116. A Demon
After getting the sword, Ben becomes more excited about his journey. He explores Waas Forest with Bella and covers the whole forest in 2 weeks. They found some interesting things, but none of them are as good as the sword.
Ben also have a battle with a group of Lizardmen last week. Those Lizardmen are the ones that attacked his village in the past. They've moved to a small lake near the north beach.
Now he can defeat them alone without using any tool like Lacrima bombs. But Lizardmen are tough and it needs a lot of effort for him to defeat them all. Besides, those Lizardmen are getting stronger too, just like him.
He tried to fight them using his new sword, but it didn't work. His swordsmanship is still very bad and couldn't defeat the Lizardmen. Even though the sword's quality is very high, but his skill isn't suitable to handle it.
So Ben fought the Lizardmen using his usual fighting style and succeed to defeat them. But he wanted to be able to use his sword perfectly. That's why he started to train his swordsmanship every day since he defeated the Lizardmen.
Ben trained his swordsmanship following the manuals that he saved in AI Chip's database. He's glad that he was collecting many kinds of books even though he didn't need them at that time. So now he doesn't need to worry when he finally needs it.
Currently, Ben & Bella is moving toward the mountains area at the West of Waas Forest. There are some mountains of different sizes & heights there. It will take a longer time to explore every mountain there.
"Hmm, I've gone to the mountains at the south area of this mountain range. I just need to explore the middle & north area," says Ben while looking at the map.
Ben then starts his exploration on the mountain range. He keeps using his magic sense and AI Chip to scan his surrounding. The combination of his magic sense & AI Chip's scanning can cover an area with a 1 km radius.
As he walks and looks around, Ben plays with his magic and new sword. Bella also follows him and plays around with her sword. This way, they'll get used to handling the sword even though it doesn't increase their swordsmanship.
Days passed and they haven't found anything noteworthy again. Only some battles with strong wild magical creatures that happened in the last 8 days. Even now, they encounter a magical creature, but it is different.
"Ho, a demon, what a coincidence," says Ben while grinning.
They find a demon in a cave located in one of the northern mountains. This demon isn't an Etherious, Ben can feel it because of his Devil Slayer Magic. It has a different aura from the Etheriouses that he met in the past.
"What a human do in this place?" asks the demon as he comes out from the darkness.
The demon has the appearance of a middle-aged human. But he is very big & tall with a height of 3 meters. He also has 3 sharp horns on his head and a pair of sharp long fangs in his mouth.
"I was just exploring this area when I found this cave. I sensed demonic energy from here, so I checked it out. I never thought I will find a demon in here though," says Ben.
"You can sense demonic energy? Are you a Devil Slayer?" asks the demon curiously.
"I am," says Ben while nodding.
"Oh, how rare. I thought Devil Slayer doesn't exist at this age. What kind of Devil Slayer Magic that you used?" asks the demon curiously.
"Why should I tell you? I don't even know you and you are a demon while I'm a Devil Slayer," says Ben while frowning.
"Come on, just because I'm a Demon and you're a Devil Slayer doesn't mean that we can't talk right? Devil Slayer is just a name for humans who can use Demon's magic. It's the same as Dragon Slayer who learned Dragon's Magic," says the Demon.
"Well, you're not wrong. But even if you are a human, I still won't tell it to someone that I just met," says Ben.
"That makes sense. Then how if we just talk about casual things? You don't have a problem talking with a Demon, right?" asks the Demon.
"Haven't we talked for some minutes now?" asks Ben back.
"Hmm, you're right, it's not a problem then. So let me introduce myself. I am Morgbitt, a hermit who has stayed here for, uh... 200 years I think, I can't remember it too well now. Anyway, it's been hundreds of years since I live here alone," says Morgbitt.
"I'm Ben, 16 y.o, a Mage from Fiore. This is," says Ben while pointing at Bella.
"Bella, cute cat," says Bella smugly.
"Haha, you sure are a cute cat. Welcome to my home. I don't have anything here, not even chairs for guests. So how if we go outside where the scenery is better?" asks Morgbitt.
"Sure, this place is also smelly. When is the last time you clean this place?" asks Ben while rubbing his nose that starts to get itchy because of the bad smell.
"I never clean it, that's too troublesome, after all," says Morgbitt casually.
Ben & Bella have disgusted expressions before they run outside to get the fresh air. Morgbitt now feels bad because of it. But he never had any guest and never expect one to come. So he never needs to bother cleaning his home in case he has a guest.
"I think I need to clean this place after this. But that will just be a waste of energy though," says Morgbitt with a sad expression.
Morgbitt follows Ben & Bella to the outside and sees them breathing deeply many times. They really enjoy the fresh air that they get after getting out of the cave.
"You look like people who have just come out of prison," says Morgbitt.
"We are," says Ben while Bella nods in agreement.
Their honesty makes Morgbitt sweatdrops and laughs nervously. The three of them then find a place to sit and cook the prey that Ben caught. He doesn't sense any malicious intent from Morgbitt, but he is still cautious of this demon.
Ben knows that not all demons are evil, just like humans. The example is Midas who wasn't evil, even though he was a battle maniac. It's just that most demons are evil because they're the embodiment of negative emotions.
Ben has some talks with Morgbitt while roasting the meat. Morgbitt wasn't from this area, he came from far on the north side of this continent. He was traveling with his wife in the past, but she passed away in this place after getting ill.
"So you don't want to leave her?" asks Ben.
"Yeah, life is meaningless without her. So I want to stay close with her even though she has gone," says Morgbitt with a solemn expression.
"But living 200 years alone isn't easy, right?" asks Ben.
"You're right, it's very hard for me to live here alone without anyone. Maybe it will be better if we have a child, but we didn't. I thought of killing myself many times before, but I always stopped because of Audrey's last wish. She wanted me to live, so I won't disappoint her," says Morgbitt.
"She must be proud of you now because you still keep your promise. Although I'm not sure if she's happy seeing you living alone like this for 200 years," says Ben.
"Haha, I'm sure she won't be happy because she asked me to find a woman that will take care of me after she died. But as I thought, no one can replace her in my heart," says Morgbitt while smiling warmly.
"At least you can find a friend, you know," says Ben.
"I have, it's a giant red eagle. I met him 50 years after Audrey's death. But he died 20 years later and it made me afraid to have another friend. I'm afraid to be left again," says Morgbitt.
Ben looks down because deep in his heart, he feels the same as Morgbitt. He's always afraid that his loved ones will leave him again like his biological family. They get silent after that and just watch the meat getting roasted.
"It's done, let's leave the heavy topic and just enjoy the food," says Ben.
"Alright," replies Morgbitt.
They start to eat the meat and stop talking about the sad things. A human, a demon, and a cat have started to become friends.
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