episode_0034

Succubus

“Ugh…!”

I had a dream. I saw myself exploring all of Krentid World, finishing the last entry in my adventure log in the final village. So much time had passed that my beard had grown long, and my skin had become a bit rough. Finishing my adventure log on a hill, I happily looked around. But there was no one there. As soon as I realized that, I woke from the dream. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Aria raising her head and putting her hands together in prayer.

“Gasp… gasp…. Ah…. Aria….”

Watching Aria pray, I noticed that the purple gem on her body was gone. Ah… right. I took the blast Aria shot at Rascal instead… I remember that much. I remember the blade fragments embedding in my shoulder and leg. Even other things… But… what happened after that? Did Rascal succeed in removing Aria’s gem? Then Rascal… where is Rascal?

“Ugh… Ah… Aria… Are you alright?”

“…”

“Ah… Aria…?”

Something was strange. No matter how much I called out, Aria didn’t answer. She was just looking at the sky, praying. What is this…? The gem seems to have been removed, but…? And…

“My arm… my hand… my leg…”

My body, which had seemed beyond healing just moments ago, was completely fine. The greatsword fragments that had pierced my leg were gone, and my strangely broken hand was back to normal. However, my stamina hadn’t fully recovered; my vision was a bit blurry, and I had almost no strength to stand.

“Aria….. Could you help me up for a moment?”

“…”

‘Ari… No way… C-Could it be!!’

Seeing Aria give no response, I instinctively felt something was wrong and desperately tried to get up. But my hands lacked strength, and I lost my balance, falling back down. Damn it… My stamina hasn’t fully recovered… My body isn’t obeying me…. I propped myself up with my arms on the ground again and slowly began to move my legs. Good…. One… Two!!

“Ugh…. I finally got up… Ari…. Gasp…!!!”

I was too shocked to speak. Aria’s condition, as I saw it, was far from normal. Her pupils were trembling frantically, her eyes darted around, and she kept mumbling something. As if possessed. Moreover, the sentences Aria was mumbling were unsettling.

“Our omnipotent Father who watches over us from the heavens… please help this suffering soul…. By your power, please restore peace to this poor soul….. I humbly implore you, cleanse the wounds etched upon this wretched soul, and let this soul frolic in the fields once more according to your will…”

Aria kept mumbling that sentence. Over and over again. Seeing Aria like this, I knew for sure. Aria remembered everything from when she was controlled by the succubus… Realizing this, I immediately grabbed Aria’s shoulders with both hands and shouted.

“Aria! Snap out of it!! I’m fine now!! So snap out of it!!”

“Please restore peace…. I humbly implore…”

“Aria!!”

Damn it… Is her mind so broken that she can’t hear my voice? No matter how much I shook her, no matter how much I called, Aria didn’t respond. She just kept praying.

“Aria! Snap out of it!!! Rascal!! Where are you!!”

No matter how much I called for Rascal, all I heard in this dusty wasteland was my own echo. Where did Rascal go this time…? As time passed, my anxiety grew. Then suddenly…

“Ugh?!”

My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the spot. More… no more…. The strength to stand was slowly disappearing too… I need to help Aria quickly…

“!”

A thought suddenly struck me. And immediately, with trembling hands, I closed Aria’s eyes. Then, as I covered Aria’s ears with my hands, her trembling stopped. Once Aria stopped trembling, I whispered into her ear.

“Can you hear me, Aria?”

Hearing me, Aria quietly nodded. What a relief… It seems Aria has calmed down…. I continued to whisper to Aria, keeping her ears covered.

“Don’t open your eyes. Okay?”

“….”

Aria quietly nodded again. It seemed Aria was calm now… but that wasn’t it. She was just able to react to my voice. I could tell from Aria’s ragged breathing that she was still engulfed in fear…

“Take a deep breath, Aria. It’s okay. You can do it, right?”

Aria shook her head. She must be truly terrified…. But… I’m in trouble. The strength to cover Aria’s ears was starting to fade too. Feeling my hands slowly falling from her ears, Aria urgently grabbed my hand.

“…Will you be okay?”

Aria nodded again.

“Can you possibly help me up?”

Aria nodded, then carefully rose and helped me up. As she did, something caught my eye, and knowing what it was, I widened my eyes and couldn’t speak. Rascal…. The moment I saw Rascal, impaled through the abdomen and slumped against a rock, I understood why Aria had reacted that way.

‘Rascal saved Aria at the cost of his life… Aria also knows that she killed Rascal…. So then….’

“….”

“Aria. Could you lead me to the opposite side for a moment?”

Aria nodded and, supporting me, began to walk to the opposite side of Rascal. After a few steps, I saw the succubus, who had been unable to move due to the spell on the arrow, slowly pulling the arrow from her wing and regenerating her punctured wing.

“Damn it… Damn it…!! To humans….”

