The little children were excited, despite their hunger.
With their voices in the background, Wilfred bit into the stony loaf of bread.
Panilla (René), seeing this, repeatedly gulped down the saliva that was welling up in his mouth.
“I used to think I was the unluckiest person in the world. But after listening to Panilla’s story, I felt…”
“You don’t think you’re the only one?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Wilfred muttered to himself as he looked down at the bread, which had been reduced to a miserable mess.
“I got scared. I didn’t want to be that kind of person who … resents, who thinks ‘I’m unhappy’, because it feels like I’m doing something really … horrible. I don’t want to be that kind of person who hates.”
Hearing Panilla’s (René’s) words, he became frightened.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say anything bad about Panilla.”
“That’s, well, okay.”
It was rather a compliment.
She was the kind of demon lord girl who was supposed to be frightened.
“You don’t resent it?”
“…I’m so resentful … I’ve never been so angry in my life. That Noacurio soldier, and the lord who judged us, I wanted to cut them all with … my sword.”
Wilfred’s fingers dug into the hard bread.
Anger smoldered in his heart.
“But I just had a vision of killing all the people I … hate and holding a sword stained with their blood. Then I became afraid of myself like that.”
People instinctively hesitate to attack their own kind.
On the contrary, it seemed that even an attack on a humanoid demon would cause psychological resistance.
Not everyone was capable of killing people with impunity.
Not everyone could hold a grudge that would transcend their instincts.
Wilfred put the rest of the bread in his mouth and chewed it, looking up at the sky for a while.
“‘The sword should not be wielded for revenge, for the sword is there to protect people, that it is. Master would say that.”
“Master?”
“Ah, erm, I think of him as my master. He was not a teacher of swordsmanship, but a teacher of the heart… We parted without knowing his name, but he was an amazing man who risked his life to fight monsters and protect us. I don’t even know if he’s alive right now… No, I’m sure my master is still alive if he’s as strong as he is. I hope to see him again someday. I’m going to get as strong as I can by then and ask him for a match. I’m going to get one for sure and make him groan!”
Wilfred, who had derailed the conversation and was barnstorming on his own, noticed the girls’ stares and scratched his head, red-faced.
“I’m sorry …, that was irrelevant.”
–Swordfighting fool.
Panilla (René) mentally declared.
He was probably the type of idiot who, if he had a rival or something, would become infinitely stronger.
“I understand … too. I’m afraid of resentment.”
Eunice, who had been listening intently to Wilfred’s story, opened up.
“Me too, I thought I hated the bandits who destroyed my village. For a long time, I was full of hate… But one day I looked in the mirror and thought there was a … monster. Even though it was my face, it looked like something else… Even now I can’t forgive those bandits. But I’ve stopped letting it fill my heart with hatred. First of all, hate won’t help me.”
Eunice said quietly, as if she were reading a story to them.
The pain in her heart was evident to Panilla (René). It was painful to even remember, and even more painful to resent. It was just painful, but it would never amount to anything. Eunice thought.
‘Someone has to be angry at unreasonable things. But you can’t be happy if you are angry.’
Suddenly, a warm voice came to her mind, and Panilla (René) felt her chest tightening.
She swallowed down her unredeemable resentment and let it sink deep into her heart, seeking a peaceful life.
Surely some people could be happy with that.
What would have happened to René …? What was certain was that she would no longer have any choice but to run down the road of revenge, filled with blood and the stench of decay. She still did not know what would be at the end of the road. But if she stopped, only the worst would await her.
Everything was too different from Wilfred and Eunice.
–This is no time to get sentimental. I have to do what I have to do.
“Yes, that’s right. I’ll tell you a fortune. Maybe I can tell you what to do.”
“Panilla, is it that again?”
Panilla (René) was a little bit mischievous.
Actually, she was going to give him a letter at some point, saying, ‘I was told to deliver this to Wilfred by an adult I don’t know.’
“Fortune-telling?”
To a quizzical Wilfred, Panilla (René) thrusted the set of fortune-telling cards she had pulled out of her pocket.
Panilla had picked them up on the street. Panilla’s favorite pastime was to use them to tell fortunes to anyone and everyone.
Spreading the cards out on a propped-up barrel, Panilla (René) huffled them back into a bundle and then handed them to Wilfred.
“Here, cut these. Do you know how to cut the cards?”
“You don’t need to believe in it, you know. Fortune-telling is a fool’s errand.”
