Certhac's knowledge

Certhac walked as if nothing was going on inside him. He was a shapeshifter and pure blood at that. He could restructure his muscles to look like a different animal or a race.

He can also harden his flesh like steel and make it soft and stretchy like rubber. He was practically the last of his race.

More than 400 years ago his entire race refused to bow down to the demon king. This caused his entire clan to be ravaged and his family to fall unto slavery after being shackled by the demon king.

He and his entire went to suicide after the extreme treatment under the demon king. It was like being under the rule of a barbarian.

"Carthy you have to survive okay?"

Those were the last words Certhac's father told him. He was sent to the front lines to fight against the strongest human forces.

Thanks to their shapeshifting ability, Certhac's father was able to last long on the battlefield. But untimely failed to get back alive.

Certhac deeply hated the demon king. But he couldn't show it all, or else he would be disregarding his Father's wishes.

So he planned a way to get out of the demon continent. He meticulously planned to be a spy. His flattery proved to be useful when he convinced the demon king.

The first thing Certhac did was to hide his traces from the demon king. He knew that the Demon King's hounds would smell him instantly among the human continent, so he had to be meticulous.

He sent some talented individuals, but what he sent were criminals. This was enough to satisfy the demon king. However, the demon king wanted more, till he said he wanted Certhac to send children.

The demon king managed to touch Certhac's bottom line. He sent the coordinates of the demon King specifically to the Knights of the Imperial family.

This caused a massacre. Both sides.

Both sides cried at their losses. Whilst the demon king could be a barbarian the common folk of the demon continent couldn't be called the same.

They too had a family. And Certhac deeply regretted his decision. He wanted to repent for the things he has done.

So he decided to cut his horn and relied on his family's heirloom. The race shifting ring, yes race shifting ring. It was simply so powerful that it could make the wearer change races.

He used it to be a part of human society till he met Leonard. In his journey in those years, he learned too many things. Lost magical techniques, Mana purity rank, Types of mana, and many more.

He recorded them all in a book till he digitized it, he quickly burned the book after writing it all in a singular 8GB SD card and hid it away inside the orphanage.

This information is also useless for him, Who has severed his horn, if he had his horn, not only would he be powerful enough to rival an Archbishop he would also be strong enough to be an Apprentice Arcana.

But alas, he would rather die than be a slave of the demon king.

"So, Leonard."

"Would you have plans for these kids?"

There are a total of 12 kids. They all sleep in the living room. At night they would move the furniture to the side and would put cardboard then a very used futon to lay on.

It's a bit cramped but at least they have somewhere to sleep.

"Simple First is to give them somewhere to sleep on, something to eat and dress up."

Certhac looked at Leonard, he had a sincere face that made his heart at ease. Leonard looked at Certhac and tilted his head.

"Is something on my face?"

"No… No, I just wondered how you managed to have a long-lost technique."

"The eyes?"

Certhac nodded.

"My vision was blurry, I got lazy and didn't go to a doctor so I focused mana on it."

"That's… wow… "

Certhac has mixed feelings about Leonard; only a genius would say something like that. Certhac, before removing his horn developed Mana eyes to ensure that the people around him won't backstab him.

Now this child called Leonard discovered Mana eyes just because his vision was blurry. He couldn't help but feel… stingy.

"Anyways, this isn't an official orphanage recognized by the government. So I'll try and convince these kids…"

"Yeah, do it for a week."

"Pardon?"

"I'll try to arrange some things for them so I can make some more memories for them."

Certhac made a soft expression, for him, these kids became family over the years or months they've been together.

He can't just part one day because someone simply decided to adopt these kids.

Leonard on the other hand was looking at the children with his mana eyes.

'A gold mine. Truly a gold mine.'

There is a kid named Lucian with talent in analytics. There is this child named Josephine who has a talent for Earth magic.

All of the 12 kids have something good to offer, they have talents unforeseen by people except for him and Certhac.

"May I ask something?"

Leonard spoke to Certhac.

"Yes?"

"Do you still know a few demons after the Demon King is dead?"

"Yes… ah, I think you should know this."

"Hm?"

"The demon king might rise again."

"huh? Why?"

