Synopsis:
Twenty years ago, demons appeared in the Timber Kingdom and initiated their atrocious invasion. Adjacent countries listened to a mysterious person's suggestion and divided the land into two by magic, creating a strait called The Big Crevice. The Fields was unaffected by the demons, whereas the Timber Island still filled with slaughter and blood. To the residents, the world seemed to be divided into heaven and hell.
In the heaven, a teenage boy, bored by the serenity, decided to venture.
Born in hell, a teenage girl pursued serenity, yet fresh blood tainted her sword.
At the beginning of the huge outbreak of the world, what adversities would the two, having met each other by accident, meet in this decaying peace?
Autor: Kills (意外)
Ilustrator: H2SO4
Number of volumes: 1
status: Ongoing?
Prologue
Spoiler! :
The light wind blew, the stars hung high and bright.
We call this place the Jade Cradle. If said to a stranger, they might reckon this is an ore-producing village, but once they know this village is situated inside a forest, they will have different replies.
The role of the sun was gone, switched by the crescent moon. In this nice cloudless night, the pale blue aura emanated from the moon could clearly be seen.
The Ivenlod Village was a village embraced by the natural forest. The trees in the forest blew along the light wind, rustling. Some call this rustle the breath of the forest. If you listen earnestly with your eyes closed, this sound would gently rush into your heart like the soft waves.
The villagers put up a fire in the plaza, some chatting jovially, some concentrating on playing cards, some just lying at the side resting.
Compared to this casual ambience, the pub close to the plaza was much more abuzz. A strong, tough and drunk guy were dancing on a table, kicking away the wooden cups and the food basket, and started to sing a song no one could understand.
“Which idiot gave him beer?” someone shouted reproachfully.
A person sitting adjacent to the table of the drunken guy laid their hands, saying, helplessly, “He took my beer when I wasn’t watching. What could I do...”
“Let that be. If we don’t pull him away, that table is going to collapse!” a villager reminded in a high voice.
Letting alone his singing and his dancing, the weight the tough guy of over a hundred kilograms exerting on the table was enough to make the table screech dismally.
Several male villagers clumsily went out to help, some taking the table, some pulling the drunken guy, and spent a considerable amount of time to return the drunken guy to his seat.
A teenager outside the pub was viewing all of this through the windows. When all of it ended, he turned around and leaned on the wall of the pub again, looking up at the sky. With the dark blue background in decadence and the twinkling stars as the touch up, the white, clean moon was spectacular. In this night without even a single cloud, it would induce hallucinations that this sky was far yet close. Everything under this sky seemed reachable to the eye yet unreachable to the stretching hand.
The teenager looked at his right hand spread wide to the sky and smiled wryly. In normal situations, he wouldn’t be looking up at the starry sky with problems binding his heart. Even the most delicious food would taste dull when eaten multiple times in a month. This was how he felt. Having been living in this village since birth, everything around him was usual and dull.
Nevertheless, he harboured a different feeling from usual today—as he was going to leave tomorrow. He was going to leave this familiar and memorable land— the Jade Cradle.
We call this place the Jade Cradle. If said to a stranger, they might reckon this is an ore-producing village, but once they know this village is situated inside a forest, they will have different replies.
The role of the sun was gone, switched by the crescent moon. In this nice cloudless night, the pale blue aura emanated from the moon could clearly be seen.
The Ivenlod Village was a village embraced by the natural forest. The trees in the forest blew along the light wind, rustling. Some call this rustle the breath of the forest. If you listen earnestly with your eyes closed, this sound would gently rush into your heart like the soft waves.
The villagers put up a fire in the plaza, some chatting jovially, some concentrating on playing cards, some just lying at the side resting.
Compared to this casual ambience, the pub close to the plaza was much more abuzz. A strong, tough and drunk guy were dancing on a table, kicking away the wooden cups and the food basket, and started to sing a song no one could understand.
“Which idiot gave him beer?” someone shouted reproachfully.
A person sitting adjacent to the table of the drunken guy laid their hands, saying, helplessly, “He took my beer when I wasn’t watching. What could I do...”
“Let that be. If we don’t pull him away, that table is going to collapse!” a villager reminded in a high voice.
Letting alone his singing and his dancing, the weight the tough guy of over a hundred kilograms exerting on the table was enough to make the table screech dismally.
Several male villagers clumsily went out to help, some taking the table, some pulling the drunken guy, and spent a considerable amount of time to return the drunken guy to his seat.
A teenager outside the pub was viewing all of this through the windows. When all of it ended, he turned around and leaned on the wall of the pub again, looking up at the sky. With the dark blue background in decadence and the twinkling stars as the touch up, the white, clean moon was spectacular. In this night without even a single cloud, it would induce hallucinations that this sky was far yet close. Everything under this sky seemed reachable to the eye yet unreachable to the stretching hand.
The teenager looked at his right hand spread wide to the sky and smiled wryly. In normal situations, he wouldn’t be looking up at the starry sky with problems binding his heart. Even the most delicious food would taste dull when eaten multiple times in a month. This was how he felt. Having been living in this village since birth, everything around him was usual and dull.
Nevertheless, he harboured a different feeling from usual today—as he was going to leave tomorrow. He was going to leave this familiar and memorable land— the Jade Cradle.
Spoiler! :
When peace was returned to the pub, the drunken guy was sleeping soundly on the table. The teenager could hear weak sounds.
In the dark forest, there came rustling sounds of disturbed leaves and crisp sounds of branches being ripped off. These disturbing, crude sounds raised the teenager’s suspicion.
Was it the animals fighting? But he didn’t hear any scowls or howls of beasts. And since humans were proactive nearby, animals save birds rarely come near to the village. Was it trouble some villager had got himself into?
“The night is the morning for the awakening forest” was said by a traveller having been lost in the forest for over ten days. It was spread across many. People like the teenager would be stirred with close feelings since they knew the real nature of the forest when they were always being protected by it. If a villager was to enter the forest in the night, he or she would definitely find company, lest he or she be trapped in danger alone. And from what the teenager knew, everyone stayed in the village tonight.
Then, had someone else entered? Though rare, there were incidents where travellers who had lost their way would run into this place. But if this is the case, he should have heard human voices...
“Stop running!” a vague voice came from the distant trees.
“It was a voice I hadn’t heard. Looks like someone is really lost...but, wait...stop running?”
Feeling suspicious, the teenager walked to the edge of the village gradually. In front of him was the darkening forest. Even though the hanging lamps were bright, he couldn’t see farther. But there was no need for him to do so. When the teenager stopped, someone rushed out abruptly from the trees.
