Chapter 32
One's Wish
Translator : PolterGlast
It was a terribly
familiar sensation. A shiver ran down my spine, the air felt heavy, and even
swallowing was difficult. When I finally thought I had reached Harapeko-tei, I
appraised the surrounding buildings and shuddered. Not just Harapeko-tei, but
the one next to it, and the one after that – all appraisal results were
rejected. This entire area was like that.
A chill ran through
me, and without hesitation, my hand reached for the necklace hidden beneath my
clothes.
"Everyone, I'm
sorry."
Maybe I wouldn't be
able to return to Harapeko-tei anymore. Maybe it was all just my imagination
running wild. Even if there was something dangerous, maybe it wasn't happening
now, but much later. Even so.
――――It's okay, it's gonna
be fine!
The moment I heard
Ichi and the others' reply, my limbs were much longer than before. My long
golden hair flowed, no longer hiding my eyes. My clothes were still the same
bodycon dress, but right now, that didn't matter.
I jumped off Ichi and
the others and took a deep breath with all my might.
"Chuuuuumooooooook!!!" I was surprised that I could shout so loudly
myself. My face was probably bright red. I stood in the middle of the road,
clenching my fists tightly, trembling.
At first, I felt gazes
that seemed to say, "What's that?" My appearance wasn't good. Some
people couldn't hide their curiosity, others frowned suspiciously, some looked
displeased, and still others just tilted their heads. They had various
reactions, but they all, without exception, let out small screams the moment
they saw my face. And they ran away, putting distance between us, or collapsed
to the ground. "It's a demon," I heard voices saying.
The feeling of being
sorry for startling them clashed with the feeling of urgency that I had to
hurry. If things continued like this, it would be the same as when I fled the
village. Soon, the initial shock would wear off, their minds would clear, and
the adults would come to deal with me. Before that happened, I had to act.
"I'm an evil
demon! I'm going to do something scary to this whole area!!"
Confusion spread. What
kind of scary thing? I thought too. Hmm, I considered, "I'm going to
explode!!!" Maybe I went a little too far. After a reaction of
"Eh?" everyone looked at each other. And then, screams of panic
echoed. Oops. But there was no turning back now.
"Tell everyone in
their houses too! If you stay here, boom! It's going to be a huge boom!"
My vocabulary became
even worse than usual because I was panicking. In the meantime, the air was
getting heavier and heavier. Ordinary people might not notice. But this was a
high concentration of demonic power, spreading out. It was a terrifying demonic
power that I couldn't even begin to match.
If I, just a child,
had told them to run away because it was dangerous, no one would have listened.
That's why I had changed into my demon form. This way, everyone would be
surprised and run away. I was sorry to use fear as a shield, but I couldn't think
of anything else.
People were
disappearing from the streets one after another. They were fleeing, each trying
to get away first, with cries of "Waaah!" It was the right time. I
returned to my child form, pounded on the door of Harapeko-tei with all my
might, and stumbled inside. The inside of the shop was exactly the same as
always, which was terribly anticlimactic.
"Huh, El? What's
wrong? It sounds noisy outside, did something happen?"
Sutra-san and
Yozaki-san were sitting at a table, eating, with blank expressions. For a
moment, my consciousness almost faded at the sheer peacefulness, but I quickly
recovered. "Sutra-san, Yozaki-san, please, run away right now――――" I
couldn't finish my sentence.
Harapeko-tei shook
violently. The view blurred as if a huge earthquake had struck. The shop's
lights rattled up and down, and Yozaki-san immediately shielded Sutra-san, who
screamed. I couldn't stand and collapsed to the floor. I thought the shop had
collapsed. After the shaking stopped, I cautiously looked around, but nothing
seemed to be wrong. Only a loud sound had echoed. What on earth was that sound?
"Eh, El, what was
that? It just shook like crazy... right!?"
"Please, run
away! It's dangerous! Everyone in the city has already run away!"
