Reborn: Demon Core (7 page)

“Ash, can I have a moment?” Halon asked,
seeming to forget the young lady he had been courting.

“Sure,” Ash said as he sighed internally.

Ash tried to pull his arm free of Lillanis’s
grasp but she held tight. Looking back he noticed that she had a
face full of determination. His shoulders slumping slightly, Ash
followed Halon with Lillanis still holding tightly to his arm.

“Lillanis, could you leave us alone for a
moment?” Halon asked, seeing that she was still standing beside Ash
when he turned around.

“Why?” Lillanis asked, furrowing her
brow.

“I just want to talk with Ash a bit,” Halon
said, his lips twitching slightly.

Lillanis lightly kissed Ash’s cheek and she
pulled back her grasp. “Please,” Lillanis lightly whispered before
walking back toward the front door of the manor. It was only one
word, but it held a lot of meaning and not even Ash could miss the
meaning behind it.

“Ash, what are you intentions toward
Lillanis?” Halon asked as soon as she was out of sight.

“Intentions…I don’t have any intentions
toward her,” Ash replied.

“Then you are just using her?” Halon asked,
his hand reaching toward the sword on his hip.

“Nothing of the sort,” Ash quickly replied.
“If anything, she is using me,” Ash said within the confines of his
own mind. “We are just enjoying each other’s company right now,
nothing more.”

“She has had bad luck with men,” Halon warned
in a dark voice. “If I find out that you hurt her…”

“I won’t,” Ash said, holding up his
hands.

“I didn’t think that you were the sort, but
she is like a sister to me,” Halon said. “And I will do anything I
can to keep her safe,” Halon added, his voice darkening again
making his threat clear for what it was.

With his peace said, Halon walked back to the
young slave that was waiting on him. “Does he have any room to talk
while he is playing around with one of my slaves?” Ash asked,
shaking his head. “What kind of trouble did I get myself into
now?”

Leaving Halon behind, Ash entered the house
and was quickly greeted by Allice who was holding a small glass of
water for him. “Gilda said that master should drink plenty of water
today,” She said with a worried look on her face.

“Thank you,” Ash said, taking the offered
water and quickly drinking it.

“Ash, a moment,” Lillanis said, appearing
from the hallway.

As Ash handed the glass back to Allice, he
walked toward Lillanis waited. “Even though master has me,” Allice
said in a slightly pouty voice.

As soon as they were shut in the meeting room
from the night before, Lillanis turned on him placing her face only
inches from his. “What did Halon want?”

“He just warned me that should I do anything
to hurt you, I would be turned into monster grub,” Ash said
sighing.

“So it was his, don’t hurt my sister speech,”
Lillanis said with a weak laugh.

“He said something about you being hurt
before and not wanting it repeated,” Ash said a slight hint of
worry in his voice.

Lillanis let out a small “tisk,” sound as she
pulled back. “Why did he have to bring up something like that?”

“What happened?” Ash asked as he took a seat
on the sofa.

Lillanis flung herself on the sofa and leaned
her head on his leg looking up into Ash’s eyes. Ash could remember
numerous times when he had laid with his head on Emelia’s lap, but
this was the first time the position was reversed. It felt oddly
satisfying in its own way.

“About three years ago I met someone, I
thought was a nice guy. He fought in the labyrinth with us just as
you are doing now. He was always flirting with me, but I never took
him serious. Since I am the only girl in the party, I always have
my own room at the inn. One night after we had gotten back, while
Halon and Jacob were fighting, the man came to my room. I didn’t
think much of it and let him in, thinking he only wanted to
talk.”

“Enough,” Ash said, turning his head away
from looking in her eyes.

Seeing Ash turn red in anger, Lillanis lifted
up her hand and placed it on his face pulling it back toward her.
When Ash saw the pained look on her face, he found himself without
words all he could think of was hunting down the man and killing
him.

When Lillanis brought her head up and placed
her lips against his, Ash didn’t pull back. “Thank you,” Lillanis
said weakly as she laid her head back down and closed her eyes.

