Suzume
The sacred forest.
That was how the kijins referred to the great forest that the humans called Thetis forest.
Suzume was the last survivor of the Kamuna clan that protects that sacred forest.
Originally, Kamuna village was a settlement with over a hundred kijins living there.
They followed the principle of not attacking humans as long as they didn’t thoughtlessly attack the forest.
The choice that the humans made towards the Kamuna village was extermination. 50 years ago, Kamuna village was destroyed by the main force of a samurai army that came from the east.
Although the kijins fought hard, the samurais’ strength was overwhelming. Only seven kijins survived.
They were the elderly and the children who were either too old or too young to fight.
Both of Suzume’s parents were among those children.
After that, the remaining kijins restarted their day to day lifestyle under the protection of a barrier, but it was indeed too difficult for a small group of children and elderly kijins to live in the depths of the Thetis forest where demonic beasts lived.
Some fell ill, some fell prey to demonic beasts, and some died of starvation after giving the little food they had to the children.
One after another, the kijins decreased in numbers.
By the time Suzume was born, only her and her parents were left.
Suzume’s parents were already no longer there. Her father did not come back after he left to hunt on the day Suzume turned three, and her mother passed away from an illness when Suzume was six.
For the last 7 years, Suzume had been guarding the Kamuna village by herself.
She would enter the forest to look for fruits, nuts, and plants to eat while the sun rises, then she would return to the village to clean the roadside and houses. That included the houses other than hers.
Since that was what her mother did before, Suzume took over that task after her mother passed away.
“It’s in case they come home one day”–Suzume still has not forgotten about the lonely smile on her mother’s face when she said that to her.
And Suzume had inherited one more thing from her mother. It was the tradition to make offerings and dedicate dances to the sacred tree that towered the north side of the village.
It was a snake quelling ritual that calmed the spirit of the great snake that was still sleeping beneath the earth.
The ritual was passed down from generation to generation in Kamuna village. Suzume’s parents would prioritize making the food offering first even if they had little to eat.
Her mother did not skip those rituals even after she had fallen ill. When she was no longer able to dance herself, she taught Suzume the dance and had her continue the tradition.
The reason why Suzume got caught by the lord of flies before was because she did not have enough food for the offering, so she had to take a risk and go far away from the barrier to gather food.
That was when Suzume ran into a human, and was saved by him.
…When she thinks about it, it was the first time she had spoken to anyone since her mother passed away.
Until that point, she had desperately tried to stay alive and never had a longing for others.
Thanks to the barrier around the kijins’ village preventing demonic beasts from attacking the place, small animals such as squirrels, rabbits, hedgehogs, and little birds frequently visited the village. Whenever Suzume talked to the small animals, her loneliness would fade.
Her parents had continuously taught her to be careful of humans since they will go after her horns. Because of that, she had never thought of leaving the forest to visit a human town.
However, Suzume’s view on humans had changed a little bit since that encounter.
They weren’t just monsters who would just attack a kijin in a frenzy when they see one. If you talk with them, you could even share a laugh with them.
That’s why when she saw a human who was lost in the forest, she told that person to follow the river instead of avoiding that person. One could easily return to the city of Ishka by going down the river.
It was a different human than the one who saved her from the lord of flies, but since that person was a human just like him, she wanted to return the favor.
She would have never thought that her information would be sold to the slave merchant. It was impossible for a 13-year-old girl to foresee that.
Because of that, the location of her village was roughly specified. Hunters were sent out continuously to scout for her. That meant she couldn’t exit the barrier, and she couldn’t exercise the snake quelling ritual either…All of that was impossible for her to foresee.
Thus, the basilisk manifested and due to the blight it spread, part of the village was swallowed, the sacred tree also withered, and the barrier disappeared.
And now Suzume came face to face with the invading demonic beast by herself.
The beast had long pupils that only snake species had. Were its bright, bloodshot eyes displaying the joy it felt from having prey before it? Or were they showing the hatred it harboured over many years?
Suzume tried to escape from this beast that had a body the size of a small mountain, but with one tail whip, it knocked a tree down and quickly closed the distance between them and got a tight grip on her body.
“Gyarrrr”, the monster roared in delight.
Suzume was getting the chills as the basilisk pulled her towards it. The monster had its mouth wide open, like it was getting ready to swallow her whole.
…Ahh, this is where I die, huh?
Suzume thought as she trembled in pain and fear. But besides those feelings, there was probably comfort in there as well.
Now that she lost the barrier from the blight, even if she survived today, she would have a rough time living more than ever before.
There’s no way a small 13-year-old girl can survive alone in the Thetis forest.
With that being the case, dying here would shorten the suffering.
She might be able to meet her parents after too.
“Please live on happily”
…The last words of a mother to her young daughter as she passed away in regret leaving her behind. Suzume was sad that she could not abide by her mother’s last words, but it looked like that was all she could do.
「…I’m sorry, mother」
She muttered in a trembling voice.
A disgusting feeling crawled over her entire body.
However, she no longer had the strength to resist. She didn’t even have the energy to think of resisting.
The basilisk was climbing up the sacred tree’s trunk while grabbing onto Suzume. If they were on the ground, other demonic beasts might show up and get in its way. It must have climbed the tree because of that.
Suzume’s vision was darkening. Her consciousness was being swallowed by the darkness.
Right before everything went dark, Suzume seemed to have sensed that somebody had rushed in…but she was pretty sure that it was just in her head. She changed her mind like that in an instant.
No one would come. If anything, it would be the grim reaper that got tired of waiting.
With that thought in her mind, Suzume let go of her consciousness…No, she was about to.
But at that moment.
「Uraahhhhh?!」
She heard the explosively loud roar of the demonic beast at close range.
Suzume’s body was enveloped by a floating feeling before she even had time to question what had happened.
The basilisk’s tight hold on her had unraveled.
Since it had been climbing up the tree while it grabbed onto Suzume with its limb, her body that had been released from the beast’s limb would naturally fall straight down.
It was a height that she could not survive the fall from. Moreover, her body was not responding to her.
It was either because of the beast’s poison or because she had given up from before.
When Suzume closed her eyes to accept her fate, she heard that voice.
「…Oops, that was close. I almost finished you off with it」
Suzume’s body was hugged tightly as she heard those words.
When she opened her eyes hesitantly, she saw a young man with black hair looking down at Suzume with a fearless smile.
It was a face she knew.
She knew him, but she had no idea why he was here at this time at all. However, she was going to thank him anyway. The moment she tried to open her mouth, her eyes opened wide.
The basilisk above Suzume was running down the tree’s trunk in anger…No, it jumped off from the trunk!
If the basilisk’s huge body lands on them, it doesn’t matter if they’re human or kijin, they’ll get squashed.
「A…A..Above…!」
With the condition of her body, she tried to convey the danger to the young man with her tongue that she could hardly move.
The young man had his hands full with Suzume’s body. Right now, he had no weapon he could use against the basilisk.
They had to quickly get away from there but all of the ground near them was decaying; it was as if they were in the middle of a bottomless swamp. The only safe spot was the root of the tree where the young man was standing.
At that point, Suzume suddenly had a question in her head.
…How did this person get here then?
But the basilisk’s giant body was falling on them faster than she could ask that question.
The young man lifted his chin and looked up. He did not even move his eyebrows even though he saw the basilisk coming. He did not even have one bit of Suzume’s worries.
Then, the young man who was looking up slowly opened his mouth,
「Kaaahh!!!」
It was so loud it almost blew out her eardrums.
During that instant, Suzume’s body that was in the young man’s arms jumped. The waves of the after-effect vibration alone swallowed her entire body. It was a massive pressure that shook her from the inside. A high-pitched ringing filled her ears. For a moment, she could not hear anything else.
On the other hand, as for the basilisk that was hit by the attack head on…
「Graaghhh?!」
Its massive body of 10 meters long was sent into the air, as if it was hit by a cannon at close range.
The young man deflected the basilisk from falling on them with just his voice.
Of course, there’s no way he could do that with just his voice. He should have used magic or some kind of item there, but it was still abnormal even if he did.
Then, the young man said one small sentence to Suzume while she looked at him in surprise.
「I’m going to jump. Be careful not to bite your tongue」
Jump? She did not even have time to think about what he just said. The young man got down on one knee and jumped up with Suzume in his arms the next second.
Suzume almost screamed out. That’s how strong the impact that hit her entire body was.
While holding Suzume in his arms, he easily jumped over the blighted earth. Those movements should be impossible for a human- no, even for a kijin.
Before she realized it, Suzume was standing on solid ground.
After the young man let Suzume off, he reached for the black sword that was stabbed into the ground in front of him. The young man did not hesitate to grab the sword that was releasing a sinister enough aura that made Suzume instinctively take a step back.
Then, he casually swung his sword at the basilisk that had fallen onto the ground.