It was a monster wearing human clothes and with a human figure—this was the most probable description. The dark violet skin looked like dead tissues where blood didn’t flow through, sticky and eroded. The monster looked back while running, and hit the teenager frozen in this sight, the two of them ending up falling together on the ground.
“...!”
Without hesitation, the teenager pushed off the monster away from him. That non-human being rolled off for two circles, apparently gasping in weariness. Lifting himself up with one hand, the teenager widened his eyes, looking at this strange guy. Underneath the dark violet skin was the snake-like blood crawling through the dark red vessels, capturing the teenager’s gaze.
The monster moved. The teenager prepared to stand up and run away. At this moment, another person appeared before the teenager.
It was a beautiful thing, a girl.
The girl had dreamy aqua-blue long hair like waves, and blue eyes conjuring the pacifying lake under the blue sky. At this instant, shown by the moonlight and blown by the wind, the girl’s aqua-blue hair was like clear water threads made under a spell, too bright that the teenager almost forgot to breathe. And those eyes, as if embedding glowing blue gems, gave off a mysterious aura.
It seems she had chased the monster for some great distance, as she was panting the same as the monster, her chest moving up and down. In spite of this, her razor-sharp eyes still directly caught hold of the monster. After a short while of silence, the young girl inhaled lightly, her lips making moving notes.
“You’re unlucky to have come to human territory.”
With that said, the young girl approached the monster. Until now did the teenager noticed she was holding a sword.
“...Michael,” the monster spoke.
This simple name made the young girl stop in alert.
She looked at the teenager—Michael.
“Do you know each other? Looks like you’re a demon too. So this is demon territory, I guess.”
The girl’s gaze shot beyond Michael and the monster and into the village. Sudden wind ruffled her aqua-blue long hair. Along with her squinted eyes for a farther gaze, she looked like a beautiful spirit that would only appear in legends.
“But this ambience smells human. How strange; is this invaded by demons? This speed of invasion...”
Her light voice sounded like words spoken to herself, yet attached with hope of someone answering. She slowly said with her eyebrows furrowed. Were Michael unable to understand her language, he must have been indulged in the tone of her voice and the puzzlement of her face...sadly, he understood.
“Hold on. Have you misunderstood something?”
Michael was first at a loss. Then he inquired carefully.
“Couldn’t you hear me? I had mistaken this place as human territory, you demon,” answered the young girl, pointing her sword at Michael. But the real fear Michael sensed was her icy eyes far sharper than her sword, so sharp it might kill, forcing Michael to stand up and feign being calm.
He slapped off the dust on his pants and said, “No, what kind of creature did you mistake me as? I’m a normal person. Everyone living in this village you see is normal people, having nothing to do with that creature you said.”
The young girl looked at him expressionlessly.
It felt that she was looking through a liar; that only cold, icy eyes was the best counter. Michael couldn’t help feeling impotent. On the other hand, let alone whether the young girl would listen, why did this monster knew his name? While Michael was still puzzled, the monster spoke again.
“Michael...I’m Gordon.”
“...”
It would be fine if Michael hadn’t shown an expression of suspicion and incredulity, yet he did, and with surprise, eyes wide. This was the same as telling the young girl they really knew each other, though this was not what Michael noticed but the clothes the monster was wearing and the bloody wound stretching from his back to his shoulder.
“Stop pretending. It’s obvious you two are together. You’d better not think of doing anything funny. Just wait there obediently.”
The young girl broke off Michael’s thinking, warning him while walking to the monster, having eyes one couldn’t see through, and lifted her sword slowly with her thin arm.
“I knew this day would soon come,” the monster spoke, unlike Michael, who was speechless. “I knew I would be killed by humans sooner or later; I’m just astonished it would be done by someone outside the village, “ the monster seemed to have given up completely. He sat on the ground, defenseless, looking up at the young girl. “Michael is different from me. He’s a normal human. It’s I who mixed into them. No, it’s I who mixed into ‘your’ world.”
The monster explained for Michael.
As though thinking over the reliability of his words, the young girl blinked, raised her sword, and slashed the monster’s long neck sideways.
The monster’s body fell straight onto the floor, blood oozing and sprinkling from the clear cut, dying the grey, green lane with a deep red colour.
Eyes widened, Michael witnessed a shocking scene.
The beautiful girl really killed the monster.
All along he had thought this was a hallucination, or a performance by a circus that teases people beforehand. But seeing this bloody scene, he had to be serious.
The young girl stared silently at the corpse on the ground, her blue eyes hiding abysmal emotions. After a second, she turned her gaze to Michael, and the two of them looked at each other in silence.
“...”
In the blowing soft wind, the young girl’s hair and skirt fluttered. Although it wasn’t the time to think about this, Michael couldn’t help being captivated by her beauty. After a while, the young girl walked to a nearby bush, picked several leaves, and lightly wiped away the remaining crimson liquid on the tip of the sword. The expressionless girl casted secret glances at Michael, who was standing still, at a loss of what to do.
Should he escape to the village and hide? Should he find someone to get rid of her? There wasn’t a need anyway, as she was wiping his weapon, meaning she wouldn’t continue killing. Or was she thinking she didn’t need to employ her weapon? At this moment, the young girl slid the sword back to its sheath on her back, her left hand straightening her hair from the left side of her neck, her aqua-blue hair thus swaying graciously.
Michael gulped and looked at the fallen monster unwillingly: blood was still flowing affluently. He felt like a criminal awaiting his judgement—though in the case—what the young girl would do.
Yet the young girl surprised him.
“Sorry for scaring you.”
The young girl placed one hand on her lips, showing a mischievous smile after her words.
If someone else were to smile and apologise at the same time, it would definitely be disgusting. Yet this girl accelerated Michael’s heartbeat.
He managed to open his lips and say, “You believe I’m human?”
With that question asked, Michael found it very stupid. The young girl, however, didn’t think so, as she stopped smiling and said in a serious tone, “If you’re a demon, you would have called other disgusting fellows like this one here, or even directly attack me, or probably just escape. In any case, you wouldn’t stand there like a dumbass looking how I kill your companion.”
So that was the reason...so was she observing me while she was wiping her weapon? Michael thought. Although displeased with being said as a dumbass, he couldn’t think of anything to rebuke it.
“Um...” after a few seconds, Michael, relieved, said, “can you now tell me what that was?”
He first looked at the disintegrated corpse and then at the young girl.
“I want you to tell me what happened.”
