Chapter 2

“Holy shit this is amazing!” cried Haru as he saw first hand the experience of riding a dragon.

“It is isn’t it,” I replied

“I never thought you would get this far Daiki, tell me what the hell happened to you, how did you come back?”

“Many things Haru, many things… you will hear all about it once we are done with all of this”

“What do you mean done? You seem to have forgotten our deal, Daiki,” said Haruna

“You promised to let me be, alone and freed from control, you have yet to keep that promise”

“I know, however, the demon king has a magic that can send us back home or did you forget?”

“AH!” she replied in shock

“So that magic is real?” asked Haru

“I guess it is, but something is telling me otherwise, it is like if this magic is too good to be true… but I don’t know, I might be mistaken” I said in a bit of a dismissive manner.

“Well let’s hope it is, after all, I grew tired of this word, much senseless killing and nothing to entertain myself with, no tv, no games, no mangas to read, and especially no fucking air conditioners… ”

“You seem to be quite lax around the Herald, mister Haru,” said the elven princess in a questioning tone

Once he turned around he had his mouth opened wide agape from shock.

“A-An elf!” he said

“Yes, she is…”

“And she is with you?”

“Yes.”

“Can I touch her ears?”

“NO!” replied everyone in a single voice.

“Damn it…” said Haru.

“You seem to have lost some weight, were you working out?” asked Haruka

“Yes, you noticed?”

“Yes, you were a lot… rounder than what you look like… you must have leveled up quite a lot.”

“Yes I did, and it was quite easy actually, the leveling up part, I had no will in all of it, my body was doing all the work and slaying all the monsters relying on my memories and knowledge of such designed world. I should probably be the highest leveled up person in here, after you probably, what is your level?”

“Am 1388, hmm it seems that I leveled up a bit after having killed the pontiff and the few knights in that war…I didn’t pay it attention, Huh I even got a new title… The blasphemer…”

“Come again? I think I mistakenly heard you speaking about a level beyond one thousand.”

“Yea…, 1388…”

“The hell man, you are god like if that was your level, I barely reached level 220…”

“Well, I am sorry to tell you that you are actually the weakest in this bunch then…” said Haruna.

“No… what are your levels?” Asked Haru.

Haruka spoke first.

“462.”

Misaka followed

“395”

Then Haruna

“381 here…”

Out of desperation Haru turned around hoping that the elven princess would be lesser level than him but her answer was

“281…” followed by a silent “I am sorry.”

“758 here,” said the dragon as if adding salt to the wound. Haru then dropped and wallowed in self-pity

“Damn… How did you manage to get such high levels… and I thought that my speed was decent enough that I had managed to keep up with the Hero, I took me a year to get here with the constant slaying of monsters and doing missions… you must have done something great to have such high levels guys.”

“Actually this only took two fights to get to this level… one day at most” said Haruna.

She seems to have become quite chatty today, probably have another one to speak with other than her enslaver was a breath of fresh air for her to release some pent-up frustration that was somehow aimed at me.

“Come again? Two fights? What did you guys fight to get to this high of a level?”

“Just your regular demons from hell and some over powered soul eaters, nothing much really,” I said in a cynical manner.

“Your usual demons from hell… why do I feel like you are trying to mock my efforts…”

“Because I am,” I said taunting the man a bit.

“And that armor? Can I see its characteristics? It looks nice”

“You should ask the girls for that,” I replied the armor they were done is theirs now

Haru turned toward Haruka looking at her with puppy eyes, enough that she felt awkward and gave him the helmet she wore for him to see. Though I doubt he has the ability to inspect, he can still do so if he just touches an item for the first time.

“Holy fucking shit! The stats on this helmet is fucking awesome! And dragon slayer? How did you do that? I mean… we are riding one, shouldn’t it be a bit pissed off after having killed one of its kin?”

“Euh… actually, it was made after having killed this very dragon…”

“come again? It is clearly still alive”

“He!” I corrected “And his name is Nemu. Dragons don’t die, they are resurrected after having reached the end of their lives, like the phoenix from our world”

“Pheonix resurrect in your world Herald?”

“We don’t have phoenixes in our world, they are only mentioned in tales and stories, hang on, there are phoenixes here?”

“Yes, there are, though the bastards are quite haughty and narcissistic by nature, they are truly strong, but once they die, they die for good… however, to kill one is the same as killing a god, they are strong beyond strength and would rarely fall in combat. Once a Phoenix dies, the world shall know of it…”

“Are they stronger than dragons?”

