Birth of a Demon City

by Hyougetsu

  “I need to learn how to use this spell properly or we’re toast...”

  Unless I found a way to truly imagine myself becoming heavier, I’d never be able to use this spell. How to imagine myself being heavier, huh? I thought back to my middle school science classes. We’d been taught that a person’s weight changed depending on their location. For example, someone who weighs 60 kilograms on earth would only weigh a sixth of that on the moon. I didn’t know exactly how weight here compared to weight on earth, but it probably wasn’t too different. Man, thinking about all those middle school science experiments sure takes me back. I remember in one of them we tied arrows to things to show how gravity... As I reminisced, I suddenly felt something flash in the back of my mind.

  “Wait, could this be...”

  Just then, I heard Monza howl. “Enemy, near.”

  It appeared the Golden Brute was on its way. I looked up and saw a giant golden wildeboar warily shuffle through the village entrance. Even from this distance, I could tell it was massive. Probably twice the size of a minivan. Honestly, it looked less like a boar and more like an elephant.

  It sniffed at the torn scraps of Nibert’s shirt I’d scattered around, and slowly made its way over to where we were hiding. All of the kids should have heard Monza’s howl. Once the Golden Brute made it to the Garney house, they were all supposed to run. The only ones staying behind would be me, Jerrick, and the Garney brothers.

  If I was honest with myself, I’d prefer to be running away with everyone else. But unless I weakened the brute here, it’d just catch up to us and hunt us down. We’d be defenseless in the forest, and more than a few of us would definitely die. I absolutely could not allow that to happen.

  I wrapped a strip of cloth around my face. It hung loosely, and the extra fabric fluttered in the breeze. Jerrick looked over and asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

  There was nothing to be afraid of. I’d already died once before, after all. The shimmering wildeboar finally spotted the Garney house. Once it had pinpointed its prey, it broke into a trot. It continued gaining speed as it headed this way, until it was in a headlong rush.

  “I knew it, it’s different from regular wildeboars,” Jerrick muttered.

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah, it’s a lot bolder.”

  Normal wildeboars charged anything they thought they could kill, but they were extremely cautious until they were certain they were stronger than their quarry. They spent a lot of time sniffing out their potential enemies. While this boar might have been a little different, it was still a boar. Meaning its greatest strength lay in its charge.

  Here it comes. I gripped my spear tight to make sure I didn’t drop it, and clung to my tree branch. Jerrick tied himself to the tree with a rope, and wound his crossbow. The Golden Brute smashed into the wall with the force of a truck. The whole building shook, as if a localized earthquake had just occurred. Even the tree we were perched on swayed back and forth. At the same time, there was a series of metallic snaps from Jerricks’ bear traps. I looked down and saw that three of them had latched onto the Golden Brute’s legs. While it might have been able to remove one easily, three would be harder to handle. Actually, make that four. The brute thrashed about wildly, but even for something with its might, it would be some time before it untangled itself.

  Now was the perfect time to strike. However before I could do anything, particles of fine golden dust surrounded the wildeboar, making the area around it blurry. My guess was those golden specks were spores of some kind. The reason this boar was golden was because it was infested with thousands of these mold-like spores. Its hair was still brown, not golden. In other words, it was just a normal wildeboar. When it rubbed against something, the spores came off and flew through the air. The spores probably infected their host and altered its behavior patterns. If my conjecture was correct, the beast itself should be no different from a normal wildeboar. Meaning its weak point was the snout.

  I tightened the cloth around my face to make sure I didn’t breathe in any spores. Their mere presence meant I couldn’t transform, but I wanted to avoid inhaling them and falling unconscious. I focused my mind and imagined an arrow pointing downward. I’d gotten the idea from one of the old physics experiments I’d done in middle school. I was different from everyone else in this world. I’d experienced different things, and lived a different life. Which meant if I wanted to use magic, I had to draw inspiration from a different place. For me, imagining a downward force tugging at my body was the best mental image to make myself heavier. I sucked in the invisible mana around me, and shaped it into an arrow extending down. Then I slowly chanted, “Iete! Kaahn! Viirii!”

  Once I finished my incantation, I felt my body grow noticeably heavier. As if invisible sandbags were being piled on top of me one after another.

  “Whoa.”

  I could feel the magic weighing me down, and I hurriedly braced myself. I needed to make sure I didn’t fall in the wrong direction, or I’d land in a sea of bear traps and most likely die. I crawled along my branch, trying to position myself directly above the wildeboar’s head. I didn’t look very graceful, but then again, I lacked Monza’s grace. Finally, I made it to my destination. The wildeboar was still busy trying to gnaw off Jerrick’s bear traps. This was going to be my only shot. I stretched the imaginary arrow in my mind as far down as it would go. It went into the ground and still I kept stretching it. I’ll stab right through you with this arrow! A second later, the branch snapped under my increased weight.

  “Huh!?”

  “Veight!?”

