Chapter 6 - The Blind Boy and the Demon

“Have you seen Ilea?”

Soft candlelight cast the imp’s shadow across the room’s wall. With limbs long in proportion to its torso, a tiny head, and a horn half the length of a little finger, its silhouette almost resembled a fairy.

The reality was quite different. Gaf looked away from the shadow and at Yohan himself. A grotesque creature covered in red tattoos—a little Demon through and through—was reclining on the bed.

Gaf shook his head.

“I only had an audience with the Baron. Ilea was nowhere to be seen.”

“She’ll be fine. Don’t worry so much.”

Gaf had visited the lord’s castle that afternoon to learn its layout, and in that respect, the visit had been a fair success. His second objective had ended in failure: he had not been able to check on Ilea.

His expression grew troubled.

“The Baron looked like a thoroughly nasty piece of work. The rumors agree. What sort of man is he?”

This Demon would surely know.

Yohan answered carelessly.

“A pedophile and a sadist. Exactly what he looks like.”

Gaf bit his lip hard.

“And you tell me not to worry?”

Yohan gave a small, mocking laugh.

“Ilea is worse. You don’t seem to know your own daughter very well.”

Worse than that damned pervert of a noble? There could be no greater insult. Gaf scowled.

“What the hell are you saying?”

“Admittedly, that wasn’t quite accurate.”

Ilea was too childlike to call vicious, too sly to call innocent. Even Yohan could not pin down her true nature. Only one thing was certain.

“Whatever she is, Ilea has the Baron completely outwitted. Even you must agree to some extent.”

“Me? On what grounds?”

Yohan gazed steadily at him, then spoke after a moment’s thought.

“In all your years with your daughter, have you never once seen her do anything strange?”

Gaf frowned, clearly baffled.

“Strange? Make yourself clear.”

“Think carefully. You ought to remember at least one instance.”

Yohan was genuinely curious. Had Gaf truly never noticed anything unusual about Ilea? The original story could not answer that question. The novel, Chronicle of Humans and Demons, had never delved deeply into its characters’ thoughts or psychology.

“Go on. Search your memory.”

The Demon before him was oddly eager.

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

Yohan clicked his tongue.

“Either you’re hopelessly oblivious, or love has blinded you completely. And if neither is true...”

Then Ilea had hidden her true self perfectly.

“In any case, you’re a dull, frustrating bastard. You’ll be lucky if your reunion with your daughter doesn’t leave you hurt.”

Gaf had no desire to rise to the bait.

“Enough nonsense. Let’s get to the point. Starting tomorrow, I intend to stay at the lord’s castle.”

Yohan glanced around.

“Tomorrow? Then where are we now?”

“A room at an inn.”

Yohan retained the same mental faculties in his daytime human form as he did at night, but like any newborn, he could not fight off sleep. Drowsiness had overwhelmed him the moment they entered the lord’s castle. When he opened his eyes, he was here.

“You must have secured a room at the castle. Why not move in today?”

“You turn into a Demon every night. One wrong move and you’ll be exposed.”

A little Demon living in the lord’s castle. Nothing could be more dangerous—for human and Demon alike.

Yohan smirked.

“You actually used your head for once.”

Gaf ignored the mockery and continued.

“Stay hidden here at the inn with your mother. I’ll make sure to visit at least once a day. I need to be by Ilea’s side.”

“You mean to guard your daughter in secret, like some shadow knight?”

“That’s the plan for now.”

Yohan shrugged.

“Well, do as you please.”

Gaf gave him a guarded look.

“Is that all?”

You idiot. You call that a plan? It’s utterly pathetic... He had expected a torrent of abuse along those lines, but the Demon had agreed surprisingly readily.

“That’s all.”

It made no difference to Yohan. The Baron would not be able to lay a hand on Ilea anyway, which meant Gaf would have no reason to intervene. Gaf the shadow knight merely had to stay put, as useless as a sack of grain left sitting in a corner.

“But let me warn you of one thing. Don’t say anything foolish to the Baron. Don’t ask for Ilea as payment for your services, or reveal that you’re her father. None of it will do any good.”

The Baron would grow more obsessed with Ilea by the day. That twisted lover would never part with her merely to pay a mercenary’s wages.

“Understood?”

He needed an answer. As long as Gaf refrained from doing anything rash, Yohan’s plan would proceed smoothly.

“... I know.”

His agreement sounded grudging.

Yohan frowned.

“Don’t tell me you were considering it?”

“I thought about it, but dismissed it immediately.”

Even Gaf did not think a straightforward approach was a particularly good option.

“A small mercy. I nearly smacked you over the head.”

Gaf gave an incredulous laugh.

“How? You can’t even walk on your own.”

Yohan smiled mischievously.

“Can’t I?”

Gaf looked him up and down. The Demon was still small and frail. He seemed to have grown a little taller, but even then he was no more than the length of a grown man’s shin.

Gaf snorted.

“What nonsense.”

“So quick to judge.”

Yohan regarded Gaf with a sly smile, then added,

“Very well. Go about your business. But there’s one thing to add to your daily routine.”

Suspicion flickered in Gaf’s eyes.

“What is it?”

“Starting tomorrow, take me to the castle just before sunset. Then bring me back here at sunrise.”

In other words, he intended to roam the castle in Demon form. That was how it sounded to Gaf.

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“To the Baron’s son’s room, to be precise. You can leave me under his bed.”

