the king had some strong authority there.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°My friends, please do not offend them any further. You might not expect it but he is the recently most active adventurer. Before you do not stand some random children but the famous A rank adventurer Darkness and his companion.¡±(Sam) It made me happy that Sam stood up for us. I smiled but had to keep my laugh in. Kylie was again mentioned as an extra. It was so funny because they probably don¡¯t even know her name. And again a whispering spread through the hall. And again it quieted down when the king made a hand sign for them to shut up again. ¡°And for why Harry and Dave Draxler are not present, I am very sad to say this but a little bit over 1 and a half year ago they mysteriously vanished and no one has seen them since then. But someone found the slicing sword of Harry Draxler near one of the towns in the south of the continent, so we are investigating at the moment.¡±(Sam) I thought about his words for a bit, while the whispering did start again. The south? I got swamped to a coast in the south when I first came here. It has been some time since then. Was it 2 years? I didn¡¯t know anymore. But even then I haven¡¯t heard or seen anything of those two, how was that possible when they should have been somewhere near me? Did we somehow miss 2 hotshot adventurers? No, certainly not they would have been the talking issue for everyone if they were around. Did we meet any strong beastmen on our journey? There were certainly 2 who were really strong and almost killed us. After a while I got the answer. And when I did, I looked at Kylie. She just smiled at me and shook her head. I had no idea what she meant with that. Even though I knew that it was me who was the one responsible for their disappearance I kept quiet. In my mind I was kind of proud of myself. I mean I was able to beat 2 of the strongest beastmen. I don¡¯t know how strong the beastmen standard was but I was happy. ¡°If there is anything else please ask now, otherwise I will start to explain the plan now. The operation will be called ¡°Domination¡±. We will split you into teams of 4 people and you will be guided to the island separately with the best ships we have. Your mission is to beat or kill all of the other races and secure the island, or at least as much as possible for us. If you can gather some information like the landscape, treasures or dungeons, we will buy the information from you. Your rewards will depend on your contribution in this war. We will depart from the capital tomorrow morning and everyone will get their shipment pass as well as get to know their teammates then. By the way, if you encounter each other on the island, you are free to do whatever you want but please keep in mind that the primary focus is to win over the other races.¡±(Rowen) ¡°Can¡¯t we just form our own teams and why do we have to move in groups of 4?¡±(Random person) ¡°If everyone moves together we are an easy target for large scale attacks. If you move alone you stand no chance in a fight. In those teams of 4 we have taken your fighting style and strength as well as your contribution to the guild into account. For example a warrior will get a team containing a mage, archer and a priest or support type person.¡±(Rowen) They all understood and were silently in thoughts. They looked at the floor seeming slightly depressed. Then the king suddenly stood up. ¡°My friends, do not worry as I do not think that we will lose this war! We have so many strong fighters on our side so we will come out victorious! For now let¡¯s celebrate our gathering with a toast and feast.¡±(Sam) ¡°Yes sir!!!¡±(A lot of people) I had to admit that Sam was a really good speaker and his speech came at a perfect timing, as it boosted the moral of everyone present. With that the meeting came to an end and the dinner was finally served. Kylie and I hadn¡¯t eaten anything in the past few hours and we were really hungry. After we finished eating we all moved to our respective rooms. Kylie and I got a few sceptical glares but we ignored them and as soon as I got to my room I lied down in the bed and fell asleep. I needed to be full of energy from tomorrow onwards. I wouldn¡¯t let any second go to waste. I wouldn¡¯t let my guard down during operation Domination. That was the case for enemies as well as allies. Chapter 19 New Land On the next morning I was woken up by Kylie. If she didn¡¯t come to wake me up they would probably have gone without me. Together, we went to the castle gate where Rowen and 2 other people were waiting. One huge beastmen. He had brown fur and looked a lot like a bear. The second one was a female fox. It was possible to see that both of them were no pushovers. When the old man saw us he winked us to him. We went over to them and he introduced everyone. He started with us because we were the hottest topic in the adventurer guild at the moment. ¡°As you already heard, this here is the famous A rank adventurer Darkness with his companion Kylie. As far as I know he has a huge arsenal of [Darkness] magic and she can use the beastmen trait magic [Zero] magic. If you want to know more ask them yourself. In your team, Darkness will play the role of the Mage and Kylie will be the support type.¡±(Rowen) When he finished with our introduction he made a short pause to catch his breath and continued. ¡°Those 2 are both B rank adventurers but they are real experts.¡±(Rowen) Before he could continue the bear man stepped forward and introduced himself. ¡°It is a great honour to meet the A rank adventurer Darkness. My name is Matt Griz, I am a bear beastman and I am 41 years old. My main weapon is the heavy sword and I will act as the forward of our team. As you probably saw already, my weakness is that I concentrate too much on strength but lack a lot in speed and technique. I have been an adventurer for almost 20 years now and have been through a lot. I will do my best to keep the damage to only me.¡±(Matt) So he said. He looked and acted like a fellow everyone would get along with. I was relieved to have someone like that. We all looked at the woman but she was silent till Rowen asked her to introduce herself too. ¡°Name is Rose Lana, profession is B rank adventurer. I am a mage and specialize in fire magic.¡±(Rose) It was a really short introduction but if I had to introduce myself I would have done the same. I would never give someone else my personal information so easily. Actually no one except Kylie knew anything about me so it was fine. The obstacle for me on this journey was created. I would have to constantly stay in [black form] because of our 2 new companions. At least I could take it as some kind of training. With our teammates and our shipment passes we began to travel to the east coast of the beastmen continent. We used the adventurer style to travel. We got us a nice and easy quest to protect and escort a merchant to a town near the port. Kylie was a lively person and got along with Matt. They talked a lot. Meanwhile I found out that the last member of our team had a similar character to me, probably.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Rose almost never said a word. She just sat quietly in the back of the wagon. I at least wanted to try to blend in sometimes when they would talk about fighting, magic or something interesting. After some time I gave up and walked silently behind the vehicle. I am just don¡¯t have a talkative personality but I didn¡¯t need it as long as Kylie would take over it for me. When we arrived at the port 4 days later all I learned was some of Matt¡¯s adventurer stories as well as his fighting style. He was the kind of person who was reliable. Not as a fighter but as a teammate, because he would protect his companions even with his life. Or at least that was what he told us. Rose as always kept her talking to a minimum. We parted with the merchant after we got paid and went to the harbour. The docks as well as the ships were huge and looked really awesome, but as we asked which our ship was we were guided to a remote landing stage with one ship waiting. The ship was obviously ours. I was a little bit disappointed because it didn¡¯t look as cool as the ones we saw before but then again, our mission was really dangerous and the less people knew about it the better. ¡°So that is our ship? I would prefer the ones we saw before.¡±(Kylie) Kylie said dissatisfied. ¡°Not something to worry.¡±(Rose) A rare person gave her statement. Everyone boarded the ship and I was the last person. When I set food on the plank which connected the land and the ship I could feel the movements of the waves. My legs went numb and I stopped moving. A shiver ran down my spine as I remembered my first time on the sea. I had to calm myself down. ¡°It¡¯s ok. This time it is not me who has to manoeuvre the ship and the destination is only one day afar. I will survive this.¡±(Me) I whispered to myself. In the end it took me 5 minutes to walk up the plank which everyone else only needed a few seconds for. When I arrived at the deck everyone looked at me. ¡°Sorry, I just had a really bad experience with ships and the sea.¡±(Me) I said and smiled embarrassed. Everyone¡¯s tension was gone with that and the crew members returned to their posts, Kylie and Matt went back to talking and Rose, yeah even Rose was stupefied by my movement speed, sat down in a corner of the ship. ¡°I would say the ship is big enough to let a crew of 15 people sleep in it. What¡¯s your guess?¡±(Kylie) ¡°I¡¯ll go with 20.¡±(Me) The actual number was 30 and we got to know the reason for it soon. There were no beds, but Hammocks to sleep in. They were really uncomfortable and you would feel every wave. The next problem was that the whole crew were men, or better beastmen. They needed only little space and in the first night Kylie and I got to know that they were loud, really loud. They snored like hell and I could barely get any sleep. Meditation was also impossible. It annoyed me so much but they had to safely bring me to a land so I stayed quiet. When I woke up in the morning with only having slept 1 hour, I went up to the surface of the ship and I think I saw the first spirit or ghost in my life. No sorry, my fault it was only a half dead Kylie who probably tried to get some fresh air and fell asleep on deck. I could understand her so I searched around for something to cover her and found a blanket. The sun had just risen and it was really early and cold. I could see the helmsmen in the back of the ship. When I turned and faced the front, there was land in sight. It was far away but as I had really good eyes I could already see it. If I had to take a guess, with our speed we would reach the coast in a few hours. The weather was nice, no clouds and the waters were silent with no waves as far and wide as the eyes could see. As I predicted we arrived after 3 hours and dropped the anchor near the coast. At first the crew wanted to ready a boat. ¡°Guys its ok you don¡¯t have too. I can use wind magic and transport us to the coast from here. Thanks for everything you have done for us.¡±(Me) The distance was only 30 to 40 meters. Everyone looked at me. ¡°I expected nothing less from an A rank adventurer.¡±(Matt) ¡°Interesting.¡±(Rose) With that I activated my wind magic and flew us 4 to the coast. To pretend to be bad at wind magic, I dropped us 3 meters away and everyone landed hard in the water. To defend myself I added a sentence as well as a smile. ¡°Oops, guess I am not good with wind magic. I should stick to the element of Darkness.¡±(Me) All 3 of them had a creepy expression and looked like they wanted to kill me. The most extreme was the one from Kylie as she knew that I only pretended and didn¡¯t warn her. Step 1 of operation was over with this. We successfully arrived at the recently ascended island. Now our next mission was to either get our hands on some useful information, perhaps even some treasures or to search for enemies and beat the crap out of them. Chapter 20 Base ¡°I am all fired up let¡¯s go already!¡±(Matt) ¡°Shut up, enemies will notice us.¡±(Rose) She overreacted a little bit but she was right. We shouldn¡¯t tell our enemies that we are here and they were free to attack us. Matt made a sad expression. ¡°You are right that enemies will notice us but I agree that we should start moving.¡±(Me) Rose and Matt looked at me as I defended the bear beastman. Everyone agreed to search around to find something that could be important. The beach was next to a forest so we first searched around the beach and would meet each other again later to enter the forest. ¡°Let¡¯s split and meet up here again later. If one side finds something they will stay there and wait for the others to come.¡±(Me) I went with Kylie while Rose went with Matt. We went to the left and they went right. During our little walk I was watching the forest. I couldn¡¯t see any animals but the trees it had were somehow unique. I couldn¡¯t describe why they were unique, I just felt they were. I have never seen any of those and was really interested in them. I didn¡¯t know what we were searching for exactly, but we somehow went upwards and the most interesting thing we saw were only some rocks we passed by. We found absolutely nothing except trees or water and after a while we were standing at the top of a cliff. There was no other side or a way down. We looked more carefully in order not to miss anything. But there was nothing. ¡°Guess that is the end. Let¡¯s head back.¡±(Kylie) I nodded and we slowly went back. I looked at the wide ocean. The sun shone, the water was clear blue. Sometimes I could even see some fish. In the far I could see that our ship was already on its way home. When we arrived at the meeting point, Matt and Rose weren¡¯t present so we went further to where they were going. We went along the beach and after some time we made a big discovery. A lot of swords, shields, spears as well as other weapons were lying on the floor. Some of them totally destroyed, some other in perfect state. ¡°What happened here? Do you think Matt and Rose had something to do with it?¡±(Kylie) ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. It looks like whatever happened here, took place before we arrived on this island. Those 2 probably went ahead to scout more of the area.¡±(Me) Kylie nodded and we left the beach of weapons. To relax, I looked back at the ocean. To my disappointment, the water this time wasn¡¯t clear at all. A lot of waves. When I looked further outside, I could see a ship. A huge ship, probably. It was destroyed and was missing a lot of parts. All the masts were broken down and it had a lot of holes in it.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°This is probably related to what happened at the beach earlier.¡±(Me) I said and pointed at the shipwreck. Kylie only nodded and we went further ahead. After walking for a while, we saw someone sitting atop a rock. At first we only saw a silhouette but when we closed the gap we could see that the person who sat atop the rock was Matt. ¡°Yo. Took you quite some time to get here. I guess that you saw the remaining of that battlefield? We don¡¯t know either. When we came, it was in that state already. The battle was probably before we came to the island.¡±(Matt) I grinned at Kylie. It annoyed her so she punched me at my shoulder to tell me I should stop. Matt just laughed and continued. ¡°We found something like a base of the human race. They came as a whole army, our guess about 500 troops. Not that much for an army but if we take into account that every one of them is an expert it is quite the force. Rose is observing them from afar at the moment, while I waited here for you to take you there.¡±(Matt) We followed Matt to where Rose was hiding. It was the same as on our side. We were going upwards and at the end we were standing atop a cliff. A human in full-plated armor was lying at the floor next to Rose. ¡°Is he dead?¡±(Kylie) ¡°No, information.¡±(Rose) ¡°What she is trying to say is that he was patrolling here when we came, so we beat him up and when he wakes up we will ask him for information.¡±(Matt) We switched between observing the movements of the humans. When it came to my turn, I looked at how they settled down their base. They built pseudo-docks, where 8 big ships parked. The trees of the forest were all cut down in a wide radius. Their base contained a big building at the centre with a lot of small buildings around it and they were surrounded by a wooden fence. Almost like a town. All of the humans were working without a break. Some of them were building houses the others were training and some were planning something. When I focused on the surroundings of their base, I noticed movements. They were definitely not animals because no animal would stay if their territory was destroyed. They would either fight over it or run away. It was clear to me that they were someone from another race or perhaps even a team from the beastmen. What surprised me was that I could not only see one or two teams, there were a lot. There were so many I couldn¡¯t even count. Most of them were hiding in nearby trees which didn¡¯t get cut down, while some others from a safe distance. ¡°What did¡­?¡±(Man) ¡°Look who woke up. Did ya sleep well?¡±(Matt) We all stopped whatever we were doing and focused on the man. He sat up and collected his thoughts. To our surprise he understood his position better than expected. ¡°What do you want me to do, to let me go?¡±(Man) ¡°You are one who understands quickly? I¡¯ll make it short. Tell us everything the humans know about this island and what they intend to do and we will let you go. But now I am interested, why would you want to cooperate so fast. We prepared a lot to get the information out of you, you know?¡±(Matt) The man looked like he had seen a ghost for a second but then answered. ¡°I am only a simple adventurer why should I risk my life for others? I don¡¯t care what happens here. I got told that this here would be easy money so I accepted. I am not able to tell you anything about what they are doing, not because I don¡¯t want to, I value my life more than money but because they told no one what they are doing here. The only thing I noticed is that they found something and are preparing to collect it.¡±(Man) He spitted it out like nothing. It felt like he wanted to tell someone. ¡°When you wait 1 or 2 more days they will start moving. If you don¡¯t know how you want to let me go just let me go the way you came. I guess that your ship already left and I would be left with nothing. I won¡¯t be able to tell the humans and you don¡¯t have to get rid of me. It¡¯s a win-win situation.¡±(Man) We all needed to catch our breaths and some time to comprehend what he told us. He spoke like the one who captured someone not the one captured. In the end we went with what he suggested and let him go. It looked like we weren¡¯t the only ones who knew that the humans would move because all other movements stopped as well. It was deadly silent. For a whole day nothing happened. No one said anything, we all prepared to take the thing the humans found. A race between the humans, the other people observing and us. A really big showdown was about to begin. Chapter 21 Discovery After waiting a whole day, the humans really did make signs of movement. They gathered all their fighting force together and prepared to leave. It was morning and the sun has just risen. Kylie was on guard duty during that time and quickly woke us up. ¡°Destination?¡±(Rose) Kylie shook her head. We knew that they were looking for something, the problem was our lack of information, as we didn¡¯t know what or where they were looking for. I felt relieved that the man we let go the day before didn¡¯t lie to us but something else made me feel unwell. The man we captured was on guard duty and he didn¡¯t return to their main forces, why didn¡¯t they search for him? It stuck to my mind but I couldn¡¯t find an answer. It was like they gave away their plans on purpose. Like they want us to follow them. ¡°Something doesn¡¯t feel right.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Agreed, let¡¯s move anyways.¡±(Rose) We all nodded in agreement and followed them. We needed to leave enough space between us not to get noticed but as less as possible, so we could catch up every time. We were going through the forest, passing tree after tree. Sometimes we came across some animals. I have never seen those but there was no time to look at them further, which depressed me a bit. The human army left their camp behind with no one remaining. They were walking for a whole day straight until they halted their march. They destroyed everything in their way. On the path they took nothing was left standing. Trees got cut down, animals killed and plants trampled. They halted their advance when they reached a huge mountain. From what I saw I would guess it is almost the middle of the island. During their march, the humans were not confronted by any other race, probably because everyone made plans to follow and swipe them of whatever they were looking for. Now that I think about it, what was our plan again? ¡°Do we have a plan?¡±(Me) ¡°Now that you mention it we don¡¯t have a plan. Kylie, Rose did you come up with one?¡±(Matt) Kylie shook her head. We 3 had no idea how we should get past an army of about 500 humans and swipe the thing they are looking for. With high hopes we were looking at the always silent Rose. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Improvise.¡±(Rose) Ok we didn¡¯t have a plan but that didn¡¯t mean we weren¡¯t able to come up with one. While staying at a safe distance, we observed the humans. After hours of watching them I noticed something. They were only and I mean it, they were only humans. No beast or beastmen, no dragons, no spirits, definitely no demons and nothing else, only humans. ¡°Do they think that humans are that much better than the other races? Are they that confident? If we would just have a human with us, perhaps we could let him infiltrate them.¡±(Me) To my bad luck, I said my thoughts out loud. When I realised what I did I looked at the others and they were smiling at me with a lot of malicious joy. And then came the ¡°you reap what you sow¡± expression. ¡°Yeah, if we only had a human we could let him infiltrate you are so correct. Ah now that I think about it, aren¡¯t you a human Darkness?¡±(Matt) I only looked at them annoyed. ¡°Shut up, I¡¯m gonna do it so don¡¯t get on my nerves any further please. If something happens or I fail, I will just run away.¡±(Me) With that, I stealthily walked into the crowd of humans. When they noticed my arrival they just looked at me for a second. 3 of them were coming over to me to ask of my adventurer card so I gave it to them. Everything they could see was my name and race anyways. ¡°Darkness? What an odd name but who cares anyways. Welcome on board man. Are you a missing person or a new comer?¡±(Man) I didn¡¯t know what just happened or what any of those meant. I just answered relaxed. ¡°New comer.¡±(Me) ¡°Ah ok. For your information, we arrived at our destination a few hours ago and will entre tomorrow, as to what it is you will see sooner or later and we are not allowed to talk about it. Good I wish you the best luck.¡± I didn¡¯t know what the last sentence meant. The man nodded, all 3 turned around and went away. I was relieved that the infiltration was more or less a success but what surprised me was that the security was that bad. I sat down next to someone else and stayed quiet for a while. After some time I couldn¡¯t resist anymore and asked what I needed to know. ¡°Hello, I am a newcomer and I would really like to know what we are searching for?¡±(Me) The man glared at me clearly annoyed. I just smiled at him hoping he wouldn¡¯t just burst out in anger and shout at me. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you are new or not. Everyone knows almost nothing. The people from the upper class and front won¡¯t tell us anything. As far as I know, we are probably searching for some kind of legendary sword or something like that. Rumours say that the first princess foresaw that humans would find a dangerous weapon here. Some other said that she foresaw a catastrophe on this island.¡±(Man) He made a short break and looked rather thoughtful before he continued. ¡°A friend of mine worked as a castle guard before this mission so I guarantee that both Rumours are true. But the princess made a third prediction. She said that chaos will befall us as soon as we would try to kill a human. Which is also why the security is so lax and as long as you are human you will be accepted and welcomed.¡±(Man) After that he stood up and also went away. I didn¡¯t know why but somehow every human I could see acted weird. They acted like it was their last day or something like that. When I suddenly stood up everyone present got scared and acted like I would start an attack. Until the night came, I sat on a bench the humans prepared when they stopped their march, to rest. When the sun went down and most of the people went to sleep, I slipped past the security, some people sitting on a bench half asleep, and met up with Kylie and the rest. I told them exactly what the man told me and that something was not right. ¡°At least we now know that they are searching for some kind of weapon. I don¡¯t think we will get more information from them. You did a good job so rest for now we will share the night watch between us 3.¡±(Matt) It somehow annoyed me that he acted like the leader but his words were true. I was thinking about what could happen tomorrow, what the catastrophe, the chaos or the weapon could be. After lying down for a few seconds I went into the land of dreams. Chapter 22 Distraction I woke up in the next morning. When I asked how the situation looked I got a strange reply. ¡°Some of the human already entered there.¡±(Kylie) She looked in the direction of the mountain. I didn¡¯t understand what she meant so Matt explained it for me. ¡°They were doing some sort of ritual and summoned a door in front of the mountain and they went in. The remaining humans are staying outside to guard the entrance.¡±(Matt) It looked like the 3 of them had already thought of a plan so I listened. ¡°If you want to know why we haven¡¯t moved yet, we waited for you to wake up and take us inside. It is almost impossible to get passed those humans. A lot of groups already tried but got overpowered at the same time. Only a few of those who tried are alive now and they are locked down there.¡±(Matt) They pointed at a circle which was engraved in the ground. Sitting in it, were some beastmen, demons and a human looking race with horns and a tail. They were probably the dragon race. What made me feel down was that nothing present looked like a person from the spirit race, but at least I got to see the dragon race. ¡°It is a similar magic to the beastmen [zero] magic. Those who are sitting in this big circle aren¡¯t able to move or use any kind of magic. As long as no one touches that circle or all of the mages standing there continue to pour mana into the formation, they will stay locked there until everything is over.¡±(Matt) Then Matt started smiling and let Kylie continue with the plan. ¡°We will go down there. You will act like you found a spy, which will be me by the way, and bring me into the circle. While I tell the prisoners that we are here to free them, you will attack one of the mages and knock him out so that he isn¡¯t able to support the formation anymore. Our goal is to produce a little chaos and slip in unnoticed by the others. In order to achieve it, Matt will storm in and try to dispel the circle if you fail. In the worst case scenario, where you 2 fail, you retreat and free us later. Rose in the meantime will secure us a safe path to reach the door.¡±(Kylie) I needed some time to remember everything and to understand the plan. Basically we were saving the prisoners, but our reward would be a distraction to enter whatever the humans entered before. When I had everything memorized, we started. As we discussed earlier, I was taking Kylie as a prisoner and gave her over to the mages. They were not suspicious at all and threw her into the circle. I felt sympathy for Kylie, because first we made her all dirty so it looked like she had a fight and now she got thrown in a prison where she won¡¯t be able to move much with no kindness at all. ¡°Good job catching her. Looks like she tried her best to run away but failed even then. Those demi-humans are really good for nothings.¡±(Magician)A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I was really angry at him but didn¡¯t show it on my face as to not grab attention. I just thanked him and walked near the circle slowly. ¡°What are you doing friend?¡±(Magician) ¡°I am just in awe at how strong this formation is. I just want to look at it for a bit is that ok?¡±(Me) The mage looked at me, clearly dissatisfied with what I want to do. ¡°Sure but don¡¯t touch it.¡±(Magician) ¡°Why not?¡±(Me) ¡°If you touch it or one of the Magicians around here stop providing the formation with mana, the circle will vanish and those prisoners will be able to escape.¡±(Magician) After giving me this advice, he turned around. I could see a small opening. ¡°I would really like to see this circle disappearing, would you mind helping me?¡±(Me) ¡°What did you¡­?¡±(Magician) He turned back to face me, but before he could finish his sentence I punched him in his stomach. I hit him with a lot of force and he flew quite the distance, till he hit hard on the floor and lost his consciousness. Meanwhile, the circle vanished and before the guards and other magicians could come to attack me, they had to deal with their new problem. ¡°Everything goes according to plan. Let¡¯s meet up with Matt and Rose and follow those humans.¡±(Kylie) The people who were guarding the area around the formation stood no chance against all the prisoners. They were scattering in all directions. Every person who would come to this island had a certain amount of strength or a hidden card, so the battlefield was quite the sight. When we met up with Rose, who found a way in with only few encounters of guards in this mess, we met a certain problem. From within the forest, a big force of demons was storming into the battle. They were probably the reinforcement troops of the demon race. ¡°Fast, no time.¡±(Rose) To her words we were skilfully running towards the open gate while hiding from the sights of the guards who weren¡¯t involved in the battle yet. Some of them noticed us but those were much to less to stop us. We reached the gate in a matter of a few minutes. Before the gate stood one person alone who hasn¡¯t moved at all. From his stance alone we could tell he is an experienced fighter and won¡¯t let us pass easily. ¡°Go ahead we have no time I will distract him and will enter afterwards.¡±(Matt) ¡°We won¡¯t leave you behind.¡±(Kylie) This was said while running towards the gate and preparing for battle. ¡°Annoying, don¡¯t waste time. Good luck.¡±(Rose and Me) When we said that we took Kylie at her arms and dragged her towards the gate while Matt was taking a stance to fight the man. We split and reached the gate. Rose went in with Kylie first. When I turned around to look over the battlefield, about half of everyone present were dead. ¡°Guess that prediction wasn¡¯t that accurate. A lot of humans died and nothing happened.¡±(Me) I said to myself and looked at the battle between Matt and the mysterious man. To my surprise Matt had already lost. It had only been a few seconds since their fight started but when I looked back, Matt¡¯s sword was already destroyed and he was lying on the floor with a lot of injuries. I couldn¡¯t just stand back and watch him getting killed. Kylie changed my character a lot over the time we travelled together. I ran towards them while activating a [Fireball] to distract him. It was a basic attack and as long as I could get some seconds I would be able to rescue Matt. The man didn¡¯t even move, he just swung his sword and my [Fireball] was cut in half. After that he focused on me and attacked me. I didn¡¯t care about my defence at all because first I had the protection of my father¡¯s clothing and second I would be able to form a darkness barrier before he could even reach me. He noticed my intentions of saving Matt so before attacking me he turned around and wanted to finish him off, before I could do so. The only problem for him though was, that he picked the wrong opponent. When he turned his back to me I took a sword out of my white space, used a lot of the dark mana to support my attack and swung at his back. The man decided to dodge to the side and give up on attacking Matt for now. I used this split second to reach my teammate and put him on my back to carry him. When I looked back at the man, a swing mark was next to at the ground. Guess I put too much force in it. I didn¡¯t mind him and his still frozen expression. I sprinted to the gate and through Matt in. Before entering I turned around, only to see the man still standing where he was. I wanted to scare him a bit for now so I gathered some more mana around me and shot a dark mana ball at him. It is practically the same as a normal mana ball except it is a lot of times stronger. I missed him on purpose and it exploded behind him, destroying some trees and stones. After that I smiled at him turned around and entered the mysterious space. Chapter 23 Legendary sword? A bright light blinded me for a few seconds when I entered. When my eyes were ok again, I opened them. I was standing in some kind of cave, but the wall and floor was pink? When I looked around I saw Matt lying on the ground, with Kylie and Rose sitting right next to him to treat his wounds. ¡°Pink stones? Which cave has pink stones? Should I take this as a bad joke?¡±(Me) ¡°Clentanium, rare metal. Strong presence in cave.¡±(Rose) She was pointing in the direction the only tunnel was leading. I waited and played the guard, while Kylie and Rose treated Matt¡¯s wounds. After a few minutes all of Matt¡¯s injuries were treated as much as possible. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t wake up, so I had to carry him, and man he was heavy. We followed the direction where the tunnel was leading. During our walk, Kylie went at the front, I was in the middle and Rose in the back. We went like that because if we would encounter an enemy we had the best chances to fight or escape with that formation. Kylie was really displeased with being the frontline, but when I suggested she could go in the middle as long as she¡¯d carry Matt, she was more than happy to lead our group. After some time walking, Kylie suddenly stopped. ¡°Guys, we have a little problem here.¡±(Kylie) She pointed ahead of us. The tunnel split into 3 different ways. We had to decide how to advance further, but before we took a break. ¡°What are we going to do now? Splitting up wouldn¡¯t be a good idea.¡±(Me) I said while looking at the injured and unconsciousness Matt. Then back at Kylie and Rose. We thought for a while and I had a good idea. ¡°I¡¯ll stay with him, you advance together.¡±(Rose) That would probably be the best we can do, but I had something on my mind. Before I could ask it, Kylie did so for me. ¡°Will you be ok to defend both of you if someone comes and attacks you? You probably are not enough alone, why can¡¯t we just wait until Matt wakes up and go together?¡±(Kylie) ¡°Will have to, no other options.¡±(Rose) Rose looked at me clearly searching for support to convince Kylie in going.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°If we take Matt with us he will be in even more danger, do you want that? Don¡¯t worry, they aren¡¯t B rank adventurers for show, we saw what they are capable to do on our way here. By the way the strongest enemies are ahead and I don¡¯t think they will come back anytime soon.¡±(Me) It took some time talking to Kylie but in the end she went on her own free will. Before we parted we wished Rose good luck and advised her to hide if someone would come. The advice was unnecessary because she would have done so any way. We decided to take the path on the right side. As before, the wall and ground consisted of that pink stone. Why did it have to be pink stones? I didn¡¯t hate the colour pink, but always seeing the same colour, made me kind of insane. Especially such a bright colour. We followed the path for almost half an hour and it was really annoying. Nothing changed, everything looked the same, even though we walked for such a long time. I was so enraged I almost tried to blow up the cave once or twice. If Kylie wasn¡¯t there to calm me down, I would have done so already. After a whole hour, I finally lost my patience. I activated the black mana and almost fired of a giant black mana ball. Almost, because before I did, the whole cave began shaking like it would have reacted to my mana. I couldn¡¯t concentrate and before I would fire magic which I couldn¡¯t control I would dispel it first. When I stopped using my mana, the shaking stopped. ¡°Was it my fault?¡±(Me) ¡°Who else¡¯s could it be mine? Can¡¯t you be more patient?¡±(Kylie) When we went a little further, I saw that we were wrong and it was all just pure coincidence. We finally reached the end of the tunnel and were standing in a giant room. The entrance was located a few meters above the ground, so the humans which were down there, didn¡¯t notice us. The only way to get down, was a path to our right. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to apologize to me later, when everything is finished.¡±(Me) I smiled at her. ¡°Don¡¯t say something like that, when we have other problems.¡±(Kylie) ¡°Eh, but I want an apology later.¡±(Me) Kylie just sighed. When we reached the room, before I could see what exactly happened, I could hear a human shout. ¡°You idiots, what if they heard us. Can¡¯t you prepare do this ritual more silently?¡±(Human) I looked down and saw a giant altar in almost exactly the middle of the room. In the altar, a giant sword which no normal person would be able to hold, don¡¯t even think about wielding it. Around it, a formation circle which prevented the humans from getting near it. At least it looked like it because no human was standing near it. All of them were standing around the formation. ¡°I guess that is what they came for.¡±(Kylie) That was obvious, but what interested me more was how the humans would get to the sword and destroy the defensive mechanism. I wanted to know it, so I thought of a plan. ¡°I don¡¯t think that you can just pretend to be an ally again. The people here probably know who should be here and who shouldn¡¯t.¡±(Kylie) She saw directly through me and said. I went back to thinking. ¡°Can¡¯t you magicians work faster?! If you don¡¯t finish the sacrificial ritual soon, more people will enter here and we won¡¯t have enough sacrifices. And if we are unable to dispel this formation and come home without what we came, even with so much preparation, would you be able to tell his majesty that we failed to acquire the sword which god created?¡±(Human) Wow, I didn¡¯t think I would get their plan to know in that way but I was fine with it. ¡°So this is a sword god created? Aren¡¯t you of the race of gods, Darkness?¡±(Kylie) ¡°Yes I am but as far as I know it shouldn¡¯t be possible for the older generation to interfere with the world¡¯s affair. And I don¡¯t think that the younger ones are interested in learning to forge yet.¡±(Me) ¡°Is that so, hahaha.¡±(Kylie) [She laughed at my answer? Why? She wanted to know what I knew, why should she laugh? Does she know something? No, that shouldn¡¯t be possible. Or is it? Now that I think about it I don¡¯t know everything about her.] I thought. I wanted to say something, but again it felt like she read my mind. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am not of the god race like you, and that sword has nothing to do with me.¡±(Kylie) Who created this thing than? Was there someone else of the god race who would be interested in forging? This question and the fact that they somehow want to sacrifice everyone outside of the cave were on my mind. Were their allies included in those sacrifices? Even if they were not, everything started to make more and more sense to me now that I knew what they were planning. Chapter 24 Surprise We were hiding and observing the situation. While doing so, I couldn¡¯t stop thinking, if there was any possibility of someone of the god race forging that sword. I wasn¡¯t able to think of anyone, so after a while I focused my thoughts on how to solve the situation at hand. The humans were planning to sacrifice everyone outside the cave to get their hands on that sword. Normally I wouldn¡¯t mind at all, but I had a person with me who was hard to convince to let someone die in front of her eyes. Someone just had to look at her and could see that she was trying her best to keep silent but I could read it from her face, the urge to stop the ritual. ¡°We will try to save the people outside, so please stop looking at me like that.¡±(Me) Like a little child, which she actually was, but normally she did not act like one, Kylie moved around happily. If I didn¡¯t stop her in time, she would have exposed us to the enemy. We thought of how to stop those humans. I preferred not to fight against them, with only the 2 of us, not because I was afraid of losing, but because we don¡¯t know what else could trigger the activation of the sacrificial ritual or how strong the enemies were. The chaos after trying to kill a human which the princess spoke of, probably meant the battle from the outside, the legendary weapon was right in front of our eyes, so the only other thing that was missing from the prediction, was the catastrophe. I wanted to prevent it from happening if it was possible, so we had to be as cautious as possible. ¡°We could try to knock them out from their blind spot one after another.¡±(Kylie) ¡°We could do that but I think they will notice us before we can get to their blind spots.¡±(Me) Like that, we silently planned what to do. Somehow, every time I plan something, I get cut short by something. And it happened again. From another entrance tunnel, probably the path from the middle or left, people were coming. At first, I could only hear sounds coming from the tunnel. After a while, they got louder and clearer and I could hear that they were footsteps. 4 people came out of the tunnel. 3 men and 1 woman. I recognised 3 of them. 2 of them were Matt and Rose. Matt was standing on his own so he was consciousness again. The 3rd one was the human we were fighting outside before. The one who looked like the leader of the human group preparing the ritual, went up to them.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°How come I see 2 beastmen here with you? Didn¡¯t we say no one was allowed to enter, we need as much sacrifices as possible? Were they able to get pass you? Are they strong enough to be able to fight an S rank adventurer, or did you not give the fight your all, James?¡±(Human leader) The strong human I fought earlier, called James, looked down angrily and held back his bloodlust. ¡°Be careful, after what James told me, there should be 2 others hiding, and especially one of them is very strong. When even the S class adventurer James the Challenger says so, it has to be true.¡±(4th person) ¡°Hoh, the beastmen prepared an S rank adventurer as well? I don¡¯t care, if he comes here, we will just kill him, if he dares to come out. Continue with the ritual!¡±(Human leader) The human leader talked with a lot of confidence, like they already were the owners of that sword. ¡°It should be ok, we have a plan to capture them. Rest assured and focus on your ritual.¡±(4th person) He said. By the way, after raising your guild rank to S, an adventurer got a title as some kind of status symbol. From importance, you were only below that of the king and his family. Every race, fights to get S rank adventurers to their side. That title often represented the nature, fighting style or achievements of the adventurer. The titles are easy to remember because there weren¡¯t much S rank adventurers anyways. ¡°So that is an S rank adventurer? He is definitely something else from the rest of the humans here. His pressure alone is overbearing and I can even feel it from here. I can¡¯t see any opening in his guard and he is probably extremely strong. Darkness, it will be a lot harder to rescue those 2 now.¡±(Kylie) Kylie said anxious. From her reaction I could see, that she probably saw an S rank adventurer for the first time, as well. ¡°Don¡¯t worry we will succeed. I already fought him outside and won. If I have to fight again I will beat him again. In the end I was strong enough to succeed in coming in with Matt or not?¡±(Me) Kylie nodded happily and after hearing my words, she calmed down a lot. We waited until all the humans went back to finish the ritual before we started our rescue. We sneakily hid in blind spots and made our way slowly to our 2 teammates. They were both constrained from movement with a rope at their hands and feet. Rose¡¯s mouth was covered with some clothing to prevent her from chanting. Matt¡¯s sword lied next to him, as long as we would free from those shackled, both could fight with us instantly. Kylie and I prepared 2 knives to free the both of them as soon as we were in range to do so. When I thought the time was right, I gave Kylie a signal to run to them as fast as possible. As soon as we started running, some humans noticed us and shouted out loud to warn the others. ¡°They are trying to free the hostages!¡±(Human) One of them said something silently, but I could hear it because he was closer than the rest of the humans. ¡°Finally I can get my rematch for that disgrace.¡±(James) We reached Matt and Rose in a matter of seconds and before any other human could catch up, we freed the both of them of their restraints. I was turning my back to them and positioned myself in front of them with my sword. I thought, that I should be the frontline because Matt could still be exhausted from his fight earlier. ¡°Let¡¯s beat those humans together, we can do this guys.¡±(Me) I tried to motivate my team. After a few seconds, I got my reply. ¡°¡­Sorry.¡±(Matt) Stab. Chapter 25 Between life and death Stab. That is what kindness in a serious situation leads to, I thought. The reward I got from trying to save them was that they would try to kill me? Wait, I clearly heard that Matt stabbed me but why couldn¡¯t I feel any pain? Was I dead instantly and already in heaven, not that there was one? No I don¡¯t think that my body would be that weak, I mean I was stabbed in my chest before and managed to survive somehow. When I turned around, I got to know the answer the hard way. A lot of blood was spreading alongside the floor and on my clothes, as Kylie, who tried to save me with her body, coughed up a lot of blood. The heavy sword pierced through her body. I needed to pull out the sword and treat the wound as fast as possible or she would die. My mouth was open and only incomplete words could leave it. ¡°You¡­ wh¡­¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t want my first companion to die right before me, but I couldn¡¯t move an inch. No, I didn¡¯t want Kylie to die. The stab from the big heavy sword, dealt a lot of damage to her body. 1/4th of her upper body was penetrated by the weapon. I stood there with my eyes wide open. Kylie needed to cough up blood again before I came back to my senses and tried to save her. I reacted quickly, moved behind her and pulled the sword out of her. I picked her up and carried her in my arms. I needed to flee with her because I wouldn¡¯t be able to treat her in an environment where so many people would try to kill us. My path to the nearest tunnel got obstructed by James and other humans. I couldn¡¯t turn around and run in the other way because Matt and Rose were there. The tunnel we came from was also guarded heavily now. ¡°Now you can¡¯t flee anywhere. Be a good boy, put the girl down and fight me one more time, so I can forget that disgrace of a loss.¡±(James) ¡°James focus on killing them so they can¡¯t hinder us any further!¡±(Human leader) I didn¡¯t listen to anything they said, I had a much bigger problem. I only focused on Kylie who was at death¡¯s door. I could hear her heartbeat getting slower and slower. I wasn¡¯t able to think clearly anymore as I knew she would die soon. I put every thinking and reasoning aside and just moved forward. ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t you hear me? You won¡¯t be able to get out of here alive anyway, so just fight me in a 1 vs 1.¡±(James) I didn¡¯t slow down my speed. I even increased it more and was running to the nearest tunnel which led to the exit. Even though, a lot of enemies were standing in front of me, I didn¡¯t waver. I couldn¡¯t lose any second or else Kylie could die. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to listen and fight me than just die.¡±(James)This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. When he said that, he swung down his sword. Some of the humans were smiling and thought that I would fall. His sword sliced my back and I received a huge wound. Blood was flowing out of it nonstop. I felt the pain but I couldn¡¯t care less as my friend was dying in my hands. I continued to run to the exit. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there and watch, kill them.¡±(Human leader) Every time I took a step, Kylie and I lost some blood. To prevent us from further advancing, all of the humans attacked us now. Some of them with swords and the others threw magic at us. I focused all I had in running and defending Kylie from attacks. I ignored the state of my body completely. With only my will to save Kylie alone, I kept moving. We almost reached the tunnel. On my way there, I received a lot of wounds. My whole body was covered with blood. But I didn¡¯t care at all. I only focused on bringing Kylie out of there. When we barely reached the exit, I stopped because of a sudden shout. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to save her even when you escape, so just give it up. I enchanted the sword with the spell [Hell Flare] which will slowly burn her from the inside! The spell is strong enough to kill even you in a matter of time.¡±(Rose) I stopped in front of the tunnel for the second. With a voice filled with bloodlust, anger and sadness, I asked her only 1 last question. ¡°Why?!¡±(Me) Everyone was silent to hear her reasoning. ¡°Secret.¡±(Rose) She said and I clearly saw her smiling. I was filled with so much rage, that I wanted to kill everyone present, but I needed to hurry and save Kylie. I went into the tunnel and ran. For the first few minutes, I got bombarded by some more magic attacks but after a while, they stopped following us. When I made sure that no one was coming after us, I put Kylie down and did my best to treat her injury. When I covered the wound with some clothing, the bleeding stopped. She had her eyes wide open and breathed even slower now. I was closing my eyes and only hoping. ¡°Hey Hikaru are you there?¡±(Kylie) She said weak. She was so weak that she could barely see anymore. ¡°Yes. Stop talking, you need to rest. Everything will be fine.¡±(Me) I was sad, I barely managed to say that one sentence. ¡°It is already too late for me. I would have died someday anyway. Whether this time is now or later doesn¡¯t matter to me. What is important now isn¡¯t me, it is you. If you don¡¯t know what you should do from now on, remember me by opening the bag I gave you in the capital, it may give you a path to walk in the future.¡±(Kylie) She said. We both knew she didn¡¯t have much time left. It was silent until she couldn¡¯t keep quiet anymore. ¡°That was actually all I was supposed to say, but I can¡¯t hold back now. Thank you for all you did for me. I had so much fun travelling with you that I just want to continue with it. Now that I will die I won¡¯t keep silent about how I feel so listen. It always annoyed me that you were so cold to others, at least I succeeded to change you a bit. When you changed and started to trust others, open up for others, I kind of started feeling something towards you. You know, it is called love, and you have to treasure it if you can in the future. I won¡¯t be there for you anymore.¡±(Kylie) She said smiling. Even if she could only barely see me I smiled back at her. But that smile came from my heart. She coughed up some blood again, before continuing. ¡°I actually don¡¯t want to die. I am even afraid to die, but it can¡¯t be prevented now. Before I go, I owe you a big sorry for earlier, do I not?¡±(Kylie) She said jokingly but I noticed, that she talked slower and needed a lot of time to finish her sentences, but I listened to every single word she said and would remember everything she said. ¡°Live your own life and go your own ways. My last wish is only, that ¡­you don¡¯t forget ab¡­out¡­m¡­e.¡±(Kylie) With barely finishing her last sentence, she died in front of my eyes. She lied there with no movements. She stopped breathing and her heart stopped beating. On her face, I could see a wide smile and a lot of tears which flowed down. I was looking at the dead body of the person who changed me, who I was emotionally attached to. My only friend for the past years. I looked at her dead body and wanted to close her eyes so she could rest in peace. When my hand reached her face, I felt heat coming from within her. I pulled away my hand and looked at her. From her inside, fire was bursting out. At first only a little but the flame got hotter and bigger. Suddenly it exploded, leaving behind a cross of fire in the air and nothing of Kylie. I stood in front of the fire cross. Not moving, only looking. My best friend, or perhaps even my love, died in front of my eyes. I wasn¡¯t able to save her. I wasn¡¯t able to save a dear person to me again. But what made it worse was, that she didn¡¯t get her deserved rest, no after her death a spell destroyed her whole body. She died much too young. Why was the world so unfair? There was no one who answered me. Badump. Chapter 26 Madness Badump. My best friend died in front of my eyes and I wasn¡¯t able to save her. When I realised what happened, my mind kept working nonstop. Pictures of our time together were flowing through my head. My chest felt hot, it was a bursting pain, was it because of the injuries I received or because of the loss of Kylie? I didn¡¯t know. I thought about how we first met in the village, how we travelled around, the fun we had, the memories we shared together. I knew that this person was now dead, I got depressed and sad. I kept criticising myself for being so weak. For underestimating the enemy. I thought of things which had to do with Kylie, but when I came back to reality, she was dead and I would never be able to talk to nor see her again. I realised that that was the end but I didn¡¯t want it to be true. I didn¡¯t want to let her go and before I knew it, tears were flowing down my face. Tears? I haven¡¯t cried at my mother¡¯s death, I haven¡¯t cried at my brother¡¯s death but now I am crying? Why? My brain stopped working, time stopped flowing and I stopped moving. Badump Why did this have to happen? Wait, what happened again? Why am I crying? What was I doing here? Why did I live? Bad¡­ My heart stopped. Was that the end? Didn¡¯t I have something left to do? When my heart stopped, I fell to the floor, with my head hitting the hard metal. Death. What was that again? ¡­ I lied at the floor not moving. The thought that I had something left to do was flowing in my head. It was unbearable. I didn¡¯t feel any pain but I couldn¡¯t bear the thought of having something left to do. I wasn¡¯t able to resist anymore, so I stood up again and opened my eyes. When I looked down at my body, or what was left remaining. I didn¡¯t feel anything when I looked down and saw that half of my body was missing, while the rest was in a really bad shape. My heart didn¡¯t beat. I shouldn¡¯t be able to live, but here I was moving. You could say I was a like a zombie.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Suddenly some of my memories came back one after another. I remembered the pain, the rage I went through. Bad¡­ My heart started beating again slowly. Badump. Now it beat like it was supposed to, but odd enough, it increased its speed even further. Rage overcame me when I remembered the feelings I had. And before I knew it, my thoughts were transported into the white space. But that time it wasn¡¯t the white space I was in. That time it was pitch black. It was darker than the mana sphere and filled with emotions like rage, hatred and bloodlust. A normal person would have received an instant mental breakdown but what was with me? I already had one so I had nothing to lose. I was trapped in that darkness, but I was fine with it. I didn¡¯t care. I gave away the control over my body to my feelings. I let the emotions which screamed revenge, kill them, and much more handle everything. I sat in the black space and just watched what was about to happen from then on. I knew that my body wasn¡¯t under my control anymore, because the dark energy I normally emitted, went berserk. When I fought before, I would focus my energy and mana to support me and would never let it leak out too much. But this time was different. The black mana was going wild as much as it wanted without restraint. My body was moved by the goal to kill, to get revenge on those who killed Kylie, on those who let me suffer so much. Step after step, I gave in to the darkness for power. I went through the tunnel back to the room with the sword. My first aim was to kill everyone in there. Until my body reached it, I had a few thoughts. Perhaps the SS danger level chaos dragon felt the same when it went berserk. Did it have to go through the same as me? I wouldn¡¯t wish anyone to go through this. My thoughts were interrupted by screams. Screams of agony and fear. When I focused to look through my eyes, I saw 2 humans who probably were the guards there. Why did they scream? In my opinion they are perfectly fine. There are their bodies, over there are their limbs and I probably have 1 head in my hand. Nothing missing, right? No wait, 1 head is missing. Their remainings were dispersed on the ground and I could feel that my hand was crushing something. Some more humans were coming in my direction because of those screams. When they saw the situation, they also screamed but this time my body didn¡¯t do anything. ¡°M... Monster! Hoy, we need help he¡­¡±(Human) Now it moved, and his head was gone. The others just watched frightened. Now everyone knew that something was wrong. A lot of humans were moving in my direction and preparing to fight but before they could do anything, all of them died one after another. The favourite move of my emotions was to have mercy and just behead them. The human leader, James with his comrade, as well as Matt and Rose also noticed the screams and walked over slowly. Before they reached me, I could hear a disgusting voice talking. ¡°We are almost finished with the ritual, what is it now?¡±(Human leader) With James in the front and Rose in the back, they arrived at the scene. When they saw the pool of blood as well as all of the corpses they changed their expression. They stopped acting high and mighty and were on guard. ¡°What happened here? Who or what are you?¡±(James) I know them. They had something to do with what I wanted to do. Now, I know, didn¡¯t we fight a few minutes before? Why can¡¯t they recognise me? It doesn¡¯t matter. I thought to myself. It was silent until I was awoken by a sudden statement. ¡°Is Kylie already dead or did you just leave her alone?¡±(Rose) Everything went silent. Slowly, also memories of Kylie came back. I could once again remember some things we did together, like how we met, how we helped people with money and some more. The people on her side just looked at her and wondered why she would provoke me further after what happened. ¡°You know I even had the chance to save her with that talisman here. It can heal 1 wound instantly.¡±(Rose) She said and showed me something. After that she started laughing. Was death something funny? In the next instant my body moved with the intention to kill and Rose¡¯s right arm with the talisman as well as the human leader¡¯s head was missing. I stood behind the group and held those in my hands. I started smiling and laughing like an insane person and crushed them. I remembered everything now. How they betrayed me, how they killed Kylie, how they took her away and now they even had the guts to make fun of her. When I did, my mind was blank and my body was filled with the intention to kill. The final sentence I could say was. ¡°I will make sure that no one will leave this island alive.¡±(Me) Chapter 27 Destruction I said that, but not with the normal voice of a child. I had a much deeper and threatening voice now because most of my flesh was missing which affected it. My voice frightened them that some humans which surrounded us lost the strength of their legs. Rose just noticed that her talisman was gone and wanted to run away. The others who saw everything did the same while shouting. No one was even trying to get to the nearest tunnel because they would have to pass me. The only person who stayed was James. If he couldn¡¯t move because of fright or if he just wanted to fight me I didn¡¯t know. But then again, I didn¡¯t care what he wanted. ¡°Run away, abandon the mission and start running if you want to live!¡± The mages who were focused on the ritual were confused. They didn¡¯t know what happened yet, or why everyone was running to the exits. The cave started to rumble. My rage was building up more and more. The more bloodlust I built up, the more energy I was leaking. My mind was broken and I all I was able to do while building up strength was laughing. I laughed and kept laughing. Death is indeed something satisfying. When my energy was so dense, that everything around me was black, it exploded and spread throughout the room. Only few people were able to leave it when that happened. Unfortunately Matt, Rose and James¡¯s companion were also able to escape. The others who weren¡¯t lucky enough, got caught up in the explosion. It was like a bomb, the only difference, there was no fire. It was switched out with black energy. When that energy touched someone, all his life force would be absorbed by it and he would die instantly, which boosted the attack even further. When the energy reached the tunnels, before it could enter them, the sword everyone came for, shined brightly and energy got send to those exits, as well as the whole room. The energy got repelled by it and was flying back at me. It directly hit my body but there was no damage done to it. The reverse happened. The life force which got absorbed from the humans, was now flowing inside my body. In addition to my own mana, I now had the energy of hundreds of humans. I could clearly feel that I became stronger, but that didn¡¯t change my goal of killing every last person on this island.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. With great power comes responsibility. The price I had to pay was that I was temporary hearing the last words of the souls of the deceased humans. At first they were rather silent complaints like they died too early but when I noticed that some people escaped for now, while others were fighting outside, I got angry again and they screamed throughout my mind. ¡°Kill them! Don¡¯t let them escape! Revenge!¡±(Voices) Hearing the voices of deceased humans made me go crazy. My anger build up the more they were shouting. I couldn¡¯t concentrate on anything anymore. ¡°Shut up, this is my revenge if someone gets in my way I will make sure that you will wish that you could rather go to hell!¡±(Me) The shout echoed through the whole cave and probably everyone inside could hear it. Afterwards I leaked my anger and bloodlust until the annoying voices finally shut up. I needed to kill but they would be able to escape my grasp soon. I needed an attack that could instantly kill everyone on this island if I want to get everyone. I had a really good idea how I could achieve that. I didn¡¯t run after them and killed everyone I saw on sight. I did the opposite, I turned and went to the formation of the sword. If you are able to repel me you should also be able to boost my attacks, right? I thought and came into contact with the defensive formation which was almost broken through before. My body felt heavy, and the gravitation got more and more as I moved closer to the sword. I was barely able to move forward and when I was only 5 a barrier obstructed my way. I knew the more time I needed for this, the more time those bastards had to escape. When I thought that Rose would be able to escape, anger filled me again. Those other bastards who were responsible for Kylie¡¯s death, who even made fun of her after her death. I would never forgive them. I came so far, now I have the chance to kill them. As if this puny formation could obstruct me! With my tattered body, I fought strength with strength, power with power, energy with energy. I shouted loud and fought against the barrier. I gave it my all I needed this attack to succeed because I wouldn¡¯t get a second chance. Because of this struggle, a lot of energy got accumulated over the minutes. It was multiple times more than before. I put everything, all my feelings I had for Kylie in that attack, I couldn¡¯t afford to let anyone escape. I could never forgive myself if I did that. In the end, the explosion occurred. With a speed normal eyes could never see the energy dispersed. I gave all I had and my body gave in and fell to the ground. I could barely feel how far my attack could reach. When I closed my eyes and focused on my attack, I felt like my eyes could see where it passed by in slow motion. It went through the tunnels, reaching the exit in a matter of seconds. It only passed some of the slower humans, while a lot have already escaped. The energy couldn¡¯t leave the cave through the stones consisting Clentanium, so all that energy went for the path we came in. When it reached the outside I somehow managed to form it into a ball and guide it to the peak of the mountain. I would let it explode there again, with this I would be able to reach everything on this island. I would be able to kill everyone with one large scale attack. More and more dark energy left the gate and moved towards the ball. It got bigger and bigger. I was really excited, soon I would be able to get my revenge. Suddenly, the mountain started vibrating. I focused my consciousness back to my body and saw that the sword was shining again. I have to hurry! I focused back outside and commanded the remaining energy to fuse with the bomb as fast as possible. In the end it reached a size, where it could be seen from all over the island. Everyone who saw it was looking or pointing in its direction. All filled with nothing but fear. The end was near. I would have really loved to see everyone die, but I wasn¡¯t able to. I was mentally exhausted and my consciousness faded away after giving the last command. Kill! Chapter 28 Territory With heavy breathes I woke up. Everything was silent. I was at the same location in the cave I was before I fell unconsciousness. No rumbles, no higher gravitation or barrier. My body felt better than ever and my mind was now rather stable again. The only thing which didn¡¯t let me calm down, was if I was able to get everyone. I stood up and collected my thoughts. When I did, I could hear some other voices. They were few and silent. My first guess was that they were the ones from before. But when I looked at my perfectly fine body, at the missing barrier and the sword just lying on the floor I had a funny idea of what could have happened. ¡°Before I check my hypothesis, I think I will store you away first.¡±(Me) I said to the sword. I don¡¯t know why but I felt like it had an own life so I talked with it. Perhaps it was only the feeling of being lonely after losing Kylie, I didn¡¯t know which it was. As I said, I stored the sword in my white space. After I did so, I entered the white space as well. I was relieved in the first moment I entered it, because it went back to white with the black sphere. The next moment though, I received a huge shock because when I looked around, I could see a lot of souls. How did I know how a soul looked like? It looked like a blue flame flying in the air and I just guessed that those could be souls. Somewhere near me was the sword and the black sphere, but we were surrounded by so many souls, that I barely could see those 2. ¡°Yep, I was right. You repelled my attack again, right? As long as I got the ones I wanted to kill, it is fine. If some could escape perhaps they will start a rumour and no one will approach me for now.¡±(Me) I said to the sword. The souls could wait for now, I first wanted to look at my new weapon. I moved next to it and picked it up. When I did so, it vibrated heavily. It was so strong that I could barely hold it. I gritted my teeth and endured. Finally, after 3 whole minutes it stopped. My right arm with which I picked it up, was aching, so I put the sword back down again. I sat down and wanted to rest a few minutes but I got interrupted. I could feel something shaking. I looked back at the sword but it lied peacefully on the floor. Then I looked at the black sphere but it was also silent. Nothing changed with the souls too, so what was wrong? I had a bad feeling about that and went back outside to my body. When I opened my eyes I couldn¡¯t believe what I saw. Just a few minutes ago, I was in a cave of a big island. Now everything was gone. I was standing on a small land surrounded by the sea. It had a diameter of 100 hundred meters. There was nothing. It was a barren land with no vegetation at all. At first I had a little panic attack because I remembered the ¡°good times¡± I had with the ocean. But then I remembered, that the cause of what happened was that sword, so the solution to my situation should also be that sword. I had no idea what that sword could do, but it had to at least aid me for now. I didn¡¯t know how I could test out its abilities or to get to know its name. I had no time to go through experimenting so I needed a quick solution. I could only think of 2 things I could do then. I tried out the first one, which was the guild card. I looked at it and needed a few seconds to calm down afterwards.
Name Hikaru
Race God
Unique Ability Darkness, Sword of Dominance (0/25)
Job Adventurer
Level ?
HealthYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. 75.000
Mana 100.000
Energy 1000
Magic Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Creation, Combination, Lightning, Magma, Ice, Gravitation, Life, Death
Except for the Health, Mana and Energy thing which didn¡¯t help me at all because I couldn¡¯t compare me with someone else, the other things I gained, shocked me quite a bit. I needed some time to calm down. When I was finally able to, I wanted to know more about the Sword of Dominance. To my disappointment, there was no function in the guild card which could explain the Sword¡¯s abilities. I retrieved it from the white space and held it for a while. This time, it didn¡¯t vibrate though. Nothing happened and I just stood there like an idiot for minutes. I was annoyed and angered and through it to the ground. To my surprise, the sword changed its direction and went down vertically. As it touched the ground, it emitted a light shockwave which covered the island. I was able to feel everything, the shockwave hit. It felt like the land itself was a part of me. It was astonishing. It felt like when I controlled the bomb from before but this time I could feel it more clearly. I looked back at where the sword was, but now it was gone. ¡°Eh?¡±(Me) I received a shock when I saw that the sword just disappeared in front of my eyes, so I quickly checked my status again.
Name Hikaru
Race God
Unique Ability Darkness, Sword of Dominance (0/25)
Job Adventurer
Level ?
Health 75.000
Mana 100.000
Energy 1000
Magic Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Creation, Combination, Lightning, Magma, Ice, Gravitation, Life, Death
I calmed down when I saw that there were no changes in my status. I had no idea what could have happened. After standing at the barren land for a few seconds, I focused my mind back to the white space. I knew that those numbers next to the name of the sword had something to do with its abilities. The only problem was I didn¡¯t know what. When my mind was in the white space, I saw the sword again. It was stuck into the ground and even if I tried to pull it out, I wasn¡¯t able to. ¡°No chance with you, huh? Guess I¡¯ll go with those souls now.¡±(Me) I said and moved near one. I touched it and in the next second, it was gone. I had no idea where it could have disappeared to but my first guess was the black sphere because it did something similar in the past. It was only one little soul so I didn¡¯t care much and moved to the next. But the same thing happened again and again. After a few times, I thought that me touching those souls was the problem. I continued with it until I felt the shaking from before again. I went back to my body. Outside, the land was much bigger now. It went from a little barren land with only 100 hundred metres to a barren land, with a size of 500 metres. It now had 5 times the size as before. I could clearly feel the change of size. It felt like the territory which got covered by the shockwave of the sword just got bigger. Territory? I had a quick thought.
Name Hikaru
Race God
Unique Ability Darkness, Sword of Dominance (1/100)
Job Adventurer
Level ?
Health 75.000
Mana 100.000
Energy 1000
Magic Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Creation, Combination, Lightning, Magma, Ice, Gravitation, Life, Death
The numbers changed. It was now clear to me that the territory the sword could cover, did depend on how much souls I would feed it. As I had a lot of them in store, I could feed it quite a lot. When the numbers reached 100, the territory got bigger again and covered 1 kilometre now. But then they went up to 1000 and I wasn¡¯t able to upgrade it any further because I had no souls left. At least I was really close to it.
Name Hikaru
Race God
Unique Ability Darkness, Sword of Dominance (890/1000)
Job Adventurer
Level ?
Health 75.000
Mana 100.000
Energy 1000
Magic Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Creation, Combination, Lightning, Magma, Ice, Gravitation, Life, Death
With my mind, I was standing in the white space and searching around for more souls. I couldn¡¯t find any, but I found something more important than that. Now that those souls were gone, I found the small bag, Kylie bought at the capital. I almost forgot about what she told me because of my rage but now I remembered every word. I opened the bag but to my surprise, it could store more than it looked like. Almost like my [space inventory] in the form of a bag. When I took out the 3 things stored, I received a huge shock. The first thing, obviously a note from Kylie. The second thing was an invitation to something called Sonya Academy. And the third one was as I was talking about it before, my [space inventory]. Why did Kylie have it? I had no idea but I would know it as soon as I read her note. Chapter 29 Kylie鈥檚 farewellnote I opened the bag and retrieved the 3 items it stored. I wanted to look if that was really my [space inventory] and if every book I took with me was in there, when I saw it. But when I afterwards, saw her letter I put away the box and focused on reading her note. It consisted of 3 pages and she wrote a lot. ¡°Dear Hikaru, when you read this letter I am already dead and was not able to talk to you about this. If that is truly the case, then I wasn¡¯t able to tell you the truth and I am really sorry that you will get to know who I really am through a simple letter. The information this letter contains may sound unbelievable but it is the undeniable truth and I hope you will understand everything when you finish reading it.¡± I had no idea what I should think about the first part of the letter. What was she talking about? I couldn¡¯t find the answer to that question so as to not waste my time further, I continued reading. ¡°In order for you to understand what I am about to tell you, you have to first know who I really am. My name is Kylie Bricksl, I am 19 years old and I am a demi-human. My parents died shortly after I was born and I was raised by a nice old granny since then. I lived a normal live until I reached 13 years in age. At this point you will probably have a lot of questions.¡± I had a ton of questions, which sadly, I wouldn¡¯t be able to ask her anymore. When I thought that she was now dead I got depressed again and needed a short break before I could continue. ¡°I am coming from the future with the mission to save you. In my world, you will die with the age of 9 but the reason or date of your death was never known. But the real problem starts later. I assume, you know how old I am. As soon as I would have turned 19 years old, the world will meet its end and the only chance is a certain someone who died far too early. In order to stop the enemy, the combined power of all 5 Gods would be required but because you died, we failed to oppose him.¡± Only 5 Gods? What is with the remaining 5? What are they going to do when that happens? And who is him? ¡°When I was 10 years old the granny which raised me died because of her age and because of depression I wasn¡¯t able to work for money. I got enslaved by someone and sold to the human race. After 2 years of being a slave, I got dragged on a new found island as cannon fodder and almost met my end there. The humans used a ritual which went out of control and killed almost everyone on the island. I would have been no exception but then I met you. You had no will of life anymore. Your eyes looked like they lost all their trust, but when you saw me in a similar position, you used your remaining energy to save me and told me to live on. Afterwards, I was suddenly able to use magic. I trained more than anyone else to get stronger so no one I knew had to suffer anymore. I reached the S rank with the age of 17 and received the title ¡°Child of Darkness¡± because I mainly used Darkness magic.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. That was a lot of strange information and I needed to comprehend everything first. But she wrote that I would understand everything at the end of the letter so I continued. ¡°With you died the last bearer of the name demon and the race your family created went berserk and attacked the whole world. With a temporary alliance, the other 4 races were able to stop them but as soon as they succeeded, we were hit by the next enemy. We were unable to win against him because we were still weakened from the war, so with the remaining energy we sent someone back in time to save you, so you could save the world. That certain someone was me Kylie Bricksl. I was selected because I was the closest person to you who was still alive then and because I was in possession of your mana.¡± Slowly everything started to take shape but a lot of things remained still unclear. ¡°Before the fight started, at the strategy meeting, I could talk to Dragon and was able to learn a few things about the race of gods. First of all, every one of the younger generation has exactly the same age. The next thing, all of the older generation went missing after you turned 6 and no one has ever seen them again. And lastly, all parents left something in this world for their children. But only Dragon and Beast found theirs. Dragon received a spear that can pierce every armor and Beast got a spell book on how to travel to the past, which was also the reason we succeeded with the time travelling.¡± When I thought about it I had even more questions. What was Lucy doing or why was my father alive then? Until there, everything was written in blue, but from there Kylie probably switched to a black pen. Also, it seemed like she wrote from there, as if she would write a diary. ¡°I am 6 years with my body and have a rough understanding of the world¡¯s affair now. My memories must have taken a shock somehow, because I am not able to remember everything. I definitely know that someone strong will come and we need you to defeat him but I forgot who it was.¡± She wrote a few more lines like how she forgot things and that I have to focus on training for the future but nothing more. ¡°As you will first appear in 2 years, I will do everything to get an academy invitation for you for the school, Dragon attended to. Afterwards, I will travel to the south to the beastmen continent where you first appeared to meet you.¡± That explained the invitation. The letter only continued with what I already knew. ¡°Today, I finally met you. You looked exactly the same as I remember you, except you had much more livelier look in your eyes which made me happy. After you went away to train, I searched a few minutes and finally found your [space inventory]. By the way keep your good ideas on the usage on magic up. As far as I can remember, your [space inventory] was the reason why space magicians were regarded highly in my old world.¡± I will continue and perhaps someday I will create magic which can bring people back to live. ¡°I don¡¯t know why but my memory loss is getting worse by the day. I already forgot granny¡¯s name and perhaps I will forget mine soon. I hope that at least you won¡¯t forget me.¡± I didn¡¯t know why she never told me anything but I thought that she would perhaps mention it later. ¡°Congratulations on becoming an A rank adventurer. I really treasure the time with you because I have lots of fun, even if you don¡¯t talk much with me. I will probably forget most of it anyways but I hope you will at least remember our time together.¡± I could see that Kylie¡¯s messages got more and more emotional. ¡°Dear Hikaru, if you read this, I was probably not able to tell you this myself:¡± That was the end of the second page and I went to the last page. When I reached the last page and read what she wrote, I dropped the sheets and started crying. ¡°I love you.¡± Epilogue (of Arc 2) Legend Dragon¡¯s point of view: My name is Dragon and I was born in the 1001st year of our calendar. I am 10 years old now and your average person. Ok, almost average. I actually look a lot like a human, but in fact, I am from the unique race of gods. In my opinion, it is nothing special and just a race like every other. The biggest difference would be our lifespan. While a normal human being can get to an age of 130 years, people from the dragon race can reach a life span of a few hundred years. And our race, can live even longer. I have no idea how long but at least longer than the others. When I was younger, my parents used to tell me stories about the gods and how there are things we shouldn¡¯t do, like meddling with the business of mortals or show our abilities, but they died when I reached the age of 6. I was raised by good friends of my parents which came from the dragon race and we lived at a distant and remote place for 4 years now. I haven¡¯t met, seen or heard of any of the other people of the race of gods and I don¡¯t think that I will in the future. In 2 years, I will finally be able to interact with a lot more people because my new parents said that when I turn 12, they will send me to the human continent to attend one of the most renowned academies there are in the world. Perhaps I will meet 1 there, but I don¡¯t really care. It is called Sonya academy and in the past, it raised many important figures of history. I heard even the human king himself attended that academy in the past. My life until now was rather boring. I haven¡¯t interacted with much people yet and all I have met with come from the dragon race. When I asked for something interesting, my new parents showed me magic which was rather interesting, until I mastered it. Since I am not allowed to leave home until I turn 12, I had nothing to do so all I did was sleep, eat and sleep again. I realised that I was being lazy much too late. I was reignited, because of a recent report which came in. In the past year a lot of new islands and even a whole new continent had been found. But the interesting part wasn¡¯t their discovery. While on the most islands new dungeons were found, some found weapons and books on others. The most interesting though was the first island which appeared, because of a certain catastrophe, everyone who went to discover it died, except 1.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The first land, which is now called the black continent even though it only has the size of an island, is located in the middle of all 5 great continents of the races. It was said that whoever could seize control over it, would gain a huge boost in an upcoming war between races. The spirits weren¡¯t interested in it at all and ignored it and the dragon race was too proud to compete for it. Those 2 decisions were the best they could have taken. While the demon and beast race received only little losses, because they used the influential adventurer guild for their plans, the humans received a huge blow. I heard that the humans lost 2 of their S rank adventurers along with 3 witches and many more. The total death amounts to 500 elite troops and they will need a long time to recover. I first had a shock until someone told me that nothing of that would influence the academies, so I was relieved. The story which was told went like this. On that island, a new danger called [Nightmare] was born. The sole survivor, which received the S rank with the title ¡°Survivor¡±, told his version of what he had seen. He talked about a dark and evil energy which killed everything it came across and a dark mana ball which announced their deaths. He has been on a boat when everything happened and was defended by a bright light in the last moment before the dreadful thing could touch him. The kings of the races, classified [Nightmare] as a SS danger and not many have gone near it since then. Everyone was too afraid of going there. There is only one single thing known about that island. Around the land, a large wall has been built and the entrance is guarded by 1 person. No one knows that person, because everyone who encounters him, either died or went missing. Most of the people who died, were those who came to fight. My goal, is to train and surpass that person and see what the black continent looks like. To achieve that goal, I will first need to train and then go to the academy to increase my knowledge in magic even further. Along the reports, that wasn¡¯t the only one which picked my interest. There were a few more. There was the rumour of the 4 heavenly kings, never travel too far to the north, south, east or west or you will encounter one of them and you will lose your life. Another one was the discovery of an item which was older than 1001 years old. It was called older, because that item was a single flower, which existed nowhere else. The rumour says, that flower can even bring back dead people but who would believe something like that. The next one was about the Traveller. The report told about a person, who appears in old runes and it looks like he is searching for something. It is not known who he is or what he searches for but he is extremely strong. The last report that picked my interest was about the A ranked adventurer Darkness. It is said that he raised his rank in only 1 and a half year from F to A rank. That achievement is unbelievable and even S rank adventurers wouldn¡¯t be able to accomplish it. I always tell myself that after seeing the black continent, I will reveal the mysteries of those other rumours and reports. Before I would be able though, I will need to train so I can beat the person who hinders my path. Arc 3 Prologue Living on my own land It has been 3 years since I first came to this island and I have been through a lot since then. Every day, I dedicated myself to expanding my domain, training and magic. Last year, I would have needed to travel to the human continent 1 year ago and attend Sonya Academy, but I had some things which hindered me from going. To explain everything I need to start from the start. Luckily water was secured with water magic so I first had to secure a steady food income or I would starve to death. After long thinking and a lot of failures, I created a new and my personal vegetation on the island. I could do it by fusing water, earth, life and creation magic together. Starting off with normal weeds until I was able to alter their appearances and types. Now I am even able to create medicine herbs, but in the beginning normal grass was everything I could do. Afterwards I tried to create trees which would bear fruits for me to eat and like that I would have created my food source. At the beginning I was barely able to create a little sapling. Trees producing fruits like apples seemed like a dream to me, but I got better and better because otherwise I would have long since starved. In the first few tries to alter their age, I killed them accidently because I made them too old. They instantly withered when I used my magic which left a bitter feeling of defeat inside me. After adjusting the right amount of time I succeeded with one edible apple on a tree. That apple, even though it looked inedible didn¡¯t kill me and helped me survive my hunger. For the beginning it was ok but I had a lot potential to grow in that category. Like that the first few weeks pasted and after a month or so, I had a few hundred trees which I modified, so they would produce me at least 1 fruit every day, so I could survive. Shortly after, I realised that my vegetation needed more, so I created insects and animals to populate my land. Insects were really easy to create, so I left them alone when I had a few of them, but animals were a lot harder and took more time. To create a living creature, I had to know the complex biological system and when I just created the heart and brain in the beginning¡­ It¡¯s better not to talk about what happened. Let¡¯s just assume they didn¡¯t survive long. With the new vegetation, which got even better every day, due to me constantly improving in some areas, those species I was able to create, flourished and reproduced. Because I was there, the animals were too afraid to fight between themselves over territory, so it has been peaceful and there were no deaths. Everyone only ate fruits. I tried to kill one of the weaker looking animals but when it looked at me with an innocent face, I wasn¡¯t able to kill it. I stopped even thinking about meat since then. I have to say, I lived a simple life, at least if you ignore the rest.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. At first everything was quiet and I could focus solely on my training, but after a while more and more challengers kept appearing all over the island. Beastmen, Dragons and humans came to kill me and seize my land. I guess spirits were just not interested and Demons avoided my Island, so I only had visitors of 3 other races. In the time I have been there, I have been able to feed the sword of dominance a lot of mana and expand my domain. Because of that, even if I was able to feel the enemies coming, it took some time to get to them and even more to defeat most of them. During that time, a lot of my animals got killed because I was late and eaten by them, which really annoyed me. My own creations lived day after day in fear. I won¡¯t deny the fact that those enemies, were also helpful to me, because I could use them as fuel for the Sword of Dominance and most of them even for fighting experience, but when a few challengers came every day, I had enough. With earth magic I built a wall around the island, which unfortunately didn¡¯t last long. The solution to that problem came much later. By coincidence I learned that the sword of dominance had some more convenient abilities. It functioned like a dungeon core. It had the ability to increase territory, the ability to create monsters, which I never used and would never use and even the ability to reinforce things in my territory with accumulated energy. After feeding it with a lot of energy every day, I was able to use that energy, to build a reinforced earth wall. Even I wouldn¡¯t be able to destroy the gate as it was now. I left 1 single entrance to my land and no challenger was able to pass. When some of them fought me, they said something like coming here to discover the secrets of the black continent or a SS monster called [Nightmare] which would come after them and kill them. After some time, I realised that they were referring to me and my island but it didn¡¯t bother me. I continued my training and more or less lived a peaceful life. A whole year, I was able to live like that. I really liked the species and the nature I created, which helped me cool down my head, when I failed for who knows how many times. After creating a lot of animals, I had to name them. But because I didn¡¯t want to name every single one of them, I only named their species. I got to know that I inherited my creativity from my father, the hard way. I started with the ones that looked like normal wolves. Because they adapted to their environment, they became much more docile and stronger. Who knows how long I tried to be creative and think of a name. It go on my nerves so I got a little bold and copied a name of an already existing race. I switched the race of god around and simply called them dogs. The other names were decided quite similar, I used a word and switched some letters and got new names. It was a lot of fun playing with them and I became quite the animal friend while looking after them, like a father would after his son. They trusted me completely and would even sleep next to me. If I was angry because for example I failed to succeed in some kind of magic experiment, I had on my mind, I could stroke them every time I wanted, to calm my heart and mind. And man that fluffiness was really unbeatable when it came down to that. Chapter 1 My people? Because I was able to calm down after every failure, I had a lot of breakthroughs, especially in magic. But after a whole year only talking to animals, a sword and myself, I got lonely. I wasn¡¯t a social person but even I felt left alone after the only contacts with other people was while fighting. Fortunately, I was also able to solve that problem. The people who came to my ¡°door¡± to fight me, sometimes brought children or slaves which were almost dead, as meat shields. When they first came, they were always alone and quite strong, but as I got stronger, they were no problem for me to defeat and they used those meat shields to distract me during a fight. Some even tried to flee leaving them behind. After they got more and I didn¡¯t need their energy for the sword of dominance anymore, I took some of them with me and healed them. It is not like I didn¡¯t need energy for that damn thing anymore, but rather that the energy of normal people wouldn¡¯t help me at all. I thought that if they didn¡¯t help me, perhaps I could help them. All in all I took in exactly 100 people. The only thing everyone had in common was that they all looked like they were under 10 years old. I still had the bitter taste of defeat regarding my age. Most of my first ¡°habitants¡± were Halfling. Second were the people who came from the beastmen race. I counted 51 Halflings of all 5 races, 32 beastmen, 14 humans and 3 dragons. All of them at deaths door and probably with no one who cared for them anymore. The only things they had in common, was that they looked rather young and deadly sick. After I would kill their master, they normally fainted because they got abused and were only able stand because they were commanded to. Some took a few months to recover, but in the end I nursed all I took in. When the first 10 awoke, it was a rather awkward situation because we didn¡¯t talk at all. When they saw me, they were rather frightened and stayed quiet. Even though they saw me in my normal human appearance of a 10 year old child and looked similar to them, they were afraid so talking was a big no for me. They imitated me and ate only things I ate and went only to places which I visited, but they never spoke 1 word. They were so fragile, that all collapsed again when they saw my animals running at us at full speed. Not to attack but because they haven¡¯t seen me in a long time, due to me staying with those kids, and missed me. When they awoke again, the first picture they had was me stroking my pets, I mean animals and feeding them some fruits. It was a peaceful scene and I think I was able to open up some of their hearts. Definitely, 2 of the children, 1 boy and 1 girl even asked me if they could stroke them too.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The relation between those 10 and me got better and when they saw me defending my island all alone, all of them opened up their hearts to me and told me the sad stories of their lives. All of them were sad and depressing and I respect them for staying alive. When they finished I wanted to tell them my story but they comforted me and kept nagging that I don¡¯t have to tell it if I don¡¯t want to. They probably were already mentally exhausted from hearing all the things that can happen to a living being. I won¡¯t go into much details because I promised them to never tell anyone, but seriously one of the 5 year old kids was used as literally a stepping stone. Who would use a cute 5 year old beastmen kid as stepping stones? From that it was obvious that they are now happy to have a happy live in front of them. Afterwards, we became quite friendly and I asked them to take care of their housing themselves. When they had spare time they were responsible to calm those down who newly awoke. It was like having my own little village on my own little island and I was the village head. Another year passed and all of my 100 habitants woke up and immigrated into the newly build houses and society. Because they were abandoned slaves, they had no names but because I used up all of my creativity, they had to wait until I find one or they found a name for themselves. I continued my training every day, but I would sometimes help them if they would encounter some problems, like information about the nature I created. They always wanted to learn something new and often asked me things about the world, about magic, they were happy with anything I would tell them. Because they were kids and mostly slaves, they had no idea of the world and I was the one who had to teach them. But then again like helping them, teaching them turned out a lot more interesting that I had anticipated it would be. When every single one of my 100 village people calmed down and adjusted to their new kind of life, I wanted to talk to them. I was planning to tell them my story without lies, so they would understand it that I would want to restrict them in certain ways. But before that, I had to make some rules for them. They were not allowed to tell outsiders about me, not allowed to fight amongst themselves because of personal interest and last but not least were not allowed to harm any of my pets. ¡°This here is my island, the territory which I created with magic. It is called in a certain way by outsiders but I think it is a nice name so I decided to just call it black continent. And you guys, from now on, are the inhabitants of my black continent.¡±(Me) I mentioned story without lies but never said the whole story. I would keep my real name, race and the goal to defeat that enemy in the future to myself. Chapter 2 the 3rd year The children which I started calling villagers, which fit perfectly because they called me leader, teacher, big brother, etc. sat around me and listened to my story carefully. I told them about how I ran away from home, my first encounter with Kylie, our time in the guild together. When I started talking about what happened at the island, they first looked like they understood how I came here, and then when I talked about my battle and how I lost Kylie, they were silently listening. Carefully not to miss any of my words. I found it funny but when I reached the end of my story and sighed depressed, all the children around me started crying and tried to comfort me. When they finally stopped crying, I came to the important part. I told them my plans of leaving in one year and had to prepare them for that. When they heard that, they all were down and almost lost their hopes again but I succeeded comforting them by telling them that I would come back as often as possible and won¡¯t leave them. To support that, I showed them my school invitation and said that I needed to meet someone there. They understood my reasoning and were happy that I wouldn¡¯t abandon them. After 2 whole years on my island and experimenting with magic I had my biggest breakthrough. After painstakingly combining magic system with magic system and repeat again, I was seriously able to ¡°break through¡±. I was able to break my own guild card.
