Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Chapter 422 - The Holy Kingdom

Ren waited for Valdel and Lara to return before heading out. As he continued to wait and stay in Varzon he played with his younger brother Kurt. Though he called it playing it was mostly him teaching Kurt the different ways to fight.

Each day Ren would teach Kurt how to use different weapons of all shapes and sizes. Even though Kurt couldn't use most of those weapons as they were either large or too heavy, Ren continued to explain the advantages and disadvantages of each weapon. Ren wasn't even sure if Kurt could understand most of what he was saying, but that younger brother of his would always ask him to teach him more.

Seeing his younger brother kept on asking for him to teach, Ren wasn't sure if Kurt was learning anything or if he just wanted to hang out with his big brother.

'Well, either way, getting to review each weapon from the basics is also good for me.'

…

After a few days of waiting Valdel finally returned with Lara. When they met Ren, unlike what she would usually do Lara did not immediately stand beside Ren, instead, she had this different kind of energy about her as she looked at Ren and asked.

"Can we really do it, can we bring back onee-chan?" Though her expression remained ever stoic, the resolve behind her voice was clear.

"Who knows if we can do it or not, but I'm sure you already know that with me around there's nothing impossible in this world," Ren replied with a cocky look on his face.

"If Ren's say so, then surely it can be done. I just need to believe in ren and do everything in my power to bring onee-chan back."

"It seems like the two of you are ready to go. Alright then, since I have some business that I need to settle in the holy kingdom we'll head there right away." Ren smiled as he imagined what kind of battles they could expect from the supposed strongest Temple.

…

The Holy Kingdom was a place filled with devout believers of the Goddess of Light. Compared to the nearby kingdoms, the holy kingdom had a higher civilization than most other human kingdoms in the continent and was a hotspot for human alchemist and inventors.

In its center was the Capital called the Divine City. The Divine City was a city of wealth, beauty, and power. It was also the birthplace of many innovations. It was so bright and dazzling to any newcomer that would lay its eyes on it. Yet even in this bright colorful city filled with laughter and life, there were shadows lurking around.

…

The noble district was at the top of hierarchy, in that area is where you could find the most beautiful of sceneries. It was a place for not only the nobles of the kingdom, but for incredibly rich merchants as well. Of course, all of them were supposedly pure humans.

In the middle district which was the life of the kingdom is were most commoners live. In this district you could hear the lively noise of people selling and buying things. The adventurers guild, and the alchemist guild were also located in this area. In the Divine City the middle district was the largest area.

Finally at the edge of the city, was the lower district. This was the shadiest part of town, where the poor and ill tempered reside. Most of the Demi-Humans live in this district. In here you could find all manner of things, from prostitutes to drug dealers. You can even hire assassins and thugs from this area.

…

The reason for such a divide is due to the teaching of the Temple of the Goddess of Light. Unlike other temples, the Temple of the Goddess of Light was involved in the Holy Kingdom's politics. They were not just somehow involved they were pretty much the ruling faction. The King was like a figurehead compared to the Head Priest of the Temple.

In the teachings of the Temple of the Goddess of Light, humans were the original race and all other races were just byproducts made by them. In fact, in the teaching of the Temple of the Goddess of Light, one must be polite, ever courteous and always follow the light, but those were meant for only humans.

…

After the Holy Kingdom had survived its crisis they were able to quickly get back and up and rebuild. They had welcomed the refugees from the other kingdoms with open arms, but that also led to many problems.

Some of the refugees had family members that were demi-humans, and because of that they were given a choice. Either they live in the lower district with their demi-human family or they disown them to live in the middle district.

At first the people hated the whole system of demi-humans being the lesser race. So at the beginning they stayed with their families in the lower district. Yet after some time staying in the lower district prove to be truly hard.

If you were a resident of the lower district, you weren't allowed to be employed with a well-paying job. Despite some of them being former merchants and palace guards they weren't allowed to take a high position. The only jobs available for those in the lower district, in the middle district, was to become a servant, an adventurer, or an alchemist.

Being an adventurer was a dangerous job especially nowadays as the monsters were increasing and becoming more aggressive. They were also a lot of new species of monsters being found every day. So most would want to become adventurers at this time. Being an alchemist was also equally hard as it was a specialized field that only some of the refugees understood. As for being a servant it was the easiest job to obtain, but the one with the worst benefits.

Even though you don't die as a servant compared to being an adventurer which has a high death count, the employers would most likely mistreat you or in some events won't even pay you. Due to this the better job would be to become an adventurer or an alchemist. Seeing that not just anyone can be an alchemist, the only choice was to be an adventurer. Yet for many of the refugees, they had no experience in fighting, especially slaying monsters. So those that tried their luck were met with an early death.

…

Not only was it hard to gain a job if you were in the lower district, but even with money it was also hard to buy things as only a few merchants were willing to sell things to the people from the lower district. Also even if they sold things to the people from the lower district, the prices would be sky high. Compared to the regular prices the merchants would usually triple the prices of all their products, those blackhearted ones would even make it ten times the regular price.

…

Due to the harsh environment of the lower district those people with weaker wills were forced to forsake their family. Most humans who had demi-human family members would most often than not forsake their family for an easier life.

"Mama, where are you going?" A child with cat ears asked her mother.

"Dear, what is it?" The husband that was a beastkin asked his wife.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't take it anymore. I can't, I just can't." The wife who was human could no longer stay and with tears in her eyes fled. Despite her young child clinging onto her, she pushed her crying child away and ran away. The husband that was crippled due to many unforeseen incidents couldn't stop his fleeing wife.

"MAMA!"

…

"Hey, Mia, look here I got some bread, we can finally eat." The young boy tried waking up his younger sister who was covered in blankets sleeping at the side of the street. Yet no matter how hard he shook her, his little sister wouldn't wake up.

"Mia?… Onii-chan's back, I got the food. Weren't you saying that you were very hungry. I got the food, onii-chan has the food. So please Mia, just wake up for me, wake up for your onii-chan. Please, please, wake-up mia, I don't like this game. Stop kidding around and please wake-up." The young boy kept shaking his sister as he cried. Yet no matter how hard he shook there was no response.

…

In an area of the middle district, a half-demon man was sitting at the side of one of the churches of the Goddess of Light. He had tried to ask the priests for help to heal his wounds, and head out to assist his wounded family, yet the moment they saw he wasn't human they asked for a price he couldn't afford.

The half-demon man grabbed hold of his wounds as he continued to bleed out. The people going in the church didn't even give him a second glance. He tried to call out for help and he even told the priests that he would somehow pay them, yet they didn't believe him, they didn't even bother to listen to him.

Unable to stay standing due to his wounds, the half-demon fell to the ground, his conscious fading. As he heard the bells from the church of the Goddess of Light, the half-demon cursed. He cursed all that worshipped the Goddess of Light.

He then spat a mouthful of blood. The half-demon was dying but he wanted to stand up and head back to his family. He just wanted to see them one last time. Yet no matter what he did he could no longer move.

'I'm sorry, my beloved wife, my wonderful children… It would seem that I will be going on first. I hope that you'll be able to survive this ordeal, and live a happy life. Please whoever is listening, please just grant me this wish.' As his consciousness was becoming blurry the half-demon man saw the smiling faces of his wife and children. He started running towards them to hug them. It was at the moment, when he saw that brief deam the half-demon man died then and there.

…

The Holy Kingdom might be a paradise for humans, but for every other race it was place worse than death itself.