Chapter 10 The Truth

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(May 5, Year 3383 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

My wife has just given birth to our beautiful daughter, her name is Erika, and she's just as beautiful as her mother such long and beautiful pink hair… she's dazzling, she has the royal bloodline within her, and could even be a princess.

My little princess… Your father is really… a shameful man… But I will make sure to protect you and raise you with all the love I have… you're the most important treasure of my life.

…

(June 7, Year 3383 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

Since our daughter was born we have been working hard around the crops to make some more vegetables, using the saved-up money I had, I got myself some wood and began to carve it, making up some furniture and other things, and selling them off quite easily. With this we could maintain ourselves.

In the side, I've begun to craft dolls for my little girl so she can always have toys to play with.

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(July 21, Year 3383 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

Things had been going rather fine, we had been hiding the fact that we formerly belonged to the family of royals of the Kingdom to not cause a ruckus. My wife does likes this simpler farmer life as well, we are doing fine… I am happy to be with my wife and my daughter, and don't need anything else.

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(February 1, Year 3384 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

A lot of things happened last year… But we have managed to pull through things. Erika is growing bigger and even more dazzling. Her little hands always hold on to my tired fingers, she's such a pure angel. My reason for living…

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(May 5, Year 3384 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

My little girl is now a year old. I can't believe it has been a year since she was born. She's growing so big and healthy; her puffy cheeks are so cute. My wife is as beautiful as ever as well, she's working hard in the fields with me. We are doing just fine.

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(August 8, Year 3385 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

My girl is now two years of age, and she couldn't be more beautiful… but… there's something odd.

Just yesterday our girl began to cough and suffer a strong fever, no matter the item or potion we used, no matter her mother's healing spell, she wasn't healing.

We brought her to a doctor and an alchemist, and he found out she was inflicted with a strange disease that has been affecting some of the young children around this town… around all the towns of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom had quarantined itself from the outside world and closed its walls, leaving all the commoners to suffer this disease, which only affects young children between one amd three years of age.

My little Erika…

This disease is strange, many call it the Curse of the Demon King of Sloth, a disease that spread around the world after the last Demonic Tower exploration several years in the past when the survivors of a raid came back after having tried to conquer the 20th floor and failing miserably…

There's… no current cure to it other than praying to the Holy Spirits.

Erika…

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(August 19, Year 3385 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

After having seemingly recovered and feeling healthy again, Erika suddenly got worse out of nowhere, and began to cough blood. My dear little angel, please don't die on us… I… I don't know what I will do if you're gone. I don't know what… No…

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

NO!

Erika…

I… I… I won't let you die! No!

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(August 20, Year 3385 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

Our daughter gave her last breath the next day, but I wasn't going to let her truly die. In between tears and without letting my wife know I extracted her Spirit Orb from her chest, and utilized forbidden magic through a Dark Magic Grimoire I had acquired to seal her soul in her Spirit Orb…

T-This way, she won't die.

My Erika…

Your beautiful little soul… I will treasure it…

I will give you a strong body that will never fall to diseases.

You will be strong, and live the life you were deserved to have.

My little beautiful princess…

I won't let you die.

I will… bring you back, no matter how many years it takes…

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(November 5, Year 3425 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

After arduous work for years and years… after working so hard… after going to visit her body's graveyard and comforting my sorrowful wife… I have finally managed to do it.

Erika!

Erika, you're finally back…

I had made the perfect doll, the strongest most durable wood, all my forbidden magic knowledge, and the power of my Spirit… All for my daughter…

Erika… Welcome back.

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(November 6, Year 3425 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

Why?

Why don't you love her back?!

Cattalina! She… she said that she wasn't our daughter.

She said that our daughter had died, and what I've done was create a monstrosity.

H-How can she call her own daughter, the one she had in her womb, as a monstrosity?!

Against our daughter's desires, her sorrowful cries, and her supplications, my wife ran away from the house, without even being able to face her.

Why? She's… our daughter.

