21 The legendary beast

I didn´t trust Fei Xue.

There was no way I could.

Everything was so quick and convenient that I felt in one of those seminaries of "I won easy money by signing here!"

The fight was lost the moment I accepted, the terms were just an excuse to give me false hope of winning, the instant she had me in her reach I was basically a corpse.

She let me won.

She allowed me to make the pact as a guaranty to my life.

She´s letting me use her as I please to make me think I have control over her.

All that has happened has been nothing but a convenient lie.

The problem was that I didn´t know what she attained from all of this.

Power?

The legendary beasts can invade entire kingdoms if they use their authority over other beasts, they are also the strongest when it comes to elemental magic, not to mention the special characteristics that they can have by themselves.

So far I know that Fei Xue has a magistral ear, sight, and master control over mana, if not she wouldn´t have noticed that barrier, but probably there was even more, after all, she called herself the "Ice queen", and her knowledge about demons seemed to be more extended than most books.

When I asked her to get rid of the magic circle I didn´t expect her to do it, but not only she knew how to stop it, she knew how it worked, the connection between her and demons was now evident.

And there was no chance in hell that I would trust her knowing that.

Influence?

I come from a completely different world, I have some convenient connections on earth and my family is respected, in any case, nothing of that applies to this world.

My relationship with the royal family of Lafonía was barely as relevant as a royal servant, but I can´t see how a legendary beast would care about the politics of an "Inferior species" as she calls us.

Affection?

According to the books, the legendary beasts can live much longer than dragons, and they can live for several hundreds of years, so, if she didn´t pass all her time sleeping or locked, there's a high probability that there are some of her children spread around the world.

She´s been quite suggestive so far, appealing to her feminine charms and sweet words to make me put my hands on her, thanks to spending the night with Lea and the use of other... "Methods", I was able to abstain myself from doing so.

Money?

I had good pay from the king, but I doubt that she ever had the necessity of using money.

I couldn´t understand which were her profits.

She said she wanted me for the potential of my body, whatever that means, and she also planed to make me her puppet.

But for some reason she abandoned that plan and made the familiar pact with me, bonding our souls and sharing our lives, or rather, hers.

The familiar pact consisted in bonding your soul with the beast, the effects vary according to how powerful the beast and contractor are, but what everyone has in common is the power-up on spells, always know where each other is, telepathic communication, almost absolute obedience, a blessing, and finally share the death of the contractor.

I haven´t tested the blessing of Fei Xue for fear of the secondary effects that it can have on my body, someday I read that a person lost its arm for using the blessing of its magic beast, I didn´t want to imagine what I would lose with a legendary beast.

The benefits were obvious, while the losses not much.

Having that in mind, there was no way I could plenty trust in this woman, and less when she just showed me know about demons.

We were playing a game to see who gives up first, see who is the clown dancing in the palm of the other.

Am I using her? Or is she who´s using me?

I didn´t know.

And that truly bothered me, impulsing my necessity to leave this world even more.

Should I just ask her directly? I thought letting myself go with the fatigue.

***

Point of view of Fei Xue.

Honestly... What a monster I just found. I thought stroking the hair of my master.

The wars between races were no novelty, they killed each other for land, pride, or vengeance, some of my kind took an active posture in those wars, while others preferred being simple spectators.

I guess being so passive was a mistake since the beginning.

At some point in history, the war reached the gates of my castle to the north, stupid humans in search of my power, beastman that believed that I would save them just because they treasured me as a god even when I never asked them to do so, arrogant elves that thought in show their weak superiority, or filthy demons that only search to corrupt whatever they touch.

Among all the massacre and the intervention of the error of the world best known as "The demon lord", my home got ruined, turning into a nest of undead lead by the rests of a crazy king with one cursed eye.

With a common enemy, the races left their differences aside and joined in an attempt for survival, after many casualties, the races we helped managed to seal the demon lord and his armies, but the seal was not powerful enough to lock him forever, and with the promise of returning, the races sunk in a golden era where scientific advance and comradeship ruled for a time.

We helped by sharing our knowledge of magic and mana, but our biggest contributions were thanks to the understanding of demonic magic.

The investigation was not well received by a great number, propitiating another war where sides divided between idealists confident of their strength against realists eager to understand the enemy.

In the end, we were marked as living calamities, but nothing of that mattered when the demon lord broke the seal and embraced the world in darkness once again.

Those who boasted of their strength were destroyed along with their empires, and we who were left hardly flee with our knowledge of the demonic arts, waiting the right moment to make use of them.