This news was a shock to Leonard, is this the story correction course the system was talking about?

"Yeah, he had a daughter. However, she is more cunning and smarter than the previous demon king."

"Tsk… looks like there are going to be more problems again…"

"I don't know about the demon King's daughter but… "

Certhac walked away and that left Leonard confused, however, he came back soon.

"Here."

Certhac gave Leonard an SD card.

"hm? What is this for?"

"All the things I've learned throughout my life, I could've given you my heirloom but I have to use it… don't worry I'll tell you where I'll put my grave so you could use it."

"What the— Certhac I won't touch a corpse. I'm not going that low."

Seeing Leonard's agitated look, Certhac breathed a sigh of relief. It was a stroke of luck for him that Leonard was the one who found him in such a shabby place.

"Right, sorry for saying that."

Leonard doesn't have to grab Certhac's heirloom. The system would reward him with one anyway and even if he knew about the ring and the system didn't give him one. He still wouldn't stoop so low to grab it off Certhac's corpse.

"Instead. Call me when you decide to let go. I'll at least prepare a proper burial site."

"How kind of you young master."

Certhac is moved. Who wouldn't? He was a dying soul and all he wished for is for the children to have a good future and a proper death bed is all.

"Though. The young master the masses knew was a bit bratty."

Certhac chuckled. This irked Leonard and made him look at Certhac with a bulging vein in his forehead. Certhac even looked at Leonard innocently with a smiling face. All Leonard could do is reciprocate, calm himself down and think of it as a joke.

This made Certhac laugh a bit, all Leonard could do is sigh.

"I'll be going, thanks for this."

Leonard waved around the SD card.

"I'll be back in a week as I said."

"Thank you again, young master."

Leonard once again looked at the children, then left the orphanage. He could feel the Bodyguard's presence on top of a rooftop so he knows he was still there.

"Markus, we're going home."

Leonard said in an announcing tone. Then walked off.

After going home in the same car, the first thing he encounters is a distraught Lorraine.

Once he got to the doors of the mansion a rocket in the form of a child hugged Leonard.

"B-brother!"

"oof!" Leonard grunted "H-hello Lorraine."

Lorraine's properly-getting treatment, Leonard healed the part of her tongue that was cut off with a healing technique that no one in the duchy knows. Well, Lenneza has her suspicions.

Leonard looked at the smiling Lorraine, she has big blue eyes and her scalp is already coloring her hair with a deep shade of red.

Leonard couldn't help but hug this adorable creature in front of him.

"Cmon, Brother just came back from somewhere. Does Lorraine want to eat?"

"D-doughnuts"

"We haven't had dinner yet so no donuts for now."

"mm… drumsticks…"

"Oh what a good choice, after you eat that we can have doughnuts."

Lorraine was happy to hear that and then held my hand.

"L-Lorraine! Where are you?"

Then they heard a familiar voice. Lenneza seems to be trying hard to find Lorraine.

"I already found her… ke ke ke…."

Lenneza looked at Leonard and Lenneza. Leonard seems to find Lenneza's suffering funny.

"Hahaha… Lorraine's hungry… Want to eat with us?"

"urk… y-yes.. "

Lenneza held out her hand, wanting to hold Lorraine's hand as well. But what Lorraine did made Lenneza embarrassed as Lorraine held Leonard tighter.

"L-Lorraine… hehe… don't do your sister like that… pfft."

"L-lets just eat!"

"Hahaha!"

Lenneza is quite embarrassed, so she just turned around.

"Oh, Lenneza wanted to hold hands? If Lorraine doesn't want to, want to hold mine?"

"What?!"

Lenneza became flushed.

"What? It's just siblings holding hands together. Is Lenneza thinking about something else?"

This made Lenneza red as a tomato, she just ran away because she couldn't take it anymore.

"Hahaha… okay let's go, we don't want our little Lorraine to be hungry."

Lorraine nodded, Leonard took a closer look at Lorraine. Her hands, which were so thin it could snap like a twig were now gaining some flesh. Her pale cheeks were now soft like a baby's cheek.

Leonard couldn't help but feel proud of himself as he saw Lorraine's health.

They ate chicken drumsticks later.