Chapter 106: Exchange Between Family Members
１０６． Exchange Between Family Members
――The next day.
I woke up in the evening(morning) like usual.
My wake-up meal was on the light side to prepare for supper(lunch) at midnight. I mean, it would be rude to the chef if I went to the dinner party with a full stomach…!
Normally, I would start my study or read a book around this time but, since I suddenly got an inspiration in my dream, I chased the other people out of my room.
「Woof?」
Liliana cocked her head upon seeing me kneading the magical power of darkness. The pretense I used to kick the others out of my room was because I wanted to flirt with Liliana.
… Lately, I've gotten all sorts of nicknames from other people such as 「Collector of Beauties of All Race」, 「Precocious Little Prince」, or 「The Second Coming of Diagias」. Though I said 「GAHAHAHA LET THEM SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT!」, those nicknames actually hurt me inside, I'm innocent dammit!
『Resistance is futile, not that you're trying to deny it either.』
Yeah… Regrettably so…Well, I actually didn't really care about my reputation in the Demon Kingdom.
That matter aside, now let's talk about Dark Magic.
The one thing that I thought about was how to use the holy attribute without having it cook me alive. Thus I tried to apply the theory from Enma's necromancy lesson to this.
『Hou, interesting.』
What do you think, Ante?
During this time, I used a coating spell to apply a coating made from the magical power of darkness around my body. The principle was the same as the barrier magic used by high-ranking undead like Enma to protect their soul.
It had a special trait that no ward magic had, namely the fact that it not only repelled or negated curse, it could also act like a sturdy wall.
According to Enma, it was like a 『Shell』 that protects the soul from the pressure of the world while diving into the spirit realm. It wasn't that different from a defensive ward in terms of robustness, but since it offered strong protection against curses and concepts, Enma never forgot to clad herself in this spell over and over again on a daily basis.
… In battle, it was theoretically possible to renew 『Shell』 by creating layered magical powers on top of one another… That's why even if a curse that contaminated the soul hit her during the battle, her soul had already been fully protected.
The bad news was the fact that now I knew that the degree of difficulties in killing Enma had gone up by miles.
Well, that matter aside, I might be able to apply this magic to me too.
Since I only had the darkness attribute, and couldn't use any other attribute, properly speaking, warding spells should be enough.
According to Ante, the Holy attribute wasn't an attribute from 『Attribute』, it was the curse given birth by humankind itself.
In that case, did it belong to the Non-Attribute category?
『Theoretically speaking, that should be the case.』
In that case, using it along with a defensive shell spell should be possible. Meaning that it should be possible for me to put holy attributes on top of the shell of darkness that covered my body…Right?
――But man, it's so damn tough trying to use another magic while maintaining the shell around my body!
If Enma were to see me at this moment, I could see her looking at me with a smug look on her face as if saying "I've a lot of trouble in mastering that too".
「Well, this is something that I have to try first.」
「Woof!」
If it's now, I could recover immediately even if I got injured. Here goes nothing!
Thus, the result of my experiment was…
Hardly could be called successful.
Surely, I wouldn't be injured if I spread holy attributes on top of the coating.
However, I realized that even a momentary loss of focus would result in having the holy attribute being mixed into the layer of darkness attribute.
Thus, my entire body ended up being enveloped by the combination of the two attributes. It felt as if boiling oil was poured from my head and then my body got burned alive. Had it not been for Liliana, I might've already died…
「Woo~f…」
Liliana was whining, and crying as she licked my tattered body to heal my wounds.
「Thank you, this can also serve as pain resistance training…」
It was a pain akin to thousands of searing hot needles pricking my skin.
The me from before receiving Platy's training might've fainted for sure.
『This might be useful…』
Depending on the next training, of course.
In the first place, I realized that developing multiple layers was tough.
I need a proper amount of training to be able to maintain it while constantly creating new shells… Enma who could pull off this feat in the middle of battle was truly a monster.
… I continued my training after that alas, maintaining two layers was already my current limit.
But, there was some feedback. I could slowly feel the potential of this technique.
As long as I layered according to Shell→ Holy attribute→ Shell formation, no one would realize that I was using the holy attribute.
And once my proficiency rivals that of Enma… I might be able to awaken Holy Sword Adamas in a normal state right?
†††
Since it was flirting time with Liliana, I left toward the palace as soon as we were done.
――And just as expected, the green ba*stard had returned from the front line.
「Yoo little bro. This great me has become a marquis.」
The first thing he did once he saw me was send a greeting with a smug look on his face. Yet he was sulking when I told him 「Ish dat shoo~, congratulatio~ns.」.
Thus I realized that it might sound too curt so I added, 「Uwaaa, you must be a genius to be able to become marquis at such an age, I tip my hat to ya!」. Yet he looked more and more irritated instead.
Even during the meal, this guy kept talking about what happened at the front line.
As for the content, honestly, I didn't even want to recall it. It was simply too unpleasant. I really barely managed to hold back from clicking my tongue by focusing on the food on my plate but, honestly, I couldn't help but keep being drawn into that bastard's story.
… It seems he managed to kill everyone, including the hero and sword saint. This fu*cker…
Rather, this was actually included in 『Political topic』. Kick this guy out dammit.
Yet, Aiogias and Rubyfia seem to enjoy hearing this kind of story. They were even laughing in the chorus when they heard how that green ba*stard 『Sent back』 the captured hero.
Hahaha, fine then. I'll make sure that you guys would suffer the same treatment someday.
Diagias didn't seem to be interested in this kind of topic, the Glutton was truly focusing on stuffing a mountain of dishes before her into her mouth―― Honestly, I envy her happy-go-lucky attitude when it comes to food――, and our sleeping beauty was half-asleep like usual
These guys were barely forgivable. I guess I'm still favoring my relatives in the end.
Nevertheless, the Demon King was…
Despite his uselessly tall and muscular body, he ate sparingly, and slowly.
「Uhm… It's delicious.」
Today's main dish was made from lamb, roast on the bone, it was cut up skillfully and delicious enough to make me groan on a single bite. He was the slowest eater among us.
It seems he really enjoyed the taste of the food… Glutton should follow his example a bit.
After finishing the dessert that was pudding topped with moderately sweet fresh cream, the dinner ended up in a slightly warm atmosphere like usual. Except for me.
「Does anyone have any other business?」
Everyone fell into silence when the Demon King asked that question.
「Okay then. Let's e—」
――At this point, Diagias was supposed to be the first person to dash out of the dining room――
「…?!」
All of us were really surprised.
Because today, Diagias was just waiting while sipping his after-meal tea.
「… What?」
Diagias frowned when he realized that he had become the center of attention.
「No… I mean, what about your women?」
Aiogias represented everyone by asking him.
「It's not a big deal. I have once in the blue moon days like this every once in a while.」
「I-I see…」
「Not since… The first day?」
Rubyfia exchanged glances with the Demon King.
「W-Whatever then. I shall excuse myself.」
Aiogias stood up and left his seat. And though Rubyfia looked curious too, she eventually left after Aiogias.
「… Do you have business with me?」
Even the Demon King asked, maybe it really was some sort of secret.
「No.」
Diagias shook his head before he looked at me.
「I just have some personal questions for Jilbagias.」
… Eh, with me!?
「Let's have a chat, Jilbagias.」
WHY THOUGH!?
I'M A FRICKING MAN DUDE ALRIGHT!?
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