Here I am in a complicated situation, I am on my way to the capital, Thanatos has never been there, he cannot teleport me there so I had to walk all the way here.
Lucian : "So you cannot teleport me to the capital"
Thanatos : "No but I can teleport you not that far"
Lucian : "Ah, okay that's already something I guess"
Thanatos : "What do I do about the corpses ?"
Lucian : "Whatever you want"
I had eaten all the mana of my enemies, so they were almost skeletal when I left the castle, anyway I am sure that they had not been there for more than a day or two, which is good for me.
As I thought they did not have any memory that could be of some use to me, which means I didn't need Thanatos to put his memory in me, that saves me from a very bad headache.
Lucian : "Why can't he know where the capital is, it's so far"
Lucian : "Even with all that friking mana I am just so slow"
On the way, I stopped every night to ask Thanatos to teleport me to the castle in the underground caves where I had found volcanoes, I could leave the metals quietly there for a long time and do several experiments.
Thanatos : "It doesn't seem to be going that well"
Lucian : "True, but it's just the test phase"
Thanatos : "Good luck then"
For those small test I had the right to make a mistake but for mana artifacts as long as I didn't figure out how to do it I am clearly limited to what I could do.
Lucian : "Why is there no one that know how to do something like that in the demon's territory"
So I divided my tests into three parts, trying to put one of the crystals in the armor for forging which is rather easy.
Put a maximum of mana in the metals which was not very useful given their mana concentrations and finally wait for the end to put a Crystal or other (like just put it on it).
The last two not being a valid option only the first is feasible, so I still had to find the right mixture of metals and the location of the crystals.
Lucian : "Ah...That's just so god damn annoying"
In the cave all the noise that could be heard was me complaining or some big metals noise.
Lucian : "One mistake again"
Lucian : "I don't even know what try this one was, 157 or something among those line"
So an idea seemed logical to me but at the same time stupid, to put the crystals INSIDE the armor by protecting it with the armor, if I manage to make it seem natural no one would notice it which could prevent my enemies from realizing it and aiming at them.
This is one of the big problems with Crystals, they are really very fragile, so I had to be judicious and try with orther thing to see if that could actually work.
Thanatos: "You are making to much noise Lucian"
Lucian : "I don't have much choice"
Thanatos : "Anyway it's nearly day outside, you should get back to travelling, you are very close to the capital"
Thanatos was going back and forth to me whenever he had time, whether to just make fun of me or to look at what I am doing.
At the end of my trials of the day he tped me back and then was gone again and he was not very happy at all as I did a lot of stuff with metals he could have used.
Thanatos: "Be careful not to get spotted, it will be difficult to get you out if you find yourself in a difficult situation"
Lucian: "Don't worry you can stay at the castle for now"
On my way to the capital, I accidentally bumped into a body of royal knights, I now understood Thanatos' concerns, so I quietly passed by them, what I noticed was their rather elegant armor designs which made me think of something again.
There are almost all demonic generals or even sub-generals who wear armor and yet there is no blacksmith in the army of evil…
Indeed all the armors came just from the fights of the old generations or the demons sometimes recover the armor and the weapons since they shine.
The demon king had for this generation forced his generals and his sub-generals to wear the available armor, he had of course kept the best for him, so there would be no problem if I was inspired by the design of these for mine.
Lucian : "Thanatos I am finally at the capital"
Thanatos : "Okay but I am not gonna come if you call me, we could get in trouble"
Lucian : "Then I am gonna enter"
I got back to walking and then got to the capital, entered it easily with the card and then walked slowly in it until I was in a dark alley without really having to much problem.
Thanatos : "I am gonnz stay invisible by your side"
Lucian : "Not like you are gonna get killed"
Thanatos : "No but I feel something weird"
I did not put much mind to what he said and jusr searched for some places I could stay that were not far from the academy because well the academy, close to the capital is a hard place to enter.
Lucian: "It's really protected this damn academy"
An elite academy, created by the elite, financed by the elite, with the elite of teachers, clearly made for the elite.
In my bad luck, the school year had already begun and anyway I was not noble, did not have a three-star talent and was not old enough to appear as a teacher nor had the knowledge to be honest.
Lucian : "I have to find a way to get in it"
Thanatos : "Oh no, you're thinking of a very bad idea don't you"
Lucian : "Of course I am"
Thanatos : "Ah you really don't change"
I had Thanatos come to teleport me to the castle after finding a rather safe place to go in and out of the capital.
But well, it seems that with the passage of time that Thanatos is starting to see in me, he must have guessed that I will try to kill a student or something to join the academy.
Lucian : "But it will not be easy at all"
Thanatos : "Do you really have to ?"
Lucian : "If you have any other idea on how to get information on the hero"
Thanatos : "No, do whatever you want"
Easier thing to say than to do the teachers are very mostly nobles, experts in their fields, so almost impossible to beat at my level, as for impersonating their identity, I am not at all sure of the idea.
And the students, even if they are just students, the same problem arises, half of them are probably much more powerful than me, not to mention that I should run into one of the few people who is not a noble kill him and try not to get fired while getting as close as possible to the hero.
