[Take out the mana capsules!!] a young female shouted.

[Yes Miss Nell!] a group of men wearing robes that covers the head spoke clearly.

They went into large and dark room, magic circles could be seen all around but it did not matter to them.

One of the men stepped forward and casted an illumination spell and lit a small portion of the unusually big room.

Four pillars could be seen near the each of the corners of the large room, it was supporting the building perhaps.

[Mages, prepare the spell now, failure is 100% not an option!!] the young girl tried to shout loudly but her small body made her seem like a young kid trying to act like an adult.

[Yes Miss Nell!] the group replied.

14 of the men surrounded the magic circle in the centre of the room and flipped open a book.

The incantation continued in sync along the other mages.

15 minutes later, Nell slit her finger with a sharp object and dripped her blood on the magic circle.

It was night outside and the full moon was apparent, thus the conditions were satisfied and a bright light formed on the magic circle. The flash was so bright that everyone present were blinded.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Mortis Reinhold was no one special, talentless in life, average in roughly everything he has accomplished in school, that’s right… Mortis is me.

My name was always mocked of when he was young because it was unusual.

My name in this country is a foreign hybrid of two languages made by my parents, why did they gave me such an eccentric name, I never asked.

But, I was not worthless, do not misunderstand, I am well respected, insulting my name does not trigger my rage or anything like that, I believe I am a considerate type of guy.

I was average in everything, you can call me lucky for not being bad in anything despite my laziness.

Having that said, I am a highschool student in Potential Academy, the uniform is pretty well designed in my opinion.

The requirements to enroll is rather difficult to achieve among most people so the place is mostly occupied by intelligent students.

By the way, I am not a feminist, I am not one of those perverts or playboys you see around the world, majority of my friends are obviously male while the minority are females, and no this is not sexism, its just what I’m used too.

It does not mean I don’t have an interest in females, I have no confidence in myself in the first place so getting a relationship is a far goal to me.

“Hey Mort, the class is damn boring.” the boy who sat beside Mortis said. “…” “Hey Mortis, reply.” he persisted Mortis to answer.

“… … I am trying to focus,” I answer with an empty smile, “can you wait until the class is over?”

“But I’m bored, you do quite well in class anyway, so why bother concentrating?” he asked.

I slightly shake my head.

“It’s because I focus in class, I get decent results.”

“Is that so, just let me copy your notes later.” he gave up.

“Yeah yeah.”

The period ended and it became lunch time, Norman who previously talked to me went right beside his seat. I sigh as he passes a book towards him without looking.

“Here.”

“Thanks Mort.”

Norman proceded back to his seat and began copying the notes on his workbook, I without looking began unpacking my lunch and ate quietly.

Norman is right though, class is boring.

I live in the school dorm and can’t see my family, they live far but at least my sister lives nearby. Maybe I should visit my sister more often, we get along quite well, it might kill off some boredom and I can interact with my family.

Like gamers always say, double kills are better than one.

… Ok, that was a lame joke, don’t mind that.

I continue to ponder about life as I eat the bread on my hand.

“Hey Mort,” Norman who sits beside me asks, “like I said before, don’t you find class boring?”

“Well, yeah… it is somewhat boring but we have to do this.” I bluntly replied.

“I kinda pity you, you know, you live alone in the school dorm and the only thing you can do is either study or play crappy old generation RPGs.”

“I do the latter,” I replied bluntly once again, “I study once in a while, though it gets boring at night.”

“I really do pity you.”

“It’s okay, I’m not the only student living in the dorms.”

“That’s true.”

“I know, why not visit my place today, we can game until night and you return right before 10p.m., the dorm closes up before then right?”

“Yeah sure, but I got to finish up tomorrow’s homework.”

“Lemme help you with that, I am the all mighty class’ second place after all.“

“Sure, thanks Norm.”

Me and Norm finish up our work in my dorm room before setting out to Norman’s place.

