SLKD – Volume 3 Chapter 1

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Demon World, Éguilles Grass, Golden Lightning

“UWAAAA!!! That motherf*cker Yalide, he actually said that it won’t take long. Isn’t this slope never-f*cking-ending?”

I cursed and normally, I don’t curse, but under the circumstances, I couldn’t help but be rude. At the moment, I was, in the pitch black, rapidly sliding down something that looked like a pipe. The earth obviously has gravity and inertia, at the speed I was travelling, when I reached the Demon World, I would be flattened into a meat pie for sure.

‘Ah… sorry, I have forgotten about the Theorem of the Three Layers. It has already been a thousand years after all. Actually, the world is made of three planes: at the top is the Celestial World, in the middle is the Human World, and at the bottom is the Underworld, which is now called the Demon World. There is a thick spatial membrane between each of them, and you are currently inside that spatial membrane.’

‘Damn you, how could you forget such an important thing? How could I have ever put my faith in you?’

‘Hehe~~’

‘You’re still laughing?!’

‘Of course not. Actually what I wanted to say is that I had to use this method to bring you to the Demon World because your spiritual power is too weak.’

‘Hey! Now you are blaming me for having weak spiritual power?’

‘I thought you didn’t know magic? What I wanted to say is that when I travelled across the Celestial World, the Human World, and the Underworld, I had only ever used teleportation magic. I had never used the method of cutting through space before… In fact, that was how the dimensional crack theory was established, because a crack appeared in the spatial membrane…’

‘Then it is my fault after all? Also, you’d better hurry up and think of something quick now, or do you not want to live anymore?’

‘Don’t worry! You probably will not fall to your death?’

‘What’s the meaning of you answering my question with another question? Anyway, the situation right now is not good – do you have any good way out of this? Uh-oh… I can see light from below us. Hurry up and think of something, otherwise, we will fall to our deaths for real!’

In the middle of the pitch black darkness, about several hundred meters down, there was a speck of light. It looks like the end is near.

‘Even if you ask me to think of something… how about you grow a pair of wings?’

‘You….what do you think I am? A dragon? Freed! Quickly, think of something, we are running out of time!’

The speck of light gradually grew bigger and bigger, the end was nearing!!!

‘Errr… I really don’t have any ideas… I have only been to the Demon World a few times. During which, I had never used such a crude and exciting method… But you don’t have to worry, just brace yourself, take a deep breath – you probably won’t die.’

‘What is the meaning of this? Wah! We are about to fall down.’

Bright light~~~

“Wuaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

↓

“Kaplasssh…” (The sound of something falling into the water, resulting in a splash measuring tens of meters high.)

“Blub, blub, blub~~”

I was hurting all over… My head hurt, my body also hurt, it looked like I had fallen into water. Even though I didn’t take a deep breath during the fall, luckily, I had curled up my body. However, there was still such a big impact, I was almost unable to bear it… if I didn’t have a body constitution comparable to that of a Battle King, the consequences would be unthinkable…

I struggled to move my body underwater and swam towards the surface. After ten or so seconds, I popped my head out of the water, and happily took a deep breath and sucked in the fresh air.

“Hwoffff-haaaa~~hwoffff-haaa~~hwoffff ~~ I …I thought I would certainly die.” I shook my head and opened my eyes.

Hm? This is, I noticed the sky above my head.

Why was the color of the sky…

‘This is the Demon World. How is it? Do you also feel uneasy after seeing the blood red sky of the Demon World?’

‘Hey! Actually, it wasn’t because of my preference to have the sky turned into something like this. I know that the color is ominous, and I didn’t like it either. Speaking of, why is it that the two of you have similar opinions here, while I feel like an outsider?’

“Um… Kid, let me tell you, actually, when I last visited, the sky wasn’t like this. It was a dark grey…”

‘Really? Then, there is a story behind this?’ We decided not to answer Yalide’s question, because we didn’t want to make him sad….

“Hey! What do you mean by you didn’t want to make me feel sad? Forget it! I am the Great Dragon God, Yalide-sama, I will not be bothered by you two shunning me. You guys are just jealous… jealous of me…. jealous of me being this incredible dragon god, jealous of me… the Great Dragon God….You clearly had said that you would treat me as a friend if I were bring you to the Demon World…. but…’

Yalide looked to be broken. But really, did we let him down by doing this? But… his character was really… too frivolous?

‘Kid, no need to worry about him, he is just like this, soon it will be like as if nothing has happened. Look at him now, it is really difficult to imagine him as the Great Dragon God, the former Ruler of the Underworld, right? Actually, he was not like this before. He is like this only because… he thinks that the things that had happened in the Demon World was caused by him… Truthfully, even though he was a fuse for the incident… all he did only hastened the appearance of demons – the resentment of humans is vast and endless…. demons will appear sooner or later….’

