3 Chapter 3 - Reflection and Resolve

"Aren't you a distant descendant of one of the seven demons I created using my own blood 2,000 years ago?"

After Anos threw those outrageous words casually as if he was talking about the weather. Beta breathing hitched as her mind started turning hazy from the lack of oxygen. In that abnormal state, old memories that were long sealed deep inside her mind suddenly surfaced. Painful memories about her childhood back when she was still living with her family in the country of elves.

The cruel fate she faced after contracting the Demon Possession, how she was suddenly persecuted by her entire family and society. The horrifying treatment she received from everyone she trusted before being exiled from her home.

"How dare you..."

Beta muttered in a trembling voice as she clenched her fists tightly in frustration. Despite knowing everything about the curse and our suffering because of the damned demon blood…

How dare he claim something like 'that' so casually?

Blatantly saying he's the one who created the demon that destroyed her whole life and caused the death of countless innocent girls throughout history. He was even going as far as saying he made 6 more such heinous demons. Implying as if Demon Diabolos and by extension, all of our misery was nothing special. The sheer audacity. Even for being Shadow-sama's little brother, that's going too far.

Beta's expression changed drastically as she felt absolute fury toward the person standing in front of her. Small tears formed in her sapphirine eyes as she glared fiercely at Anos. Not only did he completely shatter her expectations of him by telling such a cruel tasteless joke, but he also offended her and everyone else in the Shadow Garden at the same time. She felt a level of disappointment she never thought was possible.

"How dare you!"

"Hmm?"

Anos blinked confused as he looked at the seething elf who suddenly had her whole mode switched in the blink of an eye. If just a few moments ago she was looking at him with respect and admiration in her eyes, then all he could see right now is hate and disgust.

"Am I wrong? But I can't be mistaken. Aren't you a hybrid–"

"EXCUSE ME Anos-sama, I still have other things to do. So I will take my leave now."

While Anos was still talking, Beta snapped and interrupted him rudely. She only half-heartedly bowed to him before she immediately walked towards the door of the library. Anos watched silently without doing anything as she transformed back into a maid and then once she was out, she angrily closed the door with perhaps a bit too much force.

*Baaam*

"..."

Anos frowned as he thought about what brought this unexpected reaction. This simple interaction with the elf woman suggested many unfortunate implications and conclusions that he was sure he wouldn't like at all. He noticed that the moment he mentioned 'demon', the elf woman's emotional state suddenly turned to the worst. It seemed to him as if she harbored extreme hatred towards the Demons or something. The same as the humans he meets in the past.

But she isn't a human, she is an elf. Even in the past, the elves in fact had a fairly stable relationship with the demons. Sure It wasn't really a good one, but it wasn't bad either. Mainly because of the complex relationship between the Spirits and the Demons. So the elves who worshiped those same Spirits found themselves in an awkward position with the Demons. Nevertheless, that doesn't explain the hatred he saw in her eyes.

"Did those seven rascals do something stupid while I was gone?"

Anos was extremely tempted to right away use the more powerful Demon Eyes in his arsenal to learn about the true past and history directly from the root of the world. But he refrained from doing so. Currently, he has lost approximately 90% of his powers. So he can only effectively use 10% of what he used to be capable of. Moreover, he just reincarnated and is also suffering a huge almost crippling backlash from the last magic he used in his past life to separate the whole world into four separate dimensions. The human world, the demon world, the spirit world, and the world of the gods. Doing something of that ridiculous scale put a great strain on him and so he needs time to calibrate into this new body while slowly recovering his original strength.

If he used any significant powers right now, there might be some unrecoverable consequences. Either on himself or the world itself. In the worst-case scenario, he might actually lose control and accidentally destroy the world. That would make everything he worked for and even die for be for nothing. What purpose does peace have if there was no world there in the first place? Not to mention, if he did something foolish like that. Militia would surely fellow his idiotic ass until the end of existence.

Anos has never seen the kind goddess angry before. So he would rather avoid receiving the inevitable wrath of the Goddess of Creation once he unintentionally destroyed her world.

Well, he's not in a hurry anyway. He can take his sweet time enjoying this unique experience.

He always wanted to have a family and experience how it feels to have one. Though, he never imagined he would one day have a human one. He even got the full package with a brother and a yet-to-be-seen sister included, if what was written in the family book was true. The complete opposite of the cold corpse of his mother he got when he was born from her dead body in the previous incarnation.

"Fumu. A human family… Curious indeed."

Anos said amused as he sat back in the window frame.

He was once again observing and carefully studying the human servants working in the garden below.

For now, based on the severe reaction of that elf woman called Beta. He should probably avoid revealing his identity and the fact that he is a Demon King for the time being. Furthermore, even his race as a Demon should be kept hidden. At least until he learned more about the current standing of the Demons in this era and the political balance of all races, especially the Gods.

'Beno Ievun'... if the wall that he put to separate the four main races two thousand years ago was still active. There is an extremely high probability that he was currently in the human world and so there might not even be a single Demon in this entire country or worse the whole continent.

Going by that logic, it is utterly unwise to reveal himself in the dead center of the enemy territory.

"..."

Alright. He reluctantly decided to portray himself as a human. Only temporarily.

The only problem with that plan is that he had already revealed his title, and he also showed magical abilities that might not be the norm in this era. Moreover, he told the elf Beta some rather obvious hints too.

Well, for his title. He can only hope the people of this era forgot about him somehow or at least he is not that well-known anymore. This might highly be the case seeing as not even a single time was his name mentioned in any of the books he read in this library. Not like he will go with another name anyway. He is Anos Voldigoad, he will NOT go by any other name.

As for the 'abnormal' magical abilities… he can play it as a genius human seen once in millennia. He heard that type of excuse is pretty effective when reincarnating. This will also tremendously increase the chance of meeting with Hero Kanon if he also reincarnated in the same era. Anos looked forward to their reunion as that would be interesting. How would Hero Kanon react when he found out that humanity's worst nightmare was actually walking in broad daylight right in their backyard?

And lastly for Beta. Seeing as she is ALSO disguising herself as a human maid, Anos felt she wouldn't pose to be that much of an issue. And even when it inevitably came down to it. In the best-case scenario, he would just erase her memory with a magic spell. And in the worst case…

Well, he would just be doing his new human family a favor by disposing of a potential spy.

Saying that though, if there was any minuscule chance that she really has his blood flowing in her veins. No matter how small that amount. He hoped he wouldn't be forced to kill his descendants for such trivial matters.

"Shadow."

Thinking about Beta, Anos tasted the name that she unconsciously slipped out in their rather short conversation. He would make sure to remember it for later.

Right now, however, he focused on examining the oblivious humans through the glass window.

How they walk, their body language, their facial expression, and their habits. Anything that would help him fit naturally in this era and human society. Anos's crimson eyes glowed dimly as he analyzed everything inside his terrifying mind. Occasionally shifting between many different body positions and artificial facial expressions to practice.

Observe, Learn and Adapt.

That was the secret to the terrifying power of the Demon King of Tyranny.

An irregular Demon that puts efficiency above all else.

A Demon who believes in pragmatic optimism.