Chapter 36.2: Shinobi’s woes

[Shin Andromalius’s point of view]

It was a tiring noon when I had to confront my ghost's past; even though I have the blade to avenge my mother, she hasn't told me to take vengeance but to live a full life and use my ability to protect what my lord's will is.

Tying my hair back into a ponytail, I find my long hair revolting...I remember how useless I used to be after seeing it. To serve the majesty, I must sharpen my weaknesses not only from yesterday but also from tomorrow and the days after.

As I leave the room, I hope their majesty has a better night than I did... Stepping around, I discover the pyromaniac has taken over the training ground. I suppose a greeting wouldn't hurt.

Something has changed since yesterday. Why did the flame color change to purple, and not to the temperature of the yellowish fire? Something must have happened last night.

"Oh, the sovereign's protector, have you come here to practice?" That irritated skull speaks with invocations, how annoying, but the events of the past plague my mind to the point of suffocation.

"Why?" is all I can muster from my mouth...Why, rather than how or what. There must be a reason for being granted such power. As the envious feeling suffocated me with a sense of inferiority.

"Well, I was practicing with a new gift from that little monster." The pyromaniac laughs, and his noises make me sick of the unknown.

"I see your tongue is still swollen from profanity. Do you want me to help you fix it?" Holding on to the handle, it's tempting for me to unsheath it for a mock one right now; my soul isn't in the condition to use them against them, but it's more than enough to deal with this type of demon.

"If it weren't for yesterday's incident, I'd take you on like old times." Shaking his head, he aimed the violet flame at the dummy in front of him, scorching it.

The dummy is returned to its previous state by some manic magic after being completely turned to dust; this is only due to their majesty's intervention.

"What exactly have you done?" I ask with a lighter tone, and he, apparently noticing my lack of hostility, also abandons the grudging behavior.

"After much knowledge exchange with the sovereign, I have come to understand how to serve as his weapon." The tired skeleton rests upon his shoulders, no longer arrogantly wielding the sword. The flame returns to a lighter blue and stabilizes as calmer than the previous raging violet.

"Did you threaten the one or..." his confession is muddled. Is he referring to the sovereign as "it" out of respect for their identity, or is he just lying to my face like in the old days?

"Are you right in the head still? The monster has seriously injured your father, who, as you know, is capable of killing both of us with a single authority of his." Fracus expresses his annoyance sternly; I've been quite fixated on him despite only winning because of his weakened state.

And those slashes... Because of the damaging hypothermia caused by frost magic, some of the milord's flesh will never regenerate. It's strange because I don't find anything else to be as damaging as frost, and demons like Milord have very high resistance to elemental magic, so was it one of their "authorizes"?

"You're a deep sleeper who wouldn't be awakened when it unleashed its wrath on me. It had a significant restraint not to completely destroy me with its raw mana." Furcas recalls liquid flames dripping from his tunic. From his reaction, I can guess what that provocation has given him. He was lucky that the sovereign wasn’t serious as he did with milord.

"It appears that your ignorance has come back to bite you." I laugh as nervously as the person in front of me; he restrained himself from acting inappropriately. When he was with Milord, I noticed his childish side. How quickly time passes; it hasn't been long since my mother's death and his subsequent exile.

"Speaking of ignorance, it was intrigued by your origin. So, if you meet it, better prepare them because its questions are quite stressful." Furcas confesses while wiping away the liquid flames that burn through some of his tunics, revealing nothing but the bones of a constructed body made from his soul's outer layer.

"Did you slander my mother's name or speak ill of me?" I make grudging anecdotes. To be honest, I still can't let go of such a painful past with his failure.

"Do you think I could lie to something that put me on the verge of death simply by being angry?" Furcas huffs.

“Understandable…” I sigh

It's time to check on the sovereign before they work themselves to death. A solemn voice speaks from the side of the pyromaniac general in my footstep of departure.

