"So Rai, how'd you befriend the king?"
"Ah, well... It's kind of a long story, but basically, I repelled 2 powerful kings with their help. Ever since then, we've become friends."
"Hee... What kind of kings were they?"
"... They were powerful. One could heal himself by killing his own followers, while the other could strengthen everyone with his own life. The Sacrificial Kings."
"Why'd they attack then?"
"Do you remember the evolution of a goblin?"
"Yeah, Goblin>Hobgoblin>Orc>Oni>Orc Lord>Oni Emperor>Oni King."
"They were Oni Kings, brothers at that. They were powerful enough that they could live against me and 2 Kings. The King and Queen themselves. They invaded the kingdom in hopes of turning this place into their nest."
"Geez luiz."
"Yeah, I know you're a King yourself, but you're still an immature one. You can't even use it. So if you were to encounter a fellow King that has the intent to kill, run. You won't be able to do shit. The reason why you barely have any class bonuses with the exception of a slight growth bonus is because of the fact that you're still weak."
Kuro became silent as Rai said that. Kuro himself knew that he was still too weak to even fight toe-to-toe against one, let alone an S-rank adventurer. They walked towards the students who were at the gate checking their stuff. Some were panicking as they forgot some of their belongings at the dorm, some were hungry and some were excited to see what's in the kingdom as to why it was noisy.
"Yo, Rin."
Rin looks away from Kuro in an instant. Kuro looks to Rai with a weirded out look.
'Oy, what happened while I was asleep?'
"Teehee~"
"Asshole."
Rai then came to the guards who asked him for his identification card. He showed him his signature card and all the guards were surprised.
'Guess he's a celebrity.'
The guards then hurriedly opened the gates and they were granted passage.
As they entered, the reason why the kingdom was lively was because of a celebration. There were food stalls, street dancers and performers, lights everywhere, and so much more.
"Rai, why are they celebrating?"
"Ah, it's because..."
"EVERYONE! IT'S RAI THE HERO!"
"Oh."
Everyone gathered around Rai as if he was a celebrity. Kuro, annoyed at the crowd density, bailed out. With his belongings, he climbed a house and stood on the rooftops. He enhanced his eyes with mana and searched through the whole kingdom.
"This is one big ass kingdom... Hmm?"
Kuro then saw mana signatures in a tower near the castle.
"Well then... Why not? I wanna see what kind of treasures this kingdom has... Just a lil peek is all."
Kuro stretched his whole body before jumping roof to roof as he got closer to the tower. As he got closer and took a better look of the tower as a whole, he saw that there was a window. Smiling, he positioned himself facing the window as he stood on the rooftop of a house far from it. From his dimensional bag on his waist, he pulled out an eternal candle wick and lit it. He formed a gun with his fingers and shot a small brown ember towards the window. Luckily, it reaches it perfectly. And with the candle, Kuro entered it and came out of the small brown ember on the window.
As he stepped inside, he pulled another candle wick and placed it onto the window as he lit it up. Looking around, the room was well taken care of, but it was a bedroom instead of a storage room. As he looked around, there were crystals that acted as mirrors, a fancily embroidered chairs and bed. He enhanced his eyes with mana again only to see that the mana signature he saw before was gone.
Disappointed, he entered the candle wick again and left the room.
"Is... Is he gone?"
A girl was hiding under the bed, scared. She was wearing a cloak that allowed her to hide her mana signature. She saw the candle wick and took a closer look. Suddenly, Kuro popped out of the candle wick.
"Gah!"
To her surprise, she suddenly punched him in the gut with all she has. Meaning, she enhanced her fist with earth element.
"I... Didn't even... Mean to surprise..."
*THUD*
Kuro fell on his back and collapsed. He felt as if his stomach was hit by a huge boulder. As she inspected him, she discovered that his hair was being camouflaged. With that, she remembered one of her lessons and pulled out a huge book under her bed. She opened the book at a specific page and chanted.
"Show your self, be free to your own will, let the mana dance freely in the air as it should, 'Dispel'! Uwaa-!"
As she finished chanting, majority of her mana was used in casting the spell in order to remove Kuro's 'Permanency' magic. There, the black color had slowly vanished and his silver hair shined upon the moon's reflecting light.
