Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

104 Alive or dead?

"Boy, I am not a ghost, I am a demon." said the middle-aged man standing in front of Kaizen.

Although this man had two small black horns coming out of his strands of hair, Kaizen seemed not to believe it. After all, in the novice's mind a demon should have the clichéd appearance with completely red skin, pointed teeth, bat wings and goat legs, but this man in front of him had nothing different from a ghost or an ordinary person, except for the horns and the pointed ears. Still, the horns were not news to Kaizen either, because on the way to the Howling Draughts he met a girl, named Xisrith, who also possessed a pair of horns.

So after the tired-eyed man's statement, while analyzing him Kaizen questioned:

"A demon? What's the difference from that to a ghost? Are you alive?"

"Technically, I am neither alive, nor dead."

Kaizen made a snap with the fingers of his right hand and then pointed at the man, "Ah! So you are an undead."

"Of course not! Undead really are beings who have died and come back to life. I am not like these inferior third-rate beings. Can't you understand that?" Articulating calmly, the demon explained.

"Dude, if you haven't died that means you're alive, right? Sigh! That doesn't matter. First, is my friend okay?"

"Of course he's okay, I wouldn't hurt someone just because that person broke into my house... Come to think of it, that would be a plausible reason for me to hurt someone. I'll put it on my list for next time." The demon placed his left hand on his chin, as if reflecting.

However, when the man looks back at Kaizen, the black-haired boy stooped down, picked up one of the candles, and was about to leave the room.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing!" The man asked, very surprised that he had been ignored.

Kaizen looked over his left shoulder and replied reassuringly, "I'm going to check if Jayaa is okay. Why should I trust the words of a demon? In the stories I know, everyone who trusts demons either dies, or ends up cursed."

After that, Psyker left the room as naturally as when he entered.

The demon was dumbfounded and confused. No one had ever treated him with such contempt, but the demon himself did not see Kaizen's attitude as contempt but rather as a gesture of simplicity. At this moment, for the first time in more than a hundred years, the demon became interested in knowing more about a human.

As Kaizen walked toward the hallway to the left of the stairs, suddenly the demon overtook the wall and stepped in front of him.

"What are you doing? Let me pass." Kaizen asked with his eyes clenched with indifference. "By the way, you said you are not a ghost, but you can get over walls? How does that work?"

"An experienced demon like me would never reveal information about my race so easily to a human, and someone like you wouldn't understand the state of my... Hey! Where are you going?"

Once again, Kaizen took advantage of the demon's moment of distraction to walk away.

"Son of a bitch." The demon muttered, turned to the wall on the left again and walked through it.

When Psyker got past the staircase with candle in hand and was a few steps away from the hallway Jayaa was in, again the demon went through a wall and stopped in front of Kaizen, who was starting to get a little irritated. This time, the demon was a little out of breath.

"Haa... Haa... It's a bit tiring to use material teleportation after so many years." he said, leaning his left hand on the wooden ledge. "Can you at least hear my question before you go?"

Kaizen took a deep breath and nodded. "All right. Speak."

The demon arched his eyebrows excitedly and inquired:

"What are you? I mean, I know you're a human, but you're not afraid of me and you said you've dealt with ghosts before. Are you a medium, a priest, or worse, a fortune teller?"

'Did he just put fortune tellers on a level above priests or did I misunderstand?' Kaizen wondered and then humbly answered the man, "I don't know if you know what that is, but I am a Psyker. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go check on my colleague."

Taking a few steps forward, Kaizen followed his path and the demon gently moved out of his way.

'A Psyker?!' The demon was so startled by this statement from the boy that he was practically paralyzed and bug-eyed. 'Do they really exist?'

Kaizen was glad that the demon no longer stood in his way, otherwise he would be so angry that even if he didn't want to hurt an NPC, he wouldn't hold back his fist and would definitely punch the demon in the face. Anyway, Kaizen opened the door to the room at the end of the second hallway, and when he did, he used his reflex to hold Jayaa's lute that flew toward him.

"What are you doing? It's me." said Kaizen, looking at Jayaa in the middle of the room who was wearing an expression of astonishment.

Jayaa was filled with a feeling of unconditional relief. "Ah, thank god it's you!"

"Mister Psyker, may I ask one more question before you leave?" The demon went through the wall once again and entered the room Kaizen and Jayaa were in.

"Urghwr?!" exclaimed Jayaa and ran to Kaizen's side.

"Who says I'm leaving?"

"What? You're not going?"

"I liked the house and since there is not just a ghost, but a ghost-demon, I believe I will be able to buy it for a great price."

"T-that's a demon!?"

"You want to buy my house… and live here?" The horned man inquired with a serious expression.

'Klaus, please say no.' Jayaa croaked with her eyes closed and crossing her fingers.

"Yes." Kaizen nodded as he replied. "However, if you have a problem with that, we can negotiate. I realize that you have some attachment to this house, but I will not question you about your reasons for this. What do you think about helping me close the purchase with the realtor for a great value and we split the house?"

"Split the house?" The demon looked suspicious.

"Exactly. You get the second floor and I get the first floor. That's a good deal, no?" Kaizen held out a hand to the man.

The demon stared at him coolly and from that moment on the passing seconds of silence turned into hours for Jayaa. There was an inexplicable tension hanging over the demon and Kaizen. Suddenly, all the tension in the air was gone as the demon extended his right hand to Kaizen, who shook his bony hand.

"I've been lonely for a long time... Splitting the house half and half seems fair to me..." said the demon. "By the way, my name is Og'tharoz."

"And my name is Kaizen."

Jayaa watched the scene in disbelief, for his friend had just shaken hands with a demon so normally that now the bard could only think of two possibilities: either Kaizen was a complete idiot, or someone much stronger than he imagined.

[NPC: Og'tharoz

Level: 50 | Race: Demon | Gender: ?

Profession: Ghost

HP: 1000 | MP: 350

Attack: 54 | Defense: 45 | Speed: 38

Strength: 49 | Wisdom: 54 | Endurance: 45

Skills: [Hidden Content]]

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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