Chapter 3
“Hey Maou, you in?”, a lone man knocked on one of the back doors to the Demon Lord’s castle. He wore a standard adventurer’s outfit but with a closer look, one could tell that many of his items were high quality. He had brown hair and beard, and a solid build.
The man could Detect dimensional magic on the other side of the door before it opened to reveal a man with white hair and blue skin, wearing all black clothes with a pure white shirt underneath.
“I see Mr. William hasn't changed one bit. Still as ugly as ever.”, The butler of the castle said with a courteous bow.
“You know what, Buer. If you say the same thing every time, there’ll come a time when it’ll stop having an effect.”, Willian smiled victoriously and walked past Buer the butler, “Is Maou in his study?”
“Ah, it seems Mr William has finally accepted his shortcomings.”, Buer the butler replied, closing the door, “And Mr William sounds confident in being able to find Master should I affirm that he is in his study. Is Mr William even aware of how many studies there are in this castle?”
While Willian was taken aback by Buer the butler’s question, Buer the butler overtook William and started leading the way.
“Uhhh.. How many..?”
“Twelve.”, Buer the butler replied before William could finish his question, “Though I suppose Mr Williams could indeed have located the master by his lone self since Master prefers to use the same room for most of his tasks.”
“Then..”
“That is, had Master been there. He is having supper with Master Domantius in the dining hall.”, Buer the butler took a sudden left, causing William to stumble, "Mr William should take care not to fall behind."
William kept his mouth shut, having decided long back he would never win against Buer the butler in a contest of words.
"Hey Buer..", William prompted the butler who he believed was deliberately taking a convoluted path so that William wouldn't be able to traverse the next time either.
"Mr William should not wait for me to reply before he speaks what he wishes. It only prolongs my conversation with him which I would like to avoid at all costs.", Buer the butler stated, without looking back.
"You really shouldn't be saying that when you yourself talk so much to me. Anyways, Buer, I wanna kick your ass for being a jerk to me all this time. Say, do you fight?", William asked honestly.
"It is a butler's duty to be proficient in many things. And I would like not to reduce Master's guest, as uncouth as they sometimes can be, to ashes.", William took another quick turn arriving at a long hallway. He whisked to the side and bowed again, "It is not much further till the master. I believe my next instructions for Mr William could be hard for his meagre brain to comprehend but I urge him to try his best to follow."
"Hmm?"
"Walk straight.", Buer the butler said his last words and disappeared.
"It wasn't nice to see you again, Buer! I hope you die soon of old age!", William shouted in the direction his antagonist had disappeared before walking again.
"Yo Maou. How's it been?", William walked into the dining hall. It was absolutely massive. William estimated a hundred people could have fit in it and it would have enough space for them to move about comfortably. In the middle of the hall, there was a table that could have been called large or small depending on the outlook. It could seat 30 people around it, though right now only One And A Half men sat around it.
"Will. Welcome.", Maou looked up from his plate. Buer the butler had already told him several hours ago that William would be arriving and his various detection Skills had also long since picked up his presence.
"Uncle Will!", Dom waved with elation from his elevated seat. Normally he would have run up to one of his favourite uncles but Maou had been teaching him manners.
"Wow Dom.. You've gotten so much bigger than the last time I saw you. At this rate, you'll be able even to beat me in combat soon.", William lied through his teeth but the innocent Dom gobbled it and laughed.
[Why are you bullshitting? I know you can't tell a jack's cent of a difference.], Maou spoke to William through Telepathy.
[Hey, I'm just making him happy. Why're you so grumpy?], William replied back with Telepathy as he peeked into the dishes and picked out a bunch of things here and there to nibble on. [And what's the deal with him anyway? I know years are shorter here but he still looks like he's 2. Shouldn't he be, I don't know, 12?]
[I'm surprised you got the number right. And it's both because the years here are shorter and powerful demons grow slower since they live longer. And he's the son of the last Demon Lord who was the strongest demon. Obviously he'll grow slow. His mental age might be the same as a kid of around a 5 year old back on Earth.]
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[Damn.]
William gave a short reply since the conversation was going on too long and he was having a hard time ignoring Dom's gaze by pretending to look around for something to eat. He was really bad at multitasking, so he figured he'd finish the telepathic conversation first before entertaining Dom.
"Yo Dom. You ready to hear some adventure stories of your great uncle Will?", Will asked as he sat down opposite Dom with a plate full of food. Telling about his adventures to Dom was one of his routines and he would always do it whenever he'd visit.
"Nod today!", Dom shook his head, surprising Will.
"Haha, he wants to hear the story of the time you came here for the first time. As a Hero, I mean. To fight me.", Maou told Will.
"What, you wanna hear about the time your great uncle Will kicked your daddy's ass?", Will asked with a smug grin.
"I advise Mr William doesn't get too cocky. There's no way he can defeat Master who defeated previous Master, even if he trained for a hundred years.", Buer the butler appeared out of nowhere and started collecting the dishes in front of Maou and Dom, "Master, would you like anything else?"
