The most important thing to remember about gear is that ancient doesn’t mean powerful, nor does it mean useless. Every individual item has to stand or fall on its own merits, and often the best quality stuff you’ll find is made in the modern day with the most up-to-date techniques.

However, that’s just most of the time. Every once in a while, you run across an heirloom wand of greater mana capacity, and you have to wonder what genius was able to make that with just manual engraving tools and a steady hand.

However, even if you ignore the freaks of nature that can smith a steel sword with the strength and cutting power of adamantium, you would still be wrong if you guessed that gear quality has always been going up.

Quality ebbs and flows throughout the years. During the first century, with all the otherworlders brought in? Yeah, it pretty much went on a steady incline. Gear got better and better.

Then, those old coots kicked the bucket. Pretty major decline right after. However, not all was lost! They left their [Apprentices] to take their place. Weapon and armor quality was saved!

Honestly, if they had just kept the chain going, who knows what kinda gear we would have now?

Adamantanium swords that deal 4 types of elemental damage? Wands that could cast all by themselves? Armor sets that allowed you to swim in lava? Who knows?

What ruined all of that was war. It turns out that 20 [Soldiers] with bows of lesser piercing can take down one gungho [Warrior] with plate mail of greater defense. And for much less of a cost.

As the saying goes, quantity has a quality all its own. Unfortunately, that meant that actual quality had to be shoved by the wayside whenever those bloodthirsty humans decided they wanted to go to war.

Excerpt from “Geared Up: A history of weapons and armor”

------

November 8th, 124 AA

“We’re going to be late,” I said to the exhausted [Prince] next to me.

“I… told you… we wouldn’t make it… in time,” Ash Besti replied. “Why did you set the date so soon?”

I scowled. “I’m sorry, I just thought you Bestians were tougher than that.” Nothing for it. I thought. I scooped the young Bestian onto my shoulder and took off sprinting to the address I was given.

“Hey! Put me down! This is highly improper!” he shouted.

I ignored his protests and just kept sprinting until I found the heavily guarded gate I was looking for.

I set the [Prince] down.

“[Prince] Besti and the [Demon Lord] here for the meeting,” I said to the gate guard.

He raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to need to see some ID-“

I removed my colored contacts and stared at him.

“That work for ya?” I asked.

He paled. “Right this way, sir.”

He led the way to a conference room, and I barged in.

“Sorry we’re late,” I said. “I keep forgetting how long other people need for their necessities.”

I scanned the room.

It was largely unadorned except for a single round table with a huge transparent gem on top. I assumed it was probably a truth stone or some other type of enchanted item.

As for the people sitting at the table, it looked like they had some people from Gert, from Gram, and even some dwarves.

They weren’t kidding when they said this would be an international meeting.

As for people not sitting at the table, I noticed a [Scry] spell just chilling there near the middle of the room.

Should I call that out? I thought. Nah. Maybe I can finally finish copying it.

Then I saw the one person who didn’t seem fancily dressed. Well, besides the [Berserkers], but that should be a given.

The young elf rose in a panic. “You’re… you’re!” he stammered.

I chuckled. “You must be the new guy. Yup, I’m Titus, the [Demon Lord],” I said. Honestly, the most important person to get on the good side of here. I [Flash Stepped] to his side of the table. “Nice to meet you.”

I held out my hand for a shake, and he hesitantly responded in kind.

“I’m Elluin Hunter,” he replied as he shook my hand. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, please,” I replied. “The pleasure is all mine.” I tried to give him a winning smile.

Given the amount of color that drained from his face, I figured that I had not been successful.

I coughed, released his hand, and slowly walked back to the section where I was supposed to be seated.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do in a situation that was as highly political as this meeting likely was. However, I did pick up that I at least had everyone’s attention. I figured I might as well capitalize on it and try to cut through some of the posturing BS.

“I must admit, I was surprised when I got word that all of the nations of the world wanted to have a meeting about me escorting the [Hero] to the fire dungeon,” I said. “I assumed that just Dryadal would have a stake in that, especially since we’re going to the dungeon closest to their territory. Why are the rest of you here?”

“You don’t think that a nation making a pact with the [Demon Lord] should concern us!?” one dwarf shouted.

There were a multitude of overlapping angry voices.

“By the elder’s fists,” Ash muttered to himself. Then he pulled me a bit closer and whispered in my ear. “Let me handle the politics, please. This will be a hard enough sell without you making us look bad.”

I nodded my assent.

Ash made a placating gesture as he stood. “What the [Demon Lord] meant to say is that he appreciates all of you coming this far. It was a long distance to travel, especially the delegation from Gram.”

Ash then went around the room and greeted the members of each delegation by name and rank. Meanwhile, I… zoned out. I tried to keep track of them, but honestly, I was completely lost after about 3.

He ended with Gert, and he addressed everyone in their delegation. Then, he paused. “If I am correct, I believe one of the members of your delegation has not yet arrived. Will she be attending?”

A [Berserker] nodded. “Yeah, she was just dealing with the call of nature. She should be back really-“

Speak of the devil, and she shall appear.

The conference room door slammed open.

“I hope you youngins didn’t keep waitin’ for me,” Gertrude said as she strode over to her seat. “I don’t have much of a head for this politicking stuff anyway. I just came here because I heard there might be a new [Demon Lord] to kill.”

As she said that, her eyes locked onto me.

I froze.

“Well, whadda we have here?” she asked as she approached me.

She looked the same as ever, which meant that I had at least half a foot of height on her in my new body. However, she felt like she loomed over me.

“[Q-Q-Queen] Gertrude,” I stammered. “I didn’t know you would be here.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t recall meetin’ ya, and I shur as hail don’t ‘member givin’ ya permission to use my name,” she said as she pulled out her greataxe.

“You never told me your last name,” I replied as I put my hands up in surrender.

She laughed as she planted the tip of her greataxe into the nice marble flooring of the room. “I’m the [Queen] of Gert, and you knew that much about me, but ya didn’t know my last name? Somethin’s off about you, sonny.” Her eyes narrowed. “Or should I say… Titus?”

