Reborn 10 - Demonic Valor (7 page)

“I am not a fool,” Emelia said her voice holding an edge of annoyance to it. “You won’t be the only one who will be busy. With the battle over I will have to declare our independent from the crown. If the king himself would have stayed out of the war I might never have done it but now that he personally sent troops there is no way that we can stay a part of the kingdom.”

“Looks like we are going to have a very busy future,” Ash said in a joking tone.

“I wouldn’t be laughing,” Emelia said hitting Ash lightly in the chest. “It will be hard for us to find one day a week to spend with each other at this rate,” Emelia said pouting.

“Hasn’t that always been the life of a noble?” Ash asked seriously.

“Yes but before I was the noble and you were just my cute arm candy,” Emelia said pulling Ash into a kiss. “Who would have thought that my husband would turn out to be the king of demons?”

“I am just as surprised as you are,” Ash said returning the kiss. “Looks like life is never as simple as we think it will be.”

“Are you going to be going back to finish your training once the war is settled?” Emelia asked her voice sounding slightly lonely.

“Yes though you should really join me in the training,” Ash said with a warm smile. “You could do with putting a little muscle on that body of yours.”

Emelia crossed her arms and huffed. “I don’t want to become one of those muscle bound women. I much prefer the way I am thank you very much,” Emelia said in a dignified tone. “If you want to follow me to the bed chambers I can show you the benefit of having a wife that isn’t all muscle.”

10-10

Over the next three days Ash spent his time interviewing prisoners. Just as expected 97% of them were standard soldiers. The rest were knights were high level officers belonging to one of the nobles and a few to the king himself. In the end they were left with a little over sixty people held captive. The only exception the Emelia’s decision were the two standard soldiers who had the reapers mark above their heads.

Ash couldn’t simply execute them without cause, instead he consulted with Emelia and they held turned them over to the church for trial along with the other fourteen officers who were marked as well. This was done to give a reason for execution that made both Ash and Emelia blames since not even a king would be foolish enough to denounce the rulings of a church even if they wanted to. It also allowed Ash to kill them openly once they were found guilty so he could reap the rewards from their deaths. Ash felt slightly bad about killing men who had surrendered but he knew that to get the mark of death they had to commit grave sins that were unforgivable but it did little to alleviate the nagging of his conscious.

The remaining prisoner’s name was taken and sent to the king along with the prices for their release. Once that was finished Emelia contacted Helen and had her bring Ashely back to her house.

The first time Ash had seen his daughter his heart had been taken away by the miniature giggling face. She only had a small amount of hair and no teeth but she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. It was when Ash noticed the small pair of wings on her back that Ash started to understand what Emelia had done in his absence. He was not the only one surprised as his demon wives all held complex feelings about the small child who could very well be the next maoh if she carried Ash’s blood ability.

When Ash had asked Emelia why she hadn’t gone through with the purifying rite she had simply said that she wanted their daughter to be fully theirs as the gods decided. Ash couldn’t blame Emelia for her choice but he knew that the small child would have a much harder life thanks to those small wings on her back but at the same time she signaled a new hope. She could very well be the bridge between the two races though Ash knew pinning such hopes on such a small being was asking far too much.

It didn’t take long for the church to convene a court in order to try the criminals and even faster to judge them. The priests had a skill that allowed them to call forth any crime committed against the goddess so there was no way for the prisoners to deny what they had done. In the end Ash gained four more levels and an amazing nineteen abilities.

[Binding throw: cost 10SP- warp up the enemy and throw him. Level 1-0%.]

[Bludgeon: cost 20SP- increase attack with blunted weapons by 25%. Level 1-0%.]

[Bolstered resilience- increase damage resistance by 5%. Level 1-0%.]

[Hurl: cost 5Sp- throw weapon doing 10% more damage. Level 1-0%.]

[Weaken: cost 50MP- weaken an enemy by one level. Can only be used if enemy is at a higher level. Level 1-0%.]

[Cluster shot- cost 40MP 5SP- when the next arrow is fired it will burst apart damaging all enemies within its striking area. Level 1-0%.]

[Replenish: cost 10% of channeled MP. Pass MP onto an ally. Level 1-0%.]

[Holy fist: cost 20MP- coat fist in holy light. Level 1-0%.]

[Crushing blow: cost 40SP- strike with three times the force as normal. Level 1-0%.]

[Deadly finish: cost 100SP- upgrades the next attack 1 level. Level 1-0%.]

