Chapter 16
Johan Myatro (1)
“Bring me more.”
His pronunciation was unclear and his voice still childish. The baby’s first words were terribly clumsy, but their meaning came across well enough.
Ilea put on a mischievous expression.
“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”
“Pour all of it into my mouth.”
“You’re a baby. You should say, ‘Give me num-nums.’”
Johan scowled and grabbed the glass bottle in Ilea’s hand, intending to snatch it away.
He lacked the strength. With hands as tiny as fern fronds, he could not even overpower a young girl.
As his displeasure showed on his fair face, Ilea’s eyes curved into a satisfied smile.
“I was only teasing. Now, open wide.”
The contents of the bottle trickled into Johan’s mouth.
The baby’s body began to grow as hot as a ball of fire. The sap was circulating throughout his entire body.
Ilea let out a quiet exclamation.
Johan was growing in her arms before her very eyes.
Hair spread across his face, his limbs lengthened, and his upper body expanded. The ragged clothes the baby had been wearing could no longer contain his growing body and tore apart from end to end.
Ilea collapsed onto the bed. She could no longer support his weight.
The baby had vanished, replaced by a boy cradled in her arms.
Unlike Gaf, who had frozen in astonishment, Ilea smiled brightly.
“You should probably cover yourself.”
Johan’s lower body was completely exposed.
“Put me down.”
“Use this.”
Ilea handed him her cloak.
After standing on the floor and covering his naked body, Johan began inspecting his newly grown form.
He was roughly the same height as Ilea, and his hair reached his knees. It looked as though it had not been cut in eight or ten years.
Judging from his appearance, he was probably around ten years old.
In a single instant, he had gained several years’ worth of growth.
“Is that all the sap?”
“Yes. I extracted every last drop. Its effects were rather meager for a medicinal elixir that had been concentrated for several hundred years.”
According to Ilea’s expectations, Johan should have grown to at least twenty years old. Instead, he was still only a boy.
“That is because nothing but the World Tree’s stump remains.”
The larger a tree grew, the more concentrated its sap became. However, more than ninety percent of the World Tree had been severed in the aftermath of the Great War.
Its sap was inevitably less effective.
“That’s actually better for me.”
“What is?”
“It feels as though I’ve gained a friend.”
Johan snorted.
“Don’t say things you don’t mean. A witch could never understand friendship.”
“You say that as though you understand it, Johan. Aren’t you a demon?”
“Look at me now. Red blood flows through my veins. I have no choice but to empathize with human emotions.”
“Then should I learn about friendship from you?”
“There is no need. More importantly, you do not seem surprised at all. Did you already know that I was Johan?”
Ilea looked toward the mother.
“At first, it was merely a hunch. But the moment I opened the door, I became certain. Johan’s scent was incredibly strong on that woman.”
Because she had given birth not long ago, the lingering traces of demonic energy still clung heavily to her.
“I’ll have to be careful for the time being.”
“Don’t worry too much. No one other than a high-ranking cleric from the royal capital would notice.”
Ilea did not know it, but a group of pilgrims possessing considerable holy power would soon visit the territory.
At least, that was what had happened in the original story.
He needed to prepare for their arrival.
“There is no harm in being cautious.”
“Quite right.”
Gaf, who had been listening to their conversation, let out a hollow laugh.
“…This is absurd.”
He could not begin to comprehend the situation. Setting aside the baby who had suddenly grown, Ilea and Johan seemed so comfortable with each other that they might have been acquainted for years.
“What is the meaning of all this?”
“I’m sorry, Father.”
“I don’t want an apology!”
At his resentful shout, Ilea erased her smile and lowered her head.
“I wanted to conceal my identity from you, if no one else, but I ultimately failed. As I told you, I am a witch—an existence incapable of coexisting with humanity. I am truly sorry that you have a daughter like me.”
Gaf shouted with an expression of utter disbelief.
“A witch? What in the world are you talking about?”
It had already been fifty years since Rahel, the last witch, was destroyed.
“Witches always prepare an alternative. As soon as they foresaw the extinction of their race, they prepared me as their contingency. Perhaps even your discovery and upbringing of me were part of their plan.”