Name Hikaru
Race God
Unique Ability Darkness, Sword of Dominance, Magic, Control
That was all. I have never heard of anything like that and I searched for a way to turn it back for hours. At least I knew what the cause for it was. I was able to master a lot more magic systems then before. I called every type of magic a magic system because every time I would use a different kind of magic, it felt like completely different energy. After creating a lot of systems, Magic showed up in the column of unique ability. When I started to look further into magic and tried to understand how it works, I realised, that chanting or preparing for a spell were totally unnecessary steps for the usage of magic. It is only a way to keep yourself focused or to remember the feeling of how the mana had to flow. But the only thing necessary for using magic was your fantasy and control over mana, everything else was useless. With that thought, I invented instant casting and my last unique ability control.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Control means the mastery over a magic system and using it how you will it to. For example when I first used my black mana and beheaded the enemy, I was only thinking about what my magic should look like. Same method for the unique ability control. At least I had an even easier time beating my enemies when those two abilities broke my guild card. Days became weeks, weeks became months. The 2nd year flew by in an instant because I had lots of fun with the villagers and my pets. I would have needed to leave for the Academy then but I haven¡¯t been thinking about that at all. So in the 3rd year of living on my island, I started to teach the inhabitants of my island magic, for self-defence, cooking for their everyday survival and other important stuff. Even though I said cooking it was basically only me showing them which fruits they can eat or how they can mix its flavour with berries or similar stuff to match their tastes. I actually had no idea how to cook but they believed it was called like that because I said so. They believed in me that much. Later I explained it though. Most of them were terrible at magic. I couldn¡¯t get too mad at them because first of all they were only kids and were even slaves before so reading and writing was new land for them and second, most of them were beastmen which are famous for having the least amount of talent for magic, or at least that was something I heard from the adventurers which used them as baits before they died. I have never taught someone something in my life before and was really bad at the beginning. I told them how I learned it, how I understood it, how I used magic, but after seeing that they made little to no progress, I knew I had to change my methods of teaching. Because I failed to teach them, I planned to stop training them in magic for a while and wanted to solely focus on how they could survive without me. When I told them that, they apologized for being incompetent or bad or something like that, which made me depressed so I explained that it was my fault for being a bad teacher. Before we started our survival training though, Sepp, one of the youngest kids and also one of the few who understood a little bit of the basic magic, which I wanted to teach them, said a rather simple but at the same time profound thing. ¡°When you go away why don¡¯t you just use magic to come back to us when we have problems and need help?¡±(Sepp) I have never thought about convenient ways to use magic, only how I could use it in an actual battle but those few childish words woke me up. It was a brilliant idea to create something to travel over a far distance. I already had a short distance travel spell for fleeing from a fight or closing a distance for a surprise attack. I created Teleportation with Space magic to move from one point to another in an instant. The problem was that Teleportation is really exhausting and is only possible in my field of vision. So when I am far away at the academy it would be impossible to use it to come back. I had to think of some other way. Because I had a really deep understanding in magic and the unique ability control, creating such a kind of long distance spell wouldn¡¯t be the problem. The challenging part was to think of a way to minimize my mana output when I travel such a distance. If my villagers needed my help against an enemy and I would arrive here with no mana left than everything would be useless. It was hard but I eventually stopped thinking about it shortly after I began because there would eventually come a way to my mind, but I had to focus on training them first. I had another understanding because of that single sentence. If I wanted to teach something, it wasn¡¯t good if I explained how I understood it, it would be much better if I explain it in the easiest way there is to explain. I was born as a God and understood everything which I put my mind into it because I didn¡¯t have to worry about survival, but they were different. They had to fight for their food every day. They didn¡¯t have a childhood and no one to teach them anything. It was all my fault in trying to teach them something which they couldn¡¯t be able to understand. Chapter 3 the 3rd year (2) I knew if I would give another try in magic and try to explain it in an easy way, like mother did, it would also be a little bit too hard for them and they would lose all of their motivation and would be depressed. The best solution for this was by separating them into smaller groups and teaching them differently. But then again, I would waste important time to prepare them for the future. Nothing came to my mind at first but when I remembered Kylie, I also remembered how she taught me common sense. If I wrote them books and teach them, at least how to read, I could save a lot of time. I didn¡¯t have that much books because my only supply were those from my [space inventory], so I had to write some basic ones myself. Creating paper and something to write with was easy with Control. As long as I knew the components of something, I could create every kind of basic needs. I started with writing every letter of the alphabet down on a sheet and tried to teach them how to read. When I did it like that, I had to calm down or I would have beaten up a lot of them because there were at least 20 children who fell asleep when I talked. They were even less interested in reading then learning magic which they weren¡¯t able to understand at all. They complained a lot about that even though we had little time left. They didn¡¯t make any progress with reading but memorized the names of animals and plants from my land immediately, which got me thinking. I eventually thought that they were just bored with only seeing letters so I tried to paint things and write words under it for them to learn. With that I was able to teach those kids a lot more efficiently. Even though my paintings were crap, which made them laugh a lot, they understood their meanings. With my picture book, they learned the alphabet in the time of a month. When they were able to read, I could finally start giving them books to read. I wrote a book of the plants and trees which are growing on the island, I wrote one explaining magic, about the animals, etc. I had so much fun writing those books that I totally forgot about everything else. For a whole week, I ate almost nothing and solely focused on writing. I looked like a madman and the kids were really scared of me dying because of how I ignored the state of my health. I got thinner and lighter. I was not really healthy for a child after that 1 week. They came to me and stopped me after the 7th day. It was hard for them, because they couldn¡¯t beat invaders yet and didn¡¯t want to witness anymore destruction of their new home. I came back to reality. Because of my ignorance, my body was in a rather bad shape, in which I wouldn¡¯t be able to defend the island anytime in the future. Luckily it was enough to kill those who already arrived and started to destroy everything. After rebuilding most of the things destroyed, I needed to start fixing my body, too. I ate a lot more fruits and started training harder than I ever did. I told myself to regulate myself in order for the same thing not to happen twice.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I finished writing a lot of books in that short amount of time, which I gave the kids for the time being. At least they could finally read, so they had to bear with self-study for the time being. It took another 3 weeks to return my body to its peak. The next 2 months, I separated them into groups. I taught them how to control mana and how to combine it with the nature. About 50 of them were rather good in magic and learned how to use at least 1 element. I decided to teach them based on their element and divided them into 6 groups containing of the children which could use that basic element. 12 for fire, 7 for water, 9 for earth, 9 for wind, while 10 for light and only 3 for darkness. I was depressed for the rest of that day and they had to do self-study again. The other 50 kids, were more interested in the vegetation I created or in building something, body strength, blacksmithing, etc. I let them do the things they wanted to and agreed to write them a few notes or a book if they need any help. The 5 children who wanted to train their body, woke up early every day to run laps or do push ups. Sometimes they would want to fight me but I always won so they eventually gave up on the thought of beating me. Because everyone was more or less satisfied how things had been, I solely focused on training the magic group and finding a solution to my problem. It took 2 more months until I finally had at least an idea on how to travel over far distances. Indirectly, it was Sepp¡¯s idea. When I told them how advanced magic works, most of them understood nothing at all. Those who didn¡¯t just wanted to increase their mana capacity and gain a better control over the element they had and play with magic, those who understood at least a bit, stuck to me and learned. It were actually only 3 children. 1 of them was Sepp, who was a human and turned out to be more or less a magic genius, if you wouldn¡¯t count me that is. Another 1 called Sandra, a human girl, also with a lot of potential. And the last, the oldest out of all 100 children, with the age of 10, called Horan, a pure blood dragon. No one knew why he ended up as a slave but he didn¡¯t want to talk about it, so we never asked him. All 3 of them had only 1 thing in common. They could all use the element of darkness, which made me proud, at first. Next instant, I was sad because I knew that if only those 3 who learned my strongest element were able to comprehend what advanced magic was, then I would turn out to be a lousy teacher, again. I couldn¡¯t do much about it. When Sepp learned how to control his 2nd element light, he gained a much better understanding of the usage of mana and came up with the perfect idea. In order for me to instantly travel over a far distance, I could use something to store mana in it. If I ever had the need to teleport back, I could use the saved up mana for that. It was a brilliant idea and so the next 4 months were used to produce results by me. I let the children do self-study most of the time and concentrated on finishing my mana storage item. It was a little black stone, which I created in a similar way like I created my [space inventory]. I marked the exact position I wanted to travel to with a mana circle. While I focused on the teleportation, my students only made some minor breakthroughs. With only their strength, they wouldn¡¯t be able to defend the island. The last 4 months, I focused on training my 3 little geniuses, so they could defend the black continent while I would be gone. When those last 4 months came to an end, I had to leave or I wouldn¡¯t be able to attend Sonya academy anymore. Before I left, I first made sure that those 3 were definitely able to defend the island. I let them go to hell and out again. Second, I made sure that I know in which direction I needed to go and lastly I assembled everyone near the gate to say them my farewells. ¡°I¡¯ll be on my way now guys. Don¡¯t miss me too much, I will come back. Make sure that you manage this little continent well while I¡¯m gone.¡±(Me) With that I turned around and left through the gates. Naturally I used magic to fly and would avoid falling into the sea at all cost. I wasn¡¯t able to forget what it did to me. Chapter 4 Arriving at Sonya academy In the last few months before I left, I tested out the new teleportation a few times. If I would sacrifice half of my mana every day, I would be able to use it twice a week. It works really well. When I activate it, I get transported to the designed area and would leave the black stone behind where I was and if I want to go back, I would be transported to back to my last position. It was not good to use in a battle but in the end it was just for me to come back and check on the children. The 4 months I used to train my 3 favourite students, were also really fun, at least for me, and I was relieved knowing that they would be able to defend the island against most enemies. In order for them to hide their appearances and to be able to give them some little gifts, I created 1 hood for every single one of the 100 children. Knowing that they will survive for a while even without me, I left. I made sure to fly in the direction where the human continent was located at. For the first time in 3 tries, I was able to reach my destination alone and without any problems. Perhaps it was only a short distance of a few kilometres, but for me personally and moreover, mentally, it was a huge step to overcome my traumatic experience. I flew for a few hours and luckily I didn¡¯t come across any other people. With that I know that at least there are less to no humans who tried to go to the black continent for now. I reached a remote place to land and rested a few minutes before I advanced further. With my [space inventory] back, there was no problems with my rations, water or any other stuff I would need, I had everything stored in there. After resting, I proceeded into the direction of Sonya city, the 2nd largest human city and also the city where Sonya academy was located in. After 3 days travelling, I arrived at the nearest town to Sonya city. Over the days staying in villages and towns on my way, I heard all sorts of rumours. Some of them were about me and the island, some other about all the other spotted islands, some were about famous adventurers. What made me wonder, was that I as the adventurer Darkness was somehow raised to the S rank and received the title ¡°the black adventurer¡±. Nice that I have to hear that from rumours and not from the people in charge. Because I was an S ranked, I wasn¡¯t able to reveal the identity of Darkness anymore. If I would, I would have caused a huge commotion either with the name Darkness or with the second Nightmare, both were a no-go. Because I went out of names I could use, I had to say my real one if someone asked for my name now. Luckily no one did yet and the earliest I would have to reveal it was when I arrive at the academy. On my way a lot of people asked me why a kid like me was traveling alone, or that there are a lot of bad guys out there who would try to kill me, etc. They asked me if I wouldn¡¯t want to come along with them but I refused every single one of them. Why should I even bother trusting someone I didn¡¯t know, after what happened to me 3 years ago. The children back on the island were the only exception and I mean that. Even if I needed to find the other gods and work together with them I wouldn¡¯t trust them.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Because I wasn¡¯t able to take any quests from the guild anymore, I was relatively short on money and only spent it for inns and entrance fees. This was bad because after travelling with a merchant to Sonya city and paying the fee I was left with 1 single silver coin, which I probably spent on some random person. Or to be honest, it was swiped from me, when I was in a crowd of people. At least it was only 1 silver coin and nothing else from my [space inventory], so it didn¡¯t really bother me. To be on the safe side, I checked 4 or 5 times if I had everything else. I had no money and no interest going anywhere else so I headed straight for Sonya academy. I think my biggest question at that moment was if the city was named after the academy or the other way around but to my disappointment that question was never answered. When I reached the academy, I already had my first problem. In front of the entrance there were a lot of people waiting in a queue. Most of them looked rather young and the others were probably only their guards or family members. Did I already mention that there were a lot of people in that queue? When I finally reached the gate and entered, the sun was already beginning to set. I arrived at some sort of counter and had to show my invitation. I told them that I had some issues I had to attend to and came late. Because I was 1 year late, I had to take at least a test or I would have to start in the 1st year, but because it was already getting late and they had their hands full of things to do, 1 of them showed me around, brought me to the boy¡¯s dormitory, gave me a key for a room and told me that he would come back the next day so he could take me to the testing grounds. The dormitory was huge. Not as big as the academy but at least half its size. Especially in height it was not far inferior and that had a specific reason. There are 8 years in which you can attend the academy and both the girl¡¯s and the boy¡¯s dormitory had 8 floors, 1 for every year. It would always be possible for students to leave but because of the reputation you would get by graduating from Sonya academy almost everyone stayed. Floor 1 was used by 1st year till floor 8 was used by last year students. Moreover the students had some weird kind of hierarchical system. If you were a 1st year you would be regarded as a freshman, from 2nd to 4th you were an underclassman, from 5th to 7th you were mid class and 8th year students were called upperclassman. At least that system didn¡¯t apply to obedience but only to respect. When I first entered the dormitory, I got some awkward gazes from the students when I went to the stairs and up to the 2nd floor. I could understand them though, they saw me waiting in line with them and now I was going up the 2nd floor. I didn¡¯t mind them and just searched for my room. As I reached the next floor, I got even more nervous gazes and some of the boys started to whisper things to each other. It was already late and because of me running and waiting in line all day, I was really tired and just wanted to find my room and go to sleep without causing any trouble on my first day. Therefore, I just looked back at them for a second and then hurried to find the room with the number 222, which was a really odd number by the way and also hard to find on that huge floor. I somehow managed to find it and was relieved when I entered it. After closing the door, I lied down on the bed provided, ignoring everything else and fell asleep almost instantly. With that my first stressful day at Sonya academy came to an end. Chapter 5 Test I was woken up by a shrill noise. When I opened my eyes and looked around, I noticed that the noise was coming from a little box, which was displaying an odd number of 7:45. I had no idea what it was but after I pressed the only button, it finally shut up. I wasn¡¯t able to sleep again afterwards, so I stood up. I wanted to leave but before I opened the door, I saw a sheet of paper beneath it. I picked it up and read it. I actually had to decipher it because the handwriting was really crappy. ¡°Know your place and go back to the 1st year truant.¡± Whatever That was the only thing I could think about that note. I burned the paper with fire magic, left the room, went downstairs and left the boy¡¯s dormitory. The guy who guided me the day before was already waiting and before I could bombard him with questions he shut me short. ¡°My name is Harrell Klein and I am a magic teacher of Sonya academy. I know you have a lot of questions but keep them to yourself, as I am not your personal guide. Follow me your test will begin as soon as we reach the testing ground.¡±(Klein) What an unfriendly fellow he was but I just quietly followed him until we reached a remote hall and entered it. Inside there were a few people, a desk with a seat and some sheets on the table. ¡°First please fill out that test of basic knowledge, afterwards we will test your magic affinity.¡±(Klein) I did as he instructed and filled out what I knew. A lot was just basic mathematics, while another part was answering some basic questions about magic and such. The last part was common knowledge and probably easy points. Unfortunately not for me as I had none. When I finished I gave the sheets back to them and when they finished assessing it, they gave me and awkward look. ¡°You passed, but you really neither know the name of our capital nor the name of our king?¡±(Klein) ¡°Nope, no idea.¡±(Me) I smiled at him and he replied with a sigh and we went on to the magic affinity test in which I had to hold myself back a lot. I passed it with ease would be nice to say but I had a hard time trying to refrain my mana from overflowing. Luckily I had a basic understanding of how much mana a normal kid with 11 years would have. Mostly because of the children back at my island. After I passed their tests, Klein gave me a card similar to my guild card.
Name Hikaru
Year 2nd yearSupport the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Main Course Basic Magic, Homeroom
Side Course/s /
Contribution points 0
¡°This is your student card, keep it save because it will bring you a lot of advantages when you have more points. You should decide on the 2 side courses you want to take first.¡±(Klein) He handed me a sheet which listed about 40 names, all the side courses which were available. I looked over it a few times and there were 3 side courses which especially picked my interest. Crafting, cooking and painting sounded nice, but were not that important to me to learn. I didn¡¯t need more than the weapons I could make myself, the food I could take from the island and painting was only interesting because it annoyed me that my students laughed about my skills. Unfortunate Klein said that I could only take 2, so I had to decide. The first thing, a magic I have never heard anything about called rune magic. The second was martial arts, while the third was something similar called Ki arts. It was a hard decision and when Klein saw that I would take some time to decide, he got impatient and showed it on his dissatisfied face. ¡°Have you finally decided? If you can¡¯t decide in the next 10 seconds I will pick 2 for you.¡±(Klein) In the end I went with rune magic and martial arts for side courses.
Name Hikaru
Year 2nd year
Main Course Basic Magic, Homeroom
Side Courses Rune Magic, martial arts
Contribution points 0
¡°A really odd combination but not really my problem. Your class is room 2-C, your homeroom teacher will tell you were your other courses will be. You should hurry up by the way your classes will begin at 9 a.m. If you have any questions ask your classmates and don¡¯t bother the teachers. The only rule you have to follow is that you are not allowed to kill any students, the rest is up to you.¡±(Klein) With that the teachers turned around and left. I stood there for some time until I remembered that my class will soon start. I had absolutely no idea where room 2-C was and to my disappointment there was no map nor anybody else I could ask where it was. I went straight to the main building, passing some kind of garden, other facilities and a smithy. 1 thing I somehow knew was, that the round thing with numbers on the big tower in the centre of the academy showed the time Klein was talking about. If I understood everything correctly, I only had half an hour left to find the classroom. When I reached the main building, I asked everyone I met, but most were in a hurry themselves, while the others didn¡¯t want to bother. If all the teachers and students were that unfriendly, I would have had a hard time. Luckily, 4 other students, which seemed rather friendly, noticed that I was in a pinch and came to help me. ¡°What is your problem fellow student? My name is William L Matthews and I would really like to help a fellow students if possible.¡±(William) ¡°Sorry to bother you but I am kind of lost. It would be nice if you could tell me where room 2-C is?¡±(Me) The one in the front who seemed like the leader of their little group suggested that they would guide me to the classroom. I simply smiled and replied with a nod of my head. I followed them inside the main building. Before we entered through the main door, I felt something. I knew exactly what it was because I was confronted with it all the time in the past. It was a faint feeling of someone directing his bloodlust in my direction. I stopped and turned in the direction the bloodlust was coming from. Unknowingly, I leaked a tiny bit of my own bloodlust, which without a doubt scared the other person, because as soon as the other party felt my own bloodlust, he fled. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to see that person. ¡°Is something the matter?¡±(William) ¡°No sorry, I was just in awe of how big this academy is.¡±(Me) ¡°Is that so?¡±(William) He smiled turned around and I followed them inside again. We went through a big hall and I saw that Sonya academy had a lot of different classrooms. Some were open and I looked inside when we passed them. Sometimes I saw students start whispering when we passed them, but I was already familiar with that. The group of 4 guided me down some stairs and we went through a door and entered a small room with some desks seats and a board at the front. After I entered, they closed the door and William said something, I already read the same morning. ¡°You should have known your place and start in the 1st year like everybody else would. Don¡¯t hate us for what we have to do.¡±(William) Chapter 6 An awkward start ¡°You should have known your place and start in the 1st year like everybody else would. Don¡¯t hate us for what we have to do.¡±(William) I knew what they wanted to do, but unfortunately they picked the wrong target. I need them to guide me to the classroom, so I should stay in 1 piece. Moreover I shouldn¡¯t break the only rule here on my first day. Actually this can get funny, let¡¯s play along for now. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you want from me. Also I don¡¯t think that this is the room 2-C.¡±(Me) When I said that, they first looked at each other and back at me. Shortly after they started laughing and William explained that obvious situation to like I was some idiot. ¡°You surely were spoiled by your parents, otherwise you wouldn¡¯t be that dumb. I¡¯ll explain the situation you are in to you. You are not in room 2-C you are correct. Let me tell you something, the 4 of us are actually your classmates and we don¡¯t need someone incompetent who comes 1 year late in our class. Until you voluntarily attend the 1st year and stop bothering us, you will come down here and get beaten by us every day.¡±(William) I couldn¡¯t really remember getting spoiled by my parents and everything else was some random bullshit, but it would definitely get funny if I play with them for a bit. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why should I come down here and get beaten by you, even worse every day? I have better things to do.¡±(Me) After I said that I could see veins popping up on William¡¯s head and I had to refrain myself from laughing. ¡°You sure don¡¯t seem afraid of us. Perhaps I should tell you that all 4 of us have attended the side courses swordsmanship as well as body strengthening, so in addition to being a first class magician, we are also strong warriors. Are you finally scared of us?¡±(William) Perhaps I should tell you that I am probably a few times stronger than the 4 of you combined and can use stronger magic than most adults. I almost said those thoughts out loud but could luckily keep them to myself. ¡°No not really.¡±(Me)Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I could see the colour of their faces go from normal to red and from red to blue because of their anger. It was so funny that I couldn¡¯t restrain myself anymore and let loose of a little laugh, which they unfortunately heard. ¡°So you think this is funny?!¡±(William) ¡°What else are you 4 when you can change the colour of your heads to red and blue?¡±(Me) I said mockingly. Oddly enough they calmed down. ¡°Ok so in addition to being stupid you are also a clown? We actually only planned to beat you up, but now we have to keep our honour.¡±(William) Which honour? The 1 were you gang up on a single person? If that is true, I would rather not have it. ¡°Guys we have to at least help our fellow classmate to remember who the boss is right?¡±(William) The others just laughed and nodded to his question. 1 of them went to a locker in the corner of the classroom, opened it and took out 4 swords, which he distributed amongst them. ¡°Now let¡¯s see if you can still laugh after losing a finger or even your whole hand.¡±(William) ¡°Isn¡¯t it against the rules?¡±(Me) ¡°As long as you don¡¯t kill another student, you can do whatever you want. It¡¯s the losing person¡¯s fault for being so weak.¡±(William) ¡°Eh, that is something interesting. Would have been nice if they told me at least that much. Thanks for the info man, but I suggest you to stop now. If you don¡¯t want to listen, don¡¯t blame me for hurting you guys.¡±(Me) Interesting, now they even have purple as head colour? ¡°Get this piece of trash!¡±(William) He shouted and they attacked me. At first, I was on guard because I expected a surprise attack or a strong technique, at least I expected something, but all they did was blindly storming at me with their swords raised above their heads to slice me. Also their speed, when I first started to train my students, they were at least twice as fast as those 4 idiots and those students were slaves, while those 4 attacking me studied and trained at one of the most famous academies for a whole year. ¡°Sigh. What a disappointment.¡±(Me) I dodged their swings and tapped all 4 of them lightly on their shoulders to bring them off balance. In the next instance, I moved between them, hit them in their necks and put them all K.O, while reaching the closed door. I put my hand on the doorknob and opened the door. Before I left I turned around once more. ¡°See you later in class.¡±(Me) I smirked and left them lying on the floor. When I walked up the stairs, I bumped into a girl. She was clearly in a hurry and didn¡¯t see me at all and therefore wasn¡¯t able to stop, so we collided at full speed. She fell to the ground, while I remained where I stood without feeling much impact. What an awkward situation. It seems like I am attracting those situations today. I extended my left hand to help the girl stand up. She was first rubbing her head with which she bumped into me and took my helping hand after she saw me. ¡°I am really sorry, I am in a hurry to reach class 2-C.¡±(Girl) She said stood up and started to run again. When I realised that she was heading to my destination, I followed her. Luckily, I had good senses and could leisurely walk to the classroom, now that I knew where it was. When I reached the closed door with the sign ¡°2-C¡± on it I halted for a second. ¡°Are you perhaps our late comer?¡±(?) From behind, where I was coming from, I heard a friendly voice, which definitely came from a women. I turned around and answered her question. ¡°That is right. My name is Hikaru and I was told to come to this classroom.¡±(Me) ¡°How cute.¡±(Woman) I was called all sorts of things before but I think it is the first time that someone told me I was cute. ¡°Ahaha, sorry that slipped my tongue, don¡¯t mind it please. My name is Amelie Rain and I am your homeroom teacher. Wait a moment I¡¯ll go inside and then let me introduce you to the class.¡±(Amelie) Amelie went inside the classroom and I could barely hear anything she said. After a few seconds, she opened the door and gestured me to come inside. When I was standing in front of the board, I turned to face my classmates. ¡°Hi everyone, my name is Hikaru and I hope we will get along well in the future.¡±(Me) I said and smiled at them. To my surprise I got a weird reply from some of them. ¡°Ehhhh?!¡± Chapter 7 First day of school I stood there not knowing what I should do with such an awkward reply from most of my classmates. Luckily, my homeroom teacher caught up quickly and rescued me from the stare of 15 children. ¡°Well thanks for your short introduction take a seat, I will start explaining everything regarding this year. Keep your questions for Hikaru for the break please and you are all in the same class so support each other in the future.¡±(Amelie) She smiled and I was really thankful to her for covering up my awkward introduction. I did as she said and took a seat in the back near a window. When I sat down everyone looked at me. ¡°Now, now, please don¡¯t pressure your new classmate like that, I am sure he will answer your questions in the break. By the way does anyone know where William¡¯s gang went again?¡±(Amelie) When she saw that no one knew where they went she gave up and continued. ¡°As far as I know all of you have already picked their side courses. Some of you the same as last year while others new. As you guys know, you will hear every other important info from your course teacher.¡±(Amelie) She clapped her hands and smiled. ¡°Well now that we don¡¯t have anything to do on the first day, let¡¯s see how much you guys improved with your control over mana.¡±(Amelie) Please don¡¯t ask me to do the same. Please don¡¯t. As if she read my mind she looked at me. ¡°Because you came late Hikaru, you have to catch up in magic studies. Homeroom is just basic information, which everyone should have. Like mathematic for example. I will arrange a special library card for you so you can catch up with everyone. For now just watch your classmates.¡±(Amelie) I was relieved that she didn¡¯t want me to do more and just watched the other¡¯s control over mana. They were all just letting a ball of mana floating in the air and were trying to act cool by letting it fly around. I watched some of them closely but they were nothing special and my students were a lot better than them, even in that stupid boasting about their skills they were better. After looking at all of them, I could say that the girl who bumped into me before had the most talent in at least mana control.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I thought that until someone in our class made a little mistake. One other girl who was clearly envious, tried to use fire magic, fused the ball of mana with the element of fire but totally lost control over it. Amelie didn¡¯t notice at first and when she did, it was already too late. The ball of chaotic fire magic exploded. The girl with the good mana control got unlucky and was directly next to it. The explosion hit most of the students, but the teacher was at least able to provide basic protection to those who stood near the explosion. Targeting more people for a spell is something rather hard, but that wasn¡¯t the thing which caught my attention. Shortly before the explosion occurred, I wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed the instability. When I activated my mana shield to defend myself against unnecessary damage, I noticed a stare and someone definitely used a high class mana shield to protect the unlucky girl nearest to the explosion. Because of the smoke, I wasn¡¯t able to see who it was, but at least I know that we had a special individual in our class, who was trying to hide his skills. When the smoke lifted, everyone saw that the classroom was half destroyed. Windows were broken, desks burnt and everything else near the explosion was also gone. Poor books, which I will never be able to read, rest in peace. Amelie was nervous after the smoke was gone, because there could have been students hurt and that was more or less her responsibility. But as I saw the situation, with her providing basic protection and that special individual protecting that girl, no one should have been hurt from such a little explosion. There were only 1 or 2 girls that were slightly injured and had to go to the infirmary. The girl who tried to use fire magic was scolded for her stupid attempt and we others were released from class. I was really interested in going around school but for that I would have needed a guide, otherwise I would get lost again. Luckily, because I was knew, a lot of people of my class came to me and asked some basic questions. For example my favourite colour, which was black, or why I was 1 year late, etc. I answered those fast and tried to organize me a guide. To my disappointment, most of them already had something to do. When all hope seemed lost for me, a group of 3 people came to me and suggested guiding me through the school building. 1 of those 3 was the unlucky girl, called Sakura and when I showed them a look like a hungry wolf would after not being able to eat anything for a long time I got angry gazes from the other 2 of the group. The 2 others were both boys. 1 called Haruto and the other 1 Ryo. They also only told me their first names, because actually your last name was something like your true name and you shouldn¡¯t tell it someone you didn¡¯t trust completely. The only people who would go around shouting around their last name were idiots and nobles. Sakura went outside first and after she left I got some serious stares from the other 2. To let them not hate me, I declined their suspicious, pointed in Sakura¡¯s direction, smiled and said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry guys I am not your rival.¡± They directly dropped their angry act and we started to get rather friendly with each other. We met up with Sakura outside. When we arrived, I could see someone else waiting with her. ¡°Yo Haruto, Ryo. I heard what happened from Sakura just now. Are any of you hurt?¡±(Boy) ¡°Luckily no one got hurt that badly.¡±(Ryo) ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. Ah, by the way I see a new face. Let me guess you were the person who came 1 year late right? My name is Takeshi, nice to meet you.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°My name is Hikaru, nice to meet you too.¡±(Me) With that our short introduction was over and they guided me through the school grounds. We went around and I saw almost everything of Sonya academy in a single day. What exhausted me even more was, that those 4 were really too talkative. When someone started a conversation I had the thought of killing that person because that conversation would need hours to end. Chapter 8 Let鈥檚 play a little mind game We finished our tour when the sun was setting and everyone made a weird handshake with Sakura and when she saw that I didn¡¯t know what happened, she extended her hand to me. With a smile she wanted me to make a handshake with her, which I did more than willingly. In a split second where we made the handshake, I left some of my mana hidden in hers. I didn¡¯t target her but the person protecting her with that. After saying good night to Sakura, we went to the boy¡¯s dormitory and to our own rooms. The day before a lot of people gave me weird stares, but only 1 day later everyone already ignored my present. I guess that I wasn¡¯t a hot topic everyone would talk about anymore. I sat down in my bed and waited for my guest to arrive. I definitely underestimated that person. I waited a few hours and my ¡°clock¡± showed that it was 24:00. I got that name from 1 of the conversations of my guides from the day before. It was really boring that he didn¡¯t intend to show up, so I thought that I had to help him with his decision a little bit. Even if I am far away, as long as I have stored my own mana somewhere, I would be able to feel and control it. That was 1 of the things I experienced while creating my far distance teleportation. The problem was, what to do. I didn¡¯t have any intention of hurting a girl as nice and friendly as Sakura, so I had to let it seem like I am hurting her to lure out her secret protector. While thinking about what I could do, I had a good idea. I left my room and walked to the nearby park of the academy. Did I already mention that Sonya academy was huge? When I entered the park, I hid in a tree and waited a few minutes. I hoped that the person I was looking for at least noticed that I did something to Sakura and that he would follow me if I made my move. After waiting for a few minutes, someone finally showed up. Strange as it was, it definitely wasn¡¯t the person I have been looking for but the group of 4 I beat in the morning of the same day. They probably wanted to get revenge and followed me in secret. ¡°Didn¡¯t he say that this trash Hikaru went to the park?!¡±(William)The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°I definitely saw him coming here, he can¡¯t be far let¡¯s search for him.¡±(1 of Will¡¯s gang) ¡°If I find him, I¡¯m gonna beat the shit out of him and get revenge for what he did to us this morning!¡±(William) I don¡¯t believe you¡¯d be able to but you can try as often as you want, the result will be the same as last time, though. I didn¡¯t let myself get angry over his mocking shouts and only watched them move around searching for me. Suddenly I remembered what this idiot said a moment before, he said something about another person telling them my location. ¡°If this is how you want to play, I¡¯ll gladly tag along to your games.¡±(Me) I said in a low voice, while smiling. In the next second, I jumped down from the tree I was hiding and showed myself to the group of 4 idiots. They saw me jumping down, took out their swords and stormed at me like last time, while I also dodged and knocked them out like before. The only difference was, that I was a lot fiercer that time, to make sure they were and stayed unconsciousness. ¡°I¡¯m not really patient. I¡¯ll give you 10 seconds to show yourself, if you don¡¯t, I will do something to Sakura. You should at least have noticed that I did something to her before.¡±(Me) I got no reply. I stayed resolute and adjusted to the situation. ¡°Just for your information, if you thought you could somehow hinder me from hurting her if you don¡¯t confront me head on and with all you got, you are definitely wrong. I don¡¯t even need to be near her, the mana I inserted into hers will do what I command it. I¡¯ll start counting down now.¡±(Me) Again, I got no reply. ¡°10!¡±(Me) When I suddenly started shouting, I noticed that I made him nervous, because somewhere in a bush near the entrance of the park I could perceive slight movements. ¡°Found you.¡±(Me) I said in a low voice. I collected my mana near my feet, used a combination of fire and wind magic to boost my momentum and rushed into the direction. The person was first in shock but knew that he needed to get away from his position and tried to run away. He covered his face with clothes, so I couldn¡¯t recognise him. Unfortunately, even if he was that prepared, he picked the wrong person for that kind of game. ¡°9!¡±(Me) I clearly disrupted his movements with my shout. He stumbled a bit and lost most of his speed. That split second was more than enough for me to catch up to him. He tried to intimidate me by sending his bloodlust my way. I recognised that bloodlust. It was the same as that morning. I smiled and as I did in the morning, I exerted my own and in addition to that let the black mana leak. Only a bit though, it wasn¡¯t enough for me to enter my black form. I grabbed his shoulder and stopped his escape attempt. ¡°I think I won this game, don¡¯t you agree?¡±(Me) Still being a little scared he nodded clearly unwillingly. After calming down, I let go of him and he turned around. He undid his masking and I saw his face. He seemed to keep a rather cool head even in such a situation. He knew that I knew him and he knew as long as he would do as I said, I wouldn¡¯t do anything to Sakura. I was somewhat sorry to even take those clever thoughts away from him. This hide and seek was fun but now let¡¯s focus on achieving total victory. I put on a wicked smile after my thoughts. This obviously made him feel uncomfortable. ¡°Well the hunter and the prey finally meet each other. Am I not right Takeshi Dragon?¡±(Me) Chapter 9 Exchange through the night ¡°Well the hunter and the prey finally meet each other. Am I not right Takeshi Dragon?¡±(Me) After I said those words, Takeshi put up his guard and made a serious face. He did a fighting stance and looked at me like he needed to kill me, even if it would be the last thing he would do. I noticed that he would really get serious when he collected mana from the outside and attacked me. ¡°Oy, oy, calm down, I am not here to fight.¡±(Me) I said while barely dodging his fist attacks. He definitely wouldn¡¯t calm down as his attacks got fiercer and fiercer. I would have been able to beat him easily if I got serious, but that wasn¡¯t my goal. ¡°Stop it, I am not here to fight against you.¡±(Me) ¡°What else are you trying to do by threatening me? Playing a game with me?¡±(Takeshi) That was actually exactly what I wanted but I couldn¡¯t tell him that or I wouldn¡¯t have any chances to calm him down anymore. ¡°How else was I supposed to find you?¡±(Me) ¡°Why do you even need to find me, who the hell are you?¡±(Takeshi) I really hated it that he could think of an answer in a matter of seconds while I needed a lot more time. Probably because I needed more concentration on defence than he needed on offence. ¡°If you would stop your attacks first, I could tell you.¡±(Me) ¡°Why should I believe you, there are a lot of people who would misuse my trust.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°You have a point there.¡±(Me) I knew a lot of those people, so I could understand him. However, I needed him to listen to me somehow, I didn¡¯t have the luxury of thinking about past events. By the way he wasn¡¯t the only one who wanted answers to his questions. ¡°Let¡¯s do it like this than. You will start and ask me a question and when I answer it to your satisfaction it¡¯s my turn to ask. This way you can still try to fight to your hearts content while I get to talk to you. It¡¯s a win-win situation.¡±(Me) ¡°How should I know if you wouldn¡¯t lie to me? I don¡¯t know anything about you and you even know my true name.¡±(Takeshi) Come on how can he have so less trust. I should be the one who shouldn¡¯t trust him based on my experiences. He seemed a lot angrier, perhaps because of my little taunt? ¡°I will not talk to you. That would be exactly what you want, while I don¡¯t get anything at all, right. How could I trust someone again after what happened to my foster family?¡±(Takeshi) Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. And here I thought he wouldn¡¯t talk to me, but it seemed as long as I stayed silent and let him attack me, he would tell me about himself. That was 1 of the few moments where I was grateful that he talked so much. ¡°It wasn¡¯t enough that my parents died, no my foster parents needed to be betrayed by their closest aids, too. Do you know how it feels to see your loved ones getting killed right in front of you while you can¡¯t do anything at all because you are too weak?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I¡­¡± (Me) I was interrupted before I could answer him. Tears started to form in his eyes. ¡°I already lost 4 people close to me, I won¡¯t lose another one. They were killed because of greed for fame and money, while I don¡¯t even know what happened to my real parents, all I know is that this name is cursed and now someone comes here and just casually spits out my name. Do you know how I feel?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°No¡­ I.¡±(Me) I was interrupted again. It was a sad story but only thinking about someone¡¯s own situation, while not listening to someone else¡¯s would not be the right thing to do. ¡°No you don¡¯t know how I feel. Was there someone you lost who was loved by you?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Sure there were.¡±(Me) ¡°If you can say that so casually I can¡¯t believe you. Who would love you with such a personality? I saw how you are, while we showed you around today. You barely talk or show any emotions, while keeping every though to yourself. If not needed you wouldn¡¯t interact with someone else. No one would be stupid enough to trust you right?¡±(Takeshi) When he finished, he noticed that he said something wrong. Because of him telling his story, he got carried away and said all sorts of things, which wouldn¡¯t have bothered me. But he stepped over 1 line he shouldn¡¯t have. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to.¡±(Takeshi) I lost my mind for a split second and before he could finish his sentence, I moved in front of him, using my black mana as a booster and already with a simple sword, which I took out from my [space inventory], in my hand. In an instant, I closed the distance of a few meters and was pointing my blade at his neck. If I hadn¡¯t snapped out of it, I would have killed him in a matter of seconds. ¡°There are things that shouldn¡¯t be said, remember that.¡±(Me) I said with an angry expression and retracted my sword. ¡°Are you finally going to listen to me, now that you finished your story and insulting me.¡±(Me) He nodded and swallowed the words he wanted to say. He seemed rather nervous, when he saw me being angry. ¡°Let¡¯s say now we are quit and start with the question and answer game. You can go first.¡±(Me) ¡°A game? What if someone doesn¡¯t want to or can¡¯t answer a question.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Then the other 1 can ask another question.¡±(Me) ¡°Ok then I will go ahead and ask the 1st question. Who are you?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Specify this question please. Asking me who I am has wide range.¡±(Me) Our game quickly changed into an interrogation. We both kept as calm as possible as to not leak any weak points to the other. ¡°Then for starters, what¡¯s your name? As you know, I don¡¯t mean your first name.¡±(Takeshi) Right of the bat an important question, but from his reaction I would be able to see how much he would trust me, so it wasn¡¯t that bad of a situation for me. ¡°My last name is Demon.¡±(Me) ¡°Again you answered without even thinking about it. You could have told me anything now, but I¡¯ll believe you for now.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Eh?¡±(Me) I wasn¡¯t shocked that he answered, but shocked by the fact that he answered like that. I needed some time before I could continue, I always try to predict my enemies but his lash reply was rather unbelievable, I mean right before him stood another bloodline of gods and he just said ¡°I¡¯ll believe you for now¡±? I didn¡¯t think much before a question shot out of my mouth. ¡°You. How much do you know about the race of gods?¡±(Me) When I mentioned race of gods he looked me in the eyes. He probably thought about how trustworthy I¡¯d be, but as I shot out 1 secret information about him after another, he thought that he hadn¡¯t much to hide from me. So that time was probably to think about what he could and couldn¡¯t tell me. ¡°What an awkward question? To be honest, I don¡¯t know much about my own race. The only thing I know is that I am from that race and that people from this race can only have 1 single child. I don¡¯t know more, my parents never told me and I only know that much because I asked why I don¡¯t have any siblings.¡±(Takeshi) That info can¡¯t be true because I have or had 2 but it won¡¯t do any good to tell my story now, when he has no plan what we are. ¡°Ok, than this whole thing here won¡¯t work. Let¡¯s end this interrogation for now, the sun will rise soon and we have school tomorrow. I¡¯ll tell you later about everything. Just so you know, I am also from the race of gods and there are 3 others beside us, which I am searching right now. Their true names are Spirit, Beast and¡­¡± (Me) I got interrupted again. I take it back that I was thankful for his talkative character. ¡°Human, because I am Dragon and you are Demon right?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) I sighed and answered. Takeshi looked satisfied with my answer and after he was sure that nothing would happen to Sakura, we went back to our rooms and, at least I, went to sleep. Chapter 10 first magic lesson The next morning, I was woken up by that clock thing again. If that thing would wake me up like that every morning I think I would have gone insane. Luckily, we only had school 5 days in a row and after those, 2 days of something called ¡°weekend¡±. That was the time, when we had the opportunity to go into the city, take requests from the school or visit our families and so on. I stood up from my bed and put on the official school clothing. We have particular clothes which we have to wear during our lessons, so the teachers can different us. I got mine yesterday after that test, but because no one told me that I had to wear them, I didn¡¯t. In my opinion, they had a good look, but I didn¡¯t need that. I hated them because they were definitely not fit for battle and it took me a lot of courage to switch clothes. I left my room and went downstairs. As always, I attracted attention from the 1st year students, but as always, I ignored their stares. After learning a lot about Sonya academy on my 1st day, I knew a shortcut to my classroom. I arrived at room 2-C and entered. The interesting fact was, that the class was as good as new, even if the explosion was little, there was a degree of damage done to it. It was fascinating how they repaired that in 1 single day. Only half of the class was present, but that was obvious, because our lessons would start half an hour later. When I arrived at my seat, I noticed a sheet of paper lying on my desk. I looked at it to confirm its contents.
Name Hikaru
Year 2nd year
Main Course Basic Magic, Homeroom ¨¤ 2-C
Side Courses Rune Magic ¨¤ RC (Rune class) martial arts ¨¤ Training grounds
With a little signature ¡°Good luck from Amelie¡±, I confirmed who wrote it. I was really thankful that she told me the rooms where my classes were. Moreover, after the tour the day before, orientation was no problem any longer, which made the issue of knowing where my classes would take place, was even more important. Every day homeroom, as well as basic magic classes were from 9:00 until 14:00. With some shorter breaks during that time, we would learn the basics of magic and train to use it efficiently. After 14:00 we would have an hour break. It was so long, in order for us to reach our side courses, if we had some that day. I had Rune Magic from 15:00 to 18:00 at every 3rd school day, while martial arts were from 15:00 to 18:00 on the 5th day.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I sat down in my seat and waited for the class to start. Little by little, my other classmates arrived. Takeshi was in class 2-B so we wouldn¡¯t meet until a break, which put my mind at ease for the moment. The 2 groups I interacted the most with, were lively as always. The 4 with William in the lead and the 3 with Sakura as the centre. At 9:00, when Amelie finally entered the room, everyone sat down and the lesson started. ¡°Good morning everyone, I hope you slept well. We will now start our first lesson and for that we will continue were we stopped last year. In the 1st half of the 1st year you learned pure theory of the usage of magic. In the 2nd half you learned to feel mana, and now in the 2nd year, we will focus on the usage and control of mana.¡±(Amelie) Everyone got hyped up at her words. Even I knew that the usage of mana was the core of magic, so it was no wonder they were all hyped up. ¡°But before that, we will have to check if everyone is present. If you hear your name stand up please.¡±(Amelie) The faces of my classmates had funny expressions after that. But nonetheless, everyone who heard their name stood up gave a short ¡°Here¡± or ¡°yes¡± and sat down again. I did the same. ¡°So now that I know that everyone is present, let¡¯s start with testing your affinity to the elements. For that I have brought a testing stone. I know it¡¯s an important moment but please don¡¯t be nervous when you get tested, just concentrate on this stone and everything will be fine. I believe that everyone in this class is special and will achieve good results.¡±(Amelie) One after the other went down to her and put their hand on the testing stone. When you have affinity for an element, the stone would show its colour. Red for fire, blue for water, green for wind and yellow for earth. There are some exceptions if they are able to use 2 or even 3 elements. If that happens, the colour of the stone is halve, 1 half for each element. Strangely no one had affinity with light or darkness, but when I thought about it, only 3 out of 100 of my students had any affinity with it so it was unlikely to appear in only a fifth of that number. Sakura had, as I predicted, the most talent and when she put her hand on the testing stone, it shone red, blue and yellow. Everyone just whispered that she was a genius or unbelievable. I would have liked to see their faces when they knew that I had affinity for all elements but I wouldn¡¯t see them. William was 2nd with red and yellow, closely followed by Ryo with blue and green and Haruto with red and green. There were only 2 others in my class who achieved double elements, all the others only had affinity with 1 element. I was last and when it was my turn, I stood up from my seat and went to the front. I put my hand on the stone and controlled my mana, so that the testing stone would only light up green for wind. It shone green, so I sighed and showed a relieved expression about the fact that everything went well and I didn¡¯t stand out any further. What hurt my pride a little bit was a mocking laugh coming from behind, which obviously came from William. ¡°Haha, trash will always stay trash. You have only affinity with wind magic, haha. Do you know that it is considered as the weakest magic amongst all of elements?¡±(William) When I looked at Amelie, she turned away and seemed rather depressed. I smiled and turned around to face my class. ¡°If I am trash what are you, who got beaten by trash not once but twice? And not only in a 1 on 1, but a 4 on 1. Ah right, I am sorry I forgot, that is your so called pride, right? Do you want to try again fighting me, now that you have added double affinity to your pride?¡±(Me) It was obviously an indication that with only talent and pride no one would win a battle. Every little error in a fight could change its outcome. When my ¡°talentless¡± classmates noticed that, they were motivated to work hard and those with ¡°talent¡± just laughed at my counter. In the meantime, William¡¯s face changed colour again. From normal to red and it seemed like he would explode any moment. I smirked and went back to my seat. ¡°Well, now that we finished this, let¡¯s start with real magic, shall we?¡±(Amelie) She said, seeming rather down. Probably because 2 of the students of her class seemed to dislike each other. I thought that because after finishing her sentence, she looked at the both of us. When she looked at me, I just showed her my thumb up and even she a teacher, had to laugh because of it. Chapter 11 first magic lesson (2) ¡°Well, now that we finished this, let¡¯s start with learning real magic, shall we?¡±(Amelie) She said in a friendly way. ¡°In the past year, I have taught you how you use mana, but for example in a real fight, the strongest attacks come from the combination of mana and elements. It is important for you to feel the elements of nature and fuse your mana with it.¡±(Amelie) More and more, my homeroom teacher moved her speech into a direction fitting the way a teacher would. From her seemingly friendly personality, she switched to a harsh sounding teacher-personality, which would not let any student fail. ¡°I am expecting a lot from you guys, so I¡¯ll give you a weak. Everyone, who fails to combine his mana with his elements will face the consequences.¡±(Amelie) She looked more like a devil when she said that, but I am not the person to judge a teacher as a devil, because, honestly, I was no better. Everyone felt the pressure and fear of those ¡°consequences¡±, Amelie spoke of and no one wanted to receive them. ¡°But teacher, why do we have to wait for everyone to succeed? Can¡¯t we just go further right after we succeed?¡±(William) Most of the class was looking at him angry, which I understood. I mean he literally said that he was looking down on everyone else in front of the class. ¡°Sigh. Then let¡¯s make a little challenge out of it. Whoever succeeds first, will get my permission to come and leave class whenever he wants in the next month. We will focus on the basics anyway, which can also be done in self practice.¡±(Amelie) It looked like that was exactly what William wanted, because he made a satisfied expression. ¡°I William L Matthews will win this little challenge of yours and gain the right of staying out of this class for a whole month.¡±(William) He proclaimed that after standing up raising his fist high. He looked really stupid, but no one said anything or laughed at him. I guessed that something like that didn¡¯t happen the first time and that he really succeeded in winning those challenges. Unluckily, he now had a real wall he would not be able to overcome. Me. ¡°I will start explaining what you have to do to combine your elements with your mana, so listen carefully.¡±(Amelie)Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Before she could continue, William collected his mana, concentrated and was already trying to do it. As far as I could see, he didn¡¯t make any mistakes and tried his best. She hadn¡¯t even started to explain so it was obvious, that he had already known a method beforehand. Perhaps he was even training before, which gave him a huge advantage. When the others saw him, they made a depressed expression, already giving up on winning. At least most of them did. Sakura was trying to copy what William¡¯s was doing to keep up. It was more likely, that Sakura was trying to keep the dignity of our class and wasn¡¯t trying to get that allowance. ¡°Teacher they already started. That¡¯s not fair, I thought this would be a fair duel and we would only begin after your explanation would end.¡±(Me) I said with a voice without much emotions, but with a lot sarcasm in it. ¡°As you can see, the duel between those 2 has already started. As always, the young noble William of our class already knew what he had to do and Sakura our little genius is trying to copy him again. Sigh, what good do I even have when my students already know how they can practice magic?¡±(Amelie) ¡°Eh. So this is normal to happen in this class?¡±(Me) I asked while looking at my other classmates, which answered me by nodding their heads. ¡°Isn¡¯t that boring with just 2 people? We should all try our best.¡±(Me) ¡°It isn¡¯t because it¡¯s boring. It is because no one in this class can keep up with those 2. We are not of noble birth and no genius which only comes once in every 100 years.¡±(Ryo) Ryo said from behind. With that I ended my questions, because it would only lead to them being even more depressed and everyone was watching William and Sakura trying to succeed first and how they would succeed. Seeing how it should be done with your own 2 eyes was also a good way of learning. Everyone was cheering silently for 1 of those 2 to win, but seriously they took way too long. After 5 minutes I got bored. In a fight, you would never get 5 minutes to prepare magic, or at least I never got those 5 minutes. ¡°Teacher. Can I go?¡±(Me) ¡°Eh? What?¡±(Amelie) She also focused on those 2 to correct them if they did any mistakes and didn¡¯t think I would talk to her during that time. ¡°Did you succeed?¡±(Amelie) She said not even looking at me. I couldn¡¯t be angry at her. She had 2 really talented students which she needed to focus on in that moment, so she had no room to think about someone else. ¡°Sure I did, look.¡±(Me) I smiled but noticed that no one was paying me any attention. I was really annoyed. I understood why they ignored me but I didn¡¯t have much patience. ¡°Is that so? Than go back to training.¡±(Amelie) ¡°But teacher I already did it. Why do I have to go back to training?¡±(Me) ¡°As I said before, if you¡­¡± (Amelie) She finally turned around and was looking at me. There was a little green mana ball floating above my hand. ¡°Eh?¡±(Amelie) ¡°Can I go now?¡±(Me) I asked her. ¡°W¡­ What? That can¡¯t be possible.¡±(Amelie) ¡°But that is clearly wind magic, I don¡¯t think that I am wrong and you can check if you want.¡±(Me) ¡°You are right, but¡­but¡­¡± (Amelie) 1 after another turned to look at me. Even William and Sakura where stopping and looked dumbfounded. It took them a while to recover from their shock, but as expected, Amelie as a teacher was the first. ¡°I don¡¯t know how or what you did Hikaru, but as this is clearly wind magic, I declare you as the winner of this challenge and you have my permission to come and leave THIS class whenever you want during the next month. Congratulations.¡±(Amelie) So she said while smiling. ¡°Thank you I guess?¡±(Me) I said embarrassed. I winked everyone else and left the rest of the class which wasn¡¯t able to recover standing. With that my first real magic lesson came to an end in a time of about half an hour. If classes would have stayed that way, I would have been really bored. Luckily, that wasn¡¯t the only course I was in and I was in high spirits when I thought about learning Rune magic and martial arts, while leaving the school building and going back to my room. ¡°I have been away from home for about 6 days, I should look how my students are doing.¡±(Me) Chapter 12 Checking up on the kids After what happened in class, I headed straight back to my room. I didn¡¯t want to be disturbed, so I locked the door. During the past week, I was using up half of my mana to feed the teleportation stone, which accumulated more than enough mana to make 2 transports. I have experimented with it in the past few months and made sure that there were no errors. I preferred to land home and not on a random battlefield if possible. I activated the stone and it started shining. Next thing I knew, I was standing in the circle I drew on the black continent, the only thing missing was the black teleportation stone as planned. ¡°Everything worked out well. Let¡¯s hope it will be the same for the way back. I wonder how they have been these past days without me.¡±(Me) I said to myself. I was connected with the island again, as soon as I step foot on it, so I was able to locate everyone as soon as I arrived. After looking around if anything major things changed, I went to a nearby group. The first few I met where the fire group from my students and when they saw me, they ran my way, looking similar to hungry animals who just found their meal. ¡°Big brother!¡±(Children) ¡°I will go and tell the others about your return, big brother.¡±(Tom) One Human of the group called Tom said and went ahead to inform the others. Meanwhile, I was slowly walking with the others and we talked a little bit about what they experienced the past 6 days. Fortunately, the worst thing that happened was that Horan had a broken leg, but because he is of the tough dragon race, it would heal fast, so there was nothing to worry about. ¡°You will be really shocked when you see what we built these past days, big brother. Now that I think about you had your 2nd day in school today right? How was it?¡±(Ciko) A young female dragon called Ciko of the group asked me. ¡°Be patient Ciko, it would be unfair to only tell you guys. When we arrive, I plan to tell everyone anyway.¡±(Me) I said with a smile. ¡°Ok. If big brother says so.¡±(Ciko) She said embarrassed. We all laughed about it and went to where the others were. On our way, I saw a lot of new buildings. They built from some small huts build out of wood to real houses out of stones. They even built a smithery, which was also the biggest building out of them all and when I asked, the children seemed really proud of it. I guess that magic was a huge helper while building everything but I didn¡¯t want their motivation to drop so I remained silent about that.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Shortly after I heard an army running at me. The remaining children were running at me. It was a wonder that I survived the collision. ¡°Big brother!¡±(Children) ¡°I¡¯m back guys.¡±(Me) A crowd of children assembled around me and I let them finish crying tears of happiness, before I started telling them what happened. ¡°I see that you all are eager to hear stories from what I experienced these past days but before that, I would like to hear a short report from Sepp how it stands with our defence. Has anything strange happened these past days?¡±(Me) Sepp was clearing a way through the crowd. When he arrived in front of me he stood straight and started talking. ¡°Not really. Nothing special happened in your absent. We killed everyone that tried to invade our home.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Hm, how many?¡±(Me) ¡°Ah, about 2 or 3 groups per day, while the group with the most people didn¡¯t amount more than 5.¡±(Sepp) I was relieved hearing that everything was ok. ¡°Now that I know that you are doing fine, who wants to hear about my past days?¡±(Me) I asked in the round and everyone answered by raising their arms. I told them everything that happened. The only exception, which I skipped was the thing with Takeshi, because I didn¡¯t want to tell them yet. ¡°How stupid to try and challenge big brother, even after losing so horribly.¡±(Horan) ¡°Right.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Big brother, you should leave a clear mark for that idiot called William, so he stops bothering you.¡±(Tom) ¡°As long as he doesn¡¯t go further than going on my nerves, I am fine. Actually it is quite funny to taunt him. His face can even change colour depending on the degree of his anger.¡±(Me) The part that interested them the most wasn¡¯t that there were talented people but my pointless ¡°fights¡± with William. The talking issues were my stories. It went on like that for quite some time, until we got hungry. I followed some of them in 1 of the new buildings, which functioned as a kitchen and storage room. They took some of things stored. In a short time while I went away, the remaining ones used earth magic to create a table and seats for everyone. It was a round table where everyone could take place. We placed the things we took from the storage room on the table and started eating. I somehow missed something but I didn¡¯t know what. It was probably because I was able to eat food provided by the academy these past 2 days, which was really delicious, that it was hard to go back to only eating fruits. ¡°Don¡¯t worry big brother we are working on building a farm at the moment, so in a few months, we could be able to add bread to our menu.¡±(Sepp) Sepp saw my facial expression in that moment and caught up quickly. ¡°I appreciate your effort, but don¡¯t overwork yourself.¡±(Me) ¡°I promise you that we won¡¯t.¡±(Sepp) ¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡±(Me) Sepp made a depressed face before continuing. ¡°But it sure is hard to obtain good food with only agriculture.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Is that so? If you tell me like that, I guess you have already a plan?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. It would be nice if we could get your permission to trade things produced from here with nearby continents and races. Naturally, if you are against it, we will respect your decision.¡±(Sepp) ¡°No, no. I understand. Actually, I was already thinking about something big. Trading with someone else included, I have a big plan which I want to tell you all.¡±(Me) I looked around and watched the children talk to each other. When I stood up from my seat, everything turned tired and the attention focused solely on me. ¡°Ok. Guys listen to me.¡±(Me) I made a short break to catch my breath. ¡°I am planning to make the black continent into a force, which is reckoned and respected by the whole world! For that, I have thought about some things which I want to ask of you.¡±(Me) Chapter 13 A plan for creating a new force ¡°For us to be recognised by the whole world, 101 people won¡¯t be enough. Even if we are stronger than the average adventurer out there, we are only a small force. In order to grow in numbers I ask of you to scout new talents, which can support us in the future. Every person that comes here, it can be because they are part of an attack or because they need help and are at deaths door, will be rooted by us in the future as long as they are under the age of 16, because most of the people who are older than that have already reached their peak and won¡¯t grow any further.¡±(Me) I made a pause so they could catch up on what I told them. The eyes of them were definitely filled with respect and ambition, but I could also see a lot of doubts and questions as well as disagreement in their expressions. Normally it would be easy to convince children for something. They were young and had no idea of the world, but when thinking about what those 100 already went through, it was obvious that they had a much better understanding how cruel this world could be, perhaps even better than most adults. Everyone who can be rooted as future support could also try to destroy us from the inside. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I have already thought of a plan how we deal with traitors. The important part is that if what I predict comes true, we will gather a lot of young talent from all around the world like this. With those, we then have you the 1st generation and them, the 2nd generation. You know that the ¡°older¡± generation has to look after the younger.¡±(Me) I hope I could at least clear some of their doubts, with my ¡°plan¡±, which I obviously didn¡¯t have. Even better, I finally had something to do while being in class, other than flipping a pen and looking outside of the window. ¡°You can all have your own opinion and doubts about my plan, that is normal, but listen until the end and ask questions afterwards, perhaps I answer some of them while explaining.¡±(Me) They just listened silently to everything I said. Never did they ask a question or disagreed with me. I don¡¯t know if it was out of respect or fear, but I was able to continue with the explanation smoothly. ¡°Rooting talents and building up numbers is important but that was only the 1st part of my plan and not what we want. If we want to be a force, we can¡¯t only hide and defend, we have to attack. I know we don¡¯t need new land, because as long as I gather enough energy, I can expand the black continent. I am not talking about greedy things like the humans tend to do, I am talking about showing our strength in other ways.¡±(Me)Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Perhaps it was only my imagination, who knows, but they started to pop up question marks above their little heads and some even started producing smoke out of their heads. Probably because they were thinking hard on how else we can prove our strength. I wasn¡¯t able to hold back a little laughter before continuing. ¡°Hahaha, don¡¯t think too hard about it. It is simple, we will simply produce important people. How do we do that? Simple, we will use the guild system as well as war and fights of the other races. For those of you who don¡¯t know what the guild system is, I am too lazy to explain so go read the guide for beginners after I finish talking.¡±(Me) ¡°I am sorry but I am not able to hold back my question any longer.¡±(Sepp) Sepp burst out of nowhere and everyone was looking at him, clearly surprised and then back at me to wait for how I would reply. ¡°Let me guess, you want to know who would defend the black continent while you are gone, right?¡±(Me) ¡°That and it would be good if we had something to proof that we are of the black continent, like some kind of symbol. Because¡­¡±(Sepp) I interrupted him. ¡°Because other people could take advantage of it and use our fame?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Sepp) I knew he was talented but to be able to think so far ahead into the future, while being so young is something special. ¡°Your questions are important and I will answer them, but you know that I don¡¯t like getting interrupted during my speeches, moreover after I clearly told you to wait until I finish.¡±(Me) ¡°I am willing to receive any kind of punishment.¡±(Sepp) The others looked anxious. They knew I was harsh and his punishment would be extreme even though he only interrupted me. I could only smile at the whole situation. ¡°Your questions were indeed appropriate, but you ignored my warning and interrupted me, so your punishment is that you will be our front runner.¡±(Me) They made expressions like someone died in front of their eyes. They needed a few seconds until they understood that I wasn¡¯t angry at him and that that was actually nothing bad. ¡°Sepp, you will be the first 1 to leave this island and establish your name. So now that you received your punishment let me continue.¡±(Me) ¡°Y¡­Sure.¡±(Sepp) ¡°To answer the questions, I didn¡¯t tell you all to leave, only a handful of people will leave. Moreover only 1 person will leave every month, which is also my only rule. You can decide who leaves. And I think that your ¡°symbol¡± idea was also good. I will think about it and tell you when I come back. Sepp, you have 1 month, which is also the time I will come back to visit you again, to prepare yourself.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes!¡±(Sepp) He was a lot more resolute on that reply. ¡°The final step of my plan will come in a few years, but I advise you, we have to prepare for it. Even I am unsure of what will happen.¡±(Me) The final step of my plan was the enemy I would need to beat in the future. I had no idea who it was, so I also had no idea what would happen. I accidently said that in a low voice. When I noticed, it was already too late and I scared the kids. They looked at me like they would at their oldest brother, so if I seemed afraid of something, they would be too. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am only uncertain of what happens in the future. The result will stay the same!¡±(Me) They tried as hard as possible to hide their fear, but that didn¡¯t work out that well. It was really awkward and everyone remained silent. ¡°Any questions?¡±(Me) No one said anything. The motivation they showed a few moments earlier was completely gone. ¡°No.¡±(Sepp) At least Sepp tried to ease the situation too, which didn¡¯t work. Yep, I totally fucked up the end, even though it started so well. Chapter 14 Explaining the plan The situation didn¡¯t change at all. It remained with all of us only silently eating and sitting at that round table. I prepared to leave as soon as the sun would set, but if they remained like that I had to change my plans. I had no idea what I should do and there was no one who could tell me. When the sun did set, I had enough of it. ¡°If you remain like that we won¡¯t be able to do anything. Everything will stay the same and nothing will change.We will stick to my plan and if you guys don¡¯t prepare yourself for that, it could even be the last things you do. I will go now. And if I come back and see that your behaviour didn¡¯t change, you will all, and I mean all, go through a training of hell even worse than what Horan, Sepp and Sandra went through.¡±(Me) I stood up and said without batting an eye, without even the slightest hesitation. It was harsh but if I remained the nice big brother, they would forget the cruelty of the world. After finishing my last words, I turned around and headed into the direction of the summoning circle to go back. ¡°Wait! I will prepare myself, don¡¯t worry! What you should be careful about though, is that I could beat you in 1 month.¡±(Sepp) He said full of himself and filled with emotions. I turned around 1 last time to answer his challenge. ¡°Fine I will be. Let¡¯s make a deal whoever is able to beat me, no matter the time, no matter the place, will choose what we do from now on. But if you only slack off a little bit, you will never be able to beat me, because I will leave you far behind. You are not the only ones who fight.¡±(Me) With that I left them. If they couldn¡¯t even overcome this situation, they won¡¯t be able to survive on their own. When I reached the summoning circle I turned back to look in the direction I came from. ¡°Farewell. Till next month.¡±(Me) I said and activated the formation. The next thing I knew was standing in my room. Nothing changed except that the moon had already risen, while the sun was completely gone. ¡°Sigh. That was harder than expected.¡±(Me) I was really tired and went directly to bed. I was woken up by that damn clock the next morning. ¡°Come on, you even function when I don¡¯t need to go to school. Who invented such a stupid thing?¡±(Me)Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Let¡¯s ignore the fact that I didn¡¯t know that I had to change the settings then. Mostly because I had no knowledge about technology and the stuff yet. I stood up from my bed and stretched. The sun was already up and through the window it shone into my face. I knew I had a lot of free time. I didn¡¯t have anything to do until 15:00. ¡°Sigh, perhaps I should start to think of strategy how we could find the other 3 gods.¡±(Me) I said to myself and left my room. Afterwards I went downstairs and left the dormitory. It was a sunny day and I wanted to walk leisurely around the school grounds. ¡°Now that I think about it, it would be bothersome to think of a new way to search for the other 3, I¡¯ll just stick to my plan, which will hopefully go well.¡±(Me) I said when I stood outside the dormitory and started to walk. The problem was, I noticed that I said it out loud too late and the next instant, I got my punishment. ¡°Would you mind telling me what you are talking about?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Why am I so unlucky?¡±(Me) This time I made sure he didn¡¯t hear. ¡°Huh? What did you say? Never mind, mind explaining your plan to me?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Don¡¯t you have class?¡±(Me) ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry, our teachers are similar to each other. I also won a class challenge and the teacher allowed me to stay away from class for the next 2 weeks.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Dammit.¡±(Me) The most important thing for me was that I would seriously learn how to not say what was on my mind or I would say something dangerous 1 day. ¡°What dammit? I don¡¯t understand?¡±(Takeshi) He clearly understood what I said. To top it off he was smiling at me and waiting for me to talk. ¡°Let¡¯s talk somewhere where no one can hear us.¡±(Me) ¡°Sure. I know of a place where no one will hear us.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I don¡¯t care. We¡¯ll talk in my room there are defensive systems to prevent others from overhearing and watching things they shouldn¡¯t. And don¡¯t worry there are no traps installed.¡±(Me) 1 thing I knew for certain, I got better and better at lying to others in their face. I totally forgot to install any defensive measures. At least I checked the room of traps. The only reason I wanted to talk in my room was that I was sure that there were no traps laid out beforehand. Takeshi was clearly displeased with going to my room, but I didn¡¯t care. We entered my room and Takeshi closed the door. I told him to sit down on a chair while I sat on my bed. ¡°I will start with what you already know. I am searching for all of the 4 other 2nd generation of the race of gods.¡±(Me) ¡°2nd generation?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°It¡¯s a cool name shut up and listen. My problem is that I only had information about you.¡±(Me) ¡°Wait how did you get information about me?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Secret.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. So you have no idea how to search for the others.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I didn¡¯t say that. I only told you that I only had Intel about you, but I have a plan.¡±(Me) ¡°The one you were talking about earlier?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Correct. I have some friends, which will travel around the world and search for hints, where we could search for the other 3. I will let you know as soon as we find something.¡±(Me) ¡°Anything else?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°No. That is my plan. Nothing else.¡±(Me) Takeshi looked like he was thinking. ¡°Care to tell me what you know about the race of gods now? The earlier, the better I think.¡±(Takeshi) Well he took quite the advantage of the situation. I started explaining him what I know, where I used to live with my parents and that I left home because of certain reasons. I skipped the parts with my siblings. I explained to him that someone told me that there are strong weapons and items left behind by our parents. And again I skipped the part from who I knew that. It was ok though, because he only wanted to know about the race of gods and not about my life. I ended up telling him almost everything I knew about our race. He was really dissatisfied in the end and started to hit me with question after question. We finished by the time of 14:00 and Takeshi was finally satisfied and left. I was really exhausted by then. ¡°Sigh. He finally left. Man he was really persistent. 