Side story, Nora.

About 14 years ago.

Somewhere in a back alley in the Kingdom of Frisia, there was a woman with dark blue hair, almost black, and a small girl with black hair who was almost being dragged along by her hand.

-Bam.

“I have somewhere to go for a bit, so you stay here.”

“Huh? Mom, can I go with you too…?”

“Yeah. No. If you wait here, I’ll be here soon. Just wait quietly. “

“Oh, Mom… “

The girl’s mother, not paying attention to her daughter’s voice calling her, lightly pushed away the outstretched hand and quickly walked away from that spot as if running away.

And the girl, who had just turned eight, stared blankly at his back, then quickly disappeared, and lowered her head, sat down on the floor nearby with tears in her eyes as if she was sad.

“Will you be back soon…?”

Just like usual, quietly and kindly, without crying like when you get scolded at home. Just like when your father gets angry, you hold back your fear by covering your mouth and waiting.

The girl stayed in that spot, thinking that if she waited like that, her mother who had been protecting her would return.

-fillet.

“Huh… ?”

Soon, a few cold drops of water began to fall on the girl’s head, and the girl realized that it was rain, so she moved a little and picked up a small box that had been lying around and put it on her head.

“Oh, Mom… It’s raining. I didn’t bring an umbrella… Is that okay?”

He said that he used a box because the rain started pouring down, but his mother, who left him here and went somewhere, didn’t have an umbrella.

Worried only about that, the girl waited for her mother to return.

“Hatchu! … It’s cold.”

-Your daughter’s special trait is… black magic.

-to…?

Ever since I went to the government office a few days ago to get my traits tested, he hasn’t even called me by my name.

-You stay over there for a moment. Don’t hold on and go to the corner!!

-Fuck! You bitch! Who the hell are you cheating on me with!!”

-You crazy kid! The magical properties are yours!! Aren’t they hereditary in your family?!

-This whore-like bitch?! Hey!! Even though I saw that ugly thing born because of your hair color…!!

“Mom… I won’t use black magic… Don’t fight with Dad. Sob.”

Waiting for the woman who abandoned her, the girl waited in that back alley for her mother until the day the black-haired boy would come to rescue her.

*

I don’t know.

The girl didn’t know how many days, how many months, how many years had passed.

The girl was still young to learn the concept of time.

So, four days passed, which felt like years to the girl.

“What the hell, what the heck is this kid with black hair? Hey, isn’t that some fucking demon kid?”

-Swish!!

She didn’t know, she didn’t know the reason for the malice directed at her.

The girl was too young to know the ways of the world.

“Huh? What’s that? His head… “

“Ah! That guy is a demon!!”

“Crazy! Throw a stone!”

“Yay! I hit the face!”

I was hungry, so I went over to see boys and girls of similar age eating bread, and it seemed that they were also abandoned children, but I did not know why they directed greater evil at me, why they were hurting me and taking pleasure in it.

The shadows were not kind to the girl, as she knew why they were sacrificing themselves for their survival.

“… … “

I was cold, sick and hungry.

Still, the girl did not leave the alley.

She could think enough to understand that she had been abandoned, but she clung to the faint hope that maybe it wasn’t true. She clung to the dream that her mother might come back and apologize for leaving her behind. The girl stayed in the corner of the alley.

“Found it!”

“He’s hiding over there!”

“Throw a stone, throw a stone! The old man said he’d give you bread if you killed him!”

“Ouch…! Ugh!”

But the world would never give a place to a girl with black hair, dark blue eyes that were almost black, and possessed dark magic abilities.

“Hehehe! Hey, it looks like he can’t move anymore?”

“Ah! Then let’s drag him and tell him we caught him!”

“Yeah, yeah! Maybe they’ll give us something to drink since they caught the demons!”

“Ahh… Ma, no… Yaa… It hurts… “

“What are you talking about!”

“You crazy bitch! Human hair isn’t black!”

Boys and girls bigger than him would trample him until he could no longer even moan, and only after he was no longer able to make a sound did they stop kicking and start reaching out.

“Hey, are you trying to grab my hair?”

