Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Graver (3)
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Kurotsuki Yoru's life was one that even empty words couldn't call a good one.
What Yoru had seen at her birth wasn't the face of a midwife.
It was her mother's face, struggling through labor all alone.
She remembered that expression, trembling as if on the verge of tears.
It couldn't be called the face of a mother happy to meet her daughter.
It was more like...
The emotion of someone who'd gone ahead and given birth, now at a loss for what to do.
Yoru's mother, Kurotsuki Yami, was someone who particularly disliked mingling with others.
In a small village in Aonia.
Even there, she built a little wooden house in a remote corner and preferred living just the two of them, mother and daughter.
When she needed something, her mother would go to the village to buy it.
She never took Yoru along.
If someone came visiting occasionally, she'd shove Yoru into a corner of the house and greet them alone.
Yoru remembered being puzzled back then.
Why does Mom keep hiding me?
Why does she make sure people don't run into me?
I want to see people too.
I want to talk to people too.
Once the visitor left and it was just the two of them again, Yoru would always whine.
"Mom. Can't I go to the village too?"
Her mother would make a troubled face and gently scold her whining daughter.
"Sorry. Once you're a little more grown up. We'll go then."
"Okay."
She didn't know the reason.
Why her mother kept her so tightly hidden away.
But it didn't matter.
Because Yoru had her mom, and that was enough.
Her mother showered her with boundless love.
Even in a fatherless single-parent home, she lived strong and vigorous, raising Yoru.
She'd asked once, long ago.
"Mom. Where's Dad?"
She recalled her mother's expression at those words.
Angry, like she was about to cry.
With an expression Yoru couldn't quite understand, she scolded her.
"Dad went far away. He'll come back someday."
"Really? I wanna see him."
"...I see. Just bear with it a little longer. Once you're all grown up, I'll tell you. Okay?"
Now she understood.
How much those words, wanting to meet her father, must have hurt her mother.
An innocent daughter who knew nothing—and the child born from forcibly receiving her father's seed.
How could she ever fathom her mother's heart, raising such a Yoru without showing any sign of it?
"Yoru. You must never show your eyes. Got it?"
"Why?"
"...Your eyes are too beautiful, Yoru. Other people will get jealous. So don't show them."
Whenever Yoru went out to play occasionally, her mother would say that often.
Yoru couldn't understand it.
Why? Aren't my eyes nice to look at?
Sometimes, looking at her reflection in the water, Yoru thought they were really pretty.
Red eyes sparkling like rubies embedded in them.
Strangely bright red, unlike her mom's, but pretty, so it didn't matter.
My hair color matches Mom's, so it's fine.
Her mother said people would be jealous, but Yoru found it hard to hold back.
She kept wanting to meet other people, to show them her pretty eyes.
So Yoru went near the village.
Bravely finding her way alone to the outskirts.
Her heart swelled with excitement.
I can meet people.
Talk to them.
How fun would that be?
With that in mind, as she approached the village, her eyes met a farmer's.
The farmer plowing the field first tilted his head at the unfamiliar girl.
But.
The moment he realized her eyes were sparkling red.
"Gaaah! Monster!"
He screamed.
Yoru didn't even have time to react.
To introduce herself. To chat amiably. To promise to meet again.
Without even that chance, the farmer fled to the village screaming.
Soon, villagers came swarming to find Yoru.
"Let's go, Yoru. Hurry."
"Why? Where are we going, Mom?"
"Yeah. It's just time to move. It's okay, Yoru. Just follow Mom."
Confused and crying, she ran to her mother.
Her mother tightly gripped Yoru's hand, packed only the bare essentials, and left the house.
Anyone could see she looked desperate and anxious.
Yoru was scared and trembling then.
The villagers' reaction just now, and her mother's—something was off.
It was around then she started inwardly sensing she was some kind of 'freak'.
Time passed.
As Yoru grew, she gradually realized.
Her red eyes were clearly abnormal.
A color normal humans didn't have.
Crimson eyes, long called the mark of demons.
Why her mother hid her.
Why Yoru couldn't meet people.
She had no choice but to realize it.
"I see."
Alone at home, Yoru let out a hollow laugh.
The hollow laugh turned into a wail.
"I'm... I'm..."
Not human.
Yes, Yoru had to admit it.
She couldn't live as a normal person.
She'd have to cover her eyes her whole life.
No one would accept her.
A loner, unable to form true bonds with anyone, living until death all alone.
"..."
But it didn't matter.
It was so heartbreaking she wanted to cry, but it didn't matter.
Because she had her mom.
Even as a monster like her, her mom loved her as her daughter.
Even that tiny hope shattered.
Her mother fell ill. She weakened unusually fast.
From carrying Yoru, conceived through violation, birthing alone, and then shouldering the home single-handedly after.
Her body couldn't help but break.
"Mom. Mom."
Yoru wept loudly.
Please don't leave.
Please don't leave me alone in this world.
She prayed and prayed.
"Yoru."
Her mother spoke laboriously from her bedding.
Her eyes held only affection and regret.
No hatred for the daughter she shouldn't have borne.
That made Yoru feel even more ashamed.
If I hadn't been born.
If only I weren't here.
Mom wouldn't have suffered like this.
"Yoru. ...Curious about your dad?"
