Chapter 4
Trace of the Saintess
"Sire, are you sure we should leave things alone?"
Pearce slicked his grey hair back. He may look young but his body could not deflect the passage of time easily.
The demon king, naming himself Gashu, was grinning as he watched the distant settlement he acquired for the past 20 years. Despite the growth of it, he couldn't help but think it was unsightly.
It was the land where he was summoned and expected to rule. But it was in an open space and nature-friendly location. He shook his head, "Our kind chooses dangerous terrains after all. You brought me puppets from a weak society so there is no way I will be content."
"But Sire—"
"You're worried about my daughter." Gashu mentions nonchalantly.
Pearce understood. Out of his 21 wives and many children among each of them, there was only one child he particularly acknowledges as his blood.
He who carelessly named them of A to Z or 1 to 100, calls only one girl differently… though still just as carelessly…
"Do you know why I named her Nameless?"
Pearce shook his head silently.
"Fate is peculiar. One day she will have to give herself a name, just like me. She is so much like me. The only child who acquired my eyes, and whose eyes bore the same darkness as me… And yet…" Gashu grins, a pillar of golden light seen in the distance. "She was chosen to bear the pressures of both light and darkness."
Unlike the demon king's calmness, Pearce panicked after seeing the bright light. He was ready to jump down and stop the carriage but his master showed no problems to it.
"T-then is this a test?"
The demon king nods at his assertion, "Yes. A test to know if she truly has my blood."
"But what if she chooses to go against you?"
"The side she chooses isn't important. There is something fundamentally different… should I say it's how she'll handle her balance?"
When the Demon King fell silent, contemplating his own test, Pearce sighed and finally addressed the distant issue. "Sire. I'm sure you've seen the light, but are we not going to do something against it? You've told me not to condemn Joyce and Rogan's son when he was loitering around but…"
"It's not for our people." Gashu frowns at him, "Let them take the area. All important research and manpower have already been transferred after all. Let them taste one victory, a false hope."
Yellow eyes looked back, "Child. Is she going to be okay?"
Royce slightly gritted his teeth, hands gripping tightly between rocky scales of the dragon. "I-I don't know… But Nameless is a scary person. That woman won't be able to stop her."
Currently Eliron swiftly walked among the trees, using magic to squeeze through the spaces and branches like water, to reach the childrens' hidden location.
Eliron could remember well how Nameless smiled, promising to get to them once every child had gotten aboard his back.
"So how many children are there?"
"There are 54 children. Nameless said that we have to cross the ocean. Um, do you know where we are, mister dragon?"
"We're in the country of Gashu, no? The capital city to be exact."
Royce shrugs "Nameless told me the same thing so you must be right… So she told me about the plan, we have to cross the city's fortified walls and rest near Georgies Ocean. Then cross the large waters and reach Norkif. We have to fly there again since the docks were broken down in case of human raid against the demon king."
"What about the other details?"
"What other details? I don't know about that… But following the Saintess' plan is a sure way to live!" Royce showed enthusiasm which Eliron could not follow.
Nonetheless, the dragon reached the children with Royce and began to board him.
"You are his blood! And my blood! How can you betra–"
Slap!
A hand landed on Irazai's cheek. She is the 16th wife of the Demon King Gashu, no one dared touch her carelessly… However the child who was favored a name by the demon king dared!
"How dare yo—"
Slap!
"Human scum. The spirits shudder every time you breathe."
This time Irazai who faced the merciless eyes of her only child, trembled. "You're weird… Hahaha… You are so much like your father! But you disgusting thing has earned the goddess' favour?! Admit it! You're lying, aren't you?!"
Nameless was merely 12 years old. But once she slapped Irazai again and again, her strength seemed to double. "You lie! You're a fake, aren't you?!"
Irazai acted confidently.
She only needs to buy time. Even when she dies, the demon king likes their country so he wouldn't abandon it. For his glory, he has to take care of this unwanted child.
However as Nameless kept slapping her with an expressionless face, the more Irazai feared that she was the splitting image of Gashu.
To make matters' worse, Nameless spoke as if knowing her fears. "He won't come back because there is no semblance of home in it… Did you know? Us demons naturally like small and dangerous places as our habitat. With that logic, he won't come back."
"What… do you know?!"
Nameless held Irazai's cheeks in place with strength unbecoming of a malnourished child. "Of course I know. You said it yourself, I am his child."
The child didn't wait for a retort and immediately dug a finger through the woman's forehead.
"AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHKKKKKKK!!!"
Irazai screamed, blood spewing from her orifices and the hole on her head. "N-no! No! No!"
Nameless pulled back her hand. A red gem laid between her fingers.
"W-What… You're… ughk!" Irazai couldn't even make proper sentences now after her brain was damaged. Nonetheless Nameless seemed to understand what she was inferring to.
"It doesn't matter. There was only one thing I wanted since the beginning…"
With those words, Nameless gulped down the bloody red gem.