Chapter 19:
The Immortal Demon

When I woke up, it was night. I could see the vast expanse of the night sky, yet I saw none of the familiar constellations. I heard the crackling of a campfire, and the smell of burning wood. It reminded me of something from long ago…but I couldn't recall it.

It was odd. I didn't remember setting up a campfire. But what I did remember was the brilliant flash of light… and that strange dream.

I looked down at my body to find the slim, small frame I was used to. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness.

Looks like I'd have more time here, after all. I thought about my family and cupped my face with my hands. I sighed. Looks like I'd have to find my way back home. And save that lady-killer boy on the way.

I sat up. It hurts… I was asleep on the hard ground, and my back hurt like shit. Weren't there any five-star hotels anywhere near here? I'd kill for one of those luxury beds right about now. My surroundings were quite drab. Reddish-brown dirt and stone as far as I could see.

Maybe getting back home won't be a walk in the park…

According to Mister Man-God, I was now in the Demon Continent. That meant that no matter where I was, I was going to be in danger. I shivered when I thought about where my family and Sylphie were teleported to.

I had to get back to them as fast as possible. I couldn't let myself repeat my mistakes. I had to apologize to my parents, and tell them that I loved them. I kicked myself. If only I had just kept my calm during the argument, I wouldn't feel so terrible right now.

I looked around a little more, and found my staff, Tailwind Zephyr, lying on the ground wrapped in some sort of light brown cloth.

Hm… I was holding it when I lost consciousness. But where is Ghislaine, then?

If Ghislaine were to be teleported here, I had no doubt that she'd be able to survive. She was a King-tier swordsman, after all. Plus, she was resourceful. Did that mean that she was the one who lit the campfire?

"G-Ghislaine?" I stood up, and walked towards the campfire. But, I saw someone on the other side of the flame. A man.

"I…"

He was looking at me curiously, as if studying my expression. He didn't look all that intimidating, actually. He was wearing dark colored robes, and he had a massive sheathed sword on his back. Well, that was pretty scary. With a sword that big, you could cut someone like me in half without a problem.

That aside, he didn't look to be hostile. Beneath those robes, he looked to be a young man. Somewhere around Paul's age. Oddly enough, he had black hair. The thought of him being Japanese flashed through my mind, but his facial structure didn't suggest that.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"That's really what I'd like to ask you. What's a girl like you doing out here in the sticks?" The man said. So he understood the human tongue… I had assumed people here wouldn't be able to understand me, so that's a relief.

So, this was the man that Mister Man-God told me to rely on. He didn't look shady at all. I had expected someone more nefarious. If anything, he didn't seem all that special. Maybe that sword was just for decoration purposes?

"Are you…a servant of god? A prophet, or something?" I asked the man.

"Huh? Interesting question for a girl who fell out of the sky. No, I'm not. I'm a swordsman, can't you see?"

He could use that thing? No, that wasn't what was important here. He had set this fire up for me and everything. That had to count for something. Also, he didn't seem to be in cahoots with Mister Man-God.

"Um, thank you for helping me." I said sheepishly, as I sat down a suitable distance away from him.

"So, tell me. Do humans nowadays fly like that all the time?" He asked.

"Not really. Maybe I just haven't met the right humans yet." I responded.

"So why did you fall out of the sky like that, then?"

"It looks like I was caught up in a massive mana disaster, or something. I really don't know much of anything else, sorry." I said.

He widened his eyes. "Mana disaster? Nothing like that happened here. Where do you come from, girl?"

"The Asura Kingdom." I said.

"Looks like you're a long way from home, then. Do you mind telling me your name?" He asked.

"Oh, sure. It's Lumina Greyrat. What about you?"

"Aleksander Ryback. I'm an Immortal Demon. Some people call me Kalmann III, but I'd prefer if you called me Alek."

Immortal Demon? Hold on, you don't just casually say that and move on!

