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T/N: Today I want to thank my Cookie Donor, Rich! Thank you for the ice cream~!
Chapter note by Ookido Izumi (the Author):
This chapter will contain a scene that is somewhat violent.
Also, thank you so much for all the people that have bookmarked this series! I’m so happy that you all have been reading my work.
During the day, the woods aren’t scary in the slightest.
What is it about night time that makes them seem so ominous I wonder?
Pulling my hood securely around my face, I walk confidently through the fog.
As I emerge on the other side, I look up at the hazy sky. Not a single ray of sunlight manages to cut through those thick clouds, though at least it’s brighter now than it is at night. With the way that even the sun doesn’t shine here, this place truly feels as if it’s been cut off from the rest of the world…… There’s such a huge difference between this village and the town that I visited yesterday.
And, as per usual, the moment I cross the barrier the awful stench of this place accosts my nose, but at this point I don’t even really notice it. When I first started coming here, I never would have thought that in two years I would already have become accustomed to it like this.
I slowly make my way forward one step at a time, but as I walk, the scene that unfolds before me is nearly unimaginable. I almost can’t trust my own eyes.
Fist fights are breaking loose all throughout the street as if they are commonplace, and somehow the moaning sound that I had heard so often at night is even heavier during the daytime.
Many of the people that I see are missing arms or legs……. And even for those who’ve managed to somehow keep their bodies in tact, their skin is laced with all manner of ugly gashes and wounds.
I hadn’t realized it when I was coming here at night, but the ground is also dyed red in patches, splattered with blood.
I continue to observe the scene, but the more I see, the more I’m overcome with this overwhelming fear, and my body soon starts to shake uncontrollably.
The clothes that the people around me are wearing are nothing but rags that have been worn into threadbare tatters. And their hair sits dirty and unkempt on their heads….. I can now be sure that showers and baths would be considered unobtainable luxuries here.
Though that should be unsurprising in a place where water in itself seems scarce I suppose. I don’t think I’ve seen any aside from that murky pool that stands stagnant in the fountain in the middle of the plaza.
Suddenly, I hear a child’s shrill screech.
Looking towards the sound, I see a small boy with blood streaming down his face lying collapsed on the ground.
Following the child’s gaze, I see a huge man standing a distance away, brandishing an iron rod. The surface of the rod looks slick and glints red with blood.
The boy’s blood? I can’t help but wonder numbly, even as I see the man’s face break out into a nasty smile. Why would he be smiling like that?
In that moment, the huge man’s lips crack open wide and he howls with laughter, the motion making it obvious that he only has one front tooth remaining in his mouth.
Dragging the tip of his iron rod across the ground behind him, he leisurely makes his way towards the boy. The shaking that had started earlier refuses to stop as I take in this scene with horror-filled eyes.
“Alicia, why did you come here during the day?” I hear Grandpa Will’s voice call out from behind me.
But before I can say anything, Grandpa Will pushes me back towards the fog.
“Leave for today. And make sure to never come back at this time again.”
With those parting words I enter the mist, stumbling through it into the woods. Without stopping or looking back, I orient myself towards the estate and begin walking home at a trudging pace.
I walk and walk and even as the house appears in my sight, I still can’t seem to wrap my head around what just happened.
That place was…… the impoverished village.
“Alicia-Sama! Where did you run off to?” Rosetta asks, striding towards me.
But I only continue to stand there in a daze, not really seeing her even as I watch her approach.
“Alicia-Sama? Did something happen?” Rosetta inquires, closely observing my face.
I wonder what happened to that little boy…..
I couldn’t do anything.
I just stood there and watched. I was so scared that I couldn’t even move.
“Alicia-Sama?”
I couldn’t even reach out my hand to him……
This is the first time I’ve ever felt this way. This indescribable feeling of anguish and guilt….. and regret. I’m so weak. So uselessly weak.
And just how many times did I confidently declare that I wanted to become a villainess?
At the memories of my ignorance, of my foolish arrogance, rage and self-loathing well up from deep within me.
“Are you okay?” Rosetta asks, gently placing a hand on my shoulder.
She’s looking at me with a worried expression on her face.
“I… I’ll be in the library…..” I manage to get out before turning away from her and unsteadily beginning to walk towards the house.
I need to become stronger……
But even before that, I need to know for what purpose was that impoverished village created.
When I reach the library, I look through the shelves, fixedly searching for a book that might be able to explain the atrocities that I had just seen.
But no matter how hard I look, I can’t find anything. Just how many hours did I spend in this manner?
I scoured this entire library from the ground up but I still couldn’t find even a hint of what I was looking for. I sigh helplessly and unconsciously take a book down from bookshelf I’m currently standing in front of. I glance down at it and freeze for a moment.
This book….. is about magic…..?
I had picked it out at random from the shelf after not finding what I was looking for, but it seems this book is about the different types of magic.
Why!? Even after all those days of searching I couldn’t find any books related to magic, but now that I’m looking for something else I finally found one!?
I look back at the shelf where I had taken this book from, carefully looking over the rest of the volumes, but none of them seem to have anything to do with magic.
I wonder if someone just put this book in the wrong place by accident?
I quickly open it and turn to the page with the table of contents.
Water magic, light magic……. Yes! There it is! Darkness magic!!!
I hurriedly flip through the book to the corresponding page it has listed.
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T/N: Wow. That was quite a quick change from our usual fluff 0.0 And sorry if my descriptions of the violent scene grossed you out This novel doesn’t have very many descriptions in it so when it does…. I kind of go a bit overboard with them…..
BUT! BUT! Look! She finally found a book about magic!! That’s good at least! And our Will fans got to see him gallantly shoving Alicia out of danger so…. Not too shabby, ey?
And, all in all, I really had fun translating this chapter for some reason…. I hope that doesn’t say anything about me XD
