1.10 A demon

It has been 9 months since I came to this world and my days here have been quite fun. They used to say, "time passes quickly when you are having fun" and I now know it really is true. In my previous life, everything was a competition and I didn't even have time to take care of myself, let alone having fun with friends.

Like when I was in school, I had to study a lot to get a good job in the future. And when I finished school and time to get a job came, everywhere I went for a job they said that they were looking for experienced people. Nobody even had time to look at the fresh starters like me.

Compared to my previous life, I have friends in this one who work together with me. There are plenty of opportunities in this world and the most incredible thing is, this world has magic which makes lives here a lot easier. Maybe the problem with my previous life wasn't lack of magic, I think it's just that people had forgotten to care for each other. Well, who even had time for that, they were all busy in their rat race.

For now, we were all having breakfast together. Nina and I usually cook in the morning since Miss Rose also has to work at the temple and we thought this will ease her burden. Miss Rose was here with us having breakfast too.

"Nara, I'm going to train in the forest today, and since you've learned all the basics of swordsmanship, will you join me?" Ronald who was done with his breakfast turned towards me and asked.

I think it's a good idea since I have mastered almost all the arts Ronald taught me. And it's about time I learn to combine my sword art with magic. According to Ronald, training such arts in the forest is a much better idea than doing it in the usual training ground.

Arica couldn't train in the forest because she used fire magic and it may cause a forest fire if anything accidentally went out of hand. But since I can use water magic, I think using basic fire magic is not a problem for me.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I can't wait to learn the things you are going to teach me." I said eagerly.

I turned towards girls who were almost done with breakfast and asked: "What will you guys be doing?"

"Since Arica still has some preparations to do for the written test for Magic knight academy entrance exam. I will be helping her with that in the library" said Nina while looking towards Arica.

Arica was good with practical skills but she was not good at answering written questions. That was not a big problem though since writing only covered around 10 percent of the total marking system for knights. The rest of the marks were given based on a practical test which differed every year. For magicians it was different, writing covered 30 percent of the total marks for magicians.

"And what about you guys Marina?" I turned towards Marina and asked her.

She still has difficulty talking confidently but she has gotten a lot better since the start. She is still not comfortable describing things in detail. But she has learned a few fire and water attack spells from Arica and Nina which will help her a lot during the test.

"Am... Sistina and I will help Miss Rose today" She said while looking towards Sistina.

Sistina understood so she followed after her and said, "since Miss Rose's childhood friend Miss Lily will be arriving this afternoon, we have decided to help Miss Rose in finishing the work before that."

"Thank you Sistina and Marina. You all are very good kids," said Miss Rose getting emotional.

After breakfast, Ronald and I were the first ones to leave. We said our byes to everyone and left for the forest. The forest was a bit far so we had to walk for at least one hour to reach there. Since this world doesn't have any specific time measuring system, this is just approximation.

It was far and took a long time to get there so he started explaining how to combine mana with the sword on the way. We both had wooden swords since metal swords were expensive.

"It doesn't matter if you only have just a wooden sword because when you learn how to pass mana through it becomes harder and sharper than normal steel sword. You can even use magic attacks with your sword." He said holding the wooden sword with both his hand.

He filled the wooden sword he had with mana and swung it towards the tree. A cut mark appeared on the tree. This magic looks very dangerous since it's so hard to see it coming. I am more interested in learning how to defend against it than how to use this attack.

"Since wind magicians can be tricky, you should be prepared for this. You can enhance your physical body by using mana cloak. You have to make a thick layer of raw mana like a cloak around you."

Since raw mana couldn't be seen and only be sensed, I couldn't see what he did but tried doing it as he described. I am not sure if it worked or not but I am not planning to tell him to attack me with that magic to see if it worked. Since I was good with magic control, I think I will be able to maintain it for a while.

We reached inside the forest which had trees with cuts mark all over them. I realized this may be the place where he usually trains.

'This place looks cool, like a training ground from some ninja movie.'

"Now let's train how to focus your mana into your sword. For this one, you need to treat your sword like a part of your body, you need to remember your sword is both your shield and weapon. Then pass the mana absorbed in your body from your hands to your sword and convert it into magical energy right before release."

He demonstrated the cool attack he did earlier for which I was eager to learn the defence, rather than the actual technique.

"This is called air slash. It's hard to master since you need to synchronize the mana conversion with the swing but the way you learn things, I think you will pick up quickly."

I tried doing that but when I was trying to absorb mana from the environment, I sense something else, something dark.

As soon as I sensed that, I turned towards Ronald and said, "I sense something, it feels as if it's polluting the mana."

As soon as I said that Ronald closed his eyes and tried to sense that too. Wind magic users are good at sensing things so he picked it up too, he said, "It feels like a demon, but there shouldn't be any around this part."

As soon as he said that I reflexively jumped towards Ronald. An attack that looked similar to air slash but was a lot bigger and black in color passed right above us and chopped the tree behind us.

"CURSE THOSE KNIGHTS!!! UHAAAAAA"

A gorilla-like being from whose body a black smoke-like thing was coming out came in front of us. It definitely wasn't mana that was covering his body because it felt evil and natural mana was always invisible.

"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT"

He started attacking us with the attack he used earlier. His aim was off but his range was large so we barely managed to dodge it. We ran away from there and hid in the bushes.

"It looks like a lesser demon and it's strange that one has appeared in this area. Usually, they appear in the forest on the other side of the town. This is my first time seeing one here in all these years" Ronald said looking more worried than surprised.

"Can we fight it?" I asked since we had no way of escaping with the way it was chopping down the trees with every attack.

"I don't think we can fight it. Even trained knights can only fight lesser demons when they are being supported by a magician. Our best option is to distract the demon and make a run for it" He said looking at his wooden sword.

It was true, there was no way two kids with wooden swords could beat a demon. But our options were limited at this point.

"Okay, I have an idea. I am not sure if it will work but let's give it a try" I said while peaking towards the demon from the bush.

"Okay, what is it?" He asked looking towards me.

"I will sneak towards the other side and when I give the signal you will attack the demon with air slash. It may not harm it but it will definitely distract it and at that moment I will attack the demon with fire javelin from behind. As soon as I do that we will make a run for it before the demon has time to recover." I told Ronald the plan to which he agreed.

As planned I sneaked behind the demon and signaled to attack. Ronald came out of the bush and attacked the demon with air slash and ran towards the tree on the other side before the demon had an opportunity to attack towards that direction. As soon as the demon started attacking in the direction from where Ronald made an attack earlier. I stroked on demon using three fire javelin at the same time.

I couldn't use my full power because that would cause a forest fire but I was ready to use it as a last resort. The demon started blindly attacking everywhere when he was stabbed with the fire javelins. We made a run for it but I wasn't very lucky, I was hit by one of the black slashes and got thrown towards the tree.

I was sure I was going to die if one of those hit me but I survived thanks to the Mana cloak Ronald taught me on the way here. I looked towards the demon which had stopped attacking. The fire javelins were still stabbed on it. After a few seconds, the demon disappeared leaving behind only the black mist.

We breathed a sigh of relief. It was the most terrifying experience I have ever had since I came to this world. Right after we were able to breathe properly we decided to head back towards the village.

Next Chapter: Back Home Alive