Reincarnated

Chapter 41: Demonoid's Lair

Alexander looked at Cain, but the latter did not speak anymore. Cain was focused on knowing the path they would traverse ahead and did not pay Alexander's stares any attention.

His vision was stretching far and wide as he traced where his thin line of blood was connected to. However, his vision did not manage to reach the place inside a cave and stopped right at its beak.

'Is it there?'

Cain's eyebrows furrowed. He stopped trying as it was meaningless to break through whatever barrier the Demonoid cast on the cave because they would soon reach that place and have no other choice but to break it when they get there.

"So, tell me, how did you get so strong? There is no way that you became so strong like that without a master?"

Alexander flinched when Cain suddenly started to converse with him again.

"Well, I don't know if I can call her my master."

Alexander scratched the back of his neck. Cain noticed his hesitation and his eyes flew towards him. To his surprise, Alexander's ears up to his face were flushed.

"Why do you look like a tomato?"

Cain's eyebrows raised.

Alexander's face became redder than how it already was and made Cain realize what was going on.

"Oh, I see. Your master is a girl."

Alexander completely turned his body in Cain's direction and shook his hands in front of him.

"B-but, I have never seen her as a woman!"

'This guy is so quick to deny it.'

Cain couldn't help but have an evil smirk appear in his mind before turning into an evil laugh.

"Then, why are you stumbling?"

Alexander avoided Cain's eyes and turned forward again. His ears and face were hot from embarrassment and emotion that he did not know what to call.

"It's just... she is still young."

Whispering to himself, Alexander fidgeted on the hilt of his sword.

"Young?"

Cain tilted his head to the side, confused at what Alexander had said.

"Well, I think she is about the same age as you?"

'A teenager?!'

Cain was genuinely surprised at the revelation that the teenage girl was able to teach Alexander, who was ten years older than her.

"Is your master really a teenager?"

To Cain's surprise, he could not stop himself from asking Alexander for his confirmation.

"I told you that she is not actually my master. I was practicing the basics when swinging the sword when she suddenly started to watch me one day and corrected my stance. She didn't demonstrate for me, but made me demonstrate it for myself."

Alexander's eyes were filled with awe and respect for the teenage girl he did not even know if he should call his master.

Cain who heard this was naturally engulfed by the thought of meeting the girl eventually as if it was the most natural thing to do. As if he was being suched into a black hole.

Something deep inside his soul was telling him to go meet that girl.

"Can I ask for your not-so-master's name?"

Cain's gaze stayed in front.

"Sure. Her name is Eri."

As soon as those words reached Cain's ears he felt like the world had stopped and his memories from his past life started to rush into his brain.

The woman he saved from the rubbles. And the woman who saved her from his advisors and councilors.

The woman he regretted not being able to be with before she died for him.

"Uh, Cain? Are you alright?"

Alexander studied Cain's face. He didn't notice that h had stopped walking.

Cain snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at Alexander.

"Can I meet your master when this subjugation ends?"

Cain had a bright smile on his face, contrary to what he had earlier when sadness, grief, and anger were mixed in his eyes.

"Sure!"

Alexander pretended to be cheerful as Cain faked his condition. For a while, he regretted his decision of knowing about the existence of Alexander's not-so-master. His mind was now in a mess because he kept thinking about the woman he failed to express his love to in his past life.

***

They continued to march to the demonoid's lair while Cain was slowly shaking away unnecessary thoughts that could lead to the majority of the party's deaths and worse losing his life, too.

Within a considerable distance away from the lair, Cain raised his hand and stopped the march. He looked behind him and saw the tense expressions of the party members.

"Listen closely. Ahead is the demonoid's lair. Inside that cave might become your grave if you don't stay aware and active. So you should prepare yourself before we go in and annihilate any more entities that could cause major problems to your homeland."

Cain spoke without a single hesitation plastered in his face. At that moment, the authority that he exudes was that of an indomitable general.

Filzer stepped forward and asked the question that everyone wanted to ask, but couldn't do so:

"How can you be so sure?"

Cain looked at Filzer who asked the question before switching his gaze to the other party members. Not a single one of them was spared from feeling intense fear as he looked into each of their eyes.

"Look around you. Do you think the Grea Lands will be this quiet and calm? What do you think of the state of the other places that we passed through? Noisy with the monster's howls and uneasy atmosphere."

Cain explained and made the others take notice of their surroundings.

Indeed, Cain was right. The area was too much peaceful as if where they were was just a normal forest. There were no sounds of monsters howling from either hunger or baseless anger. However, the uneasy atmosphere was replaced by a cold one.

It was a place where they knew that blood would be spilled, and they were starting to wish that it wouldn't be theirs to poll the ground with blood or create mountains with their corpses.