9. The Village Where Children Disappear (End)
While I was showing the devil around the mansion, showcasing the ‘works’ I had created, the parents of the missing children gathered in front of Othel’s house in the village.
Miel and the demon had disappeared, but no one seemed to care. They just assumed they were somewhere, that they would come back after taking care of something, and brushed it off.
The most important thing for those who had lost their children was their children, not their fellow parents. Holding a large flame in their hearts, they knocked on Othel’s door, trying their best to suppress their fiery emotions.
Bang, bang, bang!
Startled by the harsh knocking, like that of a debt collector demanding payment, Othel, who had been baking cookies, blinked and turned towards the door. It didn’t sound like children knocking, so who could it be? He thought as he rubbed his waist and approached the door.
Standing before Othel, who had opened the door, were parents with a solemn demeanor. Since the children often visited, Othel remembered their parents’ faces and quickly recognized who they were.
“Ah, it’s Olga… Karl, Bork’s mother and father. What brings you here?”
Othel greeted the parents of the children with his usual kind smile, but from the parents’ perspective, Othel’s calm demeanor felt deceptive. Olga’s mother, Mary, who was quick-tempered, clenched her fists and trembled, but Olga’s father, Philip, calmed her down.
In the slightly chaotic atmosphere, Othel was momentarily puzzled until Flora, who was standing at the front, opened her mouth.
“Mr. Othel. The children are missing.”
At her blunt statement, devoid of any pleasantries, Othel blinked. She hadn’t received a higher education, but she had gained a lot of wisdom in her life, so she quickly realized that everyone present had come to her with the same purpose.
It wasn’t that she didn’t know that the children were missing. On the contrary, she was well aware. It would be stranger not to know, given the village was in an uproar searching for the children.
That’s why Othel was more perplexed. She couldn’t understand why they came to her when the children were missing, so she couldn’t help but be flustered.
Of course, separate from her confusion, she felt sorry that the children were missing, so she composed himself and opened her mouth.
“It’s a tragic thing… If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll do whatever I can.”
“Do whatever you can… you say?”
“Of course, I should help. It’s heartbreaking to see a child leave, let alone have a child disappear unexpectedly――”
“Now!!”
Othel was startled by Flora’s sudden shout and trembled. Flora’s face was flushed as she glared at Othel.
Startled by her reaction, Othel tried to reach out to calm Flora. However, Flora harshly slapped away Othel’s hand.
At her violent reaction, Othel wrapped her stinging hand with her other hand and blinked her eyes.
The only thing that came to mind for Othel was the question ‘why’.
“You’re saying that now…? You’re sorry…!?”
“No, what on earth…”
All the experience and wisdom accumulated over a long period of time were useless in the face of the unilateral anger of a parent who had lost a child. Flora, greatly taken aback, gritted her teeth at Othel, who didn’t know what to do.
The suspicion that it might be this person turned into anger as soon as it met the cause. The thought that this person might not be the culprit had long flown out of her mind.
“Don’t play innocent! It was you! You took our Bork――!”
A hero? Her child was missing, and the potential culprit was right in front of her. What did that matter? Even if it meant her death, she would absolutely find her child.
Flora, having lost her reason, lashed out at Othel and screamed, and her husband, Thomson, had to pull her away due to her violent reaction. If he had left her alone, something would surely have happened.
“Calm down, Flora! We’re not sure yet!”
“Let me go!! Let me go!! Aren’t you upset!? Our son…!! Our son is missing…!!”
“I know! I know it’s unfair! Just calm down for now!”
Thomson pulled Flora back, and Othel, with a bewildered face, began to quickly grasp the situation. Of course, thanks to Flora’s furious shouting just now, it didn’t take long to understand the situation.
And so, Othel realized that the gathered parents thought she had kidnapped their children. Upon realizing this, Othel felt disbelief and sadness before anger.
“You’re suspecting me now?”
Is this all that my work in the village has amounted to? Have I done anything to deserve suspicion of kidnapping children?
Othel’s voice, filled with self-reproach and disappointment, was trembling endlessly. At her appearance, the others just stared at her without a word.
For Othel, the hesitation of the others was a greater wound than Flora’s anger filled with certainty. She knew that even if a misunderstanding was clarified as a misunderstanding, suspicion would remain as suspicion.
“How much have I…”
Othel, about to voice her injustice, closed her mouth when she saw the expressions of the parents looking at her. It was an atmosphere where no matter what she said, they seemed unlikely to listen, or even if they did, they would soon let it in one ear and out the other.
In the end, Othel closed her mouth, falling into tears, and the parents, whose hearts softened at her appearance, could no longer say anything and withdrew. That’s how the conversation between Othel and the parents ended. It just ended.
It ended ambiguously, without even a proper conclusion. Having confirmed up to this point, I slowly opened my eyes.
My eyes were so dry that tears were about to fall, and I kept blinking. I created ice and applied it to my eyes. The ice I created was melting so fast that I could feel how hot my eyes had become.
“Ugh… The idea of a contract demon is good, but it seems to hurt my eyes too much if I use it for too long.”
“That’s why we usually connect it to a mirror or a bowl of water to reflect it. It’s better that way.”
“I hate complicated things. Even if you explain it, I don’t really understand…”
“Usually, people tend to choose the complicated but safe route.”
“Ugh… It’s annoying. Do other demons not connect directly to the eye?”
At my words, the demon shook her head.
They don’t? Really?
“Usually, if you connect it directly to the eye, the optic nerve burns out. That’s why I avoid connecting directly to the eye. Even if it regenerates, pain is still pain.”
“Is it that bad?”
“You’re an exception, with it stopping at just a bit of heat in your eyes.”
I pouted at the demon, who was shaking her head.
As I did so, the demon standing next to me tapped a large mirror, and the image of Othel, alone at home and shedding tears, was reflected in the mirror.
“Anyway, is it okay to leave it like this?”
“I told you last time. I don’t particularly wish for Othel’s grandmother to die. I’d rather she live a long, long life.”
“It feels like it ended too lukewarmly.”
“It did end lukewarmly. But this temperature is just right. It’s an ambiguous atmosphere, neither here nor there.”
The demon looked at me with an expression of not understanding.
It wasn’t that she didn’t understand human psychology, but she couldn’t understand why I was going around like this when it would be better to tie things up clearly.
Her thoughts weren’t wrong.
It wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t the situation I wanted.
“Chaos usually comes from ambiguous situations. Like asymmetry of information, lack of conversation. So now is just right.”
“…I see. The parents can’t ask about the whereabouts of their children, so they have no choice but to suspect Othel, and Othel has no way to explain, so the misunderstanding grows.”
“Right. People won’t ostracize Othel, but they will feel awkward around her. The grandmother will end up completely isolated without realizing she’s drifting away.”
The grandmother, who likes to mingle and share with others, will become more and more haggard as the days go by?
I chuckled and stretched, opening my eyes.
“Then where are you going to use the children you brought? I thought you would naturally release them in that village.”
“I’m going to use them somewhere else. Of course, the numbers are still a bit short, so I’ll bring a few more. About twenty should do it, right?”
“That’s quite a number.”
“Of course. Hunting is usually done in packs, isn’t it?”
“Hunting, you say?”
I grinned and hugged Nae’s head tightly.
“Right. Hunting.”
To hunt the hunters, wouldn’t that number be necessary?
Thanks.