The Beginning Of The Ruler
Chapter 09: Dear One

"M-what are you?" I managed to stutter.

Despite having lived two lives, what my eyes saw, my brain refused to believe. A monster, as there was no better word, that easily towered over ten meters tall, sat cross-legged, sitting, on a throne of jagged stone carved roughly with arms supporting his head lazily. With petrified red eyes that were staring at me, while threatening, brought a quality that was strangely calm. Two large horns protruded out from the sides of his head, curving down and around his skull, curved to a point near the front, reminding me of something almost similar to a crown. It had a mouth with two fangs peering out from its lips and while its body was decorated with a slender black armor that had no decorations or embellishments, it still shone with a priceless treasure quality.

Repeating the fact that I was once a king, still, this being standing before me now embarrassed me even having the courage to call myself a king. No, the one sitting on the giant throne is the one who will make even the most unfaithful heretics submit.

Yet here he was, in all his splendor, with his head resting on his arm, while the other hand nonchalantly scratched his nose.

However, what I had failed to notice until now, due to the dim lighting within the cave and its completely black body, was that this creature had a gaping hole on the side of its chest, blood kept flowing out.

"Finally we meet," he repeated with a half-lazy smile that showed a row of pointed teeth.

I tried to get up, but failed halfway and ended up back on my ass, my face still sagging from shock with what my eyes saw.

"The bug will fly into your mouth if you keep opening it that wide."

Is correct. At least he has a sense of humor.

"As for who I am, I won't say anything other than what you can see from looking at me," said the horned humanoid monster with its eyes that seemed to be staring straight at me.

"…"

"It's going to take a while for me to open a dimensional gap that will take you to your home, so until then, be patient and wait here. There's a special root growing here.you'll be able to live well.that's until I'm done, '" he sighed.

Exactly right. That's what I'm doing here. I managed to regain a bit of my composure and I stood up, walking a little closer to the creature.

Bowing politely, I replied, "Thank you for everything you've done for me and what you're going to do. If there's a way I can repay you, I'll do whatever I can for you."

"Good behavior for a child. Don't worry; I don't expect your help or gratitude.I'm just doing this for my own entertainment. Comeing! Sit here closer to me and accompany me. I haven't talked to anyone in a long time," the creature laughed, patting the throne area for me to sit on.

I rode the platform rather awkwardly, forgot to use mana to jump, and I leaned myself on the throne next to the creature.

"I'm sorry for being disrespectful, but you don't really look like a woman. How should I call you?" I said, making eye contact with the creature.

"You're right. I don't really look like a woman, do I? I wonder why I said that. My name is Silvana," she replied, laughing.

This giant monster like a demon king looked like anything but Silvana to me, but I chose to keep it to myself.

"Chairman Silvana, do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Please young man, though I may not be able to answer them all."

I immediately asked all the questions that were on my mind since waking up and after meeting Silvama. "Where is this place? Why are you alone here? Where the hell did you come from? Why is your wound so big? … Why did you save me?

He patiently waited for me to finish before answering.

"You must have a lot of questions about your mind. The first question is easy to answer. This place was a narrow zone that was between the Beast Glades and the Elshira Forest. No one knows this place because I have avoided it. Anyone who comes close, although the case is rare. You, young man, are the first to enter this domain, "he explained easily.

"Please call me Art! My name is Arthur White but everyone calls me Art! You can call me that too!" I exclaimed before covering my mouth with my hands, confused as to why I was acting like an excited little boy.

"My grandfather.. Well, my grandson, I will call you Art!" Her red eyes glazed over, looking far away while answering my next question.

"Continue your second question. I'm here alone just because I don't have anyone else. While I do not think saying everything would be wise, I will tell you that I have many enemies who desperately want something I have; my last battle with my enemy left this wound. As for where I come from .. very far away, haha."

There was a momentary pause before Silvana continued, this time her eyes looked straight at me, almost watching me.

"Whatever why I saved you .. I don't even fully know the answer to that question. Maybe I've been alone too long and I just want to have someone to talk to. I first saw you when your party was engaged to fight with bandits. When you fell off a cliff to save your mother, I felt compelled to save you, thinking it was futile for a good child to die. You are very brave. Even adults rarely become capable of doing that."

I shook my head. "I'm scared too and I don't have much of a choice. I just want to save my mom and my baby sister in her belly." I don't know if it's from her gentle way of speaking or because she looks big and strong, but in front of her, I kind of turned into a child. No, I was a child in front of him.

"So your mother is pregnant. You must miss them so much. Rest assured, your family and entourage are safe. As for where they went, my gaze could not reach far enough to say it again."

"…"

Waves of relief swept over me as I had to do my best to hold back the tears from falling.

I understand, they're safe. This new life brought with it emotions that I thought I had never experienced in my previous life.

"Thank God. I-they're alive.they're fine.." I sobbed.

Silvana's giant hand stretched out as she gently patted my head with her finger.

The day passed with me talking to Silvana, taking some roots in between for a meal that looked and tasted very similar to a potato but was black in color.

We talked about all sorts of things to pass the time as he prepared to open the portal. At one point, he asked me how I could use mana so well at my age.