  Jerrick’s voice faded into the distance as I dropped like a rock. I felt a violent impact, and a cloud of golden spores rose up around me. Before I could process anything else, I fainted.

  Thinking back on it now, my life had been a pretty boring one. It wasn’t like I’d had it hard or anything. It had just been really normal. And ended really fast. I wasn’t talking about this life, by the way. I was referring to my old one. Comparing the two, I’d say my life as a werewolf had been more fulfilling. I had friends, and everyone in the village looked out for each other. Since we were still demons, it was might that decided what was right, but even then, the people here didn’t torment the weak. We were too busy surviving to fight amongst ourselves. So overall, I would say this life was much better than my old one. Yep, definitely much better. Which is why I’d prefer not to die just yet.

  “Veight! Veight!”

  My world was shaking.

  “Veight, get a hold of yourself!”

  “Get up, Veight! You’re still alive, right!?”

  Pretty sure I am. At least I don’t think I’ve been reincarnated again. My name’s still Veight. And those voices definitely sound like Jerrick and Monza’s.

  “Snap out of it already, Veight!”

  That’s definitely Garbert’s voice.

  I opened my eyes and saw Monza’s lithe form in front of me. Apparently she always wore tight-fitting clothes in order to mask her scent from prey. At any rate, those clothes suited her. Yep, doesn’t look like I was reincarnated. My consciousness was finally coming into focus. I waved to Monza and said, “Yeah, don’t worry. I’m up. And I think I’m fine.”

  Monza, Jerrick, and Garbert all crowded in close to me.

  “By the way, shouldn’t you guys be running? The Golden Brute’s not...”

  I trailed off as I realized I was sitting on top of the aforementioned Golden Brute. Or rather, its corpse. My spear was stuck deep into its spine, with the haft broken off. Looks like I stabbed it on the way down. However, that wasn’t what had killed the monster. From the looks of it, my fall had broken its neck. There were a lot less golden spores around its head, and its neck was twisted at an impossible angle. On top of that, my knees were covered in gold dust. Putting two and two together, I figured I’d kneed it so hard it died. But just how heavy had I made myself that just kneeing it was en
ough to break its neck? I’m surprised my body managed to withstand the force.

  “I guess werewolves are pretty sturdy even in their human form,” I muttered as I looked down at my knees.

  Everyone stared at me in amazement.

  “Did you hear that?”

  “Does anything faze this guy?”

  Monza and Garbert exchanged dumbfounded looks. On the other hand, Jerrick smiled proudly.

  “I knew you could do it, Veight. You’re one crazy guy.”

  Motes of gold dust rained down around us, giving the scene a somewhat surreal feel. However, neither the spores nor the wildeboar’s fur were especially mystical. Even as we watched, their glow began to fade. It appeared the spores couldn’t survive without their host. Still, we should probably disinfect the area with alcohol and vinegar later, just in case. Spores were terrifying things. We sat there for a while longer, until we heard the adults returning.

  “Veiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!”

  A black-furred werewolf, my mom, was leading the pack back. From the looks of it, Fahn was right behind her.

  “Veight, what the heck did you do!?”

  Judging from their tones, I was about to get a big scolding later. Well, I’d had it pretty tough here myself, and, I was covered in golden spores.

  “Before you get mad at me, can I at least take a bath first?” I grumbled. Monza, Jerrick, and Garbert all laughed.

  Master came over later to collect the Golden Brute I’d killed.

  “I see, so you were able to deduce the true identity of this monster as well.” She held up a bottle of golden spores. They’d lost their previous luster and were a dull brown. “These spores are saturated with mana. I’m certain there must be some effective way to use these for magic. It’s always exciting, finding new things to research.”

  “Since they paralyze people and stop werewolves from transforming, you’d probably be able to turn them into some kind of medicine.”

  “An astute observation. All poisons can be turned into medicine.” Gomoviroa nodded in approval and pocketed the bottle. “By the way, I hear you took down this Golden Brute with the magic I taught you.”

  Uh oh, am I about to get another lecture? I slouched a little and took a few steps back.

  “Umm, that was an emergency situation, so I had no choice. Besides, it worked, so it’s no big deal right? I’ve already gotten enough lectures from my mom and Fahn.”

  “You blithering idiot! How could you even think of challenging that beast with magic meant for training!?” Gomoviroa smacked my head over and over. Despite her nonexistent physical strength, it still hurt a little. “Recklessness and courage aren’t the same thing! I may be a necromancer, but even I cannot revive the dead! If you do something this rash again, I won’t be your teacher anymore, do you understand!?”

  “I understand. I promise I won’t do it again.”

  “Do you really understand? Truly?”

  “I do! I promise not to use this spell for fighting ever again!”

  And so, my first battle as a magician ended in my overwhelming victory.

  ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

  —Veight’s Assessment—

  I, Gomoviroa, took on a disciple by the name of Veight. Recorded below are the results of his aptitude testing.

