Zenon Chapter 2: Prolegomenon to Calamity

Zenon Chapter 2

Prolegomenon to Calamity

Late at night.

I’m inside the office of the demon king.

Different portraits of the demon king hangs on each side of the meeting room.

The demon king is sitting on his desk as usual and my master is standing by the side of his desk.

My master is an avian demon whose name is Leter. He has white hair and white irises on his eyes. He wears a white cloak which has holes for his white wings. He’s a male who people consider as one of the most beautiful man in the demon country

“Zenon, I’m sorry… but we’ll have to speed up your level up rate to a more dangerous level.” the demon king said with a serious expression.

“I’m happy to oblige… but can I ask what the reason for this decision is?”

“My companion had reported that a certain being we’re keeping an eye on had reached Edenia.” Master Leter said with a calm voice.

“A certain being?”

The demon lord looked at master and master nodded, followed by a question directed to me.

“Do you know of the continent, Nilldrasil?”

“Of course, my lord. It’s a continent in the far west of this continent. The place where the Tree of Peace resides. A place where the monsters had stopped evolving and a place where EXP does not increase.”

Gaining EXP has been impossible in Nilldrasil. It had stopped ever since a giant tree appeared five centuries ago. There has been no being that is able to evolve or class up in that continent. Anyone who enters the continent had their EXP continuously decrease which discouraged people from entering. That continent has been peaceful ever since and the reason was suspected to be the tree so the tree was named “Tree of Peace”.

“The Tree of Peace is the living being that we were talking about.”

“The Tree of Peace is a living being?”

The Demon Lord looked at the west where the continent of Nilldrasil is located.

“The Tree of Peace is a conscious being with the desire to turn every continent in the world into a continent like Nilldrasil.”

A world without progress like Nilldrasil… a peaceful place where very few die due to hunger and a place with no wars.

“I’m sorry for asking demon lord, but isn’t that a good thing?”

“It does sound like a good thing when you hear it, but that depends on the circumstances…”

“What circumstances?”

“Nilldrasil’s magical advancement has been stuck ever since the Tree of Peace had arrived… if the Tree of Peace rooted itself here, do you know what will happen?”

“…Our magical advancement would halt.”

“We’ll also be incapable of using magical tools. If we stop using them, our lives would change. Most beings within Edenia has relied on magic tools to the point where they cannot live without them. Ice storages, medical equipment, etc.”

The demon king closed his eyes.

“Not only that, our country will also be thrown to chaos. We’ll be one of the countries that would make a big sacrifice for this thing called “peace”.”

“Why is that?”

“The only reason the weaker demons are able to protect themselves from strong demons are levels and classes. If that is removed, the violent and predator races would have the advantage. It would be chaos within the country. Our country would be turned from a civilization into a wild jungle.”

That is true… humans, elves, dwarves… their races can live just by eating animals and monsters.

As for demons, only half of them can do that… the other half needs specific preys to eat. Vampires need blood, ghouls need to eat fresh living humanoid meat, etc. Those kinds of demons have been pacified due to magical advancement. Blood can be taken easily and preserved, fresh flesh can be given to ghouls. Crime is lessened due to the higher level of guards and soldiers…

If the Tree of Peace roots itself in Edenia, the demon country would perish.

“…If the Tree of Peace is conscious, then why hasn’t it attacked us yet?”

“The Demon Country had fended of the Tree of Peace since ancient times… actually, the ancient demon lord waged war because of this.”

“What?”

“Centuries ago, the reason humans waged war with demons was due to the fact that demons were trying to stop the Tree of Peace from rooting into the empire. The humans saw the peaceful state of Nilldrasil and had wanted to live in place like it. But because the demons are stopping the Tree of Peace, they have been denied of such lives. The humans thought the demons didn’t want the tree to root because demons wanted to rule over humans.”

“Why did they think that?”

“Since demons live for a long time, the humans thought that the demons were planning to level up their class levels and rule over humans once they gain the advantage. The reason why they were hindering the tree of peace to root was so this would be possible. They looked at that tree as a savior from the demons.”

“Then, how was it stopped?”

“It was stopped due to one of the previous demon king and one of the human king properly negotiating. After having proper negotiations, the demon country had shared their magical advancements with humans. After the humans had experience the convenience of magical advancements and magic tools, they had stopped trying to wage war on the demon country.”

“What about the Tree of Peace?”

“The Tree of Peace had seen this truce and had used its last resort. It appeared in front of the demon king of that time and it introduced itself, naming itself as “Tegariara”. Tegariara negotiated with the demon king of that time but has resulted in failure due to the demon king not allowing her to take root, saying that it’ll bring more calamity than relief. After negotiations had failed, Tegariara had not attempted another rooting again for centuries. That ancient demon king thought that she had abandoned the chance of rooting itself on Edenia. Peace came to Edenia. The relationship of the two countries improved due to the fact that they had a common evil, Tegariara. They had stopped waging war because waging another war will give Tegariara a chance to root itself.”

