C27. I'm Weak

As the night grew closer, the colder the wind got, many of the residents in the settlement had lost their homes in the fight earlier. The entire town was in shambles, there were very few buildings still standing and even those weren't left intact. The residents had all gathered in front of the chiefs mansion after spending some time in what remained of their burnt down houses, salvaging any personal items they could find.

The chief then announced their next destination, it had been exactly five years today since they moved here, they survived all the monster raids that happened in that time frame with little to no casualties, after spending their entire lives in Blzaberg, the region that was ones ruled by the Cronoff's, a relatively safe place with very few monster raids due to the systematic sweeps of any monster nest by the knights of the Cronoff family.

They had thought life in Darknar would be hell, but untill now they had been doing fine. The monster raids here had only occured about ones or twice a week and because they had set up their settlement a distance away from both the Darknar forest and the Darkin mountain range, they had been able to handle any monster that came as they had ample time to prepare.

Even though the monsters were stronger here than Blzaberg, and the frequency was higher, they still managed to survive with zero casualties so far and had planned to celebrate the anniversary of the day they move here, five years ago today. In the end, this had reminded them of how dangerous it was in Darknar.

The chief then explained the plan to head toward the demon king's castle, the crowd immediately broke into a murmur, they were all shocked and terrified by this statement. Being ogres they had no right to approach the castle with so many high level demons, including the five families being interested in it.

Many had voiced their concerns and some had suggested one of the barren lands in the vast Darknar forest, but Azar had shut that down, with their current fighting prowess they would all be eliminated before they even got close, even with their formal strength they still had less than a 40 percent chance of making it, this was the main reason they had settled here and not done that five years ago.

There was a reason only scouts from the Five Great families were able to live there, although the place was void of monsters, it was also void of food and anyone living there would have no choice but to venture into the forest to survive. That brought them to the biggest problem, the safe zones were located in the most dangerous parts of the forest and was only meant as a resting point when exploring. It couldn't sustain the lives of over 400 people.

Trying to live there would be the same thing as slowly commiting suicide. They would either stave themselves or get annihilated by one of the four kings the moment they left the zone to find food.

The chief managed to calm everyone down, he was able to get them on his side with just a few words, he didn't go into too much details and suddenly ordered a feast. "The time of mourning has past, it's time we celebrate the lives of our loved ones, tomorrow we leave our home in search of a new one, but tonight, we celebrate life!" They all cheered loudly, a large bonfire was built in no time at all, and Jarret and his group retrieved the prey they had dropped earlier in the day.

Tyler watched this scene as he couldn't help but pity and admire the ogres, even though they were hurting, they still had the strength to think and act rationally, even the kids looked strong willed. He couldn't help but remember their reaction earlier when they found out both him and Liz were from the demon king's castle.

••••••

The wave of emotions came like a storm, both Albert and Erin were more shocked by this information, they had a better understanding of the situation within the Darknar region than anyone here. It was one thing for a man like Albert, a demon noble that one's ruled his own region to say he had offered his life to a strange man he didn't even know his name, but to find out that man came from the demon king's castle was next level.

To enter the demon king's castle one had to have adept knowledge on seals and concealment magic, and even then, they would only be able to break the first layer of the sealing spell around the castle, granting them access to very limited areas of the castle. The Five Great demon families had sent several spirit magic casters to study and break the barrier surrounding the castle, but, every single one of them had failed. With only an handful managing to bypass the first layer of the intricate and complicated five layer barrier around the castle.

The barrier was a combination of both sealing and concealment spells, layered upon each other, it was unknown what was powering the spell for more than a thousand years now but whatever it was it was surely more valuable than any of the treasure the formal demon generals of the demon King had taken away from the castle when they had abandoned it, this had now become one of the goals in the race to become the next demon King, another way to show their strength, proving themselves worthy of the tittle Demon King.

This meant a few things for Tyler and Liz, either they were outcast with no choice but to hide in such a risky place, somewhere if found could bring the wrath of the entire Five families raining down upon them, or they were part of a small Noble family that wanted the secrets of the castle and had come upon an unfortunate situation, having no choice but to seek out a healer.

Judging by their strengths the latter was most likely the case, no family would want to make an enemy out of one of the strongest members in their ranks, otherwise they would just be handing their competition more ammunition against them. After arriving at this conclusion, they felt a little relieved, it would be unwise of them to make an enemy out of the Great Five families by escorting outcasts.

