"I am getting punished?" Ren screamed in protest."Yes you are, you left me alone at the market for Great Ones know how long and instead were hanging out in a city!" Aijasil made a valid claim. Technically Ren did disobey her orders so it was a fitting to be punished.
Aijasil gave Ren a dangerously sharp looking scythe. It was about two meters tall, with the blade being just as large. It was surprisingly light, almost as if the wood of the handle was hollow, while the most of the weight was concentrated on the blade. Of course this scythe seemed rather old and rusty.
"Your punishment is to cut down and kill any Jilan snakes you find within the harvest field" Aijasil said adamantly.
"Jilan Snakes?" Ren asked rather confused.
"Boss, they are Snake demons about your size with two tails and sharp fangs. I heard that there are some with three tails and two heads…"
"Enough information! Orin! How in the world am I supposed to get rid of those monsters?" Ren felt that the direct confrontation with those creatures meant certain death.
"Killing them is easy! They have very thin bodies, about as thick as a trunk of a tree! You can easily cut them down with that scythe, here I will show you!"
"Orin, this is Ren"s punishment, I forbid you from helping him" Aijasil said in a serious voice.
Orin backed off. "Sorry Boss, I can"t help. Please watch out for the fangs, the poison is not a joke."
"Yes, thank you for the word of confidence" Ren replied sarcastically. Basically he had to take care of the entire section of field starting from one river ending near the bridge. It was an area covering at least half a mile in length. It would take a team of demons a week to plough through all of the snakes and he has to do it alone. He was told that his probation would end as soon as he finished working on the field.
Ren grabbed the scythe. He clutched it in his left hand then lifted it up above his head. "d.a.m.n IT!" he screamed his frustration out while Aijasil made a satisfied smirk.
Faced with rather idiotic and rather life threatening task ahead of him, Ren could only guess what Master Korgan"s intentions could be. Asking Ren to cut down a large field filled with serpents? No kidding! Ren inwardly wondered whether Master Korgan wanted to get rid of him.
In reality, Korgan had the opposite intention. He was impressed with Ren being able to recruit a strong warrior for Tengu clan, so he thought that making Ren toughen his body under an excuse of a punishment was a great idea.
Ren raised the scythe and swung it hard. The scythe had a blade size of Ren"s leg, so with each swing he managed to cut one meter path in front of himself. He kept cutting and cutting. As long as he kept cutting the field without encountering any Jilan snakes, he should be ok. It was great that the harvest in fields was very tall, so that upon entering into the field, the plants reached higher than Ren"s height. He had to cut a path for himself to walk through.
Ren continued the same motion for about half an hour. Just as he thought that the talk about the Jilan Snakes was just a myth, his scythe managed to behead one. A head plummeted down. It landed near Ren"s feet causing Ren to jump back from surprise. Head looked like it belonged to an ordinary serpent, just ten times larger. It was lying there with its mouth open with four fangs clearly visible near a triple forked tongue. Head was almost as big as an average demon head, so then the body must be… Ren looked at a corpse behind the severed head.
The body was huge. With white scales and black spots. It was about the same height as Ren and it had two tails. The body itself didn"t seem to have lost its life completely; it was wiggling and thrashing everywhere. It continued to do so for a couple of minutes before finally dropping down. Ren didn"t dare approach it until it completely stopped moving. The head on the other hand stayed still after being cut off, with only indication of steadily dying being its eyes and tongue gradually losing motion.
Jilan Snake was dead. Ren secretly wished that it was the only Jilan Snake he was going to encounter.
Sadly, that was wishful thinking.
A sound of hissing became audible. Then two heads launched themselves to strike at Ren. One head was blue and the other was red. Both had opened their mouths full of sharp fangs, fully prepared to strike.
Ren barely managed to swing his scythe and managed to severe the blue head. The red head approached him. It was not giving up even after losing one of its head. He could see that the severed neck was hanging from the same body as the one that belonged to red headed one. A two headed Jilan snake. If the one headed snake was not terrifying enough, he just had to encounter a two headed one! Ren cursed his misfortune for bringing him one unpleasant surprise after another.
Ren felt intense fear in his heart. The fear however did not stop him. He knew if he didn"t swing the scythe he would be eaten by this gigantic snake.
Red head screamed in agony after it lost the blue head, but nevertheless chose to attack Ren. Ren closed his eyes and swung the scythe as fast as he could.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was successful and the body was just leaning against his leg, bleeding…
"Aaaah!" Ren screamed; a severed neck of the snake was touching his leg. His pants became soaked in blood. He looked at the body still slithering menacingly, but unable to bite him without its head.
At this moment, Ren realized that he was living his nightmare. Giant snakes. Why? Why? Does Master Korgan have some kind of sick sense of humor?
"Curse It!" Ren shouted out. No doubt every servant in Tengu household heard him, but they most likely are laughing about his unfortunate fate.
He kept cutting and cutting. The rate at which he kept encountering snakes kept increasing. It got so bad to the point that he was facing at least ten Jilan snakes. They all were slithering towards him.
Screaming like a madman he kept swinging his scythe.
Like gigantic pieces of dirty snow, the snake heads fell upon the ground with an audible sound of flesh hitting earth. The heads were still moving their jaws.
So many snakes, so many types… Three tailed, three headed, some even had one arm attached! They came in so many colors, some were even had dual colored scales.
"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" Ren practically lost it. Every time he swung the scythe he kept screaming "Die", his instincts for survival took over. He was raging like a psychopath with sole purpose of cutting down all of the snakes before they manage to eat him.
He was scared of Jilan snakes, that much was obvious. Yet, he was far more scared of being eaten. The priority of survival far exceeded the priority to being paralyzed with fear. As he kept cutting them down into pieces with mighty swings, Ren"s imagination proved to be too much to handle. There were at least a hundred Jilan snakes inhabiting the field, but in Ren"s mind there were couple thousand of them, all crawling towards him without any intention of stopping.
He could no longer trust his eyes to see the snakes for the blood from their bodies ended up slashed on him everywhere, including his face, preventing him from seeing Jilan snakes clearly.
Not wanting to be caught off guard, Ren kept swinging the scythe in direction of any sound he could hear. One might say he was going on a blind rampage, quite literally.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, a certain demon was being chased by members of the Kas family. The name of this demon was Akjan Tang. At the moment this demon was trying to escape her pursuers by hiding within the field.
"I must stay alive" thought stayed within her head. "I must survive long enough to partake in Selection!" Her sole motivation right now was to survive long enough to partic.i.p.ate in the Selection, and if she is fortunate enough she will have the chance to become the wielder of Demon King"s power.
Akjan was not trying to aim for power for selfish reasons, not exactly. She didn"t really have much of a choice. Her family, Tang clan, has been almost completely destroyed. The captured members were enslaved, and the ones that managed to escape from such places are always in high danger of being recaptured. Tang clan used to be one of the major families before the power holding families have deemed them too dangerous to exist. Under blame of treason and simultaneous attacks, the power holding families have killed strong warriors of Tang clan, while enslaving the weak ones. What awaited the survivors was an existence much like h.e.l.l under the thumb of the power holders.