“NOTHING IS STRONGER THAN A DRAGON!” roared Nemu, as his pride was hurt.

“Except an undying Herald,” added Miaka with a smirk on her face.

“I was not in my right mind, otherwise I would have easily won…” said the dragon, while sounding a bit embarrassed.

Moments later, we reached the borders of the demonic kingdom and into the capital, Nemu left us near the gates and headed out for some hunting. The dragon needed sustenance and some time alone.

“Wow, this looks big…” said Haru

“True, you should check out the library, it has many interesting books for you to read. I actually found many interesting titles I have in my inventory that you can read later.” I said

“Sure thing, I would always welcome a good book, especially about magic… The wind and ice magic, it gets damn hot here sometimes…” said Haru, probably still reminiscing about the unavailability of air conditioning in this world.

“We will need to get to the palace first. Lilith should have some news for us about the magic to take us to our world.”

Heading into the city, we saw many camps where soldiers and mercenaries stood by, some were injured and most were tending to their brethren.

The signs of a lost war are here, Lilith must be suffering the consequences of the ‘failed’ attempt at defending the troops…

The entrance to the city was clogged but once the guards saw my appearance they let us pass before the rest of the commoners, after all, no one would dare mess with the Herald, the Demon Slayer…a

“The people here seem to respect you, Daiki…” said Haru

“Not respect, Haru, it's fear, fear makes people do their best to appear friendly and helpful, crossing one of great strength is never a wise idea, and they saw it beforehand. Grow stronger Haru, this way you can protect not only yourself but also those around you, we were weak the first day we got to this world and it was fear that drove us to follow the rules of the church.”

“I could say you’re right, but fear never was a great idea, nor notion, fear only generates hatred. Being a fear figure will mostly antagonize you in the eyes of many…”

Wise words said by one I thought to be unwise…

“Fear is all I have Haru and all I can rely on, without it I probably will not fare much with people… I hope you understand what I mean.”

“Perhaps you are right but still, with only fear as your way to your goals, do you think people will follow you? You said you will bring down the divine. Yet without the support of others, your task will be impossible…”

“hmm, I can’t say I don’t agree with you, but let's just find a way out of this place, this world and these damn circumstances, perhaps then, we will no longer need to suffer this fate, though I loved to read about stories of adventurers going to another world, I would never have agreed if I was given the chance… especially after what happened here to us.”

“Neither would I, Daiki, Neither would I,” said Haru as we walked

The girls remained quiet. Not wanting to interrupt our conversation but willing to listen to it.

Moments of silent walking we reached the Shranvur, the place where I can get to the palace using the mirror with everyone else.

“So this is the place you spoke about Daiki?”

“Yes it is,”

“It is marvelous… it looks enormous, and I am quite tempted right now to read the books within it…”

“Let’s meet with the demon king first, they should have some information for us.”

The guards at the door let us in without an incident, one of them still remember their previous error of having stopped me bowed his head once more asking forgiveness, something I did not feel bothered about as he was just doing his duty.

Inside the great halls of the Shranvur, we walked in silence. As I had no way of knowing where to go I tried to ask someone for the whereabouts of the king, yet most seemed not willing to converse with us, out of fear or just hurried as they were holding several documents and books that they probably needed to move to other locations. Times of war bring great chaos to the response over the state of affairs, and the handlers of economics, war needs money, and money is taxed from the people, engaging in lost wars was never a wise decision, it only makes the people unhappy and the rulers incompetent, something that was the case we have at our hand right now.

The general over the demonic army luckily was walking by, as I approached and before I could call him, he turned around and gave a slight bow.

“It is good to see you back Lord Herald, there is a meeting that brought about the heads of the state, I think it would be interesting if you would show yourself there, Your companions are welcomed too… someone like yourself needs to know what happened in your absence, and how great your assistance made the balance of the war tip in our favor.”

Favor?

Thinking about it, I guess the idiots of council members are going to try and do something stupid…

I picked up the pace of my steps and walked forward, passing by the general that followed soon after us and opened the great door of the meeting room.

Lilith POV

“Don’t be stupid, there is no way we can attack right now, we have yet to hear from the Herald, he was the reason why our army survived that day.”

“No, it was your incompetence that almost got your personal army wiped out, you even used a lot of the resources of the treasury?”

“It's my army! my kingdom and my decision to make, you are but a consultant, and I forbid you to do anything that would harm or compromise the relationship.”

