Ch.21I Made a Mistake, So I Should Apologize (4)

I tactfully escorted Ms. Rajerita out (?).

After all, the monster had taken care of the mother who had been abusing her. I turned my back toward Carmilla, who should now be feeling relieved.

But her reaction was unexpected.

Thump! Thump!

“W-what do you think you’re doing?!”

“…?”

“My mother! What were you thinking if she got hurt?!”

Since she was always trembling whenever her mother was around, I thought she’d be happy about this.

Contrary to my expectations, Carmilla was interrogating me.

Even though hitting me would only hurt her own fists more, she kept pounding on my body, fuming with anger.

“Grrrr…”

“Say something! …Oh right, you’re a monster that can’t speak.”

She seemed to realize the limitations of my monster form, as I could only growl.

Her anger subsided momentarily, and she stepped back with a disappointed groan.

I felt just as disappointed.

No, usually monsters ranked Danger Level 2 or higher can typically speak—that’s the norm. So why am I the only one who can’t talk?

What kind of monster am I anyway?

Being a monster means I must have a designation, but I couldn’t even guess what type of monster I was.

So in the awkward silence.

‘What should I do about this…’

There’s a limit to communicating with gestures alone.

After pondering for a while.

“…!”

I remembered—the Thread of Gaps.

Scraaatch.

“Huh? What are you doing?”

If I can’t speak, I’ll write.

Are you okay?

“Ah!”

I dug my finger into the asphalt road and wrote down what I wanted to say, like scribbling on a sandy beach.

“You… can write human letters?”

*Nod nod*

For simple yes or no responses, I nodded or shook my head.

Seeing this, Carmilla’s eyes sparkled with the realization that we could communicate.

“My home is in C City, the neighboring district.”

“Gruk?”

“So, since it might be difficult to cross the barriers between cities, could you take me at least to the entrance?”

Before I knew it, she was holding my hand, urging me to hurry, as if I was partly responsible for throwing her car around earlier.

She seemed to have forgotten her fear of monsters.

“You’re not a bad monster, right?”

…*Nod nod*

“Then, while we’re going… would you listen to my story?”

***

The Edelstein family.

They weren’t quite as prominent as the Okami family, known as the face of D City.

Still, they were one of the families with a considerable reputation in hero society.

After all, since the establishment of Hero City, they had consistently produced A-rank heroes generation after generation without fail.

5,000 E-rank heroes.

2,400 D-rank heroes.

1,000 C-rank heroes.

300 B-rank heroes.

70 A-rank heroes.

And 5 S-rank heroes running the Hero Association.

Becoming an A-rank hero within this system was already proof that one could reign as a top-tier powerhouse beyond professional status.

However.

“Another Edelstein, huh…”

“How many hundreds of years have they been occupying just A-rank positions?”

“Even so, they’re just a bloodline that can’t get beyond late-stage A-rank.”

Being in the top 1% wasn’t enough to satisfy them.

Rather, reaching the miraculous 0.1% above that was the fundamental “greed” of humans.

Despite hundreds of years of effort, the family had yet to produce even a single S-rank hero.

The Edelstein family was often overshadowed by their failure to produce any S-rank heroes, rather than celebrated for their numerous A-rank heroes.

And now Carmilla, born as the heir to the Edelstein family.

Her childhood was truly…

“Carmilla, want to play a game together?”

“Yes!”

“Honey, we’re eating soon, so you can only play for a little while, okay? Carmilla too!”

“Yes, understood~”

Far from the hellish days everyone expected.

She was growing up in a very happy home, as if the family’s past failures ended there.

Her mother didn’t care about others’ opinions.

And her father, who always cherished and loved Carmilla alongside her mother.

Carmilla loved her family too.

She was happy.

She wasn’t forced to become a hero, but naturally wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps after watching her.

At that time, Rajerita only wanted to pass everything she knew to Carmilla, without expecting anything more.

Just be as good as me.

No, it doesn’t matter if you’re not as good as me, I just want my daughter to be happy.

That was what Rajerita used to say habitually back then.

