“W-what!? He has!?”

-Yes. It’s the perfect timing actually. Now that we know there exists an enemy that could even threaten our god, preparations have to be made.

-An alliance with the humans will be inevitable.

Another voice spoke from behind Lilith. The hologram zoomed out. I could see Tessa standing behind Lilith. He was wearing casual clothes instead of the cute maid outfit. 

“It’s an enemy that can threaten them as well.”

-Precisely.

“I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while now...”

-Go ahead.

“If Abel and Baal were to fight...Who would win?”

A heavy silence loomed after I asked the question. It felt like just swallowing would be hard for me. 

‘Was the question too dumb?’

I had that thought before I heard a cynical chuckle come out of Lilith’s mouth. It was weird seeing an idiot airhead like her laugh like that.

-You think Abel can stand a chance against our god alone? He might be the strongest hero but that doesn’t mean he could be a match for our god.

“Then why didn’t Baal just invade the human world when he woke up last time?”

I could see Lilith smiling.

-An enemy of an enemy could be an ally.

“Uh, what?”

-What her highness means is that the humans and the demons can work together to stop a common foe. If such a situation were to arise then we would share the same interests so it would be obvious that cooperation will be the best course of action. As you have told us earlier, now was the perfect example of that. The demon god somehow predicted that such a thing could come to pass.

-To answer your other question; His Majesty Baal is too powerful to enter this world. The world’s will is forcing him to stay idle in the Demon World. 

“Does this have something to do with the gods when they made the world?”

Lilith and Tess nodded.

-Five angels from the upper echelon of the god realm would also descend to stop him from entering this world. Of course, they wouldn’t be a threat but to stop them, he’d need to use his full power. Their divinity can still harm him.

-His Majesty’s goal is to conquer this planet, not damage it after all.

“...He has the power to destroy all life on this planet?”

-We aren’t sure how powerful he is. His last battle with Abel’s party and the previous Sword King ended in a draw. The result was total destruction to an entire continent. From what the first wife said, he was heavily restricted from using his full power.

“Wait a second. You’re telling me that not even the two most powerful heroes in this world could stop him?”

-Why else do you think so many heroes exist? The gods’ dream was that an entire world filled with heroes would attack the demons in the Demon World. They call it the Heroes-Demon war. Well, if they had the help of the King of Dragons then if might have been possible. Dragons also hate our guts.

Lilith looked at me with a serious gaze.

-Are you willing to lay eyes upon the Demon God? The one who blessed you?

“...I feel a little overwhelmed by that. He’s not the one I’m worried about though. I feel like meeting Asmodeus would be a bad idea.”

We were the same after all. Enemies of the heroes. Regressors. Although, I couldn’t remember what the hell I did to gain the ire of the heroes. Who the hell was I in the future? Even though my titles had Sword King, it didn’t make any sense. The fact that they couldn’t see my status didn’t answer any of my questions. I had to find out why. That means I had to meet Asmodeus and ask him but I was hesitant.

I felt a little bitter seeing that never changing ‘Regressor’ title on my status screen. Maybe Asmodeus wouldn’t be glad to see another Regressor in the past. He might be worried that I might decide to overtake his position as number 1 in the demon world hierarchy. I felt like he wouldn’t believe me even if I told him I didn’t remember anything of the future.

-Hahahaha. Don’t worry. He wouldn’t dare to do anything if he’s in front of his king. Plus, you are someone with the potential to become a demon lord even if you are a human. There might be some of them that will be supportive of His Majesty’s decision. 

“I’ve been wondering for a while now... How did Asmodeus become the strongest demon lord?”

Lilith closed her eyes and held her hand on her chin.

-If I remember correctly, he managed to unite the fallen devil race and took down the heroes that invaded the demon world. They say that he wielded a powerful demon sword to push back the heroes. By far, he has taken out the most heroes out of every single demon lord there is. 

“...”