“Then?”

“Hey, let’s just grab her by the feet and drag her. Her hair is so black it’s dirty.”

“Oh, I guess so. Then I’m on the left, you’re on the right.”

“Yeah!”

They start to make themselves suffer, then laugh and drag their feet.

It was so painful. It was so miserable.

It was more painful than the beatings my father had given me at home, and I was more afraid of their laughter than my mother getting angry.

“We caught the demon, so maybe he’ll become our knight!”

“Hey, you can’t become a knight right away, you have to start from a soldier.”

“Still! If you start with the soldiers who caught the demons, you might be able to get in with the ranks of the regular knights…!”

He himself is not a demon, but a human, and he lived with his parents.

These kids who hit me and hurt me are just having fun among themselves, saying that I am not human.

-Why am I like this?

In the heart of the young girl, who had neither the strength to scream nor the stamina to think deeply, only one emotion began to burn blackly.

-Why do you like it when you drag me on the floor?

It hurts. My face, my stomach, my arms, my hands, my nails that touch the floor. Everything hurts, hurts.

-I hate these people… I hate all the people who hit me, all the people who abandoned me, all the people who call me a demon.

-Chick.

“Huh?”

“What, why?”

“No, didn’t you hear something just now?”

-Chijik.

“… Huh?”

“Hey, didn’t this just glow black?”

“I heard a strange sound too! I think this guy is a real demon!”

-Are you a real demon? Then, even though you knew that there was a chance that I wasn’t a real demon, you did this to me?

The girl’s special ability is black magic.

However, the traits are not the end once they are manifested. They must be learned, trained, and cultivated.

But the girl had a talent. That was, much more magical power than the average person.

-Chijijijik!!

“Huh, huh?!”

“Hey! What if I leave you alone…!!”

“You guys… I hate it.”

-⎯⎯⎯!!

Without any training or education, the girl gave in to her emotions and unleashed her magic.

In a situation where she has become an empty shell, unable to speak or organize her emotions, the only strength she has left is…

The girl used it to unleash a magical force that was nothing more than nothing at the children who were dragging her away.

“Ouch!! It hurts! Help me… “

“Gyaaaah!!”

“Crazy! He’s a real demon!! Call the adults!!”

The real hell that was coming for the girl began on that day.

*

One year. One year of hiding in the back alleys, called the devil’s son.

The girl studied alone.

In order to survive, not to die, not to go hungry, the girl studied alone to know the time, and studied alone by reading newspapers to learn the minimum of writing. By learning what she had written alone, she figured out how to endure the cold days.

“Hic!! It’s the devil! It’s Nora!!”

“… … “

And he learned how not to let those weaker than him take over.

That day, the people in the back alley saw the girl’s magical power and called her a demon, calling the guards and knights, but when they saw me, they said I was just an orphan emitting black magical power and left without doing anything.

That’s how the girl learned. There is no one who can protect her.

The guards and knights who knew she was human but did not protect her from those who had harassed her and just left. And the other adults who beat her up and ran away, clicking their tongues. They were all enemies. The girl knew that.

-Poohwaak!!

“Get out.”

“Heeek… !”

They were all uneducated and weak. And among them, the girl realized that she was a scary person.

Others also have some kind of special trait, but they cannot wield it because they have not learned it all.

But he felt different. He felt it, he didn’t know what it was, but he felt a different strength overflowing compared to his weakened physical strength or body.

He could swing it around to scare them and drive them away.

“Wow wow… “

He chases away the other kids who were surrounding the trash can and looks for food there to eat.

The girl no longer waited for her mother. She knew that there was no one on her side in this world. She learned that her mother was not on her side from the beginning.

So the girl did her best to survive.

Because I was just afraid of being sick.

“… It doesn’t taste good.”

The girl, who had picked up a handful of leftover trash and eaten it, headed to the garbage dump where she was living in hiding alone.

There were other weaklings there, but the girl had fought for her own place to live.

“Are you the black magician Nora?”

“?”

And then the girl met. The real evil in this world. The beings that truly threatened her.

“That seems right. Wow, even though he’s young, he has incredible magical power.”

