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In the demon king's castle, on the fourth floor of the North Wing. The luxurious office that was now devoid of most of its furniture was eerily silent and an awkward atmosphere ruled the air.
Five figures were present in the room consisting of two males and three females, they sat opposite each other with one of the males standing beside the other awaiting instructions.
Tyler didn't care that Erin and Albert were present, from the looks of it, the girls were already friendly with Erin and there wasn't a point in hiding this from them. Besides he didn't expect an exact answer to his question on the girl's past but he also needed to have asked that question.
While there would normally be a level of distrust between both parties. As one would not generally want to give out too much information about their past to someone, they've only recently met. The same could actually be said for him, however, he wanted to make it known that, he wouldn't be accepting anything less.
Since they knew he was the only one able to access this castle, they surely knew he held all the advantage. After making several hypotheses, he came to several conclusions, all of which include the girls being on the run from something or worst, someone. Naturally, his first thoughts were to leave them be until he was done with this castle and left.
However, now that he had decided to stay here for a while. He needed them the tell him everything. Even if they didn't want to tell him too much about themselves personally, they needed to tell him everything about their circumstances.
So even if he decides to let them stay, he would have an idea of what he was getting himself into.
Sensing his intentions, the girls had no choice but to consider the issue seriously. When they made the plan to rest in this castle, they only had the intention of hiding here for a while, before seeking help from one of the strongest freemen settlements in the demon continent, the Daki Tribe, which was located in the eastern borders of the continent.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtDarknar region was located near the southwest end of the demon continent, closer to the human continent, and close to the Silent sea that separated the Demon continent from the dwarfs. So the journey all the way across the continent would be long, tedious, and extremely dangerous. They would have to cross multiple regions with ties to the people that were after them and it wasn't even a guarantee that they would make it there alive.
Now, however, there was someone here at the level of a demon lord and he even had people like Erin and Albert under him. The fact that he would inevitably claim the title of the demon king was a plus, after all, a behemoth that had claimed the secrets of the previous Demon king for himself would not be stooped by anyone. They had already discussed this with Erin and sought her advice which was pointless giving how anti-social she usually was.
Tyler seeing the girls hesitate, sighed inwardly, this was as he expected so all he needed to do was offer them an alternative, and if that didn't work an ultimatum. That way he would get all the information he could out of them, he was just about to say something when the girls surprised him yet again, and Rain spoke first.
"I'm sorry it's late, but I want to thank you properly for what you did for me. Liz told me how much trouble I put you through, and you even accepted my duel without asking why— well I guess you already know that uh, yeah I'm sorry, I also got carried away back then and did something truly rude to you, I'm really sorry." They both stood up and bowed in apology which wasn't what Tyler wanted right now so he tried to get the discussion back on track.
"Mmm... That's fine i..."
"...And also, if you'll permit me, I would like to ask a favor of you, please feel free to say no."
Tyler fell silent for a while, the conversation had taken a turn he hadn't predicted and the last request she asked had almost gotten everyone there killed. He knew quite well he wasn't a genius and looking at the dark elf she looked quite sharp, seeing how she had taken control of the flow in their conversation several times already.
Tyler wasn't stupid, he wouldn't engage in a battle of wits against a superior opponent. There were many ways to outsmart a genius and right now he would use the most basic, and bluff his way through, after all, with his masterful control over his body, his poker face was impenetrable.
"I see... so that's it."
Rain eyes widen when she saw that her intentions had been read so easily, she really didn't have any intentions of tricking him though, she just wanted to get him to be willing to help them, making it seem like he would be the only one to truly benefit from it and not be at his mercy, where they have to offer him something else in return because they truly had nothing else that could warrant his help.
However, now that she had been seen through, they were in a less favorable situation than before.
"Mm, that's not what I meant, I only wanted to ask for your help once we disclosed our situation to you." She tried to correct the situation. Tyler wasn't sure what she meant but he was glad his simple plan had worked and he assumed a commanding pose and asked the girls to speak.
Rain got flustered by the sudden change in his presence and could barely formulate her words. "Well... I'm...Um..."
"My name is Lizabeth Belloria Alcar, I am the third daughter of the Alcar family, one of the Great Five Families." Liz cut off the nervous Rain as she decided to just come clean and hope for the best, and when she had spoken her last words the room fell silent. Albert squinted his eyes in Surprise and Tyler was blown away.
He hadn't really understood the difference between the Great Five and the other families until he heard they were created by the formal demon generals who had most likely plotted against the demon king and had taken away everything from this castle. He could also remember how hopeless it felt when he had come face to face with one of them in the past.