Oh, crud. I thought. However, Ash came to the rescue.

“My apologies for the offense, [Queen] Armstrong,” Ash replied. “The [Demon Lord] retains the same name across lives, but he is not the same person as you can see. He also retains some of the memories of previous [Demon Lords], so that is why he was able to recognize you.”

“Understood,” Gertrude nodded as she put her battleaxe away. “Well, the last two [Demon Lords] were a real piece of work. Don’t act like them and we won’t have any problems. Got it, sonny?”

I nodded and silently thanked Ash for saving my bacon with the backstory Lily and I prepared. We didn’t want to give away everything, and it seemed safer to go with that slight lie than to tell everyone that “Actually, yes. You are meeting with the person who directly caused the fall of Besti and indirectly caused the [Necromancer] to bring about years of death and destruction. He also nearly destroyed the world with a demon invasion. Wait, put the weapons down! He’s a nice guy, I swear!”

“That is an intriguing bit of information,” an elf replied. “Prince [Besti], would you kindly mind restating that with the diplomacy table activated?”

“Diplomacy table?” I asked.

“Ah yes. This table has several useful functions for diplomatic talks such as this one. It contains a built-in truth stone that turns green when the truth is uttered and red when a lie is spoken. It also records all speech around it while it is active so that the records can be consulted later on in case of disputes.” The elf paused. “I would have detailed that all at the beginning, but it seems that we got our proceedings off to a non-standard start.”

He gave me a pointed look.

“My bad,” I said sheepishly.

“Now, I simply need to press here and…” he frowned. “It’s not turning on. They better not have forgotten to charge it, or heads will roll,” he muttered.

“If you just need mana to charge it, I can spare a bit,” I volunteered.

The entire room was a bit hesitant, but no one could explain why the [Demon Lord] being drained of a bit of mana could be a bad thing.

After that was settled, we went around the room and reintroduced ourselves with the glowing stone active. I went last.

“And I’m Titus. The uhh… [Demon Lord],” I said. Fortunately, being awkward doesn’t count as lying, and the stone showed green for me too.

“Now, please repeat the statement you said earlier about our [Demon Lord] here,” the elf said. “I would like to have it for the record.”

“Of course,” Ash replied. He repeated the same statement verbatim, and the stone showed… green.

I felt a bit bad for the guy having his grandma lie to him about the true nature of the [Demon Lord], but hey, it worked out for me.

After that, we finally got into the meat of the meeting. We were planning a trip to the east with the [Hero] and the [Demon Lord] so that we could deactivate the fire dungeon, “save” the world from me for the next 50 years, and then hopefully prove to everyone that I didn’t mean it any harm along the way.

The question that I was waiting and hoping for came up pretty quickly.

“Why are you so willing to allow us to deactivate the dungeon? What do you gain out of this?”

Ash started to speak, but I raised a hand. “I have to take this one,” I whispered. It was also one I had heavily prepared for, so, fortunately, my relative mental impairment in my new form wouldn’t be too much of an issue.

I stood up. “Ladies and gentlemen of the nations, the question that comes to me is what do I gain for allowing you to deactivate the elemental dungeons. I could answer that it gains me the peace and quiet that I want or that it keeps you from sending [Hero]-led death squads after me, but I think you are asking the wrong question. Allow me to ask it for you.”

I leaned on the table as I scanned the crowd. “What do I gain for activating the dungeons?”

The entire room was taken aback.

“You gain an army!” one of the delegates from Gram replied. “It causes a demon invasion, does it not? Wouldn’t that mean that you would have the power to claim the entire world?”

I laughed. “I’ve seen your world, and I can’t say I want it.” Then shaking my head, I continued. “I don’t want to activate the dungeons, and neither will any [Demon Lord] after the first. And if you want proof… Tell me, how many dungeons did the 2nd incarnation of the [Demon Lord] claim?”

The room looked at each other.

“Not a one,” Gertrude finally answered. “I might be the only one in the room old enough to remember that little fact, though.”

“Correct. That also-“ I belatedly realized something else that I could get on record, and I stumbled on my words for a moment. “Gertrude- I mean, [Queen] Armstrong. You remember the [Necromancer] then, right? What happened with him?”

She gave me a puzzled look.

“I defeated- I mean, the 2nd [Demon Lord] defeated the [Necromancer], didn’t he?” I asked.

Gertrude glared. “I don’t like you claimin’ all the credit for that coward.” She sighed. “But, yes. I wouldn’t have been able to take down that flyin’ zambie by myself.”

That caused quite a stir in the room.

“Why did you never tell us that before, [Queen] Armstrong?” one of the [Berserkers] asked.

She shrugged. “You youngins never asked.”

“What else didn’t you tell us?”

It took me a bit to realize it, but I had an unprecedented opportunity. I could tell my story, explain my true relationships with the [Heroes], and maybe get the entire world to realize I didn’t mean them any harm. And all of that while being recorded by the most powerful truth stone I had seen.

“Everyone, if you would be quiet for a bit, I would like to tell the real story of the first [Demon Lord],” I said.

I gave the short version of the story. How the first [Demon Lord] was simply a guy brought over from the other world just like the others… but how a demon made him an offer he didn’t think he could refuse.

Honestly, I did not win many sympathy points with that tale. At least, not until the end.

“The 1st Titus was nearing victory,” I said. “He had less than one minute to go.” I paused. I had kind of handwaved my way past the server resets in the earlier parts of the story, and I certainly couldn’t try to explain all of that to the gathered group.

After a minute or so, I came to a wording that I figured was accurate enough to pass muster.

