The Daughter of Evil - Volume 2 - Chapter 2.12

✿CHAPTER 2, SECTION 1, SCENE 2✿
✿ Michaela ~ Elphegort Country “Yatski Village” ~

I woke up in a place I wasn’t familiar with.

I was surrounded by walls that were made of processed stones; even the sky, I cannot see it. This is a place I’ve never seen in the forest.

(……It seems to be a familiar place)

Where on earth am I? It got me thinking… ah! Come to think of it…

(Pant)

Pant was a wood cutter. A family of three, together with his wife and children, was living in the forest of Eldoh-san. I used to sneak into his house, so that’s where I got this feeling. But Pant’s house is made of wood and this place is a mixture of wood and stone.

(This is where humans live. But why am I here? I remembered being attacked by a large black bird while flying…)

There is no such species of that kind of bird in Elphegort. There are also people who would stray into the forest. Because by nature humans are militant, Eldoh-san would always warn us to be careful especially when we encounter one.

(What bad luck… even the trauben was lost.)

For now, I must return to the forest as soon as possible. Eldoh-san and the other might be getting worried about me.

(But… to get out of here, what should I do?)

If I was in my spirit form, I could easily pass through the wall, but I can’t do that as a robin. I remembered Pant saying something about a “door” that helps you get in and out of a room. Is there anything like that… Ah! Found it!

I tried to fly my way through the “door” but…

“Ouch!”

There was a sharp pain on my right wing. So to say, my right wing was attacked by that bird. What bad luck this is…

I gazed upon my right wing, only to see cloth wrapped around it. White thin cloth was wrapped around my whole body, restricting my movement. I desperately tried to loosen the restraint but to only break loose a little, while the rest is still tightly wrapped around me.

(What a wicked thing to do…)

“Oh my…”

I voice coming from the door; a woman came in. This woman who is holding a small box must be the owner of this house. Compared to the other humans I’ve seen so far, this one is too thin. This woman with a bundle of white hair on the back of her head looked at me with a funny and surprised face with complex expressions.

“That Clarith… the bandages are all wrong… I’m sorry little birdie”

The old lady placed the small box aside then gently lifted me up. After taking off all the bandages, she dressed me up again. Although the bandages were more tight than before, it was more comfortable than before.

“Before healing the wound, the bleeding must be stopped first”

Oh, this cloth is used to treat wounds. Because I never got hurt before, I never knew about it… Eh? Injured?

(… As a robin, I can get injured. But as spirit, this wound would heal in no time and I could get back to the forest in no time.)

Wait… why didn’t I think of that earlier?

Although I tried lifting up my robin form, nothing happened. Why is that? I soon figured out the answer. Because to change forms, I must be in the forest to do it.

(It appears that today is totally out of the question…)

While I was being upset, someone came in from the door again.

“…… I’m back”

The one who spoke had equally long white hair and sullen looking woman holding unto a huge basket. This woman looks like a younger version of the old lady excluding the gray hair. It’s probably natural(?).

“Mom, with your poor health, you need to rest”

“Having said that, it’s also inappropriate to bask in the sun; it would be bad for your health…… Ah! Yes, Clarith, the robin woke up.”

She called the old lady “mom”, telling me that these two are mother and daughter. The old lady’s hair must be because of her age.

The old lady smiled then placed the small box in front of me. What’s inside it? I became curious and peeked inside…

(Eww! Gross!)

The small box was filled with earth worms.

The old lady smiled and said, “eat it”. For a real robin, this would be a good meal. But I’m a spirit… eating an earthworm or something like that… forget it.

“Oh, it seems it doesn’t like to eat it”

“Then try to give it this”

Clarith, with a gloomy face, placed the large basket on the ground. How do I say this, this kid seems to be a really cold girl. Suddenly, she grabbed something from inside the basket.

(Eh? Is that… Trauben?)

I was filled with sudden happiness; I could not help but dig in. The old lady saw my expression and could not help but have a surprised expression.

“Robins generally eat insects or fish… but this would be the first time I meet a robin like this and with beautiful green feathers. Is it an incarnation of the forest spirits?”

“Talking about spirits is nonsense”

Clarith interruptedly said to her mother.

There’s already a spirit right in front of you eating trauben~

“There is no such thing as spirits”

She said. I suddenly remember of Eldoh-san saying that “the youth today lack belief”. Gods and spirits do exist.

“There is no such thing as god or spirits… if so, how could my mother end up is such a dilemma…”

“Clarith…”

“The trauben are also… not of good quality; I cannot sell them. I’ve spent so much effort and time…”

Bad quality? This is considered bad quality? Although the shape is kind of mellow but the taste says it otherwise.

Clarith forced herself not to cry and tried to maintain a calm face. She turned to me and said:

“……Birds are more relaxed than humans”

With that said, she walked towards the door.

“Where are you going Clarith?”

“…… The village is calling me out today”

Clarith just frowned then walked out.

The old lady had a sad look on her face. She then discovered that when I ate a trauben, I headed for the basket to grab some more. She immediately took out some trauben and laid them in front of me.

“I’m sorry birdie. Although she is like that, that child is a very gentle person. She was the one who saved you when you were injured so please forgive her”

The old lady smiled at me again.

However that smile was not coming from the heart. Though somehow, I get this feeling…

That cast of shadow over their hearts, what was it again?

After two weeks.

Although I could still feel some pain, my wings have already recovered. Maybe another two or three days and I should be able to fly through the skies again.

