"Meet the new Minister of Ashgate."
Xhaka exclaims softly.
"Asmodeus."
Then, as if she had materialized out of thin air...
A pale white woman with long flowing red hair that reaches her hips and pitch-black eyes appears at Kasper's side...
Strolling past him wearing a stained black dress that sways with each step she takes and a cheeky smile.
What stains the dress?
Blood.
That unquestionably belongs to the felled Landrose of Ashgate...
"..."
"The new..."
Kasper looks at the pale demon Asmodeus stunned stiff as the Demon-Lord Supreme begins to rise from his seat.
"This matter has been decided; clear the throne room."
The Great Lord exclaims softly, waving his hand at everyone as he begins to leave.
As a result, the black knights bow and drag the corspe of Landrose along with them, while the castle's serving staff scurry away...
"..."
"...heh."
"So that's how it is..."
Kasper chuckles to himself, his eyes wide with curiosity and fixed on the impish Asmodeus, who pulls out the katana she used to kill her predecessor and licks the blood clean off it...
"He-hehe... Let's go Sari."
"Sir."
The young lord says to his subject somewhat excitedly as he watches the new Minister of Ashgate follow in behind the Demon-Lord Supreme.
"..."
Leaving the Knight of Brazier to cast a long glance at the pair before they leave...
-That Night-
"..."
The only source of light in Kasper's room is the large window, which the young lord is seated next to...
...Gazing out into a starlit sky with a focussed and serious expression...
Just what might the genius of Castle Ashgate be plotting this time?
"..."
-silence-
"..."
"Si-sir...."
Words from his newly acquired ally break the silence, as the purple-haired demon stutters, attempting to draw her master's attention.
"I- about today..."
"Back then it's just that I..."
She struggles to express her thoughts when...
"What I'm trying to say is I apologize for--"
*Fwhuupp!!*
The stuttering subject is suddenly embraced by her new master...
"...Don't worry about it Sari."
He whispers softly into her ears, his voice somber and comforting.
"I have no intention of ever abandoning you..."
Kasper says, causing Sariel's tough, usually stoic expression to soften into a melancholy blush as she lets herself sink into his chest.
"..."
-silence-
"..."
"...Amosdeus huh..."
The young lord ponders the name with a longing look...
"..."
My name is 'Charles Kasper Rov II'... And if it wasn't apparent yet, I'm the son of the untouchable Demon-Lord Supreme and heir to the chained throne.
Though... It wasn't always like this...
As it happens, I was reborn into this world right when I thought my life was ended.
A magical and mana-filled world that is very different from my own...
It wasn't the most pleasant feeling... having my thoughts and soul ripped apart and reassembled in another body I mean...
But that is just how it is, I suppose.
Anyway, I consider myself lucky... Because, even though I do not remember much about my previous life, I am aware that I have lived before and seeing that I previously had no reservations about living in this world, I reasoned that perhaps I had it pretty good in my previous life...
Well, that was until this thing appeared...
{Main Quest}
Capture the King of the Demon-realm and reign over the Land of Per Sempre as Demon-Lord Supreme.
{Reward}
Return to your past life and exact revenge on your killer(s)
...yep.
You read that right.
On my sixteenth birthday here in the Land of Forever, this window appeared, prompting me to depose my father from his throne... And although I chose to ignore it at first because I was the only one who could see it, something else occurred a few months later.
[Side Quest]
Parry three strikes from a Black Knight.
(-Reward-)
•Auto-parry level 1.
•Plus three agility and strength.
[Side Quest]
Eat from the omniscient tree in Fernworth
(-Reward-)
•Sound of mana level 1.
•Plus three knowledge of all things.
[Side Quest]
Stop the Queen of Ashgate's coup.
(-Reward-)
•Position on the Royal Court...
...Rather than grinding to level up and gain skills, the system, as I came to refer to it, appeared to be a way for me to rapidly raise my level and become stronger at an impossible rate...
What interested me 'MORE' though... was that it also appeared to be more knowledgeable about Per Sempre than any other human or beast currently roving the land.
[Side Quest]
Learn chaos magic from the last lich in the enshrouded forest.
(-Reward-)
•Chaos Shadow Magic Level One.
•Plus Ten, Mana Sphere.
So, a quick way to build strength for my eventual ascent to Demon-Lord Supreme?
Why not use it, I told myself.
But as time passed and I used the side quest system to get stronger and stronger, I started to have dreams.
Of a life long past...
A life long gone...
