A bit of the Past and the Future

"If I were to go on this journey, will you give me the answers I seek?"

[I may, if you are worthy enough, that is]

"Then I'll offer this world to you, as our contract demands"

I say to the Goddess, while I challenge another world...again.

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"Hah... this time I got summoned in a cave huh?"

Normally people would find it strange to be summoned in a new world but to me this is routine already.

Contrary to many people on Earth, I got a blessing of a God at a very young age. 'World Traveler'.

As the name suggests this blessing enables me to travel through worlds and recently I've been making good use of it.

The first world I found myself in was the 'Divine World', a world the Gods inhabit.

There I found a low rank Goddess and started a contract with her. By the terms of our contract I need to convert world faiths for her, and by doing so she will award me a blessing everytime I go to a new world or finish converting it's faith.

"Let's see..."

│ Oda Hattori│

│ Blessings: │

│ 'World Traveler' 'Skill Thief' 'Maintain Skills' 'Companion Transporter' │

│ 'Maintain Title' 'Monster Summon' │

'Skill Thief' allows me to take the skills of the ones I kill while 'Maintain Skills' allows me to keep

them wherever I go. These blessings were crucial for a jumpstart in any world I go.

"You can get out... Shiro and Kuro..."

From one of my rings two cat eared girls come out.

Kuro has short black hair in the height of her shoulder and wears a black cloak going from her head to her knees, while also wearing a shirt a short jeans, both black although her shirt has a white cross pattern in it.

Shiro on the other hand has a long white hair and wears a white shirt with a black cross pattern in it, she also has a white skirt.

On a pure appearence basis no one would have guessed that they are twins.

Both look puzzled for a second before Kuro breaks the silence.

"So master, you've said that this world should have much stronger foes than the last right?"

"That is correct, the world you two came from is at 'E rank', while the last world we unified was 'D rank', this one though should allow us to reach new heights being a 'B rank' and all. You can see that your status have droped quite a lot since it adjusts itself to reflect your current strength in this world. Well, my level came back all the way to 1 and my status are just a bit better than the average level 1 one this world since I have to stop by the Divine World and my level gets reduced to 1 there, just goes to show you how high rank that world must be."

"With sis and I going from the thousand-ish to the hundred-ish it's going to be tough to just crush everything while we make our way to defeat the Demon Lord like last time..."

Shiro adds while looking troubled for the drop their status took.

Sadly, I'll have to disagree with her.

"That's... not true. At the present moment that may be so, but in the future I'm pretty sure the Demon Lord won't be a existence that we will be able to beat"

They obviously didn't expect that, after all, together we've already defeated two Demon Lords and countless demons. But still, I'm sure we won't defeat the Demon Lord this time.

"It is...unlikely to say the least...that you would fear a opponent, is it because of the world rank? Are you afraid the Demon Lord may surpass you that much this time?"

Shiros ask me while Kuro nods.

"That is not the case. The assumption that we will have to defeat the Demon Lord is by itself wrong to begin with, remember that my objective is just to make the faith in my God the prevailing one..."

It's just that crushing evil while spreading the name of the Godess that sent me really helps to quickly boost faith popularity as my experience would tell.

"Anyway, we won't be defeating the Demon Lord because I shall become the Demon Lord"

"..."

The girls take a second to understand what I just said.

"Come again?"

They may need a full minute.

"Well... you do know how my "Skill thief" blessing works right? Even if a foe has lots of skills I can only take one, and the skill needs to be at a higher or at least equal rank than the one I already have, otherwise it just doesn't go up a rank. Demonkind is usually stronger than mankind if we're talking about status and potencial only, but since mankind has a higher birth rate and a more broad skillset in comparison... it's just better for me to defeat mankind, since I'll defeat more individuals and have acess to unique skills that I couldn't get since I've only been beating demons..."

I try to be as reasonable as possible.

"Well, that makes sense but..."

Shiro seems to have trouble speaking her mind.

"Isn't it taboo for one to kill his own kind?"

Kuro does have a point, to be honest the more I think about it the more I regret it, but if I am to challenge even higher ranking worlds, the more I have in my arsenal, the better.

"I've been to many worlds already and in none of them did I see humans not killing one another because of the concept of taboo, if it fits a person's objective killing their own kind is among the least they would do"

I really don't want to argue with them, but this is something I'll have to do sooner or later, and to do it against their backs would be... not good...

"But... if you..."

"You're talking about criminals and everyday conflicts, it is leagues below the near extinction you plan on bringing to your own race... you know that right? And you never killed a human before, going from that to genocide... seems unlikely"

Kuro cuts off Shiro before she can say anything again, it seems she doesn't want Shiro to be involved in this discussion, I quite respect her for that.

"It's not like I've never killed before though ? I've brought near extinction to the demon race two times already... but I do see your point, that's why I've asked a simple blessing from the Godess this time, with 'Monster Summon' I'll be able to summon monster and use them to fight my battles, since they are summoned by my blessing, I get all the exp and skills they would normally get after killing someone if I so wish. That way I don't really dirt my hands and you can be at peace, but I do warn you that if the situation so demands I may as well have my first human kill. At least for now I plan on being a 'Lord' more than a 'Fighter', as the role I took would suggest"

I really hope this ease their minds.

"That's... better."

Shiro finally speaks up and Kuro silently agree.

"With that out of the way... this blessing is a little different from the ones I have in that it needs mana for usage... so I need you guys to go hunt around the area for now, even though you're weaker now, I'm sure you're no small fry to anyone in this world with your skills so there shouldn't be any problems, if the need arises though, retreat quickly. For now I'll have our contract be the usual 50-50 exp for each of us"

I should be able to get a few levels with this and their reconnaissance should bring me some intel about the overall area we're in, but most importantly, my mana pool will grow and I'll be able to test this Blessing, although I thought this was quite simple for a Demon Lord, the Goddess

said that it was on the verge of what was worth for a 'B Rank World', so I'm quite curious to find out what she meant by that.

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Kuro POV:

"We've been out here for a hour already and I need to know... you... are not satisfied with what he said, are you?"

My sister brings up the earlier conversation with our master with quite the dissatisfied look herself.

"I... would be lying to say that I am satisfied..."

There's no need to lie here.

"Me too... even though he had a plan and said he would only kill others if the situation demanded..."

"Well you do know what he meant by that right? The only situation I can think of that would require him to go to such an extreme would be... if we were to fail"

I don't want to think about this possibility, but it seems master is ready to protect or at least avenge us if the need arises.

" I do wonder what goes through his mind sometimes, since he went as far as buy us even when we hated humans just to makes us forget that hate. Why does it feel like he cares more about us than himself ?"

"So you were able to notice that much from his actions... I don't have an answer for that, it may as well just be the way he is, not that it matters. For now we should do as he says and be sure not to fail, as much as you, I don't want him to do something he would come to regret"

For sis to notice the truth behind his actions surprises me, but what I need to do doesn't change, these two idiots will never accomplish their desires the way they are now.

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[You feel conflicted about what you're doing to those two]

"A lot"

[Why don't you tell them the truth them?]

"I lack...courage"

[So you're able to go through a horde of demons with ease, but telling that their family death was your fault is hard?]

"To kill is easy... the consequences are the hard part, they are both my responsability, the reminder of my own weakness, and the way to correct my mistakes... I don't plan to have regrets in this jorney, so I must face everything head on. You're the one who told me to act this way, after all"

[Fast Learner, not bad. You may have been the right choice after all]

"What was that?"

[Nothing!]