14:00? It took that long? Isn¡¯t rune class going to start in 1 hour?¡±(Me) I laid down in my bed and closed my eyes. Chapter 15 rune class (1) It felt really good when I woke up, at first at least. When I looked at my clock, it was already 15:00. I was late and totally screwed if words got through to Amelie, as she especially told me to attend my side courses. The way from the dormitory to rune class would take me only 5 minutes, if I could use magic to boost my speed or fly. Unfortunate both were a big no, because I wanted to stay as unnoticed as possible. I stood up as soon as I realised I would be late and rushed down the stairs. I exited the building and ran. I ran as fast as I could without magic. By the time I reached the remote building, which was located at almost the other end of the academy grounds, I was physically exhausted. I panted heavily. I really need a break sometime soon. ¡°¡­volunteers.¡±(?) I could hear some talking from outside. I knew that class has already begun. I didn¡¯t know the time as the clock of the tower of the academy was only facing the front and I was at the back side of the academy at the moment. The only things I hoped for was that I would not receive any punishment and that no one would tell Amelie about that. I opened the door and entered. It was a lecture hall and everyone inside and man they were a lot, the least I counted in that split second were 30, was looking at me. The teacher of my class stood in the middle. He was an old man with white hair, grey beard, but probably a lot more wisdom than any of the others present. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I am late.¡±(Me) ¡°Name?¡±(Teacher) ¡°Hikaru.¡±(Me) ¡°Hikaru was so nice as to be the first volunteer, now I only need 2 more.¡±(Teacher) ¡°Huh, I did?¡±(Me) The teacher only needed to look at me again, until I understood that it was my punishment. No on raised their hands, it was a sign that those volunteers were probably punching bags or something like that. ¡°Yes I did, I am sorry.¡±(Me) After I apologized again, the teacher looked around. When I did the same, I noticed a certain someone sitting in the back of the class and laughing silently. I pointed at that person. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°How about him? He was sitting in the back all silently by himself. I don¡¯t think that he can learn something from there.¡±(Me) I said to the teacher. ¡°Name?¡±(Teacher) Falling into despair he could only give a sad reply. ¡°Takeshi, sir.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Good. Takeshi come to the front and thank you for being our second volunteer.¡±(Teacher) He was slowly walking to the front, while glaring angrily at me. When he stood next to me I whispered into his ears. ¡°Now we are even.¡±(Me) ¡°What is even, it¡¯s not my fault that you were late.¡±(Takeshi) He answered. I only smiled back and we both shut up. ¡°Hmm. So who wants to be the 3rd person? I give you 5 seconds otherwise I will choose someone.¡±(Teacher) No one raised their hand again. ¡°5.¡±(Teacher) He started counting. He probably wanted to continue as he already was at 4 but before he could, a girl in the front raised her hand. ¡°Fo... Name?¡±(Teacher) ¡°Selina, sir.¡±(Selina) ¡°Good, now that we have 3 volunteers let us start. Before I show you the basic principles of rune magic in action, I will explain what the basic concept of rune magic is.¡±(Teacher) I was listening as closely as I could and tried to remember every single word. ¡°With normal magic you have certain restrictions. Those restrictions are called talent, affinity and effort. You don¡¯t need any of those for rune magic. The most basic routine is trying and failing. After some time, you will be able to succeed with the most basic formulas. The problem of rune magic comes after that and lies within your creativity as well as your strategic thinking, but that is far from now. I guess that the first people will only be able to succeed with the basics in about a month¡¯s time.¡±(Teacher) He took a deep breath before continuing. ¡°For rune magic, you need to be able to control normal mana freely. When you are able to do that, you focus and write the magic you have in mind down. You will be provided with a book, which will list basic magic, like [fireball] or [heal]. I know it is hard to understand. I will show you what I mean.¡±(Teacher) He was focusing some mana into his finger. ¡°The easiest way to train this, is by writing with your finger. It is important to fully concentrate, otherwise you will fail every time. Concentrate on your mana, concentrate on which kind of magic you want to use. I have only affinity with water magic but now I will use fire magic, the opposite of my element.¡±(Teacher) He was writing something in the air with mana. I wasn¡¯t able to read the thing he wrote and when he finished, he snipped with his fingers. A little fire was created out of thin air. ¡°It takes a lot of time to master rune magic, but it is definitely worth it.¡±(Teacher) I really wanted to ask what else someone could do with rune magic, but I knew that he was already angry at me and I didn¡¯t want to be on his bad side right from the get go. ¡°Teacher, I come from the capital and a lot of nobles as well as the king use some kind of symbol to represent their families, is that rune magic too?¡±(Selina) ¡°Sure. It is also part of rune magic. It¡¯s good that you ask, because I already wanted to demonstrate marking to you.¡±(Teacher) The teacher was facing Selina and wrote something in the air again. ¡°As soon as you are able to use rune magic, even when you just use the basic of basics, you will receive your personal symbol. I can¡¯t tell you how it looks, because it depends on the individual. This symbol can be used to mark someone or something and is often used to symbolize that someone is from a group or family or to verify theauthenticity of a letter.¡±(Teacher) He said. ¡°If I put my symbol on something else let¡¯s say for example on a piece of paper, you could compare them with each other.¡±(Teacher) He said, turned around and looked at Takeshi and me. ¡°This is 1 way to use rune magic, but there are 2 more which I will demonstrate to you now.¡±(Teacher) He said and smiled wickedly. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look good.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Agreed.¡±(Me) We whispered to each other. Chapter 16 rune class (2) ¡°There are 2 more efficient ways to use rune magic in a fight. I will start with the easier method.¡±(Teacher) I had a really bad feeling, but luckily, or not, I didn¡¯t know what I should have thought about it, he choose Takeshi to demonstrate it. I just smiled at him and wished him best luck in my mind. ¡°The 2nd thing I will show you today is called rune trap. It is simple, you write a rune on an object or hide it in the environment. The crucial part of this method is that you activate it at the right time. So we will have to work at your timing to perfect this magic.¡±(Teacher) It sounded interesting and the whole class looked at the show carefully. Some wanted to know how rune trap is done or looked like, while others only wanted to see Takeshi suffer. I don¡¯t think that they particularly hated him, but they wanted to see what damage rune trap can do. They had those ¡°Let¡¯s see what it can do and how much he can endure¡± look on their face. Beside those 2 groups there was me. I was interested in both. The teacher started writing his rune again, but this time not in the air but on the floor. It took him a while to finish his rune, for about 3 minutes. ¡°If you ever use rune magic in an actual fight, you should prepare beforehand, because as you could see, writing runes takes a lot of time, which your opponent would never give you.¡±(Teacher) He spoke true words. No real enemy would give you time to prepare your magic. ¡°Takeshi.¡±(Teacher) ¡°Yes?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°If you would be so nice and step on my rune please.¡±(Teacher) Unwillingly he did as instructed. The next instance, the words which our teacher wrote beforehand started to shine. ¡°Ugh!¡±(Takeshi) He was sent flying to the other end of the classroom. Everyone watched him crash into the wall. ¡°Teacher, is this even ok to do in school?¡±(Selina) ¡°Don¡¯t worry the school rule says that as long as you don¡¯t kill a student, you can do whatever you want.¡±(Teacher) ¡°Isn¡¯t it something like do your best and be fair to your opponent?¡±(Selina)If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°That is only a slogan.¡±(Teacher) ¡°Who would be stupid enough to be fair to his opponent?¡±(Me) I unknowingly said that out loud and I regretted it in the next moment. Moreover, I did so with no restraint so even Takeshi at the other side of the class could hear it, probably and if he was consciousness. ¡°That¡¯s right and because of that, rune magic has a 3rd option for its usage. This is often used for special situations and for restraining an opponent. It is called rune prison and is the most advanced rune magic there is up to date.¡±(Teacher) After he said that, he was pulling something out of his pocket. ¡°Because it is the most advanced type of rune magic, even I would need a lot of time to prepare, so as not to waste our time, I brought one with me today.¡±(Teacher) It was a tiny piece of paper with some symbols, or as I learned, so called runes, drawn on it. ¡°Take a step back from Hikaru. I will activate rune prison now.¡±(Teacher) As before, the runes on the paper started glowing and started to disappear. The next second, they were drawn around me. I could feel something like a wall made out of mana was locking me. I tried to move outside but I couldn¡¯t leave the circle of runes. I was sure that I would be able to break open that so called rune prison, but for that it would at least require me to go into [black form] and that would be everything else but inconspicuous. ¡°A normal prison would be of not much use against strong opponents, so most of rune mages use some kind of effect in addition. The most popular effect would be an increase in gravity. Naturally only inside the rune prison.¡±(Teacher) The runes around me started glowing again and I felt heavy. It was hard to stand but I somehow managed not to go down. ¡°Strange, there should be a tenfold increase of your gravity. Do you feel something?¡±(Teacher) I tried to lift my head to look him in the eyes but it was hard. Like a collar bound to chains pulling me down. ¡°I certainly feel a lot of pressure teacher. I would appreciate if you could free me.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmm. Most of the teachers here break down after this increase, while you remain standing. What a remarkable body you have.¡±(Teacher) The others started looking at me weirdly, like I was some freak. Staying unnoticed didn¡¯t work that well, because I always make some small mistakes. ¡°Thank you teacher, but I already reached my body¡¯s limits, so if you could please lift the pressure?¡±(Me) ¡°Eh, I would be really interested to see how far you can go.¡±(Teacher) ¡°I always had a strong body but this is my limit. If you add only a little bit of weight, I assume that my body would break.¡±(Me) As long as I don¡¯t support myself with magic or go into [black form] that is. He finally released me and dispelled his rune prison. I felt really light. Like I had some superhuman strength, but I knew that this was only the illusion after being put under such heavy pressure. At least I got to know of a new method for training my body. I smiled and hummed a little, while walking to an empty seat. I sat down and sighed. I was happy that I was released from that pressure. ¡°You just saw how to use rune magic, but you are all far away from that. You will first each have to draw your first rune before you can do any of that, just so you know.¡±(Teacher) ¡°Yes sir.¡±(Class) ¡°But always bear in mind, that everything has a limit. There are things, which cannot be achieved. Don¡¯t overestimate yourself, when you pick a fight or use magic. Here in school it is only a mistake. In the outside world, that little mistake can lead to your death.¡±(Teacher) No one knew why he said such depressing words. I knew that those words were completely true, but I think that the other children thought of it as a joke to scare them. ¡°We will start working on drawing runes next time. Dismissed.¡±(Teacher) The whole lesson only lasted for about half an hour, but I learned a lot of things. As I was proficient in experimenting with magic, I was quite confident that I would be able to draw my first rune in under a weeks¡¯ time. I would have loved to start the same day but I was tired. Physically and mentally. I picked up Takeshi and together we went to the boy¡¯s dormitories. We parted ways on the 2nd floor and went to our own rooms and when I entered my room, I finally went to sleep. This time, hopefully more than an hour. Chapter 17 Strange news (1) I was woken up by my noisy clock the next morning. I sat up in my bed and looked out of my window. It was a hot and sunny day. I collected my thoughts and repeated what I learned the day before in rune class. I was eager to try out rune magic. I focused my mana into my fingertip and started writing in the air. The next moment, puff and it was gone. I didn¡¯t exactly know why I failed, so I tried again and again. ¡°I can¡¯t focus enough. On the other hand who could ever focus on such a hot day?¡±(Me) After 5 or 6 times, I gave up. Perhaps I searched for an excuse, or perhaps that was the real reason I failed. I stood up and left my room. If I couldn¡¯t concentrate, I couldn¡¯t practice magic, because of the heat I would just kill myself with physical training and because I had nothing to do I was bored. I walked through the corridor and went to Takeshi¡¯s room. I had high hopes that the blabbermouth could entertain me for some time. The answer was no. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t, he was simply not in his room anymore. Or he was sleeping. But if he was sleeping, he definitely didn¡¯t breathe, because I could hear nothing out of his room. I walked downstairs and before I left the save shadows of the dormitory and went outside into the suns domain, I thought about where I should go or what I should do. ¡°Hmm. What should I do?¡±(Me) My fetish of talking to myself when I was alone was showing again. ¡°Takeshi isn¡¯t here, plus I have no idea where he could be. The other students are in class, probably. Going back to the black continent isn¡¯t possible at the moment, also if I¡¯d return before a months¡¯ time, I would look like an idiot. And training in this heat will kill me for sure, so what should I do?¡±(Me) I looked around, right, left, up and down to search for anything I could do. ¡°Guess that only leaves going to class as my last option.¡±(Me) I headed to my classroom. On the way there, I would eventually stop in the shadows of some trees, in order to take shelter from that heat. ¡°Why does it have to be so hot?¡±(Me)This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. I asked myself, while I stuck out my tongue. Luckily I only had a few more meters to go until I reached the large school building. And when I reached it I was relieved to be temporarily released from the heat of that damn scorching sun. I reached my class and knocked on the door. I wanted to at least ask for permission to enter by knocking. I heard some steps so I only waited in front of the door. The one who opened the door wasn¡¯t Amelie, my homeroom teacher, but Sakura. ¡°Was it too hot for you to do nothing?¡±(Sakura) She asked jokingly. We went inside. I saw that all my classmates were scattered around in the classroom. No one was sitting on his seat and there was no lesson. ¡°Sure it was. By the way where is Amelie?¡±(Me) ¡°She had to attend an important meeting and said that until she returns, we have to do self-studies.¡±(Sakura) I was thinking for a moment. I had no plans in staying in class if there was no lesson. My goal was to kill time and my boredom. ¡°Hmm. Do you perhaps know where that meeting is?¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s probably in the hall. That¡¯s the place where all meetings, ceremonies and so on are held.¡±(Sakura) The hall. The hall¡­ Where was the hall again? ¡°Sigh. If you want I can guide you there. I have nothing to do anyways.¡±(Sakura) Did she just read my thoughts? Or perhaps she just saw an expression which told her that I have no idea where the hall is. Whichever it is I have to be careful, her intuition is really good. We left the classroom and went downstairs. ¡°By any chance, do we have to leave this building?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes, sure we have to. The hall is another building. But if you are worried about that, I have good news. It is right next to this building.¡±(Sakura) I could just smile at that. I tried to talk to her again while we continued on our way to the hall. ¡°What do you think of Takeshi?¡±(Me) ¡°Huh? He is a good friend why do you ask?¡±(Sakura) Immediate reply, dammit. I tried to tease her a bit, but it didn¡¯t work out at all. ¡°If he is such a good friend, do you by chance know of places he likes to go to? I looked for him in the morning but couldn¡¯t find him.¡±(Me) ¡°The only other place beside his room would be the little pond near the central park of the academy. He really likes sleeping there. Sometimes though, he just disappears and we only see him after a few hours again. I have no idea where he went and he won¡¯t tell anyone.¡±(Sakura) That was something interesting. I told myself that if I was ever bored again in the future I would stalk Takeshi to find out where he was going to, while he ¡°disappeared¡±. We left the main building through the west exit and from there, I could see the hall. It wasn¡¯t a building which would catch someone¡¯s eyes. It was a plain looking house with a flat roof. The only things which would, were some small paintings on the facade of it. ¡°In general, it is forbidden to listen to meetings of teachers, so it isn¡¯t a wise choice to stand in front of the front door. I would advise you to go to the back side of the building and try your luck there.¡±(Sakura) ¡°You talk like you would leave me now. Aren¡¯t you interested in what those teachers are talking about?¡±(Me) ¡°I am, but if you get caught, you could even be expelled from school.¡±(Sakura) I didn¡¯t really have a problem with being suspended or even expelled because I already achieved my goal for coming here in finding and befriending Takeshi. ¡°Ok then. Thanks for guiding me here Sakura.¡±(Me) ¡°No problem.¡±(Sakura) She turned around and went back to class. I followed her advice and went to the back side of the building and searched for a safe place to hide in should someone come. When I arrived at the back, I saw a familiar face. He tried to hide in a tree in the last second. He probably forgot to check his surroundings and fled in the last second he could. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Takeshi I am not a teacher.¡±(Me) He came down from that tree. ¡°Sigh. Don¡¯t scare me like that. I almost thought that I would be expelled from school now.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Does it matter to you that much?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes it does.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Hmm. So what are they talking about inside?¡±(Me) He was looking at me in an anxious way. ¡°The dark continent is becoming active.¡±(Takeshi) Chapter 18 Strange news (2) ¡°The dark continent is becoming active.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°The dark continent? I see. That¡¯s what¡¯s causing such a ruckus at school. That makes sense.¡±(Me) I hadn¡¯t fully realized what he told me yet. After I did, I made a stupid face. ¡°Wait, which Dark Continent do you speak of?¡±(Me) ¡°There is only 1, so which could I talk about?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Only 1?¡±(Me) ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s the 1 were the SS danger level Nightmare appeared a few years ago. It was such a huge issue, almost everyone knows of the Nightmare and the Dark Continent. How come you ask me now?¡±(Takeshi) I was deep in thoughts. ¡°How could I not know about myself¡±, was what I wanted to say but that would have been a stupid decision so I stayed quiet. It felt really strange to hear about myself from someone else. What came more as a surprise was that the Dark Continent became active. It was my land and I knew what happened there. There was no such thing as movements except for the preparations, but no one should know about that. ¡°Hello? I asked you a question.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Huh what?¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t listen to Takeshi at all. I could only think of ways to show others that I am not affiliated with the Black Continent. ¡°Sigh. I asked you why you were that surprised.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Ah. I. I. It is really strange, don¡¯t you think?¡±(Me) ¡°What is strange? What are you talking about?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Why is the Dark Continent showing signs of movements now, when it could have also done that a few years ago?¡±(Me) ¡°Does it really matter? What matters is that somehow a rumour of it being active is spread.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°No you are right. It was only a thought.¡±(Me) I was relieved that I somehow managed to deceive Takeshi. I knew that I could trust my own students. They wouldn¡¯t betray me I was sure about that. But how else was it possible for such rumour to spread. I couldn¡¯t find an answer. ¡°Hello?¡±(Takeshi)You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Huh what?¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t listen again. ¡°You didn¡¯t listen again?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Sorry.¡±(Me) ¡°You should really start listening to others you know.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Yea, yea. So what were you talking about again?¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t believe that it is the actual Dark Continent they were talking about.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Huh. Didn¡¯t you just say that there is only 1?¡±(Me) ¡°There is indeed only 1. What I am trying to say is that they only used the name of it. Personally I don¡¯t believe that they are really affiliated with the Dark Continent.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Who?¡±(Me) ¡°Ah. Right I forgot to tell you the rest, sorry man.¡±(Takeshi) He was laughing. I had the urge to punch him in the face at least once to get that grin out of him, but if I did that, he wouldn¡¯t tell me the rest of the rumour and I would have had more work to do. ¡°There was a battle. At the border of the beastmen continent and the human continent. A group of 8 people saying they are from the Dark Continent.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°And?¡±(Me) ¡°Just with that information, it is obvious that the Dark Continent wasn¡¯t part of this. It is probably only someone who is trying to stir up the peaceful relationship between those 2 races.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°It is?¡±(Me) ¡°Why should the Dark Continent meddle in power struggles between other races? By the way, don¡¯t play the innocent person. I know pretty well that you are or at least can be sharper than most adults.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°If you say so.¡±(Me) ¡°This is really annoying.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Please continue.¡±(Me) He could only sigh when he realised that I was teasing him. It is really hard to explain something to a child. I experienced it myself, so I knew how I had to act to annoy someone. ¡°Well, the 2 races decided that it was a plan made up by someone else. But the fact that the name of the Dark Continent as well as Nightmare came up again after 2 years spreads too fast.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°So what is going to happen to the Dark Continent?¡±(Me) ¡°Nothing. Perhaps some minor attacks but nothing big will happen. What should they do? If any of the races would try to seize the Dark Continent, it would mean they are willing to give up their own continent. It is impossible to win against Nightmare without an army, but those armies are required for defence, so no one will do anything against the Dark Continent.¡±(Takeshi) It was nice to hear that no one would attack us in the near future and that all of that had nothing to do with me. If the other races decided to attack the Dark Continent, I could say farewell to my plan to prevent a bad future. ¡°And that group of 8?¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t know. The people inside only yell at each other and nothing comes out of it. I hope I will never have to go to such meetings.¡±(Takeshi) He was pointing at the hall. ¡°The only normal thing they said was something about adding some discovery quests to the adventurer guild as well as some schools. They probably want to take more islands for themselves.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°You shouldn¡¯t take that as something negative. Humans are greedy creatures and we can¡¯t change that fact.¡±(Me) ¡°Not only humans are greedy though.¡±(Takeshi) We left shortly afterwards. It was obvious that they would come to no agreement inside and we had better things to do than only listening to adults shouting at each other. ¡°Well I am relieved that it had nothing to do with the black continent.¡±(Takeshi) He said on our way home. ¡°Why so?¡±(Me) Takeshi made an angry expression. ¡°Remember when I told you my foster parents were killed because of greed?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Yea.¡±(Me) ¡°Well, all of that would have never happened if our 2 body guards were still with us.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±(Me) ¡°Because of the incident with Nightmare, a lot of people vanished, or probably even died. Some of them were family members or friends of us. Because of that, our 2 guards, asked for permission to seek revenge. We all thought that there was nothing to worry about, but we were wrong. The message of both of them gone missing was a huge shock to us.¡±(Takeshi) I felt a bitter feeling inside me. I fought against many people at that time and I couldn¡¯t remember those 2 at all. I was sad and depressed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I am training to beat Nightmare in the future. And it wasn¡¯t only his fault. If we didn¡¯t stay that depressed back then and searched for new guards all of that wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡±(Takeshi) That is something to worry about though. If I am not able to persuade you that the Dark Continent and I are actually good, I will have to fight you in the future. Chapter 19 Using learned things After 1 or 2 hours, the meeting finally ended. It was already afternoon and the sun was high up. We stalked some more teachers leaving the hall. I have never seen nor interacted with most of them, so I had no idea which of them were dangerous. A young male teacher, brown hair, brown eyes, dressed completely odd, with a long sleeved white shirt, but on the other side, short black pants, was catching my interest. I was completely caught off guard when he suddenly turned around and smiled our way. He didn¡¯t say anything nor did he inform the other teachers about us. ¡°Would be nice if that guy would be on our side. But even if he was an enemy I don¡¯t think we would lose against him.¡±(Me) I said to Takeshi while pointing at Brownie. I had no idea how to call him and my bad naming sense was showing up again. ¡°Who do you mean?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Sigh. Never mind.¡±(Me) Takeshi probably missed Mr. Brownie in that little crowd of teachers. Afterwards, I went back to the boy¡¯s dormitory. I went to my room, took some clothing and put it in front of the window, because that sun was annoying as hell. That didn¡¯t really cool off the room, but at least the temperature didn¡¯t rise. The rest of the day and part of the evening, I focused on writing at least 1 rune. It took half of the night, because my super huge ego didn¡¯t allow me to fail if I really tried. Circumstances didn¡¯t matter, what mattered was that I couldn¡¯t allow myself to fail. As expected I created 1. Moreover, it was the 1 I was aiming for, Gravity. But the side effect of practicing that long, I fell asleep instantly after succeeding. And it got worse, I slept on the floor. When I was woken up again the next day, my back hurt, but I was happy, because I succeeded. You will start from the basics, slowly advance, while only being able to succeed after long time practicing my ass. Was what I wanted to say, but no one was there to hear that. Today I have martial arts. As far as I know it is something physical. The weather cooled down a lot. It would eventually start raining in the next few days. I didn¡¯t want to go to class for the time being. Neither did I want to go to Takeshi. I really wanted to test out the Gravity rune, as well as that symbol I should have received. I had no idea how I could summon it, but that teacher said it would pop up in my mind as soon as I need it. I bet on that.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. For training, I needed some space. My room didn¡¯t really fit that criteria. More important was, that I wouldn¡¯t be seen by others. The only place I could think of was the park, Sakura talked about. The only risk was to encounter Takeshi, but as he was the least risk I could think of. Moreover, if I had enough luck, perhaps I won¡¯t meet him, was what I thought. I went there to test the Gravity rune, next thing I knew, my luck ran out. ¡°Dammit.¡±(Me) He was lying under a tree. I had hopes that he didn¡¯t see me, so I turned around and attempted to flee. ¡°Oy. What are you doing here?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I wanted to try out something.¡±(Me) I knew it was already too late and in order to prevent unnecessary talking, I just told him the truth. ¡°Eh. So you already succeeded? That¡¯s quite something. Let me see it.¡±(Takeshi) He took it more relaxed than I thought. I nodded to confirm that I would start now. ¡°First I need somewhere to place the Gravity rune.¡±(Me) I pondered for a while and Takeshi got impatient. ¡°Just take your damn clothes.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°You are a genius.¡±(Me) ¡°I would actually believe you if you wouldn¡¯t use sarcasm when talking to me.¡±(Takeshi) As Takeshi said, I used my clothes. First I gathered mana, then I focused it at the tip of my index finger. I started with my shirt. ¡°Hahahaha. What is this?¡±(Takeshi) Takeshi laughed when I finished drawing it. The sign itself looked similar to a dropping stone. Perhaps that was only my imagination, as it was my rune. ¡°Be careful or I will put some on you.¡±(Me) ¡°Yeah, yeah I am sorry. Haha. It is just, this looks so stupid.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Thank you very much.¡±(Me) I could feel a light increase in weight from my shirt, as well as a faint connection to my rune. As our teacher explained, it got heavier the more mana gathered and used to strengthen that connection. ¡°Did it work?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Sure it did. With that, I will be able to train a lot more efficient.¡±(Me) I said full with pride. ¡°You should dispel the rune after training though.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Why so?¡±(Me) ¡°If you were to fight, you wouldn¡¯t be able to use mana, as it would probably back fire on you.¡±(Takeshi) I looked at him with a serious face. ¡°Could it be that you are a real genius?¡±(Me) ¡°Nah. I am just a god.¡±(Takeshi) We both had some fun, and I teased Takeshi with gravity runes. It helped me a lot with training, because I needed to draw fast or he would dodge. After a few hours, we got exhausted and took a break. ¡°What about that symbol, teacher was talking about? Can I see yours?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Sure, why not?¡±(Me) ¡°On your shirt again. That is the safest choice.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Only for you though, but ok.¡±(Me) Now would be a good time to appear my symbol. I closed my eyes and prayed to my symbol. If someone else knew what I was doing they would think I was insane, but to others, I looked like I was focusing. ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°What?¡±(Me) I slowly opened my eyes and looked down at my shirt where my symbol was. ¡°I thought that you can¡¯t be less creative than with your rune, but I guess I made a huge miscalculation there. This tops it tenfold. Haha.¡±(Takeshi) My symbol, that damn thing I prayed for was black. That was it. It was as black as my black mana sphere and also looked exactly the same, just in the form of a symbol. Having a black circle as my symbol was really embarrassing. ¡°Stop laughing, I bet yours won¡¯t be more creative. That is if you ever create a rune.¡±(Me) I said, obviously taunting Takeshi. ¡°I will. You just wait.¡±(Takeshi) He sat down and focused his mana and attempted to write his rune. ¡°I am going to go now, martial arts class will soon start and I don¡¯t want to be a scapegoat again, just because I am late.¡±(Me) ¡°Do what you want. Just know that I will have written my own rune when I see you again.¡±(Takeshi) I had some time left, so I leisurely walked into the direction of the training fields. Chapter 20 A tough lesson The training fields were huge. It basically consisted of 2 buildings as well as a wide open air area. The bigger building was for inside training, if the weather would prevent them from training outside. The other was a store room, where all the training dummies and wooden weapons, as well as real swords, armour, etc. was kept. The field was surrounded by a relatively high wall, so it was hard to peek on training sessions. That was also the reason why I haven¡¯t seen anything of the training fields yet except the outside appearance. The rest, I only knew because Sakura, Ryo, Haruto as well as Takeshi kept on talking about it for hours. If there was anything I didn¡¯t know about it, I would be surprised. I arrived on point, exactly at 15:00. The first thing I did after going inside the training room was wonder if I perhaps chose the wrong side course, because the only students who attended martial arts, were Williams clique as well as 4 other boys, which looked like delinquents with their comfortable clothing. The last 2 people was a blond girl, with blue eyes. Her looks weren¡¯t bad but I wasn¡¯t particularly interested in her and a young boy, looking very similar to the girl. If I¡¯d take a guess they were siblings, perhaps even twins. The atmosphere was really strange. They all knew each other, while I only knew William. At least they looked like they didn¡¯t like each other, so they weren¡¯t ganging up on me. I was seriously relieved about that. All 4 groups were nervous and scouting the others. Williams gang, the 4 boys stood together, the twins and last but not least me. After 5 minutes, 1 teacher finally showed up. Strangely enough, when he arrived everyone else lined up and stood still. It seemed as that stare battle never happened and they were all friendly with each other. To my misfortune, it was something, that teacher instructed his students to do. It was for something like discipline. ¡°We have a new face this year?¡±(Teacher) ¡°Yes, teacher.¡±(Me) He said when he saw me. Afterwards he looked at the other students. ¡°Why has no one instructed the newcomer of the rules?!¡±(Teacher) He shouted with a loud voice. The others trembled at his shout, but then bowed down and apologized to him. He turned back to me and started explaining. ¡°My name is Nerlan Armstrong. From now on, you will only address me with sir and as they did, every time you see me coming, you will stand in line and wait for my instructions. Did you understand student.¡±(Nerlan)If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Yes sir!¡±(Me) ¡°Good with this straightforward personality, it will take more effort for me to break you, student. I am really happy about challenges. Well, everyone go to the fields and wait for me.¡±(Nerlan) ¡°Yes sir.¡±(Students) Armstrong was leading the way and the others just followed behind him. I needed to forget his statement about breaking me, or else I wouldn¡¯t have been able to follow behind them. ¡°Do you perhaps know what Mr. Armstrong meant with breaking me?¡±(Me) I anxiously asked the girl, because she seemed like the only normal person to me. ¡°First of all it is Sir Armstrong and my name is Kathrine. It is as he said, he will break your mind and body with physical training, so you learn your place. You should be prepared for it, cause it will hurt.¡±(Kathrine) Perhaps she wasn¡¯t normal too. Kathrine said everything with a monotone and bored voice. It didn¡¯t look like she was controlled or something like that, she acted like that because she predicted my reaction as well as my question so she was bored that I wasn¡¯t more interesting. When we left the building and arrived at the open field, Armstrong stopped and everyone got in line, this time I was there too. ¡°Before I forget, we will train with a trainee today. He will be here in about 15 minutes so greet him with respect when he arrives.¡±(Armstrong) ¡°Yes sir.¡±(Students) Even though I could clearly see that everyone was confused, they all answered with no hesitation. ¡°Until my trainee arrives, I will break the newbie. All the others stay in line.¡±(Armstrong) ¡°Yes sir.¡±(Students) ¡°Newbie step forward.¡±(Armstrong) ¡°Yes sir.¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯ll summarize the rules for you. You are not allowed to move, defend, attack or use magic until I allow you to. Understood.¡±(Armstrong) Am I at least allowed to breath? I could only think about this joke quietly. ¡°I asked you if you understood?!¡±(Armstrong) ¡°Yes sir.¡±(Me) ¡°Good than I will get started now.¡±(Armstrong) He was starting inhaling and exhaling. ¡°How long do you think he will last?¡±(Kathrine) ¡°About 5 minutes.¡±(Twin brother) Was what the others whispered. Armstrong finished preparing and started to run at me. I had no idea what I should do. I panicked when he came near me, but I stood firm and didn¡¯t move. I could see a big smile on his face. It is better to skip what happened during the next 10 minutes. Long story short, he was beating me up, while I wasn¡¯t allowed to do anything. Even my trained body couldn¡¯t withstand the damage and literally broke down after 10 minutes. There was almost no places left, which he didn¡¯t punch at least once. Let¡¯s ignore the bones he broke for the time being. It did hurt like hell. During the first 5 minutes all the students were looking at me normally. Afterwards, their gazes made a 180 degree turn. One after the other started to look at me with respect, except William. ¡°10 minutes? You survived 10 whole minutes and even made shed some sweat, while not screaming at least once, what an interesting student you are.¡±(Armstrong) The first thing he went for was my mouth so how the fuck should I have been able to scream. I just hoped all my teeth were intact. It was a really inhuman way of training, was all I could think about and let it at that. ¡°Sir Armstrong, I have arrived.¡±(Trainee) This 1 sentence broke the silence. Everyone was standing in line as instructed before. At least everyone who could. ¡°Good timing Lidus, take care of his injuries.¡±(Armstrong) ¡°Yes sir.¡±(Lidus) He came near me and picked me up. While carrying me he went to the second floor of the training house and put me down on a bed. I was quite surprised when he healed my injuries with magic. The swellings were gone in a matter of minutes. Most bones were still broken but the pain lessened a lot. The most important thing was that I was able to speak again. ¡°So, how was it Mr. Brownie?¡±(Me) ¡°What are you talking about? I don¡¯t like your disrespectful tone at all, student. My name is Lidus.¡±(Lidus) ¡°I am sorry Mr. Lidus. So how was it seeing me getting beaten up?¡±(Me) Chapter 21 The human continent hosts a tournament? ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Isn¡¯t it quite funny to see a person spying on you getting beaten up the next time you see him?¡±(Me) He still needed some tips but he understood that I saw through his act. When he realised, he started smiling. After looking me in the eyes again and after confirming I wasn¡¯t bluffing he dropped his act completely. ¡°Well it was quite hilarious to see it, Hikaru.¡±(Lidus) ¡°I see, so you have already looked into my background?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Lidus) ¡°And, were you disappointed when you found nothing about me?¡±(Me) ¡°I found some smaller issues, but all in all, the answer is yes.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Man you are no fun, you know.¡±(Me) ¡°It would be nice if you could start talking to me with respect.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Not happening Mr. Brownie.¡±(Me) ¡°Guh.¡±(Lidus) Calling Lidus Mr. Brownie did annoy him a lot and that made me super happy in my situation. I could laugh, even with the condition my body was in. ¡°So Mr. Lidus, or should I call you Sir Lidus, new martial arts teacher, what do you think about that rumour?¡±(Me) ¡°About the dark continent?¡±(Lidus) ¡°Yes. What else could there be?¡±(Me) ¡°Honestly, I think this is all only a small part of a big plan. That group which appeared, the connection to the dark continent, as well as the tournament in 1 month. Everything fits perfect for an individual group to wreak havoc.¡±(Lidus) There were some new aspects, which I hadn¡¯t heard of yet. Perhaps Takeshi skipped some important things which he deamed as unimportant stuff. ¡°I don¡¯t understand?¡±(Me) ¡°Eh? I thought you listened to the conference?¡±(Lidus) ¡°Most of the things I know come from Takeshi.¡±(Me) ¡°There was another one, I knew it.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Hmm. Well yeah me and Takeshi. Didn¡¯t you notice?¡±(Me) ¡°To be honest, I only noticed that 1 person was watching from afar and turned in that direction. If you hadn¡¯t told me, I wouldn¡¯t even know who stalked the meeting now. I had about 5 suspects, but thanks to you, I saved a lot of time and effort.¡±(Lidus)This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. It was a good feeling knowing that I hadn¡¯t let down my guard, but Lidus just acted on impulse and noticed us by more or less coincidence. But then again, I felt really stupid for directly telling him that I was the culprit. ¡°Well now to the important part.¡±(Me) ¡°There is something more important than the recent incident?¡±(Lidus) ¡°Sure there is. You said something about a tournament, I want to know more. Tell me about it.¡±(Me) ¡°What?¡±(Lidus) His reaction seemed rather strange in my opinion. Also his gaze. He looked at like he would at a little child who doesn¡¯t know anything about the world. Well I actually was a child, but he didn¡¯t need to look at me like that. ¡°That tournament you talked about in your theory, or whatever it was. You should know that I am new here and I have no idea of school related things.¡±(Me) ¡°Well every normal person does know about most of the tournaments hosted by the human continent. And one of the most famous ones is called the annual school tournament and as the name implies, a lot of schools send their best students to fight against each other in a tournament system. There are some other events too, like the team battle and the magic battle, but the most important 1 is the 1 vs 1 tournament.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Aha, and?¡±(Me) ¡°It will take place at the beginning of the 2nd month of the school year, so students won¡¯t be able to relax during break and always train to improve themselves.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Aha, and?¡±(Me) ¡°Has anyone ever told you that talking to you is really hard?¡±(Lidus) ¡°Yep.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. The school of the winner of that tournament gains a lot of fame as well as a prize.¡±(Lidus) That price piqued my interest. If that tournament was that important than there would be a precious prize for the winner. ¡°Which is?¡±(Me) ¡°A secret technique from Sir Pendragon himself! Can you believe it?¡±(Lidus) ¡°No, not really.¡±(Me) ¡°You don¡¯t seem that impressed.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Well I have no idea who that Sir Pendragon is.¡±(Me) In the next second, Lidus made a face like his world just crumbled. ¡°Alex Pendragon, 2nd reigning king of the human continent as well as the first human to be able to use magic and adapt it to human standards.¡±(Lidus) ¡°A you mean that Pendragon.¡±(Me) ¡°I am not stupid. Don¡¯t act like you knew him, after admitting you haven¡¯t.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Dammit.¡±(Me) Thinking about meeting another king, my mood went down a lot. ¡°The prize sounds really nice. It would also be nice to talk to a king.¡±(Me) ¡°Who said anything about you receiving it? You only get little fame, the school behind you receives everything else.¡±(Lidus) Stupid rules. ¡°Why would anyone compete when the only thing they gain is fame?¡±(Me) ¡°Mostly because of pride and honour.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Sigh. Humans are a really stupid race.¡±(Me) ¡°Most humans are yes, but there are special individuals.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Not many though. By the way how could that tournament even be connected with the recent incident?¡±(Me) ¡°Huh? Ah. That¡¯s a secret sorry. Just know that humans and beastmen have a history filled with conflicts and battles.¡±(Lidus) ¡°First you bait me in and now you won¡¯t even tell me why?¡± ¡°I assume you have more or less recovered, I¡¯ll carry you back to Sir Armstrong now. Even if you can¡¯t participate in today¡¯s lesson, you will be at least able to learn a few things from his lessons, student.¡±(Lidus) Without waiting for my reply he did so. I silently accepted what he told me, because even if he hid some things from me, it wasn¡¯t like he knew anything about me and I could understand him not playing all his cards from the start. The remaining lesson, I just sat quietly next to Lidus and watched the other train. As he said, I learned quite a lot moves to dodge, attack, defend, etc. with only using my physical body. This freak definitely trained a lot to get such a strong body. I could only be in awe. First his training method was really harsh, but at the same time it was more efficient than every way I could think off. ¡°To be able to move like that, I wonder how often he got broken.¡±(Me) I jokingly said to Lidus. ¡°Pray that he doesn¡¯t hear you. His punishments are even worse than his training methods.¡±(Lidus) ¡°Hahaha.¡±(Me) When the training ended, I was more or less able to walk again and went back to my room. With that, the 5th day of my school life was over. I said 1 last sentence before falling asleep. ¡°This will get interesting.¡±(Me) Chapter 22 Going out to visit the city When I woke up the next morning, I could feel every single injury I had. It hurt so much that it was hard for me staying awake and not falling unconsciousness. At least my face was healed more or less. I opened my eyes and realised that it was another beautiful day, on which I had absolutely nothing to do. It was really convenient for me having that much free time, so I just remained lying in my bed and slept the entire day. The next day I woke up, not because of my clock, but because rays of light were shining directly onto my face. I didn¡¯t know if my body was just really tough or some kind of wonder medicine was used on me but on the next day, my bones went back to their original positions, at least it felt like they did. Unfortunately, the pain didn¡¯t go away, but at least I would be able to move around again. It was the 6th day of the 1st school week. Every 6th day of a school week was a free day. No lessons and no training. It wasn¡¯t even allowed to do quests from the school quest board. It was a day for the teachers and students to take a short break from all the stress they had. The 7th day was also a free day, but you were at least allowed to take and make missions. Like the previous few days, I was left with nothing to do. Training wasn¡¯t a good idea because of the state of my body. There was a saying that overworking your body would only harm it, or something like that. If there was, I think that Sir Armstrong has never heard about it. I left my room to go downstairs. When I opened my door, I was ¡°Good morning¡± ¨Ced by Takeshi, Sakura, Ryo and Haruto. Afterwards I got questioned, why I stayed in my room all day yesterday. I have no idea how they got to know that, but I told them about Sir Armstrong¡¯s ¡°training¡±. Their reaction differed. Sakura thought that it was a barbaric way to train someone by breaking their body and Takeshi was happy about it. ¡°By the way, actually we came to ask you if you are free today.¡±(Ryo) ¡°Well yeah, I have nothing to do today, why do you ask?¡±(Me) ¡°After discussing what to do and¡­¡±(Ryo ¡°We want to visit the city. Do you want to come with us?¡±(Haruto) Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Haruto disrupted Ryo to finish this discussion faster. ¡°Sure why not.¡±(Me) We went downstairs and headed towards the exit of school. When we reached the gate, a gatekeeper asked us to show our student cards, that thing I got after my entrance exam. After showing him our cards, he let us pass and we left Sonya academy. ¡°Sigh. It has been a whole week since we left the school grounds.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Right. They should let us out more often.¡±(Ryo) ¡°Agreed.¡±(Takeshi) I could only smile when I thought about how I could leave whenever I want. ¡°Are there any places you guys especially wanted to visit?¡±(Me) ¡°Marketplace!¡±(Ryo, Haruto and Takeshi) Sakura was taken aback when all 3 of them shouted from behind her. ¡°There you have it. Sonya academy is famous for its marketplace. No one of us is noble and our parents don¡¯t have much money. The only way for us to obtain money in the past was by completing missions.¡±(Sakura) ¡°We acted as a team on all those missions and we will also share the money we earned.¡±(Ryo) ¡°Not with you though, cause you weren¡¯t there last year.¡±(Takeshi) Sakura looked at Takeshi with eyes that would kill him every second after his unnecessary statement. ¡°It¡¯s ok I totally understand. Don¡¯t worry, I have accumulated quite a fortune in my past.¡±(Me) ¡°Then it¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about Takeshi, he loves talking without thinking before.¡±(Sakura) ¡°I already noticed.¡±(Me) We proceeded towards the marketplace with Haruto leading the way. His father owns a little restaurant at the edge of the market place and when he was young, he often ran in the city, so he was the most familiar with the city and knew exactly where to go. After we reached our destination, a plaza of the marketplace, we started visiting some shops. Starting off with some food shops. I have to say, I loved those sweets we bought. We also went into a jewellery. They had sapphire, ruby and other stones with weird names. I wasn¡¯t interested at all but I didn¡¯t show that to Sakura as she was enjoying the shopping tour. I don¡¯t know why but we passed a lot of blacksmiths and armor, as well as weapon selling shops, but never went inside 1. When I asked Takeshi, he asked me if I was stupid enough to visit 1, when I don¡¯t even look like I could hold a short sword. Moreover, he said that in a really sarcastic tone. I had the urge to punch him in the face at least once but refrained from doing so. After a while, we lost each other. Or at least I lost the others. The last time I saw them was when we passed some clothing stores. Then I saw some chocolate fruits, you have fruits on a stick and dip them inside a chocolate well, simply delicious. When I saw them I had to get some and lost my guides. Afterwards, I tried searching and ended up wandered around for a whole hour, but couldn¡¯t find them. I somehow ended up in an alleyway. I was completely lost. What was even worse, was that there were no people around. All I could see around me were houses and walls. The further I went, the more I felt lost. I wasn¡¯t desperate though. I knew I could leave with wind magic any time I wanted, but the sun was high up and I had a lot of time so I wandered around the alleyways for a bit. ¡°Help me!¡±(?) ¡°Hold it, kid!¡±(?) A little child, in tattered clothes was chased around by a human man. It was hard to tell, which race or which gender the kid had, because it was dirty all over the body. In its despair, the kid saw me and ran towards me. ¡°Help me, please, I beg you!¡±(child) The child wasn¡¯t the only 1 who saw me. ¡°Oy, you, stop her!¡±(Man) Chapter 23 To the rescue, again? Both of them almost reached me. ¡°I said stop her, are you deaf?¡±(Man) The girl passed me and hid behind my back. Cowering in fear and using my body as a shield. When she came near me I noticed her green hair as well as green eyes. She looked like every normal human girl, except how dirty she was, but in my eyes, she didn¡¯t appear like 1. What I clearly knew though was, that I wouldn¡¯t be able to get out of trouble anymore. ¡°So you are with her?¡±(Man) ¡°Looks like it.¡±(Me) ¡°Are you prepared for the consequences?¡±(Man) ¡°I don¡¯t know, which consequences you speak of.¡±(Me) ¡°Soon reinforcements will arrive and we will bring the girl as well as you back to our boss.¡±(Man) ¡°How do you plan on doing that? Talking to me until I surrender?¡±(Me) His objective was obviously to stall for time until his comrades would arrive. He was unsure if he could beat me in a 1 on 1. What he didn¡¯t think about was that even with those reinforcements, they would not be able to subdue me. ¡°First you help a slave and now you get all arrogant. You are not from a city right? Otherwise you¡¯d know the rules.¡±(Man) ¡°No you are right I don¡¯t know the rules, but I am from the academy of this city.¡±(Me) ¡°Ho, you can use some little magic tricks than. This will fetch an even higher price at the market.¡±(Man) ¡°They can¡¯t be far guys!¡±(?) A voice interrupted our little talk. I could clearly hear footsteps coming in our direction. ¡°Guys, we are here!¡±(Man) The girl looked desperate and pulled my clothes. When I turned around, her eyes tried to tell me that we should run away. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There is nothing to fear. Just promise me that you tell me everything after we finish this.¡±(Me) Her face clearly said, ¡°I don¡¯t believe you at all¡±. It was a rather bad thing for my big ego, because I wasn¡¯t even able to convince a little girl to believe in me. On the other hand, it was already too late to run away, because even from behind us, there were people coming. We were surrounded. Their numbers amounted around 30 people.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Does she have some special powers, or why do they send so many people after 1 little girl? It was certainly strange, but I had other things I had to take care of first. When the man saw that we were surrounded, he started talking a lot more arrogantly. He probably thought that they had already won. ¡°Make a choice boy. Do you surrender or fight. If you surrender, we would spare you and would only sell you as a slave. If you decide to fight, you would have to fight us until your death, though.¡±(Man) ¡°Can I take the 3rd?¡±(Me) ¡°There is no 3rd choice. Surrender or fight, there are only 2.¡±(Man) ¡°Choice 3 is I beat you all up and we leisurely walk away. Can¡¯t I take that?¡±(Me) ¡°Your provocations know no end. Guys attack them!¡±(Man) Without hesitation they came at us. I kept my guard up and awaited them. After the first few seconds, I knew, they were nothing special. Just some underlings trying to please their boss. The pack had 0 coordination. They just ran at us like wild animals, but even those wild animals would be stronger, due to their bodies and instincts. I didn¡¯t have many techniques for physical fights, but because of my speed and strength advantage, I was able to see every single one of their movements. The 1st person who reached us and tried attacked, was also the 1st person who lied on the ground, with broken ribs and no longer able to fight. It took me only 1 punch and about 1 second to send him flying. That naturally shook the confidence of the others. But they continued their attacks. If they would have attacked all at the same time, they could have hit some of my injuries and perhaps, with a lot of luck, knock me out. But they just kept coming 1 after another and in a 1 on 1 I had yet to lose against someone. Dodging 1 punch after another and knocking them down with 1 or 2 punches or kicks, the remaining people started to fear the pain they could receive. Their attacks stopped and they from a safe distance, they waited for our next movements. I was also relieved, because some injuries opened up again. ¡°Are you finished yet? Can we go now, or does anyone else want to try?¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t get cocky. We will remember this and come back.¡±(Man) And they ran away. The kid and I left the alleyway and went to a more crowded place. ¡°You haven¡¯t told me your name yet?¡±(Me) ¡°Sylphy.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Ok Sylphy. Can you tell me how you ended up in that situation or do you want to keep quiet about it?¡±(Me) ¡°I will tell you, but only on 1 condition.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°That is?¡±(Me) ¡°Your name?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Ah, I haven¡¯t even introduced myself yet, sorry. My name is Hikaru.¡±(Me) ¡°Why did you help me?¡±(Sylphy) It was an odd question. Sylphy looked into my eyes and it felt like she could see everything inside me. Like every secret I had was exposed because she was staring at me. ¡°Naturally I can¡¯t let a cute little child like you go with those bad guys.¡±(Me) ¡°Liar.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°It is the truth.¡±(Me) ¡°No. Tell me honestly why did you help me?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Is this some kind of custom, or why are you questioning me like that? Shouldn¡¯t you be thankful that I helped you?¡±(Me) ¡°Hmpf.¡±(Sylphy) She didn¡¯t like my reply at all and acted like she would ignore me, if I didn¡¯t answer her question honestly. This was the 2nd time I helped a girl and I got into a discussion afterwards. ¡°If you tell me who you really are, I will tell you why I saved you from those barbarians.¡±(Me) ¡°You just told me why. Now I want something else.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Ok this is getting on my nerves and my injuries hurt. Farewell little Sylphy I give up. Look after yourself a bit more.¡±(Me) I turned around and started to walk away slowly. I left a little girl, in disbelief of what she just heard, behind. I was sure that she would understand her situation better if I¡¯d act that way. ¡°W¡­Wait!¡±(Sylphy) She started following me. ¡°Huh, I couldn¡¯t hear you.¡±(Me) ¡°Ah. W¡­Wait for me. Please.¡±(Sylphy) If she saw my wicked smile, she definitely would have preferred going with the men. I instantly turned around and waited for her. ¡°Is it now okay for me to ask what you are?¡±(Me) She finally noticed that all of that was only an act. ¡°Fine. But only if you take me with you.¡±(Sylphy) She said unwillingly. Chapter 24 Spirit After guiding her through a few people, I led her to another alleyway. The only difference to before, was that I knew how to get back to the academy from there. ¡°So?¡±(Me) ¡°Where are we going?¡±(Sylphy) I stopped. ¡°We? We are going nowhere if you are going to continue denying my questions.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmpf.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Sigh. I give you a last chance, tell me who and what you are and I will take you with me. I will even buy some sweets for you.¡±(Me) If I learnt something from my time with other children, than it would be that they can¡¯t deny sweets. ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°I¡¯ll leave you behind.¡±(Me) She was staring at me with those eyes again. Like she could see through me. ¡°Liar.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°So you have an ability that lets you know if a person is lying or not?¡±(Me) ¡°I¡­ Huh? N... No I don¡¯t.¡±(Sylphy) She was a terrible liar. She couldn¡¯t look me in the eyes, she stuttered and couldn¡¯t even bring out a normal no. ¡°Let me guess. Your eyes can see through lies.¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t stop my direct questioning. ¡°No. No. No.¡±(Sylphy) She knew she couldn¡¯t hide her ability in front of me any longer and just tried to overhear me. She shut her ears with her hands and just continued saying no. ¡°No. No. No.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Do you even want to come with me?¡±(Me) I added that sentence between her endless denying. ¡°No. No. N¡­ Wait, what?¡±(Sylphy)Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Ok. See you.¡±(Me) I had no time to play with her. I used wind magic to boost my jump and leapt in the air. I landed on the nearest house and looked down at her from above. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say this but I am not the nice guy that would rescue a cute girl, without a reason. If you don¡¯t want to cooperate, I have no plan keeping you accompany.¡±(Me) I said and turned around. ¡°Wait! Please.¡±(Sylphy) Were the last words I heard from her. I could even hear her starting to cry, but this time I ignored it, because I didn¡¯t want to go through everything again. I jumped over a few houses and landed near the plaza, where I lost the Takeshi and the others. ¡°Sakura, I found him! Over here.¡±(Ryo) I heard as soon as I stood in the middle of the plaza near a water fountain. ¡°Jo.¡±(Me) I said when Takeshi, Sakura, Haruto and Ryo stood in front of me. ¡°Where have you been idiot?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I got lost.¡±(Me) ¡°We were worried you know.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Haha. Sorry.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. At least we found you before we had to use Takeshi¡¯s idea to find you.¡±(Haruto) ¡°Why?¡±(Me) They just smiled at me with strange faces. Perhaps it¡¯s better not to know? ¡°Why would you say something like that? I bet if we used food to bait him he would have come. 100 percent sure if we had used chocolate.¡±(Takeshi) He got a palm onto the back of his head by Sakura and apologized to me, by buying me my dinner. We went to the restaurant of Haruto¡¯s father. I had to admit, I had never eaten such exquisite meat. After our bellies were filled with good food and Takeshi and the others paid for it, we went back to the academy. It was already late afternoon and the sun already began to go down. We reached the gate and showed our student card to the guard. ¡°Hikaru, right?¡±(Guard) ¡°Me?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. I am sorry but could you please come with me?¡±(Guard) I had no reason to not go with him so I said bye to the others and followed the guard into a small house near the gate. ¡°I am sorry that I suddenly asked you to follow me, but there is a little girl who always asked for you.¡±(Guard) It couldn¡¯t be. Yes it was. We entered a room and there she was sitting eating an apple. The girl in her tattered clothes. ¡°Could I have some time alone with her?¡±(Me) ¡°Sure, but watch the time. The gate will close in about 1 hour.¡±(Guard) ¡°Yes thank you.¡±(Me) The guard left and we were left alone. The only noises were coming from Sylphy eating her apple. ¡°Why are you here?¡±(Me) ¡°You promised you¡¯d take me with you.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°I did but you broke your promise, telling me who you are.¡±(Me) She looked at me for a second. ¡°I am Sylphy.¡±(Sylphy) I didn¡¯t know if she was for real or if she just wanted to taunt me. Whatever it was, I already wanted to leave again. ¡°And I am sorry for today.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°And?¡±(Me) ¡°I will tell you what I am, but only somewhere, where no one can hear us.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°You can tell me now.¡±(Me) ¡°But someone could hear us.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°First of all, I don¡¯t care.¡±(Me) ¡°Guh.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°And second, I already checked the surroundings with magic, there is no one beside us 2 in this house.¡±(Me) It was the truth, as soon as I entered the house, I checked every room with wind magic. She used that weird ability of hers again, so she knew I wasn¡¯t lying. ¡°I¡­¡±(Sylphy) ¡°You?¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t pressure me like that. I¡­¡±(Sylphy) ¡°You are a spirit?¡±(Me) ¡°I am a spirit¡­ Huh? What? How¡­ How did you know?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°I guessed.¡±(Me) I caught her quite off guard. ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Is it? You are definitely no human. I have seen a lot of demons, dragons and beastmen. I even know a lot of Halflings, but I have never seen someone like you. The only solution would be you are a spirit or of an unknown race. I just went with the more likely option.¡±(Me) ¡°You. If you knew, why did you leave me alone?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Cause you looked like a nuisance to me.¡±(Me) ¡°You¡­ I¡­ You meanie.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°But I promised I¡¯d take you with me if you told me what you are.¡±(Me) As I promised, I took her to the gate and asked the guard to let her in. ¡°You could, but you would have to either take her as a slave or as a pet. It¡¯s mainly because of formalities. I am only allowed to let students, teachers, or guests pass.¡±(Guard) While I needed to hold back my laughter, Sylphy decided if she wanted to be listed as my pet or as my slave. In the end she went with slave, because that was what she was before and we went to my room. We received a lot of stares from the others, but that was nothing new to me. ¡°You take the bed.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t act like you are my boss.¡±(Sylphy) Shortly after she said that, she sunk into my bed and fell asleep. Chapter 25 Important announcement The next day I woke up with an aching back. I practiced writing runes through the night and fell asleep on the hard and cold floor. I could improve my writing speed a little bit, so it was worth. Sylphy hadn¡¯t woken up yet and I didn¡¯t want to wake her up. I silently stood up and moved to the door. ¡°Don¡¯t leave me behind.¡±(Sylphy) She said when I walked in front of the door and was about to leave. I turned around and checked if I woke her up, but she was probably just sleep talking. I opened the door and in the next second the spirit who was lying in my bed the before, passed by me. It took me a moment until my mind came back to normal. I followed after her as soon as I could. The problem was, she was fast. Insanely fast. ¡°Good morning, Hikaru.¡±(Takeshi) On my way out, I passed Takeshi, who was near the staircases and watched everything. He looked rather down to me, but I had to catch Sylphy. ¡°Sorry I don¡¯t have time now.¡±(Me) I ran after my prey. Down the stairs, leaving the boys dormitory and through the park. I had no idea what got into her, or where she was going, but she just kept running. If I hadn¡¯t run laps every day to train my body, I would have never been able to hold up with her speed. ¡°Sylphy stop this instant!¡±(Me) She didn¡¯t seem to hear me and just kept running at that insanely speed. I followed her inside the main building. When we reached the 2nd floor, she looked like she found, what she was searching for and headed straight for a door. I have never been into that room before, so I had no idea what was behind it. The closed door suddenly opened. I couldn¡¯t see who opened the door, because Sylphy crashed into that person the next second. I stopped in front of the door. ¡°Are you alright?¡±(Me) I got no reply. I had to look. I opened the door and went inside. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. An angry Amelie was staring at me. While she seemed angry, she was holding Sylphy in front of me, like she was showing some pet to his owner. How did I know she was angry? Her smile is normally that of a normal person, but at that time, it looked more like she wanted to kill someone with it. Luckily, no one else was present. ¡°Care to explain?¡±(Amelie) ¡°I don¡¯t know either. Sylphy just started running here, the instant I woke up.¡±(Me) ¡°So her name is Sylphy. What is your relationship with her?¡±(Amelie) ¡°Formally slave and master. But I¡¯d rather say something like friends.¡±(Me) ¡°Do you have any idea why she was running to the teacher¡¯s cafeteria?¡±(Amelie) When I heard that it was obvious why. If I¡¯m not wrong the last time she got something to eat was the apple yesterday. I have no idea what she got to eat as a slave. ¡°Perhaps she was just hungry?¡±(Me) ¡°And why was she targeting my breakfast then?¡±(Amelie) When I looked closely, Sylphy was eating something. ¡°No idea.¡±(Me) I couldn¡¯t explain the situation at all. ¡°I mean she isn¡¯t some kind of spirit, right?¡±(Amelie) ¡°Ah. Why do you ask?¡±(Me) Seriously what does that have to do with her behaviour? ¡°Sigh. Spirits can¡¯t resist honey. The biggest problem is with wind type spirits, because the range of their senses is much wider than others.¡±(Amelie) ¡°Why does teacher know so much about spirits?¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s better you don¡¯t know too much. Let¡¯s make a deal. If you keep quiet about me knowing so much, I¡¯ll keep quiet about your little spirit here.¡±(Amelie) I began to ask myself if every teacher of that academy had to be feared, or if it was only my luck, as soon as she proposed that deal with an ice cold voice. ¡°Deal.¡±(Me) She put Sylphy down, which finally came back to her senses. When I asked her, she couldn¡¯t remember anything. I could only sigh and we left the teachers cafeteria. ¡°Tell me before, if your race has some weird traits.¡±(Me) I said angrily. ¡°Sorry.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Sigh. Let¡¯s go to the quest board of this academy. I haven¡¯t been there yet.¡±(Me) ¡°Why?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°I was an adventurer before I came here and from experience, I can tell you, most quests are fun.¡±(Me) ¡°The D and E ranked quests were fun?¡±(Sylphy) I really wanted to brag about my real rank, but if I did, she would ask me further questions, which would be annoying. But, it could also get dangerous, because for most people, the adventurer Darkness died on the black continent. I wanted that rumour to be the truth for the while. ¡°Sigh. Let¡¯s just go.¡±(Me) We left the main building and went to the guild building. It was another huge complex. It was a combination of all 3 kinds of guilds. All the quests were on the 1st floor. I stood in front of a board for quite some while to decide between 2 quests, when Sylphy pulled my sleeve. ¡°What?¡±(Me) ¡°The guy from this morning.¡±(Sylphy) She said and pointed in the direction of the entrance. He was coming our direction. ¡°Forget about quests for today. Follow me to the hall, you are the last of the 2nd years. Sigh.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Why?¡±(Me) ¡°Apparently the teachers want to make an important announcement, so all students have to be present.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°What about Sylphy?¡±(Me) ¡°Who?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Her.¡±(Me) I pointed at the spirit. ¡°No problem, she can come too.¡±(Takeshi) I was a little bit down that I couldn¡¯t do quests that day. We followed Takeshi to the hall. ¡°Do you know what that announcement is about?¡±(Me) I asked him on the way. ¡°No idea.¡±(Takeshi) We arrived at the hall and went inside. It was huge. From the outside, it looks like a normal building, like every other house, but the inside looked like it could provide about 1000 people with seats. Sakura and the others only reserved 2 seats. After I explained everything more or less, who she is, we decided that Sylphy should just sit on Sakura¡¯s lap. ¡°Dear students, thank you for attending today.¡±(?) It started shortly after we sat down. Chapter 26 Open world The headmaster of the school started the speech. He was what someone would call a wise man. Having grey hair and a long beard, he looked wise and anything you asked him, he would be able to answer. ¡°We called all of you here for a certain reason. It is to inform you about recent incidents and the school year that lies ahead of us.¡±(Headmaster) It was funny to see the different reactions from the students. Most of the classes were sitting together. While the 1st years seemed like they didn¡¯t even know about any recent incidents, the older students weren¡¯t surprised at all. ¡°For those of you who don¡¯t know what I am talking about, I will summarize everything. The black continent, where the nightmare is located at, which emerged a few years ago, made signs of movement. And a small group used that to stir up some trouble between us and the beastmen. If this isn¡¯t handled well, there is a possibility of an all-out war between the 2 races.¡±(Headmaster) What shocked me the most, was that they indeed knew about me making my move, but that didn¡¯t apply for the others. They whispered to each other in fear. There has never been an all-out war between 2 races. That behaviour was explainable, because an all-out war was something that would only end when 1 race is completely destroyed or enslaved and the territory goes to the winning race. And even if there is 1 winning side, that side would suffer great casualties as well and the whole balance between 5 races would be destroyed. If this, as the headmaster said, wouldn¡¯t be handled correctly, it could even mean a world filled with constant war. ¡°I bet it¡¯s those damn demons.¡± I had no idea why, but the situation evolved into some students suspecting the demon race of doing that. It seemed that demons, humans and beastmen had always hated each other. ¡°Those cunning bastards are surely behind this.¡± After every shout, someone else got motivated to support that thought. ¡°ALL OF YOU BE QUIET PLEASE!¡±(Headmaster) Until the headmaster silenced them, of course. That shout wasn¡¯t something you¡¯d suspect from such an old man, but he put his heart into it, so everyone respected that.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°While only suspecting others with no proof, you could search for the culprits yourself.¡±(Headmaster) Everyone else finally shut up and it became quiet again. ¡°This is definitely not the right way to handle this situation. You should do your best to work together with others and not hate each other. That goes between races as well.¡±(Headmaster) They were words spoken with a firm believe behind them. ¡°This is my opinion but, it is better to work together with other people, rather than fighting with them. 4 hands can do more than only 2.¡±(Headmaster) After his speech, he received a loud applause. He sat down on a chair behind where he was standing and another teacher stood up and stepped forward. ¡°This would be how it should be done, but the authorities of both races came to an agreement. To prevent a war, we will hold a contest. The guild system isn¡¯t allowed to be used in this contest, so it will come down to the next generation, to you students to win this contest.¡±(Teacher) After the headmaster stepped down, the whispering started again. ¡°What did those bastards even do that there could be a possibility of an all-out war?¡±(Ryo) Ryo asked. No one who heard it could answer his question. ¡°I mean, we don¡¯t even know what they did and now we have to atone for their sins? Isn¡¯t this a bit too unfair?¡±(Ryo) We could only nod at his statement. It¡¯s true, because of them, we had to do a contest, perhaps even with our lives on the line. Not that I would put mine on the line, but it was an unfair situation. ¡°Silence! I will now proceed to explain the rules of this contest.¡±(Teacher) Silence was something else, but at least the rumouring cooled down a bit, so I could hear everything. ¡°1st, the annual tournament, we humans normally hold, will be opened to beastmen schools as well. This was the condition, on which the beastmen king would agree to the actual challenge.¡±(Teacher) And it got louder again. ¡°Silence, I haven¡¯t finished yet. 2nd, the war will be replaced by a challenge of whoever, can acquire the most islands. Those newly emerged islands, often hold huge amounts of natural resources, or sometimes even treasures, so they are an important asset to help a nation to flourish.¡±(Teacher) A challenge was interesting, but it seemed like he skipped some important parts. It was strange, so I needed to prepare myself for the worst. Mentally and physically. ¡°The school will open the gates for you to freely leave on your own from now on. The quest board will be updated and dungeon quests as well as other quests related to some islands will be added. The time span is 1 year, so do your best to represent us humans until then.¡±(Teacher) It was a speech to motivate us students to do the work of the adults, but I was probably the only 1 who thought like that, because everyone else was somehow celebrating that they could finally leave school, not only on 1 day of the week. ¡°Lastly, but that will only concern a handful of you, there will be a contest of strength between the strongest 5 students of us and the beastmen. It will take place at the end of the timespan.¡±(Teacher) Everyone thought with that it ended, but the headmaster added some last words and stole the spotlight. ¡°You might encounter some problems, but we have opened up the world to you students, have given you a way to prove yourself and represent us humans, so go out and make us proud. And while you are at it, don¡¯t forget to have fun on your new adventures.¡±(Headmaster) This triggered an even bigger applause and all the students were cheering. I was probably 1 of not many who realised, why he said those last words. It was a warning to all of us students. I had to admit, he hid it perfectly in his words. He wanted to tell us that there are no rules in this contest and that the 2 races even decided to sacrifice their youngsters to prevent an all-out war. Whatever that group did, it will affect the whole world. Chapter 27 Leaving school for a while The meeting ended with the headmasters warning. Everyone was leaving the building. There was about half of the day left. ¡°What are we gonna do now?¡±(Ryo) ¡°I don¡¯t know what you guys will be doing, but I¡¯ll grab a quest and leave school for a while.¡±(Takeshi) No one expected that, so our little group was quite confused. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong guys, it¡¯s not because I don¡¯t like school or something like that. It¡¯s just that there is something I have to do and this is the perfect opportunity to do so.¡±(Takeshi) He noticed our concern and answered the question before it was even asked. ¡°Sigh, but be careful. I know you are going to do something reckless.¡±(Sakura) Sakura cared for him the most, so it was only obvious for her to say something like that. ¡°What about you?¡±(Takeshi) The question was definitely directed at me. He wouldn¡¯t look so uninterested otherwise. ¡°Why do you ask if you don¡¯t care?¡±(Me) ¡°To act nice of course. If I didn¡¯t ask perhaps we would have forgotten about you.¡±(Takeshi) Straight forward, as always. ¡°I¡¯ll do some quests with Sylphy.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?¡±(Sylphy) It took me a short glance to make her understand, but she covered her mistake with a swift follow. ¡°Ah. Right, we¡¯ll do quests too.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°I envy you guys.¡±(Haruto) ¡°What are you talking about man?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Except for Sakura perhaps, we are no geniuses at all and it wouldn¡¯t be good for our grades if we left the school for even a single second.¡±(Haruto)Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. We parted our ways. Sakura, Ryo and Haruto went back to class and Takeshi, Sylphy and I went to pick up a quest. When we arrived in front of the quest board, before Takeshi could even look at the quests, I took the 1 which picked my interest before. ¡°What is this quest about that you are so eager to take it?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Dungeon exploring.¡±(Me) I said with a smile. ¡°Do you also want to tell me where?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°No.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. I thought so.¡±(Takeshi) I asked Sylphy to tell the receptionist that we will be taking the quest and that she should wait outside for me, in order to have a talk with Takeshi. ¡°Will you tell me what you need to do then?¡±(Me) ¡°I am sorry, this is a secret.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Can you at least assure me that it isn¡¯t something reckless? I mean I¡¯ll need you in the future you know.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am not going to pay the black continent a visit or something like that. I know my limits and that it would be far too stupid to fight the nightmare now.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Sylphy is waiting outside for me. I wish you the best luck in whatever you are going to do.¡±(Me) ¡°I too, wish you the best luck in whatever you are planning to do.¡±(Takeshi) We parted ways with those last words. It was a depressing feeling, when I thought about leaving this school after the 1st week and leaving behind all the friends I made in that short amount of time, but because of the recent incident, I had to be careful from now on. Sylphy was waiting for me outside. ¡°We have to leave the city today.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh, what are you talking about, why the stress?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°We¡¯ll leave immediately. No time for other farewells now, I have much to do. Moreover, no talking while we are in the city.¡±(Me) Was my only reply. When she noticed the change in my expression as well as my behaviour, she seemed to be scared for a second. I took the lead and we headed for the gate as fast as we could. I showed the guard my card and the quest and we headed into the city. ¡°Don¡¯t wander off, I won¡¯t be waiting for you, nor will I search for you.¡±(Me) I only warned her once. Sylphy had no idea what was wrong with me, but she knew that she couldn¡¯t ask that, while we were leaving the city. I made myself clear, that there could be someone trailing and listening to our conversations, so I was sure that she would stay quiet until we leave. Fortunately, we left the city without any further problems. As soon as we left, Sylphy pulled my sleeve. ¡°I will tell you soon enough, keep following me for now. We need to a place where no one can hear nor see us.¡±(Me) ¡°What?¡±(Sylphy) Her horrified face after misunderstanding my meaning was hilarious, but I had other things I needed to focus on. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t do anything to you. What I am about to tell you is just that important that it can¡¯t be heard by others.¡±(Me) I was able to ease her mind a bit with that. After some walking, we arrived at a forest. It was the perfect location, for sending Sylphy to the black continent. Just to be safe, I checked our surroundings with magic. Not once but twice. After I made sure, no one was near us, I started talking. ¡°I don¡¯t have much time, so I will have to shorten my explaining a lot.¡±(Me) ¡°What is wrong with you all of a sudden?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°You know about that nightmare everyone is talking about?¡±(Me) ¡°How could I not know about it? What does that have to do with everything?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°I don¡¯t care if you believe me or not, but I am that nightmare everyone is talking about.¡±(Me) She wanted to say something, probably. Unfortunately, me telling her that shut her up completely and left her with a dead expression. ¡°I will send you to the black continent now, tell the people there, that Hikaru wants the first person to leave as soon as possible and start with the plan.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh? What?¡±(Sylphy) I activated the spell. ¡°Don¡¯t forget about it.¡±(Me) I said before she disappeared before me. ¡°Sigh. Now that that¡¯s taken care of, where should I start searching for those fuckers? I hope I didn¡¯t waste enough time for them to be too far away from where they were last seen.¡±(Me) My bad habit of talking to myself showed up again. I was sure that at least 1 out of 8 know a lot about both, the human king as well as the beastmen king, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have been able to stir up such a huge mess. If I only knew beforehand that I was completely wrong and it would turn out like that, I probably would have never went to search for them. Chapter 28 starting the search I acted like we had no time, due to 2 important reasons. 