As promised by his mother, they headed out to the village the following day to get some supplies.
Dressed in a cute red outfit, Lloyd was held against his mother's chest with one hand while she carrss aied a bag with the other.
Their house was located deep in the forest, meaning they had to make their way out of the thick and solitary woods to enter the village. By the time they made it out, Lloyd was greeted by a world he was seeing for the first time since his reincarnation.
"Lloyd, this is Arcadia village. See? Lots of people are here," Alice said with the warm smile she always wore.
She stood at the entrance of the village, where she could see the bustling crowd roaming about the place, each person busy with their own life. Lloyd found he was close enough to see their faces, their expressions ranging from excitement to confusion and calmness to anger.
But that wasn't what caught his attention.
In the midst of the humans wandering about the place, Lloyd could see other races as well. Demi-humans and demons all roamed the very same streets.
'Incredible.'
Lloyd couldn't help but stare at the sight in front of him with awe. Humans and demons were interacting with one another, and neither was trying to kill the other.
A few hundred years ago, a sight like this would have been impossible. The hatred that ran through the veins of both races was so deep that it had lasted for thousands of years. Lloyd, back when he was a demon lord, had tried everything to fix it, but to think his death was truly the answer.
A smile formed on his face.
'If this is truly the state of the world, if demons and other races are truly living together peacefully and the war has ended, then I have no reason to worry. I have completed my task. I can live my life as I see fit now. As a human, I presume.'
He took a deep breath.
'Yeah, as a human. The question is, how does one be human?'
Lloyd suddenly felt a slight pressure against his abdomen as his mother began to move through the village square. The moment she was spotted by the locals, greetings came pouring in.
"Lady Alice, good to see you again! It's been a while."
"Oh my gosh, it's Lady Grimblade and her adorable son as well. Aww~"
In less than a few seconds, Lloyd found himself surrounded by women of all ages, all of whom seemed eager to touch him, even if it was just his hair.
Giving them a nasty look, he uttered, "How dare you touch me without permission? Are you courting death?!"
Silence settled right after those words left his mouth.
Instantly, Lloyd was shocked. He didn't expect his words to have this much effect so quickly.
Or so he thought.
"Ahhh~ how adorable! He just spoke."
"Lady Alice, please let me hold him! I'll pay!"
For some reason, they seemed even more eager to touch him. Alice, on the other hand, folded quickly after realizing they were all willing to pay money just to touch her son.
While Lloyd wasn't for it, he didn't necessarily have a choice; he simply had to allow himself to be passed around like some goods at a boutique. Many of the people present here usually came to visit him at his home, though he never understood why. They all seemed to respect John and Alice as well.
Still—
'Is this how I'm supposed to be human?!'
…
The years passed quickly, and Lloyd was now ten years old.
With time he learned a few things.
Like this parent's true identity being the fact they were the leader of the village. Apparently, when they arrived at the village a few years back, they helped the villagers kill a bunch of monsters; as such, they made them their leader.
Which explained John and Alice's popularity.
However, their son, the ever-curious former demon king, could not stop himself from searching for more knowledge, especially with his limitations.
"Yosh!"
Lloyd slightly opened the door to his father's library while his parents were both asleep. For years he had been trying to get in, and every chance he had ended in some kind of failure.
But tonight, his human father had forgotten to close the door; it was his chance.
Finally making his way inside the library, the first thing he did was climb onto the chair close to the worktable. The library itself was small and packed with so many books that they were scattered everywhere.
Since there was only a single candle burning in the corner of the room, the light didn't reach every corner, making it easy for Lloyd to slip if he wasn't careful.
'Tsk, he could at least try to clean up every once in a while.'
Now standing on the chair, a smile formed on Lloyd's face after seeing the huge map on the table.
'There you are. I have been looking everywhere for you.'
For some reason, Lloyd's parents had been opposed to him leaving the house until he was old enough. This made his knowledge of the world limited to what he already knew. For example, he was aware the village he was currently in was located in the Kingdom of Lazure, which was right in the center of the continent. Other than that, there was nothing more he knew of the world.
What he truly wanted to know specifically was something that had been biting at the back of his head for a while.
'What happened to the demon nation?'
Staring at the map, he could see the three main continents spread across the vast land. In his time, the land consisted of the demon nation, the human nation, and the demi-human alliance nation. The borders between them held great significance.
As his eyes scanned the map, Lloyd let out a relieved sigh.
'Seraphina, you kept your promise after all.'
From what he could tell on the map, there was no such thing as the demon nation or the demi-human alliance nation. Instead, the three nations had split into five, each bearing a different name befitting its strength and heritage.
Lloyd rested his back against the chair as he sat down.
'Now that I think about it, could Seraphina also be behind my reincarnation? She does have a habit of doing things that are not asked of her. I know I placed a reincarnation spell on my generals, but none was cast on me.'
He folded his arms.
'My generals probably got reincarnated before me or haven't been reincarnated yet. The concept of death and life is not so straightforward.'
'In any case, I shouldn't be thinking about the past; what's done is done. I am no longer the demon king of eternity. I am Lloyd Grimblade, a human. Sigh, I can finally say that without cringing after nine years of practicing.'
Gently, Lloyd leaped down from the chair.
'I always saw my father looking at the map, so I thought I'd use that opportunity to check it for myself. That said, that isn't why I am here. The reason for my presence lies in these books—yes, the study of Mana Manipulation of Convergence.'