As I stepped outside the mansion, the Demon King’s expression softened slightly.
“Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”
“No, everyone just gets tense when they see me.”
I thought to myself that it might just be a matter of courtesy.
“Even greetings are all so stiff.”
Upon reflection, everyone who had known the Demon King’s identity treated him with utmost respect.
Only Aila interacted with the Demon King in a relaxed manner.
In a certain sense, Aila seemed truly amazing.
With the Demon King’s power, he could easily destroy an entire nation right now.
Seeing the Demon King treated so casually, as if he were a child, was awe-inspiring.
“First, let me guide you to the square.”
The square the Demon King led us to was not the one we first arrived at.
It was a plaza where a fountain erupted with tremendous water jets at regular intervals.
Around it, many people stood as if they were on vacation, taking pictures.
“This is definitely a tourist spot.”
“Here, eat this.”
The Demon King was holding a paper bag.
“Where did you get this?”
“Sometimes people give it to me when they pass by.”
I accepted one and took a bite; it didn’t have a special flavor, but the texture crumbled pleasantly in my mouth.
Next, the Demon King took us to a nearby park.
The well-decorated park was filled with couples.
“Here, have this.”
Once again, the Demon King had come back with something to eat and distributed it to us.
I could understand why people felt inclined to give food to the Demon King.
If a cute child passed by alone, one might feel like buying them something.
While wandering around the park, I saw a group of kids gathered together.
“Hyah!”
They were playfully sword fighting with wooden swords, looking quite cute.
“Ririan, you don’t seem much older than them.”
To anyone else, there might not seem to be much of a difference, but to me, I certainly didn’t feel that way.
I had lived for a hundred years.
Even though lifestyles have changed, the feelings I get from watching children remain largely the same.
I caught a glimpse of the Demon King interacting with the children.
Was the reason he could smile so innocently because he erased his memories at regular intervals?
Smack! Smack!
The Demon King swung a stick as the children charged at him with wooden swords, but they were no match for him.
“Are you training somewhere in the mountains?”
“Um~ not really?”
He smiled brightly, answering the children’s questions.
“Should I take a look at your swords?”
“Sure!”
I hesitated in replying, but Jema was quite eager.
“Jema, you have a Magic Stone!”
“Yes, I got it.”
“Don’t put it in your armor. You’ll get caught if they find out.”
The armor Jema was wearing was provided by Riki and was the type worn by the Imperial Court’s Knight Order.
Since the Magic Stone was missing, it wasn’t functioning properly.
In one corner of the park, Jema drew his sword and swung it through the air a few times.
The Demon King watched him and lightly poked a few places on Jema’s body with the stick, providing guidance.
“Use your waist. Keep your wrists loose.”
“That’s the problem. I can’t help but tense my wrists.”
“What do you mean you can’t help it? You can’t do it because you’re using magic?”
“Yes, that’s right. To use it together, you have to exert some force.”
The Demon King took a stance and swung the stick lightly.
The wind created by the swing cleanly severed a thick branch from a tree in front of him.
“See? Just combine the two.”
“If you lose your strength, it creates problems with controlling magic.”
“That’s something you need to practice. Now, next!”
The Demon King shifted his gaze from Jema to me.
“I don’t have anything.”
“Then you won’t teach me?”
I had the feeling that if I nodded here, I wouldn’t get another chance to learn.
“Um, actually…”
“See? I told you. Ask me anything.”
I asked about the process of converting mana into magic.
Though I had received help from Jema, I hadn’t made any progress.
“Okay, this is mana. And this is fire created by magic.”
In the Demon King’s hands, one palm held blue flame, while the other held red flame.
“You can do it the other way around too.”
Like a magician swiftly moving cards from hand to hand, the Demon King demonstrated alternately.
“I think of mana as a material that can turn into anything.”
“Material.”
“There are slightly more complicated methods, but you don’t need to worry about that at the beginner stage.”
Beginner stage.
They say that demi-humans naturally acquire this process during their childhood.
The Demon King pointed to the children playing moments ago.
“Look at them. Does it seem like they’re using magic?”
A child effortlessly drew a fallen wooden sword towards them without touching it.
“No.”
“There are differences among individuals, but any demi-human can use it.”
The Demon King emphasized that it was not difficult for me.
Perhaps I had been overthinking the concept of magic.
The moment I gathered mana in my hand and thought of it turning into fire, a brief flame flickered.
“Does it take this much mana?”
“You’re using it too carelessly. You need to adjust that well if you want to transition to the next spell level.”
The Demon King’s ability to traverse spaces just by flicking a finger seemed truly impressive.
He instructed me to make my mana shine.
