Lock Gellner, Former Demon Lord

Lock

Greetings. Former Demon Lord-turned-human child Lock Gellner here! It'd been about a month since I was reincarnated, and I’d made quite a few discoveries in my time as a human. Firstly, I found out that I was ‘lactose intolerant’. This meant that I couldn’t consume any foods that contained lactose without having vicious diarrhea within the following hour.

Now that we got the important stuff out of the way, I also realized just how large this family was. I mean, it was ridiculous. Thirteen people excluding myself. Edward had three wives, and it seemed his lust knew no bounds. I expected better from the renowned Hero, but it turned out that he was just some womanizer who wasn’t satisfied with one. I didn’t understand how humans did it. We demons typically didn’t feel the urge to reproduce, after all.

I’d always heard humans say, “Please, I have a wife and kids!” but never, “Please, I have three wives and kids!” Going by that, Edward’s romantic life certainly wasn’t the average for humanity.

My 'mother', Elspeth, was constantly fretting over me. She would check on me every few hours as I slept, most times waking me from my slumber. This was incredibly irritating at first, but I’d grown used to it as she would lull me back to sleep immediately after. I didn’t need to be lulled to sleep or anything, but admittedly, it did make it easier.

My 'father', the blasted Hero Edward, was annoyingly affectionate as well. He would hold me in his arms and coo at me as if I was some pet. As if I, the great Demon Lord, would ever allow such indignities! Didn’t matter, though, because I didn’t have the power to stop him. Well, whatever. I didn’t really care, to be honest.

My siblings were an irritating bunch, too. The twins, Ophelia and Octavia, would constantly bicker and play loudly around me. Felix wouldn’t leave me alone even when I tried to sleep. Elspeth would always slap him over the head for waking me during my naps, but he didn’t seem to learn. It was a little hypocritical of her, but at least she was doing what I wanted to do to him.

Stop waking me up, dammit!

The only silver lining was my diminished senses. My hearing and vision were pathetically human-like now, muting much of the chaos around me. That was good at least. Wait, no, it wasn’t. Oh, how I missed my sharp demonic senses, able to hear a pin drop from a mile away!

Despite my weakened state, I made sure to carefully observe everyone and everything around me. Knowledge was power, and I intended to use this time to learn all I could about my new 'family' and the lands I found myself in. I wasn’t going to waste a moment. I was going to meticulously plan everything to the last letter and climb my way to—

Just kidding. Shit, that sounded like way too much work. I didn’t believe in fate, but maybe it would be better to go with the flow of this sick joke it was playing on me. Still, getting stronger would certainly be fun.

Perhaps a more extensive introduction to the Gellner family was in order?

Starting with Edward’s first wife, Verda. She was a green-haired princess from the holy country of Almat and a renowned warrior, evident in her toned physique even after giving birth multiple times. I knew about her in my previous life, so this wasn’t my first introduction to her. Never met her directly, but she defeated one of my underlings in battle. She was one of Edward’s trusted party members.

Mental note: Do not make an enemy out of her.

Even Edward wasn’t as big of an issue as she was. Though she was weaker than the man, she was far more ruthless in eradicating demons.

Lyra, his second wife, had dark blue hair. She was a master blacksmith and tinkerer, constructing wondrous weapons and gear in her workshop. I heard the eldest child, Edmund, learned quite a bit from her. Though Edmund was actually Verda’s son.

I already mentioned my own mother, Elspeth, his third wife. On top of being overly affectionate, she was skilled in the healing arts. From what I could gather, she was also an exceptional chef. They hadn’t fed me any of her food, though. Apparently, it was ‘bad for babies’. There was also my lactose intolerance.

My siblings, despite the annoyance they caused, also showed promise. The eldest, Edmund and Arabella, weren’t around me much, but they didn’t cause me any headaches when they were. Edmund was in the midst of starting a business in the city, so he wasn’t home much. Arabella worked as a receptionist at the adventurer’s guild, so she was gone early in the morning until late in the afternoon.

Leopold was the third child and a bit of an enigma. I couldn’t get a solid read on the guy. He was also rarely home, but not because he was working. Nobody knew what that guy did, not even Edward.

