78 Chapter 71: The days of the past

「Erik, dinner!」The fisherman sternly called out to the young teenager sitting absent-mindedly by the high cliff, his two slender legs hung down the edge, his eyes gazed down at the crashing waves beneath his feet. The 34 years old hero leered down at the demihuman child that his wife had rescued on the beach during that fateful stormy evening, his mind was filled with dark thoughts, clouding his judgement. Just one push… just one small push and I'll permanently end this demihuman… Being a hero with a strong sense of justice, Thomas was never fond of demihumans. Granted, not all demihumans were irredeemably evil, yet, throughout the millennia of histories, there had always been countless demon lords borned from the demi-human races, waging wars and spreading devastation to the human lands. Even his native birthplace, the United Kingdoms of the Southern Coast, was subjected to years of harassment and looting from a group of up and coming demon lord class individuals. It was not until five years ago, when help from the Oracle arrived that it allowed him and other heroes in the region to finally wage a war to hunt down those barbaric demon lords. Had it not been for Helena, his beloved wife, who begged for him to take in the Yves child, not in a million years would he allow a demihuman into his household.

.

.

.

「Why did you take a Yves back to our home?」Thomas still vividly remembered the disgust he had when his wife brought the kid to their home as the thunder storm wreaked havoc to the small coastal village.

「What's wrong with you, Thomas? Don't you see he's injured? He must have been on that Yves shipwreck incident that everyone was talking about.」Helena tenderly wiped the kid's bruised face.「He was probably stranded in the ocean for days… maybe weeks… I can't just let him die without doing anything.」

「Why not? He's a demihuman… They're harbingers of evil.」

「Thomas Edinson, he's just an innocent kid! Stop being a jerk and go get some warm towels over here!」Despite being a powerful hero class individual, the man still could not go against his dear wife when she was getting angry like this.

.

.

.

... Just one push … His hand reached out to the unsuspected child, only to stop short when a voice of a young girl loudly called out to the two.「Papa!! Nii chan! What took you guys so long? Mum is waiting.」

「Yes yes. We're coming!」Thomas nodded with a goofy smile, then turned to the teenager. 「Heard that, Erik? Don't make Helena and Rita waiting.」

.

.

.

「<Zhuque's Vortex>!!!」Erik screamed out, activating his attack, which took the form of a large fiery tornado inched toward the blind hero.

「<Poseidon's Strike>!!!」Thomas counterattacked, calling forth several swirling streams of water that wrapped around the Yves' attack and neutralized it. Since they were fighting near a vast body of water, the hero did not have to use his Nen much to generate the water necessary for his skill to activate. Yet, despite the seemingly overwhelming advantage, he was not able to land a single successful attack on his adopted son.

「Huff… Huff… Huff...」

「You're getting old, Thomas.」sneered Erik. 「Had you been in your prime, you probably would have kicked my ass by now, but look at you, you're just an old man who could barely keep up with my attacks… And where are your group of lackeys? I thought you're always with your men.」

「... I took this mission on my own. I have asked them to return home before traveling here」answered the old hero.

「Why? You should have asked them to help you out, maybe you'll fare better then.」Erik was curious.

「Why have you not asked for your comrades' help, then?」Laughed Thomas as he looked at Amaira and Baxley, who had elected to simply standby and observe their superior's fight.「 Back when I learned from King Lance's messenger that a Yves mercenary from the Hyakki Yagyo is taking on the contract to kill the Princess, I knew that person had to be you. I know it's inevitable that the two of us will clash so I simply cannot let my friends get involved in the feud between us. I'm sure you have the same idea. It's funny, we despise each other, yet, in some aspects, we're just like real father and son duo.」

「... Shut up...」Erik moved forward before striking down at the old hero with his heavy sword, though the attack was quickly blocked by Thomas' iron harpoon. The clash between them, along with their direct opposite elemental affinity, caused a sudden explosion of steam. Undeterred by the attack, Thomas concentrated his strength onto his arm, unexpectedly swung his harpoon and overcame the Yves, pushing him back away. Before Erik could find his footing, he could already notice streams of high speed water jets launched at him by the old hero's skill.

「Damn you, old man! Where did you find such strength...」

.

.

.

「Straighten your back!」Thomas sternly instructed before lightly hitting the young Erik with a wooden stick. Despite his dislike toward the sole demihuman living in the town, the young hero had still decided to train him in combat since he knew the boy would be the only person his wife and young daughter could rely on when he was unable to be with them during his missions. 「With such a weak stance, you will not be able to stand against a goblin, let alone any other higher threats that lurk beyond the town's border. Remember, you should yearn to become stronger since you'll be responsible for protecting Helena and Rita whenever I'm not around.」

「...」The teenager was annoyed at his adopted father, yet, a part of him was also grateful to the man for teaching him how to fight as a warrior.

