Childcare (5)

Until just moments ago, the future had looked utterly pitch-black, leaving me to do nothing but curse my wretched fate. Overpowered by a demon and forced to trail in his wake—was I not like a sacrificial lamb being dragged to the slaughterhouse?

What I found even more intolerable was the fact that I had offered no resistance whatsoever.

Not that failing to resist was objectively the wrong choice.

Resisting an archdemon whom no mortal effort could ever hope to scratch was, for all practical purposes, tantamount to suicide, was it not? Against a monster who could rewind time itself to render even self-inflicted death null and void, no less.

Even so... a man still possessed his sense of shame, his lingering pride.

Looking purely at the outcome, a priest sworn to the Light had bowed his head to evil, falling into meek submission without so much as a whimper.

How could I ever lift my head before the gods again?

"P-Priest... what is this...?"

"...Good heavens."

And what on earth was this?

Beyond that door, I had fully expected a slaughterhouse—a carbon copy of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Demon Realm transplanted directly into our world. I had fortified my resolve, steeling my mind so that no depraved horror could shatter my sanity.

Babble, murmur—

Chirp, tweet—

"Follow."

"..."

Yet far from a slaughterhouse, what unfolded before my eyes was pristine nature in the truest, most literal sense—a sanctuary untouched by civilization, pristine even beyond the reach of the elves.

It was so brimming with the pure mana of the wild that my body let out an involuntary gasp of exhilaration.

Still... why would a demon ever appear in a place like this? To a demon whose very essence was darkness and evil, an environment such as this was practically the equivalent of breathing deadly poison at every turn—

...A child?

Even as I was overwhelmed by the breathtaking scenery while trailing behind the demon, I caught sight of a young girl lying in a bed at the end of the path he walked.

To find such a lavish bed placed in an expanse that was the living embodiment of untamed nature... No matter how sumptuous the bed's craftsmanship, it clashed so terribly with its surroundings that it evoked dissonance rather than beauty.

"Examine her and see that her life is in no danger."

For a split second, crushed beneath the weight of his aura, I nearly slipped into honorifics, but as a servant of the Light, groveling in formal deference to a demon was out of the question. I swallowed the polite words back down with great effort.

A demon commanding me to check whether a child's life was safe... It was utterly preposterous, yet having seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears, I could only stand there dumbfounded.

Every shred of common sense I had accumulated over a lifetime felt thoroughly denied.

"...Very well."

I could not fathom why a demon capable of such high-order magic—one who even wielded the holy attribute—would not examine her himself and instead tasked me with it.

Well... then again, just as even the greatest archmage could not master every single school of magic, demons likely had their limitations as well. Given that he had ordered me to verify whether her life was in danger, this demon must be incapable of casting healing magic.

If something had happened to the child, one would think he might simply resolve it with the Time Reversal he had displayed earlier... but perhaps there were stringent conditions, or too much time had elapsed, rendering it impossible and forcing him to rely on me.

Let us see, then... What in the world is this child, and what could have happened for a demon to—

"...?!"

What... what is this?

Is she truly human?

On the surface, she appeared to be nothing more than an adorable little girl. Yet completely at odds with that darling exterior, the aura radiating from her was no different from that of a demon.

Throb—

"Ugh...!"

In my panic, I had instinctively placed my hand on her body, only for my flesh to recoil as if scalded by boiling water. At the same instant, a splitting headache tore through my skull, as if countless needles were stabbing into my scalp.

"Guh...!"

Examining the fingers that had brushed against her skin, I saw that they were charred pitch-black, as though scorched by flame.

It was not merely blackened skin. Sensation had partially vanished, and I could no longer coalesce mana properly through them. Any mana directed toward the injured area, far from condensing, fractured and dissipated harmlessly into the thin air. Had all ten of my fingers suffered such damage, I would never have been able to cast ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠magic again.

"Who are you?"

"..."

As I clutched my hand in agonizing pain, the girl who had been sound asleep only a moment before opened her eyes. Out came a voice chilled to bone-freezing perfection.

It carried a weight of hostility that one could never imagine coming from a child of that age.

Demon-kin...

When either parent is a demon-kin or a demon, the offspring born between them becomes a demon-kin. Because demons are beings akin to conceptual phenomena while demon-kin are physically living organisms, the two are not entirely identical. Aside from that distinction, however, demons and demon-kin share much in common: malevolent temperaments, analogous mana signatures, similar features, and so forth.

Yet this demon-kin child was vastly different from ordinary demon-kin.

Her appearance was indisputably, perfectly human. And while the mana pouring from her body possessed faint nuances, it was fundamentally indistinguishable from that of a demon.

Above all else, her soul.

Having performed countless funerals and exorcisms over the years, I could tell.

This child merely possessed demonic mana; her physical form and her soul were entirely human.