It was an attack that wasn’t going to reach, but it easily cut off one of the monster’s limbs. The beast’s limb flew across the air as its poisonous blood scattered. With that, the beast had 4- no, 3 limbs left. The limb that it caught Suzume with had been cut off a long time ago.
By now, Suzume finally realized what happened.
This young man who rushed here had cut off the demonic beast’s limb to save Suzume.
After he cut that limb off, he stabbed his sword into the ground here to free up his arms and dashed at the sacred tree’s roots to catch Suzume.
That isn’t something that a human can do.
「…This is just crazy…」
Such words leaked out unintentionally.
Then, the young man laughed happily.
「Haha. Then why don’t I show you one more crazy trick?…『Boil its blood, burn its hair, let the power seethe』」
He began to chant.
Suzume never expected that he could use magic since he always seemed like a swordsman. She couldn’t keep count how many times she’s opened her eyes wide in surprise now.
「『Castle of the gods, chair of skulls. Waving a rebel’s flag, the gift of the wicked blade befalls you. Bloody eyes and fiery hands, give my enemy the embrace of death…Flame princess』」
The young man finished chanting the high tier fire magic spell and unleashed it on the basilisk.
There were 5–no, 6 arms of fire running through the air.
When a normal caster uses that spell, there would only be 2 arms. Even for an exceptional caster, there would only be 3 at best.
The young man summoned twice as many. Moreover, each of those arms were as thick as a big snake, and they attacked the basilisk at a quick speed.
That says a lot about how strong the caster is and how much mana he has.
After the basilisk had its entire body caught by the 6 arms of fire, its shrieks echoed in this sea of blight.
Suzume, who was stunned as she watched that scene, made a surprised sound when she suddenly felt a burning hot air from nearby.
When she quickly looked in that direction, she saw the young man’s black sword burning red as if it became engulfed in flames.
That is caused by burning the sword with kei to the utmost limit, but Suzume does not know that. However, even without knowing, she understood that the black sword was emitting an overwhelming heat.
「I’m going to burn it along with the decayed forest…Phantom blade style, Blaze」
The torrent of fire that the young man unleashed from his sword swallowed the basilisk with the forest like a tsunami.
Suzume stared at the scene in front of her as if she was questioning if she was in a dream.
Was the scene before her eyes a good dream? Or was it a bad dream? Unable to tell, she simply stared at it in a trance.
Suzume
The sacred forest.
That was how the kijins referred to the great forest that the humans called Thetis forest.
Suzume was the last survivor of the Kamuna clan that protects that sacred forest.
Originally, Kamuna village was a settlement with over a hundred kijins living there.
They followed the principle of not attacking humans as long as they didn’t thoughtlessly attack the forest.
The choice that the humans made towards the Kamuna village was extermination. 50 years ago, Kamuna village was destroyed by the main force of a samurai army that came from the east.
Although the kijins fought hard, the samurais’ strength was overwhelming. Only seven kijins survived.
They were the elderly and the children who were either too old or too young to fight.
Both of Suzume’s parents were among those children.
After that, the remaining kijins restarted their day to day lifestyle under the protection of a barrier, but it was indeed too difficult for a small group of children and elderly kijins to live in the depths of the Thetis forest where demonic beasts lived.
Some fell ill, some fell prey to demonic beasts, and some died of starvation after giving the little food they had to the children.
One after another, the kijins decreased in numbers.
By the time Suzume was born, only her and her parents were left.
Suzume’s parents were already no longer there. Her father did not come back after he left to hunt on the day Suzume turned three, and her mother passed away from an illness when Suzume was six.
For the last 7 years, Suzume had been guarding the Kamuna village by herself.
She would enter the forest to look for fruits, nuts, and plants to eat while the sun rises, then she would return to the village to clean the roadside and houses. That included the houses other than hers.
Since that was what her mother did before, Suzume took over that task after her mother passed away.
“It’s in case they come home one day”–Suzume still has not forgotten about the lonely smile on her mother’s face when she said that to her.
And Suzume had inherited one more thing from her mother. It was the tradition to make offerings and dedicate dances to the sacred tree that towered the north side of the village.
It was a snake quelling ritual that calmed the spirit of the great snake that was still sleeping beneath the earth.
The ritual was passed down from generation to generation in Kamuna village. Suzume’s parents would prioritize making the food offering first even if they had little to eat.
Her mother did not skip those rituals even after she had fallen ill. When she was no longer able to dance herself, she taught Suzume the dance and had her continue the tradition.
The reason why Suzume got caught by the lord of flies before was because she did not have enough food for the offering, so she had to take a risk and go far away from the barrier to gather food.
