Chapter 25

I am Gadeun.

Currently, I serve as the official Village Chief of Bahgwud, taking up the position from the former chief who was my father.

Once upon a time, I had a son.

His name was Gabriel.

Sadly, his mother died at a much younger age due to a deadly disease that ran rampant at the time.

In total, that disease had killed off about half of the village's total population.

It was truly terrible.

But, once the disease had disappeared thanks to the salvation of the Legendary Saint, Saint Julian, who healed all the infected.

I was relieved, even if only two-thirds of the village had survived the disaster.

With only Gabriel remaining, days passed.

Eventually, Gabriel had turned 15.

Oh, how they grow up so fast, I had thought.

Anyway.

One day, the village was attacked.

By bandits.

It was obviously a horrible thing, but it had happened more than once in the past, so I was more or less used to the situation and what to do in the case of an attack.

However, something else also occurred simultaneously.

More specifically, it was a Royal Excursion.

Apparently, the Royal First Prince Dexter, along with his much younger sister, the Royal Second Princess Eleanor, were travelling along the outskirts of their territory, making sure everything was without issue.

The problem was, they arrived at Bahgwud at the same time as the bandits.

It was an unbelievably unfortunate coincidence.

Their appearance caused a reaction in the bandits.

Some ran away from authority, while some challenged it, taking it head-on.

Either way, both choices ended up in failure.

The royal knights' Prince and Princess Guardian Squads swiftly took care of all the bandits, including every single one that attempted an escape.

Luckily, the village was unharmed due to the help of the knights.

Once again, I prayed to the king and country, as I had always been brought up to believe in wholly.

However.

"...?"

I then saw an arm flying through the air, followed by a trail of blood.

".....Ah...?"

Along with the rather flat-toned and confused mutter of a young girl, the small and thin, twig-like arm, soared.

"――ELEANOOOORR!!!!"

A tremendous cry.

It came from the Royal First Prince.

"KHAHAHAHA!! TAKE THAT, YA FUCKIN' ROYAL SCUM BASTAR--!"

A crudely laughing man was suddenly burned to a crisp by a large fireball.

It was a bandit.

Apparently, they weren't all caught.

The bandit seemed to have severed the arm of the Royal Second Princess.

It was gruesome and terrible.

I didn't know what to do.

In all my life I had never come across a situation like this.

In all my time as a village chief, I had never had to deal with something so awful.

Aaah, just what do I do?

I was thinking as such when before I had realised, the situation had taken yet another unfortunate turn.

"Gadeun!"

Someone called my name.

I turned and looked at the voice who called.

The unconscious Royal Second Princess already had her arm re-attached by healing magic.

I felt immediate relief at that sight.

But...

"How will you pay for this!?"

I just noticed.

The one calling my name.

―It was the Royal First Prince.

I was still confused, but as I am who I am, I somewhat understood the circumstances.

I, as the village chief, would have to take responsibility.

A price to pay.

The reason being, the Royal Second Princess was severely wounded.

In my own Bahgwud Village, no less.

Even if the Royal Second Princess was fully restored physically, the fact her arm was severed still stands.

Healing magic can only affect the mind to a certain point, after all.

That point is very minuscule.

As such, it is primarily used for physical injuries.

Nevertheless, from this scarring experience at such a young age, the Royal Second Princess would surely receive some indescribable, lasting mental trauma.

It may even haunt her for the rest of her life.

That is why I must take all responsibility upon myself and pay with my blood.

Since I first became chief, I was ready for such a thing, after all.

It's not like the village would be too harmed, either.

I raised Gabriel as best I could to be the future chief, after all.

I truly believe he could be a better chief than me, who had to sacrifice himself because of a severe mistake

However, something contrary to my expectations occurred.

'The chief's eldest son.'

It was a much harsher price than I had ever could have imagined.

Gabriel.

My only son.

He would be taken away from me after all this time?

It was truly the worst thing imaginable.

I would rather die.

A million times over, I would rather sacrifice myself than have to give away my son.

My Royal Prince...

Why would you do this to me.....?

My son never did any wrong.

It was all my fault.

...no, wait...

Is there a way...

Any way at all to save him from this horrible fate?

...Let's recount the sequence of events.

Peaceful times.

↓

Bandit attack + Royal Excursion.

↓

Royal Second Princess harmed by the bandit.

↓

I am at fault, my son must die.

...That... makes no sense?

That makes no sense at all.

What's with this...?

My son doesn't deserve this.

I don't deserve this.

I had grown up being taught of the malevolent and wicked Demon race.

I had grown up being taught of the magnificence and authority of the royalty.

However.

That wasn't right at all.

The royalty's actions...

...Is it not just evil?

Sacrificing my son for nothing...

It is just evil, no?

