Episode 96
Usually, They Die
“Um… Then, I will do it.”
Teiti gulped and approached Daphne.
“You can’t get mad at me after seeing this. Seriously. I went back to that dreadful home just to be of help to you, Lady Daphne, not to get beaten up.”
“I understand.”
“You really shouldn’t hit me. Truly.”
“……Do you really want to get hit?”
“No.”
When Daphne narrowed her eyes, the frightened Teiti quickly tucked his tail. Then, he placed his hand on the back of Daphne’s hand.
“It is the ‘Memory of the World Tree.’”
The World Tree is the foundation of the world, created by the largest fragment of the God who created this world.
Commonly, people might think of it as a tree because of its name, but while the World Tree takes the form of a tree that rises upward by stacking layers of rings, it is not a true tree.
When one connects to the World Tree, they hear stories from the one who delivers the memories stored within the rings. And the person who heard that story directly could pass it on to others just as it was.
Teiti was performing that act. He was delivering the story he had heard to Daphne.
Daphne slowly closed her eyes, feeling the pure white energy calmly flowing in. Then, a scene unfolded in her mind as if someone were painting it for her.
The face is blurry, but a woman whose smile at the corner of her lips is clearly very warm is stroking her swollen belly.
Beside her is Heros Archion with a gentle expression she has never seen before, along with Rache, Vifera, and Arius, who are younger than they are now.
They look like a happy family.
And then the scene changes.
The woman is giving birth to a child. She is letting out screams distorted by pain, but her gentle smile remains the same. One could strongly feel that she loves the child who is about to be born.
But.
—Waaaaah!
The newborn baby was,
[Daphne Archion was hollow.]
It could be described as a certain ‘something’ covered in pitch-black energy.
It was not a human child. It was so full of the aura of death that one could feel malice just by looking at it, and it was suffocating.
[Since the aura of death settled in the hollow space, it could be called the embodiment of a curse.]
The scene changes.
It shows the faces of the family members holding the woman’s funeral. All of them were grieving, and some were wailing, but the child in the cradle was not.
The child simply looked pitch black, and no emotions such as sadness were contained within.
[That is precisely the Warlock’s curse.]
People did not feel sympathy for the child losing her mother as soon as she was born while looking at her. They simply……
[Making the child to be born a mass of curses itself, unsettling the hearts of everyone nearby.]
They simply loathed her.
And then the scene came to an end.
“…….”
Daphne blinked slowly. She repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists and looked up at the ceiling.
Her head was blank. The scenes she had just seen were too vast for Daphne to understand all at once.
“So.”
Daphne opened her mouth haltingly.
“Are you saying that from the beginning, this body of Daphne Archion was a mass of curses that could not even be called a living being?”
The fact that the family members had ignored this body, and further, loathed and belittled it; the fact that people’s gazes were sharp.
It meant all of that was because ‘Daphne Archion’ was a mass of curses, not a human.
No matter how much of a crazy human the warrior was, she wondered if it made sense to abandon his own child to this extent, but to think there really was a reason.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Daphne frowned and bit her lip nervously.
“Yes, that’s right. You summarize well.”
Shio, who was staring at Daphne, replied.
“So, there is no need to feel guilty just because you entered that body. Isn’t it a good thing?”
“…….”
Daphne pressed her hand to her forehead.
Shio was a Great Sage, and she thought he was human. Therefore, she thought he would understand the human heart better than Daphne.
But hearing his words now, it seems that is not the case. Daphne took a deep breath. And then she called Teiti.
“Slave.”
“Yes, Master.”
“You must have seen these memories delivered to me as well?”
“That is correct.”
“How were the family members looking at this body?”
Teiti rolled his eyes. He felt like he would get hit if he answered incorrectly here.
Had he not done many things today that were worthy of being hit?
One hit could turn into ten, so he had to answer well.
So, he recalled the scene he had seen once more.
Humans who tried to strike up a
conversation while looking at the mass of curses made into Daphne, humans who endured and held back while facing the evil deeds of the mass of curses, humans who tried to embrace the mass of curses…… and then eventually collapsed from exhaustion, becoming reluctant and loathing the mass of curses.
How were their expressions? How were their faces?
Teiti was able to give an answer more easily than expected.
“They looked pained.”
