The Daughter of Evil - Volume 3 - Chapter 2.14

Chapter 2, Section 1-Footprints of the Evil Food Eater; Scene 4
Praeludium of Red, page 87-103

♣ Yukina ~In the Beelzenian Empire, “Rucolebeni”~

.

By the time we made it to Rucolebeni I was already worn out. I put my hands to my knees and made deep gasps to try and get my breathing in order.

“Huuh…Huuuh…”

I’d calmed down considerably after a short time had passed, so I looked to Chartette; she had also turned her gaze to me, and we moved to better face each other.

“What…what was that back there, do you think?”

In response to my question Chartette shook her head. “I dunno.”

Regardless, the sense that something had been very dangerous was unmistakable. Chartette seemed to feel the same way.

So then, what should we do?

The answer was simple. We would head to the emperor’s castle as planned. Gumillia would probably know something about that strange development that Ney had caused.

I explained my thoughts to Chartette, and she agreed.

“Sounds good. And I gotta report that the Marlon soldiers have invaded, too…”

Chartette’s brow furrowed, and she folded her arms.

“I never thought Ney would end up bein’ a Marlon soldier, yannow.”

Chartette had said that Ney was an old workmate.

Going from a maid to a soldier…That was quite an inexplicable change of course. Wouldn’t such a thing be impossible, normally?

I considered asking Chartette, but before I gave voice to my question I realized something, and flusteredly shut my mouth.

Chartette had changed into a soldier as well, hadn’t she?

However, it seemed she was able to guess what I was thinking about.

“It’s kinda weird for a former maid to be carryin’ a sword, ain’t it?” she said in a self-mocking tone, while a bashful smile played on her face. “But that’s the kind of world we’re livin’ in right now, yannow. Battle ain’t just for professional soldiers, and it ain’t just men who are wieldin’ weapons anymore.”

I still didn’t know if that was something to be glad about or not.

“Well, I had strength on my side, yannow. Unlike me, Ney didn’t seem the type, yannow.”

According to Chartette, Ney had entered the superior class as a maid–if pushed, she would have said that she was a shy girl, and not the sort of person to choose to be a soldier of her own accord.

“In my opinion, she didn’t seem to be the quiet type when we saw her.”

“You can say that again. It was like she was a whole different person, yannow.”

Had she undergone some mental change? That was probably something we’d never know without asking the girl herself.

“Well, me an’ Ney both lost our positions as maids in the revolution, so maybe she just chose to be a soldier for her reemployment. Had some referral from a friend or somethin’, yannow.”

…If that was the cause, then I would like to doubt the humanity of this “friend”.

 .

The two of us suddenly stopped as we were heading to Rucolebeni’s northeast gate to get to the emperor’s castle.

I thought I could hear a woman screaming from somewhere.

“Aaaaahhhh!”

It was indeed a scream. I checked with Chartette, and she firmly nodded, having heard it too.

“It’s from over there, yannow. Let’s go.”

We went over to where the voice had come from. I could tell it wasn’t just one person screaming. I could hear several people shrieking ahead of us, and caught sight of many figures running about in a panic.

It was a square close to a back alley separated from the main road, so it didn’t have great visibility.

I could confirm a figure in the center, trying to chase after the people around them with their sluggish movements. I couldn’t tell from a distance their gender or appearance.

“…Looks like someone’s rampaging, huh?”

When I glanced at Chartette, she was looking forward in shock.

“Maybe they’re drunk. Honestly, it’s been nothing but trouble all day, yannow.” Indeed, I could tell the figure was tottering around like they were dead drunk. “Hold up a minute. I’ll take care of this, so you wait here for a little bit, Yukina.”

So saying, Chartette broke into a run along the stone path.

Drunk…Couldn’t be Miss Germaine, could it? I thought to myself without meaning to.

During these two weeks I had yet to see Germaine sober. She hadn’t been at the Garrison this morning.

The square looked to have gotten into an uneasy atmosphere.

I wondered if Chartette would be able to successfully talk down the drunkard, or, if they were an ill-natured sort, would quickly pin them down and then hand them over to the palace soldiers.

But it seemed she was starting to struggle with getting a grip on the person. Furthermore I could see from here that the drunkard was fighting with her too, despite her being a soldier.

I grew somewhat anxious. I didn’t think I’d be much use if I ran up there, but if things had started getting dangerous I should probably go call for help.

It was too far away for me to tell right now. I drew closer to the two of them.

.

The square was in the shade of a tall building, so it was dim despite it being the middle of the day.

The area smelled a little rank. A lot of alleys like this tended to end up as dump sites for their ill-mannered residents. The smell was probably from that.

When I got to about ten meters away from the two of them I could see Chartette, frantically grappling with the hoodlum, and the back of her foe’s head.

It looked like a man. His hair was closely cropped, and he seemed to be extremely thin.

Oh dear god!

The hoodlum wasn’t wearing anything; he was completely naked. The weather might have been warm, but that was still no excuse to neglect one’s personal appearance when going outside.

