Devil’s Origin Chapter 35

Chapter 35 : Side Story – A Day in Lucis’ Life

T/N: It’s been a long time since I updated. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter in the midst of corona outbreak! 

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“Wake up everyone!~ It’s time for breakfast, you know~”

Ah, it was Elk-san’s voice. 

I woke up groggily and tidied up my futon while I was still half-asleep. 

“Yaaaaawn~”

Geez! My younger brother, Ruin was still asleep!

“Oi! Wake up!” 

I patted the futon where Ruin was sleeping repeatedly but this sleepyhead didn’t show any sign of waking up. 

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! Waaaaahhhhhhh!!” 

What now?

Turned out Serena wetted her bed again, she was crying profusely because of that.

“Serena, don’t cry.. It’s alright, okay?”

I became confused and called out to Elk-san for help.

“Oh well, it couldn’t be helped~” Elk-san said while laughing.

He then brought the dirty futon out while I continued to soothe the crying Selena. 

“There, there. You’re a good girl so don’t cry, okay?” 

“Uuuuugh..” 

While I was busy trying to stop Serena from crying, my other younger brother finally woke up. 

The sleeping arrangement for the children of this castle was separated by their species. 

So that was why I was surrounded by my fellow tribe, velluclesis.

On our right side there were dark elf children who were still sleeping.

And on our left side there were the nagaraja children who were completely asleep with their long tails entwined. 

Sometimes I wondered whether their tails hurt or not when they woke up.

“Come on, Lucis! If you don’t hurry, you will miss breakfast!” Mist, the dark elf urged me to hurry. 

Uuugh.. Even though I’m older than him but somehow ever since Mist was born out of the egg, he quickly took the lead from me. 

Anyway since all of the children were still developing, breakfast was a pivotal point for us! 

We had to hurry up so we wouldn’t miss it!

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“Thank you for the meal!” The children chorushed. 

Breakfast was essentially a battleground for us!

Elk-san, Copper-san and Collin-san prepared our meal. 

The werewolf and wolf children had milk while the other humanoid tribe had cornflakes.

As for lizardman and nagaraja children, they had something that resembled Mr.Frog.

To think they liked to eat something like that.. It was unbelievable.

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Each tribe had a different growth speed. 

There were children who were born later than me but already bigger than me. 

Velluclesis children like me had a slow growth speed so we were still small compared to other children. 

When we get older, the children would be paired in boy and girl and then we had to leave the castle. 

Of course we felt anxious about it but at the same time we were excited too. 

Everyone’s eyes would sparkle when we talked about it. 

Ah, but I wonder why would they paired us in boy and girl? 

The children who still remained in the castle right now were the small children and the one with high aptitude for magic. 

I was also interested in travelling around the world but I wanted to stay with Maou-sama and father more. 

I wished I could stay in the castle forever with them.

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After breakfast, it was time for our morning lesson. 

All of the residents of the castle would take turns teaching us various things! 

“First lesson, human!” Chaos-san started.

“We should stay away from them!” The children said in unison. 

“If you see a human?”

“We must quietly run away from them!”

“Yes, that’s right!” 

Today, Chaos-san was teaching us what we should do when we encounter a human. 

Yesterday Elk-san taught us about ‘what to do when you find someone who’s your type’. 

The lesson that Elk-san taught was very difficult, I didn’t understand at all. 

“What other things do you have to do when you see a human?” Chaos-san asked. 

“Tell the adults!” 

“Very good! Let’s end today’s lesson here!” 

“Yaaaaay!~”

Okay! Now that our morning lesson was over, it was time for our individual lesson!

The younger kids would take a nap while the kids with high aptitude for magic would have magic lesson and the kids with high aptitude for swordsmanship would have sword lesson. 

Most of velluclesis tribe childrens were good in magic so I joined the magic lesson. 

The instructor for the sword lesson was Chaos-san and Sybyl-san while the instructors for magic lesson were Jill-san and Joe-san. 

Sometimes father also taught magic lesson for us too!

“Listen here Lucis, you definitely have a talent for magic. So! Now try to squeeeeze real hard and call out for ice magic in here. Then you throw that ice magic forward and let it explode!” 

Joe-san.. He spoke a lot but I think he wasn’t that good at teaching.. 

“Sq-squeeeeze?” I asked.

“Joe, just go and die. You’re a waste of space.” Jill-san came to us after he saw how confused I was.

“What?!”

“Try to gather your strength into your belly. Imagine the flow of magic in your mind and let it pool in your belly before you let it out and materialize it into a magic spell.”  Jill-san promptly ignored Joe-san and gave me his explanation.

Jill-san on the other hand, rarely talked but his explanation was very easy to understand!

Aside from velluclesis children, there were red dragon childrens, some of the incubus children, dryad children, cat sidhe children and dark elf children with us. 

Most children from that tribe had good aptitude for magic. 

While the children with good aptitude for swordsmanship were my brother, Ruin and lizardmen children, some of the incubus children, sabertooth tiger children, kobold children, werewolf children and nagaraja children. 

