Reborn: Demon Core (2 page)

Just like skills, abilities had grades. G
grade abilities didn’t have levels. Even if the boost was large, it
was still considered a low level ability. F grade abilities had two
to three levels. E grade abilities have four to six levels. D grade
abilities had seven to ten levels. C grade had eleven to fifteen
levels. B grade had sixteen to twenty levels, while A grade
abilities had twenty-five levels. There was even a few stories that
there were S, SS, and SSS abilities that could break beyond the
normal rules assigned to them. Looking at his demon absorption
ability, he would guess that it was at least an S or an SS level
ability.

The lower levels of a skill were easy to
train and just like a person, the higher they got, the more they
had to be used in order to level. There were some abilities that
Ash had ignored, but after learning about the levels, he decided to
train them a little each day until he exhausted his MP and SP.

Since he couldn’t train his passive skills,
Ash was forced to focus on his active abilities. He started with
the ones he had gained early on. Even if they were weak, they still
had a use in a fight.

Invoking Bash, Ash rushed forward and slammed
into the ogre, only doing five damage to the ogre and eight to
himself. The damage didn’t surprise Ash, as he had done it many
times over the past few days as he tried to raise the level of the
ability. The great thing was even though an ability got stronger,
the cost stayed the same. Though Lillanis had said that some would
get more expensive if they leveled up high enough.

As the ogre attacked, Ash invoked Bash again
and rushed past its club as he slammed into its leg. As soon as he
hit, Ash used Rabbit Punch. His attacks did little damage to the
ogre and it didn’t really hurt him, though his hands did start to
sting after the sixth hit.

As soon as he used Rabbit Punch, Ash heard
the welcomed “tring,” as the ability leveled up.

Before Ash had the chance to use another
ability, Jacob struck at the ogre’s exposed neck, dealing a
critical hit. Not wanting to waste what little time he had, Ash
invoked Poison Spit, hitting the ogre in the eyes as it lurched
forward at Jacob’s attack. No matter how strong the skin of the
ogre was, its eyes were still weak causing the ogre to bellow in
pain. Using its pained state, Jacob struck again, nearly severing
its neck from its body.

“Hurry and collect the spoils so we can find
the next fight,” Lillanis said before the ogre’s body even hit the
floor.

“I can’t Lillanis,” Jacob said slumping to
the group. “My SP and MP are both exhausted.”

“We should have bought some potions before
entering the labyrinth,” Lillanis said frowning.

“You are the one who made the rule that we
don’t buy potions so that we don’t push ourselves. Even if it can
recover the SP and MP, it doesn’t do anything for mental and
physical fatigue,” Halon said as he sat down beside Jacob.

“Then I guess it is time to head back. Ash,
you coming with us or are you staying back to fight a bit more?”
Lillanis asked her tone changing back to its normal light
heartedness.

“I might as well head back,” Ash replied.
“Fighting these guys alone takes far too long,” Ash honestly
replied.

“I want spiced rum with dinner tonight,”
Jacob said quickly rising to his feet.

As soon as they left the labyrinth, Ash
parted with the three as they headed back to his house and he
headed to Emelia’s.

“Welcome home Lord Hawkwing,” the guard said
as he walked up to the manor’s gate. Ever since the wedding, they
had quit calling him Ash and it had been replaced by young lord or
Lord Hawkwing. It had a nice ring to it, but at the same time it
made him feel as if they were pushing him away. He had never spent
much time with the guards, but even the maids had started doing it
as well, including those that he used to talk with about Yuki.

Shortly after he entered the garden, Emelia
appeared at the door of the manor with a large smile. “I’m home,”
Ash said with an awkward smile as he lightly gave Emelia a kiss on
the cheek.

“That’s all I get?” Emelia said, furrowing
her brow and crossing her arms.

Defeated, Ash bent down planning to lightly
kiss Emelia’s lips, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and
pulled him into a deep and long kiss instead. “That’s better,”
Emelia giggled after she let go of his lips.