"I-Immortal Demon?" I repeated, dumbstruck.

"What's wrong? Haven't you heard about the Immortal Demons before? We're all pretty famous, you know? Well, aside from me." He sighed, seemingly disappointed with his lack of popularity.

"No… this is the first I've heard of them."

"Well, there's nothing much that sets us apart from regular demons. Aside from the fact that we don't die." I think that's a pretty big detail!

Immortality aside, he seemed to be a friendly guy. Wonder why he saved me, though.

"So… Mister Alek. How come you saved me?" I asked.

"Saving a young woman in peril is a hero's duty!" He said, his eyes glimmering. I stifled a laugh. A hero, huh? That's interesting…

"I-I see. If I may ask, where are we right now?"

"Hmm… I've been wandering for a while, yet I can't seem to remember… Ah, right. We're in the Biegoya Region. If you didn't know, that means we're in the northeast of the Demon Continent. But… Lumina, we seriously are out in the sticks. It's a miracle I even found you here."

He was right. It was an absurd stroke of luck for him just to randomly find me here in the entirety of the continent. If I remember correctly, the Demon Continent was still extremely large, even if it wasn't as big as the Central Continent. Maybe Mister Man-God had something to do with it. This didn't feel like a normal coincidence.

Well, as long as it could help me out. I hated to ask such a question to someone I just met, but I needed to find my family as soon as possible.

"Mister Alek, could I ask a huge favor from you?" I began.

"Oh, sure. What is it?" He responded.

"Could I ask you to escort me back to my homeland? I understand that it's a selfish request, but—"

"So you're saying you want me to save you?" He said, looking roused up.

"I-I guess you could say tha—"

"I'll do it! It's my duty to do so if I ever want to call myself a hero!" He exclaimed, his deep red eyes shimmering with excitement.

"...Thank you so much, Mister Alek."

"You're welcome. Drop the mister, by the way." He said, waving his hand at me.

"Right. Alek, Have you ever heard of a Man-God?" I asked.

He raised his eyebrow. "Can't say I have, Lumina. Whoever they are, they sure sound interesting."

"Ah, alright then." This guy didn't seem to be lying to me. He was a little scary, considering he could use that sword on his back and that he was immortal, but he certainly had a childish side. I had a feeling we'd get along.

"Hmm… Asura… That's a long way from here. Well, a few years of travel is nothing for me. I guess the first stop would be the village that I'm protecting." Alek scratched at his chin.

"You're protecting a village?" I asked.

"Indeed. They're not a very talkative bunch, though. Don't let that get to you, they just use telepathy for communication." He said.

First I've heard of telepaths. I guess I really slacked off on studying Demon culture…

"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning. And, I forgot. Do you speak the Demon God language?" Alek asked, peering at me.

"No, I can't."

"I see. I suppose that won't be much of an issue for now. If you'd like, I could try to teach you a little." He offered.

"Really? That'd be great!" I said excitedly.
You know, this wasn't such a bad predicament. I had a travel guide, a tutor, and a bodyguard all in one. With his help, I might be able to make it back to Fittoa in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe it wouldn't be smooth sailing, but I decided to put my trust in Alek.

Wait, isn't that exactly what Mister Man-God wanted me to do?

I put away that thought for now. Following his advice so far had presumably made my situation a lot less worse. But, I still didn't trust him.

"Lumina." Alek called out to me.

"Yes?"

"You should turn in for the night. Human children are pretty delicate, in my experience." He said, scratching at his head.

"Ah, yeah. I'm feeling pretty tired anyways. Thank you again, Alek."
"It's no problem, I guess." He said, sheepishly.

He took off his long robes, and draped them over me. They were pretty warm, which gave a nice relief from the chilly air. I lied down, and curled up on the ground.

I'm going to get home, no matter what. I will see my mother again. Those were my thoughts as I drifted to sleep.