The aptitude for magic was highly dependent on one’s tribe while the aptitude for swordsmanship depended on each person’s individual talent.

So even though you were born from a lizardmen tribe, there was still a chance you might not have a good aptitude for swordsmanship. 

Well then, it was about time for lunch! 

Which meant another battleground for us!

After lunch time which was basically a war time for us, it was time for us to take a nap. 

“You’re just a kelpie so stop being cheeky like that!” Mist voice roared across the room.

“Burururuur!! Hihihihihi!” Brutus, a kelpie replied back to Mist’s remark.

Ah! Mist was bullying the kelpie !

“Oi! Stop bullying him!” I intervened.

“Huh? What do you mean? I’m only teaching him to know his place since he’s from an inferior tribe after all! What’s wrong with that?” 

It was wrong. It was definitely wrong. 

But.. I couldn’t explain to Mist why it was wrong.. 

“Uuugh..”

I started to cry and Maou-sama came because he heard the commotion.

“Hm? A fight? Did someone bully you?” 

“Maou-sama! Huaaaaaa!!” 

Everyone gathered around Maou-sama while crying. 

Kelpie on the other hand was telling something to Maou-sama but all I could hear was “Hihihihi!” sound. 

“Oi, Mist. Stop bullying Brutus!” Maou-sama scolded Mist.

“But why Maou-sama?! I am more superior than him! Isn’t it obvious I have to teach him to know his own place as the inferior one?!” Mist argued back at Maou-sama. 

“Even if you’re better than him, you shouldn’t bully the one below you. You must never look down on them even if they’re lesser than you. Not in this castle, nor when you venture outside. Do you know why?”

“I don’t know why..” 

“The world isn’t just about who’s the superior or the inferior one. Everything in this world has their own purpose. We all need each other and everyone has to do their own part in this world. Do you know what’s ecosystem is? Grass will be eaten by the herbivores. The herbivores will be eaten by the carnivores and so on.”

“Ah, this is from Maou-sama’s lesson the other day?”

“Yes. Everything has their purpose. That’s what makes this world balanced. If one component disappears, the world will become a complete chaos. So you mustn’t bully somebody just because you’re better than them.”

“O-okay..” 

“Besides Mist, your tribe is stronger than Brutus, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then you have to fulfill your responsibility as the superior one.” 

“My responsibility?”

“Yup. Have you ever seen your father pick a fight with Joe and Jill without any sensible reason?”

“No, I haven’t.”

Though.. Joe-san and Jill-san always fought each other without any reason..

“That is what noblesse oblige is. Those who are more privileged have an obligation to act accordingly. Have you done your obligation yet, Mist?” 

“Noblesse oblige.. I don’t really understand but it sounds super cool!” 

“Your noblesse oblige is protecting the one weaker than you.” 

“Okay! I got it! I will do my best!” Mist answered excitedly, his eyes sparkled like the star. 

I didn’t know why but, it did sound really cool! 

“Come on everyone. Go to sleep now.” 

Maou-sama then stroked each and everyone of us, making us very happy!

In the blink of an eye, Maou-sama was able to mediate the fight, he was amazing!

During nap time, I felt so pleasant and warm inside. 

I think… in a second… I’m going to fall asleep soon.. 

“Oi, oi, oi! Heeeey!” Mist suddenly said when I was trying to sleep.

Ugh, he was so noisy. 

“Uwah! You’re not asleep yet, right?” 

What was Mist doing? 

“Do you want to go exploring outside the castle for a bit?”

W-what did he say?

When I opened my eyes, I saw Art from the dryad tribe, Dorado from the red dragon tribe and Ruff from the werewolf tribe.

Ruff was wagging his tail against my futon.

Ah, you guys mustn’t go, mustn’t go!

“Tch, you coward!” 

And then, Mist went out of the room with the other children. 

Ahhh…

I became panicked and went after them before I lost their trail. 

I need to chase them before something happens to them! 

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“Quietly.. Quietly..” Mist whispered as we tried to be as stealthily as possible.

Our room was located in the innermost part of the castle. 

Apparently it was for safety reasons so the adults can protect the children better. 

There were adults patrolling around the castle, we had to sneak around them quietly so they wouldn’t catch us. 

Ah! Lexus-san who was in charge of guarding the entrance was sleeping!

“Okay, now is our chance!” Mist-said. 

We prowled around Lexus-san before the other adults noticed us and successfully exited the castle. 

“Wow!” 

There was so much greenery outside the castle!

I guess our castle was located inside a forest, huh? 

Wow, there was some nice smell too! 

“I heard there’s old, unused well behind the castle. Let’s go there!” Mist said, making all of us more excited.

Although I couldn’t help but to think whether it was alright for us to go outside like this.. 

Though in the end, I still followed the others because I was also curious. 

We walked around the castle to reach the well. 

The castle was this big but somehow, it was eerily quiet. 

For a castle this big to be this quiet, it was very weird indeed. 

Oh, maybe it was thanks to the camouflaging magic that father used? 

We walked slowly to be discreet so none of the adults would find us. 

It was also because Art, the dryad was really slow at walking. 

