Chapter 321 - Gift

When Zaos opened his eyes, he felt like his head was about to explode. Not to mention, the right side of his field of vision was sealed even though he knew that both his eyes were open. When he moved his right arm and touched his face, he noticed that a piece of clothing was covering half of it.

"It seems you survived… You really are a tough young man."

Zaos didn't recognize that voice, so he frowned. He tried to get up, but his body felt like it wasn't his. He knew that feeling pretty well… It is the feeling of waking up after almost dying. Zaos looked to the side and saw that the owner of that tired and rough voice was an old man filled with white hair. Even his eyebrows were white. Aside from that, a few scars on his face made the old man stand out. Those scars made Zaos recall what happened before he fell unconscious. Since he could feel a powerful magic presence from him, it was evident that he was a follower of the demon god. Zaos was captured…

"For how long did I sleep?" Zaos asked.

"Around forty days," The old man replied. "Your head was almost crushed by a rock in thar avalanche, so your skull has several cracks, you should heal it."

Forty days, why do those things always happen to Zaos? He was really that unlucky, or was he being punished for the sins of his precious life? Either way, that was really troublesome...

"How do you know I can heal my wounds?" Zaos asked. "Rather than that, why didn't you kill me?"

"I am too old to do any fighting," the old man replied.

"I wouldn't put up much of a fight half dead," Zaos said.

"You are right, to be honest, I thought about finishing you off, but then I saw thar sword," the old man said while pointing to Guardian's Heart. "Why do you carry a big and a short sword?"

"For no particular reason," Zaos replied.

"Regardless, for some reason, I feel a connection with that weapon," The old man said. "Anyway, my name is Derenus."

"My name is Zaos," Zaos said. "I thank you for taking me out from the snow and then bringing me to your home. However, why didn't you heal me?"

"Why would I heal someone who kills my people for a living?" Derenus asked. "I wanted to take the sword alone from your body, but for some reason, it didn't move an inch away from you. So, I pulled your body out of the snow and waited for you to die, so that I could inherit the sword, but that never happened."

"How did I survive forty days without food and water?" Zaos frowned.

"You sure ask a lot of questions…" Derenus said and then sighed. "While I waited for you to die, I couldn't just wait for you to die without giving you a chance to survive. So, I cleaned your body and then fed you. Besides, it has been a while since I talked with one of the hunters, so I figured this would be a nice change of pace."

"Hunters? From your perspective we are hunters?" Zaos asked.

"Are you not?" Derenus asked. "For thousands of years you have been hunting us. Besides, you call us followers of the demon god, so why not we can't give you a name as well?"

"Fair enough," Zaos said. "In any case, what do you call yourselves?"

"Why Do you care?" Derenus asked.

"Well, I am a curious person, and to be honest, I have been planning to talk with one of you for a while," Zaos said. "I always wanted to hear your side of the history and recently, that interest only grew stronger since I discovered that the higher ups of the kingdom don't deserve my loyalty."

"Really… how convenient," Derenus said.

"Yep, really convenient, I just have to almost die for this convenience," Zaos said.

"You… don't really feel anything when you look at me?" Derenus asked.

"No, I don't feel anything," Zaos frowned. "Why do you ask? Are you popular among males who are much younger than you?"

"What are you talking about? You should feel anger and excitement," Derenus said. "Our power is growing stronger, so your anger toward us and your wish to kill us should be stronger as well."

"I don't get it, why do we have to feel that way?" Zaos asked. "That was one of the things that have been meaning to ask, my subordinates, have been acting weird lately. They really are looking forward to killing you guys."

"... Heal yourself first, then get up and look at me," Derenus said.

That was a weird order, but Zaos was waiting for the right moment to do that, after all. So, he might as well go and heal his body as much as possible. First of all, he used Mend Bones to fix his skull, which really helped with the headache. After that, Zaos healed his body. Although he used all of his mana, it still will take a while for his body to recover completely. When Zaos got up, he looked at the old man and then saw his curious eyes.

"You don't really feel anything… what are you?" Derenus frowned.

"Just a guy," Zaos replied. "Anyway, can you explain to me why the people I know are acting weird toward you people?"

"It is because of the gift of the demon god," Derenus replied.

"And that is…" Zaos frowned.

"Before dying, the demon god cursed this world, when he did that, he shared his power with his people and that granted them more mana than ordinary people," Derenus explained. "However, in order to keep his people always sharp, his power comes at a price. All ordinary humans will feel high levels of animosity toward them."

Zaos frowned when he heard that. It seemed madness, but it also seemed pretty logical. Regardless, Zaos was really looking forward to learning more.