…Burning to ashes with nothing remaining. It wasn’t exactly a quick death was it? She’s definitely as cruel as someone befitting of the title she’s holding. Still I wonder how we are going to get away with this, since she wouldn’t fight them otherwise.

“How are we supposed to explain this to the guild?” I asked.

“Let’s just say those two were killed by a wyvern with only you left as the survivor, with me finding you and coming to your rescue” Maova answered. A rather simple solution, lying.

“That’ll work I guess” I replied.

“Also let’s added that you three fought multiple wyverns so you wouldn’t exactly lose any credibility” She added.

“Very well” I replied.

“Okay then, let’s get the stuff we were meant to get and let’s go” She said she walk and look around…

“Um…” Maova let out.

“What is it now?” I asked as I look around and saw nothing in sight aside from… oh…

“Yeah my bad, I’ll go find the target for us okay?” Maova said as she’s ready to go to the higher level… Then suddenly she paused.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Since we’re here, how about we go train up there for a bit as well?” She asked in return.

“You mean in a place full of dragons?” I asked sounding my concern.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine, especially since if we go back too early that could cause some suspicion” She explained.

“...Fine” I replied.

 

#####

 

“Haaaa!” I let out swinging my sword toward the wyvern.

*Slash* *Roar* 

It let out a roar in pain and died.

*[Heal]*

Thankfully I have my healing spell and my regeneration, otherwise I would be unable to keep training up here. Maova is watching from the sidelines at this point.

“You’re doing great” She said. Even though all I did was defeating a few wyverns, she defeated a dragon very quickly without any difficulty in comparison, I took a few minutes for each.

“So how long are we doing this for?” I asked.

“About an hour and we’ll go” She said as she simply stand there observing me.

“Good to know” I replied as I go back to looking for more opponents.

 

#####

 

[Status]

 

Name: Rosia Zana

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Race: Zurora

 

Level: 123

Class: Paladin

HP: 39,243/39,243

MP: 3,009/3,009

Strength: 1,411

Magical Prowess: 1,456

Dexterity: 1,408

Agility: 1,410

Luck: 1,399

Vitality: 1,499

Magical Resistance: 1,511

 

Race Trait: [Human Consumption] [Longevity] [Regeneration] [Mana Regeneration] [Wings Manifestation] [Lust Eater] [Lust Magic] [Dream Walker]

Special Trait: [EXP Boost] [Growth Boost]

 

Weapon Proficiency

Sword: B

Brawl: D

 

Elemental Proficiency

Fire: D

Cold: D

Water: D

Lightning: D

Wind: D

Earth: D

Light: B

Dark: E+

Life: B

Death: E+

Mind: D

Space: D+

 

“You improved quite nicely” Maova commented sounding as friendly as ever.

“There’s no need for flattery” I said.

“If you say so, let’s go” She said as she gestured at me to follow her back down to the surface.

 

#####

 

“So what were you planning having me go along with them?” I asked as we are walking back toward the town.

“I just think having you be there will make the story more credible, if only I was there people at the guild might get suspicious and I might get accused of killing them if you weren’t there to provide any testimony” She explained, so that’s how it is, though I feel like it’s a tad bit over complicated.

“But couldn’t you simply kill them without letting anyone know they died?” I asked. 

“Well people would get suspicious of me since I go to the same location wouldn’t I?” Maova replied.

“Then you simply don’t accept any request in that area and you would’ve been fine wouldn’t you? And without needing me involved” I asked further… and she stays silent for a while.

“Ah, I supposed that’s an option isn’t it? Well it doesn’t really matter now” She said as she’s scratching her cheek embarrassed by herself over complicating the plan that I didn’t need to have a part in.

“So what should we do after this?” I asked.

“Well, there’s this day left and tomorrow we can go somewhere else, do you want to go to the royal capital immediately?” She asked in return.

“Of course I do, she’s there after all” I replied.

“I see, guess our next destination is set” She said with a smile, a one of comfort, am I supposed to feel so comfortable toward someone like her? She might be friendly to me and support me, but she’s not a type of person to do anything particularly good or evil, seems like she’s doing things for her own gain, only caring those that mattered and nothing else, ruthless and uncaring toward anything else, and that I supposed can be seen as evil by many, looking at someone like that in high regard... what am I thinking? At this point I’m not that much different, there’s no use thinking about it now. It’s like there’s something similar between us and that’s probably why I’m fine with everything she has done… 

“Are you concerned with something?” She asked.

