His hour of training with Ena passes by in the blink of an eye, and Varzath soon notices the sky above them growing brighter.

  Signaling Ena to stop, he clicks his tongue. This was a lot more fun than he thought it’d be… He wanted to py with her some more.

  “Are we… Are we done…? Can I y down now…?”

  After an hour or so of constant harassment, Ena finally colpses on her knees and hands, panting as if she can’t find enough air around to fill her lungs. Although there’s little damage to her clothes, she’s dirty, drenched, and covered in scratches.

  Worse, from beginning to end, she wasn’t able to touch him a single time, which, in retrospect, makes Sincir wonder if he has been overestimating the brats by using his buffs against them.

  Could he have taken them out like this?

  Looking at the results of today’s training, it seems like it.

  Well, he has never been this weak before, so it makes sense he’d overcorrect a bit. In the future, he’ll make sure to keep this in mind, as to not needlessly waste his precious mana reserves… Although it is still better to overcorrect, than die because he underestimated his opponents, of course.

  “How are you?” Sincir asks once Ena seems to have recovered enough to speak again, “Does something hurt a lot?”

  While struggling to stand, Ena throws him a dirty look. “What does it look like? Everything hurts, Sincir! This was too much! How am I supposed to-”

  Sincir rolls his eyes, interrupting her as he raises his palm and gathers a ball of water above it.

  Eyes widening, Ena cringes, as though about to jump away. “I thought we said we were done?!”

  “We are. Rex, this is a healing spell.”

  Ena gives the ball of water above his hand a suspicious look. “Is it? It doesn’t look any different from the others…”

  Sincir sighs. “Remember when I cured your fever? It isn’t cold, so come here already.”

  Ena hesitates for a moment more, before finally approaching.

  “Sit with your back to me. Since I don’t have much mana left, I won’t be able to cure everything, so you’ll have to put up with some soreness thorough the day, and those scratches will hurt a bit…”

  Ena flinches the moment the water hits her, though for her credit, she doesn’t try to move away from it, and, with the healing magic taking effect, it doesn’t take long before she rexes, releasing a small sigh of relief.

  “I also can’t recover your stamina. There’s no spell for that.”

  Well, he could have her feel more energetic for a certain period, but she’d have to pay the price for it once the spell runs out.

  “It’s okay,” Ena murmurs, while giving him a gnce over her shoulder, leaf-green eyes tired looking. “But you weren’t kidding when you said you were going easy on me before, Sincir… Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to st if we’re doing this every day.”

  Heh. It’s good she realizes her own limits.

  “Don’t worry, we’re not doing this every day; That would be insane, and would probably break your body even if you were able to keep up with it. Tomorrow, we’ll do something less physically intense, so you’ll have time to recover… I guess we should start on your magic training.”

  Ena’s eyes widen. “You’re… You’re going to teach me…?”

  “Of course. Had I intended on taking you with me from the beginning, we’d have already started.”

  Well, he’ll try to teach her, in any case. While anyone can become a half decent fighter with enough training, very few humans have the makings of a mage… Though, since Ena is a half-elf, Sincir isn’t concerned about her magical potential as much as he is concerned for her ability to withstand the endless, boring hours of magical study necessary to utilize said potential… Then again, he has never heard of an elf incapable of using magic, as their inherent high intelligence and magical affinity makes it almost impossible for them to fail as a mage, not to say of their heavily magical culture and long lifespans.

  Sincir suspects were incompetent elves to have existed, they would’ve been either killed or exiled by their own people, and their names erased from history books... Elves are not exactly the nicest, most accepting of the races out there, and they care about their reputation a lot, even if they do like trees.

  Realizing Ena is still staring at him, shocked looking, Sincir clears his throat. “It’s not such a big deal, so stop staring at me like that. And besides, if you’re going to be my ally, I’ll need you to be strong enough to be of help, rather than a hindrance, and you’ll never accomplish as much on physical prowess alone.”

  Furthermore, not utilizing her tent magical potential as a half-elf would be a crime, and he’ll need strong allies as followers, if he hopes to form a Domain in this Pne… If such a thing is even possible, to begin with.

  Ena averts her gaze, seemingly at a loss for words.

  Maybe this was too much for her to take at once, considering she hadn’t known he was mage until an hour prior.

  “…I won’t force you to learn, if you don’t want to. But if you try to follow me without knowing at least the basics, you’ll die sooner, rather than ter. So, for now, just think on-”

  “Half-elves are forbidden from learning magic,” Ena murmurs, cutting him off.

  What?

  “…By the church?”

  Ena ughs humorlessly. “You heard it from Eleanor yesterday, right? The church would have all of us, abominations, killed if they could.”