It wasn´t until three hundred years ago that the first heroes were summoned using the fruits of our investigations and the necessary items, although history says that it was thanks to the gods, we will never forget the truth.

All the heroes had power and talent far greater than the original inhabitants, their growth was also tremendous.

The hope a lot of people lost returned, and after the greatest of wars, the heroes found themselves victorious, sealing the demon lord once again.

Some of those heroes decided to stay in this world and create their families, while others returned from where they came.

Thinking that the demon lord would rise again, the races decided to custody the summoning items and prepare for their recollection at any moment.

Two months ago the new heroes were summoned, and I estimate that in half a year the demon lord will rise again.

But an error happened in the equation, and a fifth hero was dragged, a hero with no heroism at all, a being filled with greed and egoism, a liar and a cold-blooded murderer that can act like nothing after killing and torturing the same of its kind, all in the name of his self-satisfaction.

A wolf in sheep's clothing.

In my desperation to retrieve my home, I took many people of pure heart to the frozen throne, hoping that they would surpass their darkness and use the power of the crown to command the undead, and finally kill the demon lord once and for all.

Unfortunately, all my efforts concluded in mistakes, making the curse of the king find a new host every time it was destroyed, and the number of the undead army grew so much that the entire kingdom had to be isolated and contained from the rest of the world.

But this time it will be different.

I not only localized the new vessel of the king, but I formed a familiar pact with him.

I´ve been thinking about it for a while, but if the brightest light couldn´t with the curse, How about something darker this time?

In the beginning, I thought to make him my puppet and make everything quicker, but...

I looked at the rotten corpses, they were now skeletons surrounded by rotten flesh slowly evaporating, I was able to hear how it also happened to the corpses on the inferior floor.

This person not only has the powers of the undead king, but it also has the growth potential of the heroes, and his talent for war and battle is not normal, this man could truly put an end to the existence of the demon lord.

For that, I decided to let him do whatever he wants, with me as his companion, he wouldn´t take long to go to Raphil, I just had to be patient and bit by bit incite him to reclaim the throne and its armies.

The real problem will come when he has to face the conscience of the dead king.

Roberto was the new vessel of the curse, and in these two months he should have interacted with the conscience of the king, it may be for his mental strength or his broken moral, but until now he doesn´t seem affected by the curse.

-What the hell did you have to endure to be this strong? I whispered running my hand through his face.

Flap* Flap*

Seems like they will arrive soon.

A group of griffon riders was getting closer through the skies, with their speed they would arrive in ten minutes, interrupting the rest of Roberto.

-Leave.

My will flew through the air until it reached the beasts.

!!

Screak! * Screak! *

-The griffons got mad, hold tight!

-What the hell is wrong with them?!

The griffons started to twirl in the air, shaking their bodies in an instinctive panic that forced them to stay away from the source.

-Let´s land down for now, at this rate someone might fall!

-Yes!

The riders turned back and returned from where they came.

That´ll be enough.

Due to the griffons weren´t completely birds, I couldn´t use my authority to command them, but I could scare them enough to force them to retire.

-Hmm, Haaah*

Roberto woke up from his dream before planned, with his head still on my lap he turned to look at me.

-Can´t sleep, master?

-I had a shiver, Did something happened?

Sometimes he´s too sharp.

-Nothing you have to worry about, I can assure you.

-Is that so? Well, I can´t get to sleep, so I´ll just stay down for a bit.

-Hmm~ You like that much my legs? Kya~ You´ll make me blush~.

-Can you blame me? The sensation is great, it would be stupid not to enjoy it.

He can also be too blunt.

-W-Well, of course it is! After all, it´s my body we´re talking about!

-Haha, sure, sure.

-You should keep an eye on who you´re saying those things master, someday you could regret have started something you can´t keep going.

-Regret? I never regret what I do, I do what I want when I want, regretting just because the end is not likable would be too cowardly hypocrisy.

-Kukuku, I would like to hear that after you deal with your friend maid.

-... Ah, well, things got a bit complicated, but it´s nothing I can´t fix.

-I´ll be looking forward to what you do.

-You sure will.

Roberto got up from my lap and stretched his body.

-Haaah* Well, it´s time to keep working, Fei Xue.

-Yes?

-Do you have any emotional attachment to the beast you command?

-I´d say that I care about them as much as an insect that follows you home.

-Uwah, that's harsh, but whatever, gather some beasts near the east district, this night we will end this.

-As you wish, master.

He has a sense of kindness quite peculiar.

Roberto had a unique way to deal with people he cares about and with the ones he doesn´t.

That sense of protection could be his biggest strength or his biggest weakness.

In any case, being his enemy is not good.