“What has you in such a good mood?” Ash asked
while he tried to stand up and found that her arms were still
firmly locked around his neck.

“I just received a letter from the capital,”
Emelia said happily while letting him go and dancing back from him.
“The king sent his congratulations on the marriage and sent his
apologies for missing the ceremony.”

“Missing the ceremony. I thought we had it so
that he wouldn’t know about it?” Ash asked slightly confused.

“We did,” Emelia admitted. “But I did it in a
way that looked as if I intended him to learn of it. I sent out
letter months before the wedding. That is why so many nobles were
here, but for some reason the letters sent to the nobles in and
around the capital were delayed due to bandit attacks. Well that is
the story they told anyway, but in truth they were just told to
make sure that by the time they arrived it would already be too
late for the King to attend or properly investigate your
background.”

“Really,” Ash said as he thought about it.
The king could have still cancelled the marriage but not without
causing a small uproar amount the other nobles so he had
essentially had his hands tied by the tactic Emelia used. “Wait!
Doesn’t that mean that you had the wedding planned months before
you asked me to marry you?”

“Ah!” Emelia said her face suddenly blushing.
“Well…I just…You need a bath, you smell like ogres,” Emelia said
quickly retreating inside.

“I was had,” Ash said as Emelia disappeared
through the door.

As they did every time, Ash and Emelia bathed
together. After they had gotten over their nervousness about their
bodies, they had started talking during this time, but today they
had returned to the uneasy silence. “Are you mad?” Emelia finally
asked, her voice slightly shaking as she washed Ash’s back.

“I…Am not really mad,” Ash replied as he
tried to sort out his feelings. “I just don’t know why you didn’t
tell me sooner or ask earlier.”

“It was really hard to ask you at all,”
Emelia said as she placed her forehead against Ash’s bare back.

“Why?” Ash asked, not understanding. It was
true it was a pretty big favor, but he didn’t see why it would be
so hard for her to ask.

“Because I…Was afraid you would say no,”
Emelia admitted. “But now I have you and I am not letting you go,”
Emelia added as she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought
her head next to his ear. The feel of her breath against his neck
sent a tingle down his spine.

Listening to Emelia’s words, things started
to move into place in Ash’s mind. Turning his head, his face was
only inches from Emelia’s and her eyes looked into his while giving
off an intense feeling. “Emelia…You,” before he could finish his
sentence, his lips were sealed by Emelia’s.

Pulling back, Emelia blushed a light pink all
the way to the tips of her ears. “I…I love you,” Emelia said, her
voice weak and slightly trembling. “I have ever since I watched you
sleeping on the carriage.”

Ash was stunned by the sudden declaration as
Emelia pushed herself away and hid herself in the bath, sinking so
low that only her eyes were visible. Looking at Emelia lurking in
the water, Ash felt a twinge in his heart. He was the same age as
Emelia and in a way they were a lot alike. She had been sheltered
by her father and had little experience with others. At the same
time, Ash had been pushed away by others and pushed others away.
Emelia was the first person he had started to get close to. He
still didn’t know if it was love, but he felt comfortable when he
was with her.

Shaking off the thoughts that plagued his
mind, Ash rinsed the soap from his body and entered the bath.
Emelia watched him, but since he could only see her eyes it was
hard to tell what she was thinking. Slowly he walked over to where
Emelia was and sat down next to her and let himself sink deeper
into the water while stretching out his arm and wrapping it around
Emelia’s shoulders. He didn’t say anything, Ash just pulled Emelia
close.

Emelia didn’t fight against his pull and
brought her head out of the water and lightly placed it on his
shoulder with a content smile on her face.

After the bath, they dressed and sat down to
eat. Emelia’s declaration was the last thing said and neither of
the two could find anything to break the heavy silence that now
hung over them. Though they were trapped in silence, they still sat
close together and there was no feeling of dissatisfaction from
either of them.