"Buer's right, Will.", Maou said as he waived in denial to Buer the butler, "There's really no way you could possibly defeat me in a fight. Unless of course you got involved in some stupid plot since the last time you came here and it gave you some unnecessary character development."
"Bah! Don't listen to them, Dom. Your uncle is really cool and strong. Now let me tell you the story of How I Met Your Father."
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"Maou!!!!!!! The great hero William is here!! Surrender if you don't want my sword to shred you to bloody pieces!!!", Entered William in Maou's entry hall with his party. All his party members were sort of weak looking and really didn't do much except rely on William for everything.
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"Weren't your compan..", Maou was about to ask but Will interrupted.
"SILENCCEEEEE!!! Dom wants to hear the story from his great uncle Will!"
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All other party members were weak looking except William. William was the very example of an alpha male. His biceps were as thick as an elephant’s feet. His chest harder than rock! No steel! His 10 pack abs could lift mountains! For added effect, each and every muscle in his body flexed individually, completing the picture of awesomeness.
"You must be the hero who has come to try and defeat me today.. I can already feel the amazing power from your body, seeping fear into my bones. So powerful, yet at the same time so destructively handsome! I'm glad I didn't bring my demoness harem with me otherwise they would have all fallen for your charm!", Maou said in a very dull voice, for added effects.
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"Dada, you had a halem?", Dom asked his father. His eyes almost teared at the thought that his father had other women than his mother.
The storyteller felt an incredible killing intent building up against him.
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"Ahem.", Coughed Maou, sitting upright on his throne, "I mean, the women who want to be with me obviously. Pity them for I have heart only for one woman, the most beautiful and gracious of all. The most charming and alluring that has ever been, better than any human, elf, demon or any other race."
"Indeed Maou. Dom's mother was an amazing woman. I am so jealous of you that you managed to win her heart!" Replied the amazingly strong and mightily handsome William, "And now we fight!"
Suddenly the environment changed and sonic booms were heard as William and Maou moved at speeds incomprehensible to normal man. William's comrades were blown away at some point, never to be remembered again.
The fight lasted for 3 days. Many times the great William was brought down to his knees, but through sheer willpower, he would rise up and again go head to head against Maou. But Maou always had the upper hand.
But then the great William remembered his mother and sister he had left back home to fight for the people of this world. Their tears from how they would be..
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"Okay William, enough bull…", Maou interrupted the story.
"Wait! I'm almost at the climax!", William interrupted back.
"What happen nekjt!", Dom was completely lost in the story, his eyes sparkling.
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The great William remembered how his mother and sister had wept at his departure and the promise he had made to them to fulfil his duty. The great William found a new source of power from within him, and just as Maou was about to deliver the finishing blow, he was pushed back!
William's chest shone bright as a hilt slowly came out. William grabbed it with his right hand and pulled it out slowly.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!", He felt excruciating pain but he knew it was now or never. He grit his teeth and inch by inch, he pulled the sword of pure white.
And once it was finally out, it's amazing light pierced through the darkness and lighted up the heavens. Beautiful angels appeared one by one and dropped flower petals at the birth of the greatest hero that mankind had ever seen.
The great William took that sword and with an energy he had never felt before in his life, swung it towards Maou.
"This brightness! It's too much! I can't take it!!!!!" Maou dissipated in the darkness as William finally won the battle.
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Dom slammed his small hands on the table and stood up in his elevated chair.
"No! Dada can'd loje! Make 'im win!" Dom glared at William.
"What? But I'm the hero!", William shot back, unwilling to back down in front of a kid.
"And helo should loje! Helo die! Dada win!", Dom announced.
[Hey Will. Why don't you just let me win in the story? It'll make Dom happy.], Maou sent to William with Telepathy.
"No!", Will also stood up on the table, "It's my story and I get to win in it!", He glared at Maou because glaring at Dom would have made him feel petty.
Maou facepalmed. It was like handling two kids.
"Now now, Mr William shouldn't spread his ugliness any more than he already has. His story was fake anyway. Let me tell you what really happened, master Domantius."
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Supplementary teachings:
Humans summoned from Hero Summoning are not given any warning or time to say goodbye to their loved ones, or commit the perfect crime. They are whisked away as soon as the summoning ritual begins and are held in a temporary space where the Hero System takes over and adapts their body to the new world(different gaseous composition, immunity to common types of bacteria and virus, language comprehension, mana and many more things). Summoned ones don't retain any memories of this since the process of changing one's body composition from within is incredibly painful. As a result, the summoning looks instantaneous to all parties.
In fact, contrary to common belief, not every human summoned though the Hero Summoning had the Hero System before, when the Skill was still just a spell. It is that those who did not have the system died within a few seconds of being summoned due to the difference in environment (for example: their eyes, nose and ears start bleeding due to the difference in pressure and their organs start to fail as the much higher levels of oxygen starts to poison their blood).
Since the cause of these symptoms were unknown, it was simply believed that that summoning ‘failed’.