《Human Outside, Demon Inside》 Chapter 1 : Revival It is said the First God have the mind and body of a human, power of a demon, and longevity of a dragon. At the end of his lifespan, he split himself into three new Gods. The Human God, Demon God, and Dragon God. Each of them divide the world into their own territory, Human God took the lowlands on western part of the world, Demon God choose the central part filled with harsh environment and raging wildlife. Dragon god live in the mountainous area within eastern part of the world. After another eternity, those three Gods also reach the end of their lifespan. Just as before, they create a new sentient being upon their deaths. Human God create humans, while Demon God create demons, and Dragon god create dragons. Human is the weakest of all the other race upon its creation. Human God create them to be as flexible as possible, capable of improvement based on their need. With a body without any specific advantages except the mind to make full use of their surroundings. A demon are strong since birth, but instinct fill a lot of space in their brain and hindered their growth. Of all the other race, demon is the most diverse with at least twenty sub-race at its creation, each with their own unique characteristic and power similar to that of a beast. It is believed that is caused by Demon God particular fondness of the wildlife within his territory. A dragon are blessed with the strongest body with extremely long lifespan, but their minds are also similar to that of a beast and unable to fully express their full power. Dragon is unique that they were created as Dragon God''s pet before his demise, they are the only one who have seen the God with their own eyes. Although it''s unknown whether there''s a dragon who still live up to this day since then. Each of the race have their own way of growth. Human recognize their body weakness and strife to counter that by become exceptionally skilled with their equipment. Demon with plenty of experience will eventually gain a new technique in addition of increase control of their strength. Dragons on the other hand are will eventually gain a mind strong enough to fully control their body. Allowing them to unlock their full potential. Both demons and dragons tend to become humanoid in body as their strength grows, as it allows them to fully use all of their strength without any limitations. While humans who already have the best mind since birth will sometimes gave birth to several individuals capable of unique feats such as controlling things beyond their own body. At first all three races live on their own without any contact with each other. But the humans and demons simply grow far too quickly, as their territory expands fight between them were inevitable. But it seems Human God and Demon God have predicted this, between the west and central area of the world lie a span of forest with immense size, the anomaly Great Forest. Trees there grow at superb speed and capable of complete regeneration if not pulled out from the root. Neither humans nor demons can clear an area fast enough before it was populated by trees again. While the forest act as a giant buffer between demon and human territory, there''s plenty of occurrence where a small group of demons manage to sneak past the forest and pillage on nearby human settlements. Provoking human retaliation by erecting fortifications on the forest border to stop marauding demons from entering its territory. There''s several attempt from the humans to bring the fight on to demons turf instead, but most of them were weakened by the Great Forest and fall victim to the hands of the demons. The demons who have gained fame on that battle went on to create their own tribe across the Great Forest, several of them crumble under the weight of time and become nothing but a small village. There''s one who''ve managed to gain authority and establish itself as majority owner of demon world, The Ga''ux Demon Kingdom led by Red''shar royal lineage. At first glance the kingdom''s authority within the demon world seem to be solid, but demon is not a race who will be happy to be ruled by a weak king. Right now the second Demon King of Ga''ux Kingdom are chased by his own vassal with nowhere to run. In his confused state, there''s only one place he can go without being surrounded. And so he decided to enter the Great Forest on his own. *******_______*******_______******* The forest is thick, with bushes and rocks everywhere blocking my vision. I can''t even see my own feet, yet I know it must''ve bled profusely from all the pebble I step on. My ear hear a noise in front of me, another endless danger in this anomaly forest. Just how long I been running?. Since the rebellion it''s been a month. 2 weeks since they break into my castle. A week after I lose everything I ever have. 3 days since they found out my hideout and murder all retainers who''ve followed me from the castle. 10 hours since I entered this Great Forest to escape from my pursuers. And now they finally manage to catch up to me. I let out a small laughter, oh how the fate didn''t favor me. But I guess this isn''t a bad place to die. Every revolution had to end with the monarch''s head separated from his body. The Great Demon King Mos''cua Red''shar have outlived his kingdom, only to fall shortly afterwards. A wise king with proper judgments on his vassal feud, without knowing that most of the evidence were fabricated. A powerful king who have double his kingdom territory size compared to his father reign, leaving grudges and revenge on his path of expansion. A benevolent king who elevated fellow demons into important positions, only to have them betray him in his gravest time. What a stupid king he was, listening to his advisor silver tongue until the last moment of his reign. Living in seclusion from the world, leaving all the kingdom matters to other people. Truly unworthy of someone called a king. That''s what Kingdom''s Marshall Alexan''to Lo''tua told me when I ask him the reason of his rebellion. But all of that is in the past, now I''m the most wanted person in the kingdom. Chase by everyone looking for glory and riches, and by devil''s luck I finally meet one of them in my darkest time. A group of goblin bandits against former king who have sold his armor for yesterday meal. "Ah, take a look at that. Who would''ve known we would meet another gold pouch over here?." "Right boss!, what a good day indeed!." "To think we could have two ransom in a single day, at least they can console each other on their way back. Hahaha!!." The three of them began to laugh at each other while moving closer towards me. I draw my sword from its scabbard, pointing its edge against them. Three against one and my physical condition is not at it best, but I know I won''t lose in terms of equipment. This sword was forged by the best dwarf blacksmith in my kingdom and made with highest quality material, it can easily slice any object imaginable, The Demon King''s sword U''raul. The bandits spread themselves apart and encircle me from three directions, leaving no space for me to retreat. Not that I still have any will to escape, this forest is my last hiding place. Either I will die here or be consumed by the forest beasts later. One of them charge towards me with sword above his head, probably to test my capability before the other two attack me from behind. I should count myself lucky this bandit charging head on like that, as long as I can see their attack I can parry them and proceed with the counterattack. It won''t be that easy when they use feint and tricks to hit me from my blind spot. He swing his sickle towards me, It''s an overhead swing using the force of gravity to overwhelm the defender stance. I ready myself to parry it, both feet properly planted to the ground while holding U''raul horizontally to absorb the impact. The clash between the weapons produce a high ringing sound in my ear. Both of my hands gripped as strong as I can on U''raul handle to make sure I don''t let it go. Strangely enough, the stress only last for a split second, the bandit sickle were unable to withstand U''raul sharpness, it was broken in two at the point of impact. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Confusion start to show on the bandit face, for he just lost his weapon in a single clash. I make use of this opportunity to swing my sword to his left shoulder, slicing past his light armor into the meat and bone as if it was butter. The sword exit his body from right hip, cleanly splitting him into two pieces in the process. The warm blood splash to my face, I wipe my eyes before changing my attention to the other two bandits. There''s no more grin in their face, probably due to shock of losing one of their comrade in a bizarre fashion. The bandits change their formation, now one of them is in front of me while the other one is on my back. The one in front gave a small nod to his ally before charging towards me. He stop just before my sword reach and start to kick the dirt towards me. Protecting my eyes while jumping sideways to evade it, I was late to notice that the other bandits have been waiting for me. I swing my sword as fast as possible to parry his. For a moment I thought his blade would crumble just as the previous bandit, but clearly this one is more experienced than the other goblin. He angle his blade as to not clash with mine, barely grazing each other while heading towards my right hand. I try my best to evade it, but the headache from lack of sleep from the last few weeks stop me from moving. And just like that, U''raul fell to the ground with my hand still holding it. The pain from my dismembered hand soon replace the headache. Ah.., I can''t even see clearly anymore. The fatigue welling up inside me ever since I left the castle have caught up to me. How many sleepless night I''ve spent running from those pursuers?, How many helping hands I''ve refused out of fear of betrayal?. I''m tired, too tired. Staring at my dismembered hand at the ground, the corner of my eyes become red clogged with my own blood. My brain is sending a warning signal, the sensation of losing my minds in favor of instinct, surrendering myself to the desire inside me. Reminding myself of a dark past I can never forget. Most demons was born with enhanced physique or additional body parts. As they grow older, naturally their power also gotten stronger. Some will learn to control their power, while others will be driven mad with it and become mindless beast. Since I was young there''s nothing in my life except training to be worthy as my father successor. Undergone harsh training together with my fellow siblings everyday to hone our power. However, one day that power went out of my control. [Berserker''s Blood] The technique I gain after countless day of training. The power to make my body many times stronger than usual, truly becoming a god in battlefield. However, my mind are unable to cope with the pressure of sudden surge from this new power. I lose myself in rampage until the desire to destroy is fulfilled. I don''t want this kind of power... When I finally regain control of my body, Countless inanimate bodies spread out in front of me. I recognize some of them, my siblings, unarmed civilians, and my father trusted advisors. Everyone died by my hands. I was prepared for any kind of punishment, but my father thinks otherwise. He deem my power to be necessary to rein control of the kingdom after his passing. I was named as his heir, and the next leader of the kingdom should anything happen to him. I spent my days in remorse and guilt. Is this what I want?, the power to kill anyone in my path without any regards?. I know the answer and what I had to do to correct it. I spend my time trying to control this power, to stop the same thing from ever happening again. Delving myself to the maximum point of self control, until even my normal power is also compressed. Slowly my body become adjust to the reduced power, my appearance change to something between human and demon. Times passed by as I continue my to reform myself. My father is long gone, and now I lead the kingdom as his successor. This position is something I gained by with blood, I am not worthy to be a leader. Yet my advisers refuse to listen, they said the kingdom will crumble if I abdicate myself, there''s no one strong enough to continue the legacy. And so I began my search for replacements. Giving key positions to anyone with worthy merit in hope they are capable to lead the kingdom. Who knows they decide to rebel instead of asking it nicely. But I guess this is also my long due punishment. I close my eyes when the headache become unbearable, completing my [Berserker''s Blood] activation. 100 years have passed since I start to learn how to control it, yet my fear have stopped me from ever testing it. Will I finally be able to control it?, or is my years spent in vain?. The bandits notice something different about me, but at this point they are no longer able to retreat. I charge towards them while swinging U''raul wildly with my left hand, their destruction is the only thing in my mind. ................ When the dust finally settled, I''m the only one moving within the vicinity. U''raul is stuck at one of the bandits chest, while the other bandits are bleeding from all the holes within his body. Have I won?, there''s a strange feeling of proud in my chest. The feeling of finally surpassing my lifelong fear. The adrenaline slowly subside and left me with another feeling, it is pain caused by the bandits blades stabbed in my body, I think one of them have pierced my lungs. My dulled battle sense after spending countless years locked up in the castle seems to be affecting [Berserker''s Blood] performance. Not that I will ever use it again, now that I know I can control it. My ears is ringing from the pain, I hear a bell sound somewhere within it, perhaps the sound of my death. It took me a few more seconds to notice the source of that bell, a woman who is currently sitting a few meters from the bandits wagon. I do remember them saying having two ransom today, could this woman be their other hostage?. I walk closer to her, perhaps to answer the last question in my mind before death. The ground near the woman is wet with water and blood, in her hands is a baby who made no sound. It seems she tried to run away during my battle with the bandits, only to get into labor soon after. Perhaps it''s because there''s no midwife to help her, or maybe because it is not meant to be. The baby is a stillborn, and the mother is trying her best to make the loudest sound possible with her bell to wake the baby from its eternal sleep. One more soul lost today, another friend for my journey to the afterlife. My body fall, there''s no more power to stay up. Cold start to spread across my body. Is this the end?, my eyelids felt heavy all of a sudden. Should I sleep?, will I woke up again?. I have a confession before my death, I lied earlier about giving up on my life. In the face of death I tried to be brave and said that I''ve accepted my current situation. The truth is I still want to do countless other things, I''ve spent too much of time correcting myself that I can''t say I''ve properly lived my life. Yet my fate is the same as the baby, we withers before the full bloom. Will both of us have another chance at life?. That thought cross my mind as I close my eyes. The bell sound will accompany me into the eternal sleep. *Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding* *Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding* *Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding*...*Ding* ....... I change my mind, can you stop ringing the bell?. No seriously, even I can''t sleep when you ring the bell that loud. I tried to let my voice out, but all I can do is a cry. An incoherent sound with no meaning whatsoever, a baby cry. The woman stop ringing her bell and smile at me with tears on her eyes. Chapter 2 : Growth 2 months have passed since the Great Forest incident. I fell asleep soon after the woman stop ringing her bells, only to be awaken when a group of men reach our location while creating heavy noises. They took us away from the forest back to the woman''s home. The condition of three survivor they brought back was critical back then, I know my body have a couple holes and there is practically no chance of surviving. The mother is still bleeding from the birth process, she lost quite a lot of blood and was unconscious while the baby have a fever. Thankfully the castle doctor is more than able to save the mother and her child, although there is nothing he can do to fix my broken body. It seems they misunderstood my body as a normal human due to my humanoid appearance, else there is no way they will bring a demon corpse inside their home. I wonder where they bury it. As for why I am still alive even after they buried my body. Somehow I ended up in the stillborn child body after I open my eyes. Don''t ask me how, I don''t know either, I have plenty of questions with no answers, although this a perfectly acceptable condition considering I was supposed to have perished back there. Anyway, my current situation can be best described as boredom. I know an infant should be managed with maximum care, but you can at least let me out from my room every now and then. My only activity right now is scanning the room and sucking my wet-nurse''s breast. It seems the woman condition is still nowhere near well enough to fed me her milk, so a wet-nurse was hired instead. Now that I think about it, it seems my current parents are quite respected around this part. There''s no way a commoner can afford separate room and wet-nurse for their baby. All this talk about milk made me hungry, good thing the wet-nurse is still in the room. After a great effort, I finally able to make enough movement to attract her attention. My body belong to a former stillborn child after all, it was naturally weak and have a breathing problem. Simply doing this much have left me powerless. The wet-nurse turn her head away from the window and greet me. "**** *** ** *******?." Yep, I don''t know what is she saying. Not only my hearing is still not up to par, I also have no knowledge about human language. Back then my castle have a few books looted from the humans who attempted to invade our kingdom, I have tried to read them for no avail. Human language are weird. I open my mouth without words, hand pointing at her breast, my cue for milk time. I can only ask for milk whenever she is in my room, because the only way I can call her when she is not here is by crying, it felt weird for me to cry just for the milk. She move her body closer to me while slowly undress her top, revealing stupendous breast capable of storing enough milk for five babies. I start to suck the milk out from those while clenching my hand on it as to not let it go. Sometimes I do a gentle bite out of curiosity, but as expected from a professional wet nurse, she barely bat an eye. The milk was delicious. *******_______*******_______******* My body have grown a little bit stronger now, I can walk properly using my legs. It took almost one year to accomplish this. The wet-nurse have learned to not carelessly let the door open anymore. Last time it happen they have to search for a few hours to find me. The wet-nurse got a little bit of scolding because of that. I''m so sorry, but there is no way I''m willing to be entrapped in this room any longer. Thankfully she seem to notice my frustrations as she start to take me on a tour around the house more often. Even if I call it a house, the size is somewhat bigger than my expectations. There is at least three story with plenty of room in each of it, as well as a group of maids I''m unable to completely remember their faces. This is a mansion alright. Today my wet-nurse take me for a walk as usual, after walking for a short while she knock on the door in third floor before a voice from the inside gave her the permission to enter. I have learn a few things from listening to their conversation in this previous year, most of them are words they uttered before an action, so I somewhat capable to grasp the meaning of it. I still can''t replicate most of the sounds, but that didn''t stop me from training when I am on my own. The one we are visiting is a woman in her sickbed. Her blonde hair glisten under the sun light, with a face which is in another whole level than any other human woman I met until now. She still looks a bit sickly and pale, but she is happy nevertheless whenever I come to visit. I start to climb atop her body as soon as the wet nurse put me on her bed. First is her slender leg, I just love to hug it anytime I can. Next is the stomach, I gave it a few pat before moving on to her chest, I rest my head on it while listening to the heartbeat. Her chest may not be as big as the wet nurse, but it is still acceptable. She is my savior as well as mother of the body I am currently inhibiting, I don''t have any right to fault her. She put her hand on my head while chuckling a little bit after seeing my behavior. It is good that I can make her smile, this is my first step to repay the favor. After the woman and the wet-nurse have a short conversation which I couldn''t understand as usual, the wet-nurse carry me away from the room to continue our tour. Next destination is the training ground, where several men are swinging their sword in front of a man. They shout a few words after they notice us, only to be scolded by their instructor. After making sure his disciple are focused on their training, he left them and walk towards us with a smile on his face. He grab my hand and speak a couple words to me. I can clearly feel the hardness of his hand, a result of repeated training with the sword. It seems this man is my father, I know that because he often visited me in my room by himself. He tried making funny face to make me laugh once, but he never do that again after seeing my stone cold reaction. Overall I have to say he is a pretty nice guy, but you can clearly see he is impatient waiting for me to grow to start teaching me the sword. After a short while, his disciple start to make some noise again, prompting him to return to watch their training. The wet-nurse bow and