As a slave, Akjan saw countless atrocities committed against her people. She herself was not spared from the abuse, bearing scars on her back as a reminder of the pain inflicted upon her and her people. She shuddered from the thought of being taken back and tortured. The voices of agony still haunted her at night. She herself has managed to escape Kas clan, who had subjugated her, two month before. Ever since then they have been sending a.s.sa.s.sins to take care of her. And now it seems like they have caught up to her. "I can"t go back, not like this!"
Without power nothing could be done. This is why she must partake in the Selection. It will give chance for her people to regain their freedom and take revenge upon the families that enslaved them. Akjan bore a rather strong hatred for Kas family, one of the instigators of Tang downfall.
Five distinct footsteps. Five Demons were coming after her. One of the footsteps sounded rather different. She could feel he was rather powerful. He must be their leader. Without a mistake, this energy signature, it"s him! Her fear had grasped her heart. The demon she feared above all is coming after her.
It was definitely Jar Kas!
Her fear was confirmed when Jar Kas proceeded to swoop down from above and throw silver arrows at her. The arrows managed to land at Akjan"s right leg and right shoulder. Just before she could enter the field in order to lose them, she was struck and a split second later one of Jar Kas"s subordinates slashed her diagonally through her front with a sharp sword.
With sharp pain coursing through her body she could no longer stand. She fell upon her back barely breathing. The fear mixed in with pain had incapacitated her body. She was trembling all over from fear of what would happen to her and how she was not able to save anyone.
Jar Kas is the firstborn son of the patriarch of Kas family, Saber Tooth demon household. He possessed many feline features, most notably his red and yellow fur that covered his muscular body. His appearance could be only be described in one word- fearsome. His fingers ended in razor sharp claws that looked like they could be used for piercing enemies rather than holding stuff. He was wearing boots that had three claws protruding for each foot. Jar Kas"s body was covered in horn-like protrusions that were shaped like small saber like teeth. His face was covered with upwards pointing small horns that made it look like he had side burns made of horns. As for the horns on his forehead, he had unusual amount of three horns. Each one pointed in different direction, right, upwards and left. His face was humanoid enough if not for the smile filled with razor sharp teeth. Long red hair only intensified the beast like aura he projected. Combined with a long spiky tail, he looked rather menacing. Trained since childhood, he has achieved power rank of Iron, one of the highest ranks possible to achieve for a demon. He was extremely strong.
His subordinates were not far behind either. They were most likely at least Stone rank or higher.
Akjan herself was a Bra.s.s rank, so she could usually put up at least some resistance, but in her current condition it wasn"t possible.
She was bleeding from her chest, leg, and shoulder. The pain was paralyzing, but she tried to force herself to stand up.
"On your knees, lowly demon!" one of Jar Kas"s subordinates kicked Akjan"s back making her unable to stand up. She fell upon her knees, barely able to stabilize herself by holding on to the ground with her hands.
Then, Jar Kas personally approached her. He grabbed her by the chin with his left hand and made her face him. "Well, well, well, what do you know? It seems like your days of hiding are over. Isn"t that right?" He beckoned to his subordinates.
All of them laughed out loud. One of them said "Master, too bad we have to bring her alive!"
"Not to worry, father said to bring her alive, not unhurt." Jar Kas was viciously smiling. His subordinates understood the idea. Look of intrigue came over their eyes. As long as they kept her alive they could do whatever they want to her.
Jar Kas ordered two of his subordinates to hold Akjan in place. She struggled, but it was futile, both of them overwhelmed her in terms of strength. He, the man of her nightmares, was going to torture her.
Jar Kas took a sword from his waist and faced towards Akjan while facing the field with his back. "I wonder if you are still going to be a demon after I cut your horns off?" He smiled rather s.a.d.i.s.tically. He fully intended to do this to her in order to both deprive her of remaining power and humiliate her for eternity. Once the demon loses his or her horns, demon loses his or her abilities and status. It is considered an ultimate punishment. A humiliation above all. Many demons preferred death over living without their horns. His intention was clear- to break her sprit.
Jar Kas raised his sword up in the air.
Akjan screamed "NO!"
"DIE!"
A sound of metal striking flesh echoed through the field.
A demon fell down after being struck.
Blood spilled everywhere.
Akjan watched in astonishment how Jar Kas, who was trying to cut off her horns, fell face forward on the ground. The voice that screamed "DIE!" did not come from Jar Kas, but from behind him. Someone cut him down, but who could it be?
As if to answer her question, a young man emerged from the fields. Before he fully came out of there he was hidden by the tall gra.s.s. Now he was there for all eyes to see.
The man looked positively b.l.o.o.d.y. He was wearing what was left of a shirt, long pants and boots. His shirt was missing right sleeve, looking like it was torn off at some point. He was holding a sharp scythe in his right arm. The most visible thing however was the fact that he was covered from head to toe in blood. His scythe was dripping with fresh blood. His face could not be completely seen.
His look reminded Jar Kas"s subordinates of the creature from their nightmares. With each step he took towards them the terror they felt within their hearts increased. It was as if the death himself has descended upon earth and was looking forward to cutting all of them down.
From his appearance they believed he was the b.l.o.o.d.y death himself. He was there to kill them all. Despite their strength, Jar Kas"s subordinates feared death more than anything else. Having an image of Red monstrosity bearing a scythe was too much to take.
"I WILL CUT DOWN EVERY SINGLE SNAKE!" the red monster shouted. "INTO BITE SIZED SLICES!"
The four subordinates instinctively thought that he was referring to them as snakes. When he raised the scythe above his head, they lost their composure. He was going to kill them all. He already killed their master, and now he was going to reap them all! The difference in power was too obvious, they will not survive!
Unable to accept their upcoming demise, the subordinates ran for their lives while leaving Akjan on the ground.
She tried her best to look at her savior. What she saw astounded her. He was wiping blood off his eyes and face. Young man"s clear face started being visible. He was no monster. He was a human. No there can"t be a human in this territory. Then who is he? Why did he save her? Her eyes started to involuntarily close, she lost too much blood, and her consciousness was slipping away. The last thing she saw before pa.s.sing out was young man"s handsome face shining with confidence.
At least that"s what she thought she saw. In reality he was laughing nervously about the fact that he had to cut through more than hundreds of Jilan snakes without stopping. And now when he thought he was finally done, he spotted a large back. He thought that there was another Jilan snake left, which is why he screamed "DIE" when he struck it. When he struck the body, blood ended up splashing on his face. He could hear other movements, so he readied his scythe for striking while shouting out his battle cry.
When he finally wiped the blood off his face, he saw two bodies lying on the ground.
"Oh no, what have I done?" Ren screamed in his mind. Two bodies lay on the ground; no doubt he was the cause of it. "How in the world did I end up killing two people? It wasn"t intentional, I can explain…"
A grunted sound of heavy breathing followed by shivering came from the body with white hair. The other body that looked like it belonged to a giant cat covered in spikes lay motionless. At least one of them is alive, thanks goodness!
Ren approached the white haired demon. Ren a.s.sumed the demon was male due to his clothing which consisted of pants, shirt, and cloak, all greyish white without any patterns or decorations. Unlike Aijasyl, whose maid dress made it obvious what her gender was, Akjan wore clothing that she stole from the inhabitant demons within the area. Ren didn"t know this so he a.s.sumed she was a male. Blood was leaking from white haired demon"s body. Broken arrow heads were stuck to the right leg and shoulder, not to mention a gigantic slash on the chest area.
