After the talk with Guy, I decided to return home and tell Mom about the successful evolution while totally not bragging that I have an Ultimate Skill while she doesn't.
Who would do such a thing?
...
...
...
I would.
"Hey, mom!" I enter her office cheerfully, "Guess what?"
She looked at me, annoyed, "If you don't want to help with all the paperwork you caused, then leave." She said.
"Oh, don't be like that," I waved my hand in dismissal, "Only a few thousand soldiers shouldn't be a lot to deal with."
"I'm not talking about the soldiers but about you," She said, her eyes twitching, "Everyone is talking about the new Demon Lord and asking the church to send our strongest soldiers to kill you."
"They will calm down sooner or later," I said, sitting down on the sofa, "Plus, as long as they don't attack my castle, they will be fine."
"Urghh..." She groaned and dropped the papers she was holding, "I need a break from this." She sat down on the other sofa, "So why are you here then?"
I pretended to be hurt, "What? Can't a son just visit his mother?" I asked, still pretending to be hurt.
"Not you." She answered flatly.
I stopped pretending and grinned, "I just came here to tell you that after killing the army, l became a True Demon Lord..." I paused for dramatic effect, "And now I have my own Ultimate Skill, unlike a certain someone."
A tick mark appeared on her forehead, and her eyes started twitching violently, "So you came here just to brag?" She created a slipper in her hand and started chasing me around.
I chuckled while easily avoiding it, "The true reason I came here is that I will probably be busy naming my shadows."
She stopped for a while and looked curious, "Oh, so you can name those things?"
I nodded, "Yes, and apparently, they gain human forms after being named." I answered and sat down again, "Mio and Seris used to be a Black Spider and a Black Serpent but now have a normal humanoid forms. If not for the horns on Seris, I wouldn't see a difference between them and a human." Well, their looks are more of a disguise than a form. Similar to how demons can hide their horns and wings, my named shadow can hide their shadow form.
"That's an interesting ability you have," She said.
"Yup, Guy said the same thing," I nodded.
Wait!" She grabbed me by the shoulders, "You met that demon again?" She almost screeched.
"Well, his maid came and told Mio he wants me to visit after my evolution is complete." I shrugged, "What was I supposed to do, say no to the strongest Demon Lord?"
"Well, it's better than being on his bad side," She sighed and sat down again, "Oh, and the human girl is back in Ruberios."
I perked up, not having seen her for a long time, and tried to locate her shadow.
She was sitting on a bench, her hair covering her eyes, and she was clenching her fists, "Mom, I'll be going now. I need to see her." I said and left, knowing there was something up.
---
I quickly approached her, "Hey, Mai!" I said and sat beside her.
"C-Cale?" She was surprised by my sudden appearance, "W-What are you doing here?" She asked and looked the other way, but I saw she was crying.
"Hey Mai, why are you crying?" I asked, concerned.
"It's nothing..." She mumbled and covered her face.
"Mai," I said softly, "I know something is up, and you can tell me." I hugged her.
She started crying onto my shoulder. This continued for ten minutes without any of us speaking.
"I-I-It's my team," She said, her voice sounding broken, "They are all dead." She hugged me tighter.
I knew she joined a team after our time with Clive ended, but I didn't expect them to die.
"I stopped to save a village from monsters. There weren't many, so me, Aiden, and Megan were enough." She started sobbing again, "While we were helping the village, they went to kill the new Demon Lord."
My body froze. This was my fault. I killed them, "M-Mai, I'm..." My throat felt dry as I tried to say anything, "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault Cale." She said in between sobs.
But it was. There wasn't any other person to blame but me and my greed to become an awakened Demon Lord.
"Cale..." She looked me in the eyes, "I want to kill the Demon Lord Ashborn." She said in a low voice, "Cale will you help me?"
"I-I..." I didn't know what to say. I would probably do the same thing if I were in her shoes, but she said she wanted to kill me, "I can't..." I answered in a low voice.
"Cale, please." She begged me.
"Mai, this is a Demon Lord you are talking about... If he could kill 30,000 soldiers, what are two people going to do?" I asked.
"We..." She didn't know what to say.
"They attacked his territory, so he can't be blamed..." I said but couldn't look her in the eyes.
Silence. None of us spoke for a while before I got slapped, "How can you defend him!?" She screamed in anger, "I thought you would understand how I feel." She added, clenching her fists.
"I didn't even know them." I said, standing up, "They decided to attack a Demon Lord and paid the price for it."
"But he is still a monster!" She shouted in frustration.
I chuckled, "Human or Monster... What's the difference?" I asked
Yes, there wasn't a significant difference between these two. So why do I care about people I don't even know? She will get over them after a while.
Did I feel bad when killing all those soldiers? No, I didn't. I enjoyed killing them.
---
Author's Note:
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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