I awoke to a sensation that covered my entire body, head to toe. It was so unbearably hot. I shoved off the robes I had been using as a substitute blanket. The sunlight shined onto my face, which helped wake me up.

Ah… it's bliss…

It wasn't. The temperature felt way too hot to be comfortable in the slightest. I hadn't experienced heat like this in both of my lives. Sigh. Where's an air conditioner when you need one?

I sat up, and scanned the environment with my eyes. Looks like the whole mana disaster hadn't been a fever dream after all. The Demon Continent was one half of the massive supercontinent that was split in half during one of the wars which pitted humanity and demonkind against each other. Or, that's what I had read, at least. Anyways, the whole continent was akin to something like a badland. There was little to no vegetation, and the landscape was dotted with towering landmarks that blocked any sort of easy pathways.

Apparently, this place had an abundance of magical energy thanks to the lack of things like forests that would normally keep large amounts of mana in one place. Due to that, the continent was plagued with massive amounts of powerful monsters. Hopefully my travel companion could help ward them off.

The companion in question was looking out towards the landscape.

"I'm confident in my sense of direction. We should be arriving at the village around noon." He said.

And so, we set off for the village.

Alek showed off his reliability extremely quickly. A few minutes after we set out, a rabid looking wolf that was bigger than my entire body began racing at me. I charged up a spell for self defense, but before I could release it, the wolf was dead.

I looked towards Alek. He… hadn't even unsheathed his sword. He was like a blur, and took out the wolf instantly. Even compared to Ghislaine, he was insanely fast. I made a mental note never to get on his bad side.

He began teaching me the basics of the Demon God language. Trying to learn from him while walking was pretty hard by itself. That, and Alek was stopping to obliterate any monster unfortunate enough to cross paths with us. I didn't think I'd be learning the language anytime soon. He was off to a decent start, but I told him to wait until we were settled down somewhere to continue trying to teach me.

The demon continent's reputation for being relatively barren was well-founded. The dirt was less soil and more sand, and everything was brown or red in color. Once in a while, we passed a vomit-green cactus looking thing, but that was about the only splash of color you could find.

"So, Alek. These monsters we keep on coming by seem to be at first glance really tough…" I began.

"Oh, they are. I've just trained for far longer than most humans have in swordsmanship, so I guess it undersells the strength of these creatures." He responded nonchalantly.

"But…you insta kill them every time without fail? Isn't that taxing for you?" I asked. He wielded inhuman levels of strength. Even though he wasn't human, I tried to look for some signs that he wasn't some killing machine.

"...I wouldn't say that. I've been living here without issue for quite some time. I've adapted to this way of life." He said, beheading a rampaging lizard.

"Hmm… Well, if you ever need something, I know healing magic." I suggested meekly.

"You do? I had assumed you were just an offensive mage. What rank are you in healing magic?" He asked.

"Advanced in Recovery, and the same in Detoxification," I said. Alek suddenly stopped in his tracks, and turned to look at me.

"Pardon? Tell me, how old are you?" He asked, widening his eyes.

"...Ten, as of two days ago." I responded. It was weird to see such an insanely strong person be taken aback for once.

"Your teacher must've been quite adept for them to be able to share such knowledge to someone as young as you are." He responded.

"My teacher is my… mother. She's an amazing person, through and through. I can't imagine I'd have gotten this far without her." I said sullenly, and I hung my head down.

"What's with the melancholy tone of voice?" He asked.

"...Right before this whole thing happened… She and I got into an argument. It was about the stupidest thing, too. I don't know why, but I got caught up and said a lot of things in the heat of the moment. Apologizing for what I said is one of the reasons why I desperately want to get back home."

"That's quite unfortunate, Lumina. I'll see to it that you two are reunited. I swear it." He looked at me with an expression full of determination.

"I… Thank you, Alek." I smiled at him.

We continued down the pathless landscape, wordlessly.

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading! I start school soon, so my updates may start slowing down. I apologize in advance.