WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 2: Disciple

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There was no paradise where I fled.

There was hell, though.

The place I arrived at after following Amelia, or rather, the person who would become my master, seemed to be deep within the Demon World, close to its very depths.

We crossed through the door and found ourselves before an enormous castle.

Having been born and raised in the countryside, I couldn't hide my shock at the sheer scale of a castle like this. I had never seen anything like it before.

"M-Master, what is this place?"

I asked her, unable to close my gaping mouth.

"This is my castle, and the deepest part of the Demon World, which is divided into three layers. Welcome to the Abyss, Sirius."

She smiled at me as she spoke.

Then the black castle gates, the same color as her hair, opened on their own and made way for us.

"Come in."

Everything in Amelia's castle was black.

The walls, the doors, and most of the furniture. It was a colorless space where no trace of color could be found.

The people who appeared to be her servants all looked as though they had been drilled into rigid discipline.

After passing through a long corridor and entering a great hall, Amelia silently seated herself in the center, where what appeared to be her seat stood.

"Gather everyone. I have something important to say."

The moment she spoke, her servants formed orderly rows around the center of the hall.

It was my first time in the Demon World, and I swallowed at the sight of servants from so many different races.

There were groups that seemed to be high-ranking demons, including Death Knights, liches, and vampires, as well as monsters I couldn't possibly identify in my current state.

"You called for us?"

A white-haired, middle-aged man standing in the front row broke the silence.

"Yan."

The man, who I assumed was Yan, was the only one looking directly at her while everyone else had their heads bowed.

"Today is a very happy day. You all know why, don't you?"

Everyone gathered in the hall answered at once.

"Yes!"

Their booming response made the castle tremble.

I wondered if they were threatened with death whenever they failed to answer like that.

"Today is the day I formally take in a disciple. The daughter of our great sovereign, the Demon King, has decided to move here to receive my teachings."

The hall shook with excitement once more.

Wait, the disciple wasn't me, but the Demon King's daughter?

Then again, they wouldn't shout in welcome for a mere human like me.

Of course, I had been too overwhelmed by the panic of seeing my hometown destroyed to ask questions, but I was confused.

So Amelia had two disciples, the Demon King's daughter and me?

"Everything has been prepared, but there is someone I would like to introduce to you personally."

Amelia looked at me as she spoke.

"Today is truly a day worth raising a toast. I have gained not one, but two disciples."

A murmur spread through the hall. Those who hadn't cared about me at all began to stare.

Everyone here must have been able to tell that I was human.

There was no way they could sense any demonic energy or magical power from me.

Yan, who seemed to be their representative, glanced at me and spoke.

"That human, you mean?"

As he looked me over from head to toe, chills crawled over my body as if bugs were crawling across my skin.

"Do you all have a complaint? Or have you forgotten who I am because I stepped out for a moment?"

At that, not a single person made a sound. They all lowered their heads.

The gazes that had been inspecting me turned to the floor at once.

Amelia rose from her seat and approached me, her heels clicking against the floor.

"This child will accomplish what none of you can. Perhaps even what I cannot."

With every step she took, the air around us seemed to ripple.

Then a soldier in the very back row suddenly collapsed forward with a thud.

"So show proper respect. If you dare look at the child who will become my disciple with such eyes, I will take it to mean that you no longer wish to see the light of this world."

The gathered servants let out stifled groans, but no one could raise their head.

Standing before me, she gave a slight smile.

Her red eyes curved into crescents. She was already not human, but I still thought she was inhumanly beautiful.

"Child. Tell everyone here your name. Tell them who you are, and why you became my disciple."

My breath caught in my throat. Still, I instinctively knew.

If I didn't speak properly now, my life here would become very difficult from this point on.

"I am... Sirius...! My goal is to wipe out the humans of the Empire... and stop the Hero...!"

In truth, I had no intention of wiping out all humanity, nor did I want to trade blows with the Hero.

