Chereads / The Demon Lord moves forward in Time / Chapter 4 - In search for a grimoire

Chapter 4 - In search for a grimoire

"In the meantime, my second body will do."

Suddenly, his fur retracted into him exposing his whitish skin, his horns did the same and his face began changing its shape.

His goatish yellow eyes rolled into a golden humanoid pair and on his head, a hair of red flowed. Above his head, a crown of light hovered, a Halo but soon it shrank till it existed no more.

His skin hardened as it turned into this form taking a tan color save for his head and neck. He was still as tall as two men, although a little shorter compared to his previous form, he had an angelic face with bright eyes that appeared to peer into the minds of people, it was eye-catching however, the most unique part of his new existence was the bright hole in his chest in which a liquid of golden light poured through from above to down below.

He was human-presenting enough, it was time to hide the flashy details.

He raised a finger in which a ring of gold and a blue precious stone stayed. It shone and materialized a piece of ordinary clothing, a brown unimpressive one just like the skirt around his legs.

'I can't remember how I got this, came in handy.'

He took it up and donned it tying it around his upper chest and then making it into a hood.

He started his journey through the thick woods, he observed the many creatures brimming with life, the squirrels, the strange monkeys and even the little army of ants marching along a tree stem.

He spotted a group of mushrooms attached to the foot of a tree and he walked up to it seemingly wanting to experiment with something, a magical effect.

He lightly touched its cap with his beautiful fingers and Mana from his hands flowed into it.

'Huh.. Still terrible at reanimation magic. Doesn't help that I can't use necromancy in this form either.'

He gave up and continued on his journey to the little town.

After a few tens of minutes, he arrived at the outskirts of the town, he could hear people conversing, fortunately in a language he was familiar with, the Xandelic language of the empire he had ruled back in the day, one that only accepted the demonkind and close relatives, although a dialect change was present– it wasn't much of a problem.

He went through the last line of trees into the town. Again, people went about their business and he noticed that the infrastructure of the town wasn't the worst, it was actually quite nice–telling that they had rich pockets somewhere or perhaps their Lord was kind.

Tiagon spotted a young woman leaning on a house all by herself, she didn't look like the type for trouble so Tiagon went to her. She was a demon with large horns, reptilian limbs and tail.

"Know where I might be able to get grimoires?" He asked.

Her attention was taken away from the scroll she was reading and she looked at Tiagon seemingly perplexed.

"That's one thick accent, you aren't from around here?" She asked.

"Yes, just a Traveller."

"Hmmm, there's a large bookstore in the main marketplace near the town's square. They should have grimoires."

"Thank you." He stated, thousands of years of slumber didn't make him forget his manners.

He had seen the town square from above and the paths leading to it from his time hovering above the town earlier. As he walked, he received some slight side glances but nothing too worrisome.

'There it is.'

At the side of the path just before the town's square were rows of market stands in between large houses, the ones outside led to it and so many of the town's people walked about trying to get whatever they wanted.

Unfortunately, guards stood the path to the market, one can't possibly have such large crowds without them around.

Tiagon stopped In his tracks when he spotted them and turned away stopping at a house nearby.

"I can't use teleportation magic, I don't have a clear image of the market and even if I did, I risk getting seen in action. I don't need attention right now, I only need to blend in with everybody." he mumbled.

He then decided to creep up behind the houses the market was placed in front of and maybe he could go in through the gaps between them but they were all blocked by stands. He needed to get through them without getting seen.

He went to the last of the houses and also spotted guards present at the other opening to the market as he had expected.

There was a gap in front of him that he could pass through but a stand had blocked it, its owner was in front of him hopeful for customers and oblivious to the hooded figure behind.

When Tiagon saw that the seller was attending to no one, he took the opportunity and put his plan into motion.

With his control over the elements, he swiftly created a ball of wind around the trader's head trapping whatever noise they could let out and suddenly opened the ground beneath swallowing them entirely.

He then assumed their position and took a look around, nobody had noticed anything. He scurried away from the stand and embarked on his search.

'Apples, Attires and more Apples'

The market wasn't by any means large, and he quickly found what he was looking for. The bookstore unlike many others was opened in one of the houses and the seller traded through a large window.

Tiagon approached the seller who was a little-looking man with a beard as large as he is, his eyes were sunken and his skin wrinkled telling of his long-lived life.

"Hello there, I noticed the books. Do you have grimoires that might interest a curious mage such as myself?"

"Ahh, grimoires. Nobody reads them around here but I've got a few. Let me see." The old dwarf replied and went to a shelf that had a couple of them.

"Earth magic… Which ones are you after mister?"

"Shapeshifting magic." Tiagon replied

"Ahhh… a grimoire as niche as that isn't here. You would have to go to the city."