It appears that I was only eight years old in my other life when I died...and even though I was just a child, I was also a prodigy at a game in that world called chess.
"A generational talent!"
"He has the vision of God!!!"
They said about me...
Not much from that world remains in my memory.
That might be related to the circumstances of my passing...
Regardless, these dreams bothered me to no end...
I mean, I died when I was only eight. And despite having spent almost twenty years here, I was still unable to comprehend why anyone would want a child who was no older than ten dead.
As a result, I became obsessed with investigating these dreams, delving deeper and deeper into the mystery of the murdered chess prodigy with each new quest that triggered new memories.
Deeper... I dug.
Grinding away at every new side quest that came my way until I triggered a new dream.
A dream that sent me on my current path.
*sobbing*... "Rico.... Rico..."
There was a crying woman in my dream.
*sobbing*... "Rico.... Rico..."
Her tears fell over a casket so small that no carpenter should have had to build it.
*sobbing*... "Rico.... Rico..."
She cried constantly, always alone at a child's grave.
*sobbing*... "Rico.... Rico..."
Time would pass and seasons would change... But she would still cry...
*sobbing*... "Rico.... Rico..."
Not caring about the weather or how muddy and tattered her clothes got.
This woman is my mother.
Or perhaps... she was...
The dreams I was getting from my various side quests began to center around this woman.
And how she led her life beyond my death.
But why should it have mattered to me?
I had a new family here. A new world to explore and indulge in.
Sure, the memories I had from my other life showed me just how vastly different these worlds were, but I liked it this way.
It gave me a sense of adventure everytime I tried something.
So you can imagine my surprise when the first thing to break my heart in this new world was another dream about that woman.
Of my mother.
This time, however, the dream was different.
The woman... My mother, she was bloodied and injured.
An abusive man beat her to within an inch of her life for crying so hard over my death.
I was powerless to stop it.
I yelled as loudly as I could while scratching and clawing!... But I was powerless to stop it...
Regardless of what I did, he would not stop...
These dreams persisted.
They tortured me.
Tormented me.
Why wouldn't he stop?
It did not take me long to realize that the events occurring in these dreams were actually happening in real time.
And that these events, or 'dreams', as I called them, were actually a live feed of what was going on in the world I had left behind.
To the people that I left behind...
She was struggling...
She was getting older by the day... And she could not possibly continue living this way.
Her continuing this kind of lifestyle made no sense.
If she would just stop grieving for me, this man would most likely stop.
But she couldn't.
Even after all these years, she still could not let me go.
...Demons are unaware of their mother's identity.
My father, as Demon-Lord Supreme, has several wives.
Furthermore, our culture as demons tells us to shun our mothers' indulgence because it could turn us into weaker demons down the road.
Thus, in this world, I am without a mother.
The heir to Ashgate's chained throne is unfamiliar with the term, 'mother'.
... But Rico
Rico has a mother.
One who doted on him.
"C'mon Rico say mama-- yayyy!!!"
One who fed him.
"Rico baby say ahhhh...."
One who cared for him
"Rico... If you don't get some sleep soon mama can't either..."
Rico left something very important to him behind when he chose this world over that one.
And while I love the family I have here...
My little sister, Maria and my father the Demon-Lord Supreme Xhaka...
I can't just sit by and watch as everything Rico held dear is torn apart.
As his memory...
My memory...
Becomes...
this...
*SMACK!*
"Hey... I already told you to forget about the boy... Rico is dead why won't you listen to me?"
"..."
*SMACK!!*
"Hey I'm talking to you!
*SMACK!!!*
"..."
"Hey!"
*SMACK!!!*
"Hey!!"
"..."
*SMACK!!!!*
"HEY!!!"
*SMACK!!!!!*
!!!!SPLAT!!!!
"..."
She deserves to be happy too.
*SMACK!*
'Sabina'... Deserves to be happy too...
*SMACK!!*
Rico... Deserves
*SMACK!!!*
I...
... My eighteenth birthday coincided with the completion of my 200th side quest, and although the "dreams" that almost drove me insane persisted as the cycle appeared to repeat itself, I made a new resolution that day.
...Under a starry sky like this one...
I resolved to usurp my father's throne.
And finally give Sabina and Rico the closure they deserve...
{Main Quest}
•Capture the King of the Demon-realm and Defeat the new hero of Per Sempre
{Reward}
•Return to your past life and exact revenge on your killer(s)...
"..."
"..."
-To Be Continued-