293

Chapter 293 — Something I Can Accept (9)

“You motherfu—”

Ah, fuck.

If this were reality, I would have hired a lawyer and absolutely fucking destroyed this seedless motherfucker for pulling this kind of shit on a kid.

「I-I’m sorry…….」

“It’s not your fault. Don’t apologize.”

I barely suppressed the rage boiling inside me and stopped the boy from apologizing.

「If, if I had thought about it a little more…….」

“Not many people can stay calm when their homeland is in danger. And unless someone teaches you how contracts can be exploited through loopholes, it’s difficult to know how to defend against that.”

Was there anyone born already knowing everything there was to know?

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-witted, but he had never been given a chance to learn.

“So stop apologizing. This isn’t your fault. That fucking piece of trash is the villain here. You didn’t do anything wrong. Not for this. Absolutely not.”

So this wasn’t the boy’s fault.

Being born and growing up without ever being given the opportunity to learn could never be a child’s sin.

The only people whose ignorance deserved condemnation were those who had the opportunity to learn and refused to do so.

[You’re blaming me a little too much… It hurts my feelings.]

“You’ve lived that fucking long and still want to exploit a child? What a waste of all those years. Fucking moron.”

[Maybe the one who got tricked was simply foolish?]

“Ah, right. I’m so jealous that you’re smart enough to make a living exploiting children. But you know something? Usually, the kind of bastard who says that blames everyone else the moment they get screwed and never takes responsibility themselves. Means they aren’t even smart enough to remember their own words. Wow. I’m soooo jealous.”

[If you’re jealous, Gretchen, why don’t you do it too?]

“Ah, I’m good. I’m the kind of person who can pave my own road with banknotes—and still have enough left to pave someone else’s—without scamming children out of their pocket money. Unlike some pathetic reject who can only survive by parasitizing other people.”

I tried to vent the anger that had risen inside me through words as I placed a hand on the child’s shoulder.

I had told him not to feel sorry, but he looked as though the weight of his mistake was crushing him to death.

There was nothing else I could do.

I pulled the trembling child into my arms again.

「I’m… sorry…….」

I could no longer feel angry at his ragged breathing.

How many times had that tongue deceived you?

How much had you suffered?

If all the tears and blood you had shed while walking here alone were gathered together, how high would they rise in this world?

“Don’t apologize. Until we get rid of that fucking demon and sort out what you actually did wrong, don’t apologize. Ever.”

Even now, I still couldn’t forgive the child.

The wounds I had suffered were too deep for that.

Far too deep.

Deep enough that even an adult would have struggled to bear them.

“You don’t apologize for things that aren’t your fault. Got it?”

But just because I was hurting didn’t mean I would leave the boy lying in the mud forever.

Wanting to withhold forgiveness was not the same as wishing misery upon him, and pity and hatred were emotions that could coexist.

So this was what I would do.

“If you understand, answer me.”

「…Yes. Yes.」

Holding the quietly sobbing child in my arms, I lowered my face onto the crown of his head.

There was warmth there.

“It’s okay.”

The kind of warmth that could only barely come into being when two lukewarm things pressed themselves together.

“We’ll be okay.”

And within that warmth, I quietly raised my eyes.

Beyond the world that had begun breaking apart again because the promise remained unfulfilled, flames were blazing.

[Who knows. Will you really be okay?]

And standing straight-backed before those flames was the white-haired demon.

[Will you really be okay, Gretchen?]

“…Explain it to me. Start with whatever I need to hear first.”

If I ever got the chance, I would absolutely make that bastard pay for everything she had done.

I vowed it sincerely.

* * *

“Don’t stop! Keep running!”

At the Inquisitor’s shout, the foam-flecked horse gave a long neigh.

Smash!

The mace blazing with light illuminated the forest at night.

The demons lurking in the darkness exploded and were crushed apart immediately afterward.

Neeeeigh!

The horse, whose vicious temper seemed to resemble that of its former owner, suddenly twisted its body like a rodeo bull and smashed a hind hoof straight into the head of an approaching demon.

One kick left the spiderlike demon staggering, unable to regain its senses.

“Take this, demon!”

What was newly thrown at the spider demon was a small ceramic flask.

Crash.

The instant the bottle shattered and sprayed its contents, the demon’s body began to melt, if only slightly.

“Nice! Hey, Asshole, gimme one more!”

“You think I’m gonna hand one over when you talk to me like that, huh?”

