The Purifier Clan
It awoke at last.
Darkness, pitch-black and absolute, with not a single sliver of light in sight.
-I am…
Wrapped in that darkness as snugly as a blanket, it remembered a name.
-I am Krumo….
Then emotions began to flow into its mind.
Rage, fear, sorrow, grief, despair….
Emotions pouring in without restraint.
It began to be consumed by the strongest of them, the most violent of all.
Its name was rage.
Where did this searing fury come from, this blaze as though it meant to burn everything in its path?
Suddenly, something flashed before its eyes.
Something red, burning hot with the same intensity as the rage it felt.
Its breath caught as it remembered the crimson light that had sliced through its own body.
-….
Whoosh-
The terror of death.
Consciousness, wrapped in cold chains, plummeting into the deepest, blackest abyss until it grew faint—
and at last scattering apart into nothing at all.
It drew in a rough, ragged breath.
But only for a moment.
-How dare…!
Rage surged back up inside it.
-How dare they make me into this wretched state…!
How dare those creatures, those things not even worth the name of ants…!
The fury in its mouth burst forth in a blaze.
The black-red hatred it spat out was so fierce it seemed capable of melting stone.
It wanted to find the vermin who had thrown it into this freezing darkness and tear them limb from limb on the spot.
It wanted to drift off to sleep while listening to the song of grief and despair.
And yet….
It knew it was still weak.
No steel-hard scales. No claws sharper than any treasured blade.
So for now, it would have to grow stronger.
It slowly opened its eyes within the darkness that wrapped around it.
Waiting for the day it would spread its wings again and rise into the sky.
“Kana.”
“…!”
A face I wanted to see.
But a face I had thought I’d never be able to see again.
The moment I saw it, it felt like my breath had stopped.
That kind, familiar voice calling my name. The large scar on his cheek.
Everything was exactly the way I remembered it.
“Ga-ri….”
No.
How long had I regretted being left alone?
I’d known he was nothing like the people who had only given birth to me, and yet why had I been so weirdly put off by those two little syllables, Dad, that I’d kept dodging them all this time?
I wasn’t going to regret it anymore.
“Dad.”
“….”
At my call, Dad said nothing.
He simply opened his arms.
“…Dad!”
A stiff but warm embrace.
I surrendered myself to a warmth I had thought I would never feel again.
This was something I had longed for, prayed for, yearned for.
I had so much to say.
How lonely I’d been after he left, what I’d gone through, how sorry I was for always acting so coldly.
As I sifted through the mountain of words I wanted to say, I finally buried my face in his chest and forced out one sentence that held all the rest.
“I missed you….”
I had gone to the Holy Kingdom because I wanted to see Dad again, and that was where I met Edel.
And just as Edel had told me, I’d gone to Laxia and fulfilled the long-cherished wish of the demons too.
It would be a lie to say it hadn’t been hard.
But none of that mattered now that I could see Dad again like this.
As if he had heard the muttering in my heart, Dad reached out and patted my back.
Feeling that gentle, steady touch, I slowly closed my eyes.
“Kana.”
“…Mm?”
“Are you happy?”
“…Yeah.”
That tender voice stroked my heart.
It felt like all my efforts had finally been repaid.
If only this moment could last forever—
“Are you happy after stealing my life?”
“…!”
There was no tenderness left in the voice, no warmth in the eyes.
Only a face twisted with disgust, looking down at me in contempt.
As if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over me, my foggy mind snapped sharply awake.
“…Ka, na!”
“Hah, haah….”
I looked around.
Only then, after seeing Daeun’s face as she gently held my shoulders and looked at me with concern, did I finally come to my senses.
A dream…?
The moment I realized it had been a dream, my ragged breathing slowly began to settle.
“Goodness, look at this cold sweat… your back’s completely soaked! Did you have a nightmare or something?”
“A nightmare…. Yeah, maybe.”
“Are you okay? Do you want something warm?”
“I’m fine.”
I stopped Daeun, who was already fussing as if she were about to fetch hot water on the spot.
A nightmare… if that’s what it was, then it was a nightmare.
To think I’d call a dream featuring Dad a nightmare.
The guilt rising in my throat made me feel sick, and yet the memory of that face, openly twisted with revulsion, left my thoughts feeling paralyzed.
“No, this won’t do. I’ll tell Atisha and we’ll just rest today.”
“There’s no need. Don’t make such a fuss.”
“Kana!”
Daeun raised her voice.
But I didn’t take back a single word.
As if she could feel how firm I was being, she changed tactics. The sharpness in her tone softened as she tried to coax me instead.
“If you’re not feeling well, wouldn’t it be better to put it off for another day? If you go out when you’re not in good shape and get hurt, what then…?”
“I’m just in a bad mood. My body’s fine.”
“Even so….”
