Even If It Means Defying Fate
"I would have you kill the Demon King. Is that a difficult thing?"
"Well, it's not really a question of whether it's easy or hard, is it?"
"Haha. Poorly phrased on my part. What I'm asking is whether you will actually do it."
"I mean, I intend to."
"That will suffice. So long as you don't stand against fate, it will come to pass of its own accord."
"And if I do go against fate?"
"It might still come to pass. Regardless of your will."
"Is that what fate is?"
"That's what it is. Fate is a heavy word. Whether its scale is great or small."
"So why are you asking me to kill the Demon King?"
"Just a personal reason."
Can I trust this man? There was no way to know. But he might be someone who could help me answer the question I'd been carrying. Some risks were worth taking.
"I've actually met a beastman before. That one was a follower of the Demon King, of all things."
For the briefest moment, I caught a flicker of loneliness passing through those sharp eyes.
"There are those sorts... A group of them. A kind of... well, they're closer to fanatics, really."
"You seem to know something about them."
"I do. There are those from this village who left to do just that."
"So this village doesn't share their ideology?"
"That's right. We're different from them. They've grown so obsessed with being of the same race that they think of our enemy as our leader. Complete madmen."
"You mean the Demon King."
"I do. And that is why I want you to kill him."
"Why? Just because he's the enemy? Revenge for losing your homeland?"
"There's someone I need to get back. A child who followed those fanatics and left this village..."
"If the Demon King dies, will that child come home?"
"Even so, I think they might look my way again."
"Were they family?"
"They are family. Still. We weren't related by blood, but they were family. My son."
"So in the end, it's revenge for family."
"I know. I howl about fate and greater causes, but what truly matters to me is family. I am a contradictory man."
"And you're leaving that in the hands of my fate."
"I'm sorry. But this is all I have left. My last chance to see that child again."
"Then let me confirm one more time. What if your son praises the Demon King to the very end? If your people want the Demon King's destruction, and your son wants the Demon King's revival — between the greater cause and your family, which would you choose? Would you protect your son to the last?"
"Hero."
He looked at me with those piercing eyes as he spoke. I didn't know what he was trying to see through me, but I could stare straight into something burning in the depths of his pupils.
"When my son left me speaking of a greater cause, I threw that sort of thing away. I'll choose family."
"Even if it means going against the fate you hold so dear?"
I turned my head as I answered. If I kept looking into those eyes any longer, something strange was going to happen.
"Then I understand. I'll accept that request."
"You have my thanks. I wish you luck."
"Ah — one last thing I wanted to ask. Among beastman abilities, is there one that lets you control animals?"
"There is. That's actually a fairly common ability."
"It was common?"
"Well, we do wear the forms of beasts, after all. Of course, how rare an ability is depends on its particular nature."
"I see. Could you be more specific?"
"For example — an ability that could override even an animal's instincts. Its very survival instincts. That would be extremely rare. Depending on how it's used, it could also be an extremely powerful ability."
"Is there someone like that?"
"I've only seen it once."
Those eyes you pride yourself on, optimized for seeing through others. Do you know that the more they pierce, the more easily they themselves are pierced? The more transparent your eyes, the more transparent your intentions become.
It was only a fleeting instant, but I succeeded in reading them. Rage, sorrow, worry, suspicion... a tangled snarl of emotions.
"Why do you ask that?"
And if he was going to get this defensive, he might as well have told me outright.
"It's nothing. I was just curious. I'll go rest again."
"Do that."
I turned my back on the Village Chief and headed for where Lily was likely waiting. Are you planting a suspicious gaze into my back right now?
"Lily, I'm back."
"Ah, Oppa's here?"
"Yeah."
"What were you talking about for so long? Oh — your wounds are all healed."
"Yeah. The healer here took care of it."
"Tch. I could've done that too. But it's not perfectly healed all the way on the inside, so you have to be careful. You can't overdo it. Looking at the state you were in when you first arrived, you should rest for about a week."
"Ah, about that..."
"Has Oppa eaten? Want me to get something ready?"
"Ah — y-yeah."
Lily slipped out for a moment and came back with a tray — bread, soup, meat, even a salad.
