Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 36 – ‘Honest’ intentions

[Eternum Calendar 1971]

“W- wait, p- please! Ren, where are we going?!”

Rushing restlessly through the desolate and hostile terrains of the demonic forests were two children, an Elven boy and young lass descended of the Lamia bloodline, both desperately in search for their missing friend. Yet still not entirely sure as to what the exact situation entailed, Celina called out to Ren to no avail.

Ren had become too engrossed in his own thoughts that he wasn’t even properly navigating through the terrain. His tattered clothes and bruised skin was proof of this. ‘Morgant! Alice!’ those were the only words that resounded through his head as he darted his eyes all around searching for those exact figures.

“Ren! I said Ren! Please wait!”

Celina tried once more yet it was still to no effect. Since her body was half that of a snake she was a little bigger than Ren was thus she had more difficulty in trekking through the tough contours of the land. Despite this she still refused to slow down and even as her body was also riddled with injuries she kept her pace with the small and nimble Elven boy in front of her, never losing sight of him even for a split second.

They were both equally desperate to save their friends.

“Ren… Eh? AH REN!”

By the time they had both noticed the real situation it was already far too late. The events were already in motion and as though it played out in slow motion all they could do was hopelessly watch.

Whilst not paying attention to their surroundings they had forgotten to notice the presence of their assailant. A straggling Crystalline Goblin had jumped out from a hidden bush, feral teeth headed straight for their smooth and fragile skins- certain death. Ren’s eyes widened as he was the first to be confronted by those abyssal jaws. Desperation mixed with fear and anxiety to create an entirely new level of negative emotion, ‘frustration’.

Too desperate to truly fear yet too afraid to become desperate, the emotions compounded atop of each other to create the frustration that was his hopeless reality. Angry at himself for not being able to do anything about what he was witnessing play out in slow motion, and angry towards an enemy that got in his way. With nothing he could to do, Ren shut his eyes and prepared for the worst. ‘Perhaps I can get through this then rescue Morgant’, he knew those were naïve thoughts but all he could do was hope.

Yet no matter how much he waited, the pain of being bitten by a feral Goblin never came. He could hear his own heartbeat slowly rising then slowly dropping once more as he began to take control of his own composure. ‘Is it because I became numb of the pain?’ prepared for the worst he opened his eyes, though what he saw made him quickly wish he didn’t.

“A… ah… M- Miko…? Miko?!”

The calm before the storm; his body had not yet truly realized what his mind was seeing. Right now time had stopped for him, or at least slowed down to a considerable amount that it had seemed that way. The only sounds he could hear were the cruel tranquility of swaying trees and a cool breeze.

Standing before him was the slender figure of a woman he had known all his life. Her familiar scent swept by the winds, her hair as white as snow and those two fluffy ears struggling to find composure as they trembled from the pain, three silver tails also shivering and tossing about, the person who’s back was turn to him was an entity very close to being called ‘mother’. She was one of two of the orphanage’s caretakers, the exiled [Therianthrope], Miko.

Silently gritting through the pain without a single word, her blood trickled slowly down from her shoulders. The goblin’s sharp and jagged teeth had successfully pierced right through her thin leather armor and sunk beneath her skin, only barely missing her more vulnerable neck. The subtle yet disturbingly distinct cracking noises indicated immense damage to her collar bone as her left arm went limp from the having its strength drained.

“Miko?!”

Celina cried out as she slithered up to her, yet even when she was so close she didn’t know what else to do to alleviate the situation. As though her own left shoulder was being destroyed Celina clutched tightly and cried. Realizing her own powerlessness she became scared and only turned away without even finding the strength to help.

Everything had happened so fast that even the victim herself wasn’t sure what had happened. The only thing she realized was the pain on her left shoulder, her useless and limp left arm and the children that were behind her. The only thing driving her forward was the duty that she had to protect those small lives behind her- that’s all that ever truly mattered to her. Though even for her one track mind the heavy burden upon her left shoulder was starting to eat at her composure as she grimaced, finally registering the long overdue pain.

Unable to muster up enough strength to outright remove it or even instruct the children to escape, the only thing she could do was stand firm. To become a wall for the children’s protection and hope that they would realize on their own that they needed to escape. ‘It’s okay’, she told herself, ‘they’re bright children,’ she hoped that they would understand the situation and do what needed to be done, ‘please escape’.

“Mi… ko? What are you…?”

Finally his body had caught up as a surge of adrenaline crept through his body. His heart rate jumped instantly to dangerous level and he started breathing in more oxygen than his small body could handle. He wanted to scream but his mind wouldn’t allow it, because he knew that once he did he would lose himself in the chaos and desperation.

‘Are you sure you want to give up like this?’ Ren remembered, the advice that the imaginary Morgant had given him. The situation had not changed and everything was still a mess and as dangerous as before, the only thing that was really different was the clarity. Right now he understood in full what was going on but that small difference was all that was needed for a vote of confidence. Thanks to all that excess oxygen that had been pumped into the brain he found himself being able to think a bit more clearly.

He wasn’t like Morgant who could take on extreme levels of chaos at face value and shrug it off but he could still try to be.

“Miko!”

Steeling his resolve he acted quickly and rushed to her side for support. The target didn’t move a muscle as he approached with hostile intentions even as it noticed him. ‘Is it mocking me?’ he contemplated but quickly perished the thought; the enemy was just a feral beast that wasn’t thinking about anything. ‘In that case…’ there was no need for hesitation, if the enemy wasn’t then why should he be?

The air around Ren grew a little more frigid as small pellets of ice started to form and once they were about the size of a small rock they flew towards the stationary goblin. Low level elementary ice magic, [ice bullet], they weren’t anything spectacular but as a child this was the best he could do, so he did. A direct hit was scored onto the goblin and it started to ooze disgusting yellow blood from its wounds yet it did not cease its fatal clinging.

“Tch!”

If once didn’t work then all he needed to do was try again, then again, then again, and again, until it worked. Eventually the Goblin was riddled with small holes throughout its body yet even then it didn’t stop. The ground beneath them had been mixed with both yellow and red blood, a scene that Ren didn’t want to see. Desperately he continued his futile barrage towards the enemy until he himself fell to the ground exhausted.

His reserves of mana weren’t anything great to begin with. He was a child more invested in tinkering with machinery than practicing his magical capabilities, thus as a result he had quickly expended his small pool of mana and exhausted himself. Still he refused to give up and stood once more to prepare another volley of his ice bullets, it was at that moment he was forcibly stopped.

A large but gentle hand was placed on his head, a signal to him that he didn’t have to do anymore than that. Ren gazed up to a metal clad knight who rushed in to the rescue, like a hero.

In a single mighty swing he cleaved the large body of the Goblin cleanly in half. The Goblin fell though its head still needed some assistance in being pried off of Miko’s shoulder, but the day had been saved, for a short while.

“You… are?”

For Ren it was the first time he had seen this person but he felt an innate sense of safety just being under his presence. He radiated both a soothing aura of gentle protection and roaring strength, a true ‘knight’.

“Kuh… you came… after me? Sipher.”

Miko asked as she fell to the floor clutching her damaged left shoulder. Seeing her rescued and safe Celina tackled into her with a large snake-like embrace. More so than her own pain Miko rubbed Celina’s head to sooth her own emotional trauma.

“Yeah, they told me that I was the only one suitable to go after you. Now stop being stubborn and return to the town, they still need me back there.”

The metal clad knight, Sipher spoke.

“No, not yet… there are still two more children I need to rescue. So you take these to back to town first and keep them safe.”

Miko refused as she tried to hand the two children over to Sipher.

“Stop being an idiot, there’s no way you can do anything with an injury like that. These aren’t monsters you can sense by ordinary means so you’ll easily be overrun. We’ll return to town first and think of a proper strategy to rescue the other two.”

“No! This can’t wait! I’m not going back until I’ve found them!”

Not wanting to wait even a single second more Miko stood up with uneasy footing and started to depart to find Morgant and Alice.

“W- wait Miko!”

This time it was Ren who had called out to stop her, though stopping her was not her intention.

“Listen carefully, Ren, Celina. I need you two to go back to town first and wait for me. Okay? Be good little children and listen to what I have to say, okay? I’ll surely bring back Morgant and Alice back with me…”

“No, it’s not that, but I know where they are!”

“Eh?”

At this point two things ran through Miko’s mind. The first was the fact that it would probably take considerably less time to find Morgant and Alice if she had Ren guide her to them. However her maternal and overprotective instincts also tried to deny that kind of method as it would place these children in a considerable amount of danger. She had felt it herself, exactly how dangerous these creatures known as ‘Crystalline Goblins’ can truly be.

“Lead the way, don’t worry I’ll be sure to protect them with my life.”

Sipher had made the decision in Miko’s stead that couldn’t choose either way. Ren looked up with a determined gaze and gave a stern nod.

…

Through Ren and Celina’s guide it took less than ten minutes to reach back at the point of Alice’s unstable and mysterious maelstrom. Winds slashed and carved as it created new contours on the terrain. Overall, it was a dark, dreary and menacing feeling to just simply approach this place, almost as though the god of destruction had descended onto the mortal plane.

“W- what exactly is going on here?”

Unable to hide her astonishment, Miko asked. Seeing the berserked vortex in front of her sank her heart in even more anxiety at the fates of the two children that was supposedly inside.

“Probably… Alice. Something happened to her but we don’t know what exactly that is.”

Ren responded in a dejected tone.

“Alice?”

When asked by Miko, Ren nodded.

“We were attacked by a bunch of those crystal… goblins? We tried to fight back but it proved too difficult and as a result Celina was captured. After that I’m not entirely sure what happened but when I came to all of the goblins were dead and I was inside that maelstrom. I think Alice was the one who unleashed this strange magic but I’m not really sure how.”

Miko was at a loss for words on how to answer to this story. These children were definitely ‘special’ in some way, not in the way a mother would think their sons or daughters were special, but in the genuine sense of the word. Morgant too had strange powers that were difficult to explain and sometimes he would have a distant gaze unbefitting of a child. Now it was Alice who was concealing such an enormous amount of power behind that carefree smile. ‘Just what is going on?’ Miko wanted to ask herself.

“There’s no point dawdling here, let’s see what’s going on inside first before we make more judgments.”

Sipher recommended as he took a step into the swirling vortex without a moment’s hesitation. Having no other option Miko, Celina and Ren also followed wordlessly into the heart of the storm.

…

“Immortality? You idiot, that kind of thing is hardly even an accomplishment anymore. Power? You couldn’t even begin to imagine the peak of what is truly capable of my… of human hands. Godhood? Now why would I want to degrade myself to such a degree by picking up such a tetanus infested mantle? Let me make this clear for you once and for all… This world is a Human Dominion and I will not stand to let you thieves and cowards take that away from me.”

Those very words resounded heavily through the violent winds. Coming out from the mouth of their dear friend were incomprehensibly cruel and arrogant words. A sadistic glare in his eyes filled with true hatred and disgust- not to an ‘enemy’ but to a thing that didn’t even have the ‘right’ to exist.

The defeated body of Gerald, the Adventurer Association’s leader, laid on the floor, unmoving. He was in the truest sense of the word ‘dead’.

“M- Morgant?”

Ren let out hesitantly, he wasn’t sure if the person standing in front of him was his friend or something else entirely.

Morgant’s ears twitched at his voice but he didn’t turn to face them- he couldn’t.

“Ren… Celina and Miko too…”

Morgant spoke as he continued to refuse to look back at them. He knew that they would be coming back and he also knew that they would see this scene, of course he did because he had planned all of it. Yet still this didn’t make it any less harder to act out knowing that his beloved ‘family’ would see such an unbecoming side to him.

Still this was a necessary evil, even if it meant that he would be alienating his family away from him, even if he was to become hated. He still needed to do this because there was one more enemy that he needed to draw out and defeat. His hometown wouldn’t be safe until the threat had all been removed.

“Morgant… what are you-”

Miko tried to ask but was cut off before she could finish her question.

Morgant pointed to the eye of the storm, towards Alice who had been peacefully unconscious causing all of this chaos.

“Please, take Alice and get out of here while you still can. There are still things I have left to do here.”

Unable to ignore that lonely back turned towards them, Miko tried to approach him. It didn’t matter to her what he had done or who he was, as long as he was part of the orphanage he would be under her protection. He had far too underestimated the pride and determination she had as the orphanage’s caretaker.

“Morgant… come home back to us. Everything will be over soon so you don’t have to bear with this all alone; you can talk to us, talk to me and we’ll bear it together.”

She didn’t know what kind of face he was making but she knew that she had to go to him, to embrace him. The child she had known since he was a baby, even after all these years she barely knew anything about him. He had always worn a soft undisclosed smile filled with nothing but secrets and darkness but still he was part of the orphanage and thus couldn’t be ignored even if it was his plea.

“Morgant-”

As she tried to approach she was stopped by Sipher who had grabbed onto her arm. He shook his head, a gesture to signal that it was dangerous to proceed any further and in her place he started to walk slowly towards him. Carefully placing his hands on the hilt of his sword he took a couple of steps, yet even he was stopped in his track.

Small blue tinted pebbles in the shape of bullets hovered menacingly in front of his helmeted head. Sipher was already well aware of the kind of destructive power these small rocks were capable of yet he did not relinquish the grip on his sword. It was not faith in Morgant as a human that he wouldn’t attack but faith in himself that he could survive the attack. Sipher scoffed silently as he continued his approach.

“I would not take a single step further if I were you; stop there. That is my advice to you as the Lord of this continent.”

For the second time Sipher was stopped, this time by the sudden voice of a haughty and willful Demon Lord. Appearing through a mist of black shadows that amalgamated into single mass and eventually forming into a small figure. A short child-sized demon with two large protruding horns from either sides of her temples that curved elegantly forward to cover her forehead, two small flightless wings that poked out awkwardly from her back and a thing black tail that started from just above her buttocks. Her gaudy clothes fitting for her race as a [Succubus] only came off as an elaborate joke when combined with her minuscule proportions.

“You are… Astaroth De Signa, Demon Lord of the Vertloch Continent.”

Sipher commented as he took a step back from her presence.

“Fufu~ yes, that’s right and you’re nothing but a nuisance. Even if you can fool others you cannot fool his nor mine, so won’t you take off that mask?”

Astaroth laughed playfully as she answered. A smile backed by nothing but hostile intentions hidden away by her cute, child-like charm.

“What are you talking about?”

It was not Astaroth but Morgant who answered in turn. He turned his head just slightly to reveal a sharp green glare.

“Haa… I pity that stupid sister of mine, to be played around with like this. Well, I suppose she’s partly at fault for having no sense of doubt to begin with, but don’t think I’m the same as her just because we’re blood related. Isn’t it obvious that the true culprit behind all this inane necromancy crap will show up if the experiment doesn’t go accordingly? After all, ‘errors’ in research need to be observed closely as to make sure it doesn’t happen again in future. Isn’t that right, Sipher? No, [God of Healing], Dian Cecht.”