Ren wondered how on earth this guy was still breathing. Ren removed the arrow heads and tore of parts of his own shredded shirt in order to make some bandages for the white haired demon.
"What a pain, now I have to request a new cloak and a shirt, but to be fair Jilan Snakes destroyed almost all the clothing I was wearing." Steadily he applied the bandages upon the demon"s wounded body. White demon didn"t seem to notice as he slept on with mild discomfort showing upon his face when Ren was trying to put the bandages. "Not the most sanitary method, but it has to do for now" Ren thought, he didn"t really have much of a choice or this demon would perish in no time!
The white demon lay on his stomach, so Ren had to flip him over. What he saw surprised him.
An armor concealed under the clothing. It was metallic in color, almost like silver, but greyer in color. It covered the upper chest area. The mark of the sword had made its mark in the armor while leaving the demon mostly unharmed. Of course a mark of a sword was visible under the chest area not covered by the armor, but it seems like it already started regenerating for it was not bleeding, just looking like a slash mark.
In order not to risk the slash mark opening up, Ren used the clothing that he tore off from white demon as make shift bandage for the body. He took some time for him to tie it properly around the body.
While he was doing this Ren noticed that white demon possessed some interesting features. For starters all of his hair on his head was completely white, cut in a short fashion. His face was, in Ren"s opinion, rather handsome, which Ren admitted he was slightly jealous of. Also, all of the body of white demon was covered in dark spots on the otherwise completely white body. He possessed two horns that looked rather unusual for they didn"t look natural; they resembled sharp white crystals rather than anything organic. Yet, that wasn"t the weirdest part. While he was bandaging her, something soft was touching his stomach area. Ren was almost alarmed that another Jilan snake sneaked up upon him, but then he realized that it was a tail. A fluffy, white tail coming from the demon he was treating. The tail seemed to have a mind of its own. While Ren had body contact with white demon, the tail was furiously rubbing itself against him. "This is too weird!" Ren exclaimed. Who would have thought he would end up in such a situation! This was rather unusual.
Now that he finished bandaging the patient, Ren stood up and gazed at the two demons lying in front of him. The large cat demon was already dead; nothing could be done about him now.
Then, he glanced at the white demon whose tail was swiveling around almost as if it was looking for company.
"I already saw demons that have tails, it"s not unusual, not unusual" Ren tried to convince himself to no avail. No matter how much he ignored it, it looked too hilarious, leading him to chuckle.
After he finished thinking how the tail resembled a furry eel, Ren was about to leave. But looking back, with two bodies lying there, one dead, and the other barely clinging to life, he couldn"t bring himself to abandon the white demon.
So, he proceeded to lift up the white demon and put him on his back. White demon was slightly taller than Ren, so he had some trouble adjusting him on his back before he got it just right. He used both hands as a stabilizer while holding the handle of the scythe behind him in order to prevent white demon from falling down.
White demon was unconsciously holding on to his back. Ren thought that under any other circ.u.mstance having a guy sitting on your back would be just plain weird.
"I think I will just carry him to Karatengu household until he recovers" Ren thought, as he was walking back from the field, carrying an injured demon on his back. "I will just keep quiet about the corpse lying in the field, curse it! I should have buried him before I left!" Ren exclaimed, realizing his mistake.
"Well at least you"re still alive" Ren said to his unconscious companion. While Ren was carrying him white demon"s head almost seemed to nod in agreement. Surprisingly, he was rather light; Ren was surprised to discover that despite being a little taller, white demon was surprisingly light weight. In truth Akjan was very emaciated from having limited food while on the run.
The three suns were going down, one after another. The horizon looked unusually greenish orange in appearance before finally becoming crimson sky. It was a regular occurrence within Kizilalem, due to the fact that in this world there were three suns and three moons, the morning light and sunset were quite different.
Ren kept walking while the demon on his back slept on. He walked almost three fourth of the way when he noticed movement on his back.
Akjan felt like she was walking, but her legs were not touching the ground. "Weird, am I floating?" she could clearly see the ground, but her legs were not touching it. The last thing she remembered was Jar Kas trying to cut off her horns and someone coming with a scythe. "No way…" She hesitantly touched her forehead with her left hand. The horns were still there. She sighed in relief.
When she looked in front of her, she realized that she was on someone"s back, leaning against him with her chest. Black hair, shirtless, and when she looked back she saw a scythe that was used as a make shift cushion for her while he carried her.
Did he capture her? Was he going to kill her? Or worse, bring her back to Kas family? This can"t be happening! I will not go back there!
"Let me go!" Akjan shouted from behind Ren.
"Oh, you"re finally awake; I was starting to get worried that you might have been out for good" Ren replied with a cheerful demeanor.
"Where are you taking me? I wouldn"t let you enslave me!" Akjan was trying to get herself off of Ren"s back, but she was too weak, so she ended up collapsing on his back. She realized she was helpless; the injuries she sustained on her body were rather serious. The arrows have hit locations on her body that were responsible for building up and absorbing energy, not to mention the slash that damaged her lower abdomen. If it wasn"t for her armor she would be dead by now.
"Enslave you? Do I really seem like the type to do that?" Ren asked, rather confused. "I am just bringing you to the household until you heal; once you recover you are free to go."
Akjan noticed bandages on her body, leg, and shoulder. "He was trying to help me" she thought which surprised her. No demon before outside of her clan members ever been kind to her, all of them tried to subjugate her. He clearly was different from them, somehow.
This surprising kindness of this fellow made Akjan to think of him as some sort of strange creature capable of kindness. Yet, she was rather suspicious of this fellow; none does anything without a dark motive.
Yet, he clearly meant her no harm. He even said that she is free to go after she recovers, what could be his intentions? If he wanted to kill her, he could have done it when she was unconscious. Instead, he chose to tend her wounds and carry her to a place to recover in. She wasn"t sure if he wanted to enslave and torture her like Kas family would, from the tone of his voice he didn"t seem like the type to do such a thing.
"Why are you doing this?" she cautiously asked, wanting him to reveal his true intentions. She couldn"t honestly believe that any demon would do anything without ulterior motive. Her past experience with Kas clan made her all too aware of the cruelty demons could pose for one another.
"Well, it was my fault you got injured in the first place and also I couldn"t leave a fellow demon alone while he was injured, right?" Ren tried to make sure white demon did not get angry at him for almost killing him with a scythe. Ren a.s.sumed it was his fault that white demon was injured while the large horned demon was dead. In reality he only caused the death of the latter one, while he accidently saved the former one.
"Your fault?" Akjan asked in confused tone.
"Yeah, you friend, the one with red and yellow fur and three horns, I may have accidently killed him and injured you, sorry" Ren tried his best not to sound insensitive, but his remark sounded way too blunt, which he reflected to himself as "Oh, I could have phrased it better!"
Red and yellow fur and three horns? It can"t be! Jar Kas was dead? Akjan was struck by the realization. She could now clearly remember the b.l.o.o.d.y reaper with a scythe coming out of the gra.s.sy field while Jar Kas lay there dead after being struck.
