Midori leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. She covered her face with her hands and stared ahead, lost in thought, quiet sorrow hanging over her.

  "Yes… I think so.” She mumbled. “You’re not ready yet, but honestly, it’s better this way than going alone or with anyone else from the town."

  "What?" I said, clearly insulted. "As if I’d just let you go alone! And… I’m not that desperate!”

  She gave me that judging look. The kind that speed-ran every dumb thing I had ever done, right in my face, no mercy at all.

  “I mean,” I said, quickly changing the subject, “then why even made a soul bond?”

  “Just because we made a soul bond doesn’t mean you have to stay glued to my back all the time,” she snapped. Then her tone softened. “Well… it’s not like I hate it. I’m just saying.”

  “Listen, I don’t really know the details of this bond thing or how big a deal it is in this world,” I said. My voice slowed, losing its edge. “But it matters to me, okay?” I paused, then added more quietly, “You matter too.”

  She looked at me with her usual teasing smile, this time with a quiet pride shining on her face. She reached up and rubbed my hair, shaking my head on purpose. “You too, you too,” she said, clearly enjoying it.

  “Okay, okay, hands off my hair. Now!”

  Instead, she yanked me closer, crushed my head into her chest, and attacked my hair more annoyingly. “Nope,” she grinned, “not yet,” enjoying my suffering.

  “Lady—”

  The servant froze in the doorway, her words dying as her face turned bright red, for reasons I still couldn’t explain in any sane way. I struggled to pull my head free from Midori’s grip, avoided the servant’s gaze, and pretended to fix my hair while staring very hard at a random sentence in the book in front of me.

  “...Yes?” Midori replied way too calmly.

  “Um… young lady,” the servant stammered, pulling herself together while her face stayed stubbornly red. “The boars and a week’s worth of supplies are ready, just as you ordered.”

  We went downstairs and saw two massive, wild boars tied up in front of the mansion, each with fabric bags strapped to their backs, packed full of supplies. Everything had been prepared with extreme care, and judging by the boars’ condition, they had picked the best ones. One of the general’s soldiers met us there. He bowed first, then led us toward the boars.

  “My lord, the one on the left is yours, and the right one is the young lady’s mount. But first, allow me to give you some details about these beasts.”

  “Sure, please,” I said, motioning for him to continue.

  “These creatures don’t know fear and only respect strength. If they don’t think you’re stronger than them, they won’t obey. All you have to do is show them that.”

  “How… do we do that?”

  “Let me,” Midori said.

  She stepped in front of her boar, hands on her hips, and did absolutely nothing dramatic. She just stood there, and the boar immediately bowed its head, ready for her to mount. She hopped on easily and shot me a grin like she had just conquered the world without even trying.

  “Oh wow, this is way comfier than I thought,” she said, “Looks like this trip won’t be pure suffering after all. Come on, let's go!” She threw her hands up, way too excited.

  I had zero mana to show off like her, but hey, maybe being a Demon Lord in the making still counted for something. I stepped in front of my boar. It was bigger, uglier, and way more scary. It stared straight at me, yawned, stretched, then turned away like I wasn’t even there.

  “Ah… I guess mine’s just sleepy,” I said, scratching my head and turning to the soldier, pretending I wasn’t completely ignored.

  “I’m afraid not, my lord… it’s just not convinced by your strength. But please don’t take it the wrong way, the leader of the herd is naturally a bit harder to persuade!”

  The soldier was practically sweating, careful not to insult me, but really, there was no need at all. I had zero mana, and there was no escaping that fact.

  “Why not some normal one like hers,” I pointed at Midori, “instead of the leader of the herd?” I asked, already done.

  “A-anything less wouldn’t suit you, my lord,” the soldier stammered.

  “Just show a bit of mana, that’s all. Remember last night,” Midori said, giving me a wink, hinting I should use my new skill.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  I let out a hollow sigh. There was no other choice anyway. And I wasn’t going to waste more time or humiliate myself in front of everyone because of a stubborn, stupid boar.

  I slowly released my domain and pulled in the small scraps of loose mana drifting around us. I turned on my mana sight right after. The last thing I wanted was to drain someone else by mistake. I still barely understood how to control this thing, and it scared me.

  Then it hit me, the boar’s mana. It was massive, almost equal to a quarter of Midori’s full power. There was no way I could pull in more than that, but I tried anyway. Five or ten painfully slow minutes crawled by. I’d sucked up every trace of mana nearby, and the boar didn’t even glance my way.

  I suspect it was totally asleep this time, so I shuffled closer and stood right in front of it. Nope, nothing. It just rolled its eyes at me, annoyingly. My barely-there mana clearly meant nothing to it. But that was it. I was done with this stupid circus. I walked straight toward the boar, ready to put an end to this nonsense.

  “Maybe I should just get on—”

  

  Worst idea of my life. I hadn’t even touched it yet when the boar exploded into motion. It leaped up and slammed its head straight into my stomach. The pain stole my breath and sent me flying backward, and I hit the ground hard.