The Baron’s only son, Raguel Miyatro. Gaf had heard about him. A cripple with one eye and a limp, wasn’t he? In that case, the Demon’s intentions were obvious.

“Let me make this clear. I won’t take part in your schemes.”

“No? Very well. I can manage perfectly well without your help.”

How could an imp that had yet to take its first steps get to the castle? It was impossible.

“You must be getting desperate if you’ve resorted to bluffing.”

Yohan’s mouth stretched into a wide grin.

“Bluffing? See for yourself before you speak.”

With that, he rolled onto his stomach. Planting both hands on the bedsheet, he pushed with his arms, as though doing a push-up.

“I’ve fed on so much of your emotion that I’m changing by the day.”

His upper body began to rise. Something small attached to his shoulder blades fluttered too, but it was far too small to lift him. He was pushing himself upright using nothing but his arms.

Bewilderment spread across Gaf’s face.

“Wh-what...”

When Yohan finally stood on his own two feet, Gaf could not hide his shock.

“You!”

“There. See? This is what happens when you treat me as your emotional dumping ground.”

Demons were monsters that fed on human emotions. Hostility toward Yohan, anxiety, and the like had accelerated his growth.

“In a few days, I’ll be perfectly capable of walking.”

For now, standing was all he could manage. Even that left him so unsteady that he would have toppled at once had his mother not held him up.

The Demon stood there with a devious smile.

“I could go on my own two feet, though that does worry me a little. A villager or a soldier might discover me.”

Under the contract, Gaf would meet his death as well.

Gaf bit his lip hard. Was that evil scheme really going to happen? He had to stop it somehow. He might have contracted with a Demon for his daughter’s sake, but he could not sacrifice others.

If he took away the creature’s freedom... Just as that thought occurred to him, the Demon spoke.

“Don’t do anything rash. The contract requires you to ‘protect’ me. From this moment on, I will consider any physical coercion against this body a breach of contract.”

Then he added,

“You do know what protection means, don’t you?”

“... Confinement for your own protection.”

“An amusing notion.”

The Demon chuckled.

“Go ahead and try. I’m curious whether that sort of wordplay would work myself. But the demonic energy gripping your heart will know your true intentions with uncanny accuracy.”

Yohan sat back against the headboard.

“You only get one chance. Fail, and it’s goodbye to your daughter. I’ll at least pass on your regards.”

The Demon calmly offered himself up.

“Go on, then. Do as you wish.”

* * *

Raguel Miyatro was trapped in pitch darkness. Even when he opened his eyelids, the oppressive blackness remained. His clouded pupil could no longer take in light.

He would never see again.

Born with only one eye, the boy had lost his remaining eye a few weeks ago. It was the result of abuse at the hands of his father, the Baron.

He had been unlucky. He had ducked to avoid a flying candlestick, only to end up completely blind. Now he could no longer even read, his sole pastime.

Raguel sniffled. No one offered any comfort. No one was by his side. Only a cold, indifferent maid visited from time to time to bring his meals.

That should have been all. Yet someone had entered his room a little while ago. He could not see, but he could hear.

RUSTLE, RUSTLE.

The man who had lingered near the boy left with a few words.

“... I’m sorry. One day, I’ll pay for this in hell.”

Raguel asked who he was, but received no answer. The door closed.

Lonely, desolate hours began to pass once more. Hope was supposed to be the pillar that sustained life, yet he could not find so much as a handful in this dark prison.

The boy murmured,

“... Great Saint Marziel. Please grant me even the faintest glimmer of dawn.”

His hollow voice merely sank into the silence and vanished. That was how it usually went.

“Do not pray.”

Tonight was different.

The boy bolted upright.

“Wh-who are you!”

He had sat up so violently that the bandage around his eyes slipped loose.

“Shh.”

Something cold touched the corner of his lips.

“It is late. Everyone is asleep.”

The strange touch traveled over his upper lip and across his cheek.

“Yet you alone are awake.”

Then it began to stroke the area around his injured eye.

“What do you seek so desperately, trapped in the dark?”

The low voice continued.

“With prayers that will never be answered.”

“Wh-who are you? I asked you.”

“A Demon who came because I could not bear listening to your prayers.”

The boy gulped.

“... A D-Demon.”

“Yes. A monster that feeds on darkness. Your despair has led me here.”

The boy cried out in a trembling voice.

“B-be gone! In the name of the Great Saint...”

A gentle voice cut him off.

“Child, do not cling to an illusion. Marziel is not close enough to hear your prayers.”

At the same moment, murky smoke seeped into the boy’s airways.

“But the glimmer of dawn you have sought so desperately is right before you.”

Two red spots flickered in the blind boy’s vision.

“Take my hand. I will swallow your darkness.”

The boy shook his head frantically. In the pitch darkness, no matter how he turned away, the red eyes followed and stared at him.

“What do you want from me!”

“Be my legs.”

Then he added,

“And I will be your eyes. Let us go down to the forbidden library together and read all the books you loved to your heart’s content.”

The forbidden library of the baronial House of Miyatro. It housed the holy relics and demonic tomes that the Watchers of the Abyss had recovered from the Gorge of Death.

Yohan needed them. Demons evolved by corrupting holy relics. Blasphemy. His mouth was watering already.

The Demon gently clasped the boy’s delicate hand.

“Come, child. Take this hand in yours. You will gain a reason to live.”

His voice was sweet.