-Despite being born as a lowly incubus, he was able to rise to the top by fighting many battles using the powerful artifacts he found. His last invasion was 200 years ago. Have you heard of that battle? The battle in the Holy Empire?

“Ah!”

I suddenly realized what she meant.

“The day the hero, Hector died.”

-Exactly.

Hector referred to the fastest hero to ever be summoned to this world. They said that he could even surpass Abel in speed. 

His battle with that demon lord destroyed nearly half of the Holy Empire. In the end, he was beheaded by the demon lord. 

‘So it was Asmodeus who killed him.’

He was the wielder of one of the swords forged by Hephaestus. That meant that he had a sword just like Dáinsleif. The name of the legendary sword was Durandel. Unless Asmodeus had a sword equal in power, I wouldn’t say it was a fair fight. 

The bastard probably used his vast inventory of mythic grade artifacts to take Hector down. 

-Many of the demon lords will support Baal’s decision of giving you a blessing. His second wife is not one of them though.

“His second wife?”

-Yes. She is rank 2 and her name is Paimon. She has the third largest army of demons in the underworld. I need you stay away from her. Don’t even make eye contact when the Demon Gathering occurs.

“Why?”

-Just listen to my order!

Lilith hit her desk while glaring at me.

-I can’t lose my only servant!

“O-Okay.”

-Please calm down, your highness. Paimon is a Succubus Queen so her highness is worried that she would be able to ensnare you. Dragons and Succubae are the most compatible mates out there after all.

“What do you mean?”

-High sex drive. Inexhaustible stamina in bed. Quick recovery after orgasms. Strong reproductive organs. Both have these things in common. Paimon would make you her loyal dog just by giving you sex that no other creature can give you. She can even identify your fetishes and fulfil them for you. That is the power of a succubus of the highest specie. 

“O-Oh...”

‘Yeah. I’m staying away from that crazy bitch.’

I didn’t exactly know her but I could tell from Tessa’s explanation that Paimon would be bad news. 

-Any further questions?

I shook my head.

-Good. Do your best at the tournament, Luther. I won’t be able to contact you for a while since Ashura and I have to prepare for the trip to the Demon World.  

-Yeah. I’ll see you guys then.

The hologram screen disappeared after a while. Total silence remained inside the dark room.

I brushed back my silver hair and sighed. 

“Status.”

[Name: Luther]

[Race: Dragon-human]

[Level: 115]

-

My level hadn’t risen because I wasn’t able to hunt monsters yet. I checked my stats next.

[ATKP: 890/error]

[AGILITY: 3000/error]

[MP: 0]

[HP: 10000/error]

[DEF: 500/error]

-

It was odd how my agility was so high. I was told that it was as high as an average level 300 hero. My HP and ATKP was so high but my defense was lacking in comparison. 

My stats were really unbalanced. Maybe that was the result of consuming the dragon’s DNA.

“Let’s see how fast I really am.”

I stood in a boxing stance.

WHOOSH...!

WHOOSH...!

My fists moved at lightning speeds. I did a dodge, kick, strike and multiple punches in mid-air.

“...What the hell?”

I was faster than I thought I would be. Wouldn’t I be one of the fastest students in the knight division?

At that moment, a knock came from the door.

-Leonard, are you here?

‘Emilia?’

I put my shirt back on and approached the door. I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it.

“Good. You’re here.”

“Err...”

Emilia walked into the room as if it were hers. She was wearing a casual tracksuit instead of one of her long dresses. Her hair was also tied up. The most surprising thing was seeing her in glasses. She looked like a completely different person.

“What do you need?”

She sat down on my bed and took something out of her bag. I pulled a chair towards her and sat down as well.

“Here.”

“Hm?”

I took the document.

“Capell Household?”

There was a crest of a golden dove on the photo that was on the document’s front page. I flipped the pages and saw a person’s face on every one of them.

“I managed to find a suitable sponsor for you. I convinced them that you were the real deal and that they wouldn’t regret supporting you.”

I stopped at a certain page. On it was the photo of a cute girl with auburn hair styled into a bob cut. 

