The New Demon King: The Beginning

Chapter 3 - Earth Lionheart

I grew up in a noble house. My father is a Duke, so of course, my status is basically the same, since I am the only heir of this family. I enjoyed my status so much. I can easily get the things I wanted and no one would try to hurt me because my father will get them back for revenge, if I desired to.

Despite all of these, I still felt empty. Despite having no ambition for myself at all, I never wanted to lose any of what I have right now. I don't want to get out of my comfort zone.

I thought I had a lot of friends, but I think they're probably just around me, to seek favor for themselves, since I'm the heir of a Duke's family. All they say are lies and flattery. With that, I put them in place, according to their status, in return.

The only person who was ever honest with me is my personal butler and assistant, Kristof. I heard he was a fallen noble, so I kinda accepted him on to stay by my side. He tells me off when I get overboard but he never nags me like a parent. He is honest with his feelings, but still lets me do the things I wanted.

One day, I suddenly felt weak and that very moment, Kristof told me that he would resign.

I don't want that. Why so sudden?

He's the only one who stayed by my side this long. All the other nobles were liars. The other people in this house are all maids and workers who were commoners, who only wanted to earn money and doesn't care about me at all. My parents are always not around. I want him to stay.

But Kristof insisted on leaving. Apparently, it is a concern more important than his life, according to him. So I insisted to come along, with him. I'm so bored with my life. Getting out of this house for once might become a better decision.

Kristof eventually gave in and hands me a contract stone, as if he has already prepared it beforehand.

Eh? Isn't a contract stone quite expensive, even for nobles? Usually, only merchants use these since they do a lot of transactions and are very wealthy as well.

"On this stone, promise me to never tell anyone of what I'm about to say right now, regardless of your answer towards my proposition, unless it was permitted by me. In case you break your promise, you'll experience immediate death." He said.

Contract stones are not all-powerful. The stipulations of such contracts can be removed by an experienced priest or a high priest. But I still don't have great connections to get a high priest for me anytime, and if I ask my father for such a thing, it would be such an embarrassment.

But despite the fact that death was a the penalty for the breach of contract, because of my trust towards Kristof, I agreed.

Shortly after, he explained a lot of surprising things. All the common knowledge I had was thrown out because of these convincing facts. I'm scared, but at the same time I feel like a fire in me has been lit. I feel excited. I'm also curious.

I was a candidate to be a Demon King, a very high status, but someone else got it. What sort of person is this new Demon King?

Experiencing such new emotions, I agreed with Kristof and came with him.

Kristof is a demon that specializes in lightning, so the travel was quite quick. We first visited the Merchants' Guild, which was the closest area among Kristof's planned destinations and met with someone. I discovered that this person was also a demon, the guide for the Seed of Greed. He stated that the Demon King was not the candidate of Greed.

And so together with another demon and his human acquaintance, we traveled towards the forest of death, which seems to have the most mana based on their senses, and an area where one of the demon guides resides in. On the way, we encountered the Demon guide for the Seed of l**t, together with his companion, who was one of the Demon king candidates as well. And so, another set of people came with us.

Because of the increase in number and the amount of our stop overs, we kinda slowed down, and it has been two days since we left the Duke's manor.

When we reached our destination, the innermost part of the forest of death, it was already night time. We saw two people standing in the middle of all the burnt houses.

What the heck happened here? The stench of burned bodies and the smell of charred houses were very evident.

Immediately, after some words, the three demons knelt down and introduced their selves in front of a guy, which I assume is the new Demon King. He looks so stressed out, and tired, but his looks are still very good to compensate that. It's also quite obvious how much of a commoner he is, with the way he stands and his tattered clothes, added by the fact that it seems like he hasn't taken a shower yet.

Because of being around nobles so much, I got used to carelessly spouting mean words and speak it without thinking.

"So this dirty poor commoner is the new Demon King?!" I muttered.

Completely forgetting the fact that despite him being formerly human, he is now the Demon King.

Suddenly I realized what I've done, but it was too late for regrets.

I feel the air around me beginning to become scarce. My lungs started to have difficulty in breathing and my body became so heavy, that it's unbearable. My body felt like being stabbed by countless needless and constricted by an invisible thick rope.

Is this where I'm gonna die? Is this the payment behind all the words I used to ridicule someone, just because of my childish whims in the past? I guess I'm gonna die not having anyone look at the real me.

I heard someone shouted, but I was not able to understand the words because of the deafening pain I'm in.

Shortly, my body began to lighten, pain subsided, and I can breathe again.

Out of nowhere, as I open my eyes, a silhouette came into view. I couldn't make it out, because my eyes were adjusting. Who is in front of me, is it Kristof?

As my eyes return its clarity, I felt a warm hand touch my cheeks. What is this warmth? Why does it feel so soothing, as if it tells me its presence and everything's going to be fine?