  He has shown varying levels of affinity for a variety of fields, but strengthening magic appears to be where his aptitude is the strongest. By his own report, the first time he succeeded in casting a strengthening spell, he did so with spectacular results. Moreover, he has shown that he possesses the natural intuition needed to apply the magic he acquires in practical combat situations. He is, at the very least, the first person I have ever heard of who used the basic weight increasing spell in a battle.

  However, since he did no prior experimentation or had any grounding in the theory behind the spell, his usage of it was extremely dangerous. While Veight has exceptional potential, his reckless personality leads me to believe that I must be careful with his training. This may lead him to believe that he lacks talent, or that I do not value his abilities. I will take his training slowly, regardless. I would much rather keep my precious disciple safe than teach him more than he is ready to use. Besides, he is far too interesting a wizard for this world to lose. His potential is limitless, and it would be a waste for him to perish before he’s old enough to realize it. I give my thanks to the great wheel of fate that brought the two of us together. I earnestly pray that his path in life leads him to knowledge and truth.

  ※Postscript

  Considering his innate recklessness, I have decided to keep a closer eye on him. I have no doubt he will attempt something beyond his abilities again before long...

  Afterword

  Hello everyone, Hyougetsu here. I’m starting to think I’m one of those overpowered isekai protagonists that masters whatever skill they have right after they get reincarnated. I started uploading this web novel onto Narou in late July, and not even a month later I got an offer for it to be published. It was honestly pretty surprising.

  I’d been hoping this work would get published eventually, but even I didn’t think it would get picked up so soon. When I first got the offer, I thought someone was playing a prank on me. However, I recognized the name Earth Star Novels, so I decided to humor them with a reply. And seeing as you’re reading this afterword right now, clearly it wasn’t a prank. But for me at least, it still doesn’t feel real. I keep expecting someone to pop through my door and tell me I’ve been punk’d!

  Leaving that aside for now, let’s talk about the novel itself. I ended up not editing very much of the web version for the published version, which was a bit of a shame, but I did at least get to add in an extra chapter. I decided to make it about Veight’s past since I’d gotten a lot of requests for that on Narou. What do you think guys, was it to your satisfaction?

  By the way, I structured the start of the web novel the way I did because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t paced too quickly. I wanted it to be the kind of thing you could read a chapter of in your spare time during lunch or something. Basically, I want to write the kind of story you can pick up pretty much whenever. I don’t know about everyone else, but I always get tired reading really long paragraphs on my phone, so I made sure to keep the sentences short and snappy. It’s also why I had the story start up in the middle, where Veight’s already risen a good amount through the demon army’s ranks. Of course, there’s a lot to tell about his life before he became vice-commander as well, and I’d love it if I could keep writing these extra chapters about his past exploits.

  Anyway, my biggest edits for the published novel were making the sentences and paragraphs beefier. After all, novels are the kinds of things you can read leisurely at home, and there are pictures to break things up if it gets too dense. I’ve got my editor-in-chief Itagaki-sama and my editor Saitou-sama to thank for helping me format everything better. I’d almost completely neglected the visual elements of a book, and their advice was extremely helpful in deciding how to structure things. I’d also like to thank my readers for giving me all that feedback on Narou. There’s nothing that makes authors happier than knowing people love their work.

  Incidentally, my editor Saitou-sama is super reliable and extremely patient. Every time I went to him for advice, he’d sit me down and walk me through everything. Not only that, he was able to get the book through the publishing process surprisingly fast, and he always replied to my emails right away. Though, he also sometimes sends garbled walls of text that are hard to decipher, or puts little jokes in the subject line to mess with me. He’s a pretty interesting guy, so much so that I kind of want to put in a character based on him in the story. Regardless, it’s all thanks to him that I was able to put out a quality publication in such a short time. Thank you so very much, Saitou-sama. I’ll be relying on you for everything from here on out as well. When I think back to how much help it took to get this book published, I’m really grateful that it made it out the door at all.

&n
bsp; Also, I’d like to thank my wonderful illustrator, Nishi(E)da-sama for his lively and impactful drawings. At first, I’d only had a very vague idea of what Veight was supposed to look like in his human form, but when I saw Nishi(E)da’s rough sketches I realized that must have been how I’d wanted him to look all along. All of Nishi(E)da’s other character sketches were amazing too. Me and Saitou-sama both agreed that Airia looked really cool, and that Jerrick looked really sexy. Thank you so much for bringing my book to life. I can say with confidence that his illustrations have influenced the way I’m writing my characters in the web novel, too.

  Lastly, I’d like to thank my readers on Narou for supporting this series. Without you, it might have been buried forever. I look at each and every one of your comments, and treasure them all. I’ll continue updating the Narou version as well, where hopefully you can read the story in more bite-sized chunks (Though doing daily uploads now might be a bit tough.) I plan on exploring more of Veight’s past and the setting at large in the published novels, so I hope fans of the web novel check out this version too! There you go, there’s my shameless self-plug. Buy my books! They have Nishi(E)da-sama’s awesome art in them!

  May we meet again in the second volume!

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