novelraw Chapter 124 : Chapter 124
Chapter 124 : Chapter 124
Chapter 124: Four Questions for Inheritance (2)
“It’s unpleasant.”
Eleanor said, standing on the edge of the cliff.
Her body was cold. It was because it was raining. The soaked monastic habit clung to her skin, feeling scratchy. When she wrung out the sleeve, a stream of water poured out, and Demian was sitting in the direction the water fell. He was sitting on the edge of the cliff with his head bowed and a dark expression.
“And you’re frustrating.”
Eleanor muttered as such.
She glared at Demian with her eyes narrowed. His neatly grown blond hair and sharp grey eyes. Demian’s appearance was as noble as the protagonist of any knightly literature.
It was because he looked noble that she had expected something. She had thought that a boy from the capital, a boy who wished to become a holy knight, would be more straightforward.
“How long are you going to be like this?”
Eleanor sat down next to Demian.
She stared at the nearby sea, swinging her legs. The sea water, stained by the downpour, was full of ripples.
“You’ll catch a cold. How about going back to the village?”
“……I am fine.”
Demian muttered quietly.
“I just need some time to think. Please go back first, Miko-nim.”
“Don’t you think that’s enough bullshit?”
Eleanor frowned.
She sighed, sweeping back her dark blue hair.
“I’m not a miko. There’s no such thing. So drop the formalities.”
“I cannot do that.”
“Why?”
Demian’s head turned toward Eleanor.
After thinking for a while, Demian scratched the back of his neck.
“My father told me. That I should use honorifics with women of my age. That it is the righteousness of a knight.”
“You’re really full of shit. How old are you?”
“I will be an adult in a year.”
“So will I.”
“Then it’s definitely not okay.”
I cannot drop the formalities.
Demian muttered as such, and,
“Stupid, pathetic, and stubborn.”
Eleanor shuddered.
She knew about the life of the capital, of the nobility. It was the first time she had encountered it in person, but she had learned about it. There was a library in Portsmouth too. She also knew about the class called knights. She had been engrossed in reading the damp books by herself. And so, she could not understand it in the end.
“I hate you people.”
She could not accept it, nor could she tolerate it.
The righteousness they sought to protect.
“Don’t take it personally. It’s like how trolls and orcs hate each other, and elves and dwarves look down on each other. You and I are almost different species. Our origins are different, and the environments we grew up in are different. I can’t understand you people as a different species.”
“That must be so.”
Demian nodded once.
It must be so. Even if they were the same humans, they would be close to different species.
Did she say she was brought from an orphanage? Demian thought, looking at Eleanor. What would it be like to grow up in Portsmouth without knowing anything, to live a life feigning to be a miko, knowing that she would be offered as a sacrifice. He could not easily predict it.
“When did you find out.”
That was why he asked.
In a careful tone, as if whispering.
“When……, did you find out the truth.”
“Was it when I came of age.”
No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.
Eleanor said as such.
“I vaguely remembered. The days I spent at the orphanage. I grew up there until I was about four. It was only when I was able to think that I realized. The fact that my life was somehow strange.”
When she was very young, she rather did not doubt it.
According to Eleanor, that was how it was. A being born without parents by the sea god, who dies before reaching adulthood. It was not easy to question it on her own in Portsmouth, where such things were considered providence. A bird that has only grown up in a box will consider the box as the world even when it becomes an adult. Then what use are its wings? It would only have such questions, and forget its instinct to fly.
“I questioned the village chief about the truth……”
She heard the truth, and thought it wasn’t the worst.
Living long in a place like this wouldn’t lead to a good end anyway.
So wouldn’t it be better? To die before becoming an adult.
Eleanor said she had thought that way too. A life revered as a miko, eating relatively good food and enjoying a good bed. That might not be so bad either. Not just not bad, but maybe even good.
“The village chief must have thought so too. That’s why he readily told me the truth. I condoned his sacrifice. I saw him kill forty-nine villagers.”
Right here.
Eleanor whispered as such.
“It might sound strange to you, but……”
It was easy to conceal the truth.
Because cases of monster attacks at night were common. Because people starving to death were also common. Because it was a land where people died at every moment, it was easy to erase the traces of human sacrifice. The villagers living here were pious without knowing the truth, and only those who were to be offered as sacrifices were told the identity of the faith.
“I told them calmly. What Cthanid was, and why they had to die……”
Some died unwillingly.
Some died willingly.
There were people who struggled, saying they couldn’t worship a monster and didn’t want to die. But they were in the minority. The majority of the sacrifices accepted it without much difficulty. They didn’t hesitate, asking if it would all be over if they died, and that if so, they would willingly die.
“Why was that.”
It was because they had been exposed to disaster for too long.
Eleanor thought so. They had not offered their lives for the greater good. Not only the greater good, but also law and ethics did not exist in Portsmouth. They must have just thought it wasn’t so bad.
Dying right away wasn’t the worst either. Just as Eleanor, who had learned the truth, had thought, perhaps the others had thought so as well.
“As you can see, this is that kind of land.”
Eleanor whispered to Demian.
“In a completely broken land, even more broken people are living. So why don’t you tell me?”
How about you?
How was your life, she asked.
Eleanor asked a question, and,
“I……”
As Demian was about to open his mouth,
“──Demian.”
