What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?.

"Hey! Isn't this really weird?"

“Just kidding, but now…” As he said this, he conjured a fireball in his palm, picked up a branch from the ground, heated it until it was red-hot, and handed it to Aura: “Help me stop the bleeding first.”

"Oh, I'm good at this! Leave it to me!"

Awula, who had been quite dejected, suddenly sprang up with the wolf carcass on his head, took the wooden stick, and pressed it against the wolf's neck.

Accompanied by the sizzling sound of frying meat, the air was filled with the aroma of burnt meat.

Sweating profusely, Ash gritted his teeth and frowned, while Aura exclaimed excitedly, "This is great! Ash! Are you shaking? My fingers are trembling with excitement too!"

"—Are you excited?!" Aura's strange excitement made him unable to hold back and he started cursing: "I told you to hurry up and research healing magic, but you still won't go! What are you doing with mental research all day! It makes us torture each other like this every time we get injured! Are you a masochist and a sadist?"

"How could that be? I don't like pain, I just love seeing you tremble! This is really wonderful! I really don't want to study healing magic yet! Isn't this even better?"

"Wasn't it the same when you were injured?!"

"No! No matter what I say, I don't want to! That kind of magic is too troublesome. You yourself don't want to study it, so making me study it is just a way to bully me for the rest of my life! I'm not that stupid! Besides, isn't this a good thing?!"

"........"

The excited voices behind him made no attempt to hide their excitement, which made him twitch at the corner of his mouth and make up his mind to spank her when they got back.

But he has basically given up on the idea of ​​having Aura learn healing magic... He himself couldn't research it, and Aura simply wasn't interested. Even when she was injured and burned by a stick to stop the bleeding, she was unwilling to easily change her research.

Fortunately, they are physically strong and don't need to worry about viruses or bacteria.

At this point, the only thing to be careful of is that the smell of blood will attract monsters or beasts... After all, although they are demons, they cannot communicate with other demons and will even attack each other, just like how demons themselves kill each other.

He was in excruciating pain, while Aura was so excited that his breathing became heavy, making him lament the terrible nature of the demons.

At the same time, he absolutely refused to believe that this was the result of his own teaching, after all, he was still a child like a blank sheet of paper... probably.

......

.....

...

Chapter Four shows a little respect for the older brother, you bastard.

Ash was at a loss as to how to treat his injuries with only traditional methods, but he could only be thankful that demons had good constitutions and would have to endure it for the time being.

Fortunately, I've been enduring it since I was a child, so I'm probably able to get used to it.

"...Although I'm actually used to this kind of thing, it's really a bit annoying."

As Ash sat by the river washing the blood off his body, he accepted reality but still felt frustrated with the current situation.

Right in front of him, with her back to him, Aura, her whole body submerged in water washing away the bloodstains, was freely swaying her long pink hair and sighing:

"Hey Ash, can you please stop talking behind people's backs? I actually have a pretty good figure, don't I?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Your figure... well, it's hard for me to comment."

Ash, who had been staring at the bloodstains in the water, subconsciously looked up at the loli who was putting on a wet and seductive act not far away.

He was only fourteen years old and quite short, but he was already showing some signs of growth, which made him look forward to the boy's future development.

Although Ash had watched her grow up since she was a child, he now only had the urge to kick that guy wiggling his butt in the water and send him to the bottom of the river to drink.

But since he always bullies and bosses her around, shouldn't he treat her a little better sometimes? With that thought in mind, he silently looked away, no longer wanting to look at this infuriating guy.

"This is..." As luck would have it, Aura noticed his movement, pressed her index finger to her lips, tilted her head in thought for a moment, and then a bright smile appeared on her face:

"Ah~ I get it! This is shyness, right?"

"...Yes, yes, I'm shy."

Everyone says demons are cold and selfish. This guy is certainly selfish, but why are his emotions so obvious? If he gets credit for teaching someone a lesson later, it'll be my credit, right? Because the influence I exerted isn't something a normal demon would give? —Ash rubbed his forehead, trying to think of something else, trying not to discipline this guy who's gotten so cocky and arrogant, even taking all the credit for himself. But…

"But I really can't understand how I could have taught such an infuriating person..."

"Hey Ash, you keep making really harsh comments about me... Do you actually hate me?"

"How could that be? You're my dearest little sister."

"Really? But you have no expression on your face? Is this the attitude you should have when speaking to your lover?" Aura walked out of the water and observed Ash reading with a puzzled look on her face.

Unfortunately, Ash didn't intend to pay her any attention, nor did he even want to comment on her strange way of referring to "lover." He simply washed his hands with the cold river water, then stood up and walked back towards the bushes he had come from, without even turning his head back.

"...Are you done washing? If you are, go back now, otherwise all that meat will be taken away by wild beasts or monsters."

"Ugh, Ash, you're so boring."

"Show some respect for your brother, you bastard."

“I also want to show respect, but you show too little tenderness and love to your sister. Besides, who would call their beloved sister a thing or a scoundrel?”

"Actually, all humans are like this."

"Huh? Is that so?" Aura looked surprised upon hearing this, and while subconsciously following, she thoughtfully gave him a word of advice:

"Humans are so barbaric, Ash. You're a demon, how can you learn from those barbaric creatures?"

"..."

What should I do? This girl actually believed it. Should I tell her the truth? Oh well, this is quite interesting, let's leave it at that for now—Ash walked ahead, covering his face in annoyance for a moment... and then decisively put the problem out of his mind.

