A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss

Speaking of the Illuna-Spirit Lord interaction… The vampire referred to the bizarre, fantastical being as a guru because, to those that lived in her village, that was exactly what he was.
It stemmed from the fact that he had provided the village with all the information they desired; he responded to each and every one of their questions with wisdom without fail.
That was why the vampires had, as a collective, decided to dub him a guru.

I had a good bit of difficulty discerning the unknown entity’s sex, and the gender neutral title had not in any which way or form helped me solve the mystery.
That said, Lefi referred to the spirit lord as a he, and I saw no reason not to agree, so I had ended up doing the same.

“Oh, right,” I turned to our resident dragon after clearing my throat “out of necessity” and promptly changed the topic.
“That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask, were you born in the dragon’s village?”
“I suppose so, yes.”
“Then does that mean that’s where your parents are?”
“I do not have any parents,” said Lefi.
“There are two ways in which dragons are birthed.
Do you recall what I told you about the origins of demonkind?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” I said, as I recalled her lecture on magical particles and spontaneous generation, “what about it?”
“The same can occur amongst dragons.
Some of us are born when a pair chooses to mate, but others simply come to be.
I belong to the latter group.”
“Huh… I see, so you were born the same way I was?”
“That is correct.”

You know, knowing that kinda makes me happy.
But I’m definitely never telling her, or anyone else for that matter.
This is a secret I’m taking straight to the goddamn grave.

Speaking of dragons, especially in the Spirit Lord’s presence, led me to recall the ones that came to our aid when Illuna was kidnapped.
Unlike Lefi, they were indigenous to the Wicked Forest.
They’d been born here as opposed to migrating from elsewhere.
I did run into them from time to time, but nearly each and every one of the rare encounters would end with them flashing me fearful gazes whilst promptly retreating in spite of the fact that their stats totally eclipsed my own.
Their eyes sent a message, one that effectively said, “I’m surprised you’re capable of spending so much time with someone so terrifying.” Knowing that I not only enjoyed the company of, but also wed what they thought of as such a fearsome individual was what led them to feel the way they did about me.
That was to say that they feared me as one would fear someone that belonged in an asylum as opposed to fearing me the way that they feared my wife.
Personally, I wanted to get along with and be good neighbors to them given that they were the same race as Lefi, but they almost always went out of their way to try to avoid me. Sadface.

Their fear of Lefi apparently stemmed from a conflict that occurred a long time ago.
When she first arrived in the Wicked Forest, they attempted to use their numbers to drive her out of their territory, only to be completely and utterly beaten down.
According to her, she had accidentally gone a “little” bit overboard because they were the first of her kind to challenge her since she earned the title of Supreme Dragon.
Her explanation had been a bit light on the details, but I was more or less able to read between the lines and guess exactly what had happened.

After spending a few moments thinking, I raised my head to find the two smartest people in the room engaged in a high level conversation.

“Would it then be correct to assume that the state of a spirit is heavily influenced by the state of the natural world around it?” asked Leila.
“For example, if the magical particles in an area were to be distorted, would the spirits in the area also then become warped and begin demonstrating what one could consider abnormal and unexpected behaviours? I believe that…”

Uh…What…?

“Your interpretation is unerring.
There exists a particular set of conditions, each subset of which is likely to ordain a spirit to become as I have and acquire the ability to become cognisant and aware of the notion of the self, as I have.
And it is not only spirits through which this precept is evinced.
All fauna capable of incorporating within themselves the essence of magic and internalizing it as energy is subjected to it.
However, the concordance observed may differ with…”

Yeah… I think they lost me.

“Would that then imply that magical energies are at least in part responsible for both the sense of self and one’s cognitive abilities? I suppose that the races are also…”

Yup, totally not following.

The conversations that the spirit lord had with Illuna and Leila had led to two very distinct impressions.
He seemed like any other kind but knowledgeable old man when speaking to the former, but transformed into some sort of all knowing professor guiding a gifted, post-secondary student when engaging the latter. Holy shit, Leila’s thirst for knowledge is seriously no joke.
Sorry for the inconvenience, spirit lord dude.

Err… wait a second.
Now that I take a second look, it seems like he’s not really bothered by it at all.
In fact, he’s totally enjoying it.
I mean, I guess I can kinda see why.
Teaching someone as smart as Leila is probably a good bit of fun.
Welp, if that’s what floats his boat, then all’s well that ends well, I guess.

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