Because the person who would break the curse of the Edelstein family being “stuck in the A-rank swamp”…

Rajerita was convinced that person would be herself.

“Honey, are you ready?”

“Of course. The summoning circle is perfect.”

In the basement of their large detached house.

The couple had been preparing a summoning circle for a certain monster for a very long time.

Rajerita and her husband had been planning this for ages—to secretly make a contract with a powerful monster to gain S-rank hero level power.

The moment their plan was discovered.

They knew they would not only be expelled from hero society but instantly branded as “villains” and become common enemies of the city.

Yet the reason Rajerita and her husband were proceeding with this plan.

Rather than the age-old family failure…

“Mom! Dad! I’m scared, stop it!”

“It’ll be okay, sweetheart.”

“It’s dangerous. Go back upstairs, alright?”

They feared that Carmilla, who would someday become a hero, might face the same “looks” they did.

To lift that curse from their daughter, the couple attempted to summon a monster through what was theoretically a perfect summoning circle.

But.

“Aaaaargh?!”

“The power… I can’t control it!”

A monster’s power naturally flows from various fears that humans cannot control.

Divine punishment fell like a demon’s touch upon the arrogant couple who thought they could fully control such power.

BOOM.

“D-Dad…?”

Carmilla, who had secretly come down to the basement, was caught in the explosion and collapsed for who knows how long.

When she regained consciousness.

Right in front of her eyes lay her father’s flesh, split in half and torn apart in opposite directions, scattered in a bloody mess.

And from then on.

“You must succeed.”

“M-Mom…?”

“…How uncultured. It’s ‘Mother,’ not ‘Mom.'”

SLAP!

Her mother had changed too.

The once happy family ended there.

What followed was, as everyone had predicted, a terrifying Spartan education where even sleeping was a luxury.

The sudden change in environment, her father’s death, and her completely transformed mom… no, mother.

Carmilla was confused by it all, but if her mind wandered even slightly, getting beaten severely became her daily routine.

So she focused solely on studying, forgetting even her father’s funeral.

But no matter how much she tried to forget, to think of it as the past, she couldn’t help missing those days.

Before they executed the monster summoning circle.

She wanted to go back to when they were still happy.

But that’s impossible now.

Above all, her father is gone.

Because he died.

…Why?

‘Mom is still alive and with me. So why did Dad have to die?’

Perhaps.

Just perhaps.

If her father had lived, her mother might not have changed like this.

They might have been able to taste that happiness again.

Her mother.

The mother from back then… was the daughter’s greatest longing in the world.

And just like her mother, she missed her father terribly.

The one who prepared delicious meals for her every day, who sometimes nagged but kindly smiled, who could naturally step between her mother and herself.

That father was cut in half and died.

Because he was a weak “man.”

…Crack.

Longing turned to sadness.

Sadness turned to helplessness.

And helplessness gradually transformed into hatred.

Why did he die from such a mere explosion?

Even his much younger daughter only lost consciousness briefly and woke up fine, yet this man who was her father died so easily.

So this is how I’m living now.

Being abused day and night by a mother who might someday return to her former self.

Because Dad, because men are weak.

Since that day, I can no longer smile happily.

If Dad had lived according to his place.

If he had been more manly.

If he hadn’t helped Mom with her work and just stayed in the kitchen washing dishes and cooking for life.

Then perhaps the three of us would still be living happily together as a family.

Maybe Mom would have struggled with the summoning circle alone and eventually given up.

But did Dad think he was some kind of “sidekick” to Mom the hero?

It’s Dad’s fault for helping.

Or maybe the summoning went wrong because an incompetent man helped.

A perfectly fine woman.

Even if I, as I am now, had done the work instead of Dad back then, I might have succeeded safely.

No, I definitely would have.

Because I am a woman, inherently superior to men in this world!

So, so I…!

…Pat.

“!?”

But Carmilla’s story of the past ended there.

The reason was that despite her fierce tone while walking together, she had been crying.

A hand came down on the blonde girl’s head, as if to say “you’ve been through a lot.”

“Hic, waaaaaaah!”

“……Gruk.”

Pat pat pat.