Chapter 8: True Evil
Chapter 8: True Evil
ON their last day in Dragontan, Mayor Antik, who looked as overwhelmed as always, treated the girls to grilled cheese with cured meat while they were souvenir shopping in town to make up for skipping out on her promise the previous day. The twins then spent their last few hours in the town hall’s reception room since they’d already finished gathering enough information. They felt a little sad to be leaving so soon.
“Three days went by so fast, huh, girls? Did you enjoy your time in the town of Dragontan?”
“Yes, ma’am. We are ever so grateful to you, Miss Antelise,” Caria said.
“It’s all good. I made a good connection with you girls, and I have your word that I’ll be receiving a fine bottle of booze soon,” Antelise chuckled.
“Cary and Big Sista don’t have that much power to speak of, but please do come to us if you ever need anything.”
“Oh my, that’s promising! By the way, how important are you girls, anyway?”
“Hmm…good question. Probably around sixth and seventh place.”
“…Excuse me? Doesn’t that make you hella important?! Er, did I do all right welcoming you? I won’t have my head chewed off, will I?”
“You won’t get chewed up and spit out,” Maria assured.
“We just have a rank with no real authority, so please don’t worry,” Caria stressed.
There was no clear hierarchy in Mynoghra. However, the unwritten rule was that the closer a person was to the King, the higher their rank, which was why the girls ranked where they did.
Antelise was definitely startled to learn they ranked in the top ten of their country, but she quickly got over it. The more important they were, the more likely she could go to them to get a problem solved. More importantly, they had formed a relationship that didn’t revolve solely around their status. Although their time together was short but sweet, Antelise had grown really fond of the twins.
“Okay, I hate to see you girls go, but it’s almost time. Make sure you pass my good wishes along to Mynoghra’s King. Be sure to talk about me in a positive light! Oh, and you two are always welcome to come back and play.”
“Thank you very muchest. Mynoghra’s territory is oozing with miasma, so we can’t invite you over, Miss Antelise, but I promise we will definitely come back to play.”
“Come to play!” Maria repeated after Caria.
“Thanks. But, uh, can you please not say such scary things the same way you’d talk about the weather?” Antelise requested, although she sounded quite happy. If they kept this up, they could talk the rest of the day away. With that in mind, she slapped her thighs and hopped to her feet to draw their meeting to a close.
“Would you mind giving me a bit of time before you go?”
It was Vesta Kruklain who suddenly opened the reception-room doors and soured their goodbye.
“You are…the president of the Kruklain Trading Company. Who gave you permission to come here? Leave. Or I will have you forced out,” Antelise warned, leveling him with a glowering look.
Considering the flow of magic activating around them, it wasn’t an empty threat. To Antelise, he was a dangerous man who threatened the safety of her town.
Intimidation, assault, rape, murder, fraud—he had dipped his hands into every possible vile crime yet never gave himself away. On the contrary, he’d even created a trading company to commit organized crime with. It was strange that this man who never let himself get caught would brazenly show up now, but Antelise really started to feel the danger when several gruff-looking men followed him into the room.
She didn’t care if her head was on the chopping block—she needed to prevent them from harming Mynoghra’s envoys no matter the cost. If worse came to worst, she would sacrifice herself to protect the girls. With that determination burning in her chest, she moved into position to protect them.
But then, the most ridiculous statement came from the displeased-looking Vesta.
“Little lady from Mynoghra, care to tell me your response to my offer from the other day? I’ve been waiting patiently for you ever since.”
“Ah, you mean the matter concerning taking over Dragontan and cultivating Popil Grass together?” Caria asked blandly.
“Is that true?!”
Antelise’s eyes bulged with shock as she swung her restless, questioning gaze toward Caria. The girl in question raised her teacup to her lips with indifference, and Maria happily munched on the teacakes like a small forest animal.
“It’s very true. If I’m not mistaken, the young lady here seemed very interested in my proposal. Just as I was eagerly awaiting pounding out the details with her, I noticed she was going back home without getting in touch with me first, so I went out of my way to come to her instead.”