“Did you know that I recently managed to have a conversation with red head.” Norman said proudly.

“Oh, our all mighty class’ first place?” I said, trying to act surprised.

“Yeah, Flanna Garnet, the ruby of our class.”

Well that’s true, her hair is red like a ruby, intelligent, attractive.

Now that I think about it, she is one of the most attractive people in the school, she can be considered the shiniest gem of the school easily if she polished up her social skills.

Who knows, maybe she has what it takes but never tried to, it might be entertaining to see the outcome.

“So, what about it?” asked the lost in thought me who did not really seem curious.

“We talked about various stuff, mostly academics though.”

Norman went over his memories for more details.

“Other then that?”

“Nothing important really, now that we conversed, I don’t think she was that quiet after all.”

“She just dislikes attention,” I interrupted, ” Flanna seems like that type of person.”

“You talked to her?” A shocked expression formed on Norman’s face.

“Not much.”

I wasn’t lying, I did talk to her occasionally though since I was quite the loner myself.

Wait, loners talk to other loners? I don’t think thats the case, I think it was just me who wants to share a mutual understanding as a loner, of course in a friend way.

I hope she doesn’t find me weird or hates me for it or anything, I don’t like in boy girl sense, but it will still hurt me mentally.

I’m a male after all. From my chats with her, she isn’t much of the loner I expected, she did seem like a nice girl.

I shall give Norman my prayers for a good relationship with Flanna, since he likes her, so obvious.

“Anyway, what kind of games you have? You said you bought new stuff.”

I diverted the topic to prevent continuation about Flanna.

“I bought the new Play Box 4, along with Guns and Dragons, Weed, Royal Road PC edition, Syg, Lost at Sea 2 and…”

“Monster Hunt?” Mortis added.

“Yeah, 3rd edition.”

We continued mindless chatter about groundless gossip and food until they arrived Norman’s home.

“So we’ll be playing Monster Hunt?”

“If you want.”

I was walking back to the dorm, the time was 9.24p.m. so I was in a rush.

I was in the residential area so he was quite safe walking alone, I had always been the type to do things alone, almost every time people offered me help I would most likely hesitate.

The street lights were considerably bright so I had no trouble walking back since this was not the first time I was invited to Norman’s home.

In the alley ways I passed by, cats could be seen roaming the night but I of course ignored them, I like cats but not wild ones, but I for some reason felt like entering an alleyway full of those wild cats.

I, like a puppet with strings attached, walked slowly towards into the lightless alley way, darkness seemed to have swallowed me up and light was no more.

As I was forced to venture deeper into the alley, cats around me jumped about and disappeared from my sight.

Cats just run away from me, makes me sad even though its normal.

I could see light from the end of the alley way.

The feeling of helplessness, this feeling sucks. I am in despair, I am in despair because I can’t move my body! Though I think that, other people suffer much more than I.

Although I wanted to run towards the end, my body would just not listen to me, my commands were ignored.

A mysterious voice could be heard around where I stood, fear was not the emotion that struck my mind, it was caution, my abillity to calm down and think straight surpasses my own expectations.

What is this, an unfamiliar language?

I tried to recall any foreign languages that I heard before but this one sounds too unworldly.

Whatever language it may be, it definitely means something bad.

My mind was still trying to process the feeling of immobilization I was experiencing, I stood there unable to move even a finger.

Before I knew it, my body began to glow a red light and was vanished from sight, my presence was long gone before the school started to make fuss about Mortis Reinhold’s disappearance.

——————————————————————————————————————–

“…”

This is weird. The area around me was unfamiliar and made me confused, its obvious one would be confused when experiencing the unknown.

They are shady people around me, 14 of them in fact, there is one more who didn’t look like them.

I focused on that person to find that she is a young girl. Was she the leader?

She does not seem threatened or cornered by these sketchy people, is saving her the right option?

No, of course not, 14 people are surrounding me, and the girl might be their ally, my survival is more important right now.

