Chapter 6

I. Forest Encounters: The Demi-human Convoy

“Phew! How long does this trail even go? I haven’t tracked how much time has passed since we entered this forest. What do you think, Morgianna?”

“…”

Morgianna is as silent as ever. Sometimes I wonder what’s going on with her mind.

---

I estimated about four days have passed already since we have entered the Gargantua Forest*, not counting the days we have travelled through the vast plains outside the outskirts of the Demon Capital. On the way, we have passed around three to four towns? I’ve forgotten already since my mind had been clouded with so much thought of what lies within the Barren Canyons.

As we pass the towns, we spent the night and get enough rest as we tried to recharge our lost energy due to a long day of walk. Walking across the vast plains in the middle of the day was tiring too. Using rags we have brought with us, we tried to conceal our faces as much. Fabric from the royal palace won’t be much of help since it gathers much attention, especially when you pass rural towns like these. We stayed at the cheapest inn each town could offer, a night’s stay in a room for two. Of course we faked our identities as a wandering couple.

I’ve ordered Morgianna to sleep beside me. It will be trouble if she we’re to be accidentally caught sleeping at the couch and not beside me. It might arise confusion within the crowd and our identities might be revealed. But I think no one will tried to enter a private room at night unless there’s an order to assassinate me and we’ve been being watched all time long.

She had no issues with the order.

More like… At least please have one! I’m a male at my younger age and you’re an opposite sex with the same age as me. How could you try to be as calm as you are in this situation?

“Tell me if you’re really okay with this. This is really just an assurance, I’m not trying to take advantage of you as your master, okay?”

“…It is master’s orders. I can’t disobey.”

“You… You won’t try to strangle me while asleep or allure me with your powers like when we first met, right?”

“If I kill you, I will be killed too. Also don’t talk like you have no resistance against alluring curses and such.”

“Okay then, let’s sleep. Try to recover as much energy that you will need tomorrow. It will be a much longer distance unlike what we have covered today.”

After that, I dimmed the light and tried to fall asleep.

I was nearly half-asleep when I felt a grip within my left shoulder. I tried to face towards Morgianna. As the faint light of the moon passes through the window near the top right side of the bed, I could see her bright red face with traces of anxiety. She must have been embarrassed all time.

How could I not notice?

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything, nor leave, nor suddenly vanish.” –I gently patted her head and smiled.

We were both travelling at a young age, of course Morgianna will feel the uneasiness even though she had been assigned as my personal guard. Even though we are already almost two decades old, age bracket is still considered young age for the demons and to be travelling at a very young age is not really often unless you have a legal guardian.

It’s not like I will agree to sleep on the same bed with anyone who is assigned as my personal guard, nor sleep with any girl too. Also, I’m not talking about that sleeping with someone. Morgianna had been my personal slave since we we’re both young. Though we have a master-slave contract which sets certain rules within she could absolutely disobey, I’m not treating her much as a slave, but rather, one of my siblings. She tries to put up her walls, but I also tried to climb those. I really think sooner or later she will start opening up to me.

“There, there, you can now sleep, big brother is here.” –I continued to pat her head until she sleeps.

---

The morning after that we continued our journey. Several days passed as we continued to cross towns and fields, we finally reached the entrance to the Gargantua Forest.

“We could find a good place to rest in here. It might be a camp, or a huge tree, or a cave, or an abandoned house. Isn’t it exciting? Going on an adventure like this.” –I tried to joke on her.

Morgianna hadn’t talked for days since that night. I wondered if I have said something I shouldn’t, something that might have upset her. She usually talks if I’ve done something like that but this is the first time that she had kept quiet for too long. I wonder if she’s angry so I tried to lighten the mood.

“…”

She just stared at me blankly.

Playing poker faces now, huh? Don’t worry I’ll bother you so much that you will have no choice but to speak.

---

So going back to our current situation, it had been about four days since we have entered this forest. We have tried to minimize our resource consumption by finding streams of water, hunting wild boars, and picking up berries along the way. In some cases dire wolves pays us a visit, it will be free dinner too. Low tier creatures won’t bother even Morgianna, and moreover, won’t bother me.

I’ve been trying to speak casually with Morgianna but she’s as hard as stone. She eventually gives me casual answers but they’re just answers to quick questions. It really doesn’t feel like a conversation.

“We’ve kept waking and walking and kind of lost track of the days. No wonder they called this forest Gargantua.”

We’ve walked…

And walked,

And walked,

And walked.

We’ve walked until we finally reached a quite different part of the forest where most of the trees are more close to being nearly withered than being alive. I wondered if it’s the soil. I checked through the area and doesn’t find something wrong with the surroundings.

“Well these trees are new to me.” –I concluded as even though I’ve studied botany, I still don’t know all the species of trees within Mytherion.

“As much as I wanted to bring back a sample, in respect to this forest, I won’t. I’ll just leave it to the professionals.” –I added.