“What happened to town hall’s staff and the soldiers on guard?” Antelise asked.
“How cute, you still believe you are in a position to ask questions… Well, not that I mind. All the key players in this town have already come to our side. You might say there were a few who didn’t listen to reason, but there are plenty of ways to make even the unreasonable reasonable,” Vesta said with a spine-tingling laugh.
Showing his true colors here and now meant he’d already laid all the groundwork. A man who never let his tail show was taking open action against Antelise and the town. In other words, he had enough cards on hand to have a sure-fire victory.
Antelise trembled in that knowledge. What gutted her most was the fact that the girls whose company she’d enjoyed so much the past few days had brutally betrayed her.
Antelise’s knees buckled, and she looked pleadingly to Caria. Caria glanced at her and…blinked owlishly.
“Why are you making such a funny face, Miss Antelise?”
“…What?”
“Anyways, I wanted to ask you whether there would be any trouble if we take out these people. I could never face His Majesty if my excess actions here hurt our friendship with Phon’kaven.”
Antelise was having a hard time processing Caria’s blunt question. But that was enough for her to realize the girls hadn’t only not betrayed her but were also still on her side.
“G-Go right ahead!” Antelise responded with her usual vigor. “Take them down however you like! Y-Yeah! You girls have an escort, right? That’s a relief, then! These pigs have been making a real mess of my town! It would’ve been more problematic if they hadn’t shown their true colors here, but this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of them!!”
Antelise rapidly regained her confidence and took the opportunity to turn the tides on her enemy. What they were doing counted as a rebellion the moment they stormed town hall with weapons.
They’d reached a point where neither could back down now. A battle was about to begin and would continue until one was defeated, with the winner becoming the ruler of this town. That was the trajectory they were on.
“What a harum-scarum thing for you to say. Did you forget things have only stayed this peaceful because we have maintained this town’s public order? You have a lot of audacity, Elf,” Vesta said with venom.
“You call threatening weak women and children and then forcing them to pay up for their safety protecting public order? You did whatever the hell you wanted just because we’re far from the capital! Do you know how many all-nighters I’ve had to pull cleaning up after you?!” Antelise shouted, and the band of thugs let out a round of jeers in response.
“You really disappoint me, little lady from Mynoghra. And here I thought we could become good friends with benefits.”
“I never once thought we could be friends,” Caria said outright.
A blue vein bulged in Vesta’s forehead. But he took a deep breath as if to still himself from being provoked and signaled his men to surround the girls.
“You do realize attacking us here is making an enemy of Mynoghra, right? Do you comprehend how stupid that is? I may be but a powerless child, but the King who sent me on this mission is the mighty and powerful King Takuto Ira.”
Indeed, that was the one surprising element to Caria. She never imagined there could be someone so stupid they would consider harming her and her sister. That was why she played along with Vesta when he first approached them and promised to meet up with him later. She’d determined it wouldn’t be a problem to give him the boot when he could never turn his fangs on her.
But things played out differently in reality.
It’s no wonder Caria found herself thinking there were better ways for him to commit suicide than this.
Instead of answering her question, Vesta put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small pouch. He took a tiny vial and a syringe out of the pouch. The elaborate glasswork was a luxury item. It was easy to see just how much money this man possessed and how confident he was in the contents of that little vial.
“What’s that?” Antelise asked.
“Most likely a distilled and refined liquid taken from the Popil fruit,” Caria answered. “I’ve heard that after being injected with it once, you won’t be able to live without it for the rest of your life.”
“Isn’t that a contraband drug?! What’s it doing here? And where’d they get a syringe from…? Don’t tell me you used that on the town?!” Antelise fumed.
Antelise had been skeptical of how he could’ve possibly gotten everyone in town hall to join him, but now it finally made sense. It wasn’t realistically possible for him to convince every member of the large staff to switch sides. She thought there was more to it, and it fit if he had somehow found a way to inject everyone with a drug made of purified Popil Grass. He had created a bunch of convenient pawns intensely addicted to the drug only he could provide.
