I woke up to the feeling of something soft bouncing up and down on my chest.

“Huh?”

I opened my eyes. Only to see Sir Tedsworth jumping on me.

“Oh… good morning Ted”

I said, as I got up.

“So… what’s going on?”

I asked, confused.

Sir Tedsworth replied by pointing at Charvina punching Jofre in the face.

“Oh… thanks Ted… here, let me help you down”

I said, as I picked Sir Tedsworth up and carefully put him on the ground.

“I’ll go see what this is about… go back to Lynn”

I said, as I pointed at Lynn who was watching in horror. Sir Tedsworth replied by saluting and ran back to Lynn.

I saluted back and ran to Charvina and Jofre, to see what the commotion was about.

“Hey! Hey! What the hell’s going on here!?”

I asked, angrily.

“This idiot had the bright idea of leaving, without supplies, a sense of direction or proper fucking equipment!”

Charvina shouted, as she punched Jofre again.

“H-hey! I just want to get home as quickly as I can!”

Jofre said in his defense, as he tried to dodge another one of Charvina’s punches.

“Hey! Florina, I need a little help here!”

I shouted, trying to get Florina to help me.

Florina replied, by laughing uncontrollably.

“Alright then, you’re no help whatsoever… guys! Just stop!”

I shouted, trying to calm the bickering companions.

“Why should we?”

Charvina asked, confused.

“Please! Stop her!”

Jofre shouted, fearfully.

“Y-you’re leaving a bad impression on Lynn…”

I said, using the only excuse that I could to hopefully stop Charvina from beating the crap out of Jofre.

“I-I… you’re right… Lynn, I’m sorry”

Charvina suddenly made a 180 and bowed towards Lynn and apologised.

“Hey! What about me?!”

Jofre asked offended.

“What about you!?”

Charvina asked, angrily. As she walked away.

“I’m going to get something to eat. Lynn, come with me. Let’s go hunting”

Lynn quickly followed Charivna. Sir Tedsworth, was un-animated in Lynn’s arms.

“Well… so, it’s just us four here”

I said awkwardly to Jofre, Florina and Bryan who just woke up.

“Yeah… so, what should we talk about?”

Jofre asked.

“What? Wait, where’d the beast one go?”

Bryan asked confused.

“Hey… Damien, got any stories? Maybe something exciting? Or, maybe the story of how you lost your hand”

Florina asked, completely ignoring the groggy, confused goblin.

“Well… I did fight off a small horde of fifty goblins with only Ouroboros and Gobuk here… that’s kind of how I lost the hand”

I said, patting Ouroboros’ and Gobuk’s heads. Gobuk flinched at the roughness of my wooden hand.

“Well, that’s kind of interesting”

Florina said with a smirk.

“Alright then, it was a night like any other”

I said, starting off the story.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Charvina, Lynn and Sir Tedsworth came back to camp to see Jofre fast asleep, Bryan carving some weird runes on random weapons and Florina listening intently to a story that Damien was telling.

“And, that’s how I ended up losing my hand but gaining Pochi here”

I said, with Pochi in my lap.

“It’s so cute…”

Florina said, with a bit of a crazed expression on her face, as she stared intently at the small golem.

“Uh… Florina?... you there bud? Hello?”

I asked, confused.

“Huh? Oh! Sorry… I kind of really like cute things… and Pochi makes me want to pinch it’s cheeks... but, I can’t. Damn stone!”

Florina said angrily as she punched the ground a bit.

Then, she saw Charvina and Lynn staring at her with wry smiles on their faces.

“I-uh… gah, damn it… what I would do for a drink at this moment…”

Florina said, with a slightly red face.

“You know that we heard you right? He he he, now we know your weakness… Lynn, animate Sir Tedsworth”

Charvina said with a sadistic smile.

“O-okay… [Animate]”

Lynn said, as she pointed her staff at Sir Tedsworth’s unconscious, tattered body. Awakening him instantly.

“Ted, hug Florina”

Charvina said, with a warm smile as she commanded Sir Tedsworth.

Sir Tedsworth naturally complied and hugged Florina with his body that had bits of stuffing hanging out.

“S-s-so-so… so cute! Kyaaaa!”

Florina screamed happily as she picked up Sir Tedsworth and hugged him.

Sir Tedsworth stared at Damien, as if he was pleading for him to save him.

‘Sorry buddy, but you’ve gotta take one for the team. I’ll make it up to you later’

I swore in my heart.

“So… we got some food”

Lynn said awkwardly, as she pulled an entire pack of dead wolves out of nowhere.

“W-what the hell was that!?”

I asked, confused.

“I-it was just the Space Magic: Inventory. E-every magician knows it”

Lynn said, with a shy expression.