'Remember Aina, the silver color is known as the color of evil. The world had almost been destroyed because of 2 beings with their signature color of silver. We must eliminate all other possibilities of world annihilation.'
Aina remembered her father's words. She took one of the crystals and smashed it to give it a sharp point. As she held her crystal blade as she sat on top of Kuro.
'Why am I shaking? I have to kill him... But... Is he really evil? No! He intruded here! But... Does he really mean any harm? No! Stop thinking about these thoughts! I need to kill him or else he will destroy the world!'
As she held the blade tightly, its sharp edge made her hand bleed, making her let go of it. As she held her hand in pain, she looked at Kuro.
"So, are you gonna kill me or what?"
"Uwaa-!"
"Easy there."
As she fell on her back, Kuro caught her by creating multiple small barriers behind her.
"Your hand good?"
"S-Stay away from me!" She took the crystal blade again and swung it recklessly.
"Woah woah chill out, chill out!"
Panicked, Kuro attacked her wrist, making her let go of the blade.
"Please calm down for a second! I'm going to leave as soon as I heal, okay?"
"You're... You're going to destroy the world!"
"... What?"
"You- eh?" She became surprised by Kuro's remark.
"Hold on hold on, I don't plan on destroying the world or shi- stuff like that. Heck, I just wanna live in the countryside, farm and have a small family. I don't plan on doing stuff like that. And what made you think that I'm going to destroy the world?"
"Y-Your hair..."
"My hair?"
'Sir, it appears that your permanency spell has been dispelled.'
"Ah, that's why."
Kuro pulled up his hood that was attached to his jacket.
"Well then, as promised, I can't leave until I heal you. However, I need to leave because that bastard would chase me down."
"Who?"
"Rai. We visited this place for a field trip, but I got annoyed because the people were too close so I observed this kingdom and saw a huge mana signature. Looking again, it must have been yours. I wanted to see what it was, but didn't consider 'who'."
"Oh... But still! I have to report you to the guards!"
"Ha? What are you going to report? That I entered here, wanting to check something out and leave quickly while you punched me in the gut and incapacitated me, and even tried to kill me."
"Oh..."
'Kids are damn easy.'
As she was thinking, Kuro sat down on the floor.
"Come, sit down for a moment. Let me heal you first."
As she sat down, she held out her bleeding hand to Kuro.
'Soft.'
"This will hurt a bit, but don't worry. It'll be good as new."
She nods her head as Kuro looked at her. White flames then spewed out of Kuro's hand and burned Aina's hand. There was searing pain, but the pain was immediately relieved at the same time. She winces in pain, but made sure her eyes were slightly opened to see herself slowly healing, like clay being molded together. As she finished healing, Kuro took the broken crystal fragments and put them back together using a mana string and permanency magic.
"There, I fixed everything that should be fixed. Let's pretend nothing happened on this night, okay?" Kuro says as he puts his finger on his lips.
Aina took a better look at Kuro's features. His face, though not too attractive, was still quite unique. His eyes were pure crimson and some of his silver hair was being shown from his hood.
"... Who are you?"
"Mmm... Well, I feel like I can trust you, name's Kuro. Kuro Aagney."
"Nn... Aina."
"Oy oy, don't just give your name to random strangers like that."
"But-"
"Welp, time to go!"
Kuro then took his belongings and the candle wick that was on the window. He lit a small ember and entered it after taking a glance at Aina one more time.
'... Cute.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Haa... Where is he?"
Rin had already wandered around the whole kingdom trying to search for Kuro who suddenly disappeared.
'Alright Rin, while waiting for the King, I'll look for Kuro and do something. Whatever you do, DO NOT LEAVE THIS CASTLE. Okay?'
'That was Teacher Rai's words, but... Kuro's taking too long and Teacher Rai treats me like I'm a weakling. I'm strong now! I've been training under Kuro and his friends, I'm not weak anymore!'
As she pumps herself up, she continued to search for Kuro. She took an especially long time wandering in the alleyways since Kuro does like to hide in many places. However, even when she had circled the whole kingdom, she still couldn't find him.
'Why though... Wait. Kuro is missing, Teacher Rai has to do something while waiting for the King, and his warning... Kuro must have been abducted.'