Abel’s voice was heard through the rain.
Demian’s eyes shot open. He jumped to his feet and turned around. Abel was approaching, pushing aside the bushes. One of his cheeks seemed swollen, but what was more prominent was the fatigue in Abel’s expression.
“Professor Argento……”
Demian took a step toward Abel.
A moment of silence flowed. After a brief contemplation, Demian bowed his body. He knelt on one knee and bowed his head.
“……I am truly sorry.”
“What are you sorry for.”
Abel swept back his wet hair.
He looked down at Demian with his eyes narrowed.
“The villagers have found out about the village chief’s death. They are protesting strongly. Our relationship with the villagers will be strained for a while. Of course……”
Abel’s gaze shifted to Eleanor.
“……Depending on what we do, it can be resolved.”
It’s alright.
It’s nothing to worry about.
Abel muttered as such.
“So tell me yourself. Why are you apologizing to me.”
“I……”
I could not make a decision.
Demian confessed, gritting his teeth.
“I tried to kill the village chief without making a decision. I was overwhelmed even though I had drawn my sword.”
“What were you overwhelmed by.”
“……Death.”
The fear of killing someone.
Demian said he felt fear from death itself. He had not felt fear from the presence or absence of a weapon, or the difference in power. Demian could have cut Robert’s throat at any time. Nor had he felt fear from the problem of good and evil, or the gap in understanding. Robert was a man who deserved to die, and there was no room for Demian to agonize.
“The fear of the unknown suppressed me.”
But he did not know.
He felt fear because he did not know death.
Demian recited as such. The only thing Demian did not know was death, and the reason Robert could mock Demian was because he knew death.
“Because I did not know one thing, I came to not know everything.”
Because he did not know death, he came to question himself.
Serve the lord with valor and faith. Respect and protect the weak. Despise rewards made of gold coins, and hate injustice, cowardice, and deceit. Protect the faith. Defend the honor of a fellow knight. Fight for the well-being of all. Do not turn your back on the enemy, and do not refuse a challenge on equal terms. Live for honor and glory.
Demian recited the righteousness of the Farenheit family.
“This is the righteousness of the Farenheit family, and the righteousness I have held as one who will become a knight……”
Righteousness did not exist in this land.
There was no room for it to exist. Because it was destitute and restless, backward and arduous, everything had become meaningless.
“Robert Olmstead, that man was a villain.”
But I do not know.
If worshiping a monster was the only answer,
if offering a sacrifice was the only way to prolong the lives of the majority,
if such a belief had been solidified in this land for a long time,
“What use is it then.”
The righteousness I have held,
must have been solidified because it was prosperous and sacred, advanced and easy. And so, it would be nothing more than a laughingstock. If I were to recite my righteousness to the people living in this land……,
“……It would never be the right thing to do.”
Demian muttered as such and bit his lower lip,
“It has shattered, your chivalry……”
Abel reached out his hand.
He placed his hand on Demian’s bowed head.
“Some righteousness is certainly a luxury. It is like a sweetener that only the well-fed can enjoy. I do not believe that any righteousness can penetrate this world forever. Ethics are constantly changing, and laws are revised countless times.”
So Demian,
Demian Fernando von Farenheit.
“If you have come to not know, then agonize.”
If what you believed you knew has become unknown,
if the chivalry you have solidified has all crumbled,
gather the fragments and contemplate on your own. What to do from now on.
“You are still young.”
Which means you have a lot of time.
After contemplating today’s events, tell me.
“What you will solidify until you become an adult.”
That is the task given to you.
Abel whispered as such.
* * *
The next day, on the coast of Portsmouth.
As dawn broke, the puddles became clear.
The waves, smeared with rainwater, were rougher than the previous day. The sunlight that peeked over the horizon was faint, and Abel had spent the night in the middle of the sandy beach. The smell of wet sand seemed to have seeped into Abel’s formal attire.
‘I must move.’
It would be a busy day.
After returning to the lodgings with Demian late at night, he had changed his clothes and waited. For dawn to break.
‘It is time to visit Pnakotic.’
Yesterday’s commotion had been quelled by Pnakotic.
It had entered a lull because she had driven them away with her shouts. She must have been playing the villain to do so.
Even so, nothing would change immediately. There were numerous gazes aimed at Abel in the middle of the night. The students were staying at the deceased village chief’s residence, and the villagers’ gazes toward Abel were filled with hatred, as if they were looking at a monster.
There was much to resolve.
They were problems that had occurred within the range of his predictions for now.
It couldn’t have ended with just executing the monsters. The process of aiding a backward region was exceedingly complex.
It was just that if there was anything unexpected……,
“Hey, Professor.”
Was it perhaps the voice that suddenly reached his ears.
“Did you sleep well?”
“……Ernst.”
Abel, who was preparing with his beloved sword in hand, narrowed his eyes.
Ernst was standing on the breakwater. He was looking down at Abel even though it was not time to wake up.
“You’re up early. What is it?”
“I didn’t sleep. More importantly, what do you mean, what is it. There’s not just one or two things going on.”
Ernst jumped lightly.
He landed on the sandy beach and approached Abel.
“I came to hear the explanation.”
Before the others.
Ernst muttered as such.
“You must have a lot to tell us.”
Isn’t that right?
A huge incident has occurred.