Jou clan is no more.

The mighty clan my brother managed to revive despite other frost wolf demons perishing, we were the last two frost wolf type demons left.

But back then, he smiled confidently and told me “I will revive this clan, our family, and I will make it rise to the highest of heights. Because we are the strong.”

I believed him.

As his only living relative, I acted as his right hand and his closest confidant. My brother, Korkau Jou had marvelous ambitions. He wanted to rise higher than any demon, even higher than the Demon King.

When our village burned down to the ashes as our rival clans united together to destroy the members of the Jou clan, my brother and I were the last ones, the only two Frost wolf type demons left. But even then, his eyes were full of calm confidence. I knew that everything would be all right as long as he is alive.

In order to protect the clan he made out of any demon that joined us, I became strong as well, second only to elder brother.

I killed anyone who stood in our way, each time becoming stronger and stronger….

My brother grew in power; he finally managed to become a bronze rank demon, his mana capacity and physical abilities blooming, he was confident that with support, even the Demon King Akil Ras, weakened from old age, was no match for him.

But then, elder brother was beaten, crippled and taken prisoner. Jou clan that he so painstakingly put together, trained, and nourished…was completely destroyed. Many ran fearing Demon King’s retribution. The few that stayed were killed as our enemies chose to attack when our leader was not present.

In the end, the only one left was me, Karli Jou.

I searched for my brother but no matter where I looked I could never find him.

Then that bastard, Nar Kas, told me that my brother was dead, all because of one demon.

That demon’s name was Ren, Ren Tengu. He was the one who took away my brother.

Blinded by rage, I attacked him as soon as he set off for the first trial, but I was beaten and left for dead.

Somehow I managed to finish the trial.

After a while, I got a letter from Nar Kas telling me that he captured Ren Tengu, and that he will leave his fate in my hands.

But as soon as I arrived, I saw the Tengu clan members exiting the Kas clan territory, with Kas clan’s domain completely obliterated, their forces fleeing in fear, their leader, rendered hornless, bound, shackled and put in a cage, while he was spasming unconsciously. It was a sad end, even for someone like Nar Kas.

But then, I sensed a familiar presence, as I thought, it was my brother.

But instead of the confident demon I knew, he was a broken husk, his powers weakened to the point that he no longer was a bronze rank demon but a level lower Iron rank. His body was emaciated, but his spirit was even more so.

He told me that Nar Kas was lying to me in order to manipulate me.

And then, out of nowhere, he tells me that he swore loyalty to the very demon who struck him down, Ren Karatengu. I couldn’t believe it, he was calling him Master, my brother; the proud and mighty Korkau Jou was bowing his head to him.

I couldn’t accept it.

For the sake of my brother’s safety, I agreed to join Tengu clan alongside him, but I made sure that if my brother’s life was in peril by Ren Karatengu’s hand, then I would not be bound by contract.

However, the scariest part is, I don’t think either of us is a match for him.

His clan is currently about two hundred, with two demon lords, and several higher ranked demons. And the scariest one is him, the one whose power alongside the demon lords, I cannot sense.

The higher the power of the demon is, the less it can be sensed by the lower ranked demons. Just like an insect cannot comprehend the power of the bird soaring through the sky.

I am an Iron ranked demon. I am by no means weak.

But…if this is what I think it is…then it is no wonder my elder brother chose to surrender to him.

However, even if elder brother accepts him as a leader, I will not!

When I asked him what his goal was for us, I expected him to lie, if he wanted to use us as disposable pawns, I would make sure he would regret it. If he put us in danger then we would no longer be bound to follow his orders.

But instead, he told me that he wants me to bear his children.

In a sense, he wants me to be his concubine.

Carving a legacy that will rise higher than any other…his ambitions are grand, but I don’t understand…does he intend to use me to get what he want and then dispose of me? What will happen to my brother? If I refuse to bear Ren Karatengu’s children, he might take out his anger upon my brother!

I see…refusal is not an option, he holds all the power; while we are all just his pawns…he is even more manipulative than Nar Kas! This demon…he must have planned everything. I am confident he orchestrated the entire downfall of Jou and Kas clans, and now he has us by our tails. He laid a perfect trap.

The worst part? We fell for it. Hook line and sinker.