“N-No” I replied. Still, this feeling is a bit strange, I can’t quite describe it.

“Well we can talk about it later” She said.

…

“Hey” I suddenly said after a short pause.

“What?” She asked.

“Why did you help me then?” I asked. Suddenly she stopped walking, and so do I.

“I…” She started sounding somewhat regretful.

“Make no mistake, I mean well when I did that, but perhaps the curiosity get a better of me there” She explained, though I still don’t quite understand. The winds blowing and the grass flow along, the scenery is rather quite and solemn even on this bright day.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“With being a Demon Lord, I obviously have all sorts of power no one could imagined. I used one of them on you out of curiosity, I have some good intention just like I said, but part of me only did it for a selfish reason. I hope you can forgive me for that” She fully explained.

“Well, I think it’s too much to help someone without any selfish cause anyway” I replied.

“I mean I do feel sympathy for you in that moment, it’s good will and such and not just purely selfish isn’t it?” She asked.

“I didn’t say it is all that, just that you can’t expect everyone to go to that length just because of sympathy. I certainly don’t act out like that” I explained.

“I’d say your line of thinking can be quite logical and insightful, if somewhat cynical at times. Makes me wondered how you ended up like this in the first place” She commented.

“Honestly I don’t quite remember the details myself, perhaps it’s due to your tampering, or maybe I just tried to forget, but I barely have any recollections of it” I answered.

“Bummer. Well it’s all in the past, let’s not dwell on it and let’s go” She said as she takes the lead.

“Right behind you” I replied.

 

#####

 

Right now we’re at the gate and two men is guarding it. At this point we both already pulled out the corpses to be send to the guild.

“That’s two massive beasts right there” One guard commented.

“Yeah, can you both please get these off our hands?” Maova asked.

“I certainly can… Hold on, weren’t there other two people with you young miss? Why is she with you?” The guard asked.

“Ah, about that, there’s a bit of an… unfortunate incident so to say, so both of them won’t be back. Can’t you just let us in and go spread the news or whatever?” Maova explained.

“Very well, we’ll take care of these two” He said.

 

#####

 

*Open*

We both go into the guild and some people are eyeing on us.

“Huh? Where’s the blonde lass?” One guy asked.

“Where’s that odd boy go off to?” Another man asked. Seems like this’ll be quite difficult for them to comprehend.

“W-Well, about that… can I go report the mission first?” Maova asked. From the looks of it they’re quite popular aren’t they. Maova and I then walked to the reception.

“S-So you both complete the requests right?” She asked.

“Yeah, unfortunately on her side there are some… casualties” Maova explained.

“O-Oh… I’m sorry” She said to me, I simply looked away not sure what to say.

“Sorry but she’s not good at recieving apologies” Maova said for some reason.

“A-Ah, well I’ll have you both sign the paper of your quest” She said while handling papers to us. And we both finished signing it.

“Okay… can you please make your report on the loss?” She asked.

“Well first off all… wait shouldn’t we go tell the guild master?” Maova said and asked.

“Um, he’s very busy right now so he can’t take anymore report” She explained.

“Oh. Well let me start with how me, a gold ranked adventurer, got involved in the first place. The group and I deal with different requests, but the things both side were supposed to hunt are in the same general area and that’s why I discovered them” She start explaining and the receptionist girl start writing the general info down.

“It turns out the lower area of that place usually have more than one wyvern at a time, so that group get swarmed by multiple wyverns, as for me I was preoccupied with fighting a dragon on the higher level at first. To cut it short the two of them got torched by the wyverns and she’s the only one made it out alive, I was a tad too late to save them all unfortunately, we still get both the dragon and the wyvern though” That’s all a lie but hopefully no one will noticed. The girl then write down more information, I turn to look and see a few adventurers completely shocked after eavesdropping on the details. I tugged at Maova’s clothes for a bit.