  “…So, by the elves themselves, then.”

  Maintaining her gaze downcast, Ena nods. “They allow us to live, but not to step within elven territory, and, if it is ever found out we’ve learned magic, we are to be put down. These are their ws.”

  “How do you know that?” Varzath asks.

  “The person who brought me to Stormbay, they left a note at my cradle… I guess they didn’t know this was a religious orphanage, so far from Estrein, or didn’t care about it. Father Anders should’ve killed me on the spot… But he didn’t. A year ago, he handed me the note, and expined me the situation. He also said that my elven parent is most likely still alive, but my human parent, whoever they are, would’ve been killed by the elves if they were found out… That’s also a part of their ws.”

  Sincir hums thoughtfully. From what he knows of elvenkind, they tend to share common traits throughout many of their communities, including their ostracization of half-elves, but not all of them are this brutal about it.

  Maybe their loss of influence and territory by the church had them on edge, in Itera? They should know the angels would’ve them kicked back to Elysium, if they could…

  “…Why? Why do they all hate me so much…? I just… I can’t understand it… What have I ever…?”

  Ena sobs, shoulders shaking, and Sincir sighs, softly pcing a hand against her head.

  “…If you want the objective reason, the humans hate you because they’re afraid of the elves, while the elves hate you because they have terrible birth rates, and they don’t wish to see their numbers repced by half-human bastards.”

  Ena turns and gres at him through her tears. “S-Sincir…” she mumbles, “I wasn’t actually asking, you stupid s-smart-ass…!”

  Sincir smiles. “I know. My point is that you’ve not asked to be born, so none of it is your fault. And besides, I have already given you my protection, have I not? As I don’t remember having sworn some uptight elf my loyalty, I couldn’t care less for their ws… If they wish to kill you, they’ll have to get through me first.”

  Ena sniffs loudly, wiping her face as she ughs softly and shakes her head. “You’re impossible…”

  “Anyway, you shouldn’t worry so much about the elves. I’ve inspected your body when I healed you earlier, and so I know they don’t have any magic keeping track of you. That means as long you don’t go knocking on their door, or start walking around making a big deal of the fact you’re a half-elf who can use magic, you’ll be fine.”

  Sincir could cry; His first ally, and she already guarantees he’ll become an enemy of both the church and the elves, the strongest powers around. If he believed in karma, he’d say the sins of his past life are finally catching up to him…

  “And besides, since the humans are already out to get you, it’d be better if you were able to defend yourself, right?”

  Having stopped crying though her eyes still gleam with unfallen tears, Ena bites her lips as she stares at him uncertainly. “Could you really? Taking on both the church and the elves to protect me…? Sincir, you sound crazy when you say things like burning Estrein to the ground…”

  Smiling somewhat ashamed, Sincir scratches his head. The previous night, he did say something of the sort in the heat of the moment, didn’t he…?

  Having been a Demon Lord until recently, he’s used to having his words carry a different type of weight. In his previous body, had he made a simir threat, people would’ve taken it seriously, since he actually had the power to make it a reality.

  Should he be honest with her? Well, it wouldn’t be good if she grew up with a distorted view of reality…

  Crouching in order to bring their eyes to level, Sincir releases a small sigh as he carefully wipes a lone tear from Ena’s cheek.

  “I won’t lie to you, Ena... Right now, in the grand scheme of things, I’m weak. Let alone protecting you, I could die if I’m careless, or unlucky... But knowing as much doesn’t mean I’ll cower and live my life in fear. At least for now, if the church or the elves come to get us, we’ll have no choice but to run as fast as we can… But that’s why we’ll stay hidden from them until we grow strong enough to put up a fight.”

  “Why?” Ena asks, “You don’t need to do any of this… Even if you aren’t one, you could pass by a human, and live safely somewhere…”

  It’d be too complicated to expin to her his past, and as such, Sincir settles for a half-truth.

  “I suppose you could say that at some point I’ve realized this universe is shit, and so I’ve rejected it…” Sincir says, smiling at her as he does so, “I guess, in my own way, I’ve been fpping my arms as hard as I can. If that’ll be enough to change the universe, or if I’ll be the one to break first, that I still don’t know, but I do know that I can’t bear to not have at least tried. Does that answer your question?”

  “You’re trying… To change things?”

  Hasn’t he ever? Even in Hell, he spent most of his life fighting not only the system created by the Table, but also his own nature as a demon. His reasons might have been mostly selfish, and sometimes even petty, but it does seem as though he is bound to swim against the current, no matter where he goes.

  They do say one cannot defy their fate… Well, Sincir would like to have a little talk with however decided this was going to be his fate.