As I think that, the young girl went up passing though the hooded men.

“Rectas dji ella monni lasdi opri?”

… What was that, it sounds similar to the weird language before. I gave a confused look, hoping she understands that I do not comprehend the language.

She nods, she seems to realise my incomprehension of this weird and mysterious language.

She went closer to me, I did not expect that so backing up was the natural reaction.

She comes closer to me again, this time I remained standing, its best not to resist.

The girl placed something like glasses on my face after removing my spectacles, why I wonder.

[Do you understand now?]

[Yes? I think.]

Wait… what was that! I spoke this mysterious language like it was natural.

The glasses? This is a strange place no matter how you look at it. Dark, large and creepy.

[That is good, I assume you need explanations.] the girl said so while insisting me to follow, so I did.

Ah, I see, the girl who introduced herself of Nell Izma Claymore gave me a wonderful explanation of this world.

Yes, that’s right, I am in another world.

The name of this oh so wonderful fantasy like planet was called Valk Mezari, and the continent I am currently on was called Eril.

Great, just great, I now have accomplished the dream of lifeless people of teleporting to a fantasy world.

No proof was needed, the glasses says it all.

To summarise most of what she explained in approximately 50 minutes:

1. I am summoned here as the demon lord, yes the demon lord.

2. The previous demon lord dies last year, every year a new demon lord can be summoned if the current one dies.

3. There is magic and sword skills in this world, how nice.

4. The previous demon lord started a war with beast race, he was progressing well but got assassinated.

5. Demon territory is being raided by the Beast race, no surprise.

6. Nell is the previous demon lord’s daughter, he was called Dram Izzma Lauristine.

7. The glasses I am wearing is called the Language Filtrator, it is supposedly rare to get.

8. Language Filtrator is something called god’s blessing, you get them by praying regularly to god, weird right?

9. This demon continent’s god is within the top 3 among gods, yes… there are many gods.

[Anymore questions Mortis?] Nell asks.

[Not at the moment.] I said with most of my concerns dealt with.

[Wait, there is one more thing I must ask.]

[What?]

[How do I return to my world?]

How could I forget, its the most important question.

[You can't,] Nell said bluntly, [Almighty summoning spells can never be reversed.]

I’m shocked, I can’t return basically.

[Anyway Mortis, can you show me your power?]

Oh crap, this is a turning point, depends what I answer I might be dead.

[S... sure...]

The demon princess brought me to the castle training grounds, by the way the castle looked awesome.

I look around the place to find many of the soldiers and a few rich looking demons watching, they look creepy.

Nell noticed me staring at them and tells me they are nobles who were contributing in the war, so they are checking out the new demon lord?

[You may choose either 3 of us to spar with.]

Nell says while pointing at the two men beside her. The one on the left looked like a warrior, he is slim looking man who was pretty good looking even though he was a demon, humanoid demons look exactly like humans.

He wielded a great sword, the sword looked dangerous, well it is a sword.

The warrior did not wear heavy armor but I light chainmail, he looked like a man in his 30s despite the fact his hair looked quite long and attractive, I envy this guy.

The second person I get to choose to battle is the princess herself, she has a small and fragile looking body, nothing much to say except that she’s cute with that adorable body and blue hair.

She is a magician, but she called herself a Demonic Mage, she specialises in dark magic? She told me that her Mage rank is at Mighty.

Sounds strong, best not to chose her as an opponent.

The third person, he uses gauntlets, made of something that looks like steel, there might be different types of metals in Valk Mezari, so I can’t really tell. He has a small build, of course not smaller than Nell, roughly between the height of the swordsman and Nell.

I need to think carefully, all Nell gave me was a long sword, what’s more I have no experience, I might die.

Nell is the only mage here, if I try to rush in and stop when its about to hit, maybe I would win, but do I even have the skill to do so?

[I choose Nell as my opponent.]

