Chapter 11 Resolve (2)

"Uhm... Can you let me—"

Thud!

"Ouch! You could have warned me!"

"I merely did what you wanted to say."

Ignoring her sarcastic remark, I stand up and pat my butt to clean the dirt off my pants. When I am done with it, a realization dawned upon me. "Hey, I don't feel the crushing pressure anymore." Looking up to Valeria, I ask, "Do you have anything to do with it?"

"No, it's all yourself; I have nothing to do with it."

Hearing that makes me a little bit excited, as countless of possibilities run through my head. "Did I just awaken my ability to use Mana?"

"No." Sadly, it is not as what I expected it to be. "You have merely overcome your fear of the Wyverns."

"Is that so?" I quirk my eyebrow as I straighten my posture. Deciding to prove what Valeria said, I turn my body around, and carefully observe the gigantic cells.

"These are... These are empty cells, aren't these?" Right after I said that, I feel a hand on my back that seems to be pushing me forward. 'No, it really is pushing me forward! Valeria is going to feed me to the Wyverns that I can't see!'

Of course, I am aware Valeria will never do that thing to me. I am, after all, a Demon King Candidate, and thus should be treated with care. "Killing a Demon King Candidate should be forbidden, right, Miss. Valeria?"

"It is forbidden for me, but not for the Wyverns."

"Hey! It hasn't even been a day yet, and you have shown your intention to kill me more than once!"

"Who do you think you are talking to?" Upon hearing her response, my spine tingles—not in a good way. As I carefully turn my head at her, I can see Valeria is looking down on me coldly. "You are not allowed to speak to your Mentor that way."

"Understood, Ma'am. I am sorry!" Her message is clear: 'I won't kill you, but I can't say the same for the others.' Therefore, it is better to quickly admit my mistake.

"Will you be kind enough to stop pushing me forward, Ma'am?" Of course, I can't let her make me stand in front of one of the gigantic cells that I am sure contains a Wyvern inside. 'I don't want to piss myself this soon!'

Much to my surprise, Valeria stops pushing me in the next moment, and sighs. "I can't believe you claim yourself as a bright person..." She shakes her head in disappointment. "To think you immediately forgot what I just told you ... Disappointing."

At that moment, I recall what Valeria told me earlier: 'As long as you let your fear control you, you can never move forward.' Realization dawned upon me, as if a lightning striking the back of my head.

'I don't know how to be cool, nor do I try so hard to act cool. But...' I am somehow disappointed with myself—it's a first.

Although I have never been satisfied with my life due to the condition I am born with, I have never once felt looking down on myself. I understand I am weak, but I embrace that unfortunate fact willingly.

Upon coming into this world however ... "Yeah, it's disappointing that I just betrayed my resolve." Turning my gaze to the front, I straighten my posture once again. Heaving a sigh once, I clench my fist, and move my feet towards one of the cells.

This time, I don't need Valeria to push my body.

When I arrived in front the gigantic cell, my body is shaking due to my nervousness. The cell is so dark, I can barely see anything. Despite so, the aura surrounding it still gives me goosebumps. As I have determined myself though, I don't turn my head away from it.

'Just think about those bastards, Layland. Those bastards will be your future opponents, and they will have enough power to crush Wyverns with their finger.' I managed to curb my nervousness with this thought.

As my body stops shaking, my eyes are planted to the darkness enveloping the inside of the cell. Nothing happens for quite a moment; it makes me think that it is empty.

My thought is proven wrong however, as suddenly a pair of eyes shining brightly in red with slitted pupils stare right into my soul.

"Wyvern..." I unconsciously mutter.

I can't see the full appearance of the Wyvern, but I can imagine the horror it brings to whoever dares to defy its rider. Strangely enough, instead of getting afraid of it, I am highly intrigued with it.

"That's enough." When I feel Valeria's hand on my shoulder, said Wyvern closes its eyes, and I am awaken from my daze. "The current you can not bond with any Wyvern yet. Your soul is too weak to bear the burden."

