After dragging me for a while Levi got to a door for a room and opened it. He threw me into the room which caused me to let out a small “oof” as I hit the ground. As I got off the ground I was thrown on. I happen to see Levi looking outside the door nervously before he quickly close and locked it.
“. . . Why did you look around before you closed and locked the door?” I could feel my back grow cold as I looked at Levi cautiously. I was picturing all the things that could happen to me, a human, alone with Levi, a demon, and all of them weren’t good at all for me. ‘Is this death? Am I going to die? I will curse Mammon with bad luck if this is my death. . .’
“. . .What’s that now? You want to know why I looked around to see if anyone was watching before I closed the door? Why do you THINK I did it?! Isn’t it obvious?! Imagine what would happen if someone saw me inviting you into my room! A human who doesn’t even look like an otaku, but a normie! You know what people would say, right?!” Levi was pointing at me with disgust in his eyes and I wondered if I acted like this with my family whenever I told them they wouldn’t get the anime or manga I was interested at the moment.
“Um, actually, I’m an otaku, too.” I know I didn’t really look like an otaku right now in this uniform but my sense of fashion was centered around the thing I watched and read. My brother had to force me to wear clothing that was more appropriate for social gathering.
“Really? You are. . .? W-Well, if you think that means I’ll give you special treatment now, you’ve got another thing coming! Because I won’t!” Levi crossed his arms around his chest puffing out his cheeks that were red. I could feel my heart beat increasing once I realized this was a classic tsundere attitude! I could feel that my expression was going to get weird so I quickly looked away from him and noticed a bookcase.
The bookcase is full with thick, hardcover books as big as encyclopedias. On the bookcase I saw one book that was facing toward me and I inch closer to it to read the title of the book. ‘The Tale of the Seven Lords: The Lord of Shadow Awakens’ was on the book and I wanted to grab the book to see what was in it but Levi's voice stopped me.
“What is it, human? What’re you looking at? Wait, that looks like. . . The Tales of the Seven Lords. Are you a fan of that, too?” Levi was looking at me with stars in his eyes and I felt nervous to answer him. I am pretty sure I never heard about this story before and I shouldn’t lie to him even if it means I could get closer to him.
“Well . . . I never heard about it. . .” I awkwardly rubbed at my neck while awkwardly looking away from Levi who was still looking at me with interest. I could feel the interest in his eyes disappear and get replaced with disbelief and disgust.
“. . . Excuse me? You don’t know TSL? And you call yourself a human?! Just how clueless ARE you?! How could you not know?! Just the fact that you don’t know TSL alone is proof that you’ve been wasting your life! So, I’m going to do you a favor and teach you about TSL. Make sure you pay attention!” Levi gestured for me to sit down on the bean bag chair that was in his room. After I was sitting he sat down as well and held the book in front of him.
“The Tale of the Seven Lords, otherwise known as TSL, is a series of fantasy novels written by Christopher Peugeot. It’s a heroic epic spanning 138 volumes, and it’s the most widely-read fantasy series in the world. There are even theatrical versions, an animated series, and feature films, too. And it’s been translated into a total of 182 different languages. The 1990s theatrical version was an utter disaster, owing to the fact they added several characters that were NOT present in the original manuscript. At the time I was like, “This producer totally needs to crawl in a hole and die!” But then the 2015 version came out, and it was AMAZING! Better than amazing! If you ask me, it showed that needlessly cramming a female lead in there alongside Henry was a bad idea. That’s not what he needs. What he NEEDS is a friend who really understands him, and the 2015 version proved that. Also, the most vital element of the story is that each of the seven lords is so unique. They’re all so interesting in their own peculiar way. That’s what makes TSL so great!” I could feel my head getting lost as Levi continued on talking about TSL and I was kind of understanding what he was saying but at the same time I was getting confused with what was currently happening.