“You failed your kingdom when you did not listen to our demands in remaining in the city and not fighting an unknown army with the support of the gods, you even relied on the aid of a foreigner, one we deem unworthy and foul, able to call upon the power of hell.”

“It matters not, he still aided us, and I dare not incur his wrath if he is willing to do the work himself, did you not hear him speak about bringing the human kingdom to its knees? He did so in a single day, you think that he is unable to do so to this kingdom of you cross him? Let the man come back and let them speak before you be so rash and doom this country.”

“We will not let a foreign man control us, we are demon-kin, proud and strong, we might not be as numerous to the humans but we will surely not fall like them. A king should not fear a lone man…” said one of the council members further antagonizing me to the others, I feel weak and unable to reply. The sly bastards are taking my words and using them against me, I hate this so much I want to just outright kill them all, but it will only serve to further make me look like a tyrant than a king.

“I say we strike now. If the Herald is truly our ally he will not fault us for trying to secure more lands, they are humans, low leveled and unintelligent beings, only think about fornication and power they cannot wield correctly.”

“I could say the same to you,” said a man that just entered the room while tearing the doors open.

Daiki, The Herald of Souls entered the room along with four girls and a boy, followed by our general.

The general looked to be smirking, probably excited of what is to occur in this room.

“Dai- I mean Lord Herald, we welcome you to this meeting… we also need your council on the matter at hand” I said with a smirk

“This is a meeting for ones of our kin, he does not need to be ‘troubled’ with our matters”

“Trouble me please, I think concerns me more than you think, these humans have agreed on a peace, and I hear you speak of an invasion, I think I would be quite offended if the people I tried to reconcile with each other are trying to wage war. Don’t you think?” said the man while releasing a bit of his presence… the not so painful one.

The oldest of the group stood gathering his courage to say the few words

“We do not need you, Lord Herald, you did us greatly by destroying the faction that attacked our army, but our matters need to be discussed in private. You have no right to interfere.”

“You seem to be forgetting your place, old man. Let me say it bluntly so you can understand. I am the strongest one here and if not proven otherwise, my will is absolute. And if you dare try and do anything I find distasteful, it is your head that will roll. Lastly, I did not aid you because I considered you as allies, it was my animosity against the church that drove me to destroy their faction, the other humans did nothing wrong and so they were spared. So you don’t get to kill them, as they are under my protection, as it is the case for your people. So do me a favor and try not to ruin the ‘hard’ earned alliance”

“You dare threaten us?” said one of the younger council members as he slammed his hands-on the table.

But before he could add another word the Herald had already had him grabbed by the neck and holding him up, looking deeply into his frightened eyes as he said the words

“Dare? No, I don’t dare. I do, and I am threatening you. I forbid you all to do anything that will compromise the peace made by these two races, and if any of you tries they shall die. This is the last time I will say this, don’t you dare fucking do anything stupid that will make me want to kill you.”

“King, this council is adjourned and all shall leave except you.” Said Daiki as everyone left the floor, most hastily left while grumbling under their breath, even the younger council member after being released tumbled unceremoniously as he tried to exit, suffering the burn marks on his neck by the heat coming from the Herald’s grip.

“Lord Daiki, what can I do for you,” I said as I smiled a bit sheepishly. His presence sure made the bastards know their place, taking a huge toll over my shoulders.

“I have few things to say regarding this matter, but they can wait… these are my friends, and we need something that I had asked of you before…” said the Herald and I knew exactly what it was.

“The spell is unlocked and can be used. The magic to take you to another world is ready though your promise has yet to be fulfilled… I have still not gained full control over the kingdom…”

Though I think that the Herald did more than enough once he drove away the invaders, I still think that if he leaves now, I shall fail in getting back my kingdom… however I don’t think I have the right to stop him even if these bastards still want to see me dead, and once they know of Daiki’s departure, they will make sure that I am six feet under.

“Worry not, I won’t be going anywhere before I see them submit or dead, and that shouldn’t take long, now that they feel antagonized, they will try to either attack me, which will be reason enough for their death, or try to sabotage the call for peace, which will also have the same consequences, we only need some time, and their plans will unravel. Then, I can do my part…” said Daiki with a devilish smile, though I know he is trying to help me, I could only imagine the horrible deaths of those that would dare defy his will… I thanked whatever fate or luck that guided this man to be by our side… I could only shudder at the thought of him becoming an enemy…