I tried to refrain from using mana, but turns out I couldnât.
As I lightly used the mana I had been working hard on, a black mist flowed from my hand. Then the cousins freaked out and quickly moved away.
âKyakk!â
He seemed to think it was some kind of disease.
âWhatâs that! DirtyâŚ! Donât tell me⌠Did you learn dirty magic tricks? You shameless thing!â
âHmm? Whath ish âtwickâ?â (Hmm? What is âtrickâ?)
I spread my hands out wide. The overflowing energy had disappeared at some point.
âWhat?â
âI donât know that kind of thing!â
âEeek! Do you think Iâll be afraid of lies like that? A filthy fool like you is nothing!â
Insignificant and lowly bastard!
Little Cousin 1, with his face flushed red, uttered the most abusive language I know.
âPhew, I have to do good things, thoughâŚâ
I donât know why the world is making things so difficult for me like this.
Hard, itâs hard.
âYou also talk weird and youâres surely stupid!â
As I listened to people shouting and swearing at me, it seemed that doing good deeds was very far from this family.
However, if I was being beaten, it would be very miserable for the great Demon King myself.
Slap!
The barely nine-year-old extra strode over to me and shoved me on the shoulder. My body staggered slightly as I was suddenly pushed.
I wasnât able to respond because I was contemplating on what to do with the disgrace. My mind was pounding as if I had been stabbed in the back of the head.
Even if I used to imitated an adult, in the end, because I was a kid, it didnât terribly hurt, but my mood is bad.
âHey, did you just hit me?â
It was a very clear pronunciation.
I sounded like a fool, but when I pronounced it like that, even the little ones were surprised and their eyes widened.
However, these words werenât difficult to pronounce because I had said them dozens of times when I was a human being. Fortunately, it seems that this word hasnât changed even after a thousand years have passed.
âYouâre dead.â
Just two words, those were the words I could utter the best out of all human words.
âPatati, akhu.â
(* âGet down, rat.â)
Hearing my words, the boy hardened his face.
âWhat, a-are you putting a curse on me?!â
But nothing happened.
ââŚIs it going to be like this? Really?â
The boy, who had shrunk a lot, eventually pointed at me with a triumphant expression on his face.
âT-This monster uses bizarre magic, so Iâll have to tell G-Grandpa to punish her!â
Chiffon didnât know what to say at the boyâs words and looked at him, but in the end she bowed her head in front of the cousin.
âHey, you filthy fool! Donât appear in front of me again!â
ââŚYes, Sir Niphel.â
Chiffon looked at me, then she carefully grabbed me and dragged me.
It was the look of âletâs go backâ. Chiffon looked like she was about to cry, so I nodded my head countless times.
There was no gain in fighting the nine-year-old kid here.
By the way, itâs a bit shocking that even simple magic didnât work.
âAhhh! Rat!â
As I pondered what the problem was, I heard a tearing scream behind me.
The rats which I donât know where they crawled out, were chasing after Niphel or Niphle and biting on his clothes and shoes.
âAha.â
I laughed out loud as if I was watching a comedy.
âD-Did Miss do it?â
âMmhm.â
I asked for rats to be taken down from the sky, but it seems that it took time to gather the rats around me because it was impossible with my mana.
âW-What is this!â
âAww! Help me! Agh! Filthy, dirty, what is this! Brother!â
âHow noisy, me too, what is this⌠Hiiiik!â
âT-Take it off right now! What are you all doing!â
The three brats, who were screaming at servants while stomping their feet and screaming at the flocking rats, eventually ran away until their tails fell out.
It was as if their tail had caught fire as they ran away with rats hanging all over their body.
I didnât know how funny it was to see children, who had been pretending to be adults, squealing and running away.
âPfft, ahahaha!â
As I sat down and listened to their screams, I turned around with a grin.
âYou, Iâm not going to let you go!â
I could hear a scream from afar, as if they had heard my laughter, but it was none of my business.
âAnyhow Iâm in big trouble.â
The security was too strict here.
This way, I wonât even be able to tell my father about my situation. I recalled a conversation Esther had with Chiffon not long ago.
[Chiffony, come to think of it, whew ish my fathew?]
(Chiffony, come to think of it, where is my father?)
[Ah⌠Caelos Egbert, Missâ father⌠Heâs living in the temple because heâs the commander of the Holy Knights.]
[Ish he not at home?]
[âŚYes, I heard that he hasnât been to the mansion in years.]
[I shee.]