[Going for the strongest here huh, you got guts kid, by the way I'm Luke.] the swordsman says so while chuckling.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Wait… strongest!?!

[Alright Mortis, prepare yourself.]

Nell says while getting in position.

One of the nobles watching acted as judge, he starts counting down.

Ah… I’m really nervous, even though she’s a kid, children in this world can already use basic magic if they have mana, I think I’m screwed.

[... 1... Go!!] I spring my legs forward, trying to maintain speed and balance of the sword, charging towards Nell.

She was 3 meters away, I think I have a chance.

Nell just stood there and raised a finger, thinking that she was going to use a magic attack, I try to dodge.

I know I will fail, a small fire ball just suddenly appeared on her palm, without a doubt it will hit me.

I instinctively used the sword to block the incoming attack, the force overwhelmed my expectations, my body blew backwards several meters.

It seems I did not take much damage, I hurriedly stand up and charge at her once more, she have expected that and was already chanting another spell, the chant was longer this time so it much be a stronger attack.

I swing my sword at her without hesitation, my life depends on this, but Nell dodged it like it was natural.

I could not control my swing, so I delayed an approximate of 2 seconds, by then the spell incanting was complete, I lose.

Darkness formed around me and intense pressure struck me, I started to slowly lose consciousness.

——————————————————————————————————————–

It was evening, the sun could already be seen setting at the West, the clouds and the surface of the world were painted in crimson red.

I was waiting in a nostalgic classroom, it was the one I studied in when I was in middle school, a period of my life that changed who I am. I sat on my desk, hopefully waiting for a person to arrive.

It was a girl, in fact, the girl that was also my first crush, I found it weird that my first crush was not from kindergarten.

Most males’ first crushes was always in kindergarten.

Maybe it was because I was tormented by insults that time, my name was much different from everyone else. No… that’s not it, it was because I was quite a introvert person, the type that does not voice out their thoughts.

I sat there, quietly waiting for my first love to show up, but I definitely never expected her to come anyway, I lack confidence in myself and she was quite the popular girl.

10 minutes after the meeting time I decided on when I sent the letter, she did not come.

I expected that but I couldn’t risk the chance, but as a male I feel disappointed in myself.

Just when I was about the leave, my middle school crush appeared right in front of me when I was about to leave, Her blonde and straight hair made herself able to be seen as a goddess, because of the radiance from the crimson light reflected from her hair.

Truly stunning.

The light made me able to see delicate features I could not normally see when I was spying on her occasionally, shiny fragile looking skin, deep blue eyes, her beauty is definitely ‘perfect’ by many males if not at least the whole male body in school will agree.

She did not speak even a word, silently looking at me, I did the same.

I was the one who broke the silence by asking her whether she read my letter, it was possible she left something her and came to class for an entirely different reason.

“Yeah, I read the letter.”

I was relieved, she actually came, in the first place, who uses letters nowadays.

“T-thank you.” I said quietly.

She told me that she was sorry and turned me down because she was interested in someone else.

Can’t be helped, life is never easy.

We weren’t really close to each other in the first place so I asked her permission to be friends, she accepted to my request.

I offered to walk her home, I wanted to get closer to her still, she accepted my offer.

While walking we talked a bit, our houses was in the same direction, the coincidence made me feel happier.

But that happiness was killed off just in 15 minutes, and it was my fault.

It was because I did not concentrate on the road.

It was because I was lost in the moment, thinking about trivial thoughts.

It was because I… was in love with her.

She warned me about an incoming car and I was lost in thought, trying to preserve this happiness, what an idiot I was.

She was my savior, and I was her murderer.

Her body flew meters away I could not see as I was tumbling on the ground, I injured my knee and hands.

Shock was the sensation I felt followed by pain, it was not physical pain but a painful throb in the heart.

A few minutes passed by before a could move my body, the driver had already used the hit and run method.

I went up to the pool of blood to find that the body gone, separated from the road.

