Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 29: Passing Days
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- Arthas -
Rose woke up a while later.
"I am sorry… I didn't realise I overslept." She said, looking embarrassed.
"Not really. You're on time. I woke up earlier to train. I just… got lost in talking to Kurumi here. I was about to wake you up too. Come, have a seat." I moved aside, making some space beside me for her to sit and looked at her.
She was actually quite composed compared to last night.
She understood my intention and sat down beside me while I wrapped my arm lightly around her waist pulling her to my side. Outside was still slightly chilly and while the camp fire kept us warm, none of us minded some more warmth. Although my action did make her blush lightly, she made no move to remove it.
Kurumi's eyes twitched at my action and I gave her a smirk, remembering our earlier conversation and her trying to act all seductive and mature towards me.
"Tch… get a room already, you two." She clicked her tongue, annoyed at being played a while ago and went into the tent.
My smirk only widened while Rose blushed even harder.
There was still some time until sunrise so we just sat there for a while like that. Sometimes, peace and quiet was much better than a thousand words.
"Umm…"
"Hmm?"
"Kurumi… how… I mean what kind of person is she?" Rose asked, hesitantly.
"Are you asking for my opinion because of what you know about her… from public knowledge?" I asked.
She nodded hesitantly.
"Hmm, you should always take these words at face value. In cases like hers, things are not as they look outside."
She looked at me surprised as I continued. "I don't know everything for sure but… That thing about her going crazy… that's ridiculous. She is perfectly sane. Guarded, very guarded but perfectly sane. Whatever she did back then, she did in full sanity. I am more concerned about why she did such a thing in the first place. From what I have observed in the time we have spent together, I don't think she is the type of person who would do such a thing until forced into a corner. Unfortunately, the people she went against are too influential and could easily turn the public opinion against her. Happens everywhere in the human world. I don't see why the underworld would be any different."
I had been closely exposed to such things due to my parents' business so I knew just how many people died like that or were falsely jailed in place of another. The numbers were insane, not something I could have even imagined in my previous life but that's how it has always been. The higher you are, the further you can see and the more the ones below look like ants to you.
As for the underworld, they still lived in a feudal age. This was something which wasn't going to change either as in the case of humans, the difference between devils was vast. One of them could fight a dozen humans while another could take on an entire continent and raze it totally.
How could the two be compared?
Sure it was brutal, but the world was never easy.
"But then… yesterday…"
"Yeah, she was pretending. A mask she has developed, probably after being on the run for years. Don't worry about her and don't let public opinion cloud your judgement. A person is smart. The public?… They are stupid. Don't be stupid. Just do what you want to do."
"I… umm. I will try talking to her." She nodded.
"Great. I think you will get along quite well."
I actually thought that.
Kurumi's outgoing and yet guarded personality was a perfect match for Rose' meek personality which lacked confidence in herself. I think they would have a good effect on each other.
After a while, the sun rose and we watched the sun rise together.
I too got up and decided to complete my daily training.
"You run daily? But why? Does running give any stats?"
"Hmm yes. I just have a passive skill which increases my Exp. Gain by 5% and 5% Stat Boost for a day, if I complete a daily exercise set. It's something I unlocked recently and have been trying to make a habit out of it."
"Oh. Alright."
"Don't worry. It won't take long."
And it really didn't.
I was done in less than half an hour. I wanted to get the daily use of my Hogyoku Skill effect too but going red on my HP in the middle of a jungle at night sounded like a bad idea. So I left it for later.
Normally, I would practice my Haki and other Skills but we didn't want to waste mana in a forest.
We kept guard for a while longer and took down three stray animals in that time.
Although near the road, sometimes stray animals did come out of the forest near the camp. I wonder if Kurumi fought any while we were sleeping earlier?
She woke up after sometime and we hunted for a bit before going back to the city.
Today however, I observed that Rose and Kurumi were getting along better than yesterday. Apparently my little chat with both the girls had worked.
