Chapter 93: Shadow Rogue (1/2)
Tyler stared blankly at the handsome scout that was now kneeling before him. He was a bit rattled by the sudden change of events. Frankly speaking, he hadn't saved this guy because of his offer, to begin with. He would've saved them simply because he wanted any information out of them and it didn't matter if he was willing or not.
The deal he had made with this guy made things a lot easier so he was willing to let him go as long as he entered a demon's pact alongside his companion about keeping everything that happened here a secret. A demon's pact was a very reliable method of sealing the risk that came with letting this guy leave so Tyler hadn't been worried about that, to begin with.
However, the situation had taken another turn and perhaps at this point, he should've expected this from everyone that finds themselves in any kind of predicament. Their situations may be different but at its core, this was fundamentally the same situation as it had been with both the settlement and the girls.
Still, he could no longer afford to be as lax with these things as he had been in the case of the settlement. At that time he was still dealing with a lot of troublesome issues after only just awakening from what was essentially a thousand-year coma and even with his newfound strength and resistance, that long of a lapse in time was surely going to affect his mind.
He was lucky he hadn't made too many bad decisions due to the stress and frustration that had slowly built up over time. It was a good thing he was now strong enough to handle the repercussions from those impulsive decisions he had made. His new physiology and the influence of the demon king may have had a role in that as well but he still didn't have the time or method to confirm all that.
Using the silent spell, placate, he returned his mind to its previous state of calm and analyzed the current situation while weighing the pros and cons of accepting this young man's request. However, he still wasn't too sure of what this young man was capable of so there wasn't enough information for him to make a decision right away.
While he still needed manpower, he couldn't accept a potential risk for just that.
”Say, you seem like quite an informed and intelligent fellow. So why would the Zorak family brand you a traitor?”
Zomatsu's face twisted for a brief moment before it returned to normal. He had already expected this line of questioning as it was only natural but still, thinking about the reason made him sick.
His hesitation only lasted a second as he soon spoke with his previous conviction.
”My father was once one of the Elders in the Zorak family but I was only a product of one of his mistresses. She was a lesser demon so I was never meant to be part of the family, to begin with even though I was born a demon Noble. My father never had a son with his numerous wives so before he passed away he brought me and my mother into one of the branch families.”
”I had a very useful innate ability to the family so I only spent a few years as part of the branch family and was quickly brought in as an outer member of the main family, although my mother was not allowed in as the main family discriminated against lesser demons. Of course, the branch family was not any better, but I had no choice but to leave her there when the family had promised to protect her.”
”I guess I was a bit too naive, why would they care about a single lesser demon. The mother of a foolish boy they could easily manipulate to do their bidding.”
Tyler sensed the intense emotions swirling within this young man as he continued with a determined expression.
”I later found out that there were two reasons why the family felt it was worth it to allow a lesser demon into a noble household even before my father had made his decision. The first was the usefulness of my ability to the family and the second was my mother's family's Xerox Gauntlet.”
”Xerox Gauntlet?”
Zomatsu hesitated for a bit when Tyler had asked that question. It was true that he was desperate and needed help but that did not make this any easier. This was his mother's heritage he was talking about here, what's more to a stranger he had never met before.
”Yes, the Xerox Gauntlet is a Special Grade Magic artifact that had been passed down in my mother's family for a long time. It can copy and store five skills, spells as well an innate abilities, making it quite a problem for the Great Five who considered their innate abilities as a purebloods heritage.”
Is that why they are after you?
Yes, the Gauntlet currently has the innate ability of the Zorak family stored within it and up until recently, they had been made to believe that the weapon had gone missing when my mother passed away due to their negligence.”
”I take it you're the one that made them believe that.”
”Yes, Sire.”
Tyler chuckled and spoke, ”Alright I'll consider this, however, I don't do charity, if you want to come under my protection, you'll have to prove to me how useful you can be, otherwise, I might as well kill you right now.”
A cold wind swept through his soul from those lost words but Zomatsu still persevered on. ”That will not be a problem.”
”Excellent.”
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After setting a series of tasks for the one know as Zomatsu to impress him. Tyler left the room with Albert in tow and they soon arrived at the front of his 'Lab room' on the first floor of the north wing.
As they entered the room, all Tyler saw was a small box on one of the long metal tables and unlike last time, there were no bodies here already waiting for him. Of course, Albert had already inspected all the bodies but there were a lot of them and not a lot of room on the long table for that many bodies.
Walking towards the spatial storage box, Tyler picked it up and observe the space within to confirm its content. Any spatial storage was usually a bound item that could only be accessed by the user but they could also be set so everyone could use it without having to break or bypass any magic encryption.
He chose two of the bodies and they appeared on the metal long table before him. Turned out he didn't need to make any reaching motions to pull something out of storage space. Hopefully, he hadn't looked weird doing that.
There were a few things he needed to do here other than creating some undead. He didn't have the proper Create Undead spell neither did he have any special necromancy skills so he had to feel his way through this by trying his best to regulate the strength of his spell.