Demon Lord - (New World Book 1)

by K R Zax

  ‘A Dark Mage entered the city. About 180cm tall, dirty blond hair, blue eyes, dressed in expensive black clothes of unknown material – they also have Dark Magic properties.

  Name: Alex Miller, possibly of noble birth. He claims to have spent most of his life with a teacher ‘somewhere in the West’. The precise location is unknown. As he said, his teacher used a high-grade magic item to teleport him near Tsarigrad.

  His objective, for now, seems to be registering at the Adventurers Guild. I recommend him to stay at the Night Bird Inn.

  Vlard.’

  Dark Magic users weren’t that uncommon, there were a lot of them in the world. But one with such background? Was he telling the truth or not?

  The woman felt tired. At first, she might have dismissed it as an ordinary Mage, but then she looked at another document.

  ‘A Dark Mage by the name of Alex Miller registered at the guild today. 18 years old, average height and fancy clothes. He came with a slave girl, former D rank adventurer, Lina. He was able to use Shadow Storage, and submitted the bodies of Four Twin-Tail Wolves, five Kobolds, and seven goblins. Claims to have killed them all himself.

  Zafel.’

  The guild master rarely sends me reports on adventurers, unless there is something unusual. A young man who just registered had the power to kill that many monsters? Even if he trained magic and martial arts all his life is almost unbelievable. There were young talented individuals through history who were able to do that, one of the current S rank adventurers was that powerful at that age.

  A talent, or a liar? Which one was he?

  These two reports were undoubtedly about the same person who came to the city today. If handled right, he could be a great asset to the Empire – if he is indeed talented.

  The woman looked at the bright red moon in the night sky, painting the city in the color of blood. The smaller white moon was lagging shortly behind, one side of it washed in red, like a blushing maiden following her lover.

  Some old documents say that long ago, there was only a white moon on the sky. A time when magic and monsters didn’t exist. Some scholars believe in that, but many say that it is just a form of expression and that the world has been like this from the beginning.

  The woman closed the window, it was still spring, and the air was colder at night. She put the two documents on the big pile and looked at the last one. This was the main reason she kept glancing at the other two.

  ‘High Priestess Saril fainted today.

  She was in her chambers in the Saint’s Palace reading a book, when her attendants saw her engulfed in light magic. They rushed to get writing equipment to record a Divine Message, when she threw the book, announcing in a grave voice:

  “The Lord of Darkness has been born!

  He is ancient and yet new.

  His blue eyes shall be the only light in his Domain.

  He’ll feed on souls and command the dead.

  If you show him kindness, you will get kindness in return.

  Ill intent will make Him happy,

  But make You dead!”

  The priestess cried, and then laughed “Shadows! He is coming! Black Wings!” Before she fainted. The healers said that she suffered from great stress and should be left to rest for a few days.

  The witnesses had been ordered to keep what happened today a secret until further instructions are provided.

  Kirilin.’

  Kirilin III Aseliev, Patriarch of the Praslovia Church.

  The head of the church sends me reports anytime when a Divine Message was received, be it good or bad news.

  Was a Demon born?

  Why? Just why do I feel like these three reports are connected? What does a Dark Mage have to do with such a Message? Blue eyes, feed on souls. Those are things fit to describe an undead magician. A Necromancer?

  And why does it seem that there is a touch of humanity there? ‘If you show him kindness, you will get kindness in return.’ What does that mean? Can you reason with him? And if you can, will he honor an agreement?

  ‘Black Wings’.

  The Night Bird Inn has black wings depicted on their signboard. A coincidence?

  The woman let a frustrated sigh, took a blank piece of paper and wrote a note.

  ***

  Ding-dong, Ding-dong, Ding-dong…

  God, what is it?

  I opened my eyes when I heard the loud sound, like a church bell. Wait, it may actually be a church bell.

  When I tried to move, I felt something tighten its grip on my body. Ah, Lina. We were sleeping in the same bed, after all.