“That’s the young lady of this family.”

She tapped her finger on the photo. 

-Diana Capell. 

“My fake family has ties with them so I’m close with the young lady. The two of us were even having tea earlier today. Do you know what the main topic was?”

Emilia grinned and pointed at me.

“Me?”

“Yip.” She folded her hands and acted. “Lord Leonard was so dreamy! He defeated Clevan without even batting an eye. You know, he even tried to force me to his bed. I was even hit by him for it. If my friends didn’t arrive to stop him then I don’t know what he would’ve done. Aaah. Lord Leonard is my hero~”

“...”

I assumed that Emilia did a fake cute impression of this girl called Diana.

“She was singing your praises all day long. I couldn’t even get her to sign the business contract. I’m already sick of hearing how handsome you are. She was like a sheltered princess who fell in love at first sight.”

“...Well, she does sound interesting.”

There was a lot of stuff that described their likes and dislikes. Their hobbies and routines. This girl was 16 but she was into stuff that little kids liked. There was stuff like stuffed animals, cute cupcakes, fairy tale dramas etc...

‘She likes to watch dramas, huh?’

I found those kinds of things tasteless. I wasn’t a fan of them at all. 

“Anyway, I wanted to let you know I set up a meeting between the two of you for tomorrow.”

“What? I’m supposed to meet her?”

“You wanted a sponsor, didn’t you? Do you know that the Capell family holds great power in the empire? Any guy would jump at the chance to impregnate this innocent girl and claim the house as his. The duke is afraid that the girl would be used by a piece of trash noble so I suggested you to them.”

Emilia swung her legs back and forth on the bed as she leaned back on the bed.

“Descendant from the dragon race. You have abilities that matches the hero offspring. Looks that make even the most stubborn of girls fall for you. I could go on and on but I don’t have time. Are you going to accept or not?” Emilia lowered her glasses and looked at me with narrowed eyes. “At least go out on a first date with the girl. I might lose an important vassal if you screw up. I was the one who recommended you, after all.”

“O-Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Excellent. I was thinking of making you meet the emperor’s sister who’s a Duchess. She also has immense wealth after all.”

I froze when I was about to close the document.

“What did you say? Duchess?”

“Yeah. The sister of the current emperor, like i just said."

“.....”

My teeth grinded against each other as I remembered that day. I clutched my head.

I was accused of stealing a mana rose and extracting its essence. Beaten to a pulp by the servants of that household. Lost my manhood. I was eaten alive by parasites and had to endure the pain of being bitten by zombies.

“Fuck.... Fuck....”

I thought that I would forget about that day but it was still etched into my brain.  That was the day Luther, the slave died. In his place, an empty shell of what humanity he had left, remained.

Now I had to live under a secret identity. Leonard Pendragon. Descendant of the mighty dragon race.

The question was; how long would I be able to hold out if I still felt this way over that day?

“Huh? Luther? Are you okay?”

Emilia tapped my shoulder when she saw me clutch my head. 

I got my heavy breathing under control and wiped the cold sweat. I smiled wryly as I looked up at her.

“....Yeah...I’m fine. Is she here?”

“The duchess?”

I nodded.

“Yes. In fact, she’s a part of the school board.”

Shit.

Emilia stood up with a jump.

“I’ll be in touch in a few months. I have to help Lady Ashura prepare for the journey to the underworld.”

Emilia stopped and turned towards me.

“What’s wrong?”

She suddenly leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek.

“Great work so far. You’ve been a good subordinate.” She smiled and approached the door. “Don’t get sloppy while I’m away.”

She winked before closing the door.

I sat there under the candle light when the door closed.

‘Lady Sylvia is here, huh. ‘

The unpleasant memories wouldn’t leave my head no matter how much I tried to forget about what happened. No, does trauma normally heal that fast? 

“I’m not Luther anymore. I’m Leonard Pendragon.”

I repeated that phrase to myself as I drifted off to sleep.