A Man Meant to be King

It was when the war with the Demon Lord first began, I sat there twiddling my thumbs out on the front line waiting for us to be ambushed in a camp as we were resting the night away. Our ranks ranged from the A-Rank range all the way down to the D-Ranks. I was a D-Rank.

Out of us though, the one who seemed the most special was one C-Rank soldier with short black hair, wearing a smile on his face, sword at his side, eyes hung low almost as if they were about to fall asleep.

"Um..." I called out to them, "I'm Kine Harlow, you?"

His eyebrows lifted, his eyes still hanging low, a smile growing on his face a bit more before exaggerating a yawn, stretching as far as he could go.

"Um...?"

He shook his head and looked at me in the eyes, "I am Lalula Malula Barzal... call me Lalu."

"Lalu?" I paused for a moment, scanning our encampment, "Y-you... where are you from?"

He nodded, "You're from the east, right? Like my hair would suggest I came from as well?"

"Y-yeah... I'm from the east," I figured his hair color was fake but I don't know why since it looked so natural, "Where are you from?"

"My hair color is actually light brown, I'm from the north."

His eyes shone with a glow I'd never seen before -- leaning closer to me, putting a thumb to his chest.

"I... Lalu... will become king, and you will be the one who tells everyone stories of my start, you," He pointed to me, "You will be my storyteller."

"Quite the proclamation..."

"No, it is but fate. I will become King, the King of this land and all."

"What makes you think so?"

"You know..."

I did know. I don't know why, but I did know. I knew that this man could become the strongest in the world, I knew this man could become the King of all, I believed his words as he spoke them.

The one thing that I was hoping wouldn't happen did though, we were ambushed.

Soldiers from camps afar screamed from terror and pain, some yelled to the top of their lungs letting everyone know of an ambush.

Lalu got up from his seat, calmly placing a hand on his sword, I wanted to watch him carefully, I wanted to confirm my suspicion, I wanted to know if what I believed and what he believed was true. I wanted to see if this man could truly become King.

An Orc quickly came out from beyond a thicket, charging at the camp and taking two soldiers with it as two B-Rank soldiers moved in.

A Desert Goblin suddenly moved in, taking out the back of one of the B-Ranks -- but caught by magic as they were hit straight in the head with an ice shard.

The Desert Goblin fell to the ground but quickly recovered as multiple Orcs moved in on the camp, outnumbering us.

Lalu met them with a smile as a group of Goblins zeroed in on our location in particular.

A giant group of them attempted to surround me but I quickly unsheathed my sword, bringing it across my shoulders and sweeping the group, killing five of them in the process as the others scattered.

Lalu noticed me getting surrounded and moved in before being interrupted by a Hobgoblin, cackling all the while and swinging wildly.

Lalu took a step forward then back then forward again, slicing upward on the Hobgoblin, cutting its chest open.

As that was happening, the Goblins surrounded me, stabbing me in multiple directions.

Me, being barely able to retaliate, attempted to minimize the damage by focusing on my senses, blocking as many attacks as I could, and swinging at a Goblin or two who got too cocky in the process.

Lalu, cut the Hobgoblin once more, the Hobgoblin's stomach spilling out from their body.

Lalu jumped over the Hobgoblin, using its falling body as a stepping board and propelling himself into the air, landing on a couple of Goblins and slicing their heads off.

Blood flew into the air as it spilled out from their necks, the Goblins finally noticing that their formation has been broken, focusing on Lalu.

The Goblins became confused, either running away or staying in positions that'd leave them vulnerable, which gave me the perfect opportunity to fight back.

Lalu perfectly handled the Goblins, his dyed hair being washed away with his own sweat causing it to glow under the moonlit sky.

Another Orc came in from the forest, knocking a group of goblins away charging at me.

Lalu cut its arm off as it swung at me, its arm flying through the air as it screamed.

Lalu charged forward, stabbing the Orc in the throat, blood pouring out and staining its body, eyes rolling to the back of its head, and finally dying then and there.

"You killed it that easily!?"

Lalu smiled at me before returning back into the fray.

After an hour, the battle had ended.