"Would you mind telling me how Andromalius is doing?" The sentence was tinged with regret; I guess one can't forgive himself for the incident just by self-deprecating jokes and redemption acts.

"After being defeated...no, devoured by their majesty, my father suffered many wounds. He is currently training on the north mountain." I get a slight chuckle from him after mentioning it briefly.

"Ha...ha, that lizard did something stupid like that. But, at the very least, he survived; I doubt my flame could withstand its frost for more than a fraction of a second." Looking for the flame, he seeks a definitive answer to what is preventing him from ever surviving the halbert hanging on his head.

"Furcas, just do your tasks. Our sovereign is merciful to those who have good intentions." I recommend something in general.

"It's a pity, but I'd do anything to drink that bottle of angel's blood again." Returning to his calm self, holding the small vast of a liquid, the scent of the content is enticing and there is still some left; spider lavender as I smell, a flower that makes a fine antiseptic but also a deadly hallucinating poison for wood dwellers.

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"Is that something to drink?" I inquire, pointing to the empty bottle.

"No, no, the sovereign has given its blood as a gift, believing that the gift must be a delicacy for us demons. It was quite flustered when I drank all of the content in front of its eyes." Furcas laughs as he recalls the specific memory...for me. I find it repulsive to be addicted to the sovereign's blood.

"I see...some strange fetish of yours. Just don't mess with their majesty too much with your strange request." Shaking my head in defeat, I hope he doesn't go stupidly asking for more blood to quench his thirst, only to be destroyed shortly afterward.

"Aren't you curious how an angel's blood might affect you?" Furcas suddenly inquires.

"What makes you think that?" I find his request absurd, confirming my own curiosity; must he forget that I am just-

"Well, you're half a demon from Ars Goetia and half a foreign minor god. So a god's divinity makes your light magic more adaptable, whereas demon blood causes your dark magic to agitate. In either case, it would be a "poison." " Furcas laughs as the word "poison" is mentioned.

"It would make sense, but only if the sovereign rewards me with their blood," I respond with a logical conclusion.

"I'm sure you'd agree to my adaptation, child. I'd better get started with the little advisor before he ridicules me in front of the small sovereign."

We part ways, drifting away from the regrettable past. After reconsidering my previous option, I find that my soul weighs a little less. I'm glad I didn't do anything in the name of vengeance that tarnished their majesty's name.

The courtyard bears the newcomers' wailing; they have no mercy against them and treat them no better than functional slaves. With the newcomer's assistance, the servants of this palace can at least relax a little.

As I enter the unbarred office room, I notice the sovereign's attention is still on that paper of approval, despite the fact that it is the third day that they have remained constantly awake.

Their devotion to the role of favor against the rumored monstrous strength they possessed was my first experience with them. I truly see them as a child who was forced to mature too quickly.

"Good day, your Majesty." I greet them while preparing the tea with the preparation that milord is always proud of. Personally, I prefer the fresh tea from the snowy mountain top.

The herbal scent outscents these phony sugary attempts to lighten the harsh scent, as their majesty would agree with me on their favorite dandelion tea.

"Good day, Shin. I should do some cleaning before going anywhere. The insufferable scent of mana and blood will drive those insane." The sovereign returns to their chamber for a quick shower and clothing change. It is rarely mentioned, but they did have clothes when not wearing 'illusio’ soul clothing.

Yesterday's event must have messed them up so badly that their soul clothing matches their appearance. I wish I could have witnessed the event in its entirety, but self-preservation is far more important than my mother taught me.

Because even a rumor can change our very nature as kami, having this demon blood within me helps me stabilize as Andromalius's third child, not the god of poison or the sun goddess's descendant.

"Have you had your breakfast yet, Shin? I doubt the servant brought any to your room because it was so early." The sovereign returns wearing a light white cloak and the suit of a common demon king. It was a replacement for the coronation outfit and had been tailored made since the day the previous king stepped down.