Why would you… think such a thing…

Cattalina…

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(May 6, Year 3430 of the Spirit Awakening Era)

My little girl finally made a good friend. She had grown fond of him… his name is Blake.

She just celebrated her birthday in his house. She told me they had made her a cake, and even feed her well. Blake is a good boy, he takes care of my little girl, and doesn't discriminate against her despite the rumors…

My Erika is not a monster… she's a human, and he knows it, he can see through her beautiful soul.

My beautiful girl is growing more and more. I have to keep up with her growth and make more pieces for her, adapt and slowly change her body so she can continue growing and maturing, despite being made of wood.

My girl always asks me if she can be a "real girl"… it pains me that she had realized what she is so late, when she's already in love with that boy.

She wants to be a real girl so he can love her back and the two can have a family.

Erika… Your thoughts are so innocent and noble… my little girl…

I will make sure that you grow up…

But… I don't know if there is a way… to give you flesh body…

…

I closed the diary as I looked deeply into the old man in front of me. Despite all the years I've lived and all the tragedies I've gone through I couldn't contain the bubbling emotions inside of my heart.

The sorrow I felt as I experienced this man's hardships made me realize how strong and perseverant, he was. To dedicate years after years to bring her back… but only as a doll.

It only brings me to the understanding of how harsh reality always is… how disappointing it often is.

Despite all of that, Erika is here, growing by his own hand, his own craft…

I am not a moralistic person. I don't find this particularly wrong. The girl had already died, the father wanted her back… I suppose what he had done might had been what I would have also tried to do in his place.

Who can I even trick? I might have tried things even crazier than those.

I never had a child in my life but… I can already tell I would treasure it more than anything in my life.

Because of this, I understand his suffering and his decisions, as crazy as they might sound. Well, I was already an insane man in my previous life.

Perhaps I can empathize with him due to this.

"I see… You've had it hard, Gustav… You're a strong man." I said.

"Blake…"

Gustav looked at me with sorrowful eyes, I sighed as I hugged the old man.

"Eh? Y-You're hugging me?" he asked in between tears.

"Indeed. I am not a corny person, but sometimes I just feel like doing what my heart is telling me to do. Gustav, I will take care of your daughter, rest assured." I said.

"B-Blake… Despite knowing the truth… you…?" he asked.

"What? Of course I will still protect her and see her as my friend. Do you think I am such a superficial person? I am not." I said.

"Boy…" he said.

"You worked hard last night… Although it hurt me to hear her little words, I understand the pain you've gone through, and her strong desire to become a real girl too… I will one day find a way… I have the knowledge to do it, I only require the power and the resources." I said.

"W-What? You… know of a way? How?!" he asked.

"I know many things, Gustav. I will use this knowledge and bring her back, in the flesh…" I said.

"Why…? Why are you so… devoted to her?" he asked.

"I am not really devoted to her. Doing this for a friend is something natural that comes from the depth of my heart. I once had… many friends. And I lost them all. I don't want the same thing to happen ever again… And I will treasure her." I said.

"I-I see…" Gustav nodded, without questioning me anymore.

"Anyways, I will go wake her up, she was sleeping soundly. That girl is always a sloth," I said.

"She sleeps to recover her Mana, it is the fuel of her body…" said Gustav.

"I see… The work you've done on her is wonderful. You're a skilled craftsman of the first category." I said.

"T-Thank you… To be recognized after so long… It fills me with a bit of happiness and embarrassment… haha…" sighed Gustav.

"I'll help her grow stronger, so you better hang on for now with us, you hear me?" I asked.

"Y-Yes… I won't go down until I see my girl become an adult…" said Gustav.

"Good… Here." I said. I touched the man's shoulders and infused Qi into his body, forcefully awakening his Pressure Points and his Core. They were old and he won't get much of it but… if he can slowly accumulate Qi, his body will repurpose it to extend his life a little bit more, even… if a few more years, that's enough.

If I had Hands of Nirvana, I could extend his lifespan indefinitely… but that's a technique I have yet to attain.

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