"Hic... Sniff, what?"
"Before Mom goes... I should tell you the old story."
Her mother haltingly told the tale from long ago.
Kurotsuki Yami, a woman who grew up ordinarily in a rural village.
But one day, while walking in the mountains, she was assaulted by a man she encountered.
That man wasn't human. He had red eyes, said to belong to demons.
After violating Yami, the man laughed and said,
"I have no interest in trash like your body. I just wanted to make something like me."
Whether she bore it or not didn't matter.
Even without Yoru being born, ruining Yami's life was enough.
The man sneered and left.
"..."
Yoru felt her head would explode knowing the truth.
I hate him.
I want to kill him.
Why did her mother have to suffer such cruelty?
Why did she have to choose whether to bear the devil's child, Yoru?
If not for that damned bastard...!
"Yoru."
Her mother's breath was fading.
Struggling, her mother raised the corner of her mouth and gave Yoru her final words.
"Don't chase after your dad."
"Why, why? You're forgiving that scum?"
"No... That's not it."
Her mother smiled sadly.
"I want you to live your own life, Yoru."
"..."
"Grow up ordinarily, dress yourself ordinarily, love a man ordinarily... and build an ordinary family. I couldn't, so at least my daughter..."
"I can't!"
Yoru screamed.
I can't. How could I?
The one who made her mother like this. Ruined her own life too.
That man she couldn't even call father, who fled alone—how could she ever—!
"I can't forgive him. Never...! I'll kill that bastard myself...!"
"..."
Her mother smiled sadly.
She probably knew no words would stop her daughter.
So with trembling hands, she offered her keepsake.
A black eyepatch.
"Cover... your eyes with this."
"..."
"It's a shame to hide my daughter's beautiful eyes... but endure until the time comes."
"When?"
Yoru said in a voice choked with tears.
"When can I take off the eyepatch?"
"Until you meet someone who says your eyes are pretty."
Impossible.
Who would ever say that about Yoru's eyes?
When everyone just points and calls them demonic.
"There will be someone... who says my daughter can live."
"...Really?"
"Of course. Mom... believes..."
The light faded from her mother's pupils.
"Live... no matter what..."
Her final words.
Live.
Don't ever give up on life.
Seeing her mother enter eternal rest with those words, Yoru wept loudly.
And some time later.
Without anyone's help, burying her mother alone.
Yoru covered her eyes with the eyepatch.
It fit well, despite much use; wearing it was comfortable.
Truly, a final gift her mother prepared for her daughter to the very end.
"...Yeah. I got it."
Yoru gripped her sword.
Swordsmanship that suited her naturally, practiced fiercely to protect her mom.
With it, Yoru prepared to leave the home she'd shared with her mother.
"I'll find them. Someone who'll say my eyes are pretty."
Someday, surely.
Someone who'll say it's okay for me to live.
To find such a person, Yoru became a wandering swordswoman.
It might be hard to meet one.
No, she thought she'd never meet one.
Still, driven by duty, she roamed the continent.
To keep her mother's words.
And she met him.
In the imperial duke's house she never expected.
She'd joined on a whim, hearing swordsmen were gathering for a tournament.
And the boy she happened to encounter at the mansion.
"Yes. I never imagined. This is the family training grounds."
Kline Leonhart.
**
"Hup!"
I slash through the corpses and charge forward.
Endless hordes of corpses emerging from who knows where.
But they're no real hindrance.
Individually, none can match me.
It's just a strategy of overwhelming numbers.
If I were a knight who could only use aura, it'd take time to clear them, giving Graver room for other plans.
"Grh...! What is that? That light!"
Before my magic—the orb of light—the corpses can't even buy time.
Crackle, crackle!
The light flashes, roasting the corpses whole.
The stench of rotting corpses, burning decayed flesh.
Pushing through the foul odors, I advance toward Graver.
"Tch!"
He's trying to dodge somehow, but too late.
From the looks of it, he's a necromancer.
Not strong in his own right.
Which means—he can't fully escape my swordsmanship.
Slash!
"Gaaah!"
The man screams as I cut his body.
Bleeding profusely, he retreats, grinding his teeth.
"Why? Why! How can you embrace that monster without a care after seeing it!"
"She's not a monster."
"That bitch has red eyes!"
"I don't care about that."
"Damn brat...!"
Graver grinds his teeth and kicks off the ground.
Running? Won't help; I'll catch him.
I grip my sword, ready to pursue.
Chase and kill him like this, and the Crimson Blood Cult is effectively wiped out.
Only the Blood Demon remains—
"No choice. I didn't plan to use it here, but...!"
Then.
Graver furrowed his brow deeply and cast some ominous spell.
Rumble...
The earth shakes.
A shock from deep underground.
'What is this.'
Not just a few meters.
Dozens, hundreds of meters of ground shaking entirely.
"...!"
Wait. This puts Yoru in danger.
I stop chasing Graver and turn back.
Yoru still lacks strength in her body and can't stand.
I need to carry her and get out.
I don't know what's rising, but something enormously huge is surging from below...!
"Behold! And tremble in awe! My 'Corpse Heap'!"
Graver's mad laughter echoing from afar was the last thing.
Krunch!
The ground splits wide, revealing a massive monster.