Right, the resentment of humans is really scary. Even if Yalide didn’t send out those spirits to check on the crack that appeared in the Underworld at the time, eventually, there bound to be some wandering souls that would have stumbled upon it. (ED: See chapter 6 from volume 1.)

‘On behalf of all the humans in the world, I would like to offer an apology to you both. After all, the root cause of the whole incident was us humans…’

‘Oho~~You really are a special human… Actually, the reason that the sky of the Demon World turned blood red was because after the appearance of the demons, they were dissatisfied with the the dead souls’ weak spiritual power, so they cut the spatial membrane separating the Human World and the Underworld, entered the Human World, and started a massacre to siphon souls – blood was flowing like rivers, the Human World turned into hell. They also forcefully abducted animals into the Demon World to breed them for food….’

Wait a minute, in that case, does that mean that Silent Water is a descendant of humans who were brought into the Demon World while animal spirits are descendants of animals who were brought there?

‘Are you saying that the blood of those slaughtered humans tainted the sky red?’

‘Correct. When the spatial membrane was cut by the demons, the river of blood flowed into the spatial membrane… After Yalide repaired it, the sky turned into this – that’s the story thus far. Our important friend Yalide, can you tell us where we can find the Nora Grass and the like?’

‘Haha!!! So you guys can’t do it without me after all. Let me think… hm… oh? Actually… if I say that I don’t know either, will you guys kill me?’

‘Oi, Great Dragon God, you are joking right? Weren’t you the administrator of this world?’

Why is it like this? And he still dared to say that he was this incredible administrator of the Underworld.

‘How can you blame me? Think a little, Freed and I were adrift for more than a thousand years, which means that I haven’t come to the Demon World for more than a thousand years. Never mind the changes that has taken place here, just talking about memories alone, how could I possibly remember something from that long ago? Besides, at the time, Nora Grass was everywhere, how else could Freed, the administrator of the Celestial World, remember such a petty grass?’

‘Just what exactly did you manage to store in your memory after you guys were set adrift?’ Em? I think I got it… must be those beautiful female humans in their “au naturel” state…

‘Kid, stop thinking about useless things and swim, we are almost to the bank, let’s talk after we are on land. You need to be careful. I just now noticed, there is a gigantic creature making a commotion, I think it was woken up by the noise.’

‘What? Are you serious?’

If this was the Human World, then it would just be a shark or something similar. However, this was the Demon world, I wouldn’t know what strange creature lived here. Even if it were a shark, wouldn’t that still make it a wild spirit? If it were to attack me, never mind my poor swimming abilities, even if I were a swimming champion, so long as I was in the water, I would die for sure.

With that in mind, I accelerated my swimming speed…

…

“Grrr~~~ Whew~~~ That was tiring, but luckily nothing happened.” I shook the water from my body the best I could and sighed with relief when I looked back at that gigantic lake.

Turning around, I saw an ancient jungle, those trees were tremendous, giving one a foreboding feeling. However, even though they were growing in a crisscrossing pattern, there was still a small path leading into the endless forest.

‘Now what?’

‘Are there any other ways you can choose?’

————————————— Ancient Jungle

‘Hey, Yalide, where are we? Why are there only trees?’

I had been walking in this ancient jungle for over ten minutes already, there was nothing but trees, I hadn’t even seen a shadow of any Nora Grass – actually how big was a blade of Nora Grass?

‘This forest should be somewhere to the south of Bijur. The climate here is quite mild. There are lot of trees in the surrounding area, search a little more carefully, and you may just find your Nora Grass.’

‘What I am asking is, what does a Nora Grass looks like?’

‘How should I put it? It has the appearance of a grass?’

‘… specifically?’

‘It has leaves!’

‘…’ Argh! It would have been better if Freed was the administrator of the Underworld…

‘Hey, stinking brat, what do you mean by that? Are you implying that I, the Great Dragon God, wasn’t an outstanding administrator? And you even hoped that Freed, who couldn’t even measure up to one of my claws, to become the administrator for the Underworld?

‘I didn’t say that; I just thought it, which also happened to be the truth.’

‘Kid, don’t quarrel with him, if you can’t find the Nora Grass, then look for the Éguilles Grass first, that grass should be easier to find.’

‘Oh? How do you know?’ I was very curious, why did it seemed as though Freed knew everything.

‘You don’t need to praise me like this, I am no prophet. I am just better at deduction than you are. Alright, I will explain a bit. Human beings need Éguilles Grass for medicinal purposes. Since Éguilles Grass grows in the Demon World, then it should have certain amount of magical power, and possess certain properties that are not found in your run-of-the-mill medicinal herbs. Just think about it, most human beings are unwilling to sacrifice their lives for money, and to travel to the depths of the Demon World, which is so filled with danger…’

‘I want to ask then, what does this have to do with how easy it is to find Éguilles Grass? Wait a minute, what you meant to say is, this type of grass isn’t that rare, so those who come to the Demon World looking for herbs, as well as those looking to capture spirits, manage to find this type of grass readily and brought it back to the Human World?