“Hey.”

“!!!”

When I got close enough and called out to the succubus, she looked at me with a bewildered expression. However, perhaps due to the lingering effects of the spell, the succubus couldn’t move her body and struggled to get up from the spot.

“Ugh… To be reduced to such a state by a human….!!”

“Thanks to you, Rascal has returned to the embrace of his family.”

“Ha…. Isn’t that a good thing?! Shouldn’t you be thanking me!!”

“….Don’t you want to see them too?”

“…What…?”

“….?”

Aria, who had been trembling, heard my words and turned her head towards me, eyes closed, and the succubus also stared blankly at me with a greatly flustered expression. The reason I said this was because….

“Your name is Cecilia… You’re 2,154 years old. You had a mother and father in your family, and you were close with your neighbors, right? You were a messenger….”

“….How do you know that…?”

“…..It is you. Then… what the angels did… that’s true too, isn’t it…”

“….What exactly are you…”

“Earlier, when I touched the gem, a fragment of your soul. Your memories flowed into my mind.”

“What…?”

Just before, as I was wandering near death, I realized that what had entered my mind were Cecilia’s memories. When I collapsed, both my dream of a lonely end as an explorer and Cecilia’s memories surfaced in my mind. Cecilia’s hometown was a city built in the Ogposria region 2,700 years ago. Only demons lived in that city.

“Oh my~ Cecilia! You’re full of life today too?”

“Yes! I have to go far today! I need to prepare myself well!”

“I see…”

At that time, Cecilia was talking with a neighbor. Cecilia had to deliver messages to another city far away, so she had to temporarily leave her hometown. Because of this, Cecilia prepared herself again and spoke to her neighbor once more.

“Although I haven’t been out of here much, so it’s a little scary… if the messages I deliver can help other residents, then I’ll be happy and the residents will be happy too!”

“Yes… it’s a good thing you’re a messenger… Indeed, you rarely had to deliver messages outside. By the way, there’s a rumor these days that demons from other regions are attacking angels…”

“Oh, I heard that too! Why would demons attack angels…?”

“We can’t know what demons from other regions are thinking… As members of the same race, I think demons who do such things are truly rude.”

“Right… Ah! Ma’am! I’ll see you later! I need to hurry and deliver these letters to other regions!”

“Oh, I see. Alright. Be careful, Cecilia!”

“Yes, Ma’am! See you again!!”

Bowing to the neighboring woman, Cecilia firmly pulled down her beret, a symbol of a messenger, then picked up her handbag full of mail and left the city. Humming a tune, Cecilia spread her wings and flew into the sky, thinking.

‘They said the place I’m going today is peaceful, right? That’s a relief… Lately, they’ve only been giving me difficult tasks… Ugh… Still, I have to work hard for my ailing mother! I’ll do my best!’

Cecilia’s mother had injured her leg in an accident. For her mother, Cecilia gathered her strength and hurried to another region. She arrived at a certain village. A demon resident there was receiving a letter from Cecilia.

“Here’s the letter.”

“Thank you. Oh… It’s a letter from my mother! Thank you so much!”

“Oh, come on~ Isn’t this just a messenger’s job?”

“Lately, demons from other regions have been picking fights with angels, so my mother was worried about me too… Why exactly would demons from other regions provoke angels?”

“Well… Perhaps they have nothing better to do….”

“Here!! Here too!! If you have letters, please give them!!”

“Ah, yes!”

As other demons requested letters, Cecilia hurriedly handed them over. Seeing everyone so delighted to receive letters from their family or loved ones back home, Cecilia couldn’t help but smile herself.

“Who is the letter from?”

“My younger brother. Telling his older sister to listen to him, that idiot….”

“Why?”

“My mother even sent a letter because he eats without cucumbers.”

“Ahaha… It seems you have a brother who’s at that age… But what is this village doing right now?”

“We were building a rest stop here. We were preparing a place where messengers could rest.”

“Oh my! Really?! My senior messengers will be delighted too!”

“That’s good then.”

“Hehe… Ah! The sun is already…”

Cecilia saw the sun setting and hurriedly bowed respectfully to the demon woman she had been speaking with, then flew towards her hometown. Having learned the joyful news that a rest stop for messengers would be built, Cecilia closed her eyes and began to hum.

“Hmm~ When the seniors~ hear about this~ they’ll go crazy…???”

The moment she opened her eyes, filled with joy, and looked at her hometown, Cecilia stopped flying and stared blankly at the sight. Her hometown was completely engulfed in flames. And from a distance, she could see humans, beastfolk, and many other races slaughtering her neighbors and the residents of her hometown. Demon soldiers lay bleeding on the ground, and in the sky were winged races like angels.

“Huh…? Why….? Why is my hometown…!!!”