  What? I’m not the average MC from a Manga or light novel who would make a fuss because a beautiful girl was in his bed. Nothing intimate happened between us, mostly because I had a long day and wanted some rest. Tonight, however…

  “Daaling.” Lina giggled and snugged herself against me. “Shmell nicey.”

  “Wake up kitty, it’s morning.” I never liked to wake early, but I was looking forward to the hunt today. After pulling the covers, I saw a naked Lina. It was probably too hot for her at some point, and she decided to take her clothes off.

  She had such a great figure. Decent, nicely shaped breasts, slim waist, tight butt, long legs. Her cat traits only made her more alluring. I couldn’t help it but reach for her tail.

  “Ah,” she let a soft moan when my fingers touched the root of her tail. She looked at me with half-closed eyes. “Darling, are you going to make me your woman?”

  “Maybe later.” I got off the bed with my heart racing like crazy. She was so damn cute! “Get dressed, we’re going out.”

  We had a short breakfast consisting of fried eggs and bacon, then headed outside. The morning air was fresh, and there wasn’t a sign of pollution anywhere.

  The architecture style of the city was hard to classify, it looked like a fantasy version of 18th century England.

  “I slept like a princess last night.” Lina stretched her arms, a smile floating on her face as she said that. “That bed was so soft and warm.”

  “Yeah, I also feel refreshed and full of energy.”

  She wrapped herself around my arm, “What are we doing today, Darling?”

  “I was thinking about going to the forest, but first we need to get some equipment. I didn’t ask you before, what is your specialty?”

  “Daggers! I’m good at close combat since I’m faster than the average D-rank.” She said proudly, her tail swinging left and right, behind her.

  “Did you killed a lot of monsters?”

  Ah, there it is. The look she gives me when I ask a dumb question. What is it this time?

  “Not everyone can kill a lot of monsters like you, Darling. For example five kobolds. I would need four more D rank members to fight that many kobolds, and we would be lucky to come out of that fight without some injuries.”

  Lina led me to a street filled with shops. There were bakeries and cafes, clothing shops, armories, bookstores… All kinds of things were being sold here. She claimed that merchandise of the greatest quality from all over the Empire and beyond, was sold here. I had to believe her, the street was about 30 yards wide, and God knows how long. I can’t see the end from here. Maybe half a mile? A whole mile?

  “This is a good shop, they have a lot of magic equipment here.”

  Almost all the stores had big windows in the front, like many I saw in big cities. Wasn’t glass expensive here? Maybe it was a show of prestige since this was the capital of an Empire.

  Finely crafted swords and shields, bows, and axes. There were even canes and staffs.

  “Welcome,” a store clerk greeted us, and I could see another one talking with a customer, both of them were dressed in brown pants and white shirts with ties. “How may I help you?”

  “I need a set of protective gear for her and some daggers.”

  “Darling, you don’t have to waste that much money on me,” she said hurriedly while blushing, “Just buy the things you wanted for yourself, and we can b
uy a couple of daggers elsewhere.”

  “I have my protective equipment.” I patted my chest, the clothes I was wearing were high grade, ordinary weapons can’t pierce this thing.

  “Indeed,” another clerk said as he drew closer. “Excuse me, I am Koliar, my father is the owner of ‘Volseb & Voin’ shop.”

  “Nice to meet you, I am Alex,” we exchanged greetings and shook hands, he seemed like a nice fellow.

  “I couldn’t but notice that you have some fine protective equipment, the quality is something that I haven’t seen before. And as someone who has a decent magic ability, I was surprised to sens such powerful magic coming from your clothes.”

  “Is it that unusual?”

  Koliar smiled. “You see, magic crafted clothes are not unusual, but you need a certain amount of crystals attached to the fabric. They are the magic source that powers, and keeps the spell going. Not having a single crystal on yourself and still give off so much power… I haven’t seen anything like that in my life.”

  “Oh,” crap.