That was when Suzume ran into a human, and was saved by him.
…When she thinks about it, it was the first time she had spoken to anyone since her mother passed away.
Until that point, she had desperately tried to stay alive and never had a longing for others.
Thanks to the barrier around the kijins’ village preventing demonic beasts from attacking the place, small animals such as squirrels, rabbits, hedgehogs, and little birds frequently visited the village. Whenever Suzume talked to the small animals, her loneliness would fade.
Her parents had continuously taught her to be careful of humans since they will go after her horns. Because of that, she had never thought of leaving the forest to visit a human town.
However, Suzume’s view on humans had changed a little bit since that encounter.
They weren’t just monsters who would just attack a kijin in a frenzy when they see one. If you talk with them, you could even share a laugh with them.
That’s why when she saw a human who was lost in the forest, she told that person to follow the river instead of avoiding that person. One could easily return to the city of Ishka by going down the river.
It was a different human than the one who saved her from the lord of flies, but since that person was a human just like him, she wanted to return the favor.
She would have never thought that her information would be sold to the slave merchant. It was impossible for a 13-year-old girl to foresee that.
Because of that, the location of her village was roughly specified. Hunters were sent out continuously to scout for her. That meant she couldn’t exit the barrier, and she couldn’t exercise the snake quelling ritual either…All of that was impossible for her to foresee.
Thus, the basilisk manifested and due to the blight it spread, part of the village was swallowed, the sacred tree also withered, and the barrier disappeared.
And now Suzume came face to face with the invading demonic beast by herself.
The beast had long pupils that only snake species had. Were its bright, bloodshot eyes displaying the joy it felt from having prey before it? Or were they showing the hatred it harboured over many years?
Suzume tried to escape from this beast that had a body the size of a small mountain, but with one tail whip, it knocked a tree down and quickly closed the distance between them and got a tight grip on her body.
“Gyarrrr”, the monster roared in delight.
Suzume was getting the chills as the basilisk pulled her towards it. The monster had its mouth wide open, like it was getting ready to swallow her whole.
…Ahh, this is where I die, huh?
Suzume thought as she trembled in pain and fear. But besides those feelings, there was probably comfort in there as well.
Now that she lost the barrier from the blight, even if she survived today, she would have a rough time living more than ever before.
There’s no way a small 13-year-old girl can survive alone in the Thetis forest.
With that being the case, dying here would shorten the suffering.
She might be able to meet her parents after too.
“Please live on happily”
…The last words of a mother to her young daughter as she passed away in regret leaving her behind. Suzume was sad that she could not abide by her mother’s last words, but it looked like that was all she could do.
「…I’m sorry, mother」
She muttered in a trembling voice.
A disgusting feeling crawled over her entire body.
However, she no longer had the strength to resist. She didn’t even have the energy to think of resisting.
The basilisk was climbing up the sacred tree’s trunk while grabbing onto Suzume. If they were on the ground, other demonic beasts might show up and get in its way. It must have climbed the tree because of that.
Suzume’s vision was darkening. Her consciousness was being swallowed by the darkness.
Right before everything went dark, Suzume seemed to have sensed that somebody had rushed in…but she was pretty sure that it was just in her head. She changed her mind like that in an instant.
No one would come. If anything, it would be the grim reaper that got tired of waiting.
With that thought in her mind, Suzume let go of her consciousness…No, she was about to.
But at that moment.
「Uraahhhhh?!」
She heard the explosively loud roar of the demonic beast at close range.
Suzume’s body was enveloped by a floating feeling before she even had time to question what had happened.
The basilisk’s tight hold on her had unraveled.
Since it had been climbing up the tree while it grabbed onto Suzume with its limb, her body that had been released from the beast’s limb would naturally fall straight down.
It was a height that she could not survive the fall from. Moreover, her body was not responding to her.
It was either because of the beast’s poison or because she had given up from before.
When Suzume closed her eyes to accept her fate, she heard that voice.
「…Oops, that was close. I almost finished you off with it」
Suzume’s body was hugged tightly as she heard those words.
When she opened her eyes hesitantly, she saw a young man with black hair looking down at Suzume with a fearless smile.
It was a face she knew.
She knew him, but she had no idea why he was here at this time at all. However, she was going to thank him anyway. The moment she tried to open her mouth, her eyes opened wide.
The basilisk above Suzume was running down the tree’s trunk in anger…No, it jumped off from the trunk!
If the basilisk’s huge body lands on them, it doesn’t matter if they’re human or kijin, they’ll get squashed.