"It was…It was you?!" She asked him in an unusually hesitant tone.
"Yeah, my sincere apologies" Ren said so nonchalantly.
"He rescued me" Akjan thought in her heart. That b.l.o.o.d.y reaper was him. The one who bravely came to her rescue, when she thought all hope was lost, was him. And now she was lying on his back.
With this realization, Akjan blushed deeply, made completely visible from her pearl white skin.
"Don"t worry about him, he was my enemy" Akjan said while trying to contain her embarra.s.sment of being carried on the back of her rescuer.
"Ah, is that so? Then I have one less explanation to make." Ren was secretly worried about what he was going to tell Aijasyl and Master Korgan about the corpse of a demon that lay on the border of the field. Now he had an excuse to omit telling about it.
Knowing that he rescued her, Akjan couldn"t help tightly to his back.
"Thank You" she whispered.
"Ok" Ren said while feeling slightly weirded out. He had no idea what relationship the dead demon had with this guy, but it definitely was not good. Also, the fact that he had a guy pa.s.sionately holding on to his back made the situation even weirder.
Ren tried to diffuse the strange atmosphere that he felt by starting a chat.
"My name is Ren. Ren Tengu. What is yours?"
Akjan hesitated for a minute before answering. A Tengu, that means he is a servant of Karatengu household. Akjan didn"t know much about the Karatengu family other than the fact that it was steadily declining due to lack of successor.
"Akjan. Akjan Tang" at the moment she felt it would be safe to tell him her real name. Karatengu family was one of few families that did not a.s.sault the Tang family and therefore were not responsible for injustices committed against Tang family. She had neutral opinion of the family as household that wouldn"t interfere due to lack of power. Who would have thought a servant of that household, out of all demons in Kalkan, would come to her rescue. She didn"t expect this turn of events.
"A weird name for a dude." Ren replied.
Akjan"s mouth dropped in shock. "Does he think I am a male?" she chose to keep up the charade. If others think she is a male, they would be less likely to try to attack her.
"Indeed" she said while cringing. Her rescuer thinks she is a male. She was crying tears in her mind. She felt rather bitter in her heart about the fact.
"Well, names aside, why were you and that dead demon there in the first place? After all, this is Karatengu territory"
"He was after me, I was trying to elude them, and as you can see unsuccessfully" Akjan said in a rather sad tone.
"Then if it is not too much of a bother to ask, why would he, wait them? There were more demons there? I thought it was just the two of you?" Ren exclaimed in a bashful fashion.
"The others fled after seeing you, you looked rather terrifying" Akjan admitted.
"Well, at least they weren"t trying to murder me." Ren said with a goofy grin. His previous experience with other demons outside Karatengu territory almost ended with him getting murdered. Now he could only feel fortunate that he was alive.
Akjan was rather baffled how he could say such a thing with a smile on his face. He really is an odd one.
"Back to my question, do they have a grudge against you or something?" Ren asked.
"Ren, have you heard of Tang family?" Akjan asked after a short pause. She clearly was hesitant to talk, yet she wanted to say it, at least to someone who would hear her out.
"I have not, but I am not very informed, to be completely honest" Ren admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.
Akjan clutched tighter against Ren"s back. She was at her weakest, emotionally and physically, so she needed something or rather someone to lean upon.
"There is a reason, you know, for this" She said in a sad tone. Ren could feel that the demon sitting on his back was crying from short panting breaths and shuddering. He didn"t intend to make the dude cry, this was getting too awkward.
"You do know you don"t need to tell me if you don"t want to, right?"
Akjan, seemingly not hearing what he said, said while crying. "Tang… clan… my… family… They were… enslaved… by the Ruling families" she said the last part with huge amount of malice and hatred. Nothing could describe her emotion towards the Ruling families that destroyed her clan other than pure hatred.
Ren got the simple idea of Akjan"s situation. Apparently clans fought against each other and the winners always purged the strong while enslaving the weak members of the losing clans. Apparently that was the fate of the Tang clan.
"Enslaved? Don"t tell me they enslaved you as well?" Ren asked.
"Yes" Akjan said with a sad nod. That was the sad truth of her situation.
"So the other demons were from household that wanted to recapture you?" Ren asked. He was rationalizing everything without being too emotional about it, but he understood that Akjan was in pain, both physical and emotional.
"That is the case, unfortunately. They found me out far sooner than I expected." Akjan was feeling more and more depressed in her heart. After all, now they will be hunting for her more intensely now that Jar Kas has been killed. None will protect her; she has nowhere left to hide, and nowhere left to go.
"Where are you going to go?" Ren asked.
"I don"t know, I just have to last long enough for the Selection" Akjan gave a half-hearted reply.
"Selection?" Ren asked in a rather confused tone. Invisible question mark seemed to appear on top of his head. Akjan looked at his puzzled expression with a look of disbelief of her own.
"Selection of the new Demon King, don"t tell me you have not heard of it?" Akjan was rather surprised that he knew so little of this world, almost as if he is not a demon. The thought made her extend her left arm towards Ren"s forehead and feel for horns.
No horns, just a smooth forehead. She was alarmed.
"Are you…"
"Not a human" Ren gave a sharp reply. Experience with Orin has taught him not to appear like a human to a demon or it might end fatally.
"But you don"t have horns and…"
"I am a late bloomer, ok?" Ren said in an exasperated voice.
"Yes, I believe you" Akjan replied with a smile on her face.
"Believing someone you just met, aren"t you the unusual one, Akjan?" Ren said with a chuckle.
"If I am unusual, then what does it make you?" Akjan replied.
Both of them laughed. Indeed, it seems they had a lot of similarities, Akjan noted. What a strange big world it is, to meet someone like him.
As they talked, Ren kept walking, and by the end of the conversation they were already at the gates of the Karatengu mansion.
"Ren, you"re back!" Aijasyl approached them from inside the house.
"Boss, you"re safe!" Orin ran towards Ren at full speed while carrying stacks of hay in each of his four hands, apparently he was tasked with taking care of livestock.
Both of them approached Ren. They didn"t realize from the distance, but as they came closer they realized he was carrying someone on his back.
"Hey guys!"
"Ren, who is this?" Aijasyl asked. Her tone was more professional than what she usually used around him.
"Someone who needs help, if it is ok? This guy is injured." Ren mumbled in an unusually humble tone. He was afraid to get Aijasyl, his so called mentor (despite being close to his age), angry at him.
"Master Korgan"s policy is to help any demon in need as long it does not jeopardize the safety of the household" Aijasyl gave a surprising reply.
"Thank you very much" Ren and Akjan said simultaneously. Aijasyl was somewhat unsettled about the fact that both had the same expression of blank face as they said that. Was she imagining it, or are they alike in some manners?
"So how were the Jilan snakes?" Orin nonchalantly asked.
Ren"s face contorted in an expression of pure fear as he turned his head to his side to look at Orin"s face. Orin was rather shocked to see Ren look so scared. His eyes for a moment seemed dead while opening as wide as they could.
"Jilan snakes, so many of them, everywhere…" Ren gulped. He was shaking while drifting off to his nightmare realm. So many Jilan snakes, entire world made of giant Jilan snakes, his mind could only capture the horror made possible by his overreacting imagination.
