Ren kept on going without stopping but as he expected the delay in killing those guys made it impossible to reach the forest before nightfall. While he was running he kept on thinking that the way he used that branch as a makeshift sword made him feel rusty. His swordsmanship that was once in the top five of his generation, turned into something so weak. If it was before, he could have defeated those guys with the branch, even without using his mana to strengthen the branch.
Not only did his strength reduced to almost nothing, but even his technique also turned rusty. Well, that's why he decided to train by himself for a while. As he was thinking this, Ren stopped since it was about to be nightfall.
He looked around and saw that at the moment he was in an open plain, which made him an easy target for monsters. He won't be able to sleep as he needed to be wary of the monster or bandits that lurk in the area.
This was another thing he hated about his new human body, it needed to sleep after a few hours of staying awake. His past body was sturdier even as a child a demon's body could go on without sleep, water, and food for at least two days straight. Now the human body especially this young one has difficulty lasting even one day without those three things.
Ren saw the sun was about to set, and as he checked his map he still had some distance to travel. Based on the map given to him by Nezard he was at Autire Plains. Ren sighed as he once again surveys the area.
There doesn't seem to be any strong monsters nearby. Still, you never know what might happen outside aside from when he is doing it with Lara, Ren is at his weakest when he sleeps.
"[Earth Wall]" Ren surrounded himself with a wall of earth. After which Ren conjured a ball of fire that hovered above him. This ball of fire consumes mana as long as it stays summoned, but Ren has a huge amount of mana for someone his age. Also if he doesn't keep this ball of fire going, he might die in the cold.
"Hey, Silika why haven't you been talking to me?" When he felt a bit safer Ren spoke.
"Well, I thought that Master needed some alone time, to be with his thoughts."
"I see... Hey, Silika I wanted to ask you this for quite some time now. Seeing as we are alone I guess this is the best time to ask." When Ren said this, Silika manifested herself in her human form.
"What is it you want to ask Master." Silika was still wearing her veil, but Ren somehow felt like he could see her smiling.
"You once said that our souls are connected by the contract, am I right?"
"Yes." Before Ren asked what he wanted to ask, he observed Silika for a few seconds and sighed.
"Hey Silika, how much do you truly know about me?"
"I know quite a bit."
"How much is quite a bit?"
"Well, I know when you peed in your bed. I know that you almost assaulted Lisa because of rising lust. I know that the moment you learned wind magic, you tried to fly and failed miserably."
While Ren was listening to Silika, he felt a bit relieved that she only knows about his memories of the current him as a human, but then she giggled.
"Of course those aren't the things you wanted to hear. I know Ren, I know you are the Demon Lord Kretos in your past life. I know that you still have your memories intact."
Ren already knew that it was possible, and he was expecting it, but actually hearing it from the other person's mouth felt a bit different.
"I see..." After learning Silika knew of his past, Ren started to open up to her. Since she was the only one who knew his secret. He didn't like to tell the others since it would complicate matters, but with Silika it felt alright. Ren explained what he was currently feeling about his disappointment in his weakness, as well as the mindset that he was still the strongest Demon Lord.
He explained to Silika that he didn't know what to do with all these distractions and emotions he was having. This new human lifestyle was so different from what he knew for hundreds of years, so he found it difficult to cope with these new changes.
He didn't have these many feelings as he goes through battle. It made it feel impure like he was disrespecting the fight, with his hesitations and feelings.
"This feeling, this confusion I'm going through all happened because of that battle with Alfred. If that was the old me, I wouldn't have cared about Lara or Hilda. It was there decision to follow me there, and fight by my side. They knew that they could die, I told them they could die but they still went. Yet the moment when I needed to decide, instead of fighting until the end, I chose to run and save those girls. I am changing, I do not know if this is progress or just weakness... Heh, look at me telling my feelings to a spirit who seems to be no less than a few hundred years old. What have I become?..."
"First off, I am older than you, even counting the time you were Demon Lord Kretos. I have existed for tens of thousands of years. So in my eyes, Demon Lord Kretos is nothing but a child."
Ren chuckled at what Silika said.
"Heh, I see... I'm a child huh..." The idea that someone in this world that wasn't a God or a Dragon can actually call him a child was amusing.
"Ren let me tell you a story of someone who was exactly like you, back when you were still Demon Lord Kretos. This person was called Leonard Tranor, his name might have faded in the annals of time, but he was once known as the strongest human to ever existed. He loved to battle, he felt excited as he faced stronger foes. Yet no matter who he faced, be it a Dragon, an invincible conqueror, or even a God, victory would always be his. Ever since he left his world, he had never gained a single defeat. Yet in the end, a human no matter how strong was still human. He had many problems in regards to his emotions as well."
At this point in the story, Silika went silent for a while. Ren waited for her to continue since this story intrigued him. He felt amazed to know that a human actually fought Gods and won. This answered one of his questions before. He was right humans do have the capacity to slay Gods.
"Leonard as he battled on and on, he still felt excited but aside from that, there were other emotions he felt as he battled on. He felt a sense of responsibility for his companions. He felt worried for the safety of his friends. He felt scared at the thought of them dying. You see, Leonard might be the strongest, but his friends weren't. Don't get me wrong his friends were strong too, but as I said Leonard's enemies were Gods at this point. Yet no matter the difficulty Leonard never blamed his emotions for his weakness. He kept on fighting and kept on winning."
"Even at his final battle where he died, he still won the battle. The enemy he fought died before him, making him the winner. Not only that he was even able to protect all his friends. You could say the reason for his victory was because at that point the battle was no longer just about the excitement he felt, but also for protecting his friends. He used his emotions to strengthen himself. I hope you think about that my Master."
When Silika finished her story she went back in the tattoo at Ren's right arm.
"Emotions to strengthen oneself... Leonard Tranor... I see so even I'm still a greenhorn." Ren chuckled as he lay down on the grass looking at the night sky filled with stars.