“The lords are all brothers. . . the oldest is called the Lord of Corruption. He doesn’t come across as being so bad at first, but he’s plotting and planning in secret. The second oldest is the Lord of Fools, a scumbag who’ll do anything for money. The third oldest the Lord of Shadow, a brooding recluse. The fourth oldest is known as the Lord of Masks. He masquerades as a high-status, upstanding member of society, but underneath it all, he’s an inhumane monster. The fifth oldest, the Lord of Lechery, only ever think of sex. The sixth oldest is the Lord of Flies, and he only thinks of food. Then there’s the seventh oldest, called the Lord of Emptiness. He’s weird. . .you never know what’s running through his head!” As Levi was talking about the seven lords I was wondering if he enjoyed this series due to the fact the lord kind of reminds him of his siblings? I feel like all the characters he just talked about were just like his siblings. ‘Does he notice this or is he kind of an idiot. . .?’
“It seems most people like the oldest lord, the Lord of Corruption, the best. Everyone talks about how great he is. But not me. I like the third lord way more. Of course, I like Henry too. He’s the protagonist. He’s almost as great as the third lord. The second lord is a total scum, a hopeless degenerate that leads a life of extravagance and indulgence. He’s always causing trouble for the third lord. He’s got these magical pigs that can give birth to solid gold piglets, and he treasures them above all else. So, Henry goes and talks to the pigs, and using his wit and powers of persuasion, he convinces them to leave with him. Then, he leads every last one of them away, and presents them to the third lord as a gift! Wow. . . I mean, they’re SUCH GOOD FRIENDS you can almost feel it! It’s enough to make you cry!” Levi grew teary eyed as he talk about the Lord of Shadow and Henry friendship which kind of made it awkward to look at him since I really didn’t know what he was talking about since I never heard or got into this series at all.
“Oh, and then there’s that one really awesome moment when the two of them realize they both like and respect each other, and they high-five! I just LOVE that part, you know? I wish I could have a moment like that. . . I wish I could be like that third lord. I may be a recluse like him, but we’re totally different, because he’s got an amazing friend like Henry. Check it out. See that goldfish in the fish tank there? He’s actually named Henry. I love TSL so much that I couldn’t help naming him after the main character. But I can’t really high-five a goldfish, can I?” Levi was frowning at Henry who was in the fish tank just moving back and forth lazily not caring about anything in the world and I kind of envy that. ‘Oh, to be a fish living life with no worries and free food. . .’
“The original author of TSL, Christopher Peugeot, he’s actually human, you know? That’s why I’m so jealous of you guys. Humans are so lucky. You’ve got subscription services that let you watch your favorite anime anytime, you can go to Akihabara whenever you want. . . Why do only you guys get to experience all the good stuff? I mean, humans’ whole concept of pleasure originally came from us demons, you know? We gave it to you. So, why can’t we have a little of that back now, huh? I mean, I want to be able to go to a Japanese maid cafe, too. I want to hear the maids welcome me as if I’m the master of the house, to have them draw ketchup hearts on my fried rice omelette, to experience the magic of it all. I want to cosplay as Henry, and then go stand in the center of Akihabara, or maybe under that one building in Tokyo that’s shaped like upside-down triangles.” I couldn’t understand how we went from talking about TSL to how he was jealous of humans and the fact they could experience the wonder of Japan. I mean sure I can do that but he doesn’t know how fucking hard it is to get enough money to even buy half the stuff I want in Akihabara.
“And once I’m there, I want to perform Henry’s super-powerful signature finishing move for all to see and say the incantation that goes with it. I want to shout it at the top of my lungs! . . . Actually, you know what? I want to BE Henry!” Levi's eyes had fire in them as he said without any shame that he wanted to be Henry and I had to give him some respect for that. ‘He knows what he wants and I can’t hate that.’
“You know what? You are right. Screw all the normies! Who needs them?” At first I was kind of off put by his passion toward TSL but I realize when an otaku really loves something they really love it. As a fellow otaku I have to show my support toward a comrade.
“Yeah, screw ’em!” Levi got even more fired up and he got up from the bean bag chair then went to his bookcase to show off more of his TSL books. I was kind of feeling better about my situation since I met someone who was kind of like me. I mean he was a demon but being an otaku means he is like me as a person. Also this TSL series actually seems pretty interesting.
‘Mammon is off for now since nothing horrible happened to me but I won’t forget this. But for now I have to see if Levi would be willing to lend me a few TSL books.’ I was listening to Levi with new found interest as he kept talking about TSL and how he wanted to go to the human world to experience all the places in Japan.