My goal was to take revenge on the scoundrels who had destroyed our village and bring Celia, who had been forcibly taken away as the Hero, back to where she belonged.

But I couldn't stop thinking that if I said something that mild, I wouldn't even survive the night.

Seemingly pleased with my answer, Amelia nodded. At that moment, Yan spoke to her with a puzzled expression.

"How could a human child with no remarkable magical power possibly stop the Hero?"

Amelia burst into amused laughter, then spoke to me.

"Sirius, what is your relationship with the Hero?"

I hadn't done anything yet, but guilt came rushing in like a flood.

Even if she had been forced into it, Celia had decided to become the Hero for my sake and set off to carry out the absurd mission of defeating the Demon King.

Yet here I was, taking a demon as my master and trying to live in the Demon World. I couldn't imagine what expression Celia would make if she found out.

"I am... the Hero's family...!"

Thinking something in my head and saying it openly before everyone were entirely different experiences.

Once I finished speaking, every eye turned toward me. They looked at me like a delectable meal, as if they were deciding how to cook me to make me taste even better.

A fish on the chopping block was the perfect phrase for my current situation.

That didn't matter. I had to survive. The day I completed all my training, I would see whether they could still look at me with those same eyes.

"Now you all understand just how exceptional my disciple is. Let me warn anyone harboring strange thoughts one more time."

She swept her hair back as she spoke.

"I will destroy you. You will not simply die alone. Everyone connected to you, including your family, will be erased from the Demon World. I will not explain at length what happens when you touch what is mine."

"Yes!"

The castle shook once more.

Amelia entrusted me to Yan and left.

Yan told me to think of him as Amelia's secretary.

"Master Sirius. This is where you will be staying from now on."

He led me to a room that was rather large for one person.

The bed was easily twice the size of the one I used before.

The desk and bookshelf looked ordinary enough, but they were packed with books.

It was obvious they hadn't been touched in a long time, with dust piled thickly over them.

"If you need anything, ring the bell and I will have someone sent to you."

He placed a bell on the desk and quietly left the room.

There was no sound at all.

As I lay blankly on the bed, it finally hit me that far too much had happened for a single day.

Tears poured out.

The emotions I had suppressed in order to survive came crashing down like a tidal wave.

My village burning. My home. The bodies of Celia's parents rising in my mind.

Celia. Where could she be by now...?

It would take quite some time to reach the capital, so she was probably staying in another city for the moment.

The Emperor was looking for her, so she would surely be brought before him as soon as she arrived.

She didn't know anything about proper etiquette. There was no way she could manage well... My head was filled with worry.

Still, I was hardly in a position to worry about someone else.

She would be standing before the king of humans, while I was lying in the lair of one of the leaders of the demons.

If someone asked who seemed more likely to die, I wouldn't need to think twice. It was me.

If I didn't watch my behavior, I would turn to ash on the spot, just like the Red Knight.

As long as I remained in the Demon World as a human, every moment would be a test.

I had to show them and prove that I was useful.

That was the only way I could survive.

I would grow stronger.

Then I would take Celia out of that damned group of lunatics and return us to our ordinary lives.

I clenched my fist and surrendered myself to the exhaustion washing over me.

"...Master, why... a human like that..."

"Luna. I do not believe my explanation was lacking."

One voice I had heard before, and another slightly husky voice I had never heard.

I slowly opened my eyes at their voices.

A silhouette in a black dress came into view. It was surely my master, Amelia.

Then who was the silver-haired girl beside her, someone around my age?

The girl looked at my face as if I were pathetic, then said one thing.

"Even though you're awake, you still haven't come to your senses."

I hurriedly straightened my clothes and jumped out of bed.

"G-Greetings, Master!"

Amelia chuckled as though she found me cute, then spoke to the silver-haired girl.

"Introduce yourself properly, Luna. You may end up spending even more time with him than you do with me."

Luna looked at her as if she couldn't believe what she had heard, then spoke to me.

"Don't get cocky."

...From the look of it, she was clearly a rude bitch.

Footnotes:

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