Now, unless he directly endangers us, we cannot disobey his orders or rebel against him, the contract places upon our souls prevents it. It is such an ingenious plan, to get us desperate enough to ally with him. He might not be the demon, but the devil himself.

Strangely, he did not make any advances on me.

I thought he would force himself on me, but it seems he wants me to act instead.

Is he saying that I must come to his chambers myself?! But if I don’t, there is no telling what will happen to my brother. Even if binding of contract is lifted, I am no match for him. Ren Karatengu can overpower us both easily if he so wished. But instead, he chooses to make us do his bidding. Just as I thought… He calculated everything.

Eventually, I will have to visit his bed chambers, but for now I must discern what he has planned.

After completing my daily quota of tasks for the day, I take my time to observe Ren Karatengu wherever he goes, lest he reveals his secret schemes, one by one.

A mastermind like Ren Karatengu surely has a master plan. He possesses both the power and the calculative mind, he cannot be underestimated.

He might have already found that I am watching him…No, Karli, that is just your imagination…but still, a demon of his caliber can sense me easily, why does he act like it is no big deal? Does he perceive me to be unworthy of acknowledging my presence, even if he knows I am secretly following him? What a devious demon he is…

* * *

Today, master Karatengu is doing chores like the rest of the clan members. How strange, I thought for sure he was the type that makes others do the job while he does nothing. It seems like he is a hard worker too, then.

As Karli watched Ren work on the fields she noticed that the rake he was using did not look like the ones his clan members were using. After finishing his job, the rake morphed into shapeless black goo and then it was absorbed into Ren’s hand.

Darkness mana! He is a user of Darkness magic as well?! Darkness affinity is extremely rare, only one in a million demons possesses it. Don’t tell me he can actually use it and to such an extent…I underestimated him…

Karli made sure to follow Ren everywhere he went.

After a day of field work, he went to the bath, a large place within the mansion with heatable baths and fountains, the fatigued demons went there to relax.

Sneaking into the male demons’ bath, using a skill of concealment, Karli made sure to observe Ren Karatengu.

To think that his hornless body contains so much power…

She saw Ren fiddle around with oil, then end up dropping the large jar of oil into the bath, then try to take it out, with more oil spilling everywhere. By the time he was done, the entire jar was empty.

Then, out of nowhere, he tried to light a candle for aroma therapy effect, but the flame had the effect on the oil, triggering fire.

Fire was everywhere, on water, on walls, on floor, even the ceramics were on fire. Everyone ran as the bath became swallowed in flames.

He just set the entire bathing area on fire! Did he do that because he knew I was watching him? I was too careless…

It ended with Ren apologizing to Korgan and servants charged with repairing the baths, all while Korgan was staring at the scale of damage with mouth hanging wide open in horror.

* * *

Karli watched as the Tengu clan members were running away from fear from the plants that Ren apparently planted. Those plants have bloomed into gigantic carnivorous monstrosities and were now attacking anyone that passed near them.

Seriously? Master Karatengu planted these things? It must be a mistake…

Then she saw Ren approach them, the Tengu clan members were hiding behind his back while he was handling the plants.

“Didn’t I tell you already? Know your place!” Ren proceeded to punch each one of the heads of the carnivorous plants. Strangely none of them seemed to want to attack him, they just stared at him pitifully, almost apologetically.

“Papa is very disappointed in you! I told you it was ok to eat the vermin but the Tengu clan members are not food…” now the plants looked a little pitiful as he was lecturing them. “Papa is not mad, but make sure not to repeat it again, alright?” Apparently the carnivorous monster plants treated him as their Papa because he planted them in the first place.

He tamed them?! Those monster plants that tried to eat me alive every time I passed near them, and he tamed them just like that?! I suppose his authority is not limited to demons, huh…

After that she observed Ren keep digging the ground with a shovel.

For some reason he kept digging and digging. After watching him for a while Karli ended up dozing off.

“Young master! The holes had to be ten inches deep not ten meters!” one of the exasperated Tengu clan members pointed out.

From the sound of it, Karli ended up waking up.

“Oh, I see. My mistake. I ended up digging it so much that I pretty much made it to the other side.” The voice of Ren Karatengu resounded from the inside the tunnel which he dug out while she was sleeping.