1st because I wanted my students to spread as fast as they could and 2nd to tease Sylphy. But mostly because of making a name for the black continent, teasing was only a secondary factor. Actually, I had about 2 weeks to finish my quest and come back to school. With about 14 days left, I had a lot of time to start searching for that group. The most efficient way of doing things, was that I first went to the dungeon mentioned in the quest and finish the quest. Because 1st, if I finished the dungeon as fast as possible, I would have had a lot of time to search and 2nd I wouldn¡¯t come back to school with a failed quest. And doing it in the last second would give me a lot of stress and I¡¯d really hate that. The dungeon was located at the border of the human continent and the beastmen continent. It hadn¡¯t been scouted to the deepest floor yet, so the danger level was unknown. Until the moment, I stepped into it, of course. After travelling around in full speed for half a day, I arrived at the dungeon and with my overpowered dark form, I reached the lowest floor in the time of 1 or 2 hours. The last boss looked like a quite formidable fire monster. I had never seen it before and after killing it in 1 strike with [Dark Repulsion], a spell I created while experimenting with my dark form, I would also never see it again. [Dark Repulsion] was similar to the attack I once used to kill everyone on the black continent, as the mana first explodes and afterwards gets attracted to the user again. This doesn¡¯t only do damage on the outside, because of the impact, it can also shatter organs and bones. I took some materials I needed to finish the quest from monsters I found on my way down and with the quest being taken care of, I had more than enough free time to search for the group of 8. I started at the nearest town where they have been lastly seen. I paid the entrance fee and entered. From my days as an adventurer, I knew that if I needed information, it would be best to search at bars or inns for them. The problem was that bars wouldn¡¯t let me in, because I was still a child and inns only picked up rumours instead of trustworthy information. When I still had Kylie, it was a lot easier, because she would play a lost child in the bar, ask for whatever we wanted to know and if someone followed us later on, I would beat him up. I asked around in town, but no one seemed to know where they have gone. The reason why I would never do something like that was, because I had some little pride left in me. Due to dungeon exploring and travelling, it was already late, so I stayed at an inn for the night. I left town the next morning and wandered around the region for a bit. I had no clues, so the only option was to wander around and hope to get lucky.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Where would I go after stirring up trouble between 2 races?¡±(Me) I asked myself when I rested under a tree. ¡°No. The better question would be, why would I even want a war between 2 races?¡±(Me) There were a lot of possibilities, but I focused on the more likely ones. ¡°Destruction of the world? Could be but let¡¯s not think about that for now. Perhaps as a distraction? No, there are many more efficient ways to do that. To search for something? Why would I need a war then?¡±(Me) I had many questions I wanted an answer for. After asking that many question, I noticed that I would not be able to provide myself with answers if I only sat around doing nothing. After I continued looking around, wandering through the land, I somehow left the main roads and managed to get lost in a forest. Navigating and directions were definitely not my strength. It wasn¡¯t really spectacular for me getting lost in a forest, because there was nothing to fear, but as soon as I entered the forest I noticed some people following me. I was on guard the second I noticed them following me. But after some while, I noticed how sloppy they were and thought of them as a threat level of some random thugs or bandits. I knew my strength and was sure that if they were to engage into a fight with me, I could take care of them with little effort, more important without dark form. I didn¡¯t mind them at all and just continued my walk through the forest while guessing their objectives. ¡°Sigh. Why do they hide, can¡¯t they just come at me? That would spare us all a lot of time.¡±(Me) I said to myself as silent as possible so that they couldn¡¯t hear me. Until I realised what I just said, I kept going. ¡°Hide? I know I can beat them, why should I hide? Is that what they intended? To bait someone? But who? Who would be stupid enough to get baited by their taunt?¡±(Me) I totally emerged myself in my thoughts and forgot about the pursuers. It¡¯s not someone from the beastmen that¡¯s for sure. They could even enrage their king so there would be no gain if they start a war, they could have just used whatever they did to gain from the beastmen king. My followers noticed that I was deep in thoughts and approached slowly. Someone from the humans? For magic? But why did they include the beastmen then? Is there any other possible target? When I looked up I stood face to face in front of the people following me. I knew the answers to my questions in the next second. ¡°Our job was to bring the nightmare and not a little child. Get lost as long as we let you go kid.¡±(Leader of the pack) ¡°Are you sure you guys could beat the nightmare?¡±(Me) ¡°We don¡¯t need to beat it, we just have to bait it.¡±(Leader of the pack) He said clearly annoyed by me. ¡°Our boss told us that it would react, as long as we bring up the name Kylie Bricksl.¡±(Leader) Chapter 29 Roles reversed ¡°What a stupid name. I don¡¯t know what the boss is thinking, but he was never wrong before and we all believe in him and his plans. Isn¡¯t that right guys?¡±(Leader) After a loud cheering, I could only have feel pity for them. It was a stupid thing to trust their ¡°boss¡± that much. If he was really that nice, why would he send some small fries to deal with an SS level danger? It was like sending them to their deaths. What a nice boss he was. Moreover, if they would have just stayed quiet, perhaps I would have let them go. But well, after they showed some nerves and made me angry, I knew I couldn¡¯t just let them walk away. Their boss knowing Kylie was also a strange matter and I had the urge to meet him. The first thing I¡¯d do, would probably be punching him in his face, but afterwards I could think about working together with him. ¡°It would be really nice if I could meet your boss.¡±(Me) ¡°You are still here? I think I need to translate what I said so you can understand too. I said scram kid!¡±(Leader) His underlings laughed and felt really strong. I was totally unfazed by them and with a monotone and bored voice I asked. ¡°Eh? But I still have unanswered question, you know?¡±(Me) ¡°I somehow have this feeling that you want to die today. I will not answer your question.¡±(Leader) ¡°That so?¡±(Me) I summoned a sword out of my [space inventory] and with 1 single movement, I covered the distance of 5 metres, moved in front of him and pierced his heart with my sword. Everything happened in mere seconds, and due to him being a normal human, he had absolutely no time to react. It was an instant death and blood was spilling out of where I pierced him. His underlings hadn¡¯t realized what just happened and before their leader¡¯s dead body could fall to the floor I turned to face the next person and asked again. ¡°I still have some question will you answer them for me?¡±(Me)If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I had already anticipated that they would go crazy after seeing such a performance. In order to skip them running all over the place, I pierced the person I asked the question and moved to the next. ¡°Will you provide me with an answer, or will you try to run too?¡±(Me) He was much too scared to answer, so I killed him too. I hadn¡¯t even shed sweat yet, but 3 people of their group already died so easily. ¡°Eh, guys let¡¯s do this a little bit faster, I don¡¯t want to waste any more time. I¡¯ll kill everyone, except 1. Whoever answers me first will stay alive and lead me to your boss. Don¡¯t bother trying to escape, as I am also able to use magic, you will not be successful.¡±(Me) Their reaction varied. Some gave up on hope and just sat down on the ground, some still tried to run away, while only 3 of them accepted my offer and waited for my question. 1st I shot some fireballs after the guys who tried to escape. They burnt to death and after some time, nothing of their corpse remained. 1 of them tried to continue running even when his whole body went up in flames. ¡°Sigh.¡±(Me) The 3 people, who hadn¡¯t given up hope yet, nor tried to escape, silently watched their comrades die and patiently waited for my question. They stood in a small row in front of me. ¡°How does your boss know of the name Kylie?¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t know! You would have to ask him.¡± It was the first answer, which came from the guy on the left. He probably took my ¡°whoever answers me first will survive¡± too serious. As it was not what I wanted, I sliced him in 2 halves. Both halves of his body fell backwards and the other 2 just watched, without saying anything. It was a frightening scene, but they were the ones who caused it so they should take responsibility. ¡°Anyone else with such a stupid answer?¡±(Me) The remaining 2 shook their heads. While doing so, I noticed 1 of them averting his look a little to the side and with my next movement, his 2 halves also landed on the ground. He probably wanted to use the following situation to flee, so I killed him before he could do so. After that, I turned around and fired another 5 fireballs into the direction he looked and at everyone else. I didn¡¯t even need to see that some of them were desperately trying to flee, as it was quite obvious that they would do so as soon as I would look away and because I would have finished them off anyway. ¡°Congratulations, you are the lucky winner.¡±(Me) I said and acted like he won some price. ¡°Let¡¯s go, lead the way.¡±(Me) I was lucky that he wasn¡¯t a loyal dog. Because if he would have refrained from guiding me and I had to kill him, I would have had to search for their boss myself. To my surprise, the survivor, didn¡¯t lead me outside of the forest, but even further in. Their hideout was located underground and the only way to get there, was through 1 of their 5 entrances. The thing was, all those entrances were hidden and I would have never found them if I didn¡¯t have a guide. ¡°Can I go now?¡±(Survivor) The remaining man asked when we reached the entrance. ¡°Eh? No way. I said I¡¯d let you live, I never said I¡¯d let you go. You still need to play my hostage.¡±(Me) If he hadn¡¯t given up on hope before, he had at that moment. He decided to rather die by my hands than him becoming an official traitor and facing his other comrades. ¡°Brave choice for a coward like yourself.¡±(Me) I admitted before I cut his throat. ¡°Let¡¯s see the abilities of their trustworthy BOSS.¡±(Me) I said and entered their hideout. Chapter 30 The hunter meets its prey My eyes had to adjust to the darkness, when I entered, but as soon as I could open them, I was astonished at how big their den actually was. It was almost like an own underground city, especially created for people discarded from human society systems. They had actual houses, if I could call them like that. They were shabby and simple huts created out of stones. For some of them, they definitely used earth magic, because with human strength alone, this wouldn¡¯t have been possible to build. The strangest thing was, that even though I went through their ¡°streets¡±, no one was minding me. All of the residing humans were acting like I was 1 of them. Not that I talked or interacted with anyone of them. I wasn¡¯t that kind of a social person, but it was strange. My goal was to meet their boss. When I first entered and saw that huge city, I received a shock and thought about how annoying it would be to reach their boss. I thought that it would be hard to accomplish. Asking around, beating up pursuers, getting information out of them, fighting guards, getting information out of them and then fight my way through to him against his personal guards, or something like that. But it turned out, I was completely wrong. The ¡°city¡± had a simple structure. There was a huge building in the middle, with 2 layers surrounding it. In between every layer and that building there were streets and on the outside, you could leave through 1 of 5 exits. I was sure that the person I was looking for, was at the centre of this structure, so I went straight to that building. I saved a lot of time, due to that and was happy about getting to the next step without much hindrances. The next problem I had thought of, was fighting my way through, but it was taken care of as soon as I told the guard, ¡°I am here to see the boss¡±. When he opened the door for me, I was dumbfounded. He had never seen me and just by telling him I came here to see the boss he let me in. Why was there even a need for a guard then? Moving on to the next step. I wandered through the corridors, not knowing where to go, because I totally forgot to ask for direction. I bet if I asked the guard, he would have told me. Luckily after 20 minutes or so, I somehow managed to reach a huge door. It looked really intimidating. When I thought, that some houses outside didn¡¯t even have doors and then, that I was standing in front of such a huge thing, I was quite puzzled to be honest. Moreover the whole building seemed empty.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Without thinking, I pushed the door open. That was a mistake. ¡°Sorry for intruding.¡±(Me) I said with a smile and closed the door again. A simple overview what I saw. I intruded in something that looked like a meeting. There was a table in the middle with 4 people on each side and 1 person that seemed like the boss to me, at the edge of the long table. I wanted to turn around, forget what I saw and just leave as fast as possible, but the door opened again and 1 of them asked me ¡°kindly¡± to come in and join them. It would have been rude to decline, so I just followed him inside. Most of them were covered in robes. Probably to hide their identities, or something like that. Only their boss, who was a man in his 40ies and had a strong figure of a male human, red hair and eyes which told me that he already experienced a lot in his life had nothing covering his appearance. ¡°Who are you? Why did you come here? How were you able to enter? What is your purpose? Where are you from?...¡±(Boss) I was bombarded with questions the moment I entered. He asked so many of them, without pausing for a single second, that I had no opportunity to respond to them. Hell, I wasn¡¯t even able to remember all of them. After he asked about 100 questions, don¡¯t ask me which, I already forgot most of them, I took the opportunity of him catching his breath. ¡°Your guard let me in, after I told him I am here to see the boss.¡±(Me) ¡°I told you it¡¯s a stupid password.¡±(Guy to his right) ¡°Shut up, Belios.¡±(Boss) They were totally relaxed about the situation, otherwise they would have never talked like that, or revealed his name. By the way, I absolutely agreed with that Belios guy. This password was a stupid idea. It was something thought of random and everyone could think of it. I criticized him in my mind of course. ¡°So what¡¯s your purpose for coming here?¡±(Boss) At least it was only 1 question this time. ¡°If I am not wrong, I was somehow invited by you guys. I only accepted the invitation and came here. Out of my good will of course.¡±(Me) It was a test to see their reaction. ¡°Did we invite someone else, Belios?¡±(Boss) ¡°No. By the way please stop calling me by my name so casually when there is a potential enemy present.¡±(Belios) They were not shaken at all and their behaviour didn¡¯t change. In some way, my little test failed. ¡°You said you were invited, then tell me who are you?¡±(Boss) ¡°Isn¡¯t it rude to ask a guest of his identity? Normally you introduce yourself first, or am I wrong?¡±(Me) I wanted to make the best out of the situation I created and gather as much information as they would give me. ¡°Hahaha. You are correct, I apologize for my rudeness. My name is¡­¡±(Boss) He was interrupted by the hooded person on his left. ¡°Nightmare.¡±(Person on his left) ¡°Huh? Perone shut up, don¡¯t you see I am introducing myself.¡±(Boss) ¡°I am sorry Boss Grey.¡±(Perone) ¡°Sigh. I told you call me Phillip.¡±(Boss) ¡°I am sorry Boss Gr, I mean Philip.¡±(Perone) Those 2 seemed familiar with each other. But whatshocked me more was,that my identity was found out so fast. ¡°But Perone you are right, he¡¯s the only 1 we invited. If that¡¯s true, then I officially welcome the famous Nightmare to my den. As you already heard, my name is Philip Grey.¡±(Philip) With that said, our discussion started. Chapter 31 The 3rd ¡°I am honoured to receive such a warm welcome.¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯m still waiting for you to introduce yourself properly.¡±(Philip) ¡°Why? I mean you already know who I am.¡±(Me) ¡°Well that¡¯s right but¡­¡±(Philip) ¡°Fine by me. Nice to meet you. I am Nightmare.¡±(Me) We somehow ended up playing a game of who can be more annoying. ¡°I¡¯d like to know your real name as well.¡±(Philip) ¡°I¡¯ll speak.¡±(Me) ¡°That¡¯s really nice of you.¡±(Philip) ¡°After you tell me how you come to know the name of my old partner, of course.¡±(Me) I smiled at him and knew, I won the game. Philip got angry and hit the table with his fist. The earth almost shook, or it was only my imagination. Then he stood up to make me feel uneasy. He was really bad at interrogations and lost his coolness much too fast, is all I could think about his behaviour. ¡°Don¡¯t go too far kid. We are 9 vs 1. Stop playing your fucking games.¡±(Philip) I must have done something otherwise he wouldn¡¯t be so furious. Even the 2 from before, Perone and Belios, were shocked at how he reacted. Not that I cared though. ¡°You are really bad at this you know. When you want to pressure someone, you should cover it better. Moreover, you don¡¯t think that I am afraid just because you have superior numbers, right? Quality always wins.¡±(Me) It would be a shame and waste of time if they would have underestimated me. I waited for a reply from Philip, but it didn¡¯t come. To my surprise someone new stepped forward. ¡°It¡¯s ok boss calm down. I¡¯ll take care of it. The meeting is already over so why don¡¯t you let us alone for a while.¡±(?) They believed in his words and really left the room. Now that was something unexpected. I was fascinated at how obedient they were. ¡°Now that everyone is gone let¡¯s introduce again. Don¡¯t worry this room is soundproof.¡±(?)Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I experienced that it was soundproof first hand. We stood face to face and it was silent. ¡°Ah right I forgot, you prefer if I start right?¡±(?) ¡°Well go ahead then.¡±(Me) He took off his hood to talk. He was about my age, had brown hair and brown eyes. ¡°My name is Hiro. Same as you, I am from the race of gods, to be more exactly, god of humans, nice to meet you.¡±(Hiro) I had already anticipated that I would somehow meet another god, but never did I predict that it would be this fast. Even more shocking was that he was an underling of a gang. ¡°Promise me 1 thing though.¡±(Me) ¡°Introduce yourself first, then comes the promise.¡±(Hiro) Why is everyone so eager to know my name? ¡°Sigh. Fine. My name is Hikaru and I have the surname demon. You happy now?¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s fortunate that you are the real deal, otherwise we would have had to fight you. Ah, never mind. What did you want from me?¡±(Hiro) He saw that I was puzzled about the situation and then he said never mind. I was even more interested now. Well I was sure that I would get behind it as long as we continued talking. ¡°Well you wanted to know how we know the name of your deceased partner, right?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Depending on your answer, we can get to work together or be enemies.¡±(Me) ¡°Was she that important to you?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Something like that.¡±(Me) ¡°What did Kylie tell you she was doing before meeting you?¡±(Hiro) I played the whole discussion in my head and came up with only 1 solution. ¡°You mean to tell me that she was with you before I appeared?¡±(Me) ¡°W¡­ Well, yes something like that.¡±(Hiro) He was rather shocked that I guessed right. ¡°Don¡¯t ever use my words against me again, it gives me Goosebumps.¡±(Me) ¡°Haha sorry. But you are correct. Before searching for you, Kylie travelled around the world and searched for the other gods. She eventually found me and Beast and told us about the future. If I am correct you already met Dragon, so the only person missing is Spirit.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Heh. Interesting. I never thought I¡¯d someday be part of a plan of others.¡±(Me) I was fired up and just eager to know what next step was there in her plan. ¡°By the way, she didn¡¯t tell you where Beast is right?¡±(Me) ¡°No, she didn¡¯t.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Obviously she didn¡¯t.¡±(Me) ¡°How come it¡¯s obvious?¡±(Hiro) ¡°She was called the child of darkness so she had to inherit something from me, no?¡±(Me) ¡°You mean loving unnecessary games?¡±(Hiro) That hit the mark, but it was rather depressing, so I covered it with a little lie. ¡°I meant not revealing everything of a plan.¡±(Me) ¡°Whatever. Now that I answered your questions, would it be possible for you to cooperate without provoking Philip?¡±(Hiro) ¡°No.¡±(Me) ¡°Why?¡±(Hiro) ¡°It¡¯s way too much fun.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. Fine.¡±(Hiro) ¡°I¡¯ll think about cooperation though. I mean he is such a nice boss. He hates me because I wasn¡¯t able to protect his underling.¡±(Me) I succeeded shocking his calm expression again. He knew exactly that I was targeting his boss now. ¡°Well, you are quite sharp.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Then I¡¯ll keep myself short. I came up with a plan myself. As long as you don¡¯t interfere with me, I won¡¯t hinder you. It¡¯s the least I can do after you invited me nicely. By the way, tell your boss, that he is much too friendly and that he should change his interrogation tactics. Farewell and let¡¯s meet again Hiro.¡±(Me) I turned around and left Hiro standing here with his mouth open and not knowing what he should do. On my way out, I passed the others and just smiled at them. Philip was still angry at me and if Belios hadn¡¯t held him back, he would have had a fight with me. I passed the guard and through the streets returned to the edge of the underground city. When I turned around to look back at what they were able to create, my sight stopped at the huge building in the middle. I suddenly remembered something. ¡°Right I forgot to ask how they were able to create such a mess and how they pressured the beastmen king. Perhaps Kylie helped them somehow?¡±(Me) I said to myself and while thinking about how they did it, I left the underground city through the entrance I came from. Chapter 32 Friction in town ¡°I did what I came for without fighting at all. Sigh. Boring. What do I do now? Go back to school? Black continent? What to do, what to do?¡±(Me) I mumbled at a really fast pace while standing outside, in front of the exit. I was depressed knowing that something interesting was over in under 1 hour. Even worse, it was without any resistance nor fight. By the way, I would never count beating thugs or the likes, because I compared beating them to something like killing a fly. ¡°Mmmmh. Let¡¯s go back to town for now.¡±(Me) I reached the gate of the town I stayed before quickly. ¡°You plan on entering again after leaving a few hours ago? Are you perhaps a rich noble or merchant? Where are your personal guards?¡±(Guard) In some guard¡¯s eyes I seemed rich but to nobles and other rich people it was only pocked money. I could see the stupidity in the social system of humans again. People who work all day are poor and a minority who does absolutely nothing is rich. Well done humans. Were my thoughts. ¡°Is that important? Just do your job, guard. Here the money.¡±(Me) I smirked and gave him 1 silver coin to pay for the entrance fee. ¡°Go die.¡±(Guard) He was really pissed at my attitude towards him and I even heard him curse at me after I passed the gate. Because of my trained senses, I could hear most of the things he said from far away. I wanted to take a stroll through the streets and head for the inn I stayed before, in order to get another night to sleep under a roof. There was something strange about town though. At first I didn¡¯t notice, because I was amused by the reaction of the guard. After the first 10 or so metres, I felt that it was rather empty. It wasn¡¯t that no one was on the streets, but more like the motivation of the people were turned down and only a few merchants were on the streets. I tried to figure out what their problem was. I knew 1 thing for sure.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The faces of the residents hiding in their houses and only looking outside, showed fear. Not something that had just come, it was more like fear of something that would be coming. Me assuming that, was because of my view of races, it could also be called prejudice, but I¡¯d prefer experience. My opinion of humans was simple. People who fear something in front of them would simply focus on it and would never dare to look away, while people who were scared of something to come, would hide, cower in fear and hope it would never find them. I wanted someone to tell me what the problem was, but all the merchants either acted ignorant or innocent. And I already knew that there was no resident who would even come outside their houses. My last hope was to somehow hear about it at the inn. I entered and headed towards the counter. Even in the inn there were almost no adventurers. The receptionist was still the same person a female Halfling with white hair. She wore a red ribbon and looked more like a puppet than a living being. It was hard to tell the age of Halflings, because they either age slower or faster, so I didn¡¯t try to guess. If she had animal features, she hid them very well, I could neither see special ears, nor a tail. ¡°Good day, sir. What do you need?¡±(Receptionist) She said that without any life, motivation nor emotion. It was the same as last time and so I began to really think of her as a doll. ¡°Ahm. At 1st I wanted to rent a room for the night again, but now I rather want to know what everyone is so afraid of.¡±(Me) Except you though. ¡°Do you want the same room as yesterday?¡±(Receptionist) She acted as if I never asked about information, which pissed me off. ¡°Yo kid, what¡¯s the matter.¡±(Owner) The owner of that inn came over to me. He was a nice old man with probably under 10 years to live. ¡°Something is about to come and I really want to know what. Your doll there won¡¯t tell me though.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t be mad, she was trained not to share any information with strangers.¡±(Owner) I wouldn¡¯t call someone I knew for an entire day a stranger. It was either a friend, a neutral person, an enemy, or that person was already killed by me. ¡°Hahaha, a scout on his way back to the capital stayed a night at this inn.¡±(Owner) ¡°You seem very proud.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt my story, don¡¯t you know it¡¯s impolite to interrupt your elders. In my age, it¡¯s hard to remember details and if you interrupt me I might forget more.¡±(Owner) I gave him an indifferent look. ¡°Sigh, young ones these days. Well that scout said something about an invasion.¡±(Owner) ¡°And the townsman feel like the beastmen are the most likely to attack?¡±(Me) ¡°Either that or the demons. There are no other races next to our land.¡±(Owner) ¡°Does the honourable elder perhaps know of any reason demons would attack?¡±(Me) I did my best to be friendly. ¡°No and don¡¯t try to be polite, it doesn¡¯t seem it comes natural for you.¡±(Owner) ¡°So it¡¯s the beastmen. And the people are scared because this is the human settlement nearest to the continent of beasts. Now it also makes sense why the guard cursed me to death.¡±(Me) I just overheard his lecture and said what¡¯s on my mind. ¡°Indeed.¡±(Owner) ¡°Aren¡¯t you scared?¡±(Me) ¡°I am already an old relict of this world, I won¡¯t have much time left. Even if I die, I don¡¯t have many regrets, but I want to return that question.¡±(Owner) ¡°Nah. I¡¯m fine.¡±(Me) It was really nice to talk to that old fox, but our talk was interrupted. ¡°Attack, we are under attack, run for your lives!¡± I could hear desperate shouts from outside. ¡°It was earlier than I expected. I should prepare to leave then.¡±(Me) ¡°Hoho. If you are indeed strong enough to not fear a beastmen invasion, why won¡¯t you save the people outside, but leave instead?¡±(Owner) ¡°Do I look like a stupid hero who would wander around saving random people to you?¡±(Me) Chapter 33 Last request ¡°The only person I¡¯d save would be you, because you are an interesting person and in my opinion such people are worth saving. But you are fine with your death old man, so there is nothing keeping me here.¡±(Me) While we were talking, I could hear the attack. Buildings getting crushed, earthquakes occurring, screams of people and roars of beasts. There were other people at the inn before, but the second they heard the town was attacked they escaped. The only strange thing was that the inn wasn¡¯t destroyed yet. ¡°Before you leave, I would like you to do me a favour.¡±(Owner) ¡°Why should I?¡±(Me) ¡°Gah. You know, being cold to others will surely come back at you someday.¡±(Owner) ¡°And after being nice to people they will betray you. Thanks for your concern, but I prefer my own methods. I don¡¯t need your lectures, I already experienced enough to know how I want to live.¡±(Me) ¡°You already experienced a lot. I see. And that at such a young age. Would you at least listen to this old man¡¯s last request as long as this protection barrier still works?¡±(Owner) So it was a barrier, I knew it. I took a few guesses as to why the inn didn¡¯t fall yet before, but it seemed I was right. ¡°I will listen to you and decide afterwards if I lend you a hand.¡±(Me) ¡°Thank you. You will not regret¡­¡±(Owner) The barrier was shattered and half of the inn was destroyed in 1 attack. We were surrounded by hungry looking beasts. I didn¡¯t care about our situation, but the old man got hit by a rock when the inn was destroyed and was on his last breaths. ¡°Guh. Take Sarah with you please...¡±(Owner) Totally losing his coolness he had while talking before he begged me. He was already on the verge of death and could barely talk. (Inhale) ¡°Sarah, my last command is that you live freely and follow this young man.¡±(Owner)This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The situation surely was strange. The old man telling me his last wish, he commanding the white haired girl in front of all those beasts to live freely. It was funny, but somehow I took it to heart and didn¡¯t laugh. I respected his last efforts. ¡°She will tell you everything el¡­se.¡±(Owner) Everything happened in mere seconds and as soon as the old man died, I heard a high pitched scream from behind me. It came from the emotionless receptionist from before. It was followed by tears and other emotions. On 1 hand sadness, of the old man dying and on the other fear of the surrounding beasts. ¡°Damn that old fox.¡±(Me) I said I¡¯d listen to his request, but now the only way of doing so, would be by saving that girl. I knew it¡¯s stupid, but I¡¯d stick to my promises. It was something humans called pride. ¡°Oy your name was Sarah right?¡±(Me) I asked her a simple question. I planned to get the rest out of her later on. At that moment it was important to get her out unscathed. ¡°Hic (crying). Y¡­Yes.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Stop crying. I¡¯ll hold them back and you run away. Can you do that?¡±(Me) ¡°I, I should be fine.¡±(Sarah) Sigh. At least she isn¡¯t completely useless. We were already surrounded, so the only way to escape was by creating 1 ourselves. I took out a sword of my [space inventory] and prepared myself for a fight. We moved slowly, with no sudden movements. I watched the beasts closely and was prepared to kill them with a simple swing as soon as they would attack us. I wasn¡¯t able to understand why they wouldn¡¯t attack, but the even stranger part came afterwards. When we stood in front of a beast and wouldn¡¯t be able to advance further, it just stepped to the side and let us through. Every time we were in a radius of about 3 metres, the beasts just moved to the side and let us pass. ¡°Why would they let us pass so easily?¡±(Me) ¡°I, I don¡¯t know.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Ah!¡±(Me) Dammit I said that out loud? ¡°Huh?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Haha. Nothing, just keep following me.¡±(Me) We left the group of beasts behind and went for the exit of town. I could only wonder why they let us pass. ¡°Those brainless animals let someone leave alive? Do I have to do everything myself?¡±(?) Someone was waiting in front of the exit. He wore a black robe and the shadows hid his appearance perfectly. I wasn¡¯t even able to see his face. ¡°Hoy. You guys don¡¯t even think of leaving alive.¡±(?) I could feel an eerie aura surrounding him. Sarah was also able to do so and started to shake out of fear. If I¡¯d compare him and the horde of beasts and had to decide who was stronger I¡¯d go with him, if it was for the first impression. Not that I cared though. ¡°And why¡¯s that so?¡±(Me) The girl¡¯s face turned white and she almost fell unconsciousness after my stupid question. With a lot of effort she hid behind me. ¡°Normally humans cower in fear or some strong willed start at least shaking when they see me, like your companion for example. You are a strange.¡±(?) The stranger pointed on Sarah while saying that. He still hid in the shadows of the gate, which annoyed me. ¡°I only fear something stronger than me and you are obviously not. I mean why would you have the need to hide then?¡±(Me) ¡°The answer to that is easy. It is solely for looking cool.¡±(?) Silence. ¡°Pfff. Hahahahahahahahaha!¡±(Me) I couldn¡¯t hold myself back at all. I rolled on the floor while holding my stomach. I couldn¡¯t see it, but I was sure the hooded person was totally mad at me. ¡°Hah.¡±(Sarah) Even Sarah, who was afraid seconds ago had to laugh. ¡°Ha. Now I haha. I can¡¯t take you serious anymore if you haha. Say something like that with so much pride.¡±(Me) ¡°Are those your last words?¡±(?) Yep. He was totally pissed. ¡°Try silencing me if you can.¡±(Me) I taunted him even more and he finally lost his mind and came storming at me. Chapter 34 Messing with the wrong opponent He came running at me in a straight line while shouting. He was fast and before Sarah could even turn around and attempt to run away to avoid getting in my way, he was right in front of me. In the next instant his right fist was coming at me. He didn¡¯t hide anything and with all the strength he had, he aimed for my face. I defended and caught his fist with my right hand. I wanted to act cool and laugh at him while easily defending, but he was too fast and slipped away from me again. He probably couldn¡¯t believe that I was able to defend against his punch, so he distanced himself a bit to think about his next move. ¡°Sarah go for the exit while I keep him busy. Hide somewhere and wait for me. I don¡¯t think it will take that long, though.¡±(Me) I told her in a calm voice. The hooded guy wasn¡¯t the only 1 surprised. With a face that clearly showed that she hadn¡¯t fully understood how I was able to react at such a fast speed, she headed towards the gate to leave this town. ¡°I told you before you will both die here!¡±(Hooded person) At the same speed he charged at me before he went and attacked the girl. He attempted another punch, but it was stopped again. I blocked it again by catching his flying fist. All in all Sarah was unharmed, except she could feel the shock behind his punches. They were by no means weak. I cheated a bit by reinforcing myself with multiple spells, otherwise I would never be able to block them so easily. Sarah understood my meaning and continued to head for the exit. Because I blocked both of his punches with ease and had yet to attack him, the hooded person got a little bit nervous. He was aware of the fact that if it would continue like that, we would both escape unharmed, or it could even lead to his defeat. ¡°I told you, you are definitely not stronger than me.¡±(Me) ¡°Perhaps not in this form. You leave me no other choice then.¡±(Hooded person) The ground started rumbling and a black aura surrounded him. It¡¯s similar to me when I go into [dark form]. The only difference was, that the ominous feeling you got from him wasn¡¯t as strong as mine. His clothes were ripped apart and his body grew. He reached a height of 3 metres and had a muscular body. He still looked exactly like a human. Except, he was 3 metres tall and had 2 black horns on his forehead.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. It took him quite long to transform and he only finished after a whole second. If his opponent wasn¡¯t me, he would have been attacked before finishing his transformation. It was probably for his coolness again, or something like that. ¡°Interesting. The demons attacked. I wonder what reason you guys have.¡±(Me) Even if the running Sarah stopped, watched and shook in fear even more than before his transformation, I wasn¡¯t faced at all by him. ¡°Prepare to die human!¡±(Demon) ¡°Hmm?¡±(Me) ¡°What is your problem?! Every normal and sane person would be scared or at least admit that an enemy stands in front of them. Why haven¡¯t you even shown interest in me?¡±(Demon) He didn¡¯t attack me, but asked me a question instead as soon as he finished. ¡°You are wrong in 2 ways.¡±(Me) He looked puzzled, so I decided to explain it to him. ¡°I am certainly interested in the fact that you, as a demon, is here and is attacking humans.¡±(Me) ¡°Despite knowing that you still don¡¯t fear me?¡±(Demon) ¡°Not really. The reason for that is the 2nd part you are wrong with.¡±(Me) ¡°Which is?¡±(Demon) ¡°You really are funny. Why the fuck should I tell you?¡±(Me) Silence. Anger overcame him. In his demon form he didn¡¯t have any shackles to bind his power, so he let his mana leak out, which meant he won¡¯t hold back. It surrounded his body and I could see a dark aura, like in his transformation, but this time permanent. In a book I read that every race had a speciality. For example, a dragon¡¯s scale was known to have the highest defence and durability out of all materials. Beasts or beastmen were known for their advantage in speed. For demons it was their control and affinity for magic. So, he leaking all his mana was the same as, he displaying me all he got. In my opinion it¡¯s a stupid move. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was an accomplishment or a sad thing, but I had to say, he was weak. Because of his strength, I thought that he could really become a foe, but when I felt his mana capacity, I was disappointed. Without going overboard, I would have compared him with Sepp. But that demon was an adult, while Sepp was still a child. ¡°Sigh. You finished?¡±(Me) ¡°Not yet!¡±(Demon) A blue circle consisting out of mana appeared on the ground. It was like a rune, just a lot bigger and with a completely different ability. It looked exactly like my summoning circle, and out of habit, I expected something to come out. ¡°Behold the special magic of us demons. Summoning circle!¡±(Demon) ¡°I beg you. Stop telling me all your cards, you leave me with no fun of guessing.¡±(Me) 3 beasts at a size of 5 metres appeared in the summoning circle, out of thin air. ¡°They are my strongest fighters. Attack him!¡±(Demon) Silence. Nothing happened. Like the other beasts before, they were just looking at me and didn¡¯t attack. ¡°Attack I said!¡±(Demon) They didn¡¯t move an inch. ¡°Why won¡¯t you attack him?!¡±(Demon) He was furious. Hmm. Could this be instinct? Because their brain isn¡¯t that well developed they still depend a lot on their instincts and it¡¯s telling them I am dangerous. Is that it? ¡°Your pets seem to be afraid of me.¡±(Me) ¡°What are pets?¡±(Demon) ¡°Never mind that. I think I know the reason why they won¡¯t attack me. It¡¯s you¡¯re your 2nd mistake.¡±(Me) ¡°Which is?¡±(Demon) ¡°Haven¡¯t you learned your lesson yet? I¡¯m still not telling you.¡±(Me) He completely lost his mind and came at me like he himself was a wild beast. ¡°Grrraaaaa!¡±(Demon) From 1 second to the other, I went into [Dark form] and this time I was the 1 who presented his mana. I only leaked a bit though. But it was already more than enough to frighten everyone who saw me. I didn¡¯t look like a human anymore, more like a nightmare, which came to haunt even demons and kill everything around. ¡°The answer is simple. I am a lot stronger than you guys.¡±(Me) Chapter 35 Forming my first contract Everything went silent and no one dared to move. ¡°Now, do you want to continue this pointless fight or will you give up?¡±(Me) I could see that he admitted our difference in strength. ¡°Fine.¡±(Demon) ¡°I couldn¡¯t hear you.¡±(Me) ¡°I said I give up!¡±(Demon) I was more than satisfied with that answer. ¡°I¡¯ll go back to the demon continent and act like this never happened.¡±(Demon) He turned around and wanted to walk away. ¡°Ho. If I remember correctly, normally the winner decides what happens to the loser.¡±(Me) I added some pressure, so he wouldn¡¯t dare to run away. ¡°Damn. What do you want from me? Just for you to know, I will not be your plaything or something like that.¡±(Demon) ¡°Hmm, don¡¯t worry, I have no need for a broken doll like yourself.¡±(Me) His mood completely went down as I insulted him. I knew I completely subdued him, after he sent his pets back and went back to his human form. I did the same and we started our conversation. ¡°Why go to such lengths. What exactly do you want?¡±(Demon) ¡°How about becoming my personal subordinate.¡±(Me) ¡°For that you would need to be able to form a contract.¡±(Demon) ¡°No problem.¡±(Me) Without even twitching an inch I lied to him. ¡°A¡­ And you need a unique crest to bind me to only yourself.¡±(Demon) ¡°Also no problem.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me, only high demons or humans can have a crest and you are neither of them.¡±(Demon) Without any hesitation or 2nd thoughts I showed him my personal rune. It was still exactly the same a pitch black circle. ¡°As I said you need a crest not and¡­ Is this a black circle? What do you want to do with that.¡±(Demon)Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Shut up it¡¯s my symbol!¡±(Me) It was still embarrassing and to stop him from laughing before he could even start, I drew the only practical rune I could use to increase his gravity by a lot. He immediately fell done and was pressed to the ground. ¡°Guaah. W¡­ What the fuck.. is ¡­this?!¡±(Demon) ¡°Ah. Sorry.¡±(Me) I dispelled the rune. ¡°I beg you don¡¯t do this again, it feels like a huge mountain is on top of me and slowly crushes me.¡±(Demon) ¡°Good to know.¡±(Me) ¡°Ah. You didn¡¯t know and still used it on me, what if I died there? I rolled my eyes and did like I never heard that. ¡°Guh. So, even if that thing is your crest or whatever, it¡¯s still not possible to form a contract.¡±(Demon) ¡°Eh. Why so?¡±(Me) I acted like a child (which I was), which didn¡¯t get what it wanted. ¡°Y¡­Yes. The problem is, I am already bound to someone else.¡±(Demon) ¡°And?¡±(Me) ¡°No and, either my contractor cancels the contract or I contract with someone much stronger than him.¡±(Demon) ¡°And?¡±(Me) Because everything cooled down, Sarah came back to check on me. Before he could burst out in anger, I quickly changed the topic by greeting her. ¡°Welcome back.¡±(Me) I smiled and winked at her. She pointed at the demon and probably wanted to know what happened. ¡°As I told you I took care of it.¡±(Me) I showed her a thumb up. Her only reply was a face of disbelieve. ¡°I am strong you know.¡±(Me) ¡°Hrmpf.¡±(Demon) My tactic didn¡¯t work and he was still angry. ¡°What?!¡±(Me) ¡°It isn¡¯t possible because my contractor is the demon king.¡±(Demon) Silence. The fact that the demon in front of us said that he was a personal subordinate of the demon king shocked Sarah. And it added an open mouth to her face of disbelief. ¡°And?¡±(Me) ¡°See I told you it¡¯s not possible, so just let me go and¡­ wait what?¡±(Demon) Now Sarah wasn¡¯t the only 1 shocked. ¡°I don¡¯t understand the problem.¡±(Me) ¡°Perhaps you didn¡¯t understand me so I¡¯ll say it again. My contractor is the demon king Mercury Gilgamesh, which is by the way the 2nd strongest king amongst all the races and the only way for you to break this contract would be by being stronger than him.¡±(Demon) ¡°I already understood the 1st time. I still can¡¯t see the problem.¡±(Me) It took some time until I received a reply. ¡°Is something wrong with your head?¡±(Demon) ¡°No. Let¡¯s try and you¡¯ll see.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine. Idi¡­ I mean people like you won¡¯t learn through words.¡±(Demon) For a split second I thought he¡¯d try to call me an idiot. Probably only my imagination. ¡°So, how did you do your contract with the demon king?¡±(Me) ¡°What?! I thought you knew how to do it.¡±(Demon) ¡°I said no problem I never said I knew how to.¡±(Me) ¡°Why did you want to do this if you can¡¯t even form a contract?!¡±(Demon) Silence. ¡°Are both of you idiots or what?¡±(Sarah) The scolding came totally unexpected from the silent Sarah. ¡°The subordinate just says he accepts the crest of the master and the master says he grants the crest. That¡¯s all about the contract. As far as I know it¡¯s even simpler when dealing with demons.¡±(Sarah) Sarah was somehow excited about me forming a contract with a demon. ¡°It¡¯s worth trying isn¡¯t it?¡±(Me) I smiled and said. ¡°I don¡¯t really have a choice do I?¡±(Demon) ¡°No.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine. I Nala Timaios Ammon accept to receive the crest of my master.¡±(Nala) ¡°Is that even a name?¡±(Me) ¡°Shut up and grant the crest if you want to form this contract.¡±(Nala) ¡°Ok calm down. I Hikaru accept to grant you my crest.¡±(Me) It got silent again and Sarah and Nala were staring at me with stupid expressions. ¡°You are really stupid. You have to say your whole name when forming the...¡±(Sarah) Before she could finish her sentence, Nala¡¯s hand was shining. A black circle appeared and in that split moment, I was somehow able to take a short look at his past memories. I didn¡¯t understand anything as his live flew past me in less than a second. ¡°Hah. It still worked. Who is the idiot now?¡±(Me) I smiled and acted like nothing happened. ¡°Sigh. Fine I was wrong, you are a special idiot.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Hmm.¡±(Me) With a little bit of fear, she faced my new subordinate. ¡°Your name is Nala right? Why are you here?¡±(Sarah) She got no reply. Nala looked like he had just seen a ghost. ¡°Hoy answer her subordinate.¡±(Me) ¡°Ah! Yes I¡¯m sorry! Master!¡±(Nala) ¡°What the¡­? What did you do to him?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Nothing. Believe me I¡¯m innocent.¡±(Me) ¡°Whatever let¡¯s go.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Where to?¡±(Me) ¡°The next town. We can¡¯t stay here. Both humans and beastmen will soon send scouts to find out what happened.¡±(Sarah) After she said that, she went ahead of us. ¡°Oy, Nala was your name right?¡±(Me) ¡°Y¡­Yes master.¡±(Nala) I smiled and build up some mana to scare him. ¡°Whatever you saw, be sure to keep it to only yourself.¡±(Me) ¡°Y¡­ Yes.¡±(Nala) ¡°Good, as long as you understand.¡±(Me) ¡°What are you guys doing?! Start moving, or they will spot us!¡±(Sarah) ¡°Coming!¡±(Me) Chapter 36 Hybrid We caught up to Sarah and kept going. ¡°What took you so long?¡±(Sarah) She asked after a while. Unfortunately, Nala seemed to be in deep thoughts so I had to answer. ¡°Sorry we discussed a few things.¡±(Me) ¡°What did you have to discuss now of all times?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Say, aren¡¯t you behaving a little bit strange?¡±(Me) ¡°No. That¡¯s how I used to be before master picked me up.¡±(Sarah) Acting innocently while scared and think that you are the boss when there is no danger, or have I missed somtehing? ¡°Wait don¡¯t change the topic. What did you tell him?¡±(Sarah) ¡°I only ordered him not to attack you while we are traveling together, right Nala?¡±(Me) Me asking Nala something so suddenly, startled him. Through his facial expression I saw that he didn¡¯t listen at all. Luckily, he saved everything by just nodding. ¡°Thanks. As long as your contract is at least of 3rd grade, I have 1 problem less to worry about.¡±(Sarah) ¡°3rd what?¡±(Me) ¡°Huh? What do you mean 3rd what? What contract did you 2 form?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Does it matter?¡±(Me) Sarah immediately hid behind me and watched every step of Nala. ¡°Y¡­ Yes. If it was only a 2nd or worst 1st grade, he can still backstab and kill us without any problems.¡±(Sarah) Nala noticed Sarah¡¯s disconcerting behaviour. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it was 4th grade, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t call him master.¡±(Nala) ¡°You sure about that?¡±(Me) ¡°No. I am sorry master. I would never dare to go against your orders.¡±(Nala) ¡°Hahaha. As long as you follow the orders I already gave you and those I will give you, I won¡¯t mistreat you.¡±(Me) Sarah got back to normal as soon as she decided there was nothing dangerous anymore. ¡°Sigh. You idiot do I have to explain everything to you?¡±(Sarah) ¡°No just tell me the difference. I already understood that there are different contracts by just listening to you guys.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine. But I will only tell you this time, because you saved me.¡±(Sarah) Do I have to save you again, in order for you to tell me what the old man actually wanted from me? ¡°There are 5 grades a contract can get. The higher the grade, the bigger the difference of authority. For example, the weakest, 1st grade is often used when forming an alliance between 2 factions or a bond of friends, lovers, etc. Something like that.¡±(Sarah) A simple instruction. I immediately understood everything. ¡°What is 5th grade?¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t be inpatient. Let me tell you the rest.¡±(Sarah) ¡°I can think about the rest myself, just tell me what the strongest contract is.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmpf.¡±(Sarah) Sarah folded her arms turned away and ignored me. I have no idea why, but she was pissed at me. ¡°The strongest contract would be the 9:1. It¡¯s like a god contracting with an ant, M¡­ Master.¡±(Nala) I was a little bit surprised hearing that from Nala, but when I remembered that he already was contracted once, it made sense that he was informed about contracts at least in some ways. ¡°Thanks. Now only the Master part has to be come fluently and you would have done everything right. But don¡¯t worry, we have enough time to practice it.¡±(Me)This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Ahaha. Yes Master I will keep that in mind. By the way, where are we heading to Master?¡±(Nala) ¡°No idea, Sarah?¡±(Me) ¡°Just follow me you idiots!¡±(Sarah) With that I had enough. ¡°Ok then. Let¡¯s play 1 my favourite game. It¡¯s called leave the freeloader behind and wait until she comes crawling back, when she realises that she shouldn¡¯t be so bossy around me.¡±(Me) ¡°Master that¡¯s a really long name for a game, hopefully the rules aren¡¯t as long as the name.¡±(Nala) I gave myself a face palm when I remembered that he now was my subordinate. ¡°Nala shut up for a second.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes Master!¡±(Nala) I don¡¯t know if it was good or bad that he now acted like my subordinate. ¡°Do you really think I need you? But then again the other way around, without me, you will never find out what my master wanted from you.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Fine do whatever you want.¡±(Me) ¡°Wait what?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Nala we leave.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes, but where to Master?¡±(Nala) ¡°To Sonya city.¡±(Me) Said and done. We turned around and left her behind alone. In only a few seconds, the whole friendly atmosphere thing was destroyed. ¡°I only have 1 particular rule for you Nala.¡±(Me) ¡°Tell me master?¡±(Nala) ¡°Never tell anyone anything about me.¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t understand?¡±(Nala) ¡°Just remember never telling anyone anything about myself and we will have no problems.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes Master.¡±(Nala) ¡°Good. Now, follow that idiot in secret and save her if she is about to die. I still want to know what that old bastard wanted from me. But don¡¯t jump in because of small issues, remember, only if she is at deaths door. I will wait for you in the next town.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes Master.¡±(Nala) I instructed him as soon as we were out of reach of Sarah. Nala hid in the next tree and waited for Sarah, while I headed to the nearest, still not attacked human settlement. I was familiar with the surroundings, because it was the same way I initially came from, so I knew exactly where the nearest town was located at. Even with boosting my body with magic and running all the time, it still took me about 3 hours. I knew I needed an inn, because Sarah would need at least a day. After resting near the gates for a few minutes and paying the entrance fee afterwards, I entered town. I went to the nearest inn and paid for a night. I also told the receptionist that I was thinking of staying for a few more days and if I would do so, I would pay as soon as I leave. I went straight to my room and closed the door behind me. My plan was to train rune magic while waiting for those 2. I sat down in my room and started writing all sorts of things which came to my mind with mana. If I was hungry or thirsty, I would get it out of my [space inventory] 1 hour passed and the second came. It went on and on without me minding the time. I had no window, so I didn¡¯t even know if it was day or night. It was only me and the fire lamp to light up the room. It went on like this until I got an unpleasant knock at my door. ¡°Hoy open the door if you are still alive. You have guests.¡±(Receptionist) The sudden knock startled me a bit. ¡°Ah. Coming.¡±(Me) ¡°Follow me, they are waiting downstairs.¡±(Receptionist) ¡°Ah, Yes, thank you.¡±(Me) We went through the corridors and went down the stairs. ¡°I am sorry to demand this, but my boss is rather impatient and would like you to pay up before I guide you to your visitors.¡± He said as soon as we reached the counter. ¡°Sure, tell me how much it is and I¡¯ll pay.¡±(Me) ¡°Thank you. Than for 8 nights, it would be 1 gold and 60 silver coins, but it¡¯s already late so if you decide to stay another night, it would be 1 gold and 80 silver coins please.¡±(Receptionist) I wasn¡¯t able to calm down my mind for quite a while after paying almost 2 gold coins. It wasn¡¯t the because of the time I was able to spent alone in that room. I was even able to achieve a lot during that time, which motivated me even more. What shocked me was that it took Sarah so much time to get to this town. Even worse, she probably received help from Nala. No she definitely did, because otherwise she would have already died. ¡°Ahm. Could you please lead me to my guests now?¡±(Me) ¡°Certainly.¡±(Receptionist) He opened the door behind the counter and let me enter. ¡°Take your time, but please don¡¯t damage anything in this room.¡±(Receptionist) He said after closing the door behind me. The room was the personal room of the owner of this inn. It had some bookshelves, a desk, a dining table in front of the desk and 2 sofas next to the dining table. The only other people present were Sarah and Nala. I stood there for quite a while staring at the 2 of them. Sarah had tattered clothes and her face showed that she went through a lot during the past days. I couldn¡¯t see any visual damages on Nala¡¯s clothing. ¡°I am sorry that it took me so much time to get here Master.¡±(Nala) He said while bowing and apologizing. ¡°It¡¯s ok.¡±(Me) Nala sighed and sat down. I looked at Sarah and waited for her to say something. ¡°And?¡±(Me) After a minute I lost my patient and just asked her. Her reply was only a look of sorrow and despair. ¡°What happened?¡±(Me) I asked Nala. ¡°As you instructed, I saved her when she almost died.¡±(Nala) ¡°And?¡±(Me) ¡°Because we had no map, or idea where we were, we wandered around for 8 days until we finally found a human and were able to ask for ways.¡±(Nala) ¡°Really. Strange, it took me only 3 hours.¡±(Me) ¡°As expected of Master.¡±(Nala) He said filled with pride. ¡°Fine.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Huh. What?¡±(Me) ¡°I said fine.¡±(Sarah) ¡°What¡¯s fine?¡±(Me) ¡°You are the boss now. Happy?¡±(Sarah) I sure was happy. I couldn¡¯t say it though. ¡°So I decide things from now on?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Good. My first decision is that we all introduce ourselves again.¡±(Me) I got weird stares from both of them. But Nala came back almost instantly. ¡°I am Nala¡­!¡±(Nala) ¡°Shut up, we¡¯ll do that in my room. It is soundproof.¡±(Me) I interrupted that idiot before he could tell the whole human continent that he¡¯s a demon and we went to my room. Nala started his introduction. It was unnecessary, because he already did so, but he himself insisted on doing so. ¡°My name is Nala Timaios Ammon and as you already know, I am a demon. I am from 1 of the higher demon clans, the earth demon clan. I have 6 siblings, but because I was the weakest, no one paid me any attention. Even though, no one cared about me, I was still a higher demon and had to make a 3rd grade contract with the demon king.¡±(Nala) I already expected something like that. Because of him mentioning higher demons and clans he made his introduction at least interesting. I needed to ask him about the system, which the race my family created, invented. It took Sarah some time, but she decided to follow my ¡°decision¡±. Those 8 days left a strong impact on her. Good for me though. ¡°My name is Sarah and I don¡¯t have a last name because I am an orphan and no one ever gave me 1. My race and the reason my Master protected me are the same.¡±(Sarah) She made a dramatic pause and Nala and I both looked at her like beasts looking at their food. ¡°What are you, kids?¡±(Sarah) ¡°I¡¯m 12, so still a child.¡±(Me) ¡°I became like this because of my childhood.¡±(Nala) We both instantly replied. ¡°Why did I even ask?¡±(Sarah) ¡°So what race do you belong to?¡±(Me) ¡°I am a Hybrid.¡±(Sarah) ¡°A what?¡±(Nala) I had the same question but Nala was the 1st to ask. ¡°I show traits of all 5 races.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Nope you definitely look like a human.¡±(Nala) ¡°Thanks you too.¡±(Sarah) At least I didn¡¯t have to tell him how stupid his answer was. ¡°What exactly do you mean with traits of all 5 races?¡±(Me) ¡°Let¡¯s say my body shows traits of all 5 ok. And I am able to learn every magic. It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s the rune magic, chaos magic or anything else, I can learn everything.¡±(Sarah) ¡°If I ever feel like it, I will ask you to show me, but not now.¡±(Me) I received a weird glare from her. ¡°What did I say something wrong?¡±(Me) ¡°No, just introduce yourself.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Ah, right. My name is Hikaru.¡±(Me) I smiled and hoped they were ok with it. ¡°And?¡±(Sarah) ¡°What else is there? Hmmm. Ah right. People often refer to me as nightmare.¡±(Me) Chapter 37 Back to Sonya city ¡°What else is there? Hmmm. Ah right. People often refer to me as nightmare.¡±(Me) I got a rather strange reply. ¡°Haha. Wouldn¡¯t wonder me. Your personality is a real nightmare.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Eh? I think you misunderstood me.¡±(Me) ¡°You tell us, people refer to you as nightmare.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Yes. I mean the 1 from the dark continent, SS ranked danger, etc.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes and I am the queen of the world.¡±(Sarah) When I thought back, I remembered, that Sarah hadn¡¯t seen my black form yet. It was a normal reaction, which I should have predicted. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go against Master, but I am not fully able to believe you either. I mean I saw your strength, but¡­ Perhaps, if you could show us something to prove your statement.¡±(Nala) ¡°Nice idea.¡±(Me) ¡°What could you prove? The nightmare is a being on par, if not greater than any king out there. Even if you are the real deal, what in the world are you doing here?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Well. Thank you very much for your compliment. And sorry, I can¡¯t tell you that.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh.¡±(Sarah) ¡°At least I prepared for a similar situation.¡±(Me) I got weird stares from both of them. I didn¡¯t mind them and used my mana to activate runes, which I prepared beforehand. ¡°I wasn¡¯t doing nothing in those past days. I prepared this room with enough runes, so you won¡¯t be able to escape.¡±(Me) ¡°Hoy, calm down. You really start sounding like a villain.¡±(Sarah) The next step was to go into black form and scare the both of them a little. I didn¡¯t want to freak the hell out of them, just a little bit was more than enough. I started slowly gathering mana. ¡°Calm down please! I am sorry ok, don¡¯t kill me, just because I can¡¯t believe you.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Eh? Who said anything of killing you? We decided, I¡¯d prove you that I¡¯m the real deal, so I¡¯m gathering some of my mana.¡±(Me) ¡°You call that some, Master? You are at least on par with me with that some mana of yours.¡±(Nala) A dark aura slowly surrounded me and I went into black form. Both of them were surprised but not scared. Nala already saw a weakened black form so that was no issue, but Sarah was showing more fascination than fear. ¡°Is this enough?¡±(Me) ¡°I believe you Master.¡±(Nala) ¡°Let¡¯s say I believe you for now. Show me around the dark continent sometime ok?¡±(Sarah)If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Her behaviour became a lot better after accepting my identity. She seemed less bossy and a lot more friendly. ¡°If you want, I could sent you there anytime, but for certain reasons, I can only return in about 2 to 3 weeks.¡±(Me) ¡°Alright. By the way, I know I¡¯m not able to use magic, nor can I feel mana, because my master never taught me, but how many runes did you use in your preparation?¡±(Sarah) ¡°As far as I can sense it, there should be 4 runes in each corner of the room, to prevent any sound from leaving it. And 1 rune on every side, to prevent us from leaving it. So all in all about 10 runes, right Master?¡±(Nala) ¡°Ye¡­ Yes. More or less.¡±(Me) I could only smile and say nothing more. I didn¡¯t want to see their reaction if they found out that this room had about 70 runes installed. Excluding traps like increase in gravitation, disabling their sense of balance and similar things, it would still amount to about 30 just for the fortification of this room. Let¡¯s just say I had a lot of free time and Nala still had a lot to learn. ¡°Oh. That¡¯s the reason why even I could feel them. If there are that many in the 1 place, it¡¯s no wonder.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Probably.¡±(Me) I disabled my hard preparation and went back to normal. ¡°I¡¯m still wondering. Your reaction is a lot calmer than I expected.¡±(Me) ¡°I have no physical strength, nor can I use magic and you made a demon your subordinate. What else could I do than control my emotions? I was able to overcome my fear some way.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Is that so?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Then, what was your reaction back when I fought Nala?¡±(Me) ¡°My emotions were forcefully suppressed, due to my old contract with my master and over the years, there was a lot which came together. I wasn¡¯t always as I am now, but I worked at an inn and we had lots of idiots and I was never able to say anything against them.¡±(Sarah) ¡°You have to teach me how to do that contract.¡±(Me) ¡°Perhaps some other day.¡±(Sarah) ¡°I¡¯m fine with that. I don¡¯t have much time left anyways.¡±(Me) ¡°For?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Is it because you have to go to Sonya city?¡±(Nala) I forgot, I never told them I go to school. I just said something about heading to Sonya city. ¡°I have a good idea.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?¡±(Sarah) ¡°The Nightmare is currently building an army of young talented people, so I Hikaru grant you my crest.¡±(Me) ¡°Wait what?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Shut up and accept it. It will spare me a lot of time and you won¡¯t spill my identity out to everyone we meet.¡±(Me) ¡°Only if it¡¯s under 3rd grade.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Unfortunate I have no idea how to do that so just accept your fate.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine. I Sarah accept your crest.¡±(Sarah) Same as last time, I got a short overview of her memories and remembered nothing. Perhaps I can improve that with time magic someday. Strangely, even though she told me that she could control her emotions, she was also struck by fear, similar to Nala when he became my subordinate. ¡°What do you guys see when we do a contract to make such a face?¡±(Me) ¡°Nothing. Never mind. By the way, didn¡¯t you say something about building an army of young talented people? Do I count as young and talented, even though I¡¯m already 16 years old?¡±(Sarah) ¡°No way.¡±(Me) ¡°What did you expect? Nala has to be at least 20. What¡¯s your reason to even contract him?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Fellow subordinate, please don¡¯t be so mean to me.¡±(Nala) ¡°Hmhm. I have no subordinate-Master contract I have lower 3rd grade student-Teacher contract.¡±(Sarah) With pride, she showed us my crest and when I compared her with the 1 from Nala, I saw that it was a bit smaller. ¡°By the way, even if I¡¯m only 12, you will still have to call me teacher.¡±(Me) ¡°Eh?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Hahaha. Serves you right.¡±(Nala) ¡°Shut up. So, why did you contract him? You said that he is weak, which makes the whole thing even stranger.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Secret. And by the way, just because someone is weak, doesn¡¯t mean he can¡¯t be trained. He can become strong, it only depends on his attitude and his Master.¡±(Me) I was able to motivate him to work hard and praise myself in only 2 sentences. He even had fire in his eyes and was eager to start his training. ¡°But, before this, we have to go back to Sonya academy, I have to finish my quest and then we have about 20 days left to train before the tournament.¡±(Me) ¡°Oh. Is Master planning to make his debut in that tournament?¡±(Nala) ¡°No, I won¡¯t even participate. But I¡¯ll still make a huge impact.¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t understand?¡±(Nala) ¡°Listen carefully. Lesson number 1, always think everything through until the end. It¡¯s an important tournament between the human and beastman race.¡±(Me) ¡°I still don¡¯t understand it, Teacher.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Sigh. Both kings will be there to watch the tournament.¡±(Me) ¡°So you will kill both of them in 1 go?¡±(Sarah) She totally misunderstood everything. ¡°Ha? No. I will make a peace treaty. I want my own land to be able to remain peacefully and train with a lot of effort until the day I have to go into the final step of my plan.¡±(Me) ¡°I still don¡¯t understand it.¡±(Nala) ¡°Than your first task will be to think about it yourself until we arrive at Sonya academy. By the way, you will both be listed as slaves.¡±(Me) ¡°What?!¡±(Sarah) ¡°Haha. Let¡¯s go now.¡±(Me) With me knowing the way and scaring all random beasts, bandits, etc. away, we arrived at Sonya city in merely 2 days. I was happy that I was finally able to overcome this chaos, but when we arrived, I was faced with the next 1 coming up. Perhaps it was a special ability of mine to attract them. Chapter 38 Preparing a festival for the king The 1st obstacle was the entrance fee. I had to pay for my 2 ¡°slaves¡± and because slaves were only for rich people, I had to pay 1 gold for each of them. It was daylight robbery, but luckily, due to my time as an adventurer, 2 gold coins were no problem for me. There was a lot commotion in the city and I had no idea why. I wanted to ask someone, but everyone was too busy preparing for something. To me it looked like some kind of fest. Sarah and Nala just followed me quietly. They were unfamiliar with the city, so it didn¡¯t surprise me. ¡°Damn everyone is ignoring me. Perhaps Takeshi knows something.¡±(Me) ¡°Who?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Never mind, you¡¯ll be meeting him sooner or later. Just follow me to school for now.¡±(Me) We went straight to the school. We didn¡¯t stop at any shop, not for clothing, neither for sweets or other food. Probably, mostly because of me, because the 2 of them kept following me with their mouths open and just waited for me to allow them to get something. ¡°Perhaps next time, but for now I have to know the situation.¡±(Me) As if I didn¡¯t know any better, their heads went down. ¡°I promise that as soon as we finish, we¡¯ll come back and you can buy whatever you want.¡±(Me) ¡°Thank you Master.¡±(Nala) ¡°Thank you teacher.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Sigh.¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t know if it was all an act, but in the end they got what they wanted. Shortly after we arrived at the school¡¯s gate. The same guard as always was standing in front of it. Sarah ran ahead of us. ¡°Hello Mr. Guard.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Haha. A hello to you too little lady, but please call me Vincent.¡±(Vincent) ¡°Hello Mr. Vincent.¡±(Sarah) We caught up to them shortly after. ¡°Good day Vincent.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. I see, the little lady is together with you.¡±(Vincent) ¡°Is there something wrong with Master?¡±(Nala) ¡°Another 1? No certainly not. He¡¯s just¡­ Let¡¯s say he is kind of a troublemaker.¡±(Vincent) It hurt me a little that even a guard categorized me as something like a troublemaker. ¡°So, Hikaru, both listing as slaves again?¡±(Vincent)Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Huh? Again?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Master what¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±(Nala) ¡°Both of you shut up, I¡¯ll tell you later.¡±(Me) They didn¡¯t want to, but they kept quiet for the rest of my talk with Vincent. ¡°Yes please. She¡¯s Sarah and he¡¯s Nala.¡±(Me) ¡°Noted down. Did you buy them for the upcoming fest?¡±(Vincent) ¡°Just to be clear, I didn¡¯t buy any slaves. It¡¯s another connection.¡±(Me) ¡°Ahh. I understand you don¡¯t need to tell me more.¡±(Vincent) He completely misunderstood it. ¡°Sigh. Never mind. By the way I just came back from a quest and have no idea what all this fest thing is about.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmm. A few days ago, someone became a court magician. Now there are 4 of them. And because the king wanted to celebrate it, he will travel through the land and every city shall prepare a fest for him.¡±(Vincent) ¡°Is a court magician that important?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes! As I said, there are currently only 4 court magicians. This title indicates that they are the officially strongest mages the whole country has to offer. Their authority only lies beneath the royal family and the 3 heavenly generals. I heard that he is quite young too.¡±(Vincent) ¡°3 heavenly generals?¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. They are the top of the army, the heavenly is another title added to their name. What is this academy teaching? Aren¡¯t you even learning basic knowledge and common sense?¡±(Vincent) ¡°Thanks for explaining to me. We¡¯ll be going now. Have a nice day.¡±(Me) We passed the gate and left Vincent behind. I could only hear him sighing a few more times after that. ¡°Master!¡±(Nala) ¡°Yes?¡±(Me) ¡°Tell me now, honestly. What was that bringing another slave about?¡±(Nala) ¡°Sigh. Actually you should know that already. Use that brain of yours.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?¡±(Nala) ¡°I told you I¡¯m gathering young talents. The last 1 just happened to travel to the Dark Continent from my room.¡±(Me) ¡°And why are we all listed as slaves?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Only students, teachers and their slaves are allowed in this academy. I don¡¯t want to cause any trouble yet, so bear with it.¡±(Me) Both were more or less satisfied with my answers. Before anything else, I guided the 2 of them to my room. It was noon of the 7th day of the week, so all of the other students were probably out in the city. Because of that, I avoided a lot of unnecessary attention. ¡°Stay here and wait until I¡¯m back. It won¡¯t take that long.¡±(Me) ¡°Are you leaving us behind teacher?¡±(Sarah) ¡°What should we do in the meantime?¡±(Nala) ¡°Hmm.¡±(Me) I needed only a few seconds until I came up with a brilliant idea. ¡°You are not staying here because I leave you behind, but in order to train.¡±(Me) I drew weak gravity runes on both of their clothes. Their legs instantly gave in and they fell to the ground. ¡°Not this again Master.¡±(Nala) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s a lot weaker than before. If you are able to stand until I¡¯m back, you succeeded with the 1st step of your training.¡±(Me) ¡°Why do we need to do that?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Basics are important and the foundation of your magic is your body.¡±(Me) I just said what came to my mind. I made up a story to motivate them to do physical training. In fact, my statement wasn¡¯t that far from reality. I left my room. I went to Takeshi¡¯s room, but he wasn¡¯t there. Next I went to the park. There weren¡¯t many places I know of, but the highest chance to meet Takeshi was by going to the park. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t there. I gave up on the thought of finding him and headed to the guild building first. I planned to finish the quest first and start my information gathering afterwards. There weren¡¯t many people at the guild building. It felt a lot bigger than last time. I went to the counter and the receptionist welcomed me. ¡°Welcome student, what can I do for you?¡±(Receptionist) ¡°I want to finish this quest.¡±(Me) I gave him the quest paper. ¡°Certainly. Scouting out this dungeon was it, right?¡±(Receptionist) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) ¡°And? What did you find?¡±(Receptionist) ¡°Ahm.¡±(Me) I hadn¡¯t thought of what to say yet. I didn¡¯t plan to tell him that I already cleared it. ¡°It was already cleared when I arrived there.¡±(Me) ¡°Oh my, were you able to entre?¡±(Receptionist) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) ¡°Were there any remains of monsters or treasures?¡±(Receptionist) ¡°No.¡±(Me) ¡°That¡¯s unfortunately. Well nevertheless, you finished the quest. You¡¯ll receive 20 contribution points. Congratulations on succeeding in your 1st quest.¡±(Receptionist) ¡°T¡­ Thank you.¡±(Me) I was wondering why he believed all of it. ¡°Yo! It seems like you also just came back.¡±(Takeshi) He greeted me from the door. ¡°How was your quest?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°The dungeon was already cleared before I came.¡±(Me) ¡°Hahaha. Same as me then.¡±(Takeshi) Takeshi handed in his quest, as well as his report. ¡°Let¡¯s visit the city and talk there. You probably already know about the festival.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Not much, but fine.¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything I know later. Let¡¯s go visit all the shops 1st.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Alright. No, wait.¡±(Me) ¡°What is it?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°We need to go to my room 1st.¡±(Me) ¡°Why?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°You¡¯ll know when we get there.¡±(Me) Chapter 39 The day before the festival I could only guess Takeshi¡¯s reaction if he saw my 2 new followers, but it was a relatively small risk, which I would take if I could save time with it. It had been about 1 hour since I left my room. We entered the dormitory and headed upstairs. ¡°Will you finally tell me why we have to go to your room? Moreover, now of all times?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°If I let them be they won¡¯t live until tomorrow, probably.¡±(Me) ¡°What?¡±(Takeshi) I opened the door to my room. Both Sarah and Nala had a weak physical body and they were still desperately trying to stand up. Sweat all over their body. ¡°Master!¡±(Nala) ¡°Teacher!¡±(Sarah) They were both happy that I finally returned. ¡°You should dispel your gravity rune. They won¡¯t last long for sure.¡±(Takeshi) I did as he said. Sarah and Nala still remained on the floor and took heavy breathes. ¡°You have new slaves?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Kind of.¡±(Me) ¡°Where do you always get them?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I don¡¯t buy them. Sarah was saved by me and I promised Nala to train him.¡±(Me) ¡°So it¡¯s Sarah and Nala?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Ha¡­Yes¡­Ha.¡±(Nala) ¡°Ha¡­and¡­who is he¡­ha?¡±(Sarah) With her last strength she lifted her arm and pointed at Takeshi. ¡°My name is Takeshi.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Is he the 1 you were talking about, Master?¡±(Nala) ¡°Yes. And stop being lazy and lying on the floor. We are going back to the city.¡±(Me) I would keep my promise to treat them to whatever they wanted, but their happy grins went on my nerves. ¡°But because you 2 failed the 1st step of training, you will be punished. I¡¯ll cast an even weaker rune on you and you have to bear with it until the end of this day.¡±(Me) As fast as their happiness came, it went away and despair overcome their faces. ¡°You surely are a devil.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Shut up, they wanted me to train them, so I train them.¡±(Me) ¡°I wanted to train magic and not my body.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Hoho, do you want to say my methods of teaching are bad?¡±(Me) Takeshi grabbed my shoulder. ¡°Let me handle this.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Fine, but finish fast.¡±(Me)Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He turned to face Sarah and Nala. ¡°You want to learn magic?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Yes!¡±(Sarah) ¡°For what purpose?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°In order to become strong and to be able to defend myself.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Then what would happen if you go against a beastman and he uses zero magic?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°T¡­Then I¡¯ll still be able to run away somehow.¡±(Sarah) ¡°From a beastman?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Y¡­Yes.¡±(Sarah) Takeshi got all fired up. I have never seen him like that. Then again I have never seen him teaching someone anything, perhaps it was his kind of style of teaching. ¡°Hahaha. Ok, ok. The physically weak you, who is going up against a beastman with zero magic, then running away, what if he catches up?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I.¡±(Sarah) ¡°Wait I know. You¡¯ll talk it out? Ok then what happens if you¡¯d have to go up against someone of an even higher level? Would you still dare to talk? No you¡¯d be getting beaten up, perhaps lose an arm or both of your legs or something like that, before you even get the chance to start talking.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I.¡±(Sarah) ¡°It¡¯s better to always be prepared for as many different situations as possible.¡±(Takeshi) Silence filled the room. Sarah and Nala were too scared to say anything, while I was waiting for Takeshi to finish. ¡°Good, let¡¯s go to the city now.¡±(Takeshi) His sudden change of attitude from a devil back to a normal human was fascinating. ¡°Talk about being a devil.¡±(Me) ¡°Hahaha.¡±(Takeshi) I drew another 2 runes on their clothes and Takeshi and I left my room again. This time Sarah and Nala were still able to stand. It looked like they were carrying a heavy burden, but it seemed like they wouldn¡¯t be kissing the ground again. ¡°Both of them are evil.¡±(Sarah) ¡°I prefer Master though.¡±(Nala) I could hear from the outside. ¡°What are the 2 of you doing? Get moving.¡±(Me) Perhaps I was a bit harsh, but they wanted to get strong. And if I bring them to their limits, perhaps I could even use them later. We reached the gate and Vincent was confused as soon as he saw us. We explained to him that we scratched together some money to go shopping. He was fine with that. He almost let us pass with no further ado, but he saw the discomfort in my 2 follower¡¯s faces and made a stern look. ¡°It¡¯s training.¡±(Me) ¡°It can¡¯t be called training if they look like they¡¯ll fall down every second.¡±(Vincent) ¡°I only used a small and weak gravity rune a few minutes ago. They still have to get used to it.¡±(Me) ¡°Let me warn you, if I hear that 2 slaves collapsed on the streets, you¡¯ll be the 1st person I¡¯ll interrogate.¡±(Vincent) ¡°Haha. Ok. Have a nice day and see you later Vincent.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. Go as long as I won¡¯t change my mind.¡±(Vincent) He had an honest heart. It didn¡¯t really bother me, I was only sorry for him. If he ever lost his job as a city guard, or would have to leave this city, he wouldn¡¯t be able to survive in the outside world. ¡°You can both buy whatever you want with this money. We¡¯ll meet up again here at the gate in 3 hours.¡±(Me) I said after we passed the gate. I gave each of them 10 gold coins, which was an enormous amount of money for a slave to have. In the end I kept my promise and they happily departed into the crowded city. ¡°Are you sure that they¡¯ll be ok? 10 gold coins is a bit much they could become targets of robbery.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, in human standards, Nala should be quite strong when it comes to magic.¡±(Me) ¡°If you say so.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Let¡¯s go eat something at a restaurant.¡±(Me) ¡°Sure.¡±(Takeshi) We went to the nearest restaurant. It was called ¡°The goat¡¯s hut¡±. I didn¡¯t mind about the name as long as the food was ok. We received a relatively remote table in the corner of the restaurant. Probably because we were only kids and they didn¡¯t take us serious, but for a secret talk it was perfect. ¡°I¡¯ll say it beforehand, I don¡¯t know anything about this festival. I heard about it for the 1st time when I came back.¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s ok, I know a little bit more. I cleared a dungeon near the capital, so I came across a lot of things.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Do you have any information about the new court magician?¡±(Me) ¡°He¡¯s young. Extremely young. Some say he¡¯s under 16.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°That¡¯s pretty good I guess.¡±(Me) He leaned over the table and started whispering. ¡°That¡¯s not all. The important thing comes next.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°There¡¯s more?¡±(Me) ¡°Apparently, people say that he comes from the Dark Continent.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Is there any proof to that?¡±(Me) ¡°Not at the moment. But we¡¯ll find out tomorrow.¡±(Takeshi) I more or less understood the situation. If what I predicted were to come true, I would have a save entrance at the tournament in 2 weeks. Everything depended on how I¡¯d use this new opportunity. Afterwards, we ate and talked about other things. Like how our dungeon exploration went, how I came across Sarah and Nala, and so on. Obviously, I skipped every part where my identity as Nightmare would come up. We finished after about 2 hours and strolled through the city for the last hour. Meeting up with a happy Sarah and Nala at the school¡¯s gate and going back to the dormitory together. Sarah, Nala and me entered my room and I closed the door behind us. ¡°I hope you guys enjoyed the city.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Sarah & Nala) ¡°Good to hear that. I need you 2 to do something for me.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?¡±(Sarah) ¡°I¡¯ll send you to my continent with a message.¡±(Me) ¡°Why are we no good anymore, Master?¡±(Nala) ¡°That¡¯s not the issue. I sent you back because I have to change my plans a little bit and for that, I need you to deliver this message.¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯m listening Master.¡±(Nala) I looked at Sarah with a questioning gaze. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go too. I said I wanted to visit the Dark Continent, so why not now?¡±(Sarah) ¡°Good. They¡¯ll know that I sent you, so just deliver this message.¡±(Me) I made a dramatic pause. ¡°There¡¯s a change of plans, I¡¯ll come back in 1 week and discuss it with you.¡±(Me) ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±(Sarah) ¡°That¡¯s all.¡±(Me) I activated the teleportation circle and sent the both of them away. ¡°Sigh. Now that the unforeseen risks are cleared away, let¡¯s think of a way to communicate with Sepp, while not receiving any unnecessary attention.