  “Sincir?”

  Realizing Ena is still waiting for his answer, Sincir nods his head. “Yes, at some point, I pn on changing things. If at all possible, I’d like to create my own country.”

  Ena’s mouth opens slightly, then stays that away for a long second, before shaking her head incredulously. “Do you even…? Do you even understand the words coming out of your mouth right now? Saying you’re going to create your own country is just marginally better than saying you’ll destroy Estrein...”

  “Well, I couldn’t destroy Estrein unless I have my own country and army, right? No matter how powerful, a lone man cannot hope to change anything by himself; That’s why I’ll grow strong, gather powerful allies, build myself a country, and then I’ll change things. Even if it might sound unbelievable to you, that’s how it’s usually done. What other option is there?”

  Ena looks at him as though he has lost his mind. “You mean, other than finding an already existing country to live in? Surely at least one of them is good enough to…”

  Sincir shakes his head. “You misunderstood me, Ena… Or maybe you weren’t listening. The universe is shit; Not just one pce or another. You could travel for your entire life, and you still wouldn’t find a safe haven from certain things. In order to live as I want, creating my own kingdom is a necessity.”

  Frowning, Ena averts his eyes from his.

  Damn it, it’s hard to expin things when he can’t bring up the fact he was originally a demon…

  “…This kingdom of yours,” Ena murmurs quietly, after a moment of silence, “Would it accept demi-humans in it?”

  Demi-humans?

  Sincir blinks, then snorts. “And why not? I’ll accept anyone, as long as they’re willing to work and obey our ws. Why wouldn’t I?”

  Ena chuckles incredulously. “I can’t believe you’re making me consider it.”

  Sincir shrugs. “It isn’t wrong to dream big. And besides, you don’t know if there’s somewhere out there that would accept you, right? And even if there is, you can be sure they’d protect you from the church when the time comes, or from the elves… In between hiding your whole life, or becoming strong enough to put them in their pce, doesn’t the second sound a lot better?”

  “It sounds crazy and dangerous…” Ena says. However, she has a small smile on her face as she turns to stare at him again. “But I guess it sounds worth fighting for. Punching Eleanor felt really good.”

  “Does it sound worth dying for? Putting the lives of your friends on the line for?”

  Ena’s eyes widen. “W-what?”

  Sincir shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want you to think this will be easy. You could die. I could die. Some, if not all, of the friends we’ll make along our journey might die, or worse, be captured and tortured by the enemy... War is no joke, and there’s always the possibility we’ll lose. Ena… It is still not too te to back out and stay here, at the orphanage. I want you to think about this during the next week. What type of life do you want to live? Without the determination to die, you’re better off staying.”

  Ena blinks rapidly, as she averts her eyes from him, and Sincir sighs, rising.

  “We should hurry, or we’ll be caught out here.”

  And with that, Sincir casts a cleaning spell on both of them, followed by a drying one over Ena’s drenched clothes.

  Having done as much, he finds himself swaying a bit on his feet from mana overuse, though he still heads off anyway. This time, they really are cutting it close.

  “See you ter!” he calls out to her, waving over his shoulder as he does so.

  Thankfully, he still manages to reach the bathhouse in time, and following that, his morning continues as usual.

  Word about what happened the previous night seems to have spread throughout the orphanage, sometimes exaggerating his feats considerably, but he simply ignores the children, and their looks, as though they don’t concern him.

  He is used to it.

  At lunch, Ena sits in her usual spot, across the cafeteria from him. This time, Sincir wonders why she still sits by herself.

  Is she worried her ostracization will rub off on him if they’re seen together in public? Because if so, after what happened the previous night, it’s a bit too te for that.

  Maybe she’s ashamed of coming to sit around a bunch of kids, since his usual sitting spot is in the young kids’ area…?

  Sincir sighs, rising, and he grabs his tray of food, beginning to walk toward her seat.

  However, when he’s about halfway there, one of the kids whose seat he is walking by suddenly moves, nearly knocking his ptter from his hands; Or rather, he would almost certainly have, had Sincir not moved it out of the way in time.

  The kid, a boy of about twelve, stares at Sincir in shock for a moment, having obviously not expected him to react to his surprise attack.

  “…I wouldn’t,” Sincir tells him, gaze coldly locked against his, as he realizes the kid is thinking about trying again.

  “…You’re friends with the demi-human thrash?”

  “Her name is Ena, but yeah. You got a problem with that?”

  Their surroundings having become silent as they continue to stare at one another, Sincir throws a gnce toward the Sisters supervising their lunch, none of which seem to be looking their way.

