CHAPTER 5: SCREAM

Zeliker curled his lips when Gizelis cleaned his wound with alcohol. It stings him hard like a poison. His body shook with sweat as he panted heavily. He has long forgotten the pain since the last time. And, he would have never thought after two years of living in Flink without doing anything would weaken his pain resistance.

He. Really. Needs. More. Exercise!

‘I can't believe he restrains himself from fainting.’

Gizelis felt admiration towards Zeliker without knowing Zeliker's internal complicated feelings.

"Enough Zeliker, let your body rest," Gizelis told Zeliker.

Zeliker had to agree. He needs to rest and his body begs him too. He already felt some dizziness and was unwell. His sight also seems to turn darker and darker. At least Gizelis won't hurt him during his sleep since Gizelis didn't hurt him after he fainted either.

In his own home, if he was only taking a few minutes of nap, some demon would ambush or assault him. It was a training lesson from his father to make sure he was ready to battle every time he went to sleep.

An exercise of awareness, that is what Silvert called it.

Bullshit! Why can’t anyone let him sleep in peace?!

Now, here in Eskimos, no one would disturb him. It was a big relief to be brought here. So, he lay down on his uninjured side on the ready-made infirmary bed. Then, closed his eyes as he let his consciousness fade.

Riseptos appeared after he went to get more bandages and clean cloth for Zeliker.

"I never saw him abuse himself so much until today," Riseptos gave Gizelis the materials.

"Abuse? Don't you mean he’s hurting himself?" Gizelis was confused.

Riseptos give a sad smile.

"Zeliker actually has a slight tolerance of pain than any other royal demons. When he was young, a small fall had already damaged his skin. You know all royal demons have hard skin after they are born. Zeliker doesn't have this gift. Moreover, his emotion is easily seen if he was injured. That's why he had trained to be emotionless… but not inside. Do you understand what I mean? Doesn't this show that he also likes to abuse himself?"

Gizelis finally understood. He felt terrible when he remembered he hurt Zeliker before. No wonder even a short blade can cut deep. It would have been impossible but he didn't even try to think clearly back then.

‘How much pain did he hold back at that time without allowing himself to shout out? Oh my god! I truly am evil!’

Gizelis's eyes went red while looking at Zeliker in guilt and grief.

"Don't blame yourself, Gizelis. Zeliker is normally like this when I am around that time too. Until now, I finally found out how much he abuses himself just because he wants to hold his pride as a demon prince."

"Are all royal demons like this too? It's so awful..."

"Probably..." Riseptos shrugged. “Since they were born as one, they need to carry their responsibility as demon royalty. Zeliker might be an unlucky one to be born in it… He probably has suffered a lot since he was born.”

Gizelis nodded in agreement. He also realised something more about Zeliker.

"And Hoogles... If Zeliker is a true royal demon, he would have killed Hoogles or beat Hoogles showing he is stronger than him. And Zeliker did none of it. Zeliker really does hide his true heart from everyone. Only through his actions, we can see the real him. You realise he protects me from getting killed by Hoogles, right? There's more to him than meets the eye."

"Yes. That’s why let's just watch over him and see whether he can show his true self to everyone someday. And I still don't agree to let Zeliker go home again. We need to hide him somewhere other than this place. Let's take him to another kingdom," Riseptos suggested.

"Alright. I will talk to the king about this." Gizelis said as he bandaged Zeliker's wounds.

Zeliker's wounds don't need stitches since his body can recover on its own. It just takes a few days to recover.

Two days later…

Zeliker awakens from his slumber. His wound has already recovered most of it. When he moves to stand, he can feel slight pain but it was more comfortable than before. As for Gizelis and Riseptos, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Hm? I didn't even realise they moved me back to this old house."

He can see the same room he awoke in last time. Remembering there's a field of sunflowers outside cheered him up. He opened the bandage on his left eye. It was finally healed. Then, he scanned around with his hearing and other senses.

Hm? I'm alone…?

He felt no one nearby, in or outside the house. He was speechless.

Why were these humans not afraid if he ran away? Is he that trustworthy?

His stomach grumbles for food, so he stops thinking about it. He went outside where the sunflower field was. He picked one of them and chewed it. Unfortunately, he still felt so hungry. He remembered Gizelis had put the deer meat inside his freezer in the kitchen.

Would it be called stealing if he eats it?

Zeliker contemplates whether he should eat it or not. But his feet already brought him to the freezer. His hands slowly moved to touch it and before he could open it, he heard some movement from the sunflower field.

His eyes sharpen as he turns around.

‘Somebody is here! Who? Gizelis’s friends or…’

KYAAA!

Zeliker was surprised.

"A woman’s scream...?"

Zeliker dashed out of the house. The scream was coming from somewhere far.

‘Should I go see it or not?’

Since he was curious, he still went in the direction of the scream. The collar gives a warning again because he uses enhancement speed to arrive near a small road. He ignored the pain while perching on a lush tree, hiding himself from being seen.