Not only did she not reply, she instead showed dissatisfaction, pointing at the corpse, saying, “Why did this demon say he had mixed into ‘our’ world? Was there no one in this village who could discover he wasn’t human?”
“Yes. He calls himself Gordon, and there is someone by this name in our village, but he looks nothing like him.”
“It’s simple then. Let’s look for the person you speak about.”
Without waiting for Michael’s consent, the young girl had entered the village.
Michael originally wanted to secretly bury this eerie creature’s corpse, yet, worried the young girl might stir up unnecessary tides in the village, Michael followed her for the time being.
“Hey, you’re Michael, right?” the young girl asked with half of her face turning to him. Michael had just walked to her side, the two of them walking with the same speed. Though he heard her question, her blue eyes captivated him, so he didn’t answer.
“Yes?”
The young girl made another voice for confirmation. A sudden wind blew from behind blew past, blowing the inconceivable aqua-blue long hair on the young girl’s delicate cheeks. Using her white fingers, she directed the hair round the back of her ears, showing the beautiful contours of the side of her face. Then, the transparent eyes under the fine, long eyelashes looked at Michael afresh.
“...”
If words in our hearts were written on our faces, Michael would have stuffed his face into the dirt beside his feet, but the words wouldn’t appear; still, he knew his cheeks was heating up.
“What’re you doing?”
The young girl stopped, crossing her arms on her chest with suspicion. Since her height only reached Michael’s shoulders, the upward gaze she was casting was nervous-wrecking.
Michael shook his head to tell himself to rejuvenate.
He had been messing things up because she was a beauty, which was ridiculous. He threw his fist in front of his mouth, coughed, and deliberately lowered his voice, “Yes. I’m Michael. And yours?”
Having that said, Michael showed a self-presumed perfect, mesmerising smile.
“Cut it out.”
The young girl violently stepped on Michael’s feet, forcing a dismal cry out from Michael. Seemingly pleased with his reaction, she said joyfully, “I’m Aqua,” and placed her hands behind her skirt, stepping forwards in a light, crisp manner.
“Aqua...What a strange name.”
Of course Michael didn’t say this; he just continued to follow her, feeling helpless.
“Is that a pub in front of us?”
Aqua looked at the lighted building becoming close to them.
“Yes. Everyone gathers there every night.”
“I’m thirsty.”
Neither pleading nor requesting, Aqua spoke those two words sluggishly, perhaps looking like a spoiled princess, ordering her old, loyal servant. It was an order done without any room of compromising or discussing.
“Is that so? Let me treat you to something then...” this was of course the standard answer, but Michael didn’t want to give in that easily.
When he began to think of other ways to do it, Aqua suddenly stopped and pulled the corner of his shirt.
“?” A question mark flashed in Michael’s mind. He looked at the young girl at his side.
Aqua looked at Michael with prying eyes and subsequently averted her gaze, making stuttering sounds. In any moment, her white face embedded profound amounts of blushes, apparently embarrassed...
“...”
At last, she lowered her head and spoke softly, “P-Please. May I drink water?”
Micheal felt his head was puffing smoke.
“Was that good? Was it the type you like?”
Looking at Aqua’s sudden laughing face with her hands covering her mouth, Michael knew he had been teased.
Although very adorable, she was detestable at the same time. Embarrassed, Michael turned his face to a side, and spoke coldly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t every boy like this kind of a weak girl? Wouldn’t you answer immediately to a request made with that tone?”
His thoughts were seen completely.
“Am I not correct?”
But Michael didn’t want to give up yet.
“Maybe not, for if the girl is so weak that you can’t even make a word in reply, then how can you reply immediately?” having that said, Aqua showed a pretty smile with the arc of her lips.
Michael could only smile in response, only to find his lips convulsing.
“I-Is there such a girl?”
His abdomen was punched hard right afterwards. Thus, he decided to keep his mouth shut.
The two of them having arrived to the door of the pub, Michael spoke, “Wait here for me, I’ll get you a cup of water.”
“Can’t I enter?”
Although foreigners weren’t restricted from entering, let alone unwelcoming, Michale was perturbed whether letting this girl meet the villagers would be a good idea. Especially the sword hanging over the back of the young girl kept reminding Michael the things happened just a while ago.
“Not really. You don’t know these people, and there are a lot of them. Won’t you be embarrassed?” explained Michael, his hands spread wide open. If he were being said with this reason, he would have been persuaded: wouldn’t it be a hassle to meet a bunch of people all for a cup of water?
“Not quite. I don’t know you, yet we get along quite well, don’t you think?” the young girl replied with her head cocked to a slight angle. As if unable to understand what Michael was thinking, the young girl had an innocent face painted with abhorrent wilderness. Of course, Aqua could counteract him only because she knew what he was thinking. Noticing this, Michael finally decided to compromise, opening the slightly opened door all the way, letting Aqua to enter first. Though he didn’t peek at her, he could guess she must be laughing up her sleeve.
Increasing villagers noticed them entering. When they looked at Aqua, for an instant they thought they had seen the goddess of peace and order—Tracy. Legend had that Tracy was beautiful and young and had aqua-blue hair and eyes. Anything beside her would become insignificant, archaic, and dusty. A light breath from her could blow away any intractable hatred.
Aqua fits these characteristics.
Suddenly the pub fell to quietness. Feeling the aberrance of the atmosphere, more villagers followed the stare of the majority. Not long after, everyone locked their gaze upon Michael and Aqua.
It was indeed troubling, Michael thought, heaving a sigh in his heart. When he wanted to say something to break the ice...
“Greetings. I’m Michael’s friend,” Aqua commenced. She placed her hands behind her, smiling with a touch of embarrassment.
“...eh?”
Friend? With this adorable young girl? I’m her friend?
She was a girl lost in the forest whom I met and took to the village for a bit of rest. Michael had planned to use such a story to draw a line between Aqua and him, yet he couldn’t believe she would call him her friend.
Even at his place, the young girl led Michael by the nose.
“...”
No one in the pub replied. Everyone stared back and forth between the two. Michael noticed there were some male villagers of age a bit older than him sitting round a table kept throwing curious glances at Aqua. They were the young people responsible for the logistics of the village, or in other words, young businessman. They make deals back and fro nearby towns.
Even when they had seen a lot of beautiful girls in these cities, none of them were comparable to Aqua. This was the zealous gaze Michael felt from them. If he were sitting at their place, he must have been showing the same stupid face.
