“Slaves?”
I opened my eyes wide at Clark’s words. It wasn’t just ; even Father looked slightly bewildered.
This was completely unexpected. To think that my ancestor was actually a slave yearning for freedom.
What is a slave? The lowest of the low, a class where human rights are nonexistent.
Although slavery has been abolished, illegal slave trading continues under the influence of demon worshipers.
Among these slaves, n are mainly used for labor, such as farming, while won are used differently depending on their appearance.
Slaves exist, but they are not truly alive. To think that such a being was my ancestor is shocking in many ways.
[Yes, the kind of slave you’re imagining.]
Clark’s firm answer left montarily stunned. Soon, I thought of my family, including my father.
Being a general or a hero of a nation might make sense, but slaves? That’s a million miles away from us.
Our family has been known for its robust physical builds passed down through generations.
Even soone like Nicole, despite being a woman, possesses imnse strength.
On top of that, our mana training thods and martial arts are on par with other knightly families.
We lack nothing.
In the distant past, humans couldn’t even use mana, so physical prowess was all that mattered.
And yet, we were slaves? There must be a complex story behind this.
“…No matter how I think about it, I can’t understand how we were slaves. Did we commit so cri in the distant past?”
Father seed to share my thoughts, his expression indicating disbelief. Others would probably think the sa.
Assuming our ancestors of the Michelle family had the sa strength as we do now, could there really have been a force capable of enslaving them?
Clark nodded as if he understood our doubts. Then, after glancing around at us, he made a request.
[This story might take a while. Could I ask for a favor?]
“What kind of favor?”
[Just one cigarette…]
“With a child present, why would you even think of asking for a cigarette? Just start talking.”
True to his habits as a heavy smoker, he asked for a cigarette, only to be rebuked by Father.
Ariel’s presence made the request slightly inappropriate.
Clark clicked his tongue in disappointnt, but soon collected his thoughts and began speaking in his unique, gravelly yet heavy voice.
It felt similar yet different from a grandfather leisurely telling an old story, evoking a peculiar sensation.
[Where should I begin… Let’s start with what you know about how people beco stronger.]
“Are you talking about physical strength or everything in general?”
[For people like us, it would an physical strength.]
“In that case, it’s limited. Training mana, building muscle, honing skills, and so on. If it’s just about physical strength, that’s about it, isn’t it?” ʀÃƝƟ₿ЕȘ
Clark nodded as if in agreent, his eye sockets glimring with a light that seed to move like real eyes.
[You’re right. But that’s only within the bounds of human decency. What about thods that step outside those bounds?]
“Are you talking about human sacrifice?”
One way demon worshipers gain power quickly is through human sacrifice.
It’s a thod that abandons all human conscience and morality to obtain strength.
Could it be that our family engaged in human sacrifice and beca slaves because of it?
If that were true, we would have deserved not just slavery but outright condemnation as failures of humanity.
But Clark’s words veered far from my expectations.
[That’s right, human sacrifice. But we didn’t perform the sacrifices ourselves.]
“Then…”
[We were artificially created as fighting dogs through human sacrifice. Our hair turned red, stained by the blood of thousands, and in the process, we gained the gleaming eyes of a predator.]
The re thought was chilling. I grabbed my long hair trailing down my back and looked at it.
To think this color ca from the sacrifices of thousands—it was hard to believe, especially since there wasn’t a single ntion of it in books.
Even as I struggled to process this, Clark calmly continued to recount the history of the Michelle family.
[Over ti, it faded sowhat, and divine power brightened its hue. But most descendants of our family still have red hair.]
“So Nicole is an exception, then.”
[That’s right. But even she has a faint reddish tint, doesn’t she?]
Clark was right. Nicole’s hair was navy, but there were subtle hints of red in so places.
It seed inevitable that the Michelle family’s hair had traces of red.
And this was after generations had passed, dulling the color. In the past, it must have been entirely red.
Now that my questions about the family’s red hair had been partially answered, only the matter of slavery remained.
What kind of lunatic captured our ancestors as slaves, used them as human sacrifice experints, and why did it result in this?
Just as I was pondering this, Clark seed ready to delve into that story.
[But seriously, can’t I just have one cigarette?]
“No. Can you even smoke in that state?”
[Surprisingly, I can. Want to show you?]
“Not now. Later.”
[Tch.]
Despite his appearance, Clark’s childish side ca out when it ca to his beloved cigarettes.
After scratching his smooth, bald skull, he began recounting stories that naturally commanded attention.
They weren’t recorded in any books, yet as soone who loved history, I couldn’t help but listen with rapt focus.
[Do you know of the Kingdom of Gerios?]
“I do. It was once a powerful nation but was the first to fall during the Demon War, wasn’t it?”
During the Demon War, almost all records except those in Alvenheim were destroyed.
However, traces of the kingdom’s existence still remained.
Additionally, through the records left in the sacred grounds of Alvenheim, I have a rough understanding of what the Kingdom of Gerios was like.
