Chapter 12 - Memories of Mask
--Burning flame and smoke.
The beautiful golden fields are stained with black color and turned to ash over time, and the houses that stand side by side collapsed one after another.
The traces of the village have already disappeared...No, the only thing remaining was the little girl who crying just now.
Her red hair reminiscent of her lively personality, but now her eyes were filled with despair and she could only stare blankly at the scene before her eyes.
「Cruel! You didn't tell me about having such a negotiation! You asked me to lend a hand as a colleague, but what the hell is this! 」
Suddenly, a masked man appeared and yells at the man called Cruell.
Half of the face on the mask was crying and the other half of it was smiling, but his true face hidden behind the mask was probably filled with anger.
「Kuku Kuku Kuku...Ah ha ha haha! What are you so angry about? ---hum! I'm helping my future colleagues who would be harmed by these Trash! It can be said that I'm doing a very honorable thing. 」
The handsome man called Cruell---with golden hair, red eyes, and clear features, who, if there was no golden horn on his forehead, would seem like a prince of any country--- replied to Mirage in a peculiarly prolonged voice.
In Cruel's left hand is a man who seems to be a villager.
He is barely identifiable as a Man from his body, his face is dyed in blood making it unrecognizable and it seemed that he has been gruesomely tortured which can be concluded from the various scars on his body seen from the gaps in his clothes.
And around him were men with similar golden horns with the little girl trying to run away.
「Don't fool me! What you're doing is genocide! Do you think this kind of thing can be forgiven? And... and.... isn't that the girl's Father in your hand! Why....such.......thing.... 」
The masked man seemed more and more angry when he compared the man who was grabbed by Cruel with the red-haired girl.
His grip on his sickle got stronger, his whole body trembled and blood began to trickle from his hand.
「Oh, you're a little too serious. Look! Look! Look at this girl's despairing expression.! Really... Really wonderful! Excellento! I want to slice! Slice, Slice, Slice! That face! That flesh! That body! And then I want to listen, listen, listen! That despaired voice! That shriek! That scream! 」
Cruel threw away the man he was grabbing just now, grabbed his shoulders and looked up at the sky with an ecstatic expression.1
His red eyes were brimming with madness and he was drooling.
「I.......I........if I Knew that such thing....... from the start.......」
The masked man cursed his actions.
It was none other than himself who transferred Cruel and his subordinates to the village.
The red-haired girl was not afraid of him, a person wearing a suspicious mask, instead pulled him with her little hand and showed her around the village.
He cleverly led the conversation, got the location of obscure places from her and placed his Magic Marks there.
The masked man was told by his colleague, that the entire village will be taken captive, not truly understanding his colleague's character, in such a peaceful village.... without questioning, he took action.
「Now, it's time to go to the Main Dish! On tonight's menu is this girlssssssssss blood! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa! As vivid as a wine, the Mellow fragrance of the blood! Irresistible, Irresistible, irresistible! Congraaaaaaaatuuuulaaaatioooonnnnnn!」
As if he had begun to get excited at the thought of the horrible show about to begin, he began to approach the little girl step by step, with his lower body bulging out.
「st,stooooooooooppppppppppp!」
Falsa sprang up from his bed shouting, and his forehead was covered with large beads of sweat.
「HA, HA, Ha, shit! The dream of that time again....... I wonder if it is because I met him yesterday......」
With his breath in place, Falsa recalls the events of yesterday.
After having an audience with Lilith at Demon Castle, he encountered one of the Heavenly Kings, the Brutal Cruel, on his way to his room.2
Falsa fully aware that he does not want to be reminded of the other party's memories gave a short greeting and transferred to the Shadow castle with Astarte, so it didn't make any sense.
Thus, in this way, this event causes him to continue his life of changing between a Demon and a Human.
He has thought of running away many times, but the scene of that time has burned into his eyelids and has become a wedge for him, slowly eating into his heart.