But thinking deeper, didn’t he make such stupid faces since the very beginning when he saw Aqua? He even scored himself a ‘dumbass’ rank. While his thoughts wandered, he couldn’t help being strangely jealous of those young men.
“Michael, where did you encounter your friend?”
Someone in the young businessman group couldn’t hold on and asked. He was a fat, drunken guy with freckles, his hand holding a wooden cup. Of course, not only the young men but also many others, including women, were interested to this visitor, hurrying Michael to answer with their impatient glances.
Having everyone eyeing him, Michael felt at a loss. After all, he was not at the least a friend of hers; he was as clueless of the girl as any villager around him.
With things settled like this, he could only neglect what Aqua had proposed! Certainly he should have told them she was a girl lost in the forest...to avoid contradiction, he might go with the classical way of saying the girl hit her head accidently and was thus pouting nonsense, so they weren’t really friends...or some other more convincing way...
Squeezing his mind to think up of ways to get over it, Michael found the corner of his shirt was pulled before he could let it out. He turned aside, his eyes meeting with Aqua’s.
“I’m really thirsty. Could you give me a cup of water?” said Aqua with a voice everyone could hear.
Was it fine if he let her stay here for the time being? Michael pondered.
Aqua suddenly pinched Michael, as if telling him to make up his mind quickly.
So he could only follow what she had said. That was what she wanted anyway, so it would be definitely fine to let the smart her take care of things...no way!
Michael immediately thought of further problems.
She would speak because she knew the crowd surrounded her. If he were to answer the question, many more would be awaiting him. Then things would become endless.
Had she thought of this from the jump-start? At last, Michael could summon his courage to answer, “Let me prepare something to treat her. Let’s talk about the details later.”
Aqua loosened her hand, which should mean his reaction was a pass.
“Wait there for me,” he let out a sigh inwardly and pointed at an unoccupied table beside the door. Aqua obediently left him.
Quickly moving through the pub table showcasing the beers, he turned and went through a door.
An eighty-year-old white-haired village chief was lying on a table dozing. Michael took several jades from the pocket on the table, poured water into a cup, and before leaving, he was attracted by the view in the room.
“...”
There wasn’t anything special, yet Michael’s couldn’t keep his eyes off of the room—the village chief’s benevolent face, the swaying candlelight on the table, the oozing moonlight through the windows, the old books on the shelf.
But he couldn’t just stand here. He had decided to leave. If he didn’t, he would only be in regret for the ‘Cradle’ that brought him up.
Smiling wryly, Michael left the room silently.
When he returned to the lobby, he could see a bunch of people crowded around Aqua.
“Where do you come from?” “My, are you Tracy?” “Is that thing on your back a sword?” “You’re dazzling!” “Is your hair made from magic?” “How old are you?” “How did you know Michael?” “Can you let me touch you?” “Is this hair fake?”
Slightly titling her head, Aqua smiled and remained silent.
“You guys are ridiculous...”
Murmuring, Michael squeezed through several villagers and placed the cup of water on the table, the ‘jades’ in Aqua’s hand.
“This is...”
Furrowing lightly, Aqua blinked and eyed the jade fruits.
“This is a well-grown fruit in our village, the most delicious fruit in the world,” said Michael.
This sounded exaggerated, but seeing other villagers being serious of this, Aqua could see them believed the same.
Fresh biting sounds came from the juices: when Aqua gave it a light bite, she used her hand to cover her mouth.
“This taste is different from the ones I ate before.”
“The ones before are acidulous, their skin thick, right?” the fat businessman with freckles said, as if snatching the right to talk with Aqua, “Our jades are so good that there are counterfeits everywhere. If you haven’t eaten the real one, you might think the most delicious fruit in the world is just of mediocre level.”
Aqua nodded. Seemingly hungry and thirsty, she had finished the jades and the cup of water in the blink of an eye.
“Do you want more?”
Hearing Michael’s inquiry, Aqua hesitated: even it wasn’t quite nice to eat and drink a lot in front of many strangers, she still lowered her head and nodded. The red flush on her face was proof she truly felt embarrassed since encountering Michael. Looking at that natural reaction, Michael couldn’t help feeling aroused.
“Wait for me,” said Michael, taking the cup and leaving.
“Hahaha, are you that hungry?” asked the fat businessman. His question sounded as if he wanted a young, blooming girl to acknowledge she was gluttonous. Still, it was a word of concern, she could only use another way of putting it, “It’s so delicious it excited my appetite.”
“It’s fine. Eat more if you want!”
The fat businessman smiled flatly, lifting the wooden cup and pouring the remaining beer into his mouth.
After that, Michael brought jades, bread, dried meat pieces, and a cup of water to the young girl. While she was savouring her food, an even younger girl asked Michael, “Michael, aren’t you going to introduce this lady to us?”
Hearing her question, others joined in, “Yeah!” “Aren’t you going to introduce her?” “Where did you two first met?” all of these questions came in piles, forming yet again a problem for Michael. He really didn’t know how to introduce her. Seeing her expressionless, eating her bread nonchalantly, and looking back at him with innocent and pure eyes, he was touched by that cuteness yet at the same time devastated.
Okay, so let me go back to the classical way of saying she was lost and had hit her head!
Probably noticing Michael plotting something foolish, Aqua stuffed bread in her mouth as if she couldn’t stand this any longer, gulped a whole cup of water, let it flowed through her throat, and commenced, “Hey, I know what you want to know. Ask me one by one! In return of this food, I’ll do my best to answer you.”
In the following question-and-answer event, everyone had a better understanding of this young girl.
She was called Aqua, seventeen-year-old, knowing nothing of Tracy, and her hair was not made of magic. How she met Michael was a secret, and thought him as an adorable boy. She thought the fat businessman and his friends adorable men as well, this village passionate, the rural areas places without deep ties...she answered and answered, but stopped when one question popped up.
“Why do you equip a weapon?”
Having been eloquent, Aqua slightly pursed up her lips.
The weapon is for slaying those monsters—isn’t quite a reason to be told without caution. When this thought ran into Michael’s mind, he remembered the monster back there wasn’t yet dealt with.
It wasn’t the time to chat frivolously now. Sucking down his saliva, Michael looked round the pub lobby: some were chatting around Aqua, and others sitting on their own seats, drinking and chatting.
Spending a quick few seconds, Michael confirmed that Gordon wasn’t here.
“This is just to scare people off—a decoration, when said in vulgar terms. After all, there are too many bad people, and I’m alone wandering everywhere, so...”
Taking the opportunity while Aqua was busy answering, Michael whispered to someone nearby, “Did you see Gordon today?”