“No ‘even so.’”
“…All right. But if you really can’t manage it, we’ll postpone it, okay?”
“I said there’s no ‘even so.’”
I grumbled, but Daeun stood her ground as if this was one thing she would not yield on.
In the end, only after we hooked pinkies and extracted a promise did she finally look satisfied and step back.
Was an agreement with no actual force behind it really that comforting?
Daeun smiled with a much more relieved expression.
“Then shall we go eat breakfast first?”
“…Breakfast?”
“Yep! You can’t go fight without eating. Food is important! Even if you’re the cutest Kana in the world, I still can’t let you skip breakfast.”
“No, I wasn’t planning to starve myself or anything….”
I tilted my head, fanning at my damp clothes, still slick with sweat.
“There’s no need to go somewhere else. We can just eat here.”
“What are you talking about? If we’ve been invited to someone else’s home, we should eat with the host.”
“…That’s true, but. Don’t you think you’re forgetting something?”
“Huh? Forgetting what?”
What?
I considered telling her what she’d missed, then changed my mind.
Well, it wasn’t as if the host absolutely had to be the one to provide the meal.
If it came to it, we could handle the hospitality ourselves, so eating together as Daeun suggested was fine too.
It wasn’t as if we were short on food.
I peeled off my damp, clammy clothes and changed into the clothes I usually wore.
“I would have liked it if you’d worn something prettier….”
Ignoring Daeun’s low grumble, I finished changing and headed out with her.
The house was small for a lord’s residence, so we found the dining room quickly.
“Ah, both of you. You’re here.”
“Celine! You’re up early.”
“Hello….”
Celine and Atisha, who had arrived before us, greeted us warmly.
As always, Celine wore a gentle smile as she said hello, then her eyes widened a little.
“Lady Kana’s complexion looks rather dark… has something happened?”
“She had a nightmare. It must’ve been pretty bad, because even while she was asleep she was drenched in cold sweat and groaning.”
“Lady Kana… had a nightmare?”
“Surprising, isn’t it?”
“…Well, I’m sorry to say this, but yes.”
“Ahaha. I understand. Kana always looks so strong, after all. It’s hard to imagine her looking weak.”
“What are you two talking about?”
“Hm? Just a simple morning greeting.”
“Uh….”
It didn’t look simple at all.
When I shot them a suspicious look, Daeun lowered her gaze and smiled in a broad, placid way.
“Do not doubt us.”
“What kind of way is that to talk?”
“Was it not reverent?”
“Not at all.”
Edel didn’t talk like that either.
No, if I thought about it, maybe Edel was the weird one.
I hadn’t expected her to sound reverent, of course, but I never dreamed a god would speak in such a flippant way.
So the claims that she had studied Earth’s civilization and culture weren’t lies, then, because she tossed around Earth expressions without hesitation.
Meanwhile, I, an actual Earth native, could barely remember any of them properly.
“What were you and Celine talking about?”
“We were discussing the communication methods of the Purifier Clan.”
“Oh, right, that was interesting. Even when the language is different, you can still understand each other…. How does that work?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s not the words that are understood, but the meaning…. We read the meaning carried in the mana within the words, rather than the words themselves….”
“Mana in the words?”
“Living beings are always unconsciously leaking mana…. We’re sensitive to mana and magi, so reading it comes naturally to us…. The reverse is true as well—we’re used to conveying meaning by infusing mana into our words….”
“So that’s how you were able to understand one another….”
I couldn’t make out most of what Celine and Daeun were saying, but I could understand Atisha just fine.
To read someone’s intent through the mana that spilled out when they spoke.
That was fascinating.
I wondered if I could do it too.
I desperately wanted to try, but with only the explanation I’d heard so far, imitating Atisha was impossible.
I tentatively drew up some mana to test it, then felt the three sets of eyes on me and promptly let it subside again.
Instead, I paid a little more attention to what Atisha was saying.
Whether I listened or not, she carried on speaking with the other two, excluding me from the conversation entirely.
Atisha’s voice had a lazy drawl to it, so listening to her made me sleepy by default.
Maybe it was because of the nightmare.
“Haaahm….”
Trying to fight off drowsiness while stifling a yawn, I noticed Celine and Daeun whispering to each other.
“Lady Kana seems very sleepy.”
“Children are always sleepy, aren’t they?”
“Don’t call me a child….”
“Ah, sorry. You were just too cute yawning, Kana, so I couldn’t help myself…. Hmm? Wait a second.”
Daeun suddenly leaned in close.
Her face coming all at once into my personal space was too much, so I jerked my upper body back.
“Kana. Did I just speak in Granic?”
“…Huh?”
I’d been listening to Atisha’s drowsy voice and had answered without thinking, but I might have spoken in Arkish instead….
No way. Had I succeeded?
...Just like that?