“Correct.”
“Phew.”
Leaving behind the relieved Teiti, Daphne looked at Shio again.
“There are humans who suffered and tried their best to accept a body that was a mass of curses, so how can it be called a good thing just because I no longer feel guilty?”
Shio, who listened carefully to Daphne’s words, faltered for a moment. Then, he soon let out a chuckle and shook his head.
“Why are you so stubborn? You can just think flexibly.”
“If I am flexible twice, I’ll end up selling my conscience.”
“Fine. You are right, Lady Daphne. Since there are victims who suffered, you cannot be happy that it worked out well from your perspective.”
“That is exactly what I mean.”
Daphne said while grinding her teeth.
“I am very angry right now.”
“Yes. Go ahead and be angry.”
“I’m angry. I’m angry. I’m ang-raaaaaagh!”
“Oh.”
“Argh! Aaagh! Those crazy bastards! How can they do such things while wearing human skin! They are not human! Aaaaagh!”
“Is that a gradation of rage?”
Shio, who was looking at Daphne while scratching his cheek, soon approached her.
“Yes, yes. Of course you should be this angry. I was surprised because you were so quiet at first, I thought your temper had died down.”
“What did you say?”
“Don’t glare at me like that. I have prepared something to help release your anger.”
Daphne tilted her head, and Shio smiled brightly and spread his hands wide.
Immediately, a pure white light gathered and covered his body. A teleportation circle was being formed.
The destination is a certain village where the corpse of the warlock killed earlier has been spread out like bait.
By now, the members of the Specter who noticed the warlock’s death would have gathered.
Like ants swarming to a piece of sugar.
Shio respected humans,
But for that reason, he did not treat warlocks who did not respect fellow humans as human beings.
Shio spoke to Daphne with a broad smile.
“Would you like to go together?”
“Phew.”
Nike let out a sigh and swept back her falling bangs.
“Then, we will proceed with moving the training center to the Archion territory.”
The location of this training center has already been revealed to the Specter, and since they have been attacked, they could no longer live here.
So, they considered moving to another training camp of the Guardians, but most of those places lacked barriers and were insufficient to protect the children.
At that time, Heros said:
—I have a villa nearby.
—There is a defensive barrier installed directly by the Imperial Mage.
He was offering that place for free; was there any reason to refuse? The instructors immediately accepted Heros’s proposal.
“Of course, we need to get permission from the Imperial Family, but His Excellency has decided to handle that part.”
“I see.”
Heros would take care of the Imperial permission himself. Therefore, the instructors would only need to be punished for failing to protect the children properly.
They let out a sigh and bowed their heads.
Just then, Rache, who had been hesitating, slunk toward Heros.
“Um, Your Excellency.”
Heros, who was sitting leaning against the window, turned his gaze. Rache gulped and asked cautiously.
“Will Daphne be okay?”
“Daphne?”
“Yes. Um…… even if she looks like that, she is 5 years old. She is still very young, but it seems like she has a lot of things going on. And this time, too……”
“…….”
“She must have been very surprised and scared all by herself, so I thought she might be pretending to be fine on purpose.”
Rache, who was speaking with a slightly embarrassed expression, suddenly turned serious as if realizing something.
“……Of course, it’s not that I’m worried about Daphne. Absolutely not. It’s just out of a humanitarian heart that thinks a child should be allowed to act like a child. You know what I mean, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“…….”
Rache kept his mouth shut and glared at Heros. Heros shrugged his shoulders and turned his gaze back out the window.
“Look at that.”
He pointed to the pure white light rising in the yard. It was a teleportation circle.
“It’s not that I haven’t had thoughts like yours.”
“……Pardon?”
The one who peeked her face out from the teleportation circle was Daphne, who was waving both arms with a brighter smile than ever before.
“Warrior! Do you know what I’ve been up to!”
Daphne chuckled and bounced her body.
“I beat up the warlock and found the location of the chimera laboratory! Go and crush it quickly!”
Heros looked down at such a Daphne and said nonchalantly.
“If that is truly ‘pretending’ to be fine, shouldn’t we put Daphne on a theater stage right now?”
“…….”
“That is sincere.”
Rache stared back and forth between Heros and Daphne with a stunned expression.
What, give me back my worry.
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