NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Growing Horns
７．Growing Horns
Good day, this is Jilbagias who just started growing horns after a recent headache.
Five years had passed since I reincarnated.
It happened one day when I did the usual things in my daily life such as exploring the demon king castle(in the name of playing around), learning the demon race's hand to hand combat, and studying.
The sides of my head suddenly felt so fu*cking painful, it's definitely different from the kind of pain that I felt when Sofia was grinding her fists on the sides of my head, so I went to sleep with that kind of feeling, and got a huge surprise when I woke up, namely the bloodstains on my pillow.
And just when I felt something was amiss, I found out that my horns had grown.
It was still small right now but that pair of ominous shaped horns unique to the demon race was growing from the sides of my head.
「 Congratulations Young master! Well, Jilbagias-sama to be exact, you're not 『Young Master』 anymore after you've grown your horns!」
Sofia, who came to wake me up, was clapping her hands as she congratulated me who was still touching my horns with a dazed look on my face.
Well it's just the usual Sofia―― But, I'm not in the mood to reply to her right now.Reason being the vortex of magical power that I saw in her.
To be exact, she was a literal lump of magical power. From what I understood from this situation, her body wasn't even real, she was just a lump of magical power that forcefully molded into her current form.
A~h, I see now.
The reason why devils exploded when they died was… simply because the energy that maintained their 『Form』 had collapsed.
The scholars did say that 『Devil is an existence that is closely resembling spirit』 but, I guess I understood the reason for that now. They were fundamentally different from fleshy living beings like us.
「… Ah, it seems you finally understand eh, Jilbagias-sama?」
Sofia spread her arms with a pompous smile on her face as she looked at me.
The magical power that was oozing out from her hands were forming wedge-shaped demon race letters which read as――『Congratulation for growing your horn』.
This was the first time in my life-including my previous life- I could have a magical power as clear as this.
So this was the kind of world seen from the perspective of those with high magical power such as dragons, forest elfs, or high rank sorcerers.
Regarding the demon race, the fact that their horn was an important sensory organ was a common knowledge but, I never expected that it was in fact an understatement. The world that I saw after my horn grew in was akin to another world compared to before…
「My lady will definitely feel delighted upon hearing this news! Nevertheless, it's really fast huh. Normally, demon race's horns starting to grow around the age of 8~9 years old, or 10 at the latest but――」
I got lost in my own train of thought, completely ignoring Sofia's remark.
I really―― Am not a human, I really was reborn as the demon race.
I always forgot about that fact until now whenever I was busy with something but, I guess I had to accept this fact. The world I saw right now was completely different from the world that I saw before I grew my horn.
And there was another shock… namely the fact that I couldn't turn sideways when I sleep anymore.
I… couldn't get a nice sleep when I slept facing up.
†††
「How wonderful! For you to growing your horn five years after you're born, this must be a historical record, right?」
Platy was in a really good mood upon hearing this news.
She might be itching to use this fact to show off in front of the mother of the other princes and princesses―― so I looked at Platy's magical power with cold eyes.
―― Strong.
As expected of the Demon King's wife, her magical power belongs to the upper-rank of the demon race. Compared to Sofia's magical power which looks like a breeze, Platy's magical power was akin to a huge and towering black rock. This might be the difference between having 『Flesh』 and not.Regardless, I felt relieved.
「Congratulation, Jilbagias.」
「Congratulatio~n.」
The servants who were standing in line at the edge of the room were congratulating me at once.
The imp maid that I had already been used to―― seems to be really compact. If we're using Sofia as a comparison, it is like the difference between the size of a lion and a rabbit, with Sofia as the lion. If it was depicted by measurement, Sofia wouldn't even reach 100 points.
And the beastfolk were even lower than Sofia. Though their physical abilities were higher than the imps, their magical power was nothing more than a breeze. Now I knew why the demon race despised them as lower species… And the human race was pretty much the same as the beastfolk.
And lastly, the night elf… They are way weaker than I expected. They're better than beastfolk but, just barely won against the imps.
They, the night elf, were the descendants of the elves who were banished from the forest by the forest elf.
Long time ago, the elves were living in harmony with the forest, they loved the forest, animals, and worshipping the spirit. But, the people who couldn't accept such a way of life appeared one after another.
Those people love hunting, and changing nature to their liking. Finally, a conflict broke out between them and the naturalist elves, in the end, they got kicked out from their birthplace.
As a result, they who lost the blessing of the spirit had weaker magical power and a shorter life span. For that reason, they resented the spirits and the forest elves and called themselves―― Night Elf.
You could say that the two were two different races at this point of time. The Forest Elf with healthy, tanned skin and huge amount of magical power and the bluish-white skinned, Night Elf.
In exchange for not being able to use magic as good as the forest elf, the night elf who adapted to night could see living being's body heat with their red eyes and boasted an even higher level of archery compared to forest elf.