“So, such a thing happened in the past…”

I’ve never really studied on history. All I’ve been thought is common sense and knowledge used in battle and knowledge in leveling up.

“…You said that she had reached Edenia… does that mean…”

“Yes, it has started its move again.”

“Then, we should chase it away!”

“That would be impossible in our current situation… the reason why the demon country was able to chase Tegariara away in the past was because she attacked from the west. Now, she attacked from the east of Edenia.”

“The east… meaning she’s attacking the human country?”

“Yes… Edenia has let its guard down. Tegariara didn’t give up on its attack, it just made a different attack. It rooted itself around the world until it reached the east side of Edenia.”

“What? It went around the world? but there are no reports about other continents becoming a second Nilldrasil.”

“That is because she never used whatever skill she had to stop EXP from going up in those other continents. She did it so she won’t be noticed until she had reached Edenia.”

“What about the human country? What will they do?”

My master who has been quiet, spoke.

“The companion I have sent to rely the message said that the humans got the report, there has been no response yet…”

“Those humans really had forgotten about Tegariara…”

The demon king put his palm on his forehead.

“I’ve been telling them to prepare for something like this… even after all my warnings, they didn’t even try to find sin title holders. They might be our only hope against Tegariara.”

The demon king looked at me with a serious, pressuring look.

“Zenon, those are the circumstances… now, do you understand why you should get stronger faster?”

I put my left fist on my right shoulder and put my feet together, a demon salute.

“Yes… I’ll do my best to stop Tegariara.”

The demon king nodded.

“We have decided a way to make you get stronger faster. A person will improve as he is put into more dangerous situations. These situations can only be encountered when going on a journey. This is also a good opportunity to solve some of the monster problems within the country, especially the strong ones with high evolution levels.”

“I see… which means I’ll be going out and hunt these monsters.”

“Correct. You will be going with a party and will take on these challenges with only that party without reinforcements. This is a dangerous bet with your life on the line, but it’s the best way to level up.”

“I think this is the best course of action for the kingdom, I’ll do my best.”

“You’ll meet your party tomorrow… The members chosen are you, Nell, Leter and his companion, a support mage and… as much as I regret it, Shaya is also in the party. Her demon bloodline is one of the strongest, if she gets stronger it will be a great help in fending off Tegariara.”

As expected of the demon king… he’ll even risk his love one just for the sake of the country.

If it was me, I could’ve never had that resolve…

I would never want Shaya go to harms way, but that will be hindering her reason for living.

Shaya isn’t the kind of woman you can lock inside. She’s the type who goes into danger for the sake of battle…

That girl is a headache…

♦

Inside a room in the royal demon castle.

“Zenon! It’s been a while since we’ve last go on quests together. I wonder what father has eaten that he finally allowed me to do so!”

“Only you would find this fun…”

I looked at Shaya who was having the time of her life.

“…Are you sure you want to come?”

“What are you talking about? Of course, I will! You think that I’m a burden, don’t you? Not because I have a lower Class Level than you, doesn’t mean you’re stronger!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

I don’t want her to come with us… this isn’t just some game, she might get hurt… just thinking of that is…

[“Hmpf… Why don’t you just go die and stay with her forever?”]

Nell?

Someone entered the door…

It was Nell.

She is a petite girl that has yellow dragon like eyes, yellow neck length hair that has dragon horns on top, and a dragon tail. She’s wearing a yellow sleeveless thigh length one-piece dress, yellow long gloves up to the upper arm, and long boots.

“What’s so good about this knucklehead anyway? Just let her join us and have her killed.”

“You again… what have I ever done to you? Zenon, why did your “panel” or whatsoever turn out like this anyway? Just throw her out, all she does is whine.”

“Grrrr, what an annoying bitch! I hope you die!”

“Why don’t you two get along…”

I remember when these two first met…

Short flashback.

“Oh? Zenon, who is this little girl?”

“L-Little girl? This bitch. I’m Zenon’s lifelong partner! Why don’t you just die somewhere!?”

“How can someone as small as you be his partner?”

“Gaaah! It’s our first meeting, but this is so frustrating!”

End of Flashback.

I wonder why Shaya was acting like that… she was always respectful no matter how small or weak the person is, but she was very hostile against Nell… could she have known that Nell is actually super strong?

[“Hmpf, you’re stupid as ever. I hope you stay that way until you die.”]

…

I really find this little girl annoying sometimes. I hope she grows up one day. I don’t think I’ll survive my whole life listening to this…

“…Hmmm?”

I didn’t notice it before, but there’s one more person in the room.