The grass in here was pretty tall and thick, our footsteps was making crunching sound every time we step on it. 

“I will be the first one to get to the well!” 

Suddenly, Dorado flapped his wings and soared to the sky. 

“Wait! Dorado!” 

Mist started to run, followed by Ruff who started to run on all fours excitedly. 

Aaaah! Even though we had to proceed cautiously!

I grabbed Art’s hand and chased after them. 

“Uwah!”

From behind the thick bush, there was an old and unused well. 

Somehow, I felt like a ghost could pop out at any moment. 

The well was a little scary.. 

“I was the first one here!” 

“No, it was me!” 

“Meee!” 

Dorado, Mist and Ruff was yapping against each other. 

Then suddenly from the supposedly unused well, a stream of water came bursting out! 

“Uwahhhh!”

Everyone cowered in fear. 

Perhaps it was a human’s doing?! So scary!! 

When a moment had passed and nothing happened, I finally opened my eyes. 

In the well there was a big kelpie making “Hiihiiiihiiih” sound at us. 

Ah, I see. 

So this unused well was this kelpie’s house. 

Everyone sighed in relief. 

Thankfully it was not a human. 

“You guys…..” 

As if the gates of hell had been opened, I could hear a scary voice coming from behind us. 

“What.are.you.doing.here?”

“Velke-sama!!”

“Father!!”

We got found out by something that was even scarier than humans!! 

Naturally all of us started to tear up looking at father’s expression. 

“Elk reported to me that there’s some children missing. Now tell me, what are you guys doing here?” 

“Umm… I…”

As expected from Mist!

Even though he was rambling and didn’t make any sense, he was still brave enough to answer our father’s question first.

I.. I.. I was the oldest out of all the kids here. 

I.. I have to muster up my courage too! 

“Father, I’m so sorry! It’s because I wanted to see the well behind the castle!”

Everyone was looking at me with an astonished expression. 

“So it was you.. Lucis, you shouldn’t have proposed something stupid like that.” 

“Ah…Yes..”

“I’m so disappointed in all of you. Listen here. Not only did you guys put yourself in danger, you also put the rest of us in danger too. If you get found out by humans, the human will finally know about Maou-sama’s whereabouts. Do you realize how dangerous your action was?”

“Ah.. Yes.. I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t stop my tears from dripping. 

Of course I was not alone, everyone else was bawling their eyes out too before father’s intense and frightening aura. 

“Lucis since you are the principal offender, you won’t get any dinner tonight. All of you, let’s hurry up and return home.”

“Yes.”

We followed father’s lead back to the castle while still sniffling and sobbing.

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“Ah! I’m so glad you guys are able to return unscathed!” Elk-san exclaimed as he hugged all of us tightly. 

Seemed like after Elk-san reported to father, all of the adults in the castle went out to look for us. 

Even the mysterious Naru-san was looking at us with a relieved expression on his face. 

It finally dawned to us, how dangerous and serious our little adventure was.

“Umm.. Lucis.. Are you fine with this?” 

“W-what do you mean?” 

“You know, because you’re the only one that got scolded by your father..” 

“Yeah. Even though Lucis-kun had tried to stop us..” 

“It’s alright. I’m sure if Maou-sama was in the same position as me, he would’ve done the same thing.” 

Yup, I was sure if it was Maou-sama, he would also have done the same thing as I did. 

“B-but.. To have father said he w-was *hicc* disappointed in *hicc* me.. I’m a little *hicc* sad about it..” 

Father was always kind and gentle to me, it was my first time seeing that kind of expression aimed at me. 

I was..very shocked. 

But nonetheless, all of us had done a very bad thing indeed so I guess.. We did deserve it..

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During dinner time, I thought I would be the only one that didn’t get to have any meal. 

Turned out, Mist and the others had talked with father and said they were equally at fault so they also wanted to bear the same punishment as me. 

Having to go through the night without dinner made me sad but when I looked at everyone’s awkward face, I felt like.. Maybe.. This was what a real friendship felt like. 

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At night, I couldn’t fall asleep because I was too hungry but then, suddenly I felt someone placed a bread beside my pillow. 

Ah, yeah. 

It was father. 

I looked around and saw that father had placed bread beside Mist and the other’s pillow too. 

I munched on the freshly baked bread inside my futon. 

The bread was delicious but because I couldn’t stop myself from crying, all I could feel was the salty taste of my tears. 

At that time, I thought to myself that I had to try my hardest to become a good kid from tomorrow on. 

Today was a day for us to reflect on our wrongdoings. 

I hope tomorrow and the next day as well would become a good day for us.

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“Hey, Velke.” 

“Yes, master.”

“If you’re going to feel so guilty to the point of looking like you’re about to die like that after scolding the kid, then maybe you should do something for them after this.” 

“Yes, but I can’t just brush off the fact that the children have made everyone worried….”

“Ah, you really love the children,huh. If anyone is looking at your face right now, they would think you’re the one that had received punishment instead of the kids.” 

“………. Lucis.. The next time he has done something good, I’m going to spoil him rotten…”

“Yeah, until next time then.” 

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Chapter 34

Index

Chapter 36

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