As soon as Reli muttered these words, Cho’s face lit up again. The Oni picked up his club and held it over his shoulder.
“Okay then let’s go to the Demon King’s castle, your new home. And since you are my underling from now on I will take care of you. I will gift you some nice armor and weapons when we are there,” Cho began to leave the hall, “Oh, that reminds me. Did you find anything in here?”
Reli, who had followed Cho outside, stopped in her tracks as she heard the question. Cho’s tone, which had been warm and playful had changed to a cold and direct one. She knew, he wanted to get his hands on whatever was inside of this hall and it was unlikely that such a magnificent hall would be completely empty. Cho looked directly into Reli’s eyes as she stopped, looking out for any lie that she would utter.
“I found these clothes and some old bones in the coffin,” she answered Cho truthfully hiding the existence of the essence.
“Hmm, then someone else was faster than us. You saw someone else?” the Oni kept asking, “Something that was out of the ordinary?”
“Like this hall in such a cave? Or the coffin made out of a black Gem?”, Reli asked, trying to sound innocent.
“True, true, that is already out of the ordinary. And such a young Demon like you would not know the significance of such a place. Most certainly you would not recognize it if something was off. I am sorry for doubting you,” the Oni explained and ruffled through Reli’s hair, “Your hair is sooo silky and soft! I loooooove it! What a cute little sister I got today.”
Cho was definitely weird, but he seemed to be no threat. Reli hoped it would stay that way as the two of them exited the grave together. The window, which had been awfully quiet the whole time, popped up again, informing Reli that they entered the Canyon again. It had added another line to the one she had seen before.
You two are an entertaining couple.
As Reli read this line, she rolled her eyes. She may be entertaining to whoever wrote in the window, but for her, it was a scary encounter. She wondered if the window had known how it would play out in the end as the line changed once again.
I knew he would come. I did not know how he would react. I am not omniscient.
Reli laughed as she read the window, much to the surprise of Cho. The window changed again.
No one else can see me. You just made a fool out of yourself.
“Oh, I just thought how scared I was when I first met such a nice and handsome big brother like you and how funny it is now,” Reli explained quick-witted as the two walked next to each other in the same direction as the Minotaur and the horde of Demons went before.
Cho raised one eyebrow but did not say a word. Instead, he ruffled Reli’s hair again as he laughed, much to her discomfort. Reli learned fast that Cho could not control his strength that well.
On their way, Reli learned some history of Aver. She knew, thanks to Um’ra’s memories, it was not entirely true what Cho told her, but Cho seemed to believe it. From her words, the Demons are ruled by the La’fayette family. An ancient family of Vampires that prided themselves as the keepers of rule and knowledge. The current Demon King, Melchior La’fayette ruled for a little over a hundred years after his father Leon had passed away. Every ten years the Heavenly Guards and their underlings are ordered by the Demon King to gather the newly born Demons from the barren lands. The weak will be used as livestock and resources for weapons, while the strong get to join the Demon King's side. This has been going on for millennia. Cho was on this journey as well, but since he was only interested in cute things, he mostly came back empty-handed.
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The castle ‘Chaya’ in which the Demon King and his subjects lived was built by the first Demon King Keit La’fayette to unite the different species at the end of the canyon,
Cho also explained that she will have to show her status to be registered as the Demon King's subject and that it would be good to allow others to see it. There was a skill named ‘Analyze’ which would force out the information, however, it would question her loyalty and she would be turned into food. She also learned that most skills are tied to the species of the Demon. Her skill ‘Identify’ which only allowed her to see superstitious information about everything and the skill ‘Analyze’ which would show the exact status were exceptions. It was not known how one would gain it and so they were highly wanted. Any Demon possessing one of them would certainly be treated well.
What surprised Reli the most was that Cho did not mention primaver or humans at all. It seemed to her as if this knowledge was lost in time or kept hidden, for whatever reason.
In return for all the explanations, Cho wanted to know more about Reli, what she had done before they met and what she was. Reli who wanted to stay on Cho's good side, showed him the fake status which she altered to what Cho thought she was. Officially Reli was now a Poisondragon with only the skills of ‘Language comprehension’, Identify’, and ‘Transformation’. The sight of ‘Identify’ in her status let Cho ruffle her hair again in happiness. Reli guessed Cho would take every opportunity he could get to ruffle her hair in the future.
She also told the Oni how she saw the Minotaur and how she hid from him, which made Cho laugh out loud. He explained that ‘Minomino’ as he called him, was the youngest of the four Heavenly Guards. Inexperienced and brisky, trying to gain achievements quickly and in return making many mistakes. Killing the Larvae was one of them. He was happy that Reli hid and that the two of them met.
Reli also explained how it had melted a Dragonbaby when she was still a Larvae, which earned her another ruffle. Cho explained that the experiences and how lucky they were with their points would decide what evolution one would have. He also said that Reli was very lucky to become a Dragon as there are only two ways to become one. Being born as one and melting and absorbing one. Dragons would lay one egg every 500 years to continue their species. Some would go on to live for thousands of years but even though they were extremely powerful there were not much left of them anymore.
Many wars had been fought between Demons and Dragons, and many lives were lost on both sides so everyone tried to ignore each other as both sides licked their wounds and tried to recover the strength they had lost.
The Oni also said that he did not know when the last time was a Dragon was gained into the ranks of the Demon King, he most certainly could not remember it and that the last one died years ago.
After walking for a very long time, the castle ‘Chaya’ finally came into their view. It was built into a mountainside and Reli guessed it continued into the mountain as well. A huge wall was built in a half circle around the castle and the city around it. Four towers grew out of the wall and pierced the sky. On top of each tower waved the flag of the Demon King, A blood-red fang with a drop of blood dripping from it on a black ground. She had already expected that it would not be the flag she had seen in Um’ra’s memories but it felt like a punch in her guts. Reli did not know if it was because she knew that there must have been something that happened or because she was Um’ra's heir, but she felt disgusted seeing these flags waving on top of the tower.
In the middle of the wall was a huge gate made of stone, guarded by two Minotaurs. They were smaller and less intimidating than the ones Reli had encountered before. As they saw Cho, they saluted and opened the gate swiftly before giving way for the two into what could only be described as a town made entirely out of stone.
As the duo walked past the guards, Reli could hear the two whisper behind their back, yet could not make out what exactly they said. She suppressed the urge to look back, almost certain they would point at her.
“Don’t mind them;” Cho reassured her as he patted Reli’s hair, “It is just rare that I bring someone with me. Oh and welcome to ‘Chaya’!”