With her piecing together what theoretically happened to Kuro, she prepared her dimensional bag on her waist and let out her sword's hilt. She then hears footsteps behind her, 5 shuffles per step was heard. As she looked behind her, she saw 5 people behind her. In panic, she brought out her sword which was a huge claymore. They were deep in the alleyway, so the abductors has no worries of them being seen, nor heard due to the noise of the festival.
As they fought, 2 of them jumped and climbed onto the walls while the other 3 charged onto her. Since they were in the alleyway, she couldn't swing her claymore sideward. And with that, she threw it upwards and clenched her fist. As the first one entered her range, she ducked and punched him in the gut, her arm then pushes itself along with her force, acting like a piston being extended at an explosive speed.
"Gwah!"
As the first guy flew off, she jumped up and held her claymore. She slams it onto the ground, managing to avoid the other 2 persons' slashes. She held out her blade and she dashes onto the second person charging onto her. The guy dodges and manages to attack her nape with a chop. However, she felt no pain. She used her tail and wraps it around the guy's hand. As the other 2 from the top and the third person came in, she pulled in the guy entangled by her tail and threw it onto the third guy while she raised her claymore and blocked the other 2.
However, a fireball was directed at her, made by the first guy she punched. As she stood her ground against it, the fireball dissipated. As they were surprised, she dug her claymore deep into the ground and rotated on it, kicking the other 2 as she faced the second and third ones coming right at her.
"She's just alone! Fucking get her!"
"Is she now?"
"-?!"
As she faced to the source of that voice, a child came down from the rooftop.
"Mind if I join in?!"
Kuro was smiling creepily. He took out his bladeless blade tied on his waist and projected a blade on it.
"Rin, get close to me. THIS IS HOW YOU SLASH AN OPPONENT."
He took Rin by her waist and prepared his attack.
"Original sword art: Moon style: Rising Moon."
With his sword, he flails it at an insane speed to the point that it left white afterimages around them like a dome. As it completed itself, the slashes flew to the abductors and slashed them along with the walls and her claymore.
As they went closer to the incapacitated abductors, they weren't scratched all too much but they were heavily bruised on all parts.
"Well, it's a good thing I blunted the barriers."
"Kuro, where were you?"
"Ah, I was taking care of some of them. There's a bunch of them since it's a festival, perfect time to kidnap children when everyone is busy having a blast."
As she looks at him, she saw his hair and eyes. It was silver and crimson. Even though she couldn't read, she knew what she was taught. She dashed on to her damaged claymore and held it against Kuro.
"What are you doing?"
"You... Who are you?"
"It's me, Kuro, ya boy. The fuck you on about?"
"Kuro has black hair and eyes. Who are you?"
"... Right, I forgot it was dispelled... Alley-oop!"
Kuro dashed on to her at an insane speed and kicked her on the stomach with his knee.
"GAH!"
"Shh... I'm sorry for doing this, but I can't let anyone know this. I can't kill you, you know? This is the best thing I could think off."
As she was knocked out, Kuro laid her down on her stomach and healed her human parts.
'Guide, let's do it.'
'Overtaking...'
Kuro's eyes turned light blue and opened up Rin's head. Like a hatch, it opened up releasing steam and liquid. In there, a bunch of circuits and her brain was present.
'To manipulate lightning... Within the 2 months of training, we can only do this much, but it's the minimum.'
Carefully, he electrocuted her brain, eliminating the needed cells that held the memories of Kuro wielding silver hair and crimson eyes. He also used white fire to regenerate it and used lightning again in order to create a new memory, wherein she collapses out of fatigue instead after getting beaten up by the abductors.
'Since you're part machine, I can do this to you a lot easier than normal.'
As the guide had finished replacing her memories, it closed the hatch and sealed it back as if it was never opened at all. The guide then repaired and recovered her stomach injury as well as Kuro's knee. After that, Kuro came back.
"Rai, I know you're watching."
"You really are evil, aren't you?"
"Say what you want, but if they were to be my opponents, I'd like to die instead of them, but you know I can't do that right?"
As Rai came into view, Kuro looked at him.
"Dye?"
"Here."
"Hah..."
"What happened?"
"I have no idea to be honest. I forgot what happened."