4 Heavenly King of the Demon Army Or the Head Magician of the imperial court, Demon Or Human, The Demon King Or The Hero, Falsa has still not found his answer.
「Fal-Anii--! I heard a dreadful voice, are you alright? The scream was audible in our room. 」
Julia knocked at the door and called out to him.
He was unconscious, but his voice was so loud that it could reach the three people in the next room.
Falsa got off the bed and slowly headed towards the door.
「nn, aa, I'm sorry. I had a very strange dream. In the dream, Julia was eating a whole cow, and it was very hard to stop her. 」
When he opened the door, he found the three---Julia, Palmina, and Zenobia---looking at him with a worried expression, so Falsa smiled and jokingly smiled.
「Hmm-! We were so worried about you, and it was just seeing an absurd dream! Besides I am not that much of a glutton! Also--」
「What, it was such a dream, I thought if something happened as the voice right now felt so real. 」
「 Worried about Falsa-Kun both of them quickly jumped to their feet. I came out of my room to stop them as soon as I could ......... And you saw the rest. 」
They say back to each other, but if you look closely, you can see that all three of them had just woken up and came.
Julia is wearing blue pajama and a nightcap, and for some reason, she is holding a pillow.
Zenobia was dressed in a black lacy negligee with a hint of skin, adding a feminine touch to her look, but also a hint of elegance.
And the biggest problem that Falsa sees is Palmina.
The shirt is stuck tightly over her body emphasizing the abundant twin hills, and the valley, which you can see from the opened collar button, is like an abyss, drawing in the eyes of all the men.
She is trying to hide her breast by holding a barely sufficient shawl, but the action feels much sexier because of the little skin that can be seen through.
The two white peaches, which were filled with the blessing of the rich earth and which were cultivated carefully for 19 years, reminded one of the forbidden fruits that appeared in the Mythical Age, sacred and filled with dreams and hope of the world.
「hey! hey, hey! Aren't you looking too much at Palminas breasts! Even though I am wearing such cute pajamas, Fal-Ani has only looked over there! Why, why, all the men only like boobs in the end! Fal-Ani you Boob Magician! Pal-Ani you Boob monster! 」
Outraged Julia throws her nightcap and pillow at Falsa, and began protesting by stamping her legs on the ground.
She started shaking her silky hair and started behaving like a child.
「Th, that's, why I hate those filthy men! Falsa-Dono also holds interest in Breasts like that...... truly, if you like to see it that much, just saying I can give it a little consideration........」
「Oh my, it must hard for you, right Falsa-Kun. Not being able to be lewd? 」
With a sigh, Falsa exclaimed in his heart that it was a terrible misunderstanding.
It was true that he had eyes on Palmina's breast, but it was not that he had some wicked feelings, he was just reflexively following Palmina's hand with his eyes, which moved the shawl.
It was by a chance that his gaze was previously there, and a large hill was built about that, so there is no way he has a guilty conscience, really in no way. Falsa who doesn't know who to point at kept refuting in his mind.
It was already too late to say so, and d Falsa has determined from his previous experience that he has no choice but to endure until the fire cools down.
Falsa, who was able to regain his usual mood thanks to Julia and others, quietly thanked his companions in his heart.
The three of them were not aware of the inner feelings of Falsa, and this scene continued until the innkeeper scolded them---mainly Julia---for making a fuss.
That day, a drop of hope scooped him up when he was on the verge of scattering, and the eyes of Falsa, who saw that hope, were very gentle and sad.
[1. TL NOTE: You can imagine him as grabbing his shoulders like he crossed both of his hand and then grabbed his right shoulder with the left hand and vice versa for the other]
[2. TL NOTE: His name is Cruel and his alias is 残虐 which can be again translated to cruel or brutal, to avoid confusion I went with brutal.]
Warning!! :- there is the depiction of cruelty in the first half of the chapter, so be careful when you read that. P.S:- I don't know how you will feel about that as a reader but I was really uncomfortable translating that part at one point in time. Really really uncomfortable.