ask for permission to continue our walk while I''m waving my hand to them. This time she bring me out from the mansion towards the garden on our backyard. There''s a few maids tending to flowers and trees greeting us. She continue to walk past them until we reach a gravestone beneath a giant tree. At first I thought it was my grandparents grave, but there''s a sword I recognize laid above it. U''raul, the sword personally made for me, King Mos''cua Red''shar of Ga''ux Demon Kingdom. This is where they put my body to rest. I''m glad that they made a proper gravestone for me. Sure it is not as grand as my demon father royal grave, but to think they would do this much for someone they are not acquaintance with. That just add one more favor I have to repay them. *******_______*******_______******* "Mami.." "Good one Glen!. now try saying da-ddy!, or fa-ther!. "Da..fa.?." My parents can''t hold their laugh after seeing their two years old son failures of mirroring them. I''m now capable of understanding their basic conversations and replicating most words. There''s also a few sentence I''ve been training on, but the maids are kind of overreacting when I said it. So I am pretending to be a fool right now. I also gain a few knowledge about my human parents, mostly from night time stories and eavesdropping. The mother is a landless noble daughter, while his husband is a decorated war hero elevated to nobility and granted a newly established county in the frontier. The man name is Rupherd Postou, while his wife is Lana Postou. It seems non-noble human are only allowed to hold a single name, so Rupherd took his wife surname as his own. By other words, he is married into his wife family to be elevated into a noble. Right now I''m being raised as their first child and son, Glenard Postou. Glenard, that''s not a bad name, although they prefer to call me with shortened name Glen instead. Apparently my mother is the one who grant me this name on her sickbed, completely abandoning previous name my parents have agreed on, my father have no other options except accepting it to make my mother calm down. Their relationship seems to be quite good for arranged marriage. At least I never saw Rupherd chasing the maids while Lana is stuck on her sickbed. Lana still haven''t been able to walk yet. When the doctor see no sign of her strength returning even after all physical wound are already healed, he claim her sickness as expended life force, a heavy fatigue on the body as result of completely exhausting your mana. The diagnosis came as a surprise as Lana is not a mage nor does she is in possession of any magic tools. I have my own suspicion about the bell, but since Lana didn''t saying anything about it herself I will keep my mouth shut for now. Doctor said the only cure is to rest and allow her body to heal itself. With how severe Lana condition is, it can take a few decade for full recovery. After another few rounds of failure pronunciations, Rupherd lift me from the ground and pass me to Lana. She hold me in her arms while naming things outside the window, her only connection to outside world. A few decade huh?, as humans have the shortest lifespan of all the other race it must felt really long for her. From what I know, average human lifespan is 70 years, compared to demons who can live up to 300 years it really felt too short... I''ve been contemplating how I should live this second life, even though this is a human body and I''m currently living among them, I''m still a demon on the inside. There will be times when I have to choose between them, and no matter which side I choose I will still end up as a traitor. But at least for now I will play the part of a good child for my human parents. I will repay my gratitude for being raised in their good care. When I grow up I will search for a way to heal her and become someone they could be proud of, that''s my goal for now. *******_______*******_______******* The bushes protect me while I hold my breath to erase my presence. A few men are searching within my general area, these pursuers really go all out to chase a mere four year old boy around the entire mansion. There is no way I will let myself get caught, I don''t want to go back to that place agai-. "Ah, you are here after all." "...!!" I turn my head to the source of that voice. There''s a girl with the same brown hair as my wet nurse. It is Gaby, my wet nurse Yester''s five year old daughter. When I''m capable of conversing with other people normally, I change my focus to the written version. It is somewhat harder to differentiate all the words and the meaning in their physical form, so I tend to spent most of my time alone digesting small collection of books owned by my parents. They were a little worried to see me stop talking to them all of a sudden, so they bring one year older milk-sibling Gaby to accompany me. It seems they were hoping that I will be more open towards someone with same age as mine. Our first meeting is best described as awkward. I was completely absorbed in reading an interesting book to the point of nodding absentmindedly without looking when she introduce herself. When I finish reading my book a few hours later she is already in the state of extreme dehydration. It was the peak of summer and the nearby area is in water shortage, the mansion have its own well for private use so we didn''t hit by the worse of it. But the villager had to share a single well between all of them, it seems she haven''t got her share of water before coming to the mansion. I hurriedly shove all water in my glass into her throat until she choke on it. When she stabilize a few minutes later, I ask her why she didn''t let me know before it gotten this bad. The answer was that she didn''t dare to disturb me, it seems her mother have told her not to talk if not asked. I told her how stupid that command is, and that she is allowed to break the rules to save herself from this kind of stupid incident. She just nod at me until nearby maids come rushing into the room after hearing the commotion. My wet-nurse also bowed repeatedly at me for saving her idiot daughter. The incident was solved with me allowing her to speak whenever she wants to. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Afterwards she took that order quite literally, spewing words from her mouth freely without thinking. Some of them are quite hurtful, like how she told me I am weird for reading the books out loud while making notes of words I can''t read, or when I wear a strange grin in my face while reading specific books. It seems there''s a reason after all why her mother tried to not let her mouth run loose. I told her that she won''t understand unless she read the book as well, only for her to reply that she is unable to read despite being a year older than me. Somehow our first few months together was spent with me trying to teach her how to read. Her attitude to me are similar to a normal friend despite our difference in status, some may call it impudence or disobedience, but that doesn''t really matters for me. Although right now I should call her a traitor. "Psst!, don''t let them know I''m here!." "Why don''t you give up already?, there''s no way you can hide forever." "And dragged back to that boring place?, no thanks." "You can be really stubborn sometimes...." Gaby just gave me a small shrug and left, probably looking for nearby adult to snitch my hideout. I hurriedly move to my next hiding place while cursing at the sky. There is plenty of things I learned from being human. Today is the sixth day, the last day of new moon phase. New moon is the first phase of the month, followed by waxing half moon, full moon, and waning half moon before returning to dark night of new moon again. Each of those phase only happen every seventh day, while the moon will stay the same on the day after that. Basically, 1st to 6th night is new moon. 7th night is when the new moon will be gradually filled by light up to half. 8th to 13rd night the moon will stay as half filled. 14th night the moon will completely filled with light, it is called full moon. 15th to 20th night will stay as full moon. 21st night the moon will lose half of its light and become half moon again, albeit with different side than the first half moon. 22nd to 27th night the moon will stay as waning half. 28th night mark the end of a month as well as the void of light from the moon. I never really notice this pattern before, perhaps because I''m not a nocturnal type demon I simply slept most of the night. The humans manage to observe this pattern and adjust their nighttime activities based on it. For example, there is a lot more travelers using the roads at full moon, the merchant know that and have prepared beforehand by erecting stand along the road, eventually this progress into full moon festival. New moon doesn''t have a festival due to the belief of the world being engulfed by darkness, that is why the church arrange a sermon for their believer on every morning of 1st to 6th day to strengthen their mind as to not fall into the darkness. That sermon is what I''m currently escaping from, when I was a baby I don''t know what the priest is talking about so there is no problem. But now it is different, I can''t stand him badmouthing the demons as "those who have fallen into the darkness" or "uncivilized monsters with nothing in their mind but destruction". I am a former demon after all, there is still leftover lingering feelings of hurt from that. There is no way I will listen to that lies, I will just hide somewhere until the sermon ends. Then again, just hiding is boring. If I had to stay still any longer than this I might fell asleep from yesterday night reading session leftover drowsiness. I guess a little bit of nap won''t hurt, everyone should be gathered at the church after the sermon start so they won''t be able to find me. My feet slowly take me to the garden behind our mansion, I stop and rest at a tree with gravestone beneath it. Somehow I always feel tranquil whenever I stay here, accompanied by U''raul and bones of my former body. The tree have also grown even bigger over this past few years, I wonder if that is because it absorb my corpse nutrients. The wind slowly blows with a cool breeze, perfect condition to fell asleep. I''m no longer capable to hold the drowsiness at bay and soon feel into deep slumber. Only to be heavily scolded by Rupherd a few hours afterwards. *******_______*******_______******* "Swing it with more power!, faster!." "Yes!." Instructor Rupherd really gave no quarter even for his own son. I have finished reading every books in the mansion collection a few months ago, I even read most of it twice together with Gaby. There''s nothing else for me to do so I just wandering around the mansion. One day Rupherd caught me with a grin on his face, saying that he was waiting for the time when I was bored with books, real man should play with sword after all. The training is pretty basic, simply learning how to swing your sword while keeping balance. There''s also morning run around the mansion and afternoon duel training. Most six year old might consider this training to be harsh, but it''s obviously lighter than the training when I was a demon. Well I guess it is kind of unfair to compare a human and a demon training. Because I mostly occupied with swordsmanship training right now, Gaby can''t play with me as often as before. Yester also no longer spend much time in the mansion since I have no need for wet nurse anymore, she''s currently occupied at home with her fourth child. I also gotten livelier after finishing all the books, so there''s no more need for Gaby to accompany me, but it seems she took a liking to the mansion since she always visit every day. I think I see her hanging out with the maids more often these days, I hope she get along well with them. Swinging the sword mindlessly made me fail to notice how much time has passed. The sun almost reach it peak before Rupherd give his next order. "Halt!, go grab your lunch and report later for afternoon duel session!." "Yes, Sir!." Huff.., my arms are totally numb right now. Just swinging wood sword for a few hours already make me this tired, I really need to improve this body stamina if I want to train with real sword soon. I went to nearby fountain to wipe the sweat off my body. It''s certainly have grown in this past few year, my height is already over half of Rupherd. At first I was worried with how small my body is, but I guess a child body do grow quickly. After donning a new set of clothes I take my feet to the dining hall, I can smell the food from all the way here. When I enter the hall, Rupherd already position himself on the head of dining table. The hall felt really empty today. Yesterday is the moon phase night, there''s many case of wild animal from the forest attacking the village during such night. The village militia use the day to train at the mansion to prepare for possible night attack on the village. Needless to say the atmosphere got really hectic when they gather at the dining hall for lunch. But now there''s only me and my father who''s currently in the middle of work. Somehow the atmosphere is really heavy, as if someone just died. As I sit on the chair beside him, Rupherd stop working on his assignments and instead lift his head to face me, that''s a grim face if I ever saw one. "Glen, I want to talk with you." "Y..yes?." Damn, did he know I sneak into the village with Gaby the other day?. Or is it about my demon origin?, I didn''t mumble demon language in my sleep am I?. "I''ve been talking with your mother, Gaby told her the only reason you do sword training is because there''s no more book you haven''t read, is that true?." Damn Gaby and her periodical report to mother, what kind of predicament you put myself into?. "No, of course not. I train because I want to strengthen my body." "But if there''s books you haven''t read, will you skip training to read it?." Rupherd is staring right into my soul, trying to discern any sign of lies from me. Is it bad that I want to read books?, when I was a demon I rarely read anything worthwhile except letter of surrender from nearby subjugated tribe. Demons usually kept any useful info for themselves, there''s less mouth to battle for food if others die of a stupid death. Human''s books on the other hand are amazing, they have plenty of information written inside it to be shared with each other. Perhaps that is why they are able to stand against demons despite being weaker. "...I will read the book without skipping practice." Rupherd release a heavy sigh after hearing my answer while mumbling ''I know it is too good to be true''. He return his attention to the letters currently piling in front of him before calling the maids to serve us lunch. It seems one of the letters is disturbing him, the quill in his hand floating above the letter without movement for a while now. Only when the maid finish serving the food he move his hand to sign the letter and put it with the rest of completed list. As if noticing my curious glare, Rupherd continue our previous conversation while examining the meal. "That letter is from Rohan Academy, notifying us of an available tutor I preemptively requested for you. He will arrive within a month if we decide to hire him, which I just did. "A tutor?, does he sell books?." "....no, as an academician he does have a wide array of books but I don''t think he is selling them. Basically he will teach you many things while allowing you to freely read his books." Read his book for free!?, It seems I will get along really well with this tutor. I have been inquiring all over the village for new books without any results, It seems books are quite an expensive commodity. It is kind of obvious considering the effort put into writing everything on each of those pages but I never thought it would be that rare. New books is always welcomed with open hands in here, but there''s one problem. "Can Gaby read his books as well?." Rupherd raise his eyebrows while looking at me with amused expression. "Gaby?, why?. "Well, it''s kind of a habit for me to read the books together with her. Else she would just stare at me while I was reading." And then she will call me weird again. These days she''s capable of reading books on her own, although her motivation to read is another problem altogether. "Is that so, I''m sure the tutor wouldn''t mind another person reading his books. Although I can''t say the same thing if you want her to be taught as well." "I don''t know if she wants tha-" My words were cut half way when the maids brought us fruits as dessert. Two maids walk towards us with a plate of peeled apple, each for me and Rupherd. I''m unable to recognize the maid who is walking towards me. No, I do know her, but my brain just refuse to acknowledge it. Gaby walk closer to me, wearing child-sized maid uniform while the other maids cheering for her from the hallway. The clothes she usually wear are certainly not bad, but it can''t be compared with maid uniforms which is specially made to display its wearer feminine aura. It almost made me think she is another person. "Can I switch your plate now?." "Eh.. wha...why are you in maid clothes?." "You don''t like it?, want me to strip it off?." Yep it is Gaby alright, even maid uniform can''t change her brash style of speech. What is going on anyway?, did she run out of clothes or something?, but that doesn''t explain why she''s also acting as a maid. I''m really confused right now. "Uhm.., If I had to say whether I like it or not I would say I do. But you look somewhat different with that outfit on. "Different huh. I guess that''s it then." Gaby said that as she switch the plates without my permission, I still haven''t eat the last piece of potato in that soup. I watch the maids pat her on the back while I continue to eat peeled apple instead. Rupherd, who seems to be enjoying himself during this ruckus have finally manage to regain control. He return to his previous serious face as if the last few minutes never happened. "Since the tutor will only arrive in a month or so, I want you to completely focus your attention to our sword training for now. Of course I have no intention of letting you skipping practice after his arrival either!." I just nod at him while chewing my apple desert. Short Side Chapter : Gaby The house is finally free from baby cry as Gaby put her sleeping sister to the bed. After putting a blanket over her and make sure she''s sleeping peacefully, Gaby proceed to eat the breakfast her mother prepared a few hours ago. Mashed potato with herbs and few strips of meat from her father preys. It''s always been like this, her father and two older brother would enter the forest to hunt for game and any edible herbs. While her mother would harvest medicinal herb from nearby field and pound it into powder to sell to travelling merchant when they visits the village. She herself are on duty to take care her youngest sibling until her mother return from the field. After the breakfast she usually will clean the house and prepare tools for her mother. It is not much of work, so most of the time she''s left with nothing to do when her baby sister fell asleep peacefully. Sticking her head out of the window to see passerby is the best she could do to avert boredom. Peaceful, that''s the best word to describe the village current condition. Despite being in near vicinity of the Anomaly Great Forest, there''s rarely any attack from demons and the like. Perhaps some wild animal will roam outside the village during moon phase night, but that''s all. Gaby remember her mother said it is because of Lord Rupherd protection over this village, he''s considered as one of the best martial artist in this era, even demons are quick to learn attacking this village is more trouble than it''s worth. That''s why despite being a frontier village with only purpose to serve as buffer to hold demons invasion, Ronia village is one of highly recommended place to start a new life. Even now there''s plenty of buildings under construction to accommodate those new residents One of those recently arrive residents is Barry, son of first blacksmith in the village. who is currently screaming outside the house. "Yo Gaby!, want to join us play ball?, I need one more player in my team." "... Lower your voice you dimwit, my sister is sleeping inside. I had to take care of her until my mother return." "Oh sorry, but can you play afterwards?. The winner will receive a set of sword and shield!." "I thought I told you to keep it down, and it''s made of wood anyway right?, totally not worth my time." Gaby shift her eyes to inside the house to make sure her sister didn''t wake up from this commotion, yet it seems she is still sleeping peacefully. She return her attention back to Barry who seems to be hell bent on securing Gaby for his team. "Come on~, just give the sword and shield to me after we won it. What matter most is participation right?." "I refuse to play solely for your satisfaction." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. "Ceh!, so it''s true after all that you start to act all mighty now!. Do you think you are above us just because you get to hang around with the lord''s son?." That was the last words Barry said before being chased around the block by Gaby with spoon in her hand. She gave him a few pound to remind him of her position as the leader of this village kids. Sometimes a few bumps on the head is what you need to remember your darkest fear. As Gaby return back to her home, she start to think over what Barry said. It is true that she didn''t hang out with the village kids as often as before. But that''s not because she think herself above of them, it just simply not interesting anymore for her. She know what cause her to be like this, it is the Lord''s son, Glenard. When her mother first ask her to visit the mansion to be the Lord''s son friend, she thought it will be a high and mighty noble kid ordering a commoner on his whim. What she didn''t know is that this young lord is a bookworm who spent his time with books without care of anyone else. While other kids are playing around with ball and fighting between themselves, he already spent his time reading thick books which even Gaby parents can''t read. And now he start to train in swordsmanship under the guidance of his famous father. Everything she usually does simply looks worthless in comparison. Once she tried to ask him why he stuck himself in the mansion instead of playing outside with other kids. The answer was that he already playing around for too long, and time is too precious to be spent like that. When Gaby said that to Glenard''s mother, Lady Lana, she just laugh it off and ask Gaby to accompany him as always even though he is acting weird sometimes. When is Glenard not acting weird?, he is nothing like any other kids Gaby ever met before. Now it seems he somehow manage to rub off his weirdness on her as well. As Gaby was lost in her own world, she fail to recognize Yester who''ve came home from picking the herbs. "Gaby?, what are you doing with that spoon?." "~Hm?, oh, nothing.." "There''s no need to air it outside after you wash it, just wipe it with a cloth." "Geez mom I know that, I just felt like holding it." "Yeah yeah, you can go now. Good work taking care of your sister." Gaby hand the spoon over to her mother as she began to run to the mansion atop the hill. She have decided to learn as much as she can as to not fall behind Glen. If he is learning the sword from his father, then she will learn how to be a maid. At least until the tutor arrive with new books. Chapter 3 : Encounter The sun is at its peak, showering everyone gathered on the village entrance with heat ray of death. Among them is me, or maybe I should say I am the cause of this. As the tutor is an academician specially dispatched from the famous Rohan Academy, it is only proper to welcome him at the entrance. Somehow everyone in the village hear about it and decide to accompany us in this heat endurance party, yet the main actor is still nowhere in sight. "Father, may I sit under the shade for a while?. The heat is killing me." Rupherd look back at me with disappointed expression before replying with low voice as to not be overheard by nearby villagers. "Look at the villagers Glen, they stand here together with us to greet your tutor. How can you sit by yourself while letting them on guard for the tutor instead?." "Then can''t they sit as well?, we can just resume again after the carriage is within sight." "That would be disrespectful to the tutor, if we''re really honest to welcome him we should stand still until he arrive." And just when will he arrive?, the merchant caravans he supposed to be in should have arrive a few hours ago. What if he arrive tomorrow?, or even worse the caravan might be attacked by bandits on its way here. He might even-oh wait never mind, I can see the caravan on the horizon. "See, It''s good that you manage to hold on for a little bit longer right?." "...Yes father." The caravan is moving ever closer, there is at least five carriages in the group. I still have my leftover doubt whether the tutor is in one of the carriages or not, but one of it change its direction towards our village. Normally the merchant caravan will stop at larger cities before visiting us to sell leftover goods. After another waiting session, the carriage finally reach our village entrance. Two person came out from it. The first one is a female wearing grey robe with long silver hair, she just glance towards us before walking to village outskirts. The other one is a male in blue uniform who looks a little bit older than Rupherd. The villagers rushing forward to help him carry his baggage out from the carriage. After offering gratitude to them, he turn to face us with a heartwarming smile. "Thank you for the reception, I am Volwyn Salim, an academician from Rohan Academy. I assume you are Rupherd Postou?." "Yes I am, please accept my gratitude for accepting the request to tutor my son." "Ah no, it is my pleasure as well to teach the hero Rupherd''s son. Especially after I learn of his great admiration for books, is this the one?." The so called academician bore his eyes into mine, gazing it as if measuring my worth. I know better than to buckle down at this moment, it''s time to put my greeting training into practice. I bow to him as befitting of a noble just like how Rupherd taught me. "My name is Glenard Postou, I will be in esteemed tutor care from now on." "..So, Glenard. I heard you like books, could you name a few of them for me?." "Yes, I recently read Routor''s Moon Sky Night, Grizel''s The Great Forest Anomaly, and Lothar''s Silver Edge of the World." "Ho.., that''s all nice books. But do you understand them to the fullest?. This tutor really get it straight to the point, reading a book is different from understanding it. There''s many jargon neither I or anyone in the mansion have any knowledge of. Usually I will just skip it or make a wild guess of its meaning, but there''s limit to that as well. "I can''t say that I do, there''s plenty of words I do not understand." "Of course, those books are not the type one would read in their pastime. Each of those contain records normal people shouldn''t bothered themselves with. Knowledge in the hands of a wrong person will bring more ruin than a sword, it is the worst thing to be spread without control." I couldn''t help but found myself nodding at Volwyn explanations. I name those books because their context are different than the rest of mansion collections. Routor''s Moon Sky Night is a collections of many observers record of night sky over several hundred years, there''s a note about moon shape changing bit by bit every year. For general public who is indoctrinated by church to revere the moon, this would bring them needless worry. Grizel''s The Great Anomaly Forest is an observation of the forest anomaly, stating different speed the trees will rejuvenate based on the damage you dealt to it. However, he also wrote several personal opinions of how stupid the humans are to brute force their way across the great forest anomaly to invade the demons, with an end note saying that humans need help from the demons native of the forest to travel through it safely. Lothar''s Silver Edge of the World is perhaps the mildest of the group. It tells the story of Lothar''s adventuring party called Silver Edge and their travel around known world. The book may be considered as normal party diary if not for the discovery of secret path and underground tunnel on major settlements. Certainly not the type of book a six year old kid would read. I want to talk more about the books, but Rupherd noticed the villagers have finished unloading baggage from the carriage. He offer an invitation to save the group from ever intensifying heat ray. "Scholar Volwyn, you must be tired from the travel, what you say we continue this conversation in the mansion at later time?, we have prepared a room for you." "Much appreciated Lord Rupherd, this year summer is quite unforgiving as usual. The caravans is behind their schedule because we have to make a lot of stop at nearby well. One that haven''t dried up yet that is." Rupherd lead the welcome party to move into the village while chatting with Volwyn about how our maids fruit juice is the best solution to quench the summer heat. It seems he also took a liking on the new tutor. We only been walking past the village gate when I notice a strange movement on the corner of my vision. Someone wearing grey robe is leaping the village wall, most likely the female who came together with the tutor. Couldn''t she just enter the village together with him?, but perhaps she was surprised by the mob. There''s no rule stating you couldn''t enter the village by leaping the wall, but to think someone would actually do it when the gate is wide open, totally suspicious. Rupherd is enjoying his chat with Volwyn to the point of almost ignoring me, I guess this is a good time to split from the group to investigate. Since I''m already outside I want to venture a little bit before return to the mansion, too bad Gaby is occupied helping the maids giving last touch to the tutor''s new room. My steps become slower as I move away from the front where Rupherd and Volwyn are. A few more steps and I found myself on the backside of the welcome mob with other villagers. They were a little bit surprised to found me within them, but not curious enough to start conversation with me. I run back to where I saw that woman earlier, yet she is no longer around here. Someone who purposely wear a grey robe and leap over the wall should have good reasons to hide themselves, It will be hard to find someone like her without any clues. Thankfully tutor Volwyn already gave me one, she should be looking for a well to quench her thirst. In this blazing summer you can''t stay too far from water. There''s is only a single well inside the village, and that''s where I found her. She take her hood off to wash her hair, while sprinkling some water to the rest of her body to ward off the heat. Giving clear view of her appearance to me. Pale almost-transparent skin, eyes which could see your soul, long ear piercing the sky. Trademarks of a well known sub-race of demons. What''s an elf doing over here?, to start with they are very rarely seen outside their forest habitat, never mind human settlements. If she arrive together with Volwyn, that would meant she came from the center of human territory, that raise even more questions. I guess it''s a good choice to stalk her. I wait until she finish her business before moving closer to greet her. I''m contemplating between using human or demon language, but the answer become clear as I move closer to her. She''s singing something in human language. "-Walk past the wood, and you will see the light. Run around the mountain, and you will see behind it. Riddle me this, Riddle me that. Whose land is this?, From whom is it taken?. Is it me?, Is it you? , or is it both of us?. Who is afraid of who?, Why should you be afraid?. For hatred has run too deep, never to be unearthed." The voice is sweet but the tune somewhat off, nevertheless I was enchanted and clapping by reflex at the end of it. She was taken by surprise and clumsily put her hood back on before looking for her single applauding audience. The cat''s already out of the bag, so I steel myself and walk towards her. "Thank you for the song lady elf, it was delicious." The female was taken aback when I called her an elf, it seems she really doesn''t want to be recognized. "EH!?!?.. What do you mean by elf!?. This lady here is just plain normal human right!?. Why won''t you join your friends over there instead of spouting nonsense!." She gave me a deep stare while pointing to a spot behind nearby tree, I can see several people staring at the tree mindlessly. My head become dizzy for a second and I felt a strange feeling to join them. This seems to be her work, elf are known to be a manipulator of minds. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. I try my best to fight the suggestion, now that I know what is going on the mind control won''t be as effective to me. Strangely enough my particular affection to the tree is gone with a little bit effort, I guess she might have gone easy on me since I''m currently just a child. The female elf satisfaction smile wither away when she notice her mind control doesn''t work on me. Fear start to show on her face as she hold my head as to not stray from her eyes. "No way.., there''s a child who is capable of repelling my [Mind Control]?. Guh!, let me try again!." Dear lady elf, can you stop trying to do the same thing over and over?. I don''t think the result will differ no matter how many times you try. Mind-based attack doesn''t work that way, it may be very strong against people weaker than the caster, yet the opposite is true as well. "Uh.., can you please let go of my head?. And other people under that tree as well, please release them from your control." "Wait a bit!, let me check something first!." Her eyes change color from green to pure white, it seems she still have something else under her sleeve. I tried my best to escape myself from her grip, but my strength is still nowhere strong enough against an adult elf. This time I didn''t notice anything in particular that could be caused by her. Yet it seems she successfully activate it, as her eye twitch in unbelief even wilder than before. She release her grip on me and step back unsteadily until a pebble topple her to the ground. "That domain.. what is that..? Not even that human''s domain can be compared to this... Could a human possibly have a domain this big?." "Domain?, what''s that?." I tried to move closer to her, but that just make her back away even more. It seems she have a deep trauma to this domain thing. "Please let me go!, I promise I haven''t done anything to your people!. The [Mind Control] can be dispelled without any lingering effects!" She''s really hysterical at the moment, it seems any action I took will be seen as threat in her eyes. At times like this it is best to give said person breathing space. I take a few step back and sit on the ground as well. . . . . . . . At first she was suspicious of it, but after quite a bit of time has passed she seems to understand I have no intention to hurt her. I think this is a good time to restart the conversation. "Uhm, as you may know already, I have no intention to hurt you. So could you please explain yourself properly?, why is an elf like you in this village?." "...I''m sorry.." The female elf open up and start to talk about herself. She once live in the anomaly great forest together with other elf, she is in possession of several mind-based technique normal elf doesn''t have and so they nominate her as one of their chief. They spent their days carefree as neither human nor demon dare to intrude too deep into the forest. But one day there''s a human woodsman who is chased by wild beast and ventured far too deep into the forest and entered their territory. As elf are normally a non-hostile tribe who doesn''t sides with either human or fellow demon, they treated said person back to full health. When the woodsman fully heal his wounds, he need a guide to escape unscathed from the forest back to human territory. An elf volunteered to escort him, as she''s the one who spent most of her time tending to him. Both of them grow affections for each other over that time. She is that elf, called Sylv''air Gry''e. The escape from the forest was swift without any meaningful hindrance. As they finally reach the edge of the forest, they confessed their love to each other in fear of never seeing each other again. When they know the other person also feels the same affection, they decide to not leave each other. The woodsman brought her back to his home in a small village near the forest, where they live their life happily. The other residents was afraid at first at the prospect of living together with a demon, although they know an elf isn''t as dangerous as the other sub-race. The woodsman tried his best to explain the situation and proclaim that he will took all responsibilities as her husband. He even went so far as explaining how her power works. As days gone by everything seems to be going well, but although no one fear her anymore, there''s people who see her with greed in their eyes. Eventually they kidnap her from their house, blocking her eyes with cloth as to stop her from using mind control. Before they sell her to the travelling merchant, they told her how her husband thought that she have returned to the great forest, he entered the forest in attempt to chase her, never to be seen again. She spent her days in darkness as the travelling merchant carry her to the capital of Western Kingdom Maltris. Castle built on an island inside a lake, Torbalt Castle. She was sold to the highest bidder in an underground market, the crowd is in uproar after noticing a elf slave for sell. Her owner is a noble related to the royalty, someone who bought other people life for their own satisfaction. For ten years she resisted their torture, trained as their play doll. Her escape attempt was always thwarted by the noble personal guard, a man possessing the same domain as I have, although at smaller size. That man is way stronger than her, nullifying any chance of mind control. There''s time when she felt like it will go on forever, as a slave there''s no limit to how long you will work for your master, death is the only salvation for many of her colleagues. Yet she keep her mind intact and wait for the opportune time while learning the human language for her eventual escape. Then war came, Eastern and Western Kingdom fought each other in attempt for unification. After a few years the eastern army manage to lay siege upon castle Torbalt. The castle itself is famous for natural moat and strategic chokepoints, it took many months until its fall. When the fated time came, she took the opportunity to escape in the chaos following the siege aftermath. After tasting the scent of long awaited freedom ,she decide to return to the great forest. Post-war devastation and lack of funds hinder her plans for swift return, but after eight long years she have finally come this close to the forest. Almost twenty years after she left it. She finish her story with how I found her at the village well, and an apology for jumping to conclusion about me. I think I''m also at fault for not introducing myself properly, but I don''t plan to tell her about my demon origin. "Lady Sylv''air, I''m sorry for the late introductions. My name is Glenard Postou, son of local governor of this county and village. You may call me Glen." "Ah no.., how could I call someone as powerful as you like that." I still can''t understand why she call someone who isn''t able to escape from her grip as powerful. "Then how about this?, I will call you Sylv and you will call me Glen. That way it will be easier for both of us to forget past hostile actions." "If..if you say so..." She''s fidgeting a little bit from our conversation, this is perhaps the first time she ever told her story. Her road is a long and painful one with a light at its end, but that light is long gone. It may be hard for her to take, but I have to tell the truth. "Lady Sylv, I regret that I have to tell you this, but there''s no more elf in the Anomaly Great Forest. Seven years ago they were attacked by goblin bandits, the forest itself is still overrun by bandits until this day. There may be survivors, but I doubt they will return to the forest while the bandits is still rampant." "..No..more..?" "I am afraid so. The goblins my father captured have testified about it. The elves is not the only one flushed out by the goblins. Almost all demons except goblins have fled from the forest." "But..then.. what should I do now?." Sylv''air stare at the ground as she just lost her goal of life for the past twenty years. The part about captured goblin is a lie, there''s no way a far away town like this is in possession of demon language translator. But the rest of it is true, that is included in the list of report I received during the last two months of my reign. This is my fault, the goblins took their chances when Ga''ux Demon Kingdom is embroiled in the rebellion war, there''s no reinforcements to sent when entire military rebelled. A rebellion I purposely sparked. It seems my past mistake is sill following me no matter where I go. She is just like the old me, void of home and purpose. Rupherd and Lana have given me both of them, shouldn''t I be able to help her?. "Couldn''t you just stay here?." "Eh??" "I mean, this village is close enough to the great forest. You can easily check whether the elves have returned to the forest or not. It may take a few more years until the forest quiet down, you would need a lodging until then." "That''s true.., but is it really okay for a demon like me to stay in this village?" Well, technically you aren''t the first demon who took reside in the village. There may be some problems but I can use my position as the governor''s son. When worse come to worse, we can use a little bit of mind control. I gave her my best smile as I say my answer "Of course!" Chapter 4 : Domain The tutelage program begin the day after welcome ceremony. It seems Rupherd and Volwyn have discussed about the schedule while I was out with Sylv''air. I will train with Rupherd from morning to noon , then Volywin will take over after lunch. They both agreed a young child is in need of physical exercise, although I guess Volwyn have an ulterior motives of not having to wake up in the morning, it seems he''s not a morning person. At least that is my impression when I visit his room after noon, he doesn''t show up for both breakfast and lunch so I''m currently accompanied by a maid carrying lunch for him. He open the door after a few knocks, letting us in while he reach nearby basin to refresh his face. The maid put the lunch on nearby table and left both of us alone in the room. The room have different aura now that it is occupied. The bookshelves are filled to the brim with books and a giant map is hanged on the wall beside it. I recognize the map similarity to the one drawn in Silver Edge of the World, that is the map of the world known to humans. The map have more detail than the book, although there''s less information as it get closer to demon territory. The easternmost end of the map is the Anomaly Great Forest. If I have time maybe I can make another map combining known locations of human and demon territory. Volwyn recognize my affection towards the map, he move closer to me while pointing at an empty position close to the Great Forest. "That''s where we are, Ronia village. This map was made before fourteen counties was founded. The only settlement near great forest recorded in this map is Redwall Castle, said to be dyed with blood of invading demons since years long past." Redwall castle, the main holding of Duke Qvist, de jure liege of Rupherd. The original owner and protector of the land bordering Great Forest. After the war of unification between eastern and western kingdom, the newly crowned king attempted to divert the hostilities between two kingdom towards common enemy, the demons. He create fourteen new counties in empty lands around Redwall Castle. Promoting numerous people to flock from their devastated home into the new region, creating villages and buffer zone against possible demon invasion. Volwyin explanation didn''t stop there, he is spirited to explain