Memories from more than ten years ago flashed through Gaf’s mind.
Back when he had lost everything and wandered aimlessly, he once encountered an ice castle in the middle of the desert. An ice palace stood tall upon the scorching sand. As though entranced by a mirage, Gaf began running toward it.
He pursued it day and night, but he was never able to reach it.
Exhausted by dehydration and fatigue, he eventually collapsed.
As he lay there, slowly roasting beneath the hellish sun, grains of wet sand cooled his body.
Water was flowing toward him from somewhere.
The ice castle was melting.
The man who had wandered the land in search of death desperately licked up the moisture, as though his resolve had never existed.
Although he had long since lost every pillar supporting his life, his attachment to life remained.
Why am I struggling so desperately?
He asked himself the question, but no answer came.
It was while he was mocking himself that a small cradle entered his sight.
It was the only ice structure that had not melted. Inside it slept a baby as white as snow.
Was this some trick of God?
God had taken away his pregnant wife, only to place a new life in his arms.
Even amid his confusion, Gaf’s hand reached toward the baby.
When the infant giggled and played with his beard, an overwhelming emotion surged within him.
Perhaps this was salvation.
That day, Gaf made the sign of the cross for the first time in his life.
A single tear fell from his eye as he recalled the past.
To think that the entire chain of events he had regarded as a miracle had been someone else’s design…
He did not want to believe it.
Without another word, Gaf turned around and began trudging out of the inn room.
Johan looked at Ilea.
“Are you not going to stop him?”
“He’ll need some time to think.”
“He may leave forever.”
“Perhaps that would be for the best. A witch is nothing but a seed of misfortune to humans.”
A shadow fell across Ilea’s face. She looked somewhat lonely.
Having grown up as an orphan, Johan could not fully sympathize with the emotions between father and daughter. Even so, he felt a trace of bitterness.
It left him strangely uncomfortable.
“A seed of misfortune… That is not entirely wrong. But aren’t you somewhat different? Depending on what you do, you may still be able to maintain a good relationship with Gaf.”
“Are you worried about Father and me? Perhaps because you’re a half-demon, you’re surprisingly human.”
“I simply don’t want to witness a melodrama.”
“I’ll make an effort, so don’t concern yourself too much. You have another task on which you should focus.”
“A task?”
“Your own survival. What could be more important than that?”
“You’re stating the obvious. I have already formulated a plan.”
“Share it with me. We’re aboard the same ship, after all.”
Johan rose from the bed and stretched his newly grown body.
He now possessed the body of a teenage human boy. It was slightly younger than he would have preferred, but it would present no difficulty in carrying out his plan.
He spoke without expression.
“With this body, I will devour the baronial family.”
Ilea contemplated his words before smiling gently.
“Johan Myatro. That surname suits your name rather well.”
***
Twilight descended beyond the window.
No matter how beautiful the sunset might be, a blind person could not see it.
Raguel could only estimate the time of day.
Gaf would be arriving soon. Ordinarily, he came before sunset and left Johan with him.
That had not been the case recently. Gaf had not shown his face even once during the past three weeks.
Johan had not visited in nearly a month.
Raguel curled up like a shrimp.
He said he would read to me. We haven’t even finished The Tale of Kazan, and I still haven’t gotten my eyes back…
Why had Johan made promises if this was how things would end?
Had he used Raguel and then thrown him away?
Perhaps he had intended to deceive him from the very beginning.
One negative thought led to another.
I was a fool to trust a demon.
Intoxicated by that sweet voice, he had allowed himself to be swayed, only to be discarded like an old shoe.
There were countless humans who had suffered the same fate. He was merely another fool who had been betrayed.
He had brought this upon himself, so he had no right to complain or make excuses.
His disappointment in Johan had grown even greater than his guilt toward God. How could he possibly claim to be a victim?
Even while resenting Johan, Raguel still worried that something might have happened to him. Someone like that had no right even to speak of atonement.
This was suffering he had to endure in its entirety.
He would once again be trapped in darkness and made to pay for his sins.
Raguel began to sob. His crying gradually grew louder until it filled the room.
After he had cried for quite some time, the door suddenly flew open.
