Acceptable (9)
“That fucking—”
Aargh, shit. If this were real life I’d hire a lawyer and destroy the bastard so thoroughly he’d never recover—but this crazy son of a bitch who deserves to have his dick peeled off is pulling this kind of shit on a kid.
“I-I’m sorry…….”
“It’s not your fault. Don’t apologize.”
I forced down the rage boiling inside me and stopped the boy’s apology.
“I-If I’d just thought a little more…….”
“There aren’t many people who can stay calm when their hometown is in crisis. Exploiting loopholes in a contract is hard to deal with unless you’ve been taught how.”
Was there anyone born knowing everything? Even if such a being existed, was this boy one of them?
No. The child wasn’t stupid, but he was ignorant. He wasn’t dull, yet he’d never been given the chance to learn.
“So don’t apologize. This isn’t on you. That parasitic bastard is the piece of shit here, not you. Never you.”
Therefore this was not the boy’s fault. Being born and growing up without any chance to learn could never be a child’s sin.
The only ones who deserved to be pointed at for foolishness were those who could learn and simply refused to.
“You’re just blaming yourself too much… I’m hurt.”
“You’ve lived long enough to feed off a child’s back and still want to keep doing it? What a waste of years. You absolute moron.”
“Isn’t the one who got played the fool?”
“Oh, sure. Must be nice being so clever you can live by leeching off kids. But you know what? The ones who say that usually blame everyone else the second they get hit themselves and never take responsibility. Means their brains can’t even remember the shit that comes out of their own mouths. Wow, I’m so jealous.”
“If you’re jealous, Gretchen, why don’t you try it yourself?”
“Nah, I’m good. I can pave my own road with money and even pave other people’s roads for them without having to scam snot-nosed kids. Unlike some evolutionary dead-end parasite who can only survive by clinging to others.”
I poured the rising fury out through my words as best I could and rested a hand on the child’s shoulder. I’d told him not to feel sorry, yet he looked ready to collapse under the weight of his own mistake. I had no choice.
I pulled the trembling boy back into my arms.
“I-I’m sorry…….”
The ragged breathing no longer made me angry. How many times had that tongue deceived you? How much pain had you endured?
If all the tears and blood you’d spilled walking alone to this place were gathered, how high would they fill this world?
“Don’t apologize. Until we get rid of that demon bastard and you’ve sorted out the real mistakes you made, you will never apologize.”
I still couldn’t forgive the child. The wounds I’d received ran too deep for that—deeper than most adults could bear.
“You’re not apologizing for something that isn’t your fault. Got it?”
Even so, I would not leave the boy wallowing in the mire just because I was hurting.
The inability to forgive and the desire for someone’s unhappiness were not the same thing. Compassion and hatred could exist side by side, so I would act accordingly.
“If you understand, answer me.”
“…Y-yes.”
I wrapped my arms around the child’s sobs and quietly buried my face in his hair. Warmth spread between us.
“It’s okay.”
The lukewarm things that stayed lukewarm when alone only became real warmth when they pressed together.
“We’re going to be okay.”
And inside that warmth I quietly raised my eyes. Beyond the world cracking apart again from the broken promise, flames were roaring.
“I wonder. Will it really be okay?”
And standing straight-backed before those flames was the white-haired demon.
“Will it really be okay, Gretchen?”
“…Explain it to me. Start with the thing I need to hear first.”
If the chance ever came, I would make that bastard pay his karmic debt without fail. I swore it with absolute sincerity.
“Don’t stop—keep riding!”
At the Inquisitor’s shout the frothing horse let out a long cry. Thud! A mace wreathed in light illuminated the night forest. The next moment the bodies of demons lurking in the dark burst and were crushed.
Hiiiiing.
The horse, inheriting its former master’s foul temper, twisted its body like a rodeo bronco and slammed a rear kick straight into the skull of an approaching demon.
One good hind-leg strike left the spider-like demon reeling, unable to keep its wits.
“Take this, demon!”
What came flying next was a small jar. Crash. The moment the jar shattered and sprayed its contents, the demon’s body began to melt, if only weakly.