During this time, the old lady’s body doesn’t seem to be doing very good and she was just lying on her bed. Therefore, Clarith had the responsibility of taking care of her.

“Meal time, Grune”

Clarith initially had a cold expression but then she gave a smile. Grune, Clarith gave this name to me. In Elphegort language, it appears to be defined as “green”. Because the name is very good, I liked it.

I would always eat the unsold trauben from yesterday.

“Grune, is it delicious?”

Yes! Very delicious!

Although I wanted to answer her, all she would hear was my tweeting cry. Even though there is no way for us to communicate, I’m very happy.

She would always tell me how her day went; like how something would go wrong and always being scolded… basically bad experiences. She seems to be a very clumsy girl.

To Clarith, whether cleaning or cooking, she would always work harder than the others. Because she is always focused on something, she tends to forget about other things. Today, she looked worried. As always, she has a blank expression on her face.

Clarith personally built a bird cage for me. She was able to collect waste materials smoothly but when she finished building it, it was very crooked; it was full of holes.

I had to use it because I saw her dedication to it. Also, her hands were full of scars when she finished it.

It was a sunny day so Clarith placed the bird cage beside the window, allowing me to gaze upon the scenery outside.

One day, I saw Clarith and some people farming at the fields. Clarith didn’t speak with anyone. The others rested(or too lazy?), chat with each other and continued to work. Even so, Clarith work progress is still slower than the others. There was nothing wrong about Clarith’s actions but her tool was the problem. She had a broken tools with her, leading to her inefficiency in work. The others did not even bother helping Clarith, but instead they would deliberately bump into her and trample on the ground which she plowed.

But even in such situations, Clarith’s expression still didn’t change; she still had a blank expression. Only when she is with her mother or with me she would expose a little smile.

Clarith and the others are significantly different. The others have green hair and only Clarith has white hair. Though I think her hair is beautiful in the sunlight, I think that would be the reason why she is being bullied; because she is different.

Clarith would always have lots of wounds. These wounds were probably from her work or when she would accidentally fall for some reason. Yet sometimes, she would have serious injuries not caused by her clumsiness but more like of a human. While I care about those injuries of her, but it would be impossible to help her so Clarith just rans to her bed side.

In those two weeks, I have learned more about this “human” understanding.

The next day,

Clarith went out to work while her mother was resting in her body.

Because the weather was sunny today, the bird cage was placed near the window sill. I couldn’t see Clarith’s figure outside; her work today must be to go the forest and pick up some fire wood.

—BUMP—

Something hit the window. I initially thought that someone might have got it wrong but then there was another sound again. Someone was throwing stones at the window. I wondered who it was until a figure of a chipmunk’s head poked below the window. The chipmunk squeezed itself through the small gap in the window and went for the cage.

“I finally found you, Michaela”

“……Gumillia!”

The chipmunk’s true identity was the of the forest spirit, Gumillia. It must be because I’ve been away for a long time to an unknown destination that made her to look for me.

“So you were caught here. Okay, let’s get going”

Gumillia, with her two small hands, opened the caged and urged me to escape quickly.

I didn’t expect that I would go back earlier than expected. I can finally go back to the forest. However, I was a bit hesitant leaving the bird cage.

“Are you going back?”

Behind our back was, to our surprise, was the old lady.

“I see that your spirit friend has come to pick you up”

“Huh? Why do you know……?”

I asked in surprise, although she shouldn’t be able to hear me from the other side of the room.

“I already knew from the start”

“No way? You can also hear us talking too?”

“In the past, I worked as a magician, but Clarith didn’t believe in these things so I never mentioned it”

This is so amazing. Besides Elluka Clockworker, I have never met, for a long time, a human than can talk to us.

“…… Thank you for the hospitality. Thank you very much for taking care of me”

“I also want to thank you. Although it was a very short span of time, Clarith seems to look very happy.”

“…… Well, I’m also very happy”

Although we couldn’t communicate with each other, I felt happy when I became friends with Clarith. If I could become human, I would go out and play with her and hear out her problems.

“I have not seen the girl smile. Perhaps for Clarith, you are her only friend”

“Clarith has no friends?”

“You’ve seen the scenes outside the window. This should give you an idea about her situation. Clarith is of the Netsuma tribe which is discriminated by people of Elphegort.

Why is there a person of the white-haired Netsuma tribe in the green-haired Elphegortians? Aren’t you also of the Netsuma tribe?

“I have white hair because of my age. I’m also not from Elphegort. And because Clarith is my adopted daughter, she was estranged by others, but even so, they allowed us to continue to live in this village. We are thankful to God”

This so-called adopted daughter refers to two people who aren’t connected by blood. This two unrelated people called the other mother and daughter. And merely because of racial differences, they are mutually exclusive? Humans really are amazing creatures.

“As a human being, bullying others without any reason, is very strange”

“Forest spirits wouldn’t understand. Oh yes! please bring this back with you”

The old lady took a bunch of trauben from the basket gave me some.

“Thank you. Thank you very much”

I solemnly thank her again then I tried to move my wings. Although there a little bit of pain, returning to the forest wouldn’t be much of a problem.

“Good bye! I would certainly come back to play”

The bored Gumillia waited for me then we slipped through the window. The old lady stood by the window, waving and watching as we leave with a smile on her face.

I grabbed the trauben with my claws. As we entered the forest, Gumillia just kept up with my flying speed. While flying, I looked around for that large black bird whereabouts. Getting attacked again is not joke.

On my way back, I scanned for Clarith’s figure, but she was nowhere to be found.

I wanted to thank her personally.