Crutiara: Where New Demon Lords are Born

In this dusty room, everything was scattered. All over the place, books tumbled down the cabinet. It was unsightly. It is the leaves from the outside that make up the floor pattern.

Then there was I, a peacefully sleeping man. While I drowse, I salivate unconsciously. For an unknown reason, my pillow, which is supposed to be on my head, is placed under my foot.

I groan as I roll to the right edge of the bed in my sleep. I fell, of course. The back of my head hit the ground hard, waking me up from the imaginary paradise I'd been dreaming of.

I groaned for real this time. In no time, I rubbed the back of my head to ease the pain. I mumbled my curse.

"Argh!" It's been my 6,812th day of living this miserable life. I wonder every time I clean up this mess, it keeps growing. I never thought there was a hellish place other than hell.

I can't ask Risano to clean up again. She doesn't care. This room is my room by the way. There is no harm in asking for a cleaning service, but if Risano sees it, she will tell our parents.

I seem to forget something. There's just a tingling sensation in my belly, though which bothers me like an insect trying to catch my attention. There should be something that I need to do.

But nah, I'll try to remember it later. I'm not a forgetful person. If it's critical, Risano will just scold me for that.

Guess I'll cook some breakfast.

Out of a thousand... no, a million chances of it being probable, I found this creature blocking the door.

She was there. She was 5' 0" tall and her morning curly brown hair synthesizes with her brown eyes.

My room's smell stopped her from walking down the hallway. She slowly looks at me with her eyebrows gradually turning furrowed. She had already declared war on me with her flaring nostrils before I was aware of it.

Her nose is shaking. When I noticed, she did one of her trademark moves, bashing my room door shut. It was loud, but her sneeze was louder. I can hear it with my room closed.

"ACHOO!! Ritake!! How many times did I say to you that always close your… AACHHOOOO!!!"

"I'm sorry, Risano! I didn't know that you'll walk in front of my room."

"Your room reeks of mold! Or is it your mold that reeks of you? When will you ever learn to clean your place!?"

"I'm trying! But…"

"ACHOO!! I can't believe you can resist sneezing!"

"But it gets worse every time."

"How are you going to clean your room with dirt!? A shame that one of the legend's disciples doesn't know how to clean his room. You suck!

"You have an athletic-looking body, and your white hair contrasts your blue eyes. If the girls knew your clumsiness in cleaning, I can imagine you sulking in the sewer."

"You did say something strange, Risano, but… thank you for the compliment," I said, or was it the right response? I thought he was complimenting my looks or something.

For a few seconds, silence envelopes our conversation before her vibrating shout.

"I'm not complimenting you, idiot! You're not a person worth complimenting! You shouldn't have been…"

Her sentence ended with an inaudible mumble at the end and followed by footsteps walking away from the room.

"Risano? Risano? Hello? Are you still there?"

I knocked. It seems like she already left. Another trouble of making up with her again? It's just every time she sees me, she explodes. If there's any reason, I'm not ugly, for God's sake.

My tummy is crumbling. I'm hungry. I'll just let her cool off end then I'll go downstairs.

We don't live in a luxurious house. It's just a simple villa home with four bedrooms. Right now, there are only two of us living in this house. There are other rooms for our parents and guests if we have any.

However, the guest room is never occupied. It's only for emergencies. I waited for ten minutes before I go down the stairs. The table was already piled high with food when I saw it.

It's Risano's cooking. After sitting down, I took a bite from my plate. I ate like I had all the time for freedom.

Sometimes, Risano might be rude to me, but deep inside, she's a kind sister. I wouldn't be sitting at this table if not for her.

Even if she's angry at me, she still thinks of me. I'm too lucky that I didn't deserve to be her brother.

Those times when she asked me to play with her when we were kids still stood out to me. Those are pleasant memories. If I'm asked, I want them back.

But look at her right now. As she serves another plate for herself and sits down at the table far away from me, her eyes are furrowed at any angle.

I pretend that I didn't notice it by biting the boiled egg on my plate.

"Aren't you so calm that you're forgetting something important?" She asked as I swallow the egg.

I reply after the food goes down my tube. "It's fine. In any case, it seems to be of no significance." If it were, she would start throwing me clothes that I will use.

After a long pause, she opens a topic with an angry aura surrounding her. "Hey, how about that you hire a cleaner?"

"Y… You're still stuck on that!? It's been ages since I suggested that, you know."

"I didn't realize it would be this bad! If only I..." After being aggressive toward me, her energy fades, and never completes her statement.

"If you were what?"

She pouts and looks away with her eyes closed. "Nothing, hmph!"

I took another bite. "But still, there is no one else that can match your cooking. I just never get tired of this."

She then slowly looks at me with wide eyes. I'm just trying to tease her. I didn't know she would take it seriously.

"I… Idiot! If you say things like that again, you're the one who is liable to cook for the whole month!"

"Hey, I don't want to cook for a month. But what's wrong with telling the truth? Really, your cooking is delicious."

She grabs the bread knife and threatens me by pointing it at me. "Stop!"

With a little shock in my nerves, I raised my hands. "Fine, I'll stop! I'll stop, so put it down."

Is this how their generation grows? I'm two years older than her but I didn't experience any rebellious acts as she does.

She puts down the knife. "You pest, pedo, playboy, pervert!"

Right, right. It's normal that she calls me that.

The air calms down, but another problem rises. I can feel the angry aura again.

"You're calm."

"Shouldn't I be? Is there something I'm forgetting?"

Mockingly, she looks away. "Beats me. I'm not a part of your dojo after all. I'll just wait how your sensei will react to your laziness."

Dojo? Sensei? After my second swallow, the blood in my veins starts rushing. The picture of the scene where my sensei and I made a pact. I accepted his request as far as I remember.

"Oh shit!" I didn't remember anything up until now! It's going to be today! Oh God, it's AN HOUR LATE!

I started gulping everything I could within a minute and rushed to my room to change clothes. No baths are required. With my red uniform on and my buttons still out, I took my bag and ran out the door.

"See you later! Bye!"

I ran as fast as I could. I saw Risano shouting something at me but I didn't hear her message because of our distance. Bet it's another scolding. Luckily I didn't hear it.

I shouldn't be ignorant by now. Today is the day of my first mission. I will enter one of the renowned demon universities in this country while wearing this school uniform.

From now on, I'll be a Crutiara scholar. I'm going to become a high school student.

But my life as a student isn't something I chose. It is an order from my sensei. I would personally choose not to enter Crutiara if I have a chance. I don't want him to beat me again.

When I reached the carriage station, it was already full. It's rush hour already. I don't have any other choice but to run. Running for fifteen minutes is better than stalling for an hour.

Midway through my journey, I noticed three men with weapons surrounding a girl wearing the same clothes as me. As the men approach her, she is sitting, shaking, and leaning against a wall.

I feel like I've been struck by a bolt of lightning. I didn't have the time to think.

If I waste my time again, like what happened before,

I won't forgive myself.

I ran towards the men and hit the first man with a sneak attack. Before they turned around, I hit their faces with my clenched fists.

I've been training martial arts with my sensei so there's no way those weak men won't fall down unconscious.

I walk towards the girl and extend my hand to her so she could stand. "You're fine now. Let's go."

When she raised her head, I saw tears of fear in her eyes. She was crying. But when she saw me, she quickly wiped it off.

She's cute.