  My nerves lit up, my vision burned next, and in one sharp move I was back on my feet. I marched toward it, my steps hitting the ground so hard it almost felt like I was leaving dents behind. I was completely gone. And I knew that feeling all too well. It was just that this time, the boar was about to experience it for the first time.

  “Bow, you useless sack of meat,” I snarled as I walked toward it. At the same time, I released my domain and dragged its mana into myself, way too generously. “Don’t waste the little time I have left.”

  I hadn’t even reached it when more than half of its mana slid into me. The boar jumped back at once, tail tucked, head bowed way too low. It let out scared little whimpers as it backed away. So this was the leader of the herd. Yeah, sure. it was just… hard to believe.

  The moment Midori realized I’d gone crazy again, she jumped up and rushed to my side. She grabbed my shoulder and leaned close, whispering in my ear, “Calm down, please. People are watching. You don’t want to cause another problem.”

  That one word was enough to snap me back. Problem. No way. Causing another one was the last thing I wanted. I turned around and froze. Almost the whole town was there, watching us in dead silence. My rage vanished on the spot.

  I turned to the soldier, whispering, nerves on edge. “Why are they all gathered here?”

  “To see you off, my lord,” he replied.

  “That wasn’t even necessary.”

  “But, my lord,” he hesitated, “this could be your last sight of them…”

  I shot him a sharp glance. He stepped back, expecting a scolding, but I was more terrified than angry. He was right, though. I felt a little excited, like we were setting off on a caravan journey, completely forgetting that we were about to throw ourselves straight into a disaster.

  “Is the boar… just scared? The herd leader, isn’t it? No way!” Voices rose from the crowd.

  “Okay, why are they so shocked?” I asked the soldier, confused.

  “These beasts know no fear, my lord. But… you taught them that in seconds.”

  “...Huh?”

  “The last time, they say, was with the previous Demon Lord,” he said. “You’re really living up to your title, my lord,” his eyes sparkling with admiration.

  Meanwhile, there I was, confused and clueless, trying to make sense of it all. I met the boar’s eyes, the same ones that used to take looking at me as an insult were now avoiding my gaze, glancing around nervously.

  I walked toward it. It stiffened, pulled back, and only relaxed after I passed it and climbed onto its back. It must have thought I was about to kill it or something. After a moment, it accepted its fate, stood up as my mount, and even seemed eager. It was clearly happy to still be alive.

  I grabbed the reins and suddenly remembered I’d never ridden anything before, not even a horse, let alone a wild boar. I looked at Midori, she was excited too, but just as clueless as I was. Then I turned back to the soldier.

  “Okay… so, uh, how do I ride this thing?”

  “Very simple, my lord. If you pull the reins twice—”

  

  The moment I pulled the reins twice, the boar shot backward, smashing into the barrels and hay behind it.

  “…the boar goes backward. And if you pull once—”

  I pulled once this time, and it shot forward like a rocket, nearly trampling the people ahead. I yanked the reins again, but it just made it run faster.

  “Now what?!”

  “Pull, my lord! Pull and hold the reins!”

  I did as he said, and the boar finally stopped just short of causing disaster. Two more quick pulls, one long pull, and it grudgingly parked itself next to Midori, back where we started. Yep… I think I finally got it, though, clearly, the hard way. Midori, meanwhile, was watching my stupidity with great pleasure on her face.

  “Alright, let’s go then,” she said, tugging her reins and guiding her boar forward.

  I followed, but stopped in front of the crowd. They probably expected some farewell speech or something, and damn it, I would never get used to all these people talking. Still, I forced myself to say a few words. After all, it was going to be a long journey, and as they said, this might be my last speech too.

  “Ah… you might already know, but Midori and I are heading toward that so-called mountain monster—”

  “Yaaaay!” The crowd shouted at once, hands waving, some even jumping.

  “But… uh, could you maybe… keep it down?” I tried to calm them down, but they were so hyped they didn’t even hear me.

  “Quiet!” Midori shouted, her voice bouncing off the forehead of the guy in the back, and making the entire crowd go dead silent.

  “Thank you,” I said to Midori, then turned back to the crowd. “I can’t promise I’ll defeat the monster. But if I face it, I’ll fight until my last drop of blood.”

  The words just flowed out. When I finished, the silence felt heavy. Even I was surprised by how serious it sounded. People looked a lot motivated. Midori, on the other hand, felt like she was waiting to tease me the second I looked her way, so I didn’t. I pulled the reins and nudged the boar forward.

  “Okay, let’s go then.”

  “Long live the lord! Long live the lord!” With their cheers chasing us, we rode out through the town gates.

  “Until my last drop of blood…” Midori repeated, mocking me with the dumbest voice she could manage.

  “Hey! That isn’t how I sound, okay?”

  “Yes it is,” she said, still copying me without mercy.

  “Fine, whatever.” I sighed. “So where are we going now?”

  Midori raised a hand to shade her eyes and scanned the distance. Then her gaze locked onto the snow-covered mountain ahead.

  “To the mountain, of course.” She paused, then added with way too much seriousness. “But first, I’m taking you somewhere else.”

  “W-where?” I asked, suddenly nervous.

  “To hell, obviously!” she laughed.