Elise walked over to the side of the chief and whispered into his ear so quietly not even Lucifer could hear her. But even if he wanted to know, Nix did not change his facial expression the entire time. After their quick exchange, Elise returned to Lucifer’s side, watching his movements.
But Lucifer had his own goals at the moment, so he quickly broke the silence.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know. If you want to believe me or not, I’ll leave that up to you. But I have one condition: For every question I answer, you have to answer a question of mine.”
Nix, whose reactions remained unchanged, agreed.
Lucifer smiled inwardly. It seemed that even with such a request, only a couple had slight changes in their expressions.
Lucifer put his hand forward, motioning for Nix to begin his questioning.
Nix nodded, and asked, “Tell me who you really are?”
“Lucifer, a former prince of the Lumos Empire.”
Lucifer nonchalantly told them so, confusing them. Yet, there was no surprise on their face because no one could really believe Lucifer’s words.
Elise, who had been quiet the entire time, spoke up, “Lumos Empire, Lumos Empire… One of the two great empires from the Golden Age forty thousand years ago, ruled by the High Humans if I remember correctly.”
Lucifer’s normally calm disposition broke for a moment as he tried to stifle his cough. That was something he wasn’t prepared to hear. And he had never heard of the term high humans either, but labels are just labels. He couldn’t believe how much time had passed, if what Elise said was true.
But he had no reason to not believe her because of his time with the Moonlight Blossom. He felt as if his consciousness was vaguely aware of the outside world. Lucifer, at that time, could feel it moving around constantly, but he wasn’t aware of the passing of time as his mind wandered with the Moonlight Blossom. Lucifer was actually quite terrified over the span of time that had passed, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel free. He also couldn’t help wonder why the Moonlight Blossom had the ability to keep him alive or desired to do so in the first place.
For a moment, Lucifer couldn’t help but laugh out loud, getting the attention of the others who were previously whispering to each other. Lucifer, for once, couldn’t hold back some pent up emotions that had been held in for so long. Truth be told, due to the flow of time, many of his grievances were assuaged. Although he still bore some hatred that could never be washed away, he also had been given forty thousand years of thinking time which had helped him become more objective and understand many things within his heart. Yet, even with all of that, Lucifer still could not help but laugh out loud merrily.
It was a pure, unadulterated laugh. A clear and resounding echo that forced everyone speechless.
“Do we look like the type to joke around!?” One of the guards behind him grabbed Lucifer’s head and smashed it down against the wooden table, forming cracks on the dull surface.
“Kai, you know better than that! Leave immediately!” Nix glared angrily at the middle-aged beast man with a white wolf’s tail.
“I apologize for my behavior, chief. But I won’t apologize for what I did to this brat.” Without waiting for a response, the beast man, Kai, made his way swiftly out of the building.
“Ah, sorry. For a moment there, I thought I dozed off and fell onto the table.” Lucifer brought his head while blood trickled down. Steam rose slowly up as he licked up what rolled down with a smile.
He thanked Elise mentally for giving him a needed answer on the current time period. “I believe it’s my turn. I’d like to know just where I currently am.”
Nix and the others couldn’t help but watch Lucifer’s wound slowly closed. Everyone understood that self-regeneration was not possible without using a high ranking healing spell. But for it to have been chantless was even more of a feat than knowing a few high ranking spells, not to mention healing magic which was more specialized. Seeing his wounds close momentarily stunned them.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Nix recovered his bearing and answered, “Although I have a difficult time believing some of the things you’ve said, there are a few things I do know. According to teachings, the any direct member of the Lumos family was said to have hair as white as snow. Though there is some information regarding the Lumos family, there was no written record of a Prince Lucifer. However, I also do know that the telling characteristic of a direct member of the Nox family was said to be their eyes. The Imperial Family of the Nox Empire was said to possess eyes as red as blood and as deep as the ocean. No one else in history was mentioned to have ever had red eyes, so why do you?”
The chief couldn’t help but look suspiciously at Lucifer. There was something that was off about him, but there was no reason for him to lie about such things as well or fake such a ridiculous identity for that matter. But what about his eyes?
“That is because I am part demon as well.” Lucifer vaguely answered, not caring about his identity. It seemed like his appearance isn’t considered taboo since no one had negatively reacted to him yet.
“At the moment, some of the things you’ve said seem to be true, especially since high humans and true demons have all died off, leaving only their washed up versions of their lineage. But you have no reason to lie, and I have no other ideas of what to think when it comes to your identity, so I have no choice really but to believe you.”
With just a single question, Nix was already more confused than he was before. His ears twitched as he realized he hadn’t answered Lucifer’s question.
“Village chief, where are we?”
‘Yuki village, which truthfully isn’t really a village but an emergency encampment, is on Romere Mountain, near the southern end of the Azen Continent.’
Such knowledge was helpful for Lucifer to pinpoint his position on the continent, but at the same time, the great passing of time has probably affected the locations of certain populated areas.
All of a sudden, Kai, who had left earlier, burst into the room and exclaimed, "Chief, we have a report from a scout. The humans are coming up the mountain again, roughly eight miles away!”
Nix stood up and yelled back, “What!? I thought that after the last attack, they would take a little bit longer to recoup. How could this be possible?”
Kai’s killing intent leaked out as he explained, “Chief, the scouts have also scouted members of the Titan Bear Clan. They probably formed an alliance so they could finally get rid of us!”
The atmosphere had grown intense and bloodlust slightly leaked out from those present. Although Nix was the only one who never let out any aura, hints of extreme anger showed in his eyes.
“Gods damn the Titan Bear Clan! Looks like they finally found the right opportunity to finally get what they wanted,” Nix growled out slamming out against the table, destroying it. Dust flew up into the air.
“Chief, I thought I’d let you know but it seems they brought out all of their people along with the humans. I think this is their final attack in order to capture those they want to enslave.” Kai eye’s also held animosity in his eyes at the mention of person named Claw.
“Ley and Jenks, come with me. Elise and the rest watch over Lucifer. Don’t let him leave or do anything that could harm the village.” Nix and those who would go with him made their way to the exit. With the sudden arrival of the humans, Lucifer’s existence had been clearly suspected once again. “Everyone go tell the others to prepare for our final battle. I want at least twenty warriors guarding those who aren’t fighting. Quickly bring them to the main hall. We don’t have the ability to keep running away this time.”
“Chief Nix, I’d like to help you fight.”
“Lucifer, I don’t want to hear you speak at this moment. Nor do you have the power to do anything as a single person here or out there. If I were you, I would sit tightly and answer all of my questions when I get back.” Nix growled, his large canines showing.
“I help you, you help me. I’ll do something about your little problem and you give me the information that I want. Information is only useful for those that can make use of it anyways, no?”
“Lucifer, there is no way-”
Nix was stopped halfway through his sentence. He immediately found it difficult to breathe. Around him, the others except Elise fell to the floor gasping. Both Nix and Elise’s eyes were wide with terror. They’ve been through near-death experiences before but this feeling was completely different. Fear kept Nix facing the door, unable to turn around to face the aura.
Elise’s voice trembled as she found it difficult to speak, “That’s impossible… It was you? I thought the humans had released an S ranked magical beast… Even Uncle felt it all the way from here back then. H-how many did you have to kill to-”
Lucifer cut her off, “Chief Nix. I strongly urge you to reconsider. What have you got to lose?”
Laughing, a pair of crimson eyes gleamed through the dark room.