Yozaki-san nodded
before the bewildered Sutra-san could even reply. "A large monster might
have attacked. We should go to the knights." Sutra-san nodded firmly at
his unusually stern tone.
I forcibly pushed the
two of them out of the shop and ran with them. Then, I slowly decreased my
speed. "El, what are you doing!" Sutra-san turned around angrily. I
couldn't go with them.
"Y-you go on
ahead. Um, I, I can't."
"What are you
talking about? Are you tired? Yozaki-kun, please carry her."
"Stop it, no,
that's not it, it's not that!"
I forcefully slapped
Yozaki-san's hand, who had nodded in understanding. I was desperate. They were
the same. But I couldn't afford to lose.
"I, I, it might
be coming for me. So, I can't go with you, I can't, so please go!"
I was frustrated with
myself for not being able to speak properly, and my throat felt terribly hot.
"What are you talking about?" Sutra-san frowned. "I can't go,
please understand! I can't go! Please understand!!!!" I pleaded
desperately. "Please understand..." I conveyed my lack of words by
sobbing. Tears streamed down my face, making round edges on the cobblestones.
They were just bewildered.
"...There's a
reason, isn't there?"
Yozaki-san crouched
down and asked me. I nodded. I was a demon, so I couldn't go with them. That's
what I should have said, but even at this point, I was afraid of the change
that would appear in their eyes if I told them. In the village, when they found
out I was a demon, the ordinary child El disappeared, and the adults just saw
me as a demon. But I couldn't afford to say such a thing.
Right now, something
else was important. I tried to tell them. I inhaled the breath I was about to
exhale and tried to turn it into a voice. That was when it happened.
"I'll take
Sutra-san. Anyway, we're going to the knights. You have to come too,
okay?"
"Yozaki-san..."
"What are you
saying?" Sutra-san glared sharply at the young man. Yozaki-san easily
picked her up. I was surprised. He held the struggling Sutra-san like a sack of
rice and met my eyes. I felt relief, but I was utterly disgusted with my own
terribly forceful actions. Watching their backs get smaller, I realized there
was no one else around. "Good," I sighed in relief and looked up at
the sky. That was when it happened.
"Ah..."
The word didn't form.
In the cloudy sky, a
large, large golden ring had formed. As big as a building, no, even bigger.
From within it, a tiny claw peeked out. It created cracks as if passing through
the golden ring, gradually revealing a hideous form. It was screeching gichi-gichi.
The voice that shook the buildings must have been this thing.
There was no way
humans could defeat something like this. I thought so even though I hadn't seen
its full form.
"...I'll
go."
A hoarse voice leaked
from my throat.
"If it's me, I'll
go right now! I'll go anywhere! So, so!"
That's enough, isn't
it? I'll go. You can do whatever you want to me.
So I shouted until my
throat was hoarse. But the sky was too far away, and my voice didn't reach.
"It" was forcibly passing through the ring and getting closer. I at
least asked Ichi and the others to run away. Everyone just looked up at the sky
without saying anything.
Everyone must have
been scared. The core in my stomach was shaking violently. I was surprised that
I could even stand. I had no feeling in my legs anymore. The sky made a tearing
sound.
That man had said he
would come to pick me up. But maybe he didn't really care. The silver-haired
man, muttering as if reciting a set phrase, looked listlessly at the stained
glass, giving up on everything. Fragments of the sky, shattering like glass,
rained down on my head.
There was no one
around. I was the only one there, just continuing to shout loudly.
So, the demon moved
its huge, goggling eyes and fixed its gaze firmly on me. I knew I had to run,
but my legs wouldn't move. No, even if they did, I would probably be
immediately pinned down by its sharp claws. It was that fast, I couldn't even
blink. Yet, I was surprised that the time it took to reach me felt terribly
long.
I died.
I was torn apart by
the demon's claws and died.
It couldn't be helped.
It was all my fault. I came to the city with not enough thought, just because I
wanted to be with people. I was terribly lonely. That's why I came to
Harapeko-tei, and I was happy to be with the landlady, Sutra-san, Lotus, and
everyone. I was glad to have Ichi and the others, and it was fun to have
someone to talk to about my secrets.