‘Mmhmm, what you said is correct. I just can’t seem to figure out why you can quickly grasp things like this, yet… Ughhh~~~’

‘Is there some special meaning behind your words?’

‘No, it only proves that you are a blockhead.’

‘…’

——————————————

After walking for about another 10 minutes, I remembered something important.

‘Oh right, what does Éguilles Grass look like?’

‘So you finally remembered to ask? No, that is not what I meant. I mean you don’t know that either?’

‘Are you, who was the Underworld Administrator, asking me instead?’

‘This is truly a problem, not knowing what either Éguilles Grass or what Nora Grass looks like, how can we find and harvest them? If it is Nora Grass, I do have a vague impression… It is because last time I was here, at that time, this whole hillside was completely covered with that pale, silvery grass…’

Freed was really worthy of my trust, with just that one sentence and he let me know that Nora Grass had a dull, silvery color.

‘What do you say, Yalide, you know something about it or not? If you can think of something, then I’ll buy you that book. What’s the name of that book again?’

‘The H Lifestyle between My Master and I! Kid, are you finally enlightened? Wait till you buy that book, I will then pass onto you my techniques for checking out girls, which I have spent a lifetime honing and refining.’

‘No need for that, if you haven’t managed to remember anything else… then that book…..’

‘I have! Of course I have. Actually, that Nora Grass is a grass with a dull, silver color, about half a meter high. It has four leaves in total. And that Éguilles Grass has a sandy yellow color, and assumes a triangular shape.’

‘You don’t say… You didn’t do that on purpose, did you?’

‘Masochist~~~ I am not that sort of dragon, hahah~~ I just didn’t remember the details until just now.’

Forget it. For what was worth, I figured out what Éguilles Grass and what Nora Grass looks like. No wonder Silent Water said that some spirits used Nora Grass to build nests, as it turned out, it was half a meter tall…

———————— About 20 minute later

I walked out of the forest, and saw a clear, small stream, and on the other side of the stream, there was yet another forest…

Hm? Next to the stream, there were some rocks. Under the rocks were a patch of yellow grass, could it possibly be…

‘They couldn’t be Éguilles Grass, could they?’

‘The color is right; we just need to get over there and check to see if it has a triangle shape.’

I walked over to the patch of grass, squatted down, grabbed one, and carefully examined it.

The grass before me had a dim, sandy yellow color, and about ten centimeters in length Below, it had a pointed root; along the stem, the further up it went, the broader it got, giving the plant a weird inverted triangular shape.

‘It should be this, right?’

‘Mn, right, that is it, back in the days, I often used this grass to make tea.’

“Oi, dragons, can you tell me how did you make tea? Also, if you had often made tea with it, then how could you possibly forget that shit?!”

‘Ugh… we didn’t tell you? But we actually could also take on human form.’

‘You really didn’t. In my dreams, you were both in dragon form, how could I have known?’

‘To tell you the truth, among the three realms: the Celestial World, the Human World, and the Demon World, the Human World is the most developed. The Human World was really advanced, that was why in order to to buy things from the Human World, we would transform into our human forms.’

‘You had bought stuff?!’

‘Yeah, there were no H-books during those times, that was why I would swindle money from little girls to buy some superbly done artistic… pictures.’

‘You don’t need to say any more, I understand.’

This would make for good gossip, right? The famous and highly respected dragon god would transform into human and swindle little girls, then use their money to buy some “superbly done artistic…pictures”. Even if this got out, I doubt anyone would believe it.

‘OK, kid, now that you have the Éguilles Grass, let’s continue on to search for some Nora Grass. I suggest you go search around the area where wood spirits congregate – there should be some clues there.’ Freed wasn’t trying to change the topic because he didn’t want me to get more and more disappointed in Yalide, was he?

“Oh, in that way…”

“Boom! Ba-dum” A loud noise interrupted my thoughts. I raised my head and saw smoke billowing from the forest on the other side of the brook. Just then, another golden bolt of lightning descended.

Strange, there were no clouds in the sky, where could have that lightning….

‘Kid, it is from a spirit! If my senses haven’t failed me, that should be a king class humanoid spirit.’

‘Let me add that there is also a demon over there…’

‘Hey… If what you two said was right, then there is a lightning type humanoid spirit being attacked by a demon right now?’

Suddenly, I recalled how Silent Water’s father and mother were attacked by that fire type demon and ….

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Once again, a few more golden lightning bolts torn through the sky. The place where the lightning had struck emitted a red light, that red light faded harmoniously into the backdrop of the blood red sky. Black smoke slowly rose.

Another humanoid spirit was being attacked?

Damn! I would not allow such a thing to happen again! Those damn demons!

I ran towards the place where the lightning was continuously hitting.

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