Lucian : "That's like a really hard work"
Lucian : "I have to get fishing and hope to get a good catch"
Thanatos : "And that's it"
Lucian : "Well I can't really do anything else, just hoping"
I might as well try something quite easy of course, so I choose the student option, and a normal one, just to avoid noble troubles, just thinking about it, I'm self-suffocating.
I could also try and wait for the end of the school year before trying to get into the academy but I still dont have a kid identity to go in it.
And even if I got that it's just a dead point, there is a need to go back there to pass several tests, one of which is with a detection crystal, so my 2-star talent is just a big no no as I have no reason to get accepted in it.
Thanatos: "So how are you going to do it, you don't observe from the outside?"
Lucian: "No I would like to see everything, if I don't do that, I won't have a chance"
Thanatos: "Why do you think you have any chance anyways"
Lucian: "I won't know until I try"
Thanatos: "What's the point of it for you"
Thanatos looked at me even though I could just see two red point that I took as his eyes, he seemed to search an answer but did I even have one.
--- Narrator's pov
Thanatos didn't understand why Lucian was doing this, the other humans didn't understand that even if they killed the hero they wouldn't get very far and would be just be disposed of by the demon king but he knew that Lucian clearly realised it.
So why, it doesn't do him any good, he didn't even seem sure that if he dies tomorrow it will bother him that much, he just was doing what he wanted and then did thing during that time.
Thanatos : "Answer me, why ?"
Lucian : "I'm bored"
The discussion ended there, Thanatos did not think much of it, it didn't really bother him that much as the most people that would try to kill the hero, the better, even if for Lucian, Thanatos believed that he had no chance.
Lucian : "Don't try to understand, if you have time to lose just help me figure something out"
Thanatos : "Can't really help you on that"
Lucian was thinking about the situation and his only hope was probably to kill a small nobleman or one of the few commoners, so plan for the future, the plan was to observe people until he come across them.
The students live in the academy for the poorest of them, which makes it even more complex because they would not really get in the capital as it is not directly in it.
Fortunately, they normally have some free days or they walk around the city and do what they like, so all that Lucian have to do is go fishing and wait that something like that happen.
Thanatos: "You know it can take you weeks, how are you going to know who is noble and who is not"
Lucian: "Simple, the accessories"
Thanatos: "But the capital is very guarded even during the day"
Lucian: "worry not, we'll see how it goes"
Lucian looked at the horizon seeing the forest that was serounding the academy and hoping that somehow someone would do what he wanted even though it was really just a thought without any reality behind.
-- Back to Lucian's POV
I also didn't have much hope about the possible success of this operation, but it was either that or I would have to find another way to find information about the hero.
So during the days I was watching the capital, looking for a prey, not too strong, not a noble, not an artifact and especially who passes in a place not too safe.
How long did it take, a month and a half, during which as soon as night came I went to the cities not too far away to kill as many people as possible without causing too much trouble so that I don't get hunted out.
So much so that they ended up giving me a nickname "the mummy killers" as all my victims end up as mummies because of the mana I take from them.
Thanatos : "You took a lot of mana with all this but it's getting more and more complicated"
Lucian : "We'll just move a little further and we'll do the same thing again, apart from the big cities there aren't enough guards anyway and they will never move a brigade for that"
I knew that somehow they would do something against it, whether it is putting more guard or call in some adventurers but I knew it could also be avoided nicely.
Thanatos : "Yes, but the adventurers are also starting to get restless"
Lucian : "It just makes more possible prey for me"
Unconscious, no, too much ego, a little yes, too confident, too, and surely a good dose of boredom, but I just knew that they would need a good 3 star to stop which is not something that is gonna happen.
Of all the murders carried out in almost a hundred villages and small towns, I must have killed almost thousands of people, so I have a lot of extra mana even if it's not much compared to normal knights or others three stars.
I was also starting to attack the slightly larger cities with a few guards to gain even more mana but I was watching every time, with Thanatos not far just to help me flee in a bad spot.
Thanatos: "Do you see that kid over there?"
Lucian: "Oh yes that's a good prey"
Academy uniform, no artifacts, probably poor considering his shoes and walking alone to a place with no guards, perfect prey.
I waited for him to move to a place where I could act without too much difficulty, which was starting to be very hard because of my actions and the deployment of more guards but he acted before me.
??? : "Well I've moved away enough you can come out now"
Thanatos: "Do you think he's talking to you?"
I shook my head I didn't think that I had been spotted but it was really me that he was talking to.
??? : "There's no point in shaking your head, I see you, come on out..."
Lucian (disguised as an assassin): "hmm weird, I'm sure I've hidden my mana well though"
??? : "So you're the person the nobles found to try to get rid of me, but watch out it won't be as easy as you think"
Well, he thinks I'm sent by a nobleman, that's not my business either and its quite a good thing, but it might be complicated there too, this guy can feel the ambient mana, and that's not nothing.
He seems to know how to fight, not to mention that to have his place at the academy while being a commoner he must be very strong, all this does not go very well with my plan
Thanatos: "Am I getting ready to tp you?"
Lucian: "No let's have some fun"
??? :"You do not go away, nice"
This is how the mc's first real difficult fight began, the first fight where even by having a backup he could lose his life in just one swoop.