On the corner where you won’t be able to see even after entering the door, there is someone who is wearing a hood. She’s holding a staff while shaking.

“Shaya, who is that?”

“Eh? I didn’t notice her… there was actually someone else in the room?”

“She looks like a mage she’s probably that support magician the demon king told us about… let’s approach her.”

I approached the girl.

“W-Was I noisy? I-I’m sorry! Please forgive me!”

She shook as he crouched down.

What’s wrong with this girl?

I crouched down and removed her hood.

What was revealed was a beautiful face and shoulder length purple hair down to her shoulders. She has horns and a pink heart shaped mark on her forehead.

It’s a succubus…

“P-Please don’t hurt me… I was only dragged here last night and I don’t know what happened… please forgive me…”

She’s shaking as she spoke.

[“What’s wrong with her?”]

It’s understandable… succubi are looked down upon by people. She’s probably scared because a demon knight and the demon princess are in the same room as her. She said she was dragged here, I wonder what led the demon king to do that?

[“What should we do? She’s our support mage, she’s vital to this operation… if she acts this way from the start, we should kill her.”]

Why are you so violent all the time? Wait, I’ll try to calm her down.

I put my hand over her head.

“N-No! You’ll get dirty!”

“There’s no need for you to be scared. You were dragged her to be part of our adventure. In other words, you’re here to be our support. We’re going to rely on you. Even if you think you are dirty, you’ll still be important to us. So please calm down… I understand that you think our social statuses are different, but if we’re in a party such statuses are worthless. Even if we were not party members, I do not care about social statuses…”

I tried to make the friendliest and brightest smile I can.

“Also, what do you mean by dirty? You don’t look dirty at all, you’re very clean… not to mention, c-cute…”

[“You stumbled and blushed on that last line there. Stop acting like a cool guy, it’s disgusting. Makes me want to kill you.”]

Shut up…

The succubus stopped shaking and looked at my eyes with sparkling eyes.

I-Is this cuteness part of the nature of the succubus? I-I should not stare at her…

[“Idiot, she’s not even doing anything.”]

Which means that this is her natural self without any charming tricks… this one is dangerous in more ways than one.

“Wow, it’s a boy with an all-girls party… you’re one lucky guy.”

!?

We heard a voice from the entrance of the room. Someone just entered the room.

It was a lady. A lady with black hair and black eyes. She’s wearing a cloak, but even with the cloak, her clothing is revealed. She’s revealing outfit that reveals the cleavage her big chest. Her face is one of the prettiest I’ve seen.

When I saw her, I didn’t notice that I’ve forgotten about the cute succubus.

“L-Lucky? What are you talking about?”

I couldn’t help but stutter upon seeing her. I’ve met a lot of human, but she’s definitely my type…

No, no… I have Shaya, I will not succumb!

[“I want to kill this scumbag…”]

“Those eyes… looks like I’ve won the heart of this young boy.”

For some reason, I can feel killing intent from Shaya’s direction. She probably noticed me looking at this beautiful lady with disgusting eyes…

I would be happy it was jealousy, but it was her getting angry at me for being a perverted boy.

Hey, even if I’m calm all the time, doesn’t mean that I’m not a young boy…

“W-What nonsense are you talking about? My heart wasn’t taken by anyone… anyway, by process of elimination, that means your Master Leter’s companion?”

“Correct, I’m that guys companion. I’m an Elemental Battle master. I can transform my hands into blades and use magic.”

Something came out of her cleavage. It was a black hamster.

The black-haired woman made a smile.

“My name is Nap. This little guy here is my pet hamster; his name is Marrow. It’s nice to meet you.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Nap
Being Category: [Person]
Race: [Shadow Myst]
Racial Classification: [Formless]
Title: None
Class: [Geminate Cavalier]
Class Level: 5

Statistics
Level: 32
EXP: 62%
Health: 916
Spirit: 1484
Strength: 1129
Agility: 1261
Magic: 1396

Racial Abilities
⌠Blade Arms⌡

Class Abilities
<Battle Mode Lv. 8>|<Arcane Veins Lv. 4>|<Coetaneous Swordsman Lv. 6>|<Chanting Blade Lv. 3>|<Geminate Slasher Lv. 5>

Skills
<Sword Mastery Lv. 6>|<Dual Sword mastery Lv. 8>|<Ambidexterity Lv. 7>|<Magic Mastery Lv. 8>|<Spirit Mastery Lv. 6>|<Mana Regulation Lv. 3>|<Elemental Magic Lv. 6>
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nell? Why did you look into her panel?

[“Unlike the succubus, she’s more of a threat. I need to keep an eye on her, I can’t kill her easily.”]

…Why would you kill her?

[“Why don’t you ask that to your perverted self?”]