"I had the impression that among humans, the earliest witch to awaken so far was the age of ten, and even then, because the child was unable to understand how to use it, she said, there was very little he could do with it. However, not only have you formed your mana core, but, with the way you use your mana, you seem to be more efficient than many full-fledged witches."

I just shrugged, strangely feeling proud of her praise. "My parents said I was a genius or something. I can read very well and I understand what the pictures and words in the book say."

A few more days passed as Silvana continued to prepare the portal.

In a regretful tone, he explained one day, "That spell will take quite a long time to be completely safe. I don't want you to land on a destination you don't know. Even one inconsistency can cause you to be transported several hundred meters off the ground. Please be patient; you will soon be able to see the person you love."

I nodded and said that as long as I knew they were alive, I was fine with waiting. It beats trying to climb back to the edge of the mountain.

These past few days, when I trained my mana core and chatted with Silvana, I noticed a few things.

Silvana really made me think of a cliche, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Contrary to her intimidating appearance, she was kind, gentle, patient, and warm. She reminded me of my mother, the way they both scolded me when I did something wrong. I mentioned how the witch I fought, as well as the other bandits, deserved a worse death than they had when she suddenly flicked my forehead..

Although he was gentle, the flick of a finger from someone over 10 meters tall could not be taken lightly. I was sent tumbling to the ground before furiously spouting, "What's that for?"

Lifting me up and putting me on his armored knee, he said in a soft yet sad tone, "Art. Perhaps you are not wrong because those bandits do deserve to die; even I chose not to save the witch you love for the same. However, do not let your heart be overwhelmed by the thoughts of hatred and the like that are continuous. Continue with pride in your life and gain the strength to protect your loved ones from harm. Along the way, you will face situations like before, perhaps even worse, you will face, but don't let sadness and anger break your heart but move on and learn to better yourself from that experience so it won't happen again."

I blinked, a little stunned by the fact that I was being lectured about morals by someone who looked like a symbol of evil. Surprisingly, it stuck with me because I only responded with a blank nod.

Another thing I noticed was that the wound seemed to be getting bigger. At first, I found it a bit strange that she could still live with a gaping hole on the side of her chest, but I became numb to it. Until a few days ago, I noticed his wound appeared to bleed more. Silvana tried to hide it at first with her hands, but it became clearer.

Realizing my worried look towards his wound, Silvana smiled weakly at me and said, "Don't worry, these wounds fester from time to time."

It brought my memories of thinking of this exact idea. I forgot to test my hypothesis because I can't move as freely as I can right now. I was used to having the absorption of mana and the manipulation of mana as two separate things that I never stopped from thinking about possibilities in this new world.

"Let me try" I nodded at her words.

“Humans have a very linear mindset in terms of mana and find it difficult to deviate from anything that already works. However, practice hard now, as you can only acquire this skill when your body and core are immature. Even any savage beast learned to do this naturally, but humans woke up too late and in many cases, their bodies were not proficient with this ability when they first woke up. Given that you are very young, there should be no problem if you practice, "continue Silvana with a proud nose.

I have to admit that, like testing most theories, at first it was very difficult. It reminds me of the exercise my nanny showed me at the orphanage when I was young, a practice where you tried to get each of your arms to do something different … except it's a lot harder.

Practicing this basically means being able to fight proficiently while still maintaining a constant flow of mana into. Silvana's only suggestion was, according to him, an extraordinary magician should be able to divide his thinking mind into segments in order to process information at an efficient speed. Although I never asked teacher to share my thoughts, I tried to do what he said. Needless to say, I have never tripped over my own body so many times in this combination and my previous life.

This, at least, seemed to make Silvana laugh amusedly.

Two months have passed since then when I accompanied Silvana with stories about my family and the city where I was born, while continuing to improve techniques thanks to Silvana's patience and perseverance.

Silvana refused to tell me the name of this skill, so I named it myself: Mana Rotation.

During this period of time, it would be an understatement to say that I had just been close to Silvana. He had treated me like a grandson of his own blood and, in response, I had grown attached to this demon lord's grandmother. Because of our growing relationship, I cannot simply ignore what is going on.

It was very clear that the wound was getting worse as the portal responsible for taking me home became clearer.

"Silvana, please tell me what happened to your wound? Why is it getting worse? It wasn't like this before! You said it was just festering and it was clearly a lie! It won't go away on its own, it's really getting worse!" I desperately voiced my concern one very bad night after he spewed out a pool of blood.

I paused for a moment, waking up to consciousness…

Why didn't I notice this before?

He got worse when he made the portal.

To send me home …

He sacrificed his life so I could meet my family.

Silvana sighed deeply, knowing that I had realized what was going on. Smiling shyly, Silvana whispered, "Art. You're right, I'm dying. But I'd be mad if you blamed yourself, thinking that you caused this. I've been dying long enough now. You helped me by allowing me to leave this abandoned cave a little faster."