"Boss, maybe we should drop the topic" Orin said out of consideration to Ren who seemed to be somewhat traumatized by the experience. At a mere mention of Jilan snakes, he was trembling uncontrollably with a sad expression of pure horror on his face.
"Yeah" Ren said hesitantly. "Besides, can I get a room ready, I do have a patient on my back" He mentioned Akjan who seemed very injured, but otherwise seemed a little too comfortable on Ren"s back.
"Follow me" Aijasyl beckoned. Ren just followed.
There indeed was a spare room with a bed. Ren put Akjan down.
Aijasyl brought ointments, bandages, and medicine. She took off the emergency bandages from Akjan"s body. When looking at them, she sighed. "Ren, are these by any chance your clothes?"
"He he, sorry" Ren apologized.
"Well, I did expect you to have your clothes damaged after a scuffle with Jilan snakes" Aijasyl noted, but she did hope in vain that he would treat his clothing that had the proud emblem of Tengu with more respect. "At least you made a good use of them" She cleaned Akjan"s wounds. The skin was smooth, almost like it belonged to a…
… woman.
Ren told her that the patient"s name was Akjan Tang. A pretty name for a lady Aijasyl remarked. She took off the old bandages, cleaned the wounds, applied ointment, and put on new bandages on Akjan. Then she gave Akjan special medicine.
Afterwards, Ren and Akjan were chatting among each other to their hearts content. Aijasyl sighed. Previously, Ren referred to Akjan as a male, but doesn"t he realize the truth? Is he really that ignorant? But, considering how clueless he is about everything, which probably is the case.
Aijasyl thought to herself. Is he pretending to be clueless, or is it really his nature. Master Korgan said to watch out for him. She interpreted it as if she sees anything suspicious about him that might harm the Tengu clan, she must eliminate him. It didn"t help that his appearance was exactly that of a human being, even though the tests have confirmed otherwise. Aijasyl couldn"t shake off the feeling of hatred in her heart towards him. Even when she pretended to talk nicely to him, she couldn"t help but feel that she is near a human being. Her natural enemy. The ones who have taken away everything from her.
When she blinked an image of her past burned into her memory resurfaced.
Herself, at a young age, running from human beings who have raided her village. They were likely allies of the Pishak Priests. They attacked out of nowhere; everyone was caught by surprise and was unable to defend themselves. Many demons were ma.s.sacred, each one was stabbed and had their hearts torn out, literally. She remembered the moment her parents tried to protect her, they were overwhelmed by sheer number of humans who proceeded to hold them down while their leader proceeded to butcher them. Before being captured, her parents managed to hide her from human"s sight. She hid herself behind one of the pillars of the building and was forced to watch how everyone she knew, her relatives, parents, siblings, friends, and fellow demons were brutally executed one by one. After harvesting organs of demons, human beings retreated. Once she went out of her hiding s.p.a.ce she saw a scene that she could never forget.
Mutilated corpses lay everywhere. Ground covered in so much blood that one could think the world could be painted in it. Bodies that once held life in them now have become lifeless, severed from reality.
Bodies of her parents; her demon father and human mother. Her older siblings. All of their bodies ripped open, some missing their eyes.
Once her mind comprehended what she saw, she could only scream.
Aijasyl opened her eyes. Ren was fooling around with the patient while Orin was cheering him on. "They sure seem to be having fun" Aijasyl thought.
She felt out of place. She could only feel malice for someone who resembled human being so much, "How can those two feel at ease with him?"
For the last month, since Ren"s arrival, Aijasyl tried her best to see him as a fellow demon, instead of a human being he so eerily resembles. She even grew to care for his safety. But during this day, the anniversary of her family"s death, she could not overlook his human-like appearance that reminded her so much of the ones she dreaded.
Before her emotions took hold of her, she rushed out of the room into the courtyard. This place in the courtyard was made specifically for training. Right now she needed to relieve her anger.
Gigantic boulders burst out of the ground standing like walls between Aijasyl and the other end. This place was designed as break in entrance. The one who wants to enter has to break through the boulder walls in order to go forward.
With her intense anger, Aijasyl summoned black flame with a shout "Kara Ot!"
The flame encircled her fingers and shifted along her hand like a gauntlet. This was a special flame that had ma.s.s not just reacting air, so it had weight and was tangible. It was also hard to control, in a sense it was concentrated black flame. Due to being hard to control she could only make a flame that covered her forearm. Yet, that was enough.
Her calm expression was replaced by an expression of pure malice. She charged ahead at the boulder walls, slamming black flame gauntlet on her right hand upon them. The boulder walls were immediately cracked and shattered upon impact.
She screamed away her frustration while imaging the boulder walls as Pishak Priests. With each broken boulder wall she felt as if she was killing one of them. She destroyed thirteen boulder walls, now there was only one left.
Her right hand was bleeding from many impacts with boulder walls, but she didn"t care. She wanted relief that she couldn"t get for her anger that she wasn"t able to get ever since Ren has shown up.
She ran towards the last boulder wall. Suddenly, the image of Pishak Priests was replaced by image of Ren smiling.
The condensed black flame gauntlet around Aijasyl"s right hand suddenly lost its density and evaporated while her hand lost its will to kill. Instead of punching the boulder wall she ended up just tapping it.
"Why can"t I crush it while thinking of him? Why? Why? Why?" Tears started streaming from her face. She touched her face; face unlike any other demons, a human-like face, the face she began secretly to hate. Her family has been killed because the head of the family, her father fell in love with a human, and human beings thought to purge them for it. Because of her half-human heritage every single demon spited her or attempted to kill her. She spent a while running for her life, not knowing what awaited her. Until she was finally accepted into the Tengu household by Master Korgan. He told her "As long as there a drop of demon blood in your veins you shall be protected in my territory." He gave her a shelter, a place she could call home.
Now a human face has invaded her sanctuary.
Why couldn"t she hate him, she could not understand. She should feel no sympathy for him; she should want to give him what humanity gave her people, a painful death. Yet, in the end she could not muster true hate while thinking of his face.
On this day, the anniversary of their deaths, all the suppressed emotions came crashing down. She leaned with her forehead against the boulder wall while crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
When she turned around she saw Ren silently watching her with an expression of disbelief mixed in with tinge of fear.
"Aijasyl, I…"
She put her hands to her face and ran off without giving him a chance to finish. She ran into the mansion and slammed the door behind her.
"What"s with her?" Ren mumbled.
"Funny you should ask" a voice behind him said.
Ren jumped up in place. The voice surprised him.
"Master Korgan!" he made a little bow with his head.
"No need for formalities kiddo." An elderly demon missing right arm said in a calm tone.
"Anyways, why is she acting like this? Could it be she is angry at me for bringing in an injured demon?" Ren asked puzzled.
"Jumping straight to the point, huh, very well then" Master Korgan sighed. "Be at ease, her current state is not your fault, at least not directly"
"What do you mean?" Ren was now even more confused with how the flow of conversation went.
"Today is the anniversary of her family"s death. The day they were killed by human beings. This is the hardest day for the poor child" Master Korgan said with a tinge of grief in his voice.
"What does it have to do with me?" Ren asked.