I’ve tried to examine the location more. The place was covered with the smell of dried leaves. I thought it might be fall season, but it’s not. Something must have triggered the withering of these trees. Also, I don’t know how much portion of the forest had been affected by this phenomena. I tried to lessen my distance with Morgianna because this might be caused by a mid-tier creature. Battling alone might cost us more resources than we could allot for the day.

“Morgianna! Be on guard!”

I sensed a sinister aura ahead, around estimated half to whole kilometer (10 Mytherion pans)

“Yes master. I sense it too.” –Morgianna answered me as she immediately closed her distance towards me. She have put on a serious expression, indicating that she might not be able to handle this alone.

“How’s your mastery of your Hearing* ability?”

“Not fully mastered, but if I try, I think could reach several pans.”

“Please try.”

Being in a master-slave relationship provided a wide range of functions. One is the so-called skill-assignment*: a function that provided allows a slave to learn three abilities which they could master. Based on Morgianna’s current expertise at the moment, I could only give her one. Upon the list of possible abilities I could bestow Morgianna, I’ve chosen the Hearing ability for a very silly purpose:

So I could use Morgianna to scout the position of the guards as I tried to make an escape route during my private lessons. I only recently discovered this ability could also be used for intel and spying puposes. I’d rather be careful on having Morgianna use this ability as much.

“What’s the situation?”

“It’s a group of Mandragoras, about four if I’m not wrong. It seems to have attacked travellers, only a few survivors left.”

The situation seemed worse than I have imagined. I never really expected the existence of a middle-tier creature here in this forest. We’ve been travelling for days inside and we have only encountered low-tier ones. I could only imagine we haven’t even got in the middle of the forest yet.

“What do you think is the best course of action, master?”

“Can you distinguish their race?”

“It is hard. I could only perceive their voices.”

“Tsk, the demi-humans.”

Prior to our journey, I’ve been scheduled with an appointment, an upcoming visit of some high-shots amongst the demi-humans. It seemed that there will be talks about creating ties with the demon race. It was a short notice a week before I decided on this. I just didn’t know when.

Demi-humans are being born from a relationship of a human and another race. A normal demi-human could be born from both normal parents but having parents with affinity to magic is different. Although a demi-human with completely normal parents could still be born with magic affinity, but the higher the magic affinity of the parents, the higher the chance is.

Of course this system hadn’t been saved from exploitation. Even though magic could be used to almost every practical usages, the most practical usage would be to ensign one on an army. Like the humans, demons have been gathering magic users too in preparation to the upcoming resume of the long-running human-demon war.

This convoy should be the group of demi-humans paying a visit at the demon capital.

This is bad. If we don’t act soon the convoy might get eliminated. But what could we do? I’m not confident with my combat skills yet.

The first to speak was Morgianna.

“My Master, we should get close for the meantime.”

“You are really helpful in situations like this. I’m glad I’ve chosen you as my personal guard.”

Morgianna’s face turned bright red again.

Tha—this is no time to get embarrassed you idiot!

“Ehem!, I think we shall proceed.”

We approached the area that Morgianna had pinpointed. It is an open area without any trees and is surrounded by mid-sized bush. The bushes are not that thick that it could not conceal us entirely but with the current situation before our eyes one would not notice us being there watching from the sides.

On the open area stood three mandragoras, three warriors and two children behind them. The warriors seemed to be personal guards escorting their convoy. But even with a professional guard, I really think beating mid-tier creatures is really hard. I praise them for surviving this long.

After giving another scan of the situation, I’ve been startled when I saw another girl being bound by the vines of one of the mandragoras.

“Dax! Sister! Help me…” –Said the girl in a lowering volume manner. She must be tired. The vines binding her went tighter as she tried to scream for help.

I have assessed the situation wrong. It was completely the other way around. What’s even graver in the situation they’re in right now is: They were not the ones being backed by the corner. It was an even battle from the beginning and they managed to push the creatures back to the corner. Casualties can’t be avoided on both ends. If a party is being pushed to the end of their ropes their survival instincts are being triggered. Of course they will be resorting to underhanded methods such as taking hostages. And this is what the current situation is.

The guards could only try to defend themselves because any single move might trigger their opponents and accidentally kill the hostage.

“My master, if you will order me, I could swiftly cut the vines binding the hostage. This could give the opposing party an opening and we could work on with the demi-humans to defeating the mandragoras.”

“Please wait a bit.” –I ordered Morgianna.

That was when I noticed something different on the air. Something within the boy behind the guards is about to change. It is something far sinister than the aura being emitted by the mandragoras before we approached the area. I tried to notice physical changes going on with him from the distance. I really couldn’t tell but it seemed like his right eye is emitting a dark glow: a sinister black glow.

“Master, that’s”

“Yes… That must’ve been it… Oi Oi Oi Esteemed Father, what have you been keeping from me? This is far from the rumours I’ve been hearing around the castle.”