“Nice! Hey, brat—one more, please!”
“Talk to me like that and you think I’ll hand anything over, huh?”
Despite Deathbringer’s words, Meister cursed him out while obediently producing another hastily crafted mana grenade from horseback.
Though pure strength might favor Meister, Deathbringer’s accuracy was superior; he snatched it and hurled it in one smooth motion.
Another demon screamed as its eyes melted.
Kyaaaaak!
Demons did not come from only one direction. Another one charged at Meister, who was too busy crafting grenades to defend himself.
Whether it was a beast partially turned by demon energy or something else, traces of the animal still remained.
Slash!
“Not a chance!”
Daniel stepped in with shield and longsword. He spurred his horse up on Meister’s left, blocked the demon’s hoof with the shield, then sliced its ankle so the creature staggered backward.
“By Thunder!”
Daniel drew one breath. What followed was the Archmage’s magic. Even from horseback the elderly mage managed to condense mana and drove a bolt of lightning straight through the demon’s skull.
“Damn it. After nothing but skeletons, these things feel completely different.”
“Haha, a knight’s dignity is in tatters.”
There were others protecting the Archmage as well. Knights and elite soldiers who had joined them while racing toward Munmunt swung spears wildly, keeping the demons at bay.
“We’re breaking through!”
Yet none of them lingered to finish kills. They knew that stopping for even a single demon meant being torn apart.
A force focused on charging rather than hunting tore through the forest.
“Three o’clock! Walls in sight!”
“Oh!! Is that Munmunt?!”
“Probably not. We zigzagged earlier to dodge demons, and the distance-to-time ratio doesn’t match. Too early for Munmunt.”
“Hero! What do we do?”
“…We head there for now!”
Part of her wanted to push all the way to Munmunt, but the stamina of both soldiers and horses had to be considered. As long as no foul presence was felt inside the walls, fighting with a wall at their backs was far better than fighting without one.
Judging thus, the Inquisitor at the head of the column led everyone toward the fortifications. The golden light blazing brightest in the darkness looked like a fragment of the sun itself cut free and brought here.
“Open the gates! We are not enemies! Please open the gates!!”
She prepared to fall back to the rear and raised her mace high. Divine power flooded through the weapon, proclaiming her identity.
“…A priestess?”
A human face peeked over the empty-looking battlements.
“Please, the gates!!”
“…Miss Ticha! Prepare to open them!”
“But, sir—there are demons behind them…….”
“If we stay like this we’ll all die anyway!”
Whatever had happened earlier, the people covered in blood raised a clamor. Creak. The gates soon swung open.
“I’ll stay last and hold the demons off! Everyone get inside and secure positions!”
“Yes!!”
The Inquisitor—the Hero—confirmed the gates were opening and gave her horse a signal. The beast, possibly smarter than most humans, gradually slowed and carried her to the rear.
It was perfect timing: the moment the walls opened and the soldiers poured through.
“O God, grant me strength!!”
The Hero confirmed it and offered a prayer. A golden barrier unfurled from where she stood and completely enveloped the walls, sealing the demons outside.
“Fuck, we made it…….”
While she held the rear, the rest of the party bolted through the gate.
The ones who had opened it wisely stepped aside, so no one needed to slow down to enter.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
Of course a few vegetable beds got trampled in the process. But the beds had no vegetables left anyway. Those who entered first rode well clear so those behind could follow, then finally reined in.
“What in the world……!”
Even if there had been no space, they would have stopped. The sight that greeted them inside the village was that shocking.
“They’re eating themselves…….”
Under cover of night, starvation itself was crawling across the ground.
“I don’t… I don’t know where to start explaining.”
Explaining something so broad while drowning in tears and emotion would be difficult even for a professor who’d stood on the podium dozens of times.
So I called out to the vermin standing far off, eyes narrowed.
“Hey, demon.”
“Don’t ask me. The one who’s supposed to answer is the boy, not me.”
“I never asked you for answers. I don’t know anything, and he’s panicking, so I just wanted a few decent questions to ask him. Or can’t you even manage that? What, is your brain not up to the job of giving simple advice?”
