Chapter 61: The gray demons

I've managed to make some progress with the siblings somehow, well, at the very least I got them to tell me their names. The girl is called Xania and the boy Rax, apparently, most gray demons have an x in their names.

From what they've told me, the gray demon tribe has its territory at the southern border of the demon wasteland, right next to the beastkin country. The problem is that the area in which the gray demons are born is in the beastkin's homeland, and as a result, the gray demons have been in a constant war with them for a very long time.

These two have lived a very different life to mine. Growing up in a society that highly values warriors and being involved in many battles... no wonder that it's difficult for them to get along with someone who is used to living in peace such as myself.

"So that beastkin that you used 'zombify' on was one of your enemies?"

"Not just any enemy, he was the one who killed our parents. I decided to take revenge on him by making him my servant."

"What!? That's terrible! You shouldn't let hatred control you like that... and what if his children decide to go after you next? Can't you see that this is never going to end if you keep going like that?"

"Of course it's never going to end! This is what our existence is like. The beastkin always seal the mana in the forest to prevent gray demons from being born, if we stopped fighting them, our race would become extinct!"

"Couldn't you try to negotiate? If the beastkin don't need that place as much as you do, perhaps you could offer something better in return."

"You don't know what you're talking about. Those guys hate us beyond the point of rationality, they just want to get rid of us."

She's making the beastkin sound completely unreasonable. But I already learned my lesson about judging before hearing both sides.

"Even then, you should not get innocent people involved. Back when you took the horn of the earth, the monster you created almost destroyed a town."

"What!? Is that true!?"

"Uh... no, it's not..."

Oh? Rax is looking at his sister with an uncertain expression, and Xania seems to be a bit flustered. Maybe this is my chance to show how she's wrong.

"She used an artifact to create a powerful monster and sent it to destroy a town full of innocent people."

"No! That's not true!"

"I remember you giving some speech about how they were going to know true fear or something like that."

I didn't really listen to it though.

"That's..."

"Sis, is that true?"

"No, you see... I wanted to obtain a powerful servant to impress lord Kalroth, but I couldn't control it at all and it started rampaging. So I... I decided to save face by pretending that that was what I wanted all along..."

She's blushing really hard, she's going to turn into a red demon at this rate.

"In that case, you owe me a huge favor. If I had not been there to stop the monster you would have a lot of deaths on your conscience."

"Bah, as if I cared about some random people."

"Sis..."

"I mean, I do care! I'm indebted to you!"

Mmm, it seems like her desire to look good in front of her brother might be the key to win her over. I just need to find a way to win him over first.

"Hey, you said that your name was Rax, right? Would you want to become friends with me?"

"What are you talking about?"

He doesn't seem to be very receptive... think Luna, what is something that children like?

"Why don't you come with me for a moment? I will give you candy."

I smile at him and try to make myself seem as friendly as possible.

"Bwaaa!"

"Stay away from my brother!"

But he starts crying and runs behind his sister. Getting along with children is way too difficult for me after all.

At that moment, there's a sudden gust of wind, and something big lands right behind me.

"Mistress! I'm done surveying the area, there are no more enemies nearby."

"That's great, but why are you reporting this to me?"

The dragon is acting as if he was following my orders even though I didn't tell him anything, that's a bit annoying.

"Is that a dragon!?"

Rax's eyes are sparkling... I look back and forth a few times to make sure and yes, he's indeed looking at the dragon.

"Yes... do you like dragons?"

"Of course! Dragons are cool! I didn't know that you had a dragon."

I'm not sure if saying that I 'have a dragon' is the best way to phrase that, it makes it sound like he's my pet or something... but this might be my chance to get him on my side.

"So would you two like to have a talk or something?"

"Yes! I never thought that I would get to meet a dragon."

"Fufu, of course, it's just natural for young boys to love dragons."

That smug look he has right now is extremely annoying, how can a dragon even make a face like that? But this is convenient for me so I won't complain.

"Are you sure that he's not going to hurt Rax?"

"Don't worry, he's an idiot but he's harmless."

Xania seems to be worried about her brother, but he seems happy to be able to hang out with that stupid dragon. Kids have really weird tastes.

"I asked Ranna since she had been around there, and it seems like the reason why the gray demon's birth area is inside the beastkin territory is that there's a very intense mana flow that ends there. Could you not redirect it so that it ends inside your territory instead?"

Arana joined our conversation shortly after, and now she's proposing a very interesting idea.

"That's right! If you do that you won't have to fight anymore!"

"Do you really believe that we've never thought of that before? First of all, I don't really think that alone would be enough to stop a war that has been going on for many generations. And second, we would need to go to the source of the mana flow to redirect it and that's impossible, that place is deep underground."

"A mana flow that intense should have created a system of caves, there should be a way to get down there."

"You really don't know what you're saying, there are many mana flows in the demon wasteland, that's why this place is known for its many powerful monsters and demons, and all of them originate from the same general area. All of them combined created an enormous cave system filled with many of the strongest monsters in the world, that's the place known as the infernal caverns."

"The infernal caverns? Ara, why do I feel like I've heard that name before?"

"That's the place where Kalroth was born, the call him 'Kalroth the infernal' because of that, remember?"

Oh, that's right.

"Yes, lord Kalroth is one of the strongest demons alive, he even managed to unite the demon wasteland under him. And yet, people still call him 'the infernal', because even with everything he's done, just getting out of that place alive is still the most impressive thing he's done. And he was only born somewhere in the middle point of those caverns, nobody has ever reached the bottom of that place, where the source of the mana flow should be?"

"Well, I see why you don't think that you can do it, but since I'm here now perhaps I could give it a shot."

"Did you not listen to anything of what I just said? There are monsters down there that could match entire armies."

"I just matched one of your 'entire armies' quite easily just earlier. I think that I'm strong enough."

"There are rivers of lava that could melt your body just from getting close."

"That's fine, I'm never bothered by the heat even in summer."

"And those caverns form a gigantic maze that even an experienced spelunker would get lost in."

"Oh, that might be a problem..."

"And the say that if you reach the bottom you will meet the devil himself."

"What!? Is that true!?"

"That's why exploring the infernal caverns is just suicide."

It's funny how the more reasons she gives me to not go there, the more she makes me want to go.

"Why do you want to do this anyway? This is exactly what I was saying before, you shouldn't be willing to go this far just to help some people that you don't even know."

"She's right you know."

"But I like helping people! And this is not just some small favor, just think of all the lives I could save not only now but also in the future if I can pull this off. Or do you want your brother to also die fighting the beastkin?"

"Well, no."

"And besides, there's another reason why I want to go."

"Another reason? What other reason?"

"Well, it's just that... after everything that you said, I'm very curious to see what's down there."

forli

I was not sure about what to call a 'river of mana that comes from underground and goes to the surface', I've seen other stories talk about 'leylines' but I'm not really sure of what that term means so I just went with 'mana flow'