A man and the burnt snake

It's been around 3 years since I took in Elaine, a lot of stuff has changed since then. Both me and Elaine have become 12.

I finally hit the grandmaster stage too. It was harder than the other stages so it took longer, but compared to the decades those old geezers you hear about took, it was nothing but a sweat.

The search for the pillars is still going on and so far, disappointingly we have only found a candidate for the third pillar.

Elaine herself volunteered to be a pillar but I turned her down. Pillars can't be randomly chosen, a person must have a certain affinity for a certain type of demonic art in order to be considered a candidate for becoming a pillar.

Although I do admit, I didn't expect Elaine to get this strong within the 3 years I since I've met her. I think she should be around second rate now. Her talent is actually amazing.

Well anyways, the demon academy did grow by a lot, under the guise of Elaine herself, she managed to recruit more than a hundred members.

I did teach her destiny bond so I guess that's fine, we shouldn't have to worry about traitors because of that. Elaine also handpicked people from the lowest walks of life to become demons because they had nowhere to go, which made our ranks extremely loyal.

The candidate we found for the third pillar is a young girl named Risa, a half-beastman with the lineage of a silver wolf so she's extremely talented in using medicine.

The third pillar is known for their prowess with medicine and so far we haven't found anyone else besides her that is capable of performing those kinds of techniques, so it's safe to say she'll become the third pillar.

Elaine found her while training about a year ago in the Pelunia forest, she and her brother Ries, were thrown out of their clan after the former was infected with corrupt blight. I healed her and they both offered to gave their lives to us.

"I feel a sense of deja vu." Is what I thought when they had said that.

For now, both Elaine and the two siblings are doing training far away all the while searching for another pillar, they said it's some sort of practice for them. Well they're all strong so I don't really mind but it does get kind of boring sometimes, especially since there has been no hope of finding another pillar thus far.

I did want to go myself, but it seems they refuted my suggestion and pleaded me to stay here instead. They said something along the lines of a master should just wait for results.

it's been quite a while since they came back so I wonder how they're doing. I even prepared new clothes for them, which I'm wearing today.

An enchanted black robe capable of blocking the most destructive of spells and mask that hides your presence and changes your voice, making you nearly unrecognizable.

The best thing about them is that they are all stored away specially in the sealed demonic ring that only responds to demonic power so not everyone can wear them.

The others of the demon academy have been out on their own missions as well, so it's just me for the time being. So I was thinking of killing some time.

And for that reason is why I'm here!

Recently I've heard of a rumor that a mana beast is roaming near the outskirts of the kingdom. It's apparently very strong and even though a team of capital mages set out to subjugate it, it always manages to evade their sight. Although they didn't explicitly say it, I'm sure it's a splint eater.

Those guys are extremely fast and have huge bodies, they are kinda like snakes, but the difference between them is that splint eaters can blend in with their surroundings and erase their presence. Not to mention, it's a 4 star mana beast so it's no wonder the mages couldn't do anything to it.

I'm pretty sure the royal mage corps could take care of it in a flash, but I guess it's true that they have a pride too high for them.

This particular splint eater has been going around terrorizing the villages near the outskirts of the Corsair kingdom, causing a lot of turmoil. I'm here to subdue the splint eater and take it's teeth.

The teeth of splint eaters have quite a bit of mystery behind them so I was hoping to kill time researching about it while waiting for Elaine and the others to return.

[CLANG!]

Hmm? My eyebrow raised while running.

What was that sound? West?

The sound sounded like a sword hitting a metal plate. It seems whoever it is, they had found the split eater already.

"Looks like it's around this area."

I hid behind the bushes and watched as the battle took place. It was really a sight to see. A man with long blue hair charged forward against the split eater, he had cuts all over his body and even more scars could be seen. Looking at his eyes, he must be determined to kill the beast no matter what.