Raguel abruptly raised his upper body.
“Johan?!”
“You worthless bastard! Beating you to death wouldn’t be enough!”
It was not Gaf’s voice. The hideous roar made Raguel shrink back the moment he heard it.
“F-Father…?”
“Who are you calling your father?! I told you never to call me that!”
A flowerpot flew across the room and struck Raguel’s head.
The blind boy instinctively curled his entire body into a ball.
The attack had abruptly reminded him of the time the baron had thrown a candlestick at him and cost him his remaining eye.
“I-I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please forgive me! I’ll never call you Father again!”
The baron climbed atop Raguel with a frenzied expression. The stench of alcohol rolled off his body.
“If you were capable of understanding words, you wouldn’t have killed your own mother by being born! You’re worse than an animal! Answer me! Answer!”
The huge man began striking the boy like a madman.
“Where is Ilea?! I know that mercenary and Ilea constantly came and went from this room! What were all of you plotting together?! Did you help Ilea escape?”
“P-Please spare me! I know nothing about it!”
“Stop spouting nonsense and bring her back immediately! Do you take the Watcher of the Abyss for a fool?”
The merciless violence continued. It had been quite some time since Raguel had last been beaten. The baron, who normally remained in bed without the strength to move, was unusually energetic today.
Bam! Bam!
Raguel screamed. It hurt so badly that he thought he would die. Both his body and his mind were rotting away.
Just as the pain threatened to make him lose consciousness, a shout burst into the room.
“Stop! Are you trying to kill him?”
It was Gaf. He rushed forward and separated the baron from Raguel in an instant.
The baron’s face turned scarlet.
“How dare a lowly mercenary interfere!”
Slap!
A sharp crack rang out as the baron struck Gaf across the face.
The sensation was like striking a boulder, and the baron’s expression twisted in bewilderment.
“Wh-What…?”
His feeble strength could not even turn Gaf’s head.
Without showing the slightest reaction, Gaf shouted,
“Do you intend to kill your own child with your own hands? What kind of parent does such a thing?”
“That is none of your concern! Get out of here this instant!”
“If Raguel dies, how do you intend to stop your younger brother? Are you willing to simply hand over the position of heir?”
The baron’s younger brother had declared himself the heir to House Myatro.
Krill Myatro.
He already commanded an army of three hundred soldiers.
Just as the baron was about to shout something in a frenzy, another voice interrupted him.
“A blind man cannot inherit the family in any case.”
Gaf and the baron turned their heads simultaneously.
Johan, in his human form, was entering the room. Ilea was beside him.
The baron’s eyes widened when he saw her.
“I-Ilea!”
Ignoring the baron’s reaction, Johan added,
“Moreover, not every parent in this world is like you, Gaf.”
The baron’s gaze shifted toward Johan.
“Who are you? Why are you with Ilea? Identify yourself!”
“You don’t recognize me? How disappointing.”
The corners of Johan’s lips rose as he approached the baron.
Outside the window, the sun was slowly sinking beneath the horizon.
“Look closely. We have known each other for quite some time.”
The baron’s face flushed red and blue.
The boy before him was unbearably insolent. Although his features possessed an air of nobility, his clothes were shabby and his hair was as unkempt as a beggar’s.
He was probably the child of some vagrant—someone unworthy even to meet a nobleman’s gaze.
“You still don’t recognize me? You’re no different from a blind man yourself.”
“You ill-mannered bastard! How dare you speak that way in my presence!”
The baron raised his arm.
He would beat the boy to death and teach him his proper place.
Just as his hand was about to descend, the sun vanished.
Twilight was submerged beneath the darkness, leaving not even a trace behind. The room was dyed in pitch-black shadow.
The baron began retreating.
“This is the first time we have met in person. A pleasure to meet you.”
The baron’s pupils dilated. Crimson light was reflected in his widened eyes.
Those red eyes were all too familiar.
The gaze that had ruled his dreams had appeared in reality and was now staring directly at him.
“Y-You are…”
“A demon.”
Enormous wings unfurled to either side, engulfing the room.
“The reaper who will tear your soul apart.”
The baron collapsed onto the floor.