Karli ended up seeing into the tunnel and was surprised at how deep it was and the fact that it covered quite a distance before exiting from the other side was mind baffling.

How long was I asleep for? Never mind that. Why would he need a tunnel? He couldn’t have dug it out by accident. Nothing he does is accidental…it is pretty dark in there, none would find anything if dropped in there. It could be perfect for getting rid of trash or corpses…don’t tell me…Those that don’t obey him will be disposed of here?!

Karli couldn’t help but gulp at the implications of Ren digging this gigantic tunnel that stretched into the depth of darkness.

* * *

“Master, in light of your relationship to my elder sister; may I please call you honorable elder brother?” Akjin Tang, younger brother of Akjan asked of Ren.

Elder brother? My relationship with Akjan, what could he mean…oh, right. She is more of a friend than a subordinate, so we are close. That must be it. I suppose him referring to me as elder brother is not a bad thing…

Ren shrugged and muttered.

“Fine by me, but no need for honorable part though. Elder brother is fine.”

“Really? Master, do you mean it?” the younger demon seemed to dazzled by Ren’s spirit.

“Of course!” Ren made thumbs up sign with his left hand.

“Then, as your little brother, how can I help you, master?”

“You can help me with my chores, I don’t think I can manage alone, so all help I can get would be nice.”

“You can count on me, elder brother!”

Since then, Akjin got very attached to Ren, whom he thought was his sister’s lover, all the while Ren was completely clueless why Akjin wanted to refer to him as elder brother in the first place.

* * *

“I may have gone too far” Sento Draco muttered as he was standing over Korkau Jou and Orin who were lying on the ground.

Both of them asked him, the Demon Lord, to train them to become more powerful. He was the Demon Lord of Draco clan of Dragon demons; he was without a doubt very strong.

As such, they had a sparring session to measure their strength. Turns out Gold rank demon is ridiculously strong to the point that Brass ranked Orin and Iron ranked Korkau were no match for him.

“Everything hurts.” Orin muttered.

“I knew Demon Lords were strong, but to this extent…” Korkau felt his entire body shudder in pain.

The sparring session was in a sense a one sided massacre.

None of their attacks phased Sento Draco, and his physical attacks were devastating.

If Sento was serious, he could have killed them.

To think Master managed to get someone as powerful as him to join his side as a subordinate. Just how did Master accomplish such a feat?

Korkau could only wonder at Ren Karatengu’s resourcefulness.

“Well, at least now I know where you two stand or are lying on the ground, whichever way works. And also, sorry, I went too far.” Sento put his hand on his face in embarrassment.

“LIKE HELL YOU DID!!!” both Korkau and Orin ended up shouting out loud as Sento nervously laughed.

“Well then, tomorrow your training can begin, for today, just take a rest, I will tell Young Master you guys are in no condition to work, don’t worry, I will take the blame.”

* * *

After extracting the oil from the herbs, Korgan and Ren were using it for Ren’s training in learning skill of Absorption.

“The oil has the property of drawing the mana towards your body, in a sense the oil takes the mana in the atmosphere and absorbs into your body like a sponge. Eventually, you will be able to do this by yourself without the aid of oil, once you develop a feel for it. After that it is a matter of controlling the mana that comes into your body.”

Ren smeared some oil on his left palm.

He felt the mana gathering into his palm. There was so much mana, it was overwhelming.

“When you have enough mana, stop the flow.”

“I can’t! I can’t stop the flow! I am feeling weird! I am gonna…” before Ren could finish, Korgan used a lightning magic to shock him.

Ren felt electricity move through his body, then he limply fell down.

“What the hell was that?”

“Lightning shock, a low level spell. I used it in order to expel the mana from within you. This is why my supervision is necessary, every time something goes wrong, I will use lightning shock on you to make you come back to normal.”

“So, does that mean you are going to use it every time I mess up?”

“Indeed. Do not worry, lightning shock is not deadly, after all it is a level 1 spell, but well…in the past demons did use this spell for torture...Anyways, this spell is the only way for you not to suffer deadly consequences while training! So let’s try again!”

“Right…” Ren buried his head in the soil.

Grandpa is going to electrocute me every time I mess up? Why did I agree to do this training?

Just like that, the training continued.