Chapter 46

Night fell, and the girls were now being taken care of by the demon king, they seem to be not really minding the contract that was set upon them…I have no idea what I am doing right now…honestly speaking I think that I could leave this world for good…if I use the spell to take us back to earth, I think I can just leave and live there, screw it with all of this nonsensical bullshit…yet still, I don’t think an ordinary life is going to satisfy me anymore, even more so, I don’t even believe that the spell would work, if it did, I doubt it would without some side effects…

When I left the arena I was asked to take the treasures with me. demanding why, they said that I defeated the necromancer, and the swordsman that was fighting him decided to ‘Give up’ his right to fight with me…so I ended up being the victor of this tournament with only participating in one round…

I began walking down the city streets, my stomach grumbled for sustenance, something I missed a lot.

I had already removed my veil, not to attract attention and began by looking for the best restaurants.

Looking here and there, there was but one that caught my attention, it was a small inn, completely irrelevant and not matching with the décor of the city, the only building that stood out for being different, a tavern.

Once inside I went to the bartender, and in this case it was a barwoman and asked for the menu. Looking at me the woman or demoness flinched. Saying

“It is rare to see free humans in this city, you are either strong enough to defend yourself, or foolish enough to not know the rules…”

“I would say the first, so give me your best dish, I feel famished and quite thirsty.”

The food began being served, the dish she recommended was demonic boar meat.

It took few minutes before the food was served, and less of a time for it to finish, though I was served just a portion of it, it was delicious enough that I gained a nice boost to my strength stat, about 50 strength, though it pales in comparison to my 144 554 strength. The boost would do well for any other warrior though. However, this served nothing to decrease my hunger, so I asked for more.

And a ate, even asked for more wine and so I drank, the wine however, though it was of good quality, it still was not enough to get me to feel drunk, probably due to my poison resistance or the high vitality, I will be requiring huge amounts of this wine.

Drinking and eating to my heart’s content and until I felt satisfied I turned to see the faces of the people who were within the tavern, they all looked to be shocked, as if they had seen a monster or something…

The barwoman came in demanding pay, to which I felt surprised. I managed to take in 40 courses of meat and wine in a single setting, without feeling bloated or discomfort at all…

I then pulled some of the gold I got from the tournament and paid the sum.

Yet before I left, I gave the barwoman a present.

I took one of her bottles of wine and accelerated time for it, for five seconds.

Giving it to her, she inspected it and almost fainted from shock. A 500 year finely aged wine bottle, it was enough to probably fix her old looking tavern if she could find a buyer.

Leaving the tavern I headed back to the Shranvur. The library where a lot of wisdom and knowledge was hidden, a treasure that I was not going to waste.

Yet before I reached the library, some hoodlums thought that my display back at the bar was quite impressive, and so they came in order to ‘persuade’ me into helping them making more of those bottles…

Long story short, the three of them visited hell using the Well of Souls ability. I really needed to vent off today’s frustration…it was their unlucky day…

Thinking about it, I seem to have become...colder, I wonder why? I would have honestly thought twice about this before, now a life is not worth much to me, after all I have seen hell, and few souls in the mix won’t trouble it I guess…

It took few more minutes of casual walking to reach the Shranvur, it was amazing to say the least, now that I get a better look at it. A giant dome made of marble and precious metals, with an interesting drawing on it. Man, demons, dragons, Beastmen, all reaching for a flame at the top of the dome, Knowledge…

I went inside, and was stopped by the guards, they probably saw me and thought that I was an outsider…should I try to ‘convince’ them?

The hell am I thinking about? Why did I thought about forcing my way on here instead of finding another more peaceful way? Sigh, did my strength change my mentality?

“I want to take a look at some of the books inside the library, could you make way?”

The two guards looked at each other and one of them said

“The library is not for people like you, your filthy humans need to know your place…”

I think I will be using strength after all.

The other guard however, as if he had had an epiphany a look of shock and horror was painted on his face. He instantly smacked his coworker’s head and pushed it down, as if it was a bow.

The two of them did so, and the one to speak was the one that was feeling fright.

“S-Sorry my lord! We didn’t know who you were. We are extremely sorry for not recognizing you! Please proceed towards the library.”

Hmm…strange

I then walked forward leaving the two still bowing men, due to my enhanced hearing I managed to hear the guard scolding the other one, saying things like

“You and your loose mouth! You were going to get us both killed! That was the one that killed a named demon with one hit this morning! He even defeated the necromancer! I would have probably let you die but your wife would have killed me too.”

Hmm, casual people and their casual lives, if I may say…

Proceeding forward, I met no one that I know, and every time I got closer to anyone they would squirm and go the other way as fast as they could…do I look like a monster or what?

Sigh, I will be forced to look for the library myself then.

So I began walking through the corridors of the Shranvur, it was quite amazing actually, a lot of paintings, portrays and artistic natured object, why did I say so, because most of the things that were considered ‘art’ here were deadly…

Blades, swords, halberds, shields and strange looking tridents…weapons of killing were pinned to the wall, most were beautifully designed but the aura they released made them look a bit more…threatening.

