I kept draining Midori’s mana. First the lightning died out. Then the scary aura vanished, and she started looking normal again. It kept shrinking and she still said nothing. The calmer she looked, the closer I felt to panicking.

  "Uh… shouldn’t I stop now?" I asked, tense.

  "Not yet," Midori said, way too calm.

  "I think this is enough…" I stopped, hesitated for a moment.

  "No. Keep going!"

  "But—"

  At that point, it wasn’t my call anymore. I wanted to stop more than once, but I trusted her and started to pull with everything I had. Soon, only a thin glow clung to her, barely there and one breath away from vanishing.

  "Huh…" she gasped, dropping to one knee. "Okay, okay. Stop. That’s enough!”

  Finally. I honestly thought she would never say it. I cut the mana flow right away. She stayed on her knees, barely breathing, wearing a weird grin like she was enjoying every second of the pain.

  "Are you okay?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

  "Yeah, cough, I think so," she looked up at me, eyes wide with awe. "Wha— what kind of monster you are!”

  Did she just call me a monster? No way. I turned to the old man to check, but the pure horror on his face answered before I could ask. Then I realized it too. Midori’s massive aura was on me now, spinning around like a dark storm cloud. Black lightning cracked out of it, wild and messy. Worse than hers. Much worse. It felt like it could swallow all of us any second.

  "I think," Midori said, struggling to stand. "I need some rest." She staggered toward the building.

  “Wait!” I called out. “What was all of this even for?”

  “I was just curious about your limit,” she said, then grinned. “Looks like you don’t have one!"

  "What do you mean I don't? What about last time then?"

  "Last time…" the old man said, still shaken, "you were crushed because you couldn’t control the mana around you.”

  He walked up to me, banging his cane on the ground like a lecture was loading.

  “Last time, young lord, you took our mana but never made it yours,” he said. “When the domain pulls mana, you must claim it too. If you don’t, it’s no different from being under attack.”

  It sounded confusing at first. Then I remembered the day I almost died draining Midori when she was at her weakest. There was no way I could push her this far now, with her at full power.

  "I think, it makes some sense.”

  "Oh, before you go," the old man said, calling out to Midori. "Forgive my curiosity, young lady, but could you be from a noble family?”

  Midori stared at me, her brain had crashed. I wasn’t any better. A few days ago, the word noble was the last thing you’d ever use for a giant monster from the wasteland.

  "Why would you think that all of a sudden?" She asked, turned around.

  "The amount of mana you give off, my lady. That’s not something an ordinary being can have. To be honest, it's rare even among nobles."

  Midori and I traded an uneasy look. Her little mana stunt had already come back to bite us. We couldn’t hide this for long anyway, and I wasn’t even sure why we were trying. I gave a small nod, letting her answer.

  "I’m about as far from a noble as it gets," Midori said with an awkward grin on her face. "I’m a boss level monster."

  The old man’s eyes almost popped out. He swallowed hard and fired back, "W-what? Which one?" His gaze jumped between us.

  "A few days ago, I was a giant turtle," Midori said. "You probably know me better as—"

  “Slow Death of the Wastes?” he cut in. “That was you? But… how did you end up with a human body?”

  “Yeah,” Midori said, awkward. “Soul bond. Obviously.”

  The old man turned to me, eyes shining with respect. “I see. I didn’t know such a thing was even possible.” He nodded. “Still, a lesser servant would never fit the young lord.”

  "No, no," I said, waving my arms. "You’ve got it wrong. She’s not my servant. We’re just friends.”

  The old man froze. That was clearly not the answer he expected. He slowly looked Midori up and down, like he was inspecting the latest work of an overworked ecchi artist. Then he glanced at me, gave a small knowing grin, and wisely decided to say nothing.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Alright," he said, trying to change the subject. "Let’s get back to your training, young lord."

  It was obvious he had already made up his mind. In his head, Midori and I were doing things we absolutely weren't. I did't even bother correcting him. I knew trying would only make it worse anyway.

  "Now that the mana belongs to you, young lord," he said, "we can start with some simple spells.”

  Then he raised his right hand, lifted his index finger, and a tiny flame flickered at the tip, no bigger than a candle.

  "We’ll start with this. All you need is to imagine a flame on your fingertip. Like I did."

  It looked easy, so of course I got cocky. I copied his move and tried the spell. A small flame popped up on my finger. Not that small, actually. And for some reason, it just kept growing.

  "Young lord," the old man said, clearly annoyed, "I understand your excitement, but there is no need to prove your power. Let's start with small things for now."

  "That is the last thing I ever wanted to do with my first spell!" I yelled as the flame kept growing and climbing higher.

  Soon it stopped feeling like practice and more like I was threatening the sky with a flamethrower. I panicked and told it to stop. Nothing. I ordered it. Still nothing. I begged. That only made it worse. The flame kept growing, already as big as an elephant, sucking up my mana like it was free fuel.

  "Someone help me, I can’t stop it!”

  “J-just order it to stop, my lord.”

  “I'm doing it already, but this thing is not listening!”

  The fire squeezed itself into a huge, heavy ball. The old man stepped back in silence, clearly at peace with watching my heroic self destruction. Midori, meanwhile, walked straight toward me like this was not a problem at all.

