Chapter 116.2

Chapter 116.2

[Part 2/5]

'Why are you saying such things now? Are you trying to boast about your misfortune? How ridiculous.'

"P-Princess...?"

The scenery changed again. Before I knew it, I was in the forest, surrounded by numerous youkai nests. When I turned around, a peach-colored princess smiled and opened her fan, her eyes filled with mocking scorn.

'That's right, pretending to suffer like that is unnecessary. You think whatever you want, and you go with the flow that suits you, don't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have saved me in such a critical moment. ...You sold your favor quite well, didn't you? Thanks to it, you got a new backer.'

She declared with a sneer, oozing with malicious intent.

"That's not true!! Are you saying that I pretended to save the princess, you, back then!?"

I raised my voice and protested. It was too offensive. I risked my life back then. And she...!!?

'Hehe. Such an embarrassing self-defense. It would have been nice if you had told me in advance that I was being set up.'

"But! Aren't you the one who believed in him back then!?"

Before that incident, Aoi had believed in her father wholeheartedly. The sheltered girl was desperately trying to gain his attention. It was obvious that nothing I said would have any effect. I might have been beaten to near death if I said the wrong thing. I had no right to say such things.

'Stop making a fuss. ...Thanks to you, they came.'

"Huh...?"

I tilted my head in response to Aoi's words filled with disgust. I immediately understood what she meant.

'Clatter! Clatter!'

I sensed a presence. I heard a sound. A dry, bone-chilling noise echoed. It was close. I unconsciously looked down. At my feet...

"..."

I stared at it in silence. It was also silent.

...Dragging its decayed, flesh-corrupted body, the Gashadokuro looked up at me. An overwhelming foul smell invaded my nostrils. I was dumbfounded. Astonished. And... the next moment, it grabbed my ankle.

"Uwaaaahhh!!?"

The revolting sensation, combined with the fear, made me kick the grasping skeleton. Its hand was dislocated, as if the bones had rotted away. Its wrist flew off.

'Oh my, you're quite cold-hearted. Even though you killed your own kind, your own comrade. Shouldn't you at least utter a word of remorse?'

"Huh!? Killed my own kind!? What are you talking about!?" This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

I was confused and bewildered by Aoi's accusation. I looked at the skull which is still clinging to me even though it has lost its arm, and I realize it now. The lower half of the skull was missing. As if it had been bitten off by something.

"Oh...?"

And when our eyes met again, as I observed the shape of the skull... I finally realized who is it.

'Yes. That's right. It's not about your competence. Of course not. You're an anomaly here. ...How many people's fates have you changed, including your own family? I wonder?'

The princess's words struck me right in the heart. It was the same on the night of the full moon. Conspiracies, intrigues, traps, factional struggles... I had been treated as a pawn, used as a pawn. Fortunately, I survived. But what about those who got caught up in it? Could their deaths have occurred in the original story? How many people were influenced by me? How many suffered misfortune? How many lost their lives?

"!? Hikorokurō (Yamamba arc)!? Are you all... also affected!?"

As the skeletons crawled towards me, some of them dressed in the uniforms of Imperial Army soldiers, my face twisted in disgust. Among the approaching skeletons, there was a group wearing military uniforms of the Legion. Some faces I recognized, but many others I didn't.

...And all of them clearly resented me. They were angry at me for leading them to a fate of death, for disrupting their destinies, for taking their lives.

"Ah, aah..."

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't. There was nothing to say. There was no escape, no way to run, no excuse. It was meaningless. All that remained was the fact that my very existence had caused them to die.

'Finally, do you realize your sins?'

Feeling her presence behind me, I slowly turned around. I felt her presence and turned around. There was a woman wearing a Hannya mask. That person was staring at me.

...As I gazed at the strangulation marks on her slender neck, I remembered everything from that day. I remembered the truth of that day.

"No... it's a lie..."

'It's not a lie.'

"Lies...!!"

't's not a lie.'

"I don't believe you! Don't lie to me like that!"

'I would never lie. Do you think I'm lying to you?'

"...!!"

As if trying to escape from the unbearable reality, I almost reflexively strangled her neck to get rid of her presence, to push her away. I tightened my grip on her pale, slender neck with all my strength.

The next moment, her head rolled off easily, as if a ball had fallen off. It happened so quickly and effortlessly.

"Ah...?"

The head rolled to my feet. For a moment, I was dumbfounded, then I screamed. I crouched down, picked up the skull, held it close, and begged for forgiveness, apologizing frantically. I kept begging for forgiveness while crying, not even caring about the skeletons that clung to me one after another.

The skull wriggled, trembled, and looked frightened. Without being told, I used some invisible thread to peel off the mask stuck to the head. And then...

'Why? Why did you kill me?'

The decaying, maggot-infested head of my benefactor questioned me as if blaming me to death.

"...!!!"

'Where's the bad bug that's been tormenting you?'