Damn Half-Breed
Damn Half-Breed
U-uugh, ugh!
A wheezing, airless sound leaked from the elder’s mouth.
“Will you confess?”
The moment Johan asked, Gaf released the old man’s face.
“Y-you bastard Gaf! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Freed, the elder remained defiant.
“Answer us, please!”
“It’s a ploy! Gaf, don’t let the demon manipulate you!”
Johan clicked his tongue.
“You grow angry because your feet are caught.”
Then he looked at Gaf.
“Isn’t that uglier than a demon?”
Gaf frowned.
“I’ll hear it directly from you. Speak.”
“That would be better. The elder plans to feign ignorance.”
The elder shouted, almost in a fit.
“Cover your ears! They are harmful whispers!”
Johan dropped his smile. A low voice flowed from his mouth.
“Illea is in the lord’s castle.”
At that moment, the elder slowly stiffened. Cold sweat formed on his forehead.
“This concerns all of you. Listen carefully.”
All eyes fell upon the blood-soaked demon.
“The missing maidens were offered to the lord as tribute, under the elder’s responsibility.”
It was a calm revelation.
The elder, flustered, could not open his mouth. That this blood-stained infant had uncovered his shame—how? It was incomprehensible.
“E-elder, is this true?”
“Please say something!”
“Elder!”
There was no reply.
Gaf took heavy steps forward.
“…Explain.”
The giant man looked down upon the old man. The difference of nearly two heads in height created overwhelming pressure.
“T-trickery.”
The elder’s voice was trembling.
“A demon’s trickery.”
Johan shrugged.
“Search the elder’s house. You’ll find something.”
He added,
“You can also interrogate the men who often associate with the elder.”
It would be easy to find evidence. The elder was not a meticulous man. In the original story, it eventually ended with exposure.
Johan had merely accelerated that timing.
“I will ask one last time! Did you abduct my daughter?!”
Gaf’s roar echoed like a wild beast.
“I-I…”
Overwhelmed, the elder could say no more.
“Why can’t you speak?! Answer us!”
The elder bit his lip hard. Then he shouted.
“There was no other way!”
Gaf’s hand went to his waist.
“I took in those damn beggars out of pity! Gale! Tonya! Joad! Get in here….”
Before the elder could finish, a transparent arc traced a half-circle. A cold slicing sound followed. The elder’s head slumped powerlessly.
His body, now headless, slowly crumpled.
Gaf had cut him down with his sword.
The gathered farmers gasped in horror. Amid their screams, hurried footsteps echoed and faded.
They were likely the ones guarding the entrance. Gale, Tonya, and Joad, was it? Whoever they were, they were the elder’s henchmen.
Johan pointed toward the entrance.
“Gaf, chase them down and kill them.”
They were a risk. If they fled to a neighboring village and spread rumors about the demon, it would be troublesome for Johan.
They needed to be cut off.
Yes, this was surely rational thinking…
Yet Johan felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
He felt no resistance to murder. Even the decapitation he had just witnessed did not seem significant.
It was likely the recoil of possessing a half-demon.
Gaf looked down at Johan.
“Damn it, just because they know who you are?”
It was an action devoid of humanity. Even Johan was startled by his own words, yet his mind continued to think logically.
“If the Order finds out, I will die. So will you. We’re bound together now, Gaf.”
Gaf turned his head. His gaze met the trembling farmers.
“So you mean to kill them too?”
Some cried out desperately.
“G-Gaf, please spare me. My elderly mother will be left alone.”
“I beg you. Didn’t my son follow you so well?”
“Don’t forget who built your house!”
Johan spoke with an expressionless face.
“Other than those gathered here, is there anyone else who knows my identity?”
Gaf shook his head.
“These are all. The rest know nothing.”
Roughly ten people had gathered in the storehouse. They were either important figures who decided village matters or villagers who had witnessed the birth of the half-breed by chance.
It would be best to kill them all. Rationally, that was true. The chances of them sprouting into a crisis later were high.
Yet Johan did not want to do that.
At his core, he was human. He could not let himself be consumed by malice and lose ‘Kim Johan’. He repeatedly reaffirmed his identity.
At the very least, he would not harm innocent people.
Johan swept his gaze over the villagers.
“Taharan is a village that produced a half-breed. If discovered by the Order, you will lose your place to live. Some of you will be burned at the stake under guilt by association.”
Wherever a demon was born, the area was wiped out under the guise of purification. The relatives of the half-breed would naturally be executed.
“Do you want to experience such a tragedy?”
The mere thought was horrifying. Some swallowed dry groans.
Johan nodded.
“No one would. You aren’t foolish enough to dig your own graves.”
He paused briefly and observed their reactions. Worry was etched into every face.
“Don’t make such faces. We can cut it out today. It’s quite easy.”
The demon began to whisper.
“Now, when we leave, you will set fire to this storehouse. You can leave the elder’s corpse for his funeral. The evidence will be gone, and even the lingering memories will scatter with the smoke.”
A fire from the previous night would swallow today whole.
“When dawn comes, begin your routine as usual. Plow the fields and sow seeds, and then, suddenly,”
The demon wore a gentle smile.
“You will find your daughters nestled in your arms.”
The farmers were visibly flustered.
“D-daughters, you say.”
“Are you saying you will return them?!”
It would have been safer to bind them by contract, but it was impossible. Johan had used up all his demonic energy on the deal with Gaf.
“I-I heard it too.”