[Destructive dispel: cost 75MP- cancel enemy spell or ability and does damage equal to the cost of the spell canceled to the caster. Level 1-0%.]

[Dimension door: cost 25MP- open a dimensional door from one place to the next. Range 100 feet. Level 1-0%.]

[Port: cost 20MP- teleport an item into your hand. Range thirty feet. Level 1-0%.]

[Final embrace: cost ***- sacrifice yourself and deal damage to all enemy equal to that of your remaining HP, MP, and SP combined.]

For his new stat points Ash used them all in strength, agility, stamina, and vitality. The reason for this was because his current goal was to get all his stats up to at least 100. Ash knew that it would be nearly impossible but he figured it was worth the try.

It was two weeks before they received word from the king regarding both the war and the captives. When the reply was brought over to Emelia she unrolled it and read it aloud.

Emelia Hawkwing We have received your demand for ransom of the soldiers of the kingdom and the declaration of your right to succession from our domain.

In regards to this We demand the release of our men and that you and the one you have taken as your husband present yourself before us that We may pass sentence on your unlawful and unholy collusion with those of the demon race. If your refuse our royal decree then you shall face the full wrath that we can bring down upon you.

“Foolishness,” Tolarea said when she heard the king’s response.

“Indeed,” Emelia said her voice holding more than a tint of anger in it.

“What should we do?” Ash asked.

“We have a few choices,” Emelia said after a few moments of thought. “The first is to do as the king has demanded and turn ourselves over to be judged and sentenced to a public death.”

“Unacceptable,” Gena said harshly.

“Agreed but I always like to start with the least desirable so that the most desirable one is the last one you hear,” Emelia said with a giggle.

“You mean the choice that you like the best,” Ash said while rolling his eyes.

“You’re no fun,” Emelia said sticking out her tongue playfully. “The second choice is to refuse and wait to see how the king responds. We can also start killing the prisoners to make a point as well. The third choice is to send a force against the king and declare war. Finally we can send someone to negotiate a truce with the king and see if we can find a compromise.”

“I like the third choice,” Tolarea said firmly as a smile spread across her face.

“I think the second would be best,” Seia said with a look of thought on her face.

“What about you Ash?” Emelia asked looking at the two women with a slightly worried look on her face.

“AS much as I hate to admit it at this point I think the last option is the best,” Ash said in a defeated tone while a smile spread across Emelia’s face.

“I agree.”

“The real question is who should we send,” Emelia pondered. “It will have to be someone whose words can carry a bit of weight and also someone we can trust.”

“I will go,” Ash said after thinking for a bit.

“Out of the question,” Emelia said standing from her seat.

“Who else could we send that you trust?” Ash asked with a raised eyebrow. “Not only am I your husband so I hold a good deal of sway with the duchy.”

“Kingdom now,” Emelia corrected him. “Albeit a small one. We have broken away from the king so now we are independent.”

“Noted,” Ash said rolling his eyes. “I am also the maoh or demon king if you wish to look at it that way. If I go the king will not be able to overlook my words.”

“No he couldn’t but he could have you hauled before a mass of people to behead,” Emelia almost screamed.

“I would like to see him try,” Tolarea said menacingly.

“Emelia we both know this is the best choice,” Ash said reassuringly.

“I don’t like it,” Emelia said crossing her arms and pouting.

“Neither do I, but it has to be done,” Ash replied.

After the decision was made Ash spent the next three days with Emelia and his daughter. Ash had to admit that he was more than a little nervous about the coming meeting. Thankfully Ash would not be going alone. Not only would his guards be going with him but he would also bringing alone five knights from the former duchy and two more high ranking demons that had fought in the war for extra protection. The main reason for the two extra demon guards were that both could fly and in an emergency they could get him out. Ash didn’t like to think about this since it meant that he would have to leave his wives behind while he fled but none of the seemed to give it much thought.

The night before he left all of Ash’s friends and adopted family gathered at Emelia’s house for a large farewell party. Yuki, Shina, Milly, as well as Helen and her family were all present.

Helen was just as forward and outspoken as he remembered. She might have even became a little more forward since the last time they had met since she had taken over a government post close to Emelia. From what Emelia had said Helen was doing a great job, even better than expected. She had no problems dealing with snotty nobles and Emelia enjoyed the few that came to her personally to complain.

