The Curse Named Yuri
The Contractor's Tale: The Curse Named Yuri.
In the fifteen years she'd lived, how many times had she thought she was happy? The answer was none.
Born by being cut from the belly of a woman she called mother but whose face she had never seen. In the family, she was pointed at as a cursed child, and from the man called father she heard words of hatred every single day. She wanted to be praised. She wanted to be loved. No matter how hard she tried, what came back was always the same cold gaze and the same words of curse. A tiresome repetition of the same old repertoire. Even until the day the family fell because he had broken the taboo of the black magic world called 'resurrection of the dead' in order to bring his dead wife back to life.
The man who called himself her father hated and loathed his own child, who didn't even reach his waist. “...Yuri. If only it weren't for you.” She would have lived. He whispered it softly into her ear. The more she heard it, the more absurd the paradox sounded. Even with the slightest thought, it was obvious who had killed her mother. It was you, Father. You must know that yourself.
“Didn't you create the curse named Yuri with your own lust? Right? What exactly did I do wrong? Why do you torment me like this? Is being born truly a sin? Where in the world is there a sin so unfair as this...?”
“...I don't want to hear it. Get out. If you loiter near my laboratory again, I will personally send you to your mother's side. This is your final warning.”
—Grind.
Her teeth clenched. Her fists tightened. She wanted to gouge out those cold eyes that looked down on her with contempt. She wanted to tear horizontally the filthy mouth that spat venom. But that was nothing more than a vague fantasy. All the weak version of herself in reality could do was maintain a proper courtesy, swallow her rage, and force out a few polite words.
“Whether I will be the one to meet Mother first, or... whether it will be you, only time will tell. Then, I shall take my leave. I hope you have a pleasant evening.”
“Yes. Get out of my laboratory at once, you ominous, filthy thing.”
He turned his back on reality, avoided responsibility, and created a young scapegoat to vent his resentment. A complete disqualification as an adult. And in the end, he reached the point where his own life was taken from him.
This foolish man had finally attempted the taboo of resurrecting the dead and turned into dew on the execution ground, going to meet the mother he had longed for so desperately. Were they having a touching reunion and embracing even now? No, that couldn't be. Death was simply the end of life and held no meaning beyond that. It was only endless darkness and emptiness, where everything was forgotten and one simply rotted away insensate inside a coffin. Of course, that man probably wouldn't even get a coffin. He was likely torn apart moderately and thrown as dog food. Would the inside of a dog's stomach feel cozier than a reality without his wife?
Offering her sincerest condolences for the trivial and ridiculous death of the family head, she diligently ransacked the office. For freedom. And for survival.
Found it.
◈ Facilitates contracts with demons from higher dimensions
◈ Allows even half-bloods to attempt the ritual
“This is... the Contract of the Covenant.”
The proud heirloom of the illustrious Alcast family, said to smoothly assist in making contracts with demons. The legacy she had seized for herself by smashing the locked drawer with a decorative sword. Compensation for years of mental damage. She took it and fled.
The robe with cognitive impairment functions and the family treasures she had frantically stuffed into its inner pockets were a timid act of revenge. Her mind was filled only with the thought of escaping this hellish place. Every time she ran, nausea rose in her throat.
“Huff... huff...”
Escaping the family was far simpler than she had imagined—so much so that all her previous worries and fears felt ridiculous. The people left in the mansion were far more interested in the valuable items than in the abandoned child of their executed former master. Truly detestable, greedy creatures. Though from today onward, they too would say goodbye.
—Rumble!
Relying on the intermittent flashes of thunder that embroidered the darkness, she trudged along the remote path without even a magic lantern. There was no pursuit. It was as if pouring effort into something worthless was a waste. She felt foolish for having run so desperately out of fear of being executed by association.
“How... pathetic.”
Leaning against a deserted alleyway, she laughed madly, then cried. She smiled with joy that the source of her pain had vanished, and she shed tears over the wasted efforts and the time that had been crumpled up and thrown away like trash. Clutching her numb chest where tears and rainwater mixed together, she made a vow.
“...Even if I have to become truly filthy, I will become happy.”
Happiness enough to compensate for all the meaningless time she had been discarded. She would seize it without fail.
“Let's go. To the Dungeon City.”