“If you really learned magic, it would be hard to take you with you.”

“Get out… !”

-Poohwaaak!!

As usual, she brandished her black magic. She told them to get out, and that they too should run away in fear. But the girl’s threats were literally empty boasts, nothing more than a show of her overflowing magic.

They knew it, so they laughed even more bitterly and approached the girl without hesitation, grabbing her hair.

“Ouch!”

“Hot! This is a real big shot, not bad.”

“Good magic. I’m sure our masters will be satisfied with this.”

“Really! I was getting annoyed because the number of prey decreased because of that crazy black-haired bitch, but what the heck is this?”

A real evil, a real power. A real threat that the girl couldn’t counter with what she had learned in a short time.

After some time, the girl found out who they were.

Their name is Demon Worshipers.

Crazy beings who seek out children with black magic and offer them up to the demon tribe.

“Let go of this!!”

“Phew! Hey, you’re rebelling?”

“Hmm, at this point, he’s probably 8 or 9 years old. Then, even if you can’t cut off his limbs, he won’t die if you break one of them.”

“Okay, then I’ll take this damn limb… “

“Aaah!!”

The man holding the girl’s slender arm slowly puts strength into it as if enjoying it.

The girl, who has no offensive abilities but swings her overflowing magical power, writhes in pain, but there is no one to help her.

And the girl understood. Today, when she was caught by them, was the day she would end.

Because this world doesn’t help you…

“Ah, shit. If only I had remembered it a year earlier, I would have found it sooner. Why did I remember it so late? Or was it in the same garbage dump as me… “

“”?””

A boy with black hair just like himself appeared in front of himself, who was ending up hating this world, and the people who had been tormenting him. He approached him confidently, scratching his head as if he was truly annoyed.

“Hey, lolicon kids. Won’t you let that go?”

“What?”

“Ha, what the hell is this…? Hey, man. This guy’s magic.”

“Huh, what day is it today? Looking for two kids with strong black magic.”

The boy, acting as if he was trying to help me, glared at the men and then turned his eyes to me.

And I looked into his eyes and held my breath, forgetting the pain.

‘Eyes darker than mine.’

His hair is just as black as mine, but his eyes are incomparably black.

Then, how much of a miserable life must that child have lived? Just because of the color of her hair and the fact that she possessed black magic, she had such a hard time. Even the eyes that she had to see the world were black.

How dark must the world have seemed? How scary must it have been?

The girl didn’t want to think about it, and couldn’t think about it. But.

“That cute girl over there, is her name Nora?”

“… Huh?”

“Right? If it’s a different name, you can tell me.”

“My name is… Nora.”

“Okay. But doesn’t it hurt? At least yell for help. Then I’ll come faster.”

A boy who spoke to me, completely ignoring the men who had caught me. And the boy’s black eyes… were filled with a kindness that I had forgotten when I had seen.

“What the hell is this crazy kid talking about…!!”

“Just shut up and come with us…!”

“[Lv. 1] [Sword of Darkness]”

-Poo poo poo poo!!

“Keuk?!”

“Crazy?! Shortcut…?! No, a catalyst…!!”

“Are you a shotacon in addition to a lolicon? You’re even trying to touch a black boy. You’re going to get a big scolding from our hyungs.”

Lv. 1 Black Hand. The boy who had let out his voice like that completely tied the two men up to their mouths, then came out of their arms and approached me who had fallen, slowly reaching out his hand.

“Ugh… !”

Everyone who reaches out to me swings it painfully. Having learned that, I reflexively close my eyes and weep.

-Slurp.

“Are you sick? Sorry, I came too late.”

“… Huh?”

The boy moves his thin arms, which are about the same size as mine, to gently cup my head, pulls my buttocks close to his body, and then takes something out of his pocket and tries to put it in my mouth.

“Take it. It’s a potion. It’s cheap, so it won’t cure everything, but it’ll be a lot less painful than not taking it.”

“… … “

“Do you want to eat it?”

“Gulp, gulp.”

