Destination of Crybird Chapter 30 – Devil’s Spawn

When I regained my consciousness, it was already morning and I was in my bed. When I jumped out of my bed and rushed to the corridor, I encountered with Surges.

“Larcus, are you alright now?”

“Yes, I only ran out of magical power. I had no external injuries. More importantly, what is the current state?”

“Firstly, calm down. You must be hungry, right?”

When we reached the dining room, I saw Medea there. I was relieved when I saw her alright but Medea had a long face. Surges was standing in the kitchen with an usual expression. I couldn’t see Chris but considering the calm att.i.tude of Surges, at most she must have minor injuries and be resting in her bed.

Even though Surges lived in such a remote place, he was a famous swordsman. Thus if he wanted, he could take wives as much as he wished. However he loved only Chris and didn’t even cheat on her with other women. He must be truly loving Chris. I had a bad premonition but I don’t think he would be so calm if she was dead so I stopped thinking about Chris for now and called out to Medea.

“Medea, so you were alright. I am glad to see you alright.”

“I too am glad to see you alright, Onii-chan. That magic… No, nevermind. I just ate but you must be hungry, Onii-chan. Let’s talk about it after you ate.”

As I thought, she must be curious about that Darkness attributed magic. I guess I have to make an explanation.

Honestly, when she mentioned it, I recalled that I hadn’t eaten anything since the morning of the previous day. For a while, only my chewing sounds resounded in the dining room of Crybird House. When I finished my meal, Surges served the after meal tea.

“It is alright now, Father. Please tell me about the situation.”

“Okay, I will started to tell from the time we parted with you. After that, we clashed with Goblins in the Main Street but we were outnumbered. Gradually they started to overwhelm us and Chris and I managed to retreat with several people but most of them were killed there. After Goblins broke through the Main Street, their formation started to suddenly started to scatter around thus it was difficult for the Goblin King to perform a defensive formation with the remaining Goblins. Therefore I tried to sneak behind the formation in order to kill Goblin King. However, in the end I couldn’t kill the Goblin King. We tried to create a barrier around the Goblin King with the Earth magic of Chris in order to detach the Goblin King from the main army but they acted before Chris could invoke her magic and injured Chris.”

Surges stopped here and sipped his tea. I also asked what I was curious about the most.

“How is mother now?”

“She is fine. There is no danger for her life. She is just sleeping to be prudent.”

There was a bitter feeling in Surges’ words. Medea, too, somehow looked nervous and she was like hiding something. But if she was dead and they were lying about it, it would be revealed in no time. And if she were on the verge of death, they would ask me to cast Holy Magic on her. There was something wrong but I urged Surges to continue to tell.

“I couldn’t see the figure of the person from Demon Race back then but that person from Demon Race probably had a high level [Magic Perception] skill. He pinpointed the position of Chris and fired off magic at her. And then around 20 Goblins marched on. Goblins were consistently kept on attacking a little and retreating. They were retreating too far thus neither I could take Chris and escape nor I could annihilate the Goblins. Therefore I had to stay beside Chris. At this point, Goblin King petrified and turned into dust by a mysterious magic which was supposedly fired by Larcus. Apparently that magic also hit the arm of the person from Demon Race as well but he could escape from petrification by cutting of his own arm. “

“Someone who can hide his presence using a skill or magic is really hard to deal. It was only a coincidence that my magic hit him, after all.”

“Larcus, what was that magic?”

I didn’t know much about Darkness attributed magic. I didn’t even know how many people could use it. However if Chris, who is a Magic User, did see it, she could easily figure it out even if I had lied about it thus I had no choice to tell the truth.

“I think it was Darkness attributed magic.”

“I see, so what that person from Demon Race told was true”

“What did he say?”

“Darkness attributed Level 3 magic; [Terror of c.o.c.katrice].” (TL Note : What? It already become level 3? Evolution of [Hardworking Talent]?)

“This is the first time I heard the name of this magic.”

“What kind of magic is it?”

“Darkness attributed magic attacks directly to one’s mind. Their minds are completely painted by fear and despair. And the ones who couldn’t endure the magic lost their minds and they turn into a disable person. The magic I used back then would petrify and turn into dust the one who couldn’t endure the fear and despair.”

“It is dreadful.”

“Father, there is not much information about Darkness attributed magic even at the books. Thus I don’t know much about it.”

“It is said that only Demon Race can use Darkness attributed magic. The ones who could use it amongst the humans were only Legendary Hero and the Wanderer Great Wizard. This is the only information recorded about it even in the literature books. Larcus, never use it in front of the humans.”

“Understood.”

I nodded with a meek expression.