  “The design, however, looks like something from Gerland. As a merchant as well as a mage, I would like to know if it is possible to acquire such splendid magic items in the West?”

  Ah, that is what he wanted. “Sorry, I can’t help you with that. This was a parting gift from my teacher. And yes, he can be found somewhere on the west, as for the exact location, I can’t tell you that.”

  “I see, please forgive my rude behavior,” he bowed politely, “You said that you wanted protective equipment for your lady? If that is so, we have a great number of items that may be to your liking.”

  I ignored Lina’s protesting and looked at the items Koliar showed me. I bought her new shorts and a jacket made of Wyvern skin. A pair of soft leather boots, arm guards and a belt with two daggers.

  She was almost out of her mind when I handed 5 gold and 10 silver coins. I didn’t want to waste money either, but this was like an investment. I do need her to explain things to me, and she knows Tsarigrad almost like the palm of her hand.

  “The debt I couldn’t repay amounted to 25 silver coins,” she said while checking out her daggers, they were a foot long and made from a razor bird’s claws and steel. If you pour mana in them, the blade can generate a thin air coating, adding more sharpness to the edges.

  “You paid 2 gold coins for the daggers. That’s 100 silver coins. That’s 50 silver each.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know how to do the math.”

  “Yes, I can see that, Mister Important.” Lina grabbed the collars of my coat and looked at me intently. “Just who are you?”

  “You are making a scene right now, we’ll talk later.” I stared down at her, she wasn’t that much shorter than me. Maybe 5.5 feet tall?

  “Yes, m’lord.”

  She was mad now. The change of moods is strong within this one.

  “Documents. Alright,” a guard checked my and Lina’s Guild cards, and just when we were about to leave, a voice called out to me.

  “Alex,” Vlard came with a friendly smile, “Did everything went well yesterday? Could you find the Inn?”

  “Yes, Lina helped me with it. The Night Bird is great, I’ll probably be staying there for a while.”

  “An acquaintance of yours? Oh,” he saw the slave crest and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, it’s safer that way, I guess. Dark Magic can be a touchy subject, some people don’t feel relaxed near it.”

  “I guess as much, the other guards still seem to be tense,” I said looking at the nearby soldiers, their hands were on the hilts of their swords all the time.

  “Oh, no.” Vlard shook his head and then said in a low voice. “They are anxious, but not because of you. It’s the rumors, you know?”

  “What rumors?” I didn’t know what he was talking about, did something happened? Maybe a strong monster appeared.

  “I can only tell you what half of Tsarigrad already knows.” He looked over his shoulder briefly and then lowered his voice to a whisper. “There was a commotion at the temple of Kriss and the Saint’s Palace yesterday, people say that something happened to the High Priestess.”

  ‘Temple of Kriss’? Could it be ‘Temple of Christ’?

  “I do not know much about religion, could you tell me more?”

  “You don’t know?” Vlard was surprised for a second and then started explaining.

  Kriss was a God from old times. He was born thousands of years ago. Some scholars say it was 10000 years, some say it was 5000 years, others even claim that it was 3500 ago.

  “There were even some Elves claiming that it was a God from their world before the humans came, and the world changed. Elves do live longer than humans, some of them being as old as 300, or even 400 years. They say that Kriss was known as Krii, but he merged with our God and became Kriss.”

  “Crazy, huh?” I couldn’t believe it. Are there actual, real Gods? Did Krii usurp Christ’s place? But, in a world with magic, couldn’t Christ become a reality? Like, born from the prayers of people? All this talk will give a headache.

  “They are stories,” Vlard said simply. “Who is right and who is wrong doesn’t matter, what matters is that Kriss is a God we believe in and pray to. That is the way of the Praslovia.”

  “Are there other Gods?”

  “There are so many, I can’t count them all. Individuals, tribes, regions, countries… Different places, different Gods. As long as you respect ours, we’ll respect yours. That has been the politic of the Rasik Empire for thousands of years.”

  Chapter 7.

