Chapter 7 - Raguel Miyatro

After leaving Yohan in Raguel's room, Gaf headed for the battlements. From high atop the ramparts, he could take in the lord's entire estate at a glance.

The fields stretching out to the left were stained red beneath the twilight. To the right, the cluster of houses bustled with residents hurrying to finish the day's remaining tasks. Curfew would soon be announced.

It was an age-old rule in the south: keep the streets empty during the Demons' hours—at night.

One by one, people returned home. Before long, quiet settled over the estate. Moonlight was falling.

The domain lay shrouded in darkness, but the church glowed faintly. The emblem of the Church of the Great Saint absorbed the moonlight.

Gaf gazed at the church roof and traced the holy sign along the points of a pentagram.

"Great Saint Marziel. Your foolish servant has betrayed you. Please do not forgive me."

As if dealing with a Demon were not enough, he had become an accomplice in its wicked schemes. Surely this was a sin beyond absolution.

"You should be confessing to me, not the Great Saint."

A sweet voice rang out without warning. A familiar voice. Gaf turned toward its source, his pupils widening.

"Don't you think? You started a second family without telling your daughter."

Smiling demurely, a girl was walking from the defensive tower onto the battlements.

"Ilea...?"

The girl dipped her head. Her platinum-blond hair fluttered in the night breeze.

"It's been a while, Father."

Gaf's entire body went rigid.

"I-is it really..."

His feet seemed fixed to the ground. He had to force them free, laboriously, one step at a time.

"Really..."

His gaze trembled. He looked like a man facing a mirage in the desert.

"... Are you truly my daughter?"

He struggled over to her and dropped heavily onto one knee.

"Yes, I am. I'm Ilea, your daughter."

Gaf gently caressed his daughter's cheek. Ilea laid her hand over the back of his large one. They shared each other's warmth, and his eyes reddened.

"It really is you, Ilea."

"Don't cry. I'm here with you now."

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I should never have taken my eyes off you, even for a moment... I've made a terrible mistake."

Ilea patted his back.

"You came to rescue me in the end. No other parent could do what you've done. So stop blaming yourself. There, no more tears."

Her voice was utterly peaceful. There was even a gentle smile on her face.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Has the Baron touched you? I've heard about his perverse tastes. If he's laid a hand on you..."

Ilea shook her head.

"He hasn't touched a hair on my head. In fact, he treats me very well."

His daughter sounded far too composed. Gaf could not help feeling that something was wrong. How could his daughter remain so calm when she had been abducted and brought to a place where a lecherous monster lurked? Her reaction was incomprehensible.

"I-Ilea. Are you pretending to be all right for my sake? You don't have to. If you're suffering, we can leave this very moment."

Ilea smiled faintly.

"And afterward?"

Even if they escaped, they would be hunted for the rest of their lives. Gaf spoke in a trembling voice.

"We'll hide who we are. We can go west, or north, or even to the Empire. Just say the word, and we'll..."

"That's not the life I want."

"But!"

Ilea gently cradled his head in her arms.

"Go and find a life of your own, Father. You have a new family now. Be happy with them. You deserve that much."

"I-Ilea. What are you saying? They're..."

Something strange flickered across her face. She carefully eased him away, then gazed steadily into his eyes.

"They're what?"

"They're..."

Gaf struggled to continue. He could hardly tell her the truth: that the woman had committed the crime of coupling with a Demon, and the baby was a half-demon.

Ilea smiled kindly and shook her head.

"Don't force yourself. It doesn't matter. But..."

An unusual light flashed in her eyes.

"I'd like to see my little sibling at least once."

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded from below. Someone seemed to be coming up the stairs. Ilea composed her expression and helped Gaf to his feet.

"In any case, we're strangers from now on."

Gaf's face darkened.

"You're the only one who needs to be careful. I've made sure the girls who came with me will keep quiet."

The girls abducted from Taharan alongside Ilea knew Gaf's face.

