“Yes, we have confirmation that the divination lock is gone. Guildmaster, I recommend sending out high ranking adventurers into the woods.”
Crystal stands before the Guildmaster’s desk as she looks through the reports from her subordinates.
“You want that Knight girl back don’t you?”
The Guildmaster is starting to see an obsession within the Vice-Guildmaster. She had been going on about the little golemancer for a while after the investigation started revealing certain interesting details.
“Yes, if the Demon Lord is in The Sea of Trees with her, then she is not safe!”
Crystal can’t help but get a bit overzealous, the more she learned about the girl, the more certain she was that Lua was the Hero.
“You are really certain about this Hero theory of yours.”
Sighing, the Guildmaster pinches the bridge of his nose.
I can understand where she is coming from, but she seems like a starry eyed child whenever she talks about the kid.
Crystal straightens and spouts her theory once again as if she is reciting the words of the gods and knows them by heart.
“A young human, recently in a life threatening situation, strong resolve, powerful new magic, and even a fairy following her around! It sounds exactly like the stories of when the last hero reincarnated into our world.”
“It still seems all a little too hopeful.” The Guildmaster tries to calm her down but only succeeds in doing the opposite.
“I have been dealing with people for a long time. The girl’s face gave away everything when I questioned her. She has golemancy, that is proven, but she never said it was what she got stabbed over! The interrogation of her mother revealed that the girl said she had light magic after being indicted into the system. And that the mother was certain the girl was dead.”
Her theory does make sense, she has golemancy now and if she really has light magic too… I just find it hard to get my hopes up on some kid being the hero.
The Guildmaster tries to express the issues with pinning the potential of their war effort against the Demon Lord on a child from another world. However, Crystal just waves it off.
“You know you agree with me that she must be the Hero. Now she is all alone in the forest with no one watching over her!”
They had sent a member of the guild to follow after her when she left, but have not received any contact from that person since.
“Were the diviners able to locate her? I know you have already had them check numerous times.”
“No, the diviners have never been able to get a lock on her. I assume it is likely a power of the Hero, like how we were unable to locate the Demon Lord.”
“She could also be dead. If the Demon Lord has been in the forest all this time and appeared alongside the Hero-”
“I refuse to believe that! Please.”
Looking over his notes on the number of available adventurers willing to go somewhere this risky for the good of everyone, he quickly finds a list of three individuals who are perfect for the job.
“Fine, I will give you a list of who should be sent out to retrieve the girl. Just make sure they are careful, we don’t know anything about this Demon Lord.”
Ecstatic at getting permission, the Vice-Guildmaster is already preparing to leave, not wanting to waste a moment.
“We know things from the stories, and that the Demon Lord is a woman since the announcement called it a her.”
The Guildmaster snorts at his subordinates' actions as she starts to walk out the door.
“Maybe the brat is the Demon Lord.”
“Ha ha, very funny.” Crystal says with a sarcastic tone. “A 15 year old socially awkward Demon Lord with light magic, Who in their right mind would believe that?”
Leaning back in his chair, the Guildmaster snorts again.
“Fair enough.”
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A ripple appears in the corner of the room after the Guildmaster leaves to take care of other business.
Stepping out from the ripple is a distorted figure, blue hair just barely visible under the phantoms helmet.
Quickly vanishing from the room all that is left is a whisper fading into the void.
“I see. So she is hiding in the forest… They really believe she is the Hero? I truly must kill her if that is the case. Killing the Hero may even get me my spot in the order back. Troublesome brat.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
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I run a thread of mana to the wooden horse golem and transform it into something humanoid as the demon quickly enters it.
The humanoid golem stretches and bends as the demon inside tests out the wooden body.
I go to ask her to try out attacking when I feel my connection to the Golem Core vanish.
“What the-?”
“Apologies My Lord, It seems I have absorbed the Mana Core.”
Absorbed? The Class 2 demons never did that. I wonder…
“That core was from a mental magic user, are you able to use mental magic now?”
I can feel myself getting excited. So many possibilities flood my mind as the thought of my golems and demons using their own magic!
The wooden figure stops stretching and looks inside of itself. I feel mana around us shift a small amount, a new sense I had not noticed before, and then nothing.
“Did you just use mental magic on us?”