Despite swearing viciously at Deathbringer’s remark, Meister obediently handed something over.

It was a mana bomb hastily assembled while riding a horse.

Deathbringer might have had less raw strength than Meister, but his skill at hitting targets was superior.

He quickly caught it and threw.

Another demon screamed as its eyes melted.

SKREEEEEE!

But the demons weren’t attacking from only one direction.

Another demon charged toward Meister, who couldn’t defend while making the mana bombs.

Perhaps it had originally been a beast that had undergone Demonization under the influence of Demonic Energy, because a few traces of its animal form remained.

Slash!

“Not happening!”

Daniel stepped forward, gripping a shield and longsword.

He urged his horse alongside Meister’s left flank, blocked the demon’s hoof with his shield, then slashed its ankle with his longsword and forced the creature to retreat.

“O thunder!”

That bought Daniel a single breath.

What followed was the Archmage’s spell.

Somehow managing to gather Mana even atop a galloping horse, the Archmage brought lightning crashing down upon the demon’s head.

“Damn. Feels weird fighting bastards like this after doing nothing but killing skeletons.”

“Haha! This is doing terrible things to a knight’s dignity.”

There were others protecting the Archmage as well.

Knights and elite soldiers from another city who had joined them on the way to Münmund wildly thrust and swung their spears, keeping the demons at bay.

“Break through!”

But they never focused solely on killing the demons.

They knew that the moment they stopped to kill a single demon, they would be torn apart.

The force, prioritizing the charge over the hunt, raced wildly through the forest.

“Three o’clock! I can see a wall!”

“Oh!! Is that Münmund?!”

“Probably not. We changed direction a bit earlier to avoid the demons, and the distance doesn’t match the time we’ve been riding either. It’s too soon for Münmund.”

“Hero! What should we do?!”

“…We’ll retreat into that place first!”

She wanted to ride all the way to Münmund, but they had to consider the soldiers’ and horses’ stamina.

Furthermore, as long as she couldn’t sense anything sinister within the walls, fighting with fortifications beside them was undeniably far more advantageous than fighting without any.

Having made that judgment, the Inquisitor at the head of the group led everyone toward the walls.

The golden light shining brightest in the darkness looked as though someone had cut out a piece of the sun and carried it here.

“Open the gate! We are not your enemies! Please open the gate!!”

Preparing to fall back toward the rear, she raised her mace high.

Radiance overflowing with God’s power spread outward from the mace, proving her identity.

“…A Priest?”

A person’s face cautiously rose above the wall that had seemed deserted.

“Please, open the gate!!”

“…Mr. Ticha! Prepare to open the gate!”

“But, soldier. There are demons behind those people…….”

“If we stay like this, we’re all going to die anyway!”

Whatever had happened here, the people covered head to toe in blood began rushing about.

Creeeak.

Soon, the gate opened.

“I’ll remain behind and stop the demons! Everyone else, get inside and establish your positions!”

“Yes!!”

The Inquisitor—the Hero—confirmed that the gate was opening and signaled her horse.

The horse, which might very well have been smarter than a human, gradually slowed and carried her toward the rear.

Its timing coincided perfectly with the walls opening and the soldiers beginning to pass through.

“God, grant me strength!!”

After confirming it, the Hero prayed.

A golden barrier spread outward from where she stood and wrapped around the entire wall.

It was a barrier that would prevent the demons from entering.

“Fuck, we’re alive…….”

While she protected the rear, the rest of the party hurried inside the walls.

The person who had opened the gate had wisely moved to the side of the road, so entering without slowing down presented no difficulty.

Thud-thud-thud-thud.

Of course, that did mean some of the fields inside the village were trampled.

But there weren’t any vegetables growing there anyway.

Those who entered first rode well inside before stopping, leaving plenty of room for the people behind them.

“What in the world……!”

In truth, even without the need to make space, they would have had no choice but to stop.

The sight of the village revealed as they entered was that shocking.

“They’re eating themselves…….”

Under the cover of night, hunger was crawling up from the ground.

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* * *

「I don’t know what… what I’m supposed to explain first.」

Explaining a broad subject while emotions were surging hard enough to make tears pour out in torrents would have been difficult even for a professor who had stood behind a lectern dozens of times.

So I called out to the parasite standing some distance away with an irritated look.

“Hey, demon.”

[Don’t ask me. I’m not the one who has to give you the answers. The boy is.]