¡±(Me) Chapter 40 The 4th court magician (1) Sepp¡¯s pov: After big brother left us, we diligently trained ourselves, built a lot of huts on the Dark Continent and improved our ways of living. His speech motivated us to work even harder to help him and repay what he has done for us. Since quite some time, no one dared to come to the Dark Continent, so even I was able to solely focus on training. As big brother told us his plan, he also said that I am the most talented out of all of us when it comes to magic, so I had to leave the Dark Continent 1st and make a name for myself. At the beginning, big brother planned that 1 person shall leave after every month. That was the plan, but¡­ An unforeseen event led to Sylphy, a spirit joining our forces. After about a week or so, after big brother left, he sent Sylphy via Teleportation array. When we noticed the teleportation array being activated, we all stopped whatever we did and rushed to it. We all probably thought that big brother would come back to us. Well, our hopes were crushed and we received a green haired girl with a dumbfounded expression even worse than most of us. No one knew what was going on and everyone surrounded her and started to ask her tons of questions. Even I would have been overstrained with the situation. For better or worse, she fainted and left us all with an uncertain situation. Some wanted to throw her out, but I stopped them from doing so, by arguing that she was sent by big brother. They agreed on waiting until she¡¯d wake up and me interrogating her afterwards. I was able to satisfy everyone and they went back to work and training. To be honest I thought she¡¯d be really fragile and would lie down for at least 1 day. To my surprise, she woke up after 2 hours. I sat down at a table and she sat in front of me. I closed the door beforehand, so nobody could listen. ¡°Who are you?¡±(Me) ¡°M¡­My name is Sylphy.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°How were you able to come through that teleportation array?¡±(Me) ¡°A guy named Hikaru sent me with a message.¡±(Sylphy) I was relieved that my instinct was right and we didn¡¯t throw her out. ¡°Which message did big brother send you with?¡±(Me)Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Hikaru wants the 1st person to leave as soon as possible and start with the plan.¡±(Sylphy) I was startled. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s what he told you?¡±(Me) ¡°He said that he had no time and had to skip a lot of explaining. That is all. Can we stop this interrogation now, please?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Sigh. Fine. If big brother sent you, you are probably part of his plan and an ally to us. Be at ease, I will tell the others. If they hear that you were sent by big brother, you¡¯ll be treated as a friend.¡±(Me) I stood up and wanted to leave. ¡°Please wait for a second.¡±(Sylphy) I turned around and stopped. ¡°What is it?¡±(Me) ¡°Are you all aware that he is the nightmare, who is rumoured to have killed tons of people? Aren¡¯t you afraid that he¡¯ll kill you?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Sure thing, we also killed some of them though.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. I thought so.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°I don¡¯t know what big brother told you, but to us, he is our live saver, a role model, we all look up to. All of us were slaves before we came here and we were treated horribly. Some of us even on the verge of death, because of our treatment, but if you were able to take a look at us now, we were healed by big brother and trained. In such a short time, he changed our lives. No, he gave all of us a new live, a new start and everyone is thankful. We will repay our debt with these new lives.¡±(Me) She quietly listened to my speech and waited until I was finished. ¡°I was in a similar situation and I agree, but¡­¡± (Sylphy) ¡°But?¡±(Me) ¡°He can be really mean some times, too.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Haha, the only times big brother will be mean is when you annoy him in some way or ask him about the taboo.¡±(Me) ¡°The what?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Never mind, just never ask him of his past, ok? It will save us all a lot of trouble.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmm.¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Well, I only knew you for a short time, but perhaps we¡¯ll meet someday again.¡±(Me) Sylphy didn¡¯t quite understand why I would say my farewells after we just met, so I explained to her. ¡°The 1st person in your message is me. Moreover, big brother said as fast as possible, which means today.¡±(Me) She was still confused. I understood her, so I guided her to our docks to prover her that I am seriously about to leave. Actually there was only 1 ship, we built all together. It was for me to reach the nearest coast and start with the plan of collecting fame for the Dark Continent. At 1st Sylphy still received angry stares, but I explained everything to the others and they instantly changed their behaviour and treated her like 1 of us. The farewell to my brothers and sisters was a lot harder for me than I expected them to be. I let everyone gather in front of the docks and told them about the message and Sylphy. It took over and hour to finish saying goodbye to everyone. We cried a lot, talked about the past years and so on. A lot of them didn¡¯t want me to leave, but no one dared to go against big brother¡¯s will. Last but not least, I also gave my farewell to Horan, the next in line. ¡°I¡¯ll be going now.¡±(Me) ¡°I wish you good luck my brother.¡±(Horan) ¡°Thank you. I will need it.¡±(Me) We smiled at each other and both of us knew that this could be the last time we would see each other. ¡°Look after the others while I¡¯m gone.¡±(Me) ¡°They will not be harmed in any way, this I will promise you.¡±(Horan) ¡°If it¡¯s you, I can rest assured.¡±(Me) When I boarded the ship, I turned around and waved to the people, who were and still are like brothers and sisters to me, and swore to myself that I would never forget them. Everyone helped together and pushed the ship into the water and after drifting off for a few minutes, I was far away. Too far to see anyone still on the island. The ship had an easy construction. There was a steering wheel and as long as you pour mana into it, the ship would continue to move forward. I have no idea how it actually works, but it is 1 of many masterpieces, Theo our best craftsman came up with. My course was already set by me beforehand. I was heading towards the human continent to work for their king. It wasn¡¯t because I was a human and because I wanted to help them out of patriotism. It was because they were the most advanced race when it came down to magic. My thought is, if I want to establish my name in the world, the human continent, would be the best option for me. Chapter 41 The 4th Court magician (2) Sepp¡¯s pov: Big brother always told us how dangerous the sea can be. It almost killed him once and he barely survived with a lot of luck. I was extra careful to be on my set course. With no major problems, I arrived at the human continent after 1 whole day. I was lucky, because the weather was really nice, and the sea was quiet. The beach I arrived at, was surrounded by a huge forest. The sun was about to set and it would become night soon. I lighted my way through the forest with light magic. I had to keep my mana output to a minimum though, because the ship did already cost me more mana than I wanted it to. It was rarely enough to see where I was going. At least I didn¡¯t bump into trees or stumble over roots. The only thing I took with me was the map big brother drew for us. We weren¡¯t stupid and made enough copies of it, so it was no problem if I took the original. But even with that map, navigating through that forest at night was quite the challenge. I was already exhausted and used up all of my rations on the ship, but despite that, I didn¡¯t give up and moved forward. Minute after minute passed and when I finally managed to find a way out, the sun was already up again. I was at my limit. I was tired, hungry, thirsty and a lot of other things. I was happy to get out of that forest, but the next I could remember was that I tripped over a stone and lost consciousness. Rumble. ¡°Leave him be, we have to run away!¡±(?) I slowly woke up. I had no idea how long I was out for or where I was. I was woken up by screams, followed by sounds of a fight. I sat up and slowly opened my eyes. I was surprised about where I was. ¡°Mr. Wizard, he woke up!¡±(?) ¡°We have other things to worry about leave him be and protect the young miss.¡±(?) I was in the middle of a battlefield. I was surrounded by broken carriages, dead people and horses, as well as destruction of the land. Burned marks on the ground and destroyed buildings. It looked like I was picked up by someone and they were attacked. They probably stayed at this village and where attacked. Whoever the attackers were, they used a lot to try and kill my saviour. I was finally able to calm down and get a clear head. I looked around and analysed the current results of this battle. Roughly estimated, we had about 20 people, which were decimated to only 5 by the 100 or so enemies. It only took a short glance at the attackers and us to see both their goals. Everyone focused on 1 blonde, rich looking girl. I have no idea what a girl, who looks like she couldn¡¯t even protect herself was doing at a battlefield, but she was probably my saviour, so I had to repay the favour. ¡°Mr. Wizard us 3 are the only ones left, what should we do? We are surrounded?¡±(?) ¡°Whatever happens we have to protect the young miss! Even if we have to give our lives, she has to go back to the capital.¡±(Mr. Wizard) The so called young miss, was cowering and hiding behind the old, grey haired Magician. They were several metres away from me and a group of 20 or so enemies was coming at them. ¡°Fireball!¡±(Mr. Wizard) A ball of fire was created in his hand and expanded extremely fast. It looked like such a spell would consume a lot of mana, which it does, but at least his last attempt to protect them, burned all of the 20 attackers down to ash, while scaring all the others away to a safe distance. ¡°Guh.¡±(Mr. Wizard) The mana exhaustion strained his body and he went down on 1 knee. The little girl started to cry and tried to support the old man, meanwhile I slowly stood up and made my way to the others. No one noticed me yet. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Grandpa Miedes.¡±(Young Miss) ¡°I told you to run. And how many times have talked about not saying our names in public?¡±(Miedes) ¡°I don¡¯t want you to die. Don¡¯t leave me.¡±(Young Miss) ¡°Dug!¡±(Miedes) He turned to the only other survivor. ¡°Take her and run away.¡±(Miedes) ¡°I¡¯m not leaving you behind.¡±(Dug) ¡°You fool, don¡¯t you know what will happen if they get the young miss?¡±(Miedes) They were desperately trying to let their young Miss escape. ¡°Hahaha. Don¡¯t waste your energy old man, you are already surrounded.¡±(?) A really scaring looking, middle aged man, with scars all over his face stepped out of the attacker¡¯s group. ¡°Now, give me the princess and I¡¯ll think about letting you live.¡±(?) ¡°Scar, don¡¯t you know what will happen if you kill her?¡±(Miedes) What a fitting name. I alredy regrouped with the old man, Dug and the young Miss. They watched me coming to them and looked at me with sad stares. ¡°This time there will be a real war, not a puny tournament.¡±(Scar) ¡°If you already know, then why would you do this?¡±(Miedes) ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I want. There is no way humans can win this war and with only 4 races remaining, there will be constant war and with constant war, there will be more than enough work for mercenaries like us. Then we will receive money, build a villa and¡­¡±(Scar) ¡°Ahm, excuse me?¡±(Me) I interrupted him. All the attention was focused on me. ¡°What?!¡±(Scar) ¡°Am I right in saying that this princess is the daughter of the human king?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. Already this whole friction with the beastmen and now this. We are really cursed.¡±(Miedes) ¡°Hahah. You old fool. You should tell your retainers that you are escorting a princess.¡±(Scar) ¡°Retainer? Me? Haha. I think you misunderstood this a little. I¡¯m no retainer.¡±(Me) All of the remaining attackers closed in and made a circle surrounding us. ¡°Hoho. I don¡¯t care about it. Kill them already.¡±(Scar) 1 person with a sword was slowly coming at us. Meanwhile Scar turned around and was about to leave. ¡°Princess, am I right in saying that you picked me up and saved me?¡±(Me) The attacker already prepared to swing his sword down at me. ¡°Um.¡±(Princess) She nodded her head and the enemy swung down his sword. The old man and the princess, as well as that Dug closed their eyes, so they didn¡¯t have to see me getting split in 2 halves. To everyone¡¯s surprise, I caught his hand and broke his wrist. ¡°Ah!¡±(Attacker) He let his sword drop and I picked it up. I looked at the shocked faces of everyone else, who witnessed this. ¡°Then I have already 2 reasons to protect you.¡±(Me) I pierced the one who just dropped his sword in his chest and killed him in 1 go. Now they were even more dumbfounded. ¡°C-.¡±(Me) I started to grade every enemy I killed after the adventurer guild rank system. It was a hobby of mine. ¡°1st you guys really saved me there and by coincidence we have the same destination.¡±(Me) I leaped ahead and sliced the next person. I split his head in 2 halves and he also died instantly. ¡°D.¡±(Me) Even Scar, turned back and couldn¡¯t comprehend what happened. ¡°Go kill him! If you can¡¯t do it alone do it together!¡±(Scar) Even while coming in a group of 5, I swiftly dodged their attacks and killed everyone with 1 swing of my sword. ¡°C-, D+, C, D.¡±(Me) They got scared of seeing their companions die and stopped coming at me. No one dared to move. When I looked around, I noticed that Scar was missing. ¡°Ah. Princess duck!¡±(Miedes) An arrow was shot at the princess, I used light magic and formed a shield that protected her from the arrow. ¡°Sigh. Barely made it. What should I tell big brother if you kill her and a war would break out?¡±(Me) The 1 who fired the arrow was none other than the missing Scar. ¡°You¡­ You are a magician?¡±(Scar) ¡°Seems so.¡±(Me) ¡°Who are you?¡±(Miedes) ¡°Ahah. I haven¡¯t introduced myself yet? I am Sepp from the Dark Continent. Nice to meet you.¡±(Me) I smiled and said. ¡°The Dark¡­ No more important, please save the princess.¡±(Miedes) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will all come with me to the capital.¡±(Me) I looked back at the remaining 60 or so attackers. ¡°I don¡¯t want to shed unnecessary blood, so if you stop now, I will forget about it, or does anyone else want to try and die?¡±(Me) ¡°They are only 4 people, kill them!¡±(Scar) No one dared to come at us. ¡°Good you guys understand.¡±(Me) I held up the sword and went to the circle. 1st they only looked at me with fear, but when I pointed my sword at them, they understood and cleared a path for us. ¡°Let¡¯s go now.¡±(Me) I said as friendly as possible. Dug helped Miedes to walk and they slowly and carefully followed after me. ¡°You guys dare to go against me?¡±(Scar) No one looked at him. ¡°Fine then I will kill them myself!¡±(Scar) He picked up a sword and came at us. ¡°Sigh.¡±(Me) I gave the sword to Miedes and prepared myself to fight barehanded. I took a fighting stance and waited for Scar to attack. His attack was really sloppy and again, I swiftly dodged his upfront swing to the right and punched him in the face. He fell down on his back and his nose started bleeding. I turned around and didn¡¯t mind him any longer. ¡°Sigh. C+. I¡¯ll make sure to tell big brother of you. So live your last days as peacefully as possible.¡±(Me) I caught up to the other 3 and left the defeated Scar lying on the floor. Miedes and Dug where still cautious around me. At least after half an hour, Miedes regained some strength and could go on without help. He and I took the lead and had a little talk. ¡°Haha. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t do you any harm. I don¡¯t want to start a war and anger big brother with it.¡±(Me) ¡°That big brother you speak of, it¡¯s the Nightmare right?¡±(Miedes) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) ¡°I thought so. So you really are from the Dark Continent?¡±(Miedes) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) ¡°How is the land, are there other people?¡±(Miedes) ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t answer those questions.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. Still. I am thankful that you rescued us.¡±(Miedes) ¡°I only repaid the favour.¡±(Me) ¡°Haha. Is that so.¡±(Miedes) He had many questions, but big brother forbid us to talk about the Dark Continent to outsiders. ¡°What is you purpose in coming to the capital?¡±(Miedes) ¡°To meet the king and work for him.¡±(Me) ¡°Why would you do such a thing? Working for the Nightmare is the same as working for our king.¡±(Miedes) ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t answer this either.¡±(Me) Our conversation went on like this. He asked a lot of question, while I couldn¡¯t answer most of them. At least we didn¡¯t get attacked by any other bandits or machineries. Chapter 42 The 4th Court magician (3) Sepp¡¯s pov: It took us 3 whole days until we reached the capital. Normally, people had to pay to enter, but a very influential person accompanied me, so I didn¡¯t have to pay for anything. When we arrived or better, the princess returned, there was a huge uproar. I don¡¯t plan on further butting into her business, so let¡¯s say, most people were happy about it. We were welcomed by a lot of guards. I couldn¡¯t count all of them but you could say it was almost a small army. I sneaked a peak at parts of the city, visible to me and really wanted to explore as much as possible. It was obvious that I wasn¡¯t allowed to see the king immediately, so I was guided to a nearby guesthouse and waited until I was allowed to. While I followed the guards, the princess as well as her retainer Miedes went and met the king. After we reached the guesthouse, the guard told me to wait until he comes back and left. The so-called guesthouse turned out to be a huge villa. No one was living there and it was always empty for important guests from all over the world. There were about 10 butlers and maids for every need of the guest, as well as many more workers, like a gardener, many cooks etc. I sat down in the living room and waited. I was a bit nervous. I sat in a huge villa and could only wait for some kind of reply. There was the possibility of the king despising the Dark Continent. There was the possibility of Miedes skipping some important information in his report. There were many more things, which could let me look like an enemy; I didn¡¯t even want to consider them. I could just wait and hope for the best. Finally, after almost 2 hours, the guard that guided me to the villa came back. ¡°Have you rested well?¡±(Guard) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) Obviously not, but it was better to not show them my concerns. ¡°Good the king is ready to meet you, follow me.¡±(Guard) I followed the guard. We passed through many streets and I thought all sorts of people. From big to small, from old to young, from poor looking to rich clothed people. Again, I could barely resist walking away and exploring the city. Shops of all sorts kept appealing me until the point, where I needed to focus my attention solely on the guard to resist them.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. While we were heading to the palace, I attracted many curious stares from the citizens. However, 1 angry glare from the guard and they all minded their own business. ¡°I am truly sorry. We always have problems with spectators.¡±(Guard) ¡°No problem.¡±(Me) I replied in the noblest way possible for an ex-slave. When we reached the so-called noble district, the spectators got less by a lot. After passing a few more streets, we reached the palace entrance and I didn¡¯t notice any eyes directed at me. ¡°We finally meet again, young man.¡±(Miedes) I heard as soon as the guard opened the huge door. Miedes welcomed me and took over the role of my guide. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time until your audience. I need to know a few things about your education.¡±(Miedes) ¡°S¡­Sure go ahead and ask.¡±(Me) ¡°Have you learned anything about proper etiquette?¡±(Miedes) ¡°I have heard about it, but that is as far as my knowledge goes.¡±(Me) The old man thought for a second. ¡°Kneel before the king and keep your eyes low. As long as you remember those 2 things you should do fine.¡±(Miedes) He said while we were walking to the throne room. He made a final halt before the golden doors leading into it. ¡°For the rest, do exactly the same as I do and answer the king¡¯s questions.¡±(Miedes) I nodded and Miedes opened the doors. The hall was huge. Bigger than anything, I have ever seen before. Knights stood at both sides of a long red carpet, which led directly to the throne. I did as Miedes said and kept my eyes low. We slowly moved forward and when we reached the king, we both kneeled down before him. ¡°Minister of Finance Miedes greets the king.¡±(Miedes) Miedes put his right hand on his chest. He did so while kneeling and after he finished his sentence, he sneakily looked at me. I immediately understood and did the same. ¡°Sepp of the Dark Continent greets the king.¡±(Me) A moment of silence filled the hall. I could feel the pressure all around me. This situation with so many troops, as well as the king in front of me, overwhelmed me a little. ¡°You may rise.¡±(King) We did as he said, but at the same time kept our sights low. ¡°Before I am a king, I Arthur Pendragon am a father and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for saving my only daughter Angelica. If there is anything you want, don¡¯t hesitate and tell me.¡±(Arthur) I gathered all my nerves in order to reply to him. ¡°There is indeed 1 thing I would like to ask of you.¡±(Me) I don¡¯t know if I said anything wrong, but the mood worsened a lot. ¡°Speak.¡±(Arthur) ¡°I wish to work under you.¡±(Me) My answer didn¡¯t only confuse the knights in the back, but also the king himself. ¡°My king, this is obviously a trap set up by the Dark Continent.¡±(?) 2 men were slowly walking in through another entrance and gave their statement. ¡°Silence. I decide, if it is a trap or not.¡±(Arthur) However, the king quickly reminded them of their status. ¡°I wish to know the reason for you decision. Don¡¯t get me wrong kid, I heard what you are capable of doing from Minister Miedes, but I wonder why you want to work for me.¡±(Arthur) I took a deep breath before answering that. ¡°I am not allowed to tell you the details, all I can say is that this is my own decision and I will not betray you. If you still don¡¯t believe me, we can do a contract.¡±(Me) ¡°I tell you, this is¡­¡±(?) The king interrupted the man with only showing him a palm. ¡°Look me in the eyes and swear your loyalty again.¡±(Arthur) Before I did as the king said, I took a peak at Miedes. He showed me a thumb up. I slowly raised my head and my eyes met with the eyes of the king. He had red hair and a strong build. His clothes were golden, red and white and looked expansive. ¡°I Sepp of the Dark Continent swear to be loyal to Arthur Pendragon, the king of humans.¡±(Me) Chapter 43 The 4th court magician (4) Silence filled the room. I waited for some sort of reply. I couldn¡¯t avert my eyes from the expressionless king. ¡°Hahahahaha.¡±(Arthur) His sudden laugh filled the whole throne room. No one knew what got into the king ¡°I like you kid. Pledging your loyalty without any hesitation.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Does this mean¡­¡±(Me) ¡°Yes, sureI will grant your wish. Who would ditch a promising youngster, anyway?¡±(King) I was relieved. I thought I would have to go through some sort of trial to be accepted, but it turned out much better than I expected. ¡°If it would be possible, I would like to become an official magician.¡±(Me) Miedes twitched at my wish. I understood that I made a mistake of asking another thing of the king. I quickly bowed down and hoped he would ignore it. ¡°I would have used you as 1 anyways. Miedes take him to the magician¡¯s training grounds and conduct a mana test.¡±(Arthur) ¡°As you wish.¡±(Miedes) Miedes stood up, made a deep bow, took my hand and pulled me out of the throne room. When we were at the huge golden door, the king gave me some final words. ¡°Let¡¯s see what the nightmare has planned for us, shall we?¡±(Arthur) Miedes still pulled my hand and we left the throne room. He didn¡¯t let go of my hand until we reached the training grounds. ¡°Sigh. Luckily, Arthur didn¡¯t seem offended. You should be thankful for that. What got into you?¡±(Miedes) ¡°I¡¯m really sorry.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. It¡¯s ok, I guess. In times like these, we humans need every single promising individual we can get.¡±(Miedes) We went inside a room filled with all kind of stuff, I have never seen before. Miedes took a crystal sphere from 1 of the shelves and put it onto a table. ¡°Focus your mana into it.¡±(Miedes) The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I put my hand onto the crystal sphere, but hesitated a bit. ¡°Miedes can I ask you a question?¡±(Me) ¡°Sure go ahead.¡±(Miedes) ¡°What did the king meant with his last words?¡±(Me) ¡°You mean the plan of your big brother?¡±(Mides) ¡°Yes. I have never said anything of a plan, so I don¡¯t quite understand what he meant.¡±(Me) ¡°Hahaha. You are far too inexperienced, which makes it easy to get information out of you. Even now, you try to hide it.¡±(Miedes) ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±(Me) ¡°Just by watching your language, you won¡¯t be able to keep everything you want, hidden. Gestures, facial expressions, even slight mistakes in your way of talking can be fatal. Especially when it comes to Arthur.¡±(Miedes) Miedes talked with quite some motivation and had to make a pause to catch his breath. ¡°He is considered as the weakest king amongst all of them, but he is able to stand on par with all the other kings, do you know why?¡±(Miedes) ¡°Because of his wisdom?¡±(Me) ¡°Hahaha. That is why I said you are still far too inexperienced. Just because I told you Arthur is tricky, you thought they fear his wisdom. Sure, it is certainly important, but what the other kings fear is his unpredictable nature, as well as his adaptability.¡±(Miedes) ¡°Why?¡±(Me) ¡°Perhaps I¡¯ll tell you some day, but let¡¯s do this test for now and see what your elements and mana capacity is.¡±(Miedes) So many things were new for me, but I tried my best to learn from everything. ¡°Why do we need to do something like that?¡±(Me) ¡°What do you mean why? Naturally to see your affinity to all elements, as well as your mana capacity.¡±(Miedes) ¡°Well, I understand the mana capacity, but it is not necessary, I already know all of that.¡±(Me) ¡°Is that so. Have you done this test before?¡±(Miedes) ¡°No.¡±(Me) ¡°How are you able to know your affinity as well as your mana capacity then?¡±(Miedes) ¡°I¡­ Wait.¡±(Me) I thought of a good idea. ¡°If you tell me what I did wrong and how you were able to know that big brother had a plan, I will tell you.¡±(Me) Miedes face was expressionless. ¡°Hoo. You want to negotiate. Are you sure about that?¡±(Miedes) The situation seemed tense. ¡°Hahaha. I¡¯m just joking. But you sure learn fast.¡±(Miedes) ¡°Sigh. So where did I mess up?¡±(Me) ¡°Hahaha, were you that nervous?¡±(Miedes) I was ashamed of myself, but waited for his explanation. ¡°Well, you messed up a lot of times, but the worst was that you said, that it was your decision to come to the human continent.¡±(Miedes) I was confused. ¡°You made a mistake in choosing the wrong words.¡±(Miedes) ¡°I still don¡¯t understand.¡±(Me) ¡°Why did you have to leave the Dark Continent in the 1st place?) ¡°I¡­¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t believe that the nightmare would kick you out. You wouldn¡¯t have tried to hide something about him then. The answer is simple. He told you something like: go out and gain fame.¡±(Miedes) ¡°How did you know?¡±(Me) ¡°Do you really don¡¯t know or do you just pretend to be ignorant?¡±(Miedes) ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡±(Me) ¡°From the beginning, your destination was the capital and the thing you asked of the king was to work for him as an official magician. Why would you do something like that? You could have asked for a save and easy job, money or anything else, but you asked for something, where you could become well known by everyone, in almost no time at all.¡±(Miedes) Everything Miedes said made sense. I never thought, that such trivial things could tell others so much. ¡°Now its your turn.¡±(Miedes) ¡°Sigh. Big brother told me.¡±(Me) ¡°Did he use some kind of item?¡±(Miedes) ¡°No he didn¡¯t.¡±(Me) Even if it was only for a split second, I saw discomfort in his expression. ¡°Is it that strange?¡±(Me) ¡°Well, not strange, but rather impossible.¡±(Miedes) ¡°Why?¡±(Me) ¡°I am sorry. This would require a very long explanation and I am tired. Can you tell me your affinitiy and mana capacity and we leave the topic for some other day?¡±(Miedes) ¡°Sure. I am quite tired myself. This day was definitely exhausting. My affinity is Darkness and Light and my capacity should be around 5000.¡±(Me) Again, I saw discomfort in his expression. ¡°Is something wrong with that?¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. I knew you were talented, but if what you say is true than this is just; You are at the same level as a court magician.¡±(Miedes) ¡°Is that something good?¡±(Me) ¡°It would mean you are the 5th strongest person when it comes downto magic in the human continent. Is that something good?¡±(Miedes) I smiled embarrassed. ¡°Well I saw what you are capable of and as a fellow magician, I admit my inferiority. Just what kind of training did you do to get to this level at such a young age?¡±(Miedes) I smiled and answered proudly. ¡°I went to hell and made it back alive.¡±(Me) Chapter 44 The 4th court magician (5) Sepp¡¯s pov: Before he went to see the king, Miedes brought me to a room, where I could sleep. It was plain. It had a bed, a desk and 1 window. ¡°Does everyone sleep in such a room in this castle?¡±(Me) ¡°Nonono. There is a huge difference. The room of servants are about the same as yours, while the rooms of the other court magicians are about 3 times bigger. But all 3 of them have their own villa, so they barely use it.¡±(Miedes) I was confused yet again. ¡°You have to start from the bottom, before you should try to reach the sky. Rest well.¡±(Miedes) He left my room and went to see the king. I was tired and fell asleep shortly afterwards. I could have slept through the whole next day, but I annoying knocks prevented me from doing so. ¡°Sir Court magician, wake up. It¡¯s already noon.¡±(Maid) Unwillingly, I stood up and made my way slowly to the door. ¡°What¡¯s so bad that you have to shout like this?¡±(Me) I said while opening the door. The maid overlooked me and tried to peak in my room, to see if there was someone. She was a lot bigger than I was, about 1 or 2 heads I¡¯d say, so it wasn¡¯t that hard for her to do so, it was just; it was really depressing. ¡°Hmpf.¡±(Me) She finally noticed that I stood in front of her. The maid came down to my height. ¡°Say boy, do you per chance know where the court magician went?¡±(Maid) She said with a smile on her face. The combination of my age and the room for servants just had to cause a misunderstanding. I felt sad about the whole situation. ¡°Oh no, I heard he is new here, perhaps he got lost in the palace. Or could it be that this is the wrong door, or¡­¡±(Maid) She thought about all things, which could have happened to me, or where I could have went. ¡°What do you want from me?¡±(Me) I had enough and stopped her blabbering. ¡°I have a message for the court magician, but it looks like he isn¡¯t here.¡±(Maid) ¡°I am right in front of you.¡±(Me) ¡°Hm? Did you say something? Well could you tell him to come to the throne room, if you see him?¡±(Maid) I gave up. ¡°Sigh. I will tell him if I see him.¡±(Me) ¡°Thank you. Have a nice day.¡±(Maid) Because I remembered the way, I didn¡¯t need anyone to guide me to the throne room,. Even then, my room was far away and I had to go outside and cross the training fields to get there. Half-asleep and unmotivated, I slowly headed to the throne room. Because they were talking about something interesting, overheard a conversation of soldiers who took a break from training. ¡°Hey did you hear about the new magician?¡±(?)This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Not much. Tell me more.¡±(?) ¡°I heard that he is very young, under 18 or something like that. The king even decided to make him an official court magician.¡±(?) ¡°No way. Are you sure about that.¡±(?) ¡°The Lieutenant said so.¡±(?) ¡°He also said that there will be an all-out war. And. What happened?¡±(?) ¡°That¡¯s true, but...¡±(?) ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go back to training.¡±(?) ¡°Sigh. Sure, but this time I won¡¯t lose.¡±(?) ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡±(?) On my way to the throne room, I came across many other people and I was the main topic of almost every conversation. In only 1 night, the rumour of a young man soon becoming the 4th court magician spread through the whole palace. I didn¡¯t know anyone, I came across, but the same went vice versa. It felt strange, how everyone talked about me, but no one recognized me. Before I knew it, I stood in front of the golden doors again. Without thinking, I opened them. The whole room looked even more magnificent than what I remembered and many people were gathered. This time there were only a few soldiers stationed on both sides of the red carpet, but they were only present to watch over the gathered people. I was somewhat overwhelmed. ¡°Perfect timing Sepp. We just finished preparing everything.¡±(Miedes) I was relieved to hear a familiar voice. Miedes cleared himself a way through the gathered guests, in order to get to where I was standing. ¡°What is all of this?¡±(Me) ¡°Didn¡¯t the maid I sent explain everything?¡±(Miedes) ¡°She only told me to go to the throne room.¡±(Me) ¡°Strange. I clearly told her to explain the whole situation. Well, we can¡¯t change it now, so let me quickly summarize everything.¡±(Miedes) The whole commotion was to officially welcome me as the 4th court magician. Therefore, they prepared a ceremony and the only piece missing, was me. ¡°Just pledge your loyalty like you did before and do what Arthur tells you to do and this will be over in an instant.¡±(Miedes) The song of a gong silenced the whole room. ¡°It¡¯s starting. I will be somewhere near the other ministers. Good luck.¡±(Miedes) He said and left me standing alone. Everyone was clearing the red carpet. I was super nervous and had no idea what to do, so I did the same. At the second gong, the king as well as 3 other hooded people entered from a side door. While those 3 positioned themselves behind the throne, Arthur sat down on it and looked across the room. ¡°I thank all of you for attending this special ceremony to officially accept our 4th court magician. Sepp of the Dark Continent, step forward!¡±(Arthur) His voice echoed through the whole room and the crowd reacted to his words. The mood instantly got bad and I felt a lot of pressure coming down at me. I could only step forward with a lot of effort. With thinking about taking 1 step at a time, I somehow managed to reach the red carpet. Same as last time, I kept my eyes low and stopped before the king to kneel down. What pressured me weren¡¯t the people themselves, but what they whispered. ¡°From the Dark Continent? Is the king still right in his mind?¡±; ¡°Is this really a good idea? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to kill him?¡± and other negative comments were said about the king and me. 2 other important looking people, came from the other side door. 1 of them brought a sword, while the other carried a robe, similar to what the 3 hooded people next to the king wore. All of that whispering stopped at once when the king stood up again. He took the sword and put it on my neck. ¡°Decide, swear your loyalty to me, or die. Which is it?¡±(Arthur) I could feel the focused stares of everyone present. ¡°I decide to swear my loyalty to Arthur Pendragon.¡±(Me) He put the sword away from my neck and gave it back to the person who brought it. Then he took the robe and held it in front of me. ¡°I grant you this robe as well as the title genius. Take them and show us your worth.¡±(Arthur) When the king gave me the robe, it was like all the pressure on me disappeared and he would bear it for me. ¡°I will not disappoint you.¡±(Me) For the rest of the day, I felt like I was in some kind of trance. I barely remember that after the ceremony ended, there was a banquet. The 4 court magicians sat at the same table as the king and everyone else was scattered around the dining hall. The other thing I remember was that the king told me he planned to introduce me to the whole continent and that we would leave the capital and head for the cities. Date of departure was the next day. My trance ended and I found myself in my bed again. Perhaps someone carried me there or I was able to reach it myself, I don¡¯t know and I fell asleep again. At least I was able to get up the next day and we departed for the nearest city called Sonya city. I even got a carriage for myself. However, I felt lonely, so I invited Miedes and we talked for the whole journey. The convoy consisting of the carriage of the king, followed by some retainers and my own in the back, received a warm welcome by Sonya city. I didn¡¯t leave the carriage, I just looked outside the little window. The citizens cleared a path for us. They all looked quite happy and even waved at us. They didn¡¯t see me, but I waved back. For the 1st time, I was happy about my decision of working for the human king. Even with such a light mood and a festival in front of my nose, I somehow felt uneasy. I felt that someone was especially eying me. I believed in my strength so I kept it to myself. The city lord prepared rooms for us to stay. We received a villa next to the 1 of the city lord. I was wondering if the king planned anything else, but it didn¡¯t look like it. Our group rested in the heavily guarded villa and the rooms we were provided with by the city lord. I was able to get some of Arthur¡¯s time and ask him about the whole trip. I intended to have a short talk, but it somehow ended in many new topics coming up and before I knew it, it was already dark. I headed back to my room and left the king alone. Rumble. Before I could entre it, the ground shook and I heard a loud explosion from far away. I could hear screams coming from the citizens. Everyone from the villa immediately gathered in the entrance hall. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±(Arthur) ¡°We are under attack. The south gate got destroyed.¡±(Soldier) ¡°What? Who is attacking us?¡±(Arthur) ¡°I don¡¯t know. The gate got destroyed without anyone knowing how.¡±(Soldier) ¡°What do you mean no one knows how?¡±(Arthur) The king thought for a while then he came to me. ¡°We¡¯ll go and have a look. You stay here and watch after the villa. You are probably what they are after.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) He nodded and the guard guided them to the destroyed gate. I just followed them outside to watch them leave and when they were out of my sight, I went back inside. I was the only 1 left behind in the villa, everyone else followed the king. I collected my thoughts and went back to my room. I just felt like something was wrong. The stares in the city, the bad feeling I had throughout the whole day and now the destruction of the gate. I could hardly see anything, but I could hear the commotion through the opened window. I instantly prepared myself and went into a fighting stance. I remembered that it wasn¡¯t me, who opened the window. Chapter 45 Short reunion Back to main Character: ¡°Yo, it has been quite some time.¡±(Me) Sepp looked like he would engage into a fight with someone at any moment. He took a sloppy fighting stance and looked at the window. ¡°What¡¯s with that fighting stance? Why so tense?¡±(Me) It was already night and even my eyes were a little bit troubled by the darkness. Perhaps he didn¡¯t realise who was standing before him. I used light magic to light up the room a little bit. ¡°It¡¯s m¡­¡±(Me) ¡°Ah¡­ Dodge!¡±(Sepp) A spear of light thrown at me surprised me. I didn¡¯t predict he would attack and I could barely dodge it. ¡°What was that for?¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I thought you are an enemy and you¡¯d attack me with light magic.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Seriously why are you so tense?¡±(Me) He looked at me for a second. ¡°Big brother. Is this a sarcastic question?¡±(Sepp) ¡°No seriously. You even threw a light spear at me. I could have died from that if I didn¡¯t dodge in time.¡±(Me) The room went silent for a moment and Sepp looked like he was waiting for something. ¡°Sigh. Well, an unknown enemy was able to destroy the south gate, without anyone knowing how. The king and everyone else leaves me behind in this huge villa and then my window, which should be the same way as before, closed, is open when I return to my room.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Hmm. The gate was destroyed? And why do say the king?¡±(Me) ¡°Why are you so surprised? Weren¡¯t you the culprit?¡±(Sepp) Sepp looked worried. ¡°I placed some runes around the city yesterday, but I don¡¯t remember going to the south gate.¡±(Me) ¡°Then who is the culprit. That ominous feeling of someone stalking and following me today wasn¡¯t just my presumption perhaps that was really an enemy.¡±(Sepp)The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°No that was actually me.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?¡±(Sepp) ¡°When I thought about a young court magician, I could only think of you, so I tried to meet with you. To my surprise, it was already hard enough to even see you from that crowd, so I followed you all the way, until I knew where you were staying until your departure. I planned to sneak in at night and talk with you.¡±(Me) ¡°Why did you place runes in the first place then?¡±(Sepp) ¡°Good question. I wanted to be prepared if someone saw me. I wanted a safe escape route and some decoys.¡±(Me) ¡°Now that I think about it. How were you even able to enter? The window was closed.¡±(Sepp) ¡°I opened it with a new magic, which I created.¡±(Me) ¡°A new kind of magic?¡±(Sepp) ¡°Yes it¡¯s easier to show you.¡±(Me) I concentrated some of my mana and activated my new magic. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Look closer.¡±(Me) ¡°Ah! Your shadow is moving.¡±(Sepp) I smiled at him. ¡°That¡¯s right. I can move my shadow around as I please. It can through objects and can even open up a window. I call it [Shadow move]¡±(Me) I closed the window using my shadow to demonstrate how it works. ¡°That¡¯s so cool. You have to teach me someday.¡±(Sepp) Even when he tried to hide his discomfort behind his excitement, I was still able to see through it. ¡°Sure. But for now, let¡¯s forget about that and this whole commotion. I am finally able to see you again.¡±(Me) He looked up at me. ¡°You are right. I don¡¯t know why I am overreacting like this.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Alright. Now that you calmed down, tell me what happened. How did you end up being the human king¡¯s pet?¡±(Me) It took him half an hour to finish the whole story. I was quite surprised about what he went through, while I didn¡¯t see him. Lucky him, the ocean liked him. ¡°Your decision to serve the human king was a really good one. This will come in handy for me now.¡±(Me) ¡°Why? I thought you only wanted to spread your influence.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Due to some unforeseen events, there will be a tournament soon. Did you hear about it?¡±(Me) ¡°I remember the king saying something about that.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Could you stop referring to the human king as your king in front of me please? It feels somewhat weird for me. Just use his first name that will be sufficient.¡±(Me) Sepp was confused. I couldn¡¯t be mad at him, I was confused myself, but it didn¡¯t feel right hearing my underling having another king. I somewhat felt my pride hurt. ¡°If you insist on it. Arthur said something about it.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Thank you.¡±(Me) ¡°But what does that have to do with your plan?¡±(Sepp) ¡°Well, I plan on making an appearance as the nightmare there.¡±(Me) Sepp made a stupefied expression. I had the feeling that my words didn¡¯t quite reach him. ¡°I plan on attending that tournament as the nightmare.¡±(Me) ¡°I already understood you. Then again, I don¡¯t understand it. Why would you do something like that?¡±(Sepp) ¡°You don¡¯t need to know that. Just deliver this letter to your king and acknowledge me as the nightmare at the tournament.¡±(Me) I gave him a letter I prepared beforehand. I wrote something about how I will watch the tournament. Just saying, I am coming won¡¯t help much though, so I threw out a bait by also telling him that I plan on forming a peace treaty with the human continent. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand, but if I can be of some help to your plan, I will gladly do as you say.¡±(Sepp) ¡°It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t want to tell you. I just think it is unnecessary. As long as you stay with the human king, what was his name again?¡±(Me) ¡°Arthur.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Arthur right. As long as you stay with him, you will know and we will meet again at the tournament.¡±(Me) ¡°Wait, are you telling me, you¡¯ll leave now?¡±(Sepp) ¡°Well, is there anything else you want to talk about?¡±(Me) Sepp thought for a moment than he made a sad face. ¡°No.¡±(Sepp) ¡°That Arthur guy will come back soon and I have no reason to stay.¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s just. It has been long since we saw each other, I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d leave so soon.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Haha. Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll see each other soon.¡±(Me) I opened the window again and was about to leave. I stopped when I remembered that I forgot something. ¡°Ah Sepp.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes?¡±(Sepp) ¡°Give that letter to Arthur when you return to the capital.¡±(Me) ¡°Why?¡±(Sepp) ¡°If you give it to him tomorrow, he¡¯ll know that I am staying in Sonya city and it would make everything a lot more complicated for me.¡±(Me) He nodded. ¡°Good. I¡¯ll be going now.¡±(Me) ¡°See you at the tournament.¡±(Sepp) I jumped out of the window and supported myself with magic in order to land safely. Before I left, I waved one last time. ¡°Let¡¯s meet again soon.¡±(Me) Author note I know you guys are wondering where todays chapter went. Bad news, today there won''t be a chapter (next will normally come on Friday), because I am not feeling well today. There are probably some of you, who are annoyed by this pre-chapter notes, which i send almost every 3rd chapter and I decided that i can''t just leave you guys with nothing for today. So Iplanned onusing this opportunity tosend one final message and stop sending pre and post notes.First of all, tothose of you who read this far, i want to thank you for reading my story. It doesn''t matter if you like my story or not (I prefer you like it though :3), I am happy with knowing that there are people out there who read my story. Second, I apologize for all mistakes, which i made, make or will make. I also sent this a lot in the past, but I''ll say it one last time, i still have no supporters . A lot of chapters are written on last minute, because i have school during day, come home late, have to do homework, learn and that stuff. This affects how i write a lot. I mean i wasn''t even able to finish rewriting the first arc, which i said i''d do 1 month ago. Then again, I don''t want to drop the 2 chapters a week. Soifany of you like this story and want to help me out a little, for example, proofread a chapter before I publish it, look over older chapters, correct them and send them to me, it would be awesome. (email-> [email protected], orjust send a pm)The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Last but not least. You probably noticed it already, but I am accelerating the story again. This is mostly because i want to finish the first season before the end of this year. It is a huge goal, given that there is still1wholearcmissing. To be honest with you, the reason why i want to finish as fast as possible is that this first season (in my opinion), isonly a normal fantasy story. There are some intersting things (there will be more intersting things), there are some boring things, etc. The reason whyI am evenwriting this is not because this is the story i always wanted to write, but because this is where i mention all the information others need to know, in order tounderstand the story,I always wanted towritelater on. I hate flashbacks, in my opinion thy keep delaying the main story and often lead to confusion. I keep myself motivated, by thinking, soon I''ll be finished and I can start with what I originally wanted to write. I just noticed that this note got longer than i expected, so I''ll stop. If there are any of you who want to help me outor have questions (I won''t spoiler), contact me, if not, you''ll hear from me next friday again :3 Wokcommander Chapter 46 Returning one last time In order to go back to my room, I had to go back to the academy grounds. With the gate closed, my only way in was by jumping over the wall. Luckily, security fully focused on the south gate. The wall itself wasn¡¯t high and I got to the other side with ease. I gracefully landed on the floor and made a short pose. ¡°For the landing, I give you 8 out of 10 points.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Huh?!¡±(Me) Takeshi sat in a nearby tree and waited for me. I thought everyone was either asleep or busy with the incident at the south gate. He scared the crap out of me for a second. ¡°Sigh. Don¡¯t surprise me like that. ¡°Hup.¡±(Takeshi) Takeshi stood up and jumped down. ¡°Where have you been?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°None of your concern.¡±(Me) ¡°Eh? Are you sure about keeping quiet? I mean, I just saw a suspicious person jumping over the wall of this academy. I should report that?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Damn it.¡±(Me) I silently cursed. ¡°Fine, I went to check out that new court magician.¡±(Me) ¡°I thought so. And how is he?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°You thought so?¡±(Me) ¡°Well, you stalked him the entire day. It was only a matter of time. How did it go?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°He is quite talented.¡±(Me) ¡°I can¡¯t read your mind. Be more precise.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Hmm.¡±(Me) I needed some time to think of a comparison. ¡°Not at our level, but a bit better than Sakura.¡±(Me) ¡°Well he has to be if you waste a whole day for him.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Yep. I¡¯ll go back to my room now, if you would be so nice as to not report me.¡±(Me) ¡°Sure. Good night.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Good night.¡±(Me) I went back to my room. I somehow had the feeling that Takeshi was up to something, but I didn¡¯t know what. Well I wasn¡¯t going to sleep either. ¡°That really surprised me. How did he even know I¡¯d sneak in from there?¡±(Me) There were many things we didn¡¯t know about each other. I was fine with that and didn¡¯t think about it any further.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°For now let¡¯s go home.¡±(Me) I activated my teleportation magic. A bright light blinded me for a few seconds. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in the circle I drew before. ¡°Wait. Now that I think about it, I activated it twice in one day. Returning in the next few days will be difficult. Sigh. What¡¯s done is done. If I want to appear as the nightmare, I¡¯d have to come from the Dark Continent anyways.¡±(Me) I left the summoning array and searched for the others. I had to admit, it wasn¡¯t my best idea to draw the circle in a forest. It took me a minute until I was able to get out of it. ¡°What is this?¡±(Me) I was quite surprised when I saw what they were able to build in the past few weeks. There were houses made out of stone, wood and that stuff. Not little huts, which anyone can build out of mud or dirt, but actual houses. I haven¡¯t even seen the interior yet, but was already proud of my students. It was still dark and most of the kids were asleep. No one noticed me yet. In the centre of all houses and old huts, two of them sat around a fire. They were probably up for a night watch or something like that. I leisurely walked to them. I was wondering why they didn¡¯t respond. Even if it was dark, because of the fire, they should have at least noticed that someone was approaching them. It was strange and after every step I took closer, I got more and more anxious. ¡°Hey. You two, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡±(Me) I got no reply. I already stood before them, so something was definitely wrong. Mary and Cody, both half-human half beastman, soundlessly sat in front of the fire. Don¡¯t tell me they got attacked and were knocked out. I was worried and got close enough to hear their breaths. I confirmed that they were still breathing normally. Wait. Is it possible that they just fell asleep? If that¡¯s so, I¡¯ll have to educate the two of them when they wake up. If I¡¯m already at it, I should do so with everyone. Whatever the reason, I sat down next to them and waited. Even after I closed my eyes, I somehow managed to stay awake until the sun started to rise again. It has already been morning since I arrived at the Dark Continent, so I only had to wait for 2 or 3 hours. Cody finally showed signs of waking up. He started to move around and opened his eyes. ¡°Yo.¡±(Me) With sleepy eyes, Cody looked at me. He still looked asleep and wasn¡¯t able to comprehend the situation. ¡°Good morning. I hoped you two slept well during your night watch.¡±(Me) He finally realised what was going on. ¡°I¡­ We¡­ Welcome back big brother. Since when have you been sitting there?¡±(Cody) He said with an embarrassed and silent voice. After doing his best to distract me, he tried to wake Mary up. He shook her until he finally got a reply. ¡°5 more minutes.¡±(Mary) ¡°No 5 more minutes. Wake up Mary big brother came back.¡±(Cody) Mary also opened her eyes slowly. She also didn¡¯t understand what was going on. Mary did everything as slow as possible, until she saw me. ¡°Ah! I¡­ We¡­ Welcome back big brother.¡±(Mary) She said the same as Cody and tried to hug me. I denied her welcome and grabbed her head. ¡°I¡¯m back. Care to explain why no one greeted me 3 hours ago?¡±(Me) I asked with a creepy expression. ¡°Sorry.¡±(Mary and Cody) On one hand, the both of them sounded embarrassed and on the other hand, I could even hear some fear in their words. Well I definitely was going to punish them for their carelessness. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about punishing you later. At least wake the others up and gather them for me.¡±(Me) Because I wasn¡¯t able to return for quite some time, I was planning to thoroughly talk to all of them. After roughly 30 minutes, everyone gathered around me. Sylphy, Nala, Sarah and Horan were the last who came. I could see in Horan¡¯s eyes that he was told about the situation by Cody and Mary and knew that I was going to punish him too. ¡°I¡¯m back and I have a lot to tell you. First, I want to know about what happened in those past weeks, while I was gone.¡±(Me) Everyone wanted to answer my question and they all talked at the same time. I didn¡¯t understand anything. In the end, Horan gave me a quick overview. They built those new houses and trained diligently. That was all. When I asked him how they were able to finish that fast, he told me that the labouring part was taken care of, by using magic. After that, I eased the whole discussion by bringing up my meeting with Sepp. I told them everything he told me and everyone was happy that Sepp successfully arrived at the human capital. Lastly, I was interested in how the three newcomers were doing. I knew about how they treated Sylphy because Sepp already told me, but I wanted to see everything for myself. For the rest of the day, they showed me around, showed me their progress etc. Last but not least, they showed me a house they build for me. It was the biggest and in my opinion the best. Everyone looked excited when they showed me their best creation and wanted to follow me inside and show me around. ¡°It¡¯s enough if only Horan, Sandra and the three of them come with me. I also need to talk to them privately.¡±(Me) They were sad, but respected my wish. Except for the ones I said before, everyone returned to their own house, work or training, while the 6 of us entered my house. ¡°What¡¯s the matter big brother?¡±(Sandra) Sandra guessed that I was about to discuss something important and asked right off the start. ¡°It is possible that after I leave this time, I won¡¯t be able to come back here anymore.¡±(Me) Arc 3 Epilogue Last days of peace ¡°It is possible that after I leave this time, I won¡¯t be able to come back here anymore.¡±(Me) I haven¡¯t told them about me going to the tournament, so it was obvious that they didn¡¯t understand. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°In one week, the tournament between the human race and the beastman race will start. I¡¯m planning to watch it.¡±(Me) ¡°What does that have to do with it?¡±(Sylphy) ¡°Master told me that he wants to est...¡±(Nala) I already saw the confusion in everyone¡¯s expression, so I stopped him from confusing everyone even further. ¡°I sent a letter to the human king, telling him that I plan to attend personally as the nightmare.¡±(Me) ¡°I told you, what does¡­¡±(Sylphy) ¡°So you fear that they will prepare a trap or something like that.¡±(Sandra) As expected of one of my students, Sandra was the quickest to understand. ¡°Yes. I said it¡¯s possible that I won¡¯t return, I didn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s for sure.¡±(Me) ¡°Was that also the reason for you to meet Sepp?¡±(Sandra) I didn¡¯t expect her to be that sharp, so I was a little bit shocked. I quickly calmed down and answered. ¡°Yes. Furthermore, I plan on taking either Sandra or Horan with me.¡±(Me) ¡°Can you explain that too?¡±(Sylphy) Sylphy just wanted revenge on Sandra for interrupting her and hoped that Sandra wouldn¡¯t be able to provide an explanation. ¡°Sure. It¡¯s probably because big brother wants to take retainers with him to show off a bit. If he were to go alone, others could start thinking of us badly. Probably the decision is who out of us 5 will go with him, which is exactly why he wanted to discuss this.¡±(Sandra) She looked at me as if she was waiting for my approval. ¡°Continue.¡±(Me)If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I was happy that I didn¡¯t have to do the whole explaining part, so I just sat back and relaxed. ¡°The problem is that Sylphy, Nala and Sarah were already seen with him at school, which only leaves Horan or me.¡±(Sandra) Sylphy didn¡¯t understand why something like that was seen as a problem. Perhaps it was a mistake to take someone in just because of my interest. I planned to check their intelligence beforehand next time. ¡°It¡¯s because Master doesn¡¯t want his identity to be revealed to others and if we were to go with him, someone who already saw us would become suspicious of him being the Nightmare.¡±(Nala) ¡°Correct. But the next problem is that if he were to take both Horan and me with him, the Dark Continent would be left with no protection.¡±(Sandra) Sandra looked at me again and wanted me to confirm everything she said. ¡°Something like that yes. I have trust in everyone¡¯s strength, but I don¡¯t want to take any risks.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine. I understand that, but even if the humans plan something, there should be no problem if you¡¯d just try to escape.¡±(Sylphy) I wanted to answer but Sandra did so for me. ¡°How can we know that it¡¯s just the humans? Perhaps they asked for help from the other races.¡±(Sandra) It started to annoy me that Sandra explained everything. ¡°Yes. It would be nice if you¡¯d let me talk from now on.¡±(Me) ¡°Ok.¡±(Sandra) I thought she would put up more resistance or that she would be dissatisfied with it, so her reply shocked me a little bit again. ¡°I think the best decision is by taking Sandra with me. Horan is stronger, so he will be a better choice to defend.¡±(Me) ¡°If that¡¯s your decision, I will accept the task of defending the Dark Continent.¡±(Horan) No one else said anything, so I just took that as an approval. ¡°Good. Next, I¡¯d like our faces to stay hidden so we need robes.¡±(Me) I used another 2 hours to talk about what we need. Moreover, we thought about when we wanted to leave and how we wanted to travel. In the end, we decided that going by foot was good enough. Before everyone left, I told them my plan for the next few days. ¡°I know it¡¯s harsh, but until we leave, so for the next 5 days, I¡¯m planning to train in this house. I¡¯d love to play and talk with you, but I need to be prepared.¡±(Me) We decided that 5 days was the time limit, because we¡¯d need about 2 days to arrive at the location where the tournament would take place. ¡°I¡¯ll do the same. Can I train with you?¡±(Sandra) She managed to shock me 3 times in one day. That¡¯s a new record. ¡°Sigh. Fine.¡±(Me) ¡°Big brother, until your departure, I¡¯ll have everything be prepared.¡±(Horan) ¡°Don¡¯t forget your promise.¡±(Sarah) She was silent during the entire discussion. It was the first time she said something since I came back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll do my best to come back and teach you about magic. I promise.¡±(Me) It was already late when they left. ¡°What are we going to do first?¡±(Sandra) ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are going to do, but I¡¯ll probably focus on methods of casting magic.¡±(Me) I wasn¡¯t planning to teach her anything, because I wanted to focus on my own progress. ¡°Boo. Not fair. Why do I have to train alone? I thought you¡¯d teach me something when you said I could stay here.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Do what you want, just come and get me when it¡¯s time to leave.¡±(Me) I went to another room for training. As I said, I focused on efficient methods of casting. After inserting myself to it with almost no rest, I succeeded in creating what I called instant casting and silent casting. As the names imply, instant casting is using magic instantly without any preparations, while silent casting is casting the spell in my mind. In my opinion, saying the name of the spell you are going to use is stupid. The enemy would know what you are going to do and would have more time preparing a defensive spell. Despite all my success, I couldn¡¯t be happy. I actually thought that I was able to create those methods in one or two days, at least it felt like that. But shortly after I finished silent casting, Sandra came to pick me up. To my defence, the room I was training in didn¡¯t have a window, so I didn¡¯t know if it was day or night and I only slept once. When I opened the main door, everyone was gathered. Horan gave us the robes and guided us to our boat. It was similar to the situation when Sepp left. ¡°I hope you enjoyed these last days, because they were the last peaceful days we¡¯ll have for quite some time.¡±(Me) I said as soon as we set sail for the human continent. Arc 4 Prologue The beginning of the end After we safely reached the coast of the human continent, I tried to store our boat in my space inventory. It would have been nice if I would have succeeded, but it wasn¡¯t possible. At least for the time being. I planned to improve that some other day. I didn¡¯t want to leave any traces of our arrival behind, so we had to destroy the boat the others build. ¡°Thank you for bringing us here safely.¡±(Sandra) She silently said, while we watched our boat burn down. ¡°Get going. We don¡¯t have that much time.¡±(Me) ¡°One and a half day isn¡¯t much time? If we¡¯d go at full speed we wouldn¡¯t even need half a day.¡±(Sandra) ¡°But then we¡¯d be stressed out and I prefer to arrive with some spare time.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine. It¡¯s your decision to make anyways. I¡¯m only a retainer.¡±(Sandra) After resting five more minutes, we departed to the location where the tournament would take place. I took the lead, so we wouldn¡¯t get lost. We actually had a map of the human continent, but I didn¡¯t need it, because I was able to recall almost every detail of the world map of my parents. Sandra was right, if we¡¯d go at full speed, we¡¯d make it there in about half a day, but then we wouldn¡¯t be able to visit smaller towns or even villages to gather information. ¡°Where are we going?¡±(Sandra) ¡°To a nearby town.¡±(Me) ¡°Why? You said we have not much time. Shouldn¡¯t we already go to the tournament?¡±(Sandra) ¡°Well I said that but¡­¡±(Me) Sandra interrupted me. ¡°Or is it because you want to gather information?¡±(Sandra) ¡°I¡­¡±(Me) ¡°Did you learn this during your times as adventurer?¡±(Sandra) She took every single word out of my mouth. I couldn¡¯t say anything, because she¡¯d do so for me. ¡°Sigh. I give up.¡±(Me) ¡°Eh? What?¡±(Sandra) ¡°Nothing let¡¯s enter that town.¡±(Me) The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I said while pointing ahead. There was a relatively big town far away. Even I could only barely see it. ¡°Eh? Where do you see a town?¡±(Sandra) I gave up on talking to her, because it was depressing me, so I just took the lead. After a few minutes, even Sandra was able to see it. ¡°There really was a town here. Big brother, you are awesome. Your eyes are really good.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Don¡¯t waste time with praises. Let¡¯s go inside.¡±(Me) ¡°You are somehow pretty cold these past days. Why?¡±(Sandra) ¡°I¡¯m pretty nervous, you know?¡±(Me) That was a made up lie. I didn¡¯t even think about it twice. I had no idea too, but if I had to somehow describe it, I¡¯d say I have always been like that. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here with you.¡±(Sandra) We headed to the gate. I went to the guard in order to pay the entrance fee. ¡°2 people, huh?¡±(Guard) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) ¡°That would be 1 gold coin.¡±(Guard) ¡°1 gold coin? Why is it that high?¡±(Me) Sandra saw that I was arguing with the guard. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±(Sandra) ¡°The entrance fee is decided by our mayor. The upcoming tournament is attracting many people and this town is popular amongst all the travellers. So it was decided to raise the fee.¡±(Guard) I was able to accumulate a lot of money during my days as an adventurer, but I used up a lot already. I had to check if I even had enough money to enter that town. ¡°Sigh. Only left with 3 gold coins.¡±(Me) ¡°Just because you act poor, I won¡¯t give you a discount. 1 gold coin or you can leave.¡±(Guard) Unwillingly I paid the fee and we went inside. ¡°We probably have to go camping and have to sleep outside today.¡±(Me) I said to myself. The town was filled with people. Similar to when the festival for Sepp took place in Sonya city, only with the size of a town. ¡°Where are we going now?¡±(Sandra) ¡°To the adventurer guild. Perhaps they take my student card.¡±(Me) ¡°Why do you not use your old adventurer card?¡±(Sandra) I already saw through her acting. ¡°Why ask when you already know the answer?¡±(Me) ¡°No fun. Wouldn¡¯t it be interesting to see the reaction of the people here, when they hear that a dead A class adventurer showed up?¡±(Sandra) I wanted to forget about my past, so I overheard the last sentence and we entered the guild building. ¡°Good day. How may I help you?¡±(Receptionist) ¡°We are here for a quest. Is it possible with this?¡±(Me) I said and showed him my school pass. ¡°What do we have here? An esteemed guest from Sonya academy. Well, it would certainly be possible. The problem is there is no available quest for you to take. I deeply apologize.¡±(Receptionist) I quickly caught up on this opportunity. ¡°Ah, how unlucky. Don¡¯t mind it, it¡¯s not your fault. It¡¯s just that I ran out of money and we don¡¯t have enough to afford a place to stay for the night. I hoped to earn some money with quests, but now it seems like we¡¯d have to sleep outside.¡±(Me) My acting was a big success. They allowed us to sleep in a guestroom of the guild for this one night. The best thing was that it was free. ¡°If there is anything you need, don¡¯t mind asking.¡±(Receptionist) ¡°There are indeed thinks, I¡¯d like to know, but I¡¯m awfully tired. Ah. Sandra, would you be so nice. You know what I want to know.¡±(Me) I received an angry stare from her, but in the end, she willingly went with the receptionist and promised me to get as much out of him as possible. I had full trust in her abilities, so with my mind at ease, I was able to sleep for the first time in a long time. When I woke up, it was already the next morning. I looked around and saw a soundless Sandra sitting next to my bed and waiting for me to wake up. ¡°Good morning. I hoped you slept well.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Did you¡­¡±(Me) She interrupted me again. ¡°No I was finished after an hour and then I came back and went to sleep too. I only woke up a few minutes ago.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Sigh. What did¡­¡±(Me) ¡°It isn¡¯t known to the public yet that you are heading to the tournament.¡±(Sandra) An announcement of the nightmare appearing would scare away on watchers, so it didn¡¯t surprise me at all. ¡°Anything else?¡±(Me) ¡°Most of the things he told me were boring. Only nobles or people with invitation will be able to watch the tournament from seats in the arena. Nevertheless, everyone is somehow trying to get there and get a glimpse at promising youths.¡±(Sandra) After we thanked the receptionist, we left the town to head to the location of the tournament. ¡°Well, we somehow are part of that lot too. It will be interesting to see all the high authorities of 2 races gathered together.¡±(Me) Chapter 1 A friendly welcome? (1) We followed the main road in order to get to our destination. Caravans, merchants and many others crossed our path. Some wanted to sell food or other goods to us, but we were short on money so we had to decline. When we departed from town, the weather was sunny and hot, but the nearer we got to the tournament, the darker it got. Perhaps it was a bad omen or just my imagination, but it was funny. The nightmare on his way to a tournament comes and delivers bad luck. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±(Sandra) ¡°No. Never mind.¡±(Me) ¡°Tell me if you think of something funny.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Put on your hood, we¡¯ll arrive soon.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine.¡±(Sandra) Before we put on our hoods, we left the main road and made sure that no one saw us. We did so, because I didn¡¯t want to take any risks. ¡°By the way big brother, how are you planning to get in? If I remember correctly, we don¡¯t have an invitation.¡±(Sandra) I already thought about that and came up with a good idea. ¡°You¡¯ll see soon enough.¡±(Me) After a few more minutes, we were able to see the area of the tournament. It was an arena surrounded by huge walls. Even if someone would try to get a good luck from outside the walls, it was practically impossible. ¡°It probably has no roof.¡±(Sandra) ¡°I also think so.¡±(Me) It was hard to see the top, but it looked like there would be no roof. ¡°Ugh.¡±(Sandra) ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±(Me) Sandra pointed to the gates. There was a very, very long line. ¡°Does your plan include us waiting in line?¡±(Sandra) ¡°Haha. Luckily not. Just follow me.¡±(Me)Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. We just skipped everyone who patiently waited in line and headed to the entrance. We received angry stares from all the people we passed. I didn¡¯t mind it at all, but Sandra was probably only waiting for the faces when they would get to know our true identity. ¡°Halt!¡±(Guard) There were many guards positioned at that gate. They thought that only one guard was enough to stop us though. ¡°Who do you think you are, skipping the waiting line? There are many who came long before you and waited patiently. Go back and line up properly, than perhaps we will let the two of you enter.¡±(Guard) I felt many stares focused on us. The feeling wasn¡¯t new to me. What was noteworthy though, was that this tournament was huge and many important figures were attending. It was the perfect opportunity for spies, assassins and the likes. ¡°We got spotted earlier than expected.¡±(Sandra) She whispered and pointed to one of the guards who started running towards a room near the gate. ¡°Hahahaha.¡±(Me) My laugh was wicked and evil. Everyone except Sandra took at least one step back. ¡°D¡­ Didn¡¯t you hear me? I said go back and wait in line!¡±(Guard) He could barely say it, but still tried to look as authentic as possible. ¡°Are you telling me what to do?¡±(Me) I slowly gathered mana to pressure him. ¡°Look.¡±(Sandra) She whispered again while grabbing my robe. The guard, who ran away before, came back with a guard that was definitely a few ranks higher than everyone present. ¡°I¡¯m telling you to go and wait in line.¡±(Guard) He was still able to raise a word against me. I was much too friendly, so it was obvious that he wouldn¡¯t fear me enough yet. I couldn¡¯t hold back my laughter and excitement. I immediately concentrated a lot of mana on him and pressured him to the point, where he had to get down on his knees and could barely stay conscious. ¡°Hahahaha.¡±(Me) ¡°Guh!¡±(Guard) Even though hundreds of people watched it, no one dared to step forward and save him. My display terrified even Sandra. My blood was boiling and I was about to increase the pressure again, which would have killed him. ¡°Is there a problem?¡±(?) The important looking guard came up and confronted us. All the others looked up to him. Some even called him head guard and it looked like everyone was surprised that he was here. ¡°Yes. Your underling here is telling me what to do and it¡¯s pissing me off.¡±(Me) He had to act quickly; otherwise, his underling wouldn¡¯t last long. ¡°I know who you are and I am sorry for the poor treatment you received. I beg you to lift this unbearable pressure from this unworthy person first.¡±(Head guard) I stared into his eyes. I didn¡¯t know if he was lying or not, but he was the only person who had enough guts to speak against me in that situation. I tried to see if he was lying or not, but I wasn¡¯t able to do so. ¡°Fine.¡±(Me) I lifted the pressure and the guard fell to the floor. He wasn¡¯t able to withstand and fell unconscious. After I heard some relieved sighs, I looked around and everyone I looked at froze and didn¡¯t dare to move an inch. ¡°Please follow me.¡±(Head guard) Without any further words, we followed behind and entered the arena. It was huge. It didn¡¯t have a roof itself, but it had many smaller buildings which had one. We passed some houses with many fighting areas, where a lot of children fought against each other. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±(Me) ¡°Only the best of the best will be allowed to compete on the main stage and in front of the crowd of thousands of people. There are 32 smaller tournaments and only the winner of those will participate in the main tournament.¡±(Head guard) I was quite interested in watching the small tournaments too, but the head guard led us to somewhere else. We even passed the main arena. I wasn¡¯t able to look inside it either, but I was satisfied with knowing that I will probably see it later. I felt like I was in a city and we headed for the centre. I wanted to see a lot of things but we only passed them, because the head guard always said the king would be waiting for me. ¡°The king is waiting for you inside.¡±(Head guard) ¡°Finally. It took long enough.¡±(Me) ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡±(Head guard) ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s not your fault and thank you for bringing us here.¡±(Me) I was excited to finally be able to meet the human king. From what I heard from Sepp, he was a really interesting person. I collected my thoughts and entered the house, the king of humans was waiting in for me. Chapter 2 A friendly welcome? (2) ¡°Welcome.¡±(?) We were welcomed as soon as we entered. The hall was extravagant and big, but there was only one person. I could feel an eerie aura coming from that person. ¡°The king is waiting for you inside this room, but he wants to talk to the nightmare in private. I would like to ask you to leave your retainer to wait here with me.¡±(?) ¡°Sure, why not.¡±(Me) I said before Sandra could spit out any complains or insults. She probably didn¡¯t notice, but the person in front of us was strong. He would still lose against me, but he could beat Sandra, I was 100 percent sure about it. ¡°I¡¯d like to know who you are first though.¡±(Me) ¡°I have no name. I am the shadow of the king himself and act as his personal assassin as well as his personal guard.¡±(?) ¡°So Mister Shadow is the strongest and most trusted person under the king? Something like the number one court magician or a pretty strong general in public, I guess.¡±(Me) ¡°The king doesn¡¯t like waiting, if you¡¯d please go ahead.¡±(Shadow) He wasn¡¯t shaken nor was he nervous. The person in front of us remained calm and continued talking normally. To me, he felt like a mountain that could not be shaken no matter how much you¡¯d try. ¡°Buh. No fun. I want to listen to what the human king has to say too.¡±(Sandra) As always that girl only said what¡¯s on her mind. ¡°Sigh. If she tries anything funny just knock her out. I think you won¡¯t have much problem with it Mister Shadow.¡±(Me) I was heading towards the next door. ¡°Wait, you are really planning to play right in their hands, big brother? What if it¡¯s a trap? All of this is strange. If he is the strongest person under the king, why should he not stay with the king and protect him? This has to be a trap.¡±(Sandra) ¡°I can only tell you that this is not a trap. If you believe me or not, is up to yourself.¡±(Shadow) I stopped before the door. ¡°I know that it¡¯s not a trap.¡±(Me) I made a short pause to turn around. My blood started boiling again and I couldn¡¯t hold back my excitement. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°And even if it is, there is no one who can stop me and I will just kill everyone who dares to confront me.¡±(Me) I turned back, opened the door and entered the next room. It was a dining room with a table at the centre. The king sat in one of the two chairs. Behind him stood another hooded person. I closed the door behind me and took the other seat. ¡°Thank you for coming, Nightmare.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Thanks for receiving me Arthur.¡±(Me) ¡°Let¡¯s skip the unimportant things and get right to the point.¡±(Arthur) He was probably referring to introduction and such things. ¡°Sure why not. It¡¯s about my offer right?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. In your letter, you said something about a peace treaty. Before you tell me what it is about, I¡¯d like to know what moved you to the decision of cooperating with the weakest of all 5 races.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Simple. It¡¯s obvious what would happen if I¡¯d help someone else.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. They would try to take advantage of you to conquer the world.¡±(Arthur) I wouldn¡¯t allow it, but something similar would happen. ¡°However, you could have gone to the beastmen. They aren¡¯t that smart and strength wise inferior to everyone except us humans.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Isn¡¯t that exactly what I¡¯m doing?¡±(Me) Arthur was smart, but even he was, he wasn¡¯t perfect. He couldn¡¯t know an answer to everything. ¡°Hahaha. That¡¯s right, I totally forgot about it. You aren¡¯t as bad as I heard.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Unfortunately, you are exactly the same as Sepp told me.¡±(Me) ¡°Ho. When exactly did the two of you meet up? Talking about me behind my back is certainly not nice.¡±(Arthur) The battle of wits has just begun, but I had to admit he was a formidable opponent. ¡°Ask him yourself.¡±(Me) ¡°I will do so later.¡±(Arthur) ¡°You can do it now. I mean he is standing right behind you.¡±(Me) Both of them were surprised for a moment, but in the end, the king told Sepp to take down his hood. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. Who else should have been standing there? Shadow is outside and I don¡¯t think that you have that many strong people under you, if you have to accept an alliance with me, which is only based on a letter saying that I want a peace treaty.¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s quite depressing.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Why do you think I came to you first?¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. Tell me what you want; I¡¯ll let you know my answer later.¡±(Arthur) I went into black form and took down my hood. I did my best to not put any pressure on Arthur. ¡°Eh? Even if you¡¯re the king of humans, I think I am the one who decides in this conversation.¡±(Me) ¡°What do you want?¡±(Arthur) He was able to stay calm even in this kind of situation. His willpower was fascinating. ¡°I think Sepp knows that I am the real Nightmare. I want a conversation with only you.¡±(Me) I just wanted to test how far Arthur would go to get my support. ¡°Sepp please leave this room.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Yes.¡±(Sepp) With no hesitation, they followed my will. Arthur had to be in a big pinch, if he¡¯d need my help that much. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Sandra is out there to talk to.¡±(Me) ¡°Guh.¡±(Sepp) After Sepp left, it was only Arthur and me. I could finally talk freely about what I wanted. ¡°I have two things I want from you.¡±(Me) ¡°Speak. I will do my best to not let you down.¡±(Arthur) Even if he was the weaker side, he still tried to act like a king. ¡°First, you are not allowed to tell anyone anything about me. My name and Sonya academy will stay a secret.¡±(Me) ¡°I mean I already knew you¡¯d say that, but still I am interested, why should I know your name and where you live?¡±(Arthur) ¡°Wasn¡¯t one of the reasons you accepted Kylie¡¯s request that you¡¯d get me as an ally later on?¡±(Me) It was only a guess, but Kylie did many things, I didn¡¯t know about and Arthur would have somehow got to know my name and place to stay anyways. ¡°As far as I can see, she gave me quite the reliable ally.¡±(Arthur) I was surprised that I was able to hit the mark with my guess. ¡°As long as you accept my second condition.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Arthur) ¡°I want you to send me 50 children under 15 years every month.¡±(Me) ¡°Am I allowed to ask why?¡±(Arthur) ¡°Building up the population of my continent.¡±(Me) ¡°And why children under 15 years?¡±(Arthur) ¡°Cause they will listen to me, without questioning me.¡±(Me) ¡°Last question. 50 children under 15 years every month. These are the only requirements.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll leave it up to you, in which condition you send them to me, but they have to be alive at least.¡±(Me) He took out a sheet of paper. ¡°I accept. Just put your signature here and you¡¯ll get what you want.¡±(Arthur) It was a binding contract. It about using my name, or that I had to help him out in times of war. What surprised me was that there were already two signatures. Ho. This contract is from Kylie. I guess she did way more than I expected. I put my signature on the contract. With it the alliance between the human continent and the Dark continent was established. Chapter 3 Opening ceremony After I signed, I put my hood back on and went back to normal. ¡°What are you going to do now?¡±(Arthur) ¡°I was planning to watch the tournament, why do you ask?¡±(Me) I was interested in every single individual that was participating. The ones who would participate in the main tournament were only secondary. Most of them would be nobles anyways. ¡°I have prepared a seat for you to watch, but the main tournament will only start tomorrow. Do you have any certain plans for today?¡±(Arthur) ¡°We are allies now. Just speak freely and tell me what you want?¡±(Me) ¡°I was asked to hold an opening ceremony with the king of the beastmen.¡±(Arthur) ¡°And?¡±(Me) ¡°I was hoping to introduce our alliance there.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Sure. Why not.¡±(Me) Arthur didn¡¯t think I¡¯d agree that fast. He thought about ways to convince me, but now it was all in vain. ¡°I mean, I want to do it because¡­ Wait you are fine with it?