“No, I think he’s still being the way he is, “ that person said.
Michael nodded and prepared to leave Aqua here and head out, but when he arrived to the plaza...
A villager was rushing to the door, gasping, and shouting, “Listen to me!”
Having waited for the noise in the pub to subsidise, he then shouted anew, “Everyone, listen to me! Gordon is killed! Come!”
With that said, everyone widened their eyes, looking at the man who brought them bad news.
For a few seconds the pub was utterly silent.
Bang! A loud, strong banging sound on the table freaked everyone out. A bearded man stood up from his seat.
“Do you mean it?”
The villager at the door nodded timidly.
“Some of you: come with me. Others: take your weapons. Women and children stay here. Oh, and light a few torches and bring them with you!”
The man who banged the table ordered roughly. He was called Bug, a man in the village with substantial power in his words, as well as the chief’s most favoured successor. Some villagers dashed out with Bug, some rummaged through stuff, acquiring several axes, hunting blades and arrows, lighted two torches and left in a hurry.
Many people in the pub were gone after the short announcement. There were a few tables with half-drank beers or juices, along with dried up fruit pieces and dried up meat pieces to be eaten with the beer. Because of the hurry, the tables and the chairs in the pub were in a mess, some being knocked over but not lifted back up subsequently.
Looking at this mess, Michael was tensed greatly. When he heard the announcement, he had already been trembling. Aqua, on the other hand, lowered her head, her hands placed on her skirt, her aqua-blue hair drooped in sync.
Michael was now the only person by her side. Although everyone looked interested in her, it was only a custom of the welcoming village done to visitors. Now that someone had died, there was no time to shift any heed to this stranger.
Though Micheal could not see her whole face, he could tell she was softly biting her lower lips.
“A-Aqua,” Michael called for Aqua, softly.
He didn’t know what situation they were in.
The beautiful young girl in front of him killed a monster who proclaimed he was Gordon. Now, the villagers found Gordon dead. Why?
“I’m tricked. Indeed, it was the way of the devil.”
“W-What the heck happened?” Michael inquired softly, avoiding other villagers in the pub from hearing him. These villagers, though, were gathered by the windows, whispering to each other, trying to see what was going on outside.
“To put it simply, I didn’t completely kill the demon, who, after we left, activated his skill and turned his appearance human.”
“Activating his skill...” Michael repeated Aqua’s words.
“He wanted to create this situation, a situation where it was I who killed him, ‘this villager’, and not ‘this monster’.”
“...”
“This has also cleared my doubts. So he can turn his appearance human...that’s why he can stay in a human village. What a rare ability...no, it’s only an ability I’ve only heard of. I’ve never imagined it ever existed.”
In the dark forest, there came rustling sounds of disturbed leaves and crisp sounds of branches being ripped off. These disturbing, crude sounds raised the teenager’s suspicion.
Was it the animals fighting? But he didn’t hear any scowls or howls of beasts. And since humans were proactive nearby, animals save birds rarely come near to the village. Was it trouble some villager had got himself into?
“The night is the morning for the awakening forest” was said by a traveller having been lost in the forest for over ten days. It was spread across many. People like the teenager would be stirred with close feelings since they knew the real nature of the forest when they were always being protected by it. If a villager was to enter the forest in the night, he or she would definitely find company, lest he or she be trapped in danger alone. And from what the teenager knew, everyone stayed in the village tonight.
Then, had someone else entered? Though rare, there were incidents where travellers who had lost their way would run into this place. But if this is the case, he should have heard human voices...
“Stop running!” a vague voice came from the distant trees.
“It was a voice I hadn’t heard. Looks like someone is really lost...but, wait...stop running?”
Feeling suspicious, the teenager walked to the edge of the village gradually. In front of him was the darkening forest. Even though the hanging lamps were bright, he couldn’t see farther. But there was no need for him to do so. When the teenager stopped, someone rushed out abruptly from the trees.
It was a monster wearing human clothes and with a human figure—this was the most probable description. The dark violet skin looked like dead tissues where blood didn’t flow through, sticky and eroded. The monster looked back while running, and hit the teenager frozen in this sight, the two of them ending up falling together on the ground.
“...!”
Without hesitation, the teenager pushed off the monster away from him. That non-human being rolled off for two circles, apparently gasping in weariness. Lifting himself up with one hand, the teenager widened his eyes, looking at this strange guy. Underneath the dark violet skin was the snake-like blood crawling through the dark red vessels, capturing the teenager’s gaze.
The monster moved. The teenager prepared to stand up and run away. At this moment, another person appeared before the teenager.
It was a beautiful thing, a girl.
The girl had dreamy aqua-blue long hair like waves, and blue eyes conjuring the pacifying lake under the blue sky. At this instant, shown by the moonlight and blown by the wind, the girl’s aqua-blue hair was like clear water threads made under a spell, too bright that the teenager almost forgot to breathe. And those eyes, as if embedding glowing blue gems, gave off a mysterious aura.
It seems she had chased the monster for some great distance, as she was panting the same as the monster, her chest moving up and down. In spite of this, her razor-sharp eyes still directly caught hold of the monster. After a short while of silence, the young girl inhaled lightly, her lips making moving notes.
“You’re unlucky to have come to human territory.”
With that said, the young girl approached the monster. Until now did the teenager noticed she was holding a sword.
“...Michael,” the monster spoke.
This simple name made the young girl stop in alert.
She looked at the teenager—Michael.
“Do you know each other? Looks like you’re a demon too. So this is demon territory, I guess.”
The girl’s gaze shot beyond Michael and the monster and into the village. Sudden wind ruffled her aqua-blue long hair. Along with her squinted eyes for a farther gaze, she looked like a beautiful spirit that would only appear in legends.
“But this ambience smells human. How strange; is this invaded by demons? This speed of invasion...”
Her light voice sounded like words spoken to herself, yet attached with hope of someone answering. She slowly said with her eyebrows furrowed. Were Michael unable to understand her language, he must have been indulged in the tone of her voice and the puzzlement of her face...sadly, he understood.
“Hold on. Have you misunderstood something?”
Michael was first at a loss. Then he inquired carefully.
“Couldn’t you hear me? I had mistaken this place as human territory, you demon,” answered the young girl, pointing her sword at Michael. But the real fear Michael sensed was her icy eyes far sharper than her sword, so sharp it might kill, forcing Michael to stand up and feign being calm.
He slapped off the dust on his pants and said, “No, what kind of creature did you mistake me as? I’m a normal person. Everyone living in this village you see is normal people, having nothing to do with that creature you said.”