"Your appearance. Your human-like appearance reminds her of the human-kind that ma.s.sacred her loved ones" When he saw Ren"s horrified expression, Master Korgan used a slightly gentler tone. "None blames you for your appearance, you are obviously a demon, and you have not chosen to look this way. But for those who have lost their loved ones because of humans, a human face is the last thing they want to see."
"I see." Ren sadly replied.
"Not many demons are pure in blood these days, some have human-like features, heck even some demonic features resemble human beings, some more than others" he nodded at Ren. "Don"t blame yourself, after all hatred for self only makes everything worse. But I do suggest for you to leave her be for the time being."
"Understood" Ren half-heartedly replied.
"Humans and demons are more alike than they realize, both have the capacity to love. But their actions against each other have corrupted the love into bitter hatred." Master Korgan closed his eyes. "It started from bitter hatred, for so long it continued until the current time. And now it has gone so bad that human beings have become agents of our extermination. Sometimes I wonder if world could be at peace if there were more people like Aijasyl"s parents"
"World would be nicer wouldn"t it?" Ren asked cautiously.
"Indeed. But to tell you the truth humanity has done enough damage to us. At this point there no longer is a meaning in taking vengeance, after everything is lost. Only emptiness." Master Korgan"s expression took on a look of profound insight. "That is the reason why this household"s priority is to protect and nurture any demon, regardless of their blood ties. To fill their emptiness with happiness, that is something I want them to have before I am gone."
Ren felt like old man exuded an air of a man who has little reason left to live, as though he no longer cared about himself and was lost in a desert of desolation.
"I truly hope one day she lets go of the hatred she has in her heart and truly comes to love" Master Korgan said expressing his truest thoughts.
"Yeah, that would be nice" Ren replied.
"That is the reason I had her supervise you and not one of the other eight Tengu clan members" Korgan said. "I thought that exposure to a human-like demon would ease the flame of hatred in her heart, but it seems to have backfired."
"I understand. I will not bother her anymore" Ren had a rather sad expression on his face.
"Don"t be so sudden. I feel like there is going to be time when she shall need your a.s.sistance" Korgan said, not knowing how true his words would turn out to be.
"I see. Then, if she ever needs my help, I will be there for her! That I promise!" Ren said with his thumb pointing up.
Korgan"s face flashed a quick smile. "Excellent. Nothing makes me happier than demons caring for one another." He turned around and said while facing Ren with his back. "For the time being, you might want to check up on your injured friend."
"About that, master. Can he stay with us permanently? He has nowhere else to go" Ren pleaded. "His family has been enslaved and a.s.sa.s.sins are hunting for him. I know this is too troublesome to ask…"
"That is fine. She can stay if she wants to."
"Really, thank you so much!" Ren was happy for a moment, but then his expression of happiness was replaced with expression of shock. "Wait, did you say she?"
"You haven"t noticed? My, my, my, you truly are as clueless as Aijasyl said" Master Korgan chuckled. "She can stay if she wants to. This household exists to protect any demon that joins it, so be at ease, she is now under my protection."
"Thank you master!" Ren said with a beaming smile.
"You did a great job saving a fellow demon, Ren, I am proud of your action" Korgan said with serious expression. "But could you tell me, how exactly you encountered her when I specifically requested you to cut down Jilan Snakes…"
He stopped his speech when he saw the effect of saying "Jilan snakes" did to Ren. He no longer was standing. On the ground, with his eyes spinning, he was mumbling "Jilan snakes, so many of them, get away from me!"
"I might have traumatized him with this a.s.signment" Master Korgan reflected. Another well intentioned action backfired. He could only bitterly smile from shame. His face and horns were hot from embarra.s.sment.
"On second thought, the fact that you helped a demon is all that matters" Master Korgan said while trying to help Ren snap out of his nightmare.
After a few second Ren stood back up, still shaking from imaginary Jilan snakes within his mind, but now facing reality with relief. No Jilan snakes here, no Jilan snakes here, thanks Great Ones!
"Then I must go for now" Ren said. He bowed to Master Korgan and left the courtyard. He entered the household. Feeling rather disgustingly dirty, he proceeded to go to the bath building. Afterwards he asked one of the Tengu clan maids to give him a spare uniform for his own was destroyed. Of course he did this while wearing nothing but underwear, leading her to scream and mistake him for a pervert. Now with a new set of clothing and a vivid hand shaped slap mark on his cheek, he proceeded to enter to the room Akjan was in.
She was already asleep. Now that he knew that he was a she, Ren felt rather embarra.s.sed. He carried a girl demon on his back, almost as if one of his romantic fantasies came to life!
Akjan looked like she was having a good dream. Apparently the effect of the medicine kicked in making her fall asleep. Her entire body was covered in bandages.
She didn"t sleep without movement either. She flipped over making her back face Ren and the sheets stopped covering her. Ren tried to recover her with sheets, but while he was doing so, he caught a glimpse of Akjan"s back.
There were three scars, three vertical scars extending almost full length of her back. They were not fresh, but old, but he cringed upon seeing them. She has seen pain in her past, Ren concluded, pain that has left scars that will never fade away.
"How can they be so cruel to each other even though they are all demons?" Ren unknowingly whispered his thoughts out loud.
"Not many sympathize with demons outside of their clans, boss" a beetle demon answered calmly.
"Orin!" Ren almost shouted. He did not notice Orin get near him before he was right next to him and answering his questions. "What is up with you and Master Korgan, are you two practicing for a Sneak up on Ren festival?"
"I believe there is no such a thing, but if you would like I can try to arrange it" Orin chuckled. His sense of humor made Ren feel rather uneasy about state of his heart; whether he will get a heart attack soon from shock.
After a minute"s pause Ren began the conversation.
"She has been tortured"
"Indeed. The wounds can tell quiet a story." Orin replied solemnly.
"It is just too cruel. I understand hatred of humans, but to turn upon their own kind…"
"Hatred is blind, therefore it can be directed at anybody, no matter whether they are a human or not" Orin replied while trying to suppress his urge to run out of the room as fast as he can. What he said was the exact thing he did upon mistaking Ren for a human. Orin just hoped Ren did not make such a connection.
"Very true" Ren had to admit.
To tell the truth, by having such a conversation, Orin"s respect for Ren just became deeper. He praised him as his boss because he offered him a position when everyone else abandoned him. Furthermore, Orin even tried to kill him, which should have served as a deterrent, but instead Ren chose to forgive him. Orin did not care that Ren looked like a human at this point. Human or not, Ren was already accepted as the leader within Orin"s heart. Now seeing how truly generous and kind Ren is to a fellow demon despite her being an outsider, Orin felt that he made the right choice in becoming Ren"s subordinate.
Still, Orin still questioned Ren"s judgment, considering the idealists are usually are the deceitful ones. Of course Orin refused to believe Ren was deceiving him, but he had to just make sure.
"Why do you care so much for another demon, an outsider, enough to bring her into your own house?" Orin asked. If Ren said something like "Because it"s the right thing to do" Orin would immediately feel suspicion in Ren"s integrity. He just hoped that would not be the case.
"I don"t know. I just couldn"t leave her to die there. Call me a fool if you want to, but I just couldn"t. That"s all there is to it." Ren said without hiding any of his emotions.
Orin looked at him with astounded gaze. All four of his spiky arms were trembling from shock.