“Give them a good shakedown, boys. Be sure not to kill them. There’s two, so we just need to make one obedient to us. Then we’ll have that little-girl-loving perverted bastard king Takuto Ira under our finger… Oh, I know. I’ll give you boys the retarded one as a present for a job well done. You can kill the guards behind them. They’re just gonna get in our way.”
The band of thugs drew their weapons. The girls were already outnumbered by the gruff men in the room, yet there were even more outside, and their numbers continued to grow.
Antelise had provoked them earlier, but she couldn’t slow her galloping heartbeat or the nervous sweat dripping down her back.
“Don’t ya worry, darling. One shot, and you’re mine. I’ll take you to heaven, girlies.”
With a sickening sneer coming from his cocksure confidence that victory was his, Vesta swung down his arm, giving his goons the go-ahead.
◇◇◇
“…I never thought units with such finicky abilities would be so useful in this world.”
Takuto was busy running things back at Mynoghra’s Palace. He’d finished giving his approval to multiple projects and was enjoying some hot coffee during his break when he muttered that comment aloud.
“What do you mean?”
He was just talking to himself, but Emle was curious to hear more, so Atou stepped up to explain in her king’s place.
“They serve as Medics in Mynoghra. Their primary role is to accompany the troops, healing soldiers who are sick or injured.”
“Oh, yes, I knew that,” Emle said, pushing up her glasses. “They serve a very important role in my opinion… Am I mistaken?”
“You aren’t. They really are important. They just have a…unique set of abilities.”
“Unique…abilities? Like your ability to steal your opponent’s skills, Lady Atou?”
“Correct, although their abilities are nowhere near as strong as mine. Mynoghra’s Medics possess three abilities:
1. Granting a bonus to maintaining the public order in Humanoid-run towns and cities.
2. Granting an increased Attack bonus to Humanoids.
3. Granting an increased Resilience bonus to Humanoids.
Humanoid is used as a general overarching term to refer to the Human race and races closely related to Humans, such as Demi-humans.
Do you see the problem now?”
Emle groaned at her question. Their skills sounded so useful she couldn’t understand why Takuto and Atou called them finicky. With such special abilities, they could contribute much to the empire during peacetime and wartime.
“Well, it’s definitely a con that their abilities are limited to Humanoid races, but I still think they are quite powerful. It’s not a smart move to send Medics into battle, so even if we take the second ability out of the picture, the first and third should still be of constant use…”
If the King dubbed them finicky, then there must be some issue Emle hadn’t figured out yet. Although she knew she’d arrived at the wrong conclusion, Emle still voiced her opinion.
“You have the right idea. The only problem is that it wasn’t plausible for Humanoids to live in the empire of Mynoghra until you guys came along.”
“Oh…”
All of the pieces finally came together in Emle’s mind.
“Mynoghra’s main race, the Homunculus, don’t count as Humanoids.”
Mynoghra’s main race didn’t fall under the Humanoid classification. And even its Hero, Atou, wasn’t remotely Human despite taking that form. In other words, the Medics’ abilities couldn’t work in their own empire.
Their first ability only granted a bonus to public order in towns and cities run by Humanoids, so it wouldn’t do anything for Mynoghra’s cities. Moreover, even if they occupied a Humanoid enemy empire, the forces of evil and their units frighten Humanoids, which adds a huge penalty to citizen Happiness and public order.
An increased Attack buff for and against Humanoids also wasn’t useful for a Medic unit, so two was out as well.
And increasing the Resilience of Humanoids was worthless when there wasn’t a single Humanoid belonging to Mynoghra.
The King wasn’t exaggerating when he called them units with finicky abilities nor for seeing their value now that Mynoghra had Dark Elf citizens and an alliance with Phon’kaven. Their abilities came to life only once they could establish friendly relations with Humanoid races.