Ash just sat watching Lillanis sleep. She had
such a peaceful face. Outside of the labyrinth, Ash hadn’t spent
much time with Lillanis and the others. Every night they ate and
had a few drinks together, but after that they went their separate
ways. His impression of Lillanis had been that she was an easy
going, strong type that held the other two in check. Seeing her now
though, she seemed almost childlike and incomparably innocent. It
was a lot like the difference between the awake and the sleeping
Emelia.

Lillanis slept for a little under an hour and
woke with a warm smile on her face. She didn’t say much as she sat
up and left the room. As soon as she was gone, Allice appeared from
one of the small doors that the servants used to get around the
manor so that they wouldn’t disturb the guests.

“Master,” Allice said, the sadness in her
eyes clearly visible.

Ash knew that while still young, Allice
wasn’t a fool. Every night she would make sure everything was ready
in his chambers so there was no way that she missed Lillanis being
there the night before. He tried to think of something to say to
comfort her, but his mind remained blank. Instead he placed his
hand on top of her head and lightly patted it.

The rest of the day Ash went through his own
personal finances. He didn’t know why the idea of the fort had hit
him so strongly, but something told him that it should be built and
the faster the better. Ash had lived his whole life going along
with the flow and listening to what he felt was right, but even so
he didn’t want to spend too much of his own coin on the production
of the fort. If he did that, it wouldn’t just be him that suffers
but his slaves as well.

Before he knew it, the sun had sat and
everyone was once again gathered around the table to eat. Lillanis
who normally ate next to Halon now sat beside Allice. Seeing that
Lillanis didn’t try to force the younger girl out of her place made
Ash smile.

Throughout dinner, Lillanis talked with
Allice and Yuki. They didn’t talk about anything grand but just
simple things. Yuki’s next grade test was in a little over a week,
it was all she could talk about. Allice talked about her brother
mainly, but Lillanis directed the conversation into what Allice
herself liked. It was the first time Ash had heard Allice talk
about herself.

From what Allice said before her mother died,
she was learning how to sew and embroider from her and enjoyed it.
After her death however, she had been forced to work long hours
just to keep a small place to sleep and food so she didn’t seem to
have any hobbies of her own.

When Lillanis heard this, she lightly hugged
the young girl. Ash had expected Allice to pull back but instead
she didn’t resist at all.

After eating, Ash had a quick bath then
headed for bed, planning to head to the labyrinth early in the
morning so he could try and push through some more floors. Shortly
after he had laid down, Allice came to check on him but seeing the
candle’s snuffed, she quietly left. When the door opened again a
few moments later, Ash expected that it was Yuki coming to try to
invade, but when he felt the warm body pressed against him he
turned in shock. “Lillanis…What are you doing here?”

“Just sleeping,” She replied as she pressed
her forehead against his back. Ash didn’t know what to do and the
tension in his body quickly rose, but when the soft rhythmic
breathing of the sleeping Lillanis reached his ears his body seemed
to calm down.

The next morning, Ash woke as Lillanis exited
the bed. The dim light streaming in from the widow illuminated her
body showing that she had worn nothing the night before. She didn’t
try to hide her body from Ash, in fact it was almost as if she was
enjoying his stares.

Unlike the others, she didn’t wear thick
armor. Instead she wore a light leather armor covered by her white
robe. She also had a number of rings and necklaces that she wore.
When she put them all on, she looked lovely and seemed to shine
more than ever before.

After Lillanis dressed, she gave Ash a wink
before leaving him alone in the room. As soon as she left, Ash
quickly jumped from the bed and dressed. He thought it was slightly
odd that he was the one embarrassed.

When he entered the dining room, the others
were already waiting on him to eat. Jacob gave him a wink while
Halon stares were still full of warning. Lillanis on the other
hand, didn’t even pay attention to him as she sat next to Allice
again while working with her on something. When Ash drew closer,
Allice held up a white piece of cloth with small red needle work.
“Master, what is your favorite color?” She asked happily.

“Green,” Ash said quickly as he took his
seat. Allice frowned slightly, but her face brightened a few
moments later after Lillanis whispered something in her ear.