Essentially, mana has a blue flame-like feel to it, glowing weakly but not hot.
“First, practice that. It’s much easier than transitioning it into fire.”
He said it didn’t have to be from the palm.
Practicing gathering mana at the tips of my fingers and converting it into light.
After a few attempts, my fingertips briefly flickered.
“I did it.”
“Well done.”
“It only flickered for a second.”
“Keep trying.”
The practice method the Demon King taught could be done while walking.
Moving my body certainly helped a lot with casting magic.
I think I understood what Jema meant about using wrist strength.
When I exerted strength in a part of my body, it felt as if the magic was being expressed more clearly.
Of course, I might have to undergo training to relax my strength someday, just like Jema.
“But Ririan doesn’t really need to learn magic, right?”
“Why not?”
“You’re a Dragon. Isn’t a Dragon someone who has mastered nearly all kinds of magic?”
“That was before the Dragons were exterminated; they all disappeared a thousand years ago.”
Coincidentally, the Demon King was born after the Dragons vanished.
During his lifetime, the Demon King has been researching and collecting the magic left by the Dragons.
“I don’t know how the Dragons used magic. But if Ririan learns the remaining magic, you might discover something.”
“Then please tell me quickly.”
“Not now. Practice consistently.”
The Demon King firmly refused my request.
He must have concluded that I was still too inexperienced to inherit magic.
I thought that using two fingers would make for faster training than just one.
“Hey?”
“Are you going to ask why two isn’t possible?”
As if reading my mind, the Demon King pinpointed it perfectly.
While folding one of my outstretched fingers, the Demon King spoke.
“You do it one at a time. First, one.”
Following the Demon King’s instructions, I created one first.
“Now maintain that state, and then a second.”
The Demon King slowly helped me extend my finger.
The second mana gathered at my finger, but it was merely a fleeting moment.
“One at a time. If you keep practicing, you’ll eventually be able to do it like this.”
The Demon King smiled, creating small fireballs, one after another, on each of his fingers.
“Simultaneously?”
“To be precise, it’s two made at the same time, and one made separately.”
Seeing that, Jema in the back mimicked him and cracked a slight smile before blowing them out with a flick of his hand.
We had exited the park, yet I continued practicing as I walked.
The place the Demon King led us to was a secluded restaurant.
“Where is this?”
“I wanted to try the food here, but they never let me in.”
On the surface, it looked like an ordinary shop.
They probably shooed me away thinking I was a child alone.
As I opened the shop’s door, all I could hear was the creaky sound of an old wooden door.
“Welcome. We don’t serve food to just anyone.”
“I came because I heard rumors.”
“Hey, you little brat? You’ve probably never tasted my food, have you?”
“You didn’t sell it to me!”
“My food doesn’t taste good, you know!”
The owner, a brutish muscular demon man, stood up from behind the counter and approached.
“No, I mean, let me try it and judge for myself.”
The Demon King placed his hands on his waist and confidently asked, to which the man replied in the same posture.
“No way.”
A peculiar tension hung in the air between them.
Given how spacious the shop was inside, it seemed that it had once been quite successful.
“Just make it once, alright?”
“Fine. That’ll be 1 gold per person. I won’t let you eat a tasteless meal.”
“Who pays 1 gold for something that doesn’t even taste good?”
“Exactly, so just leave.”
The owner really seemed disinclined to make food at all.
“Then it’s 3 gold, right?”
The Demon King was considering such an outrageous price without hesitation.
“Um, even so, 3 gold is a bit much…”
1 gold is enough for a family of four to scrape by for a month.
The Demon King was offering to pay three times that amount.
“It doesn’t have to be this shop, right?”
“No, I want to eat here.”
Three gold coins were placed in the palm of the Demon King.
“Take this and make it.”
“Tch! If someone wants to eat this tasteless food at that price, it’s me who benefits!”
Wearing a pink apron, the shop owner strode confidently to the kitchen.
A loud sound came as flames shot up, echoing throughout the hall with the noise of something being prepared.
Yet, even after a long while, the food that seemed like it would be ready soon still hadn’t come out.
“Is it usually this slow?”
“Maybe they forgot how to make it since it’s been a while since they cooked.”
If the cook forgot, it was uncertain whether that food would come out today.
“What kind of food place is this, anyway?”
“A proper demon cuisine specialty shop.”
That made me less eager for the completed meal.
“While the cooking takes longer, you can eat this.”
The owner brought over a large basket filled with steaming, freshly baked bread.
“Is this too much to give?”
“It seems the food will take a while.”
Despite his somewhat grumbling tone, it looked like the owner was a bit pleased.
