Burying my face in Rena’s plump breasts, I was depressed like never before.
[Lumiel is waiting for me……I’ve got to buy her one of those souvenirs. ……I wonder what would make her happy, I’ve thought of a lot of things but nothing comes to mind, haha. Rena, what do you think?]
[Lucifer-sama, your wording is a bit vague. Please do not be discouraged. ……]
I let myself fall into Rena’s arms as she patted me on the head. She was then on her knees.
[……There are many strong and promising people in this country, ……but no one feels threatened by the demon tribe anymore?]
[There has been no major conflict for 500 years. To Lucifer-sama and the other demons, it may seem like only recently, but I think it has been long enough for humans to forget about the threat.]
Rena continued while she was fussing over me.
[I have not said this before because I thought it would be tactless for me to interfere in diplomatic matters, but why did you leave the empire unchecked, Lucifer-sama? If you were serious about bringing it down, you could take over such a country in a heartbeat, couldn’t you?]
[The reason for this is to avoid conflict with foreign countries. There are many people, including the Holy Kingdom to the north of our country, who do not like our demon tribe. If we were to defeat the empire at that time, it would not be surprising if some countries would join us.]
[I know this is rude, but please forgive me for daring to speak out. With the total power of Tenebrae, it seems that we are not an enemy of any foreign country.]
I pondered for a while.
Rena has a point. Such opinions are often expressed among the demon tribe.
Or rather, if we have a meeting of the royalty, the demons who support Tenebrae, including myself, most of the time is spent discussing such matters.
[This is something that divides the royalty. I do not want to invade anything. I have no intention of making enemies not only of the empire but also of all other nations. If we do so, no matter how powerful we are, there will be no small number of casualties.]
[Besides,] I continue.
[Half of the continent is already ours. You know that the countries west of Tenebrae were already under the control of the previous Lucifer, don’t you?]
[Yes, I know. It was more than 1,500 years ago.]
[Mm. ……. I never told you because you never asked me before, but now is a good time to tell you. Let me tell you why I killed my predecessors.]
I thought of the scenes of those days. The frenzy of blood and flesh and the unusual belligerence of the demons.
They simply overran and looted, regardless of whether they were strong or weak, and killed all those who posed a threat, in an extremely brutal manner, as an example to the rest of us.
Some were not satisfied if they did not see blood even for a day, and they would drag out useless people from their units and kill them for no reason. The best example of this was the previous Lucifer.
[He wanted to dominate this whole continent. And we had the power to do it at that time. That’s why I killed my predecessor.]
[Why is that? Isn’t the prosperity of the demon tribe a cause for rejoicing?]
[His goal was to rule the continent, but that would eventually lead to the downfall of our demons. It will be the end of our demon race.]
I got the impression that Rena was a little confused.
[Those with power are consumed by it. The power that has no place to go will run out of control. The claws of its killing power, which are still unabated even after it has lost its hunting ground, will surely eventually turn on its people.]
[……!]
[My predecessors didn’t understand that. That is why I killed them and became king. So that the demon tribe would not go down the path of destruction.]
If I had not objected to the ways of my predecessors and just continued to kill and kill, I can assure you that the Tenebrae Demon Kingdom would not exist today ….…
In those days, almost all the demons were so hungry for blood and flesh that they could only think of laying waste to others, randomly attacking their destructive impulses that would not subside no matter what they did.
The demon tribe at that time was mad. It was nothing but a frenzy that transcended the characteristics of the demon tribe.
[You say that the power will eventually be destroyed.]
[That’s right. We demigods sometimes lose control of our excessively strong power. The seven pillars of the royal family at that time were all in that state. …… Therefore, I had to do it. I was only a low-ranked Demon God, but I had surpassed the power of my predecessors.]
I still think about the time I killed my people from time to time.
Naturally, the previous generation was not the only enemy. Other royalties, demigods, and their minions were also …… cut, burned, and slaughtered without cease.
No matter how full of destructive impulses I was, I had put an out-of-the-ordinary number of my countrymen in these hands.
The only survivors were half-dead royalty and a few underlings.
It had to be done, but still – and still.
Just remembering it makes nausea unbearable. I feel so bad.
[……That was too much serious talk. I’m tired.]
[I’m sorry! Someone like me overstepped my bounds. ……!]
[I don’t care. Soothe me more than that. Pamper me. Spoil me.]
[Yes.]
I lay down on the bed with Rena and let myself be spoiled by her.
…… I am no longer sure if it is beneficial for me to stay in the empire. What should I do?
Well, okay. Let’s think about it tomorrow. I didn’t want to think about anything else right now.
Next day.
I was in my morning magic lecture class, sitting idly by the window, waiting for the time to pass.