When the food was brought out, Milly carried
small glasses of water and placed them on the table before crawling
into her positon on Lillanis’s lap. Watching Lillanis, Ash could
only think that she would make a good mother. Shina had tried
coaxing Milly to sit in her lap, but it seemed that she lost out to
Lillanis.

“Master, now that you are no longer in
training can I join in the fighting?” Shina asked after they had
finished eating and started to get ready to leave for the
labyrinth.

“It is fine with me, what about you three?”
Ash said, turning to look at the other members of the party.

“Another fighter is always welcomed,” Halon
replied quickly. The other two just nodded their head in agreement
and soon their party of four was now a party of five.

As they walked toward the labyrinth, Lillanis
walked on Ash’s right side holding his arm while Shina walked on
his left. To the people watching it might seem like an enviable
position, but for Ash it was pure torture. No matter how he looked
at the two they seemed to act just like Yuki and Allice did at
home. Before, the labyrinth was his only place to really relax, but
it looked like that peace was slowly disappearing.

Since they had killed off enough ogres during
their last time in the labyrinth, as soon as they entered, they
went through the doors to the boss’s room. When the darkness
cleared, a large ogre with silver skin and smaller tusks awaited
them. It was a steel mountain ogre that was known for the toughness
of their skin. The steel ogre looked at them with a completely
dumbfounded look on its face. From the abilities he had received,
he believed that the steel ogre was just one that had completely
exhausted its intelligence to gain strength.

Even though Shina had been added to the
group, not much had changed in the way they fought. Ash and Halon
would still be the vanguards while Jacob and Shina attacked at the
monsters blind spots and all the while Lillanis would make sure
that none of them died.

Since it was a boss monster, Ash didn’t hold
anything back and for the first time in months invoked gambler’s
gambit.

“Tring.”

[Due to gambler’s gambit all stats have been
raised by 94 points.]

Ash wanted to shout. Ninety-four points on
each stat. There were no other words for it other than simply
outrageous. Knowing that the boost wouldn’t last long, Ash quickly
jumped forward striking at the ogre’s knee with his sword. When the
ogre’s skin and the blade of the sword met sparks flew into the
air, but Ash was still able to cut a deep wound into the ogre’s
knee. While Ash was attacking the right knee, Halon was going after
the left knee, but his attacks were doing far less damage.

As soon as Ash and Halon attacked, the ogre
didn’t stay still. When Ash’s sword connected, the ogre howled and
slammed his club down, but only hit dirt. Before the ogre could
make a second strike, Shina threw one of her small daggers hitting
it in the eyes while Jacob jumped behind it, though even with his
boost damage skill his dagger barely broke through the ogre’s
skin.

As soon as he landed the first strike, Ash
jumped to the side to dodge the incoming attack. Not a second after
his foot settled Ash struck again this time hitting the back of the
knee, then he jumped back when another attacked came at his head.
As soon as the ogre lifted the club back up, Ash invoked pounce and
drove his sword deep into the ogre’s leg.

As the ogre toppled to the side, Ash tried to
pull his sword free but it was trapped tightly in the ogre’s leg so
he was forced to jump back otherwise he would have been buried
under the monster’s weight. Ash had a number of copper swords back
at the manor, but he had never thought of bring a spare with him.
Cursing his own stupidity, Ash used shadow whip to try and keep the
ogre’s attention but even with his boost it did little damage.

Without Ash drawing the ogre’s attention, it
was shifted to Halon who was still attacking the left leg. Ash let
out a warning just in time for Halon to dance backward as a strike
from the ogre’s club narrowly missed him. Thankfully the ogre could
no longer walk, though as if not understanding why, it was still
trying to stand in-between its attacks.

Just as Ash was starting to go in to try for
his sword again, his gambler’s gambit expired. Though it hadn’t
been long, Ash felt weakened as the strength that had been flowing
through his body left him but he didn’t slow. Grabbing the hilt of
his sword, Ash put both of his feet on the ogre’s leg and pulled
with all his might but the blade only moved a half an inch.