“…You’re full of surprises, Gretchen. I never knew you could spit words this viciously.”
I’d heard that a lot. Probably because I usually laughed things off, or because I tried not to get angry in ordinary situations. When I actually decided to use my tongue, people always looked shocked.
But was it really that surprising?
“Maybe it just means you’re garbage.”
The reason I usually cut down on swearing was that every word I spoke carved my impression into the listener’s mind.
“Manners and courtesy are things you keep in front of beings who deserve them. Of course some high-and-mighty types stay perfectly composed even in front of pure trash, but I at least don’t feel like doing that.”
Even so, there were limits. There was no reason to treat garbage as though it were worth anything. I didn’t even want to give it the feeling of being treated. I didn’t hold back; I let the contempt show.
“Anyway—so your intelligence isn’t up to it?”
“Oh, Gretchen. Your scheme is transparent. If I offer questions, you’ll use them to pin down the minimum truth, won’t you? I don’t throw my cards away for nothing.”
“Ah, so you’re too stupid. Got it.”
Caught, damn it.
I swallowed the regret without changing expression and gently stroked the head of the nearly recovered child. What should I ask so that the promise could be finished without shattering any more of the world?
“What happens once the whole truth is delivered?”
Truthfully, once we were face to face like this there were countless things I had wanted to ask.
“…According to the rules, I become unable to stop the demon.”
“‘Stop’ in what exact sense?”
But I postponed the questions I truly wanted to ask. Considering the demon bastard might go wild the moment he heard everything, I needed to hear the priority information first so we could at least prepare countermeasures.
“…For starters, fighting the demon the way I did earlier becomes impossible. It’s not that I can’t fight at all, but so many restrictions clamp down that I’ll probably get hit without landing a proper attack.”
“Get hit?”
“Because of the contract I won’t die.”
The hastily added reassurance was no comfort at all. I narrowed my eyes.
“You… according to the contract conditions, you won’t die either. But you can still be attacked the way you were just now. Even more so, now that I can no longer block it.”
“Being attacked… isn’t that solved just by not entering the mental world?”
“No… the attacks aren’t limited to this place. They include when you’re awake.”
Thud. With every successive sentence the world cracked further.
“The fact that I can no longer fight the demon means some of the functions I installed to protect you will disappear. For example, the pain-suppression values returning to normal.”
“Ah…….”
So the pain values had been a protective measure. I recalled every injury I had taken until now. Certainly, if I had felt all of them raw, my mind would have shattered long ago.
“You’ll also start hearing the demon’s voice directly. I think it’s already been slipping messages through when I’m not looking…….”
“Yeah, buzzing like a fly.”
“…So you were listening, Gretchen?”
“The way it whispered exactly like something I’d think up myself looked like you’d put real effort into that head of yours. But you should work on your mind-reading skill. Empathy’s probably impossible for an intelligence that can’t feel a single scrap of it, though.”
I flipped Wrath the middle finger at an angle the child couldn’t see, then lightly tapped the boy’s head, signaling him to continue.
“It’ll also try to seize your body directly. It’ll trigger burning pain whenever it wants just to torment you.”
“…Is that what I’ve been feeling the last few days?”
“…I’m sorry. I couldn’t block it properly. I should have kept my head straight…….”
“…I told you not to apologize for things that aren’t your fault. Don’t. It’s not on you.”
How many people could remain unshaken when faced with their hometown, with talk of family? Even adults found that hard.
I understood the child’s wavering. It wasn’t even a sin that required talk of forgiveness. Simply blocking that pain on ordinary days already meant the boy had done his best regarding that matter.
“Anything else?”
“Other than that… it could suddenly release demon energy around you to draw the hostility of priests.”
“Draw hostility?”
“…If the body dies completely it’s a loss for that thing as well, but going right up to the edge of death is different.”
Yet as he explained the second case, the boy’s voice gradually hardened.
“The moment you lose consciousness, it becomes easier to snatch the body.”
It was a voice far too dry to belong to that childish form.