However, the beast doesn't look damaged, that is to be expected of course, with it's metal like scales which are both impact and magic resistant, it only hisses back at the man as though it was mocking him. But he doesn't stop, no matter how many times he get's pushed back, cut or slammed to the ground, he continues to fight.

Just then, I feel a tingle run down my spine. Blade, my shadow pet was trying to communicate with me.

After a few messages back and forth, my eyes lit up. Blade had just told me that he was feeling a sense of affinity with the man as with me.

I quickly let out a strand of demonic mana onto the man and sure enough...

"A dragon huh."

So that man is a candidate for the first pillar.

[THUNK!]

The man finally falls to the ground. For the next few moments he had tried to reach for his sword, but to no avail. He had already used up nearly all energy in his body, while the snake looked at him mockingly.

Well I guess it's time for me to step in.

It would be bad if he died.

I nonchalantly walk out and stand in front of the snake like creature, with my back facing the man lying on the ground.

"Sto...p!"

I can hear him mustering all the energy of his body to talk to me.

"Please...run...."

"Don't worry about me." I said to the man while facing the beast.

"Please run...you don't even have a weapon."

I guess that's true, I don't have a weapon on me right now, nowadays, since I have Blade I'm too lazy to bring one wherever I go. Blade is more than enough. But for this fight, I feel that even taking out Blade will take more effort than killing this thing in front of me.

"Weapon? I don't need one."

The beast hisses at the both of us and charges forth. I bring my hand up and make a position as if I'm ready to flip a coin, and point directly at the beast.

"Know your place."

"Demonic art 42: Hellfire rose."

As soon as I flicked my thumb, a small spark entered the beasts mouth. But before it could reach us, it's body burst into flames, in the shape of a flower.

The next few moments, I was busy taking out the splint eater's teeth. It had just been burnt to a crisp so I wasn't sure whether there was any left.

Luckily when I walked up to the corpse, they were at least somewhat intact. It was as though the teeth had been a separate entity from the snake.

Since I had just made a loud commotion, I can already hear the guards and the mages coming from the South. I better take this guy and go somewhere else...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WAH!" The man shot up sitting upright, seemingly awakened.

He looked at his arms only to find the wounds he had attained from fighting the split eater gone.

"Looks like you've woken up."

The man stares at me with a weird expression. He did just wake up so I guess it's normal to give him time to compile his thoughts. It seems he fainted after the beast perished.

Maybe it was because I was wearing a mask and covered in black clothing, but this man was quite on guard.

Maybe I should try lightening up the mood a bit by using a charm spell. Although I'm not very good at these types of spells, I'm sure I can make him relax even just a little bit.

Luckily he stopped tensing up after being exposed to the spell.

He stands up looking right down at me, then takes a step forward and kneels.

"Thank...you."

For the next few minutes he tells me about his life story and how the splint eater is the one that destroyed his entire village. His early life is quite a bore though so I'll omit those details.

Zalfious Lop, age 23 and a third rate mage. He had been on a journey when the splint eater decimated his village. Seeing as how incompetent the capital mages were, he decided to take it upon himself to exact revenge. I'm surprised he lived with such meager powers. I'm more surprised he found the splint eater.

Maybe it let itself be found just to toy with him?

"I have no place to return to now, my village is destroyed and my family is no more. I don't have any reason to live anymore."

This guy trusts me quite a lot doesn't he? Telling me his whole life story from the get go. Was that spell really that effective?

"I owe you my life, savior."

"In that case why don't you work for me?"

He looks at me, eyes filled with curiosity.

"I did save you and completed your revenge, so don't you think you should pay me back?"

"Ahh yes..."

His eyes lit up, it looked like just been given an epiphany.

"It's fine if you don't want to."

I stepped away and hastily marched off.

Now then what will you do? Will you take my hand?

Those kind of thoughts were in my mind as I walked further and further away from him.

"Please let me serve you."

Yes! Plan successful. I turn back to see the man still kneeling, putting his head on the ground.

I start smiling smugly and walk back towards him.

"Very well, we shall we form a contract."