“How could you know about my daughter…”
Ignoring those who could not let go of their lingering attachments, Johan looked at Gaf.
“Let’s go and finish the rest.”
Gaf’s gaze flickered with suspicion.
A demon acting merciful? That must have been what he was thinking.
Johan frowned slightly.
“Do you have time to be standing around? They’ve likely gotten far by now.”
Gaf sheathed his sword and spoke.
“All three don’t know how to ride a horse.”
In this era, those with riding skills were extremely rare.
“You’re different. The Kandeya Mercenaries must have been a cavalry unit.”
How much did this blood-soaked demon know? Gaf could not comprehend it.
“…Are you reading my past?”
“I read it once. Not now.”
“Not exactly comforting.”
“Don’t complain. It’s why you can find your daughter.”
Gaf narrowed his eyes.
“Illea is not yet before my eyes.”
Johan let out a short laugh.
“And yet you try to chat. Why so relaxed?”
Gaf glared at Johan, then let out a short sigh.
In the end, his priority was his daughter.
Just as they were about to leave the storehouse, Johan spoke.
“I almost forgot.”
He pointed to a pile of straw.
“Take that woman as well.”
A dazed woman was crouched in the corner.
Gaf scoffed.
“Even demons have filial piety?”
The hem of her skirt was stained black. Anyone could tell she was the half-breed’s mother.
“Think what you want, just hurry.”
“She wasn’t part of the deal.”
Johan frowned.
“Don’t argue. It’s directly tied to my survival.”
Broadly speaking, it was true. The information he could gain through that woman would serve as the foundation for the future. If events followed the novel, Johan would inevitably die.
He had to twist it somehow.
He needed to find the demon who had impregnated this woman. Through him, he would uncover the lineage of this body.
“…A convenient excuse.”
Gaf muttered in resignation, then walked over and hoisted the mother onto his back. She showed no reaction, having lost her spirit.
“Let’s go.”
Gaf moved without another word. Carrying the demon in one arm and the mother slung over the other, he left the storehouse.
***
Dawn was breaking. The sunrise beyond the hills scattered warm light.
It was time for people to begin their daily routines.
The farmer would sow seeds in the field, the blacksmith would hammer steel plates, and the hunter would check the traps he set the night before.
Johan was different from them. He was wrapped in extreme fatigue that made any routine impossible. Ever since he saw the sunrise, it had been like that.
Even opening his mouth felt impossible.
Clop, clop.
The uncomfortable ride induced dizziness.
‘Careless bastard. He should have tied it tighter.’
The scarf tied around Gaf’s neck swayed wildly. It was far too loose to protect a fragile baby.
Johan looked up at Gaf.
“…”
Stop and tie it again! He wanted to shout, but no words came out.
It lingered in his mouth like a babble.
Why was this happening? The moment he felt the strangeness, Gaf’s gaze changed.
“Cunning bastard. Like a rat.”
He kicked the horse’s side.
The large warhorse began to gallop through the reeds.
“Stop hiding and come out!”
They were searching for the three who had fled. The elder’s henchmen. They had anticipated pursuit and hid their bodies in the reeds, but they could not evade the mercenary’s tracking skills.
They had left traces where the reeds had been disturbed.
Gaf shouted.
“Die like men while fighting!”
At the same time, the reeds ahead began to fall.
“Pathetic. Running until the end.”
They were running in a single line before spreading out like a fan.
By scattering, one of them might survive. That was likely their plan.
Gaf turned the horse to the right.
He intended to deal with that one first.
“Hyah!”
He chased and caught up in an instant.
“Gale! You worthless worm!”
The first runaway turned around. His eyes met Gaf’s atop the horse. The large man looked even more gigantic.
“G-Gaf! W-wait…”
Slice.
The man’s head flew into the air. Blood droplets splashed onto Gaf’s face.
Without stopping, Gaf aimed for the next target.
The one running toward the center. He quickly caught up and cut him down in the same way.
Finally, Gaf dismounted to face the one running to the left.
Step, step, step.
He walked over and asked.
“Tonya, why did you do it?”
The third runaway had already given up on fleeing.
Raising his sword, he replied.
“I needed money. I won’t make excuses.”
“Yes, that sounds like you.”
Tonya let out a shout and charged at Gaf, swinging his sword down vertically.
The momentum was good, but it could not cut flesh.
The blade simply bounced off Gaf’s sword, powerless.
“Farewell.”
Gaf thrust his sword straight ahead. The massive blade pierced Tonya’s throat.
Splurt, blood gushed out.
Tonya convulsed. Gaf kicked the body away as he pulled the sword free.
The corpse collapsed.
Gaf shook the blood from his sword, then looked down at Johan.
“There, I’ve silenced every mouth.”
There was no particular response.
“Is that enough?”
The demon remained silent.
Gaf frowned and examined Johan carefully.
Something was strange. The red tattoos were gone. The white horn was nowhere to be seen. Even the demonic energy that surrounded him had vanished.
Where had the wicked hybrid gone? Only a soft, cooing baby remained.
Gaf doubted his own eyes.
“What the… ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped. So this was what it meant to be a half-demon? It was absurd.
As he looked for a long time, an old memory surfaced.
The time he had picked up the abandoned Illea.
She had been so chubby and pretty.
Gaf immediately shook off the thought.
To overlay his daughter onto a half-demon—what a grave mistake.
Gaf handed the scarf over to the mother.
“…Nurse him.”
Then he mounted the horse and began to walk slowly.
It was the beginning of a damnable journey with a half-demon.