Morgianna seemed to be cowering before the sight she’s seeing, but I’m not. It’s quite a different feeling from fear. Even me as a Maou, I’ve experienced fear before so I’m not indifferent to the feeling. But this feeling right now is the feeling of excitement. I’m too excited that I’m finally seeing something new and interesting after several days of journey.

“Don’t avert your eyes even for a second, Morgianna, you will now see the awakening of ‘The Patron’.”

That very moment the boy screamed.

“Let go of Mae!!!”

After that scream he vanished and appeared at the back of the mandragora binding the hostage girl while holding a dagger. Suddenly the vines binding the girl were cut to multiple pieces, freeing the girl. The girl ran towards the boy as he started to lose consciousness. She caught him, laid him down and looked up. The problem is still not solved. The mandragoras are still alive.

“Tsk, and here I thought it’s going to be a full awakening. Morgianna, it’s our time. Remember the battle basics that I have taught you.”

“Yes, master.”

As the two of us moved jumped out of the bushes, both the opposing parties are startled. This will be the very first real battle we’ll be encountering since we have started travelling. We didn’t considered battling with low-tier creatures one, so this will be the true first encounter.

“Don’t lose focus! That hostage girl has just been saved, don’t let this opening slip by! We will help you eliminate the remaining threats!”

As I declared it, the startled guards re-readied their stances and dashed towards the mandragoras.

“I’m going to give the signal! One of you guards, find a way to escort the boy and the girl away from the mandragoras. I’m going to use a large-scale spell so find the right timing to scatter! Morgianna help them intercept attacks within the boy and the girl.”

“Yes, master.”

The guards moved as I commanded. It might be adrenaline rush, but these are trained soldiers. They are not to obey sudden orders from strangers especially when they suddenly jump out of the blue offering a helping hand. They must have acted out of intuition and desperation to save the two in the middle.

Morgianna readied her short blade and dashed towards them.

I was not fond of memorizing incantations but it was one of the basics reciting a spell. At times my mother is the one teaching me long incantations but most of the basics I’ve took private tutorials from the greatest magic casters from the Demon Magic Academy*. Incantations could range from the simplest sentences to full-quartets* based on the scale of the spell. Basic magic which should be for daily practical usages only could still be chanted, but you could completely ignore the incantations if you repeatedly chant them daily. It could also be called as mastery.

Incantation contents depends on the element, origins, names of ancient magus, and up to the ancient places people nowadays consider as worship spots. There a lot of ways one could interpret an incantation but for me they’re just a pain in the ass.

I’m not really bragging but I’ve been practising on my own to cast spells without incantation. As much as I wanted to, I want to finish this battle fast but I could not. It might expose our identities and casting a spell with a larger scale and intensity than the spell I’ll be using might consume all of my mana and lessen the resources remaining. I don’t even know how much more time we will be spending in this forest.

Heed my call;

Oh sprite of endless flames;

Range of tallest mountains, fiercest of the volcanoes;

Flowing through vast fields, pillaging through villages;

Borius Vulcan;

Swallow everything on your path;

Mid-scale, circular, middle-tier target, focus on disintegration.

I looked at my surroundings and gave everyone a signal. The boy and the girl had been secured and moved out of the range. As I signalled the guards, they rushed outside as fast as they could. The ground emitted a circular light with Mytherion symbol and characters. I’ve waited for everyone to get out of the spell’s range. The mandragoras were confused of what’s happening. Good thing none of them chased after the guards. They must’ve been afraid of sudden counterattacks too.

Everything looks good, I’m sorry for this but please burn to the depths of hell.

“Lava pond.*”

The ground where the mandragoras started emitting heat and glowed. It was lava. Lava Pond* was a mid-tier spell which converts ground to blazing river of lava. High-tier creatures with fire resistances couldn’t even be bothered by this but with mandragoras, this is overkill. Mandragoras are plant-based creatures infused with demonic energy and casually attacks travelling carriages at forests. Naturally, fire is their weakness.

The mandragoras screamed in pain as their roots and vines started burning. The lava are gradually gobbling them up. The guards showed fear in their expressions as they looked upon the suffering mandragoras. The spell continued until the lava completely swallowed down the mandragoras. It left with a blazing train on the ground where one shouldn’t even try to walk onto.

I approached Morgianna who, by that time, is beside the hostaged girl and the boy. I don’t know much about demi-human appearances but it seemed like they’re on the same age bracket as me.

“Good thing we’ve driven away the creatures.” –I said as I looked at the boy who recently regained consciousness.

“You don’t say that when you actually let them get swallowed by your massive spell.” –Answered him.

“Well, who knows if they survived? At least they won’t try to bother us now.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re dead. Now tell us, what does someone like you doing in the middle of this forest? I thought you’re the type to sit back at your castle and just give a warm welcome to visitors.”

“Ugh… Seems like I can’t hide my identity any longer. Such keen eyes you have. Disguises doesn’t work.” –I answered as I removed the rag cover on my face.

“You bet… Now tell me, why is someone like you here, Fredericus Corralton Spence de Augustus, no, Current Maou?”

The guards were surprised, the two girls accompanying him too.