"Oh, so it really stares into my soul..."

"To be exact, she is testing your soul." I look up, and I can see Valeria is faintly smirking in delight. "Attracting a Wyvern's eyes even before learning Magic is not something just anyone can do. You are unique, Layland."

By the way she called my name right, I am sure she is quite pleased with what I just did. I am about to make a remark about that, when Valeria opens her mouth.

"Still, you are lucky. If she didn't like you, you would have been burned to crisp by now." My heart slightly sinks upon hearing that, but I am mostly fine.

"Of course, you won't die that easily with the Demon King's Mark on you; your body will regenerate and let you enjoy the excruciating pain thoroughly." With this remark however, I stop thinking that what I have done is bright.

"I'm lucky that I am lucky, then?"

"That's a weird way to say it, but you are not wrong." Valeria smirks. "We are going to continue our exploration. You will be coming here often in the future, so you don't have to feel sad leaving it so soon."

I want to ask what she means, but Valeria immediately walks towards the door of the stable—as she likes to call—and I am left with no choice, but to follow right behind her.

Of course, I don't forget to keep my posture.

"Where are we going now?"

Bang!

The door closes by itself once we passed through the doorway, and we once again walk through the seemingly endless corridor.

"We are going to look at the Barracks, since it is close from us."

"Are we going to enter it?"

"No. Only soldiers, and the Kingdom's officials have the right to enter it. The current you are even lower than the lowest rank soldier."

"I'm a Demon King Candidate, aren't I?"

"So?"

"No. Nothing." As expected of a Magic World, things work different here. 'Maybe I should make nepotism a thing upon being a Demon King?' I chuckle at the funny thought due to the irony. Sadly, I am not even sure whether I can survive until I become a Demon King.

Just like how things work in Magic worlds, the route to the Barracks is magical. It just took us a few turns, and less than half a minutes of walking to arrive there.

"Alright, we are here." Valeria gestures at the strangely majestic building that is built from countless of gigantic and dense bones, which I presume belonged to Magical Beasts. "It's slightly unfortunate, but you can only look at it from afar."

"It's alright. Even looking at it from afar already makes my spine chill." I look at the trees surrounding it, and the scenery in interest. "Is this outside? The sky looks a little bit fake to me."

"No, this is not outside."

"Wow... To make an indoor room look this realistic—"

"It's underground."

"Pardon?"

I am not that taken aback with the information, but I am sure the face I am showing her looks stupid enough. Still though, Valeria doesn't say a thing, and merely leads me to another part of the castle.

We then visit the bathroom that I eventually cannot enter yet, the banquet room that I eventually cannot enter yet, the throne room that I eventually cannot enter yet, and the torture chamber that I gentlemanly refuse to enter.

'In the end, I can't enter most of the normal places!' I am slightly disgruntled, but I know not to show it in front of Valeria. She doesn't state it explicitly, but the way she behaves makes it clear that she doesn't like a whiny bloke.

After another minutes passed, we visit a rather dilapidated hut slightly away from the back part of the castle. It is just a few steps away from the forest behind the castle, which makes it not a very good place to stay at, considering what inhabit the forest.

"Here is the place you will be staying at."

"Tell me you are messing with me."

"You don't have to worry about food and sanitary, because food will be delivered to your room every eight hours, and you can bathe yourself in the river over there."

"No, no, no. What about the wild Beasts? What about my safety? I'm a Demon King Candidate, right?!"

Instead of properly responding me however, Valeria hands me a book, a piece of paper, and a sophisticated hourglass.

"Unlike your friends—the heroes—you don't automatically speak our language. Therefore, I want you to properly learn our language; only some special people can understand your language, after all."

Ignoring my bewildered gaze, Valeria nods her head. "Since I have given you an hourglass, make sure to do everything on the schedule on time." She turns around, and disappears afterwards.

"S

She said something before she was gone, but I don't understand what that means.