¡±(Arthur) ¡°Yes I am. There is no harm in doing so. It¡¯s not like I¡¯d have to reveal anything specific about me. I help you to promote our alliance and at the same time, you help me pressure the beastmen king into a similar alliance. In my opinion, it¡¯s a win-win situation.¡±(Me) ¡°If you say it like this. But you¡¯d probably have to be prepared to face criticism and accusations from the crowd, are you fine with that?¡±(Arthur) ¡°Are you even trying to convince me?¡±(Me) First, he wanted me to come then he told me it wouldn¡¯t be a good idea. It wasn¡¯t the best of strategies. ¡°I only worry about my ally. Am I not allowed to?¡±(Arthur) ¡°Pff. Hahahahahahaha.¡±(Me) I couldn¡¯t suppress my laughter. Arthur¡¯s worries were just too funny. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about me.¡±(Me) ¡°If you ever need something, don¡¯t hesitate to ask.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll remember it.¡±(Me) Someone knocking on the door interrupted our conversation. ¡°Come in.¡±(Arthur) I was quite confused. Who would be so bold as to interrupt us? A conversation between the king of humans and me, a rising powerhouse, which could soon rival any other nation. ¡°Your majesty, it¡¯s time.¡±(Shadow) ¡°Already so late?¡±(Arthur)Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Arthur stood up. I had still no idea what was going on. ¡°Wait. What¡¯s the matter? What are you talking about?¡±(Me) ¡°Eh? Why are you so surprised? Haven¡¯t we just talked about it?¡±(Arthur) ¡°We talked about the opening ceremony.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. So why are you acting so confused? Is this some kind of trick?¡±(Arthur) I finally realized what was going on. He predicted the time it would take him to convince me in joining him. I just noticed that everything he did and said was thoroughly planned and I walked into his traps without any preparations. ¡°Ho. You are better than I thought. This round is your win.¡±(Me) ¡°What may you be talking about?¡±(Arthur) ¡°I hate to interrupt you two, but the king of beastmen is waiting and I heard it¡¯s one of the things he hates the most.¡±(Shadow) I followed them outside. Sandra and Sepp were waiting for us. ¡°You have some time left until I announce our alliance and until I require your appearance on stage. Sepp will tell you when and where you have to be. You could use the remaining time to watch the preliminaries. Only if you want to, obviously.¡±(Arthur) ¡°At least prepare a grand entrance for me.¡±(Me) ¡°I will.¡±(Arthur) We stood in front of the villa and waited until we couldn¡¯t see Arthur anymore. ¡°Be honest with me Sepp, how much did you tell him about me?¡±(Me) ¡°I swear I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±(Sepp) There were probably a few things Arthur got out of Sepp, without him even noticing it, but if what Sepp said was true, than Arthur was more of a genius than I thought. ¡°You found yourself quite the interesting king. Jokes aside, how much time do we have left?¡±(Me) ¡°About an hour. As Arthur said, you¡¯d have enough time to watch some of the preliminaries.¡±(Sepp) ¡°I would have done so anyways.¡±(Me) ¡°Arthur knew you¡¯d say that.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Enough with that guy. Lead me to where you think the most promising participants are.¡±(Me) I had enough from Arthur. His plans were almost as good as mine. ¡°You meant the favourites to win this tournament?¡±(Sepp) ¡°No. The ones to win this tournament are either beastmen or nobles of higher ranks. You saw most of them, right?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Then you should know where the ones with the most potential are participating.¡±(Me) ¡°Sure.¡±(Sepp) Sepp started moving and the surprisingly silent Sandra and I followed behind him. ¡°By the way, Arthur also thought, you¡¯d want to have a look at the ones with the most potential, so he put them all together in two different groups. He said that this way, it would be much faster for you to see all of them.¡±(Sepp) I was silently cursing Arthur while Sepp led us to a building with the number 27. ¡°You can only watch from here, cause we are not allowed to enter the magic barrier.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Why not?¡±(Me) ¡°The rules say that you have to win this tournament on your own. If we¡¯d enter, we could support a participant with magic.¡±(Sepp) The so called barrier was laid needy. I thought it was to prevent the participants for damaging or hurting outside people and not the other way around. It was definitely not strong enough to prevent me from interfering. I wasn¡¯t planning to do so though. ¡°There was a rule like that?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes, but as you probably already noticed, the barrier is pretty weak. Some nobles who wanted to support their children are at fault for this.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Obviously.¡±(Me) One hour was over in almost an instant. I watched every individual in building 27 closely. They were certainly talented, but didn¡¯t have the potential I was searching for. On one side, the preliminaries were interesting and fun to watch. Some even thought about the winner of it as lucky or surprising, but after I watched every fighter, it was obvious that he¡¯d win. On the other side, it was quite boring. They fought after the rules, like they learned in school and no one showed anything new or interesting. ¡°Big brother, it¡¯s time.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Please, don¡¯t imitate that Shadow guy.¡±(Me) ¡°No, but ahm, we have to go or we¡¯ll be late.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Sigh. Yes, yes. Lead the way.¡±(Me) Sepp showed us the way and Sandra and I followed silently. We went to something called colosseum. It was a huge, round open-air arena, which had enough seats to host over thousands of people. ¡°When Arthur shouts your name, go up there and present yourself. These steps lead to a so called lounge, where only you, Arthur and the king of beastmen will sit.¡±(Sepp) ¡°What about you and Sandra?¡±(Me) ¡°We are going up there now. We will just stand behind you all the time. It¡¯s some kind of representation in these kind of tournaments.¡±(Sepp) They went up and I was left all alone. As Sepp told me, I waited for Arthur to shout my name, but because I was tensed, the time felt like it flew much slower. Who wouldn¡¯t be nervous to speak in front of thousands of people? Moreover, if the biggest crowd I ever talked in front of wasn¡¯t bigger than 100. My heart was racing and I focused everything on my ears. I didn¡¯t want to miss the perfect moment to go up those stairs. ¡°Last, but not least, I am happy to announce my special guest for this tournament. I assume that everyone has heard about his name at least once in the past few years. His influence grew to a point, where he could even rival one of the five races.¡±(Arthur) It was obvious he was talking about me. I started to climb the stairs. Slowly, I made my way up. Arthur didn¡¯t finish his speech yet and I wanted to arrive at the perfect moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but no race managed to pull him to their side. Until today! Please welcome with me the newest ally of humanity.¡±(Arthur) I made it to the lounge and stepped forward. I could feel an overwhelming pressure. I tried to fight it and went into black form, which at the same time gave me an aura of absolute domination. ¡°The ruler of the Dark Continent, or better known as the Nightmare!¡±(Arthur) Chapter 4 Pressuring The arena wasn¡¯t completely full, because the main tournament would only start the next day, but still, a lot of important individuals were present. With only one sentence, the whole arena turned silent. Only a certain few knew about my arrival, everyone else heard about it for the first time, so their reaction was understandable. I starred at the crowd and everyone looked at me. Quite some time passed, but I didn¡¯t manage to say anything. It was an awkward situation and I hoped for it to be over as soon as possible. ¡°Now that we introduced our guest, let the games begin.¡±(Arthur) Arthur was the one who managed to break the silence. Moreover, with only one sentence again. I was wondering how he was able to find those impactful sentences always at the right time. I didn¡¯t listen to what he said afterwards, I was only relieved about not having to speak in front of such a big crowd. I sat down and leaned back with a sigh. Arthur sat in the middle, while I sat to his right and the king of beastmen sat to his left. It looked like Arthur was the one in control of this tournament. I already met Sam Lionheart once a few years ago, while traveling through the beastman continent and he still looked the same as before. He was looking down on others with a gaze that felt like he could see through everything. If I remember correctly he called it, analyse magic. Still, he looked a lot tenser this time. The games, Arthur talked about, were simple challenging games between random participants and magic shows prepared by both, Arthur and Sam¡¯s personal retainers. It was quite fun watching and the opening ceremony ended fast. After it finished, I finally got a chance to talk. The crowd slowly made its way to the exit and the arena got emptier and emptier. I wanted to take that chance. I stood up and went to Sam. His three personal guards saw me as a threat and wanted to stop me. It was funny, Sam had three guards, and Arthur had Shadow and Sepp by his side, while I only had Sandra. ¡°State your business.¡±(Sam) He looked at me as if he¡¯d despise me, but there was no way he could ignore me. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Well, well dear Sam. You don¡¯t have to be so mean.¡±(Arthur) Arthur too, stood up and started to butt into our conversation. ¡°Don¡¯t meddle in.¡±(Sam) ¡°Why not? We are allies.¡±(Arthur) I know Arthur only meant to help me, but it turned into a quarrel between Sam and Arthur only, while I was left out of it. ¡°So one of the things he demanded of you was pressuring me?¡±(Sam) ¡°Even if this is true, it would still be worth. But I have to disappoint you, that wasn¡¯t his demand for our alliance.¡±(Arthur) ¡°As if I¡¯d believe you. First I get threatened and then this. I¡¯ve had enough of this.¡±(Sam) ¡°As I told you, this had nothing to do with us humans.¡±(Arthur) ¡°That may be so, but the one responsible for is your ally now.¡±(Sam) ¡°It wasn¡¯t my fault either. But don¡¯t worry I took care of it.¡±(Me) I finally got the chance to get into the conversation. ¡°Who else should be responsible?¡±(Sam) It didn¡¯t even know what he got threatened with. ¡°What did they even do to you? It¡¯s hard to believe that they said something like they¡¯d kill you.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t act innocent, you know what I¡¯m talking about, I bet you two have some kind of plan against me. Who knows, perhaps while I¡¯m sitting here, you attack us.¡±(Sam) ¡°Sigh. This will lead to nothing.¡±(Arthur) ¡°True.¡±(Me) Even if Sam was a king, he was still much too impulsive. ¡°Let¡¯s say it¡¯s my fault ok. I¡¯m sorry for whatever I have done and I hope you can forgive me.¡±(Me) It was a bit abrupt, but it was the best way to skip unnecessary accusations. ¡°I just wanted to give you the same conditions for a peace treaty as Arthur, but it doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯re interested.¡±(Me) It looked like it was a hard decision for him to make. Like his live would depend on it. Again, I had no idea why he¡¯d be so tense. ¡°Speak. I¡¯ll decide after I hear what you have to say.¡±(Sam) Is it some kind of fetish, or why do kings always think they are in the higher position? ¡°My first condition is that you are not allowed to tell anyone anything about me.¡±(Me) ¡°Is that even a condition? I don¡¯t know anything about you except your name.¡±(Sam) You¡¯d be surprised how much you know about me. ¡°Fine what¡¯s the other condition?¡±(Sam) ¡°I want you to send me 50 children under 15 years every month. Before you ask which or why, it doesn¡¯t matter who, they just have to be alive and under 15 years of age. And it is because I want to build up our force and for that I want people who listen to me and who won¡¯t betray me.¡±(Me) I remembered the questions Arthur asked, so before Sam had the chance to ask anything I answered them. ¡°I¡­ I need some time to think. I will give you an answer by tomorrow.¡±(Sam) He ended the conversation, stood up and left as fast as possible. ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±(Sandra) It was strange, but as long as he¡¯d give me an answer, I was satisfied. ¡°By the way, was this pressuring mana part of your plan?¡±(Arthur) ¡°My what?¡±(Me) ¡°You used it when you negotiated with me too. And you are still using it.¡±(Arthur) ¡°I did what?¡±(Me) When I thought about his words, I realized that I was still in black form. It just felt natural, so I totally forgot about it. ¡°Ah. This is¡­ um. No actually. I.¡±(Me) ¡°Hahaha. You don¡¯t have to talk about it if you don¡¯t want to.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Your majesty, you should return to the mansion, it¡¯s not save to stay here for too long.¡±(Shadow) ¡°Sigh. I know you only want my wellbeing, but read the atmosphere.¡±(Arthur) It looked like they knew each other for quite some time. ¡°Well. Let¡¯s return and call it a day. It¡¯s already late and tomorrow is a grand day.¡±(Arthur) We went back to the mansion. Arthur already prepared rooms for Sandra and me beforehand. As he said, it was already late and I was quite tired. It was a long day and I was relieved that I was finally able to get some sleep. The next day would be even longer and more straining. Chapter 5 Coming back from a mission ¡°Wake up!¡±(Sandra) Sandra shouted at me. My body felt heavy and I was still tired. I didn¡¯t want to wake up at all. ¡°Wake up already!¡±(Sandra) In the end, I had to otherwise; this would have went on the whole day. Unwillingly, I opened my eyes and sat up. ¡°What is it?¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. You finally woke up. The main tournament is starting soon and Arthur asked me where you have been.¡±(Sandra) ¡°I was meditating.¡±(Me) ¡°While sleeping? Nice try, but for real, the first match is starting in half an hour.¡±(Sandra) ¡°I¡¯m not interested in nobles and elites fighting against each other. Tell Arthur, I¡¯ll watch the tournament after the 2nd round.¡±(Me) ¡°You sure? The crowd will think of you as arrogant and might even hate you.¡±(Sandra) ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. Fine, but make sure you attend after the 2nd round or I¡¯ll look like an idiot all alone.¡±(Sandra) I was quite stupefied. I was waiting for an answer like ¡°do it yourself¡± or something like that, but nothing came. She was surprisingly empathetic this morning. ¡°Promise.¡±(Me) Sandra was satisfied and left me alone with just that. I was wondering for a few minutes if she was still the same person, or if she was switched out overnight. I managed to gather my thoughts and leave the villa. I placed the hood in my space inventory. I had no need to hide myself, if no one saw me. The sun was shining and it was a hot day. The weather changed excessively fast. It was quite empty with everyone attending the tournament. I was walking through the streets, but didn¡¯t come across anyone. The fast built hotels, the preliminary buildings; everything was empty. Everyone was watching the main tournament. ¡°It looks like I will have to watch anyways.¡±(Me) I headed towards the colosseum. I could hear the crowd going crazy, even from far away. Some still stood in line, weren¡¯t able to entre, and take their seats. I knew it would be hard to entre, if so many people stood in queue, even more so without a ticket.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I avoided the main entrance and searched for another way in. Last time, we went through a heavy guarded entrance in the back, which was reserved for special people and guests. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t find another entrance. There were only two of them. Even if it seemed like there was no other way in as myself, I still had one last idea, or more precise, one last bet I wanted to make. I went to the guards to try it out. Even if I¡¯d fail, I could still run away. ¡°Ahm sorry.¡±(Me) ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±(Guard) ¡°I¡¯ve somehow lost my school group and don¡¯t have a way to entre and meet up with them. I was wondering if you could let me in.¡±(Me) ¡°Strange, they came a few hours ago. Well, what school are you even from?¡±(Guard) ¡°Sonya academy.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmm. I remember them coming in as one of the last. Wait a second, I¡¯ll go and take a look.¡±(Guard) So far so good. He went to another guard and came back with some sort of list. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±(Guard) ¡°It¡¯s Hikaru.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmm.¡±(Guard) The guard was skimming through the list with his index finger. ¡°There you are. Currently out for a mission. There is a possibility of meeting up at the tournament. Your school looks like it gives out many missions. 4 people are currently out.¡±(Guard) I heard of it the first time too. Nevertheless, I was lucky that I was about to be granted free entry. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t deny that.¡±(Me) ¡°To be honest, even though Sonya academy only had 19 participants, it is really famous.¡±(Guard) I also didn¡¯t know that we had 19 participants. Moreover, because of the enthusiasm of that guard, I concluded that we were quite the hot-shot school. ¡°Is it?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes it is. It produced many famous magicians, but you should know better. I¡¯ll guide you to your group, just follow me.¡±(Guard) ¡°Thank you.¡±(Me) ¡°Haha. Don¡¯t mind it.¡±(Guard) The second we started walking, he started talking again. ¡°Normally you wouldn¡¯t be allowed to go in from here, but this is an exception.¡±(Guard) ¡°Why?¡±(Me) ¡°Well, only the kings, as well as high ranking people are allowed to enter through the back entrance. If you came half an hour earlier, you would have had the luck of encountering the retainer of the nightmare.¡±(Guard) ¡°Who?¡±(Me) I played the ignorant fool, so he wouldn¡¯t get suspicious. ¡°Ah right, now that I think of it, you just arrived; you probably have no idea what¡¯s going on.¡±(Guard) ¡°I¡¯m embarrassed.¡±(Me) ¡°No, no. You don¡¯t have to. It¡¯s natural. I¡¯ll summarize it for you.¡±(Guard) ¡°Again, thank you very much.¡±(Me) ¡°Haha. Don¡¯t mind, don¡¯t mind. Have you heard of that nightmare, which climbed in power in the past few years?¡±(Guard) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) ¡°Well he is the special guest of this event. Moreover, our king was able to get his alliance.¡±(Guard) ¡°Really?¡±(Me) It was hard to be surprised about myself, but I did my best at acting like it. ¡°Yes, but I haven¡¯t heard or seen much of him, he and his retainer always wear a hood to hide their appearance.¡±(Guard) We have a good reason for it though. ¡°That¡¯s really surprising.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes I was also surprised when I first heard about it. Who would think that our king managed to get someone like that on his side?¡±(Guard) ¡°By the way, you said that my school had 19 participants.¡±(Me) He said something interesting earlier and I wanted to know more, so I asked. ¡°Yes.¡±(Guard) ¡°Do you know how many made it to the first round?¡±(Me) ¡°Hmm.¡±(Guard) ¡°It¡¯s ok if you don¡¯t know. I was just curious.¡±(Me) ¡°No, no, no, no. I was just thinking. If I¡¯m not wrong, four won their preliminaries.¡±(Guard) ¡°Really. That¡¯s good to hear.¡±(Me) ¡°It is a pretty solid result.¡±(Guard) He leaned towards me and started whispering. ¡°Unfortunately 20 children which made it to the first round are beastmen. Even worse, three of the four favourites are beastmen as well.¡±(Guard) ¡°I believe in the ability of my schoolmates. They will win this.¡±(Me) ¡°Let¡¯s hope so.¡±(Guard) I had an antisocial personality so I didn¡¯t even know one quarter of my school. I haven¡¯t seen the first round participants as nightmare either. I didn¡¯t even have the slightest idea, which idiots were stupid enough to participate in this tournament. I only said, I believed in them, because it would seem more natural. We were about to reach the others of my school and I would know who made it to the first round soon enough. Chapter 6 Start of the tournament ¡°If you turn right and then go straight ahead, you can¡¯t miss your school group. I have to go back now.¡±(Guard) ¡°Thank you very much.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t mind, don¡¯t mind. Unfortunately, my shift isn¡¯t over yet and I won¡¯t be able to watch the first round. Sigh. Perhaps if we meet again, you can tell me how it was.¡±(Guard) ¡°Definitely.¡±(Me) We parted and I did as he said. First, turn right and then go straight ahead. After a while, I could see them from afar. If at least one person of your school made it to the first round, your school would receive a free ticket for a certain section on the ground floor. Sonya academy too, received one. It wasn¡¯t big enough for the whole school, but still had enough space for about a hundred people. ¡°Yo. What¡¯s up?¡±(Me) I went to the first person I knew. He stood at the back of the crowd and silently watched the tournament. ¡°Did Mr. I¡¯ll leave in the last second finally decide to join us.¡±(Takeshi) Takeshi seemed rather angry. I didn¡¯t know if I was the cause of it or not. I wanted to know though. ¡°It¡¯s not like I missed something right?¡±(Me) ¡°Well actually you did. A lot.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Don¡¯t joke around. What did I miss? Or did you decide to participate?¡±(Me) ¡°No. 4 people of our school managed to reach the first round.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I know that much.¡±(Me) ¡°Does Mr. I know everything also know who?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Seriously why are you so aggressive? I don¡¯t know who. If you are that eager to tell me, it has to be someone important.¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t care at all, who advanced, but it had to be someone important, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t be so concerned. I really wanted to know what was able to anger him that much.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°I know you¡¯re not really interested and to be honest I don¡¯t care about the other 3 either.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°But?¡±(Me) ¡°Sakura is the fourth and she already advance to the second round.¡±(Takeshi) Well that was certainly surprising and something I missed. Still, it looked like Takeshi wasn¡¯t happy about it at all. It was the opposite, he looked really pissed when he said that she advanced. Did something happen? ¡°Doesn¡¯t this tournament have participants that are like 18 years old and should already be experts at magic?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes it has. Sakura was a little bit lucky in the preliminaries.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°What do you mean?¡±(Me) ¡°Well. I watched some other preliminaries and she had one of the easiest. Still she barely managed to win.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°If she was only able to barely win the preliminaries, how did she even win the first round?¡±(Me) Takeshi got depressed the second I asked. I definitely found the reason behind his behaviour. ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me if you don¡¯t want to.¡±(Me) ¡°It was¡­ She¡¯s currently at the medical station. She¡¯s probably not going to be able to participate in the next round.¡±(Takeshi) Takeshi had a deep affection for Sakura that much was obvious since I met them. I was only wondering about him not staying by her side then. ¡°Haruto and Ryo are with her. If I would have to see her only for a little bit longer, I don¡¯t think I could hold myself back.¡±(Takeshi) I didn¡¯t know what happened, but I didn¡¯t want to ask. I had to change the topic quickly, or Takeshi would explode right in front of me. ¡°Is there anything noteworthy?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. The beastmen are trying to win this tournament in a dirty way. Those fuckers are trying to cripple everyone, only to be disqualified afterwards. While they focus one their 3 strongest to easily advance to the finals and win the whole tournament with no real effort. Just because 21 of them made it to the first round, they think they can do whatever they want.¡±(Takeshi) I totally failed. At least I more or less know what happened. Sakura won because her opponent was disqualified. Luckily, Takeshi cursed silently, so no one heard us. In that kind of situation, it wasn¡¯t good to curse about the other race. ¡°Is it that bad?¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t know about the other¡¯s condition, but the medic said that Sakura would need 2 whole months to at least be able to leave a bed. Is it bad?¡±(Takeshi) It was bad. Even worse than I thought. Why did I even ask? ¡°I hope she¡¯ll fully recover.¡±(Me) ¡°You better hope so, if she won¡¯t, I¡¯ll personally go kill that fucker.¡±(Takeshi) From what Takeshi said, the humans weren¡¯t in a good spot to win this tournament. ¡°Is there even anyone strong enough to win on our side?¡±(Me) ¡°Arthur Pendragon¡¯s son, Ryan Pendragon. He¡¯s the only one who could win this tournament for the humans. You can forget about everyone else.¡±(Takeshi) I was surprised that Arthur already had a child. He didn¡¯t look that old to me. I was deep in thought, when suddenly the whole crowd went crazy. It got extremely loud and I wasn¡¯t able to hear anything Takeshi wanted to say. I could see in his expression that he was surprised too. We both went to the front of the section as fast as possible. Something huge had to have happened. It was hard to see much, because we weren¡¯t the only ones who wanted to see what happened. I found myself in the middle of a crowd of Sonya academies students. I could barely move, but at least I was able to see the middle of the arena. Both of them were humans, but one lied on the ground. Probably only unconscious. I didn¡¯t know any participant except for Sakura, so I had no idea who was fighting. Still it looked like the beaten person was quite important. The winner looked like he hasn¡¯t even shed a drop of sweat. ¡°Is that Ryan?¡±(Me) I pointed on the winner and asked Takeshi, when it cooled down a bit. Same as the crowd, he was stunned by the outcome. ¡°No, that¡¯s Ryan.¡±(Takeshi) He said and pointed on the unconscious person. ¡°I have no idea who the other guy is.¡±(Takeshi) Chapter 7 Participating A green haired human youth stood in the middle of all the commotion. I knew the tournament was one-sided. Still, for the only hope of the humans, Arhur¡¯s son Ryan, to drop out in the first round was a bit too much. At least he lost against another human, so there was still a chance left. I wondered what kind of face Arthur would make so I sneaked a glance at the lounge, which the two kings were watching from. As I thought, even he was confused. No one noticed when the green haired person came in and no one noticed him leaving. Even if he was the centre of attention, he managed to vanish in front of the whole crowd. Before I knew it, he was already gone. I don¡¯t know why, but I had a feeling that I have met him before. I just had no idea where or when. Afterwards, the tournament continued without further surprises. I watched the rest of the first round with Takeshi and after only a few matches; I understood what he meant with the beastmen fight dirty. Almost in every fight between a human and a beastman, the human side suffers heavy injuries. Even if they¡¯d lose, they won¡¯t leave the ring, but fight until either they can¡¯t stand anymore, or they get disqualified. In the end, they managed to bring 11 fighters to the second round. Even if it was an unfair strategy, it was an effective one. The ratio for the second round was 11 beastmen against five humans. ¡°Sigh. I really don¡¯t want to watch this unsightly tournament anymore.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°At least, we now have a break of about 3 hours.¡±(Me) ¡°Still I can¡¯t continue watching this. I¡¯m gonna leave. Perhaps I¡¯ll be back for the finals in two days. Just tell me what happened then.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Why? And by the way, how will you get in again?¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯ll think about it, when I need to.¡±(Takeshi) Many people left the colosseum to take a break and Takeshi went with the crowd. I hated going with the masses, so I tried to go back the way I came from. No one except the guards as well as a few individuals knew about that way and luckily, I didn¡¯t come across anyone. It was still hard to find back though, because the interior of the colosseum was like a freaking labyrinth. ¡°Was it left or right?¡±(Me) It didn¡¯t take long and I got lost. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Damn it.¡±(Me) Suddenly, I heard someone running my way. The corridor was empty and I had nowhere to hide. I couldn¡¯t go back either, or I wouldn¡¯t ever find my way out. I planned to play the innocent student role, who lost his way. The person was about to turn right. I wanted to bump into him or her and start my act, but before I was able to I heard a voice. ¡°I¡­¡±(Sandra) Sandra stopped in front of me. She needed to take a deep breath before she could continue. ¡°¡­finally found you.¡±(Sandra) ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Why are you running like this?¡±(Me) ¡°Something happened.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Hm?¡±(Me) ¡°A guard just came and said that there¡¯s someone at the gate, who said he knows the nightmare.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Me? Wait, how did you even find me?¡±(Me) ¡°I knew you¡¯d want to watch the tournament anyways. There was only one way in for you and I know which school you attend. Everything else was luck.¡±(Sandra) I felt like a half-open book to her. She could read me, but there were many pages, she wouldn¡¯t even think of reading. ¡°Do you know anything about that guy who claims to know me?¡±(Me) ¡°No. The first thing I did was to tell you about it.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Right. Let¡¯s go meet him then.¡±(Me) ¡°We should hurry though, or there won¡¯t be much of him left.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Why?¡±(Me) ¡°Arthur¡¯s not in a good mood to talk right now.¡±(Sandra) That much was obviously. I put on my hood and as fast as possible, we ran to the gate. It was a hassle to get there. Because of the break, the whole crowd of a few thousand people was out of the colosseum and the streets were full. It was hard to find a way, on which no one would spot us. In the end, we arrived some time before Arthur did. Not many people were at the gate; they would rather visit other places, which were more interesting. As soon as we arrived and showed ourselves, we caused a commotion. ¡°I guess you came here because of that guy?¡±(Head guard) The head guard glanced at his office while saying this. ¡°Yes. It would be for the best, if I could meet him before Arthur arrives.¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but it would be an act against the king.¡±(Head guard) I wanted to say something, but he wasn¡¯t finished yet. ¡°Is what I would normally say, but given the circumstances, it would really be for the best, if you meet him before the king arrives.¡±(Head guard) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡±(Me) ¡°Thank you very much.¡±(Head guard) We followed him to his little office and the head guard opened the door. ¡°The person you are looking for came to see you.¡±(Head guard) ¡°Took him long enough.¡± I recognised that voice. It belonged to a certain god. He too, wore a hood, so no one would see his appearance. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯m your retainer, don¡¯t you know that.¡±(Hiro) The head guard gave me a confused look. I had to decide if I¡¯d support him or not in a split second. I came up with a sudden idea, or plan, which helped me decide faster. ¡°Yes. What¡¯s the reason for your late arrival?¡±(Me) ¡°Well. It was hard coming here from our home.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Right. As you heard, he¡¯s my retainer. He came a bit late, I hope you are fine with me taking him with me?¡±(Me) I asked the head guard. It was hard for him to decline. He saw what happened when one of his underlings provoked me. ¡°Could you please¡­¡±(Head guard) ¡°Just tell Arthur I took him with me, I¡¯ll proof it to him as soon as the second round starts.¡±(Me) ¡°Thank you.¡±(Head guard) ¡°I have to thank you.¡±(Me) We came as fast as we left. Neither Sandra, nor Hiro understood my reasons. ¡°Ahm. Before I ask, why we left so suddenly, I¡¯d like to know who that is. He¡¯s definitely not from the Dark Continent.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s an ally.¡±(Me) ¡°As your newly appointed retainer, I¡¯d like to know your plan.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, all you have to do is to act like you¡¯re Sanra.¡±(Me) ¡°Ha?! What? Act like me?¡±(Sandra) ¡°Well to be more specific, act like the retainer that was with me on the opening ceremony. Don¡¯t worry, just don¡¯t say a single word and follow behind me all the time.¡±(Me) ¡°And what am I going to do then?!¡±(Sandra) ¡°You? You Sandra, are going to participate in the second round.¡±(Me) Chapter 8 Start of the second round ¡°What are you talking about?¡±(Sandra) ¡°As I said, you¡¯re going to fight in the second round of this tournament.¡±(Me) ¡°I already understood that much. But before you tell me the stupid reason of this sudden decision, you know that it won¡¯t be possible.¡±(Sandra) ¡°I want you to fight that green haired guy, Ryan lost against.¡±(Me) ¡°Against the guy, Arthur¡¯s son; the son of the king of humans lost against?¡±(Sandra) I clearly heard sarcasm in her words. ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) Hiro found our conversation amusing. Sometimes I got the feeling he was laughing about us under that hood. ¡°Ok. Ok. Let¡¯s assume I¡¯d be willing to go on stage and lose in front of a crowd of thousands of people; would you even be able to bear that humiliation?¡±(Sandra) ¡°No, obviously not.¡±(Me) That was the truth. If the crowd got to know that my only retainer lost to a challenger, a mere participant of a tournament, I¡¯d become a laughing stock. ¡°So you will be participating as someone else.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?! As someone else?¡±(Sandra) ¡°You¡¯ll participate for someone who made it to¡­¡±(Me) ¡°I understood that already. I wanted to know, for whom should I be a substitute?¡±(Sandra) ¡°Luckily, ah I mean unfortunately, even though a friend of mine, made it to the next round, she got handicapped and won¡¯t be able to fight.¡±(Me) ¡°Haha. I see where this is going. Really, Hikaru you¡¯re the worst.¡±(Hiro) Hiro couldn¡¯t handle himself any longer and said what¡¯s on his mind. ¡°I take that as a compliment.¡±(Me) ¡°Stop! Wait a moment, how am I going to act like I¡¯m someone else, even worse, someone injured?¡±(Sandra) Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The answer was obvious, but she didn¡¯t give up on resisting. ¡°You¡¯re wearing a hood, no? No one will see your injury.¡±(Hiro) ¡°But, but¡­ what if I lose in the second round. I won¡¯t even be able to face off against that guy.¡±(Sandra) ¡°If you lose in the second round, even if it¡¯s not on purpose, I¡¯ll kick you out of the Dark Continent.¡±(Me) A simple and direct answer. ¡°See you later.¡±(Me) ¡°Good luck.¡±(Hiro) Sandra didn¡¯t move anymore, so we just left her standing and Hiro and me headed back to the back entrance of the arena. ¡°Did you have to be so mean to a girl? You clearly hurt her pride and ego.¡±(Hiro) ¡°It¡¯s none of your concern.¡±(Me) ¡°Still. It looked like the one you have your eyes on, is someone she won¡¯t be able to win against.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yes. It¡¯s exactly as you said. I¡¯m sending her into a fight she¡¯ll probably lose. And the only reason for that is, because I want to see, what he is capable of.¡±(Me) ¡°And what do you expect?¡±(Hiro) ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, he¡¯s probably the fourth.¡±(Me) ¡°How can you say that so calmly? I already said this, but you¡¯re definitely the worst.¡±(Hiro) When I thought about it he was somehow right, but it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Sigh. When will the second round even start?¡±(Hiro) ¡°In about 2 and a half hour.¡±(Me) ¡°What?! What do you plan to do in the meantime?¡±(Hiro) I knew what awaited me, once I go back to the colosseum. ¡°I¡¯ll probably have to explain a lot of things to Arthur and you will quietly stand beside me.¡±(Me) We didn¡¯t hurry back, quite the opposite, I wanted to stall some time, so we would come back at the same time as Arthur would. We were a little bit early though, so we had to wait a few minutes, until he finally came back. ¡°I was wondering.¡±(Hiro) ¡°About what?¡±(Me) ¡°Well, as far as I saw, there are only 2 heavily guarded entrances, how is she going to enter?¡±(Hiro) ¡°You mean Sandra?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Hiro) ¡°She¡¯ll find a way in. Hopefully.¡±(Me) I haven¡¯t thought about that one bit, so I gave the most suited answer. Hiro just shook his head and we continued to wait for Arthur to arrive. ¡°You have a lot to explain.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Obviously.¡±(Me) Our greeting was as short as that. More words weren¡¯t needed between the two of us. Afterwards we went to the lounge and had quite a long talk and exhausting talk. I was relieved when I finished my explanation. The one I thought of worked out perfectly and Arthur was more or less satisfied. I told him that Hiro was a retainer of mine, but because of a mission I gave him beforehand, he arrived a bit late and is currently resting in my room. To begin with, no one was allowed to enter my room and with no way to check what I said; he could only believe me for the time being. We used the rest of the time to tell some boring stories of the past. In the end, I was somehow able to better his mood. Sam Lionheart, the king of the beastmen arrived shortly before the first match of the second round was announced and with him, the whole crowd found their seats. He didn¡¯t say anything. I wondered when I¡¯d get my answer. ¡°Who is fighting the first match?¡±(Arthur) ¡°A beastman against someone from Sonya Academy. Unfortunately she somehow got injured in the first round.¡±(Shadow) ¡°Sigh.¡±(Arthur) The two of them were whispering and I could barely listen to their conversation. Sandra was the first fight. Once the match was officially announced, the ones who remembered Sakura¡¯s last match and the outcome of it, made a depressed or concerned face. No one was expecting an opponent to show up for the beastman. I could only think about the faces everyone would make, once they see Sandra step onto the stage. As long as she somehow made it in. ¡°Participants come forward and join me on stage!¡±(Announcer) A well build beastman and the hooded Sandra went on stage. The crowd was quite surprised. While everyone was confused, as to why there was an opponent, I couldn¡¯t hold back my excitement and laughed as silent as possible. Luckily, Arthur was the only one who noticed. He probably realized my plan, but that didn¡¯t matter. It was actually better like that, because it was also in his interest to shorten the number of beastman that would advance. All I had to do, was to lean back and enjoy the show. Chapter 9 Sandra鈥檚 fight (1) Sandra¡¯s POV: That damn Hikaru. Without a care in the world, he just sends me to my doom. I couldn¡¯t deny his request, but still it was a bit too much for me. I tried to talk my way out of it; unfortunately, it seemed his plan didn¡¯t have errors, big enough for me to escape with. ¡°Sigh. I will have to think of a way to get in first. I will think about how to get on stage with my current getup later. Can¡¯t that guy be more considerate? At least once in his life?¡±(Me) On the road to the stadium, I continuously cursed at him. Even with all my current rage, I still respected his intellect and strength. I hated to admit it, but not many could come up with such a scheme, moreover, I bet it was on a whim. The break was 3 hours long and I still had about 2 hours left, so time wasn¡¯t the problem. My anxiety came from how I should enter. I¡¯m not someone with a school background like Hikaru. The next issue was that it wasn¡¯t possible to enter with my identity as a retainer as well. I couldn¡¯t even enter as myself, because Hiro would enter as me. Two Sandra¡¯s would attract attention and that is exactly what Hikaru hated the most. Attracting attention came right after making mistakes and things not going his way. ¡°This is making me crazy. The only option is sneaking in. But where?!¡±(Me) I checked the surroundings. I was alone, so it was ok to go crazy and shout my thoughts out. ¡°Should I just break through the front door and hope no one sees me?¡±(Me) I mumbled all the time and was deep in thoughts. I was so focused that I didn¡¯t even notice someone approaching me. Even if I was on guard, I don¡¯t think I would have been able to notice him, if he hadn¡¯t tapped my shoulder. ¡°Huh?!¡±(Me) I was startled and let out a short scream. I came back to reality and analysed the situation before I did anything else. Some stranger sneaking behind me could also mean I encountered an enemy. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Yo. If I¡¯m not wrong, you are the one who was with the nightmare before?¡±(?) ¡°W¡­What are you talking about?¡±(Me) ¡°Come one. Don¡¯t play dumb. I also know that you want to participate in the second round.¡±(?) I was ready to fight at any time. It was strange that someone else except Hikaru, Hiro and me knew about it. I categorized him as an enemy and prepared myself to react as quickly as possible. ¡°How do you know that?¡±(Me) My dumb and innocent voice from before change to a serious one. ¡°Wow, hold on. Calm down. You were blabbering about it all the time. I just happened to pass by and hear your mumbling.¡±(?) I forgot about that. I was a complete idiot. Still, why did he listen to a stranger, much less approach me? ¡°I also heard you have problems to enter the colosseum.¡±(?) ¡°I¡¯ll ask this only once, but who are you and what do you want?¡±(Me) I had enough of whatever I said. No random by passer would listen to my stupid mumbling and approach me afterwards without a scheme in mind. ¡°I want to help you.¡±(?) ¡°Help me?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(?) ¡°You want to help me?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(?) That¡¯s a good joke. Why would you want to help me? ¡°Of course there is a reason.¡±(?) ¡°I knew it.¡±(Me) ¡°I want to somehow get closer to the nightmare.¡±(?) If that was his only wish, it was fine, but it was unbelievable that he¡¯d help me just for that. ¡°You want to get closer? Is that your only reason?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. Why do you have to ask everything twice?¡±(?) He was too suspicious that¡¯s the reason. ¡°Who are you that you desperately need a connection to him?¡±(Me) I turned around and asked that question. Green hair? ¡°Yo. The name¡¯s Hayate. You should already know me. I mean you watched me from a pretty good spot. So what¡¯s your name?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Ah?¡±(Me) I opened my mouth but no words came out. I have thought of some strange people that would want to help us, just to form a connection with the nightmare, but this person was still a surprise. ¡°Hm? What did you say?¡±(Hayate) ¡°My name is Sandra.¡±(Me) ¡°Nice to meet you Sandra.¡±(Hayate) I didn¡¯t feel any enmity from him. Nevertheless, he was someone who only needed one strike to finish of Ryan, the son of the human king Arthur, so it was also possible that all of this was merely an act. ¡°You said something about helping me.¡±(Me) I decided to take the risk. ¡°Aha. Now that you know who I am, you believe me?¡±(Hayate) ¡°It¡¯s your own fault for sneaking me up from behind.¡±(Me) ¡°Hm. You¡¯re right. My fault, forgive me please.¡±(Hayate) It was hard to take him serious. He acted as if he had not a single care in the world. ¡°So?¡±(Me) ¡°Isn¡¯t my plan obvious? We¡¯re gonna act like you¡¯re a friend of mine, or something like that. I¡¯m a participant; the guards shouldn¡¯t be that strict with me.¡±(Hayate) What the fuck was that plan? If it failed? No, if we¡¯d try and he came with that half assed motivation, it was bound to fail. Did he think about what would happen to me? ¡°Isn¡¯t there a better method?¡±(Me) ¡°You can also try to get a ticket or sneak in if you want. I give you this opportunity now, but I don¡¯t have that much patience. I wish you good luck on trying, even more so in less than 3 hours.¡±(Hayate) Damn it. It wasn¡¯t about what I wanted or what would happen to me, I had no other option. ¡°Could you at least show more motivation when we¡¯re there?¡±(Me) ¡°Haha. Sure thing.¡±(Hayate) I somehow couldn¡¯t believe him. ¡°Sigh. Looks like there is no other way around.¡±(Me) I hated it, but it looked like it was the only way. I still hesitated a bit before I took of my hood. Together we went to the front entrance and acted as if we were acquainted. Hayate caused a commotion when the bystanders saw him, but luckily, everything else went smoothly. I made passed the first and most difficult hurdle. Now I had to think of a way to appear on stage without attracting much attention. Chapter 10 Sandra鈥檚 fight (2) Sandra¡¯s POV: ¡°This is no joke. We made it in that easily?¡±(Me) ¡°I told you it would work.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Still. It was solved that easily.¡±(Me) ¡°You owe me one now.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Wait that wasn¡¯t part of the¡­¡±(Me) Before I could finish, he already vanished in front of my eyes. First Hikaru and now him. They all do what they want without thinking about me. It¡¯s like I am a thing that they can command at will. ¡°Hmpf! Just watch me, you idiots. I¡¯ll show you what I¡¯m worth.¡±(Me) I had over one hour time until my match would start. I had nothing to do, so I just strolled around the school section and observed all the students. Some were suspicious when they saw me, but as long as no one would approach me, or talk to me, I was safe. I already knew some of the corridors, but some others were still new to me. Eventually I walked a whole round, without me even noticing it. I just continued strolling around and didn¡¯t mind it. ¡°Infirmary? Shouldn¡¯t the one I¡¯ll be substituting be here?¡±(Me) It shouldn¡¯t hurt to analyse her handicap. I opened the door and went in. It was a huge room with about eight beds to my right and another seven to my left. There was a fair amount of space between each of them. Not all of them were occupied, but 12 out of the 15 were. On one of the beds, a nurse healed one of the injured humans. It looked like a sword pierced his shoulder. I didn¡¯t remember all the fights, I only remembered the important ones, so I forgot what caused that injury. What was her name again? I think it was something with S. I remembered it because she started similar to my name. Sa¡­Sa¡­ ¡°Sakura, I brought you some water.¡±(?) Sakura!If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I was a genius. Two guys were surrounding a bed, so I couldn¡¯t see who was lying there. I haven¡¯t seen them before. ¡°Thank you, but you shouldn¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯ll be fine. Go and watch the tournament with the rest of the class. The next round is going to start in a few minutes.¡±(Sakura) ¡°But¡­¡±(?) ¡°Do it for me. I don¡¯t want to hinder you guys.¡±(Sakura) ¡°You¡¯re not a hindrance.¡±(?) She forced a smile and it was enough to persuade them. ¡°Fine.¡±(?) They were about to leave when she stopped them one last time. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to tell Takeshi that I¡¯m fine.¡±(Sakura) The three of them looked like close friends. Anyone could tell because of their behaviour. They didn¡¯t look like normal classmates to me. ¡°I will, but only if you really get well soon.¡±(?) ¡°Haha. I¡¯ll do my best.¡±(Sakura) They waved at her and left the infirmary. ¡°Hello.¡±(Me) ¡°Hello. Ahm. Have we met before?¡±(Sakura) ¡°Ah. No. I was just fascinated by your deep friendship and wanted to express my deepest sympathy.¡±(Me) ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m Sakura.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Sandra.¡±(Me) ¡°What school are you from?¡±(Sakura) I wasn¡¯t paying attention to what I said. That question totally caught me off-guard and I had no idea how I should answer it. ¡°Ah¡­ I¡­¡±(Me) ¡°You don¡¯t have to answer if you don¡¯t want to.¡±(Sakura) She smiled at me. I was relieved that she didn¡¯t poke further. I somehow escaped a bad ending. ¡°I was just wondering. I¡¯m from Sonya academy and I haven¡¯t seen you around before.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Ah that¡¯s because¡­¡±(Me) Again. I couldn¡¯t think of a good answer. ¡°This place is huge. We¡¯ve been here for about 5 days and we didn¡¯t run into each other yet.¡±(Sakura) ¡°5 days?¡±(Me) I accidently said that out loud. ¡°Sonya academy came 5 days ago. We were one of the first. You probably came later.¡±(Sakura) ¡°I came about 4 days ago. Before I forget to ask, I was wondering, what happened?¡±(Me) ¡°Why did I land in the infirmary?¡±(Sakura) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) I was so stupid today. The question was so dumb and straightforward. Something was wrong with my head. ¡°An injury from the tournament.¡±(Sakura) ¡°I haven¡¯t watched it yet.¡±(Me) ¡°Oh. Well basically it was my own fault.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Hm?¡±(Me) ¡°I got my left leg broken and received a few critical sword stabs. 5 of them are all over my right arm and my right leg.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Why exactly was it your fault then?¡±(Me) ¡°The match was close. I won it somehow. It¡¯s harsh to say but luckily, I came out with only a broken leg and a few bruises.¡±(Sakura) I watched all the matches, but I couldn¡¯t remember which she fought. All of the fights were similarly cruel. It was a contest of strength. No one looked after one¡¯s health. Either you win or you drop out of the tournament. Manage to completely overpower your opponent and advance with a good condition, win a close match and get something like a broken leg. That were unspoken rules of this dumb tournament. ¡°The referee already ended the match and I turned around to leave the stage. But my opponent didn¡¯t accept it and jumped at me one last time. I couldn¡¯t react in time and he managed to stab me 5 times before the referee managed to restrain him.¡±(Sakura) So she was indeed the first fight. It¡¯s still cruel. Who would do something like that? ¡°The king should do something about that unfair scheme of the beastman.¡±(Me) ¡°I think so too, but it seems like his hands are restrained. This is a contest both races agreed to.¡±(Sakura) ¡°If I would be Queen, I would do everything I could to support my people.¡±(Me) ¡°Haha. If I had the strength and author of a queen, I¡¯d just go down to the stage and beat the crap out of that idiot.¡±(Sakura) I couldn¡¯t restrain my laughter. ¡°Sigh. The second round will soon start. Please don¡¯t worry too much about me. Watch it to your hearts content.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Are you sure about it? I don¡¯t really want to leave you alone like that.¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s ok really.¡±(Sakura) She had to force that last smile again. It was obvious she was selfless and friendly. That combination was really rare. ¡°Let¡¯s talk again after everything is over.¡±(Me) ¡°Definitely.¡±(Sakura) ¡°It was a pleasure to meet you.¡±(Me) Her forced smile made it hard for me to leave, but I had to. I closed the door behind me and put on my hood. Everyone already sat down and waited for the second round to start. The announcer was already talking. ¡°I¡¯ll fucking kill you. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. And my victory for a friend.¡±(Me) I was fully concentrated and prepared to fight to my heart¡¯s content. The only problem was to hold back as to not kill him. Even if I did, I was sure, Hikaru would somehow deal with the consequences. Chapter 11 One-sided battle A well build beastman, which I have never seen before and Sandra entered the stage. I knew that the hooded person who appeared as Sakura from Sonya academy was actually Sandra, but I was still confused. Something was wrong with her. Normally she¡¯s either silent and analysing from a safe distance, or she¡¯s calm and collected when taking the initiative. This time though, it was completely different. It looked like Sandra was a ticking bomb, which would explode soon. It was impossible to see her expression, but the vibe she gave off, wasn¡¯t something that could be described as happy or excited. It was violent and angry. Of course it wasn¡¯t visible to normal eyes, it would require someone who already experienced a lot. I wanted to lean back and enjoy the show I created, but because of unforeseen events, it somehow evolved into something, where I have to hope that Sandra¡¯s not going to do something really really stupid. It¡¯s my own fault for not thinking it through to the end. At least it looks like this will be a good show to watch. ¡°Start!¡±(Announcer) Not only did the audience have no idea what was going on, the beastman, Sandra was facing was confused as well. As soon as the match started, he went into a fighting stance, but he kept standing where he was and waited for Sandra to make the first move. He didn¡¯t look scared, it looked more like he tried to fight save. I thought Sandra would rush at her opponent as soon as the match started, but it turned out I was wrong. She wasn¡¯t moving at all. Sandra didn¡¯t prepare any attack, nor did she create defensive barriers. All she did was reinforce her physical strength a bit. She raised her hand and waved at her enemy. She wanted to tell him something like come at me, you won¡¯t win even if you try to fight save. Although it was a standard provocation, it fulfilled its purpose; Sandra managed to piss him off. With a loud roar the beastman rushed forward. They were about 20 metres apart from each other, but it took him only three steps to close in on that distance. For someone who wasn¡¯t able to reinforce his body with magic, it was an enormous feat.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The normal audience was in awe of that guy¡¯s leg strength, but the more experienced fighters were rather curious about the response. I trained her, so I knew best about Sandra¡¯s strengths and weaknesses. This kind of attack was an easy task. In the end, she dodged, but if she wanted, she could also block it or make a counter attack. While everyone focused on that single moment, I already tried to think of how the rest of the match would proceed. I didn¡¯t know the reason of Sandra¡¯s anger, so everything was possible to happen. I limited it to the most obvious outcome, which was a one-sided slaughter. In worst case the beastman would die, if he were lucky, he would leave the stage unconscious, with merely some light injuries. The beastman obviously wasn¡¯t satisfied with his missed attack. He turned back and swung his next fist, which he didn¡¯t land again. With a slight body move to the right, Sandra swiftly dodged again. The audience was surprised when they saw it happen two times in a row. Shortly afterwards he attacked. Over and over again, he tried to at least catch the hood, but Sandra was too fast. If one looked closely enough, he would see that she almost didn¡¯t move from the place where she started. Only a few times, when it got close, she took a step to the side and the beastman would hit air. Sandra could easily dodge every single one of the beastman¡¯s attacks for five whole minutes, while only using a minimum amount of mana, to support herself with magic. The outcome was as expected; the beastman was exhausted and didn¡¯t dare to attack again. Now, the roles were reversed. Sandra was the one to make a move. With her mana control, she could have done many things. She formed a small claw made out of mana and started running at him. She accelerated with every step and the match was decided in the blink of an eye. The crowd was stunned. Everyone was silent when the head was sent flying. I could only do a face palm and blame myself. It took a few seconds after his lifeless body fell to the floor until everyone realised the situation. Some even started screaming, but I knew Sandra didn¡¯t care. Couldn¡¯t you be at least a little bit less cruel? I knew that I would have to take the blame if something went wrong from now on. Sandra was aware of that too, so she fought however she wanted. The crowd went crazy and shouted all sorts of things. The only thing you had to be careful of in that tournament was not to kill anyone, but Sandra just did, so it was a natural reaction. It didn¡¯t matter what they screamed, because Sandra already went off stage and hid herself in the crowd of students. I just looked at the shocked audience for one or two seconds and she was already gone. When I turned my head, Arthur was already looking at me with a forced smile and was secretly pointing towards Sam. He definitely found out about the mysterious girl and looked my way. If a glance could kill, I would have already been dead by then. At least it was fun to watch. I tried my best to comfort me in some way. I knew I soon had to explain myself. At least Arthur helped me out a bit by forcefully continuing the second round of the tournament. The third round would be fought on the next day. After it was over, there was no way out for me. As soon as the opportunity arose, Sam confronted Arthur and accused him of sending an assassin to kill one of his people. Arthur instantly rejected the thought and the suspicion went on to myself. It took a lot of time talking my way out of it. At the beginning I sometimes I received help from Arthur, but it was definitely not out of kindness. After half an hour, Arthur went back to the villa. He said something about being exhausted. The extreme thing was that Hiro did the same and I got left behind alone. After damn long five hours, I too was finally allowed to go back to my room. It was already midnight and after I entered my room, I fell down on my bed and instantly went into the land of dreams. Chapter 12 Are all gods crazy? The sun was already up when I woke up. I was alone in my room. Neither Hiro nor Sandra came back yesterday. I stood up and put on the hood. Afterwards I left the bedroom and I planned to head to the arena, so I wouldn¡¯t be late for the next round again. In the hall downstairs, Arthur and Shadow were already about to leave. ¡°Morning.¡±(Me) ¡°You woke up early today.¡±(Arthur) Both of them stopped and Arthur answered almost immediately. He clearly made fun of me though. ¡°You¡¯re already going?¡±(Me) ¡°Obviously. The third round will start soon and it would be inappropriate for the host to arrive late.¡±(Arthur) Even though I made sure to wake up earlier, it seemed I would have almost been too late again. ¡°Wait, I¡¯m coming with you.¡±(Me) ¡°Sure. That retainer of yours already went ahead.¡±(Arthur) Damn Hiro. Can¡¯t you at least wake me up, before you go? ¡°Is the girl from yesterday going to participate again today?¡±(Arthur) ¡°You mean Sandra?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Yep. She¡¯s gonna fight that guy who beat your son.¡±(Me) ¡°You seem rather calm.¡±(Arthur) ¡°I knew I couldn¡¯t hide it from you.¡±(Me) ¡°I meant her facing that person.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Oh. It¡¯s not like I actually expect her to win.¡±(Me) Arthur could only force a smile at my cruel remark. Together we went to the back entrance of the colosseum and one of the guards guided us to our seats. Before I sat down, I gave Hiro an angry stare. We couldn¡¯t see our expressions due to the hood, but I was sure he understood what I wanted to say. On the other side, Sam and his retainers were already present and silently waited for the next round to start. The king of beastman sat there with a grim expression. ¡°Good morning.¡±(Arthur) Even though Arthur tried to be nice, he only received an angry snort. He was in a particularly bad mood. Probably because I somehow crossed his plan. Instead of six beastman in the third round, they only had five.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. There were still three humans in the third round. Sandra and that green haired guy were obvious, but there was another one. I haven¡¯t seen or heard anything of him yet, so I was quite interested in seeing that one in action. Arthur gave the regular speech in front of the crowd and the announcer announced the participants of the third round. I could only feel some respect when seeing someone be able to speak in front of such a loud crowd. The first fight was the focus of attention. An unknown fighter managed to beat a favourite candidate, the son of the human king, with merely one attack, while the other played with her opponent until she was bored and killed him. She should have been disqualified for what she did, but was somehow allowed to fight in the third round. I was wondering about that as well though. I haven¡¯t said anything about supporting her or something like that. I actually stayed quiet about her all the time. I expected her to be disqualified and already thought of other ways to see the green haired guy. There was obviously someone else, who supported Sandra from the shadows. ¡°The two fighters for the first battle join me on stage!¡±(Announcer) Sandra and her opponent came on stage. Enormous pressure rained down on them. Thousands of people would watch their every movement. They had a distance of about 20 metres between them. Both prepared themselves for the upcoming fight. I taught Sandra how to fight, so she knew she couldn¡¯t underestimate her opponent. Same as when we trained, she prepared as much defensive barriers as possible beforehand and would leave the first attack to her unknown opponent. The atmosphere was tense. The crowd held it¡¯s breaths before the fight even started. I had to focus as well, because I wanted to gauge his abilities. ¡°First fight of the third round start!¡±(Announcer) As soon as the fight started, the green haired guy raised his arm and showed three fingers on his hand. ¡°If you manage to stand after three of my attacks, I will give up.¡±(?) He said it loud enough for everyone to hear it. On one side, it was a humiliation, but for Sandra it was a chance to win. She clenched her fists and waited for the first of those three attacks. ¡°It seems you accepted. I am going to attack, so prepare yourself.¡±(?) It was a strange sight. Someone telling his opponent to prepare for an attack, while smiling like that. It was as if he didn¡¯t take the tournament serious at all. It¡¯s not like I did, but at least I was on a seat watching and not down there fighting. ¡°This is the first attack.¡±(?) The moment he said that, he vanished. The crowd was stunned. Even to me, it almost looked like he just disappeared, but I noticed that in that split second when he announced his attack, he focused his entire energy into his feet and dashed at Sandra at an unnatural speed. The next second, a shattering sound was heard and he stood at the other side of the ring. Sandra lied on the floor, but was able to get up. Because of her hood, I wasn¡¯t able to see her expression, but I was sure she was frightened. If even I could barely see anything, it was impossible for her. All her barriers were destroyed and she was even sent flying. All of that because of a single attack. It was something she would have never thought of being possible. ¡°Prepare, I¡¯m going for the second attack.¡±(?) With leaving Sandra no time for any preparation, he attacked again. It was the same attack pattern, but this time a bone crushing sound was heard, before he appeared at the other end of the arena. I was able to see it this time. All he did was throw a simple punch, but because of the momentum, the damage was multiple times higher. It could easily destroy an opponent. Sandra was sent flying and because of the bone shattering sound, even an ignorant person could hear the critical damage the attack dealt. It was a miracle that she didn¡¯t faint after she felt the pain. Nevertheless, she wasn¡¯t able to move any longer. The fight was over in an instant and the crowd sighed. It was as one-sided as it could be. At least I learnt how his attack worked. The announcer raised his hand and was about to announce his victory. ¡°Prepare yourself for my third attack.¡±(?) No one expected that. It was obvious that if he attacked a third time, Sandra could bid farewell to her life. A normal person in my shoes would probably worry about her. Not me though. I couldn¡¯t even suppress a smile, nor could I suppress my excitement. I only waited for it to happen. Hiro somehow noticed my behaviour and could only shake his head. He only knew Sandra for one day, so he didn¡¯t plan to step in as well. ¡°Are all of us really that crazy?¡±(Hiro) Chapter 13 Deal My excitement went down a bit when Hiro lightly hit the back of my head. It wasn¡¯t meant to hurt me, but rather to bring me back to reality and help me to make a rational decision, instead of doing what I wanted. It took some seconds until I snapped out of my excitement though. Everything happened extremely fast. Not many saw me being hit by my own retainer and the ones who did looked rather scared, as if he just woke up a sleeping monster. It didn¡¯t matter, what was important was that I had to act fast, or Sandra was dead meat for sure. That guy was serious about his third attack. I could have just asked Arthur to settle it. I could have ordered the referee to stop the match. I could have done a lot more intelligent things, but at that moment, I didn¡¯t think about them. I unintentionally decided to do the dumbest out of all the things by taking action myself. I slowly stood up, which in itself already caused the whole stadium to shut up. I haven¡¯t shown any interest in anything until now. I haven¡¯t wasn¡¯t present when Arthur¡¯s son was beaten, I didn¡¯t care when a beastman was killed in front of the whole crowd. I didn¡¯t even show respect to the tournament nor to the kings. Now I had made a move. There were many whispers, but none of them dared to talk too loud. Everyone¡¯s eyes solely focused on me. Even the execution of¡­ I mean the fight in the arena stopped and Sandra was save. At least for the moment. I had some hardships in continuing, but as soon as I ignored everyone¡¯s stares and focused my attention only on Sandra and her opponent, I could bear with the pressure. I stood at a much higher place and stared down at them as if both of them were my minions. Normally, you¡¯d expect me, the ¡°higher in rank¡± to speak up, but that wasn¡¯t the case. ¡°Come down if you want to say something. I don¡¯t like someone looking down on me.¡±(?) After the already present silent, tension followed. I wasn¡¯t known for my patience or anything alike, but more for my cruelty in killing anyone that annoys me. That statement would normally have been enough to cause a war given my normal character. The thing which shocked them the most and even left some with open mouths was that I did what he wanted. I jumped down into the arena and we stood face to face.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Where have I met you before? I was sure this wasn¡¯t the first time we saw each other. It didn¡¯t have to be face to face but I was sure I have already met him once in the past. Before I could think about it any deeper, he replied to my actions. ¡°Ho.¡±(?) Even if somehow managed to ignore the pressure, I didn¡¯t plan to remain there for too long though and I wanted to end it as quickly as possible. ¡°Tell me your name and what you want.¡±(Me) I said that in the most boring voice I could bring out. When I learned one thing then that I should never show my real emotions and thoughts to my opponents. ¡°But I have the upper hand. How about you start first.¡±(?) He said it without a care in the world. The faked smile on his face annoyed me even more. The upper hand? He probably thought that he had found a hostage or something like that. Some veins already popped up on my forehead. No one was able to see it, but everyone knew that he was pissing me off. The tension grew, but no one dared to interfere. Thousands of people all held their breaths and watched the spectacle. ¡°Haha. I¡¯m joking. Forgive me. My name is Hayate and I came here for the sole reason to challenge you to a fight.¡±(Hayate) Until one single idiot broke the silence. To be honest, if this respond came any later, I would have exploded. I didn¡¯t know if he planned it or not, but I could calm down and instead of raging at him, I more or less answered normally. ¡°A Challenge? You want to fight against me?¡±(Me) ¡°Sure. I have only heard about you I have yet to witness of this demon.¡±(Hayate) Demon was one of the five major races, but due to a particular strong hatred as well as a history filled with many battles, humans and demons detested each other. Therefore, when a human calls someone Demon it was more of an insult or out of fear, not as a reference to the actual race. Nala said that it was the same the other way around. If I judged on Hayate¡¯s look, it seemed most likely that he already knew that we were from the same race, as well as even my true name. It¡¯s not as if I was absolutely clueless though. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a chance.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?¡±(Hayate) I inhaled as deeply as possible. ¡°I will grant the one who wins this tournament the opportunity to challenge me to a fight!¡±(Me) The crowd didn¡¯t dare to cheer. They remained silent and waited for me to leave the stage. I didn¡¯t know that I was that scary. I shrugged my shoulders and went back to the lounge where the two kings sat. ¡°Take care of the rest for me Arthur.¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t even give him time to answer and just left. Hiro followed behind me and as soon as we were out of sight, the arena slowly regained its liveliness. My biggest concern was to find out where I met Hayate before. I skimmed through my memories for a while. ¡°Ah!¡±(Me) I accidently shouted out loud when I came up with the answer. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Ah. No sorry. I just thought of something.¡±(Me) ¡°Ok?¡±(Hiro) If I¡¯m not mistaken and that rarely happens, then the gaze I felt when Kylie and I paid a visit to the beastman capital was Hayate¡¯s. I can¡¯t think of anywhere else, so it has to be it. ¡°Well. What do you think after seeing him up close?¡±(Hiro) I somehow accepted that to be the answer. At the same moment Hiro continued the talk, I accidently started. ¡°Hm?¡±(Me) ¡°Is that Hayate one of us or not?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I¡¯d say we found the fourth.¡±(Me) ¡°Fourth? Who else is there?¡±(Hiro) ¡°We have you with the true name Human. That guy is probably Beast, while Takeshi is Dragon and I am Demon.¡±(Me) ¡°Who¡¯s Takeshi?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Ah, right. You haven¡¯t met him yet. He attends the same school as me. I¡¯ll introduce you to him as soon as the opportunity arises.¡±(Me) ¡°So we only have to find the last one.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yes. There¡¯s only one left. Only Spirit is missing. Hopefully it will be enough to prevent the future Kylie predicted from happening.¡±(Me) Chapter 14 Under Attack? We left the arena and even though the semi-finals would be held the same day, I didn¡¯t plan to attend them. It was already decided who¡¯d win the tournament anyways, so I didn¡¯t see a need to watch it. ¡°Where do you plan on going now?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I don¡¯t really want to go back in there again.¡±(Me) ¡°So you will heartlessly leave Sandra behind. After all you did to her?¡±(Hiro) It was better than admitting that I had totally forgotten about her. ¡°I told Arthur to take care of it for me.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh.¡±(Hiro) Hiro wasn¡¯t satisfied at all. I didn¡¯t remember him being so empathetic. It almost felt wrong to me, as if the one before me was a completely different person. ¡°By the way do you think he knows about you?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Most likely. Moreover, if I¡¯m not wrong, he already met Kylie, so he should know about the future as well.¡±(Me) ¡°That means the only one missing is the one none of us ever had contact with, right?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yes. And I have been thinking about how to find him.¡±(Me) ¡°Any ideas?¡±(Hiro) ¡°None. How should we find someone we have no information about?¡±(Me) Even an idiot could hear the discomfort in my voice. It was extremely annoying not knowing what to do. ¡°Well I found you without any information and you found Dragon and Beast, so.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yes, but Kylie more or less prepared it. Besides if you weren¡¯t even able to find me that would be really sad.¡±(Me) ¡°True. Haha. Who knows, perhaps Hayate knows about Spirit¡¯s whereabouts.¡±(Hiro) ¡°And if he doesn¡¯t? This time even Kylie won¡¯t be able to help us. The only other option would be to go to the Spirit¡¯s continent and hope for the best.¡±(Me) ¡°No other¡­¡±(Hiro) Before he finished his sentence, there was a loud explosion, followed by a shaking ground. It was way too suddenly. ¡°What? An attack?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I don¡¯t think so, but we should still look into it.¡±(Me)The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. We ran towards the explosion to see what happened. We could see a guard running towards our direction, not because of us, but more likely, because he was headed towards the colosseum. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±(Me) Everyone had seen me in the opening ceremony, even the guards did. Still, every time they saw me they would be scared for a moment before they snapped out of it and could answer me. ¡°A¡­ I¡­ The¡­¡±(Guard) ¡°Stop shaking and answer me already.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes sir. I¡¯m sorry.¡±(Guard) It always went like this. It was extremely annoying. ¡°The¡­ There was an explosion.¡±(Guard) ¡°We heard that. What else? Are we under attack?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know. The explosion destroyed a large part of the east wall. It¡¯s damage and impact even damaged some of the buildings near it. Many guards lost their lives and the remaining ones sent me to report to his majesty. I don¡¯t know if we are under attack, I am sorry.¡±(Guard) He was more or less able to report without further stuttering, which really surprised me after he was that nervous. I looked at Hiro, he nodded and we ran past the guard to the destroyed wall, which didn¡¯t even take a whole minute, given our speed. When we arrived, even we couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. Normal people would be scared of the damage, or the extent of the explosion. The first thing we noticed though wasn¡¯t any of these. We couldn¡¯t explain how an explosion could have such an outcome. ¡°This definitely was no explosion.¡±(Hiro) ¡°No.¡±(Me) Normally everything would blew up, with rubbles lying all over the place, burn marks everywhere, half-destroyed buildings and the entire explosion like stuff. Nothing. It was as if none of the things located in the diameter of the explosion, never existed to begin with. A perfectly round explosion, which even left its perfectly round mark on the ground. It had to be something else. The most obvious explanation was magic that hadn¡¯t been discovered yet. There was only one problem; normally some of the mana used for magic would still be lingering around. At least there would be something. Even when I used my unorthodox black mana, the pressure of my magic could still be felt for about half an hour afterwards. There was nothing. I was an expert in experimenting with different kinds of magic. I already tried almost everything I could think of and it would never result in anything like this. I felt defeated. Hiro and I searched all over the place, but except for the confused and scared guards looking around as well, there was nothing. ¡°What do you think about this?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Well this shouldn¡¯t be possible.¡±(Me) ¡°But it is possible.¡±(Hiro) ¡°I can see that.¡±(Me) After about five minutes, the two kings arrived as well. They were rather fast, but it was to be expected. ¡°Ho. Your esteemed guest was the first to arrive here. That¡¯s rather strange.¡±(Sam) He boldly tried to accuse me of being the culprit. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but those two arrived shortly after the explosion.¡±(Guard) ¡°Who gave you the right to talk?¡±(Sam) His suspicion was void after the guard immediately answered, which that ¡°humble¡± king obviously didn¡¯t like at all. ¡°Calm down Sam, we are all on the same side of the boat.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Hmpf.¡±(Sam) ¡°So? Out of us three the Nightmare arrived first, what are your thoughts?¡±(Arthur) ¡°I want to know something first, for that I¡¯d need to talk to you in private though.¡±(Me) Everyone was surprised, even Hiro was. I just came up with a suspicion and I didn¡¯t have the time to tell anyone. With a confused expression, Arthur and I went to a remote place and after I made sure no one could see nor hear us, I stated my presumption. ¡°It is exactly as you think. It looks identical with the one in Sonya city a few weeks ago.¡±(Arthur) ¡°As I thought, they have something in common. And it is definitely not magic.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. But I just don¡¯t understand why you needed me, if you knew about all that; I mean you were in Sonya city yourself.¡±(Arthur) ¡°I thought of it as a normal explosion and didn¡¯t look into it further. Who could have thought that it would be something like this?¡±(Me) Arthur thought for a bit and asked the obvious question. ¡°This is not something that can be ignored. What should we do in your opinion?¡±(Arthur) ¡°It would be best to leave the details a secret. Just tell everyone it was a normal explosion.¡±(Me) ¡°So I have to come up with a good story.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Yes. In the meantime I will look into it.¡±(Me) ¡°And the tournament?¡±(Arthur) ¡°It has to continue. I made a promise, which I don¡¯t really want to break.¡±(Me) I used the rest of the day to analyse the explosion. With a good cover story, the tournament continued normally. Arthur told me that the final match would be between Hayate and one of the favourite beastmen to win, called Lim. I wasn¡¯t able to fall asleep that night. Chapter 15 End of the regular tournament ¡°Wake up.¡±(Hiro) Without waiting for my reply, Hiro kicked me from the bed. ¡°What was that for?¡±(Me) ¡°?h? Obviously, I wanted to wake you up.¡±(Hiro) ¡°I was already awake.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmm? Why didn¡¯t you say anything?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Because you didn¡¯t wait for me to say anything.¡±(Me) With an angry stare, I stood up from the ground and we left my room. ¡°Anything new regarding that incident yesterday?¡±(Me) ¡°Arthur told his men to be especially on guard, because there could still be an attack. That¡¯s all.¡±(Hiro) ¡°It is good that he is especially careful. Hopefully his followers will do the same.¡±(Me) ¡°I haven¡¯t asked yet, but what do you honestly think about the destroyed part of the wall?¡±(Hiro) Hiro switched the topic extremely fast. ¡°I have already told you, I have no idea what could have caused that. I¡¯ll have to look into it further.¡±(Me) ¡°That¡¯s obviously only an excuse right?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I wish it would be, but it isn¡¯t.¡±(Me) ¡°So we walk completely in the dark?¡±(Hiro) ¡°You said that.¡±(Me) ¡°I knew it you do know something. Spit it out already.¡±(Hiro) ¡°I don¡¯t have enough information.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. Then don¡¯t tell me and keep it to yourself until you can talk about it.¡±(Hiro) We already reached the hall when our conversation ended. After Hiro opened the door, we could see a rather angry looking character, which stopped us from going further. ¡°Oh. You are finally up again. You sure you should go with us already?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Shut up.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Hahaha.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Did you have any serious injuries?¡±(Me)The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. My strange question hit them completely unprepared. Hiro looked like he just saw a ghost and Sandra didn¡¯t know how to answer. I had to hold myself back, or I would have slapped both of them. ¡°N¡­ No. I only got knocked out and received some minor bruises.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Hmm. And what did you learn from your fight?¡±(Me) ¡°That when you can control your mana and boost your speed, it can become a dangerous weapon.¡±(Sandra) It was more or less, what happened, but I actually hoped for something new, I didn¡¯t know about yet. Something, which you could only see when experiencing the attack yourself. It¡¯s not like I suddenly felt empathy, I just wanted to hear the details from the person who fought herself. ¡°Ok, good. Anything else?¡±(Me) ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I wasn¡¯t able to notice anything else. I couldn¡¯t even see how he boosted his speed to such an extent.¡±(Sandra) I let out an inner sigh. ¡°Not many were able to notice even that. You did well. As long as you¡¯re fine you can come and watch the rest together with us. Today¡¯s going to be special anyways.¡±(Me) ¡°You mean your fight against the winner?¡±(Sandra) ¡°So you already heard about it?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Sandra) ¡°Then I can skip the explanation. It¡¯s probably going to be a fight between Hayate and me anyways.¡±(Me) We put on the hoods and went to the arena. As always, I came a little bit late. When we arrived at the back entrance, we could already hear the announcing of the final. At least we still had some time, because Arthur had to give another speech in which he thanked everyone for coming, all the participants and congratulated the finalists, etc. ¡°Look who finally arrived. Luckily you didn¡¯t oversleep today right?¡±(Sam) Sam gave a sarcastic comment as soon as we arrived. I only gave an appropriate reply. ¡°Have you decided on your answer yet?¡±(Me) ¡°Grrr. I don¡¯t even have a choice.¡±(Sam) ¡°Well if you want the best for your people then no.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll sign whatever contract you have after the tournament.¡±(Sam) Two out of five. Not a bad start. Our discussion happened while Arthur gave his speech. I stopped listening after the first few minutes, so I had no idea when it would end. ¡°And with that let us enjoy this final round!¡±(Arthur) Followed by loud cheering of the crowd, his speech finally ended. He sat down with a smile and joined the talk. ¡°So you guys finally came to an agreement. Good.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Grrr.¡±(Sam) ¡°Don¡¯t be like that Sam. If you get to know him a little bit better, you¡¯ll understand that his character isn¡¯t that bad.¡±(Arthur) ¡°Don¡¯t worry he already knows me¡±, is what I wanted to say, but I decided otherwise. I had to focus on the last fight and didn¡¯t want to have to explain everything. It would be my last opportunity to see Hayate¡¯s fighting style and to come up with a strategy to go against it. The fight started like every other. First, the contestants got announced. Afterwards they went on stage and lastly the referee would start the fight. Everything went smoothly until the fight started. I already knew how Hayate¡¯s attack worked, but not to what an extent. Even though Lim, his opponent was a beastman, he seemed like he knew a lot about magic and could even cast some defensive barriers on himself. It wasn¡¯t on par with Sandra¡¯s barriers, but it should still be enough to defend against one of Hayate¡¯s attacks. All for nothing though. Hayate waited until his opponent finished. As if it wasn¡¯t enough disrespect, he only did an average warmup of stretching and the like, until the barriers were finished. ¡°Are you finished yet? Can I attack?¡±(Hayate) Hayate even asked if his opponent was prepared to receive his attack. It would drive every proud fighter crazy. However, Lim¡¯s anger didn¡¯t last for long. Hayate disappeared and reappeared at the other end of the arena. Everyone went crazy. Even Sam couldn¡¯t hold himself on his seat and stood up in disbelief. Arthur already gave up on the tournament. He probably was the only one except me, who remained seated. ¡°D¡­ Down. Lim won¡¯t be able to continue anymore. Winner Hayate!¡±(Referee) Now I had a problem. Hayate had another attack, which even I didn¡¯t see. Lim was down, but not even one of his barriers shattered. I needed to think of a way to defeat someone, I couldn¡¯t defend against. I didn¡¯t think it would be over in an instant. I gathered my thoughts and went over all kind of knowledge I had. Which magic would be the most effective? How should I dodge? What kind of attack should I use? Hayate didn¡¯t let me off for long. ¡°Come down here already. How long will you keep me waiting?