  Great, just about the one time he’d like them to be watching…

  Abruptly, the boy moves again, still aiming for his tray; This time, Sincir lets him.

  However, by the time the food hits the ground, his fist is already flying toward the boy’s face.

  Screams follow, but since the first punch has already been thrown, Sincir doesn’t pay attention to anything other than his immediate surroundings.

  He doesn’t activate his buffs, even after the kid’s friends come to help him, and in virtue of it, he ends up taking some hits…

  Unlike the other times he fought at the orphanage, Sincir isn’t nice about this once, aiming for their stomachs and such; Kids or not, some lines shouldn’t be crossed... He was hungry, damn it.

  And the price for challenging him directly is not something a bunch of kids are prepared to pay…

  Fists bloodied, Sincir stops to inspect the commotion around him as the st of his assaints finally colpses; All in all, their fight hardly sted more than a few seconds, but it was a brutal thing.

  Other than breaking their bones, Sincir didn’t pull any punches, and several of the boys at his feet have their eyes wide and unfocused, most likely having sustained a concussion, while a couple of them have had their noses broken, and one of them seems to be out cold.

  This is, by far, the most violent he has ever been in this life.

  The Sisters are still trying to approach through the crowd of children, screaming for them to open the way, as Sincir crouches near the boy who started the whole thing, meeting his shocked eyes coldly.

  “This time, I’ll let you off with a warning,” he says, maintaining his voice even as he does so, “Next time, I won’t stop hitting until my arms and legs get tired, or one of those clumsy dies manages to pull us apart. Do you get that? I’m not fucking around.”

  The boy spits a mouthful of blood at his feet, gring at him, and Sincir sighs.

  Let it be known he doesn’t make empty threats…

  “…Sincir! Sincir! Stop! He’s already unconscious, please stop!”

  Sincir abruptly stops fighting, panting heavily, as he realizes Ena is the one pulling him away from the boy’s unconscious, bloodied body. Their surroundings are a commotion of screaming children, shocked Sisters, and Father Anders, who seems to have just arrived as he stares at the whole thing in shock.

  Having ignored many of the Sisters as they attempted to separate him from the boy, as he promised he would, Sincir finds that they now stare at him with obvious fear in their expressions.

  He also notices Eleanor nearby, a white glow surrounding her hands as she presses them against the head of the unconscious boy from earlier.

  …Damn it, did he go too far? It isn’t like him to lose control like this.

  “…It’s okay, you can let me go now,” Sincir tells Ena, who is still holding from behind.

  Wordlessly, she shakes her head. Is she crying?

  Fuck.

  Sincir clears his throat. “Ena... Ena, let me go, I won’t hit anybody anymore, I promise.”

  Instead, she hugs him tighter, now crying uncontrolbly.

  As Father Anders begins to demand answers about what happened, Sincir grimaces. Most likely, Ena is afraid the consequences of this will have the both of them separated, but Sincir doubts it’ll make much of a difference for their pns, even if he did go a little overboard back there.

  Still, he doesn’t fight against her, sitting quietly in her embrace while Father Anders gradually puts things under control again, sending the children off to their afternoon chores, and the Sisters present, to help him care for the wounded.

  For once, Sincir isn’t screamed at. If anything, the Sisters avoid meeting his gaze as they go about helping the boys to their feet; The ones of them that can still stand on their own, that is.

  Sincir makes sure to keep his expression neutral throughout the whole thing, though he doesn’t know what his expression looked like during the fight.

  …He wasn’t ughing or something like that, right?

  Ugh, he hopes not.

  It takes a while for Father Anders to go through all of the boys, even with Eleanor’s help, and the Sisters still look concerned, despite Father Anders assuring them they’ll be fine after a bit of rest.

  Ena manages to calm herself eventually, though she still doesn’t move away from him. Since their bodies are touching, Sincir can tell she is still shaking, although her crying has stopped.

  “Sincir,” Father Anders calls at st, sighing as he approaches the two of them.

  “It wasn’t his fault!” Ena screams, “They ganged up on him!”

  “That’s enough, Ena,” Sincir murmurs, “I was the one in the wrong this time, okay?”

  “…Sisters, have the children return to their rooms for the day,” Father Anders says, referring to the wounded boys, “Eleanor, accompany Ena outside. If memory doesn’t fail me, you both have duties for the day.”

  Eleanor nods, approaching the both of them as she meets Ena’s incensed gaze with her usual coolness.

  “You’re making things worse, demi-human… Are you unable to understand even this much?”

  Ena clenches her teeth, as Father Anders releases another sigh.

  “Just go, Ena. I’ll be fine.”

