Lucien fell to his knees.
Lucien felt a chain binding his heart, and he instinctively knew that if he broke the condition, he would die and his soul would suffer for eternity.
After a few moments, he calmed down and then said,
"Mr. Voice, when are you going to make me strong?!"
The voice remained silent for a few moments before speaking again.
"Sigh... Listen, kid. I'll start teaching you everything, but for that, you have to make a foundation. Every skill and technique needs a strong foundation to stack everything upon.
"Do you know what a foundation is?"
Lucien blinked twice and said,
"Umm... no."
Then he said,
"Ohh, is it like we have to make a half-wall in the ground so that the home doesn't fall?"
"So you know nothing. Okay, then I'll teach you. Listen up, kid. I don't like to repeat myself.
"Foundation is the first step for everyone. I mean, if your foundation is strong, you can use skills and techniques more precisely and accurately. On the other hand, if your foundation is weak, you won't be able to learn anything.
"And foundation is dependent on the talent of each person, so the foundation is different for each person. Different races also have different types of foundations.
"There are foundations for sword techniques, spear techniques, and more."
"Ohh, so foundation is the setup," Lucien said.
"Yeah, kid. You are pretty smart considering your age.
"So what I am going to teach you is better than anything in existence. But if your foundation is not good enough, you'll just die.
"So before I teach you, you have to make a total of three foundations in your body.
"One—the magical foundation.
"Two—the physical foundation.
"And third—the mental foundation."
"All techniques and skills are made up of these three foundations.
"I can help you with the magical and mental foundations, but the physical foundation is something only you can do on your own."
"So what do I have to do to make the physical foundation?" Lucien asked.
"Nothing much. You have to run in all of the forest, hunt, climb trees, then hunt again, and keep doing it until you make a strong physical foundation.
"And as your luck has it, you are young enough to start it. In my time, people would start making their foundation when they entered their teens."
Lucien finally stood up and clenched his hands.
Don't worry, Mama... I'll make your dream a reality.
…
In a small human town, "Schora," the crowd was gathered around a square.
There was a man with brown skin and black, curly hair on the stone stage.
The stage...
The same stage that had taken the blood of a demon.
The traces of that demon's blood were still there.
It was the same scene.
But instead of a demon, this time there was a human on it.
The priest with grey hair came forward.
His face was chubby, as was his body. He was wearing the robe of Jeniheir, the Goddess of Light and Punishment.
The priest said,
"This heretic signed a deal with a demon and let a future disaster run away.
"He let a demon kid run away.
"As for his sins of betraying humanity, he shall be punished in accordance with that.
"By our Holy Goddess's will, he will face the consequences of his betrayal."
The priest raised his hand.
A servant came running with a staff.
The staff was pure white, with a crescent-moon shape on top. In the center was a stone with thousands of pointy points.
He raised his staff and started chanting a spell.
The man, who was covered in blood, glanced at it while both of his hands were chained to two different pillars.
Maybe if I hadn't let that kid go...
Ahh, what am I thinking? I despised demons from my childhood.
I was just a normal kid who lived with my dad, who was a farmer, and my mother, who was a maid for a baron's family.
Even though we didn't earn that much, we were living happily.
But one day, one of the baron's slave demons ran wild and destroyed everyone.
At that time, I was out of the village to bring some water for the livestock. When I returned, everything had been reduced to ashes.
I still remember that feeling.
The fear.
The resentment.
The feeling of losing everything.
I searched for days to find my father and mother, but I found nothing.
Then, after more days of searching, I found out that my parents had been eaten by that demon.
My whole world shattered.
And then I decided to become a knight.
A knight who wouldn't let any other person suffer like I did.
I trained with swords.
And I was finally able to become a knight.
I killed many demons to become one.
But now that I look back...
Is it possible that those demons had children waiting for them at home?
I was thinking that I was being naïve for some cursed creatures.
And one day, I found a woman who was bleeding from her head.
I looked at her with concern, and I found out that she was a demon.
But surprisingly, the people surrounding her were protecting her.
I thought she had manipulated them and turned them into puppets.
Reinforcements arrived, and I was able to catch her.
And at her execution, I saw a kid with the same eyes as me.
Eyes filled with rage and fear.
Then the blade dropped.
And I saw my past self in him.
I saw him crying out his lungs while grabbing his mother's head.
I-I wanted to save him...
But if I do, I'll also die.
Then I was given the command to catch him.
After everyone left, I let the boy go, thinking that if I didn't do it, I wouldn't be able to live in peace.
I am now thinking about what I did in the past.
Are demons truly the monsters?
There could be some... but we can't brand everyone as cursed because of what some persons did.
If we do... we are the CURSED ones, not the—
A golden bolt of lightning fell on the man covered in blood.
BOOOOM!!!
"—AGHHHHHHHHHHH—!"
He went silent.