Chapter 134 The Cursed One's Village (End)

"When he reappears at the house, I thought he has the same thoughts and feelings as me. The thought that we could have done better if we tried to understand each other more, and we could have made a better life for Lia if we have just communicated. I thought he also has the same feeling of wanting to try again from the beginning," Mia put her cup of tea on top of the table as her expression darkens because of the dark memory resurfacing.

"So with the assumption of him having the same thoughts, I attempted to start a new life with him. Slowly, Lia and I accept him to reenter our life, and we finally decided to live at the same home after a week. But to make sure that he understands that there is still distance between us, I told him that we won't be sleeping in the same bed, and I will sleep together with Lia," (Mia)

"And that's where that man finally took off his lamb's mask, and show his inner wolf. On the night when I was sleeping and hugging Lia, he entered our room and raped me in front of Lia," Her hands which had formed into a fist tightens as she recounted the story.

"I wake up in terror, but what is in my mind is Lia. When I struggles to get away and tell him that Lia is watching, Lia that saw me in pain and struggling also tried to push him away from me. And with an annoyed look, that man hits her away off the bed. At that moment, a wave of indescribable anger filled me," (Mia)

"I don't really understand what happened, but a hateful thought appeared inside me. 'I want to kill him'. And as if answering my call, thick vines appeared throughout the house, and stabbed him from various places. The scene was so horrific and terrifying that Lia must have instinctively forgotten it forcefully because of the traumatic scene," (Mia)

"The vines appeared not only inside the room, but they spread all over the house together with a loud sound, causing a ruckus around the village. Everyone in the village left their house because of the sound and my cry, and the men entered the house forcefully and saw the scene..." Mia's head looks down even further.

(But rather than getting soothed because of the tragedy, their focus was gathered on the terrifying remain of her former husband's corpse, and she ended up being branded as a cursed one, huh... What a sad fate...) (Lilith)

"They first helped to clean up the corpse, but then they asked what happened. I was about to tell them that I don't know about what happened myself, but then one of the villagers pointed at me and said that there are vines coming out my back," (Mia)

"Then I got branded as a murderer, a vile witch, a cursed one, and other kinds of insults. We started to get ostracized by the village, no one helped to clean up the house so I need to clean and repair them myself. And it still continues until today. Their treatment has been kinder than before lately though," Mia said with a self-mocking smile.

"But several months ahead. I don't know whether it's a blessing or not, but I found out that I was pregnant from that person's seed. I really want to abort it, but after looking at Nia, I'm glad I didn't do so back then..." Mia's fist softens as the image of her small daughter appeared inside her mind.

For a single mother to break through that kinds of rough times alone while bearing a child, it must be very difficult. It's not strange for any other woman that experienced the same thing as her to went crazy or decided to give up raising her children and prioritize herself.

But she didn't. Looking at how the steady life was going for Mia right now, it must be due to the great efforts made by the great mother before him.

(That must be very difficult. It's all due to the information and knowledge about magic being very difficult. Even great countries only have limited people with enough knowledge about them. Things would be different if they know that it's a magic phenomenon) (Hestia)

As mana is something that resides not only inside the person, but is also contained in the atmosphere as well, people with a great talent for influencing and creating a magical phenomenon with their mana without any use of magic chantation or magic circles could be considered as magical genius.

(If she was born in a country with a great amount of knowledge of magicians, she would be praised and given a better life instead...) (Sylphia)

(She must be a very great and strong mother to be able to pull through those hard times and raise her children well. By the way, master. Her back...) (Arturia)

(Yeah...) (Lyan)

Lyan stretches his hand towards Mia. Mia closed his eyes in surprise at his sudden movement, but what happened was not something that she expected.

*Clack!*

"Eh?" Mia exclaimed, dumbfounded as she saw Lyan looking at a branch of a plant that he seem to pick up from the backrest of the sofa behind her.

"I see..." Lyan uttered as he observed the little branch on his hand. As his eyes glowed with purple light, he could see rich green mana gushing out of the branch.

(Hm~ What a gentle and soothing mana that big sis has~) (Azelia)

(Her emotions because of recounting the dark memory influence her mana fluctuation and influences the mana outside, huh... She definitely has a great talent as a magician) (Hestia)

"W-Was that my doing!? I-I'm terribly sorry. I didn't have enough control, but trust me, It shouldn't be harmful and I won't suddenly attack you unconsciously! I'm sorry for showing you my unsightly curse! It was-" Mia started to try to explain in panic, but she stopped when he saw Lyan raise his palm up.

"Look," Lyan said with a smile before pointing at the table before them.

Slowly, a small flower appeared from the gap in the wooden table, and the flower slowly bloomed.

"Y-You could use it too!?" Mia exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, yes. It's not a curse, but it's a gift. If you could control your mana, you would be able to use magic, and it will greatly help you in various aspects. Rather than fearing that gift, you should try to embrace and accept it first before nurturing it. If not, what will you do if Nia and Lia suddenly have the same talent as yours, right?" Lyan explained with a gentle tone.

"A gift... It's not a curse...?" Mia uttered as her body slightly trembles since the words she had been waiting for finally appeared before her.

"Yes," Lyan held her hand gently.

"Mana and magic as a gift that not everyone could have and control. As long as you train and learn to control it, rather than a curse, it will be a blessing," (Lyan)

Hearing it from Lyan that just shows her that he could use nature magic as well convinces her strongly. If it was someone that couldn't do the same thing, it will only be heard as an empty soothing word. But from Lyan, it felt very convincing and reassuring to her.

"I see... Thank you... Those words mean a lot to me..." Tears started to well up and fall from her eyes. There must be lots of negative emotions pent up inside her that she had been suppressing to hide them from her children.

Without saying a word, Lyan lends her his chest to cry her load. Lyan cast a soundproof around them to cover the cries of the single mother on his chest, his hand pats the back of her head, transmitting warmth to calm her down.

The cry goes on for about twenty minutes. After she calmed down, she lifted her face up with a flushed face and stared at Lyan.

"You look young, but why do I feel like I'm younger, I wonder?" Uttered her with a cute pout.

(Hm... Well, I was hundreds of years older than you to be exact. But I guess I can't tell her that, can't I...?) (Lyan)

"They say the maturity of the soul does not represent in the number of age," (Lyan)

"Heh! What a clever answer," Mia lets out a chuckle.

They stared at each other with a smile while their faces are at a close distance. As the mood lightens, it suddenly transitioned to a strange mood.

Their distance slowly got reduced, and their eyes started to get hazy. But suddenly-

*Crack!* *Drip!* *Drip!*

The sound of something cracking and the drips of water appeared, ruining the mood.

"Ah... Looks like a part of the ceiling broke..." (Mia)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1)

Grimoire's Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army