Surprising to Ash Yuki was not clingy. It seemed that in Ash’s absence she had grown up a lot. Ash couldn’t help but have a complicated feeling about her new independence. Milly on the other hand spent the whole night clamped to Ash. She was still young but she was not dumb and understood that soon as would be leaving again. Thankfully no one seemed to mind the small panther ear girl as she rode on his shoulders. In fact the only looks he got were ones of envy from many of the women in the room.

As the night came to an end Ash snuck away to a small sitting room away from everyone else. As soon as he was seated one of the maids brought him a small glass of wine. “Do you need anything else my lord?” The maid asked after sitting the bottle of wine on the table.

“Just some quiet,” Ash said as he leaned back in his chair.

“It had been months since Ash had really had any time to himself. When he was in the demon kingdom one of his new wives was always around and the only time he had to himself was the time he spent in the privy. Then there was the war, which kept him completely occupied and ever since he had returned Emelia had barely given him enough space to breath. He loved all of the people in his life but that didn’t mean he didn’t want some time alone every now and then so that he could recharge.

Taking a deep breath Ash took a small sip of the win and look at the white ceiling. “When will this be over?” Ash asked himself.

He knew that going to meet with the king was the best choice for a quick and hopefully peaceful end to the war but he also knew that it could turn blood fast if things didn’t go well. If that happened a war could drag on for years if not decades.

While he had some time to himself Ash started to look over his new abilities. He had gained the abilities weeks ago but he really didn’t have much of a chance to look them over. Ash was always amazed when he gained an ability from another human since they seemed to be much better than the ones he gained from monsters. He knew from his own research that almost all of them could be found if he killed the right monster but that was easier said than done since many of the monsters were very high level. The more he thought about it the more he started to form a theory. Most likely the abilities from stronger monsters had a better chance to be passed down among bloodlines from generation to generation.

Most of the abilities had a number of uses but two of them stuck out among the others. Port, and dimensional door could be extremely useful. Even at a low level port could be used in a number of ways while Dimensional door would make likely have to be leveled up a great deal before it could be used for more than a quick escape during battle.

Thinking of this Ash decided that the trip would be a great time to practice the two new abilities and level them up since neither of them required an enemy for them to be used against. Happy with his choice ash quickly drained the rest of his glass and moved to rejoin the others in the main room.

10-11

The next morning Emelia, Yuki, Shina, and Milly all gathered at the front gate of the city to see Ash off. After giving each one a hug and light kiss Ash mounted his carriage.

After they had left the city far behind Ash removed himself from the carriage and stretched his legs. Even though he had not ridden for long Ash had found the ride very uncomfortable.

“My lord has something happened?” one of his demon guards asked when Ash exited.

“No…Not really,” Ash replied. “There are just a few things I would like to try out.”

“Understood my lord,” the demon said bowing before returning to his post.

Ash had planned to use dimension door to catch up to the carriage but it seemed that he was not on board it wasn’t going to move. Looking around Ash noticed that everyone was watching him. A sudden idea hit Ash and a mischievous smile spread across his face.

Ash looked around and found a place that looked to be about seventy feet away and activated dimension door. As soon as the ability was activated a large obsidian doorway appeared in front of Ash. Shrugging his shoulders he quickly stepped through the door and found himself exactly where he had wanted to go. Quickly checking his ability page Ash looked at the experience earned from one trip and found that it was only 2%. “I have to do this fifty more times just to reach level two,” Ash said with a deep sigh before looking back at the people he had left behind. “Hay guys why are you all waiting back there?” Ash yelled in a teasing tone.

“My lord,” Ash heard a few of the call out as they rushed to where he was waiting the looks on their face showing more than a little confusion.

Just before they could reach him Ash activated dimension door again and moved another eighty to a hundred feet away. This time as Ash came through the large black door he quickly looked back at the people coming up the road. From the way they were acting they couldn’t see the doorway that he had opened. This brought up a lot of questions in Ash’s mind but he was not knowledgeable enough to even begin to answer them so he pushed them aside until he had more time to think.

Oddly enough dimension door was far cheaper than Ash would have guessed at only 25MP per use. With his current MP levels that meant that Ash could use it around fifty-five times before he would run out of MP, though that wasn’t really true since his MP would slowly recover even while he was using abilities. Still It left Ash knowing that he had enough MP to level it up at least once without having to take a long rest.

It didn’t take long to activate the ability so Ash was easily able to stay ahead of the group but after his fifth jump Ash noticed that while those on horseback were leaving the carriage behind. Grumbling to himself Ash was left with no choice then to wait on all of them to catch up to him so that he could explain what he was doing.