With the quality of the castle and the contents of the library, he was afraid to find out how many magic items and artifacts those five had taken with them. Liz continued without giving them more time to contemplate more.
"While the Alcar family is a large one, I am one of the five direct descendants of our family which means my father is the current demon lord of the Alcar family, Cain Lyra Alcar."
Both Tyler and Albert were shocked once again by the news. It was one thing to be part of one of the Great five, even as part of the branch family, or even as normal pureblood from the main family, but to be a direct descendant was insane. Tyler wanted to palm his face as even he knew the implications of this, what the hell did a direct descendant of one of the great five do that warrant the family to be after them. He didn't know if she had just run away and they wanted her back or if they had committed a crime.
Depending on which it was he would need to adjust his plans drastically. "And why would they be after one of their direct descendants?" He asked maintaining the same expression on his face. Liz looked away from him and stared at the ground, she seemed to be contemplating if she should tell him everything or maybe just a bit.
This took her only a few minutes as she looked at Tyler with a newfound determination. "I've always had trouble controlling my innate ability. Most purebloods from my family can use the Ice Domain at will but I could not. Once purebloods are born, we spend only a year with our mothers before they take us for a test and we are trained to be the strongest nobles in the continent."
"This is how the Great Five had maintained their strength since the era of the Demon generals my great grandfather."
She took a break and thought about something for a moment before she continued. "For the past 1000 years no pureblood had ever failed the test, well, that was until I took it. The matter caused an uproar amongst our elders and lucky for us, we were able to keep the issue from getting out especially to the other Great Five."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"After an investigation was conducted into why they found out my mother wasn't a pureblood either. She had passed the test so the issue wasn't revealed until me."
Tyler felt like this was building up to be a tragic story and from the looks on both girl's faces he was right, he thought about asking her to just get to the point but controlled himself. She was showing him her vulnerability as a show of trust, to prove she meant him no harm and he had to let her or he would be an asshole. She continued after her short break and Tyler gave her his attention.
"My mother was revealed to be half-demon and half snow spirit. Her father had met a snow spirit on one of his journeys through the mountains and they fell in love even though they knew it wouldn't be accepted. They had my mother and the snow spirit had passed away during childbirth because normal spirits couldn't reproduce but because the snow spirit was already dying, she was able to use her remaining life energy combined with my father's essence to bear a child."
"Once this fact came to light, my mother was banished to a branch family. Since she was more demon than spirit, they had let her live and I instantly became the shame of the family, a black sheep. Well, I was also just the third daughter and the fifth child so I was hidden away from the public all my life."
"Rain here was my assigned bodyguard and my only friend. We grew up together, well I say that but she is a dark elf so she's a lot older than I am. We lived under my family's castle and occasionally I would be taken out to do some more test."
"At least that's what I thought until the tests started getting more and more intense and painful. They were conducting experiments on me, playing with my genes to see which ones would react. That was when she awakened."
"She?" Albert couldn't help but speak up when he heard that and realize everyone but him knew what she meant. "Another me, the trauma and pain I experienced created a personality within me that had awaken her innate ability. Rain just calls her Snow, I don't really like giving her a name."
Tyler remembered the perfect beauty that was the white-haired lady— Snow. She had a frightened and yet frightening aura that had attracted him to her. "Huh? you said she had awakened her innate ability, does that mean you can't use that ability on your own?" He asked that remembering the image of the frozen forest and the dead magic beast that was definitely stronger than the Tier 6 lesser basilisks.
"Umm... Yeah, unfortunately, I never unlocked the ability myself and I still don't know how." Liz said a little embarrassed by the fact. "I see, but still, you haven't told me why they are after you."
"Mmm... It happened a few weeks ago when my family realized the strength of Snow was growing rapidly for some reason, they tried to figure out the reason and the procedures got even more extreme than before. I had thought I was going to die but Snow came out and went on a rampage, she killed everyone in the room and even the guards that had come to stop her. After that incident, I was deemed too dangerous and they wanted to get rid of me."
"That was when Rain stepped in and saved me. Even though she was part of my family's dark elf legion, she went against them and got me out of there. They had sent her brother after us but we somehow manage to escape and we headed here to hide until we recovered. We were going to head for the eastern borders and seek aid from the Daki tribe."
There was a lot in that story for Tyler to digest and he had picked up on a few words like brother and Daki and he wanted to ask about that but as he was about to, a sudden ringing entered his head requiring him to accept a communication spell. He unconsciously accepted the spell and a familiar voice entered his mind.
"Lord Ty, we have a problem."