all important spots on the map, to the point of forgetting his late lunch. "Tutor Volwyn, I think it is better that you have your lunch before we begin the lesson." "Oh right, one should not forget to feed the body before the mind. Feel free to read any book you want while waiting for me." I have been waiting for the permission to touch his books. The amount itself are nowhere close to the mansion collections, there must be at least a hundred books here. The thickness varying from a few pages of personal notes to a brick thick tome of history. I take a book titled Conflict of Magic out from the bookshelves and skim through it. The content tell about the emergence of magic within humans. Survivors from early war with the demons two hundred years ago return from the Great Forest with a disease which soon spread across human settlement and become a plague. The disease itself is non-lethal despite high infection rate. Several patients develop strange ability as the disease subside, said ability range from enhanced five senses to teleportation. This newfound ability cause an uproar to general populace. Demons were shunned because they have physical ability above human and the ability to do unimaginable things. But now several humans have gained a power similar to demon, and the church are not especially happy about it. Not all magic user are capable of controlling their new ability. Some of them went mad and incite catastrophic incidents. The Kingdoms respond by issuing commandment to all magic user. Register your power, arbitrary use of magic shall be punished. Those who aren''t capable of controlling their power will be put under quarantine to prevent any possible incident. The hunt against several notorious magic user are noted in the book. Most of them are criminal who''ve used their power for personal gain. The kingdom often request registered fellow mage to hunt those rogue. Those mage are later promoted as royal bodyguard and similar important position within the kingdom. The book end with a note of how the number of mage have dwindled over the years. Either because the power is not hereditary, or most of them have learned to hide their abilities. The plague itself is never recorded again in human history, yet forever left it marks. Reading the book remind me of something important. Domain. Even though she''s the one who informed me about it, Sylv''air herself doesn''t completely understand what it is. All she know is that the domain have something to do with strange power her former master bodyguard possess, and I''m supposed to have a domain incomparable to it. I turn my head to Volwyn, he just finished his meal and is currently pouring water from the kettle to his glass. This is as good as any time to ask him. "Tutor, what is a domain?" My question seems to have caught him off guard. The water spill everywhere on the table. He try to hide it by answering as fast as he could with monologue-like tone. "...Domain is the territory governed by a single ruler or government, how could you not know that." "Not that one. I''m asking about the domain within our body." My answer have shaken Volwyn even more, his eyes shift to the book I''m currently holding. "I''m sure Conflict of Magic doesn''t have anything about domain, how do you know about it?." "Um.. Is domain really dangerous?." "It''s something general populace better not knowing." Volwyn took a big sigh before continuing his explanation, it seems this topic is best not discussed in the open. "Magic is not the only after effect of the plague. While magic only affect a few select person, domain have affected the entire human race. It grants you the power to control elements within immediate vicinity of your body. Think of it as an expansion to your normal body" "Everyone have a domain?." "Yes, although the power vary for each person. You would need great concentration to use it. Hence why most people doesn''t notice this power." Volwyn raise both of his hands above the spilled water atop the table, almost touching it. His eyes focus on it as if he''s currently in a staring contest. "Water Ripple!!." That surprises me, both his sudden yell and the water strange movement. There''s a weak ripple as if the water is sucked to his hand. It only last for a few seconds before my tutor breath become heavy and pull his hands away. It seems this is the limit of his power. After taking a break to catch his breath, he turn towards me with a proud expression on his face. "Most people wouldn''t be able to use it over a second. The ability exist in everyone, yet the usability is almost negligible. But that doesn''t change the fact entire human race have something similar to demon. You can see how dangerous this would be against the church doctrine." True, even the mages are close to being excommunicated by the church under false charge of impurity. What would happen if common people learn about this?, there would be an uproar for sure. "Now that I''ve told you about it, you shall share the burden of keeping this secret. Go and try your domain on that water, that way both of us will be captured when the church decide to raid this place. Everyone have their own way to use their domain, it is best that you don''t mimic me." "...Is there any trick to it? Should I yell as well?" "The yelling act as a command to start the domain control. It become a self-suggestion to invoke specific domain control you want. I myself only notice the increased effect after several years of practice, there''s no use yelling if your brain don''t know how to react to that yell. For now just concentrate on what you want to do and how it will be done. Although it is heavily depend on your talent, just don''t be disappointed if there''s no reaction at all." Talent huh?, Sylv''air told me I have a gigantic domain around me, does that count as talent?. If my domain is bigger than normal I should be able to control elements far away from me, but how should I control it?. When there''s a water spilled atop the table the first thing you would do is to wipe it off. Should I push the water off from the table?. How would I move it?, with my hands?. I concentrate on the water with clear intention of brushing it off. Ignoring Volwyn advice to get a little bit closer to the table. After a few second of full focus -at least that''s what I think I''m currently doing- I swipe my hand in the air as if wiping the water from an arm reach away. Somehow the water is brushed off the table, together with Volwyn lunch plate. The projectiles fly across the room and landed on the map, tearing western part of it. .......... Volwyn are left dumbfounded with the result, he just stare at the torn map with unbelief. He pick up dining tools from the floor and slowly put them back on his table while mumbling. "..This much power..could it be telekinesis magic?..but then he should be able to use it before now.." Volwyin seems to have created a theory in his head, trying to figure out how a child like me have this much power. As for me, there''s a familiar feeling I felt when I use the domain control. The same sensation as when I control my [Berserker''s Blood]. The plate and the water didn''t just suddenly fly off the table, I saw my old demon arm brush it off. How long have it been since I last saw it?. I try to turn my head around to search it, but there''s nothing behind me but me wind. "Young master Glenard! try it once again!, move the water out from my hands!." Volwyn yell snap me out from my daydream. He merge both of his hands in a form of rock while leaving enough gap for me to see water inside it. It seems he want me to suck the water out from his hands. "Tutor?, are you okay?." "Dont mind me!, just do it before all the water leak off!." He certainly isn''t in the mood for chatting. Once again I tried to concentrate on the water, imagining the water to flow out from his hands. And it work once more, the water flow out from his hand like a fountain before falling down. I repeat it a few times, this can be a good pastime recreation. "I FELT IT!...THIS IS NOT TELEKINESIS!!." Volywin scream broke me off my concentration as the water fountain break and fall to the floor. " What is wrong tuto-" "Don''t you understand!?, If your power is telekinesis magic then the water should simply fly out of my hands!. But I felt something else! Your domain touch mine as it try to move the water! This is truly the work of your domain!." I want to ask how much different does it make between moving the water using the telekinesis or my domain, but I know it''s best not to open my mouth right now. "This is brilliant!, to think someone with this much power over their domain exist!. I have to talk about this with your father!" Tutor Volwyn just left like a storm, leaving me alone in his room. I guess I should bring Volwyn plate back to the kitchen. That''s the least I could do for damaging his map. Our first tutor session end with more questions than answers. *******_______*******_______******* The echo of my footsteps can be hear throughout the hallway. My feet stomp the floor as I force my legs to run as fast as I can. How can I be this careless?. It''s obvious Volwyn have to ask a maid for Rupherd location. The surefire place to find the maids is the kitchen, as they are still busy cleaning dining tools from lunch. Yet Gaby is not there. When I visited the kitchen to return the plate, the other maids said she went looking for me after talking with Volwyn. Of all the maids he can talk to, why it is Gaby?. She must have went to my room right after Volwyn told her the tutor session is finished for the day. This is really not good, I haven''t found a good excuse yet. Sylv''air doesn''t have even a tiny bit of money on her. Apparently she have been using her [Mind Control] to live from day to day. Controlling innkeeper to provide her lodging, and merchants for food and clothes, even the transport to this village. She is willing to use them for free access, yet refuse to steal their money. There''s no way she can keep using [Mind Control] if she want to stay in this village for long-term. One or two times is fine, but use it too often and there will be suspicion of demons activity. Rupherd doesn''t gave me any pocket money, so I can''t pay her living expenses. There''s an option to ask the innkeeper to keep the tab for later with me as guarantor, but it will just attract unnecessary attention to her. The main problem come to two things. Hide the fact that she''s an elf, and find a way to earn living upkeep. The sun have set before we find a good answer to it, so yesterday I let her stay in my room. I meant to use it as temporary hideout, but it seems someone have find out about it on the very first day. My grip is on the door handle, I can hear loud noise from inside the room. It seems I was too late to stop her. What should I do?, have Sylv''air use her [Mind Control] on Gaby?. I feel hesitation to use it on people close to me, perhaps that just show how I value my human acquaintances more than fellow demon Sylv''air. Or maybe I''m just a coward when the time really matters. I open the door slowly as to not alert those inside, it seems they haven''t notice me yet. "Let me go!, get off me right now!." "I really can''t!, please stay here until Glen come back!." "Stop.. Calling him...Gleeen!!." Both of them are rolling around in my bed, with Sylv''air pinning Gaby down using all her might. It looks almost like a catfight, or I should say Gaby usual fighting style. She can be quite a pain with hand to hand combat. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I just stood there watching the spectacle lay upon me. Gaby''s maid uniform is all wrinkled while her short skirt give a pleasing view, white today huh. Sylv''air long robe prevent the same view from happening, but watching her long hair flying everywhere gave a strange sensation of cuteness. Hold on! I can''t let myself get carried away, I have to stop them before they hurt each other!. "You damn thief! how dare you call Glen so casually!" "I am not a thief!!" "Stop both of you!!" My yell seems to be enough to stop their quarrel. They untangle themselves from each other and sit on different ends of the bed. There''s still a little bit of spark between them, I can only hope my explanation can stop Gaby from leaking information about Sylv''air. "Look at her Glenard!, I found her sneaking in your room when you''re not inside. If that''s not thief then what?" "I already told you I am not!, he allow me to stay in his room." "She is saying the truth Gaby. She''s a friend of mine, I let her stay in my room for time being." "Your friend?, since when you have a friend other than me?." Okay, that hurts, a lot. It''s true I didn''t leave the mansion often, the books take too much of my time. And when I do visit the village the kids are not getting along with me, perhaps because I call their games to be a waste of time. "...I met her yesterday after welcoming the tutor, she''s in the same carriage as him. Why are both of you wrestling in my bed anyway?" "This girl just panic as soon as she enter the room. Screaming thief and stuff, I had to hold her down to keep her quiet." "I was going to ask for help to catch this thief. But now I think I should have went to your mother and tell her you brought a grown woman to stay in your room, she would be proud of you." Please don''t, the reaction might add a few more years to her recovery. Hm?, did she just say grown woman?, not an elf? "Gaby, how is she look like for you? just a normal woman?." "Yeah? although her ear is a little bit weird. Why won''t she just cover it with that crazy long hair of hers?." "Hey that''s rude!, eh Glen what are you doing?" I grab Sylv''air long silver hair and began to cover her ear with it. Spinning for god only know how many times until there''s a big lump of hairball on where her ears was. I pin the hair with a twig from nearby pot plant, locking it in place. "How is it now Gaby?, is she really look normal for you? what about her eyes and skin?" "....Her ear is fixed, but I can''t say I approve of that hairstyle. Her complexion is really pale, did she eat properly?, as for her eyes I guess some people just have suspicious eyes." "...Please stop making fun of me..." Now that I look carefully at Sylv''air she really does look like normal human. Elf are one of the demon sub-race with similar physical appearance to humans, but to think she could have this much likeness. It seems living with human for a few decades have effect on her. If it''s like this maybe she could blend properly into human society. Now the only problem is to earn money for her upkeep. Just what is she good at?. "Sylv''air, do you have other skill except that?. Something you can use as a work reference." "Work?, I was a healer back in my tribe. I specialize in herb medicine, but I''m not sure all of it will work on humans." Stop saying humans like that, do you really want Gaby to become suspicious again?. But at least now I see a way out of our problems. The village doctor is quite old as well so it''s a perfect time for someone to replace him. The only problem left is to make sure Gaby doesn''t tell anyone about Sylv''air ears. "Gaby, Sylv''air is quite shy about her ears. Can you not tell anyone about it?" "Only if she ask nicely." "Little child, can you stop acting all mighty?. This lady here don''t want to order you to do it." "Please Gaby, it will cause problem for me as well." "...If you say so..." Both of them still doesn''t get along it seems. I think proper introduction is in order. "Now that everything is clear let''s get to know each other. Sylv, this is Gabriel, nickname Gaby. Gaby, this is Sylv''air , just call her Sylv if your tongue got tangled." "What a weird name. Can I call her silver instead?, it match her hair color." "Complementing my hair doesn''t give you the right to make new name for me." "Hold on Sylv, I think Gaby words have truth in it. Silver is easier to pronounce for common people, why don''t you give this new name a try?." "Sylv is not simple enough for them?... I guess that''s fine, It''s true silver do sound quite similar to my name." "Are you sure you want to be call that?. I was just joking you know." "......" It seems their relationships will not get better in a day. This may cause a few problems in the future. Gaby''s job is to watch over me, and in turn I have to watch over Sylv to make sure she doesn''t make any trouble. The three of us will get around often whether we like it or not. All this feud almost make me forget something important, I meant to ask Sylv additional question about my domain "Sylv, when you see my domain, how is its shape?. Is it different from the former master''s guard?" "...The guard''s domain is engulfing him like a fire. I can''t see yours clearly, but I think it resemble a golem. Most human I met doesn''t have domain big enough to show specific form, so I can''t say if everyone have different shape" Golem? ..She must have mistaken my old body as a golem. My old demonic body are quite big since I have a little bit of mixed Troll and Ogre ancestry. The shape of the arm I saw was quite blur and ragged, but I won''t fail to recognize my old arm. Why is my domain in the shape of my old demon body?, is it because I carry over my mind from it?. Maybe all the effort I spent to control [Berserker''s Blood] was transferred to this body alongside my consciousness and made my domain control better than average human?. The room fell into silence as I delve myself into tinkering session. Gaby look flustered with a conversation topic outside of her knowledge. "What is this domain stuff?. Are both of you hiding something from me?" "It doesn''t concern you little girl, please just sit nice and quiet. "Stop calling me little girl or I will start calling you old hag." There goes both of them again, I guess since all misunderstanding have been solved there''s no harm in a little feisty fight. Although I''m sure Sylv''air will hold back, right? "...Uhm.. Young master Glenard?, your father is calling you to his workroom." The voice of a maid outside the door put a halt to our ruckus. It seems we are noisy enough to the point of not hearing her knocking. I open the door and step outside, Ignoring the maid expression when she saw Gaby and Sylv in my bed with wrinkled clothes. Please stop making that face, there''s no way an almost seven year old kid can do it. Now, how should I go to face Rupherd?. I''m sure Volwyn have told him about my domain, it''s only fair for him to be suspicious of me. *******_______*******_______******* Rupherd workroom is full with letters and reports. This is where the man spent most of his time apart from the training field. Tending with various duties as the governor of the village and its surrounding lands. Ronia village act as a gateway for the southern part of the kingdom to reach Redwall castle. The recently built road allow faster movement for merchant caravans, hence the increasing number of traffic passing through the village. Some of them are normal merchants, while others are new residents or someone skilled with sword looking for a job in conflict areas. The King have announce a commandment for all lord across the kingdom to reduce their standing army in attempt to prevent internal dispute resulting in war. The only place allowed to recruit new army is the region bordering the Great Forest. As the village began to expanse in size and Goblin sighting are more common. Rupherd have to recruit some of those swordsman to help guard the village. Report to the Kingdom officials have to be made every time he recruit new guards as well as explaining the current situation about the demons, forcing him to stay awake until late at night. Yet he still spare his time to teach me swordsmanship in the morning, although he tend to complaint a lot about it while training with me. It seems he''s more of a field person rather than work behind the desk. All evidences point to one thing in the end, there will be another major conflict between humans and demons in near future. But it seems there''s already another conflict happening in Rupherd workroom, at least that''s what the atmosphere felt like when I entered it. "..Glenard, do you know why I call you here?." I recognize that tone, Rupherd always use it whenever he heard something bad about me. I shift my gaze to fidgeting Volwyn beside him, it seems he have cool down a little bit. "I believe tutor Volwyn have informed father of the results of our first tutor session?." "Yes, although he is a little bit over enthuasthic about it. The only thing I could make out of it is that you are in possession of a great power. Your tutor and I have talked a little bit about what could be the source of it, and there''s one conclusion we came to" "...What is it?." "I''m sure you already know about the kidnapping of your mother when you were born. I lead the village guards to follow the goblins trail into the Great Forest, we found you and your mother in grave condition a few hours later, while the swordsman who have fought the goblin to freed your mother are already slain-" Cold sweat start to appears in my face. I don''t know what I''m supposed to do if Rupherd were to say the source of my power is because I''m not human. I''m sure he have suspicions since I didn''t act much like a human child would. Will Rupherd kick me out of the mansion? if he know the truth?. "-When we brought you back, you were struck with a heavy fever for a few days. There''s a doubt whether you will survive it or not, but in the end you manage to last through it." "The fever is one of the most common symptoms of the old plague. For a newborn baby to enter the source of the plague, there''s no doubt young master Glenard was affected by it. The aftereffect must be especially strong on you because of that, hence the reason why your domain power is in exceptional level. This is the first time someone was infected by the plague after its first spread to all human two hundred years ago!. This discovery should be spread to the rest of the world!