"You understand?"

At that moment, a young voice rang out sharply.

"Ilea!"

Ilea turned her head. A little girl was running toward her and stopped abruptly in front of her.

"Rowen, you'll fall if you run like that."

"But it's almost time for evening lessons, and I couldn't find you."

Ilea stroked the girl's hair.

"So you came to find me. How kind of you."

"The old hag will punish us if we're late. Rowen doesn't like getting hurt."

"All right. Let's hurry."

Ilea laced her fingers through the child's. After a brief glance back at Gaf, she walked away.

His daughter receded into the distance. Gaf stood rooted to the spot, staring for a long time in the direction she had disappeared.

It was unmistakably Ilea. Surely she was still his considerate daughter, so quick to smile... Yet something about her felt unfamiliar. As though she were someone else.

"Ilea, who was that man, anyway?"

"Hmm... Someone who never thinks things through?"

"Even though he's a grown-up?"

"Yes."

Ilea's lips curved faintly.

"But he's brave all the same."

* * *

A delicate hand rested against the rough stone wall. The torches mounted there did nothing to guide him; they merely cast long shadows.

The blind boy had a different firefly to guide him.

"The stairs frighten you a little, I see."

A Demon. Yohan poked his head out of Raguel's fur clothing.

"I feel like I'll fall..."

Muttering, the boy extended one foot downward. His leg trembled slightly, as though he was reluctant to take the step.

Unable to watch any longer, Yohan spoke.

"Why not go down on your backside instead?"

"I want to walk on my own legs."

The imp gave a hollow laugh.

"Such pointless stubbornness."

"Just guide me properly. You said you'd be my eyes."

Raguel was more assertive than Yohan had expected. Had he been like this in the original novel? He couldn't quite remember. The boy had appeared so little.

"You made it here from your room well enough, didn't you? The rest is up to you. Don't be afraid. Take the step."

The spiral staircase descended so deep that its end was out of sight.

"Go on."

Raguel carefully stepped onto the first stair. Relief crossed his face, and Yohan chuckled.

"See? You can do it if you try. Well done."

The corners of Raguel's mouth began to rise, then stopped short.

"Praise from a Demon doesn't make me happy at all."

"Your face said otherwise."

Raguel was a child who would delight in even the smallest scrap of attention or praise. Anyone who knew his background could guess as much.

A mother who had died giving birth to him. A father who abused him constantly. Servants who saw their ill-tempered master in him and regarded him coldly. Even accusations that he was an unfilial wretch who had devoured his own mother to be born.

Raguel could hardly be anything but lonely.

"You saw wrong. It makes me feel worse, actually."

"One of you is as prickly as the other."

"The other?"

Gaf, too, grumbled every time they met.

"You don't need to know. Just keep moving."

The stairs led deep underground. At this pace, the sun might rise before they even arrived. Nothing could be more disastrous.

"Hurrying me won't help. This is as fast as I can go."

He could hardly berate a blind boy for being slow as a slug, so all he could do was stew in frustration. He wanted to possess the boy if nothing else, but even that was impossible. The knowledge of how to possess someone was not etched into his mind.

'I can make contracts, so why not this?'

Like forming a contract with a Demon, possession was something every Demon could perform. Only Yohan could not.

'Is there something about the world of Chronicle of Humans and Demons that I don't know?'

As he was turning the original novel over in his mind, he heard grumbling. His thoughts interrupted, Yohan spoke curtly.

"Stop mumbling and speak clearly."

"I'm saying we'd be there already if I could see. I thought you were going to give me eyes, but you tricked me."

Yohan clicked his tongue.

"You'll have them soon. There's no need to complain."

"Really?"

"How soon will depend on how quickly we reach the library."

No sooner had he finished than Raguel picked up his pace. He was putting quite some effort into it.

'He can be rather simple.'

He continued to gather speed.

"That's fast enough. Be careful."

The boy had stumbled several times, making Yohan uneasy despite himself.