“Yukina! Don’t come over here!” Chartette cried, appearing to have realized I was there. Her tone was tenser than I’d ever heard it until now.

Perhaps I should go call for help after all. Immediately after that crossed my mind, I noticed there was something peculiar with the ruffian’s appearance, my eyes having adjusted to the dark.

First off, his skin was too white. White skin may have been a symbol of beauty, but there were limits to that. That skin, like candle wax, didn’t seem to have any blood going through it at all.

And he was, of course, far too thin. He might have been the envy of a woman worrying about her weight, but whatever the circumstances it isn’t good to be so underweight that the skin on your sides is falling off and your ribs are showing.

That peculiarity was clinched when he turned around and looked at me. Maybe he wasn’t looking at me at all. As far as I knew those empty eye sockets shouldn’t be able to see anything.

“Wh–what is this? This monster!?” I screamed without thinking–something unspeakably rude, if their appearance was indeed the result of an illness of some kind. In that case I’d have to apologize properly later.

No, I needed to stop thinking about social etiquette already.

I couldn’t believe it at first, but Chartette was currently fighting with a grotesque monster.

“It don’t matter, just get outta here!” Chartette cried again, kicking the monster away from her.

Though she ordered me to leave, I couldn’t immediately decide on whether I should obey or not.

Chartette didn’t have a weapon. I couldn’t imagine that her opponent was the kind of being she’d be able to best barehanded.

“B-but Miss Chartette, if you’re unarmed then how long can…”

“Alright yeah, this looks bad, yannow!” After crouching in preparation, Chartette vigorously and sharply punched several times. The monster staggered a little, but eventually it resumed its original posture. It didn’t seem to be having much of an effect. “So then…Eat this!”

Chartette kneeled on her left knee, and then pointed her right fist directly at her foe.

“Certain Death! Rocket Glove!”

With a click, a flash engulfed Chartette’s outstretched fist.

It was so dazzling I instinctively shut my eyes.

“Wha…What just happened?”

When I opened them next, I could see Chartette in the same position as just before, but the monster was gone.

Could they have really just been blown away without a trace?

No, that’s not what happened. I looked to my right and saw the monster lying face up on the ground, the glove embedded in its stomach.

I gasped and backed up to the wall without thinking.

“Wh-what a dramatic weapon…”

A flying glove…I had never seen a weapon so unconventional.

Seeing it more directly, the monster was still fairly white. When I looked closer I saw that its right cheek and lower leg were rotting in places.

And, contrasting with the white of its body, the monster’s mouth was stained a peculiar red.

That's…!?

When I realized the reason for that redness, I turned to Chartette and cried, “Miss Chartette, are you injured!?

"I’m fine. Only grazed me, yannow.”

“B-but this thing has blood on its mouth!”

I pointed at the monster’s face.

“…Ah, that ain’t my blood…–!?”

Chartette stopped talking in the middle of her sentence.

When I looked again, the monster was slowly sitting up.

“I-it’s waking up!”

“D-damn it…” Chartette quickly rushed over and stood between me and the monster. “Yukina, where’re the townspeople?”

I glanced around us. I couldn’t see anyone else.

“I think everyone’s taken refuge somewhere away from here.”

“Great! Then let’s get outta here now too!”

Without even finishing her sentence, Chartette grabbed my hand and took off at full speed.

 .

We dashed from the alley to the main road, and after continuing to run to the right for a while we saw coming up on our right a building with a wineglass painted on a wooden sign hung out front. We stopped before it and took a breather.

“Huuh…Huuh… We’d only just stopped running before, too.”

“You alright, Yukina?”

Chartette was concerned for me, despite being out of breath herself.

“I’ve been traveling for a while now. So I have some confidence in my physical condition.”

Despite feigning strength, I was frankly dead exhausted.

We’d retraced the road we’d taken. The monster didn’t seem to be chasing us.

“…Bearing that in mind.”

After I took a deep breath, I once more started talking. “Do you think that person was sick or something? He looked so bizarre. And he seemed to have lost his sanity.”

Chartette immediately replied, while folding her arms, “I kinda doubt it was a person to begin with.”

I’d been thinking the same thing.

How could I put it? It was almost like…

Chartette continued talking. “Anyway, it was attackin’ people. We had ta deal with it before someone got injured, yannow.”

I recalled the blood on the monster’s mouth, and began to shake slightly. “But we need weapons…Do you always fight with that glove, Miss Chartette?”

That glove was most likely still embedded in the monster’s abdomen right now.

“Nah, that’s just for emergencies. I usually use a sword in battle. But it’s bein’ repaired right now, yannow.”

“So that’s how it was, huh?”

But we were in a jam. Was there any place where we could borrow some weapons?“

Chartette seemed to be thinking about that too, because she eventually cut in,

"If we go to first avenue there’ll be a station for the palace guards, yannow. They should have some swords there.”

Come to think of it, what were the palace guards doing with all the commotion that was going on? And how could they let a monster get into the city in the first place?

“We should get some help while we’re at it, yannow. It’s a little far to first avenue, so maybe they haven’t realized what’s goin’ on yet, yannow.”

What I really wanted to do was rest a little bit longer, but I knew this wasn’t the time to voice such complaints.

When I readied my resolve and started to move, Chartette suddenly interjected, “Hm? Hold up a sec.”

“What’s the matter?”

She was gazing inside the building we stood before from the window.

“Maybe we don’t need to head directly to the station after all,” she said.

As she headed inside the building from its entrance, I followed after her.

 .

The building was a bar, and had many varieties of wine on display.

“Welcome.” A stout lady received us with an unsociable expression.

There was a small table set in the corner of the bar where you could drink the wine you purchased.

Sitting there now was a woman who was resting, having fallen prostrate in her seat. She appeared to be completely drunk.

That woman, in her red clothing, was none other than Germaine.

“Big Sis, wake up!”

Chartette shook Germaine’s shoulders.

When she did, Germaine stirred, rousing her head with a small groan.

“Mm? Augh…That you, Chartette? Sorry, just gimme a minute…”

But then immediately after saying so, her head drooped again, and she fell back asleep.

“Big Sis, there’s a monster in town! We need your help!”

Chartette vigorously shook her shoulders again, but this time she made no response.

“No good…She’s passed out.”

Even if she woke up, she probably wouldn’t be much help this drunk.

“Is Miss Germaine always like this?”

“She wasn’t before, but she’s lost her ambition lately, yannow…” Chartette gazed up at the heavens. “Ah, how the mighty have fallen.”

Contrary to my expectations her shoulders drooped, crestfallen.

There was something that seemed to be Germaine’s baggage by the side of the table. There were winebottles in there that she’d probably bought here.

Was she going to drink all this by herself?

Farther in the bag next to the bottles was a sword in a scabbard, just openly laying there.

“This is Miss Germaine’s sword, isn’t it?”

It was a much thinner and straighter blade than normal. This type was supposedly favored by soldiers who served as cavalrymen.

“Oh yeah. Big Sis always carries her sword around, even when she’s not wearin’ armor, yannow.”

“How about…we use this?”

Chartette showed some slight disapproval at my suggestion.

“I’ve never really worked with a rapier, yannow…”

“I think it’s still better than fighting empty-handed.”

Chartette looked to be troubled for a moment, but finally she made up her mind and took the sword.

“We’ve got no choice, yannow. We’re gonna borrow your sword for a little bit, Big Sis!”

Germaine responded to that with a small snore.

“We can fight that ruffian with this!”

Where was the monster right now? Was it getting closer to where we were, or was it going in the opposite direction…?

The moment I casually glanced outside the window, I let out a silent scream.

There was a white face peering in back at us.

“M-miss Chartette, the window!”

Chartette quickly drew the rapier from its scabbard, opened up the window, and stabbed the end of the sword into the pale monster’s face.

The monster bent back, and pulled away from the window.

“This ain’t good. It’s already gotten this far…There ain’t a lot of people left around here, yannow.”

I could hear an incessant, loud banging from outside the building.

“It’s trying to get inside!”

“Looks like the monster’s zeroed in on us!”

Chartette was looking towards the back of the building, so I turned around too. There was a small door that was likely being used as a service door.

I could hear the sound of the monster hitting against the wall by the main entrance. It likely hadn’t realized that there was a back door.

Chartette spoke to the woman who owned the place.

“Missus, you gotta take Big Sis and head out the back right awa–Missus?”

The lady stood frozen in a daze. She didn’t give the slightest response, as though her soul had slipped out of her.

“I guess that’s understandable, seein’ a monster like that, huh?” Chartette thought deeply about what to do while paying attention to the sound of the blows from the front.  "Yukina can’t carry two people away all by herself…"

It would be incredibly difficult for me, a girl of small build, to carry both an empty shell and a drunkard.

“Yukina!” Chartette called my name with a determined expression. “When I go outside, close and lock all the doors and windows!”

I could tell she was going to settle things outside.

I had no right to hold her back. In truth, there was no one I could rely on but her to overcome this situation.

“I understand. …Good luck.”

Chartette nodded.

“Well then, I’m off!”

She sprinted out the door, rapier in hand.

.

Once I’d shut the door immediately and looked at the lady again, bit by bit her previously still body had started to tremble.

I didn’t know what sort of things to say in times like these. I’d never read any book on how to calm someone down after seeing a monster.

I just held her hand silently. It also served the purpose of helping me to calm down, myself.

After a little while, her tremors began to stop. Her facial expressions seemed to have returned as well.

“Have you gotten yourself together?” I said, deciding to speak up. “It’s understandable, seeing such a grotesque thing as that…”

“It's…my son.”

“Huh?”

Soon enough I understood what it was that she meant by that.

“That monster was my son, who died ten years ago from the Gula disease…”

The woman sunk to her knees.

“Why…was he like that?”

And then, covering her face with her hands, she began to weep.

 .

Several hours later, I heard a knock on the door. Just to be sure, I looked out the window to see who it was.

It was fine. It wasn’t the monster.

I unlocked and opened the door.

“It’s over. Somehow I won!”