When my vision returned completely, I saw a beautiful face of a man in front of me, closer than I could ever imagine. The guy who I ridiculed a while ago, has enchanted all my senses. How can a man be so pretty? As I stare at this beautiful man's eyes, I also saw his vulnerability and care that I never saw from anyone.

Suddenly, a thought randomly popped in my mind.

Pride and Envy has a lot of similarities, but they also have a few differences. The biggest difference is that Envy looks at other people more than Pride.

After that thought, "I want to protect this", was all I could think of, at that moment.

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"You're still new to your powers. And because you haven't used it at all yet, it responded to your raw feelings, making all your magic focus on him. Imagine a giant hand pressing down on him" Blake explained.

It's true that I don't feel good about nobles, and I envy them, but I never wanted to kill someone. I've witnessed enough bloodshed when the bandits came, and I wouldn't want more at the moment; especially if I am the cause.

I feel bad for him. No one wants to die.

"You have the seed of envy. And now that you received more power, the feelings of envy might be more strengthened. Be more careful next time." Blake added.

Hearing this, I couldn't help but just sigh.

"Again, I'm very sorry. Same with the other two, I might've startled you. I just never knew how to handle things like this since it was all very new to me." I apologized.

"Oh no. We understand the situation, and it's not your fault" the tall buff guy, who is not a demon, replied.

"It's me who should say sorry. I was careless with my words. You can punish me however you want, my life is yours, Demon King" the noble guy apologized.

Confused, I was unable to utter anything. Just a little while ago, he was badmouthing me, pissing me off. And now, he's apologizing and acting like a different person. Is that the effect of being at the edge of death? When I was in a similar situation, my memories flooded my mind through dreams, so if I ever did change, it was probably because of that and not due to trauma. I did not fully experience that kind of situation, so I can't relate much. I can't help but find this situation weird.

Suddenly, I heard someone giggle behind me. I looked back and saw that it was my brother, Blake.

"Well, the punishment can be dealt with some other day. Right now, what we must do is confirm your skills, my Lord, Brendan. Since he is so willing right now, why don't you try it first on him. If something goes wrong, we can treat it as his punishment. If it's too much, you have us four to help you find a way to fix it. I doubt that anything bad will happen though, since there are no other strict conditions on this skill, aside from being consensual. How about it?" Blake, calmly interrupted with a smile.

Well, I don't have any punishment in mind, and I don't feel like punishing anyone now. The situation where I almost killed him was enough. But what he did say is reasonable, and I don't think my skill will harm anyone; the definition seems harmless.

I agreed with what Blake said and slowly walked towards the noble guy.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Earth, Earth Lionheart"

I placed my palm above his head and uttered the skill name. Immediately, I felt the magic come out of my hand and transfer towards Earth.

An image of a monster flashed through my mind. The image seems familiar and yet not. A crimson reptilian monster with a flame on the tip of its tail.

[Please provide a demon name for your subordinate]

Without thinking, I muttered immediately.

"Chartile"

A bright light enveloped Earth and covered his body. After a few seconds, the light slowly disappeared.

There were no visible changes on earth, besides the fact that I can definitely feel the increase in his magic.

[Name] Earth Chartile

[Age] 18

[Level] 1

[Class] Mage

[Attribute] Fire

[Spirit] Flame Lizard

[Race] Demon

[Skills]

Passive: Blaze (E), Solar Power (F)

Active: Scratch (F), Growl (F)

Immediately, numerous windows popped up, blocking my vision.

I leveled up?! Twice?! 

"Wow! I-I feel so much different now" Earth uttered.

He probably doesn't know exactly what happened to his status, since he can't see it. I'll tell him later once we've discussed it.

"From now on, you're no longer Earth Lionheart, you are now Earth Chartile, with Chartile being your bloodline name" I declared.

Hearing this, he looked happy and accepted it right away.

To be honest, I thought he would be mad about what I named him, since it was something I did not consult with him; considering his prideful aura. I at least thought he would be reluctant, but he just freely accepted it.

Well, it's not like I had a choice, since the system asked me to do so.

"The spirit you obtained is the Flame Lizard. Because of this, you now have a fire attribute and you got some skills related to it. Your skills and status will definitely increase once you level up." I briefly explained.

"Brother! Looks like it worked! I even leveled up, twice!" I exclaimed, looking at Blake.

"I'm happy it was a success. You probably leveled up twice as well, due to you having a low level at the moment. We could study it more later, but for now do it with the other two as well. They will definitely be a great addition to your strength" he said with a smile.

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[Name] Brendan

[Age] 15

[Level] 3

[Attribute] Seed of Envy

[Job] Demon King

[Race] Demon

[Skills]

Passive: Heavenly System (SSS), Blaze (E)

Active: Spirit Grant [SS], Growl (F)