The young girl looked at him expressionlessly.
It felt that she was looking through a liar; that only cold, icy eyes was the best counter. Michael couldn’t help feeling impotent. On the other hand, let alone whether the young girl would listen, why did this monster knew his name? While Michael was still puzzled, the monster spoke again.
“Michael...I’m Gordon.”
“...”
It would be fine if Michael hadn’t shown an expression of suspicion and incredulity, yet he did, and with surprise, eyes wide. This was the same as telling the young girl they really knew each other, though this was not what Michael noticed but the clothes the monster was wearing and the bloody wound stretching from his back to his shoulder.
“Stop pretending. It’s obvious you two are together. You’d better not think of doing anything funny. Just wait there obediently.”
The young girl broke off Michael’s thinking, warning him while walking to the monster, having eyes one couldn’t see through, and lifted her sword slowly with her thin arm.
“I knew this day would soon come,” the monster spoke, unlike Michael, who was speechless. “I knew I would be killed by humans sooner or later; I’m just astonished it would be done by someone outside the village, “ the monster seemed to have given up completely. He sat on the ground, defenseless, looking up at the young girl. “Michael is different from me. He’s a normal human. It’s I who mixed into them. No, it’s I who mixed into ‘your’ world.”
The monster explained for Michael.
As though thinking over the reliability of his words, the young girl blinked, raised her sword, and slashed the monster’s long neck sideways.
The monster’s body fell straight onto the floor, blood oozing and sprinkling from the clear cut, dying the grey, green lane with a deep red colour.
Eyes widened, Michael witnessed a shocking scene.
The beautiful girl really killed the monster.
All along he had thought this was a hallucination, or a performance by a circus that teases people beforehand. But seeing this bloody scene, he had to be serious.
The young girl stared silently at the corpse on the ground, her blue eyes hiding abysmal emotions. After a second, she turned her gaze to Michael, and the two of them looked at each other in silence.
“...”
In the blowing soft wind, the young girl’s hair and skirt fluttered. Although it wasn’t the time to think about this, Michael couldn’t help being captivated by her beauty. After a while, the young girl walked to a nearby bush, picked several leaves, and lightly wiped away the remaining crimson liquid on the tip of the sword. The expressionless girl casted secret glances at Michael, who was standing still, at a loss of what to do.
Should he escape to the village and hide? Should he find someone to get rid of her? There wasn’t a need anyway, as she was wiping his weapon, meaning she wouldn’t continue killing. Or was she thinking she didn’t need to employ her weapon? At this moment, the young girl slid the sword back to its sheath on her back, her left hand straightening her hair from the left side of her neck, her aqua-blue hair thus swaying graciously.
Michael gulped and looked at the fallen monster unwillingly: blood was still flowing affluently. He felt like a criminal awaiting his judgement—though in the case—what the young girl would do.
Yet the young girl surprised him.
“Sorry for scaring you.”
The young girl placed one hand on her lips, showing a mischievous smile after her words.
If someone else were to smile and apologise at the same time, it would definitely be disgusting. Yet this girl accelerated Michael’s heartbeat.
He managed to open his lips and say, “You believe I’m human?”
With that question asked, Michael found it very stupid. The young girl, however, didn’t think so, as she stopped smiling and said in a serious tone, “If you’re a demon, you would have called other disgusting fellows like this one here, or even directly attack me, or probably just escape. In any case, you wouldn’t stand there like a dumbass looking how I kill your companion.”
So that was the reason...so was she observing me while she was wiping her weapon? Michael thought. Although displeased with being said as a dumbass, he couldn’t think of anything to rebuke it.
“Um...” after a few seconds, Michael, relieved, said, “can you now tell me what that was?”
He first looked at the disintegrated corpse and then at the young girl.
“I want you to tell me what happened.”
Not only did she not reply, she instead showed dissatisfaction, pointing at the corpse, saying, “Why did this demon say he had mixed into ‘our’ world? Was there no one in this village who could discover he wasn’t human?”
“Yes. He calls himself Gordon, and there is someone by this name in our village, but he looks nothing like him.”
“It’s simple then. Let’s look for the person you speak about.”
Without waiting for Michael’s consent, the young girl had entered the village.
Michael originally wanted to secretly bury this eerie creature’s corpse, yet, worried the young girl might stir up unnecessary tides in the village, Michael followed her for the time being.
“Hey, you’re Michael, right?” the young girl asked with half of her face turning to him. Michael had just walked to her side, the two of them walking with the same speed. Though he heard her question, her blue eyes captivated him, so he didn’t answer.
“Yes?”
The young girl made another voice for confirmation. A sudden wind blew from behind blew past, blowing the inconceivable aqua-blue long hair on the young girl’s delicate cheeks. Using her white fingers, she directed the hair round the back of her ears, showing the beautiful contours of the side of her face. Then, the transparent eyes under the fine, long eyelashes looked at Michael afresh.
“...”
If words in our hearts were written on our faces, Michael would have stuffed his face into the dirt beside his feet, but the words wouldn’t appear; still, he knew his cheeks was heating up.
“What’re you doing?”
The young girl stopped, crossing her arms on her chest with suspicion. Since her height only reached Michael’s shoulders, the upward gaze she was casting was nervous-wrecking.
Michael shook his head to tell himself to rejuvenate.
He had been messing things up because she was a beauty, which was ridiculous. He threw his fist in front of his mouth, coughed, and deliberately lowered his voice, “Yes. I’m Michael. And yours?”
Having that said, Michael showed a self-presumed perfect, mesmerising smile.
“Cut it out.”
The young girl violently stepped on Michael’s feet, forcing a dismal cry out from Michael. Seemingly pleased with his reaction, she said joyfully, “I’m Aqua,” and placed her hands behind her skirt, stepping forwards in a light, crisp manner.
“Aqua...What a strange name.”
Of course Michael didn’t say this; he just continued to follow her, feeling helpless.
“Is that a pub in front of us?”
Aqua looked at the lighted building becoming close to them.
“Yes. Everyone gathers there every night.”
“I’m thirsty.”
Neither pleading nor requesting, Aqua spoke those two words sluggishly, perhaps looking like a spoiled princess, ordering her old, loyal servant. It was an order done without any room of compromising or discussing.
“Is that so? Let me treat you to something then...” this was of course the standard answer, but Michael didn’t want to give in that easily.
When he began to think of other ways to do it, Aqua suddenly stopped and pulled the corner of his shirt.
“?” A question mark flashed in Michael’s mind. He looked at the young girl at his side.