“What is… oh” She turn to look at me and noticed a bunch of people reacting to the news. Befitting of the Hero she have many allies doesn’t she. She then turn look back at the receptionist.

“Can you please tell them to not kill me messenger?” She asked somewhat jokingly.

“I don’t think they’ll do anything that drastic” The receptionist replied. Well I think we should leave immediately after this.

“So where’s the… reward” Maova said somewhat quitely.

“Here” The receptionist girl said while handling us the coins. A gold coin for me and five for Maova.

“Let’s get out of here” I whispered to her.

“Yeah” Maova replied and we leave the guild.

…

“Let’s go back to my room” Maova suggested.

“Very well” I replied. We should go back and avoid that place for now.

 

#####

 

“So now what?” I asked. Right now we’re in her room after the whole reporting those two’s death.

“Well at this point going back to that place is gonna be hella awkward, so we should go tell them we’re leaving for the capital tomorrow and let’s just quickly get out of here” She said.

“Very well” I replied.

…

“This is still just the afternoon so there are still quite some time before we go to bed, I’ll go find something for us to eat” She said as she prepare to leave.

“Wait” I said.

“What is it?” She said looking at me while reaching for the door.

“Can’t I come with you?” I asked.

“...Sure you can” She replied. I quickly get up and follow her out.

 

#####

 

“So where do you want to go?” She asked.

“I really don’t know much about this town, is there a good restaurant nearby?” I said.

“There’s one not far from here, I mean it’s honestly nothing special and the food stalls have better stuff I’ll say” She replied.

“Is that so? Guess we’ll go there then” I said.

“Okay then, follow my lead” She said while taking the lead, I follow her very closely the entire time…

“There’s the fried chicken stall being full again” She said with a sigh.

“What? Is it good?” I asked.

“Probably better than most food here, in term if taste anyway” She explained. Is this a local cuisine? I have never heard of it before.

“Is there anything else you recommend?” I asked.

“Hmm… I think maybe I should take matter into my own hands” She said.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“I’ll go get some ingredients and whip something up, what do you want to eat?” She asked.

“I wouldn’t imagine you of all people would cook” I remarked.

“I mean I’m not particularly great at it. So what do you want to eat?” She asked.

“...I’ll go with a fish dish I guess” I said. It’s honestly my favorite, though with human meat in the equation that might changed. Hopefully not.

“Huh, I was thinking the same thing” She replied. Guess we have similar taste... Wait.

“Do you not drink blood?” I whispered so others wouldn’t accidentally hear.

“Don’t exactly have to, I can still enjoy regular food” She replied.

“I see” I replied back.

“Anyway I think there’s a store selling them somewhere” She said as she walk ahead. Guess I’ll follow her along.

 

#####

 

“I’ll buy 5 pounds of it” She said.

“That’ll be 1 silver coin and 5 bronze coins” The seller said.

“Here” She hand over the money and get the filleted fish, it have orange flesh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of fish. I also feel like she spend a bit much them.

“Okay, time to go find the necessary condiments” She said.

 

#####

 

“Doesn’t seem like there are soy sauce or anything, kind of a shame. Didn’t quite think this through” She commented looking through some products, and a few things caught her eyes.

“Huh, there are oyster sauce, fish sauce, and other stuff like chilies and garlics. I think Kaa-san has told me there’s something made with these which is great with seafood” It’s like she’s lost in thought.

…

“Alright, this is what I’ll get, it’s not everything but it’s probably fine.” She said to herself.

 

#####

 

Now we’re back in her room. Honestly it felt like I just go along with her for no reason at all, it least it doesn’t seems like she minded.

“Alright, wait for a little while while I prepare this okay?” She said to me. I simply nod.

“Okay then, time to get start” She said as she pull out all of the ingredients. General things like salt and sugar, the aforementioned sauces, some chilies, some garlic, and apple cider? I wonder what’s with this strange combination.

“For your information one of them is a substitute and one ingredient is missing, so don’t expect it to be perfect” She said, I just nod again.

“Okay time to really get started” She said as she bring out some equipment, including this strange container stuck to a small pedestal? And inside there are blades… I’m not completely sure what that is, anyway she’s starting.