“I never said I wanted answers from you. I know nothing, and he’s panicking, so I’m asking you for suggestions about what questions might be appropriate. Or can you not even manage that? Ah. Maybe you just don’t have the brains to give advice?”

[…You’re rather surprising, Gretchen. I didn’t know you were capable of speaking this viciously.]

I’d heard that a lot.

Was it because I normally laughed off most things?

Or because I usually tried to let things go without getting angry?

Whenever I deliberately put my tongue to work, people tended to be shocked.

But was it really that surprising?

“Maybe it just means you’re that much of a piece of trash?”

The reason I normally tried to swear less was because every word I said helped determine the impression of me that remained with the person listening.

“Manners and courtesy are things you keep in front of someone worth showing them to. Of course, I’m sure certain oh-so-noble people can maintain perfect decorum even in front of complete garbage, but personally, I don’t want to.”

But even that had limits.

There was no reason to treat trash well.

I didn’t even want them to experience the feeling of being treated well.

I openly showed my contempt instead of holding it back.

“Anyway, so what? You’re too stupid?”

[Oh, Gretchen. That’s a shallow trick. If I provide you with questions, you’ll use them to determine the minimum amount of truth that has to be revealed, won’t you? I don’t throw away my cards for nothing.]

“Ah. So you’re too stupid. Got it.”

Damn, she caught me.

Without letting my disappointment show, I stroked the hair of the child, who had mostly calmed down.

What could I ask that would finish the promise while breaking as little of the world as possible?

“What happens once all the truth has been conveyed?”

Actually, there had been so many things I had wanted to ask if I ever got to confront him like this.

「…According to the rules, I’ll no longer be able to stop the demon.」

“What exactly do you mean by stop?”

But for now, I pushed aside the things I genuinely wanted to ask.

Considering that the fucking demon might run wild the instant I heard everything, there were things I needed to prioritize so I could at least prepare countermeasures afterward.

「…First, I won’t be able to fight the demon directly like I did earlier. It won’t be absolutely impossible to fight, but I’ll be so restricted that I probably won’t manage even one proper attack before getting overwhelmed.」

“Overwhelmed?”

「I’m bound by the contract, so I won’t die.」

The hurried addition offered no comfort whatsoever.

I narrowed my eyes.

「You also… probably won’t die because of the contract conditions. But you can still be attacked, like you were earlier. Even more so once I can’t stop the demon anymore.」

“Being attacked… couldn’t I just solve that by not entering the mental world?”

「No… Being attacked doesn’t only apply in here. It includes when you’re awake as well.」

Boom.

With each sentence, another part of the world broke apart.

「If I can no longer fight the demon… that means some of the functions I put in place to protect you will disappear. For example, your pain sensitivity would return to normal.」

“Ah…….”

So the pain setting had been a protective measure for me.

I thought back on all the injuries I had suffered until now.

Certainly, if I had experienced every last one of those at full intensity, my mental state probably would have been pretty fucking destroyed.

「You’ll also hear the demon’s voice directly. It seems the demon has already been slipping words through without me noticing, but…….」

“It buzzed around like a fly every once in a while.”

[…So you were listening, Gretchen?]

“The way you whispered like the thoughts were my own really showed how hard you were working that brain of yours. You should improve your read on my character, though. Might be difficult when you’re too stupid to empathize with anyone.”

Keeping my hand where the child couldn’t see it, I raised my middle finger toward the demon, then lightly tapped the child on the head.

It meant to continue.

「The demon will also try to seize your body directly. And probably inflict burning pain on you frequently in order to torment you.」

“…Was that what I was feeling over the last few days?”

「…I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop it properly. I should have kept myself together…….」

“…I told you not to apologize for things that aren’t your fault. Don’t apologize. That wasn’t your fault.”

How many people could remain unmoved when faced with danger to their homeland, or when their family was brought up?

That would be difficult even for an adult, much less a child.

I understood why the boy had faltered.

It wasn’t even something that could be spoken of in terms of forgiveness.

If he normally prevented that pain, then regarding this matter, the boy had already done everything he could.

“What else?”

「Other than that… the demon could suddenly release Demonic Energy around you to provoke hostility from Priests, for example.」

“Provoke hostility?”

「…If your body dies completely, that’s a loss for the demon as well. But bringing you right to the edge of death is different.」

As the boy explained the second possibility, however, his voice gradually hardened.

「Because the moment you lose consciousness, it becomes easier to steal your body.」

It was a voice so grave that it stood in stark contrast to that childish form.