I kept on walking until I finally met a recognizable face, it was the highest ranking general of this kingdom. So I got closer to him and frankly he was the only one that didn’t flinch when I approached, though a look of weariness, and change of atmosphere was clearly visible. This man knows danger when he looks at it, and right now he is looking at a hell of a lot of it.

“I could use some information, Mr?”

“It’s, General Dagressief.” Said the man

“So Dagressief” I asked, without adding his military title, just to see his reaction, and frankly I was surprised due to him not reacting as I hoped, his calm nature and self-control made him capable of restraining himself, and listen to what I had to say.

“So, Dagressief, I want to ask about some things. First of all, against the full might of the human army, how would yours fare?”

“Those are secrets of the state I am in no position to give such information.” Said the general

“I truly wish that you do tell me, dear general, I will find out eventually.”

“Then you can find out from someone else! I don’t want to put my country’s military might at risk, even giving you an estimation of its power is stupid…”

“I am not planning on doing anything to this country actually, then just tell me this, hypothetically speaking, would an army of 60 000 monsters of levels 200 to 400, cause trouble to the human kingdom?”

“…that is a hard question to answer, a monster of level 200 will find it easy to kill a few dozen humans before it is put down, but the humans have enormous numerical numbers, these monsters will fall before they could reach any deeper into the kingdom…”

“Then hypothetically, what if they were summoned within the said kingdom?”

“Then god have mercy on their souls, planting an army of that strength directly within a kingdom is bound to ruin it, the country will be unable to muster enough strength to eradicate them fast enough. The walls and the borders of each country are its best defense against invading armies, if you remove those, any invader, no matter how small in number will be problematic to fight against, their mobility within the kingdom, the fact that they could change targets and pillage and kill citizen is enough to cause strife within the capital…”

“Hmm, interesting, so tell me, what do you know about the chain of command of the human kingdom?”

“Why are you asking such questions?” said the general

“Just mild interest…”

“The chain of command of the human kingdom, as we know it right now is divided between two major factors. The Paladins, and devotee of the church, and the current king’s army. Though they are in the same country, they don’t necessarily have the same purpose, for example the church’s army is under no obligation to fight in wars of invasion and supremacy, yet they are tasked with defending the people against monsters and the like, as for the army of the king, they are needed to defend the land, the citizen and the king…”

“So if a war breaks, the church are not going to necessarily include itself in it, I find it strange that people follow these ‘holy’ ones…”

“Well, so do we, but it seems that they are using their influence to control the people, they gain financial funds from donations and various contributions from both the country’s treasury and the pockets of the people, they act like a government, where they require tax of protection from the people…the church grows in power, and now probably rivals the royal strength…”

“Quit informative, thank you…General Dagressief. One last thing, where is the library?”

“Right around the corner, you will find the way in…”

I thanked the man and left. Now I know a bit more about the state of the affairs of the human kingdom I will be needing to gather more information…it’s time to study”

Once I entered the wooden door that I was shown, I was surprised to see the library, hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of books, all rowed down, positioned and perfectly organized in a spiral that was going up, history, geography, alchemy, physics and math, thought I don’t know if they are as advanced as those back on earth, few sections caught my interest. Magic and mana manipulation, and books about the heavenly realms…

Two things I will be needing most. One to know how to change this abundance of man that I have to elemental magic, that I control and wield at a whim, instead of waiting until I learn a skill for it, and the second to know of a way to access the upper realm. I don’t think flight will be much helpful.

So I went to the first shelves and took few books. I began reading…

(Haruka POV)

The three of us were back in a room that was assigned to us by her majesty, or his majesty, the demon king. It was a spacious and luxurious looking room, quite big, with multiple beds and decoration that resembled homes of the Victorian era. Yet the atmosphere was still dreadful. The two girls were silent for a long time right now, before Misaka spoke

“It’s quite unfair isn’t it…” she said

“What is?” I asked

“I got to live after doing that…”

“Don’t delve into it, Misaka, it’s just the way it is, he was not that cruel to begin with, actually I think at some point when we were back on earth he had a crush on you, but that might have been just my imagination…”

“Not cruel?” said Haruna “Did you see what he did? He ate the necromancer’s soul, killed a demon, and almost did the same to Misaka! That man is bad news, and I really don’t think it is Daiki! For god sake that person is dead!”

“True, Daiki did die, but I have seen it all…and I told you about it. He came back from the dead and has a goal that he will need to achieve, you saw it didn’t you, the moment the contract was established, It was his name as the master. There is no mistaking it, its Daiki…”

Misaka then sighed before saying

“I wonder what is about to happen to us right now…I hope nothing serious…we are slaves now, bound to his will, we cannot even run or defy him…”

Haruna then said

“He will probably use this chance to defile us! And do perverted things!” her tone didn’t match her words…it was as if she was hoping for it…

“We still have that potion, do we not?” said Misaka

“Yes I still do, I can’t identify it, my inspection skill is still sealed, but don’t worry about a thing…Daiki wouldn’t do that…probably”

“What do you mean probably?” said Misaka.

“Well…when I touched him that time, I saw some of his memories…especially some with this…angel…they were” I said while clearly feeling the heat on my face “They were quite intense…”

“…”

“Anyway, don’t worry about it, nothing bad is going to happen…” I said the words with a little doubt in my heart…boys can’t be trusted…