Looking at Ailya in her eyes, I ‘commanded’ her:

“Ailya, come here and give me a hug.”

Without even showing any hesitation, Ailya happily smiled as she came to me and gave me a firm hug. However, after having hugged me, she looked up at me from my embrace and asked:

“How did you know my name, Master?”

Instead of answering her question however, I posed my own as I inquired from her:

“Why did you call me ‘Master’.”

At this question, Ailya pondered for a moment to think about it, before answering in an unsure manner:

“Because it feels right to call Master ‘Master’… I think?”

“Is that so… Well… there’s nothing wrong with you calling me whatever you like. However, I’d prefer if you called me Alex, since that’s my name. Is that ok?”

“Yes!”

Honestly, I just didn’t want to hear her call me Master. Hearing her call me that, especially knowing that she just instinctually feels like is the right way to call me, does nothing but remind me that I had subordinated her and worsens the guilt in my heart.

“Also, to answer your question, the reason I knew your name is thanks to the connection shared between you and me. Thanks to this connection, I am able to know your name and location as well as feel you emotions to an extent. Tell me, can you feel this connection between us?”

“Yes I can! It feels wonderful! Like no matter what happens, I’ll never be alone again! Just like you told me. I don’t think I can tell as much from our connection as you can Mas-… Alex, but I don’t really mind as long as I can feel you inside me…”

Hearing the happiness in her tone did nothing to add to my guilty conscience. However, I was still curious about one last thing. So deciding to satiate my curiosity, I asked Ailya:

“Ailya, what do you think of me?… Do you love me?”

“Mhmmmm, Yes! I do love you!”

Haaaaa, wel,l the question might seem simple and stupid, however I didn’t take a pause in my question for no reason. Honestly, I was afraid to hear what she genuinely thought of me, so I also asked a second question in order to answer my hypothesis without needing her to tell me the answer to the first. Since I was observing her carefully, I knew that she didn’t have a definite answer to my first question. However, as soon as I asked the second question, I could tell that her feelings towards me changed slightly. This ability is truly fearsome, not only being able to order someone, but also influence the way they think and feel about something is just too much. At this point, she might as well just be a customizable NPC that I have control over.

Well then again… I did say that I wanted to be a fearsome Demon Lord, so I guess it’s only right that I have such an ability. After all, in order to be a Demon Lord I need subjects that would be willing to give their lives for me, and not just any subject, but powerful ones at that. While Ailya is most definitely not a powerful person at the moment, she does have a tier 10 skill that also makes her own soul tier 10.

I don’t know how many people have tier 10 souls, but I doubt it’d be too common of a thing. After all, before she became my subordinate, Ailya merely had a tier 1 soul. However, for some reason I can’t tell, she now has the highest soul tier possible. Really, I don’t know if it’s because of my [Lord Subordination] or something, but her transformation is really impressive, mine too for that matter after getting [Veritas]. A tier 10 soul gives you the highest potential possible in this world, which to explain in a rather simple matter, dictates the highest level you can achieve.

While I haven’t observed enough people to properly get an understanding of it, what I can tell by using [Veritas] is that a person’s soul works like a container, and by having a larger ‘size’ container, you can fill it up with more soul energy which is what allows you to get stronger. At the same time, having a higher soul tier also helps you level up faster, as the closer you get to your limit, the less ‘exp’ you are able to absorb. Thus, it should technically be faster for both me and Ailya to level up than almost everyone else…

Is that why it took me a full 5 days of grinding to reach level 2, and only a fraction of that for level 3? Thank god for having a tier 10 soul. I know it takes longer to get to each subsequent level, so at the pace I was leveling up previously, I would have never been able to reach a decent level to defend myself, much less become a formidable Demon Lord…

Banzai for tier 10 souls!

Well, I can’t continue to let myself get depressed over having subordinated Ailya. No matter what happens, she’ll most likely be with me for the rest of my life, so I’d be ridiculous to let myself be haunted by my guilt for the rest of my life, even if what I did was despicable. After all, I did choose to walk down a path that would have me commit even more evil and heinous acts, so I can’t let myself be bothered by such a ‘simple’ thing.

Thus, trying to find my resolution, I decided to turn to look at Ailya in the eyes. Even if I was going to have her follow my whims, I still chose in my heart to keep the promises I made to her. Thus, with these thoughts in my mind I called out to her:

“Ailya”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to be with me forever?”

“Hmm? Of course Alex, why do you ask?”

“Even if I want to become the Demon Lord?”

“I don’t care what you want to do. So long as I can continue to serve you and be by your side.”

“Even if it means doing unpleasant things?”

“I’d do anything you wish of me! No matter what you tell me to do, I’ll carry out all of your wishes happily!”

“Even if it means killing others?”

“Why should I care about that? After all, all people are selfish. So why shouldn’t I be selfish in order to secure my- no, our happiness?”

Hearing her answers I decided to put away my inhibitions and slight guilt at her twisted reasoning, and fully accept her as my companion, promising myself that I would make sure to always keep her by my side and happy, even if her happiness was somewhat twisted now. Thus, deciding to take my true first step into becoming the Demon Lord, I addressed Ailya while trying to hype myself up for the coming future saying:

“Then, from this moment on, you’re my subordinate, the subordinate of the person who will become the Demon Lord! That means from now on, you and me will be working tirelessly to increase our strength in order to stand atop the world! Is that ok with you?”

“Of course Master! I’ll follow you anywhere!”

“Then from this moment on, our journey begins! Come, let’s get out of this forest and step into the world!”

Thus, turning to look at the endless plains covered in a red hue, I held Ailya’s hand as we both took our first steps outside of this forest and into the rest of the world, not knowing what awaited us out there, or the hardships that we would face. Nor did it matter. For Ailya, all that mattered was that she was with me. As for me, I found myself more confident of myself and the future with Ailya next to me. Thus together, hand in hand, we took our first steps in what would become a long and arduous journey in my path towards becoming the Demon Lord…