Once a nation that boasted a high level of achievent in various fields, surpassing even the Kingdom of Teres, it tragically fell during the Demon War.
In fact, Gerios was the first place where the demons tore through dinsions and appeared.
The kingdom could do nothing but fall victim to them.
[You know quite a bit. Our ancestor was a gladiator from Gerios—so skilled that the king himself called upon him directly.
But because of that, he beca a test subject for human sacrifice experints.]
“The last king of Gerios is said to have been a conqueror. Was he involved in human sacrifices?”
[He certainly was. Even now, military power depends on the existence of strong individuals, but back then, it was even more so.
The King of Gerios would gather talented individuals he had his eye on, strengthen them through human sacrifice, and slowly expand his territory.]
In simple terms, it was a state-level super-soldier project.
I slowly organized the information in my head.
Under the direction of the King of Gerios, gladiators he had been watching were taken and assigned as test subjects for human sacrifices, resulting in individuals with overwhelming power.
The gods likely did not intervene in this.
Unless a heinous cri against divinity is committed, they generally refrain from interference.
“Was our ancestor the only one who succeeded in that project—or experint?”
[That’s correct. Infusing a single body with the souls of thousands… surviving that alone is remarkable. That’s why the King of Gerios kept him close.]
“That seems quite far from slavery, doesn’t it?”
[Hey, what’s the rush? Listen patiently.]
Feeling a bit embarrassed by Clark’s mild reproach, I scratched my head.
The story was so fascinating that I must have gotten too excited. Clark, perhaps understanding my enthusiasm—or maybe just finding his grandson endearing—chuckled softly.
[But that glory was short-lived. When the Demon War broke out, Gerios was the first to fall, and he was reduced to being an experint again.
It seems even the demons were curious about what kind of person our ancestor was, strengthened through human sacrifice.]
“The demons didn’t succeed in making him one of their own?”
It’s common knowledge that the demons are descended from devils, who themselves are known as experintal subjects.
Naturally, I had assud that our ancestor would also beco one of the demons, but apparently not.
[That part baffles as well. Perhaps it was the resilience of a body containing the souls of thousands, or maybe there was another reason.
Regardless, even after the Demon War, our ancestor lived as a loyal warhound of the demon worshippers.]
“Didn’t he resist? Based on our family’s temperant, I’d imagine he would have.”
This ti, my father asked the question. It’s true—our family is generally mild-mannered but becos fiercely stubborn when provoked, whether in battle or when pride is on the line.
I’m no different, and there have been several incidents with Dave and Nicole at the academy because of it.
Thankfully, the damage was never serious.
[Resistance… I wonder if it was even possible.]
“What do you an?”
[Let ask you this: do you know how the Demon War began?]
“The cause, you an…”
Everyone, including myself, looked puzzled by Clark’s question.
The Demon War is now considered almost mythical history.
Records from before the war were mostly destroyed, and while a few remain in the sacred grounds of Alvenheim, they are not definitive.
History, after all, is recorded subjectively despite its objective nature.
The more records there are, the more objective the picture, but there aren’t many for that period.
My discovery of records about the Kingdom of Gerios was almost accidental.
According to Arwen, nations like Gerios, which lacked interaction with others, might not have even been known to exist.
After all, ancient Europeans believed India was the end of the world, so it’s not entirely far-fetched.
“The demons are invaders from another dinsion, aren’t they? That’s what I know.”
“ too. It was the event that prompted the gods to intervene in the mortal world.”
“And they’re the ancestors of the demons.”
Each of us recounted facts about the Demon War, and each statent was correct.
Records and literature about the war can be found anywhere, and it’s taught in academies.
It was a unique mont in history when all races united to resist a common enemy, and it led to the gods directly watching over humanity.
Before the war, the gods communicated only with elves, but their perspective shifted after the Demon War, and they began interacting with other races.
The biggest beneficiaries of this change were undoubtedly humans, who, having relied solely on shamanism, gained divine power and grew stronger.
Although magic remained exclusive to the chosen few, divine power alone was enough to drive significant advancents for humanity.
[No. My question is about how the demons invaded this world—not the impact of the war.]
However, Clark seed dissatisfied with the answers.
Shaking his head, he refuted us, and we exchanged glances, or more precisely, everyone looked at .
I was the only one well-versed in history here.
But unfortunately, I didn’t know exactly how the demons entered this world either.
There are only vague ntions of dinsional tears.
“Uh… wasn’t it through tearing the dinsion? That’s what I’ve always heard.”
[Yes, dinsion-tearing is correct. But who perford that act?]
“The demon worshippers?”
[No.]
Clark replied firmly and revealed a shocking truth.
[It was the last king of Gerios, Morgan Yurk Via III, who perford it himself. The ritual was state-level and directly led by the king.]
“…What?”
As if that wasn’t shocking enough, what ca next was even more so.
[And above all, demons are not beings from another dinsion.]
Because.
[They are the citizens of Gerios.]
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