It was then that I realised―

As my precious, beloved son was ruthlessly executed right in front of my tearful eyes...

―who the demons in this world truly are.

Jae opened his mouth shortly after Gadeun finished his story.

"...It's an awful thing. I'm sorry for your loss."

I see now, why the people in this village don't discriminate against demons; Gadeun must've taught them that the Demon race aren't the "true evil" or something.

"Ohh, don't be. We've both lost something important to the royal family, haven't we? And besides, since then, I've taken in a boy called Bailey, who was abandoned here by his previous parents... There are quite a lot of incidents like that, you see, so there are actually an abnormal amount of children in this village. I'm actually in the process of preparing to build an orphanage because of it."

"I see. That's good."

'Lost something important', huh... Well, at the time, my life certainly was an important thing, so you're not really incorrect with that statement. And that's what the child sleeping in that other room is, hm? An adopted son... It should be alright to tell him.

"...Let me tell you something interesting, Gadeun. Those guys think I'm dead. That's why this bounty request says "Wanted Alive", and why the reward is so high―they don't actually think that anyone will complete it. That's why they aren't afraid of fakes aiming to get the reward either, because they know what I look like and that I'm dead."

Although they shouldn't be able to recognise me by appearance alone anymore, the people who know me from Earth would think I'm familiar-looking. It still carries a reasonable amount of risk to go about nonchalantly. At the very least, the public won't know who I am as long as I don't tell them my name.

Gadeun replied in a strangely delighted voice. Maybe he was relieved to get his personal story off his chest.

"Hoh, I see! That certainly is an interesting thing, isn't it... I'm glad."

"About what?"

"That I was right."

"Ahh..."

This guy...

Jae spotted that Gadeun's glance was looking towards the resting girl. The old man's face was much lighter than before he told his story, and he wore a warmth-filled smile.

"How could such a cute child-like that be evil? It's all just rotten rubbish concocted by the country's higher-ups to deceive the masses. I'm sure of it, especially after our fated meeting, Jae. I wish for Bahgwud to become a place where all races will be welcome. Although that time will likely not come in my lifetime..."

Fated meeting, huh... You have an ambitious dream, Gadeun, but well done, and thank you. It's because people like you exist, that I still have some faith.

"Anyway, Jae. Thank you for listening to this old man's story."

Hah, you're not even old.

"Ah, of course, that's no problem--"

"Mhmn.....muu....."

Both pairs of eyes snapped to the groaning little girl whose small eyelids seemed to flicker. Gadeun, still with a smile, spoke what anyone could see.

"It seems she's waking up."

And she soon did. Looking at Rena's Soul State, Jae noticed the changes.

Condition : [Soothed], [Confused], [Well Rested], [Anxious], [Drowsy]

The previous, negative conditions such as [Scared], [Distress], [Heavy Confusion] and [Nightmare] had all but disappeared, with only something minor like [Anxious] remaining.

"....."

Near silence took over the room as the two only watched Rena.

"Mmh....."

Rena slowly opened her eyes. As her head was still using his lap as a pillow, Jae's face was the very first thing to appear in her vision.

"....."

"....."

Neither said anything to the other. A few moments passed before Rena slowly got up from Jae's lap and sat down normally beside him. Although, no one could really say it was normal, because Rena only sat, almost staring a hole into Jae―eyes filled to the brim with emotion. Since they were in a half-closed state before, it went unnoticed, but now they were prominent―the bright, crimson eyes of the girl, that shone like newly-polished rubies.

Then...

"―Good morning, young lady."

Gadeun spoke. Rena flinched as she turned her gaze away from Jae for the first time. She stared anxiously, and in minor confusion as if she didn't even notice Gadeun's existence before now. She grabbed tightly onto Jae's coat and tried to hide behind his arm. He noticed something.

...She's trembling.

"My name is Gadeun. You must be hungry after everything you've been through. Please wait a little bit; I'll be back in a moment with a suitable meal and more drinks."

*click*

The door closed behind Gadeun as he left the room, and Jae immediately saw Rena sigh cutely in relief.

"....."

"....."

They both still said nothing. But, although he said nothing on the outside, Jae wondered internally.

I never had any siblings on Earth, but is this what it's like to have a little sister?

Rena just silently stared intensely at Jae. She looked with eyes of extreme passion and curiosity, while he simply sat, wordlessly. He was feeling awkward, and so wanted to say something, but just as he thought about it, it seemed like Rena was one step ahead of him.

"リ ᔑ∷⍑?"

Suddenly, incomprehensible words were spoken by the girl. Jae blinked in surprise.

O-oh, a foreign language...? Oh yeah, that's right. Hahh, she's only a child, so of course, she'd only know how to speak the Demon's language. Aah, let's see. Aphy taught me how to do that, didn't she? Let's try it.

[Hello? Can you understand me?]