“As for what happened after that, the person from Demon Race spread his wings and escaped after he was wounded. He seemed quite weakened from outside but he firmly detected your figure and glared at you with resentful eyes. Its likelihood is low but he might try to get revenge from you thus you should be more careful about people from Demon Race. Since Goblin King was dead, the remaining Goblins have fallen into confused state thus I could break through the encirclement of the Goblins and arrive at Lieber’s Mansion. Most of the Goblins started to retreat but they didn’t have anyone to command them. Thus I could easily annihilate the ones inside the village.”

“Why is the likelihood of him getting revenge from me low?”

“Population of Demon Race is quite low. Thus they lost the war against the humans and escaped to the remote wilderness. I don’t think that Demon Race would dare to attack the Kingdom head-on. Thus its likelihood is low.”

“Understood. How many villagers survived?”

“13 men, 88 women and 53 children.”

“Many people died. Even Kite and Tanya…”

At this point, I remembered that I wouldn’t be able to see Kite and Tanya again and I bursted into tears.

Medea softly held my hand.

Unable to surpa.s.s my tears, holding Medea’s hand with my two hands, I cried silently for a while.

Currently similar overflowing sad scenes must be happening all around the village. After crying for about 10 minutes, my grief gradually started to settle down.

“Medea, I am alright now. It must be hard on you as well. Thank you.”

“No, you knew them much longer than I did. Thus naturally your grief is denser than mine.”

When I looked carefully, there were traces of crying on Medea’s face. I pretended not to notice it and accepted her consideration gratefully.

“I wonder what the villagers are gonna do from now on? Many able people died and there must be many children who became orphans as well.”

“There is no other way than relying on the Colonise Viscount-sama about this matter.”

“I wonder if they are gonna be alright?”

“I don’t know. But he wouldn’t not care about them.”

“By the way, what are those orphans doing now?”

“The children who lost their parents and the parents who lost their children are living together now.”

“It was something fortunate in this misfortune that Goblins attacked after the harvest of wheats, right?”

“Nope, warehouse of the village is burnt down by the Fire attributed magic of the person from Demon Race. Currently there is no other choice but to endure the starvation using the food reserves inside the houses in the village.”

I was unable to see a bright future for this village. I had started to wait for the approaching winter in a gloomy mood.

“By the way, can I go see the Mother? If she is injured, I can heal her with my Holy Magic.”

“Don’t! Stop!”

I wasn’t expecting it thus I was startled by the loud voice of Surges.

“What is the matter, Father? If she is injured, we should heal her.”

I ignored the urgings of Surges and opened the door of her room.

Chris was sleeping prostrated on the bed. As soon as our eyes met, Chris started to shout.

“You d.a.m.ned Devil! What did you do to the real Larcus?! Why did Kite have to die while a Devil like you survived?! Give my child back!”

“M-Mother…”

“Don’t call me Mother! You d.a.m.ned Devil!”

Chris shouted at me with a demon-like expression. If someone claimed that she was in a confused state due to loss of her eldest son, everybody would believe it but I could see an anger with reason in her eyes. Thus I could understand what Chris meant by saying “Give the real Larcus back.”

Chris ignored me who was stupefied and kept on calling the name of Kite.

I came back to my senses when someone touched my shoulder and when I turned around, I saw Surges standing behind me.

“Do you understand, right? Chris is worn-out now. Let’s leave her alone for a while.”

I quietly shut the door without saying anything.

“Larcus, are you calmer now? The deceased people must be cremated and the corpses of the Goblins must be disposed. You must help out as well.”

“Okay, understood, Father.”

Indeed, the cremation of the deceased people must be done urgently. The blood scent might lure other monsters. Thus it must be done urgently.

I responded back and started to move sluggishly.

“I will help out as well.”

I guess she must have heard the shoutings of Chris. Medea anxiously came to see me. I lightly raised my hand and gestured that it was okay.

As the sobbing sounds were resounding in the silent village time to time, I worked silently.

Since there were not many men to help out, it was a little hard to do but all of the deceased people were gathered until the evening. Naturally there were many familiar faces. Amongst them, there were also the three boys who bullied Medea once. At the Main Street where was the fiercest battleground, three of them had collapsed on the ground side by side. There were also other familiar faces such as the Master of the house at our neighbourhood whom I would exchange greetings with everyday, Lieber’s wife who took care of me frequently, and then lastly Tanya and Kite. Just until the day before yesterday, each of them has been living their everyday lives, working diligently at their farmworks, chatting with each other and having their meals. It feels really strange when I think about that those people will never be able to do those things again.

It was the same at my previous world as well but even though it was n.o.body’s fault or there was any peculiar reason, you could suddenly lose your life. This is a world where such cases occur frequently. I am trying to accept it but I can not accept no matter how hard I try.