"So that"s how it is" Orin thought, with all doubts in his mind erased in an instant. "He didn"t have any ulterior motive; he was just following his instincts." All the more reason to follow this type of leader, someone who would do something like this without a second thought.
"Sorry for ever doubting you, boss" Orin replied after a slight pause.
Ren gave him a weirded out look of not understanding, shrugged his shoulders, and chuckled.
"I see" Ren said while chuckling. Truth is he had no idea.
Orin, seemingly understanding Ren"s intention, smiled and grinned. "It seems Ren already knew I doubted him, but he still kept someone like me around." Orin felt grateful for Ren"s strange generosity, an unusual trait for a demon to possess.
Seeing how inappropriate it is for him to keep being in the same room as the patient, Orin stood up to leave.
"Well then, boss, I will go back to my duties" Orin said still smiling.
"I suppose I need to get back to work as well …" Ren tried to stand up but a hand holding on to the sleeve of his robe didn"t seem to want to let him go.
Akjan"s arm unconsciously held on to him rather tightly, preventing any way of escaping other than getting half naked. The lady Shaula Tengu already screamed and called him a pervert, along with a slap to his face, based on that he could expect a similar reaction from any female household members if he appeared under dressed.
Orin, understanding Ren"s dilemma said in a soothing voice. "It might be ok for you to stay with her just this once; I will tell others you are watching over the patient"
"Wait, Orin!" Ren tried to get his sleeve out of Akjan"s unconscious grip, but instead she ended up catching him by his hand. Now he was really trapped.
"Worry not, it will be over quickly" Orin referred to how a person would eventually wake up. Of course, phrasing it like that has given Ren an ambiguous meaning of the words.
Orin left the room.
Ren sat near the bed on his knees, with his right arm still trapped by Akjan"s grip. He wasn"t sure if it was his rather bad case of bad luck had any influence on the situation. He just hoped that Akjan was not one of those demons that become a cannibalistic monster while sleeping. He heard from Tengu household members that there are some nocturnal demons whose innate powers awaken only when they are sleeping, and in some cases they go on an eating rampage, not caring who ends up in their stomach, a human or a demon. By the time they wake up, they have no recollection of what they have done or who they have eaten.
"Ehm, Akjan, I know you"re sleeping, but could you please…" Ren tried to smooth talk his way out of the unusually strong grip holding on to his hand to no avail.
Just as he was about to consider waking her up, Akjan"s sleepy voice mumbled. "Please, not you too, please, don"t leave me here…"
"Is she talking to me, could she be awake" Ren thought. "Or maybe she is having a nightmare."
"Please, don"t go, Mother, Father, Akjai, Akjin, I don"t want to be left alone!" Akjan was still asleep, but she held on tight to Ren"s arm as if she was holding on for her life. She was currently in the middle of a nightmare. She was bound in chains to a wall, while her parents and siblings were dragged away. She remembered the exact moment when she last saw them. They had chains attached to collars on their necks by which they were dragged without being able to resist with their hands cuffed and their legs bound. In her dream or rather a nightmare she was seeing that exact moment all over again. Distance between her and her family kept increasing until they were out of the horizon, then they were gone, vanished without a trace. Akjan, in her dream, was left standing, desperately extending her hand, hoping to reach them. Then laughter filled her dreams, which were definitely the distinct laughter of members of Kas clan, a howling noise that reminded one of wild predator"s roar mixed in with gurgling noise. In a sense it was a cold laughter that was freezing everything around her in her dream. The source of the laughter just kept getting closer. There was no escaping it, the cold air, the fangs that neared her, everything was over. Akjan closed her eyes within her dream.
Then suddenly, as if something touched her forehead, she felt a warm feeling on her forehead that reminded her of feelings she has long forgotten- comfort and safety.
At that moment Ren actually chose to put the palm of his left hand upon Akjan"s forehead in order to calm her down. She was throwing a fit before, apparently with a nightmare, so Ren resorted to trying to calm her down. Amazingly, his touch seemed to comfort her, as though it was making her feel safer.
Ren came close to her long pointy ear and whispered. "Everything will be ok, I promise you."
Unbeknownst to Ren, his voice transmitted itself within Akjan"s dream. The warm voice echoed like a pleasant melody in a world filled with parasitic laughter. The warmness spread, destroying the coldness and the images of Kas clan.
The chains that bound her within her dream were broken as if shattered by the strength of the kind voice. The dark world lit up with light once more.
She stood up within her dream, and then she ran towards the first thing she saw- a tree, and then gave it a large hug.
In reality, in her sleep, Akjan was hugging Ren"s entire arm. Ren found himself even more trapped when she tugged him towards her, essentially turning him into a hug pillow. Because of his below average strength, even for a demon as Aijasyl had so kindly remarked, Ren was unable to resist Akjan"s pull on his arm. He wondered "Even though she is gravely injured, she is at least twice as strong as me; I wonder how strong she would be at full strength."
"What an awkward position I am in" Ren pondered, wondering how exactly he ended up lying in the same bed with Akjan who was so desperately holding on to his arm. When he tried to move himself, Ren noticed that Akjan was shivering, and he guessed it was from fear. Ren deduced that she has nothing to help her feel safe, so she must be clinging on so tight because she wants to feel at least a little safe. "I can"t get out of her grip, I might as well spend the night, at least until she wakes up." For a reason unknown to himself, Ren started sweating profusely, either from realization that he is technically sharing a bed with a female demon or from embarra.s.sment, or maybe both.
Meanwhile, Kas family was thrown into disarray. Not only did the clan members fail to get back the escaped slave, but the firstborn son, Jar Kas have been murdered. His servants brought his body back claiming it was Red Reaper, incarnation of death, was responsible for Jar Kas"s death and disappearance of the slave.
"Don"t be ridiculous!" Screamed the patriarch of the Kas family, Kar Kas, who bore a striking resemblance to his dead son, albeit with a far larger stomach. His rage knew no bounds. Not only the family name was tarnished for not being able to keep their slaves in check, but the main heir of the family has been killed.
Jar Kas was supposed to partic.i.p.ate in Election; with his abilities the chances of him taking the position of Demon King were extremely high. Now, all that hope was blown into pieces.
Kar Kas absolutely refused to believe that it was a spirit of nature responsible for his son"s demise. He grabbed one of the demons that went with Jar Kas by the throat and lifted him up in the air. "Don"t you dare lie to me, who did this to you? Who? I said who?" He said each word while shaking the demon by his throat.
"Father, please calm down!" Nar Kas, the second son, tried his best to keep his father from killing his servant. He managed to get his father to drop the servant to the floor. Servant was clutching his throat; apparently he was very close to choking. Nar Kas patted his father on the back, trying to console him.
In truth, Nar Kas had mixed feelings about this event. While Jar Kas was his sibling, they in truth were half siblings, thus were pitted against each other their entire youth. Of course by the virtue of the order of his birth and his talent, Jar Kas had obtained the position of the heir and was on his way to becoming the future Demon King if he won in the Election. Kar Kas always favored the firstborn, thereby mostly disregarding his other children, from which Nar Kas has acc.u.mulated a strong envy towards Jar Kas. Not to mention that every fight with Jar Kas ended with Nar Kas getting beaten half to death, always realizing how outmatched he was. Nar Kas always thought that he was fated to always be second best compared to his brother, never having the chance to shine. However, this fortunate day has proven it otherwise.
