WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
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◈ Whispers of a Scheming Demon ◈
Chapter 6: The Blind Man and the Demon
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“Have you met Ilea?”
Soft candlelight cast the imp's shadow across the room's walls.
Its limbs were long compared to its upper body, its head small, and its horns no bigger than half a pinky finger. At a glance, its shadow resembled a fairy.
The reality was entirely different.
Gaf looked away from the shadow and at Johan's true form.
A bizarre creature covered in red tattoos. A lesser demon reclined against the bed.
Gaf shook his head.
“I only met the Baron. I didn't see Ilea.”
“She'll be fine, so don't worry too much.”
Earlier that day, Gaf had visited the lord's castle. He had intended to familiarize himself with its layout, and that goal had gone fairly well.
His second objective had failed.
He had not been able to check on Ilea.
His expression darkened.
“The Baron looked like a typical piece of scum. The rumors say the same. What kind of man is he?”
This demon surely knew.
Johan answered casually.
“A pedophile and a sadist. Exactly what he looks like.”
Gaf bit his lip.
“And you're telling me not to worry?”
Johan snickered.
“Ilea is worse than that. You really don't know your daughter.”
Worse than that damned perverted noble. There could be no greater insult.
Gaf frowned.
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“That came out wrong.”
Ilea was too innocent to call cruel, yet too sly to call pure. Even Johan could not define who she truly was.
One thing was certain.
“Whatever she is, Ilea has the Baron wrapped around her finger. You must agree to some extent.”
“Me? Based on what?”
Johan stared silently at him. After a brief moment of thought, he spoke.
“During all the years you spent with your daughter, have you never once witnessed one of her odd antics?”
Gaf frowned as if he had no idea what Johan meant.
“Odd antics? Speak clearly.”
“Think carefully. You should remember at least one.”
Johan was genuinely curious. Had Gaf truly failed to notice Ilea's uniqueness? The original work had not answered that question.
In Inmarok, the characters' thoughts and inner feelings were not described in much detail.
“Try to remember.”
The demon before him was strangely eager.
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
Johan clicked his tongue.
“Either you're painfully oblivious, or you're completely blinded by fatherly love, or else...”
Ilea had perfectly hidden her true nature.
“Anyway, you're boring and frustrating. When you reunite with your daughter, you'll be lucky if you don't get hurt.”
Gaf did not want to rise to the provocation.
“Enough nonsense. Let's get to the point. Starting tomorrow, I plan to stay at the lord's castle.”
Johan glanced around the room.
“Starting tomorrow? Then where are we now?”
“An inn room.”
Human Johan had the same awareness during the day as he did at night, but being a newborn, he could not fight off sleep.
The moment he entered the lord's castle, drowsiness overwhelmed him. When he opened his eyes, he was here.
“So you managed to get a room at the castle. Why aren't you moving in today?”
“You turn into a demon every night. If we're careless, your identity will be exposed.”
A lesser demon living in the lord's castle. It was dangerous for both humans and demons.
Johan snickered.
“You're using your head for once.”
Ignoring the mockery, Gaf continued.
“You and your mother will stay hidden at the inn. I'll come by once a day without fail. I need to stay by Ilea's side.”
“You're going to secretly protect your daughter like some shadow knight?”
“That is the plan for now.”
Johan shrugged.
“Fine. Do whatever you want.”
Gaf asked with a suspicious look.
“That is all?”
He had expected a barrage of abuse. Something like, You idiot, you call that a plan? It's crude as hell.
Instead, Johan agreed surprisingly quickly.
“That is all.”
Johan did not care either way. The Baron would not be able to lay a hand on Ilea, which meant Gaf would have no reason to intervene.
Gaf, the shadow knight, only needed to stand in place like a useless scarecrow.
“One thing, though. Don't say anything unnecessary to the Baron. Don't demand Ilea as payment for taking the job, and don't reveal that you're her father. It would all be pointless.”
As the days passed, the Baron would become more obsessed with Ilea. That twisted lover would never give her up for mere mercenary wages.
“Understood?”
He needed an answer. As long as Gaf did not do anything rash, Johan's plan would proceed smoothly.
“...I understand.”
He sounded reluctant.
Johan frowned.
“Don't tell me you were considering it?”
“I thought about it, but immediately gave up on the idea.”
Even Gaf thought a direct approach was not a good option.
“That is fortunate. I almost smashed your head in.”
Gaf gave a short laugh.
“How? You can't even walk by yourself.”
Johan smiled playfully.
“Are you sure about that?”
Gaf looked Johan over.
The demon was still small and frail. He seemed to have grown a little, but he was only about as tall as an adult man's shin.
Gaf scoffed.
“You're talking nonsense.”
“Don't judge me as you please.”
Johan looked at Gaf with a sly expression before adding,
“Anyway, fine. Do your job. But there is one thing you need to add to your routine.”
Suspicion crossed Gaf's eyes.
“What is it?”
“Starting tomorrow, take me to the castle just before sunset. Then bring me back here when the sun rises.”
In other words, Johan intended to walk through the castle in his demon form. That was what Gaf heard.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“To be exact, the Baron's son's room. Put me under his bed.”
The Baron's only son, Raguel Myatro. Gaf had heard about him.