“He saw the future. Or at least, the future as it would be on the current path with the [Hero] defeated,” I said. “The gate was opened, and the 1st [Demon Lord] found out that a [Demon Lord] is not the strongest demon that can exist in this world.” I paused. “The [Demon King] came out. And the only thanks the 1st Titus received in that coming future was death at the hands of the being that was supposed to take him home. So, with that premonition, the 1st Titus surrendered to Jake.” I paused and took a deep breath as I remembered the next part. “But it was too late to stop the countdown. With Titus desperately urging Jake to end him, Jake tapped a power never before seen and obliterated him from existence.”

There was a lull in the room.

“Why tell us this?” one dwarven delegate asked.

I laughed. “So that you can understand. I don’t want to open that gate. It ends no better for me than for anyone else here.”

“And we’re supposed to take your word on this?”

I gestured at the glowing green stone in the middle of the table. “The magic item seems to think I’m telling the truth.”

“Magic items can be tricked,” she replied. “Especially by criminals with high-level classes.”

The elven delegation traded glances. “That is normally true, but tricking the diplomacy table would be quite the feat. The full parameters are a secret, but one part of its functionality is that it runs its truth checks at multiple power levels. If any of the checks come back positive while others come back negative, we would have seen an orange color from the truth stone to indicate the presence of interfering skills or magic.”

“Meaning?” the dwarf asked with a frown.

“That either he has a powerful enough criminal class to beat out our best [Enchanters]… or he’s telling the truth.”

“But that’s just your best [Enchanters]. Surely if we had some dwarven-made items checking him, he wouldn’t-“

Another dwarf cut her off. “Stand down, Orignideth. I’ve been tracking the conversation with a truth stone made by one of our best. The [Demon Lord] is as verified as magic can make him. And I am of the personal opinion that he no longer needs to be our enemy.”

One of the Gram delegates stood up in anger. “You would just let him get away with what he’s done? What about the events of Mad Friday!?” he asked.

“Mad Friday?” I asked in return.

“The worst [Demon Lord] attack in history. What about those lives? Or do human lives not matter to you non-humans?” he sneered.

A tiger-striped man stood up from the Dryadal delegation. “I will have you take that back, sir. To claim that as the worst attack in history is to ignore the hordes of monsters and undead that the [Demon Lord] unleashed on my people that took our original home from us.”

The man laughed. “It would have taken nothing from you if your people had been stronger.”

The two delegations started a shouting match, and they were nearing blows when they suddenly just… stopped.

“[Calm], everyone, please,” the [Hero] said as he stood.

I belatedly felt the aura- or, I guess, skill- spread throughout the room, and I nearly puked before I carved out my own tiny pocket of aura. I figured the [Hero] was doing a good job of calming things down, and I didn’t want to muck that up by throwing my wrath aura into the mix.

The [Hero] had everyone’s attention, but he didn’t know what to do with it. I stood to try to help him, but unfortunately, I didn’t know what to say either.

The good news was that Ash was on the ball.

“Yes, the grievances against the past [Demon Lords] are many,” he said as he stood to his feet. “However, those [Demon Lords] have already paid the ultimate price for their deeds. There is little point in trying to best each other in the areas of our suffering, and the tribe of Besti even chose to forgive the 2nd [Demon Lord] due to his repentance and his many efforts to aid our people.” He looked at the Gram delegation. “If you wish to discuss a redress of grievances with the [Demon Lord] for the actions of his predecessors, I kindly ask that you make your own diplomatic overtures or that you work through my father or me instead of wasting the time of this conference.”

He gestured to us to sit down as he also reclaimed his seat.

“Now that we have all cooled our heads, let us come back to the original purpose of this meeting,” he continued. “Besti has worked with Dryadal and [Demon Lord] Titus to propose a joint venture to the east so that the [Hero] can claim the dungeon. I have made a similar, but backward, journey with Titus here from the heart of my people’s lands, and I can confirm the efficacy of his escort. As long as I remained in his party, we could travel through any zones that he owned without any issues from the monsters located within. The wilderness monsters were a slightly different matter-“ he said as he gave me a side-eye.

“Look, I said I was sorry, okay?” I whispered.

“But they were still not in any numbers that we couldn’t handle,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard me. “Though, you might wish to send Titus away during the night so that you can get some sleep,” he said with a slightly pained grin.

“Wait, you’re not coming with?” I asked.

“That is yet to be determined,” Ash answered. “First, we must determine whether we will go on this venture at all. To that end, I propose a show of hands. Would everyone who is for this plan please raise their hand?”

Half the room raised a hand, including myself and the [Hero].

“And all opposed?” he asked.

Fewer people raised their hands.

I noticed that most of the dwarves didn’t raise a hand for either option. Other than that, it was primarily Gram and a smattering of Dryadal representatives who disagreed.

“The ayes have it,” Ash said. “In that case, the only thing remaining is determining who we will send. The only two who must attend are Elluin and Titus. That leaves us eight slots to fill.”

Honestly, I was surprised at how quickly we got the plan approved and ready. So, I naively expected the next part of the meeting to go just as quickly.

I underestimated politics.

Dryadal saw no reason to send anyone but their team of adventurers and me. Gram objected vehemently to that for reasons I couldn’t quite fathom. Pumil seemed indifferent. Gertrude wanted to tag along for the sheer reason that she was bored.

Meanwhile, the [Hero] and I were being talked about almost like we were objects and not people sitting in the same room. That debate went on for at least an hour.

At one point, I caught the [Hero’s] attention, furtively mimed a yapping motion with my hand to indicate the current longwinded speaker, and rolled my eyes.

He barely choked back a laugh by turning it into a snort and then a coughing fit.

“Is everything alright, [Hero]?” the speaker asked.

Elluin stood up. “Yes, of course. I just… think I might need some water.”

Ash stood up. “We have made some good progress, but a break for some water and food would not be remiss. What does everyone say to reconvening in an hour to continue our discussions?”

Consensus was quickly reached. The diplomacy table was turned off, and everyone vacated the conference room.

“Now might be a good time to eat with the others,” Ash said to me.

“I’ve watched people eat before,” I replied. “Not really my thing.”

“Oh, right. My apologies,” Ash said.