A voice appeared in the head of the girl. As Rena suddenly jolted and looked around suspiciously, she also tried to communicate with it.

[...W-who are you?]

Her thoughts were trembling, probably because she was [Anxious]. After she looked at him for reassurance, Jae responded calmly by patting his chest twice with his hand and smiled. To this, Rena seemed to let out a cute little sigh of relief as her eyes regained their previous intensity, like a blazing fire.

She desperately called out.

"リ ᔑ∷⊣ ᔑリ ᓵ⍑!?"

...Y-yeah, I can't understand a thing when it's like that, you know. Don't look at me with those sad and quivering eyes.

Rena was so urgent that she cried out for real. With as comforting a voice as possible, Jae spoke directly to her mind again. Of course, this telepathy was something Aphy taught Jae, in case he ever was in a situation where he couldn't communicate with the other party. He never actually thought it'd be useful, but here he was.

Incidentally, normal humans would never be able to learn such a thing, as to use it, requires extremely delicate manipulation of the surrounding mana to convey your thoughts to the recipient. It really surprised Jae how it works even between people who speak two different languages though.

Apparently, the way it works is, the 'meanings behind the words' of the first person are injected into the mana of the second person, transferring the meaning of the first person directly to the second person... or something? And so, it has nothing to do with language. Even that didn't seem to make much sense to Jae though when he thought about it, so he tried to not do that too much.

By the way, the second person can respond to the first by just thinking, since one's mana is related to one's emotions and the first person already has access to their mana. Using the same method, one could even converse with monsters and magical beasts. Well, that's only if they are intelligent enough to hold a conversation though.

Obviously, there is another way to use telepathy, which is to simply transfer your thoughts to their mind directly with magic, but that would only work if you speak the same language, and in the first place, is a method only available to certain monster species.

[Please, Rena, try to calm down and listen, okay? I can't understand you if you speak out like that, so can you try talking to me like this?]

Rena's panicked face calmed as she listened to Jae's voice before she formed a determined expression.

[Yes...! I'm sorry!]

For the second time since she woke up, Rena turned her eyes away from Jae, looking downwards. Of course, they almost immediately ended up back on him, once he spoke again.

[Don't worry about it. If you don't mind me asking, are you ok? You looked to be quite distressed just now with your tone of voice.]

Rena flinched. She averted her eyes from Jae's and started fidgeting. To Jae, she seemed to be struggling internally about something. And, for the most part, he was right.

"...."

Does she not trust me because I'm a stranger? It would make plentiful sense. Very well.

[Don't worry. If you don't trust me, you don't have to say anything. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. If you want, please tell me if you have any worries or anything. I'll do my best to help, Okay?]

[I-it's not that!]

Hm?

[It's just...!]

Rena's face was flushing. Tightly closing her eyes, she cried out a strange question.

[A-are you Daddy?!]

"Da--!?"

What!?

Jae was completely taken aback.

T-this... You can't be serious, right...?

He noticed that her face was bright red. It must have been embarrassing asking that question, or was it something else?

No way, it's real, isn't it.....

[...S-sorry, but I'm not your father.]

[But you must be Daddy!]

She expressed with conviction.

[Huh? No no, really, I'm not. First off, why do you think that?]

[Daddy's nice!]

...Huh?

[...What do you mean, 'nice'?]

Rena opened her mouth but forgot that she shouldn't speak. She thought for a second before replying.

[......Mm, it's like, Daddy has a comfy feeling!]

This logic... Haa, just what is really going on here? Something clearly isn't right.

[Can you explain exactly what you mean?]

[Hmmmm, it's hard....! Ahh! Um, it's like, Daddy is comfortable to be near! And, Daddy gave me this blanket too! Mama said that Daddy is someone who wouldn't feel uneasy to be near and would always protect me when I met him, no matter what! She said Daddy would be young, handsome, and strong, too!]

...Wait a minute.

[And I meet all of those requirements?]

[Yes!]

...This is...strange. Her mother isn't a... N-no, that's rude. Let's not focus on that for now.

Jae was astonished though.

Anyway, she's never met her dad before? This makes things difficult. If she thinks I'm her dad, then it'd be hard to just leave her to this village. I'd bring her to the Pride Dungeon with me, but me forcing Rena to stay there with us is just wrong, even if she herself wants to. Could this even be classed as Stockholm Syndrome? That's just plain bad news. I know that I and Aphy could protect her without issue, so the usual danger doesn't really pose a problem, but I don't want to confine her to just the dungeon. It's too cruel. Not only is it too hot there, but there's an unusual effect of amplified gravity in certain places. I want to let her live freely and to grow up like a normal person, alongside friends her own age. On the other hand, I also don't want her to grow up thinking she'd been abandoned by her parents, either...