One-eyed and lame, was it? If so, the demon's intention was obvious.
“Let me make this clear. I will not join your scheme.”
“Really? Fine. I can manage without your help.”
How could an imp that had not even learned to walk visit the castle? It was impossible.
“Seeing you bluff like this, you must be desperate.”
Johan's lips curled upward.
“Bluffing? Watch with your own eyes before you say that.”
Johan rolled over onto his stomach. He planted both hands against the bedsheet and put strength into his arms, as though doing a push-up.
“I've fed so heavily on your emotions that I'm changing day by day.”
His upper body began to rise. Something small attached near his shoulder blades fluttered as well, but it was far too small to lift him.
He was pushing himself upright using only the strength of his arms.
Gaf's expression filled with bewilderment.
“W-what...?”
When Johan finally stood on both legs, Gaf could not hide his shock.
“You!”
“See? This is what happened because you treated me like an emotional garbage bin.”
Demons were monsters that fed on human emotions. Hostility and anxiety directed at Johan accelerated his growth.
“In a few days, I'll be able to walk.”
For now, standing was all he could do. Even then, his legs trembled, and if his mother had not held him up, Johan would have quickly fallen over.
The standing demon wore a sinister smile.
“I could go there on my own, but that is somewhat concerning. A villager or soldier might discover me.”
Under the contract, Gaf would meet death as well.
He bit his lip. Was that wicked scheme truly going to happen? He had to stop it somehow. He had made a contract with the demon for his daughter, but he could not sacrifice others.
If he took away the creature's freedom...
Just as his thoughts reached that point, the demon spoke.
“Do not act rashly. The contract requires you to ‘protect’ my person. If you use physical force against me from this moment on, I will consider it a breach of contract.”
Then Johan added,
“You know what protection means, do you not?”
“...Detaining you would be for your protection.”
“That is an interesting idea.”
The demon snickered.
“Go ahead and try. I am curious whether that wordplay will work. But the demonic energy clutching your heart will sense your true intentions with uncanny accuracy.”
Johan sat back against the headboard.
“You only get one chance. If you fail, you will have to say goodbye to your daughter too. I will pass on your regards for you.”
The demon calmly offered himself up.
“Go on, then. Do as you wish.”
* * *
Raguel Myatro was trapped in pitch-black darkness. Even when he opened his eyelids, the oppressive darkness did not disappear.
His clouded pupils could no longer take in light.
He would never be able to see again.
Born with one eye, the boy had lost his remaining eye a few weeks ago.
It was the result of abuse from his father, the Baron.
He had been unlucky. Trying to dodge a flying candlestick, he ducked his head and became completely blind.
He would no longer be able to read, his only hobby.
Raguel sniffled. No one comforted him. There was no one at the boy's side.
Only a cold maid who brought him meals occasionally entered the room.
At least, that should have been the case.
A moment ago, someone had entered his room.
He could not see the person, but he could hear.
Rustle. Rustle.
The man who had lingered near the boy left behind a single sentence before departing.
“...I am sorry. Someday, I will pay the price in hell.”
No answer came when Raguel asked who it was.
Then the door closed.
Lonely, desolate time passed once more.
Hope should have been the pillar that supported life, but in this dark prison, he could not find even a handful of it.
The boy murmured,
“...Great Saint Marziel. Please grant me even the faintest dawn.”
His empty voice sank into the silence and vanished.
Usually, that was all that happened.
“Do not pray.”
But today was different.
The boy suddenly sat upright.
“W-who is there?”
He moved so violently that the bandages around his eyes slowly came undone.
“Shh.”
Something cold touched the edge of his lips.
“It is late at night. Everyone is asleep.”
The foreign touch moved up along his philtrum and across his cheek.
“Yet you alone are awake.”
Then it began to stroke the area around his injured eyes.
“What are you searching for so desperately in the darkness?”
The low voice continued.
“With prayers that will receive no answer.”
“I-I asked who you are.”
“I am the demon who came because I could not stand hearing your prayers.”
The boy swallowed dryly.
“...A-a demon.”
“Yes, a monster that feeds on darkness. Your despair led me here.”
The boy cried out in a trembling voice.
“G-go away! In the name of the Great Saint...”
A gentle voice cut him off.
“Child, do not lean on an illusion. Marziel is not close enough to hear your prayers.”
At the same time, murky smoke seeped into the boy's airway.
“But the dawn you have searched for so desperately is right before you.”
Two red dots flickered in the blind boy's sight.
“Take my hand. I will swallow your darkness.”
The boy shook his head wildly. No matter how much he turned away in the pitch-black darkness, the red eyes followed him and watched him.
“What do you want from me?”
“Become my legs.”
Then the voice added,
“I will become your eyes. Let us go down to the Forbidden Archive together and read all the books you loved to your heart's content.”
The Forbidden Archive of House Myatro. There, sacred relics and demonic tomes recovered from Death Gorge by the Narak Watchers were stored.
Johan needed it badly.
Demons evolved by corrupting sacred relics. Blasphemy. His mouth was already watering.
The demon lightly clasped the boy's delicate hand.
“Child, take this hand. You will find a reason to live.”
It was a sweet voice.
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