Chapter 144: A worrying revelation
Cass was actually quite curious about who this god that Lady Ava was speaking to. He wondered if, during the dungeon clearing, he would be able to speak to her about it. He didn’t want to approach her and put her down, but he was genuinely curious about them. He was wondering if maybe she was speaking to a demon, and thus, began his search on demon related issues.
Cass had found himself spending more time in the regular library then in his own rooms. It was an easy way to get out from under Sam’s hard gaze, and it also allowed him to hear a bit more of the gossip from the horse’s mouth. It also meant that he kept running into Lord Ridgewood more often.
Even Lord Ridgewood had made a comment on seeing Cass more often and Cass’ sudden interest in demons and holy power. Cass had brushed it off, explaining that he was just worried about the future since they were getting closer to being powerful enough to take down the demon king.
Lord Ridgewood had accepted that answer, but even Cass could tell that he hadn’t fully accepted it. Cass had even given him a small smile from where he was sitting down, Byron at his side, ready to flip pages for him. A shiver had gone down Cass’ spine from the calculating look he’d received from those cold, green eyes. Then, Lord Ridgewood had laughed, agreeing with him and offering himself up if he had any serious questions since it appeared that Edgar was quite busy with personal issues. Cass had thanked him before he had disappeared.
It had been a rather nerve wracking interaction, and Cass wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. There was a reason Cass was reading in the library besides the fact that he was just trying to find out the general knowledge that everyone had on demons and holy powers. Cass didn’t want to seem like he was suddenly an expert on demons once he read the demonology book.
That would be a bad look, especially for someone from the Blackburn family that’s family had been accused of working with demons. Whether that was true or not, Cass didn’t want to make Lord Blackburn’s personal image look worse.
Plus, even if Byron couldn’t read, Cass had taken a cursory look over the demonology book when he’d been alone in his bedroom and noticed that there were a lot of illustrations. Even if Byron wasn’t able to read, he would be able to tell that each demon had a detailed description of what they looked like in their transformed, true form and from the books that Cass had been reading in the library, he knew that none of the other books had the same descriptions.
Actually, Cass had noticed that the demonology book looked a lot like how a monster manual was laid out for the game Dungeons and Dragons. He wondered if that was just a coincidence, or if someone else from his world had had a hand in this. Cass didn’t want to think about it too much, but he did appreciate how easy it was to read, even if he had a hard time turning the pages on his own.
From his research, he was able to find out a few things. Obviously, the first thing was that holy powers and demonic powers were highly antagonistic. They could not get along if they were in the same room. If two people who had high levels of holy power and demonic power were in the same room, they would have a hard time catching their breaths. The books referred to it by explaining that there was a reason that those with the highest of holy powers traveled around the Kingdom. Demons were repelled by people who had such high levels of holy power and thus, it explained why someone like Lady Ava was in the hero party.
One thing that Cass noticed was something that was quite interesting to him. It appeared that lower level demons had an easier time hiding in plain sight. Or, that the scale wasn’t equal. If someone with high holy powers encountered a lower level demon, they would have a hard time noticing that they were around a demon. The lower level demon would also have an easier time around someone with high level holy powers.
They didn’t mention if someone with lower level holy powers would have an easier time around someone with higher level demonic powers, or if two people with similar lower level powers like those with higher level powers would have a hard time around each other. That wasn’t made clear in the information that Cass was finding.
It was curious to Cass that lower level demons had little to no reaction, at least physically to those with higher holy powers. Was it because they were considered not an issue? What a strange way to sneak under someone’s radar.
Some of the symptoms that were common with those who encountered someone with high powers on either side were vomiting, nausea (assumed from the vomiting), loss of breath, dizziness, weakness in limbs, sudden uncomfortable headaches, and a few more that sounded just awful.
Cass had no idea beyond the eons long beef that the ’gods’ appeared to have with demons why these were such horrible reactions, but Cass felt deep sympathy for anyone who had these reactions.
The books did mention a bit about possession, and why it was so dangerous and how to spot it.
One of the first symptoms was loss of memories. Does a loved one suddenly not remember the past with you? Are they unable to remember little details that they used to be able to? They might be possessed.
As Cass continued to read that part of the book, the more pale he got. The more he read, the more he had a sneaking suspicion that demons weren’t the only ones who were able to do something similar to ’possession’ and the more Cass worried that if the truth ever came out, he would be drawn and quartered.
No where, in any of the books he read, when it came to possession did the original body ever get given back to the person who had given it up. Even though it had been written about in his romance fantasy books, it appeared to be just that. A fantasy.
All of the stories of famous possession stories ended with the body being destroyed when the demon used the body to transform into its true form and the soul was also lost. Cass had no idea what to think of that.
Cass was under the impression that unlike demons, the gods would be able to return Lord Blackburn’s body back to him once he completed his task. Was he wrong to think so? He didn’t want to believe that he was trapped here, forever. That wasn’t...it wasn’t fair to Lord Blackburn who had worked so hard before him, and it wasn’t fair to Cass, who wanted to rest after all of this was over.
Cass also now understood why Sam hadn’t responded well when Cass had mentioned something about souls in passing. It wasn’t something discussed. Souls, in this world, or in all worlds, Cass conceded, were bound to one body. Only one body. There was no such thing as soul swapping. That was considered demonic, and Cass had to come to terms that he had done something considered demonic with creatures who were worshipped as ’gods’ by everyone else.
The line between godhood and demonhood was fucking paper thin. That was the conclusion Cass was coming to.
Cass was now worried, after his hours of researching in the normal library, what his demonology book would have to say. There had been a huge, 20 page long introduction that Cass had skipped over to make sure he would even be able to read it around Byron. What would someone who had such an in depth knowledge on demons have to say on this topic? Hell, he was pretty sure that the person who wrote that book was a demon.
The more Cass considered it, the more Cass was coming to the conclusion that he was going to have to speak to a demon. He had already spoken to several gods, it only made sense that he got a perspective from the other side.
Granted, he was going to be a bit biased. This was Lord Blackburn’s home world. He didn’t want to see it destroyed for his sake. But he couldn’t imagine that people with such an in depth history would want this world destroyed. It didn’t...make sense.
Were there demon power struggles too? Who was the demon king? What was the demon king? Why was it such a big deal that they needed to defeat him, and also, it appeared as if there were several demon kings over the history of the world, but not all of them had triggered a party led by a hero to slay them.
Several had, but why was this one different? What made this demon king so dangerous? What did Cass not know?
The more Cass read, the more uneasy he felt. Cass was nervous. He had shown a few of these symptoms, and Lady Ava had seen Cass’ soul leave his body. It wouldn’t be a far jump for her to assume that he wasn’t who he said he was, and Cass couldn’t even argue that.
He wasn’t the Lord Blackburn that he knew. Being found out as another soul was a far more dangerous situation then Cass had originally considered, and Cass was sure that Lord Blackburn had known about it this whole time. It was frustrating that he had so little time to speak with the other man.
He really needed to pick his mind, find out what he knew. He did realise that Lord Blackburn was giving him more pieces of himself over time, and that was nice, but it was clear that it wasn’t everything. Cass didn’t want to get frustrated with the man, but this was a frustrating situation.
Cass had just found out that he was going to go to the largest temple in the country while with a soul that had transferred into another body, and a hero mark on said same body. He didn’t know what that would mean for him, especially since it didn’t seem like Vespertine’s father was going to be like Lady Ava.
He wasn’t going to just accept whatever Cass told him. Cass was beginning to worry about how that meeting would go.