That's why I died. It
was a fitting end for a fool like me. Blown away, in the darkness that had
become my vision, I was strangely confused that there was so little pain. I
could hear the sound of rubble collapsing. And it was heavy. Something heavy
was pressing down on me. It was a familiar scent. I slowly moved my arm, and
when I touched it, it was the body of a young man, bigger than me. There was a
large hole in his stomach.
Every time he coughed,
Lotus spat out a lot of blood.
"Ah..., ah."
Softly, the young
man's hand stroked my back. It was a big hand for little me. As if saying
"It's okay," he slowly stroked me over and over, as if conveying
words. From the collapsed building, blown away by the impact, I could see the
sky very clearly.
Lotus pulled out one
of the two swords he had at his waist and stood up, supporting himself. But
sharp claws tore through half of his face. This time, I couldn't hold back my
scream.
Every time the demon
moved its thin, many limbs around and around, the surroundings collapsed. We
were buried in it. The demon moved its thin limbs with creaking sounds, gishi,
gishi. It was slowly moving away. No, that wasn't it. It was carefully
destroying. It was collapsing the buildings.
Every time I heard the
demon's scream, I trembled, and using a wall that looked like it was about to
fall as support, I hugged Lotus. "W-why..." Even without asking, I
knew. It was because I went there. Because I went to Lotus's side.
"What is
it?" he might have wondered. And he ran in the opposite direction from the
people fleeing in panic. It was because he was the kind of person who jumped in
front of the demon's claws.
Lotus couldn't even
speak. A hoarse, wordless breath escaped his mouth. His eyes were half-closed.
Those eyes, usually angry, were now narrowed as if he was troubled. I had to
run. This place could collapse at any moment. Ichi and the others were
desperately supporting the wall, but it was only a matter of time. I lifted
Lotus's arms and pulled. My child form wouldn't do. I inhaled. And then, I
changed into an adult. This time, I moved a little. But it was no good. He
looked up at me curiously.
"Lotus, just a
little more, hang in there, it's okay, Lotus won't die, he definitely won't
die."
Because he would
become Yuko's ally three years later. So there was no way he could die.
Even as I said that,
my heart doubted it. Could a person really survive after losing this much
blood? There was no way someone with a healing skill would conveniently pass
by. Lotus would lose an arm. That was supposed to happen, yet both of his arms
were firmly there, and it was his stomach that was injured. So, would he lose
an arm now? It was impossible. He looked like he was about to die any second.
Yes, Lotus would die.
Little by little, his
warmth was fading.
"I-it's because I
was here..."
I had accelerated
coming to the city of Volvect. In return, had I shortened Lotus's time? He
shouldn't have had to protect me in the first place.
It was so painful. I
couldn't bear it, and I wanted to cry out loud.
But the demon was
currently engrossed in destroying the buildings, averting its awareness, so I
was afraid of being found and desperately swallowed my sobs. Pitiful tear
droplets, just from crying, fell onto Lotus's face. His mouth could no longer
say anything, but he slowly, slowly extended one arm. And he roughly wiped away
my tears. "Don't die," I prayed in a whisper. "Don't go
away," it was a selfish wish.
I couldn't do
anything. I was hopeless, with nothing but strange skills that were useless. It
was painful that I was always causing trouble for people, and I wanted to die.
From the beginning, it would have been better if someone like me didn't exist.
I should have just stayed in the forest.
"It doesn't
matter what happens to someone like me."
This person was truly
important. I understood that very well.
So, a voice leaked out
on its own.
"Please save Lotus."
The spilled words were
silent and seeped somewhere. Deeply, deeply, towards the roots sleeping in the
earth, they steadily advanced. Beyond the collapsed buildings, a faint light
shone through. "God," I pleaded.
There was a god in
this country. He was everywhere, listening. Amused, he watched us.
A small cat was
sitting there. Its long tail swayed gently.
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