Part 6
Then, a month later.
In the middle of the night Lilim was woken up.
There is a lot of noise outside. Her father might have come home. Lilim was taken outside by her mother.
Her father was there.
He was tied with a rope and knelt.
“Tou……sama?”
Numerous torches surrounded her father. Blood stains were smeared on her father’s clothes.
“You guys, what do you mean by this?”
Her mother said in a courageous voice.
“It seems the filth has come out of the clan.”
Stepping forward from the group of torches was a man who was the leader of a branch of the Golden Leopard tribe.
“Filth must be cleansed immediately. That is the law.”
“……”
Her mother stood in front of her without a word.
“Where is the filth? Answer me.”
A man from a branch of the family put his sword to her father’s shoulder.
“…… I don’t know.”
Her father said in a hoarse voice.
“I see.”
The man from a branch of the family thrust his sword into his father’s shoulder.
Blood spurted out and the sound of bones shattering could be heard.
Her father did not raise his voice. He kept his face down and didn’t move an inch.
“It’s boring.”
Saying so, the man from the branch family thrust his sword again.
“Stop! To swing a sword at a chief, do you think it will be forgiv——”
“I will be forgiven. I am the new head of the Golden Leopard clan. This man betrayed his clan.”
“No way, what proof do you have……”
“A priest of the Holy Church came to our village and told us. He said he smelled demon possession. He said that in the East, the Holy Church gathers demon possessed people and cleanses the filth.”
A new man stepped out of the group. The man was dressed in priestly garb and had a thin smile on his face.
“The filth must be purified immediately. If left unchecked, the filth will spread throughout the village and lead to destruction——”
“…… Lie.”
The priest’s words were interrupted by a hushed father’s voice.
“Did you say something, beastman?”
“I said it’s a lie, human.”
The father met the priest’s scornful gaze head on.
“What do you mean ‘lie’?”
“All of it. Demonic possession, etc., is all Holy Church bullshit.”
“You say interesting things. I think you’ve finally lost your mind.”
A man from a branch of the family mocked her father.
A sneer escaped from those around him as he was caught. Neither Lilim nor Lilim’s mother could understand what her father was saying.
But only the priest and the father stared at each other without averting their gaze the whole time.
“Do you have any evidence, Beastman?”
“The Golden Leopard is a tribe with a long-standing tradition. The chief of the tribe has a tale of heroism passed down to him. It’s the heroic tale of a beastman, one of the three heroes who fought against the demon Diabolos.”
“A fairy tale, huh?”
“Yes, it is a fairy tale. However, it is a little different from the fairy tales of the world. The three heroes are not men but women, demon possession is not a curse but a blessing, and so on.”
“That statement would be blasphemy against the Holy Church.”
The priest’s gaze sharpened.
“I had always wondered. The fairy tales of the world and the fairy tales of the golden leopard tribe. Why are they so different.”
“Nonsense. Fairy tales, they fade with time.”
“Is that right? It is a tale of heroism that has been passed down from generation to generation only to the chiefs of the tribe. It should not fade away so easily. Above all, we are the Golden Leopard Tribe. We are the descendants of Lili, one of the three heroes who defeated the demon Diabolos, the hero of the Golden Leopard tribe. That is the answer.”
“…… that means?”
“The heroic tales passed down to the golden leopard tribe are the truth. The Holy Church has twisted that truth.”
Her father said so with unclouded eyes.
Silence enveloped the area for a while.
Eventually, small laughter became contagious and became loud laughter that echoed throughout the village.
“Kuhahaha, funny, it’s funny! I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time!!”
A man from the branch house was holding his belly and laughing.
“This is interesting”
The priest was also laughing. But his eyes were never smiling.
“I see, I see, so this is what it means. That demon possession is a Holy Church nonsense, and that they are really the offspring of heroes. So there is no need to purify the filth. Is that what you mean?”
The man from the branch family said with a laugh.
“…… That’s right.”
“Don’t be kidding!!”
An angry shout echoed through the air.
“You want to endanger the whole clan with your stupid fantasies?!”
“You may not believe it. But this is the truth……!”
“Don’t talk nonsense——!”
The fist of the branch family man hit her father on the cheek. Again and again, he hit him.
Lilim couldn’t move. Her knees were shaking and she just stood there cowering.
“Well. The sideshow is over.”
Wiping his reddened fist, the man from the branch family said so.
“Where’s the filth?”
“……”
Her father had a small smile on the edge of his lips.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll burn you all together.”
“Even if I told you, it would be the same. You just want to torture me.”
The man from the branch family was silent. That was the answer.
“Then I’ll give you what you want.”
A man from the branch house draws his sword.
“S……Stop!”
Everyone’s gaze gathered on Lilim.
“I-It…… It’s m…… It’s me.”
Lilim’s knees trembled.
“I-I have…… d-demonic poss……”
Lilim squeezes out a pathetic voice.
Tears blur her vision.
In the midst of it all, her eyes met her father’s, who was staring straight.
“Listen.”
Her father’s voice was ever so gentle.
“The Golden Leopards are descendants of Lili, the hero who once saved the world. We are a family of proud blood. Why did Lili give us this tale of heroism? Why has she passed it down from generation to generation? There is a reason. We have a mission.”
“Tou-sama……”
“You have the blood of a hero thicker than any of us. You are strong and wise, and I am proud of you. Lilim, go to the east. There is a cure for demonic possession in the Kingdom of Midgar. There lies our mission.”
“T-Tou-sama……I am……”
“I know Lilim can do it.”
Saying that, her father looked at her mother.
“I leave two of them to you.”
Her mother gave a small nod and pulled Lilim into her arms.
“Do you think I’ll let you go?”
The area was already surrounded by beastman men.
“I’m going to make them escape. Even if it costs me my life……”
There is a creaking sound, as if something is creaking.
It was coming from her father’s body. Something was pulsing inside her father’s body.
The next moment, the father’s restraints burst open and an enormous amount of magical power overflowed.
“W-What’s that power!?”
The man of the branch house shouts.
“The Golden Leopard tribe has a thick beast’s blood. I manipulated that blood and released it.”
Her father’s golden hair was growing.
It was like a mane, as if it were going from man to beast and back again.
“N-No way. Such a story……”
“This technique, handed down only to the chiefs, is a forbidden technique that will reduce their lives.”
Her father cried tears of blood.
His muscles wriggle.
Blood vessels pop and spurt blood.
“GoaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
Then he became a raging beast and blew up the beastman’s surroundings.
The father stands in the way to protect Lilim and the others.
“Go! Run!!”
“Tou-sama, come with us!”
“No!!”
Lilim is astonished when he looks back at her father’s face.
“……”
Her father’s face had become a half-beast.
“I will eventually become a beast. Before that happens……”
“N……No! Tou-sama!”
Lilim extends her hand to her father’s back. But she couldn’t reach him.
“It’s an interesting power. I never thought I’d find a descendant of that in a place like this.”
The priest swung the red-black chain down and interrupted.
“GaaaAAAAAAA!!”
The father’s right arm flicked the chain.
The spiked weight at the end of the chain popped off.
“This is a tremendous…… The collection of demonic possession is going to be an unexpected harvest.”
“Go, Lilim! Run!!”
Her father and the priest clash.
In that split second, the mother grabbed Lilim and started running.
“Tou-sama…… No, NoOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
The last time Lilim saw her father’s back was very large.
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