“So you are not a demon, are you?”

Beetle type demon muttered. Sitting in the same cell and not talking at all became unbearable, so he decided to break the silence with an awkwardly constructed question, hoping it would lead to a conversation.

“Do you think that everything that moves is a demon?”

The other occupant of the cell tersely replied.

“Well, obviously you are not a human, at least I don’t think so…Speaking of which, what are you?”

Sitting in the same prison cell, Orin was having a conversation with his fellow inmate, a man whose entire body was covered in stripes, it was clear that exactly half of his body was light the other half was dark, the stripes on his body seemed to be evenly spaced and covering every part of his being, except for the right hand.

Watching his superior trying to have an awkward conversation with their fellow prisoner, Toro could only sigh in disbelief.

‘How the hell did we end up in this place?’ Toro couldn’t help but think.

‘We just entered the first trial and what do you know? We get captured by humans and get placed in prison cells? What kind of luck do we have? And if I am not mistaken, they have anything but good intentions for us. If only young master was here….He would surely know what to do.’

It was as if their fortune was rotten from the start.

“I am a Darkling, plain and simple.”

“A what now?”

“Darkling. That is the name of my species. Don’t tell me you have never heard of it?”

“No, I never have. First time I am seeing one in fact.”

“I see. That is understandable. Even in human realm, Darklings are a very rare sight; I shouldn’t have expected it to be any different in demon realm.”

“What do you mean, human realm? Don’t tell me…you are not from the realm of Sulum, are you?”

Sulum was the realm where the Kalkan kingdom resided; it was different from Alem, the reality in which humanity resided.

More than nine hundred years ago, First Demon King and his Demon Lords, had liberated the demons from the land of Alem, transporting the demons along with the half of the human kingdom into the realm of Sulum, the transported land combined seamlessly with the land in the realm of Sulum, and later on, the Kalkan kingdom came to be.

Of course, travel between two realms of Alem and Sulum was possible through the usage of portals, but every time it happened, it usually led to conflicts.

Demons tried to keep on their side, while humans kept to their side at least that was mostly the case.

There were countless instances when humanity invaded Sulum to take back their stolen land, led by their gods, resulting in mass casualties on both sides.

It was partially due to this that the trial grounds for the Second Trial was a realm of Holy Water, gods have tried to use the sources of water to their advantage, essentially turning a huge amount of territory a death zone for demons.

Of course, demons were also to blame for the conflicts, just ten years ago; they tried to unsuccessfully invade the human realm, despite Akil Ras’s orders to desist. This even resulted in death of one of the collaborators, the Demon Lord of Draco clan, which naturally led to the decline of Draco clan, hence their current desperate state.

Still, some chose to travel between realms for personal reasons.

“No. I was born in Alem but I came here for reason of utmost importance.”

“Which would be?”

“To find the family, the clan I am part of. I did not have much luck with that. Before I could find anyone, I was captured and I have been held here for quite some time till now.”

“What are they going to do to us?”

“You guys are demons, so most likely they will perform a ritual to take your powers for themselves, I am not sure what they do to demons, though none of them came back to the cells.”

“I know well enough what they do. If that’s the case, we are goners…How long before they do the ritual?”

“Not sure, at most, a week, perhaps? It takes a while for them to organize everything necessary…”

“What about you? Why are they keeping you here? Wouldn’t they want your powers as well?”

“If it was that simple, they wouldn’t keep me here.”

“Why do they want you alive?”

“For my mana, it is extremely rare, as long as they can keep harvesting it, they will keep me alive but trapped here. That is the curse that comes with being a Darkling.”

“I see.”

Orin quickly wanted to change the topic, this was getting too depressing.

“So you are a member of one of the clans, huh? I though only demons were supposed to be members of clan, guess I was wrong…Still how come you don’t where the clan you belong to is? Were you abandoned or something?”

“No. To be completely honest, this is my first time visiting realm of Sulum. I lived most of my life in realm of Alem. The clan I am member of is a clan of my adopted father. You see, when I was a child, he found me and taught me how to survive, I spent two years with him, following his footsteps and learning anything he taught me.”

Doran smiled, thinking fondly of his memory.

“Before he left me, he told me that ‘In the world of Sulum, if you ever come across Karatengu clan, tell them your name and who I am, then they shall welcome you with open arms.’ It has been more than twenty years since then, but I have never seen father again after that.”

“Karatengu clan, you say?!” Orin’s shocked expression couldn’t be concealed, his four arms were chained up, but his hands were clenched into fists.

“Yes, my adopted father was a member of Karatengu clan”

“And your name is?”

“It’s Doran. Doran Tengu. My last name is one of the many things my adopted father has given me, to which I am most grateful for.”

“Tengu? Does that mean…What is the name of your adopted father?”

“His name is Ymit Karatengu; he is a crow type demon.”

‘No way! Boss’s father is this guy’s adopted father?! That can’t be true! Can it? I keep finding more and more things I don’t know about boss’s family!’

“Uhm, is something wrong? You are staring at me rather weirdly.”

Doran remarked, clueless of the reason for Orin’s stupefied expression.

“Sorry about that. But it seems you are in luck, we…” Orin gestured at Toro.

“…are members of Tengu clan, servants of our master who is the leader of Karatengu clan.”

“WHAT?” Doran could only mutter a single word.

It seems like in his uneventful and futile search for his clan, he found the members of the said clan in one of the most unexpected places.

The conversation that followed was a rather long one…both parties were far more eager to talk than before.