2 Prologue (1): How I became the Demon Lord

Prologue (1): How I became the Demon Lord

My name is Ryuu, and I guess you could say I'm the Demon Lord. Well, my full name is Miryuu Maou, but I go by Ryuu most of the time. Of course, almost none of the humans know I exist, as my father, the previous Demon Lord, never mentioned he had a daughter to anyone besides his close friends, his top aids, and some of his generals. In case you couldn't guess by my use of the past tense and my being the Demon Lord, he's dead. He died recently while trying to protect his country from an invasion. You know, just because we're called demons doesn't mean we are bad people or monsters. We're just another race like humans, elves, and so on. He and his friends taught me how to fight with all kinds of weapons, and gave me seven special ones. Each one seals a portion of my power, and is indestructible... well, I say a portion of my power, but in reality, each one cuts the amount of power others can sense by an order of magnitude, meaning that people can sense about a millionth of my real power. That's how strong I am. He did this so that I could blend in with humans and such by saying that my long and pointed ears are because I'm a half-elf, which is true, but that's not the reason why my ears are like that. I'm half demon (Demon Lord, actually, which is different in the same way a high elf is different from an elf) and half elf, but my demon blood is dominant. However, it's not like a demon has horns, wings, and a tail or anything like that, as the humans sometimes portray us. Well, we do have horns and wings, but those of us who are strong enough can hide those, unlike our ears. I'm tall, by human standards, standing at about 180 cm, which is about normal for a half elf my age. My twintails are a silvery color, and my eyes are two different colors, the left is a bright violet, which, along with the hair, is often the mark of a high elf, though I'm not really one, and my right eye is a bloody red, characteristic of a demon, so I normally change its color to match the left with an illusion.

People outside of the demon lands often think that the existence of demons, or rather, of the Demon Lord, is the cause of magic beasts increasing and attacking people. Sorry, but that's not the case. They can and do breed like any other lifeform, and we have nothing to do with that or their choices to attack towns and villages, and they attack us as often as humans, or maybe more often. Anyways, I decided to stay hidden in plain sight and not immediately become the next Demon Lord for a few reasons, such as making humans not have as much of a reason to continue invading my country, making them understand that the magic beasts still continue to breed and attack people despite there not being a Demon Lord, and also because I don't feel like ruling a country yet... well, there's also my desire to not have people going after my head. Therefore, my coronation is set for "sometime relatively soon" which, to a demon, means "within the next few decades, probably in the range of 10 to 25 years from now"

Now, going back in time a bit, I was born 15 years ago, and I started to get trained to fight at the age of five. First, I learned how to use a dagger, then to dual-wield them, then the same with swords. After that, I learned how to use a bow, then a spear, an axe, and finally, magic. I've had some things such as bracelets and necklaces that suppressed my power, or rather, my aura, to an extent for as long as I can remember, but they got replaced by weapons when I had mastered that type of weapon. Now, I wear a dagger on my right hip, an axe on the left, a spear on my back, and more in other places. No, not there. My breasts are not big enough to hide much of anything inside of my cleavage.

However, there's something special about each of my weapons. My dagger is actually two of them, one inside a sheath, the other is the sheath, meaning that I draw the dagger with my left hand, then grab the hilt of the sheath with my right, before flicking it into the shape of a normal dagger. My axe can change shape and size at will. My spear is the same, but it can't become shorter than a meter long. It can, however, look like a normal staff with no blade or anything like that. On my right wrist, I have a bracelet that bears a bow-shaped charm, which is actually a bow that doesn't need arrows in a miniature form. The same is true for the crossed sword and sheath earrings on each ear, and then, there's the charm on my left wrist... that one is interesting. It looks like an ornate double-door gate, and when I hold it, I can pull out any book I want that is in the Eternal Library. In other words, any book that has been collected by any Demon Lord can be found inside it. Normally, you'd need to create an extremely complex magic circle to access it, but my charm is special, in that it can bypass that. The books are mostly on magic and the magical sciences, but there are others as well. Currently, I'm reading a book on metalworking and the history and techniques of weaponsmithing.

I finished my training for individual weapons at the age of ten, and spent four more years learning how to mix them into one, extremely flexible, fighting style that is unique to me. Four months ago, my father went out to the battlefield due to the humans invading, and two months later, he and four of the seven demon generals got assassinated. I spent a month grieving, and then spent another one traveling to the human lands after my mother died due to the shock. She had never been that healthy, her body weak from nearly constant illness. Now, I say the human lands, but in reality, the humans, dwarves, elves, and so on are all living together in peace, excluding demons. It's all the same, honestly, because humans make up the majority of the population in those areas. The demon lands are mostly filled with demons, as well as some dwarves and elves, and the occasional human. There are a few communities that are mostly humans, but only a few with a total population numbering about 1200. The demon lands have about 6 million citizens, the human lands about 14 million.

Onward to the system of magic, which I should probably talk about. Everyone, be they human, elf, dwarf, demon, or anything else, has at least one base and/or special element that they can use, which is decided at birth. Most have two, and it's rare to have more than four base and special, as well as often having one derivative or combination element, but rarely more than two.

The base elements are fire, water, wind, earth, and there are the special elements of light, dark, and spatial, and then there are the combination elements, which are... complicated. For example, lightning is a combination of fire and wind, however, not everyone who can use fire and wind can use lightning magic. You need to have an affinity for lightning as well. It's possible to have an affinity for a combination element without having both of the base elements. For instance, my mother had an affinity for water, earth, and ice, but as ice needs water and wind, she couldn't use ice magic. The combination elements are lightning (fire and wind) ice (water and wind) dust (earth and wind) metal (earth and fire) mud (water and earth) and explosion (fire and water). Special elements have derivative elements, being healing for light, curse for dark, and void for spatial, as well as one combination element, being shadow (light and dark). There are also non elemental spells that anyone can use, such as barrier magic and body reinforcement magic.

Each race has its own affinities for elements, such as elves being more likely to have water, wind, and earth magic, but less likely to have fire or dark, humans being likely to have light, derivative, and combination elements, and none that are less likely, but it's more rare for them to have a lot of elements, dwarves are likely to have fire, earth, metal, and dark magic, but less likely to have light, water, or wind magic, and demons are likely to have dark, fire, spatial, and combination elements, but almost never have light. I wasn't tested for what my affinities are, but I know I have dark, fire, wind, lightning, and spatial... well, I have used all of those but wind, but I do know I have it because I can use lightning. What element you can use is dependant on race, not on what your parents could use. Just because my mother has an affinity for ice doesn't mean I do, and just because my father could use light magic doesn't mean I can.

The demon lands don't really have the means to test your affinities, because that's the prided, and thus exclusive, secret of the humans. Nonhumans, like humans, can get tested in the human lands if they join a guild or when they turn seven, if they so choose, but demons... can't. More accurately, they aren't really even allowed in the human lands. I, on the other hand, have my magical power suppressed to almost nothing, and my aura limited to about the normal (or a bit below normal) for a half-elf by my weapons. Therefore, I passed right through the border checkpoints by saying (without lying) that I was a half-elf who was newly orphaned, and didn't feel like staying where all of my bad memories were, which was one of my reasons for moving from the demon lands to the human lands. Now, how can I make enough of a living to survive? Well, I'm strong, so I could become a soldier, but I'd rather not, so my other option for relying on my strength would be to become an adventurer. That sounds fun, so why not?