「A…A..Above…!」
With the condition of her body, she tried to convey the danger to the young man with her tongue that she could hardly move.
The young man had his hands full with Suzume’s body. Right now, he had no weapon he could use against the basilisk.
They had to quickly get away from there but all of the ground near them was decaying; it was as if they were in the middle of a bottomless swamp. The only safe spot was the root of the tree where the young man was standing.
At that point, Suzume suddenly had a question in her head.
…How did this person get here then?
But the basilisk’s giant body was falling on them faster than she could ask that question.
The young man lifted his chin and looked up. He did not even move his eyebrows even though he saw the basilisk coming. He did not even have one bit of Suzume’s worries.
Then, the young man who was looking up slowly opened his mouth,
「Kaaahh!!!」
It was so loud it almost blew out her eardrums.
During that instant, Suzume’s body that was in the young man’s arms jumped. The waves of the after-effect vibration alone swallowed her entire body. It was a massive pressure that shook her from the inside. A high-pitched ringing filled her ears. For a moment, she could not hear anything else.
On the other hand, as for the basilisk that was hit by the attack head on…
「Graaghhh?!」
Its massive body of 10 meters long was sent into the air, as if it was hit by a cannon at close range.
The young man deflected the basilisk from falling on them with just his voice.
Of course, there’s no way he could do that with just his voice. He should have used magic or some kind of item there, but it was still abnormal even if he did.
Then, the young man said one small sentence to Suzume while she looked at him in surprise.
「I’m going to jump. Be careful not to bite your tongue」
Jump? She did not even have time to think about what he just said. The young man got down on one knee and jumped up with Suzume in his arms the next second.
Suzume almost screamed out. That’s how strong the impact that hit her entire body was.
While holding Suzume in his arms, he easily jumped over the blighted earth. Those movements should be impossible for a human- no, even for a kijin.
Before she realized it, Suzume was standing on solid ground.
After the young man let Suzume off, he reached for the black sword that was stabbed into the ground in front of him. The young man did not hesitate to grab the sword that was releasing a sinister enough aura that made Suzume instinctively take a step back.
Then, he casually swung his sword at the basilisk that had fallen onto the ground.
It was an attack that wasn’t going to reach, but it easily cut off one of the monster’s limbs. The beast’s limb flew across the air as its poisonous blood scattered. With that, the beast had 4- no, 3 limbs left. The limb that it caught Suzume with had been cut off a long time ago.
By now, Suzume finally realized what happened.
This young man who rushed here had cut off the demonic beast’s limb to save Suzume.
After he cut that limb off, he stabbed his sword into the ground here to free up his arms and dashed at the sacred tree’s roots to catch Suzume.
That isn’t something that a human can do.
「…This is just crazy…」
Such words leaked out unintentionally.
Then, the young man laughed happily.
「Haha. Then why don’t I show you one more crazy trick?…『Boil its blood, burn its hair, let the power seethe』」
He began to chant.
Suzume never expected that he could use magic since he always seemed like a swordsman. She couldn’t keep count how many times she’s opened her eyes wide in surprise now.
「『Castle of the gods, chair of skulls. Waving a rebel’s flag, the gift of the wicked blade befalls you. Bloody eyes and fiery hands, give my enemy the embrace of death…Flame princess』」
The young man finished chanting the high tier fire magic spell and unleashed it on the basilisk.
There were 5–no, 6 arms of fire running through the air.
When a normal caster uses that spell, there would only be 2 arms. Even for an exceptional caster, there would only be 3 at best.
The young man summoned twice as many. Moreover, each of those arms were as thick as a big snake, and they attacked the basilisk at a quick speed.
That says a lot about how strong the caster is and how much mana he has.
After the basilisk had its entire body caught by the 6 arms of fire, its shrieks echoed in this sea of blight.
Suzume, who was stunned as she watched that scene, made a surprised sound when she suddenly felt a burning hot air from nearby.
When she quickly looked in that direction, she saw the young man’s black sword burning red as if it became engulfed in flames.
That is caused by burning the sword with kei to the utmost limit, but Suzume does not know that. However, even without knowing, she understood that the black sword was emitting an overwhelming heat.
「I’m going to burn it along with the decayed forest…Phantom blade style, Blaze」
The torrent of fire that the young man unleashed from his sword swallowed the basilisk with the forest like a tsunami.
Suzume stared at the scene in front of her as if she was questioning if she was in a dream.
Was the scene before her eyes a good dream? Or was it a bad dream? Unable to tell, she simply stared at it in a trance.