After eating, Ash and Emelia went to the
study. With the news that a war might break out, Emelia was working
on checking on her personal forces so that if the King called for
troops, she could at least meet the minimum requirements demanded.
Emelia’s father had neglected keeping a large group of soldiers and
instead only kept a well-trained group of knights. The reason for
this was because the adventurers in a region could easily be hired
to preform most duties normal soldiers could do without the
constant cost of upkeep. The downside was that in times when the
King called for troops, it would take every knight to obey the call
to arms, leaving the duchy weakened for years. Right now Emelia was
making a general call by ordering all the knights within her lands
to take on three squires for training.

The knights had the right of conscription so
they could take anyone older than fifteen as a squire but they were
limited to have no more than five at one given time. It would take
two to three years before most squires would be trained enough to
fight in a battle, but if push came to shove Emelia could still
conscript adventurers into her personal army when the king called.
They would be more expensive in the short run, but would still be
cheaper than keeping a large standing army year around. Also, if
any of the adventurers fled from duty, which was a good chance, it
would give her a bad reputation with the royal army and King but it
was the best solution she could come up without mass conscription
for a war that may or may not happen.

While Emelia worked on the troop issues, Ash
had been tasked with figuring out the cost to hire enough
adventurers if the need arose along with the cost projections of
the added new squires. The Hawkwing duchy had a number of lesser
nobles but she couldn’t use them for troops for a war since the
King would call on them from troops as well. Currently there was
only two hundred and sixty-two knights under Emelia’s command.
While squires didn’t receive pay, their families were given a sum
upon the conscription and they would also need equipment and fed as
well. The payment to the families was only ten gold, but when you
took into account that they were planning to conscript over eight
hundred squires it added up to eighty platinum coins. The cost for
food and gear changed depending on the skills of the knights. While
Ash said knights they had different knight guilds that could only
be entered by those sword to a lord. Like common guilds, they had
unique skills and most of them were seen as far stronger than those
of the common guilds.

The people belonging to the Dark Knight Corps
were the cheapest to outfit as they used short swords and leather
armor. On the other hand, the Heavy Knights were extremely
expensive as they needed horses, swords, lances, and heavy armor.
Thankfully knights received no coin. If they needed anything, they
simply had to show their knight identification card and Emelia
would be sent the bill. If the knights wished for their own coin to
buy something outside of what they were allowed, they had the
option to work for the adventurer’s guild when they didn’t have an
official task. They were also allowed to sell half of whatever they
gained from the monsters they killed while the other half was
reserved by the duchy. As long as the knights trained hard and
there was not much trouble within the duchy, it was possible for
the duchy to make a profit from their knights.

Along with the new squires came a second
problem and that was their training. Knights trained their squires
in a number of ways but the most common was in the labyrinth. That
meant that soon the city would be filled with knights who needed a
place to stay and so the inns would be filled to busting and still
there wouldn’t be enough room. That meant that Ash had to find a
place for them to stay while not spending a lot of coin.

“Why don’t we have them build their own
knight training facility within the city?” Ash asked as he went
over the numbers again.

“What do you mean?” Emelia asked tilting her
head.

“Well from what I see, other than the capital
the knights have no real place of their own,” Ash said as he
flipped through the papers. “There is a guild hall here, but it is
small and only has a place for one or two knights to stay and the
training yard is barely big enough for a horse. If we build a place
for them to stay for long periods of times, then when they aren’t
on duty they could stay and train in the labyrinth.”

“That’s not a bad idea, but building a place
that large would cost a large amount. Something that large would
rival one of the outpost forts.”

“That is the point,” Ash said while shuffling
through the papers again. “The duchy has been in three wars with
other minor nobles over the past two hundred years. Each time they
were only barely able to win. If you kept a well-trained and larger
group of knights, that wouldn’t be as much of a problem. As for
that, it could also be used if worst came to worst and you had to
endure a siege. It would cost a lot up front, but keeping a large
contingent of knights where they could fight in the labyrinth would
turn a profit once it is finished,” Ash said as he handed over the
paper that he had been working on over the past two weeks.