… Well, it's not like the forest elf who are more skilled in magic need a bow though…
Anyhow, the night elf who wanted to get their revenge on the forest elf decided to worship and offer their blood to the god of darkness in the hope of restoring their weakened magical power and life span. Thus, they pledge their allegiance to the same denizen of darkness, the demon race who is launching a campaign toward the other race.
Since both demon race and night elf share the same cruel, bloodthirsty nature along with their bluish-white skin, they're a perfect match with each other.
Appearance wise, that's it.
「Congratulation.」
The night elves' employees were smiling as they congratulated me but their smile was a mere empty smile.
The demon race gave favorable treatment to the night elves since the later had pledged their allegiance to the former since the dawn of the demon kingdom but, they mocked the night elf at the same time, calling the later as 『Hornless』 behind their back.
Despite sharing the same appearance, their magica power was weak because they lacked horns.
Moreover, the devil who also had horns was treated the same way as the demon race.
「Congratulation.」
The night elves who stood along the wall were clapping their hands, maybe wondering how it felt to have horns which became a symbol of great magical power――
But then, who knows what they really think inside.
But, there was one thing I'm sure about.
The demon king army was far from united.
「Well, congratulations, Jilbagias. Now the way you're looking at the world has changed too, right?」
Platy who regained her composure was waving her folding fan as she congratulated me again.
「This should be enough to protect yourself. Previously, I was deliberately limiting your scale of activity but, now you'll get more freedom.」
「To protect… myself?」
I asked Platy with a confused look on my face.
She was right about the scale of my activity being limited. I almost never left the castle, not to mention that I wasn't allowed to enter some parts of the castle. Such as the palace where the demon king, my brother and sister were living in.
Reason being it was 『Dangerous』. I had no idea what kind of trap that might be prepared for me by my siblings or their mother but――
It seems I could at least protect myself after my horns were growing.
What's the meaning of that? Did she mean that the demon race were fighting amongst each other by comparing their horns?
「Jilbagias, now it's time for me to tell you the grace of growing your horns.」
Platy who was looking at me with a profound smile on her face then closed her fan with a snap.
At that moment, a massive amount of thick magical power released from her body, wrapping the entire room.
「『KNEEL』」
For some reason―― Her voice.
Her voice carried a heavy pressure. It was as if the air in the room solidified, and pressed us down.
Moreover, I moved to protect myself to counter that suppression.
This was the most basic lesson to any human warrior who was going to fight the demon king's army. I draw the image of a transparent shell enveloping my entire body. It was the basic means to counter curses and magic.
And then, I was shocked to find out that my newly growing horns allowed me to do that with ease. My entire body was covered with a light membrane.
I noticed this fact the moment I tried to control my own magical power. In the past, it felt like I was drawing ambiguous lines. Or trying to write blindfolded. That's just how difficult controlling my magical power back when I was still a human.
And now, I've confirmed that even the shell I created to protect myself was far more stable and firm than when I was still a human.
In the corner of the room, I saw that all the beastfolk employees were kneeling on the floor with their hair standing to its end. The night elves' employees barely managed to stand. The imps look like they got some sort of burden on their shoulders, Sofia on the other hand were acting nonchalant as usual.
「――Wonderful.」
Platy was laughing with gleaming eyes.
「To think that you're not even kneeling while facing the full pressure of my full power. Truly magnificence!」
Suddenly, the air in the room returned to normal. The beastfolk managed to stand back, albeit panting heavily, the night elves on the other hand was heaving a sigh of relief.
「As expected of my son, Jilbagias. Ever since you're still hornle―― Still baby, you're strangely selfish.」
――My heart skipped a beat the moment she told me that.
Well that matter aside, the heavy pressure from a while ago.
Though it was on a completely different level from the one that I experienced before, it was still the same.
『You will become Demon King, Jilbagias.』
Such pressure would always accompany her whenever she muttered those words――
Like a curse.
To make sure that her son became the demon king.
I recalled that sensation and regained my composure.
「I guess it's okay since you can withstand my all-out pressure. You won't be crushed even if you enter the palace as you are now. Aah, I'm so glad to have such a strong son! With your lively personality, I'm afraid that you'll become a laughing stock for many years to come if you enter the palace with a charm to ward off curses. But, I guess there's nothing to worry about now.」
Platy was laughing with an extremely delighted face.
「Maybe we can start earlier than I expected. Are you looking forward to meeting His Majesty Demon King―― Gordesgeass-sama in his palace, Jilbagias?」
… I'm a hero.
I threw away my fear when I challenged the demon king.
Now that I got the chance to enter the palace that I couldn't enter until now, namely the demon king's palace―― it was only natural for me to feel really elated.
But of course… Please at least allow me to feel a little bit of anxiety.
I mean, even when we raided demon king castle back then, we relied on charms, swords and shields for maximal protection.