Aqua looked at Michael with prying eyes and subsequently averted her gaze, making stuttering sounds. In any moment, her white face embedded profound amounts of blushes, apparently embarrassed...
“...”
At last, she lowered her head and spoke softly, “P-Please. May I drink water?”
Micheal felt his head was puffing smoke.
“Was that good? Was it the type you like?”
Looking at Aqua’s sudden laughing face with her hands covering her mouth, Michael knew he had been teased.
Although very adorable, she was detestable at the same time. Embarrassed, Michael turned his face to a side, and spoke coldly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t every boy like this kind of a weak girl? Wouldn’t you answer immediately to a request made with that tone?”
His thoughts were seen completely.
“Am I not correct?”
But Michael didn’t want to give up yet.
“Maybe not, for if the girl is so weak that you can’t even make a word in reply, then how can you reply immediately?” having that said, Aqua showed a pretty smile with the arc of her lips.
Michael could only smile in response, only to find his lips convulsing.
“I-Is there such a girl?”
His abdomen was punched hard right afterwards. Thus, he decided to keep his mouth shut.
The two of them having arrived to the door of the pub, Michael spoke, “Wait here for me, I’ll get you a cup of water.”
“Can’t I enter?”
Although foreigners weren’t restricted from entering, let alone unwelcoming, Michale was perturbed whether letting this girl meet the villagers would be a good idea. Especially the sword hanging over the back of the young girl kept reminding Michael the things happened just a while ago.
“Not really. You don’t know these people, and there are a lot of them. Won’t you be embarrassed?” explained Michael, his hands spread wide open. If he were being said with this reason, he would have been persuaded: wouldn’t it be a hassle to meet a bunch of people all for a cup of water?
“Not quite. I don’t know you, yet we get along quite well, don’t you think?” the young girl replied with her head cocked to a slight angle. As if unable to understand what Michael was thinking, the young girl had an innocent face painted with abhorrent wilderness. Of course, Aqua could counteract him only because she knew what he was thinking. Noticing this, Michael finally decided to compromise, opening the slightly opened door all the way, letting Aqua to enter first. Though he didn’t peek at her, he could guess she must be laughing up her sleeve.
Increasing villagers noticed them entering. When they looked at Aqua, for an instant they thought they had seen the goddess of peace and order—Tracy. Legend had that Tracy was beautiful and young and had aqua-blue hair and eyes. Anything beside her would become insignificant, archaic, and dusty. A light breath from her could blow away any intractable hatred.
Aqua fits these characteristics.
Suddenly the pub fell to quietness. Feeling the aberrance of the atmosphere, more villagers followed the stare of the majority. Not long after, everyone locked their gaze upon Michael and Aqua.
It was indeed troubling, Michael thought, heaving a sigh in his heart. When he wanted to say something to break the ice...
“Greetings. I’m Michael’s friend,” Aqua commenced. She placed her hands behind her, smiling with a touch of embarrassment.
“...eh?”
Friend? With this adorable young girl? I’m her friend?
She was a girl lost in the forest whom I met and took to the village for a bit of rest. Michael had planned to use such a story to draw a line between Aqua and him, yet he couldn’t believe she would call him her friend.
Even at his place, the young girl led Michael by the nose.
“...”
No one in the pub replied. Everyone stared back and forth between the two. Michael noticed there were some male villagers of age a bit older than him sitting round a table kept throwing curious glances at Aqua. They were the young people responsible for the logistics of the village, or in other words, young businessman. They make deals back and fro nearby towns.
Even when they had seen a lot of beautiful girls in these cities, none of them were comparable to Aqua. This was the zealous gaze Michael felt from them. If he were sitting at their place, he must have been showing the same stupid face.
But thinking deeper, didn’t he make such stupid faces since the very beginning when he saw Aqua? He even scored himself a ‘dumbass’ rank. While his thoughts wandered, he couldn’t help being strangely jealous of those young men.
“Michael, where did you encounter your friend?”
Someone in the young businessman group couldn’t hold on and asked. He was a fat, drunken guy with freckles, his hand holding a wooden cup. Of course, not only the young men but also many others, including women, were interested to this visitor, hurrying Michael to answer with their impatient glances.
Having everyone eyeing him, Michael felt at a loss. After all, he was not at the least a friend of hers; he was as clueless of the girl as any villager around him.
With things settled like this, he could only neglect what Aqua had proposed! Certainly he should have told them she was a girl lost in the forest...to avoid contradiction, he might go with the classical way of saying the girl hit her head accidently and was thus pouting nonsense, so they weren’t really friends...or some other more convincing way...
Squeezing his mind to think up of ways to get over it, Michael found the corner of his shirt was pulled before he could let it out. He turned aside, his eyes meeting with Aqua’s.
“I’m really thirsty. Could you give me a cup of water?” said Aqua with a voice everyone could hear.
Was it fine if he let her stay here for the time being? Michael pondered.
Aqua suddenly pinched Michael, as if telling him to make up his mind quickly.
So he could only follow what she had said. That was what she wanted anyway, so it would be definitely fine to let the smart her take care of things...no way!
Michael immediately thought of further problems.
She would speak because she knew the crowd surrounded her. If he were to answer the question, many more would be awaiting him. Then things would become endless.
Had she thought of this from the jump-start? At last, Michael could summon his courage to answer, “Let me prepare something to treat her. Let’s talk about the details later.”
Aqua loosened her hand, which should mean his reaction was a pass.
“Wait there for me,” he let out a sigh inwardly and pointed at an unoccupied table beside the door. Aqua obediently left him.
Quickly moving through the pub table showcasing the beers, he turned and went through a door.
An eighty-year-old white-haired village chief was lying on a table dozing. Michael took several jades from the pocket on the table, poured water into a cup, and before leaving, he was attracted by the view in the room.
“...”
There wasn’t anything special, yet Michael’s couldn’t keep his eyes off of the room—the village chief’s benevolent face, the swaying candlelight on the table, the oozing moonlight through the windows, the old books on the shelf.
But he couldn’t just stand here. He had decided to leave. If he didn’t, he would only be in regret for the ‘Cradle’ that brought him up.
Smiling wryly, Michael left the room silently.
When he returned to the lobby, he could see a bunch of people crowded around Aqua.
“Where do you come from?” “My, are you Tracy?” “Is that thing on your back a sword?” “You’re dazzling!” “Is your hair made from magic?” “How old are you?” “How did you know Michael?” “Can you let me touch you?” “Is this hair fake?”