I already introduced Celeste, the fourth child. She was the one feeding me that bottle of milk. Unfortunately for her, I crapped myself all over her lap, though somehow the event didn’t seem to hurt my reputation in her eyes.

Felix was the fifth child, but only months younger than Celeste. He looked up to Edmund and sometimes joined him at work, but he was mostly absent because he attended Bluevale Academy. His boisterous personality was much like Leopold's, but while Leopold’s felt calculated, Felix’s just felt simple-minded.

Seraph was the sixth child. I had no notes on her yet. Her golden hair was very striking, though.

Peter, the seventh child, was quiet. Though he was only four years of age, whenever I caught a glimpse of him sitting next to me, he was always reading a book about geopolitics. Quite a studious child, that was for sure. He reminded me of Barky, my old strategist.

Celeste and Seraph were very cooperative with my needs, so I had no complaints. The twins were simply annoying, but otherwise bearable.

With the family introductions out of the way, we are brought to the most crucial assessment yet: my own magical abilities in this child's body. Since my mother and father were both quite magically inclined, surely my body would follow the trend, right? I attempted to channel what meager reserves I could, trying in vain to wield even a wisp of my former magic. But it was no use. My aptitude was pathetic in every discipline. If I had to put a number on it, I'd rank my affinities like this:

Demonic Magic: 4/100

Holy Magic: -100/100

Fire Magic: 3/100

Water Magic: 2/100

Earth Magic: 2/100

Wind Magic: 1/100

Healing magic: 3/100

My demonic magic was ever so slightly higher than the others, which I took as a promising sign. Perhaps some lingering connection remained to my old self. But compared to my previous vast power, I was utterly feeble. I honestly had no clue what it would take to regain my strength. I hoped that it was only because I was still a baby.

My holy magic, however, was about the only thing that faithfully transferred from my previous life. If reincarnation had some silly stipulation that would transfer one magical discipline at random into a new body, it would’ve been very unlucky if it happened to be holy magic. There was no way that was the case, though, right?

…Right?

I’d always been interested in trying holy magic, but no luck even in this life.

At any rate, I was stuck in the body of Lock Gellner for the foreseeable future. Humans lived for around eighty years, right? Such a short time. I’d already resigned myself to death, so I hadn’t really thought about what I’d do with my now-remaining eighty years.

I guess I’ll figure something out.

***

Lock grew up at an incredible pace. The boy had learned to walk only moments after he learned to stand. All of that was done at the fledgling age of four months.

“This has to be a world record, right, Mom?!” Seraph exclaimed as she hovered her hands around Lock so that he wouldn’t fall.

“Seraph, you’re not supporting him with wind magic, are you?” Her mother, Elspeth, asked skeptically.

“No, honest! See?” She lifted her hands, and to Elspeth’s surprise, the boy continued his stride.

What the hell are they all freaked out about? Crap, am I doing something weird? Lock thought in a panic.

“Oh my… Edward!! Come see what your son’s doing!” Elspeth called to her husband, who was on the other side of the house, holed up in his study.

The other siblings came to watch in amazement. Edward was the last to arrive with an excited expression, but as soon as he entered, Lock dropped to his butt. He was too tired to continue. Edward was saddened that he couldn’t witness the spectacle as the rest of the family laughed at his comedic timing.

Hahaha! Look at you, all sad that you couldn’t see me walk. Heh, I’ll have to make sure to never walk around Edward to emotionally torture him, Lock promised himself, thoroughly amused by his father’s dismay.

His promise to himself didn’t last long, though. Soon, he was walking all over the house, even in front of Edward. Being able to walk wherever he pleased proved to be incredibly convenient. He eventually forgot all about his vow. He was very forgetful after all.

At twelve months, his family pointed out something strange about him.

“He hasn’t talked at all yet, has he?” Said Edmund in a concerned voice.

“It’s weird… He was walking at four months old but still hasn’t uttered his first words,” Arabella said, nodding.

“Leopold was trying to get him to say his name, but he wouldn’t do it. Still, he should’ve at least made some noises by now, right?” Celeste chimed in.

Was that what Leopold was doing? I thought he was just repeating his name so he wouldn’t forget it!