However, I had been with the man for months, and there was no way he had forgotten that easily.

My eyes narrowed. “That was for payback for earlier, wasn’t it?” I asked.

“I have no idea what you are referring to,” he said. “Anyway, I must be off. A [Prince’s] job is never complete, even during mealtime.”

And so I was left alone. I tried to see if I could hang out in the conference room, but apparently, the [Hero] was in there, and his guards got touchy when I mentioned I wanted to go back in.

I figured that was probably for the best. I didn’t plan on getting close to Elluin if I could help it. Given my track record, relationships with the [Hero] just ended up getting one or both of us killed.

So, I had an hour to kill and nothing to do. I was debating banging my head against the logical wall of Tim’s journal or maybe practicing magic when I was given a third option that was better than each.

The [Scry] I had noticed earlier had taken to following me around.

Don’t you have something more interesting to look at? I asked. However, I was grateful for the distraction. It was finally time to use [Copy Spell] and get the missing half of the [Scry] spell.

“I guess I can just draw,” I sighed to myself as I pulled out paper and pen. It wasn’t my best bluff, but it at least succeeded at its purpose for a bit. I was able to furtively glance at the spell and mark it down on paper until it suddenly winked out of existence.

“Dang it!” I said. “I was so close!”

That was the last bit of excitement I got to have that day. The rest of the meeting was super boring, at least when the entire assembly wasn’t at each other’s throats, and I wished I could mimic Elluin and nod off during the more monotonous speakers.

The party was eventually decided. The first two slots went to Elluin and me, of course. The third slot went to Ash at my insistence. He was the only person from the Besti delegation and the only one there who had experience with traveling with me. Also, I figured it was best to keep him around since he was really helpful in defusing potential international incidents that I seemed to be prone to create.

Slots four through six were given to Dryadal adventurers. They were supposedly part of Elluin’s party, but given his lack of enthusiasm, I couldn’t help but wonder what was up with that.

Slots seven and eight were given to two of the [Commanders] from Gram. Dryadal didn’t seem too happy about that, but if you counted Elluin, Dryadal still had them outnumbered two to one.

And the last slots were given to a [Berserker]… and Gertrude.

I tried hard to convince her not to come, but, to give the abridged version of the story, Gertrude was bored. Her choices were to wage war (on Pumil since Dryadal and Gert were still under truce) or go on an adventure.

Gram was more than happy to say no to her going, but that was the one vote that even the indifferent dwarves (who asked to send no one) were willing to say “aye” to.

And so our party was assembled. The only remaining decision was when to head out.

Since it was already starting to get cold, some people advocated waiting for spring. Meanwhile, I didn’t want to wait that long, nor did Gertrude.

Fortunately, we had Ash there to remind people that we would likely be going through the desert in the summer if we waited for spring.

That, combined with Gertrude and the other [Berserker] calling everyone a bunch of pansies for not wanting to go out in the cold, eventually ended up winning enough people over.

We would head out in a few days, just enough time for everyone to gather their needed supplies. Or at least the supplies that everyone else needed.

I wonder how much managrass I can buy? I asked.

-----

My funds were a bit depleted, but I also had a few days to kill, and I was in the capital. It was the same place where I had first discovered the power of monster lures and a fantastic place to farm with them.

In other words, the answer to how much managrass I could buy ended up being a lot.

Other than that, I didn’t have anything else noteworthy that happened until the day we left on our trip.

I was surprised that someone procured horses for us.

“Are they going to be okay going through the desert?” I asked Ash.

He shook his head. “No, but I believe the plan is to leave them at the last town we visit in Dryadal.” He handed me a pair of reins.

“Ah. No, I’m good,” I replied. “I can just run.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Just get on the horse,” he said as he struggled to do that very thing.

Meanwhile, I just sighed.

“I’m not going to hurt you, okay?” I said. “Just let me up nice and easy.”

I thought my pep talk to the horse had actually worked for a second. I got one foot up in the stirrups… and then it took off.

“Stop! Stop! You stupid animal!” I yelled. My mount was a big sucker. I had to guess that he weighed nearly a ton.

I was a level 20 [Demon Lord] who seemed to have been specced out as a musclehead. I didn’t care how much my horse weighed.

I tackled it to the ground.

“Now, stop panicking!” I helpfully yelled at the beast.

Who knows how long we would have been stuck in that stalemate if not for the [Hero]. He walked over, stroked it softly, and then asked me to let it up. I also had a bout of nausea which meant he had used either his aura or skill to accomplish that, but I managed to ignore that and help the horse up.

“Oh no!” he said as it stumbled. “It hurt its leg! Hey, could we have one of the healers-“

“[Heal], [Restore],” I cast back-to-back.

The horse whinnied in reply and seemed at least a bit less skittish.

Meanwhile, the [Hero] blinked. “I didn’t know you knew those spells. I thought they were specific to [Priests] and [Clerics]?”

“How do you know I’m not one?” I asked.

He looked confused for a second and almost responded. Then, shaking his head, he continued. “You’re not at all like what I expected. Anyway, this big guy seems a bit scared of you, so how about I stick close to you to help keep him under control?”

I agreed, and that was how I ended up riding next to the [Hero] on our next leg of the journey.

He kept trying to engage me in conversation, but I mostly cut it off with single-word replies. I was hoping he would take the hint and leave me alone, but he never did.

At least, not until I finally snapped.

“Look, [Hero],” I said. “I’m not planning on getting all buddy-buddy with you. The last two times I did- I mean, the [Demon Lord] did that, they ended up dead. [Heroes] are bad news, so just drop it, okay?”

I urged my horse forward and almost got out of range of his skill. That would have been a disaster. However, we made it to our first camping spot of the night without another word.

We were in the wilderness, and the group set up camp. I took that as my cue. I dropped out of the party and prepared to head out.

“What are you doing?” Elluin asked.

“Did you not pay attention to Ash’s explanation?” I sighed in exasperation. “I’m going to be killing wolves all night. Unless you want some really unpleasant senses from the [Enhanced Party] you picked up, I recommend you let me go out alone.”