Cecilia realized this was no time to hesitate. Seeing her hometown burning, Cecilia headed for the village she had just visited. To inform the residents there of this fact, Cecilia kept flying, even if her wings cramped. But…

“Screaming!”

“H-Help….”

What she saw from a distance was the village, which had been perfectly fine just moments ago, burning like her hometown. Demons were desperately bleeding and dying, and angels were continuously attacking them.

“N-No..!!”

Cecilia was trembling, then quickly hid in the forest below, thinking she might be discovered. Constantly wishing in her heart that the angels would leave quickly, Cecilia could only listen to the screams of the other demons.

“No…!! I have a younger brother…”

“M-Mother…..”

‘The one I was just talking to…. Ugh… Ughhh… What in the world is happening…?’

“Archangel Arjel-nim. All demons in this region have been purged.”

“Mm.”

‘!!!’

The voices of angels could be heard directly below. Cecilia saw a silver-haired angel listening to reports from surrounding angels while scanning a report. The silver-haired female angel, who appeared to be an Archangel, finished reading the report, then handed it to an angel beside her and said.

“The demons in this region have also been purged. Remember that all impure demons must vanish according to His will.”

“Archangel Arjel-nim!!”

“What is it?”

“The other races are asking if it’s over now!!”

“Tell them it’s all over. And let them know that I have taken the enemy commander’s head.”

“Understood!”

Arjel listened to her subordinate angels and then headed somewhere. And Cecilia, who had heard everything, realized. Demons from other regions had not provoked the angels. The angels had twisted this truth and spread it to the world. And the angels, using other races, were personally killing all of them—the demons—whom they found disgusting. Two days later, the city in Ogposria became a handful of dust. Cecilia returned there and stood where her house had once been.

“Mom. Dad. The other races won’t listen to me. They call me blasphemous… and tell me to get lost because I’m a demon…. If this happens…. what do we become…?”

The day after the incident, Cecilia told the other races in Krentid World what she had seen and heard. But the other races, completely swayed by the angels, didn’t listen to Cecilia and instead tried to kill her. Realizing that nothing would help, Cecilia sank to the ground and began to cry.

“Huh….? What should I do now….? Sob…. Please tell me… Sob… Waaaaah……. ”

Cecilia kept thinking. If there was no one in this world who would believe her, she would take revenge for the dead demons. To accustom herself to killing other living beings, she began to kill beasts indiscriminately. Currently, she killed monsters indiscriminately, even those said to have been created by their own kind, killing, killing, killing, killing…. And she thought.

“Other races in this world are useless. Only demons… have the right to live in this world. Because all the others are just races with good exteriors but nothing beneath…”

This was Cecilia’s past that I saw. In short, demons neither waged war with angels nor created monsters. In other words, the truth about demons that we knew was all a fabrication created by the angels. They simply tried to erase the demon race from this world forever, just because they found them unpleasant.

“Currently, it’s believed that demons are evil and angels are good. But the reality was the opposite. Demons were innocent, and angels were trash… right?”

“Yes…. So what are you going to do about it? Do you feel sympathy for me?”

“…”

“Even if someone like you feels sympathy for me, you can’t stop me…!!! I’ve harbored this vengeance in my heart for a whole 2,000 years…!! Do you think I can change just because one person feels pity for me?!”

“Certainly… that’s true.”

“Ha… And you know it too! How many lives I’ve taken so far…!! Ah… right…. There’s no way you’d feel sympathy…!! There’s no reason for you to feel sympathy for a mass murderer like me!!!”

“I forgive you.”

“What…?”

“….?!”

At my words, Cecilia looked greatly startled and dumbfounded, and Aria was also immensely shocked, her eyes widening. Then Cecilia ground her teeth and shouted at me.

“Don’t lie!!! Don’t you remember?! I tried to poison the residents of that village! No… I already poisoned some villages! And did you forget that I controlled that Saintess?! Don’t you remember that the man who shot this black arrow died because of it?! Why are you forgiving me!!!”

“I forgive you.”

“So why are you forgiving me!! Look! How many humans died because of me?! Your precious friend also died because of my plan!!! And you too had a hole in your abdomen because I controlled that Saintess!! So why are you forgiving me!!!”

“I forgive you.”

“Why are you forgiving meeeeee!!!!”

Cecilia, who had been angrily shouting at me, suddenly looked terrified and began backing away, planting her hands on the ground.

“D-Don’t come closer….”

“I forgive you.”

“D-Don’t come closer!! Don’t come closer!!! Don’t come closerrrrr!!!!”

“I forgive you.”

Cecilia, hearing my repeated words of forgiveness, suddenly panicked, then quickly stood up and began running away as if being chased by someone. At that moment, I felt my consciousness slowly fading.

“Ah… Aria… Let’s go back to the village….”

Using my last remaining strength, I told Aria to return to the village, then lost consciousness beside her.