Slightly titling her head, Aqua smiled and remained silent.
“You guys are ridiculous...”
Murmuring, Michael squeezed through several villagers and placed the cup of water on the table, the ‘jades’ in Aqua’s hand.
“This is...”
Furrowing lightly, Aqua blinked and eyed the jade fruits.
“This is a well-grown fruit in our village, the most delicious fruit in the world,” said Michael.
This sounded exaggerated, but seeing other villagers being serious of this, Aqua could see them believed the same.
Fresh biting sounds came from the juices: when Aqua gave it a light bite, she used her hand to cover her mouth.
“This taste is different from the ones I ate before.”
“The ones before are acidulous, their skin thick, right?” the fat businessman with freckles said, as if snatching the right to talk with Aqua, “Our jades are so good that there are counterfeits everywhere. If you haven’t eaten the real one, you might think the most delicious fruit in the world is just of mediocre level.”
Aqua nodded. Seemingly hungry and thirsty, she had finished the jades and the cup of water in the blink of an eye.
“Do you want more?”
Hearing Michael’s inquiry, Aqua hesitated: even it wasn’t quite nice to eat and drink a lot in front of many strangers, she still lowered her head and nodded. The red flush on her face was proof she truly felt embarrassed since encountering Michael. Looking at that natural reaction, Michael couldn’t help feeling aroused.
“Wait for me,” said Michael, taking the cup and leaving.
“Hahaha, are you that hungry?” asked the fat businessman. His question sounded as if he wanted a young, blooming girl to acknowledge she was gluttonous. Still, it was a word of concern, she could only use another way of putting it, “It’s so delicious it excited my appetite.”
“It’s fine. Eat more if you want!”
The fat businessman smiled flatly, lifting the wooden cup and pouring the remaining beer into his mouth.
After that, Michael brought jades, bread, dried meat pieces, and a cup of water to the young girl. While she was savouring her food, an even younger girl asked Michael, “Michael, aren’t you going to introduce this lady to us?”
Hearing her question, others joined in, “Yeah!” “Aren’t you going to introduce her?” “Where did you two first met?” all of these questions came in piles, forming yet again a problem for Michael. He really didn’t know how to introduce her. Seeing her expressionless, eating her bread nonchalantly, and looking back at him with innocent and pure eyes, he was touched by that cuteness yet at the same time devastated.
Okay, so let me go back to the classical way of saying she was lost and had hit her head!
Probably noticing Michael plotting something foolish, Aqua stuffed bread in her mouth as if she couldn’t stand this any longer, gulped a whole cup of water, let it flowed through her throat, and commenced, “Hey, I know what you want to know. Ask me one by one! In return of this food, I’ll do my best to answer you.”
In the following question-and-answer event, everyone had a better understanding of this young girl.
She was called Aqua, seventeen-year-old, knowing nothing of Tracy, and her hair was not made of magic. How she met Michael was a secret, and thought him as an adorable boy. She thought the fat businessman and his friends adorable men as well, this village passionate, the rural areas places without deep ties...she answered and answered, but stopped when one question popped up.
“Why do you equip a weapon?”
Having been eloquent, Aqua slightly pursed up her lips.
The weapon is for slaying those monsters—isn’t quite a reason to be told without caution. When this thought ran into Michael’s mind, he remembered the monster back there wasn’t yet dealt with.
It wasn’t the time to chat frivolously now. Sucking down his saliva, Michael looked round the pub lobby: some were chatting around Aqua, and others sitting on their own seats, drinking and chatting.
Spending a quick few seconds, Michael confirmed that Gordon wasn’t here.
“This is just to scare people off—a decoration, when said in vulgar terms. After all, there are too many bad people, and I’m alone wandering everywhere, so...”
Taking the opportunity while Aqua was busy answering, Michael whispered to someone nearby, “Did you see Gordon today?”
“No, I think he’s still being the way he is, “ that person said.
Michael nodded and prepared to leave Aqua here and head out, but when he arrived to the plaza...
A villager was rushing to the door, gasping, and shouting, “Listen to me!”
Having waited for the noise in the pub to subsidise, he then shouted anew, “Everyone, listen to me! Gordon is killed! Come!”
With that said, everyone widened their eyes, looking at the man who brought them bad news.
For a few seconds the pub was utterly silent.
Bang! A loud, strong banging sound on the table freaked everyone out. A bearded man stood up from his seat.
“Do you mean it?”
The villager at the door nodded timidly.
“Some of you: come with me. Others: take your weapons. Women and children stay here. Oh, and light a few torches and bring them with you!”
The man who banged the table ordered roughly. He was called Bug, a man in the village with substantial power in his words, as well as the chief’s most favoured successor. Some villagers dashed out with Bug, some rummaged through stuff, acquiring several axes, hunting blades and arrows, lighted two torches and left in a hurry.
Many people in the pub were gone after the short announcement. There were a few tables with half-drank beers or juices, along with dried up fruit pieces and dried up meat pieces to be eaten with the beer. Because of the hurry, the tables and the chairs in the pub were in a mess, some being knocked over but not lifted back up subsequently.
Looking at this mess, Michael was tensed greatly. When he heard the announcement, he had already been trembling. Aqua, on the other hand, lowered her head, her hands placed on her skirt, her aqua-blue hair drooped in sync.
Michael was now the only person by her side. Although everyone looked interested in her, it was only a custom of the welcoming village done to visitors. Now that someone had died, there was no time to shift any heed to this stranger.
Though Micheal could not see her whole face, he could tell she was softly biting her lower lips.
“A-Aqua,” Michael called for Aqua, softly.
He didn’t know what situation they were in.
The beautiful young girl in front of him killed a monster who proclaimed he was Gordon. Now, the villagers found Gordon dead. Why?
“I’m tricked. Indeed, it was the way of the devil.”
“W-What the heck happened?” Michael inquired softly, avoiding other villagers in the pub from hearing him. These villagers, though, were gathered by the windows, whispering to each other, trying to see what was going on outside.
“To put it simply, I didn’t completely kill the demon, who, after we left, activated his skill and turned his appearance human.”
“Activating his skill...” Michael repeated Aqua’s words.
“He wanted to create this situation, a situation where it was I who killed him, ‘this villager’, and not ‘this monster’.”
“...”
“This has also cleared my doubts. So he can turn his appearance human...that’s why he can stay in a human village. What a rare ability...no, it’s only an ability I’ve only heard of. I’ve never imagined it ever existed.”
Spoiler! :
Spoiler! :
Spoiler! :
Oh my heart! 
