Entha

Chapter 13: My Responsibilty

After writing a word by word description of my experience prior to Anna’s Summon, I had given a task to one of the maids to tend to the sleeping Anna, and made my way to my quarter, it never ceases to amaze me, this beauty of the hallway, illuminated by the billions of stars above, however a guy ruined this mystifying scene, he stood there by the star light with his embellished yellow noble coat with his arms resting on the sword hanging on his waist, he looked cool and all but his next words made me spat,

“Care for a training” said Heather, tapping the sword in his waist

“No, of course not”

Give me a break, I’m mentally exhausted right now, I expected him to drag me through the fields like he always did in this past month but this time he smiled weakly and instead looked out the huge windows, his gaze wandering through the sky,

“Then would you perhaps be interested for an idle talk”

Aren’t you cool posing like that?, The hell with handsome dudes, with those countless acting lesson from Halen, I don’t think I could be this alluring, tsk, might have been because of my average looks…an idle talk? About what? Another sword art? But I guess talking would be much better than sweating in the fields,

“Sure thing, talk about what?”

“I was just curious, how it feels to live on Earth freely?” Heather softly asked,

Surely this isn’t an idle talk, this involves philosophy, right? Something I don’t know anything about, what does philosophy even mean? well whatever, Freely? But I don’t even know what it means to be free, freedom of choice?  speech? right? Those are the freedom I know of but it’s probably not the answer he’s looking for, considering he was of demon kind with values far from humans, I noticed that demons lived simply, they do have aesthetic taste and hobbies, but they don’t have those complicated views in things, they don’t bother with pleasantries, they don’t compete, they held no jealousy etc., it’s like they function as one, they strive for one goal that is for the good of all demon kind, this is the beauty I found in the demon world, a beauty you won’t find on the humans on Earth even if you turn the planet upside down.

“I don’t know what you mean about living freely, but I think living in the demon world is much more beautiful than living on Earth, for example those stars”

Those were my honest feelings, I find the demon world much comfortable to live in, but as soon as I said those words, Heather’s eyes narrowed and at the same time he clenched his fist,

“Stars? Those aren’t st-“ he mockingly said but abruptly stopped and instead he stared back and beamed a kind smile, obviously hiding something.

Not that I wasn't curious, but since Heather isn't the kind to think of something that would threaten others around him, I figured it would be best if I didn't know what he was about to say. Uncomfortable with his sudden pessimism, I summoned Asporeas and egged him for a training, which immediately lifted his spirits, a simpleton at work.

-

Curse, you Heather! I was able to block two of his strikes but the third always went for my head, I knew he was going for it but his sheer speed and unpredictability made it difficult to avoid, an overhead strike hit, a side strike hit, a down strike hit again, he's having a good time isn't he, I could already feel countless bumps on my head.

“One more time!” I boldly declare, of course with a plan of action in mind,

“That’s the spirit, Come brother”

I hardened my grip on Asporeas, and ran forward, of course this time with the help of my eyes, the eye’s of Plegia, the feature of the superior Grandif’s, demon’s that are low in number and are valued as they are the known as the aces of the Demon world,

“Mwahahah,” I laughed, assured of my victory,

I could see a mirage of him striking overhead, I could make it, I can strike back, but such devious thought was instantly stopped with the obvious glow in his yellow eyes and a swift movement of his fist burrowing in my stomach, ack! It felt like a frigid shell from a cannon, distracted, another hit landed on my head from his rocket launcher foot, sending me flying for a good meter, curse! this dirty player.

“Cheating would do you no good, brother” Heather sighed,

“But you did use your eyes too plus, this is not sword training anymore”

“Just to be fair, a Grandif’s eye are unmatched after all and the latter was a disciplinary action for cheating”

“Then you could have stopped with the fist”

“the kick was a product of my annoyance” said Heather, with no sense of remorse whatsoever

Dang it. I never expected him to use the eyes of reckon, just like his twin Elena, he had the yellow eyes of reckon, an eye that involves an extensive calculation of the owner, which predicts multiple outcomes, Elena uses it to determine magic results while Heather uses it to determine his opponents move, similar to a Grandifs eyes that sees the mirage of the mana's intent but instead the eyes of reckon rely on a calculated outcome.

-

I made my way back to my room, exhausted from Heather's head bending training, hoping to get a wink of sleep; demon bodies are much tougher than human bodies, but I still need to rest; however, rest is slowly becoming non-existent in this accursed world; just as I was about to enter my quarters, a maid called out, informing me that Anna had woken up; the maid led me to the servants quarters on the first floor of the mansion, and now I found myself staring back at this child.

“Where’s mommy” she inquired, with tears already welling up her eyes,

“Much just like your father, she’s gone” I coldly replied, it was no use conjuring another illusion and shrouding the truth any further, it might just be my selfish desire but I want her to stand by her own foot this early on,

What followed was her ear ringing wails that continued for hours and hours on end, however compelled with my sense of responsibility I  remained watch and kept her company till she fell asleep,

With light steps, careful not to wake her up again, I made my way to the door and opened it,

-arghh

Does everyone in the house stand next to a door, behind the closed door was Esteroth with her crimson colored armor probably back from a summon, tsk this eavesdropper,

“What do you want?” I nonchalantly asked her,

“Again I’m asking you since this topic was lost earlier, What do you plan to do with the child?” Asked Esteroth with her eyes narrowed,

“I’ll have her serve me as a subordinate, educate her of the demon world and grant her freedom in the Helliun World”

Is the only conclusion I came up with, I plan to take responsibility for my impulsive actions of taking her with me and shoulder the heavy emotions she’s feeling of the bitter truth I mercilessly told her.

“That’s high of you, don’t you think, you’re saying things like grant her freedom in the Helliun world but you haven’t even ventured out the Duchy”

“Huh? I was allowed to go out?” I asked, dumbfounded,

“Huh? Why not thickhead? And here I was thinking that stepping outside didn't appeal to you, only to discover that you believed you were imprisoned." Said Esteroth, with her palm already on her forehead,

It surprised me because I had this mistaken belief that I wasn't permitted to leave the duchy, not that I was interested in going outside in the first place, but the idea of releasing the naive Anna into a world where I had no idea what was out there didn't sit well with me.

“Get dressed thickhead, we’re going out to what you would call the town of this Duchy” smiled Esteroth, as she pulled my sleeve out the door and pushed me towards my quarter,

“I’ll ready the carriage and wait by the entrance”