For now he had to play the role of grieving brother, which is why he will fake concern even though he has none towards his brother"s death. Truth be told, Nar Kas felt somewhat grateful for whoever managed to kill Jar Kas, for that someone has removed a large thorn on his side.
"Father, I understand your grief, I feel the same, but for now we must focus on what exactly happened" Nar Kas tried to reason with Kar Kas, who was now just a weeping pile of snot, who was losing control of his emotions.
Kar Kas nodded, unable to speak further; he buried his head in his handkerchief.
"Now then" Nar Kas addressed Jar Kas"s former subordinates. "Where did this happen?"
"The northern field beyond the river, just near the entrance to the field. We chased the Tang clan slave until that location."
"Was capturing her such a hard task? Was she the one who killed my brother?" Nar Kas asked in a serious tone.
"No! We got her! We captured her; she was too weak to do anything against us…"
"So then what happened" Nar Kas was beginning to lose patience with this servant.
"A fiend. Covered in blood from head to toe, carrying a scythe with a blade as sharp as wind. He killed Jar Kas with one swipe! I swear that is the truth!" the servant was cowering in fear; Nar Kas has the same fearsome temperament as his older brother.
"Why didn"t you attack and kill him?"
"The difference between our strengths was too obvious, he effortlessly took down our strongest and it seemed like he was going to go after us as well" the servant was shaking from imagining that scene. "Then he declared that he was going to chop all of us into bite sized pieces! We didn"t have a choice! We ran before he could kill us all!"
"I see. What about the slave?" Nar Kas asked calmly.
"When we went back to retrieve master"s body, the slave and the fiend were already gone."
"Is that so, is this all you have to report?"
"Indeed it is, young master."
"Then, farewell. Guards take them away!" Nar Kas was already ready for action. His personal guards forcibly took Jar Kas"s servants.
"Wait! What will happen to us?" one of the servants asked after guards grabbed him.
"Execution, of course. Kas family doesn"t need subordinates who can"t even protect the heir!"
The guards took away the struggling servants to their cells. Tomorrow, the execution awaited them.
Nar Kas turned towards his father.
"The territory they mentioned belongs to Karatengu family. I believe that they are in decline, however there are still subordinates of the family."
"Do you believe that it was one of Tengu members who killed Jar Kas and stole the slave?" Kar Kas asked. He was rather impressed with his second son"s intelligence and ability to quickly a.s.sess the situation. Not to mention now he would need to train Nar Kas instead of his brother to succeed him.
"I am certain. Yet, there is one more thing that worries me"
"What is it?"
"If there is a Tengu clan member this strong, then it must mean Karatengu family is up to something, we must be cautious of them" Nar Kas warned. Someone strong enough to kill his elder brother appeared. He appears to be a Tengu clan member. Nar Kas realized that he must watch out for a potentially powerful enemy who can easily kill him.
In truth his enemy was anything but powerful. In fact, he managed to kill Jar Kas purely by accident; striking his weak spot with a very sharp weapon.
Currently, the said enemy was sleeping in a bed with white haired demon clutching on to his arm for comfort and safety.
In an awkward situation, unable to get out of Akjan"s strong grip, he ended up sleeping next to her.
Although he spent at least half an hour before falling asleep looking up at the ceiling, trying to distract himself from the one sleeping right next to him, he finally managed to dive head first into the land of dreams.
Within his dream he saw many shifting sights, many floating cities, flying roosters, twisting grounds, and then finally a gate-like archway made of trees.
There he saw a strange sight- two boys playing together, and at closer inspection, both boys had the same appearance except for clothes. The boys were hunting wild geese. The seemingly elder one shot an arrow which managed to pierce the wing of one wild goose, making it fall down. The younger one on the other hand was unsuccessful and ended up somehow cutting open the skin on his palm by accidently scratching himself with the tip of the arrow.
The scene that followed was the unclear image of their parents. Ren could see their outlines and hear their voices, but he could not see their faces. Their voices were warm.
There stood the younger brother, getting his hand bandaged.
The next second, Ren found himself standing in the place of the younger brother while his parents were taking care of his wound. Their soothing voices made Ren feel as if he finally arrived home.
The peaceful sight only lasted a few moments. It was abruptly cracked, and then it shattered, like a piece of gla.s.s into countless pieces.
The warm scene was replaced by cold scenery of a gigantic waterfall connected to a high ground.
He was running towards his father who was being stabbed by a human knight in white armor.
Then, he somehow found himself shot by many arrows.
He was falling. As if the flight down took an unprecedented amount of time.
Ren found himself choking under water. Unable to breath. As if everything in the world was going away…
Then, there was a light. He was being dragged to the surface, by a net.
He was leaving behind the depth of darkness, pulled up onto the surface…
Ren opened his eyes. "What a strange dream."
The window of the room showed the morning light, it was already time to wake up.
Ren turned his head to the right and saw a familiar white haired demon"s sleeping face next to his own. "Right! I forgot I was sleeping next to her!" A horrifying realization hit Ren, who had a.s.sumed that the events from the night before were just one of his fantasies within his dreams.
Now he was finally facing rather strangely stimulating reality. It would be his dreams come true if it wasn"t for the circ.u.mstances and the fact that this was reality.
He would need to sneak away before she wakes up.
Just as he was about to turn his body and get out of bed, Akjan"s eyes opened and stared at his own.
Then, the realization hit her. Her white cheeks suddenly turned to most noticeable shade of pink and strangely, so did her crystal-like horns. She just realized Ren was sleeping next to her.
"AAAAAH!" a scream resounded within entire Karatengu mansion.
From the sound of the noise, Ren stumbled and fell from the bed with his upper body, while his legs were still touching the tip of the bed.
"Wait! I can explain!" Ren was trying to defend himself while Akjan was throwing pillows at him. Surprisingly there were many of them on the bed, at least dozen.
"Explain what?! The fact that you sneaked into the bed while I was sleeping or Great Ones know what you could have done while I was unconscious?!" Akjan was being unusually hysterical.
"I swear I didn"t do anything!" Ren was trying to defend himself while Akjan climbed on top of him and hitting him with the pillow. She was using the pillow as some sort of a club in a strangely effective manner.
"A male demon sneaking into bed with…" Akjan stopped. She almost admitted to being a female demon. From her impression, Ren thought of her as a male demon, and she wanted to keep up the charade in order to mask her ident.i.ty and show no weakness. She calmed down just for a second, and then her furious expression was replaced by an expression of calm hesitation.
"You … didn"t… do… anything… weird… to me ...did ya?" Her speech pattern was breaking off. She left the Kas clan under impression that she was a male, but Ren, he shouldn"t have discovered her gender. Not like this! It would be just tragic if her secret was exposed just like this.
"Of course not" Ren said with the most sincere expression he could muster under these circ.u.mstances. A girl demon sitting on top of his chest while blushing uncontrollably is a rather stimulating, making it hard not to be aroused. He could see she was rather underdressed. Bandages covered her chest area and a torn pair of pants covered her bottom, but her hands and legs were rather exposed. He found it somewhat alluring.