Chapter 5: What we put our life on the line for

A marvelous City opens up in front of, to my left a marketplace where all the commoners buy goods, to my right the housing area, a water well and a statue resembling a person I don’t know but who looks somewhat similar to Rize. in front of me a big-ass castle with 4 watchtowers, one at each corner of the castle.

this is the first city I've entered since coming to this world!

“So this is the weirdo?” (???)

what’s with this little snot taking me away from my appreciation of the beauty that is life!

“what’s with this little snot taking me away from my appreciation of the beauty that is life!” (Doraig)

“don’t call other people’s little sisters ‘little snot’” (Rize)

hey, don’t glare at me little girl, you called me weirdo didn’t you?

“Ahem, my name is Doraig, how are you called little twerp?” (Doraig)

“I'm called Clara, you big ass 4 legged lizardman” (Clara)

“Hah…” (Rize)

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mythic Dragon Doraig” (??)

Woah, old man, don’t pop out of nowhere!

“And you are?” (Doraig)

“I am Rize’s father, Yaksha” (Yaksha)

Yaksha? weird name.

“nice to meet you, Senior” (Doraig)

“The pleasure is mine, Doraig” (Yaksha)

and so here’s the question.

“Are we dating or something, Rize? why’d you bring me to meet your family” (Doraig)

“...Follow me to the castle” (Rize)

Uh... sure why not.

I follow Rize and his family to the castle, and then proceed to fly around to a window Rize points to me, because of course, I'm big, not fat, and don't fit into the castle’s door, and I stay put in place waiting for Rize to come and open the window.

On the other side of the window, there’s a big bedroom with a massive bed in which lays an emaciated old lady.

Rize is here, he opens the window and I get inside the castle.

“So why are we in your grandma’s chambers?” (Doraig)

“This is my mother, Lara” (Rize)

“Your mother? for an elf to look like that she must be around 600 years, but you don’t look older than 200 yourself, and there’s no way the snot is older than 50” (Doraig)

“She’s 511 years old, and there’s a reason why she looks like this” (Rize)

I tilt my head to express my confusion, and the timely answer arrives.

“She fell in love with my father, one of the 9 generals of hell” (Rize)

wait did he just say the 3 words ‘General of hell’? that sounds like an extremely big secret right there dude!

after gasping for breath due to my surprise, Rize proceeds with his tale.

“When they met, my father was in an infiltration mission to plot the assassination of the human Emperor of this continent, for which 500 years ago he put his soul in the body of a newborn elf, specifically, the son of their previous king”

“When he was 20 years old he attended a nobles’ party and met my mother, he then instantly fell in love with her but he was extremely devoted to the demon king and did not want to falter on his mission, which would have brought ruin to this continent and become the base of operations for the demon king to conquer this world and only after being in pain for another 20 years old did he finally succumb to love and begin to court her.”

“He succeeded in his attempt and 60 years later I was born. that same year my father turned his back on the demon king, taking the lead on a massive war which brought ruin to countless lives and created the Undead plains in the process”

“When he was 200 years old the demon king again attempted to strike the continent, this war again resulted in massive amounts of lives being thrown into oblivion, forever being neglected from entering the cycle of reincarnation. at that time my grandpa, the previous king, perished.”

“My father succeeded the throne, became the king and lead a final clash against the demons, resulting in our victory against them once more.”

“Unknowingly, the king-type that descended at that time put a curse on my mother, which triggered the moment my little sister was born.”

“Since then she has been weakening and is now on the verge of death, she will probably hold out for another 6 or 7 years at most”

“And the only way to save her is to kill one of the demon king’s general, the queen of specters, Rangda, in this way obtaining her mask which has the effect of protecting against all curses under the world”

“This is why I was at the Undead plains on that day, and why I was so happy to see a king make its appearance”

“So Doraig, I beg of you, please help me save my mother”

“...”

what should I say when you tell me all this, isn’t this an extremely big weight on your shoulders you want to share with me, man?

“I refuse” (Doraig)

“what?” (Rize)

don’t put that face man, this is a burden you should deal with on your own, but that said…

“but I won’t refuse if you want to tag along while I level up” (Doraig)

“I will! of course I will!” (Rize)

yes, this is how it should be, your problems are your own to solve, but a helping hand does not invalidate the efforts you’ve put into it so far.

“Now that we’re clear on that, let me ask you a few questions Rize” (Doraig)

“Yes, go ahead man” (Rize)

“Why do you and your sister look so young? you mentioned you’re around 400 hundred years old and your sister is much older than just 50 years, right?” (Doraig)

“Yes, that is because my father originally has the soul of a demonic general, which merged with his elven body and thus he, as well as we who are his kin, receive larger lifespans. all said and done you and me should have about equal lifespans” (Rize)

“And my other question is, why did you wait so long to hit the Undead plains area? there’s no way you should be only at the level you’re at” (Doraig)

“That’s because there are 2 restrictions put in place for a king to appear at a specific Area: the level restriction of the species attempting the zone, and the cooldown and revival time”

“This Undead plains is restricted to level 15 and if anyone above that level enters the king won't appear”

“Similarly, the king has an internal cooldown, that is to say, the king takes a set time to revive in hell so he can come and strike the zone he has been assigned”

“Before, I didn't level up because I was assigned the task of being the one to block the Undead plains from breaking its constraints when the king appears, but when the curse befell my mother I had no other choice but to give it a go, and while I was preparing to have the King show up, you showed up first” (Rize)

“I see, so that’s why you seemed weird when you were holding the sickle” (Doraig)

Hmm, that’s about all I want to know I think.

“Hmm? wait, why do you have the elven racial skill if your father granted you with part of his demon soul heritage?” (Doraig)

“Ahh, my sister got the demon’s one, I got the elven one, I think it was random” (Rize)

Hmm I see, I don’t really care what snot’s racial skill is, though, she’s not coming with us anyways.

“Well then, when are we setting off?” (Doraig)

“Let’s see, we have 2 months before the next demon zone can spawn a king, which should be doable at around level 15, so we can have a week of rest and then set off to the next zone ‘Hellhound lava zone’” (Rize)

“Hm, sounds good. then let the town’s people know I'm here so they don't freak out and stain the ground with weird matter” (Doraig)

“...Can’t you just rest quietly in the castle?” (Rize)

“No way in hell I will miss out on THIS much fun man!” (Doraig)

“...” (Rize)

And hopefully, I can find some booze to quench my thirst!

“I’ll see what I can do…” (Rize)

Woohoo!