All I could find was his love letter a few meters away soaked with blood.

[...]

That was a bad dream.

I find myself in a jail cell, this is not very surprising.

I failed as their lord, what else treatment should I get.

Wait, I have the right to complain right, I got teleported and randomly got jailed.

That’s right, they have no right to jail me.

10 minutes passed, nothing has happened, the only thing I could do was listen to other prisoners.

How annoying.

Well, sooner or later I’m might be sentenced to death, I should escape.

The jail life, probably a life my normal student life should never encounter, …why must I be dragged into this situation.

I bet normal people would cry now for getting jailed for no reason, I’ll like to call myself normal but…

As I think that, the princess enters my sight.

[Mortis Reinhold, we have examined your mana potency, its at a level that has never been heard of.]

[Let me guess, the lowest?]

[Yes, Grade 0, you completely have no affinity with any type of magic, its absolutely terrifying, our new demon lord can easily be called the weakest being on Valk Mezuri, the nobles as well as the soldiers are very disappointed, I thought your swordsmanship sucked because you are good in magic, the truth is very shocking.]

[So... what right do you have to jail me!! You were the one who brought me here, I'm not in the wrong, you were going to drag me into your war.]

Nell was a little taken back by my sudden behavior, it is an act necessary to get my freedom after all.

[I... I guess it's true we forced you into this situation, the Lord Summoning Ritual has never failed before in history, I assumed you were as strong as my father, he was considered one of the greatest magician in the continent... no... the world, he was feared by many with his Special Magic 'Corrosive Darkness']

Did she just say ‘Corrosive Darkness’, that name sounds pretty childish, I then asked her the meaning of Special Magic.

[It's magic that only the God's children can use, people who are summoned by god, like yourself.]

[Now that I think about it, what were you here for.]

[Ah... I almost forgot, you are to be striped away of your title as Demon Lord and will be fed to the Loganth.]

… The hell is a Loganth.

[The Loganth is a chaotic dragon that lives nearby here, its said to bring fortunes of war when offered sacrifices.]

That girl read my mind, how disturbing, in any case it seems I will get eaten.

[Then who will be the next lord?]

[Me of course, who else can be as strong as me, no one is at Mighty rank like me.]

Seriously, how strong is the Mighty rank? I don’t really know how high that rank is, but the name at least tells me she’s powerful.

[So you ruined my life and now plan to send me to be eaten, what a short life I live.]

And so the jail life ended and the day has come where I am to be fed to the dragon, is this really how my life ends?

In the last few days I stayed in the cell and did nothing productive.

I am going to die a dog’s death, no one in my world would not even know I died, what a sad life this is.

A group of 7 guards is currently escorting me out of town while my hands are cuffed.

The townspeople were all gathered at the sides, just like in a parade.

I bet Norman in this situation would ramble non-stop, he was the type to complain when he doesn’t like things.

Ah, and my sister, the only part of my family that actually talks to me, my uncle never liked me, I bet he only took her in cause she’s cute looking.

My sister, she was the one and only family member I am ‘ok’ talking with, seriously why must go through this crap.

I now am finally brought me out of the town, the crowd did not really seem to care, am I only worth that much.

At least care that I am offered as a sacrifice, damn I am starting to hate this world, I did not even do anything.

I went back to thinking.

Let’s see, my parents, they gave me minimal amounts of care and love, they favor my sister more.

Well my sister was younger, parents care about the younger ones more usually, can’t be helped.

But still, I was ignored most of the time and when they actually bothered, it is for either comparing me to my prodigy sister or just an outlet for their stress.

They did not mean any ill intentions, adults have it rough, I bet they did not even realise how fed up I am.

In conclusion, my parents are no good.

My sister as well, I don’t like her that much, she basically stole everything from me, well almost.

Ah, it seems like I am brought a cave, I also realise a small crowd of people were following us, they actually care after all.