I donât know what kind of human the father of this body is, but I need to see his face first.
Father is outside and I canât go out without permission. Besides, the security is strict, so it would be difficult to send a letter, let alone go out.
âI need a demon beast to help me.â
To summon a demon beast, I need mana. Exactly three times the mana I have now.
Young demons could summon them well, but right now I only had exactly one grain of mana.
If the mana that I had when I was a great Demon King was water flowing in a large lake, the magic I had now was about a drop of water the size of a babyâs fingernail dropped into a dry lake.
I mean⌠Itâs not even noticeable.
In fact, far from being noticed, it may dry out at some point.
In addition, in order to regain mana, one had to do a good deed, and the conditions for doing such a good deed were terrible.
First of all, I seem to be hated.
And I donât have mana as much as a ratâs tail.
In other words, even if I want to help someone, no one will receive my help, and even if they do, I canât do anything because Iâm just a powerless child.
In other words, itâs a bit difficult right now.
I was led back to the room by Chiffon, fumbling over my face with my fingertips.
Small hands, small face, small body, and smaller than that, my small, precious, and small mana.
âShould I just summon first?â
With the help of a demon beast, I can use magic without consuming mana.
Of course, if I want to use magic through an uncontracted demon beast, I have to use mana.
However, the demon beast who has concluded the contract doesnât require any mana except when summoning, and using magic using the demon beast doesnât require any mana.
Even small battles can be taken care of by the demon beast.
The demon beast was a milestone for the young demons, birth and death, and also the end of the world. Those words were passed down through mouth to mouth tradition in the Demon Realm. I donât know why the demon beast is the death or the end of the world, though.
And if there was one more thing the young demon king needed, it was the devil.
Ah, the devil here is a slightly different concept from the âDemon Tribeâ.
âDemon Tribeâ was one of the tribes, whereas âDevilsâ were the guardians of the young Demon King.
Only powerful ones who were chosen from among the demons could receive the title of âDevilâ, the position of the guardian.
The devil was the demon kingâs teacher and butler, but they were also a guide to the rules.
If the devil was the one who raised the demon king, then the demon beast served as an assistant to magic, including subspace.
âIâŚ, M-Miss?â
Chiffon called me in my thoughts.
âYou can go out.â
ââŚAh, yes. T-The meal will be prepared soon.â
I shook my head at Chiffonâs words.
âIâm done with my meal today. Come back tomorrow. Early again.â
âAh, yes⌠I understand.â
She looked at me with a subtle look, then stepped back and left the room.
As Chiffon left, I dragged the chair and left it in front of the door.
I struggled to get up to the chair with my short limbs, locked the door, and then jumped again.
âIâm ready.â
All that remains is to summon the demon beast.
With my mana, there is no way to summon demons.
In fact, in the days of the Demon King, I would have been able to summon enough with just a spell, but now I lacked enough magical power.
Maybe itâs just a lack of mana, maybe this body lacks bloodline.
The demon blood is quite thick, but since Iâm a mixed race, itâs impossible to know exactly how much it was mixed.
When I went out earlier, I took out a stone the size of a fist that I had been hiding and stood in front of the mirror.
Then, with all my might, I hit the mirror with it.
Whackă Ą
Smashă Ą
Whackă Ą
Crashă Ą!
One side of the old full-length mirror shattered, and the wreckage fell to the floor.
I picked a suitable piece from among those and slightly pricked my index finger. There was a stinging pain like being stabbed by a needle, but this little pain wasnât a problem.
I felt so weak right now that I couldnât even save my life against ordinary humans.
âAlthough, no matter how I see it, it seems like it wonât be easy to kill me since Iâve been aliveâŚâ
Being like this, it would be better to have at least an equipment for escaping.
Before the red blood dripped, I quickly drew a circle with my index finger on the hard marble floor. The language of the demons was written on the red circle. It is a summoning circle that summons demon beasts.
Along the inner edge of the circle, the curly language was written in full, and in the middle, the concave castle was drawn upside down. A few drops of blood were dropped at the very center and a few strands of hair were pulled up.
Originally, there was no need for such a thing, but in order to increase the summoning rate, it was inevitable.
âFocus, focus.â
There is only one chance.
I have to pour all my mana into it.
âAham rakasa naman karooti, akhya nava rakasa prasuti marathi etya.â
(* âI announce the birth of a new demon king in the name of the Demon King. In the end, come to me and become a faithful servant.â)
I memorized the summons while tensed so that the pronunciation wouldnât leak or be disturbed.