She began peeling the garlic’s skin off and she also put the fish she brought in water which she put some spell on. Some time after she put all the ingredients in the container and close it shut. Then suddenly it made a loud noise and everything inside get chopped to bits, jeez that was loud. After a while she bring out the fishes, she brought quite a lot I would say. She began slicing it into even and smaller pieces carefully, does she not cook it first? Or am I missing something… 

…

“Alright I’m done” She said, what I saw is a huge amount of raw fishes, as well as what I think is the condiment.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yep” She said as she suddenly pull out a pair of sticks and use them to pick up one of the pieces of fish, dip it in the condiment and eat it.

“Try it out” She said to me as she bring be a pair of sticks and give it to me.

“...What am I supposed to do with this?” I asked.

“Hold them like this, using one hand” She said showing me how to do it.

“Okay…” I said trying it out myself… this is a bit hard…

“You almost got it” She encouraged as she keep eating.

…

“I got it, now what?” I said almost excitedly.

“Use it to pick up the fish obviously, while also dipping it first” She explained. I guess I’ll try… picking up the fish and dipping it in this condiment… I have no idea how it’ll taste.

…

It’s surprisingly nice and refreshing, the sauce is a bit hot though, I don’t think I’ve eaten anything like this.

“It’s good isn’t it?” She said.

“Yes, quite nice” I replied.

 

#####

 

We ended up eating all the fish she just bought. Who knows raw fishes are do delectable, I shall keep that mind. I think we may have taken our time eating a tad too much, it won’t be long until the sun start setting.

“Now what?” I asked.

“If you’re talking about what to do next, I think we should simply wait and perhaps planned things out” She said. 

“You mean for us leaving tomorrow?” I asked.

“Yeah, what should we do after we go there? I very much doubt we’ll get your sister back by just brute force. I mean we can, but that wouldn’t leave a good impression would it?” She said.

“Do you suggest we do this stealthily? Who knows what might become of her if we take our time” I remarked.

“Well we don’t have to rescue her right away do we? How about we simply check up on her first before we do anything drastic” She purposed.

“Why are you so fixated on that? Honestly if it weren’t for the system flat out told me you’re the Demon Lord and with what you have done to me I would be very doubtful about your claim. Shouldn’t it be more convenient for you to just… destroy the capital and leaving her alone?” I retorted. She looked at me somewhat perplexed. Then sigh.

“You’re way more of a demon than me… But to answer your question, I just think destroying the place outright to be quite disappropriate, we’ll go there simply to take her back, not doing something so drastic, or is that your goal?” She asked.

“It’s not, I just think doing something like that should be a non issue for you anyway, and it’s way less complicated than your plan” I replied.

“Perhaps, but the possible consequences that could followed would be inconvenient for us, we’ll be in hiding more than likely, or forced to kill everyone in our path, can you live with that?” She asked.

“To answer that question, I shouldn’t be able to, but with you by my side I thought perhaps those consequences wouldn’t mattered” I admitted.

“So that’s how it is… this will be one selfish request of mine, could you hear me out?” She said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“If all possible I don’t want us to do something so drastic, I want us to solve things without using our might to fight and destroy, it’s not the answer to everything, can you please promise me that? I’ll get your sister back, I swear it” She said. I mean do I even have any other choice?

“Very well” I replied.

“I don’t think you want your sister to see this side of you right? One that can only be described as demonic” She asked. My sister who have always see me in a good light, for her to see me as demonic would be… so terrifying, seems like this is one thing I forgot to consider.

“I really don’t… you’re right, perhaps I’m being short sighted” I replied.

“Glad we could come to that conclusion” She said.

“So what now? If we can’t just brute force our way through it, what do we do?” I asked.

“I honestly have no idea. You should know how the security of your house?” She asked.

“It’s not mine anymore and you know that, and for as much as I remembered we weren’t allowed to go anywhere by ourselves, or at least without permission” I explained.

“I see, well is there anywhere where they usually are?” She asked.

“I mean the nobles are either that their house or just studying” I explained.

“Well we aren’t going to their house more than likely. Where do they study?” She asked.

“There’s an academy somewhere in the center of the capital” I said.

“I think that’ll be our best bet, any idea how adventurers like us could get in?” She asked.

