“Slaves?”

    I opened my eyes wide at Clark’s words. It wasn’t just me; even Father looked slightly bewildered.

    This was completely unexpected. To think that my ancestor was actually a slave yearning for freedom.

    What is a slave? The lowest of the low, a class where human rights are nonexistent.

    Although slavery has been abolished, illegal slave trading continues under the influence of demon worshipers.

    Among these slaves, men are mainly used for labor, such as farming, while women are used differently depending on their appearance.

    Slaves exist, but they are not truly alive. To think that such a being was my ancestor is shocking in many ways.

    [Yes, the kind of slave you’re imagining.]

    Clark’s firm answer left me momentarily stunned. Soon, I thought of my family, including my father.

    Being a general or a hero of a nation might make sense, but slaves? That’s a million miles away from us.

    Our family has been known for its robust physical builds passed down through generations.

    Even someone like Nicole, despite being a woman, possesses immense strength.

    On top of that, our mana training methods and martial arts are on par with other knightly families.

    We lack nothing.

    In the distant past, humans couldn’t even use mana, so physical prowess was all that mattered.

    And yet, we were slaves? There must be a complex story behind this.

    “...No matter how I think about it, I can’t understand how we were slaves. Did we commit some crime in the distant past?”

    Father seemed to share my thoughts, his expression indicating disbelief. Others would probably think the same.

    Assuming our ancestors of the Michelle family had the same strength as we do now, could there really have been a force capable of enslaving them?

    Clark nodded as if he understood our doubts. Then, after glancing around at us, he made a request.

    [This story might take a while. Could I ask for a favor?]

    “What kind of favor?”

    [Just one cigarette...]

    “With a child present, why would you even think of asking for a cigarette? Just start talking.”

    True to his habits as a heavy smoker, he asked for a cigarette, only to be rebuked by Father.

    Ariel’s presence made the request slightly inappropriate.

    Clark clicked his tongue in disappointment, but soon collected his thoughts and began speaking in his unique, gravelly yet heavy voice.

    It felt similar yet different from a grandfather leisurely telling an old story, evoking a peculiar sensation.

    [Where should I begin... Let’s start with what you know about how people become stronger.]

    “Are you talking about physical strength or everything in general?”

    [For people like us, it would mean physical strength.]

    “In that case, it’s limited. Training mana, building muscle, honing skills, and so on. If it’s just about physical strength, that’s about it, isn’t it?” ?A????ЕS?

    Clark nodded as if in agreement, his eye sockets glimmering with a light that seemed to move like real eyes.

    [You’re right. But that’s only within the bounds of human decency. What about methods that step outside those bounds?]

    “Are you talking about human sacrifice?”

    One way demon worshipers gain power quickly is through human sacrifice.

    It’s a method that abandons all human conscience and morality to obtain strength.

    Could it be that our family engaged in human sacrifice and became slaves because of it?

    If that were true, we would have deserved not just slavery but outright condemnation as failures of humanity.

    But Clark’s words veered far from my expectations.

    [That’s right, human sacrifice. But we didn’t perform the sacrifices ourselves.]@@@@

    “Then...”

    [We were artificially created as fighting dogs through human sacrifice. Our hair turned red, stained by the blood of thousands, and in the process, we gained the gleaming eyes of a predator.]

    The mere thought was chilling. I grabbed my long hair trailing down my back and looked at it.

    To think this color came from the sacrifices of thousands—it was hard to believe, especially since there wasn’t a single mention of it in books.

    Even as I struggled to process this, Clark calmly continued to recount the history of the Michelle family.

    Naturally, I had assumed that our ancestor would also become one of the demons, but apparently not.

    [That part baffles me as well. Perhaps it was the resilience of a body containing the souls of thousands, or maybe there was another reason.

    Regardless, even after the Demon War, our ancestor lived as a loyal warhound of the demon worshippers.]

    “Didn’t he resist? Based on our family’s temperament, I’d imagine he would have.”

    This time, my father asked the question. It’s true—our family is generally mild-mannered but becomes fiercely stubborn when provoked, whether in battle or when pride is on the line.

    I’m no different, and there have been several incidents with Dave and Nicole at the academy because of it.

    Thankfully, the damage was never serious.

    [Resistance... I wonder if it was even possible.]

    “What do you mean?”

    [Let me ask you this: do you know how the Demon War began?]

    “The cause, you mean...”

    Everyone, including myself, looked puzzled by Clark’s question.

    The Demon War is now considered almost mythical history.

    Records from before the war were mostly destroyed, and while a few remain in the sacred grounds of Alvenheim, they are not definitive.

    History, after all, is recorded subjectively despite its objective nature.

    The more records there are, the more objective the picture, but there aren’t many for that period.

    My discovery of records about the Kingdom of Gerios was almost accidental.

    According to Arwen, nations like Gerios, which lacked interaction with others, might not have even been known to exist.

    After all, ancient Europeans believed India was the end of the world, so it’s not entirely far-fetched.

    “The demons are invaders from another dimension, aren’t they? That’s what I know.”

    “Me too. It was the event that prompted the gods to intervene in the mortal world.”

    “And they’re the ancestors of the demons.”

    Each of us recounted facts about the Demon War, and each statement was correct.

    Records and literature about the war can be found anywhere, and it’s taught in academies.

    It was a unique moment in history when all races united to resist a common enemy, and it led to the gods directly watching over humanity.

    Before the war, the gods communicated only with elves, but their perspective shifted after the Demon War, and they began interacting with other races.

    The biggest beneficiaries of this change were undoubtedly humans, who, having relied solely on shamanism, gained divine power and grew stronger.

    Although magic remained exclusive to the chosen few, divine power alone was enough to drive significant advancements for humanity.

    [No. My question is about how the demons invaded this world—not the impact of the war.]

    However, Clark seemed dissatisfied with the answers.

    Shaking his head, he refuted us, and we exchanged glances, or more precisely, everyone looked at me.

    I was the only one well-versed in history here.

    But unfortunately, I didn’t know exactly how the demons entered this world either.

    There are only vague mentions of dimensional tears.

    “Uh... wasn’t it through tearing the dimension? That’s what I’ve always heard.”

    [Yes, dimension-tearing is correct. But who performed that act?]

    “The demon worshippers?”

    [No.]

    Clark replied firmly and revealed a shocking truth.

    [It was the last king of Gerios, Morgan Yurk Via III, who performed it himself. The ritual was state-level and directly led by the king.]

    “...What?”

    As if that wasn’t shocking enough, what came next was even more so.

    [And above all, demons are not beings from another dimension.]

    Because.

    [They are the citizens of Gerios.]