- " Wait, the plague disease? not my demonic origin?. It seems I''m worrying about it too much. There''s no way they would believe something in the forest is possessing this body... I hope.. I wipe the sweat off my forehead and watch as Volwyn was halted midway of his explanation by Rupherd. He doesn''t look particulary pleased when Volwyn mention spreading the fact about my illness to the world. "Tutor Volwyn, I''m sure this information will be useful when the kingdom decide to invade the Great Forest in the future. But won''t it be dangerous to let everyone know about Glenard domain power?." "...Well, we can just fake it as a powerful magic instead. The magic to control elements within a certain vicinity around him. There will be people who recognize the similarity to domain control, but they know better than to tell the truth." "That''s not what I meant..." Rupherd turn his face towards me with a worry expression on it, as if sending one of his troops to an impossible mission. "Glenard, you can choose to forget everything about this ever happened. Volwyn may publish the discovery on his own volition, but without you as proof no one will believe him. Do you want to live peacefully as normal human in this village without ever using your domain again. Or do you wish to train and further enhance your power?. A heavy burden follow those with great power, there may come a time when your power will bring grieve instead." Grieve, a perfect word to describe my opinion of [Berserker''s Blood]. What would I do back then If I have the choice to not acquire it?. Accepting it in order to be recognized by my father, or refuse and become a step stone for my siblings. There''s no guarantee the same incident won''t happen with this new power, I don''t want to hurt those close to me again... It seems my doubt are clearly shown on my face, as Rupherd walk out from his desk and put his hands on my shoulder "Glen.., know that whichever path you choose it will not change my opinion of you. Some might have called you a strange child, but I always believe it is a sign of your talent and maturity. I''m not one of those proud noble who force their child to abide their will. This is your life, I believe you are the one who should choose your own future. This domain thing aren''t the only path in your life. " Rupherd... if only my demon father is like him, perhaps I won''t be blinded in my pursuit of power. I''m grateful he have so much faith on me, I really am ashamed for when I doubt him earlier. His advice just strengthen my absolution, I''m ready to give my answer now. "I want to learn to control my power." ------------------------------------------------ Somehow this chapter grow to ~5000 words. Is it better to split it into 2 parts like chapter 2/3 or keep it as one like this?. Chapter 5 : Surprise It took Volwyn over a month to complete his research report. It contains many information about me and the circumstances regarding kidnapping incident. I have to answer plenty of questions from him about how I''ve live my life until now. It felt somewhat strange to retell my life as a human. Since I don''t know whether my actions are considered as normal or not, I decide to omit quite a lot of things. Yet the report is still thick like a tome, just how is he manage to write so many things from a single disease fever? Then there''s also the problem about Sylv''air. At first we were troubled by how we should introduce her to Rupherd. Simply asking him to give her a job in the village will only make her a suspicious person. So I had to orchestrate a fake injury to show Sylv''air herbal treatment to Rupherd firsthand. It was kind of surprising how Rupherd become bewildered while I pretend to be unconscious, it made me felt guilty tricking him. As Sylv''air show up out of nowhere and used her herbs to snap me out from my dream, she manage to gain Rupherd trust. It is followed by normal reward offer, which Sylv''air respond with a job and residence. Now she is living in a guest room on our mansion as fully fledged village herbalist, accompanying the current old doctor. Her herbal knowledge is superb, as expected of someone who live in the forest for most of her life. Not only can it heal most basic disease, the villagers also ask for her herb brew to strengthen their body. It always refresh my body fatigue after a hard day of training. I once ask her the brew''s ingredients, but she respond it is better if I don''t know. Apparently her late husband never drink it again after she told him the secrets. The villagers seems to have welcome her as one their own, even though at first they were really suspicious due to the thin black veil which cover most of her face. The veil is our answer to hide her bewitching elf eye, in addition to the weird hairstyle to cover her ear. Both of it made her look like a shaman more than a herbalist, but I guess it also work as repellant against unmarried villagers from wooing her. The village activity just went on as usual, tranquil is the best word to describe the current situation. *******_______*******_______******* "..Are you sure it is safe with only both of us?." "Yeah?, I always gather my herb around here." For some reason today Sylv''air ask me to help her gather the herb in the forest. I do have curiosity about herb knowledge, and Volwyn is also busy compacting his research report into readable thickness, so I decide to spend my time with her. "Why do you need my help all of a sudden?, wasn''t you always went alone?." "...There''s a special herb that grows in this time of the year, I may need help to carry it." "So basically you need a gopher, and you decide to ask me?." "O-of course I didn''t ask you just for that! I know you are interested on herbs so I might as well use this opportunity to show them to you-" "Don''t worry, it''s just a joke. You know I''m grateful for your herbs." My opinion on herbs are more than simply interested, It is vital for training my domain. The arm will materialize out of thin air whenever I use domain control. I tried to touch it with my normal hand, but it just go through with slight tingling touch on my skin. Maybe because my mindset of arm-like domain, there''s several serious problems while using it. Water will slip off between the fingers, rocks will crumble from overpowered grip, air control is nothing but blowing wind. The domain control is still far from perfect. I find more success in controlling tools instead of elements, perhaps because I know how to wrap my hands around it. If I want to use this domain in combat combining it with a sword is the best option. I want to train with domain controlled sword right away, but there''s danger of the sword slipping away from my domain while swinging, so I decide to refine my control first. I train my domain by using it on everyday life. Quill pen, dining tools, hair comb, even turning the pages of book. Of course it doesn''t work well at the beginning, but these days I felt closer to getting the hang of it. But, as domain is an extension of the body, I often left with heavy physical fatigue after using it for a while. It is one of the main difference between magic and domain that Volwyn taught me. Mages are capable of absorbing mana outside their body and fuse it with mana on the inside, allowing them to use astonishing ability at little cost of flashbacks on their body. Mana itself is a blessing of God, the substance which allow growth for all life forms. Normal human absorb mana by taking elements which mana reside within it such as air, food, and water. Domain user absorb mana the same way as normal humans, hence why they have to use mana inside their own body as main power source, which is why most domain power are borderline useless. The fatigue really limit how many times I can use my domain without getting completely exhausted. Thankfully I have Sylv''air to patch me up with her herb brew afterwards. The wind blow the clouds as to block the sunray from us, the season may have change to autumn but the heat of summer still lingers. We silently walk closer to the centre of the forest, where the best herbs should grow. This place may not be the Great Forest, but I can sense its own wilderness. Even more so because this is the first time I visit this forest, there''s simply no reason for me explore it before now. Rupherd training do increase my physical ability a little bit, but a child body naturally need time to grow. The current me is not even capable to stand for a minute against goblin bandits, the village outskirts is simply way too dangerous for any child to wander around. Even accompanying Sylv''air is a little bit too much danger for me, hence why I carry two swords in my hips. The weight of two steel sword is astronomical for my body, but I alleviate it a little bit by using my domain to lift it. I''m somewhat glad to carry a proper sword again, too bad U''raul is too big for me to carry. It is the only thing which gave me security during my escape from rebellion. I might keep the sword as established complement to my everyday garment. If nothing bad happen I could consider this as weight training, but if the worse come to reality I would be ready for anything. It seems Sylv''air notice my restlessness, as she lower her pace and make occasional glance on my swords. Putting a finger on her lips with hesitation, she decide to open her mouth. "Um.. Glen, There''s something I noticed after living in the mansion this past few months. I''m an elf, and a lot older than you. But it doesn''t seem like you were afraid of me, It''s been like that ever since we first met...- " It''s true that I was really happy to found a non-hostile demon after all the trouble the rebellion have brought me. Perhaps I was being overly familiar of her?, should I be more afraid?. "-I mean.. Your tone of voice is a little bit different when you talk to me compared to the other residents of the mansion. It''s obvious you are smarter than most other children, yet you still act childish around them. But when you''re talking with me, your tone give a more mature vibe...-" Mature?, perhaps I unconsciously drop my child persona when I talk to her?. Is it because the false sense of security of not having to act like a human in front of a fellow demon?. "-I thought that is because we only recently become acquaintance, so I believe things would get better later on. But now you are carrying two swords while accompanying me. Have I done something wrong?" I shift my eyes to the swords on my hips, this is only the first day I try to carry the swords and yet there''s already someone who consider it as drastic change from Glenard the bookworm. Is it really that different to the point of being seen as a sign of threat?. "These swords serve as protection for both of us in case of danger. As for my tone voice, It is the other way around, I can act normal with you." "Eh?, what''s that suppose to mean?." "You know my mother are bedridden and unlikely to have another child, so my parents are a little bit over protective of me. I have to act childish every now and then to stop them from worrying, that''s also why they sent Gaby to watch over me." "Is..is that so.." Well that''s a roundabout answer, but I guess that''s the best I can do to not make her more suspicious of me. It''s true that everyone in the mansion sees me as a genius, yet at the same time they are worrying why I''m not like other normal child. There''s way too many convenient moment where I bump with the maids just as I leave my room. I''m sure they will also ask Sylv''air about what we were talking about over here. But I doubt she will snitch this conversation to Rupherd, I hold her secret after all. With the doubt cleared between both of us, our little walk to find the herbs continue smoothly. Soon we manage to find a patch of herb here and there, some of them are among flowers, others beneath the roots and branches of large trees. The herbs are all looks like weed for me, I wonder how Sylv''air able to differentiate them. I suppose I should be glad to have a skilled herbalist for the village. It took a little bit over an hour to harvest the herb we can find, the amount is small because we aren''t able to find the herb Sylv''air originally ask me to help for. It seems the time is not yet right for the herb to grow, or maybe it only exist in Great Forest. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The way home is mostly just retaking the same path we have earlier, except for the sudden halt order from Sylv''air as she lift the veil to reveal her pure white eyes. "What''s wrong?" "A stray wolf right in front of us just finish hunting its prey. It may be best we took a roundabout route while avoid letting it notice us." I can''t see anything resembling wolf or its prey with all the woods blocking my vision, but I have to trust Sylv''air as she know this forest better than me. Sylv''air took out a handful of herbs from her pouch, offering me half of it. "Crush the herbs with your palm and slur it over your body, it should cover our body odor from the wolf nose." I want to ask her if this is really necessary, but Sylv''air already put it all over her body before I can ask. I was half expecting the smell of dirt, yet the herbs release a cool sensation similar to that of Lana perfume. "Done, so where should we change our route?." "Let''s go over the hill on our right, the wind is blowing that way. It may took longer to reach the village, but it''s certainly a lot safer. Sorry that I can''t mind control wild animal." "It''s okay, It will be too dangerous to get close anyway." Sylv''air have told me all about her power, basically the source come from her eye. Green is the normal color, also used for [Mind Control] and the likes. White is [Sensory], the ability to see things normal eye can''t see, such as tracks of animal, flow of mana in the air, and domain. She have to look at the target eyes to be able to mind control them, exposing her to danger if the target retaliate. Most elf are not supposed to be fighter oriented from their nature, using it on hostile targets is obviously not wise. I also don''t have enough confidence in myself to face a wolf on my own and escape unscathed . Perhaps in a few years after I have perfect control over my domain, but certainly not now. A battle you can avoid is the best battle. *******_______*******_______******* The hill is much steeper than I thought, we took too much of our time to climb it. The sun almost set when we finally leave the forest. Half harvested field bask under crimson sunset sky welcome us as we slowly walk to the village. A few people guarding the field greet us as we walk by. Sylv''air return their greetings in my stead, I''m simply too tired to do anything but walking. Bringing the swords along is a mistake. As we walk closer to the village gate, the guard on the wall scream something to his friend inside the village. My ear is ringing from fatigue, unable to notify me of what is coming next. The gate open with a storm, as the rush of people from inside the village pull me with force. Leaving Sylv''air who''s waving her hand while smiling. The mob carry me above their head to the village central plaza, where numerous table with even more people have been waiting for me. Just what is going on? "Hey what is this!? Put me down!" "Hahaha!, looks like the plan is successful!" The one laughing at the center of the plaza is Rupherd, he look amazingly pleased with himself. I jump off the mob after they let loose of me, landing on an empty spot surrounded by everyone. Just before I can open my mouth to ask another question, they silence me with a roar. "CONGRATULATIONS FOR REACHING SEVEN YEARS OLD!!!." Huh?, me?, seven year old? Oh right... There''s simply too many things going on lately that even I have forgotten about my seventh birthday. Sylv''air and Volwyn arrival, domain revelation, Rupherd intensified training... Now that I think about it, this must be why Sylv''air suddenly ask for me to accompany her today, so that they can prepare this surprise party while I was outside. I seriously doubt the existence of the wolf and seasonal herbs now. But to think they would throw a surprise party of this scale for me. I can see several people with nobility garment, could it be people from outside the village also come to celebrate my birthday? Shouldn''t we hold a proper birthday party instead of this? As if noticing my concern, Rupherd emerge from the mob and start thanking the guest for visiting my birthday party, effectively averting the crowd attention while Gaby drag me away to the mansion. My body and attire is nowhere near suitable for public display. After bath and a change to noble-like clothes I thought there will never come a day for me to use it, I make my second entrance to the party just before the dinner start. The crowd gave an applause after noticing my transformation. I was passed around the guest table while being introduced, most of them are Rupherd war buddies while others are nearby village elders. At every table Rupherd would repeat the same thing, that I''m a cool and collected child, and only a surprise party like this could possibly be suitable for an unforgettable halfway to adult age party. All of them introduce themselves with names and location I can''t help but forget afterwards. The guest are somewhat surprised with my formal greetings, which is responded by Rupherd laughs. After a long and lengthy session of being a hospitable host, I''m finally allowed to sit on a table together with Volwyn and Lana. It seems Gaby are managing this table personally. "Congratulations for your seventh birthday Glenard, I have a perfect book for your present right here. It is United Kingdoms by Reol, the story of the war which unite both kingdom ten years ago. You should find it as interesting read" "Thank you Tutor Volwyn, I promise I will take care of it." Military books are not openly sold to the public, only several civilians have access to it. Especially a book about recent war like this, hence the difficulty to acquire one. Too bad I don''t have any strength to read more than the synopsis right now. As I close the book, it is Lana turn to give her present to me. She''s wearing a beautiful dress which complement her natural beauty, charming the onlooker as if she is not a sick person. "Glen, I made this for you. Make sure you wear it on the next winter season." "Wool gloves?, thank you mother I will cherish it." So that''s why Lana always knitting whenever I visit her room, she''s making the gloves for me while being bedridden. "Actually mother, are you sure you okay?. Is it fine for you to be here?." "Don''t worry, there''s not much different sitting here or in my bed. Although the chilling wind of the night is quite cold today." "Should we leave for your room Lady Lana?, It''s not good for you to be exposed out here for too long." Gaby ask for nearby guard to help her carry Lana back to her room, but not before she left a small box in front of me. "For you." This one is quite predictable. My quill is broken from overexert power while training my domain. But to think I would get a new quill pen from eagle feather?, just how can she afford to buy this?. I have to make sure I properly thank her later. Volwyn and me watch as half of our table leave the party, leaving only both of us alone. He take a drink from the maid -most likely an alcohol- before turning back to me. "You are lucky you know." "Yes?" "It''s normal for common people to feel envy and fear toward mages. I''m saying you''re lucky to have parents and friends who doesn''t estrange you despite that. Well, technically it''s domain control, not magic, but you get the point. " "...I''m always grateful for them." "Just don''t be surprised if people start to act weird when they know about your power. There''s still a belief that mages are infected with demons corruption. " Corruption again, just when will these human understand that demon are simply another race?. Being different from you doesn''t mean we are evil. Demon have many sub-race each with its different form, yet we get along just fine most of the time. If being a mage is enough to draw hostilities from other humans, I''m not sure I will ever tell the truth about my demon origin. Just imagine what would happen if I were to announce it right now, they would change the dining tools in their hands into pitchforks and hunt me down. My heart hurt a little bit when I think about how I''ve tricked everyone who''s so kind to me. Maybe someday I will tell them the truth, but not now. The party is still ongoing until late night, but I was left alone when Volwyn return to his room to continue working on the report. Sylv''air is also nowhere in sight, maybe she is afraid someone among this crowd could identify her as elf. The food is delicious, but I can''t force myself to eat more than a few spoonful before fatigue hit me. I fell asleep on United Kingdoms shortly after Rupherd and the others began to tell their war stories. I would be happy to hear it from them directly instead from the books, but I guess it have to be another time. I can only hope tranquil times like this will last as long as possible. Chapter 6 : Interlude The surprise birthday party is a mark on a colorful year alongside Volwyn and Sylv''air arrival. The mansion become livelier as time went in a blink of an eye while I continue my training and studies as usual. Volwyn finally finish compacting his report. I may call it compact, but it''s still a few hundred pages thick. One of its copy was added to the mansion book collection as a memento. I only read a glance of it, but there''s nothing really interesting for me. Maybe I will read it after I''m finish with Volwyn''s books. Apparently the report got stuck in Rohan Academy research committee queue list for a few months before they notice it. The researchers they sent to respond the report reached Ronia village almost six months after Volwyn sent it. They come to question involved personnel to double check their statements about the incident. They went to the old doctor to ask the specific of my fever. Rupherd to ask where exactly he found me and Lana. He didn''t allow them to meet Lana in fear of triggering her trauma, you can''t blame him for taking precautions. The last one they come to visit is me, examining every nook of my body in attempt to find any abnormalities. "Now young master Glenard, would you please show these guests your magic?." "Of course tutor Volwyn, it is my pleasure. " Alright, time to make these researchers amaze with my magic, let''s do this as planned. First I will lift water from a