Chapter 6
I asked Kanna, the greatest victim, about Donau's punishment. Normally I would have reported him to the police to face legal judgment, but this is another world. Besides, Evangeline is a noble, so wouldn't it be fine to handle the criminal's punishment at our own discretion?
"Should we lock him away forever in something like an underground dungeon?"
Kanna and Hena looked at me. If you want, I'll make sure he eats prison gruel for life.
But Kanna shook her head. Surely she's not objecting because the punishment is too harsh? Is she perhaps an angel? No wonder she gets along with Hena. You fool, worry about your own body first!
"How is your neck?"
Now that I looked, the wound on Kanna's neck was deeper than I thought. A red line was drawn long across her throat like thread.
Is there any holy water left at home? If I treat it with that, will the scar disappear? A wound of glory could be worn as a medal, but being kidnapped isn't glory.
"It's good!"
Kanna answered with joy. Her reaction seemed a bit excessive? I was puzzled but soon understood.
She was kidnapped, then a villainess saved her and even worried about her, so of course she'd be moved. Kanna is a maid at the Rohanson mansion too. There are people who faint just looking at me, so compared to them, this is nothing.
"Hup."
But suddenly Hena turned pale blue and covered her mouth. She's not doing that at me, right? Hena's gaze was directed behind me. What was behind me? Shit, Donau!
Did I take the knife Donau was holding? I hurriedly turned my head and an entirely unexpected scene unfolded.
I thought Donau would rush at me with the knife, but the one who got stabbed was Donau himself.
"Did you see that?"
"Yes. He stabbed his own neck."
Kanna confirmed the kill.
Donau committed suicide. Since he only had a knife in his hand, he must have stabbed his own neck with it. Not his wrist, but a vital spot like the neck? Was he that desperate to avoid paying for his crimes?
Criminals always try to escape through suicide because they don't want to be punished! It's the same in this world too.
"Sorry. He died."
I should have let him taste the judgment of justice....
"It's okay. This is enough for me."
Kanna's eyes sparkled. Her bright smile was refreshing as if she had already shaken it off. Such a big heart....
"Thank you for saving me."
She was also bright with her manners.
Huh? Wait, it's not just her manners that seem bright.
'Isn't it getting a bit bright around here?'
Wow shit, shit! Fire!
Fire had started behind Donau, and the light from the flames had brightened the surroundings. No wonder I could see so well when the windows were blocked and there were no lights!
Thanks to that, the interior came into view at a glance. The summoning circle drawn in the center of the room was clearly visible too. Don't tell me, don't tell me. Is that the one stolen from me?
Then this fire is... Donau must have summoned a fire spirit. So that really was a spirit summoning circle! Hey... How did he do it? He should have returned the paper or told me how before dying! A criminal bastard with no professional ethics!
I hurriedly took Hena and Kanna and escaped the house. Thankfully the door had been smashed open. Thanks to that, smoke escaped outside, making it less uncomfortable to breathe.
This guy committed one more crime before dying! If there were subtitles, it would have displayed (+arson). Theft, kidnapping, and now arson! A true triple crown!
Fortunately, the neighboring houses used some kind of fire-resistant building material, so the fire didn't spread. What is this otherworld quality! This needs to be reimported.
Donau's house blazing away alone was quite a spectacle.
I felt like I might tear up a little. My summoning circle... must have burned with it, right?
***
Rusty walls and a moldy-smelling room, cold soup and a narrow hard bed, a two-span window.
That was Kanna's entire world.
She had been in poor health since birth. It was a difficult birth, and her mother ended up passing away while giving birth. If she had eaten her mother to be born, Kanna should at least be healthy, but that wasn't the case either. Kanna was always sick as if she might die at any moment.
Her father worked to pay for Kanna's medical bills and died from overwork, and now her sister Hena had taken his place.
Even after consuming the lives of two family members, Kanna's health didn't improve. Now all she could do was lie in bed.
She couldn't even move a finger, let alone breathe easily. Hena hired a caregiver and increased her working hours to pay for it. Kanna worried that she might end up consuming her sister's life too at this rate.
However, there was nothing Kanna could do. It would have been better if she could tell her sister to give up since there was no hope for her, but Kanna wanted to live. She wanted to keep breathing this wretched breath.
Her sister called that hope.
"Kanna, can you see the people outside? I think that someday you'll be able to walk around like those people too. I'll make that happen. So let's not give up on hope."
From the moment she heard those words, the small window became special to Kanna too.
