Chapter 40 (1/2)
Volume 1
Chapter 14 – The Way a Certain Beast Girl was Broken Part 2
「Minaris, and Maris . Is it true that you’re both wererabbits?」
She couldn’t comprehend the words that she had just heard .
「I’ll ask again . Is it true that you, parent and child, are beastmen?」
The words spoken once again by the village elder penetrated her blank head .
(Whywhywhywhy!? Eh, why did he suddenly say that!?)
What filled her spinning mind was a storm of questions . She couldn’t process the information . She couldn’t understand what was happening .
With her thoughts in disorder, the girl instinctively turned towards her mother as though to ask for help .
Her mother had on a grim expression . Looking as if she had come to some sort of decision, she released the illusion was constantly cast on herself .
The villagers parted simultaneously, and the look in their eyes changed in an instant .
It was the same look they would give the many goblin corpses that they exterminated .
Those gazes were concentrated on them by the villagers who had, until yesterday, treated them intimately like family .
「M-mother…」
Listening to the words that changed one after another, the confusion in her head increased at an accelerated pace .
She looked up in a daze . The village chief’s eyes held a cold gaze she had never once seen before until now, and they were full of contempt .
……Scary .
This terror overshadowed the Ice Goblin she confronted yesterday; those eyes were scary .
「As you can see, we are wererabbits . I’m sorry for keeping quiet about it . 」
Seeing the figure of her mother, who had been flung to the bare ground, saying that with her head lowered, she finally understood that the villagers were directing malicious gazes toward her .
「So what Lucia told us was true……」
「Eh, Lucia did!? That… You’re lying!!」
Lucia had promised yesterday . She had said she would keep it a secret .
She surveyed her surroundings, wanting to be told that it was a lie . Her childhood friends stood among the 15~16 villagers .
However, the one she was looking for wasn’t there .
Looking this way as though he was looking at trash was her other childhood friend, Keril . And then, trying to cuddle close to him, spreading gossip without being seen by the boy, was Lucia’s figure .
「Wh…y…? Didn’t you say you would keep it a secret!!」
「Eep!! Keril…」
When the girl spontaneously cried out, Lucia clung to Keril whilst putting on a frightened facade .
「Lucia, it’s alright so calm down . 」
Saying that, Keril pat Lucia’s back gently and then glared at the girl with an even harsher look .
「Oi, don’t torment Lucia any more than this!! I couldn’t believe it when I first heard, but you really are the worst!! I misjudged you!!」
「Wha!? Just what…」
「Don’t play dumb!! I heard everything from Lucia!! You’ve always been tormenting her!! She cried, saying you threatened her into silence with that beastman power of yours . 「
「Wha…」
She realised that her words had actually ceased, that she had become speechless . Rather than her voice, her thoughts had stopped as though the very existence of words inside her mind had disappeared .
「Village chief, I don’t care what happens to me, however, please… Won’t you please spare this child? At least, at least until this child reaches her 18th birthday…」
Throughout that, Maris hugged her daughter with her head lowered .
Maris had decided to do this yesterday when she heard the story from her daughter . Her daughter would be unable to flee the village while bringing her, as she had a weak constitution . However, she clearly understood that her daughter would, no matter what she said, never leave her behind and escape . Thus, Maris frantically bowed her head for her daughter’s sake .
「Please, somehow…」
「Stop kidding!! This filthy beast!!」
What Maris faced in reply were abusive words and stones picked up off the ground .
「That’s right, stop joking around!!」
「You’ve been deceiving us this whole time, how disgusting!!」
「An animal shouldn’t be imitating other people!!」
Once the first person started, cutting insults and pebbles continued to rail incessantly down on the two .
「Please, just this child…!?」
「Mother!!」
A largish rock mixed in with the pebbles that came flying hit Maris on the forehead, causing her to bleed .
The girl reflexively covered her mother as though to protect her .
The illusion on the girl was also released amid the extreme chaos, and her tail and ears appeared . Even so, the girl simply continued to shield her mother .
The girl’s mother was once affected by an epidemic and managed to recover somehow, but she lost the physical tenaciousness of a beastman and became a mere shadow of her former self . She was weakened to the extent where she would be wounded by having rocks thrown at her by ordinary villagers with no training experience whatsoever .
「Stop, stop it everyone, STOP ITTTT!!」
The girl’s wailing echoed throughout the village square, but it was repressed with a wave of jeers .
「Shut up, the spawn of a monster should stay silent!!」
「Don’t speak with the words of humans, you beast . 」
「Die, why are you alive, hurry up and die already!!」
Creak, crack . She understood that a dark fissure was forming in her heart .
It felt like she was being struck with the pointed stake* from before .
[Daily: Metaphorically]
Why? What’s the reason? No, it hurts; her heart hurt more than her body .
When she looked around from her crouching position, she saw Keril throwing rocks in support of the villagers, not to mention still glaring at her with an intense look . She also saw Lucia clutching at Keril’s sleeve while hiding behind him so he couldn’t see the twisted, mocking smile on her face .
And then her head, body, and heart finally understood .
She had been betrayed . She had been betrayed, she had been betrayed, she had been betrayed, she had been betrayed!!
「Why, why…」
Tears welled up . The stones hailing down on her body had driven a wedge in her cracked heart . Right before her heart completely broke, the momentum of the rain of stones stopped .
「What is this commotion about!?」
The ones who appeared were the men of the village .
The men seemed to have returned from their expedition earlier than expected, and although it wasn’t much, they brought with them some hunted game .
「Fa…ther… *sniffle* Father!!」
Despite her vision being blurred with tears, she still saw her father among the people who returned .
The girl felt reassured; she would be saved with this . Her father was an influential man in the village and was expected to be its next chief .
Relief swelled inside her when she saw him discuss something with the villagers . Ah, she was sure to be saved with this…
「You’re wrong!! I have nothing to do with this, I didn’t know!!」
「 」
When she turned around, her world was turned upside-down . It warped and collapsed .
「I was deceived by this woman!! Damn this filthy beastman . 」
Her ears turned deaf . Her eyes lost sight . Her nose was ineffective . She couldn’t feel a thing .
「What is this . Eh? What… is this…」
Kashan . In the end, she felt like she heard the sound of something breaking .