Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Chapter 385 - Childhood Friends

Valdel felt relieved when he heard Ren\'s answer. The truth was he wasn\'t truly sure that Ren was Kretos, but now that Ren admitted it, all the worries he had disappeared.

"Don\'t call me that, like you said to Tsukiko, Kir has died long ago there is only Valdel left."

"I see… Still, it\'s rather surprising that you have the memories of the old man and act the way you do."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, it\'s just that you\'re a bit different from the old man in my memories."

"Well, you know you only knew the past me for just that one battle, before Kir became a demon lord, he cared about the people and fought for his kin."

"Oh, well, okay. It\'s not like I\'m saying you didn\'t care, I was thinking of something else, but sure it\'s not as surprising as I thought."

"What does that mean? What are you implying here, Ren?"

"Nothing much, it\'s just that the Mighty Lord Kir that I knew was someone who felt like a kindred spirit. Someone you know was like me, I didn\'t peg you for someone that has such cute ideals."

"Cute? I only had dreams about Kir when I was five years old, and unlike your memories which seem to have been there from the start, I only regained bits and pieces every now and then. It\'s only now that I have full access to the memories. Also, I\'m pretty sure I\'m doing some of this because I felt a bit of gratitude to fate or whoever gave me this chance. I promised at the end of my last life to be a good person and to be friends with you in the next life, so I think I\'m doing pretty good."

"So being naive makes you a good person?"

"… Alright, I guess we\'re doing it that way." Valdel nodded his head as he looked at Ren with a tiny bit of hostility. "Well, alright I can admit that I\'m naive, but at least I\'m trying to grow, to change. Unlike someone here who hasn\'t change for thousands of years. Oh, wait, if I remember correctly most of the incarnations of the strongest mortal soul have the same mindset and personalities. In fact, based on what the God of Death said in the records, you have access to thousands of incarnations and still, you guys remain the same."

Hearing what Valdel said Ren shrugged his shoulders as he responded.

"What\'s there to change? Since the beginning, I have always seen the world as it is. I don\'t dress it up to make it look pleasing to my eyes."

"I see… Should you really talk to me like that? In this era and even in the past era, I have always been the older person between us. Shouldn\'t you respect your elders a tiny bit more?"

"Hey I might have called you old man in your past life, but if we\'re adding past lives and memories of them, then I pretty much have eons. So technically I\'m the elder here."

"It seems like you think you can walk all over me just because I let you win every now and then."

"It\'s not every now and then, literally since your past life I have always been the winner of all our bouts with each other."

"That\'s just because I felt like losing. Also in my past life, Kir just wanted to lose and die so unconsciously he held back as he fought."

"Is that so? Well, that\'s not how I remember it. In my memory, there was this old man trying his hardest to win since he was a sore loser, but no matter what he did he still lost."

"I guess you wouldn\'t stop making up this sh*t if I don\'t beat you down a peg or two." Valdel once again took a fighting stance.

"Is that so, well this time I guess since you claim to be so much older I should probably give you a handicap. This time I won\'t use any mana at all." Ren smiled as he also took a fighting stance. He wasn\'t going to use mana but Spirit Aura.

No words were said as the two stared down at each other. Their fighting spirit was blazing with passion and in a blink of an eye, they had already exchanged a few punches.

…

It has been two days since Ren went to talk to Valdel, the people of the Serbek Kingdom were still in the process of getting back on their feet. Still, no matter how hard they fell with the help of Henrietta and the other remaining High ranked mages, they were able to somehow pull through.

Also even though they were curious no one went to peek at what was happening in the arena. Even Now they could hear the sounds of Valdel and Ren clashing with each other. After a few hours, the sound would die down but in a couple of minutes, the two would once again start their fight.

Many people wanted to watch the fight that could last for two days straight with only a few minutes interval for rest. Yet they couldn\'t get near in fear of what Ren would do to them. Just remembering how easily he slaughtered the Primordial Demon, Nyarlom was enough to frighten almost everyone.

…

Lara was waiting just outside of the arena and hasn\'t moved at all from the time she left Ren to deal with Valdel. She like everyone else was truly curious as to what was happening in the arena, but she didn\'t want to disturb Ren while he tries to calm Valdel down.

\'It has been two days now, but it doesn\'t seem like the fighting is dying down. Should I go check on them?… But if I do that Ren might think I don\'t trust him that he can deal with this, but if I don\'t go then this might continue on for a very long time, and one of them might accidentally kill the other… No, yeah, there\'s no need to hesitate I need to be there for both of them. It\'s not like I will interfere I just want to see what they\'re doing. In fact, I\'ll just hide my presence so they won\'t sense me, and I\'ll just watch at the side.\'

After she was done deciding what to do next, Lara blended in with the darkness and headed to the seating area of the arena. Once she was there the first thing she saw were her two childhood friends fighting with their fists. Though she was rather surprised to see Valdel fighting using his fists and using the techniques Ren taught her, she was even more surprised to see the expression on their faces.

The two of them were exchanging blow after blow. Unlike what Lara imagined they weren\'t tearing each other apart out of anger, no they were actually smiling. Their attacks were precise and powerful but there was no malice nor an intent to kill.

Seeing them act like this as she watched at the side made Lara remember the time when they were kids when everything was just them playing and nothing was complicated. Just wake up and practice, have a little bit of fun, and roam around the nearby forest like it was a brand new adventure every day.

"Is that all you\'ve got, heh, I could fight you with one hand behind my back," Valdel shouted at Ren as he did a roundhouse kick. Ren matched the attack with his own roundhouse kick.

"Have you seen a mirror, you\'re already black and blue with bruises while I\'m still bruised free," Ren responded as the two continued to counter and evade each other\'s attacks.

Lara was smiling at the seating area. It truly felt like she had returned to the past when everything was perfect. Ren only had her, and her sister was still alive watching the two boys spar with each other. Lara who was smiling also started to tear up as she remembered her sister. For some reason, as she was watching Ren and Valdel spar, she felt like she could see her sister sitting beside her. Lisa was just there dreamingly looking at Valdel.

It felt like if Lara just extended her hand she could touch Lisa, but she knew that this was nothing but a specter of her mind. Still, Lara looked at the fake Lisa and spoke to her.

"I miss you, big sis… If it was possible I would have wanted to go back to the time we left the village. Even if everyone else didn\'t support it, I would\'ve forced you to come with us. If only I did that, if only I stopped only thinking about myself, you would have been here with me… I\'m sorry big sis. It\'s all my fault, I could\'ve done something but I didn\'t, I only thought about following Ren and nothing more. I\'m sorry big sis, I\'m sorry I was a bad little sister."

"You know Lisa would never blame you for what happened." Lara was surprised to see that both Ren and Valdel were now sitting behind her. She was so distracted by the specter sitting beside her that she didn\'t notice them. She quickly wiped away her tears and her expression went back to being stoic.

"You know it\'s alright to cry. It\'s no problem showing your weakness to us. We are your friends, right?" Valdel spoke with a gentle smile on his face. Without waiting for an answer both Ren and Valdel hugged Lara.

Feeling the warmth of her two childhood friends, made Lara feel relaxed… The three of them said no words and simply continued to hug each other as the sun was slowly setting.