In the daily life that remained the same every day, only the scenery outside the window changed. The sun rose, birds flew, children ran around, the sunset glowed, everyone went home for dinner, and night came.
Kanna added herself to the everyday scenery outside. Playing together, going to work, coming back home.
And one day, a new scene was added outside the window.
'Did you come again today?'
A cat started visiting Kanna's window while taking walks. The golden cat would always perch on the windowsill, watch Kanna, then leisurely disappear.
When I can walk, I'll give that cat some food. It has a collar so it must have an owner, so maybe treats would be better? The cat naturally started taking up a place in Kanna's future.
"Kanna! Kanna!"
And a miracle arrived.
"Are you okay? Does it not hurt anymore?"
"I... I'm okay."
Her voice was completely hoarse. Her pronunciation was inaccurate and she stuttered. At those words saying she was okay, her sister cried and embraced Kanna. Her shoulder became wet with tears, but Kanna hugged her sister back without complaint.
Her sister found better pay and entered the Rohanson Count's household. There, the lady she recently came to serve, Lady Evangeline Rohanson, heard Kanna's story and provided holy water.
Holy water was something commoners could barely afford one bottle of after saving for half their lives if they worked. Kanna realized that this holy water was the hope Hena had spoken of. Her father and sister had sacrificed their lives just for a bottle of water that someone else could easily give away with condescending charity! Just for this single bottle of water!
"Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness."
But the moment she heard her sister's words, Kanna's anger melted away. When the person who had sacrificed her life was this happy, what right did Kanna have to be angry?
Kanna's condition gradually improved. When she moved her body, her appetite returned, and when she ate well, she gained weight. The hope her sister spoke of had arrived suddenly and felt strange and overwhelming, but she was slowly accepting it. And Kanna decided to do what she had dreamed of all this time.
Kanna left the house. She walked aimlessly around the neighborhood, and sometimes sat in front of the door to rest.
She wasn't outgoing enough to greet the children or talk to them. But when she listened to the warm sunlight and the chattering voices, she vividly felt that she belonged 'outside.'
'Come to think of it, hasn't that cat been coming?'
Kanna had asked Hena to buy some treats the cat could eat. She always carried them in her pocket but never encountered the cat once. Did its walking route change? Surely it wasn't harmed by some bad person.
Even as she worried, spending time outside made her body grow cold quickly. Her sister would be late today, so she should go back in now, she thought as she stood up. A golden tail swept across the edge of Kanna's vision.
'The cat?'
Kanna recalled Hena's warning not to wander around at night. It was still broad daylight. She'd just check quickly so her sister wouldn't worry and then go back inside. The moment she stepped into the alley, a man appeared.
And when she came to her senses, she was in a strange room.
Her mouth was gagged and her hands and feet were tied. How long had she been unconscious? It was dark around her. After a while, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could see her surroundings.
She thought she was alone, but there was someone else. A man sitting in a chair, absorbed in reading some papers. That man must be the one who attacked Kanna. Kanna struggled in anger. But her body, which had only just started recovering, couldn't function properly.
"What, you're awake? I'm reading, so could you not disturb me?"
As the man approached, a fishy smell wafted over. Kanna immediately recognized the identity of the smell. She had vomited blood enough times that it would be strange not to know. However, aside from being tied up, Kanna had no wounds. The smell of blood was coming from the man.
"Wait quietly until night falls."
The man said, looking at the wall. Kanna also forced her body to turn and looked in the same direction. It wasn't a wall. They had just nailed plywood over the window. Kanna's mind became dizzy.
She had only seen the blocked window, yet she was more shocked than when she realized she had been kidnapped. That's because to Kanna, the world outside the window was hope. From here, she couldn't see any hope at all.
So despite the man telling her to behave, Kanna began to struggle.
She called for her sister. She screamed for help. The man ignored all her words. She looked for hope. She asked to see beyond the window. It wasn't night yet. When would her sister come home? If she came back and I wasn't there, she'd be worried.
Kanna could do nothing. It was as if she had returned to being that helpless patient who just lay in bed waiting for her sister before drinking the holy water.
The act of seeking hope soon became distorted. Kanna now recited curses.
Finally, the sun completely set, and the night the man had been waiting for arrived. The man lit a candle and picked up a knife. Die, just die. Just die. Without even knowing what words Kanna was muttering, the man danced with her curses as accompaniment. Kanna watched the scene without even blinking.
The man who finished his dance sat down in front of Kanna. Now she knew what he was going to do. Thanks to reading that paper and reciting it aloud dozens of times. An angel of light?
'He's going to... sacrifice me?'