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"Hmm, sounds like you three had an adventure." Veena said, as she took a sip of her drink and smiled at us.
We returned to Greenfrost by evening after another day of hunting.
Today we didn't encounter any boss and I didn't have the intention of going any further inside the forest without my full team.
We still got several T5 normal monsters and while not even as strong as the Wolf Boss from yesterday, eight hours of hunting had pushed me up another level. As expected, the average level of monsters in this area was higher.
Kurumi returned to the Blacksmith's shop where she was staying earlier while Rose and I came back to our Inn where Veena was.
She had already sent Gasper back to the Blacksmith's shop for his apprenticeship an hour before we had arrived.
The boy was apparently more comfortable there than at the Inn where he was forced to interact with more people.
He really had a crippling case of social anxiety.
"The monsters in the area were stronger. We could hunt here if we have a full team."
"Oh and how about your new teammate?"
"She… is not good at acting."
"Hehehehe so you noticed as well. I did see you keeping an eye on her before. So, what do you think about her?"
"She is… good. Very skilled but at the same time very guarded. I have no idea why she is trying to put on that mean girl act but I can tell that she doesn't mean bad."
"Yes. Unfortunately, that's more of a defence mechanism for people in her situation. You cannot survive the supernatural world by being a good guy all the time, especially for someone in her situation. If she tries to actually behave properly, more people will judge her and be wary of her whereas if she acts mean… well, people will expect it to be normal behaviour for her due to her status as a criminal. It's surprising how many opinions we can form about someone just a single word about them."
"That's… sad." Rose said, sounding quite dejected.
"It is but life is not always happy."
"She… doesn't seem like the type of person who would do such a thing… at least without a reason." I added.
"Hmm. My son thought that too and so did other Satans. That's why he intervened to save her sister, hoping to find something more about the case. But the thing is, you cannot exactly call the man who had lost his son out to be suspicious and start investigating him when there was clear evidence of Kuroka actually killing her king. A youkai, especially a Nekoshou like Kuroka going mad on Senjutsu? None of the Satans had believed that but there wasn't anything they could do. After all, it was just not feasible to go after a Pillar House for a Low Class Reincarnated Devil."
"Why? Aren't the Satans the leaders of the devil race?" I asked.
"Hmm, they are. Contrary to what you believe, they do hold much power but it is nowhere close to what the original Satans did. They are restricted to various degrees by the Council of the Underworld."
She looked at my confused face and explained.
"After the Great War and the death of the original satans, the descendants of the original Satans wanted to continue the war. Some houses supported them while many were just tired after the long and bloody war and wanted an out. Unfortunately, the old Satan faction was quite strong then. The bloodlines of the original Satans is no joke and neither were their descendants, especially the son of Lucifer, Rizevim. His power was so great that even his father was no match for him and for this reason he was called a devil beyond even the devil or as they call it now, a Super Devil."
We listened to her words with rapt attention.
After all, this was my world now.
Knowing more about it could only help me out.
"When the people become dissatisfied with their kings, what do they do?"
"Rebel." I answered almost reflexively.
"Exactly. But our rebellion couldn't be that easy. If we had just warred, we would have lost easily and the entire devil race would have been thrown into a situation where they would then be hunted down by others. We needed to prepare and raise our forces. This was something which took long term negotiations, convincing houses aligned with the Old Satan descendants to join our side and most important of all, to make someone capable of contending against those old Satan descendants, especially Rizevim. Fortunately Ajuka and Sirzechs were strong enough to give our side hope and our rebellion succeeded. The heroes of the Civil War were made the new generation of Satans. Hehehehe, you might not know this but Bina also contested for the position of Satan Leviathan but lost to Serafall although by a very small margin."
Oh, I knew that alright.
That's why when you asked me to imagine her between my legs during roleplay, I felt my balls freeze in fear… that was until I actually imagined the thing.
Apparently, fucking the mother of the strongest devil on a daily basis did increase the strength of my balls… or was it some kind of hidden achievement?