cup, then lightly blowing wind to their faces, and finish with writing a majestically embroiled version of my name without touching the quill pen. It''s just simple control without any spell, yet I''m sure they will find it exemplary. Actually I don''t really care about their praises, but Volwyn have promised me he will order a new book if they are satisfied. He will pay for any book I want, and I''m going to make sure we order a good one. Volwyn just stare at me as if I''m a court jester who is currently entertaining foreign guests with my life at stake. Thankfully their reactions are exactly what we hoped for, there will be no execution today. "Magnificent young lord!. May I ask since when you are aware of being a mage?." "Tutor Volwyn is the one who notice my talent. It is almost a year since then-" "-Not even a year and you have progress this far!?. Is there any incident where your magic activate by its own?" "-How far is the range of your telekinesis? How many objects can you control at once?." "-Can you control objects without having vision of it? what if it''s entrapped in closed box?" Whoa, maybe a little bit too much reaction. There''s no way I can give an answer to all that questions. Even I don''t have clear picture of my own power yet. I give a glance to Volwyn asking for help, thankfully he also share my concern. Giving a wrong answer here might bring inconsistency in the future, the one thing you have to avoid in a research report. "Now now my fellow researchers. What important is that our young lord here are fully capable of using his power. The details is not set in stone yet, he''s still have room to grow. Why don''t we continue your visit to the next step?, the carriage are already waiting for you." "Ah yes, we already took too much of young lord''s time. Please excuse us while we continue our investigation. Your talent is one of a kind, I''ll be grateful if you can pay us a visit at Rohan Academy in the future." "I''m grateful for your praise esteemed researchers. I hope my demonstration is useful in your investigation." The visit end with handshakes between us. Some of them almost didn''t want to let it go before saying their full name. As usual I forget about it right away after they close the door, I just can''t find myself remembering someone''s name without spending at least a month with them. Afterward those researchers borrow a few guards as escort to enter the Great Forest. They bring a few babies with them as experiment materials to reenact the disease. When they returned in the evening, one of those babies have developed a fever. No one know whether it was caused by the disease or simply because the forest is simply too harsh for a baby, it will took many years for the result to show. The researchers stay in the village for a few days before announcing their decision. They were fascinated by my ability to control ''magic'' at such young age, but it is not enough to act as evidence of the plague second emergence. The research report was then put in limbo for lack of valid data, to be forgotten together with other numerous report in the list of may have been true. I for one, welcome the return of peace to the village. Volwyn on the other hand was struck hard by the news of his work went unrecognized. Our tutor session was spent with me reading his books while Volwyn lost himself in the realm of despair. It was bad enough to the point of assigning someone to watch over him. But soon enough he has successfully overcome it, perhaps because he have fallen to one of our maids who was tasked to taking care of him. *******_______*******_______******* Rupherd continue to escalate his training as I grow older. The training regime change from stances and endurance to full time spar. The spar itself also went up another notch than before, it seems until just now he''s just playing around with me. I receive new cuts and bruises every day, but both of us know it''s for my sake. Either I got beat up now and improve or I will be useless when a real trial come knocking on the door. "Top! Left! Now right! Jump!" Today as always Rupherd is leading me by the nose. I''m sure it almost look like a dance for the spectators. But I also have tricks of my own. I wait until Rupherd do a high horizontal swing aiming for my neck. Normally I will parry his sword or step backwards, but not this time. I duck to evade the sword and charge towards Rupherd while lowering my body as much as possible. There''s a gust of wind above my hair, proof that I''ve successfully avoid his sword. Meanwhile my only focus is on his left leg, swinging my sword towards it with hope to finally land a hit on him. Alas, Rupherd is far too fast for me. He lift his foot and quickly stomp it back to the ground with my sword under it. The force pulls me forward, losing my balance and topple in front of him. I know I''ve lost the spar when his sword lightly hit the top of my head. "Nice one Glenard, but you shouldn''t swing it too wide if you''re aiming for the legs. Try to swing upwards into the center of my body instead." "..I can''t. The sword is too long, it will graze the ground if I do that." "Hahaha!, it''s true that you''re still a little bit too short to do that. Well that''s also the reason why you can evade my previous attack, right now a simple duck is your most effective maneuver against horizontal swing-" Rupherd explanations is disrupted half way by the spectators cheering. It is the village guards, nowadays they are no longer a simple militia, several seasoned swordsman from the cities have migrated here in hope for a new job. Whenever Rupherd is busy or away from the village, I spent my time sparring with the guards. Most of them will play around at the beginning, but soon they have to be serious or risk being beaten by a kid. They always complement my fighting style after the spar, it is my own fusion of human and demon swordsmanship. Of course both the style and my body strength is still nowhere near close enough to be able to beat an adult, but it''s just good enough to make the guards consider me as a little warrior. I can''t say the same thing to them though, their average skill probably about the same as a goblin. Which is considered as one of the lowest among demons. "It seems our little bout have attracted too many spectators, go ask them to spar with you next." "You are leaving early, father?." "Yeah.., there''s more reports of demon activity lately. It seems there are several other sub-race except goblins mixed in as well. I''m going to double check their possible hiding place nearby." That just made me worry whether this village guards are capable to stand against real attack from the demons. With Rupherd to lead them perhaps they can fend the goblins long enough for reinforcements from Redwall castle to arrive. But what if the attacker is ogre and troll?, maybe centaur and beastman as well?. At least that''s what I will send as the vanguard of the demon army if I was still their ruler. I can only hope the united kingdom professional army are on another league than this village guards Thankfully all recent attacks to the village are still normal raids by goblins. The number of attacks are lower than other frontier villages, but the frequency is getting higher every year. This put me to question their objectives. The attacks are very rarely yield anything of value to them, yet they keep coming without any regard of it. It''s very likely they were attacking because someone ordered them, not because they want to. Perhaps my replacement on Ga''ux throne have taken a more offensive stance against humans, after all It is one of main suggestions I often receive while still in reign. Too bad I have absolutely no clue about the situation over there, no human is stupid enough to risk his life to scout beyond the Great Forest. Perhaps they have also prepared themselves for upcoming war against humans. The question is how they have the information about it, could it be there''s demon living within human society as a spy?. As long as I''m stuck in this village it is very unlikely to hear any news about my former Ga''ux demon kingdom. The best thing I could do right now is to continue impressing Rupherd with hope that he will allow me to leave the village when I come of age. Rupherd himself is only a few steps away from the training field before coming back to toss something to me. It is a silver coin. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Your share this month. I may not return for a week, so I should give it to you in advance." "Thank you father." This is Rupherd birthday gift to me, a monthly pocket money if I didn''t skip a single sword practice. The amount itself can be considered quite large for an underage child. It''s enough to bribe the guards to have spar with me anytime I want. "Don''t forget to visit your mother while I''m away. She told me you haven''t visit her lately." "..No, it just that I don''t have anything to talk about. Last time mother only look at me while I''m reading." "That''s fine, I''m sure she is happy just from seeing your face." Are you sure that is enough?. Lana doesn''t talk much whenever I visit her, perhaps because there''s not much she could talk about while being bedridden. She always prefer to hear me talk about my day instead. What books I read, who I duel with, whether I have any problems or not. It almost felt like a minister giving daily report to his queen. Sometimes if the weather is good, Gaby or the other maids will take her for a walk around the mansion. On better days the route will be lengthened to the village outskirts, especially to the flower field she affectionate with. Her health is steadily recuperating as years pass by, but there''s still a long way to go until full recovery. Rupherd didn''t just stay still and wait, he sent request to various famous doctors asking them of any possible way to hasten the recovery. Some of them visit the village to take a look at Lana, yet their answer is always the same. Wait until her body slowly absorbs all the mana she spent, then she will regain her fitness back. There''s actually a few method to help the progress, but it might bring more harm to her instead. As the problem is mana absorption, the easiest method is to go to a place with thick mana concentration, locations branded as the Anomaly. There''s several of those place scattered in human realm, but none of those are a place a sick person should visit. Monsters roam those lands, result of over absorption of mana for a long period of time. Human know better than to live near those place, but plants and animals were drawn by high mana concentration. Those plants and animals will mutate soon after they took residence in those place, creating new generation of monster. In the end there''s nothing to do but wait. The best place for her is here, neither near or far from the Anomaly Great Forest. Mana concentration is quite thick, yet not on a level where living beings will mutate easily. Thankfully Lana took a liking to Sylv''air medicinal herb brew, it should fasten her recovery a little bit. Perhaps I should drink the brew together with her?. I guess that can be a perfect pastime while thinking about new topics. *******_______*******_______******* Sylv''air move out from the mansion within a year after her arrival. As for why Sylv''air decide to move. The amount of request Sylv''air receive for her herb brew is beyond the rate she can give it as free. Rupherd also wasn''t too happy with the amount of villagers come knocking on our mansion simply to ask a few sips of Sylv''air herb brew. Almost every day Sylv''air have to visit the forest to pick up new herbs, only for it to be diminish a day later. Rupherd and Sylv''air agreed something had to be done. Herbs for sick villagers will still be free, but herb brew have to be charged. A new location was specifically chosen for villagers to drink their brew. Rupherd give the decision to Sylv''air, and she choose a house near the central plaza. That house is one of the largest in the village, previously owned by a noble who''s using it as a villa. As the goblin attack intensified, that noble rarely visit the village out of danger. It was almost run down from lack of usage before Rupherd managed to persuade the noble to sold it. It took quite some time to return that house to a condition suitable for living. The amount of money involved from transfer to renovation is also quite large. As Sylv''air is kind of oblivious about this sort of thing, She have to borrow most of the money from Rupherd. The joint establishment between both of them will be managed by Sylv''air, but most of the profit will went to repaying Rupherd. Sylv''air seems quite happy about her decision, so I''m not in any position to comment. Open land behind the house is used as a garden to grow medicinal herb. While the front will be used as a herb shop for villagers and travelers. The brew price tag itself is best described as almost nothing. Rupherd want most villagers to afford it, yet not at the point where they will took it as granted. The brew pretty much improve villagers condition after all, reducing it will only lead to more sickness. The business is going pretty well, but a sudden visit from a well known gourmet certainly increase the exposure. There''s more caravans making a stop on our village simply to drink the brew. That gourmet went on and on about how the amount of herbs is perfect, and the water temperature totally bring out the best of the herbs aroma and taste. I know Sylv''air brew is top quality, but I didn''t expect it to be this famous among humans. In the end Sylv''air still had to visit the forest often, sometimes she was even forced to harvest it from Anomaly Great Forest. The villagers only know how to harvest the herbs from nearby field, so the amount and type of herbs they can collect is nowhere near enough. As most of the herbs Sylv''air uses only grows in central part of the forest, she often return to the village late at night. Her presence in the shop is so scarce, the villagers are more used to be welcomed by our mansion maids instead. There''s talk about reducing the amount of herb used in the brew while waiting for the garden to reach its maximum output. But I don''t really care about it, as the co-owner son I can enjoy it for free with premium quality. Although Gaby sometimes angry at me whenever I drink too much, like right now. "...Just how many refill you already have?." "This?, my fourth. Counting the one in your plate it will be fifth." "Say who this is for you!?. We got a line out there waiting for a single sip while you wasting yourself for an hour here!." "I would prefer to call this recuperating process. I''m simply using the facility available to me for fastest recovery from fatigue." "Shouldn''t it be alleviate by the third cup at most?. It looks to me you are already fit for another run around the village" "First cup is for my parch throat, second cup is to fill my stomach, third is to refill my mana, fourth is to spark my spirit, fifth is to make sure I have a reason to watch you working until the shop close." "...I hope you got a stomachache." Despite saying that Gaby still fill my cup to the brim, my flirt for fifth cup is a success. Gaby somewhat act as the head waiter of the herb shop whenever Sylv''air is off to the forest. The relation between both of them still haven''t show any sign of improving since they first met. Sometimes they will talk about important things to the shop, but you will never find both of them having light conversation while waiting for customers. Rarely will Gaby talk to Sylv''air when the three of us was still hanging around in my room. Only after Gaby learnt she is a herbalist that Gaby began to encroach Sylv''air to take her as a disciple. It was more of an order than a request, but Sylv''air accept it nonetheless to avoid Gaby from leaking any information about her. It is Gaby price for her silence about how I''ve known Sylv''air long before she saved me from fake injury Gaby attitude to Sylv''air became even weirder with their tutor-disciple relationship. If it related to herbs both of them will talk as normal, yet outside it Gaby will ignore her if possible. Whenever I ask Gaby why she does that, she would just turn and walk away from me. Sylv''air said it''s most likely because Gaby still consider her as an intruder, yet there''s no change over the years. Both of them doesn''t seem to have any intention to become more than simple acquaintances at workplace. I guess it''s better than them fighting all the time, but I hope they can get along someday. Maybe it is just my imagination, but sometimes when I was talking with Sylv''air, Gaby glare at us as if she want to pounce at her from behind. Time slowly pass as I drink my fifth cup while watching Gaby run around the shop tending the customers. Looking outside the herb shop again, there sure is a lot of people lining up for it. I think most of them doesn''t even reside in this village. Ronia village sure have gotten larger over time. There''s talk about reforming fields near the village wall into a new area for residence. That would mean the field have to be relocated far away from its original location, further expanding the village limits. I don''t know whether I should be happy about this or not, there will be more competition for my herb brew. As for me, there''s nothing out of norm I can think of. Sword training with Rupherd at morning, tutor session with Volwyn after lunch, refine my domain control at afternoon, drink at Sylv''air and Gaby herb shop when tired, visit Lana at evening to talk about my day. That''s how I passed my day lately. I can feel myself getting stronger, albeit nowhere near as powerful as my former demon body. I know there''s a limit to human strength, the only way to surpass it is by perfecting control over my other power, the domain. I have several ideas as to how to use it, but it will require total mastery for full effect. Perhaps it will took a few more years to fully grasp the reins. Thankfully time is something I can afford to spent right now. Chapter 7 : Winter Small Note: Growth Part 1 and 2 (Formerly Chapter 2 and 3) have been merged into 1 chapter. All subsequent chapter have a shift on its number. If you are new reader, then this will not concern you. For up to date follower, You may have missed another update this week, Chapter 6 : Interlude it is edited in an old thread. So the update fly below the radar. Sorry that this one took a while to chunk out. Hope you enjoy chapter 7 ! *******_______*******_______**************_______*******_______******* Snow is falling heavily, blocking my field of vision with pure white. The sun have only recently came out from its hiding. Nowhere near strong enough to ward off the cold from my body. Heavy..., the snow keep piling up on me over time. Is this the end?, to be frozen deep under the snow without anyone noticing until the spring?. It''s too late to call for help, I can barely move my lips. What a stupid death this is. Why isn''t anyone coming to the garden?. I know it is winter and the flower doesn''t need any tending but come on, I will seriously freeze to death if no one is coming to help. Please, anyone, someone, check this totally suspicious pile of snow before I- "Glen!, where are you!?." -A voice!. Quick!, I have to show some sign of life!. "...Aiem oufar hiiir..." My voice was muffled by the snow as I''m currently lying face down. It is certainly not the best call for help of my life. But there''s no more energy inside me to do a better call. I can already feel my lips skin torn apart. Fear fill my heart when I hear the footstep going away. Is my voice not loud enough?, there''s no way I can hold on until the next person passing through the garden. Thankfully soon afterward I hear sounds as if someone plowing the snow. It seems I''m not alone in here just yet. I can hear the sounds slowly getting closer to me, further confusing me of what it may be. There''s something hard hitting my body as the sounds came to a halt. Then I feel a bump on my legs, something hit it, most likely a stick. I can sense someone hands around my leg, pulling it as hard as possible to drag me out from the snow pile. My face is unable to feel any pain despite grazing sharp piece of ice. That''s the extent of how long I''ve stranded out here. A moment of blurriness pass through my eyes as the vision change from pure white to a silhouette of someone wearing a maid uniform holding a broomstick. My savior is looking at her excavation result while sighing heavily, followed by a remark I have heard far too often. "Seriously Glenard..., when will you stop being so suicidal?." It is Gaby, with her normal scolding tone, yet it sound pleasingly sweet for my ear at the moment. "Ah..Gaab..help..me.." "What do you think I''m currently doing?." Gaby drag me away from the garden back into the mansion. The side door leading to kitchen was open, it seems she came from there. As I''m no longer entrapped in the snow, my sense of smell return to me alongside a faint scent of delicious food. That reminds me, I haven''t had my breakfast yet. My stomach growl leak my thoughts to Gaby, yet she doesn''t change her trajectory to the kitchen, we are still heading to main living room on ground floor. She put me to sit on chair facing the furnace before throwing a few more logs into it to keep the fire ablaze. Afterwards she put a blanket over me before heading to the kitchen for awhile, only to return with a plate of breakfast and hot broth to warm up my body. Her eyes is looking for any visible wound in my body while her face expression is still dominated by anger. Probably recounting how many times similar situations like this have happened in the past. "Seriously!, just what''re you doing in the garden anyway!?." "Ah.., I was cleaning the snow around the path to the mansion. So I thought maybe I should brush off the snow from mansion roof as well. But..