Lock shrieked inwardly and tried to clear up the misunderstanding immediately. The truth was that he could talk from the moment his vocal cords started working. He simply didn’t know at what age an average human began conversing. At that moment, Lock raised his hand to draw the attention of his siblings.

“Ahem! *Wow, my voice sounds weird,*” he coughed loudly and muttered, turning their gazes to him. “Hello brothers and sisters! It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I assure you, I can talk. ”

A long silence followed his declaration. The calm before the storm ended when Edward walked into the living room. Everyone erupted upon his arrival.

“Old man! Lock just said something amazing! Say it again, Lock!” Felix held the boy up to his father’s face.

“You missed it, Dad!” Seraph yelled along.

“He was all like ‘greetings everyone!’ and then started talking in fluent common tongue! Aw man, you should’ve been there, Pops,” Leopold snickered, intending to fuel his father’s fear of missing out.

Lock was worried he’d done something strange again, but forgot all about it when he saw Edward’s saddened expression. He smirked slyly.

Hahaha! Eat that, you perverted beast! You won’t hear me speak till the day you die if it means I get to see that look on your face!

Again, his promise was short-lived. He found that conversing with his siblings made his life infinitely easier, so he inadvertently started speaking to Edward as well. The Demon Lord was a notoriously forgetful being.

About a month later, Lock awoke in the middle of the night. He still slept in a cradle in Elspeth’s room, but it was starting to get too small for him. His legs now reached the end of the wooden cage.

In any case, he needed to attend to the potty. It wasn’t a number two. As long as he didn’t consume any lactose, his shitting schedule was pretty normal. He needed to pee. Badly.

Usually, he’d wake his mother to take him to the bathroom, but she always took so long to wake up. The thought of remorse for his mother’s sleep schedule never crossed his mind before, but this time, he decided not to wake her. Maybe it was out of the minuscule goodness in his heart, or maybe he was just tired of relying on her to take a piss.

He’d gotten big enough to exit the cradle by himself, and he was pretty sure he remembered the way to the bathroom.

He decided to go alone. He creaked the door open quietly and exited, roaming through the pitch-black halls of the house. As a demon, Lock used to love the nighttime. The Demon continent often had blood moons, which meant that even when the sun was down, the land glowed red. But he always valued the nights when the lands turned to complete darkness, since they were quite rare back at his palace. The darkness was inconvenient at times, but he always used a night vision spell if he desperately needed to see.

In his human body, however, he didn’t have night vision, nor could he cast it with his meager mana pool. He’d started getting sick of the constant pitch-black nights that plagued most places outside the Demon continent. His only light came from the candle he brought from his mother’s room. The others usually lit it effortlessly with fire magic, but for him, he had to exert an immense amount of effort to even make a spark. Eventually, though, he succeeded, and the candle blazed with decent light.

He’d heard Edmund talking about how they were developing magical lights that could be turned on and off at the flick of a lever. He counted the days until Edmund brought those plans to life.

At any rate, all Lock wanted was to have an easy walk to the bathroom. On his way, he passed by one of his siblings, yawning to themselves as they walked through the halls, half-asleep.

Was that Seraph? She didn’t have a candle, but was she even awake?

While thinking about his sleepwalking sister, he’d lost track of where he was going. Of course, he’d already gotten lost on his way. The layout of the Gellner home was nothing like his previous abode. It had multiple floors and a seemingly infinite amount of rooms. Despite all of that, there were only three bathrooms.

Seriously, Edward? Three bathrooms for fourteen people in this massive house is plain stupid, no matter how you cut it, he thought as he ground his teeth at his Father’s incompetence.

As he continued through the long halls, walking past room after room, he heard soft moans emerging from behind one of the doors he passed. It was Lyra’s room.

“Oh, Edward! Don’t stop!” He heard his stepmother from beyond the walls.

“I’m only getting started…!”

Let me rephrase that. Two bathrooms for soon-to-be fifteen people is plain stupid.

Lock quickly walked past the room.

***

Name: Edward Gellner

Gender: M

Likes: Fishing

Lock’s assessment: He could drop dead for all I care