At least with the help of a noble family, even if the five families were pissed off by their actions, noble politics wouldn't let them retaliate freely, after all they wouldn't know if one of the other Great Five had an hidden hand in the issue. Albert on the other hand was shocked for a different reasons, he was now glad he had sworn his life to this young man, it didn't matter what was the truth, he knew it would be a lot more interesting than being the captain of the guards in a small settlement.

Erin felt a strange sensation coming from within her, there was something about this young man that was affecting her within. They didn't spend much time in the topic as they had a lot to do, having everyone prepare for the journey tomorrow.

Time went by quickly and soon the preparations were done, the twin Tailed warthogs were prepared and spiced up to be roasted, large barrels of beer and wine were brought out from the chiefs mansion.

They started their feasts as soon as the moon came up in the sky, and their ceremonial celebration, it seemed like this was a tradition, a way to honor their fallen comrades. Tyler was offered some wine and meat, he didn't argue or declined as he vividly remembered what Happened to him in the forest due to hunger.

He had given his leftovers to Liz and hadn't eaten all day, he knew he could probably go more than a week without food or water, but, he had to prepare for the worst. If he needed to use multiple spells soon the extra nutrients would be useful, he also needed to numb his aching head with alcohol, unfortunately, it seemed like alcohol had no effects on him anymore, well he could still savour the sweet and bitter taste.

Liz wasn't in the mood for a celebration, not when Raine's life was at risk, she was still a little impatient and wanted nothing more but to leave right now, but even she knew that was foolish, with such numbers, they'll be lucky if they even made it to the Red river much less the castle. She left the group and went to one end of the town, it was quiet here and the noise from the celebration was lost in the distance.

Liz sat in the grass as she stared at the moon, it hadn't been that long since she and Rain had seen the stars together yet it felt like forever, she felt like this was her fault, if she hadn't held Rain back she would have been able to escape the Ryrik. She wrapped her arms around her knees and balled herself up. It felt lonely without her friend, the night was cold but she hadn't noticed, all she wanted now was to feel the warmth of her friend.

"Hey, you'll catch a cold if stay out here too long." Liz felt the warm hand on her shoulder, it felt like someone had dragged her out of the verge of drowning. She turned her head to see who it was, it was non other than Tyler, he brought a blanket he had borrowed from the chief and placed it over her shoulders.

Not wanting to overstay his welcome, he turn around and said. "I know you're worried about your friend but, worrying is not going to help her, just try to keep yourself strong enough to make it back to her in time." He wanted to walk away leaving her to her thoughts, to be honest he wanted to seem cool and aloof, he didn't have much experience with girls especially one this pretty, actually calling her pretty was probably an insult.

"I... I don't know how to feel." Those words stopped him in his tracks, he could hear the complex emotions in her voice, he didn't know how to handle the situation, he turned to look at her again. "What do you mean?" She was quiet for a long time and Tyler was beginning to question himself before her voice pulled him out of his head again. "I feel like it's my fault she got hurt, if she hadn't stayed to protect me she would've been fine."

Tyler could tell that she felt guilty of being weak, it was strange hearing that from someone as strong as she was, but he knew being weak didn't necessarily translate to fighting strength.

He had felt that way before, everytime his formal comrades got hurt because of him he would blame himself, and even though they said otherwise, he could see the truth written on their faces. "I'm sure your friend wouldn't want you to think like that."

"I know... but still."

"I see, you feel guilty, if you were stronger you would have been able to protect her, and i am sure she felt the same as you, so listen carefully. There are two kinds of guilt in this world, the kind that drowns you until you're useless, and the kind that fires your soul to purpose. One of those would ruin you, the other would make you stronger. So decide, which one are you feeling. If you decide on the latter, come see me, I'll help you get stronger."

He walked away as soon as he said that, mostly because he didn't want to say anymore stupid things, how in the world was he suppose to help her get stronger, it seems trying to act cool had come back to bite him in the ass.

Although he didn't know why, he just had an urge to help her(She was insanely beautiful). He thought about it some more and figured he could find a book that would help her in the magic library, although he had no idea when he'll be able to enter the library again, it seems like his life was getting more complicated by the minute and he wasn't helping matters.