What whacky and confusing abilities they had. And what in the world were these Medics that they were so specialized in Humanoid races despite serving the forces of evil?
“Lady Atou…erm, what are they?” Emle asked Atou in a trembling voice, a chill creeping down her spine.
“They are called Brain Eaters. They are that which adores humanity but failed to become human, so they love all humanoids instead,” Atou said with a laugh, giving Emle an indescribable chill.
◇◇◇
“MARVELOUS! YOU COULDN’T FIND A BETTER SPECIMEN OF HUEMANITY!”
“INDEED! O, THE FOLLY THAT IS BEING DEVOUT TO ONE’S DESIRES AT THE EXPENSE OF ALL ELSE IS TRULY HUEMAN!”
“WITH THAT SAID, JIRO, SABURO—”
“IF WE WEAR THEIR SKIN, WE CAN BECOME EVEN MORE HUEMAN!!!” the three birdmen screeched in unison, their voices so loud it made everyone want to cover their ears. They suddenly struck tacky poses like overly excited children and removed their black robes.
“Aaaah!”
Antelise shrieked before anyone else did. After all, she had the best view of what was concealed beneath their robes, vividly driving home just how disturbing of an entity they were.
Asymmetrical, convulsing humanoid bodies. Large, rolling eyes that darted about the room. Shriveled flesh covering limbs bent the wrong way at the joint. Swollen lumps covering the darkened skin and ferocious claws that looked more like dulled blades.
But their grotesque appearance paled compared to one other point they had in common—the birdmen monsters—the Brain Eaters had one particularly revolting trait.
“Wh-What the seven Saints are they?! What the hell are you monsters?!” Vesta thundered, his knees buckling as he realized what exactly the trio was wearing under their robes.
Several of his faint-hearted goons blacked out as soon as they realized what they were looking at too.
Yes, for the birdman trio was wearing—
“WE ARE HUEMANS!!!” they chirped in unison.
—the raw flesh they had skinned off of someone.
“TAKE A GANDER AT OUR BEAUTIFUL, CURVACEOUS BODIES!”
“WE’RE HUEMAN NO MATTER HOW YOU LOOK AT US!”
The pungent smell of herbal fluids filled the room. The human skin, prevented from decaying with herbal preservatives, had been forcibly tied onto the Brain Eaters’ flesh with a string, and the excess skin bounced every time they struck a big pose.
Strangled cries that didn’t even count as screams rose from every corner of the room.
Maria gently hugged Antelise, rubbing her back like she might a child, as the Elf was so terrified by the sight of them, she started hyperventilating.
“It’s okay. Shh,” she soothed. “It’s not scary. They aren’t scary.”
Caria warily eyed the Brain Eaters and thrust her chin out toward the pathetic sacrificial thugs as if to say “What are you waiting for? Finish them already.”
“YOUR SKIN MUST BE PEELED TO COMPENSATE FOR THE HARM YOU CAUSED OUR SPECIAL LITTLE LADIES!”
The Brain Eater trio eagerly nodded after receiving the signal from Caria and drew the black-stained blades fastened to their waists. Delighted beyond delight, they slowly shuffled over to the men paralyzed with fear.
“W-Wait! Vesta sputtered. “We haven’t done anything yet! Let’s strike a deal! I’ll apologize too. If necessary, I’ll even prepare more money and goods than you could ever want. I’ll even withdraw from Dragontan! You can have my stash of Popil Grass as well! I can have lots of flesh prepared for you! So, so, won’t you please put away your weapons?!”
“NU-UH!!!”
The three monsters rejected Vesta’s proposal in overly enthusiastic, loud voices.
“You insulted our precious little ladies. This is an unforgivable crime. Words can be sharper than any blade, and your blades continue to cause our young mistresses grief. This is not proper HUEMAN behavior. YOU CAUSED THE GIRLS TO WEEP AND WAIL!!”
“No, we never wept or wailed,” Caria corrected.
“Yep, no weeping here,” Maria added.
“Then you pardon them?”