Though the decision had come late, there was no hesitation in her actions. She had lived like a dead rat amid humiliation and oppression, endlessly indulging in the same fantasy. All she had to do now was turn that fantasy into reality. Spending the family fortune she had stuffed into her robe like water, she headed for the Dungeon City Bastion by any means necessary.
The worst betrayer who had dared to drag a god down to the earth had fallen there, in that demonic realm. It was humanity's final line of defense, where the god's servants had personally descended to rule and manage it in order to block the overflowing malice. And.
The land of opportunity that comes equally to all people.
She firmly believed that if it was that place, she could begin a new life.
“Two hundred thousand dallant.”
“...What did you say?”
“That's the price for every type of room that exists in this district.”
“....”
“So, which building and which room will it be?”
“The cleanest one, please.”
“You talk like some noble young master. Don't expect cleanliness in the Slums. The clean ones tend to become targets for the rats.”
“...I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for the advice.”
“You're quick on the uptake. I like that. So let's make sure we never see each other again after today.”
After somehow arriving safely in the Dungeon City, she poured out nearly all her remaining wealth and barely managed to obtain a room smaller than the family bathroom. After the pot-bellied manager, who reeked of alcohol, left, she collapsed onto the floor covered in white dust and looked around.
The view through the single window was a cluster of red bricks. Torn, faded wallpaper and a dusty, enclosed space with not a single piece of furniture.
“So this is my home now.”
It was dirty, filthy, and small. Just like her. The taste of freedom was bitter and smelled of mold.
“Now... what do I do?”
To earn money in the Dungeon City, one naturally had to enter the Dungeon. The problem was that she had no money to buy equipment, no strength to fight, no abilities, and not even any concrete information about the dungeon. In her fantasies, the story after arriving in the Dungeon City had never existed. After all, she had never thought she would actually make it this far.
But there was still hope. The hope she had seized for the first time in her life with her own power—the one called the Contract of the Covenant.
“I guess I have no choice but to do it.”
The only opportunity left for someone as poor and powerless as her. The demon contract. A bond tied by fate with the shadow of a goddess existing in a higher dimension. With the Contract of the Covenant, even a half-blood like her could attempt it.
Still, she honestly held no expectations. It was closer to a final desperate struggle. If even the man who called himself her father—an actual demon researcher—had failed to form a demon contract, could the child of a failure who hadn't even properly learned from a madman who had spent his entire life staring only at his wife and demons possibly succeed?
“A contract, you say. Quite intriguing.”
“?!!!”
She didn't know why, but she felt like it might actually be possible.
The moment the summoning ritual ended, a crow-headed demon strode proudly out from the abyss, tearing through the world's underside.
Aah.
With every step he took, a thick smell of blood strong enough to make her head throb spread through the room, and her body surrendered, accepting death. The instant she witnessed that noble and terrifying figure—
Beautiful....
Her heart was stolen. Though it frustrated her, she finally understood why the man who called himself her father had been so obsessed with the existence called demons. He was a miracle descended upon the earth, the manifestation of a living myth. The purest and most dangerous being in this world, excluding the goddess and her servants. And an unknown darkness with very little known information.
The unknown... was frightening, yet it held a strange power that drew out the longing and excitement hidden deep in her chest.
“....”
“....”
She knew she should greet him, but even when she opened her mouth, no sound came out. It felt like she had become a rabbit before a beast.
Move! Move, you idiot! At least shout that you want to make a contract!
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would never come again even if she died and was reborn. But her utterly incompetent body, having surrendered to fear, remained frozen stiff, nailed to the spot.
Please... I can't miss a golden opportunity like this. Aah. Am I going to fail again? Just like I always have....
She was trembling with anxiety, imagining a life filled with regret after the contract's failure, when—
—Thud.
“...!”
The demon knelt on one knee. As if to say, don't be afraid. An infinitely gentle gesture. She couldn't believe it. Why?
To trash like me... that noble knee....
Something surged up from inside her. She didn't know exactly what it was, but it was truly warm and damp. The first time in her life she had encountered such an unfamiliar kindness. The first respect she had ever received, something not even the family's knights had given her. And she had received it from a demon she was seeing for the very first time.
Ah. Aah.......
It was truly a strange experience she would never forget until the day she died.