¡±(Hayate) Let¡¯s stop thinking and just focus on winning. Chapter 16 Clash of two Gods The atmosphere in the stadium totally changed. The surprised crowd instantly emitted a vibe of excitement. I made a promise and I was ready to fulfil it. Hayate managed to win the tournament, so now it was my turn to fight him. ¡°Don¡¯t expect me to go easy on you.¡±(Me) I said and jumped down from the lounge. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want it, even if you were to go easy.¡±(Hayate) We stood face to face and I would soon have my first real fight against another god. I felt nervous extremely nervous. My reputation was on the line. I couldn¡¯t afford a loss. ¡°Do you want any restrictions?¡±(Me) ¡°Definitely not. I already told you not to go easy on me. Fighting at full strength is the best.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Just don¡¯t come crawling up to me later.¡±(Me) ¡°I could say the same to you.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Haha.¡±(Me) The referee was an experienced fighter and normally he would be on stage to watch over the match but he decided to stand back at a safe distance this time. He knew the high risk of being in the way and receiving an attack and stepped back. ¡°Are you ready?¡±(Referee) There was no need to answer that question. Hayate gathered his mana, while I went into my black form and the fight more or less already began before the referee could start it. It was pretty even. I had more mana, while he had limitless attack potential. It was obvious that no one of us wanted to make the first move. I was sure that aside from his strange attack, he also prepared a special defence. On the other hand, Hayate knew nothing about my fighting style or my heavy aura. ¡°If you don¡¯t come at me, I¡¯ll go first.¡±(Me) I haven¡¯t fought for real in a while and my fighting senses became a bit rusty. I knew that I couldn¡¯t win this with sheer strength alone, because he probably had more raw strength than me. I had to use my mana advantage. My plan was to exhaust him with smaller attacks and finish everything off with one final attack.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I leapt forward and used the easiest magic with the least mana consumption I knew of. The basic fireball. It wasn¡¯t a strong attack, but it was fast to cast and annoying to dodge. Moreover, I didn¡¯t only threw one, five were flying at him at once. Each of them came from another angle. He first jumped to his right to dodge three of them, ducked to avoid the fourth and blocked the last with his arms crossed. I knew he wouldn¡¯t show me his ace at the beginning so I choose a method that would definitely hit and deal some small damage. ¡°Nice attack.¡±(Hayate) ¡°This is only the beginning.¡±(Me) ¡°Right.¡±(Hayate) After my fireballs, we engaged into close combat. Hayate didn¡¯t give me any time to use magic and without the help of magic, I was at a clear disadvantage. I somehow managed to hold my ground though. Even if I was pushed back many times, I just created some distance between us and the fistfight began anew. Luckily, I only received some minor bruises out of that fight. ¡°This is boring.¡±(Hayate) We were already sweating, but our stamina wasn¡¯t even close to exhausted. ¡°Let¡¯s get serious now.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Fine. I had the last attack so now it¡¯s your turn.¡±(Me) I have seen his attacks from afar, but this was the first time I would get to see them up close. As always, he focused his mana in his legs. I came up with a stupid idea. If I succeeded, it would give me a huge advantage in this fight, but if I failed, I would receive one of his attacks without any defence. ¡°You should put up a barrier or something like that to defend.¡±(Hayate) ¡°No need for something like that.¡±(Me) ¡°Are you sure? No one ever managed to block or dodge my attack, you should think about it twice.¡±(Hayate) ¡°You shouldn¡¯t worry about your opponent.¡±(Me) I readied myself. I needed to be able to react at any time. One slight hesitation and I was done for. ¡°Hmpf.¡±(Hayate) He took a position as if he¡¯d start running soon. Then without any signal, he disappeared. As fast as I could react, which was almost at the same time, I used my magic. Everything around me started to slow down. It was extremely exhausting and I felt my mana draining at an astonishing rate, but all that mattered to me was that I succeeded. I was able to see his attack. It wasn¡¯t slow motion as I hoped it to be, but I could see everything. I watched him run at me and with a lot of effort; I jumped backwards, while twisting my body. Everything happened in an instance. Hayate disappeared and reappeared at the other end of the arena. Even though I dodged his attack, I couldn¡¯t balance myself and fell down. The whole crowd went crazy. In that split moment, it looked like he hit me, but after I stood up, everyone knew I somehow managed to dodge his almost perfect attack. ¡°Haha.¡±(Me) I couldn¡¯t hold back my excitement nor my laughter. ¡°You¡­¡± (Hayate) He was shocked. Well it was obvious that he would be. No one managed to even block his attack yet and it looked like I just easily dodged it. ¡°How did you do that?¡±(Hayate) ¡°It¡¯s called time magic.¡±(Me) ¡°What?¡±(Hayate) It was a fatal mistake to be confused in a fight of this extent. Normally I would take advantage of him letting down his guard, but I wanted to enjoy this fight, so I overlooked it. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be surprised about that.¡±(Me) I became extremely confident. I just saw everything of his attack. It¡¯s pattern, it¡¯s strengths it¡¯s weakness, etc. I thought, what if I try to copy it. I focused my mana in my legs. As soon as Hayate saw this, his eyes widened and he opened his mouth in disbelieve. ¡°Here I come.¡±(Me) Without thinking about it any further, I leapt forward with all my strength. The result; I totally missed him and crashed into the wall at the other end of the arena. The impact even destroyed some parts of it. ¡°Ouch. That was a stupid idea.¡±(Me) I more or less just blew away my advantage. While throwing some of the stones off my body, I stood up and readied myself again. I even took out a sword of my space inventory to make sure not to lose in close combat again. ¡°We can continue now.¡±(Me) Hayate needed a few seconds to give me his answer. ¡°Fuck this. I give up.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Eh?!¡±(Me) Chapter 17 Uniting ¡°Eh?!¡±(Me) I thought the real fun, or fight would just start, but he surrendered? My confusion was more than appropriate. I don¡¯t know why, but the crowd didn¡¯t seem that surprised. ¡°You heard right I give up.¡±(Hayate) ¡°I¡­ you¡­ eh?¡±(Me) I had no idea what to say in that kind of situation. I just blankly kept starring at my opponent. ¡°The win goes to the nightmare.¡±(Referee) I don¡¯t know if I was saved or just humiliated, but the referee ended the match as he always did; announcing the winner. With my head down a little, I had no other choice than to go back to my seat. Afterwards, there was another little show, which was similar to the opening ceremony as well as another damn long speech of Arthur. Unfortunately, I was not allowed, nor able to leave. I had to wait until the very end and together with the two kings and our retainers; we were the last group to leave the arena. ¡°Sandra go back with the others.¡±(Me) ¡°Hm?¡±(Sandra) ¡°We¡¯re waiting for someone.¡±(Hiro) We were at the back of the group and while Arthur chatted with Sam, I told Sandra to go back to the villa. At first, she didn¡¯t understand why we would stay, but Hiro just straight out told the truth of us waiting for someone. It was quite effective and without further questions, she left. ¡°Telling the truth turns out to be more convenient than telling lies.¡±(Me) ¡°Did you say something?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Ah. No. Nothing.¡±(Me) I said my thoughts aloud, which was a quite embarrassing. When the king¡¯s group was far away, we took our hoods down. ¡°You can come out.¡±(Hiro) ¡°So you knew I was there from the start?¡±(Hayate) Hayate stood behind the corner of a nearby house. After answering Hiro¡¯s call, he showed himself to us and we started a rather long talk. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have said so sooner? Now it¡¯s only embarrassing that I hid there.¡±(Hayate) ¡°At least the others didn¡¯t seem to have noticed you.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Guys, let¡¯s focus on the important parts.¡±(Me)Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°He¡¯s right.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yeah, yeah. I understand.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Why the fuck did you surrender?¡±(Me) ¡°Well I... what?¡±(Hayate) Hayate looked puzzled, while Hiro face palmed himself. ¡°I mean, it just started to become fun.¡±(Me) ¡°Yeah for you perhaps.¡±(Hayate) ¡°What do you mean?¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s not funny if someone can just leisurely copy your strongest attack.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Eh? So that was your strongest attack?¡±(Me) There were always some short sighs from Hiro. ¡°What did you expect?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Well I hoped for a special defence and another some more resistance, but I never thought of you surrendering.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?¡±(Hayate) ¡°What?¡±(Me) ¡°You¡¯re the fucking nightmare, I¡¯d obviously surrender. I just wanted to see you fighting.¡±(Hayate) ¡°H?? You didn¡¯t prepare anything?¡±(Me) ¡°No. I knew I¡¯d lose against you.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Why did you want to fight against me to begin with?¡±(Me) ¡°I already told you. I wanted to see how you fight.¡±(Hayate) ¡°But that¡¯s no fun at all.¡±(Me) ¡°Fun?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Guys!¡±(Hiro) Our small talk ended as soon as Hiro shouted. ¡°What is it?¡±(Me) ¡°Yeah. What do you want?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Sigh. Both of you are idiots. Can we please talk about important matters?¡±(Hiro) ¡°That is important.¡±(Me) ¡°Really? For whom?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Me obviously.¡±(Me) Hiro followed with his second face palm. ¡°Ok. Hayate.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yes?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Hikaru is a fighting maniac and a huge idiot.¡±(Hiro) ¡°What?¡±(Me) ¡°Ok.¡±(Hayate) ¡°You¡¯re fine with that explanation?¡±(Me) He only nodded. ¡°And Hikaru.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Ah¡­ Yes?¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t push your damn hopes on others.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Wait. What the¡­ ¡°Huh?!¡±(Hiro) Fuck, was what I wanted to say, but Hiro was already pissed. There was no need nor gain in going further. For now. ¡°Finally.¡±(Hiro) ¡°So?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Don¡¯t know Hiro what is that important?¡±(Me) ¡°You¡­¡±(Hiro) I didn¡¯t want to lead the conversation. The day had already been more than exhausting. ¡°Sigh. Fine. Hayate, you¡¯re a god right?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Well yeah. My surname is Beast.¡±(Hayate) He leisurely said that. Hiro¡¯s eyes popped out and I¡­ Well I expected it. After listening to him so far, he seemed like the careless type of person, or god. ¡°Hikaru¡¯s definitely Demon.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Is it that obvious?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Definitely.¡±(Hiro) They said it almost in perfect synchronisation. ¡°Well yeah. Hikaru is Demon and I am Human.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Did you already find Dragon?¡±(Hayate) ¡°You¡­¡±(Hiro) ¡°Did you already meet her?¡±(Me) ¡°Well not meet, but she wrote me lots of letters and yes I already saw her. To be more specific, I saw her with you so¡­¡±(Hayate) ¡°I knew it!¡±(Me) Hayate and Hiro both looked at me and I found myself in another embarrassing situation. ¡°Ah. Nothing.¡±(Me) ¡°Did you find him yet?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Yes. His name is Takeshi and he goes to the same school as Hikaru.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Good. Than all we are missing is Spirit right?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Yep. And no we don¡¯t.¡±(Me) ¡°What no you don¡¯t?¡±(Hayate) ¡°What would have been your next question?¡±(Me) ¡°Oh. So you have no idea how to find him?¡±(Hayte) ¡°No. We already had this conversation yesterday.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Ok¡­ Ahm¡­ What are we going to do now? Wait until our doom, search for Spirit? I honestly don¡¯t know.¡±(Hayate) ¡°I¡¯ll do the same as last time.¡±(Me) ¡°Which was? We can¡¯t read your mind.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Going back to school, taking an easy mission to go to the spirit continent and hope to get lucky.¡±(Me) Hiro did a third face palm. His forehead was already red from all of them. ¡°But your idea is really good. I¡¯ll note it for later.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Magic to read someone¡¯s mind.¡±(Me) I don¡¯t know if it was only imagination, but I heard a low ¡°what have I done¡± from Hiro. ¡°Sigh. And what about us?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yeah. What about us?¡±(Hayate) ¡°You¡¯re coming with me of course. Now that we are already four, it¡¯d be stupid to split up again.¡±(Me) ¡°Ah. Ok. Have you forgotten that you can only enter a human school when you are a student there?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Nope.¡±(Me) ¡°And you know that both of us are not?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yes.¡±(Me) ¡°So? How will you solve it?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I¡¯m just gonna ask Arthur.¡±(Me) ¡°And how will you explain? We are all gods and we need to stay together to beat the one who wants to destroy this world?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I¡¯ll think of something.¡±(Me) ¡°Fine. I give up. Getting through to your stubborn brain is impossible. I¡¯ll go with your plan. What about you Hayate?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I wanted to go with you anyways.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Then it¡¯s decided.¡±(Me) The day ended faster than I thought. Arthur and I parted ways with Sam. We had the same way, so our groups travelled together. On the way, I introduced Hayte to him. When I asked for Hiro and Hayate to come to Sonya academy as well, he just said yes. I thought of all kinds of stories, but he just accepted it. With everything set, we went back to Sonya city, where we parted with Arthur. Finally, everything was over and it looked like I could normally go to school again. Chapter 18 Midnight meeting Before arriving in Sonya city, I sent Sandra back to the black continent. I told her she should rest and report to the others, but the truth was if she came with us, she would be no more than a bother. I showed Hiro and Hayate a little bit around in Sonya city, before returning to the academy. They had to wait for a teacher to take the same test I did at the entrance of the school. I wasn¡¯t worried at all, after all the test was really easy. At least for me. My first and foremost destination was my room, or better, my bed. I was extremely tired of the past few days and instantly fell asleep. It was the first day of school week, but I didn¡¯t want to go to class. I probably wouldn¡¯t learn anything anyways. When I woke up, it was already dusk. Still half asleep and almost out of reflex; I left my room and went downstairs. My body automatically headed towards the park. The usual place where Takeshi and I sometimes met. I took my time while walking and only arrived when the moon was up. I sat down in the grass and waited. I was fully awake, but I still waited. I had no idea how long I needed to stay, nor why I should do so. I only had the feeling that I should wait there until something would happen. While I was bored, I thought about ways of using mind magic, or about the strange explosions. I came up with some ideas, but it was better not testing them at school, because they were merely ideas and I didn¡¯t know the effectiveness or range of destruction. Quite some time passed, while I quietly sat there. ¡°So you were already here?¡±(Hayate) Finally, something happened. I already got bored, because of waiting. My ideas where already as far as they could be thought without trying out anything and listening to the wind and other noises were only able to entertain me for a short time. ¡°What do you mean with already here?¡±(Me) ¡°After Hiro and I passed the stupid test, we were introduced to our classes. Hiro is in the same class as Dragon and after school they decided to meet here at midnight.¡±(Hayate) It is already midnight?! How much time did I waste here waiting?!The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°So where are the others?¡±(Me) ¡°You weren¡¯t in class today, so Takeshi said to split up and search for you, but I already gave up and went to the meeting point, which is here by the way.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Where did you search for me?¡±(Me) ¡°In your classroom.¡±(Hayate) ¡°When you knew I didn¡¯t attend today? Wait a second¡­ In which class are you?¡±(Me) ¡°2-C.¡±(Hayate) ¡°You know that¡¯s my class.¡±(Me) He just gave up before even trying. That¡¯s quite the motivation to find me. ¡°Well I found you so it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Where are the others?¡±(Me) ¡°Human went to your room, but he should soon be here and I have no idea where Dragon is.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Wanna try something in the meantime?¡±(Me) ¡°If it¡¯s magic or something like that, no thank you.¡±(Hayate) Instant denial. It depressed me a little bit. ¡°Come on. It isn¡¯t dangerous at all.¡±(Me) ¡°No.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Please.¡±(Me) ¡°No.¡±(Hayate) I bet Takeshi said some unnecessary things about my magic experiments. ¡°It seems Hayate found you already.¡±(Hiro) ¡°More or less.¡±(Me) Hiro was the third to arrive. ¡°Any idea where Takeshi went?¡±(Me) ¡°Nope. After he said let¡¯s split up, he disappeared. But it¡¯s almost midnight, so he should be here soon.¡±(Hiro) ¡°I hope so.¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t want to wait another five to six hours. ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡±(Takeshi) Shortly after we started talking about him, he jumped down from a nearby tree and we were finally complete. ¡°Now that we¡¯re all here let¡¯s discuss what to do now.¡±(Me) ¡°Actually we are still missing someone, but I told that person to come a bit late.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I thought it¡¯s only us four. Did you already find Spirit?¡±(Hayate) ¡°No. You¡¯ll see.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°If you say so.¡±(Hiro) ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°As far as I understood going to the Spirit continent and hope for the best. Right?¡±(Hayate) All eyes focused on me, because it was my idea to begin with. ¡°Plus taking an escort mission or something like that to have an excuse to leave school.¡±(Me) ¡°Yeah. I forgot.¡±(Hayate) ¡°Yes. It¡¯s the only thing we can do right now.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Ok.¡±(Takeshi) We discussed the main topic fast. My idea was accepted by the other three without any complaints, so we moved on to other things. ¡°I heard there was an explosion. What was that about?¡±(Takeshi) All eyes focused on me again. ¡°Can¡¯t you guys do something without me?¡±(Me) ¡°You said you¡¯ll look into it.¡±(Hiro) ¡°That¡¯s not really helpful.¡±(Me) ¡°But you did say so.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Sigh. I¡¯m still investigating, but I at least I know that it was more like parts of the wall were teleported away than an explosion where everything got destroys.¡±(Me) ¡°Teleported away?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°As I said it¡¯s only my theory. It¡¯s like they were taken away.¡±(Me) ¡°What about the explosion then?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Probably the rest of the wall crashed down, but I have no idea how it would be possible for the remaining stones to disappear into thin air after falling to the ground.¡±(Me) My explanation just confused them even more. ¡°I¡¯ll inform you as soon as I come up with a better explanation.¡±(Me) ¡°Ok. Is there anything else?¡±(Hiro) ¡°No. I don¡¯t think so.¡±(Me) ¡°Good. If we finished our talk, we can wait here now. She¡¯ll arrive soon.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I¡¯m not gonna wait another hour.¡±(Me) ¡°I really want to know now. Who are you talking about Dragon?¡±(Hayate) Takeshi seemed nervous and kept looking around, as if he was searching for something or someone. ¡°There she is.¡±(Takeshi) It was dark so the others didn¡¯t recognise the silhouette, but my trained eyes did. As soon as I saw her, I shot a questioning gaze at Takeshi. ¡°I hope you have a good explanation for this.¡±(Me) Takeshi could only sigh, while the other two didn¡¯t know what was going on, until she stood in front of us. ¡°I¡¯m sorry guys, I¡¯m late.¡±(Sakura) Chapter 19 Mission Spirit start ¡°I¡¯m sorry guys, I¡¯m late.¡±(Sakura) ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, you are Sakura of my class right?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Yes.¡±(Sakura) ¡°So? Care to explain why she¡¯s here?¡±(Hiro) All three of us were shooting a questioning gaze at Takeshi. ¡°Wait. Hear me out before you misunderstand this.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I know she¡¯s from a noble family, but we shouldn¡¯t involve bystanders.¡±(Me) ¡°This¡­ I know, but isn¡¯t it better to¡­¡± (Takeshi) ¡°In my opinion, no. But do what you want.¡±(Me) We just threw one incomplete sentence after another at each other. We understood it, because both of us more or less knew what the other one meant. The problem was, Hayate, Hiro and Sakura didn¡¯t understand anything of the nonsense we spouted out. ¡°Stop.¡±(Hiro) ¡°What is it?¡±(Me) ¡°Could you explain it so we understand it as well?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious enough?¡±(Me) ¡°No, not really.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Well. That idiot over there is trying or better is already involving Sakura in our plans. If I¡¯m not wrong he already told her almost everything.¡±(Me) ¡°Most of it, but¡­¡± (Takeshi) Sakura jumped in to explain the rest. ¡°He said it¡¯s up to you guys to decide if I should know about it or not.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Isn¡¯t it like already too late for that?¡±(Hayate) ¡°Takeshi also said that if you were to decide against it, Hikaru can use mind magic to erase that part of my memories.¡±(Sakura) ¡°That¡¯s¡­ Wait, how come you think that I can do something like that?¡±(Me) ¡°Didn¡¯t you say mind magic is something you will look into later? I know I¡¯m right in assuming you already have the theory down and also experimented with it.¡±(Takeshi) He isn¡¯t completely wrong. I just didn¡¯t test it out yet. I¡¯d need a test object, which is not myself. I have one in front of me right now, but if I make a single mistake, then¡­ it¡¯s better not to think about it. Let¡¯s just try it out, if I have to. ¡°Sigh. Yes I have something up my sleeve.¡±(Me)This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I knew it. I told you he is a magic maniac.¡±(Takeshi) Even though he said that to Sakura, as if it was a good thing, it isn¡¯t nice to call someone like that, but I let it slip, because it was partly true. ¡°Let¡¯s vote if two out of us three are against it, I will erase her mind, if not, we will include Sakura in our plans.¡±(Me) ¡°Hey, what¡¯s with me?¡±(Takeshi) My plan is to try out my magic, why should I include someone who will vote for her involvement. ¡°I think you have already done enough.¡±(Me) ¡°I vote for her involvement.¡±(Hayate) ¡°What?¡±(Me) ¡°Isn¡¯t it more fun with more people?¡±(Hayate) I forgot he¡¯s an idiot. ¡°I vote against it, so it comes down to Hiro.¡±(Me) Everyone was looking at him. ¡°Sigh. It¡¯s ok, I vote for her involvement as well.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡±(Takeshi) He was overjoyed. The reason was quite obvious. ¡°Damn it.¡±(Me) ¡°Did you say something?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°No. Never mind.¡±(Me) I didn¡¯t predict that outcome, but it was decided fairly, so I had to accept not being able to test out my mind magic yet. ¡°Fine. Fine. Takeshi you and Sakura will go and search for a fitting mission tomorrow.¡±(Me) ¡°Then it¡¯s decided. We will leave in two days.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Huh? Why two days?¡±(Me) ¡°Ah right, we didn¡¯t tell you yet.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Hahaha.¡±(Takeshi) It couldn¡¯t be good if Takeshi could laugh about it. ¡°What is it?¡±(Me) ¡°Nothing, just that a teacher called Armstrong came to our class and said that if you as long as you don¡¯t come to his special training tomorrow, he will not let you go on another mission.¡±(Hayate) My face became white, as soon as I heard Armstrong. Getting beaten up, was a memory; I wanted to forget as soon as possible. ¡°Did he say why?¡±(Me) ¡°Apparently he said you were missing a lot and that he wants you to reach a higher physical level.¡±(Hayate) I didn¡¯t want to think about that training. Even if my training was hell, it was better than his was. ¡°Ok. In two days at the gate. Good night.¡±(Takeshi) They left. Takeshi always escorted Sakura back to the girl¡¯s dormitory, that¡¯s why they went together. ¡°I have something to do. Good night.¡±(Hiro) He jumped into a tree and disappeared as well. ¡°We should go back to the dormitory to get some sleep.¡±(Hayate) I was still in a half dead state and didn¡¯t move. Even when he shook me, I didn¡¯t move. ¡°Hm? Ah. Good night.¡±(Hayate) Hayate left as well and I was alone again. Even magic couldn¡¯t save me from what awaited me. I bid farewell to every hope of escaping and prepared myself to face my doom. A brief overview of my day. After I woke up, I wanted to go back to sleep, but that damn William of my class, kept banging at my door and shouting until I stood up and beat him into the ground. I didn¡¯t even bother to go to the classroom and went straight to the training grounds. A smiling fox warmly welcomed me. Co-teacher Lidus awaited my arrival and showed me to the fields, where the devil himself was already waiting for me. ¡°Morning fresh meat.¡±(Armstrong) He didn¡¯t have to be that direct. ¡°Are you ready for your next lesson?¡±(Armstrong) I wanted to scream no, but it would only make things worse, so I went with a firm yes Sir. ¡°Do I receive a beating again?¡±(Me) ¡°Hahaha. What are you talking about?¡±(Armstrong) He looked really happy. However, that only made me more nervous. ¡°Lidus!¡±(Armstrong) ¡°Yes Sir!¡±(Lidus) Lidus was handing Armstrong a wooden stick and I understood what that meant. My face went white again. ¡°No magic, no dodging. Take hits like a man, alright?¡±(Armstrong) If I was fresh meat in the morning, I was dead meat in the afternoon. As soon as we hit noon, I tested out mind magic. To be more specific, I did so on myself. If I didn¡¯t curse my mind to not feel the pain any longer, I would have collapsed at least five times already. It was close to a miracle that I didn¡¯t faint from all the bruises and injuries. It was definitely not teaching. It was only a way for him to relieve his stress. At least the time flew by fast. Even when I was finished with training; physically and mentally as well, I didn¡¯t dare to stop casting mind magic on myself. As we said, we met each other at the gate. The statement: ?Which Troll managed to get to the school¡¯s gate¡± came from Takeshi, Hiro asked what happened, Hayate just laughed at me and Sakura kept quiet all the time. ¡°Shut up. Let¡¯s move out already.¡±(Me) ¡°Start Mission spirit.¡±(Hayate) After we asked Hayate what that was for, we left headed to the port to buy a boat and go to the continent of Spirits. Chapter 20 Why me? Our boat was a small sailing ship, which we could also row in the worst case of no wind. As soon as we bought it from a merchant, we immediately boarded it and set sails. We were asked if we weren¡¯t too young for sailing, but as soon as we showed him the gold coins, he shut up and sold it to us. ¡°Let¡¯s split navigating in day and night shifts. I¡¯ll take the first day shift.¡±(Takeshi) Because of the voting system I used once, Takeshi and Sakura wanted to use it for every single decision. No one had any objectives against the shifts. No one except me. The others just ignored me though. The worst thing of it was that I got the first night shift. Out of the two and a half day intended travel time, Takeshi had the first day shift, I had the first night shift, Hiro second day, Hayate second night and Takeshi third day. Something definitely went wrong when distributing them. ¡°Come on. What¡¯s so bad about the sea?¡±(Hayate) ¡°I nearly died on the sea, ok.¡±(Me) ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry, everything will run smoothly this time.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°That¡¯s what it wants you to think. Then you let your guard down and it¡¯s too late.¡±(Me) ¡°Oh, shut up will you?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Those are justified thoughts.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh.¡±(Takeshi) Takeshi showed me the cold shoulder and turned to Sakura. She was still completely new to those conversations. She kept quiet in the back. At least we had one person who didn¡¯t argue against me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±(Sakura) When even she said something like that, I had no chance to explain anything. I sat down in a corner of the deck, where I wouldn¡¯t hinder anyone. It was extremely hot. Blue sky, the sun was shining down, no clouds far and wide. The nice weather and the silent sea cooled me down a bit and I lied down for the rest of the day to get some sleep; otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stay awake during my shift. Even though I was lying on wood, I slept comfortably. Everything was fine, until Takeshi woke me up for my turn. Night shifts were extremely boring, because everyone else was asleep.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. When I opened my eyes, I could only see water. All around us only water. Well I could also see the sky and the moon, but there was no civilization, no islands, nothing but water. ¡°Just go straight ahead and we are on course.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh. Good night.¡±(Takeshi) After a few minutes, Takeshi fell asleep and I was the only one left awake. Luckily, the sea was still quiet. Even the small waves made me somewhat nervous. I kept telling myself just to go straight ahead and thought of nothing else. Because I focused on diverting my mind from the sea, I didn¡¯t notice small clouds showing up one after another. It wasn¡¯t that bad at the beginning, but after a while, they got bigger and bigger. The sky became completely black. I only realized it when it started raining heavily, which was already too late. The small to normal sized waves, became big ones, which could almost destroy our small ship. The poor weather and the turbulent sea managed to wake the others. ¡°What the¡­¡± (Takeshi) ¡°I told you the sea hates me.¡±(Me) ¡°This has nothing to do with that.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Guys. Focus on getting us out of here!¡±(Sakura) This was no time for fun or anything alike. The most important thing was to get all of us out alive. The ship was already starting to tear apart because of the strength of those huge waves. ¡°I will hold it together, Hiro will support the exterior and Takeshi will take the steering wheel.¡±(Me) ¡°Hayate, we¡¯ll help where they need us.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Yes.¡±(Hayate) I used mana to form two hands, which grabbed the two sides of the ship and held it together. The situation looked good and the ship was stabilized, but it was extremely exhausting and I couldn¡¯t hold out like that for too long. ¡°Looks good, just don¡¯t give in!¡±(Takeshi) ¡°You really are a magic maniac.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Huh?¡±(Me) ¡°As if that is anything a normal person could come up with.¡±(Sakura) ¡°It¡¯s only controlling some mana.¡±(Me) ¡°Magic is also about controlling mana you know.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Shut up and¡­¡± (Me) A wave was hitting us from the left side and the ship was about to keel over. I couldn¡¯t move from my place or the ship would get wrecked. Luckily, Hayate reacted quickly and jumped out of the boat to support the other side. ¡°Whatever you¡¯re doing it¡¯s working.¡±(Takeshi) Sakura was going to the side Hayate was to look if he was ok. ¡°What?!He¡¯s standing on water.¡±(Sakura) ¡°He¡¯s probably focusing mana under his feet.¡±(Me) She looked another time, this time a little bit closer. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±(Sakura) The ship stabilized again and Hayate jumped back in. ¡°It is possible to do something like that with only man?¡±(Sakura) ¡°You¡¯d be surprised what else you can do with mana alone.¡±(Me) ¡°Hm.¡±(Sakura) ¡°Ah guys, I really don¡¯t want to interrupt you, but everyone hold on tight!¡±(Takeshi) Everyone stopped talking and looked to the front. ¡°Fuck.¡±(Hiro) A wave, bigger than all the others came at us from up front. Everyone ran to a side of the ship and held on. The wave hit us with all its momentum, but didn¡¯t stop, we weren¡¯t even a hindrance to it. I was swirled around by all the water masses. First, I lost sense of direction. Afterwards, I lost my breath and lastly I lost my consciousness. The last thoughts I had before I passed out were: ¡°Why always me?¡±. ¡­ Even if the sea hated me, it would always safely send me to a coast. Not the designated coast though. The next thing I remembered was drawing for breath and choking out some water. I sat up and opened my eyes. I found myself on a beach and when I looked around a bit, the others were lying next to me. Everyone was unconscious, but we all lied in a perfect line next to each other. The boat probably were destroyed or were washed somewhere else, because not even some parts of wood remained. With us. We stranded on an unknown island and I had a strange feeling about it. Chapter 21 Unique Island Something about that island was definitely not right. Out of curiosity, I tried to use my teleportation stone, but I failed. It felt like the island was draining my mana and because I wasn¡¯t able to adapt to it, I had the wrong mana output and failed on almost every other magic I attempted too. ¡°Cough. Cough.¡±(Takeshi) The second one to wake up was none other than Takeshi. Watching him choke out water was unsightly. I waited until he finished. ¡°Wha¡­ Where are we?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I have no idea.¡±(Me) ¡°Probably not the spirit¡¯s continent.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°No.¡±(Me) ¡°Sigh.¡±(Takeshi) He needed a short break to catch his breath. ¡°What I can tell you though, is that this island is really strange.¡±(Me) ¡°Huh? Why so?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I feel like it is draining my mana.¡±(Me) ¡°Wow, you¡¯re right. Haha. I can¡¯t focus at all.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°I can use some smaller types of magic, but I probably won¡¯t be able to get anything serious out.¡±(Me) Takeshi too, looked around to check our situation. ¡°Hmm. Let¡¯s wake the others first.¡±(Takeshi) It took some time to wake the others, without the usage of magic. I wanted to wake Hiro by kicking him, but Takeshi stopped me and told me to watch from the side. I don¡¯t know how long it took him, but it felt like an eternity until everyone was more or less awake. In my opinion, my way of waking them would have been a lot more efficient. As soon as they finished choking water too, the others looked around and realised our situation as well. Sakura panicked a bit at the beginning. Due to her mana draining, she felt extremely weak and couldn¡¯t even stand up properly. Takeshi comforted her and she calmed down a bit.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°We should go exploring as soon as possible.¡±(Hiro) ¡°It would be the best thing to do right now, but I think it¡¯s better for Sakura to wait here.¡±(Hayate) ¡°I told you she¡¯d be a nuisance.¡±(Me) My comment was unnecessary and I received one disgusting look from every person present. ¡°I¡¯ll wait here with her.¡±(Takeshi) It was obvious that he¡¯d play the hero, as long as Sakura was involved. ¡°Ok, then I¡¯ll go with Hayate and Hikaru can go alone.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Wait what?¡±(Me) Everyone agreed and no one was interested in my opinion. As always. I feel like those decisions we made were not democratic ones. ¡°Fine.¡±(Me) I had nothing to fear, while the other two could come across some problems when going alone. It was the most rational decision, so I was fine with it. ¡°We¡¯ll take the beach, you get that spooky jungle.¡±(Hayate) ¡°I¡­ Sigh. I¡¯ll get you back for all of this later. Just wait.¡±(Me) ¡°Haha.¡±(Hayate) I would have only wasted my breath by arguing with them. The two of them started going right, while I went to the forest. We decided to be back before it gets dark. Takeshi and Sakura would wait for us to return. In worst case, Takeshi would be able to hold out until one of us returns. From afar, the trees looked like normal trees, but when I stood in front of them, they seemed a lot bigger than normal ones. They also gave an intimidating pressure. I didn¡¯t care though. ¡°Sigh. Let¡¯s see what surprises you have for me.¡±(Me) I entered the forest. In order not to get lost, I sometimes put my mark on some of the trees. Rune magic had many positive aspects if used correctly. I could roughly feel where I put my marks down, so I more or less knew how to go straight ahead, without getting lost. I noticed the next strange thing, as soon as I entered the forest. There were no sounds. ¡°Hello.¡±(Me) I checked if this was some kind of magic, but it seemed like there was just nothing that would make any sound. So no animals and no wind. Without a certain goal in mind, I left quite a distance behind me. Soon, I came to realise something. That island was extremely huge. I have wandered without a break and I felt like I haven¡¯t even seen half of it. I moved slower than normal, because the mana draining feeling was exhausting and it felt like I was burning twice the amount of stamina, but I still moved fast. ¡°Finally. Rocks!¡±(Me) I finally caught a glimpse of something else except trees and plants. I could see a big mountain range right in front of me. I didn¡¯t have any problems climbing up. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to utilize any magic with the element of wind, so it took more than just a few jumps. I had to actually climb up. The first thing I noticed while climbing up was my mana slowly stabilizing. I felt full of energy as soon as I reached the top. ¡°This¡­¡± (Me) When I looked down from the mountain range and saw what unfolded in front of me I couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. In front of me, death could be felt and seen everywhere. Burnt down trees, skeletons of animals and grey earth. Even when I focused all of my senses to their fullest capacities, I couldn¡¯t feel any remaining life. I marked the top of the mountain range I was at and jumped down from it. Coming down was an easier feat than going up. Perhaps, because I could support myself with wind magic again. I kept going forward for quite some time. ¡°This island is surely strange.¡±(Me) I was alone and the habit of talking to myself unfolded itself again. However, it was a unique island. My mana was drained outside of the mountain range, but I had no idea where it actually went. It felt like it was flowing to the centre of the island, but this was a dead land, so where did it go? I don¡¯t know how much time passed, but it was still day, or at least the sun was still up, until I came across it. ¡°First a mana draining forest, followed by a wasteland. What now? A house full of ghosts?¡±(Me) In the middle of the wasteland stood a single building. Chapter 22 Invader ¡°What should I think of this? A single house in the middle of this huge island.¡±(Me) It was hard to believe if I¡¯d ever want to tell someone about it. At the same time, it looked funny. Like a single tree in the middle of a huge field, just that there was no field, but only wasteland and the tree was an old house. Without further thoughts, I opened the door of the ghost house. It seemed old and it even made a horrifying creak when I moved the door. ¡°Sigh. Obviously even the furniture is completely rundown.¡±(Me) The first thing I noticed was the furniture in a room that looked like an entrance hall. When I saw it, I thought that it was close to a miracle that the house itself still stood and hadn¡¯t collapsed yet. ¡°Hello? Is someone at home? I¡¯m coming in now.¡±(Me) I waited a short moment for some kind of reply. There was none. Well, I didn¡¯t think anyone would still be there anyways. I finally entered and as soon as I did, the door closed itself behind me. ¡°Hm? Is this some kind of magic?¡±(Me) A normal person would have freaked out already, but I had nothing to fear, so I could still think rationally. It was dark and hard to see right after the light disappeared. I waited until my eyes had adjusted to the darkness and started to search the house afterwards. The doors were made out of wood and some of them were destroyed, while some others remained in a rather good shape. I boldly entered some rooms, but everywhere most of the things were either destroyed or damaged to an extent were identifying them were impossible. Sometimes, I was able to recognise a wardrobe, a bed or some basic furniture, but everything else was impossible. I took my time in the first two rooms, in order to thoroughly search for anything still intact and useful, but it was a wasted effort. The house was bigger than expected. In one of the rooms, I found a staircase leading upwards and there was another one going down.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Should I go up or down?¡±(Me) I went upstairs and skimmed through everything one the first floor. It was no good. It was the same situation, wherever I went. After I went up, I took the stairs downwards. ¡°Sigh. More destroyed rooms.¡±(Me) The only difference was that I found something similar to a bookshelf in one of the rooms, but obviously, there were no books. I was a little bit depressed after I went back to the basement. I could sigh as much as I wanted, it wouldn¡¯t help in my situation. From the staircase room in a corner I suddenly heard the creaking of the front door. I knew it was none of us who came this far, so it had to be a stranger who entered as well. ¡°Whoever broke into my house, come out and show yourself!¡±(?) After the door was opened, I heard the voice of a young girl. It was hard to tell the age just based on her voice, but she couldn¡¯t be over ten years old. I headed to the entrance hall to see the owner of the voice. Black? I just went through the remains of a door and it happened in less than a second. I only saw some of her hairs and she was already on my back, holding her nails against my neck. ¡°Identify yourself.¡±(?) She ordered me in a monotonous voice. I was neither surprised nor scarred. I knew, either she was extremely fast or it was some kind of unknown magic. I have already experienced both, so I calmly answered her. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you introduce yourself, before asking for another¡¯s name?¡±(Me) ¡°Shut up. I¡¯m the one asking the questions.¡±(?) I could stay calm, because in the time we talked, I created a small mana barrier over my neck. Even if she tried to stab down, I wouldn¡¯t receive any wound. ¡°I know it¡¯s not gentleman like to say this, but you reek of blood.¡±(Me) ¡°That¡¯s none of your concern.¡±(?) She tried her best to talk without emotions, but unfortunately, we were the same type of people. It was impossible for us to hold back our excitement. She knew I had something up my sleeve and would have loved to stab me to see what it was. I only wondered why she didn¡¯t. ¡°Let¡¯s start over. First put your nails away from my neck please.¡±(Me) ¡°Why should I?¡±(?) It was a justified question, which I wasn¡¯t able to answer. ¡°If you move one inch, I will kill you.¡±(?) I really wanted to see her trying to, but I did as she said and didn¡¯t move. ¡°What is your motive for coming here?¡±(?) ¡°Wasn¡¯t it just my name a few moments ago?¡±(Me) Every time I gave an answer that didn¡¯t satisfy her, she¡¯d put her nails closer to my neck. ¡°I want to know why you¡¯re here.¡±(?) ¡°Would you believe me if I tell you I stranded?¡±(Me) ¡°This¡­¡±(?) She stopped speaking as soon as we heard footsteps coming closer to the house. ¡°Fire already caught up?¡±(?) What a strange name? ¡°Young miss, can¡¯t you at least wait for me, before checking on invaders? If something were to happen to you, I wouldn¡¯t be able to explain to your father.¡±(Fire) He sounded like an adult, not too old, but probably somewhere in his thirties. ¡°Tsk.¡±(?) The young miss just clicked her tongue. Even though her butler seemed like he was caring for her, she answered so undisciplined. The butler finally was in sight. When I saw the one named Fire, my mind went blank. I started thinking at an extremely high speed. The memories of my past were displayed right before my eyes and I remembered many things. No way. ¡°Can I ask you something?¡±(Me) ¡°Shut up.¡±(?) ¡°Just per chance. Is your name Lucy?¡±(Me) As soon as I said those words, I could feel her body shaking. ¡°How do you know that? Answer me!¡±(Lucy) ¡°Eh?!(Me) Chapter 23 Against the rules ¡°Answer me! How do you know my name?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Hey calm down first.¡±(Me) ¡°Shut up.¡±(Lucy) She raised her hand and was about to stab down. ¡°Young miss. Calm down.¡±(Fire) Luckily, that shook her up a bit and she put her hand away from my neck. ¡°Why do you save him? He¡¯s an intruder to our house.¡±(Lucy) ¡°It¡¯s not really a house anymore. It¡¯s more of a ruin.¡±(Me) I accidently said that out loud, which angered her even further. ¡°See, he even insults us.¡±(Lucy) ¡°Young miss. Listen to me¡­¡±(Fire) She was flustered by the demon¡¯s behaviour. ¡°In all those years you have never betrayed me, but now because of one single invader you¡­¡±(Lucy) ¡°You should listen to him first before jumping to conclusions.¡±(Me) ¡°What do you know?¡±(Lucy) ¡°More than you think.¡±(Me) ¡°Shut up. You¡¯re starting to get on my nerves.¡±(Lucy) ¡°Young miss, listen to¡­¡±(Fire) ¡°You shut up as well.¡±(Lucy) The situation went out of control a bit, so I had to do something against it. ¡°Did father spoil her too much?¡±(Me) Both of them went quiet and waited for the other to say something. ¡°Hm?¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s actually the opposite.¡±(Fire) Lucy was still confused about why Fire and I seemed so friendly, but at least she listened to us now without interrupting. ¡°What do you mean?¡±(Me)Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°The master left one year after you leaving the young miss behind.¡±(Fire) ¡°Father did?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Fire) ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s the same person we are talking about?¡±(Me) Something was wrong with his statement. Father wasn¡¯t a cold-hearted person and he would definitely not leave his one year old daughter behind. ¡°Yes.¡±(Fire) ¡°Could anyone tell me what¡¯s going on?¡±(Lucy) She got too impatient. At least, she was less aggressive. That didn¡¯t mean she let me go though. ¡°Ah. Right. Are you gonna tell her or should I?¡±(Me) ¡°I will adjust to what the young master wants.¡±(Fire) ¡°Fine. Lucy let go of me now. I need to tell you something.¡±(Me) ¡°Why should I?¡±(Lucy) I was relieved, because it sounded more of a childish reply than that of an enemy. ¡°Cause your big brother is telling you to do so.¡±(Me) I got no reply. I looked at Fire, who replied to me with a forced smile. ¡°Hahahaha. That¡¯s a stupid lie.¡±(Lucy) ¡°What stupid lie? I¡¯m serious.¡±(Me) ¡°Gods cannot have siblings.¡±(Lucy) Ah right I forgot there was a saying like that. ¡°Seriously. Why is every of you so sure that we cannot have siblings, I mean I am right before you.¡±(Me) ¡°Young master it¡¯s not like they can¡¯t have them it is more like every time a new child is born, the oldest child of the family has to die, so the Masters and Mistresses refrain from getting more than one child.¡±(Fire) It was the first time I heard a more detailed explanation about that stupid rule. ¡°Has to die?¡±(Me) ¡°It¡¯s like an event set by nature. Either in an accident or someone will kill the oldest child.¡±(Fire) ¡°Yes and my brother died the day I was born.¡±(Lucy) ¡°More like you killed him.¡±(Me) ¡°Again. Who are you and why do you know so much?¡±(Lucy) She got serious again. Some things just slipped out of my mouth. ¡°My name is Hikaru and I am part of the Demon family.¡±(Me) ¡°And I already said that¡¯s a lie.¡±(Lucy) ¡°Well. It is actually not a lie young miss.¡±(Fire) I finally got Fire¡¯s support. ¡°H?¡­ Bu¡­¡±(Lucy) I was surprised at how fast she believed his words. ¡°He is certainly of the Demon family and you are as well. I can verify that.¡±(Fire) ¡°But what about the rule?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Even Master couldn¡¯t explain it. He thought that the young master would die somewhere on the sea.¡±(Fire) Perhaps he was more cold-hearted than what I remembered him to be. Well. I actually almost died. ¡°So do you believe me now?¡±(Me) ¡°No.¡±(Lucy) ¡°Hu?! But¡­¡±(Me) ¡°But I trust Fire and know that he will not lie to me.¡±(Lucy) It¡¯s the same, isn¡¯t it? ¡°Sigh. Can you let go of me now?¡±(Me) She finally let go of me and I was able to see her properly for the first time. She had long blond hair, which went to around her waist. Even if she looked small and fragile, I knew her body resembled that of a fierce beast. ¡°Are you that afraid of almost dying again?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Not really. I have small barriers around my neck, so you won¡¯t be able to hurt me anyways.¡±(Me) ¡°I can nullify magic though?¡±(Lucy) My mind worked at max speed again after hearing the words nullifying magic. I failed to learn that magic a lot of times in the past, but I saw some hope again. ¡°You¡¯ll have to teach me later.¡±(Me) ¡°Why later? I can teach you now.¡±(Lucy) She seemed really excited as soon as I asked her to help me. ¡°I want to know what happened here first.¡±(Me) ¡°I¡­ This¡­¡±(Lucy) I don¡¯t know why, but as soon as I asked, Lucy looked really sad and depressed. ¡°More important is you said something about every one of us before?¡±(Fire) He saved her from explaining for the time being, with that reminder. On the other hand, I knew that it had something to do with her for sure because of that. ¡°Ah. I forgot. I came here with four others. Hopefully they don¡¯t meet the other demons working here, because we are on bad terms with the demon continent at the moment.¡±(Me) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we two are the only ones remaining.¡±(Fire) ¡°Eh?!¡±(Me) He just leisurely said that. Meanwhile Lucy hid behind him, so I couldn¡¯t ask her as well. I was interested in what happened, but it looked like it was better to wait a little bit before asking about that as well. ¡°As long as they don¡¯t destroy anything it¡¯s fine.¡±(Fire) ¡°They are not that kind of people.¡±(Me) ¡°Then it¡¯s fine.¡±(Fire) ¡°I will return to them and will come back with them, if that¡¯s fine.¡±(Me) ¡°If they are the young master¡¯s friends we will warmly welcome them, right young miss?¡±(Fire) Like a shy little kid, she just nodded from behind him. ¡°While you are away, we will prepare the mansion. When everything has cooled down, we can have a talk afterwards.¡±(Fire) It was a good idea and the best outcome for all of us. ¡°Then I¡¯ll be going now.¡±(Me) Even though I just returned home after such a long time, I had to wait a little time longer to be able to enjoy it. Chapter 24 No surprises anymore? After crossing the field filled with death, I easily jumped up the mountain range. As soon as I went down to the forest, I could feel my mana being stolen from me again. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but I had to bear with it. I just followed all the marks I had previously set up, to navigate back to our meeting point without any further problems. Everyone was already present when I arrived, which was convenient for me, because I could talk to them all at once. ¡°Guys. Hikaru is back.¡±(Hiro) It looked like the others were sleeping and were just waking up. I was quite puzzled about it, but it was more important to get them to the middle of the island first and get them out of this exhausting beach and forest. ¡°Yo. I¡¯m back. What did I miss?¡±(Me) ¡°Not much. We didn¡¯t find anything at the beach. Did you have more luck than us?¡±(Hiro) ¡°I might have found something.¡±(Me) Hiro was the only one interested in what I found. The others were still half-asleep and probably didn¡¯t listen to our conversation. They had no idea what was awaiting them. I waited for all of them to listen to me before I continued. ¡°I found a rundown house in the middle of this island.¡±(Me) Everyone made big eyes when they heard about the house. ¡°Moreover, I somehow met the owner of that house.¡±(Me) It felt like they were moving closer to me to be sure that they had heard correct. ¡°Don¡¯t be so dramatic. Tell us more about it.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°On the way there.¡±(Me) ¡°Ugh.¡±(Takeshi) We had to walk slowly through the forest, because of Sakura. If we didn¡¯t make enough breaks, someone would have to carry her and I except for me, no one would be able to do so, plus I didn¡¯t want to so we had to go at a slow pace. ¡°So, why were all of you sleeping at the beach? Were you that exhausted?¡±(Me) ¡°You haven¡¯t realised it yet?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°What?¡±(Me) ¡°Dragon¡¯s talking about the sun.¡±(Hayate) ¡°What about it?¡±(Me) I looked up and tried to think about what they wanted to tell me.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°It has been at the exact same point since we arrived. It is neither rising nor sinking.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°You mean¡­¡±(Me) ¡°We have no idea how much time is passing, nor do we know if it is day or night.¡±(Takeshi) ¡°It is surely a strange island.¡±(Hayate) We soon arrived the mountain range. I checked out the sun again and it was true. There were no movements at all. ¡°Ah. Guys, before we go up there I have to warn you.¡±(Me) ¡°About what?¡±(Sakura) Her voice was extremely weak. I almost overheard her. ¡°First of all, I will not be carrying Sakura up there.¡±(Me) Even though I received one angry and three that was unnecessary stares, it had to be said, or the task would have been passed down to me. ¡°Also. Don¡¯t be too surprised when you see what lies on the other side of this.¡±(Me) I was putting my hand on the first rock when I finished my sentence. In the next moment, I started climbing up. ¡°What are you waiting for?¡±(Me) I was the first to arrive at the top. Followed by Hiro and Hayate. ¡°Hey my mana isn¡¯t getting drained anymore.¡±(Hiro) ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±(Hayate) Takeshi and Sakura were the last, because Takeshi had to support her, or she wouldn¡¯t be able to climb up. All of them were still busy checking on their mana and no one looked at the other side yet. ¡°What the¡­¡± (Takeshi) Takeshi was the first one to check out the other side, after taking a short break. The others just followed with similar reactions. I warned you. ¡°Is there anything else as, ahm¡­ strange as this?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Welcome to my home, I¡¯d say.¡±(Me) Mana flowed normally again, so jumping down was no problem at all. I didn¡¯t wait for any reply and just went ahead. ¡°Wait. What do you mean your home?¡±(Hiro) Hiro was the first to catch up and asked me right away. ¡°As I said this is my home island. I was born and raised here.¡±(Me) His face went blank at my answer. ¡°But it hadn¡¯t always been like this.¡±(Me) ¡°So you are the owner of the house you were talking about?¡±(Hiro) ¡°My family is and at the moment my little sister is the owner.¡±(Me) Perhaps it was a bit too much at once. As soon as he realised what I just said he stopped and looked at thin air. It was as if he was in trance or something like that. ¡°Hey. You okay?¡±(Me) ¡°W¡­We should wait for the others.¡±(Hiro) The two of us already went ahead quite the distance, if we didn¡¯t wait, the others wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up to us anymore. ¡°Good idea.¡±(Me) After waiting for everyone, I told the others the same story I told Hiro. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with them?¡±(Sakura) ¡°Hm? Didn¡¯t Takeshi tell you?¡±(Me) ¡°About what? Ah. Right, isn¡¯t there some kind of rule that lets the gods have no siblings¡­¡± (Sakura) I had to wait some time before all of them came back to reality. ¡°After today, I think there is nothing that will surprise me anymore.¡±(Takeshi) We finally reached the old house. After knocking once, the door opened and we entered. ¡°Welcome to this modest home. Please feel free to ask me if you need anything.¡±(Fire) It was a welcome befitting of a butler. ¡°Big brother!¡±(Lucy) That was something I hadn¡¯t predicted at all. Like a normal little girl waiting for her brother to return, she ran to me wanting a hug. I wasn¡¯t the only one with a horrified expression. All my companions were shocked once again. ¡°Wha¡­ Who are you and what did you do to my sister?¡±(Me) She stopped right in front of me. ¡°Eh? What may you be talking about?¡±(Lucy) She was trying to force a smile and it looked horrifying. ¡°Just stop that. What has gotten into you?¡±(Me) ¡°I am trying to open up to my big brother and act nice in front of his friends.¡±(Lucy) ¡°Who told you to do crap like that?¡±(Me) She pointed at Fire. ¡°Everyone may make mistakes sometimes.¡±(Fire) ¡°So I can behave like normal?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Yes. Please.¡±(Me) Her smile made a 180 degree turn. She emitted an intimidating aura and looked pissed. ¡°If any of you dare to destroy anything in here, I¡¯ll fucking kill him or her.¡±(Lucy) Takeshi, Hayate and Hiro still stood, but Sakura fell unconscious. ¡°It¡¯s better if you take them to a room where they can use a bed. They have been through a lot today.¡±(Me) Fire nodded and my companions followed him. Obviously, Takeshi was carrying Sakura. ¡°Nothing will surprise you anymore?¡±(Me) I whispered to Takeshi when he passed me. ¡°I said after today.¡±(Takeshi) They left the hall and went somewhere downstairs. Lucy and I were the only ones remaining. ¡°So, will you tell me what happened here now?¡±(Me) She looked shaken once again as soon as I brought the issue up, but this time she answered with a small nod. ¡°I¡¯ll talk; just don¡¯t be mad at me.¡±(Lucy) ¡°Sigh. I promise I won''t be mad at you.¡±(Me) Chapter 25 The past She looked at me with big eyes. I had to admit that she looked somewhat cute. It didn¡¯t matter though. ¡°If possible, I¡¯d like you to start from the beginning. So from around where I left the island.¡±(Me) ¡°Like I know when that was?¡±(Lucy) I forgot that not everyone was the same as me. It would certainly take some time until she was able to remember something. ¡°Then let¡¯s start with what you remember.¡±(Me) ¡°Ever since I can think there was only father, the four demon servants and this island. You were the first people to actually come here.¡±(Lucy) I was there too for a short time before though. ¡°I don¡¯t remember much about father, because he left after a few months. Fire and the others raised me together until two years ago.¡±(Lucy) I wanted to scream out ¡°Until two years ago, what happened?¡±, but she was already having a hard time just talking about that. She would eventually continue on her own, so I kept quiet and listened to her. ¡°They raised me like they would raise a normal demon. Teaching me magic at the same time I learned walking, telling me about all sorts of important things, so I won¡¯t have a hard time after leaving this island one day. Also there is the pride of demons, they imprinted the thought of me never lowering myself to others and much more they taught me.¡±(Lucy) I was surprised to hear about the pride of demons, because every race I came across had a certain amount of pride. Perhaps it was something special. I had only met with a handful of demons, but those didn¡¯t look all that prideful to me. ¡°As I said until two years ago, they were four. I don¡¯t know what exactly happened and even though Fire always told me it wasn¡¯t my fault, I definitely did something. I mean three of them vanished without saying anything, while the whole inner island became what it looks like now¡­and¡­¡±(Lucy) I didn¡¯t expect her to become so emotional and start crying in front of me like that. I had a vague idea of what exactly happened, so I was satisfied. After she finished crying, she instantly fell asleep. I didn¡¯t know what to do. I had no idea, where Fire was, nor where I could lie her down. In the end, I created a stone bed and put her on it. The creation destroyed some parts of the floor of the house, but it was mine anyways.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Hopefully Fire will tell me the rest of the story. It would be bad if something were to happen to you. I still need you, you know.¡±(Me) It¡¯s not like my opinion changed. I would never help someone else, except it would benefit me in some way. That thought even applied for my own sister. ¡°The more loyal fighters I have on my side the better are my chances of winning.¡±(Me) I don¡¯t know when, but I slowly started to see the whole future enemy thing as some kind of game. It was the first time I was doing that kind of thing, but it was certainly not the last. It was time to train and improve my own skills as well as gather as many allies as possible. All of this only to be able to fight on even grounds later on. I despised losing, so I was extra careful in my preparations to win for sure. ¡°What should I do now? Lucy fell asleep and the others are probably resting.¡±(Me) I was standing in the middle of the hall and was deep in thoughts. I lowered my guard to an extent that I didn¡¯t pay attention to my surroundings. ¡°Perhaps I can help the young master in that matter.¡±(Fire) He came out of nowhere. Perhaps he just went up to me, I didn¡¯t know. ¡°I would have come to you eventually. I want to know about what happened since I left you. Lucy vaguely told me what happened.¡±(Me) ¡°It is better not to talk about it here.¡±(Fire) I followed Fire downstairs. I have already checked everything down there. Moreover, I know most of the interior from when I still lived there. Nothing special should be in the cellar, but Fire was going there. ¡°Where are we going?¡±(Me) ¡°You see, while you were gone¡­ no even before that, while you were still with, us the master did some research about the true nature of gods.¡±(Fire) ¡°What do you¡­¡± (Me) Before I finished my sentence, Fire pressed some stone and some parts of the wall started moving. After waiting a few seconds, a passage was visible and Fire walked into it. I had no idea we had something like that. I just followed behind him. ¡°We have arrived. Even though it now looks like this, this was once the master¡¯s research room.¡±(Fire) Even though it was even further down, even this room was completely wretched. ¡°What happened here?¡±(Me) ¡°As I said before, a year after you left, your father left as well. He told me to give you a certain message as soon as you come back to this island.¡±(Fire) He predicted my return? There¡¯s no way that he did that. It was probably only a guess. He probably had other ways to send me his message. ¡°Gather the other gods and prepare for an enemy you won¡¯t be able to defeat on your own.¡±(Fire) ¡°That was¡­¡±(Me) He only made a pause and continued. ¡°He also said something about a weapon, but I have no idea what he could have meant with that or where it could be located.¡±(Fire) ¡°No way¡­¡±(Me) I had a really bad thought. ¡°Is something the matter young master?¡±(Fire) ¡°You searched the house for the weapon right?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Fire) ¡°Then he took it with him and he wants me to find him.¡±(Me) ¡°Why would the master¡­¡±(Fire) ¡°It¡¯s my father we are talking about.¡±(Me) ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±(Fire) I didn¡¯t know what I should think about him anymore. On one side he seemed like a fool to me, on the other his actions carry hidden meanings. There could be a reason why he wanted me to find that weapon. ¡°What about the rest? What happened two years ago?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. That day, the ground started shaking. We don¡¯t know why, but the island suddenly expand, so I went to check it.¡±(Fire) It expanded on its own, which means something like a core had to be somewhere accumulating mana over the years. ¡°So when I went over the mountain range, the earth started rumbling once again. When I went back, it was already too late.¡±(Fire) ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong my sister is the cause of this?¡±(Me) ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure. All I can tell is that she acted the same way as when she was born and yes. When I came back she killed the other three before my eyes.¡±(Fire) ¡°And you have kept quiet not to burden her even more.¡±(Me) ¡°Yes.¡±(Fire) All that information was still new. I couldn¡¯t put the pieces together yet, but I knew for sure that most of what Kylie said was true, if even my father said that I won¡¯t be able to beat my enemy alone. If we wanted to win, we first had to find Spirit. We also had to clear all grudges between us, so that they wouldn¡¯t be used against us. I was extremely careful to make as less mistakes as possible. Chapter 26 Substitute We stayed a few days before we even thought about leaving again. The others got on friendly terms with Fire and talked a lot, while I showed my little sister how she could grow her own plants. She was a fast learner and only needed some hours before she could create similar ones. Lucy was a talented person, but she was missing the basic knowledge in about everything. I was the same when I first left the island. It was a problem of staying secluded from others. I did my best to teach her the most important basics in those few days. It was a lot of fun, but we had to leave eventually. Whenever I had the time, I would stroll around the house to search for something of value for us. It was only wishful thinking and I was already aware of the fact that there was nothing to loot for me, but at least I killed some time with it. After the fourth day, Takeshi and Hiro went back to the forest and started to build our boat, so we could at least return to the human continent. It looked like; we would just return like that and take another boat to the Spirit¡¯s continent. That also meant we would leave Lucy and Fire behind. They were capable comrades though and could be essential for us, or at least for me. I knew the boat would be finished soon, so I didn¡¯t have much time to convince them to come with us. Luckily, I was able to talk to Lucy one more time at the last day. ¡°Fire said you had something you wanted to talk about?¡±(Lucy) I knew the demon butler was a loyal servant, so I already informed him of everything beforehand and asked him to help me. ¡°Yes. I wanted to know if you feel lonely here on this island.¡±(Me) ¡°This¡­I¡­¡± (Lucy) ¡°The thing is I would like you and Fire to come with us.¡±(Me) She looked troubled. Perhaps Lucy already anticipated my proposal and wanted to travel with us, but she couldn¡¯t just leave our homeland behind, like me. ¡°But¡­¡±(Lucy) ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the island. I have the core with me and as long as it is safe, this island will be as well. Moreover no one will be able to even reach the mountains because of that damn forest.¡±(Me) I obviously didn¡¯t have the core with me. I had some suspicions as to where it was though. It was hard work to convince her, but in the end, I succeeded with sweet-talking her. After telling Lucy about the outside world and a few good things that happened to me, I was finally able to convince her. ¡°Before we leave, I¡¯d like you to do me a favour.¡±(Me) ¡°There¡¯s something else you wanted to talk about?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Yes. You see, I have done something wrong in the past and I¡¯d like to correct it before we fight the bad guy. The problem is I have many responsibilities and I would need someone to replace me during that time.¡±(Me)A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t the others fit better?¡±(Lucy) That was true. Something just told me that I should trust my six year old little sister more than them. ¡°No one would fit better than you, but I¡¯ll ask them to support you alongside Fire.¡±(Me) I already discussed everything with Fire. He knew what he had to do. After convincing, Lucy came the riskiest part. I let Fire assemble everyone. ¡°I have something important to tell you guys, or actually only two of you.¡±(Me) ¡°Hm?¡±(Takeshi) I was looking at Takeshi in that moment. He had no idea what was about to come. ¡°But before that, I want you to promise me that you won¡¯t come jumping at me and try to kill me.¡±(Me) ¡°Wait. Is it what I think it is?¡±(Hiro) He wouldn¡¯t be able to kill me anyways. I just wanted to make sure that talking would be enough. ¡°Spit it out. What can be so bad for me to try something like that?¡±(Takeshi) ¡°Ah. Well the thing is¡­¡± (Me) ¡°You still think that he is the cause for your parent¡¯s death.¡±(Hiro) I know Hiro tried to help, but it wasn¡¯t the right timing. ¡°You mean¡­¡± (Takeshi) ¡°Ah. Yeah, I¡¯m kind of the nightmare everyone is talking about.¡±(Me) Hiro and Hayate already knew. I told Fire as well, but he hadn¡¯t heard about me before. Same with Lucy. Sakura was shocked, but I knew she wouldn¡¯t act rashly. The only risk was Takeshi¡¯s reaction. We stared at each other and I had absolutely no idea what to say. ¡°They would have died anyways and from your story I still don¡¯t think Hikaru did anything wrong.¡±(Hiro) Seriously, man read the mood. ¡°I was hoping that you can tell me how you want me to repent on whatever I did, so we can get over with it.¡±(Me) Takeshi still didn¡¯t say anything. Suddenly he took a deep breath turned around and hit the air. While doing so, he used a lot of mana and created a huge attack. ¡°Fuck!¡±(Takeshi) He burned away the little plants; Lucy and I created, while shouting. ¡°I know we shouldn¡¯t argue with each other¡­ Just don¡¯t let me see you for at least the next year and I should be able to calm down.¡± (Takeshi) ¡°Are you fine if I go to jail for the next few years until the battle starts?¡±(Me) ¡°I¡­¡±(Takeshi) I just suggested something extreme. Everyone made big eyes when I did. No one thought about the positive aspects of that. Free meal, a lot of free time, no one to think about and I could devote myself to training. Now after finding my substitute, it was a perfect way to clear Takeshi¡¯s grudge and to finally have some free time. ¡°If that¡¯s all let¡¯s go.¡±(Me) ¡°But the boat isn¡¯t finished yet.¡±(Hiro) I didn¡¯t even listen to him and just activated my teleportation stone. This time it worked somehow. Probably, because my mana didn¡¯t get drained. Still I had no energy left afterwards, because teleporting seven people was hard. We were welcomed as soon as we arrived. No one knew what was going on and I was too exhausted to explain. ¡°We will stay one night. Prepare boats for us to leave tomorrow morning.¡±(Me) Was the last command I gave before I fell asleep. It was already dark when I woke up and found myself in the first normal bed since we left the human continent. ¡°You awake?¡±(Hiro) I only nodded. ¡°Good. I wanted to talk to you anyways.¡±(Hiro) ¡°What about the others?¡±(Me) ¡°They are all asleep.¡±(Hiro) I received special treatment. The others were thrown together in one room. Because most of them knew Sandra, she went ahead and explained where we were. ¡°What is it?¡±(Me) ¡°I know that from all of us, you are definitely the strongest.¡±(Hiro) It was a weird start. I wouldn¡¯t deny that fact though. ¡°And?¡±(Me) ¡°I understand that you are trying to hold us together, but theoretically, you could just dispose of one¡­ you could probably go alone and would still win in the end.¡±(Hiro) I got what he wanted to tell me. ¡°That¡¯s the problem. It¡¯s only probably. And we already failed once.¡±(Me) ¡°Without you though.¡±(Hiro) ¡°We don¡¯t know. By the way, if you ask me, there is a hidden meaning, why we always hear about search for only gods and not build up an army. It¡¯s probably quality that is needed.¡±(Me) ¡°Still did you have to go as far as to say you¡¯d go to prison? Moreover for something you aren¡¯t responsible for?¡±(Hiro) ¡°Why? I get free meals every day, no one is there to get on my nerves and I can train all day. Is there a better place?¡±(Me) He just realised it. ¡°It is a dangerous place though. And you would be treated really badly.¡±(Hiro) ¡°Nope. I already sent a message to Arthur and he will treat me well.¡±(Me) He also just realised that I already planned everything beforehand. Hiro wanted to say something, but I didn¡¯t let him. ¡°Haha. Give it up and just go to sleep.¡±(Me) I ended our talk as sudden as he started it. On the next day, I told everyone about the substitute thing. They were sceptical, but no one dared to say anything against me. We split up. Takeshi, Sakura, Hayate and Hiro took the boat and headed to the Spirit¡¯s continent to search for the last god. Lucy and Fire stayed behind, because they had to adjust to their new environment. Especially my little sister. Last but not least was me. I went back to the human continent to go to jail. Luckily, I arrived there safely. As discussed through my personal messenger Sepp, Arthur awaited me and with a good cover up story, I was locked up in the deepest cell they had. Chapter 27 My days in prison On my own account, I let myself get locked up in the deepest cell of the royal dungeon. I told Arthur that I would train there and I don¡¯t want to be disturbed by anyone. Even if I didn¡¯t tell him, I think he would have given such an order. Sepp would deliver me three meals a day. The only downside was the hygienic in the cell. It was dirty, I only had some straw for a bed and the toilet was¡­ It¡¯s best not to talk about that. I stood in front of the cell and needed some time to calm down before my mind was able to let my body go in there. When comparing the ups and downs, it was still a good place to stay for the time being. I kept telling myself that it would only be for about three years at worst. Moreover, I could always do something about the hygienic issue with magic. It was already late and due to all the things going on at the same time, I was tired. As soon as Sepp left me alone, I instantly fell asleep. I didn¡¯t sleep all that well though. Day 1 I was extremely enthusiastic as soon as I woke up. It felt like I had a lot to do and no time at all. I started the day with thinking of a basic routine, which I would go with every day. I¡¯d start with physical training. Sit-ups, Push-ups, etc. I did everything I could think of to train my body. I had no idea of what time it was, because I was pretty deep under Arthur¡¯s castle and sunlight had no chance of getting in contact with me. It became depressing when Sepp came and brought me my [breakfast] around the time I finished my physical training. ¡°Whatever.¡±(Me) I would eventually adjust to those living conditions. After physical labour, I meditated. On one side, I could rest while doing so; on the other one, I could gather some mana to prepare for magic practice. Well it was more like testing out things that came to my mind. On the first day, I took the safe route and just experimented some small things with mind magic on myself; repeat as many different things with magic as I could remember and so on. I took my time with everything and whenever I felt tired, I would just go and sleep for some time. I used Sepp¡¯s food deliveries as my clock. When he brings breakfast, it was morning, lunch was noon and when he brought dinner, it was evening. The first day went by in a flash. Day 2 I repeated the routine of the first day. Just with some other things, I tried with magic. Day 3 Same as Day 2. Day 4The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I changed from repetition to experimenting with new things I came up with. ¡­ Day 23 After finishing my routine, I improved my living standards in the dungeon with magic. Because I started smelling horrible, I washed myself with water magic. I build a stone bed, a toilet, etc. for myself. The most challenging part was to better my scent. Even I almost couldn¡¯t stand my own stench and with water I was only able to wash away my sweat, but I couldn¡¯t better my scent. In the end after mixing lots of stuff together, I did it somehow. Surprisingly I got a deeper understanding of magic, because after that I started to use magic almost frequently. Sepp was surprised when he saw all of my new furniture. He said he wouldn¡¯t report it though, because it wasn¡¯t a big issue. ¡­ Day 41 I started growing my old plants and produced my own food. Afterwards I told Sepp, he wouldn¡¯t need to deliver food here any longer. I wanted to relieve him from that duty, but on the contrary, he looked more concerned. In the end, he still accepted my decision. As for the time, I more or less got a hang on when Sepp would have come to see me based on my training routine. It was definitely not exact, but enough to measure the passage of a day. ¡­ Day 55 I succeeded with everything normal I could come up with in terms of magic and got bored. I started playing a bit with time, space and creation magic. ¡­ Day 94 After creating a small pocket dimension, which was exactly one hundred square metres large, I could finally run some laps and improve my stamina next to my strength. The pocked dimension was like a large room with nothing in it. It had no windows, nor did it have a door. Except for me, no one would be able to enter it. I began to create new furniture and expand my personal room. ¡­ Day 141 I finally got bored enough to tell myself to improve my resistances of magic. I started by torturing myself with mind magic. I stayed sane in some way, but completely lost track of common sense. Due to my days alone in the cell, my thought process changed heavily. I didn¡¯t care about anti sound measures anymore, so my cries of agony were heard throughout the whole dungeon. ¡­ Day 177 Except for some minor improvements and discoveries, I didn¡¯t achieve anything except for being able to hurt myself even further. ¡­ Day 190 I managed to get immune to pain and all kinds of negative effects for my body and mind. For example, poison was no more than some random juice for me. Mind magic could only be used on people with weaker minds anyways, so if anyone could use it and tried it on me that person would only hurt himself. ¡­ Day 210 I went through all the incidents I could remember before going to the dungeon and through a few coincidences came across void magic. A magic of nothingness and eternal darkness. I was really excited when I came in contact with it at first. Letting something disappear into nothingness was fun and all, but unfortunately, I noticed that it didn¡¯t have many convenient uses. At least I found my motivation again, knowing that there was still magic, I didn¡¯t know about and couldn¡¯t use. ¡­ Day 300 I managed to control the time in my already many square kilometres huge pocket dimension. I accelerated it as much as possible to be able to train in a place where time flows faster than in reality. The effect was a 1.5 time acceleration. One day in the outside world was one and a half in my pocket dimension. Due to my excessive usage of time magic, I lost track of the outside, or actual time and forgot to count how many days I lived in the dungeon. ¡°Someone will come and get me eventually.¡±(Me) Was the only thing I could comfort myself with. ¡­ Time passed without me thinking about the outside world. I almost forgot about my responsibilities as well as the end boss. That much time has passed. I don¡¯t know how much though. ¡°Is he really here?¡±(Lucy) I heard the first voice in¡­ I don¡¯t know. In a very long time? ¡°Yes. I know that it¡¯s stupid. It¡¯s like digging one¡¯s own grave as deep as possible and jumping in right afterwards.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Your fantasy is¡­ going through with you.¡± (Lucy) They were coming down the stairs, while leisurely chatting. ¡°Just telling you I was only with him for the first 40 or so days. Afterwards he told me he wanted to be alone. He could have completely changed.¡±(Sepp) ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad.¡±(Lucy) ¡°Apparently some prisoners said they couldn¡¯t sleep, because they heard screams from downstairs.¡±(Sepp) ¡°That¡¯s¡­ pretty bad.¡± (Lucy) I left my pocked dimension and awaited them in my cell. ¡°Are we there soon?¡±(Lucy) ¡°It¡¯s the cell after the next corner.¡±(Sepp) ¡°I can¡¯t believe that they build a single cell here.¡±(Lucy) They soon reached my cell and we looked face to face at each other. I had no idea what to say, but I somehow managed to bring out some words. ¡°Yo. Did you finally decide to get me out of here?¡±(Me) Chapter 28 The first contact after years ¡°Yo. Did you finally decide to get me out of here?¡±(Me) I greeted them with a smile. It wasn¡¯t evil, but it was a little bit forced. Both of them stood in front of me and had sparkles in their eyes. I tilted my head a little to the right, because I didn¡¯t know what was going on. I somehow noticed that their line of sight wasn¡¯t focused at me, but the cell I was in. ¡°Hello?¡±(Me) They snapped out of it instantly. ¡°Ah, yes. Long time no see big brother. How have you been.¡±(Lucy) She was flustered, but in the end they finally opened my cell and let me out. Just in case, if it would get lost (or out of boredom, whatever you prefer), I made a substitute for the key and could have left the cell long time ago, but it was better that I was released this way. ¡°I see you were living quite the comfortable life here.¡±(Lucy) Even after having a normal stone bed, I didn¡¯t stop improving the quality of my daily life necessities. The hard rock bed became a huge one looking quite similar to that of a noble¡¯s. There was also a small table and a wooden chair, so I could occasionally eat. ¡°Yes, I had a lot of free time.¡±(Me) I definitely had a lot of free time. I noticed that her line of sight changed again. ¡°Are you wondering about my toilet?¡±(Me) ¡°So it was indeed one.¡±(Lucy) I confirmed my assumption with that remark. In fact, I invested most of the creating time in its design to look good. It was completely white and of extremely rare material. The system behind it was rather easy. It consisted off merely two kinds of magic. There was a pushbutton and if pressed a magic stone would release water magic flushing everything down the toilet. At the bottom, there was a portal, which I connected with the void, or in other words, nothing that goes down there will ever come back. ¡°I was just wondering because it looks really complex.¡±(Lucy) ¡°I see you learned how to speak properly.¡±(Me) ¡°Indeed.¡±(Lucy)This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Even if she answered humble, I saw at least one vein popping up on her forehead. I realised, what I just said. ¡°Haha. No I didn¡¯t mean it like that.¡±(Me) ¡°Hmpf.¡±(Lucy) She was angry with me, but who can blame me? During my time alone, I forgot that I actually had to care about others while talking. Not that I would bother learning something so trivial again though. ¡°It works with a magic stone.¡±(Me) I forgot that¡¯s something I came up with. There was the problem that they wouldn¡¯t understand what I am saying. ¡°You mean those amazing stones which can store a certain kind of magic?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Ah. Yes.¡±(Me) I was surprised. It seemed like they already were discovered in the outside world. ¡°A year ago, Arthur came up with the idea of storing magic into an object. However, it was only until recently that this idea could be made reality. Moreover¡­¡± (Lucy) ¡°Stones are the only object, which can store magic?¡±(Me) The problem was that only a stone had the most basic mana structure there is, so they don¡¯t have high requirements and can store almost every kind of magic there is. I came across the same problem in the early stages. Eventually I broke through that hurdle, but it still took me some time to do figure out how to do it. The answer is easy though, I only had to check what kind of mana structure an object had and find a fitting magic to imbue into it. ¡°Ah¡­ Yes. Something like that.