[This is Loganth's Cave, it is said that no one can escape when entered.]

A horned lizard tells me that, most of the townsmen were horned lizards, I don’t know their official name though.

[We will bring you deeper into the cave, you must continue by yourself when we reach the border.]

The lizard man continued, he seems to be the leader here.

[If you try anything funny, we are ordered to kill you.]

Well that’s normal, no one let’s their sacrifice run away after all.

[And don't bother waiting for us to leave when you enter the border, a barrier was made there to prevent the dragon from escaping, its a go in can't come out type of barrier.]

This lizard is pretty talkative, he must be pretty sociable.

They brought me into the cave, nothing much to say except its dark.

One of them have an orb of light floating around her, she is a mage I think, based on her robe and the orb.

The cave is wide, roughly 5 meters and has a height of 4 meters, as I walk deeper in, the dimension multiplies by roughly 2.

It’s a big cave, not that I enter caves before.

Not before long, I could see a very obvious separation between the cave and the inner section.

There is a barrier right in front of me, I can see that because the whole scenery in front of me is blur.

One of my escorts, also a lizard man, equipped in heavier armor than the lizard leader, push me from my back.

I stumble across the border.

[Hey!]

[Shut up and go to the dragon's den.]

This guy is quite the hot head, I slam my hand on the barrier, seems like I can’t go back.

I want to hit him, I am already fed up.

They also started to walk away, leaving me in this cave, the light orb also followed along, it is getting darker by the second.

They left, now it is completely dark, I am suppose to continue straight right?

I stride forward the long cave, for a while now its been just a straight line, a weird cave this is.

Two passages entered my slowly adapting sight, its either left or right.

[Right is right.]

I say that to relieve a bit of tension, I turn right without regrets.

I feel a little scared, who knows what might pop out.

I took out my glasses and rub it with my shirt, the cave is burning up for some reason.

[Eh, this glasses is not the Language Filtrator thing.]

On my hand was my original spectacles, how did I manage to speak their language?

They must have took the thing when I was unconscious, I will assume that if you use it for some time you will naturally start to be able to speak in the language, not that it matters.

I try to speak in my language just in case.

“Does this work?”

Yeah, okay I can speak my language.

I continue to explore deeper in the cave and pass though passages, I soon find the path is made in zig-zag like patterns.

I want to survive, it is basic human instincts, there are only two choices I can make.

First is to escape this cavern by getting to the dragon, I doubt the dragon can consume food if its trapped in this cave, there has to be an exit nearby it, I probably can consider riding on top of it to escape but life is not forgiving.

Second plan is to somehow break through the barrier, luckily I memorized the way back to it but trying to attempt something I don’t know in the place is just stupid, if I knew how to make one, then maybe.

I run through the passages, the whole cave was a one-way path, it only splits occasionally.

And at the end, I found a stone door, I put my hand on the door, I can feel carvings on it, but I can’t even read the language, it is most likely a warning by other suckers who entered the place.

Although the cave is dark, my eyes that were adjusted to the surrounding can at least look at the red painted words, judging by the way the words look, I can say that it written in a hurry.

The Language Filtrator can’t help me read… it probably means like ‘Help me’ or ‘Save me’, like some typical person is distress would do…

Should I try going back and take the left?

Nah… sounds too troublesome.

Besides, giant stone doors always mean ‘boss room’ in classical RPGs, I see no reason to doubt why the dragon is not through here.

I tried pushing the door open, it didn’t even budge.

[Damn it... open the damn door up.]

I looked around to see anything interactable, RPGs usually have some requirement needed to open up the door to the boss room.

Yeah… this is not a game, nothing unusual.

I stare at the stone door, if they wanted to sacrifice me at least let me find the dragon.

My stress seems to have taken over my body, strength kept on decreasing and slowly, I dropped onto to floor and leaned against the wall, taking a rest.

My eyelids from then was forced to shut and I slept somehow peacefully.