What the teacher is teaching is the very basics of magic. It is something that even a human child could understand, and it is not worth listening to.
Goen-Jutsu (fire), Shinsui-Jutsu(water), Raigou-Jutsu (thunder0, Doryuu-Jutsu (earth), and Fuujin-jutsu (wind). This is the basis of the five elemental magic.
And then there’s the slightly special Sacred Shinseijutsu, which is a sacred technique, and the Darkness Kaimeijutsu, which is a technique that manipulates the dangerous darkness. In total, there are seven basic magic systems. Of course, there are exceptions.
I am not sure why …… but it would be a problem if I were to talk about such a thing now. It is impossible for anyone who has enrolled in this academy to have much of this level of knowledge, even for a beast who has no connection to magic at all.
[…… dore! Theodore! Hey, can you hear me!]
[Hmm, what?]
A middle-aged male teacher was calling me.
[What, no! Do you have anything to say about this magic circle!?]
Looking at the blackboard, the magic circle of the second rank was drawn in white ink. The lineage was thunder-roar magic. It is magic that deals with thunder.
However, the spelling of the letters inscribed in the magic circle is those of a technique that deals with flames called fire flame art. This does not make this magic possible.
So I said.
[Whoever drew that magic circle must be an idiot.]
[What the…!? You, you…!]
Oh, yeah. It was drawn by this teacher. I couldn’t help but have a real feeling about it.
[The magic spell won’t work.]
[Hmm….., then why.]
[Because despite the Thundering Technique, the inscriptions on the magic circle are from the flame Technique.]
[…… phew.]
The teacher smiled wryly.
Then I guessed. I see, this person dared to put me through such an easy problem to humiliate me.
If I ended up with a normal answer, he was going to happily announce his proud answer after loudly declaring that I was a mediocre student.
[You may be a special student, but you’re still just a kid! You know, this technique…]
[Compound technique. You want to say it, right?]
[What?!]
I got up from my seat and walked next to the teacher. The whole classroom was filled with a buzz.
[The magic circle as drawn by the teacher at this stage doesn’t make the formula valid. If it were left as it is, even if it says, ‘Flame, burn all around you,’ it would make no sense because the magic circle is that of the thunder roar technique. But I would add this to the beginning of the sentence.]
I wrote the words ‘manifested by lightning’ at the beginning of the magic circle on the blackboard.
[By writing, “Flames manifested by lightning, burn everything around you,” the Thundering Technique is first activated. The second is to use the Thundering Technique, which is a powerful flame that can burn up everything around it. The second level of power is not powerful enough to produce such a powerful flame. …… What do you think, teacher?]
[Ugh ……GUNUNUNU……!]
[I’ll draw the magic circle. Here.]
I snapped my fingers and a magic circle appeared in front of the students, just as I had said. All the students were astonished.
[Not even a chant?]
[Huh, you can so easily ……]
Those who had never been involved in magic seemed especially surprised.
[I’m not going to activate it. You see, the fact that the magic circle appeared like this means that even a formula that at first looks wrong can be combined with the characteristics of both lightning and fire by adding or rewriting the text inside, like this.]
Several of the students sounded awed.
Well, if you are not familiar with magic, you won’t be able to get your head around the compound technique.
This may be interesting for students who did not choose magic in their entrance exams.
[The composite formula can be layered. It is possible to double or even triple magic with all seven elements, including the sacred and the darkness.]
[That’s impossible!]
The teacher objects.
[There is a limit to the number of compound techniques. No matter how well-trained you are, the limit is to superimpose four even if you are extremely good at triple ……! Beyond that, your brain’s computing power won’t be able to keep up, and there’s no way you’ll have enough magic power, to begin with!]
[You can do it, although it seems impossible for you ……, teacher. However, the higher the rank, the more magic power you consume. But.]
[I am telling you that such a feat is impossible, not only for me but for everyone here!]
Hmm. There may be a point in that. I could do it, but none of the students here today seem to excel in magic.
If it’s a simple compound technique like the problem I just mentioned, they might be able to do it if they train hard enough, but beyond that, it’s a terrible idea.
I wish we had Liz or Julian here at least. Those two could do it in the future.
Magic is a world where talent is everything. No matter how much knowledge you have, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have magical power.
Even if they excel in their magical powers, humans have limitations as a species. Even if they have magical power, their bodies may not be able to sustain the use of magic.
It may be pointless to teach something that you can never do no matter how much you train. This is, well, I guess this teacher is right.
[I’m sorry, I overstepped the mark. Can I go back now?]
[…… take your seats quickly.]
I sat down in my seat and spent the rest of the day in a daze again.