Chapter 16 - Yohan Miyatro (1)

"Bring me more."

Indistinct pronunciation, a childish voice. The baby's first words were terribly clumsy, but clear enough to convey his meaning.

Ilea gave him a mischievous look.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you."

"Pour it all in."

"You should say 'num-nums,' like a proper baby."

Frowning, Yohan grabbed the glass vial in Ilea's hand, intending to snatch it away. He lacked the strength. Those tiny hands were no match even for a little girl.

As displeasure spread across his milky-white face, Ilea's eyes curved in a satisfied smile.

"I'm only teasing. Now, say ah."

The vial's contents trickled into Yohan's mouth. The baby began to burn like a ball of fire as the sap circulated through his body.

Ilea let out a small exclamation of wonder. Yohan was growing in her arms before her very eyes. Hair spread over his face, his limbs lengthened, and his torso swelled. The cloth garment he wore could no longer contain his growing body and ripped apart.

Ilea sank onto the bed, struggling to support his weight. The baby was gone. A boy now lay in the girl's arms.

Unlike Gaf, who stood frozen in astonishment, Ilea was smiling brightly.

"You'd better cover up."

Yohan's lower half was completely exposed.

"Put me down."

"Use this."

Ilea handed him her cloak.

Standing on the floor, Yohan covered himself and began inspecting his newly grown body. He was roughly Ilea's height, with hair falling to his knees—as though it hadn't been cut in eight to ten years. He estimated his age at around ten. He had gained years of growth in an instant.

"Is that all the sap?"

"Yes. I harvested every last drop. The effect is rather weak for an elixir that's been concentrating for hundreds of years."

By Ilea's calculations, Yohan should have grown to at least twenty. Yet he was only a boy.

"That's because only the World Tree's stump remains."

The larger a tree, the more concentrated its sap. But over nine-tenths of the World Tree had been cut away in the aftermath of the Great War. Its sap was bound to be less potent.

"I actually prefer it this way."

"What do you mean?"

"It feels as though I've made a friend."

Yohan snorted.

"You don't mean a word of that. As if a witch could understand friendship."

"You say that as though you understand it yourself, Yohan. And you're a Demon."

"Look at me now. Red blood flows through my veins. I can't help but relate to human emotions."

"Then perhaps you could teach me about friendship?"

"Pointless. More importantly, you aren't surprised at all. Did you know I was 'Yohan'?"

Ilea looked at his mother.

"It was only a hunch at first, but I knew the moment I opened the door. Your scent was so strong on her."

Having given birth so recently, his mother was still thickly coated in traces of demonic energy.

"I'll have to be careful for a while."

"Don't worry too much. No one but a high-ranking cleric from the royal capital would notice."

Ilea didn't know it, but a band of pilgrims with powerful holy energy would soon visit the domain. That was how it went in the original novel, at least. He needed to prepare for them.

"It can't hurt to be cautious."

"Quite right, of course."

Gaf, who had been listening to their exchange, let out an incredulous laugh.

"... This is absurd."

He could make no sense of any of this. Even setting aside the baby's sudden growth, Ilea and Yohan seemed as comfortable together as old acquaintances.

"What is all this?"

"I'm sorry, Father."

"I'm not asking for an apology!"

At his anguished shout, Ilea's smile faded, and she lowered her head.

"I wanted to keep what I am hidden from you, at least, but I've failed. As I told you, I'm a witch. A being that cannot coexist with humans. I'm truly sorry that this is the daughter you have."

Gaf cried out, his face a picture of disbelief.

"A witch! What in the world are you talking about?"

Fifty years had already passed since Rahel, the last witch, had been destroyed.

"Witches always have a contingency. The moment they foresaw their extinction, they prepared me as their answer. Perhaps even your finding and raising me was part of their plan."

A memory from over ten years ago flashed through Gaf's mind.

While wandering after losing everything, he had come upon an ice castle in the desert. A palace of ice towering over scorching sand. As though bewitched by a mirage, he had started running.

He pursued it day and night, but never reached it. Exhausted by dehydration and fatigue, he finally collapsed.

As he lay burning to death under that hellish sun, grains of wet sand cooled his body. Water was flowing toward him from somewhere. The ice castle had melted.

The man who had wandered in search of death lapped up the water with a desperation that belied his resolve. Though he had long since lost every pillar that supported his life, he still clung to living.

What was he so desperate for? He asked himself, but no answer came. As he mocked himself, a small cradle caught his eye.

It was the only ice structure that hadn't melted. Inside slept a baby as white as snow.

Was this some divine joke? Having taken his pregnant wife, God was now placing a new life in his arms. Even in his confusion, Gaf's hands reached for the baby.

As the baby giggled and stroked his beard, emotion welled up inside him. Perhaps this was salvation. That day, for the first time in his life, he traced the holy sign.

A tear fell from Gaf's eye as he recalled the past. All those things he had considered a miracle had been someone's plan. He simply didn't want to believe it.

Without a word, he turned and began trudging out of the inn room.

Yohan looked at Ilea.

"Aren't you going to stop him?"

"He'll need time to think."

"He might leave for good."

"All the better, then. Witches bring humans nothing but misfortune."

A shadow lay over Ilea's face. There was something lonely about her. Having grown up an orphan, Yohan couldn't fully understand what father and daughter were feeling, but he felt a touch of bitterness all the same. It left him strangely uneasy.

"Nothing but misfortune. You're not entirely wrong. But aren't you a little different? Depending on what you do, you could still get along with Gaf."

"Are you worried about Father and me? You're rather human, aren't you? Perhaps because you're a half-demon."