As soon as he finished speaking, a bright golden light emanated out from his body. Protecting my eyes from blindness, I tried to focus on the form formed from where Silvana once sat. In the place of that ten meter tall titan-like figure was an even larger dragon. From her muzzle to the tip of her tail, she wore a pearl-white coat with glittering scales. Under his colorful lavender eyes was a shining golden mark that marked his neck and flowed down to spread throughout his body and tail like a sacred carving. These signs reminded me of a very elegant tribal pattern, almost heaven-like, harmoniously branched and with a carefully placed vines-like purpose. The dragon wings were pure white decorated with white-bladed feathers that were so smooth and sharp that making a sword forged by blacksmith experts could be embarrassing.

The golden light that enveloped the dragon dimmed until it completely replaced the creature that was once titan-shaped.

"Well, now.. Do I look more like Silvana?" Silvana grinned widely.

"S-Silvana?? K.. You're a Dragon?" i asked.

"Now that I'm in this form, we don't have much time. Yes, I am something you humans refer to as 'Dragon'. The reason I'm dying is because I got this wound after barely escaping my captor. I had sensed one of them approaching very dangerously a few days ago, so I felt my hiding time was almost over. This form will tell them about my location, which is why I only have time to explain what it is necessary. I'm giving you this to take care of from now on."

One of its wings was bladed open and revealed a translucent rainbow-colored stone the size of two fists. With a myriad of colors and patterns, this stone exuded an aura that made me hesitate to hold it, as if I was unworthy.

Without waiting for me to answer, he continued, "Everything will unfold on its own when the time comes so just hold on to this and don't let anyone know that you have this. Most would not know what it was but everyone would be attracted by its aura. That's it emitting it."

Silvana then proceeded to pluck the feather from his wing with his claws and hand it to me. "Wrap this stone to hide it."

After doing as he was told, the stone that was once divinely luminous only looked like a smooth, beautiful, but ordinary white stone.

As I was studying the stone wrapped in feathers, I was suddenly pushed back as Silvana's muzzle gently touched my chest where my mana core was.

Surprised, I looked up to see Silvana's purple eyes and the golden mark lit up brighter than when she first changed. As the mark grew dimmer and then disappeared, Silvana thrust her tongue into the core of my body and let out a crackling golden smoke in a purple splash.

A sharp shout came out from my mouth as I blinked, confused and surprised. I kept staring at him as he moved his head back, leaving a trail of blood from the hole in my worn-out clothes. My sternum was bleeding, but when I rubbed my hands into the area, there were no injuries.

Silvana's expression became visibly sad and weak; it was visible even to a mighty Dragon that was even bigger than the previous illusion. However, what caught my attention was that her once-shimmering purple iris was now only a dim yellow with beautiful marks flowing down her face and body now gone.

Before I could ask what he had done, a huge explosion interrupted me.

I raised my head to see that the ceiling of the cave had exploded and what appeared in the vision was a figure that reminded me of the previous form of Silvana.

Wrapped in slender black armor and a blood-red robe that matched his eyes. The pale gray skin of the figure matched the overcast sky in the background. The horns are different, as this entity has two horns that curve down and under its ears, lining its chin.

Silvana immediately covered me with one of her wings in time to protect me from falling debris and possibly keep me hidden from our visitors.

"Miss Silvana! I advise you to stop your stubbornness and hand it over. You have made us quite a difficulty after hiding yourself! If you give up, God can even heal your wounds," the entity reasoned impatiently.

As soon as he finished speaking, the world around me seemed to stop. Everything except Silvana and myself, the colors of the world as if viewed through an inverted lens. What surprised me most was that everything was silent. Entities, clouds behind them, and even falling ceiling debris.

Ignoring the enemy, Silvana casually peered under his wings. "I'll open the portal now. I don't have time to make it straight to your house but it should take you to a place with humans nearby. Don't let him look at you and don't look back" he whispered, his eyes serious.

I ignored Silvana's instructions after I heard what the entity had promised. "Silvanna! Is what he said true? If you turn yourself in, will you be able to live?"

"Don't believe his honey-coated words. It would be worse for you if you were found out now. As for me, I would rather die than return to where he is," said Silvana, impatience and anger mixed in her voice.

"No! I'm not gonna let you die here. If you refuse to go with her, then please, just come with me!" i'm begging.

"Unfortunately I can't go with you. You will forever be in danger if one of them knows you have made contact with me. I have to stay here."

Silvana gently wiped my cheeks with claws, her draconic eyes lined with what I saw as tears.

"You ever ask me, why did I choose to save you?. Actually to satisfy my own greed. I want to make you my own grandson even if only for a little while. I purposely extended the transportation spell because I wanted to spend more money. Time is with you, but it seems I don't even have a chance to finish it I'm sorry, little Art, for my selfishness but I have one last request to make… can you be my granddaughter and call me granny just this once?"

"NO! I don't care about any of that! I'll say it as much as you want if you come with me! Grandma! Grandma! You can't! Not like this!"

"III. Please, I beg you, come with me. I don't know what you're doing but everything's frozen now; we can escape! Please, Grandma, don't go. Not like this!" I held onto Silvana's claws, desperately trying to pull her away with me.

In my last moments with her, Silvana's face turned into a smile so beautiful that I swore I thought I saw a human.

I could barely see the words he said, before he pushed me into the portal.

"Thank you, my granddaughter"

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