“Not in a million years.” Caria also sentenced the foolish men to death most painful with a callous smile. “These men insulted His Majesty. That is the mostest unpardonable crime of all. I, Cary, made a vow to do whatever I mustest to show my gratitude to the King who saved Big Sista and me. And that I would live freely in a way that would make His Majesty and Mother proud.”
Caria spoke of the convictions that shaped her. Of the new person she’d become thanks to Takuto Ira. And of the impulses brought forth by the evil soul that had manifested within her when she joined the forces of evil.
“I, Cary, will never forgive Mynoghra’s enemies.
I will never pardon anyone who threatens those I care about.
I will never pardon anyone who hurts Big Sista.
And I will never forgive anyone who insults His Majesty.
His Majesty told me that evil people are free to do anything. They can get away with anything. That’s why I give this order to the birdmen with the freedom approved of by my king: you have my permission to have your way with them.”
What she said was an extreme case of self-justification. An evil-minded assertion formed by carefully mixing a child’s innocence with the vindictiveness of a scorned woman. But there was some level of legitimacy to her convictions, making it hard to dismiss as self-righteousness and insanity gone too far.
“Oh, but you can all rest assured,” Caria said as an afterthought. “His Majesty just contacted me. He has seen everything that has transpired here and has given the okay to go wild.”
Their time was running out.
Sheer glee burned in the Brain Eaters’ eyes when they heard they not only had the king’s stamp of approval but also that he was watching over them. Why, they could even declare they would never encounter another skinning this enjoyable and inspiring.
Several of the thugs tried to flee, but they were glued to the spot by a mysterious power that increased the town’s public safety.
Vesta had been screaming something or other the whole time, consisting of begging for his life, negotiating, groveling, and surrendering. But none of it got through to Caria.
“All right, hop to it, please,” she said dryly.
And so, the curtain rose on an exquisitely fleshy feast.
“IN THAT CASE…!”
“WE WILL PROMPTLY…!”
“SKIN THEM!”
“Go get ’em, boys,” Maria cheered.
“COME AND MAKE US HUEMAN!!!” the Brain Eater trio trilled.
◇◇◇
HELL—the room had become hell on earth.
The familiar table, cupboards, and couches were dyed in a gory red, and what used to be Human was splayed here and there as crimson, skinned husks.
“HUEMANS!!!”
“Human!”
The three Brain Eaters wore the still steamy, sweaty flesh of their fresh kills and comfortably chatted amongst themselves like teenagers shopping at a clothing store on their day off. The older twin, Maria, hopped about with glee, causing the puddles of blood at her feet to splash with every hop.
Antelise was staring at them in disbelief when she felt a tap on her shoulder that wrenched a tearful scream from her lips.
“Eek!”
“Um, Miss Antelise, I’m really, really sorry about what my subordinates did.”
The girl ruefully bowing her head to Antelise was the one and same younger twin sister she’d joyfully reunited with a few hours earlier that day.
“They went a little tooooo far. How do I put it? I also didn’t think the birdmen would take things this far.”
The young girl lowered and raised her head so many times it almost looked like a click beetle jumping. Looking at her reminded Antelise of how she used to bow her head like that to her elders when she made a big mistake, too—going down memory lane was her way of escaping reality.
“So, um, you see…I don’t have the money to pay for cleaning this room, so I would be ever so grateful if you could overlook it this once.” Caria pressed her hands together.
What in the Spirits is she saying? Antelise honestly didn’t understand. What is this adorable little girl apologizing for in this hellscape?
The answer came easily.
“I’m so, so sorry for getting this pretty room dirty after you invited us over and all.”
Caria was apologizing for making the room dirty.
“And, um, may I impose upon you to…uh…explain things in a more positive light to your higher-ups?” Caria implored her, batting her eyelashes like she was trying to mimic an adult woman’s way of being cute.
“I-I can take care…of that,” Antelise barely squeezed out. And when she did, Caria’s whole face lit up like a sunflower after sunrise.
