The mansion was silent as not even the servants wandered the hallways, despite the inevitable commotion that had come from his fight with the assassins the mansion was eerily quite as Caspian explored with entourage of demons.
The demons seemed upset at this point. They could clearly smell that there were humans around that they could hunt but because of Caspians’ order only to only attack those that got in their way they were forced to follow behind him and ignore the delicious meal presented before them.
They started to grow restless as the smell got stronger and yet there was still no one in sight, “Fireball.” Caspian calmly sent a flame to the most restless of the bunch who was growling and panting, “Calm yourselves.” He ordered.
The demon who was hit directly had half of his face melt from the impact of the magic however, the remaining skin began to bubble and quickly grow outwards as he regenerated as if nothing had happened.
It looked at Caspian with rage and disdain, it could tell that this ‘Master’ was much weaker than them but the power that restricted them forced them to follow the orders of this inferior being, it was infuriating for demons such as them to follow the orders of the prey.
Despite their appearances the demons possessed basic intelligence on par with a regular human it was just that they were incapable of speaking like higher-ranked demons, so they were forced to growl and grunt to communicate.
‘Is it possible for them to break free from my control?’ Caspian asked the system in his mind; he was still wary of the immense threat the five creatures behind him possessed even if they did follow his commands for now.
[If a Demon exceeds the level which the System can currently handle then they will be able to break free from the binding contract. I suggest you upgrade the System as soon as possible]
‘I’m working on it; can you warn me if one of them is about to exceed what you can handle?’ He asked in concern, it would be almost certain death if he had to face against a demon with the power of a Knight Lord – he could barely handle a single Knight Captain with his current strength and it would be impossible to defeat one if he didn’t catch them off guard.
His main strength currently was his ability to summon and control demons, if even they could turn on him then he had no stable foundation of power to build his influence from.
[Impossible. Existence Evolution is impossible to determine, it’s the natural force of a world that even the System can’t comprehend. It is; however, an extremely rare occurrence and it is unlikely any of the demons you summon will live long enough to achieve it]
It was a comforting but there was always the possibility of it happening but there was no other way to protect himself other than improving his own strength which, for now, was impossible.
“Sto- “ Two guards suddenly appeared as they rounded the corner, one started to shout as they spotted him only to notice the five looming figures behind him in the darkness of the hallways.
The demons didn’t wait as they immediately pounced, the guards raised their spears to try and protect themselves, but they were only normal humans – not even Knight Apprentices. Their reflexes couldn’t match the speed that the demons possessed, and they were ripped to pieces within seconds before being devoured.
Caspian ignored their behaviour and continued to walk past them, the demons were seemingly reluctant to leave alone the blood that had soaked itself into the carpet of the hallway but the further away that Caspian was the more pain they began to experience assaulting their mind as the command ‘Follow’ echoed louder and louder each time.
Finally, it grew unbearable and they hurried on all four to catch up with him just to make the pain stop.
“Next time you take that long I’ll kill you all.” He didn’t even turn around as he spoke, “You might be useful, but I can always summon more of you.” His voice was calm and resolute leaving no room for argument as he spoke.
The demons growled and grunted but they could tell that he was serious, Caspian had seen enough of their brutal nature to understand that the only sort of action they would respond to was violence. Fear was the best motivation for most forms of life, death being what they were all most afraid of.
He didn’t speak any longer and they continued through the labyrinth-like layout of the mansion with relative ease from then on, he didn’t watch as a few more guards were torn to pieces by the demons as they attempted to stand in their way the demons didn’t dare to lag behind either however and immediately followed him as soon as he passed.
It seemed that they didn’t want to tempt fate, it was lucky that they didn’t know that Caspian wasn’t currently able to summon many more of them or else they would’ve been far more restless and difficult to control otherwise.
After a few minutes they found themselves back at the main-hallway, they were on the top floor already however so there was no reason for them to go down, the master-bedroom and study were likely to be on the same floor just in the opposite wing.
“The Master will be displeased that you have made such a mess in his home…” An elderly voice muttered from the darkness surprising him, he watched as the Butler he had seen earlier emerged from the shadows like a phantom.
Caspians eyes narrowed as he examined the man, just from that feat alone he could tell without the Systems help that this one would be no easy opponent to pass, “What’s a Mage doing serving a noble?” Caspian muttered just loudly enough for the man to hear.
After reading the books in his room he had learned of the situation that most kingdoms faced, where the Mages and Nobles would be at one another’s throats as they vied for power over the populace; a Mage working for a Noble was an almost foreign concept for the people of this world because of how rare it was.
“You could say I’m repaying a debt… Some, however, will say I’m simply a foolish old man who can’t leave the past behind.” He said as he held his hands behind his back, despite staring right at him it was as if the man wasn’t looking at him but instead remembering the past fondly as a small smile appeared on his face.
The smile didn’t disappear as he returned to the present, “You’ve already killed the assassins I sent and a few of the guards, how about we leave the past in the past and we forget about this?” He said diplomatically, trying to talk Caspian down from whatever he was planning to do.
“Unfortunately, it seems that we share something in common old man…” The butler raised an eyebrow at his words and replied, “What would that be?”
“Neither of us can forget the past.”
“Fireball!” The fire flew through the air suddenly, catching the old man off guard but not completely by surprise as he waved his hand and formed a shield around him, the impact of the explosion caused a cloud of smoke to form around him but did no damage.
“Young people, so arrogant nowadays…” The butler muttered, “We’re the arrogant ones? Maybe you shouldn’t speak during a fight.” Caspian said, the butler couldn’t see him through the thick smoke caused by the explosion but suddenly he could see three shadows rushing towards him as they displaced the smoke.
A second later three grotesque demons hit his shield at the same time causing it to shatter and dissipate back into mana. The old man quickly faded into a shadow on the floor to avoid their next attack.
He reappeared down the stairs on the ground floor of the mansion, his eyes glued to the demons with interest.
“I wonder if you could tell me where you got such powerful slaves?” He asked, still retaining his polite attitude despite the situation.
Caspian simply shook his head and sent another fireball towards him; it was a waste of his time to talk to this old man; he couldn’t explain that he’d summoned them from another world, now could he?
The old man made another shield but this time contained the explosion before it could block his vision having learnt from his past mistake, he looked at Caspian and simply shook his head like an elder disappointed with the actions of a junior would do.
“As your elder it’s my responsibility to teach you your limits, I’m not very good at holding myself back in my old age so please be careful.” Almost immediately after he had spoken the mana density in the air rose by several levels as it began to bear down on Caspian and the demons.
[Warning! 3rd Circle Mage Scholar detected!]
Caspian wasn’t surprised by this reveal of strength however, it was well within his estimations, he had even guessed that the old man might have been a High Mage however it was unlikely that someone that powerful would still remain as a butler even if they were repaying a debt.
He was confident in the strength of his demons; the only problem would be hitting the old man. His ability to enter shadows made it impossible to hold him down if he wanted to escape.
“Now watch closely, this is true power.”
Bye bye oldie
thanks for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter