With Kera at my side tracking down the Ratmols, we found and killed quite a few. After ensuring that Mana was in my party I let her begin to hunt them down as well. It was very strange to watch her as she would crush the monsters with naught but a few punches. She was obviously upset by the fact that she was killing something, but she showed no reaction whatsoever to the blood or gore that would follow. It almost looked like a kid reluctantly doing their chores, which only made it that much more gruesome of a scene.

I was rather surprised when I first took a look at her stats.

Level: 40

Attack: 2468(+700)

Defense: 2524(+700)

Intellect: 5000(+1200)

Wisdom: 1000(+200)

Speed: 2231(+600)

Dexterity: 2145(+600)

Skills:

Create

Barrier

Room expand

Comprehension

Not only is she a higher level than me, but her intellect stat is well over double mine with that boost. A lot of questions popped up when I saw her stats. Why are they so low despite being nearly double my level? Why is it that just her intellect stat is so high? Since her Intellect stat is so high, does that mean that her magic would be immensely powerful? What are those weird skills? Unfortunately, the person in question has no idea what I’m talking about when I ask.

“Mana doesn’t know anything about skills or magic. Mana doesn’t like fighting, so Teko never taught Mana...” She responded dejectedly when I attempted to ask

Weak to her sad face, I decided to drop the matter for the moment and continue hunting. If even Mana doesn’t know the answers, then I’m sure we will find them in time or not at all.

“...That makes 43.” Kera counts off as I finish off another Ratmol

“Wait, why are you counting?” I ask confused as I notice her putting a tally mark on a piece of paper she has brought out

“Why not? The others are competing to see just how many they can take down, I thought I would keep track of your kills as well for comparison.” Kera explained in a nonchalant fashion as she put the paper back into a pocket in her shirt

“One more question...”

Fwoosh!

“Why is it that Gero keeps popping out of seemingly nowhere to grab the corpses of the monsters we kill?” I ask with irritation

“Weeeeeell, Ratmol skins may serve as a rare crafting material for armorers, and I may have asked your convenient sidekick to collect them so I can skin em’ later.” She answers without looking towards me

“and I’m sure that had nothing to do with why we are hunting them, right?” I ask

Whistle

She doesn’t answer however and simply looks away while whistling.

Sigh “I wanted him to get in some fighting today as well. Aside from the obvious experience, I have no idea what he is capable of so I wanted to test out his fighting ability.” I explain as I watch Gero dash around at speeds hard to even see

“Wait, you don’t know what he can do? Aren’t ya the one that made him?” Kera ask with a confused look

“No, he is a remnant of another Maou. He has been the one teaching me about this world since I arrived.” I explain

“A... Previous Maou? Like... Azrael?” Kera ask with a face devoid of color

“Hm? I don’t know which one actually. I’ve tried asking him multiple times about the person that made him, but that crack in his gem seems to have scattered his memories somewhat. Most of the memories concerning his creator are gone entirely. You seem really scared though, would it be that bad if Azreal was his creator?” I ask with a bit of worry

Gero has been with me since the beginning. I don’t want to have a reason not to trust him, but ignoring something like this could only lead to disaster.

“Of course it would be! That ruthless psychopath only made horrible, horrible things! I couldn’t even begin ta’ think of what kind of catastrophe would come if a creation of his was left running wild!” She burst out with a look of true terror

Her look is distant and almost seems to be in its own world. I admit it unsettles me to such legitimate fear. Especially so out of someone that is so typically energetic and irritating.

“... Sorry. A lot of people suffered because of Azreal... I overreacted a bit, but you should really look into who made him.” Kera says still looking a bit shaken

“Azreal was the Maou before me right? In that case I can almost guarantee that he wasn’t the one that made Gero. He has audio recordings of several Maou, which means he has been around for a while. Longer than one generation at least.” I say trying to comfort her

Trying to clear the Maou’s name might be a bit more difficult than I thought. Seems like at least a few before me took a genuine shot at destroying the world. I need to remember that not all of the resentment towards the Maou is unfounded.

“Ya... I suppose I can’t really see that straight laced gear head as some great evil anyways. Plus, you could take em’ down if ya wanted to!” Kera says giving me a soft punch in the arm and perking back up

Azreal has had a real effect on the people of this world. As my most recent predecessor, he is the one that is going to most affect me as well. If I want to do something about my situation I need to learn more about the previous Maou. Even if I decide to follow his lead in the future, I will need to learn about what brought about his demise.