“I don’t, honestly my memories from that time is quite blurry” I said.

“Really? Must’ve been the side effect of that, sorry about that I supposed” She noted. Must’ve been talking about my changes.

“Don’t worry about it” I said.

“Well I guess we just have to figured it out ourselves, I mean the academy is accessible to more than just the nobles right?” She asked.

“Well I don’t think everyone working there is a noble” I said, I think I remember a few mentioning of commoners there but like I said I don’t remember much of it.

“We just have to figured it out together, hopefully we’ll be lucky in our pursuit” She said. Lucky huh… speaking of lucky.

“Speaking of that, what does the luck stat do anyway?” I asked. It’s the most vague value of the bunch, I have no idea how it actually worked.

“Honestly I have no idea myself” She said.

“I see” I noted.

“Well I very much doubt it actually represents luck, otherwise those who are weak will be unlucky all the time right?” She said.

“True enough” I replied.

“I think we should just practice some magic and be done for the day” She said.

“I’ll agree with you on that” I replied.

 

#####

 

From that point to nighttime we have been doing nothing but practicing magic, thankfully we didn’t disturb anyone so there’s no issue on that front.

“So? I think it’s time we hit the bed” She said.

“I’ll do just that” I said. 

“Well let’s go to sleep, make sure to store the bed away come this morning” She said.

“Obviously” I replied. I then go to the bed and lay down on it. Maova did the same on her own.

“Good night” She said.

“Good night to you to” I replied.

 

#####

 

What is it now? What is this place? Is this an academy, or a school? It’s certainly not where I went to before, there are many people walking into this place, and none of them seems to notice me… anywhere outside of this place is just a blank sky. Should I go inside? Perhaps it’s then will I know what these places actually are.

…

There are many writing in a language I don’t understand, this is just all kind of strange…

Inside of this place there are hallways, some sort of metal storage divided into tens of sections, and those light sources again… this is more or less a school… I think.

These strange faceless people can’t be interacted with at all, I think I’ll just go through each door and see what I find…

…

…

…

Nothing of importance at all. Perhaps the other facilities in this place will provide more clues.

 

#####

 

Hm? Is that the boy I saw last time? I think it is… but the last time I meet up with him the whole place collapsed, seems like he’s the cause of it existing or disappeared. Guess I’ll try to follow him at a safe distance for now.

…

Suddenly a pale-blue haired girl appeared along with a boy with reddish orange eyes. They seems to be talking and enjoying themselves… the main cause have quite a miserable look before those two approached, must’ve a really terrible time without them around… like having them around is important… what concept is this called… I can’t quite recalled… friend was it? I’m not quite certain… 

Huh!?

 

#####

 

Now the location shifted… what is this place? A room with one little girl on the bed while the boy and the mother are watching over her, there are other people there as well, dressed in white. Both of them have such a pained expression on them…

Ah, it’s changing again...

 

#####

 

That woman doesn’t care, doesn’t care for this boy, that’s what I see. Unlike how she treated that little girl, who is absent in this place. It’s like this constantly changing place is trying to tell me something…

Now that I think about it… parental favoritism, siblings caring for each other despite that, mistreatment, miserable in the school/academy… isn’t this an analogy of what I went through? It’s not an exact replication of my story but there are similarities… why this particular analogy and why? What’s with all of this unfamiliar things that I have no knowledge of? 

No wait, but why would she… what if it’s not? Maybe it’s all just a coincidence?

I know who’s causing this, but I don’t know why. Perhaps I should demand him, or rather her to get me out… actually what’ll happen if I try to escape from this space, I haven’t tried that before…

…

*Flap*

There doesn’t seem to be any ground beyond this point so flying off it is.

*Fly*

 

#####

 

...Huh? I’m back in my bed again, I see Maova a little in this darkness and her expression is a little sadden, but at least it isn’t as bad as yesterday’s. I think I’ll try to go to sleep again and hopefully that won’t happen the third time.

 

#####

 

”Good morning” Maova said to me, seems like she wakes up faster than me this time.

“Same” I replied.

“Okay, time to pack our stuff and get the hell outta here” She said.

“Yeah yeah” I replied. After this we’ll come to get you my sister...