It's not a big deal anyway, so it's best not to worry about it too much. We can consider countermeasures when we really find something wrong.

...........................

Ash and his eccentric sister spent another year happily together in the great forest.

Despite lacking sufficient combat power and being unprotected, Aura, with the help of Ash and the beasts and monsters he controlled, built a servant army of nearly a hundred at an astonishingly rapid pace.

Having figured out the layout of the forest over the years, the two traversed the dense jungle and soon arrived at a human village near the mountains.

There was no resistance whatsoever. The manipulated servants, with the force of an avalanche, occupied the village almost effortlessly and without bloodshed.

Looking at the villagers, who were gathered in the center of the village, trembling with fear, Aura said with undisguised pride:

"—From today onwards! We are your masters!"

"Starting today! You guys have to cook for us!" Ash immediately said, revealing his biggest wish.

This left Aura somewhat dumbfounded: "...Ash, aren't you being a bit too unambitious? Shouldn't you have killed him?"

"What are you talking about? Isn't it good to have someone else cook for us? Or do you want to cook for me yourself?"

"--Let's keep them after all! Although they are barbaric humans, they still have some value."

Although her instinct was to kill, the thought of not wanting to work, along with the memories of being bossed around and treated roughly by Ash over the years, instantly made her forget her instinct.

Upon seeing the demon leading nearly a hundred wild beasts and magical creatures, about a dozen hunters initially wanted to resist, but the gravity created by Ash's raised hand caused them all to fall to the ground, and the others could only give up in despair.

However, their conversation gave them a glimmer of hope, and Ash stepped forward again at the opportune moment.

"Don't worry, everyone. We are good people... no, good demons... no, well... anyway, we are good demons."

Speaking of which, how do the humans of this world view the demon race? — This was Ash's first encounter with humans, and looking at the people below, he felt a little troubled.

Despite the ridiculous system that allows one to become stronger through killing, the actual effects of making wishes are baffling. Moreover, such massacres could easily turn him into a demon king, and he doesn't like indiscriminately killing innocent people. Therefore, he chooses to develop cautiously for now.

Chapter Five: Taking Over the Human Village

The villagers were skeptical of Ash's story, as he suddenly appeared and led a large number of monsters and beasts to besiege the village. They found it hard to believe that Ash, a "human" who was mixed up with demons and claimed to be a demon, was saying such things.

Indeed, in terms of appearance, he looks exactly like a human, without any demonic features, making it difficult to distinguish between the two.

Unless one is a mage with a deep understanding of demons and can distinguish them by their aura, ordinary humans are basically unable to tell the difference between the two.

Ash also realized this, and originally it might have been more convenient to say that it was a human.

But there was Aura beside him, and rather than expose himself and break trust later, it was better to be honest from the start. So he didn't bother to pretend and simply shrugged and said:

"Don't judge a book by its cover. I am actually a demon, but we don't intend to kill anyone, so we hope you will cooperate with us."

"You mean... cooperation?"

An elderly man, presumably the village chief, stepped out from the crowd.

"Yes, as long as you take care of us, we can protect you from monsters and wild beasts. How about that? It's a good deal for you living on the edge of the forest, isn't it?"

"...Really, that's all?" The old man asked, half believing and half doubting.

"You can learn about this in the course of our cooperation. Of course, you are not allowed to leave here and go to other villages or inhabited places."

Actions speak louder than words, so he didn't explain much and forced a cooperation between them on his own.

And led by the trembling villagers, they went to the best house in the village.

Soon, under the monster's supervision, the villagers served them food.

On the table were cheese, bread, soup with milk, and even meat that had been seared and was dripping with oil, while roasted chestnuts emitted a sweet aroma.

The various aromas wafting around them were so enticing that the two, who had spent their childhoods like wild men in the mountains, exchanged a glance and reached out in unison, vying for the food without any regard for their past relationship.

They didn't need to worry about being poisoned. Based on their own understanding, ordinary toxins were ineffective against demons, and even if there were toxins that could poison demons, they couldn't possibly be found in this village.

It was the delicious food that made Aura completely trust Ash's judgment after the meal, and they decided to settle down here together.

...........................

For a while, the villagers were filled with fear, but with the help of magical beasts and wild animals, their success rate in hunting in the mountains increased dramatically, and the probability of injury decreased linearly. They even stopped facing external threats, just as Ash had said.

The controlled wild beasts and magical creatures could also help with farm work, greatly improving efficiency and helping them cultivate new fields.

In the first winter of that year, no one starved to death in this impoverished border village for the first time.

This quickly changed their mindset, and in the third year, they even built stone statues for them, treating them as guardian deities... However, to avoid being considered heretics, they quietly removed Aura's horns.

With the villagers' support, Ash and Aura were able to focus on their magic studies and enjoy delicious food every day.

Therefore, after the first year, they basically lifted the restrictions, or rather... allowed the village chief and a few villagers who voluntarily accepted control to move around freely after being subjected to obedience magic by Aura and unable to betray them. They were free to go out and buy things.

However, aside from the order that betrayal would result in suicide, their activities remained exactly the same as before unless additional orders were issued, except that they could not disobey Aura's orders or betray them.

For ordinary villagers, the choice between a life of basic sustenance with mental constraints and the possibility of spiritual freedom that could lead to starvation for themselves and their families seems to be something they don't need to agonize over.

Despite the presence of a yoke, in these impoverished border villages during the Middle Ages, people often went hungry or even starved to death.

Their kingdom was still at war with neighboring countries, and the various taxes were quite heavy.