"Don't overdo..."

Sure enough, the boy's legs crossed. Raguel let out an alarmed groan as his body pitched forward.

"You idiot!"

He fell headlong and began tumbling down the stairs.

'I can't let him get hurt.'

Yohan sprang out of the fur clothing. He tried to brace the boy somehow, but he was powerless. He was swept along and fell with him.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

Their two frail bodies took the full force of every impact. At some point, consciousness began to slip away.

* * *

"... Where are you?"

His head throbbed. His whole body burned as though he had been scorched.

"D-don't leave me alone."

His vision was spinning.

"I can't see anything."

Yohan swallowed a groan and fought down the pain.

"Where are you, really...?"

He looked around. A vast cylindrical chamber stretched before him: the underground library of the baronial House of Miyatro.

It was terribly dark, but that did not hinder a Demon. Their eyes shone all the brighter in darkness.

His keen sense of smell was responding, too. A musty odor stung his nose—the mildew of the enormous bookshelves encircling the room.

"Please."

Only then did he register the sniffling. Yohan looked toward the sound. The boy was huddled up, trembling violently.

"Tsk."

Yohan rose and went over to him. He had only stood on his own yesterday, and already he was taking his first steps.

'Should I thank Gaf?'

His feelings were complicated.

Yohan stopped right in front of Raguel. Even with the boy crouched down, he was still shorter.

"Perhaps I should have taken your little pecker as payment for our bargain."

Raguel jerked his head up.

"Y-you!"

"A boy, sniveling like that."

The boy's initial shock was slowly giving way to relief.

"I thought I'd been left alone again... If you were here, you should have said so."

"Stop whining. You're not alone anymore. More importantly, are you hurt?"

The boy was clutching his right shoulder with his left arm.

"I can't put any strength into my shoulder."

A dislocation? He had gotten off lightly, considering how far he had fallen.

"Your ancestors will fix it."

The boy looked puzzled.

"... My ancestors?"

"The legacy they left behind, to be precise."

The boy could not make any sense of what he was saying. Yohan swept his gaze around the library and spoke.

"It's a large library, but otherwise ordinary. There's no reason to bury it so deep underground. Have you ever wondered why they put it somewhere so impractical?"

Not particularly. He had liked it all the more for being so deep underground; he had never questioned its practicality.

He was simply grateful that this place existed. It freed him from abuse and condemnation. It must have been a refuge for him.

Raguel shook his head. The Demon's lips curled upward.

"Because they had a great deal to hide."

"Hide? What..."

"You'll find out soon."

Yohan helped Raguel to his feet.

"Follow me."

He took hold of the tip of the boy's index finger to guide him. Because of the difference in their heights, Raguel followed awkwardly, bent at the waist.

"Where are we going?"

"Where you always used to sit."

They headed toward the round table in the very center of the library. Small though it was, it had been fashioned from goldmirror stone, the most expensive mineral in this world.

Stopping before the grayish-white table, Yohan spoke.

"This will sting."

With a sharp fingernail, he made a shallow cut across the boy's palm.

"Ah!"

A thin stream of blood seeped out.

"W-what are you suddenly..."

"There's a table right in front of you. Place your palm in the center, as though you're leaving a thumbprint."

The boy was puzzled but did not question him. He placed his hand on the table as instructed.

"A little farther left."

"L-like this?"

"Down from there."

"Down..."

Yohan sighed and climbed onto the round table. He pulled the boy's hand over himself and set it at the very center.

Drops of blood soaked in. At once, the goldmirror stone began to blaze with light.

The brilliant white radiance brought a previously invisible spell array to the surface. Lines tangled like a spiderweb spread across the round table.

The boy's blood spread along the engraved array.

The goldmirror stone turned red. When it finally confirmed his Miyatro bloodline, the ground gave a single violent tremor.

The round table dropped straight down. Dust accumulated over long years filled the library with a pale haze.