“That won’t work,” one of the Dryadal adventurers said. “The entire point of this is to watch both you and the [Hero]. How are we supposed to know that you haven’t abandoned us if we just let you go off every night?”

I rejoined the party at their insistence and prepared to spend the night inside the camp with the other person on watch.

I give them less than a week. I thought as I heard the first wolf howls and called the alarm.

I was kicked out of camp after no more than three days. Even Gertrude was tired of fighting in the middle of the night when she was supposed to be getting sleep.

However, that just held when we were in the wilderness. Whenever we entered a claimed zone, I was perfectly fine sticking with the party. That was especially true since our party technically had every single faction, excluding Pumil and the Fey, represented.

It was during our stay in one of those zones that I got my first surprise of the trip.

-----

“What are you making?” Elluin asked as I infused a bit more mana into my cauldron.

“Mana potions,” I grunted in reply.

He paused. “Okay, that’s a good one. I think I’m finally catching on to your sense of humor.”

I looked at him. “It wasn’t a joke. I’m making mana potions.”

“Yeah, you’re making mana potions without an alembic or a mana furnace,” he laughed.

I didn’t.

His eyes widened slightly. “Wait, seriously!?” he exclaimed, which was perhaps the most agitated I had seen him yet. He reached his hand into the pot of boiling water, yelped, and then grit his teeth as he pulled out the managrass.

“What are you doing!?” I asked.

“What am I doing? What are you doing!?” he asked. “I’m not going to let you waste managrass like this! It’s a rare ingredient given to us by nature!”

I glared at him. “This is how I’ve always made mana potions. It works just fine. Here,” I said as I tossed him one.

He dipped a finger in it and then put it to his tongue.

“Bleh, it’s diluted, less than half as effective as it should be, and it also tastes awful. Tree blight, who taught you that outdated method?”

And that was the thing that finally caught my attention.

“Outdated?” I asked.

And that was how I ended up getting an hour-long lecture about alchemy from a former [Apprentice: Alchemist].

He told me that I should be distilling any ingredients like that. Managrass needed it especially as it contains a host of impurities that make it less effective. Finally, he told me that isolating the mana reagent would both cause it to be more effective and allow it to be used for something more than “managrass bathwater,” which is what he took to calling my previous attempts at potions.

My argument was that they still worked, but he countered that by saying they restored 25 MP when a more experienced [Alchemist] could easily get 50 or more.

I had to eventually admit defeat, even though I was a level 2 [Alchemist], and he was unleveled in that class. I swore that I wouldn’t make any more “managrass bathwater” and that I would look into getting at least a mana furnace and an alembic the next time I was in a town that had them.

“Well, thanks for the lesson, I guess,” I finally finished.

“You’re welcome!” he replied.

I grunted non-committally as I put away my alchemy tools and pulled out Tim’s journal.

“[Demon Lord], may I have a word?” Ash called to me.

I slammed the book shut. “Yeah, what do you want?” I asked.

“Alone?” he asked. I could tell the man was a bit irritated, so I got up and followed him away from camp with a sigh.

As soon as we were out of earshot, he laid into me. “By the sacred pool, what are you doing!?” he whispered angrily. “The entire purpose of this endeavor is to get you on good terms with the other nations, especially the [Hero]. Instead, you’ve just been blowing him off!”

I scowled. “I’m not getting close to another [Hero]. Not again.” He gave me a look, and I quickly “corrected” myself. “Not like the last two [Demon Lords]. They both got close to their respective [Hero], and it cost them dearly. I won’t make the same mistake.”

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe it wasn’t because the past [Demon Lords] got close to the [Heroes] that they died? Did it ever pass through your thick head that perhaps your past incarnations died because they did a bad job at getting close to the [Heroes]?”

He shook his head and started pacing. “By the elder’s left and right fists, hearing your version of the first life of the [Demon Lord] took me aback with his stupidity. From every story passed down in our tribe, Jake was a true [Hero]! If the first [Demon Lord] had simply told him about the deal, I’m sure that the [Hero] would have helped him and not caused the loss of our original homeland.”

He scowled and continued pacing. “Then, the 2nd [Demon Lord] started his reign off by slaying the [Hero] and practically destroying a human town-“

“To be fair, he wasn’t in his right mind,” I muttered.

“Then, as if that was not enough, he started a cult,” Ash continued. He rounded on me. “So, for the love of Besti, please don’t destroy any towns. Don’t start any cults. And make nice with the [Hero]!” He took a deep breath. “If you can do that, then maybe we will have a shot at keeping you alive more than two years this time.”

I remained quiet. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was already trying to plan a way for me to die that would cause the least amount of issues. Ideally, that would be doing something like dying while heroically saving a town, but I was pretty much the only one there was to save a town from. That, and wrath form automatic activation, would mean that any town I tried to sacrifice myself to save would likely end up worse off.

“Well?” Ash demanded.

Oh, he wanted a response. I realized. “Understood,” I said. “I’ll try to play nice with the [Hero].”

“Thank you,” he said. “That is all that I ask for.”

A thoroughly chastised [Demon Lord] returned to the camp.

I sat on the ground next to Elluin.

“Sorry about my behavior,” I said. “With the memories of the past [Demon Lords], I find myself a bit… averse to [Heroes]. I shouldn’t take that out on you, though. It’s not like you asked to become the [Hero] any more than I asked to become the [Demon Lord].”

Elluin paused. “Huh. Guess I never thought of it that way.” He shrugged. “Either way, you’re forgiven.”

We settled into silence, but for the first time, I was the one who found myself uncomfortable.

“So,” I started. “How does an elf end up with a last name like Hunter?”

-----

Over the next several days, I got to know Elluin better. I learned about his years in Saint’s Rest at the orphanage. I also heard a bit about some of the unique circumstances around his very early childhood.

“Wait, back up,” I said. “You were raised by wolves?”