His eyes watched a group of people near a horse-drawn carriage. There were five big adult men and two teenagers.

Zeliker guessed the scream was coming from the teenager who's one of them was a young woman in a commoner get-up. Her eyes teared up as her pink lip was tied up with a cloth.

"Kidnapping? Do humans also like to kidnap each other? That's so... Interesting!"

Zeliker was amused. He thought humans only kidnapped demons and slaved them. This was the first time for him to see they did the opposite. He didn't go to help but instead, watched the carriage move away until it was gone.

‘I should return. Or should I leave now?’

Suddenly, he felt someone wanted to ambush him from behind with a sharp weapon. He immediately dodged the attack while jumping backwards and doing a flip in the air. As a result of the man's attack, the tree where he stood was cut off.

Zeliker's eyes narrowed and saw clearly the person who attacked him. A male demon armed with a pair of black gloves. Long sharp nails sticking out of the fingertips of the gloves.

This demon was probably here to kill him. After all, other demons should have recognised him by his appearance.

"Is it a dance the one you are looking for or would you prefer death over it?" He asked the demon.

The male demon didn't answer. Instead, he attacks again. He understood the meaning. Zeliker had asked him whether he would like to talk instead of fighting him to the death. He would choose the latter.

He was just nearby because he felt a tremendous aura of the demon around here. He never thought he would meet this demon, unknown of its origin. Moreover, Zeliker's hair and eyes were black as midnight. Never had he seen this on other demons in his life before.

Enta, he would have never recognised a royal demon because he was just a slave, born in the human region. He has the least information about demon royalty and has never seen one before. His master never told him about it either so after meeting Zeliker, he thought it was a normal demon with high abilities.

‘I must be careful. At least until my master reaches the base…’

Enta was one of the kidnappers and his master was one of the men in the group that Zeliker saw just now. He can't let anyone who saw the group's departure stay alive or there would be consequences. He moves to attack Zeliker again.

Zeliker dodged them.

‘This guy is good but…’

Enta wanted to punch him in the cheek and he dodged the attack. At the same time, the other hand moved towards his chin and he dodged it again with an inverted jump backwards. When his legs went up, he hit Enta's chin with his right leg.

"Gah!"

Enta gives out a low yell.

Zeliker took the opportunity while Enta was momentarily stunned to punch Enta's chest a few times with a fast movement. Then, he kicked the side of Enta's head with his right leg again.

As a result, Enta was thrown to the side, his head first fell before his body. Because of that, his mouth was full of grass and dirt. His vision also blurred for a moment.

Zeliker appeared next to him. He wanted to end Enta's life by pointing his changing sharp nails at Enta’s heart. However, Zeliker stopped what he was doing. Instead, he hit the pressure point on Enta's back. Instantly, Enta's body fell again and he fainted.

"Phew... For such a long time I haven't fought anyone. Now, what should I do with him?" Zeliker stares at Enta.

‘Oh, he was a slave…’

Zeliker noticed the same collar was attached to Enta's neck. Because of pity, he destroyed it with his power. As for why he didn't destroy his collar, it was to make Gizelis and other humans feel a little bit of relief to see he was still in control but actually, he's not at all.

A moment later, he heard many horse gallops coming his way and he turned around to see Gizelis, Riseptos and four other people in a hood. Those four were not demons because he didn't sense the demon’s blood of his race on them.

"Zeliker, why are you here?!" Gizelis got down from his horse and saw a fainted demon beside Zeliker.

"Who is this? An assassin?!" He becomes alert.

Zeliker shrugged. "Probably."

Suddenly, his stomach makes a loud sound. He didn't even change his face although inside he was scolding internally.

‘Why! Why now stomach?! You could have sounded but not in front of this crowd!’

One of the four hooded men cackled at the funny sound while the rest looked at him in horror.

"Your Highness Xcerox! This is not funny!" One of them said to the cackled person.

‘Xcerox? Why is he here?’

Zeliker was confused. He turns to Gizelis for an explanation. Gizelis, who had already looked at Xcerox, turned back to Zeliker and smiled.

"Why not go home first? You are still hungry. Why didn't you eat the meat I put in the freezer?"

"That’s because… I heard a scream. Some teenagers were brought away just now. They seem to be kidnapped."

Huh? Why did he even explain it to them? He was confused about it.

"What?! Why didn't you rescue them?!"

One of the hooded people with a man's voice said because Zeliker looked like he was just watching it happen. Why didn’t he help them?!

Also, the man forgot that Zeliker was not human. It was actually unreasonable for Zeliker to help out.

"Why? It's not my business and I'm tired. I have no energy left and I'm starving too..."

‘What a fart!’

If Zeliker truly was tired, how could he defeat this fainted demon? And how did he even arrive here which was one kilometre away from Gizelis's house? Saying he has no energy, no one would believe it!