On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

The battle is concluded but the war is still ongoing. We were too naïve; it took us more than a day to completely take Lysimork down. Now, don\'t get things wrong. Though I call it war, this is not one where we have to sacrifice a lot of our Warriors to win.

This war is more of a tag game.

The people on Iorael\'s side, upon knowing they had lost, decided to immediately retreat and gather forces. Those forces are, of course, comprised of the ordinary citizens of Lysimork, who by no means can fight.

Things are getting harder because of this; we don\'t want to kill too many citizens that will be useful to us in the future. Their propaganda, unfortunately, managed to rope in quite a lot of citizens, giving us a dilemma.

"It has been three days—don\'t you think it is time to take decisive action, Jovenus?"

"I know what you want to suggest, Velucan, but we are not going to do it your way."

"We are wasting our time here. Don\'t you realize it?"

"We are not wasting our time. We have nothing to do upon our return—it is fine to take our time."

Velucan and Jovenus have been doing this for the past three days. The calm and logical Jovenus always says we should take our time, meanwhile, the impulsive and battle maniac Velucan always says we should kill all of them without mercy.

I am honestly on Velucan\'s side this time—like him, I don\'t want to waste my time—but I have to think about the future too. If we kill too many of the civilians, which is what the remnants of the Rebel Army want, our alliance with the Dark Elf will barely mean anything.

The Dark Elf, currently, have no powerhouse on their side. All of them, although not weak, still have to rely on each other to excel in war, so maintaining their current number is the wisest thing we should do.

"What do you think about it, Eliseus?" Jovenus asks.

"I am fine with the current method we use, but I think many of us have lost our patience. After all, we are not built to fight carefully—it is frustrating."

"To think someone like you even say that kind of thing … That was really surprising."

Turning his eyes away from Eliseus, Jovenus looks at me. I am still wondering why I am even invited to this meeting, but this guy seems like he wants to ask about my opinion on this matter.

He smiles and does what I expected, "What do you think about this matter, Layland?"

Everyone\'s eyes are focused on me; I don\'t think I hate the look, but it is annoying nonetheless. I feel obligated to answer and it is very hard for me to not be honest on matters that have something to do with my interest.

"First of all, why am I even qualified for joining the meeting?" I ask calmly.

The others seem surprised; they give me a look that says \'uwah, is this guy serious?\'. As far as I know, although I had a quite important role in the conquest of Lysimork, which was Haletha\'s guard, that thing is over.

Added to that is the fact that I am but a Third Wing Warrior. Not even the Sixth Wing Vibiane is here—why am I even here?

"Ah, I see. You are new to the army—of course, you don\'t know." Jovenus nods his head with a smile. "Do you think you performed well in the battle, Layland?"

"I will sell myself short if I say I didn\'t; so, yes, I performed well. Does me being here have something to do with it?"

"We have the custom to invite the Warrior with the most achievement in a battle to join us in the meeting. We believe he will be able to give us some insights that will further improve our military prowess," Eliseus explains.

"Do I achieve a lot though? I don\'t think killing Iorael was that hard."

"Pfft. Look at this guy—he already has that infamous Demon nature!" Velucan laughs. "I have to agree with him though. Killing that bastard was not hard; at least, for Eighth Wing Warriors and above."

\'Are these guys suggesting that I am already as strong as a Seventh Wing Warrior? Is that why I am here—I am already on par with them?\' I muse. \'Nah,\' I shake my head, \'there must be something else.\'

"You have immense potential, Layland. You are definitely going to be a Demon King\'s General, who will replace us in the future," Jovenus states.

"We invited you to join us because we want to involve you sooner in our military matters. We want our inheritors to be ready to replace us anytime." Velucan grins. "Of course, you\'ll be my inheritor."

I turn my head to Eliseus and she immediately nods her head. Like me, she has also been chosen to be a General.

\'Well, well, well. Isn\'t it interesting? I am now both a Demon King and a General Candidate.  Which one will I achieve first?\' I think in amusement.

"That aside, we genuinely want to hear your opinion on this matter. Lady Haletha is already having a hard time to re-establish her position—we need to end this as soon as possible. Do you have any good ideas?"

I turn to Jovenus and gaze at him silently for a few seconds before speaking. "We can actually just leave and let Haletha deal with the problem herself. This is by no means our problem—we are here to conquer, so the rest should be left to our puppet queen."

Jovenus frowns and is ready to rebuke me, but I immediately speak before he can say a word. "That is what I wanted to say, but I know it won\'t bear the result that we want." I smile. "My suggestion is to ask Teanosvera for help."

The four people in the room blink their eyes in, what I say, surprise. None of them must have thought about it or even considered it would be possible.

"I have a way," I assure. \'Luxia, you can do something about it, can you?\'

\'… I can\'t promise but I\'ll try my best.\'

The people give me a curious look. I expected them to give me a sceptical and baffled look, but they are looking at me with so much expectation that it seems they are already sure this will be a success.

\'Oi, oi, don\'t give me that look. You\'ll be disappointed when things don\'t go as you expected,\' I exclaim inwardly. "Just to remind you, I can\'t guarantee it will be a success, but it is still worth the shot."

"Let\'s go with your plan," Jovenus says unhesitatingly.

\'Where is the consideration?\'

"I agree. We can\'t think of anything either way, so it\'s better to try something than nothing," Velucan states.

"If it\'s you, I believe you will be able to pull this off," Eliseus remarks.

Their belief in me is actually touching, but at the same time burdening. Now, I feel like I have to make it work, lest I should let them down.

"I will try my best." I nod my head simply.

"Ah, don\'t worry about failure. Not everything you want to try will go the way you want, so don\'t pressure yourself too much," Jovenus says.

Care—I have only felt it from my mother. No one but her showed me care on Earth; but these people, no matter how ruthless they are toward the human, don\'t hesitate to show their care for me—it is touching.

Standing up as Jovenus says the meeting is over, all of us get out of the room Haletha has provided us. We walk down the stairs of the palace and go to mind our businesses.

I go to the garden because I want to see Genelos. He has been popular among the other Wyverns these days since he is the only one who can breathe fire.

He helped me a lot in the battle, but he burned too many things. He almost burned every tree in the vicinity of Lysimork and it was a pain in the ass to extinguish the fire.

We were lucky that the Dark Elf are well-versed in Water Magic. Had it not been the case, that day would have been a glum day for us—me and Genelos.

"Here he is… oh, there are Haletha and Arieda too?"

When I arrived at the garden, neither my Wyvern nor the people surrounding him notice my presence. It is not after I hop on Genelos\' back do they realize I am there.

"Layland, you are here!" Arieda exclaims. "Have you finished your meeting?"

"Woah… this is the Demon who killed thousands of the rebels with a swing of his sword. How cool!"

"That mask is scary but cool! I want to have one, but I am sure my mother won\'t let me."

"Hmph! You brats. Think about something more adult-like. You are 19, aren\'t you?"

"Like what?"

"Manner me, brats. I will capture his heart so I can be his bride!"

"Uwah… this girl must have a screw loose in her head."

Listening to the conversation these "child" Dark Elves have, I can\'t believe they are 19 years old. They behave just like how their bodies look—like children.

I turn my head to the smiling Haletha and say, "Since you are here, I have something to talk about. It\'ll be better if we can talk about it in private."

Gasp!

"Eh?"

I wonder what the kids and Haletha are thinking, but I prevent myself from thinking about it. I know they are thinking about a completely different thing.