.

.

.

「You're leaving again, Thomas?」The elder worryingly asked the departing hero, trying to guilt him into staying.

「Yes, this is an important job from the adventure guild that was commissioned by the Oracle itself. You know I cannot say no.」Explained Thomas.

「But, because of the activity of that newly ascended Yonko, the monsters have been migrating to the vicinity and making nests outside of our town lately… I'm just afraid...」

「Don't worry about them. They're just lowly monsters, they pose no threat to . Besides, I've been continuously exterminating them for the whole week, I'm sure they will not dare to come close to the town for at least a month or two.」The young hero assured his mayor. 「Besides, Erik has become rather a proficient fighter after all my rigorous trainings, I'm sure you can make use of him to protect the peace of the town.」

「... I dont know...」The elder shook his head.「After all, he's a demihuman. Sometimes, I wonder if the reason the monsters are gathering here is because of his presence.」

「Hahaha. You know demihuman are not mutants, they cannot attract monsters like that.」

.

.

.

「What's with the bruises?」asked Thomas when he saw the mutant sitting by the cliff after trying to seek for the teenager before his departure.「Don't tell me you got hit by some low level monsters.」

「...」The Yves again simply remained silent.

「That's not it, Papa!」The little girl stood up angrily. 「The older guys have ganged up on Nii chan earlier this morning! Nii chan did nothing wrong!」

「Rita, don't worry. I'm fine. They're weak so their punches did nothing to me.」The Yves tried to calm his adopted sister down, though the little girl's anger was clearly not allayed.

「... Did you hit them back?」asked Thomas.

「No! I already told you Nii chan did not do anything wrong!」The angry Rita almost cried out in tears.

「I see… That's good. You're a demihuman living in an extremely conservative town. It's best that you don't do anything rash.」said Thomas coldly. 「I'll be gone for at least two months, don't try to cause any trouble to your mother and sister.」

「Papa!」While the Yves simply stayed silent and clenched his fist tightly, Rita loudly called out to her father in frustration.

.

.

.

「 Mother… Please… Stay… Stay with me!!!!」Erik screamed out in desperation as walls of fiery flames enveloped his family. His adopted mother laid lifelessly next to a burning wooden beam. He did not know how he mustered such strength, but he had finally been able to lift and shove the beam weighing down on top Helena away. Despite his badly burned hands, the teenager slowly pulled his mother away from the flame toward the middle of the room, where Rita was struggling to breathe. Although it was the only place in the building that the flames have yet spread to, the thick smoke trapped inside the place was enough to suffocate them to death.

「... E...ik..」Helena could barely speak since part of her lung was already crushed and burned. 「Ta..ke… Ri..a.. Sa..v.. er.. Get… out…」Each syllable she muttered caused her extreme pain, her eyes welled up with tears, though they would quickly evaporate into the thin air due to the intense heat.

「I'll take both… of you out of her...e… Don't worry. Mother!!!」Even until the present day, Erik could not recall how, but the next thing he remembered was him sitting exhausted outside the burning building under the stormy night, similar to the night his mother saved his life. On his back were his motionless little sister and what remained of his mother, with parts of her was already burned to crisp. The town folks were now gathered around him, all looking aghast at the scene. Erik's mind was completely blank. He sat there, not able to move an inch as other older folks started to gather around his mom and sister. He did not know who said what, but he could vividly remember the murmurings uttered by the crowds of heartless strangers.

「Why are they in that building?」「It's abandoned, wasn't it?」「I think that filthy demihuman always played hide and seek with the little girl in that building.」「Really? But why did it catch fire?」「Maybe it's because of lightning?」「Is that so?」「... Does this not look like the act of the Astrals? Maybe they wanted to help to cleanse this town of that filthy demihuman so they sent that lightning to burn him alive.」「It sure was a divine intervention.」「He has yet moved but he's still alive there, right?」「Poor Helena and Rita, they both lost their lives just because of such a demihuman.」

… No… No… That's not it… Erik thought to himself, his blurry sight quickly focused on the bunch of teenagers at the far corner of the mob. How dare they?? Rage suddenly erupted within the Yves the moment he saw the culprits of this tragedy unconcernedly chatting with one another. This had never been an accident. It was those brats who hit him in the back of his head with an iron bar, knocking him out and locking him inside the abandoned building. It was them who doused the building with oil before setting it on fire, claiming to be doing the Astrals' work. Rita, who saw everything and sneaked in, trying to save her beloved brother and Helena, who bravely entered a burning building after hearing her children's cries for help, were all killed by them. Why… Why are they still alive, yet mother and Rita are gone? The Yves loudly screamed out threateningly before lunging forward at the brats, who briefly cowered in fear before realizing the demihuman was too exhausted to do anything to them 「I'll kill you!... I'll… fucking… kill you...」Erik continued to groan as consciousness left him.

