I opened my eyes and saw a room I didn't recognize. "Did I reincarnate again?"No.My last memory was of my brother's face, he was laughing when he saw me falling, then I used wind magic to try to soften the impact. Maybe it worked.
Even though I had felt an indescribable pain. Sure, I knew what it felt like to be crushed, but the pain of breaking a few bones from a fall was entirely different. I didn't remember much, but I knew it had taken me a few extra seconds to pass out.
"Mom, Dad, he's awake!" I heard a girl shouting.
When I turned, I saw her, she was beautiful, and her hair caught my attention, it was tied in a strange way.
An elf entered the room, I was still lying down, I tried to get up, but he walked over quickly and stopped me, his hand was firm, but his touch was gentle. His eyes were kind, but he also looked like a strict person.
In my world, elves didn't exist, just like other beings considered part of "humanity." In my world, there were only humans and demons, and the term "humanity" only applied to humans.
That kind of equality felt strange to me.
"Don't strain yourself, to be honest, I'm very surprised you're doing this well, you fell from a great height, you're lucky you weren't hurt worse." His voice was kind, soothing in a way that kept me from asking where I was.
It wasn't just his voice, the whole atmosphere gave me a sense of calm and peace, and that felt good.
A human woman walked in, she was also beautiful, with long red hair flowing freely.
The girl said they were her parents, but she had inherited her father's blond hair. Even though she was half-elf, her ears weren't pointed. My ears were like her father's, elves and demons shared that feature.
"My dad's just being modest, he can heal any kind of wound, so there's no need to worry anymore."
The elf just laughed.
"Do you remember your name?" the woman asked.
"Yes, I'm Lian Zord." As soon as I said it, the two exchanged a look.
They didn't seem to like my family, but I wouldn't blame them, it's even possible my parents owed them money.
"Your family must be worried about you, I'll ask a messenger to contact them and—"
"No!" My voice came out louder than I intended. "I don't want my brother to know I survived."
They stared at me, and I explained what had happened, leaving out some parts. I wasn't sure why my brother had pushed me, but I believed he might've found out about my secret training, maybe he had seen me using magic, at least that's what I thought.
If that was the real reason, it was better to stay quiet about how I could use magic, I didn't know if these people would see me as a threat or something like that.
The woman looked at me with pity, so did the man, although he showed it less, that didn't match my first impression of him.
The little girl hugged me, her embrace was warm, and I liked it.
"What do you plan to do about it?" he asked seriously.
"I don't know, it's not like I'm not angry, but I don't want revenge, not right now. In my current state, I'd be easily killed," I didn't know how to answer the question, "it's not like a child could beat a trained adult."
He placed a hand on his chin and thought for a few minutes, then he nodded.
"That was a good answer, in a way, you were angry at him, but you didn't seem blinded by revenge, that's a good sign."
His wife watched in silence, I could tell she wanted to say something, but couldn't put it into words.
"Do you want to learn magic?" he asked suddenly.
I froze, I hadn't seen that coming.
"I'm still too young, I can't learn."
"Actually, you can, the books are wrong about a lot of things, like the age people can start manipulating mana, since most people rely on those books, some lies become accepted as truth and are passed down."
He paused, and during that moment his wife grabbed a chair for him to sit.
That made sense, and I knew it was possible to control mana, even at a young age.
He explained everything he knew, though only the basics, he clearly understood how magic worked. Only at the end did he tell me his name, Silas. He was a mage teacher. His wife was Thalya, and their daughter was Jasly.
I was far from home, they didn't know my family, just the name, on paper, we were the owners of a nearby village.
But even so, I was far away, my brother had taken me quite a distance, and Silas had found me while hunting with a friend, he healed me with magic, but it had taken days for me to wake up.
The first lessons were easy, Silas was a great teacher, and he helped me understand ideas I couldn't grasp before. He put effort into teaching me, and I didn't know why, I didn't think it had anything to do with my answer.
Days went by, and little by little, I began to understand more and grow a bit stronger, but in a fight, I'd still lose easily. I couldn't expect more from a weak, young body.
And besides, I had no combat experience, at least not here.
Silas taught at a school he owned, in addition to magic, he taught kids how to read, write, and do basic math. That kind of education was typical among nobles' children, seeing commoners learning it was interesting. In my world, education was unified, at least among demons. We were a cooperative race, as much as possible, even the servants often knew the same things as a noble.
Humans always liked to exclude even their own kind, it was no different here. Maybe because Silas was an elf, he wanted to help others, or maybe not. Could be his nationality, he was from some country I didn't know, or maybe he was just one of the rare decent people.
Jasly studied magic too, she was strong, at least compared to me, but she'd still lose a fight against a trained adult.
I was getting used to the house and the new family, if I could call them that. I didn't know if they saw me as a burden, but they treated me well, and I tried to return the favor. I always helped with housework. Eventually, that became natural.
My relationship with Jasly was like that of siblings, we played together, it was fun. We also trained and did what siblings probably do, at least I think so, since I was never very close to my siblings, in this world or the previous one.
From a young age, I had been separated and trained away from the others, my clan was next in line to raise a Demon Lord, the title rotated among the five great families, and as the eldest son, it was my duty to lead.
I once read in a book about the Demon King that existed in this world, I didn't think he was real, so it surprised me when I found out. But here, he was a supernatural figure and held the powers of a true king.
In my world, we were only representatives of the demons, everything was ruled by a council made up of the five families and others, but those other families had limited power, they were more like advisors to the true rulers of the demons, the five family heads.
Even though some things were unified, the forms of government weren't.
Thalya asked if I wanted to learn swordsmanship, I said yes. She was strong, and her technique was amazing. If I fought her in my old body, I'd probably walk away with serious injuries. I could see how hard it was for her to hold back, what kind of monstrous strength did she really have? And why wasn't she leading an army?
Maybe I'd never find out, and I was okay with that, though it still bothered me.
Jasly didn't like sword fighting, so she didn't join the lessons.
Thalya was an excellent teacher, she could easily lead a class full of students, so it was a shame Jasly wasn't interested.