Chapter 6: Chapter 5- Astaroth

Look! Father is going to teach me to use the sword!”

“What?! Father, please teach me too!”

“Let’s do it together! Two is better than one!”

***

Five years later…

“Brother! Let’s duel!”

“Ha! You haven’t won once! What will make a difference now?”

***

Ten years later…

“Brother…”

“I-I… I’m going to avenge our father…”

“No…”

“Brother-”

“WE will avenge father, together.”

“Thank you…”

***

Ten years later…

“GO! I’M TELLING YOU TO LIVE!”

“What the hell are you talking about?! I’m not leaving alive until you do! Two are better than one! You always say it!”

“Brother…”

“W-Wait, what are you-”

“Let’s be brothers in the next life, you hear me?”

“ALAIN!”

***

“Alain… why…”

“The sword… his, sword…”

“Wait, it’s you… YOU.”

“Just kill me already… my brother died for nothing…”

“...”

“What are you waiting for? KILL ME!”

“...”

“Is that the answer you seek?”

“What?”

“I’m asking you if death is what you want. You have a woman waiting for you at home, yet you’re so willing to leave her behind just like that. You haven’t even realized that despite losing a family member today, you’ve already started to grow a new one.

“Are you telling me-”

“I’m telling you that your life can’t be wasted here. Your brother is dead for you for a reason, you aren’t going to disrespect him are you?”

“Y-You took part in it! You’re the reason we’re here in the first place!”

“Of course, it’s what destiny wills.”

“Destiny? Don’t even give me that bullshit. My brother was meant to die today? Do you think by hearing that, my mind would be at ease? Did you think I would simply let my brother die?”

“Of course not, fate is meticulous. But I’m telling you that this isn’t the end.”

“I’m telling you that fate has great things that await you and your family.”

“Help me satiate destiny– help me fulfill the future that awaits the Grimms.”

“...Fuck off.”

“Tch. Then you’ve forced my hand.”

“Wait what are you- WAI-”

***

“Kugh!”

“Took you long enough.”

A familiar voice entered my ears.

I realized I was still in the library, sprawled out on the wooden floor.

“Wha-Wha-What was-”

“Memories.”

The cloud that I saw before experiencing those strange visions was no longer a cloud but in a more recognizable form.

It had legs, arms, clothes, and a face.

Eyes pitch black, blood-red pupils, small black horns, silver hair, pale skin, and normal black and red clothes a noble would wear.

“I have to admit, this attire is comfortable, however, it’s not as grand as my usual armor.”

“Who the hell are you? What were those visions?”

“Not visions, like I said, memories. Not yours. Not mine, either.”

“Then whose?”

“Arsene Grimm.”

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Arsene Grimm? His great-great-grandfather? But he’s long gone… how could this man have them?

“As for who I am– is my appearance, not an obvious tell?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yes! Yes! I am a demon– actually, no no no, I’m not a demon– I am THE demon.”

“Congratulations, Ashford Grimm!”

The man leaned in closer and declared–

“You have the honor of meeting Astaroth! King of Demons!”

“You’ve gotta be fuc-”

***

After a series of cusses later…

“Aren’t you dead?”

“I-I-I mean, my ancestor killed you! Did he just die for nothing?”

“Not nothing, he did his job well. I almost died, however, fate didn’t will my demise, so I resisted.”

“Still… it isn’t so easy to take in such a shocking revelation. Especially one that underwhelms the sacrifice of a hero and changes the history of the kingdom.”

“Well, deal with it I say, because the story isn’t over yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m here at your behest for a reason. Did you think this was a coincidence?”

“Fetch me that book, you know what I mean.”

So the black journal is connected… but how? And how is the Demon King alive? Does that mean everything the world has ever known about the story of his death is a lie?

Just what is the truth? Despite how much I wanted to know, I couldn’t find anything out if I refused to cooperate with Astaroth.

As soon as I returned to the library with the journal in hand, I relinquished it to Astaroth which he scanned before telling me:

“Now to find the rest!”

What?

“Y-You’re saying there’s more?”, I asked with discontent.

“Did you think Arsene’s thoughts could fit on a mere 100-page booklet?”

“There should be three more…”

“You are telling me that I have to read through three more?”, I sunk even lower.

“Wait, you can do what?”

“It’s enough that I’m the duke, but you’re telling me I have to search for three more of these nightmare journals? What did I-”

“Wait! Wait wait wait! You said you can read this?”, Astaroth interrupted.

“Y-Yeah. I have no idea how maniacal my great great grandfathers must have been to write them, but it took a while to translate them.”

“No! No! No! You can’t translate this! Moron, this is an extremely old language!”, he 

“This is the Tongue of Elders, so how the hell can you understand it?”

“It just… came to me?”

“Came to you?...”, he questioned, covering his eyes with his right hand.

“Bullshit, weakling.”, he rudely denied.

The aura from before returned and infiltrated my body once more at being in his mere presence.

The king of demons is absurdly strong, as expected.

Astaroth shortly let up his aura and went back on topic.

“You shouldn’t be able to understand this, do you hear me?”

“To my knowledge, the only people who were able to understand the Tongue of Elders in the past 100 years in Evelia were I, Arsene, Alain, Arsene’s son, and a few other demons, whom I know.”, he carefully explained.

Astaroth spoke in a concise tone, albeit with dangerous intent.

“So for you to suddenly be able to understand a language that not a single living human has been able to understand for decades is impossible.”

“Not unless the knowledge was somehow implanted into your mind, and were given a catalyst to unlock that information– or you are a descendant of an ancestral elder demon, which is impossible.”

“Impossible how?”

“If you had the blood of a demon in you, then you would have the traits of a demon.”

I tried my best to follow the conversation.

“Demon traits are dominant over human traits, so humans with demon blood must have one demonic feature. It is extremely rare for a human with demon blood to show no traits of a demon, so we can rule that out.”

“Then the implantation…?”, I interjected.

“Have you been in contact with any foreign objects?”

“By that you mean…?”

“I mean any mysterious artifacts?”

“No. Well, besides the journal, no.”

“I see… then we will have to put this enigma aside for now. We have more significant matters at hand.”, he proclaimed.

“What could be more important than the discovery that this country’s history is wrong?”, I asked.

“Ah, well-”, he paused as he walked away.

He shortly pulled out a large roll of paper from under the table, unrolled it, and laid it out on the table.

He manifested a small flame onto his fingertip and finished his sentence.

“Turning this country upside down, of course!”, he declared, burning a large X across our country.

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