“Only kinda. I don’t think it was for too long.” He chuckled sheepishly. “I wouldn’t have believed it myself if Miss Ludan didn’t confirm it.” He paused. “Apparently, I was brought into the village by a large silver-furred wolf. It wasn’t hostile or anything, and I was perfectly content being carried around on its back. It dropped me off after pounding on the orphanage door, and Miss Ludan was too stunned to do anything about it.”

“But how did it even feed you?” I asked with a frown. “I guess it could have hunted down game for you to eat-“

“I don’t get the feeling that it did. And do monsters even have [Hunt]?” Elluin asked. Then he shook his head. “It’s really weird, though. I have some really faint memories from back then. I thought I could remember it speaking to me. In a high-pitched female voice.”

Uhoh. Fey BS. I thought.

He laughed. “You must think I’m crazy,” he said.

“No, I don’t,” I replied seriously. “This world has many strange things in it. However, I would suggest being careful if you ever meet that wolf again.”

“Huh? Why?”

I shook my head. “It’s… nothing.” I didn’t feel like explaining the fey at that moment, especially since my current oath to them meant I needed to avoid them at all costs. “How did you end up with your current party?” I asked to change the subject.

It worked. Elluin launched into the story of his first party and their monster slaying. Then into how they nearly died to a boss monster and his not-quite-girlfriend gave him up to the authorities.

“They seriously abandoned you after all that?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t say abandoned,” he replied. “They just realized that the adventuring life wasn’t for them.”

We sat in silence for a bit.

“Well, I guess that’s fair,” I replied. “Adventuring often means surviving by the skin of your teeth. I certainly have had my share of close calls.”

Elluin looked at me and then shook his head. “I almost thought you were serious again. You should stop doing that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think I’m lying about that?”

He laughed. “You’re… the [Demon Lord]. Someone that even [Heroes] like the Saint struggle to take down. You seriously expect me to believe that you ever had close calls adventuring?”

“Alright, time to correct some misunderstandings you have about [Heroes] and [Demon Lords],” I said.

And so I told him stories. All about my many close calls in previous lives: I ignored the tutorial because that would take too long to explain how I died hundreds if not thousands of times, but I told him the rest.

Nearly dying in the forest before the party saved me.

The first monster wave.

The Faroff Forest dungeon.

A giant dave.

I hesitated when I tracked through my memories and came to the fight with the first fire dragon. I skipped over that one and instead went further north.

“And Gert had probably the most concentrated amount of near-death experiences for the first [Demon Lord],” I said. “He nearly died to a horde of tundra wolves and then to the [Hero] after claiming the ice dungeon.” I paused for a second. “Oh,” I said as I remembered. “He also almost died during a duel with Gertrude.”

“Darn right, he did,” came a reply from Gertrude.

I hadn’t realized that my audience had expanded and that the rest of the party had been listening in.

I froze up as Gertrude continued.

“That youngin had a lotta fight in him, but he was still too green to take me on,” she said. “I nearly forgot about all of that, though. It’s been, what? One hundred years since that happened?”

“About 120,” I replied.

“Phew,” she said. “And I ain’t hardly had a good fight since then. Except for maybe that time I fought that overgrown flyin’ lizard.” She scowled and turned to me. “And that reminds me. The last [Demon Lord] promised me a fight but then chickened out.”

I chuckled. “Well, I’m certainly glad I’m not him.”

She stood up, strode over, and then towered above me. “Or are you?” she whispered. “If you got that idjit’s memories, what’s the difference between you and him?”

That was a line of thought that I really didn’t want people to be entertaining, so I took the one course of action that I thought would distract her from it.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t spar with you anyway!” I said. I tried to keep my nervousness out of my voice.

I failed.

She gave me a wide grin anyway. “Well, why didn’t ya say so! C’mere I’ll take you on right now!”

“No weapons, though,” I quickly added.

She nodded. “’Course! I don’t wanna murder ya.” She turned away, and I could have sworn I heard her mutter. “Right yet.”

You can do this. I encouraged myself. You fought Lindsey to a standstill, and there’s no way that Gertrude is a better martial artist than her, right?

I was both right and wrong.

Lindsey was a pure martial artist. She was dedicated to her craft for decades, but I beat her when she was old.

Meanwhile, Gertrude had over a century’s worth of experience fighting and was still in a young body.

Oh, and there was also a level gap. While Lindsey and I had fought level 25 vs. level 25, Gertrude was level 25 to my level 20.

I quickly found myself sprawled out on the ground at less than half HP and a clear loser of the duel.

“I don’t know why I bothered getting’ my hopes up,” Gertrude sighed as she helped me back up. “Is there nothin’ in this cotton-pickin’ world worth fightin’ these days?”

I didn’t reply.

If I need to die and get a different body, Gertrude would probably be more than happy to help. I thought. However, any way I looked at it, I needed to make sure that I finished up the pressing business first. I needed to make sure that I got the [Hero] safely to the fire dungeon and back. I also wanted to make sure that I tracked down Fayleen and made her suffer, but I was growing increasingly concerned that I wouldn’t be able to take the time to pull that one off.

I was brought out of my musings by Elluin.

“I guess [Demon Lords] aren’t as invincible as I thought,” he said.

I snorted. “Yeah. No one is invincible up against that old monster,” I replied.

“What’d ya just call me?” Gertrude asked with a hint of threat.

“N-nothing,” I replied.

She grunted. “That’s what I thought.”

“The thing I don’t get now, though,” Elluin continued after it became clear that Gertrude wasn’t planning on parting my head from shoulders. “How did either [Hero] struggle with a single [Demon Lord]?”

I gave him a flat look. “Gee, thanks,” I said dryly.

“No offense,” he said. “It’s just… I met the Saint, and she was amazing. She healed our entire village. If you’re as strong as the last two [Demon Lords], I just don’t see it.”

I snorted. “You met the Saint after she killed me and hit level 25. And after she healed a near-debilitating illness from herself. The two are hardly comparable.”