His worried voice urged me to drink again, as I stood there in confusion. I moved my mouth to drink it without realizing it, drawn by the sound. Instead of the cold expression he had shown the men earlier, he continued to speak with a soft smile as if he was relieved.

“Drink slowly, it’s okay now. From today on, I’ll protect you, so you don’t have to get hurt anymore.”

“Phew… Why, why? Me, me with black hair… “

“I’m black too.”

“Me, my specialty is black magic… “

“I’m not just a black magician with specialization, I’m a black magician who has learned magic?”

“… … “

“Phew! What’s with that expression? Are you scared of me?”

I didn’t know why he was being so kind to me, and I was scared because I hadn’t experienced anything like this before, and I couldn’t understand it either.

So scared, I nodded in answer.

“Hot! But it’s too bad! Since this Rudis Oppa picked you up, you’re my little brother from today.”

“Do, little brother?”

“So, you’re my little sister from today? I’ll call you oppa from now on.”

“… … “

“Tsk. They don’t sing this.”

I couldn’t answer, because I really didn’t know what this boy wanted from me.

The boy who came up to me naturally and called himself my brother started walking while carrying me.

I couldn’t understand how he could carry me so lightly when he was about the same size as me, but the boy picked me up as if he wouldn’t let me go and wouldn’t leave me alone, and he continued talking while carrying me.

“From now on, I will be with you. So, if it hurts, you can cry.”

“Eh…? What is that… “

“You can cry if you’re scared, and you can cry if you’re hungry. Because this oppa will solve everything for you, whether you’re sick, scared, or hungry.”

“… That’s a lie.”

“You little punk. What do you think you’ll gain by lying to your little sister? I told you I’m a magician. “

“Rat, not a bell… “

“No way? It’s so small, cute, and round. How desirable.”

“… … “

The boy’s embrace was warm, and the shoulder I rested my head on was firm yet soft.

And the hands that held my thighs and back were… kinder, rougher, and… gentler than any hand that had ever reached out to me in this alley.

-Truck.

The girl still doesn’t know what expression she had on her face as she was hugged by him.

And the girl still doesn’t know what the boy was thinking when he said that to her.

The girl who was born with only black hair and was not properly loved even by the parents who raised her, felt for the first time in her life a sense of security in the arms of the black-haired boy who seemed to have had a more difficult life than her.

“… Huh, huaaaang… !!”

“Right, right. You had a hard time alone.”

“Huhh …

“Yeah yeah, cry a lot. But our teacher doesn’t like crying kids, so let’s cry all in Oppa’s arms and go home.”

“Whaaaang!! Aaaaang!! Oppaaa…!!”

“Yeah, our Nora held up well.”

In the arms of a boy she had known for less than ten minutes, the girl cried for the first time, saying that she was in pain, sad, lonely and having a hard time.

“I don’t know why I abandoned such a pretty girl even though she cried.”

“Huhh …

The girl cried like a baby born today at the sensation of her head being stroked, something even her parents had never done before.

*

I hate the Demons. I hate people associated with the Demons.

The reason I was betrayed, the reason I was abandoned, the reason I went through difficult times was all because of the presence of the Demon Tribe, the enemy of humanity.

“Um… Since when…?”

“Don’t laugh like that. Do you want to kill me? From… ?”

But seeing you with the demons, for some reason this time I was finally able to remain unshaken.

“Seriously, it’s incredibly dangerous. Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

“If I leave this place to you again and leave you alone without doing anything, I’m sure I’ll regret it.”

“… Who do you take after to be so stubborn?”

“Who is it?”

“Who? Master?”

“Hot! Of course. And you.”

“What? Me?”

Because I wanted to be like you.

I wanted to be like my brother, who was honest, stupid, and always said things that didn’t make sense, but who was on my side from the beginning.

And, because I am so stupid, I betrayed you once and made you suffer.

So, I won’t be protected in my brother’s arms anymore. I won’t turn away saying I didn’t know, that I didn’t know yet, that I hadn’t learned, and that I was afraid.

“So this time, instead of being protected, I will fight alongside you. This time, I will not be wrong.”

This time, I will protect the arms of my brother who saved me.