“MY lord,” Tolarea said in a harsh tone being the first to catch up to Ash her large warhorse panting heavily.

“Calm down Tolarea,” Ash said taking a step back when he saw the scowl on her face. “I was just training one of my new abilities.”

“And it never crossed your mind that you should let us know beforehand what you were doing?” Tolarea asked as she narrowed her eyes at him. “If you haven’t forgotten there is currently a war going on and I am sure there are any number of people who would like to see you dead. That is the whole reason that we have brought so many guards. What are their use if you run away from the safety that they bring you?” 

Hearing Tolarea’s words Ash looked around to see that the others who had caught up with her were silently nodding their heads in agreement. “I apologize,” Ash said weakly as a feeling of remorse ran through him. “I was wrong.”

Once the carriage had arrived the small group took a break beside the road to let the horses catch their breath and so that they could talk.

“What is the new ability that you are training?” Seia asked as she came to sit beside Ash. “It looked like you just vanished and reappeared.”

“It is called Dimension door and allows me to move from one place to the next as long as it is within a certain range,” Ash explained.

“Can you take others with you?” Li asked weakly her voice barely audible over the sound of the blowing wind.

“I don’t know,” Ash replied honestly.

“Then we should try. If you can take two along with you I don’t think anyone would complain as long as you don’t move so far that the others can’t see you,” Li explained her idea.

“That could work,” Celina agreed making Li smile bashfully.

It was decided that Tolarea and Li would be the ones to go with Ash. Tolarea to fight any threat and Li to use her protection and healing spells. Once they were ready Ash activated Dimension door. “Can you see it?” Ash asked as the large obsidian doorway opened up in front of him. Having already heard Ash explain how the ability worked they both shook their heads. With Ash guiding them the three walked into the doorway. After being transported Ash looked around only to find himself standing alone only a few dozen feet away from the others.

“It didn’t work,” Seia said slightly disheartened as Ash walked back to where they waited.

“We should try again,” Tolarea said as if it was a challenge she had to beat.

Once again the three stood arm to arm but this time their arms were linked with Ash in the middle of the two women. “I see it,” Li shouted happily as soon as Ash activated the ability.

“It seems we have to be touching for it to work on more than one person,” Ash said nodding his head as he looked as his stats page and noticed that his MP consumption had also been raised to seventy-five. It was three times but it was good to know that he could move more people than just himself.

For the next three hours Ash transported himself and two of his guards forward while the rest of the party followed behind before his MP ran dry. Checking his stats page again Ash noticed that he still had 22% left before he could level up dimension door to the next level. Not only did traveling with others increase the cost it also increased the experience gained from one trip but it only increased by 1% per person.

After he had ran out of MP Ash was forced to retire to the carriage to recharge. As they rolled along Ash kept readjusting himself but no matter how hard he tried he still felt every bump that the wooden wheels went over. Seeing his discomfort Seia let out a laugh. Unlike the others Seia had the bottom half of a snake so it didn’t seem as if the rattling of the carriage bothered her as much.

To help pass the time Ash tried to read one of the books he had borrowed from Emelia’s library but at first it was hard for him to concentrate with all the rattling around though once he was able to get absorbed in the book it was as if the entire world around him disappeared.

After three hours of rest Ash had recovered enough of his MP to use dimension door again but he decided that it would be best to wait. He was still trying to build up his soul MP in case it was needed when he reached the capital and considering that it would take more than a six weeks to reach the capital Ash didn’t feel as if he was in a rush to level up the ability. Even the fast letter delivery using the adventure’s guild still took a week.

This also caused a bit of problem since Emelia would have to notify the king that she was sending a delegate to discuss the current situation, so the king would know long before Ash arrived that he was coming. That meant that there was a large chance of people moving to intercept them since more than a few say him as the catalyst for the war and believed that if Ash were gone the war would end without further trouble.

Emelia had promised not to send the letter until they had already been gone for a week. That would give them at least two weeks or a third of the journey without having to worry as much about assassins but there was no telling how many spies were watching Emelia’s every move so there was always a chance that the king would know long before the letter arrived and that meant that they couldn’t really keep their guard down. That was the reason everyone had been so agitated when Ash had simply disappeared from in front of their eyes.