“Not really, you can read something a hundred years in the future and get it right.”
To Eunice’s admonishing tone, Panilla (René) retorted nonchalantly.
Although she didn’t know whether the earth’s fortune-telling was really correct or not, in this world of magic, fortune-telling can’t be taken lightly.
Well, as Eunice said, it was true that it was not very reliable.
–≪Clairvoyance≫.
There was nothing wrong with match-pumping.
Panilla (René) peeked at the cards, which were still turned over, and mixing them with a simple magic, arranged them as she wished.
Then she flipped them from one side to the other.
“… Money luck is very good for you. Unexpected extra income.”
“Haa…”
“Where’s the money coming from?”
“That much I don’t know. I think it’s a chain link to the waiting person clause, so it might have to do with an unexpected encounter with someone. Maybe some strange rich person will suddenly offer me some money.”
“I’d like some money too, if that’s true…”
The wild oracle made Eunice’s head spin.
“And maybe you should go west, because there are good omens in the west. All other directions have been wiped out.”
“W-West is the direction of the … royal capital, isn’t it? If you go there, you will be killed!”
“See, that’s why you can’t win this kind of thing. Panilla, you should stop there. You’ll get in trouble.”
“Yes.”
Eunice warned her, and Panilla (René) put the cards away.
The point was just to push back a little bit, so the foreshadowing was just fine.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Who……?”
It was after dark when a mysterious figure visited Wilfred’s mother Humena in her hospital room.
A shadowy figure stood in the corner of the room without making a sound, not even opening or closing the door.
The mysterious figure was dressed like a desert dweller, hiding everything but the eyes. About one size larger than Wilfred.
“You’re not a … priest, are you?”
Wilfred, who was there, stood guard over Humena as she lay on the bed.
The mysterious figure held up a finger toward Wilfred.
“Be quiet, child. I am someone who was indebted to your father.”
Contrary to the outward appearance, the voice was a little husky and calm, with a mature tone.
The mysterious figure with her whole body hidden seemed to be a woman.
“Father, huh…”
“To Yuin?”
“First of all, I’ll give you this. I borrowed it from your father a long time ago.”
The mysterious woman pushed an old leather bag toward Wilfred.
When Wilfred peeked inside, he was struck by the brightness of gold, as bright as the sun.
Gold coins.
The leather bag was so heavy that it weighed him down.
“This is such a large amount of money!?”
It was more money than he had ever seen before.
When Wilfred handed the leather bag to Humena in dismay, she, too, was absolutely stunned. She looked anxiously, wondering if she really deserved such a gift, but the mysterious woman didn’t seem bothered.
“Come on. It is not in the best interest of either of you to stay in this city. … I have arranged a route out of the country to Gireshtal. Even if Noacurio is watching you, they will not be able to harm you if you flee to the Federation, which is currently at odds with them over Ciel-Terra.”
“Y-you said come on, … now?”
“Yes. Let’s get out of here in the shadows of the night. Or is there something you really want to take with you, something you have left to do in this city?”
At the mysterious woman’s words, the two looked at each other.
They couldn’t leave anything at home that they wanted to take with them, and most of the things they wanted to take with them had been brought to the hospital room.
If there was anything else on their minds, it was Yuin’s funeral, but the head of the temple in this city was a man of reason. He had hospitalized Humena to shelter her, despite public opinion, and had placed Wilfred in an orphanage under the temple’s umbrella. If the temple head was in charge, he would make sure that the Yuin’s funeral would be well taken care of until the time of reincarnation.
The remains and ashes were not important either. Some sects emphasized the handling of the remains, but the family’s beliefs were standard. What was important was the reincarnating soul, and after the mourning was over, the body would be returned to the ground with the gratitude to God.
“It’s all right. But … why are you willing to do this?”
“I have already told you. I was indebted to your father.”
The mysterious woman was adamant about this, even though Humena was suspicious.
Humena was not sure if she could trust her.
But Wilfred was different.
“Mom …, it’s okay. It’s all right.”
“Right about what?”
“I’m sure it’s just fate.”
He did not believe in fortune-telling, but when it was so accurate, it became amusing.
Wilfred’s heart was pounding like he had found a treasure map.
God did not abandon the righteous.
He gave them a chance to stand up and live strongly, overcoming unreasonableness.
Fate was pushing Wilfred’s back.
“Let’s go to Gireshtal. Father will be watching over us.”
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