  “But…”

  Eleanor crosses her arms, almost bored-looking, as she coldly averts her eyes away from Ena’s.

  Although begrudgingly, Ena finally releases her grip on him, and rises. Her expression is clouded, shifting from anger to worry, and then back, as she meets Sincir’s gaze… However, she has no choice but to follow after Eleanor, eventually.

  At this point, only Sincir and Father Anders are left, other than the usual kitchen staff, quite a distance away from the two of them now.

  “…Are you hurt, my son?”

  “It doesn’t matter who started it, violence always breeds more violence…” Sincir says, meeting the priest’s eyes while smiling softly, “I have grown tired of hearing you repeat it, Father, but it seems the others never quite received the message.”

  Father Anders presses his lips together, looking far from amused. Still, surprisingly enough, his irritation doesn’t seem directed at Sincir, specifically.

  “Life teaches us tough lessons. A priest’s job is to teach, and guide, but I cannot sway one from the path they’ve chosen for themselves,” he says, “And I also cannot condemn you for defending yourself, Sincir… As long you understand the consequences of your actions.”

  Sincir blinks, then shakes his head. “From now on, I can’t treat them as children anymore, Father. Certain lines shouldn’t be crossed... Even you have to admit as much. If left unchecked, they’ll kill her one day… Or she’ll kill them. And if you aren’t going to do something about it, then I will.”

  “You’ll kill them?” Father Anders asks, staring into his eyes unblinkingly.

  Sincir shrugs. “For coming at me? No. I might break every bone in their bodies, if that’s what it takes to have them learn their lesson, but I won’t kill them, because they don’t represent a real threat to me… But if they try something against Ena when I’m not around, then I can’t promise I’ll still be lenient.”

  “Violence is all you understand,” Father Anders retorts, “Why? Why not search for other means to solve the situation?”

  Sincir raises an eyebrow. “For example?”

  Father Anders averts his gaze, inspecting the mess caused by the fight. “I confess… I was unable to quench the hatred in their hearts with words alone.”

  “And there you have it. If I thought them intelligent creatures, then speaking might’ve been enough, or negotiating, but for those who are too stupid to see past their own prejudices… Sometimes, war is all you have left.”

  “…Thou shall strive for peace, but fear not the fires of war, come the time to defend thy home,” Father Anders quotes, quietly.

  Sincir snorts. “Let me guess; Written in the Holy Book, somewhere?”

  Whatever the church might preach about tolerance and forgiveness, they themselves have never been shy about taking up arms… After all, they follow the lead of Heaven.

  Father Anders frowns. “There must be some other way.”

  “Be sure to let me know if you have that answered in one of your prayers, Father… But meanwhile, I’ll handle things the only way I know how. For whatever it is worth, I am sorry things turned out like this.”

  Shifting his gaze to rest against him once more, Father Anders sighs. “Your ck of fear scares me, son. More so than your violent tendencies, or your intelligence.”

  Sincir smiles. “Tell me something, Father... Had you been strong enough to challenge the church directly, would you have stood aside while they burned demi-human children at the stake?”

  The priest blinks. “Of course, I… I would’ve stopped them. Even at the cost of my own life, if necessary-”

  “No, your death would’ve accomplished nothing. I’m asking, would’ve killed them, had you been strong enough to?”

  Father Anders takes a deep breath, but for his credit, he doesn’t hesitate for more than a second or two before speaking again, neither does he avert his gaze as he does so, “Yes. Had I possessed the power, I’d have killed the ones necessary to stop this madness.”

  “And the ones who’d have stood in your way?”

  “Them, too.”

  “…You’re a good man, Father. It is a shame you were born weak. Otherwise, you might’ve been able to change this world.”

  Father Anders smiles bitterly. “I see now where I’ve failed you, my son.”

  “I’ll be leaving soon. And I’ll be taking Ena with me,” Sincir tells him, causing the old man’s eyes to widen slightly, “So, you don’t have to worry about us causing trouble anymore… Well, I’m sure we’ll continue to cause trouble, wherever we go, but the orphanage should become rather peaceful in our absence, at least.”

  Father Anders sighs, closing his eyes briefly, then opening them again as he looks at Sincir with a small smile on his face. “…And I take it you’ve already made up your mind?”

  “Yes… I’ll remember your words, Father. And I promise I’ll try to solve things without violence in the future, if at all possible.”

  Father Anders lowers his gaze thoughtfully, for a moment, before raising it again as though having made up his mind about something. “Sincir… I have a favor to ask of you.”

  A favor? Not exactly the reaction he was expecting, but…

  “When you leave… Would you take Eleanor with you?”

  …Huh?