The healer left the room after he treated Aric, and Arian came shortly after that.
"Feeling better?" he asked.
Aric's mind was still stuck on the Demon Lord's words, but it cleared when he saw Arian come in.
"Yes, I am. But Tristan hasn't woken up yet."
Arian looked a bit surprised but kept a calm smile on his face.
"Oh, did the healer not tell you?"
"Tell me? Tell me what?" Aric thought to himself.
"I told him to put a sleeping spell on him. We wouldn't want a human to know the location of our village. Especially a noble who is soon to be a hero and works for the emperor. It's obvious who he is just by his looks. Our village is our hideout as well," explained Arian.
Aric gave him a confused look.
"I'm a hero too, but you let me see the way to the village."
"You're a Demohyu as well," replied Arian.
"Still, I am a hero who works and follows the emperor."
"Aric," Arian's face turned serious. "Your demon side was sealed until now. The seal broke. How will the humans react when they find out that the hero who was supposed to protect them isn't human? It's only a matter of time until they find out what you are now that the seal is broken."
Aric stayed quiet.
Although I hate to agree with him, he's right… but I still have my grandmother there. I can't let her stay alone.
"But I have people I care about in the Empire. I can't just leave them."
"Same goes for those people. How will they react when they find out you're not human?"
"I am still half human."
"You think they care? In the humans' eyes, even if you were ninety percent human and only ten percent demon, they'd abandon you." Arian's voice grew louder.
"How would you know that?!"
"Trust me, I know." Arian's voice turned low again, and his eyes looked like they were in pain.
"I know…" Arian murmured once again.
Aric looked down.
He isn't wrong. I know how humans are better than anyone. They treated me badly even though I am a hero, just because I'm a commoner.
"I'll think about it," Aric said, lifting his head back up.
After a moment of silence, Aric spoke again.
"What about Tristan? How is he supposed to go back home, to the Empire?"
"I've already thought about that," said Arian.
"I'll send some of the village guards to put him in the low-rank area of the forest near some adventurers—while he's still asleep, of course. The adventurers will find him and take him to Elmoria, the closest city to this part of the demon forest. The humans will take care of everything after that."
"What if demons attack him before the humans find him?" asked Aric.
"Don't worry, the guards I send will wait and protect him until the adventurers find him."
"Sounds good."
Arian stood up.
"For now, rest. I'll come later, and we can talk about… 'your situation,' later."
"What do you mean?" asked Aric.
"I'm talking about your dark and light mana. No human in existence has ever had both."
"Ah, right."
After that, Arian left.
Right… I've never heard of something like this either. How do I have both light and dark mana? The Demon Lord seemed to know something about this, Aric thought.
Anyway, let's get some rest for now and think about it later.
Aric took a nap, and in that time the people Arian sent took Tristan and did as planned.
When Aric woke up, he felt much better. Some people escorted him to a house he would be staying in for the time.
"We have houses ready for other Demohyu before they join the village," explained one of the escorts.
It was a small wooden house with fine craftsmanship, as Aric could see. He went in. The place had a bed, food, plates, blankets, a bathroom, even clothes—everything a house could need.
Arian arrived soon after, and the escorts left.
"You like your new home?" he asked.
"Yes, it's nice and cozy," replied Aric. "It has everything."
"Demohyu are abandoned by their parents when they're young. They don't have anything with them, so this is the least we can do. We find them wandering in the demon forest after being abandoned and take them in."
"Oh, that's very kind of you. But won't you run out of space if you keep taking other Demohyu in all the time?" asked Aric.
"There are other Demohyu villages around the demon forest. The forest is almost as big as a kingdom so that won't be a problem. The name of this village is Ronal Village. It's named after the founder of the village."
"More villages, huh…" Aric thought. "With the Demon Castle in the middle of the forest and the villages all around it, you could attack the castle where the Demon Lord is and maybe even defeat him."
"Yes, but we aren't that powerful yet," said Arian. "Anyway, let's talk about your dark and light mana problem now and save the chit-chat for later."
"Right," said Aric.
"As you know, there are six different magic types—light, dark, water, fire, earth, and wind. To use magic, you have to have a type of energy in your body called mana. Mana comes in two different forms: good and evil, which we call light and dark mana. To use dark magic you need dark mana, and to use light magic you need light mana. Humans have light mana and demons have dark mana. That is why humans use light magic and demons use dark magic.
The other magic types can be used with mana in general—it doesn't matter whether it's light or dark. You might think since Demohyu are half human and half demon it'd make sense to have both, but you'd be wrong. Demohyu always possess only one, and if they did possess both they wouldn't be able to live. I don't need to experience why, I assume you know what happens when dark and light mana come to contact with each other.
"Then there's you, Aric—a Demohyu who has both. Do you know why that might be?"
"I don't. In fact, I don't even know who my real parents are. I was found in front of an orphanage when I was a kid and was later adopted by a family… who unfortunately died. After that, I stayed with my grandma—the mother of my adoptive mother—until I became a hero."
"I see. Sorry to hear about your parents' deaths."
"It's okay," said Aric.
"There's the matter of the seal as well. Do you think your real parents put a seal on your demon side and then left you at the orphanage?" asked Arian.
"I'm not sure, but that seems most likely."
"That's lucky. Most parents abandon their Demohyu kids in the demon forest," said Arian.
"Guess you're right," said Aric. "By the way, I've noticed every person here has some demon features. Do all Demohyu have demon features? At first I didn't notice because you were wearing gloves when we met, but your nails are sharp like a demon's, and your teeth as well."
"All Demohyu are born looking like humans at first. Horns, tails, fangs, and things like that grow together with the Demohyu," explained Arian.
"I suppose I don't have any demon features because my demon side was sealed?" asked Aric.
"Probably. And now that the seal is broken, the demon features will probably appear as well."
"Another reason why I can't go back to the Empire, huh," sighed Aric.
"Let's leave it at that for today. I'll show you around the village tomorrow. Bye for now, friend." Arian gave Aric a soft smile as he left and waved.
"See you," Aric waved back.
I didn't mention the Demon Lord's words to him. It's better to keep some things to myself. For now, let's look around the house a bit more, Aric thought as he stood up to explore the house further.