-" "You slip up halfway and fall to the garden. And that''s why the rooftop is only half covered by the snow, which make me suspicious and began to search for you. Are you really dumb to do something that dangerous on your own?. How many times this has to happen until you''re satisfied!?" "Sorry..., but I''m perfectly fine though. I manage to land without any injury, It''s just that I''m kind of fatigued at the moment." "That''s not the problem!, what if something more dangerous happen in the future!?, you need to learn about the word caution!." Gaby keep going on and on with her scolding as I fill my stomach with hot food. Over the years she have transformed into something similar to a nagging mother. Although I guess she have a good reason to do so. The experiment to use my domain in certain situation could gone completely wrong sometimes. This time I tried to use my domain to brush off the snow as I walk around, something of a practice if I happen to meet an enemy who is using ground-based attack. Volwyn told me to name my different usage of domain control as unique as possible, that way my brain will have better memory of the name. All of his suggestions are really weird, so I''m just calling it as [Barrier] at the moment. It''s somewhat works as if I''m pushing any material away the moment they enter my domain range. The opposite is true as well, I can hold onto it to stop it from leaving my domain. I named this variant as [Cage]. Even though [Barrier] and [Cage] is one of the first idea I came up with, its wide usability cannot be overlooked. Projectile based attack can be deflected with [Barrier], and [Cage] can keep hold of air around me when I submerge under water for lengthened period of time. Their usability will only grows as I find myself in more situations. In fact I also used [Barrier] to soften my landing from rooftop. The drawbacks is a little bit tougher than usual since I''m pushing away the ground itself. In the end I manage to stop in midair with just a hair away from crashing. The fatigue from overuse of my domain is the reason why I couldn''t move afterwards, thankfully Gaby was there to save me. That''s right, why she''s here anyway?. Shouldn''t she be at the herb shop today? "Gaby, shouldn''t the herb shop already open at this time?. Why are you still here?." "We run out of herbs again, so the shop is no go today. You should be grateful, else there''s no way I could find you before it''s too late." "Really?, then I guess I had to use herbs from emergency stash again. Could you make some for me ?." "Stop calling it emergency stash, it''s for this mansion personal usage. You should have use it instead of going to the shop every day. You are robbing the villagers of their share." "Eeeh, but freshly picked herbs is the best you know. Those powdered ones simply doesn''t taste as good." "... Sometimes you really act like a noble. Finish your breakfast first, I will prepare the brew in the meantime." Once again Gaby left me for the kitchen. I know she''s still worried about me, so I will just drink the herb brew and act all healed up. Of course the brew doesn''t have that magical power of instant healing. But in this time of season anything which could heat up your body will have a positive effect. This year winter is best described as non-stop snowfall, almost every patch of land is covered by the snow. The village no longer receive outside visitors as often as before, yet the herb shop is still packed due to farmers doesn''t have anything to do while their field is frozen. The situation become even more problematic as herbs become harder to harvest with all the snow laying around. Sylv''air is now fully occupied with harvesting herbs in Great Forest , the only place where plants still grow despite snow and lack of sunray. Yet she alone can''t do much, hence why the herb shop working schedule is on and off. I could make do with mansion''s personal herb stash, but the villagers have to deal with more water and less herb. The guards is also slowly losing their spirits, they have to stand guarding the village despite all this snow. Rupherd have ordered them to keep their vigilance at higher level than normal due to his absence from the village for annual meeting between the united kingdom vassals. The meeting is located on eastern kingdom capital castle Loyang, said to be named by a dragon as his blessing for ancient king. Despite being eastern kingdom capital, Loyang is located in the center of human realm. It will took a few weeks of travel to reach it from here. Considering the length of meeting between more than a hundred vassals, it is most likely Rupherd won''t be able to come back before spring. The village will only have me and the guards as it defender in the mean time. If we only consider normal fighting power, then I''m still below most of the guards. They also haven''t consider me as someone who could protect the village. Rupherd doesn''t allow me to use my domain during swordsmanship training, hence why the guards are still oblivious about it. He wants me to focus on my sword skill apart from the domain. I myself haven''t really tried using it in a combat. Sometimes I try to sneakily using it during spar, yet there''s a limit to how much I can use while keeping it hidden. Sylv''air also can''t help much because she isn''t physical based. So there''s nothing I can do but sharpening my skill on my own. But I guess peace is the first and foremost thing I should be glad for. There''s no use wishing for a demon attack simply so that I can find an excuse to use my domain in battle. Things have to be really bad for the guards to turn for my help. I don''t want anything like that happen while Rupherd left the village in my stead. If things really turn south like that, the villagers is the one who will suffer the most. They are just civilians who doesn''t know how to swing a sword without toppling themselves. Just like Gaby who''s currently walking towards me with a kettle and razor. Wait, razor?. why is she holding that thing!?. "Whoa whoa!, Gaby!, what''s with that razor?." "Hm?, I think your hair is getting a little bit long, so I''m planning to cut it for you." Then you should''ve told me beforehand. Do you want to give me a heart attack?. But then, should I still have trust on Gaby''s barber skill after last incident?. "...Do you want to give me that weird hairstyle again?. I become laughingstock for the villagers because of you." "That''s only because you forget about my anniversary. Which until this day you still haven''t given me a present!." "But I thought we only celebrate birthday every seven year?. Shouldn''t you wait two more years?." "It''s not about my twelfth birthday you idiot!, now drink your brew and let me cut your hair before I give you weird hairstyle again." I''m seriously contemplating between letting her cut my hair or running away with the kettle. But my body is still not in condition where I can run faster than her, all I can do right now is believe in Gaby words to not make a mess of my hair. Gaby trade my breakfast plate for a cup full of herb brew from the kettle she brought. It almost like she bribe me with herb brew for a chance of weird hairstyle. Surprisingly, she really hold true to her words. I don''t recognize any weird cut like last time. She always cut my hair the same way, hence why I didn''t really watch out for it when she cut it weirdly. Although I have one prime concern as always. "You are still not cutting my sideburns?." "Nope, you look cooler this way. I hope the same can be said about your actions though." I want to give her a suitable comeback, but I know better than to argue with someone holding a razor close to your neck. Just let her do as she please and no one will get hurt. Too bad it seems she doesn''t want to keep her mouth closed yet. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings."What will you do after this?." "I don''t know, perhaps reread a few books and sleep. There''s not much to do in this weather." "How about both of us take a walk around the village?, I also have nothing to do." "With snow falling that heavy out there?, no thanks. "Why don''t you use your power to keep the snow away from us?. That''s what you want to practice right?." "I think I have enough training for today. There''s only so much snow I can handle in a day." "We''ll use umbrella then, no more complaints right?." Okay, I don''t see any way out from here. It seems she want me to go with her at all cost. Not that I''m totally against it, but she must have a hidden reason for inviting me. Dangerous intention is best avoided if possible. Then again, she always follow my every whim, I should let this one slip for once. *******_______*******_______******* I immediately regret my decision. Everyone is looking at us as if we are a public attractions. It is different with the gaze I usually receive, even the guards are whistling at us every now and then. If only Gaby isn''t together with me I might have run back to the mansion. She''s giving me a stare as if saying I will be killed If I left her. I know it''s not because of my new haircut, there''s nothing wrong from what I could''ve seen in the mirror. My fashion sense may not be as good, but it certainly not on a level where I can''t recognize what makes me a clown and what not. There''s only one reason behind our sudden fame. "Tell me why we both of us is under same umbrella again?." "Can''t be helped, Maria and Nara already using the other two before us. It is only given to share an umbrella between the two of us." Nara and Maria is the last of full-time maids in our mansion, as time passed most of them was married to man in the village and resign from their job. Although they always came whenever we need their extra pair of hands. The good news is that the amount of maids have dwindled to the point where I can remember their names. "What I want to know is why you still forcing us to go despite that." "Why?, there''s nothing wrong with this. You already promised to go with me anyway." I really shouldn''t have accepted her request. All this stare makes me feel uneasy, it is as if any of them have noticed that I''m a former demon. The best I could hoped for is for her to take a short route around the village and return to the mansion as soon as possible. This walk of shame almost make me feel ashamed for the time when I laugh at Volwyn and Nara for being lovey dovey in the garden. They didn''t caught me laughing at them of course, although Maria was also peeking at them together with me. Is this Gaby payback for all the flirt I throw at her nonchalantly?. Doesn''t she know this will affect her as well?. I could''ve already predict the villagers gossip for the week. The brash maid and her young master finally walk together under a single umbrella. There''s nothing I can do while Gaby leads us to the most populous area, the central plaza. Either Gaby is oblivious to this or everything went according to her plan. All I can do is to steel myself for more judging gaze. "Glen look!, there''s a merchant." "...Hmm what?. A merchant at this time of the year?." "That guy came to our herb shop yesterday late at night. It seems he''s a lone peddler." "A lone peddler at top of that?. He must be a man of steel. Why there''s no one looking at his goods?" "Come on!, lets visit his stall." Gaby hug my arm as we hurriedly walk to the stall. I can feel the gaze intensifies even more than before. It''s not like I show this to all of you because I want to, stop looking at us like that. The stall is full with peculiar merchandise, from the looks of it almost everything is above the buying power of a commoner. That must be why no one is visiting his stall, the price is simply too much for a frontier village like this. Except.. for a noble.. especially the governor... So this is why Gaby want me to accompany her!. I should''ve known something was wrong when she reminds me to bring my money pouch!. "Welcome back young lady! My stall have fully opened now, please take a look!." "Hello again dear peddler, I have brought you a customer." "Oh is it now?, please please, have a look for anything suit your fancy." It seems both of them won''t let me go without buying anything. Just why is Gaby so insistent on me buying her a present anyway?, could it be something important?. She said it was an anniversary, so it must be something happened seven years ago. I was four year old back then, and she was around five, just what could''ve happened?. Unless.., is it an anniversary of our first meeting?. I guess we are around that age when we first met. Is that kind of anniversary really important for her?. We do have gone through many things during this past seven year, but it seems she consider it as something more special than I do. I guess I should return the favor for everything she have done for me. At least I could use this present to sooth her heart whenever a trouble arise in the near future. Perhaps even as half of her fourteenth birthday gift. Let''s see what this stall has to offer, or should I look for something Gaby likes?. She''s currently staring at necklace with full attention. That''s not good, you shouldn''t blatantly show your interest like that, it will only make the merchant raise its price. I should show some fake interest on other things before turning to the bracelet at the end. "How about this silver comb, it looks good." "Good eye sir!, it''s coated with high quality silver from Siran mountain. Only 5 silver pieces!." "Hmm, this ring is nice as well. how much is it cost?." "That one is new release Halcia jewelries. Its red ruby are surrounded by other high quality gemstones. 25 silver will be enough to take it away from me." "25 silver.., but this bracelet quite attractive as well. I''m having a hard time to choose." "That bracelet was an artifact from over a century old dungeon. Perhaps its price is around 75 silver." What the hell!, why is the prices keep going up every time I named new merchandise!?. At this rate the necklace will cost 2 gold coin at least. There''s not even enough money in my pocket to afford the bracelet!. Maybe the merchant is playing with me?. Let me try asking the necklace price just in case, if it really above 1 gold coin I will back out. "...What about this necklace?." "Ah, that one is among my most prized possessions. Mermaid''s tear entrapped within small diamonds, said to formerly owned by a princess of western kingdom before the war. 5 gold coins." I quit, this merchant really hold no quarter with his price. Does he seriously think someone in this village can spend 5 gold coins just like that!?. We are talking about 5 piece of gold coins as large as a grown man knuckle!!. I tried to hide my anger by shifting my eyes away from the merchandise. My gaze fall on Gaby, it seems she was also worried about the price, perhaps she didn''t know the price will be this expensive. "Glenard.., it''s ok." Gaby is looking at me with apologies in her eyes. She''s most likely afraid of forcing me to spend that much money for her present. Don''t worry, it''s not your fault. This crazy merchant just outbid everyone with his prices. "Wait young man!, are you really the governor of this village son?, Glenard Postou?." "..Yes, what is it?." "I came here from Redwall castle to inform you of a grave matter. I only arrived yesterday late at night, so I''m planning to head to the mansion at noon today. Who knows I will meet you even earlier!." "What grave matter from Redwall?, shouldn''t they send an emissary instead of a peddler?." "No one is dare enough to leave Redwall castle without guards except me. One of the demons they keep hostage in their prison have recently escaped. That thing is highly dangerous, said to be a leader of the goblins. The snow should''ve blocked his way back through the Great Forest, so it is very likely he will roam around the frontier. I''ve took it upon myself to inform the village along my path, it''s most likely the villages on northern part of Redwall haven''t known about this just yet." A demon fugitive on the loose?, and the goblins leader at that. My wish really have come true at worst possible moment. I just hope he didn''t found his way to here. This peddler have really saved us by bringing this news as fast as possible. "Thank you for the news dear peddler. I''m sorry that I can''t afford your merchandise, but I hope you will allow me the hospitality to visit our mansion. May I know your name?" "Ah I''m sorry as well young lord, this greedy peddler can only stay here for a short while, so he thoughtlessly increase his merchandise price. I can only hope you found it in your heart to forgive this peddler named Baku." "Do you really can''t spare the time to visit our mansion for a cup of tea?." "I''m afraid not, I should inform other villages as soon as possible. Being forgiven by young lord is enough reward for me. You really are mature just as the rumors , please feel free take one of my merchandise." "Sir Baku, I didn''t say I can''t afford your merchandise just so I can take it for free..." "Ah no young master!, please think of this as currying favor for the future. I only hope you will look in favor of me when you become a great man like your father" I look at Gaby for a second, her eyes look at me as if she will accept anything I choose for her even if it''s not the necklace. This is a golden opportunity indeed, but isn''t it common courtesy to only take a cheap merchandise from him?. Should I really ask for the necklace?, I hope he won''t call me greedy afterwards. "I''m sorry to take advantages of you, but my companion seems to really like that necklace earlier. I know it''s a bit too expensive for you to gift me for free. I only have about 50 silver with me at the moment, but if you allow me I can return to the mansion to get more." "Well, the necklace is certainly quite expensive, but that only means I will be in even more favor with you. What if I add a clause?, I can borrow a single thing in young lord possessions in the future." "Borrow?, will that be enough?." "It won''t be a gift If I ask for a something in return, borrowing should still be in borderline limit" Borrowing something in the future sounds quite fishy, but I doubt I will have anything worth more than 5 gold coins anytime soon. This deal sounds too good to be true. "What if I add a clause of my own?. From now own Sir Baku will be free of charge whenever you visit our herb shop until the day you borrow that thing from me." "Acceptable, the herb shop''s brew is really delicious. I might found myself coming back her a couple times." Baku and I done a agreement handshake before he hand over the necklace to me. He just stand and grin as I put the necklace on Gaby neck. She''s fidgeting a lot, perhaps the passerby glance start to affect her. Afterwards Baku didn''t spare a lot of time with us as he hurriedly leave the village for his next destination. Gaby still looks shy of her new accessory as we walk back to the mansion. It looks good on her, maybe a tad bit too long since the pendant is hidden behind her clothes. But I''m sure it will fit once her chest grows bigger, she have Yester genes after all. Right now there''s only two concerns in my head. Tightening the security for possible goblin leader attack. And saving more money in case Sylv''air also want a present two years from now. Chapter 8 : Destroyer *Planned to release this at least a month ago, but it took more time than predicted to write. I finally decide to split it into two chapters due to its lengths. ps: someone bomb-shelled chapter 7 up to 15,000 views, dunno what''s their objectives. ******_______***********_______****** A few days have passed since Baku the peddler informed me about the demon fugitive. I have put the village under high alert, the villagers are not allowed to leave the village until the vagabond has been found. Thankfully our food stock is enough to last until spring, we won''t have to starve ourselves while waiting for this disaster to pass. In addition to that, several other response were also implemented. Guards are now keeping vigilance on the wall at all times with regular shift. There''s several complaints from guards assigned with night shift, but it is a job someone has to take no matter what, even I had partook on it. I have also asked Sylv''air to do scheduled reconnaissance around the village, she''s a fellow demon after all, even if they met each other the hobgoblin shouldn''t consider her as a threat. There''s request from other villages to send few of our best guards to join theirs on a hunt for the hobgoblin, but I don''t have any plans to send anyone to join them. They were furious at my decision, but Rupherd ordered me to guard the village, not chasing fugitive demons. If the hobgoblin doesn''t come to my village then there''s no problem between me and him. Thankfully, for the past few days Sylv''air hasn''t picked up anything within the village perimeter. The chance for the hobgoblin to be in this area should be small after all. There''s four other villages between Ronia and Redwall, it''s unlikely he can reach all the way here unnoticed. However, a chance is still a chance, I don''t want anything bad happened to the village while Rupherd is away. It''s good that the snow have quieted down a bit, at this rate spring should arrive within a week or two, then Rupherd should return within a week after that. Winter length in this part of the world is absurd, it should have ended a few weeks ago. In my long years of life as a demon I''ve never encountered a winter as long as the one in human territories. I''m sure there will be many dead bodies found at spring If this same winter were to hit upon demon realm. It''s amazing how humans have adapted to survive in this weather, they even have different clothes for different time of the year. Take my current apparel for example, It''s currently are composed of wolf fur mantle over wool clothes. A perfect combination to keep my body warm despite the cold of chainmail between it. The chainmail was Rupherd''s birthday presents for me, it''s a perfect choice of armor for me as the size can be adjusted with my growth. It would be a waste to make an armor which will be outgrown in a few years, with chainmail local blacksmith could simply add more chains if need to. However, wearing metal was certainly unpleasant. This chainmail is certainly quite heavy, even though it is not at the level as to seriously hinder my agility. I could walk around the village and climb the wall''s stairs without losing my breath. Continuous falling snow have made the stairs slippery, the kettle I''m currently holding are shaking as I carefully choose my footsteps. I was planning to patrol