Chương 71: A Lesson in Shadows

It was a forest so far removed from the imperial capital and the surrounding villages and towns that the locals knew it as "the Forest of Silences." That day, however, the forest would not be so quiet, for in one of its clearings stood three familiar figures: Nerez and the twins, Corenio and Munia.

"So, apparently, you don't turn to dust when you go out into the sunlight…"

"Dust?!" Munia exclaimed, covering her mouth with both little hands.

"Why would we turn to dust?!" Corenio asked, just as alarmed. Nerez looked at the two of them with a hand on his chin for a few moments, then nodded to himself.

"It's nothing. I was just considering the possibility, since your fangs grew and all… But that must have been the 'blood curse,' for lack of a better name. They must have developed on their own so you could drink more blood."

"Ueegh…" Munia groaned, sticking out her tongue.

"If there was even a chance we could turn to dust, don't take us outside, Nereziel!" Corenio complained as well.

"It's fine," Nerez replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"If your bodies had ended up turning to dust, I could have reconstructed them from scratch without any problem. It probably wouldn't even have hurt that much."

"Hurt?!" Munia exclaimed again, covering her mouth with both little hands.

"It's not fine at all!" Corenio complained.

"You want to become stronger, don't you?" The children nodded with their heads lowered.

"Then you can't afford to worry about trivialities."

"..."

"Trivialities…" Corenio and Munia exchanged a worried look.

"Now then, as we confirmed yesterday, both of you become considerably stronger under the moon, but you don't seem to suffer much of a disadvantage during the day either, which is good. Especially since daytime is ideal for the training you are about to begin."

"Your Exaltedness… may I ask a question?"

"That is already a question, Munia, but of course, go ahead. Though I would rather you call me by my name…"

"Nere… Nereziel… Do you know where Selene went?"

"What is it, did you get attached to her? … Can anyone get attached to her…?" Munia lowered her head in embarrassment.

"N-No… it's just that, it's just that I wanted to know if we had been abandoned again…" The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Munia! You don't have to worry!" Corenio exclaimed.

"That's why we're getting stronger! So we can take care of ourselves!" Nerez watched the scene in front of him and let out a tired sigh.

"Don't worry. Since I decided to take care of you, no one is going to be abandoned. It's just that I don't think Selene is the best influence, so you'll be spending most of your time with me… Or are you not satisfied with that?" Munia hurriedly shook her head, trying not to offend him.

"Not at all!" Corenio added.

"Being personally trained by one of the absolute gods is more than an honor!" Nerez let out a small laugh.

"I wouldn't exactly call it personal training, but well, it will be something along those lines." With a snap of his fingers, black mist rose beside him, and from it emerged a boy who looked slightly older than the twins.

"Nerez, Edrick's vessel is pretty boring. I wish you hadn't made me wait so long."

"For someone who spent tens of thousands of years in a dark cave, you're getting rather fussy, Erebion."

"That was different. I was connected to the world back then…" Nerez turned back toward the children and gestured to the little Titan with his hand.

"Corenio, Munia, let me introduce Erebion, a child your age for you to play with."

"Your age?!" Erebion and Corenio exclaimed in unison.

"Didn't… didn't you say something about thousands of years?" Munia asked nervously.

"Don't worry about the details. What matters is what's on the outside."

"I think I've heard that the other way around…" Corenio pointed out.

"I thought so too, but with time you learn that, unfortunately, life is all about appearances," Nerez declared, shaking his head.

"Don't worry. That's a lesson for when you're older."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"In any case, your first training partner will be Erebion. And while he may look like just another child, lately he has taken an interest in mortal magic, and in only a few hundred years, he has become an expert in the dark arts."

"Only a few hundred years…" Corenio repeated.

"I normally use spiritual energy directly, so I didn't need to. It's just that mortals do seem a bit interesting now for some reason…"

"The other thing I forgot to mention is that, although Erebion has already spent almost a millennium and a half in that form, your bodies will still develop. I offered to make Erebion a proper body based on his soul, but…"

"I'm already used to this one," Erebion replied.

"I suppose that's one way of honoring that child's memory, though a very strange one…"

"Ah! I just remembered!" Munia suddenly exclaimed.

"Erebion is the guardian of the gates of the Underworld!"

"I wanted to make several gates, but after seeing the one raised to protect the Inner Underworld, I let myself be convinced it would be enough," Nerez said with a shrug.

"Besides, without intruders in the Outer Underworld, a lot of demons would die of boredom…"

"Demons…" Munia murmured, gripping her arms as she began to tremble.

"D-Demons don't scare me!" Corenio exclaimed.

"Relax. With my training, you won't have much to fear from an ordinary demon," Erebion told them, disappearing into his own shadow.!!

"Where did he go?!" Corenio spun around, only to find Erebion right behind him. He had emerged from Corenio's shadow. The Titan in a child's body lightly flicked Corenio on the forehead, but it was enough to send him flying several meters.

"Child violence…" Nerez murmured, looking away. Fortunately, Corenio's body was no longer normal, and he was able to get back up without much trouble.!! Erebion approached Munia next, but before he could do anything, she threw herself backward on her own, pretending to faint.

"..."

"What a smart girl…" Nerez remarked, a hand on his chin. Erebion waited until Corenio returned to his sister's side before continuing.

"For today, you are going to learn how to keep your shadows from being stolen so easily. To do that, each of you needs to get used to your own shadow and feel it as another part of yourself."

"Feel it as part of us?" Corenio asked, helping Munia to her feet.

"How are we supposed to do that?"

"It's simple," Erebion replied, raising his hand.

"Just try not to drown."!!

"Corenio!"

"Munia!" The moment Erebion said that, both children sank into the ground, swallowed by their own shadows.

"How long do you think the training will take?" Nerez asked, walking over to his Titan.

"For the basics of dark magic, I would say four years at least. They can learn the rest on their own."

"I see. Considering the rest of what Selene and I wanted to teach them, I would say their training should be finished in about ten years."