Emelia had planned out the rout they would take so that at least a quarter of the time they could rest in a real bed at an inn. It sounded nice but the truth was that the first half of the trip would be spent sleeping under the stars since the cities gradually got closer together the nearer one got to the capital.

Ash didn’t mind as he enjoyed the outdoors. In fact sleeping outside was a lot better than sleeping in some of the low end dives that one would find in some of the villages.

Thanks to the carriage they couldn’t travel as far or as late as they could with horses but it wasn’t a choice that was given to him. For one Seia couldn’t ride a horse easily. Even when she rode one of the demon birds she had to use an especially made saddle and sadly they didn’t have any for her within the human kingdom. There was also the fact that delegates were expected to ride in a carriage and not just a simple one. The carriage that Emelia had prepared was made of an expensive wood that looked dark purple in the sunlight and almost obsidian in the darkness. It had a large crest painted on it in gold leaf on each side. One side had the crest of the Hawkwing family while the other had the crest of the demon lord on it. Ash didn’t see the reason for the demon lord crest since he doubted that anyone in the human lands would be able recognize the crest of the demon lord.

Since they were forced to set up camp as soon as the sun began to drop below the horizon it left them plenty of time for them to train before settling down to sleep. Ash had planned to use this time to look over his large number of abilities and try to learn them better and think of ways that they could be used but Tolarea and his other wives each had their own plans.

First Ash was forced to spar with Tolarea and Gena. Once he was finished sparing Ash helped Li cook the meal for the entire group. As Li moved from pot to pot stirring and checking the fire she had an almost angelic smile on her face which Ash couldn’t help but find captivating.

After the meal Ash helped Celina and Seia wash the dishes then spent a few moments with each of his other wives. Though all he did was simple things they all seemed to enjoy the time he spent with them.

When it came to sleep they set up a watch rotation. Ash had wanted to take his turn but he the idea was completely denied by everyone. Ash didn’t know why but he hated being told what he could or couldn’t do and hated even more being protected. Before it hadn’t really been that apparent but now it seemed to shine through like a beacon on a clear night.

Ash knew that it was something that he was going to have to get used to but he wasn’t sure if he could. Sighing Ash pulled the thick comforter over his shoulders and closed his eyes.

Ever since coming to this world Ash had wanted to explore it but things kept getting in the way. As long as he had been here the only time he had left the duchy was when he went to the demon kingdom. Though it was not under the best of circumstances he was still getting to see a little bit more of the world so Ash couldn’t help but get a little excited.

Thanks to the building dreams in his mind Ash had a hard time falling asleep so he was still wide awake when he felt something warm slip under the covers and press against his back. Turning slightly Ash found himself staring in the eyes of Li who was quietly looking back at him with a worried tremble in her eyes.

“My lord,” Li said her voice so weak that Ash had to strain to hear it even though she was only a few inches away from him.

“I told you to call me Ash when we are alone,” Ash said in a slightly rebuking yet teasing tone. When Li nodded her head but didn’t say anything Ash couldn’t help but feel as if something was bothering her. “Is something on your mind?” Ash asked once the silence had become too overbearing.

“I don’t think you should meet with the human king,” Li said her voice firmer than he had ever heard it before. “Any of the clan heads or nobles from your human wives lands could perform the same task.”

“That is true,” Ash admitted. “But I don’t think the king would be able to handle meeting a full demon,” Ash said with a slight chuckle when he tried to imagine the look on the unknown king’s face if he had sent Tolarea’s father to meet with him. Also only a few of the nobles can really be trusted once they get out of eyesight and there is no telling what the clan leaders might door say that could unnecessarily offend. I want to stop the war with the least amount of life lost while retaining the Hawkwing lands independence.”

“I understand,” Li said though her voice still had a hint of defiance to it. Li seldom talked and when she did it was kept very short but Ash was starting to understand her from the small movements she made whenever something was on her mind.

Leaning down Ash kissed Li lightly on the forehead in a reassuring manner. “Everything will be fine,” Ash said pulling LI tight into his chest. “I have you and the others here to protect me don’t I. Not to mention the human king would be foolish to start a war with the demon kingdom. We have six time the forces and each one our men are worth three of his.”

“Then why don’t you just take over his lands?” Li asked softly.

“I want the demons to renter the world,” Ash said since the thought had crossed his own mind. He hated the way the humans nobles treated the other races. It pulled at his every fiber but he knew that destroying them wouldn’t solve anything. “If we start that with such a war then the other kingdoms might rise up and join together and the end would be fatal for everyone involved.”