"Your Majesty... Will you please listen to my confession?" With agitation, I say that they must have noticed my unusual demeanor; with the secret blown out like this, it would be pointless to continue acting like the brutal powerless self that I was.

"I'm well aware of the content, so why don't we have some tea about it?" Lord Mikhail says calmly

My story comes to light little by little as the tea is poured into two cups. I told a story about a pitiful child who was repulsed because of his origin; his mother, a foreign goddess, was teaching him nothing but knowledge of the destroyed land and his magic. Finally, the child told himself that he needed to strengthen himself and become the shadow of his father and brothers for the sake of the village's prosperity.

"So you're saying your mother is a shrine maiden who aspires to godhood as the sun goddess's daughter?" As expected, the sovereign expressed no sympathy. But I'm relieved that they weren't passing such harsh judgment on me.

"Correct your majesty," I answer

"And the magic you used was from the soul source as authority's magic. Which means it was refilled by..." Lord Mikhail, like father, was perplexed when mother first explained her origin... He still doesn't understand a single word when I explain it to him.

"The Chi could be replenished through faith or by consuming a large amount of raw mana. I rarely use it, so my soul was not harmed." I clear up their confusion in a straightforward manner.

"As well as your mother's death. Furcas told me that was the cost of reversing karma." My heart still aches whenever that is mentioned... I suppose I'll have to tell mother's truth one day.

"By my mother's authority as the minor goddess of dawn, she had caused things to replay themselves over and over again. That final battle is her final draw for not having enough energy left in her soul." I tell myself with a single tear that it's drenching the smell of cherry blossom out of my scarf. For good, completely muddle the scent of the foreign land.

For this noon, there has been quite a round of responses. It's enough for now; I'm getting hungry after a while, and Lord Mikhail is still engrossed in the recording and sorting of information.

"I must admit that I admire your candor. It would be better to understand if you let me experiment on you." They speak abruptly, tossing the recordings aside.

Lord Mikhail took the letter opener from the desk cupboard and cut a long line to allow the golden blood to flow freely from their hand...not even a flinch.

"Why are you doing this, Your Majesty?" I prepare the bandage from subspace on the spur of the moment but quickly disregard their order.

Slowly approaching my cup of tea, the sovereign poured their blood into it, the golden color of angel's blood mixing with the dark amber tea distilling it into a translucent liquid.

"This is for you, my blood; drink it with tea and dilute it slightly." The cup has no scent, neither pleasant nor disgusting, and smells exactly like plain water.

My body becomes increasingly difficult to breathe as I drink one gulp at a time. My eyes would be filled with blood. Is this truly poisonous for me to drink? I fall to the ground below, as agonizing as it is. Is this how I'm going to die? A mistrusted death?

Suddenly, silence engulfed my being as I coughed and coughed, a strange kind of "poison" flowing outward. My soul lightens as my mind is reforged as if there is a barrier that encases it all.

"The last key of divinity, a believer's faith, or triumph over a great catastrophe." Lord Mikhail stepped forward to assist me.

"Can you now heal yourself using 'mitis tenebrae'? It can't hurt to try after all that pain from the rebound, can it?" I try to cast basic healing with mana per their command, and it finally works, so I can use mana now.

"Good, it appears that the blood has restrained the demon side. Then try something from your mother's narrative. Then try to poison me with snake venom."

"Dokueki style: Benomushokku" a small poison barb shoots at the sovereign, filling it with venomed snake poison. My soul isn't bothered because it doesn't shatter as easily as it used to.

"Are you in any pain? Shin, your soul is still fine." Lord Mikhail asks, while their bodies completely reject the poison with no resistance.

"Not at all, your Majesty. My soul is undamaged." I respond.

"With the blood, your existence has finally matured completely. Shin, you now have the power to fulfill your wish."

Father was correct about Lord Mikhail; despite possessing the monstrous strength of a world-ending beast, they have such a kind heart that no one can comprehend. I can finally put an end to a weakling's woes thanks to the power they've bestowed upon me.

The end