“Yay! Thank you ever so muchest, Miss Antelise!”
Ahh, she thinks nothing of it.
It suddenly all clicked into place for Antelise.
This was evil in the truest sense.
Taking pleasure in making people suffer? Feeding on despair? Satisfaction at the sight of other’s misery? All of those things depict evil as told in stories, but true evil isn’t so simple.
True evil treads the thin line between good and bad intentions and never doubts it’s wrong. Someone who can kill a person with the same feeling they brush their teeth with in the morning and whisper their affections to someone that very same night as if suddenly adoring the fleeting brilliance of life. Someone who calmly lives out their days harboring the ultimate contradictions within themselves—that is true evil.
What exactly am I looking at? Antelise wondered.
Girls who giggled and smiled.
Girls who happily blushed when Antelise patted them on the head.
Girls whose eyes filled with tears when they tried the foul food Antelise warned them not to touch.
Those girls from the past few days and the girls splattered with blood in front of Antelise looked so remarkably similar, her brain struggled to accept reality and tried desperately to reject what she was seeing.
Ahh, they’re one in the same. They embody both sides.
That thought plagued Antelise.
How in the Spirits should I interact with these girls from now on? What’s the right answer?
“LADY MARIA!”
As Antelise was absently brooding, sunken down on the cold, hard ground, one of the Brain Eater escorts staring at her started shouting.
“Mayor Antik has had a bout of incontinence! She requires HUEMAN consideration, no?!”
His loud comment finally forced Antelise to notice the warm feeling between her thighs. As an adult woman, this was an embarrassment that would haunt her for the rest of her life. But even that paled in comparison to the bloody scene before her.
“I’m sorry! I’m so, so, so, so SORRY!”
Flustered by her escort’s insensitive remark, Caria resumed bowing and apologizing with a vengeance. Apparently, she also worried about things like that a lot too. Somehow, that fact struck Antelise as oddly funny, making her feel like she needed to say something to calm the girl down before she broke her neck.
“N-No…i-it’s okay. H-Hehe…hehe…I guess I can’t get married now, can I?” Antelise bluffed with a dry, cracked laugh.
She felt as if she’d faint if she didn’t laugh at herself. She might lose her mind if she didn’t make light of the situation.
Did she actually manage to laugh? Or was that more like a strangled breath catching in her throat? She didn’t know, but the sheer fact the girls cared about her as a friend was the only thread holding Antelise’s shattering mind together.
“As decent HUEMAN beings, we should also all have a leak so as not to let the beautiful young lady be ashamed!”
“Why, that’s a marvelous idea!”
“Sounds plenty HUEMAN to me!”
“Leaky-leak!” Maria cheered.
Antelise didn’t even have the energy to stop them, but at least she regained enough of her mind to think of what she’d like to say to them.
Meanwhile, she thought she heard something snap beside her. She looked to see Caria fuming with a terrifying smile. They had awoken a sleeping, raging dragon.
“I’m sorry, Big Sista, can you step aside?”
“…Hm? Okey dokey.”
“All right, I want all the Brain Eaters to line up right there. No, not that way…from front to back. Yes, yes. Now please stay that way,” Caria ordered her escorts with that bone-chilling smile of hers. Once she had finally succeeded in getting them to stand in a straight line in front of her…
“STOP FOOLING AROUND, YOU BIRDBRAINS!”
She charged forward and landed a flying kick on all three Brain Eaters.
“GUUUAAAAGH!!!”
“My Huemans!” Maria cried.
The three horrifying monsters went tumbling backward.
The older sister tended to the monsters with tears in her eyes.
The younger sister resumed bowing her head like a broken doll.
It was almost hilarious…as if Antelise was watching a comedy. It reminded her of the time she saw a clown show in Qualia. It was a stupidly funny performance that invited laughter.
“A-Ahahaha…you guys are silly…”
Except the more their group fooled around, the more the pools of blood splashed, forcing Antelise to face reality and muster what little energy she had to crack a strained smile.