Then there was only one thing he could do.

*creak*

That's when the door opened and Gadeun returned carrying a wooden tray, entering the room and closing the door behind him once again.

*click*

"Is everything alright? I heard a raised voice."

The owners of the two gazes that turned to Gadeun had two different reactions to his reappearance.

The first, Jae, didn't move, and only said, "There's a little bit of an issue, but it should be fine with some work."

And the second, Rena...

"!!"

"Woah. Hey?"

―Hid behind Jae while hugging onto his arm tightly. She glared warily at Gadeun.

[Rena, what's wrong? He's friendly, you know?]

[Mmn....... Human, bad and scary.]

.....Ah. Right. Because she was kidnapped. Since she's a Demon, there's a high likelihood she grew up being taught that Humans are the enemy or something, too. Though for some reason, she is fine with me? No, on the contrary, she thinks I'm her father, even though I'm obviously of a different race... Does it have something to do with her being part Spirit? Well anyway, I'm not exactly human, either, am I. Can she sense that somehow, and that's why she's fine with me? Does she think I'm Spirit race maybe? There's not enough information to confirm anything...

[Rena. Can you tell me all of those requirements your mother mentioned?]

[Yes...? Mama said that Daddy would be someone with powerful mana, comfortable to be around for Demons, strong, confident, young, handsome, not a demon, could see into souls, and would protect me!]

Jae was immediately shocked upon hearing this.

See into souls...? She's talking about「Envy」, right? How does her mother know about--No, there must be something more to it. She knows that I'm not really human, too. Does her mother have the ability to see the future or something? Wait, let's make sure first, with a test.

[But Rena, I don't meet all of those requirements, do I? I'm human, I can't see into souls, and I don't exactly have powerful mana either.]

Of course, I don't think I'm all that handsome either, but if someone says I am, then I won't refute it.

But then, Rena only tilted her head in a cute manner.

[Really...? But Daddy, you match all of those things exactly. I can tell by the flow of your mana―Daddy isn't a human or a demon, and, has very, very powerful mana. You can look into souls too because Mama taught me how to notice if someone is looking into my soul.]

[...]

...That exists....? But, hold on a second... This girl... She can do things like feeling the flow of someone else's mana already? She can measure the size of their capacity and determine their race from the properties of their mana alone? No, she can only tell whether someone is Human, Demon, or something else―she clearly doesn't know what race I am exactly. But still... Is it because she's a demon? Her aptitude for magic is insane... Well then, do I just have to accept it...? There's nothing to refute... Ahh, I can do something about that later. For now...

[Rena, please listen to me. This man, Gadeun, is your ally. Okay? He won't harm you, so please trust him.]

[Mmmmmmh, okay... Because Daddy said so....]

Right. At least she listens. Good.

"―It's okay, Gadeun. She just seems to have a trauma of humans, as well as the fact she can't understand the language itself."

"Ah, yes, yes, of course. It's very understandable. Well, it makes me relieved that I'm not hated personally, haha!", Gadeun chuckled joyfully as he placed the wooden tray down on the table and sat back down. Just as Jae took up his cup to drink from, he realised it was empty.

Did I already drink it all...? Hm. I'd thought I was immune to the effects of the skills already, but it seems maybe not? Or perhaps, is it because of that? Due to being in the Pride Dungeon for so long, where I don't need to eat or drink, coming out of it for the first time and not drinking for over a day, it made me thirsty? It sounds plausible, but I guess either way doesn't matter―I'll find out in due time.

Gadeun, who seemed to have realised it, refilled Jae's cup for him, as well as his own, before taking a wooden bowl of something a bit strange and a spoon off the tray, placing them on Jae's side.

Wait, wait, what the hell is that disgusting shi--Ah, wait, no, it's that, isn't it? I could very well be wrong, but I've heard that when feeding a starved person, you give them a light, watery food, like gruel, to start with, before moving onto other things, or else their body won't be able to handle it and they'll throw up―or something like that. Right?

"Ah...", Rena stared at the bowl for a few moments without doing anything. Her face, with a clear look of hesitation.

Knowing that this was a necessary process, but that it'd also be hard to willingly eat something like that, Jae placed the timid Rena on his lap and held her hand with the wooden spoon.

[It might taste bad, but please try to eat as much as you can. It's for your own good. Look, I'll help you]

[Mmmn... Okay...]

Oh, maybe I should prepare some good foods for her before I leave. No offence to Gadeun, but I don't want "my daughter" growing up eating bland food all the time. It really does make me wonder what Amelia would think about this situation...

As he quietly watched Rena eat, Jae thought it was rather cute. It was peaceful, and how she ate with such a nauseous look on her face was quite funny. Jae was so entertained by the sight, that he didn't even realise it―the soft, warm expression, plastered in full bloom on his own face.