“Okay… well, I don’t know it… and, I have a follow-up question… how do you… animate Ted?”

I asked.

“Well, I-I simply used the Animation Magic: Animate. I have a h-high affinity for it… it’s kind of useless… with only just that one spell. But, it does go up to 10 tiers… but, I’m only at the second one…”

Lynn said, sadly.

“Wait, Lynn… how old are you?”

I asked.

“I-I’m nine”

Lynn said.

“Then, aren’t you a genius? I mean, you’re already at the second level of ten, and at such a young age at that! You should be proud! Your age and already at the second tier, when did you become a mage?”

“W-when, I was eight”

Lynn said, slightly more proud and less self-conscious than before.

“Think about it Lynn, only a year and you’ve gotten two tiers down. Think about what tier you’ll be at when you’re fifteen! Maybe you’ll be tier five or six”

I said, with a smile on my face, even though. I didn't know if tier six was good.

“T-thank you Damien… now, I’m going to go wake my brother up for dinner”

Lynn said with a small smile as she ran to her brother and literally jumped on top of him, waking him up.

“Eh?”

Bryan, who was shocked at the sudden sound. Looked up, to see Damien looking at him.

“Hey, Byran what are you doing over there?”

I asked, curious.

“Oh, Damien. I’m actually enchanting these weapons with the rune of the Wolf, it gives it +1 Strength to the wielder… it gets better every level I gain… but, since I’m a level 1…”

Bryan said, awkwardly.

“Okay… how about this Bryan. I can help power-level you a bit… I need the experience myself”

I said.

“You know what, sure… what are we going to hunt first?”

Bryan asked, curious.

“Probably rabbits and wolves. Now, enchant this and let’s get going”

I said, as I grabbed two things, my scythe and a dagger that wasn’t covered in rust. I gave him the dagger that wasn’t covered in rust.

“Okay… [Enchant: Rune of the Wolf], done. Let’s go”

Bryan said, as he followed me out of the camp.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Bryan and I walked through the forest, slowly hunting the rabbits and wolves that plagued the area around us.

It wasn’t even an hour. And Bryan got his first level.

Then, his second.

Then his third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Finally fed up with his fast leveling speed, I asked him, why he was leveling so quickly.

“Well, weren’t you told by the system? Certain classes and races level faster or slower… depending on… well, certain classes or races… I’m a goblin non-combatant, so I level up a lot faster than average and the amount of experience I need is cut in half. But, on the other hand… you level slower than average and have double the amount of experience required”

Bryan said informatively.

“Wait, I have to get double the experience!? That’s bullshit!”

I shouted angrily.

“Not really, if you think about it. Demon-kin already live for a long time, and with the class of Demon King, you can basically learn everything… with enough time… so, the cons don’t necessarily outweigh the pros in this situation…”

Bryan said awkwardly, as he stabbed a wolf in the eye with his dagger, as I cut the other two into bits.

“Oh yeah, Bryan… I’ve been getting half the experience I usually get, since I got Ouroboros, do you know anything about it?”

I asked, curious.

“I believe the snake is getting half your experience, and in turn. You get half of its experience. It’s kind of like the law of equivalent exchange… I think… I wasn’t really a big anime fan”

Bryan said awkwardly, as he killed a rabbit. Leveling up to level six.

“So… had enough killing for a day?”

I asked.

“Yeah, let’s head back to camp. I’m getting hungry, and since we found all this meat. Why don’t we have a feast!”

Bryan said happily.

“That… that’s the best idea you’ve had all day! Let us return! To a feast!”

I shouted happily.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

We returned back to camp, Bryan was carrying a wolf and two rabbits, while I was carrying ten wolves and twelve rabbits.

“Alright then… I’m heading back out to get the rest, hey! Jofre, can you help me out?”

I asked, as I dropped the dead animals to the ground. Florina looked at the rabbits, then back at me. The back at the rabbits. Then, she gave me a death glare. I simply shrugged, and waited for Jofre to answer.

“Huh, me? Uh… yeah, sure”

Jofre said, as he ran to me.

“Alright then, come on Bryan. We have a couple dozen more, then we’re done”

I said, to the panting Bryan, who looked at me like I was some sort of demon king.

Oh, right. I am…

Moving on from that stupid forgetful thought I just had, we dragged the rest of the haul, most of which were rabbits, back to camp. Where I promptly got multiple messages.

“Hey… System, can you just stack the EXP altogether, just this once…”

I asked, politely.

Surprisingly, the System did.

5375

“Huh, I thought it’d be more… say, system… can you just use this one instead?”

I asked.

I shall.

“Hey… System… can you do the lottery thing...”