She certainly qualified as a demon-kin, but... could one truly call this a demon-kin in the literal sense of the word?

"Who are y—"

"Lucia."

"—?!"

The girl, who had openly bared her hostility toward me just a moment ago, noticed the demon's presence and instantly shifted—as if nothing had ever happened—back into an innocent child fitting for her age.

...Good grief.

"D-Dad... heheh..."

"..."

Lucia, was it?

It seemed far too late for an innocent act, but... well, there was no reason for me to point that out.

She possessed far too many calculating thoughts for a child her age.

Was that solely because she was demon-kin?

"I brought this priest to examine you, Lucia. I am sorry for disturbing your sleep."

"N-No... it's al... alright."

Still... her devotion to that demon was clearly genuine, not an act.

Then again, if a demon-kin did not follow a demon, whom else would they follow?

Though she differed greatly from the typical demon-kin in form, she bore demonic mana, so classifying her as demon-kin was sound enough.

According to the priest, far from having her life in danger, Lucia was in shockingly robust health. He claimed he couldn't fathom why he had been dragged all the way here to treat her in the first place.

However... separate from her physical well-being, an entirely different problem had surfaced.

Lucia wasn't an ordinary human, he said, but closer to a demon-kin.

I studied him closely to see if he was lying, but he was speaking nothing but the truth. He was utterly convinced that any being bearing demonic mana could not be considered human.

Of course, since the mana leaking from Lucia's body had originally been mine, I could easily have argued the point... but for some reason, I found myself agreeing with his assessment.

Lucia's aura had changed dramatically from before.

"Are you all right now?"

"Yeah... It doesn't hurt anymore."

Lucia, who had been in agony as she excreted mana stones saturated with demonic mana, was now as serene as if nothing had ever happened. Yet the atmosphere around her never returned to normal.

If Lucia before had simply adored me as her dad, now... how should I put it? It felt as though an intense, suffocating possessiveness had been grafted onto that affection. That was the impression she gave off.

Worse still, unlike before, I could now pinpoint Lucia's exact location instantly without even looking.

As naturally as breathing, I always knew where she was.

...I'm losing my mind.

And that flower, too... Hmm...

What lent even greater credibility to the priest's words was the mutation of that flower.

It had been nothing more than an oversized, fragrant bloom, yet after absorbing my mana, hadn't it transformed into a man-eating monstrosity?

If something similar had happened to Lucia... that was a genuinely terrifying close call.

It meant Lucia could very well have turned into a monster, just like that flower.

"I'm sorry."

It felt like I was doing nothing but terrible things to her.

I had initially taken Lucia in out of sheer pity, but with each passing day, weren't the side effects of lingering beside a demon growing progressively worse?

"I will make sure this never happens again."

"Huh...?"

For now, I needed to purge all the demonic mana from Lucia's body to prevent any unforeseen disasters... but hmm, that presented a problem.

Mana Drain placed severe strain on both the body and the soul. On the other hand, teaching her magic so she could expend the mana herself wasn't viable either—Lucia was only three years old, far too young.

For the time being, maybe I should have her stay here and release the mana naturally.

The surrounding scenery was lovely, which would be good for her emotional development anyway.

As for a house... I shouldn't let demonic mana taint it, so rather than conjuring it with magic, it would be far better to buy materials piece by piece and build it by hand.

"Priest, he's a demon, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is."

"Then why on earth did you simply walk away?"

After we had barely escaped unscathed thanks to the demon's mercy, this wretched servant was spouting utter nonsense, as if he didn't even remember having died moments ago.

Why had I just walked away? What, was I supposed to pick a fight with him?

"Are you saying I should have fought that demon? Just the two of us? Were you possessing some astounding hidden prowess I wasn't aware of?"

"Well, no, not that, but... Ah! Did you withdraw first so you could return with reinforcements from the Order?"

"...The Order?"

...I had been in such a daze that I completely forgot.

The moment this was reported to the Order, they would assemble a massive subjugation force that very day. And since this idiot of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠servant had already blabbed about everything the second we returned to the temple, keeping it secret was out of the question now.

Even if I tried my best to convince them that he was an archdemon who must never be provoked, one of the Order's core reasons for existence was exorcism. My warnings would most likely only result in them assembling a subjugation force that was larger and more heavily armed.

In the first place, a demon wielding holy magic and manipulating time itself was a preposterous tale that the High Priests of the Order would never believe. They would assume I had been blinded by fear or trapped in an illusion.

Countless lives would be thrown away in vain.

What... what was I supposed to do?

"I knew it! I doubted you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for nothing. You truly are a devout servant of the Light, Priest!"

While the priest sank into deep despair, racking his brain over how to save those innocent lives, the servant merely looked up at him in blissful admiration, lost in his own bizarre, naive delusions.