  “Then throw it,” she said.

  “…What?”

  “If you can’t stop it, throw it.”

  “Where? And how?!”

  Soon, a tiny sun raged above my head, spinning with enough anger to cook the whole town. Panic stacked on panic. I looked at Midori, my face begging her for a better explanation.

  “Like you’d throw anything, idiot. Don't think, just do it.”

  “O-okay!”

  I had no clue what I was doing, so I did the only smart thing and threw it. The fireball followed, drained all my mana at once, and shot toward the barely visible snowy mountains. The blast sent me flying. When I looked up, it was gone, and I was left on the ground.

  The old man pushed himself up with his cane and shook off his clothes. “I think that’s enough for today, young lord,” he said. “And it looks like you have no mana left.”

  “No, wait!” I called after him. “Let’s try again. With less mana this time. I think I know where I messed up.”

  “Alright,” he said, stepping closer, clearly reluctant but resigned. “You can use my mana this time, but please, young lord, only as much as you can control.”

  “Sure, got it!”

  “Fine, I’m taking a nap then,” Midori said, yawning as she strolled back toward the building. “Old man, try not to let him turn into a barbecue!” she shouted over her shoulder.

  This time, I used only a little mana and made a small flame like the old man’s. It died fast. I tried again. And again. Each try lasted longer. By sunset, half of the old man’s mana was gone, and I was finally starting to get it.

  “Young lord, that’s enough for today,” he said, watching the sunset. “Tomorrow we’ll practice more.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said, finally noticing the sun sinking. Hearing noise from the other side of the building, I asked, “What’s happening?”

  “Preparations, my lord. We’ll celebrate your arrival. Come on, let’s see how it's going.” The old man turned and headed toward the building.

  I followed him inside, then out the front door. A huge table with chairs stood before us, others spread around the open area, leaving the center free. Everyone had brought food and drink. I sat next to Midori as the old man took the other side. People froze when they saw me, so I waved them on.

  “You’re not going to sleep?” I whispered to Midori, who had a beer cup raised to her head.

  “With all this noise? Impossible. And with fun and drinks around? Never!” She handed me the cup. “Want some?”

  “No thanks. I’ll stick to water. And, I’m not of age yet.”

  “Ah, forgive me, young lord, I didn’t get a chance to ask. How old are you?” the old man asked.

  “Sixteen, almost sixteen and a half.”

  “Then you’re considered an adult, my lord. Go on, many people your age already have two-year-old children.”

  “What?” I stared at Midori. She nodded.

  “Forget marriage. I’ve seen kids younger than you fighting and dying in the battlefield,” she said, downing her drink and slamming the cup on the table, clearly already drunk.

  For a while, we watched people dance, play music, sing, eat, and drink. And I realized something too. There was no real difference between us. Demon, human, demi-human, who cared. They just had some extra horns. And now I had them too. Funny enough, that made me like them more.

  Just as the party hit full chaos and most people were already drunk, a group of armored demons crashed in riding wild boars. At the front was a huge, muscular guy, steering boars loaded with wounded men. The moment he saw me, he dropped to his knees and saluted.

  “You… you can stand.” I said, tense. Normally, a man that size would pin me to the wall with no effort, but here he was, bowing instead.

  The old man jumped up, checking on the injured soldiers, then turned to the standing one, who seemed to be their leader.

  “Did you see? This time, did you manage to face the monster? What was it like? Kill it?”

  “No,” the man said, exhaling deeply. “We couldn’t even get past the foot of the mountain. Let alone face it…”

  “...And these injured?”

  “Our supplies ran out, and we were exhausted, so we decided to return and rest. On the way back, a massive fireball flew dangerously close, throwing us meters away. We barely survived.”

  The old man looked at me. I looked back. He said nothing. And I already knew he had figured it out. That was my fireball from this morning. I looked away, suddenly very interested in a random pattern on the ground.

  “Alright, let’s go inside and talk,” the old man said, leaning in to whisper. “Sorry to ruin the fun, young lord, but this concerns you as well.”

  We moved inside and sat down in a room. Midori and I on one side, the old man and the soldier on the other. After a moment of silence, the old man spoke.

  “Young lord, a monster in the mountains has been starving us for years. We don’t even know what it is,” he said, glancing at the soldier beside him. “General Takeda and his men tried handling it for ages, but they never made it to the peak.”

  “Sixty-seven expeditions, and we still haven’t set foot at the peak,” added the general.

  “Why? I mean, what’s stopping you?”

  “Intense mana fields. We don’t know what’s there, but we suspect it’s a boss level monster.”

  “I see…” I made eye contact with Midori.

  I drifted into my thoughts. Until now, the demons had only helped me. A place to sleep, food, clothes, magic... I had given nothing back. Then the old Demon Lord’s last words hit me.

  “I don’t expect someone as stupid as you to surpass me. But at least… protect my people.”

  Yeah, he said that. But wait… he didn’t actually call me stupid. My brain just added that part for fun. Either way, I’d already decided. I would help them. But this wasn’t high school Hayato’s job. This was something the next Demon Lord Hayato, already considered an adult in this world, had to do.