"I simply don't care to watch a melodrama."

"I'll try, so don't worry too much. You have something else to focus on."

"Such as?"

"Your own survival. What could be more important?"

"You're stating the obvious. I've already made plans."

"Then share them with me. We're in the same boat."

Yohan rose from the bed and looked over his grown body. A human boy in his teens. A little young, but that posed no obstacle to carrying out his plan.

His face expressionless, he said,

"With this body, I will swallow the baronial house whole."

After a moment's thought, Ilea smiled gently.

"Yohan Miyatro. The surname suits your name rather well."

* * *

Twilight settled beyond the window. However beautiful the sunset vista, it was invisible to a blind boy. Raguel could only guess at the hour.

It would soon be time for Gaf to visit. He usually arrived before sunset to drop Yohan off. Not lately, though. Gaf hadn't shown his face in roughly three weeks. Yohan hadn't visited in nearly a month.

Raguel curled up like a shrimp.

'You said you'd read to me. You haven't even finished Kazan's life story. I haven't got my eyes back yet...'

Why make promises if this was how it would end? Had Yohan used him and thrown him away? Perhaps he had meant to deceive him from the start. One dark thought led to another.

'I was a fool to trust a Demon.'

He had been swayed, intoxicated by that sweet voice, then discarded like an old shoe. There were more than enough people like that. He was merely one more betrayed idiot. He had brought it on himself. He couldn't even complain or make excuses.

His hurt over Yohan was greater than his guilt toward God. How could he dare call himself a victim? Even as he hated Yohan, he worried that something might have happened to him. Someone like that had no right even to speak of atonement.

This was pain he had to bear alone. Trapped in darkness once more, he would pay for his sins.

Raguel began to sniffle. His sobs grew louder, filling the room. He had been crying for a long time when the door burst open.

He bolted upright.

"Yohan?!"

"Beating you to death wouldn't be enough, you little bastard!"

It wasn't Gaf's voice. It was a hideous roar that made Raguel shrink back the instant he heard it.

"F-Father...?"

"Who are you calling Father? I told you never to call me that!"

A flowerpot flew at Raguel and struck him in the head. The blind boy instinctively curled into a ball, seized by the memory of losing his remaining eye to a candlestick the Baron had thrown.

"I-I'm sorry! I was wrong! Please forgive me! I'll never call you Father again!"

The Baron clambered on top of Raguel, his face wild with rage. He reeked of alcohol.

"If you were capable of listening to reason, you wouldn't have devoured your own mother to be born! You're worse than an animal! Answer me! Answer!"

The hulking man began raining blows on the boy like a madman.

"Where is Ilea? I know that mercenary and Ilea were in and out of this room constantly! What were you all plotting? Did you smuggle her out?"

"P-Please don't kill me! I don't know anything!"

"Cut the bullshit and bring her here this instant! Do you take the Watcher of the Abyss for a joke?"

The merciless violence continued. It had been quite some time since his last beating. The Baron, who had been lying listlessly in bed, was unusually vigorous today.

THWACK! THWACK!

Raguel screamed. The pain was enough to kill him. Both his body and his heart were rotting away. Just as the agony nearly drove him unconscious, a shout rang out.

"Stop! Are you trying to kill him?"

It was Gaf. He rushed over in an instant and pulled the Baron off Raguel. The Baron's face flushed crimson.

"How dare a lowborn mercenary like you!"

SMACK!

A sharp crack rang out as the Baron struck Gaf across the cheek. It felt like hitting a rock. The Baron's face twisted in bewilderment.

"W-What..."

His paltry strength hadn't even turned Gaf's head. Showing no sign of pain, Gaf shouted,

"Do you intend to kill your child with your own hands? What kind of parent would do such a thing?"

"That's none of your concern! Get the hell out!"

"Without Raguel, how do you mean to stop your younger brother? Are you content to hand him the succession?"

The Baron's younger brother was declaring himself heir to House Miyatro. Kril Miyatro. He already commanded an army of three hundred.

The Baron was about to shout something in his fury when another voice cut in.

"A blind man cannot inherit the house anyway."

Gaf and the Baron turned at the same time. Yohan was entering the room in human form, with Ilea beside him. The Baron's eyes widened when he saw her.

"I-Ilea!"

Ignoring the Baron's reaction, Yohan added,

"Besides, not every parent in this world is like you, Gaf."

The Baron's gaze shifted to Yohan.

"Who are you? Who are you, and why are you with Ilea? Identify yourself!"

"You don't know me? How hurtful."

The corners of Yohan's mouth lifted as he approached the Baron. Outside the window, the sun was slowly sinking.

"Look closely. We've known each other for quite some time."

The Baron's face alternated between red and purple. The boy before him was outrageously insolent. His face had an aristocratic air, but his clothes were shabby and his hair as unkempt as a beggar's. A vagrant's child, no doubt. Someone who had no right even to meet a nobleman's gaze.

"Still don't recognize me? You might as well be blind."

"You ill-mannered little shit! Do you know whose presence you're in?"

The Baron raised his arm. He would beat the boy to death and teach him his place. Just as he was about to strike, the sun vanished.

Darkness swallowed the twilight without a trace. The room plunged into pitch-black night. The Baron began backing away.

"Our first meeting in person. A pleasure to see you."

The Baron's pupils widened, reflecting red light. Those all-too-familiar crimson eyes. The gaze that ruled his dreams had appeared in reality and was staring straight at him.

"Y-You're..."

"A Demon."

Enormous wings spread to either side, covering the room.

"The bringer of death who will tear your soul to shreds."

The Baron collapsed to the floor.