around the village''s gates when Gaby asked me to deliver this to the guards. A little share of herb brew for extra motivation, and as a substitute to prevent them from drinking alcohol. The cold is still chilling to the bone, especially when you have to stand guard for a few hours. Alcohol is obviously a perfect drink for times like this, but I have to question their readiness when the moment calls. The guards are assigned to each of Ronia village three main gates, each at north, west, and south part of the village. East side doesn''t have a gate because it''s the side which directly face the Great Forest, only a fool would make a gate for his enemy to enter. Whenever the goblins came to attack they have to go around the walls into either north or south gate, leaving enough time for the guards to react. Guards which are nowhere to be seen after I finished climbing the walls. Just where the hell they gone to? "Ah young lord Glenard, do you have a business with me?." A man from the corner of my eyes answered my question. It seems not everyone is missing yet. "Barry, where''s the other guards?. Shouldn''t there be four people guarding this gate?." "Well, they say the cold is too much for them to bear. So they are currently recuperating in the tavern. They should be back soon after finish warming up." Seriously?, what use is guard shift if they leave the post on their own whim?. "So other guards just left you here alone?." "I can just yell at them if I notice something suspicious. A hero doesn''t feel cold anyway. " Barry, blacksmith''s son with the heart of a hero, or so he hopes. Ever increasing goblin''s attack have forced Rupherd to incorporate more militia into the village guards, taking anyone willing and capable enough to guard the village. One of the new trainees was Barry, who''ve been itching to get swordsmanship training from his idol Rupherd. Barry recently become fourteen years old a few months back, the age which are considered as adult by human standard, naturally making him eligible candidate for militia. His swordsmanship talent is average, yet the determination to train make him shine above the others. Rupherd occasionally arrange a duel between us since we are similar in age. Barry might be a little older than me, but I''ve been training with sword long before he was even born, an eleven year old body won''t stop me from defeating him. It felt quite good to occasionally win a spar every once in a while. There''s chance that I''m already capable of beating Rupherd or at least the other guards, but it will require me to use my domain in battle, something I tried to avoid in order to stay low profile. I''m planning to keep low profile until I truly sure I can hold my own when there''s challenger or other sorts of people after me. There should not be too many suspicions if I manage defeat Barry, hence he currently act as some sort of punching bag for me. Until today, our current spar records is thirty-four win for me and null for him. Barry simply doesn''t know when to accept his defeat, always asking me to spar whenever we meet. His behavior also worried his parents, who would prefer him to take over the smith rather than becoming a swordsman. He himself have set the path of hero as his goal, currently splitting his time between blacksmithing and swordsmanship. For some reason he currently consider me as his rival. Although I couldn''t care less about him for most part. "...I might have to talk with the other guards a little bit after this. Anyway, Barry, congrats for your privilege over a full kettle of recently brewed herbs. I''m going to visit other gates." "Wait, let''s have a duel right now!. This time I will-" "Not interested, I want to keep my energy level high in case the demon came to attack." I interrupt Barry thirteenth duel challenge this week. Seriously, was dueling me the only thing in this guy mind every time he met me?. "...So you really planning to enter the front line when the time comes?." "Why not?, my father have entrusted this village to me in his absence." Well, Rupherd didn''t actually gave me the permission to fight on his behalf, he still have some concern in sending his only son into battle. It''s not like I''m that eager to fight against my former kin either, but there are things I have to protect in this village. If the only way to ensure their safety is by fighting against demons, then so be it. On the other hand, Barry seems overly eager to fight them... "I won''t lose, I swear I will beat the demons before you!. That way Lord Rupherd will recognize me!." "Sure~, knock yourself out." "I''m serious!." Fortune favors the bold, but overconfidence is the main reason of stupid deaths. I hope Barry won''t be rushing out of the village when we manage to locate the enemy, I''m sure he would be safe as long as he stay within the wall. Redwall is north of Ronia after all, there''s no way the hobgoblin would purposely go around the wall simply to attack from south gate. Perhaps that''s also what the other guards were thinking before leaving their post. I can''t help but felt that they underestimated the enemy too much. Why are they still haven''t grasp the situation?. The fugitive is a hobgoblin, he is on another level than normal goblin this village guards are used to. If this hobgoblin turn out to be really strong I doubt the guards can stand a chance against him, they even intoxicated themselves before battle. Perhaps this is the limit of frontier village''s guards discipline. They are certainly not the types you want to send into battlefield. "I''m going to leave if you have nothing else to add. Be sure to tell the other guards not to slack off again or I will ask my father to cut their salary." "Please don''t!, they will be mad at me for snitching th-" -The world seem to have stopped for a brief moment, as if giving me time to thoroughly observed the events unveiled. Barry voice was cut off midway, replaced with a loud cracking sound. His mouth was wide open without any words coming out from it, yet his eyes stare deeply into me. Blood was splashing everywhere, dying the snow with red paint. The snow absorbed the blood as if accepting its offering, glistening with diamond-like sparkle of crimson blood. My clothes was also sprayed with this red matter, one which are used to reside within the body in front of me. A foreign projectile hit Barry right on his head, and now he''s lying on the ground twitching in the puddle of his own blood. His fall was slow, yet I made no attempt to catch him as he fall into the ground. Bewilderment is the best word to describe my current situation, my conversation partner are suddenly no more than a fish outside the water. The same thing would happen to me If I didn''t immediately face towards the source of the projectile. The second wave is already on its way towards me with amazing velocity, not giving me much of a time window to reflect it. The projectile crumbles under the stress of the forces as it clash with my domain [Barrier], revealing what used to be a big lump of rock at the size of a fist. But it didn''t stop there, another avalanche of rocks projectile keep coming at me one after another. I decide to duck to evade most of it, reflecting all of them will only waste of my energy. The avalanche stopped soon after most of it simply flied above my head, providing a gap of time for me to locate the assailant. There''s quite a distance between both of us, but I have seen this race far too often to mistaken them. What I saw was something I''ve been on the lookout for this past few days. Possessing all characteristics of a goblin, yet with bigger build than normal, it is without a doubt the hobgoblin fugitive. One look was enough to identify him as on another level than normal goblins. Compared to normal frail goblins who often attacked the village, this one seems so out of place that you might mistaken him as an ogre if not for his green skin. His arms looked like it could break any human body as easy as a twig if he ever manage to get his hands around one. Furthermore, his body are full with scars that will drive off any light-hearted challenger. Truly, this fellow here is not one you want to mess around in close quarter combat. The green skin demon frantically searching his surroundings. Most likely looking for more ammunitions to throw at me. In the end he decide on a boulder so large he was unable to fully wrap his arm around it, yet it didn''t stop him from throwing it at me. This new projectile is way too big for my [Barrier] to handle, but it''s no match for its own weight. The large boulder was way too heavy to reach my position. It ended up crashing against the wall instead, creating a large gaping hole as it makes its way through the wall. Stone bricks below my feet starts to crumble apart after losing its foundation, dragging me and Barry down to the ground. Thunderous sounds accompany our fall as Ronia village''s walls was breached, that was the heaviest damage anyone ever inflicted on it. Guards casualty are sporadic, but the wall have always been unscathed in every raids until now. Goblins naturally fight on open grounds as normal footmen raiders, hence during their raids there''s no artillery similar to the one human used. Not that they need one with this hobgoblin around, his muscle power are stupidly strong enough to bring down the walls. I carried Barry''s body away from the wall''s debris while keeping my eyes on the hobgoblin movement. He''s running towards us with full speed, it seems direct confrontation is inevitable. I put Barry down on the ground before moving as far as possible as to not cause any more collateral damage on him, but the hobgoblin doesn''t seem to be interested on me, he is still charging towards inanimate Barry. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. "Shit!, [Uplift]!" I immediately use my domain power [Uplift] to lighten my current equipments. [Uplift] is a part of four-directional domain control of [Force]. [Push] away from me, [Pull] towards me, [Pressure] to the ground, [Uplift] to the sky. It is the most basic form of my domain control, to the point of me considering not to name them, which eventually happened after I managed to use multiple of them at the same time. There''s no time nor need to yell all the names, hence I''m calling the multiple uses variant as [Force]. As if being carried by the wind, the swords and chainmail are nothing but featherweight, allowing me to rush as fast as possible towards the hobgoblin. We will clash head on halfway before he reach Barry. The hobgoblin notice the incoming danger as I unsheathed my swords, he''s looking at me before stamping his feet on the ground to quickly change his trajectory. A crash between the two of us is inevitable. As soon as the distance between us was nothing more than a few seconds apart, I took a large step as I prepare to throw one of my sword at him as if it''s a javelin. The sword fly true at him, piercing the cold winter air as it force him to stop his charge. The hobgoblin was simply too fast and too large to evade my makeshift javelin. He clap his hand to stop the sword before it pierce his chest, blood gushing out wildly from his hands as it is cut by the friction. I myself didn''t stop charging at him, fully using my momentum to thrust another sword at him. His entire body are now entirely enveloped in my domain range. I let out a scream as both of my hands are pushing the sword through his chest. "[Force]!!!" [Force] is giving a second wind push to my javelin-sword''s momentum, allowing it to resume its fight against the hobgoblin hands. Meanwhile, another force also pulled his large body towards me, with two force working together from both side there''s no way he can stop both swords. The hobgoblin was caught by surprise with my domain control, there''s nothing he can do but to keep his hands tight to stop my javelin-sword. Allowing me to use my two hands to grip the sword as strong as possible as I pierce it through his stomach. Half of the sword in my hand is now deeply stuck on his stomach, it failed to hit any vital target, yet the damage should still be immense. The hobgoblin cry in pain as I twist my sword to enlarge the wound, he let go of his hands to try swatting me away from him, leaving the other sword free to pierce his chest. His hands caught nothing but air as I quickly jump backwards to evade it. Blood starts to gush out like a fountain from the wounds I have inflicted on him, first blood is mine. I have successfully dealt some damage to him, but now I''m all out of swords. The hobgoblin shift his gaze from me to his pierced body, allowing me to run towards Barry to grab his sword, it is foolish to fight this enemy empty handed. "...Aah... pain... hungry... meat.. human meat..." The hobgoblin tries to remove the swords pierced on his body while crying in agony with broken up demon language. How long has it been since I heard someone using it?. Sylv''air was always using human language inside the village, she also never tried to strike a conversation using demon language with me, hence I haven''t revealed that I''m capable of it. My demon tongue might be a little dull after long period of inactivity, but I''m still capable enough to decipher the meaning of the hobgoblin''s words. It seems this guy is one of human-eater demon with more brawns than brains. Some demons due indulge in enjoying the flesh of humans, but it''s nothing more than emergency food when you can''t find anything better. I personally once presented with human-meat cuisine by my vassals, normal animals meat taste way better for me. "You, why are you here?. How can you evade other villages surveillance?." "Ah?..human..speaks..understand.." "Answer me!, why are you suddenly showed up in this gate!?." "..Pain..noisy...fight.." It seems there''s no way to talk around this one, not like I''m planning to let him go either. He have destroyed a part of the wall with that giant boulder and incapacitated one of my guards who''ve bravely stand vigilant all by himself despite the snow. If I let him go now it will be nothing but letting the whole world know that Ronia village defense is incapable of protecting itself, tarnishing Rupherd reputation. The hobgoblin''s movement should be obstructed with those swords stuck in his chest. This would be a perfect time to attack him once more, if only I''m not currently out of breath after excessive use of domain control. The fatigue hit me hard as soon as I release [Force] uplift on my equipment. As expected, this body current strength is still not suitable for drawn-out battle using domain. Running around while keeping full concentration to control the domains certainly takes a large toll, even more so when I had to keep tab at different domain usages at once. There is only enough energy left for one more bout. Should I risk it and go anyway?, but since he''s a hobgoblin there''s a chance he have a unique skill similar to my [Berserker''s Blood]. Perhaps I should wait for the other guards to come here and fight him while I recover my stamina. "You..strong..me..fight.." Too bad it doesn''t seems like my enemy have any plan to let me catch my breath. He already pluck the swords out of his body, ready for our next engagement. His gaze was locked on me without a care for the fountain of blood currently gushing out from his body. Should I take Barry and run back inside the village?, what if the hobgoblin decide to follow me?. The hobgoblin''s eyes are red with madness, as if he want to drags others down to hell together with him. No.., I can''t involved the villagers on this. Leading him into the village will only incur more casualties, I have to keep him outside. Damn, it seems all these years spent in the village have made me gone soft. Since when I began to put this village before myself?. I raise my hand towards the hobgoblin as he charges his way to me. "..[Ca-" "Archer! Fire!" From out of nowhere, a rain of arrows fall upon the hobgoblin. I hear a few footsteps above me, it seems guards from the other gates have arrived. How can they arrive before this gate guards return from the tavern?, don''t tell me they have fallen asleep and unable to hear anything. I really should cut their wages. Oh well, at least I have backups now. I should be able to catch my breath a little bit longer. "Young lord Glenard!, are you okay!?" I become even more relieved as I hear the voice of Rupherd''s trusted guard captain, Gilbert. Now I don''t have to lead the guards personally. "Yeah.., just keep raining arrows on him. I already make two holes in his chest, he should have run out of blood soon." "Incredible, I almost didn''t believe when the other guards told me you are fighting him alone. They thought you were already a goner." "Wait, they went to notifies other guards instead of helping me first?." "I know, I will scold them later, for now just step back and let us do our work." What a bunch of cowards, so they consider me to be dead and went to notifies other guards so that they won''t have to fight the hobgoblin alone?. I should punish them more than simple wage cut. "..Is that Barry over there?." Gilbert was relieved to see me woundless, but that smile only last until he look at Barry''s body behind me. "Yeah, the hobgoblin caught him by surprise. He could have gotten either of us, but he choose to target Barry first. I owe him my life." "Is that so... wait! there''s still pulse, he is still alive!." "What!?" "It''s faint, but there''s a possibility we can save him if he''s given a medical treatment as soon as possible." Seriously?, his head was cracked open by the rock yet he still alive?. Perhaps he does have the hero star shine above him. "Let me take him then, you guys should focus on pushing back that hobgoblin. Just keep a watch out for any strange movement from him, summon me if you need further help" "Haha you must be joking young lord, we can finish this wounded mongrel in a jiffy. Come on men, let''s go!." I watch as Gilbert and the other guards charge towards the hobgoblin while I carried Barry away from the south gate. They should be able to hold on long enough until the wounds I inflicted drains all the blood from hobgoblin''s body. The best thing I can do right now is to recuperate myself in case they need an extra pair of hands. ******_______***********_______****** My feet slowly carried me and Barry to central plaza, Sylv''air and the old doctor should''ve transformed the herb shop into a makeshift first treatment station. The size and location is perfect as it is neither near nor close to the gates, even new guards should''ve known of central plaza location. The village itself are lifeless, almost all villagers have returned back to their house and locked their door. It is basic precaution action whenever the village is under attack. Panicking residence is the last thing you need when you''re defending a settlements. The tranquil is broken when I hear a scream from across the plaza. The one screaming is Gaby, she run towards me without a care for the tables in herb shop lawn. "Glen!, are you okay!?" "Yeah, this is not my blood. All of them are Barry''s and the enemy''s. I just need some rest, but Barry need immediate attention." Barry''s head is still leaking blood. Most of it are absorbed by my mantle as I carried him. The wolf fur are now dyed crimson red. "This is..Barry?, what happened to him?." "Got hit by a rock right at his head. You should notify the doctor to prepare his tools immediately, else Barry might not survive." "Understood..." Gaby rush back inside the herb shop as I follow behind her while carrying Barry. His bluish face are sign of how bad his current condition is. I doubt he can be saved, but there''s no fault in trying to save lives. That hobgoblin are certainly quite strong, his raw strength are almost at the level of an ogre. He was still able to run around even with the grave wounds I''ve dealt on him. There''s a slight chance the guards will found him to be quite a challenge, but he should fall sooner or later. I have to be thankful to him for reigniting my battle senses. It was a feeling I haven''t felt for a long time, the adrenaline invoked by a battle for life and death. If even a single hit from him managed to land at me, it would be my death. I had no choice but to throw everything I had at him, truly a worthy enemy for my first real battle as a human. It is too bad that I can''t witness his death. I put down Barry on the bed as soon as I reached the herb shop. The shop interiors are now filled with beds and medical equipment instead of its normal furniture. The old doctor have a grim expression on his face as he examine Barry''s head. Everything is now out of my hand, it is up to Barry determination and the old doctor skills. Sylv''air throw a few glances at the doctor and his patient before coming closer to me. Barry''s injury is not on the level she can tend to, hence she came to check on me instead. "Are you alright?, what happened?." "The hobgoblin caught both of us by surprise. Somehow I manage to hold on until other guards arrive. They are still battling against him at the moment" "It''s not over yet?." Even though it''s covered by her veil, I''m sure there''s worried expression surfaced on Sylv''air face, it seems she''s quite afraid of this hobgoblin. An acceptable reaction by anyone who''ve seen Barry''s injury. "Perhaps only for a little while longer. He''s bleeding quite heavily and should have run out of blood any time now. But I''m kind of tired, can you let me rest a bit?." "Ah, of course. I will prepare a drink for you. You can use the bed over there." "Thanks, I appreciate it." The bed attracts me like a magnet, tempting me to put my tired body to rest on it. It is an offer I can''t refuse, right now there''s nothing I want more than a moment break to catch my breath. Drowsiness hit me hard, my eyes are no longer capable to keep me away from my dream. Shortly after I throw my body like a log at the bed, Sylv''air brought a cup of herb brew to alleviate my fatigue, but I can only drink a few sips before falling back to bed. At last I finally able to rest in peace without any fear of the hobgoblin attacking while I''m asleep, although technically he already did. The world become darker as I slowly giving up to the temptation of redeeming lost sleep from night watch.