“Wait, really?”

And so it was story time yet again. This time, it was highlighting the early struggles of Jake and Sarah. I told the story of the times I had to save Jake’s life, but Elluin didn’t seem interested until I got to Sarah.

“Wait, you power-leveled the Saint?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m surprised that term stuck around,” I replied. “Yeah, I power-leveled her a bit. Just some brief hunting in the nearby zones. She was a bit afraid of fighting, I think, not that that stopped her from charging in to stop me when I was in my other form.”

“Other form?” Elluin asked.

I noticed the rest of the camp was paying me close attention again.

How much should I tell them here? I thought. Honestly, I wasn’t sure of the right play. I was extremely hesitant to tell them about wrath form because it served as a kind of a last resort. If I started giving them too many details about it, that gave them more ammunition to take me down later on if things ever went sour. In other words, that was one cat I was really reluctant to let out of the bag.

However, I had to tell them all something.

“It’s a monstrous boss form,” I finally replied. “If I ever enter it, I have-“ I was about to talk about how I have no control over myself but realized that might not be the best thing to reveal. “No memory of what happens during it,” I lied. “I have countermeasures to keep myself from assuming that form, but should it happen on this trip, your best bet is to run away and wait for it to deactivate.”

“So, it does have a duration?” one of the representatives from Gram asked.

Frick. Even that might have been too much info. “I believe so,” I grudgingly said. “Either way, if I transform and am hostile, I recommend disengaging. If you have to fight that form, you might be able to take me down with the current party.” I shot a pointed look at Gertrude and Elluin.

Elluin pointed a finger at himself. “Me?”

I nodded. “Yeah, just because I’m sure you’d have Gertrude up in front keeping its attention. As a bow [Hero], that should be basically all you need.”

“A [Demon Lord] boss,” he whispered. Then he shuddered. “Yeah, I would rather not have to fight one. I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

I chuckled. “That’s the thing about being a [Hero]. It isn’t that you’re ready for the fight that comes your way. It’s that when the fight comes, you step up no matter the cost.”

He nodded slowly. “I’ll remember that. Just… make sure I don’t have to fight you, okay?”

“Sure, Elluin,” I replied. “I’ll do my best.”

-----

The journey to the fire dungeon was largely peaceful.

We did end up encountering a bear in the wilderness one day, but Elluin one-shot it with his [Trueshot] skill.

I had to admit, that skill freaked me out a bit. It was like [Sunder] but with way more range.

However, after thinking about it a bit more, I wasn’t that worried. It had an easier-to-spot windup, and if I had to fight Elluin, he wouldn’t be much use up close against me. I could just [Flash Step] up to him and give him the beatdown of his life.

That wasn’t the only thing I realized, though. That meant another person in the party could skip over the automatic activation threshold of my second form, so if I needed to die and get a new body, Elluin’s skill was always an option.

I turned that one over in my mind and thought about asking Ash’s opinion before I remembered that he didn’t still didn’t know about every [Demon Lord] just being me in a different body. Without that context, asking the question, “How can I best die without causing a diplomatic incident?” would be a little bit suspect.

Speaking of Ash, he talked with me a bit on the way too. He even secretly asked me how my time magic studies had been going.

Spoiler alert, I had not been making much progress. I had forgotten to use my mana to cast [Foresight], and, even worse, I had completely spaced the existence of my two mana batteries that were in the shape of wands. After pulling those out and finding time to cast time magic secretly, I was back in the business of secretly committing a taboo.

Interestingly, the wands convinced the Dryadal adventurers to strike up a conversation. Or, at least, it convinced their [Wizard].

That conversation was more of a case of him asking to see my wands, freaking out when he saw the mana capacity, and then asking where I got them.

I helpfully told him that I got them from an [Enchanter] in Pumil… who was probably long-dead. That deflated him a bit. However, to make it up to him, I broke out my [Spell Tutor] subclass and taught him one of my staple spells… [Summon Dave].

If Ash hadn’t been there to vouch for their efficacy in fighting other monsters, I’m pretty sure that the [Wizard] would have thought I was pranking him.

That left the Gram delegation. They kept to themselves most of the time and had open disdain for most of the party. If it wouldn’t have been an international incident, or if they hadn’t been pulling their weight, I’m pretty sure we would have had two humans missing or dead during that trip.

Part of me wondered what they even got from being there. Everyone else was there to keep an eye on me if I went rogue, but if that was true, why would Gram want to send their [Commanders] off to die if that happened?

I got my answer late one night while we were in a friendly zone.

-----

“[Demon Lord] Titus, do you have a minute to discuss something in private?” [Commander] Jay Green asked… Or was it [Commander] Edward Peters?

I had their names listed right there on my interface, but that didn’t help keep track of which was which.

Unless I remembered that I could feel their locations through the party.

Oh. Right.

“Yes, [Commander] Green, I have a minute,” I said as I closed Tim’s journal and followed him away from the camp.

We met [Commander] Peters there, and I could already smell something fishy.

“We thought it would be best to discuss this away from listening ears,” Green said. “We have a proposition for you.”

“What kind of proposition?” I asked.

“We would like to borrow your unique talent of attracting monsters and summoning monster waves,” he continued. “We think that they would be a great asset for training up our soldiers, and we would, of course, give you a fair cut of the proceeds from the loot.”

I gave a noncommittal grunt, mainly to buy time to think. Honestly, if that was all of their proposal, there was a decent chance that I would have taken them up on it. I debated haggling for a discount on mana potions or something when Peters opened his mouth.

“We would also…hypothetically… be willing to pay handsomely for you to… soften up… certain targets,” Peters said.

“What kind of targets?” I practically growled.

They shared a glance that told me they knew they’d messed up big time.

“I think you misunderstood my colleague,” Green said. “We weren’t talking-“

“No, I don’t think I misunderstood your colleague,” I snapped. “You were about to suggest starting monster waves in Dryadal or Pumil to make openings for your own armies so that your [King] could keep playing Alexander the Great.”