"..."
Rai watched Kuro as he applied black dye and permanency once more on his hair while creating illusion magic on his eyes.
"You know, I really need contact lenses."
"Contact lenses?"
"Yeah, it enables me to change my eye color while not being permanent. It's made out of fish scales."
"Intriguing..."
"Anyways, help me clean my hands up. Where were you by the way?"
"Ah, I had to take care of the kidnappers' headquarters. The guards should be rushing in there by now."
"Good. Hah... It's really troublesome considering that there's a bunch of them. What kind of order do they have here?"
"The order's good here. Just that there's loopholes that can be abused."
"Annoying, but okay."
"How about you?"
"Just explored and beat them up. Can't remember part of that, but I think I went crazy somewhere."
"Hmm..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they returned to the castle, Kuro took Rin to her room.
"Ah, Mr. Rai! Your highness awaits."
"Ah yes, I'll be right there."
As Rai entered the throne room, there were many nobles including the King and Queen was inside, waiting for Rai. As Rai had come closer, He knelt down.
"I have arrived your majesty."
"... Rai."
Rai then stood up with the King. Both with faces and aura that felt as if a fight will break out. The nobles prepared themselves for the worst.
""Pfft. BAHAHAHA!!""
The both of them laughed heartily.
Zeoth wheezes, "Ohh dear, Rai my good old friend, we got them good didn't we? BAHAHAHA!"
"Well why the fuck not? We looked as if 2 kingdoms were going to wage war! HAHAHAHA!"
They then clasped each other's hands and pushed each other, shaking the whole castle.
"AAAHHHH YOU HAVEN'T WEAKENED MY OLD FRIEND!"
"I COULD SAY THE SAME DAMN THING TO YOU OLD PAL!"
""HAHAHAHA!!""
The nobles then went away and evacuated as the Queen stayed on her seat, yawning.
"... Are they gone?"
"Yeah. So, what's this about?"
Zeoth then created a stone chair for Rai to sit on.
"How's the kids?"
"They're fine. The girl's still shy, not wanting to leave her room while the guy's training to be the next King."
"I see... Who's training them?"
"I'm training the elder brother while Yild is training the girl."
"She's inherited my magic and her father's strength, I can say for certain that she could become the strongest dwarf if she were to develop 'it'."
"Really now?"
Rai then pondered for a time and smiles.
"So, my dear friend, what do you need?"
"Ah, right. Does this kingdom have any S-rankers?"
"Yes, 10 of them."
"I'll need about 2 of them."
Zeoth then became surprised, "Why? What's going on?"
Rai then went closer as his expression became serious, "Me and Merlin kept observing the movements of the Kings, and we found some news. One, the Oni Brothers have disappeared."
""WHAT?!"" Zeoth and Yild yelled, letting everyone in the room know that something bad is happening.
"We don't know what happened. They might have died, or they simply found a way to hide their presence from me."
"Bloody hell..."
"Oh dear... We need to prepare."
"Do it discreetly. We can't let the people panic."
As Yild went to the guards, Rai continues his report.
"The second news, is that for the past 13 years, the number of Kings have increased."
This news made Zeoth sweat.
"Then... Does that mean..."
"Yes. The Silver King might awaken anytime soon."
"... SHIT!"
Zeoth slams the ground with his foot, cracking the floor and the ground beneath.
"However, we have good news as well. One of which is that we found someone that has the solution."
Zeoth regains his composure and sits down again. Yild returns this time.
"One of the students I've brought here, Kuro, is my disciple."
"What's special about him?"
"Is that he's the Silver Dragonkin."
"... Rai, I'll trust you this time, but what's so special about him to the point you'd protect him so bad? And even make him your disciple?"
"... It's that he's a reincarnator from another world."
"What the..." Both Zeoth and Yild held shocked emotions as well as confusion.
"He won't tell me how he was reincarnated, but what I can say is that with his knowledge that he shared to me, I have the second piece of good news. I've pin-pointed his kind of world and we're nearing the completion of a spell."
"Well go on! Speak!"
"In his world, they call it a 'Hero'. They can save our world from impending doom. So please, tell everyone that no matter what, never antagonize him. Okay?"
Chapter 18 -END-