I almost died plenty of times but in the end, I had survived another day, Lalu by my side all the while.

He was a monster.

Orcs are at least B-Rank, yet he took out multiple, clearly exhausted throughout the fight, yet here he is.

They almost overpowered him multiple times but his technique completely overshadowed them somehow.

I'd say he was already A-Rank through his performance alone but, the world isn't exactly fair enough to realize that magic power isn't the only important thing regarding ranks.

"L-Lalu... h-how...?"

"You'll be even more surprised later... do you feel that?"

He pointed to the sky with a smile, a pressure spreading throughout the whole battlefield.

"Do you know where that is?"

"W-where?"

He pointed away from us, "That's an S-Rank, and it's quite far."

"So... we can even feel that from here?"

"You've felt it before, yes?"

"Yeah... but this is the closest I've felt this pressure."

"I could probably kill it."

"W-what!?"

A C-Rank soldier saying that he could kill an S-Rank!? It feels like that'd be only a fantasy coming from anyone else but from him... I couldn't help but believe it... what the hell was this man?

*****

It took a really long time to do it but I managed it. After almost a month of effort, I'm so close.

I managed to simplify body strengthening magic down to only three circles and even added a few more lines to it to make it even stronger than before. The amount of power that I can get from it is quite high but me doing that kind of made this script shortening redundant since I don't have enough mana still to use it for long, so now it's at four circles.

I managed to make a spell better as well as shorten it which will prove to be extremely useful though I'd say that the body strengthening magic is a bit peculiar compared to normal body strengthening.

/Gained new ability\

"What is it?"

/Serpent Armament: F-Rank\

Of course, using a spell more and more can also increase the proficiency of the spell, which was reminded to me by the ranking system my abilities seem to have but this is odd in a new way.

"What does Serpent Armament do?"

I'd assume that it's similar to body strengthening.

/Defense magic is related to body strengthening, so if used on the skin, it will make black scales appear in that spot of the skin as well as strengthen the muscles in that part of the body.\

"Can it also just be used for defense purely?"

/You'd have to adjust it accordingly.\

I think I get what it's implying.

Now all I have to do is apply this shortening technique to stronger spells and I should be able to reach the Second Stage.

Since this ability I got is permanent...

This technically isn't the first time I'd done this to myself but... I'll kill myself.

I'll reset the time.

If I keep doing this, I'm essentially tripling my growth rate.

I need to do this.

This is so I become stronger.

I found myself in that room again with Stolt.

I let out a long sigh, scanning my surroundings. The room had become more full compared to before.

"What's wrong?" Stolt asked.

"Who is that?"

It was me but instead he had horns and tail, a dragonkin me.

"What's his name?"

Stolt got up and stood next to me, pointing to him, "That is Reithi, and that," He pointed to an iron maiden chained up, "That is Brjálæði."

"What sort of...? You gave that a name too?"

Stolt shrugged, sitting down behind his desk, only now have I realized how tall he was compared to the current me.

"What's with your size?"

He shook his head and clicked his tongue, waving his finger, "You don't need to know that yet. For now, let's review."

"No... I already get i-"

Stolt shook his head again, "No, you don't. We're going to the start again."

I sighed, "Right... what now?"

"Why was I created?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you think I was created?"

"You..." I paused, "I dunno."

"It was because you couldn't cope without me."

"Was it..."

"Your parents... they were killed right in front of you and you couldn't handle it."

I think I knew, "Why can't I remember them?"

"You didn't want to, and it seems that you still don't want to."

I sighed, "Can I ask a question?"

"Go ahead."

"What am I?"

Stolt smiled, "You're asking the right questions now."

"So...?"

"You are the history of a long lived race that had only just recently been snuffed out for good. The worst part though is that you are the rarest part of said race and certain people couldn't just leave you to disappear for good. Do you want to know what they did after that?"

"W-what?"

"They sealed everything away."

"Who...?"

"Do you know what that serpent is?"

"What is it?"

"He is a Giant... and you are Half-Giant, other than you being Half-Giant... why is that serpent so interested in you?"

"I don't get what you're getting at."

"I'm saying that you are related to the serpent."