I always end up with trying to figure out the causes and reasons for their deaths before thinking anything else.

Fire attributed magics Medea and I cast wrap up the corpses. The people around us keep feeding the fire with the remnant woods from destroyed weirs and houses in order to keep fire burning. I don’t know if it was because they believe in reincarnation but the custom of making graves didn’t exist in this world. They just cremate them and say a few words of prayer.

As the evening sun and blazing flames dye the surroundings to the bright red, the words of prayings mixed with sobbing sounds were being chanted. Probably I would never forget that scene as long as I live.  

The next day, while I was treating the injured people, Medea was dealing with the corpses of the Goblins using her Fire attributed magic. We were both working diligently. Even though this was a work I had to do, I was also aware of the fact that I was using this work as an excuse to run away from Chris. The way I was acting wasn’t right so I was wondering whether I should honestly tell them everything or not.

The next day, I finally decided to honestly tell them everything. Probably Chris had already had some convictions about it. Come to think of it, there were many times she was looking at me with the eyes full of doubt.

After we had the lunch, I told Surges and Medea that I had something important to talk. I made Surges brought Chris who was recovered enough to be able to eat to the dining room and started to talk.

“Please forgive me but I have something important to talk. It is about the truth about me.”

Chris responded this words.

“So you finally decided to confess the truth about you, huh? You devil!”

“Chris, shut up. What truth is it, Larcus?”

“Yes, firstly I have memories about my previous life. I had lived until the age of 25 at my previous life and the memories of that life is still intact.”

I paused my speech here and looked around me.

“Keep talking.”

Surges instructed shortly and I nodded lightly.

“Moreover, my previous life was not in this world, Ryguil but in a different world called Earth. There were no magic on Earth. Instead, it has developed science and technology. If I were to say it in a simpler way, it has exquisite machines which could move on their own. It was a world which would developed such things. I was an ordinary man in my country back there working in company which manufactures agricultural machineries. But my education level would be quite high in this world standarts.”

“Why did you stay silent until now?”

Surges tosses a question.

“Firstly, if I were to suddenly bring up such a preposterous subject as a child, would you believe me?”

Surges silently shakes his head.

“And secondly, it was for my own convenience. In the case of the existence of such a child, how would the people in this world deal with him? I couldn’t figure out an answer for this question. For example, if there were a custom of throwing away such children, I would lose my life in no time. I didn’t want to die so I decided to stay silent until I was sure that there was no such a risk. I apologize for being silent until now.”

“To be honest, I can’t believe it immediately.”

Surges gave a reasonable reaction.

“I didn’t think you would. However I want you to believe at least this. Before I realized, I had already become an existence called Larcus. I didn’t size anyone’s soul and n.o.body ever called me Devil even on Earth. Of course I still remember about my parents back on Earth but Dad and Mom will always be my parents. At least that’s how I feel.”

Chris doesn’t say anything. Surges asks a question to Chris.

“Chris, it is up to you whether you believe or not what Larcus said. However I am certain about one thing. Larcus is not a devil. He is our son. During the previous incident, Larcus slaughtered many Goblins. At the Lieber Mansion, even though all he had some women and children, he splendidly defended against the Goblins by commanding them. Do you think such a person can be a Devil, Chris?”

“No.”

Chris shortly replies.

“Larcus always did nothing but to train himself and he evidently became much more stronger than other kids but has he ever domineered or bullied other kids using his strength, Chris?”

“No.”

“When Medea first came to our family, he was the one who took initiative to pay attention to her so that she would become adapted to our family faster. And Medea also loves him dearly now. No matter what the circ.u.mstances are, aren’t we a family, Chris?”

“Yes, you are right.”

Chris who was replying silently until now suddenly started to weep loudly.

After a while, Chris calmed down more or less and started to talk to me.

“I am sorry, Larcus. I did wrong you.”

“No, Mom. It was my fault for not trusting you and staying silent until now.”

“Larcus, thank you. You forgave me, right?”

“Of course!”

I reply with a crying-smile. However my tears felt comfortable this time as if they were dissolving all the uneasiness I had in my heart until now.

After I calmed down, I keep talking about my skills and everything on Earth.

I realized it now when I checked my skills but since my Darkness attributed magic reached level 3, the total sum of the levels of my skills became 50. My Unique Skill [Hardworking Talent] evolved to [Prodigy] which allows me to acquire any skills without any restrictions. And my level became 10. Furthermore, when total sum of the levels of my skills reached 100, it seems like [Prodigy] can evolve to [Natural Gift] which doubles the acquiring speed of skills.