  After we finished our talk with Vlard, Lina and I headed to the forest north of Tsarigrad. I asked her if I should buy some horses and got ‘the look’ again.

  “Monsters will just kill them, and if they don’t do that, someone will most likely steal them.”

  It looks like adventurers only use horses to travel to other towns and villages. They only go hunting monsters with them if they form a big subjugation group and bring additional people who would look after the animals.

  We walked for an hour before we reached the forest, and then walked some more. How wrong was my perception of adventuring, if I was a normal human, I would be sitting somewhere, resting my legs right now.

  “Let’s rest here for a bit.” I sat down under some tree and took a bottle of water from my Storage.

  “Convenient.” Lina took the bottle and drank some. “It’s still fresh.”

  After scanning the surroundings, I judged that it was safe to do a little experiment, so I took out the corpses of the six adventurers I killed yesterday.

  “What are you doing!” Lina was freaking out, looking left and right, afraid that someone may see us.

  “Don’t worry, nobody will see us.” I used the shadows of the trees to make a barrier around us. It wasn’t a physical barrier, but merely something to prevent people from seeing what was happening inside. Like having curtains made of shadows.

  Right now, I had a great affinity with the Dark Element, I only lacked the skills to use it. Absorb, Darkness Ball, Storage, and Domain. Aside from that – nothing.

  So, what better way to acquire a skill than to experiment? I could hunt monsters if I can find some with good skills. 17 monsters yesterday, 2 skills. 6 humans, 0 skills. Can I get skills from humans in the first place? I should be able to, since I Absorbed their life force. But I’ll live that for later.

  I channeled the Dark Element into a body and probed around to see if there was any sort of reaction. The corpse felt like a sponge, sucking up the Darkness until it was overflowing.

  “Arggg… gaaa...”

  “He’s alive! Oh my God! He’s alive!” Lina was pulling her hair, worried. “What are we going to do now?”

  “He’s not alive, he’s a zombie,” I explained. She stared at me for a few seconds and then drew her daggers.

  “You are an undead! O-or a Demon!” She pointed her dagger at me, her hand trembling uncontrollably.

  I completely ignored her and went t
o the next corpse. She is my slave, she shouldn’t be able to attack me.

  I worked one corpse at a time, and soon all six of them were standing at my command. They could act according to my will, but couldn’t execute overly complicated moves alone. As far as I could tell, they went down one rank, which wasn’t that bad, really. Maybe I can use them when facing multiple opponents. And best of all, I could put them in my Shadow Storage. Was it because they weren’t ‘really’ alive?

  When I looked at Lina, I saw her resting against a tree. She was silent, and I could see her hands gripping the Razor-Bird daggers tightly.

  “Are you alright?” I stored the zombies away, to not scare her needlessly.

  “No,” she said quietly, almost whispering. “I never thought that I will become the slave of a Demon. I even thought that one day you could marry me, and we would have beautiful children. The boys would be handsome like their father, and the girls cute like their mother. And now… Now I don’t know if Demons can have children at all? Would you even want to have children with me? That is if you don’t kill me, of course. But you can turn me into a zombie, then. Don’t tell me, you like doing it with zombies?!”

  “Man, you’re having a meltdown.” Yup, she was trembling, sweating and blabbering.

  “Are you talking in Demon? I don’t even know what you’re saying anymore!”

  I knelt and hugged the sobbing girl. Poor thing.

  “Calm down, I don’t want to kill you, or turn you into a zombie. And I’m not a Demon.” Not entirely.

  It took me a while to calm her down, but I managed to do it somehow. She was still looking at me suspiciously as we went further into the forest.

  I could feel the presence of monsters when we got deeper, and soon even Lina could smell them.

  “Orcs,” she said shortly, unsheathing her daggers. She seemed to be back to normal.

  After a while, we were able to see them. The Orcs were bigger than the average human. About 8 feet tall, had pig-like ears and deformed faces. They kind of resembled a character I’ve seen in a horror movie.