¡±(Lucy) I decided that it was better not to further talk about magic or the like, because they were way behind me. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to the main issue. You are letting me out, so I assume that our target has appeared?¡±(Me) I deliberately acted friendly and leisure at the beginning so that the two of them could stay calm when we¡¯d talk about the real problem. Sepp, who seemed like the third wheel to our conversation joint in as well. ¡°He hasn¡¯t appeared yet, but we assume that he soon he will.¡±(Sepp) ¡°What made you think so?¡±(Me) Both of them gave me a thoughtful impression, which I wasn¡¯t accustomed to. It only indicated that even more time that I anticipated passed and that they just changed that much. ¡°Do you remember what happened back at the tournament?¡±(Sepp) ¡°You mean the destroyed wall?¡±(Me) ¡°Yes. Apparently it happens all over the world.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Eh. Void magic is used all over the world? That¡¯s interesting.¡±(Me) I forgot, what I have been doing could be seen as blowing away common sense. ¡°Void magic?¡±(Sepp) ¡°Never mind. Continue.¡±(Me) ¡°Where was I? Ah. Yes. Shortly after you left¡­¡±(Sepp) ¡°The thing is after you were gone, it kept on increasing and now it¡¯s almost on a weekly scale.¡±(Lucy) Lucy interrupted him to shorten things up. It seemed they worked a lot with each other in the time I was gone and they got to know each other quite well. ¡°It was a good idea to get me out at such a time.¡±(Me) ¡°I mean it is. Takeshi wanted to keep you in there for another year or so until that guy really made his appearance.¡±(Lucy) Yep she went back to the little sister that would leisurely say anything that she liked. ¡°Hooo. Takeshi said so? It seems like I have to kick his ass later.¡±(Me) ¡°Please don¡¯t forget that we still have a battle in front of us, so if possible leave him alive.¡±(Sepp) Sepp seemed to have become really considerate. How much time did pass for so many changes to occur? ¡°Can I ask you an important question?¡±(Me) ¡°Sure go ahead.¡±(Lucy) Now was the moment of truth. ¡°How much time did pass since I came here?¡±(Me) ¡°Hm. Five and a half years if I¡¯m not wrong.¡±(Lucy) Five and a half years? ¡­ Only my forced smile crumbled a bit. I didn¡¯t show any other special facial expressions, because that was what I have become. Emotions were something of the distant past. I only received a small mental shock that¡¯s all. ¡°I thought he would make his appearance after three years or so. It seems my information and my prediction was way off.¡±(Me) On the other hand, though my reaction left the other two speechless. They thought I¡¯d go insane or something like that, but to even admit that I was in the wrong was something no normal person would have done. ¡°Sigh. I can¡¯t do anything about it anyways. And it isn¡¯t like my time here was wasted, nor would I say that it was hard on me.¡±(Me) When I said that I felt like an old man. ¡°Big brother?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Yes?¡±(Me) ¡°Can I ask you an important question in return?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Sure go ahead.¡±(Me) ¡°How long did you think you were in here?¡±(Lucy) ¡°Hmm. Given the fact that my time acceleration magic reached a¡­¡±(Me) I looked at their faces and their dumbfounded expression and stopped what I was about to say. Damn you idiot stick to common sense. At least a little bit. ¡°I thought it were about 4 years and a few months.¡±(Me) I somehow managed to end it with an awkward smile. It¡¯s better that I didn¡¯t tell them that my time acceleration magic reached a multiplication of ten times the normal time and that I mentally caged myself for about 50 years. I mean I didn¡¯t want to blow their minds away. I still had a need for them. Chapter 29 My release My body didn¡¯t age much due to the effect of the time acceleration magic being only for my mind. With 16, almost 17 years of age, I would be regarded as an adult. I didn¡¯t feel much change though. My looks almost stayed exactly the same as before. Perhaps I grew a bit. I was neither tall nor small and even with all that physical training, I wasn¡¯t that muscular. My muscles were still visible though. Overall, I¡¯d say I actually looked quite normal; on the outside. ¡°Let¡¯s go outside shall we?¡±(Sepp) ¡°Yes. I haven¡¯t seen the sun in quite some time.¡±(Me) I put my faked smile back up the way it was before and we went up the stairs. Even if I created an artificial small version of the sun in my pocket dimension, it was nowhere near the real deal. I was looking forward to see and feel the real sun again. We went in one row and I had to be in the middle of it. After we started to climb up that dungeon like prison, I heard a lot of noise. I closed my eyes and concentrated. The noise turned into shouts and screams. They mostly consisted of men and most of them had a vulgar tone. ¡°The noise is coming from the other prisoners. It¡¯s always been like that. They just won¡¯t shut up.¡±(Sepp) Sepp noticed my behaviour and answered my question right before I could ask. ¡°They are the worst scum of the country, so they are being locked away in the deepest¡­ second deepest part of the dungeon.¡±(Lucy) Eh. So Arthur just locks his troublemakers away? I suddenly remembered something. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we like put up some hoods or something like that to cover our appearances?¡±(Me) ¡°Nah. It¡¯s annoying. The prisoners won¡¯t be leaving here anyways and everyone else in the castle knows us, so¡­ I prefer not to.¡±(Lucy) ¡°I see. Aren¡¯t you quite famous then?¡±(Me) ¡°Your foundation was a crucial factor for that, but yes the nightmare is known around the world and in the past year we even got accepted as the sixth main continent.¡±(Lucy) Even though it was something trivial, I picked it up. If my little island became a main continent, than it should provide enough space for a few thousands of people to live in, which meant that it grew bigger. ¡°So the black continent kept expanding?¡±(Me) ¡°It did. A lot.¡±(Sepp) Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Lucy seemed proud and stuck out her small chest. ¡°It is almost the same size as one of the five main race¡¯s continent. We even have problems, because we have too much space.¡±(Lucy) I already ran some simulations in my head regarding the continent and as my mana pool got bigger, the land should have expanded as well, after all, in some way I¡¯m somewhat similar as it¡¯s dungeon master. If I get stronger the dungeon would as well. ¡°What about the other races? Before, you said you found Spirit?¡±(Me) ¡°Arthur helped out a lot. We had a conference with all the other kings. Because more and more strange things started to occur even in their countries, they agreed on a temporary alliance, until the danger is over.¡±(Lucy) One of my small goals was achieved with just that. It seemed that in the end I wasn¡¯t really needed. The fear of what is about to come and a little bit of authority was more than enough. It was still fun to create my own force though. ¡°Haha. Isn¡¯t that the little princess?¡± ¡°That damn dog is here as well.¡± All sorts of insults were thrown at us when we passed through the other cells. ¡°What¡¯s your problem kid?¡± That shout was directed at me. I just ignored it and kept going forward. The shouts got louder though. I still kept up my smile, even though it became really hard given the situation. ¡°Don¡¯t mind them. It¡¯s always like that.¡±(Sepp) If it were always like that, Sepp would have had a hard time bringing me my food all the time. ¡°Hey you! Come here for a second.¡± One of them winked me over to his cell. Sepp wanted me to ignore him and continue, but I was interested to what he wanted to do, so I went over to that cell. ¡°What do you want?¡±(Me) I stood at some distance away from him. ¡°Come a little bit nearer. It¡¯s something I can¡¯t say out loud.¡± I did what he wanted, because I had nothing to fear. I had many barriers casted around me. When I stood face to face with him, he spat at me. Without the need to react, his saliva disappeared right before it could even touch me. A vein popped up on my forehead. The other prisoners didn¡¯t see what happened and thought that I was disgraced by this fellow. They all started laughing aloud. The only one who saw what really happened made a puzzled face. When I turned around, I saw that Sepp and Lucy had pale faces. They knew my character and that I wouldn¡¯t let it slip just like that. ¡°Say¡­ They won¡¯t leave here anyways. Is it important when or how they die?¡±(Me) Even though there was a loud laughter, my words reached the two of them. I had to restrain myself to the fullest, but it wasn¡¯t really useful. I still struck both of them who heard me with fear. ¡°N¡­No it¡¯s not.¡±(Sepp) ¡°Then it is best you two go ahead.¡±(Me) Both of them silently went up ahead of me. I still kept up my smile until the two of them were out of sight. ¡°Haha. Boy what ya gonna do? You killing us? Don¡¯t make me laugh even more. Haha.¡± Let¡¯s start with the culprit. I casted a sound barrier. I stood face to face with the one that spit at me. This time around, I let some mana burst out though. The whole room instantly went silent. He was surprised and stumbled backwards until he fell onto his butt. ¡°I¡¯ll start with you. The others will have to wait a bit.¡±(Me) I flicked once. His right arm was gone. ¡°One.¡±(Me) Followed by a loud and painful scream, I continued my little torture in a bored monotonous voice. I flicked again and his left leg was gone. ¡°Two.¡±(Me) As soon as the scream got louder, the other prisoners started realising what was just happening. Snip. Now the left arm and the right leg were gone. ¡°Three, ¡­four.¡±(Me) Tears weren¡¯t enough, that guy even pissed himself because of the pain. ¡°You are really soft. Where did you find the courage to do something that stupid? At least you gave me a reason to kill everyone down here.¡±(Me) He opened his mouth and wanted to say something. Snip. His head appeared in my hand. I held it near my ear. ¡°Oops. What did you want to say? I couldn¡¯t hear you.¡±(Me) I waited a bit and acted like I was waiting for an answer. ¡°Whatever.¡±(Me) It disappeared into the void as well. I put up my smile again and nicely asked a question into the whole room. ¡°Who¡¯s next? We still have 244 seconds left to play.¡±(Me) Everyone turned away. No one wanted to be next. I continued my onslaught for quite a while. ¡­ ¡°A¡­ Are you finished?¡±(Sepp) Sepp and Lucy waited for me upstairs. ¡°Yes. I cleaned up the trash. As predicted, it took me exactly 300 seconds.¡±(Me) I said with a satisfied smirk. Both of them looked down to where I came from with a grave expression. I twitched my shoulders and went ahead. I opened one of the castle¡¯s doors and went outside. ¡°Sigh. It has been a long time since I left the castle.¡±(Me) I said after taking a deep breath and taking a glance at the sun. Chapter 30 Prepare yourself The first real sunrays after quite some felt refreshing. I looked a bit around checking the surroundings. I noticed something important and I had a really bad feeling about it. ¡°When will we meet up with the others?¡±(Me) Even though, everything looked peaceful and quiet to the normal, a battle was about to start soon. It was important to meet up with the others before that happens. ¡°The meeting has already begun.¡±(Lucy) ¡°Hmm?¡±(Me) I was surprised hearing that a meeting has already begun. ¡°The meeting is in a specially designed room two floors above us.¡±(Lucy) We started moving towards stairs. ¡°We came to get you because everyone decided it was about time that we need your help.¡±(Sepp) It was really strange. Asking the one who was treated badly for help. They could have let me out earlier, but they didn¡¯t. They could have come and meet me during that time, but they didn¡¯t. Actually the more I thought about it, the more I got the feeling that I was completely forgotten. ¡°And what if I say no?¡±(Me) I just said what has been on my mind. Both of them stopped at almost the same time. ¡°Ah¡­ I mean¡­¡± (Sepp) ¡°Look, I know we all did wrong things, and I won¡¯t tell you to not get your revenge on us. But right now the most important thing is to save the world.¡±(Lucy) She sure grew up fast. She almost talked like a real queen. ¡°Haha. It was only a joke.¡±(Me) Everyone present knew it wasn¡¯t, but it was better to leave this issue for later. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry, or we¡¯ll miss something.¡±(Me)This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. It wasn¡¯t that I just ignored everything. It was the opposite, I had a lot of time thinking and I recalled everything that had been done to me. But it was better to leave my revenge for later. That¡¯s because I could kill someone crucial to win the upcoming fight during my revenge time. I¡¯ll wait until I have a clearer overview of the situation. ¡°The room is up ahead.¡±(Lucy) Without waiting for my reply nor without knocking, Lucy just opened the door. ¡°We¡¯ve brought him here, so we can continue the conversation from where we stopped.¡±(Lucy) Eleven. I counted exactly eleven people in that room. I already knew about half of them. Takeshi, Hayate and Hiro were there. With Arthur the human king and Sam the beastmen king, I counted five. If I added, Lucy and Sepp that made seven, but the other four were still unknown faces to me. It was a circle consisting of the most important figures in the entire world. I could see the trust they build up over the past years because no one brought any personal guards or anything alike. ¡°Ah. Well as some of you already know, that¡¯s my big brother as well as the original nightmare who trained for the past five years in the dungeon.¡±(Lucy) One of the new faces stood up. He had a well build human looking figure as well as pitch-black hair. He was the kind of person that looked like he could go to war at any given time and was prepared for anything. ¡°I know it¡¯s bold of us to ask you for your assistance, but we are at dire times.¡±(?) ¡°Don¡¯t worry demon king; I feel the tension in here. If I add that to what I already know then I understand your discomfort.¡±(Me) ¡°Ugh¡­¡± (Demon king) They didn¡¯t have to introduce themselves, because I could already think of who was who. I just cut the unnecessary introduction part. ¡°You don¡¯t have to introduce yourself; it¡¯s enough if I know who you all are.¡±(Me) Silence filled the room. ¡°So, Hikaru, if I¡¯m not wrong. Do you remember what happened at the beastmen-human tournament five or six years ago?¡±(?) ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, Spirit, yes I do.¡±(Me) I mocked him a little bit. He didn¡¯t let it get to him though. ¡°My name is Ryukai, please remember it. I¡¯d really like to hear your thoughts on that matter.¡±(Ryukai) He was an interesting guy. He had completely white hair and his personality was neither nice not bad. He didn¡¯t show any ill intentions nor bad behaviour, but he didn¡¯t show respect or fear either. After only a few words, I already knew that he was competent and extremely sly. Not on par with me, but no more than one-step behind me. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you let us hear your thoughts first?¡±(Me) The conversation was only between me and Ryukai, everyone else was like decoration. ¡°Sure. I think it¡¯s something like void magic, but I¡¯m not too sure about it.¡±(Ryukai) I had to replay what he just said. Afterwards I looked into the round and saw that no one seemed to know what he was talking about. ¡°Pfff. Hahaha.¡±(Me) I couldn¡¯t hold myself back from laughing. ¡°I really like you. You are probably the only one who would currently be able keep up with my thoughts.¡±(Me) I thought that someone would interrupt me, or ask me to stop laughing during such an important meeting, but no one did, which was a bit boring. In the end, I stopped on my own accord and it ended in an awkward situation. ¡°Well, I have to admit that you have to be really clever if you came across void magic, but unfortunately you¡¯re wrong.¡±(Me) ¡°What do you mean?¡±(Ryukai) ¡°If it were normal void magic, there wouldn¡¯t be a need for me to be here and some other people wouldn¡¯t be able to sit here either.¡±(Me) I intentionally looked at Takeshi while saying so. Everyone understood that I wanted to tell him that I haven¡¯t forgotten about what he did. He tried to shake his uneasiness of by averting his eyes. ¡°If it¡¯s not void magic what else could it be?¡±(Ryukai) ¡°It¡¯s not magic at all. It¡¯s something completely different. I am prepared to face what¡¯s coming. You should prepare yourselves as well.¡±(Me) Everyone had a stupefied expression. The strongest out of all of them said so. It was hard to stay calm. But I was sure about it. As soon as I left the castle, I could feel a distortion, but I was sure about it in the natural mana flow. It is almost impossible for the natural mana, which holds the world together to show any signs of change. I knew an enemy was coming, the things that looked like void magic are happening all over the place, as well as signs of our wold showing telling us that it¡¯s weakening. I didn¡¯t really have to think about it too hard to come with the answer. ¡°The enemy is coming. Not only that, but he¡¯s also bringing a whole world with him.¡±(Me) It was a jaw dropping fact, which would soon become truth. Chapter 31 The world is starting to crumble The meeting continued normally. After I said what has been on my mind, I took a rather passive position in it. I¡¯d occasionally say something, but most of it wasn¡¯t all too important. ¡°We should start to think of certain countermeasures. If what Hikaru said is true, then we have to be able to ensure the safety of our world.¡± (Arthur) It was exactly what I¡¯ve been waiting for the whole time. The time came when we started to discuss our plans. I have already thought about the upcoming battle a lot. ¡°I already have an idea of what we should do.¡± (Me) Everyone went quiet and listened to me as soon as I opened my mouth. I was surprised by everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Well, I think it¡¯s best if I start the confrontation with the enemy. He won¡¯t be going all out from the start, so I think I¡¯ll manage to fend him off for quite a while.¡± (Me) Using our trump card, me, from the get-go didn¡¯t seem to fit with everyone. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to send a small army in first? We should let you enter the fight when the enemy is exhausted, so you can finish him of.¡± (Arthur) As expected of Arthur, he was an excellent strategist. ¡°You are right. Your thoughts are certainly correct, but you are forgetting an important thing.¡± (Me) ¡°Ho. Please explain to me. What am I missing?¡± (Arthur) ¡°We have a crucial advantage in this fight.¡± (Me) I don¡¯t know what the other gods told them exactly, but in this fight, we had a very important variable, which already changed the outcome completely. ¡°Are you talking about¡­¡± (Hiro) ¡°Kylie.¡± (Takeshi) They only noticed now? How stupid can you be? Luckily my thoughts weren¡¯t shown by my facial expressions. ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± (Arthur) ¡°You¡¯re right. Kylie came from the future. Without her we wouldn¡¯t even know what¡¯s going on right now.¡± (Hayate) ¡°Did you just say someone from the future?¡± (Ryukai) It seemed that those idiots missed the chance to talk about this important matter. ¡°Sigh. It seems I have to do the whole explaining.¡± (Me) The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. It was bothersome. The survival of the world was at stakes, how could they forget something like that. ¡°As you already heard a girl named Kylie came from the future to warn us about the end of the world and if we want to prevent that we should all work together.¡± (Me) ¡°Ho. She changed the course of time I see.¡± (Ryukai) As expected they, especially Ryukai caught up quickly. ¡°Yes.¡± (Me) ¡°That means we have information about the enemy, has no idea about that. If that¡¯s true then indeed, Hikaru¡¯s idea is the best to go with.¡± (Ryukai) I started to like him even more. I didn¡¯t need unnecessary explanation with him, because he understood my way of thinking perfectly. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why we should do that?¡± (Arthur) ¡°Our enemy would never think that we¡¯d just send our strongest fighter in first. He thinks we use small fry to be safe, because he thinks we don¡¯t even know about his arrival.¡± (Ryukai) I couldn¡¯t have said it any better. He was exactly right. On one hand we can analyse his fighting style while stalling time and on the other hand, on the other we can scare him a little bit. ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s think we go with your plan, what about us? What should we do in the meantime?¡± (Hiro) Of course, I also only waited for this question to come up. Took them long enough though. ¡°As I said, I¡¯ll stall some time, meanwhile, we have to get an overview of his abilities as well as finding a way of stopping the collision of the two worlds.¡± (Me) ¡°Mmh. That makes sense. We should first focus on saving the future of this world and think about how defeat him afterwards, or we¡¯ll go in two different groups.¡± (Arthur) Arthur looked at us and received a nod from everyone. ¡°Good let¡¯s go with Hikaru¡¯s plan and improvise with everything else when there¡¯s an opportunity to do so.¡± (Arthur) With that, everything fell into my hands once again. Not that I minded it, because it was what I was aiming at from the start. -Rumble.- ¡°What?!¡± The ground started shaking. It hit us completely unprepared. Some of us couldn¡¯t even remain standing because of the strong impact. Even at that moment, I didn¡¯t miss on anything. I instantly figured out where the collision of the two worlds took place. ¡°It has begun.¡± (Me) ¡°Seems like it.¡± (Takeshi) It was surprising that Takeshi got serious now. But it wasn¡¯t the time to wonder about miracles, I had to focus on doing my job; stalling time. ¡°Gather your armies and be on standby.¡± (Me) ¡°Who do you think we are kid? We are the five kings of this world. We know what to do. Our armies are all already waiting outside since long ago.¡± (Demon king) He probably tried to get me back for earlier and protect some of his honour, but it was a good thing, because that way we could save a lot of time. I rushed out of the castle to get an overview of the whole situation. What I saw was astonishing. Hundred thousand of soldiers were standing in front of me. I didn¡¯t even see the end of them. Most of them were still busy standing up and reorganizing their formations, but just the number of people was already outstanding. ¡°We decided that the kings will look after the state of the world and we gods will get rid of the enemy.¡± (Ryukai) The others followed behind me and they used the opportunity of me being in awe of the army to catch up with me. ¡°Ok. Follow me. Let¡¯s beat him together and save the world.¡± (Me) And afterwards I¡¯ll get my revenge on everyone of you. Following me were Takeshi, Ryukai, Hiro, Hayate, Lucy, Sepp and Sakura. I had no idea where Sakura came from, but when I turned around for a second I saw her there as well. We went through a forest, crossed the sea with the help of my magic and arrived at the Black Continent. I don¡¯t know why, but the collision was in the middle of my own island. I don¡¯t know if it was intended, but it bothered me. I had to admit, it expanded by a lot. Unfortunately, some parts of the Black Continent were already destroyed by the impact. ¡°Can we talk for a second?¡± (Lucy) Lucy somehow managed to get to the front. ¡°Sure. We still have some time left I guess.¡± (Me) I didn¡¯t feel any signs of enemies, which meant he still hadn¡¯t arrived yet. I stopped and we all took a break. ¡°Puh. First, why didn¡¯t we use your teleportation array to get here? It¡¯s damn exhausting to keep up with you.¡± (Lucy) Obviously, I forgot that I made something like that. It was probably shown somewhere on my face, because she sighed and continued. ¡°Are you sure we should already fight? We haven¡¯t even found the sword father has been talking about. (Lucy) Lucy seemed worried about the whole situation. ¡°Haha. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± (Me) ¡°I know you trained a lot, but how can you be so sure that we¡¯ll win.¡± (Lucy) I remained quiet. I have prepared as much as possible for this fight. If I can¡¯t win, what else is there what we should do? Searching for the way to send someone back in time again? For what? Repeating everything? ¡°Seriously you are unbelievable. But I¡¯ll still have to count on you.¡± (Lucy) I could only smile. I felt confident that I could win, but on the other side I worried that we might have overlooked something. It wasn¡¯t good for me to get distracted at that time. ¡°We are almost in range. I¡¯ll go first, you guys wait here and observe. If you think I need help, support me as fast as possible, if it seems I¡¯m alright just stay here.¡± (Me) From now on it was up to everyone to rely on our training as well as our instincts. Chapter 32 The last boss appears I went alone to face of the enemy. I could feel the concentrated energy burst forth from the centre of the island. It wasn¡¯t to degree where the normal eye could see it but it was close to it. I wasn¡¯t scared at all, but I felt uncomfortable. I could clearly feel a vibe of something which was not from this world. Some of the grass was still on the ground and some rocks were still lying around. I followed all the leads and at the end of it, I saw a single man standing and looking up to the sky. I don¡¯t know why, but I hid behind one of the remaining trees and observed the man. He had pitch black hair and wore a brown worn out robe. The man looked more like a beggar, which you could find on any given street than an enemy. His eyes were grey and he seemed as if he hadn¡¯t slept for quite a while. Perhaps he was blind, or he just had special eyes, I didn¡¯t know. I just stood there and observed the man that behaved like a child which was let out of a house for the first time in its life. Happy about the grass on the ground as well as feeling the need to touch everything he could. A crazy person indeed. After a while, when I thought he finished whatever he was doing, he stopped in the middle of the field where he first stood. ¡°No hide, I know there.¡± (Man) His sentence structure was strange. At least I knew what he wanted to tell me. I wasn¡¯t surprised or anything. I already anticipated that he¡¯d knew I was there. If he wasn¡¯t even capable of doing this much, I couldn¡¯t even consider him a threat. ¡°So¡­ you¡­ are first¡­?¡± (Man) He stumbled and I didn¡¯t understand anything at all. He inhaled as deep as he could. ¡°Really nice be back, even if isn¡¯t what hoped for.¡± (Man) Every time he started a new sentence, I could understand a little bit more. It seemed as if he was here before. His words were still a bit clumsy though. ¡°Who are you?¡± (Me) ¡°Who I?¡± (Man) I felt like talking to a little child. ¡°Perhaps telling you, perhaps not. No difference.¡± (Man) The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Yep. I was definitely talking to a child. ¡°Why do you destroy this world?¡± (Me) ¡°Not my intention.¡± (Man) ¡°What do you want then?¡± (Me) ¡°Just wanted to be here. You ask to many questions.¡± (Man) It¡¯s as if he relearned an old language in only a few sentences. He went away from the few words he was barely able to speak as well as the crippled tone and now he could almost fluently talk. ¡°Hahaha. But really, is this coincidence that the first person I meet again after such a long time is a god? Moreover, you look like a capable one.¡± (Man) I wasn¡¯t as calm as at the beginning anymore, but I did my best to not show anything to him at all. ¡°I really like your determination boy. So tell me, whose child are you?¡± (Man) I still kept my mouth shut. I had to take as less risks as possible. ¡°Is it Nadine? No, you¡¯d be a lot livelier if she were your mother. You resemble Manus a lot, but you are way too capable to be his son.¡± (Man) He was listing names, I never heard about, but I had a vague idea what he might have been talking about. I made sure that I remembered all of those names. ¡°Hmm. Jakob and Ray are out of question, that carefree couple was already in love when I was still with them.¡± (Man) This one sentence confirmed my thoughts. He knew them. He knew our parents the ten gods who created the world and the five races. Also, if I wasn¡¯t wrong¡­ ¡°Are you a god as well?¡± (Me) He went quiet all of a sudden. After a short pause, he made a creepy smile and started to laugh. ¡°Hahaha. So, they didn¡¯t even tell you about me? Let me take a guess, the ten gods created the world and the races with the key, right? Hahaha. Don¡¯t make me laugh.¡± (Man) I couldn¡¯t answer and just stood there silently. ¡°Ah. Let me tell you something, that story is nothing but a lie. I was the one that created the world. No one else you hear me!¡± (Man) He seemed really addicted to that thought. ¡°All they did was to think of the people that should live on it. It took me hundreds of years and then they take everything away from me.¡± (Man) ¡°So you want revenge?¡± (Me) ¡°No no no no. I didn¡¯t wait so long to heal just for such a stupid reason. I will reset my world and start anew. This time though there won¡¯t be any unnecessary hindrances such as friends.¡± (Man) He went quiet all of a sudden again. It seemed that he had to think about something. ¡°Let¡¯s stop talking about me for now. You are interesting boy. I really want to know who your parents were, so let¡¯s continue.¡± (Man) My job was to stall for time. As long as he¡¯d continue with his little game, I had nothing to complain about. ¡°Ok. Ok. Hmmm. So Nadine, Manus, Jakob and Ray are out of the question, is it¡­ This is hard if I don¡¯t know anything about you. You¡¯re not an airhead though, so it isn¡¯t Drako as well.¡± (Man) Just from what he was already telling me about the ten gods, I¡¯d say that Jakob and Ray are Hayate¡¯s parents. I was pretty sure about that. An airhead and a lively woman would fit well together, I¡¯d put them as Takeshi¡¯s parents. It was just an assumption for the time being. ¡°Ok. Half of them is out and I don¡¯t think that Kurina is your mother as well. She was way to open to everyone, talking about this and that shit and yeah, you still haven¡¯t like told me anything about you at all, so no.¡± (Man) I didn¡¯t understand him at all. He just more or less admitted that he doesn¡¯t know anything about me and he probably also knew that I was just stalling for time. Was he that confident in his victory? ¡°Six gone, only four left to go, but damn those four are really tricky.¡± (Man) I put Manus and Kurina as Hiro¡¯s parents, because he always tried to be friendly with everyone. I only know a bit about Ryukai, but I was sure that none of the six mentioned before would fit for any of us two. ¡°Puh. This is way too hard, but I¡¯m sure about one thing now and that¡¯s enough.¡± (Man) His attitude changed completely. He didn¡¯t seem friendly any longer, he looked like he really wanted to kill, only getting held back by a chain. ¡°What do you mean?¡± (Me) ¡°Do you really think I don¡¯t know what you are doing? No, you probably know and you are thinking about why I¡¯d let you stall for time right? Yes. You are exactly like your damn father.¡± (Man) His eyes showed enmity. ¡°That fucking Primus caged me in this damn world, but soon I¡¯ll be able to leave. When the last of the ten dies, I¡¯ll be able to descend to this world and reset it.¡± (Man) He jumped at me and tried to grab my neck, but just before he could, it seemed like something was holding him back. Like an invisible wall or something. ¡°Just wait and see how I destroy your world, when the last seal is broken!¡± (Man) He shouted out loud with all his might and my ears hurt because of it. ¡°This means war.¡± (Me) Chapter 33 You and which army? ¡°Hahaha. You are not only interesting but funny as well. War you say? You and which army?¡± (Man) He laughed like crazy. I had my pride, but his mocking wasn¡¯t enough to dirty it at all. It was better that he thought I was alone. This way we¡¯d had the surprise effect on our side. ¡°I don¡¯t need an army. I¡¯m more than enough for you.¡± (Me) ¡°Ho. I see, self-confident as well? Are you really his son? Primus would never do the dirty work and always had someone he could take advantage of.¡± (Man) It felt like we were talking about two completely different people. The one I know was more of a kind and clumsy person, while the Primus he was talking about was ruthless. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen your abilities yet, but as far as I can judge you are already pretty strong. Not on my level yet, but if you¡¯re given more time, you¡¯ll surely surpass me.¡± (Man) He returned to his friendly side. His mood fluctuations were irritating and it was hard to predict when he¡¯d change. ¡°Unfortunately, I can¡¯t let you have that time to grow, or you¡¯ll interfere with my plan.¡± (Man) I don¡¯t know from where he took it out, but he suddenly held a white crystal ball in his hand. It started to shine and I immediately put my guard up. The light was extremely bright and I even had to close my eyes because of it. When the light dispersed I opened my eyes again and to my surprise, nothing changed. My defensive measures were still up and nothing got destroyed. I was confused and thought his attack failed. ¡°Sigh. You said this is war, right? Fine I accept your declaration of war. My army will be here soon.¡± (Man) ¡°So that light was a communication spell?¡± (Me) ¡°Not exactly, but something similar. You¡¯ll see soon enough.¡± (Man) He created a stone chair out of nowhere and sat down like an old man. ¡°Sigh. Now all I have to do is sit back and watch.¡± (Man) He was mocking me on purpose. He was probably stalling for time as well. I wasn¡¯t sure why he did that if he was that confident in his victory, but I had to be careful. ¡°Ah! Right. Before I forget it, you should probably help your friends. They are facing quite some trouble at the moment.¡± (Man)This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Not only did he know that they were here he also pointed in their direction. I looked at him in disbelief. The surprising part wasn¡¯t that he noticed them, but he even advised me to help them? Everyone would be confused. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be waiting here for you. As long as the last seal isn¡¯t broken I won¡¯t be able to leave from here anyway. Hahaha.¡± (Man) I wasn¡¯t naive enough to believe his words. I didn¡¯t move an inch and kept watching him. ¡°Seriously you should go before something bad happens.¡± (Man) ¡°Are you making fun of me?¡± (Me) ¡°No.¡± (Man) ¡°Then¡­¡± (Me) Boom. ¡­ I heard an explosion from about where the others were hiding. The instant I heard it I was even in more disbelieve. ¡°I told you. Perhaps now it¡¯s too late.¡± (Man) I looked at him once more before I turned around and left to look for my allies. I didn¡¯t even have to search for them, I just followed the explosions. Shortly afterwards I found them. They were spread all over the place. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Hayate?¡± (Me) Hayate was the closest to me, so I asked him. He was having a serious expression, which was already close to a miracle. Something definitely happened. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with them, but Sakura and Sepp started to attack us out of nowhere.¡± (Hayate) ¡°What?¡± (Me) ¡°They said something about kill the traitors, or something like that and started to throw magic attacks at us. If Ryukai didn¡¯t notice their change in behaviour in time, we would have taken a serious blow.¡± (Hayate) It was pretty bad. Not because they couldn¡¯t defeat them, but because Takeshi was obviously still in love with Sakura, so it wasn¡¯t possible for them to fight her. ¡°Wait a sec¡­ Since when did you say they changed?¡± (Me) ¡°A few moments ago. I didn¡¯t even notice it until it was too late.¡± (Hayate) ¡°So that¡¯s what it was then¡­¡± (Me) ¡°Huh?¡± (Hayate) ¡°Fuck.¡± (Me) I didn¡¯t even care about the confused Hayate. I took out my sword and without even thinking twice, I jumped at Sepp. He trained well and he reacted in time, but it was far away from my level and an earth lance was already shooting out from the ground. He also tried to defend with magic by creating a shield made out of darkness, but I also predicted that and cladded the spear in light magic, which nullified his shield. The spear stabbed right through his heart and without feeling much agony he died on the spot. The others couldn¡¯t even react. They were making big eyes and afterwards they all looked at me. Even Takeshi who tried to fend of Sakura¡¯s attack to distract her, noticed what I did and stopped. ¡°W¡­ ¡° (Lucy) She wasn¡¯t able to bring out any words. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time they are not the only ones who were brainwashed. Don¡¯t waste time by trying to bring them back, it¡¯s useless.¡± (Me) Immediately after I said that I ran at Sakura. Takeshi¡¯s face went blank when he noticed it. He wanted to stop me, but luckily Ryukai understood what I meant and held Takeshi back. He was screaming and crying, but Ryukai did his best to restrain him. It didn¡¯t seem easy to me and he did a good job. It was a lot easier to kill Sakura, because I knew she wasn¡¯t as experienced in battle as Sepp. Especially melee combat was her weakness. A few swings of my sword and a small fire explosion were enough to finish her off. I received the same reaction as last time. Ryukai still restrained Takeshi, while the others waited for an explanation. ¡°The situation turned around. We underestimated his abilities and now we must pay for it. The army we thought would help us, will soon arrive and everyone will try to kill us.¡± (Me) They understood the meaning behind my words, but they didn¡¯t want to accept them. It meant that except for us six, everyone in the world was our enemy now. ¡°Why aren¡¯t we affected then?¡± (Ryukai) ¡°I think it has something to do with our lineage. Gods weren¡¯t created by the key and if my guess is correct, he used the key to brainwash all of them.¡± (Me) I only had to combine what I saw with what I heard and it was logical. ¡°We have one advantage. He is still trapped and won¡¯t be able to get out until the last seal is broken.¡± (Me) ¡°A seal?¡± (Hiro) ¡°I don¡¯t know either?¡± (Me) I was relieved that four out of five understood the graveness of the situation and that they adapted fast. As for the last¡­ ¡°What should we do with Takeshi?¡± (Ryukai) ¡°Stay with him and restrain him until he¡¯s calmed down.¡± (Me) We had the advantage that we could fight both sides individually. First, we had to take care of the army and afterwards we could fight of the root of our problems. The worst situation would be if the seal got broken before we could finish up on the other side. Chapter 34 Against the world I could clearly feel the other¡¯s depression about the whole situation. I wasn¡¯t that accurate at reading and understanding other people¡¯s feelings, but I knew at least that much. We still had to face it. We weren¡¯t left with another choice. ¡°We have to prepare some traps and magic attacks.¡± (Me) Even though they were really sad about our previous companion¡¯s deaths, most of them understood the situation and immediately helped me set up countermeasures. While Lucy and I prepared some magic attacks, Hiro and Hayate spread traps all over the island. Even though Lucy and I were to prepare large scale attacks, in the end I was left to do the magic part alone. She was quite surprised about some of my ideas. I taught her how to activate some of them when needed. It took about half an hour to draw some runes and another half to prepare other important types of magic, which could become handy during our battle. After we finished, we went back to check on Takeshi. He was still in pools of tears. I already predicted as much. I even went as far as to think we had to fight without him. Normally it wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but with only five other people to count on at the moment, one was a rather big loss. ¡°Sigh. Are the traps ready?¡± (Me) ¡°All set up.¡± (Hiro) ¡°Good. Ryukai, you and Takeshi should stay here. Hide yourself and if anything happens, run away. It¡¯s better not to lose even more manpower.¡± (Me) One nod from Ryukai was enough for me, because I knew I could count on him. ¡°Everyone else follow me. Let¡¯s give them a warm welcome.¡± (Me) We went to the coast to await the army of hundreds of thousand soldiers. We didn¡¯t have to wait long until I caught sight of some ships aiming at this island. The few became many and the many got even more. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t as stupid as to sail next to each other. Otherwise one huge magic would have been enough. They went in many groups, all keeping a safe distance from each other.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°How should we deal with them?¡± (Hiro) It was an appropriate question to which I didn¡¯t have a clear answer yet. I didn¡¯t want to release my dark form yet. It was like an ace, and I wanted to use it at the last moment. ¡°Let them come a little bit closer. I¡¯ll try to hit as many as possible. Afterwards it will be up to you to cover some time.¡± (Me) ¡°You can count on us. We won¡¯t disappoint you.¡± (Lucy) I hoped so, otherwise, even I was at my wits end as to what to do. We had to deal with them as fast as possible, so we could focus on the real enemy. ¡°Step back a little. I have a good idea.¡± (Me) When they were at a safe distance, I started focusing a lot of my mana into one point. After a few seconds, a blue ball of pure energy was formed inside of my hand. My attack wasn¡¯t grand, nor did I really think about it. I boldly attacked with overpowering strength. A single streak of mana left the ball and directly headed for the closest ship. It didn¡¯t even take a second and it exploded. The whole ship was destroyed in one go. Afterwards, one after another, the same thing repeated over and over again. If I can¡¯t take you all out at once with a big attack, then I¡¯ll just have to do so with many smaller ones. My method was simple, but effective. It didn¡¯t focus on killing, but rather on destruction, which was way easier. Due to that, I managed to endure until the very last ship was destroyed. Afterwards, I had to retreat and recovery for quite some time though. The ones that were able to survive my barrage of attacks, were a lot stronger than the ones who didn¡¯t, but I trusted Lucy, Hiro and Hayate to fight them off for as long as possible. As long as I was able to recover, we would win the first part of this war. Unfortunately, they appeared, as soon as I started to retreat. I roughly counted about one hundred in total. I did expect a few to survive but that number was a bit too much. It more or less showed me how prepared our side was from the beginning. ¡°Kill those traitors!¡± They said the exact same as Sepp and Sakura, which confirmed my assumption. Lucy, Hiro, Hayate and I started to spread in four different directions. The five kings each took the lead of a small elite troop consisting of all five races and started to advance as well. Two teams followed behind me, while the others only had one trailing them each. Due to my excessive usage of magic, I was extremely exhausted and they could follow behind me with ease. Sometimes, I heard a small magic attack like a fireball flying at me from behind. I could barely dodge them in time. The hunt soon came to an end. When we were in the middle of some of my bigger rune magic attacks, I finally stopped and caught my breath. ¡°Sigh. I finally made it here.¡± (Me) The forty or so people trailing me came to a halt as well. ¡°Have you finally decided to hand yourself in, villain?¡± (Arthur) Arthur was one of the two kings trailing me. His bold question only made me smile. ¡°Ha. Shut up. I¡¯ve had enough of you.¡± (Me) With a snap of my finger half of my traps activated. I was really creative while setting them up, so the end of every one of them varied for each trap. Some were mashed into pieces by their own weight, because I set up a super gravity trap. Another was near an explosion rune, while another one received my sneaky earth spear coming from the ground. The result, out of 40 people, 37 died, and the last three, consisting of Arthur, his close aid Shadow and the beast men king Sam. While all three of them were heavily injure, I was almost back to half of my full strength. ¡°I¡¯m asking nicely because you were a really good ally, but do you have any last words?¡± (Me) ¡°I don¡¯t need mercy from a...¡± (Arthur) I stabbed a sword into his head and he died right on the spot. It was really cruel, but it was the fastest way. I looked at the other two, but I didn¡¯t wait for any last words, I just killed them afterwards. I didn¡¯t feel anything when I killed them. The same thing could be seen on my featureless expression. -Clap- -Clap- As soon as I hear the first clap, I turned into the direction it came from and was on guard. I took a fighting stance and had a serious expression. I didn¡¯t even notice someone sneaking up on me and he was only a few metres away from me. ¡°Well done. I didn¡¯t expect you to be this strong, boy.¡± (Man) The root of all evil stood right before me. The final battle was about to start. Chapter 35 One vs one ¡°I have to admit, I totally underestimated your side. I thought as long as I brainwash the allies you painstakingly gathered over the years, you gods would crumble even before we fight. Never did I think someone like you would be on their side.¡± (Man) It could have been a compliment, I didn¡¯t know and I actually didn¡¯t care. The stage was prepared for our fight and I was only waiting for chances to engage. ¡°You are coldblooded and remained calm over everything that happened. Even though your whole preparation was used against you, you were able to secure the best possible outcome. Won¡¯t you come to my side?¡± (Man) His speeches were starting to get on my nerves, but I restrained from interrupting him. I used the time he wasted to recover as much as possible. ¡°I gladly refuse your offer.¡± (Me) ¡°Sigh. Even though I hate Primus, I¡¯d love to have his child on my side. Truly unfortunately.¡± (Man) ¡°If so, try to brainwash my little sister, perhaps you¡¯ll get some results there.¡± (Me) He went silent over my words. Did I say something wrong? ¡°Haha. You are a funny one. Only a single person can inherit the power and life force of two gods. The worlds system absolutely makes sure that this balance is kept.¡± (Man) When I made a confused expression, he started to get nervous. ¡°Didn¡¯t your parents tell you about the systems rules? Then what¡­¡± (Man) I was finally back to full strength and with a single leap; I closed the distance of a few metres and with a dark spear, a weapon that I created with magic, I went for his throat. I tried to get him by surprise, but I failed. He jumped back to a safe distance. Both of us stood still and looked at each other. ¡°Didn¡¯t your parents teach you to let others¡­¡± (Man)The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I did the same thing again. I failed again though. I didn¡¯t let it get to me, but I had to admit that he was extremely fast. ¡°You talk too much.¡± (Me) His jaw dropped in disbelieve and I tried the same attack pattern a third time. My dark spear didn¡¯t even touch him again. I gave up on the thought of a sudden attack and started to go over to a combination of magical and physical attacks. I wouldn¡¯t say close combat was my weakness, but in terms of experience, I was most confident in my long range battle capabilities and in my endurance. In addition, I had home court advantage. I still had many traps hidden all over the place, which I could use at every given time. I jumped right and he did the same. I made him think I wanted to escape, so he followed me. As soon as he jumped, I activated another earth spear trap beneath him, which made him dodge backwards, where I prepared an explosion trap. In the last possible second, he turned around and blocked the impact, but I was already at the other side of the explosion and faced his back. I thrusted my spear at him again. This time, I managed rip some parts of his hood apart and I even cut off some of his skin this time. Blood was flowing out of his wound and he couldn¡¯t believe what just happened. He looked at his injury and then back at me. ¡°Ho. I haven¡¯t received an injury in quite some time now. I almost forgot the feeling of pain.¡± (Man) I didn¡¯t give a reply. He didn¡¯t wait for one this time either and just continued. ¡°I see, so we fight for real now.¡± (Man) I took this fight serious since the beginning. I don¡¯t know what he thought, but this decided the outcome of a whole world. In an instant, he closed our distance and a fist was flying at me. I parried with my spear and retreated backwards. He didn¡¯t let me off so easily though. The second I touched the floor, he was in front of me again and the next fist flew at my abdomen. I blocked it again, but I didn¡¯t see his side kick coming and couldn¡¯t move my body in time. I created a shield of mana and it absorbed the whole impact. It still hit me quite hard and I almost fell to the ground because of it. The next thing I saw was another kick from beneath me and jumped to my left side to dodge. His attacks were synced perfectly with each other. Everything in our fight happened extremely fast and every reaction was crucial. I got out with minimal damage and created as much space between us as possible. I turned around, put up my guard again and awaited his next attack, so I could find an opening for a counterattack. Strangely, though, he stopped at where he kicked me. ¡°Your magic is truly annoying.¡± (Man) He took out the white ball once again and started mumbling something. The light shined once again and dispersed a few moments later. I put up my guard to defend if something happened, but same as last time, nothing happened to me. I knew what happened last time though so I looked around to see, if anything was wrong. I couldn¡¯t find anything abnormal at first, but when I checked my magic, I was astonished, that I wasn¡¯t able to feel any mana. ¡°Haha. Let¡¯s see what you are going to do without magic.¡± (Man) It wasn¡¯t as if he just blocked my magic, but more like he erased the basic existence of magic; mana. I didn¡¯t feel anything. Not in my surroundings and nothing in me. I closed my eyes for a second and tried to focus. My enemy was extremely sure of his victory. He started to laugh and let me do as I pleased without interfering. This was a fatal mistake. The moment I closed my eyes, I was relieved, because I made contact with the pitch-black sphere again. As always, it provided me with more than enough mana and I was able to use my ace, my black form. I knew that I could use all kinds of magic without even having the need to concentrate in this form. There was a little time window between the time I closed my eyes and the moment I went into black form. I used that single moment to get near him and without the need to chant, prepare or even think about it, I released a strike with tremendous power. He tried to defend, but it was too late. It was a direct hit and he flew backwards against one of the few remaining trees. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t enough to finish him off and shortly after he landed, he stood up again. ¡°You¡­ What are you?¡± (Man) Chapter 36 The hidden weapon ¡°You¡­ What are you?¡± (Man) It was a bold question to ask, which I was not obligated to answer. His calm self, developed into uneasiness. Given the circumstances, I understood that he couldn¡¯t go easy any longer, but to change that much was rather surprising. ¡°If I could only undo this damn seal, I could use my full power. It¡¯s only one last person to die anyways. Damn it, who is it?¡± (Man) I don¡¯t know how, but even though it seemed like the seal was still active, he managed to somehow get out of his world. It only showed me that he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve and I had to be extra careful. ¡°Not only that, but now a child who can withstand the power of the key appeared before me and is hindering my path.¡± (Man) He shouted all kinds of insults and hit around him, as if a ghost was haunting him. I used the opportunity to activate another explosion trap. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t work at all and it only made him angrier. ¡°Believe me, as soon as this seal is undone, I¡¯m going to kill you in the cruellest way possible.¡± (Man) I don¡¯t know if he was trying to scare me, but it didn¡¯t affect me at all. I just stood at a safe distance and whenever I thought his guard was down, I used another trap to tire him out. This went on for some time, until I ran out of traps. ¡°Was that your last one? What are you going to do now?¡± (Man) Wasn¡¯t the answer obvious? I was at full strength, while he looked exhausted. I only had to continue bombarding him with some other magic attacks until he can no longer fight and afterwards I kill him. That was my plan on how to end this fight, but I was stopped by a person I haven¡¯t seen in quite some time. ¡°Save your mana. You will need it later.¡± The facial expression of my opponent made all types of twitches as soon as he heard the voice. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°I really hoped it was someone else, but no, it had to be you Primus.¡± (Man) ¡°Who else if not me dear Daniel?¡± (Primus) At least Dad¡¯s character didn¡¯t change much from what I remembered him to be. He seemed much to friendly and easy going, but now I knew that it was only a facade to hide his real personality. Moreover, I finally knew the name of my enemy. I didn¡¯t notice, but he somehow managed to hide it until now. It was only a name, but he didn¡¯t want to tell me. Perhaps it had some meaning, or it was only a grudge, I don¡¯t know. ¡°So, are you here to stop me as well?¡± (Daniel) ¡°Haha. If I could I would, yes. But my answer is no. I¡¯m here to give my son something, during these last moments of mine.¡± (Primus) Daniel smiled as soon as he heard the words last moments. ¡°Fine do whatever you want. But do me a favour and die fast, so I can finally get free from this damn seal.¡± (Daniel) Primus only smiled back at him. It made Daniel angry again, but the thought of Dad soon dying calmed him down. We went a few steps apart so only I could hear my father¡¯s words. ¡°It seems you have been doing pretty well my son.¡± (Primus) He started the dialogue as if he was a normal father seeing his child again after a long time. I was confused and it was also shown on my face, because Dad started to laugh. ¡°Haha. Can¡¯t I be proud of my son? Well I would love to chat longer, but I don¡¯t have much time. The seal is taking away my lifeforce.¡± (Primus) ¡°Wouldn¡¯t some magic attacks be enough to finish him off?¡± (Me) ¡°Normally yes, but as soon as the seal breaks, he will recover his full strength and magic will probably not even scratch him anymore.¡± (Primus) He came here to make sure that I had a certain chance of winning. ¡°You wanted to give me something; are you talking about the sword?¡± (Me) As soon as I said so, a sword appeared in front of me. Dad probably used something like my space inventory magic. I inspected the sword and after I finished, I was shocked. ¡°This¡­ is a normal sword, right?¡± (Me) ¡°So, you can tell that from just looking at it. That means you are proficient in blacksmithing. This makes me even more proud as your father. Well, as you said, it¡¯s a perfectly normal weapon, but it¡¯s only a decoy so don¡¯t worry.¡± (Primus) I knew it wasn¡¯t as simple as that. Or better I was relieved that he didn¡¯t come just because of a simple sword. ¡°The real hidden card has already been within you since birth.¡± (Primus) ¡°What?¡± (Me) ¡°This black form you are currently using, if I¡¯m not wrong you draw your energy from a dark sphere, am I correct?¡± (Primus) During my time in prison, I researched everything I wanted; everything except the dark sphere. Not because I wasn¡¯t motivated, but it wasn¡¯t possible. It didn¡¯t matter what I did, I got not results. Now my father is the first person who talks as if he knows something about it, so I didn¡¯t know how to respond correctly. ¡°To make it simple and short; due to a fight between us eleven gods, we divided the key into a white and into a black sphere. One of them can influence, while the other one can use the system.¡± (Primus) My mind went blank. I finally realised it. They key; or half of the key which created everything was inside me. ¡°Is there a difference?¡± (Me) ¡°Well the white key can only influence the laws and rules of the system, it cannot directly use everything though. But, as you saw, with one or two tricks it¡¯s possible.¡± (Primus) I experienced it first-hand. ¡°On the other hand, the black key can use everything the system has, without any restraints, but it cannot influence it, nor can it be controlled by the system.¡± (Primus) ¡°So, the reason why I didn¡¯t die when Lucy was born was¡­¡± (Me) ¡°Correct. Your part of the key made you immune to the curse of us gods and with it you survived.¡± (Primus) ¡°I¡­¡± (Me) ¡°I know you have many questions, but this is as far as I can go. I wish you good luck my son.¡± (Primus) The situation emerged into something I already experienced once. Primus¡¯s body suddenly started glowing. It transformed into a light and shortly after, into a sphere of mana and dispersed afterwards. I watched the scene from the beginning until the end without moving an inch. ¡°Haha. Finally, I¡¯m free.¡± (Daniel) There was a single person who rejoiced on my father¡¯s death. Both, my enemy and I were at full strength and after a short pause, the second round was about to start. Chapter 37 The battle goes on ¡°Haha. I¡¯m finally set free from this damn curse!¡± (Daniel) For a split second I felt resentment towards him. I don¡¯t know if it was a real emotion of mine, or just a simple grudge, but what I knew was that I had an urge to kill that bastard. ¡°I hope you received something good, otherwise you won¡¯t be able to last long against me.¡± (Daniel) He pointed at the sword I received from Dad in his last moments. It seemed like the decoy fulfilled its purpose. He thought it was my final weapon against him. ¡°Come at me with all you got.¡± (Daniel) Daniel seemed overly confident now with his full strength. He recovered that underestimating personality of his and started to mock me again. With a wicked smile and lots of excitement, I began to face him head on. I rushed forwards, while he did the same. The fight started again with a fist fight. I knew my limits as well as my strengths and weaknesses all too well. I had a great defence as well as a high level of endurance, which allowed me to solely focus on dealing heavy blows, while I completely ignored defending against attacks at close range. Daniel threw a punch at my body. I didn¡¯t even try to dodge, quite the opposite, I tried to land an even heavier attack on him. He noticed and backed out immediately. I didn¡¯t leave him enough room and followed his path, while my next attack was already on its way. He dodged it and tried to use my own attack against me with a counter. I shifted my body sideways and landed a kick on his body. The ground shook lightly because of my heavy attack. The impact was strong enough to force him a few steps backwards. He knocked himself back to reality and spit out some blood from his mouth. ¡°Not bad.¡± (Daniel) We went at each other again. This time I was the faster one and got the first strike. It got blocked by him catching my fist and with the elbow of his other arm he tried to break mine.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. With strength alone, I couldn¡¯t get free, so I tried to get another heavy hit with my other arm. I was ready to trade one of my arms, which I could recover if I had some time against another dangerous blow. I was ready to take that gamble. In my eyes I would come out ahead in both options. I probably seemed crazy in his eyes and in the last second, he backed out and I was only able to scratch him a bit. It was close though. I could have almost lost my right arm for a while. ¡°Ho.¡± (Daniel) We continued our fist fight for quite a while. I could fully analyse his fighting style. He had swift movements and wouldn¡¯t take many risks. I on the other hand had reckless and irrational attacks as well as no regards for my own body. After the fifth or sixth encounter, where he had to leave close combat range or take a blow, he realised that he wouldn¡¯t win our fight that way. He changed the fight as soon as he saw the opportunity to do so. ¡°You¡¯re truly impressive. You are young, but you already managed to surpass me in close combat. You had the advantage of some sparring partners though.¡± (Daniel) Daniel was a talkative person. Whenever he made a mistake, he tried to find excuses for his failures. He would never give in and openly admit that he lost in something. In my opinion this was one of his many weaknesses. Mid-range fight; a mixture of wide physical attacks as well as sneaky magic attacks mixed from a small distant. It was also the battle style most suited for the usage of weapons. This was the next battle we fought. The problem was that this fighting style was probably the one I was most proficient with. Due to my large variety in magic, as well as my overbearing close combat skills, mid-range fights were my absolute strength. Daniel didn¡¯t know about that fact yet and dared to challenge me with it. I made sure he¡¯d pay the price for it. I already had my sword and he summoned one as well. His seemed a lot more powerful, but power didn¡¯t matter, if the one who wields it is too weak, then the sword wouldn¡¯t be of much help. It didn¡¯t take long and our swords clashed. Again, we fought at a very high speed and it was hard to even follow our movements with normal eyes. Magic attacks, such as fireballs flew at me occasionally. This only showed me even more how little he knew about mid-range combat. It was important to simultaneously use smaller magic, so you¡¯d get the advantage at some point. I don¡¯t know what he did in that time he had, but most of it probably went to waste. He missed a lot of basic fighting tactics and he fought like a novice in mid-range combat. The only advantage he had over me was his reach as well as his strength. It didn¡¯t matter even strong points could be made to disadvantages. I used one of my favourite magic attacks to do so. I increased his gravity by a lot and his movements began to slow down and become sluggish. He could still almost move normally, but it was now impossible for him to keep up with my pace. I landed one small cut after another. I didn¡¯t need to try to finish him off, I could take my time and save my energy for later. The longer the fight continued, the more cuts Daniel received. My advantage grew larger and larger. It was a fact which was known to both of us. I didn¡¯t let it get to me much though. I continued to fight as save as possible and widen our gap even further. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake and hesitated at one attack, because I wasn¡¯t sure if one of his uncontrolled sword swings would hit me or not. This opened an opportunity for him to widen the distance between us by a lot and he also got out of my gravity field. With it our short and one-sided mid-range fight ended as well. Daniel was panting heavily and had injuries all over his body. I was finally able to see an end to this whole battle. ¡°This sword of yours is truly powerful.¡± (Daniel) In the meantime, he made another pointless statement. It also proved to me that he was incompetent. I don¡¯t want to know how much time it took him to even get control over his part of the key. ¡°It is time to show you my full power.¡± (Daniel) It came down to the last step of our battle, a single long range attack from each of us, which was going to decide the outcome of the battle. Chapter 38 Death A single attack would decide everything. The fate of our world or the outcome of this battle. Even the simple thought of life and death alone was enough to make my blood boil in excitement. I was a battle junky, so things like that happened from time to time. There was no need for unnecessary focus in our final attacks. If you held back, you¡¯d lose, so we both had to give everything we had. We didn¡¯t talk, we didn¡¯t even look at each other. We stood about fifty metres apart and prepared our devastating attacks. I didn¡¯t come up with any special idea. I would just throw all my mana at him when the time came. I hoped to win that way. I wasn¡¯t sure, nor was I able to predict the outcome. It was one of a few moments, were I didn¡¯t think about it any further and just listened to my instincts. I was immersed in gathering as much mana as possible. I made sure to be able to fire at any given time, but as long as I had time, I put even more mana into my attack. ¡­ Quite some time passed without any of us doing anything else. Without a sign, we both fired. I don¡¯t know why, but it felt like the right moment to me. And it seemed like I wasn¡¯t the only one with that thought. ¡°Haaaaaa!¡± (Me) With a roar and all my might I threw all the gathered mana at Daniel. My attack seemed similar to a ball, while his was more like a concentrated ray. Both flew at the same pace and clashed with each other in the middle. Boom. The collision released a loud sound and the ground started vibrating heavily as well. Both of us knew that we couldn¡¯t lose concentration and had to consequently use force to keep pressing our own attack forward. My arms started to feel heavy and the pressure kept increasing permanently. Luckily, I trained my body in all sorts of resistances, which allowed me to endure almost everything.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I wasn¡¯t pushed back, nor did I make any progress. Our attacks made slight movements, but overall, they stayed at the same place and wreaked havoc on the surroundings, while the earthquakes worsened. I never dared to slack off even a little. It was the opposite, if the force on my body got bigger, I just had to increase his pressure as well. I knew that Daniel was more exhausted than me, so if it came to a fight of endurance I was sure that he was the one to fall first. ¡°Haaaa!¡± (Me) With another roar, I increased the pressure once again. My feet were already buried a few centimetres into the ground. Both arms felt like they¡¯d break at any time and my whole body was aching. I didn¡¯t know about Daniels situation, but I knew I would soon reach my limits. I didn¡¯t have a method to check on him. I couldn¡¯t look past our attacks and the vibrating earth was too loud to hear anything. The pressure increased again. I closed my eyes and grit my teeth, so I was able to endure the pain. On top of the physical pain I felt from the force on my body, I started to feel mental pain from exhaustion as well. It was the worst. Parts of the island started to rip apart and water started to flow into the cracks. As soon as it came close, the sea water evaporated though. If it was seen from afar, it would seem like a natural disaster. Both of us were left with only a small part of land to stand on. The rest of our surroundings were already destroyed. There was the possibility to fly, but there was no spare mana to do so. At least I didn¡¯t have it. My pain kept increasing and my thoughts started to get hazy. I thought about things which would happen if I lose. I made a major mistake and lost concentration for a moment. With fate playing against me as well, the ground beneath me cracked open. I lost my footing, couldn¡¯t keep my balance and fell backwards. For a single second, my attack lost its source of power and was easily penetrated by Daniel¡¯s ray. With my attack gone, I was left defenceless. I couldn¡¯t dodge, because I was still in the air and was barely able to stay conscious. I couldn¡¯t put up any resistance as well. There wasn¡¯t even a single droplet of mana left. I faced his attack head on and even though my body was already sore, I could still feel the impact when it hit me. I closed my eyes and hoped it would end fast. It was the moment when I knew, I had lost. ¡­ Time started to flow slower and slower. My body became numb to the pain. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t move my body anymore. I couldn¡¯t even open my eyes again. Random pictures started flowing into my mind. At first, they were blurry, but some of them slowly became clearer. I finally realised, those were memories of my past. Even with my eyes closed, it felt like I could see them. They flew by fast and I recognized some of the events. My childhood on our little island was there, I saw some pictures of my parents, my brother as well as my sister. I remembered the first village, how I met Kylie and how she died. My memories showed me pictures from the times when I met the other gods as well as good and bad things we experienced together. The events of the tournament. I remembered the dark continent and everything I left behind after I trained in seclusion. Unfortunately, I was reminded of some cruel training methods I came up with and I remembered the pain I felt then. During the last few pictures, I saw Arthur¡¯s dead body, Daniel¡¯s expression when we first met and the battle started. When the last picture flew past me, darkness engulfed me and I felt as if I¡¯d disappear. I know what that meant; I have reached my end. I have died. Epilogue Life of the dark god In an unknown and dark place, two men stood next to each other. They were surrounded by millions of books and bookshelves, but it didn¡¯t look like a normal library. There was no light, nor any workers or other people. It was like a huge maze, which seemed to host no way out. The one to the right wore a white training suit and his chaotic blue hair looked unmovable. He had a smile on his mouth, while always leaving his eyes closed. On one hand it seemed creepy, but a normal person would think of him as a careless and na?ve person. The other one had brown hair and looked like he hadn¡¯t slept for a very long time. He only wore a brown robe and had no special features on him, which would differ him from other people. In his right hand he held an open book and with a serious face, he completely focused on reading it. ¡°¡­¡± (?) The one with the robe seemed to be finished reading and closed the book. The title shined in the darkness and the words [Life of the dark god] could be read. He took a deep breath, as if he had to swallow all the information he just got. ¡°Are you for real? What shitty ending is that? This isn¡¯t like you at all, Hikaru.¡± (?) After finishing reading, all he did was throwing complaints about the book at the other guy. It didn¡¯t seem as an insult, but more as a comparison to other books. ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡± (Hikaru) The one with the training suit opened his eyes for a short time. He made a face as if he¡¯d start crying at any moment. ¡°Gross. Spare me that. I know you¡¯re just making fun of me.¡± (?) ¡°Eh? But it¡¯s so much fun teasing you Time. You¡¯re always so serious that I can¡¯t hold myself back.¡± (Hikaru) ¡°Sigh. Are you still going with that name?¡± (Time) ¡°You received the title of time from me, so I call you time. What¡¯s the problem?¡± (Hikaru) If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Time didn¡¯t have any answer, so instead he held the book in front of Hikaru¡¯s face and changed the issue. ¡°So¡­ Why did you want me to read it?¡± (Time) ¡°Hmm?¡± (Hikaru) Hikaru had a strange look, as if he forgot something important. He pressured his forehead a bit and tried to remember. ¡°Why indeed¡­ Sorry, I totally forgot.¡± (Hikaru) Time couldn¡¯t believe what he just heard. It seemed that this wasn¡¯t the first time that such an event occurred though and Time snapped out of it really fast. ¡°I hope you¡¯ll at least still stick to your promise.¡± (Time) ¡°What promise might you be talking about?¡± (Hikaru) Time seemed really angry at first and almost lost his cool. A normal person would have, but there seemed to be a hidden connection and Time remained calm and answered casually. ¡°About granting me free access to your library.¡± (Time) ¡°I¡¯ll think about it if you tell me what you think about this.¡± (Hikaru) The book which had been in Time¡¯s hands a few moments ago was held against his face this time. There had been no chance to take it away, but Hikaru still held it in his hands and asked with a smile as if nothing happened. ¡°Ok, fine.¡± (Time) Hikaru¡¯s smile seemed to be irritating him, but he could still answer normally. ¡°I¡¯ll start with the book itself.¡± (Time) ¡°Go ahead.¡± (Hikaru) Time intensely stared at Hikaru and changed his line of sight to the book afterwards. As if he searched for an answer that would be satisfying to hear. ¡°Well, in my opinion, you partly failed in writing this book¡­¡± (Time) Time made a pause to see Hikaru¡¯s reaction. He continued as soon as he saw that there was no change in his expression. ¡°It lacks a lot in information and diversity. It is more or less only about you and some minor thoughts of yours, as well as the events, which you talked about.¡± (Time) Time made another pause to sneak a glance again. ¡°You don¡¯t have to look at me every time you make pause, you know. Just continue.¡± (Hikaru) Time didn¡¯t predict that Hikaru would instantly yell at him and was startled for a second. ¡°Then on the other hand you talked about people unnecessary, because no one will ever remember them.¡± (Time) ¡°I will though. Most of them helped me out in my childhood.¡± (Hikaru) ¡°You probably only wrote it to remember them. The only ones who made it past the eclipse anyways, were the five symbols as well as the princess of freedom.¡± (Time) Hikaru seemed in a melancholic mood. Time left him those moments and remained quiet until he thought he could go ahead. ¡°The story has some heroics in it as well, but barely any literature. It¡¯s like a report about the past.¡± (Time) ¡°Yes, that¡¯s because I wrote it in the age of darkness.¡± (Hikaru) ¡°Well that would explain a lot. But why haven¡¯t you corrected it then?¡± (Time) ¡°I feel like it wouldn¡¯t be the same anymore.¡± (Hikaru) Time nodded and agreed to Hikaru¡¯s views. ¡°So, do I have permission to use your library?¡± (Time) Time finally did everything Hikaru asked him to do. He had his hopes high. ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m currently writing the next season, so if you help me write it, you can come and go whenever you want. I¡¯ll give you a key with which you can enter and leave once for now.¡± (Hikaru) ¡°I¡­¡± (Time) ¡°Don¡¯t worry it is much better than the first.¡± (Hikaru) ¡°It¡¯s not like I have an actual choice, do I?¡± (Time) ¡°Nice. I¡¯ll go out for a while. Take good care of this place in the meantime.¡± (Hikaru) Hikaru seemed to know exactly where the exit was and headed straight ahead. ¡°Take your time reading as much as you want. It¡¯s the god¡¯s library, so you¡¯ll find plenty of interesting stuff here.¡± (Hikaru) After turning around one last time and saying those final words, Hikaru disappeared into thin air and left the depressed Time behind. Author note/ second season The end of the War (1) Ryukai POV All of us went through a lot of shit in the past few years. But nothing of that can compare to the current situation. The world as we knew it, is in chaos. On the verge of destruction, it is colliding with another world, we have never seen before. Even though I am someone from the highest race, the race of gods, I can only watch powerlessly. Everything started when another god named Hiro, came to visit me out of nowhere. * I lived my life as a sacred being on the peaceful continent of the spirits, a race, which would never harm someone else without a proper reason. The only downside the Spirits had was, that they mostly lived in seclusion and therefore, they had absolutely no influence in worldly affairs. It saved living there, but on the other side, except for studying some magic as well as training my body, I had absolutely nothing to do. Luckily the king of the Spirits was a good friend of mine and whenever he had to make a difficult decision, he¡¯d ask for my advice first and would decide afterward. At least this saved me from my boredom. Hiro told us that an Oracle predicted a grim future for our world and that everyone must work together to prevent that future, the standard quote. Neither the Spirit king nor I were na?ve enough to believe a stranger we have never met before. We obviously asked further questions and it took quite some time to get a hold of the whole story. Hiro told us about an incident at a tournament between the humans and the beastmen. It didn¡¯t seem like a half-hearted story to me and we listened to everything until the very end. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, but could I ask you to decide on this as fast as possible. Time¡¯s really short on hand.¡± I was really irritated by his behavior. Sometimes, Hiro¡¯s speech would be extremely polite, but it could switch to the complete opposite the next second. That is something that is somehow connected to us gods though because all of us are strange¡­ or crazy. In the end, we decided to lend a helping hand. I went with Hiro for the time being, while the Spirit king would prepare our army for the battle. The plan was to reunite at a crisis meeting a few years later. * After traveling around with Hiro for a while, we somehow ended up as good friends. We were the perfect opposites. I was ignorant when it came to worldly matters and social interaction, while on the other hand, Hiro didn¡¯t have the brightest head. We were a pretty good team, he would do the talking and I would do the thinking. Hiro told me everything he could think of as important. He told me what he knew about the other races, about the past events and most importantly about the other gods. There were exactly six of us. From his talking, I could assume that three of us, Hiro and me included, were half normal, two were abnormal and one was completely crazy. I really wanted to meet them all, but I had to wait for the final meeting. I had already started to fully believe in Hiro¡¯s end of the world stuff after the first few stories when we first met. I trusted him even further after every other I heard from him. While traveling around the world, we would occasionally train together or search for further supporters. * Time flew by and the awaited crisis meeting commenced. For me, who hadn¡¯t met with a lot of people, it was hard to contain my excitement. The designated place was a huge castle. Apparently, it was the human race¡¯s main castle. Every leader of the five races, humans, beastmen, demons, dragons and spirits, as well as all six of us gods, were invited to this meeting, an exact number of eleven people would discuss how we should prevent the end of the world together. When Hiro and I arrived, we were greeted by a handful of important individuals of the human race and they guided us to where the human king was already waiting for us. "Welcome." We were the first to arrive and the human king Arthur gestured us to take a seat. "It seems we were successful in inviting everyone." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Directly after we sat down, Arthur started a conversation. He was referring to the invitations to everyone. While Hiro picked me up, the others were either training or meeting with the other kings. "Seems like it." Hiro replied to Arthur and we continued to talk about this and that until the others arrived. One after the other made their appearance. First, the king of beastmen arrived, then another god called Hayate came together with the king of the Demons. Hiro silently introduced everyone he knew to me. The more people joined the meeting, the livelier it got. When Hiro finished, I was quite confused. There was the god Takeshi with the surname of Dragon and the god Hayato with the surname of Beast. There are only five races and with Hiro who had Human and me who got Spirit there should only be one spot left, but we were still missing two gods. "Yo." While I searched for a solution, a strange one showed up. "I hope you guys didn''t wait too long for us." Feeling my questioning gaze, Hiro had to laugh before he could give me an explanation. "That crazy little girl over there is Lucy and she is the little sister of the god who is still missing." I only saw her for a short time, but if she and Takeshi both went under Hiro''s impression of abnormal, what did the crazy one had to be like? Ten people. That was the final count I reached. The meeting seemed more like parents picking up their kids because the kings were all grown ups and looked pretty dangerous, while we others were literally still kids. "Well then let''s start talking about the matter at hand." Out of all the people in this room, the little girl took over and took the lead in the discussion. A little girl taking the lead in a meeting with the highest authorities in the world. Again, what did the crazy one had to be? "I think everyone has already been informed about the matter at hand, but just to be sure I''ll give you another quick overview." In the end, that was what we all came for. The final goal was to save the world. "I''ll start with introductions. The name''s Lucy. Same as those four, I''m a god." One after another, we started to introduce ourselves. "Good. Now that we know each other we can continue. A few years ago a certain oracle foresaw the end of our world and to prevent that we finally meet here to discuss how we should act." A lot of details were skipped due to the shortage of time. It was similar to what I already heard of Hiro. "Now that that''s been taken care of as well, we can finally pick up the last member of this crisis meeting." As soon as Lucy closed the door behind her, we all went back to small talks. Still joking around, no one could anticipate what awaited us. A few minutes after leaving Lucy wildly opened the door again. "We''ve brought him here, so we can continue the conversation from where we stopped." Followed by two people and an enormous aura, she reentered the room. I was confused once again and Hiro had to do some explaining again. "The one to the right is Sepp. He has been helping Lucy out a lot in the past few years. The other one is Hikaru." As always, Hiro''s explanations were short and helpful. The crazy one was that Hikaru guy. He only stood there but was already giving off a heavy vibe. ¡°Ah. Well as some of you already know, that¡¯s my big brother as well as the original nightmare who trained for the past five years in the dungeon.¡± Lucy seemed a bit nervous when she introduced her own brother. She was nowhere near her cocky attitude from before. ¡°I know it¡¯s bold of us to ask you for your assistance, but we are at dire times.¡± The demon lord stood up and was the first to take the initiative to talk to Hikaru. ¡°Don¡¯t worry demon king. I can feel the tension in here. If I add that to what I already know then I understand your discomfort.¡± The demon king seemed rather dissatisfied with the outcome of the conversation. The situation turned awkward when no one continued onwards. ¡°You don¡¯t have to introduce yourself. It¡¯s enough if I know who you all are.¡± Silence filled the room once again. Normally, I didn''t care, but the situation didn''t let us waste too much time. ¡°So, Hikaru, if I¡¯m not wrong. Do you remember what happened at the beastmen-human tournament five or six years ago?¡± I tried to get back on track and we returned to the important issue. With a mocking smirk, he answered me halfhearted. ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, Spirit, yes I do.¡± ¡°My name is Ryukai, please remember it. I¡¯d really like to hear your thoughts on that matter.¡± I didn''t let his attitude bother me, on the opposite, it was quite amusing. I tried to fasten the small talk a bit but as expected Hikaru stuck to it. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you let us hear your thoughts first?¡± Now he did it. He changed the whole meeting to a battle of words between the two of us. At least I could hold my ground when it came to magic. ¡°Sure. I think it¡¯s something like void magic, but I¡¯m not too sure about it.¡± I peeked at Hikaru''s expression and then back into the round. As expected, it seemed that no one knew what I was talking about. ¡°Pfff. Hahaha.¡± Out of nowhere, Hikaru started laughing. It took me by surprise and I had to calm down for a second. ¡°I really like you. You are probably the only one who would currently be able to keep up with my thoughts.¡± Even I was at a loss and the room remained quiet. ¡°Well, I have to admit that you have to be really clever if you came across void magic, but unfortunately you¡¯re wrong.¡± He stopped the chit-chat and started to get serious. I was interested in what he had to say. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°If it were normal void magic, there wouldn¡¯t be a need for me to be here and some other people wouldn¡¯t be able to sit here either.¡± Hikaru looked at Takeshi for a second before continuing. I don''t know the whole story, but it was some sort of grudge. It didn''t pick my interest though. ¡°If it¡¯s not void magic what else could it be?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not magic at all. It¡¯s something completely different. I am prepared to face what¡¯s coming. You should prepare yourselves as well.¡± Everyone, including me, had a stupefied expression. He said it was not magic and that we have to prepare ourselves? ¡°The enemy is coming. Not only that, but he¡¯s also bringing a whole world with him.¡±