I practically stomped back into camp after that. I briefly brought it up to some of Dryadal’s delegation, but I imagined they had already thought that scenario through, given their lack of surprise.

The only good thing that came out of that encounter is that neither [Commander] spoke to me again.

-----

March 15th, 125 AA

With Ash’s okay, we stopped off at The Oasis for a breather. Oh, and also to resupply on that pesky water the rest of the party needed.

The [Hero] was welcomed with open arms, and he got to meet the royalty and the [Martial Elders] of Besti.

In the meantime, I consulted with the woman who might have an idea of what to do about my dying conundrum.

I met with Lilly alone, and I got right into the question.

“What’s the best way for me to die without undoing all of the diplomatic work we’ve done?” I asked.

She blinked several times. “I am… sorry, could you please repeat your question? I am afraid I must have misheard it the first time.”

I nodded. “What’s the best way for me to die without undoing all of the diplomatic work we’ve done?”

“By the elder’s fists, I heard him correctly,” she muttered. Shaking her head, she continued. “And why, pray tell, would you want to die?”

“This body doesn’t suit my needs,” I said simply. “It’s strong, but it’s stupid. I’ve had a hard time not slipping up until now, and it’s annoying remembering being smarter than this.” I paused. “Oh, and I also need to die to get more skill points to pick up the [Temporus] skill.”

“Fair enough, I suppose we can figure something out,” she said with a sigh. “Given your second form, what out there is even able to kill you?”

“Something that deals a lot of instantaneous damage like Elluin’s [Trueshot] or Gertrude’s [Great Cleave],” I replied.

Lilly shook her head. “No, your death is broadcast to the world. We can’t have the [Hero] or the [Queen] of Gert kill you. That would make too many people think that your death was justified. You need to die to someone we can paint as nefarious.”

“Like… Someone in Gram, maybe?”

“While that would help solidify your position in Pumil and Dryadal, I thought you wanted all the nations to not send people after you?”

“Right. So, not Gram,” I said. “That doesn’t leave me many options unless another [Necromancer] pops up or something.”

“Please do not even joke about such a thing,” she replied. Then after pausing for a bit, she continued. “Maybe you can have a planned accident?”

“So… you’re telling me I need to commit suicide?”

“I suppose I am if you are even capable of that. You could starve-“ she shook her head. “Right, no need for food or water. Maybe drowning?”

“I don’t need to breathe,” I replied.

“Die to monsters?” she asked.

“That could probably get me close, but I would almost definitely turn into wrath form. If I wander off, that could be disastrous.”

“Then I am out of ideas. The last thing I could think of would be to fall a great distance, but I am not sure a large enough height exists at your level.”

“Actually, that could work,” I said as I thought back to the great central mountains. “I can just make a big deal about wanting solitude and tell everyone about my plans to visit the air dungeon. If I just have an ‘unfortunate’ accident on the way up there, that shouldn’t be an issue.”

Lilly nodded. “That would indeed be among our best options, but are you certain that is the path you want to take? If you succeed with our current plan, I am sure that we can buy you time to study time magic all you want.”

“I’m sure,” I said resolutely. “I’m going to need more brainpower, which means dying as soon as possible. Even if as soon as possible means yeeting myself off a mountainside.”

“Very well, it sounds like you have thought this through. I will not try to talk you out of it,” she sighed. “Though, I was hoping to have you around a bit longer this time.”

“Sorry.” I shrugged.

The only other highlight of our visit was getting to watch the two Gram [Commanders] get the tar beat out of them by a bunch of different [Monks] in one on one duels. Apparently, they had been condescending towards the warriors who didn’t wield a weapon, and they got shown their place handily.

After that, it was a straight shot to the fire dungeon.

------

System: Zone entered, Great Eastern Volcanoes. Faction - Neutral

“Okay, everyone,” I said. “There are no monsters here except for some freaking huge snails. If we just ignore them and run for the obelisk, we should be able to make it just fine.”

“Couldn’t we just fight the snails?” Elluin asked.

I was about to reply when we were startled by a low-pitched screech from about a hundred yards behind us.

The entire party spun and took in the huge monster as it burst into flames.

“You wanna fight it, be my guest,” I said as I took off running.

Gertrude took me up on that. While the rest of us took off towards the fire dungeon, she started fighting the dire snail alone.

Watching her health bar go down and back up gave me a pretty terrifying glimpse into her [Battlefield Regen] and made me glad that, at least for the moment, she was on my side.

However, it turned out we didn’t even need to run. Gertrude took the snail down many times faster than I could, and everyone in the party, except me, faceplanted as they leveled up.

Being able to kill them meant we didn’t even have to hurry. I just helped Gertrude with the next snail that showed up, and we walked Elluin to the obelisk with no more fanfare.

“Claim,” he said.

System: The fire dungeon has been claimed by the Hero! The elemental dungeons have been reset and cannot be claimed by the Demon Lord for 50 years!

“Huh, so that’s how that works,” I said.

Gertrude gave me a look. “Weren’t you around the last time when that young lady claimed that other rock?” she asked. “It had almost the same message back then.”

I shrugged. “I don’t think I was in my right mind. Or in the right dimension.”

She looked at me quizzically, but I ignored her when I realized that Elluin had a defeated look on his face.

“Something the matter, [Hero]?” I asked.

“Is that it?” he asked. “Is that all I have to do as the [Hero]?”

I shrugged. “That’s it for this quest, at least. Now we just have to return you home.”

“It just… seemed too simple.”

I laughed. “Better a simple quest than one where you end up near dead! Come on, let’s get going.”

Elluin was the last to leave the dungeon.

“There’s got to be more than this. There has to be,” he said.

Sorry, [Hero]. I thought. If everything goes to plan, that’s all a [Hero] will be from now on. A slightly stronger-than-normal adventurer who just has to deactivate a dungeon with no opposition.

However, I knew even then that that could only ever be wishful thinking.