"Here, Oppa. It might be a bit sparse, but everything you need is here."
"I'm always grateful."
Looking at the food, I finally understood how hungry I was. I'd been scraping by on candy for days, chasing calories without ever touching a real meal that could fill me. Of course I was starving.
"Haa. This is amazing. I can actually feel that I'm alive."
"That good?"
"Hey, I've been eating nothing but candy for days. And not even a lot of it."
"Then eat plenty. There's lots, so take it slow or you'll make yourself sick."
"Yeah, yeah."
I was too busy to answer properly, so I gave her a halfhearted reply, dunked the bread in the soup, and shoved it into my mouth. Softened in the warm broth, it was absolutely perfect.
Once I'd swallowed what I was chewing, I tried bringing the earlier matter up with Lily again.
"...Gulp. Lily, so about what I was saying earlier..."
"Oppa. Finish eating first. Finish eating. I can hear you chewing."
"No, this is really important."
"Oh my, look at me. I forgot to bring out fruit for dessert. I'll be right back."
"..."
What was with this girl. Whenever this topic came up, she seemed to change the subject. I'd have to try again in a bit.
I occupied myself cutting the meat until she returned. The moment she sat back down, I read the room and spoke immediately.
"Lily, so what I was trying to say earlier..."
"Oppa. Sorry, but I'm peeling fruit right now. Can it wait a bit? If you keep talking to me, I might cut myself, you know?"
"Ah, we can't have that — wait, no. You weren't even holding any fruit just now!"
"Tch. You were watching."
"You've been weirdly changing the subject since earlier. Do you know what I was going to talk about?"
"I have a general idea."
"What is it? Tell me."
"That we should leave this village as soon as possible, right? You come back from talking at length with the Village Chief and immediately try to set a serious mood — if there's something you want to say like that, that's what it'd be, wouldn't it?"
"Sharp, aren't you."
"I know everything Oppa's going to do. More than that — whatever the reason, that's a no. Oppa needs rest right now. You barely slept for almost three days, you drank that weird water, you couldn't eat, you were throwing up, you got a hole punched through your shoulder, and you're covered in bruises from head to toe. That's not something a person should reasonably put themselves through. And you want to leave again right away? That's not happening."
"Lily. I'm grateful that you worry about me. I always think that."
"Good to know you know."
"Well. I also know I don't express it much."
"And that you're a stubborn mule who never thinks things through."
"I've got nothing to say to that.... Still. I am definitely thinking about us. You and me, and our whole team."
"Oh, really? I was honestly starting to worry that Oppa only ever thinks about himself."
"Not an ounce of mercy in those words. Anyway — me saying we should leave the village is something I'm saying with all of us in mind. For everyone's safety."
"Then tell me. What's the reason."
"That beastman I killed. The rooster beastman. I think he was this Village Chief's son."
"Whaaaaat? Are you serious?"
"Hey, keep it down. And I'm pretty much certain."
"No, how did it even end up like that?"
"The Village Chief's son joined that fanatic group a few years ago and left this place, apparently."
"That's how it happened? Wait — but the beastman we saw was a rooster, and the Village Chief is an eagle."
"He said they weren't related by blood."
"True. They're both birds, so he took him in as an adopted son... you could put it that way."
"That's not all. The Village Chief's son — he seems to have the same ability as that guy. Animal control."
"Then we can pretty much take it as confirmed. What do we do?"
"We run! The Village Chief asked me to defeat the Demon King, and said it was for his son's sake. That if only the Demon King died, his son would come back."
"Would that even work?"
"I don't know. The important thing is that he believes it. Damn it — if he finds out his son is dead, and that I was the one who killed him?"
"But he asked you to kill the Demon King."
"That's for his son too! I asked him. Between the greater cause and family, which he'd choose."
"What'd he say?"
"Family."
"Hmm. This isn't something we can decide just between the two of us, is it? Let's wait a little until the others come back."
"Yeah...."
When would they arrive? A nameless anxiety and a sense of foreboding writhed together with the contents of my stomach, and all I could do was wait. Wait, and nothing else.