I said, awkwardly.

Rolling

‘Hmm, let me try something’

I thought.

“Oh man, I sure hope I don’t get something amazing, like excalibur or something”

I said, hoping I could trick the system, since I recently recalled it saying something on the lines of “If you say you don’t want something, there’s a chance you’ll get it”.

“Excalibur”

“Durandal”

“Lightsaber”

“Steel Cutlass”

“T-Virus x100”

“Railgun Materials”

What I ended up with was…

“18-pack of random alcohol”

‘Seriously!? But, I-I thought I’d get something great! And the system said that I could! What!? D-did it lie to me?’

I thought, confused. Until I felt something pounce on my back.

“Eh!?”

I exclaimed, confused, until I saw who my assailant was. It was Florina and she had a crazed look in her eyes..

“I-is that alcohol I smell? Oh, Damien. You seem to have been holding out… shame on you, as punishment, give it all to me”

Florina almost shouted, as she tried to snatch the 18-pack out of my hands.

“Hey! Stop it! I’ll give you some, just let me get up!”

I said, as I tried to get up.

Right as I said that, Florina became as submissive as a puppy with its favorite treat in front of it.

“Alright, here”

I said, as I tossed two cans to Florina, who caught them and ran away.

“Hey… uh, who wants some alcohol?”

I asked awkwardly, as I walked up to Charvina, Jofre, Lynn, and Bryan all sitting around the campfire, heating themselves up.

“Sure, I’ll have some…”

Charvina said, as she looked at the sixteen remaining cans.

“Sure, here you go”

I said, as I tossed one to her. And, when I did. The other three agreed, so I tossed another three. Leaving twelve left.

“Hey… uh, Ted… do you want one?”

I asked the Teddy bear that Lynn just animated.

Sir Tedsworth simply nodded. So, I gave the rest to him, since I didn't really want to drink at this particular moment.

0-0-0-0-0-0

A couple hours later, I watched Lynn snuggling up next to Jofre in her sleep, Charvina was completely passed out and Florina was chugging almost all of the remaining alcohol. And I saw Sir Tedsworth walk up and handed the last can of alcohol to me.

'God bless that fucking lottery'

I thought, as I took a sip and instantly started coughing.

"Oh... fuck... right, new body. New tolerance towards alcohol..."

I said, as I threw the can of alcohol to Florina, who caught it and chugged it in a single motion.

“Thanks Damien!”

Florina said with a huge grin.

“Well then… I’m gonna go do some strength training… wanna join me?”

I asked Sir Tedsworth and Florina.

“Sure why not”

Florina replied.

Ted simply nodded. But, he quickly de-animated.

‘Maybe next time little guy’

I thought, as I walked up to the tree that I usually punch.

“Uh… why are we at a tree?”

Florina asked, confused.

“To punch it, obviously…”

I said, as I started to punch the tree.

“Uh… why are you doing that? Don’t you have any weights?”

Florina asked.

“Weights… I… fuck, why didn't I just use that!?”

I asked myself, annoyed.

“Well… just gonna say, what you’re doing isn’t bad… just, not as efficient as the weight training, which mainly focuses on strength and… well, you wouldn’t get the endurance boost…”

Florina explained.

“Okay… now I have to make some weights…”

I said, with a tone that signified that I was frustrated.

“Oh, we can just get Jofre to do that, he might be a… is a complete idiot, but he knows a thing or two about crafting from his pa…”

Florina said, with a smile.

“Alright, I’ll ask him to do that tomorrow… but, I just want to know… why are you telling me this?”

I asked, confused.

“Well… you did save my life, and. More importantly, you gave me alcohol… so, yeah… you’re in my good books”

Florina smiled, again.

“Okay then, well. I’m going to sleep, what are you going to do?”

I asked.

“Eh, probably keep watch for a couple of hours, wake up Charvina when I want to sleep and… well, sleep”

Florina said awkwardly as she scratched her head.

“Alright then, you do that”

I said with a smile, as I pat her shoulder. Not noticing her blushed face.

“He he, okay, goodnight”

Florina said, as I walked up to my bed. And almost instantly fell asleep.

“Ah, right… [Status]”

I whispered.

STATUS

NAME: Damien Kruel

CLASS: Demon King

Skills: Lottery, Smash, Swordsmanship, Tame, Iron Fist, Stone Body

Spells [None]

LV: 9 (6175/64000)

SP: 0

STR: 60

AGI: 15

END: 50

PER: 30

INT: 22

WIS: 17

CHA: 34

LUC: -100

DEX: 20

WILL: 20

“It’s going to take ages to get to level ten…”

I whispered annoyed, as I fell asleep.

[---THE END---]