The demon nods. “Yes, I thought it would be fine considering your immunities. It does seem I possess mental magic and numerous spells from the consumed core.”
“Like mother, like daughter. Doing dangerous magic experiments without a second thought.”
I harumph at Alice’s comment and do my best to look anywhere but in her direction.
I am not that bad!
Though, maybe I should talk to my demons about not testing magic on other people when they don’t know the outcome…
Ignoring the awkwardness I feel I move the testing forwards.
I take out a Class 2 core and create another golem for the demon to enter. However, when she tries to do the same as before, the core is not absorbed.
Looks like her magic is locked in as mind magic now.
As I contemplate over the decisions I will have to make when giving demons bodies and letting them absorb cores, I notice out of the corner of my eye that the Class 3 golem I had made is still standing.
“Wait, why can I still feel a connection to that golem even though it has no core?”
Alice steps forward to examine it, her eyes flashing a golden green as her mana enters the wooden body.
“Hmmm. I can see there is left over Reality in the structure. Somehow it is generating its own Qi, though I don’t know how long it will last like that.”
“Wait, so I don’t need cores anymore?! Or hold on… Reality is rather difficult to collect. Making a large amount of golems from it would be draining and I am not sure what Realm, Class, or whatever they would be.”
This is good though, I can do a lot with Qi focused golems.
I have the demon slip back into the Qi golem and get ready to do some combat training when I realize I am neglecting my light magic!
I had seen on TV how illusion magic can be extremely useful but has the downside of no physical substance. I, however, can ignore that problem.
I have the demon come over and begin sculpting the body further. I match the design to a person I knew back in high school as those images come easiest. I was not the most social person for many reasons, so I don’t have a large pool of faces to draw from.
Alongside the face I also carve in some channeling and light magic runes. I can still feel the shapes of the runes that used to be in my mana core. Now though, they are carved into my body after I absorbed my own mana core.
“Just a little more, aaaand done!”
I place my hands on my hips and puff up my chest as I look over my work.
I let the image in my mind take shape and create the illusion over the wooden body. The demon now looks just like a normal human woman! Hair tied up in a bun, fake wisps of purple in her eyes to match the ones I saw in the original owner of that mine magic core. Black hair that shines with a faint purple so realistic that even I would have a hard time telling that this is all fake.
“What happens if someone tries to Identify her though?”
I really wish I could revel in my genius for more than a moment. Alice’s point still stands though.
“Shit… I really need another Class 3 mana core to make her a fake Identify result.”
Pouting a tiny bit I suggest we start heading for the third ring immediately, to which Alice and the demon agree.
“Oh yeah, I should probably name you. Can’t just keep calling you ‘hey you’ forever.”
I turn towards the demon woman and find an unexpectedly expectant look on her face.
Is she controlling the golems face to do that or is it involuntary? Whatever, it doesn’t matter.
“Any preferences?” I ask. I kind of gave Alice her name impulsively without asking before and I don’t want to do that again.
Not that Alice cares, she rather likes her name. She even seemed upset when I asked if she wanted to change it once. She had a rather scary look on her face that day.
I shiver at the thought.
The demon, not knowing my thoughts, proceeds to answer my question with a big grin.
“None My Lord.”
I hope this won’t become a trend, I can only make up so many names before my creativity dries out. I honestly don’t know how book authors or weirdos with harems think of names so easily. I should start making a list in my free time.
“Then I will name you Prim.”
My lack of creativity with this name shall stay a secret. I definitely did not just shorten the word ‘primary’ into something cute. Not at all.
“Thank you for the wonderful name My Lord!”
Prim excitedly kneels before me, making me feel even more awkward about my name choice.
Screw it. Just play the part. I just gotta keep my face in place using its shape shifting feature to prevent my emotions from showing. A very handy feature.
“You are welcome, Prim.”
I look off into the distance to get an idea of which direction the sun is heading. Need to get our bearings before we can head for the third ring.
“Now let’s-”
I stop as I hear rustling from the trees above us.
Shit! I was not back in the habit of checking my surroundings with light magic!
I look up to see a horrifically large mass barreling towards us. Moving through the branches with ease, the form not caring about distance or physics as it climbs down.
I use my light magic to flood the area so I can get a better look at the enemy, and that is when I see something truly shocking.