.

.

.

「I'm sorry, Thomas...」A man approached the expressionless hero, who stood frozen next to his wife and daughter's tombstones.「But you should at least drink or eat something. It's been days. If you keep this up, you'll die.」

「...」The veteran hero gave no reply.

「Yeah, stop torturing yourself, Tom chan.」An old woman, who has known him since birth, chimed in. 「There's nothing you can do… If anything, it's that cursed demihuman's fault. Helena chan should just have left him to die on that beach years ago.」Thomas slightly twitched at the mentioning of Erik.

「Don't worry about him, Thomas.」Another man, dressed in upper class garments, continued to reassure the broken hero. 「He's been thrown in jail and will stay rotten in jail for what he did.」

「Shouldn't we just execute him, though? He even tried to harm the mayor's kids and kept muttering 'I'll kill you'.」The old woman suggested.

「I know, right? Letting him live may bring further disaster to this town...」

The despondent Thomas did not pay any attention to the people standing behind him as they continued to discuss what to do with his adopted son. At this point, to him, nothing mattered anymore. Soon, the people began to give up convincing him to take a break from blankly staring at his wife and daughter's resting places and returned to their home as nighttime started to cloak the town in an unseasonably thick mist.

.

.

.

「Ahhh!!!」

「Stopp!!!」

「Someone stop him!!」

「How did he ...」

「He fucking awakened his skill… Someone, stop him!!!」

.

.

.

「Tom… Tom chan… Tho...masss」The old woman's voice finally reached the hero, causing him to slowly turn around. The silence enveloped his previously empty mind suddenly shattered as his ears registered the loud, desperate screams and shrieking coming from his beloved town. A corner of the dark sky found itself lit up by an ever expanding storm of flames that engulfed more than half of his town. The crackling of burning woods, mixing with the cries of thousands of residents like a haunting choir, caused the hero's eyes to widen in disbelief. In front of him, the old woman crawled on the ground, inched slowly toward her only hope, with blood gushing out from the open wound on her back.

「Evelyn san!」Thomas rushed forward, supporting the dying woman. 「What happened?」

「It's… him… That monster… He's rampa..ging… plea...see… st..op him...」

「Don't tell me.」Thomas' heart raced. There could only be one person that she could be referring to. The hero desperately wished for it to not be true, yet, the moment he looked up to the rustling sound in front of him, any hope he had was dashed for he found Erik simply stood in front of him, his eyes were that of the wild monsters that made their nest some distant away from the town. On each of his bloody hands held onto several detached heads of the teenagers around the town, the same people who had destroyed his one and only family.

「...What did you do, Erik?」Still recovering from the shock, Thomas calmly asked the demihuman he and his wife had adopted into their home years ago.

「They deserved it.」The Yves simply answered before throwing the heads in front of the two tombstones.「They were the reason why mother and Rita are dead.」

「What are you talking about?」

「They tried to kill me by setting the building on fire! Because of their reckless actions, mother and Rita are not here anymore...」

「... What… about the other town people?」Thomas looked down at the pale white corpse of Evelyn in his hand.「What about Evelyn?」

「... They're all complicit… They all deserve to die.」

「You're not a demihuman, Erik. You're… a monster!!!」Thomas lurched forward. With a watery blade forming around his hand from his skill, the hero quickly slashed down at the demihuman without any hesitation, aiming to kill the teenager and ending the carnage he caused. Yet, thanks to all the training Thomas had given him, the Yves skillfully dodged the killstrike, though he was not fast enough to stay completely unharm. The sharp blade pierced part of his face, causing the teenager to cover his wound in agony.

「Thomas… You!」Erik groaned.

「How could you do this?」The hero screamed at his adopted son.「You not only killed those kids without any fair trial, you even killed innocent people of the town! You massacred them without mercy!」

「Trial? Fair? Ha… hahaha… Hahahahaa」

「What are you laughing about?」Thomas gritted his teeth.「Had I know this day would come, had I know you will bring death to Helena and Rita, bringing death to so many innocent lives, I'd have killed you on that day, you harbinger of evil!!!」

「You were not angry the moment you learned how your wife and child were killed, yet you're angry that I kill those pathetic people in this town that deserve to die? Are you fucking kidding me, Thomas!!」Erik angrily shouted before jumping at his adopted father after taking out a small blade, which had suddenly ignited in flame. 「Just die, Thomas. You and your fucking sense of justice. You and your fucking hero responsibilities that made you blind to the injustice of this world! Just die and keep my mother and sister's company!」

The hero was ready to receive the teenager's attack, yet, his berating screams somehow caused Thomas to freeze in place. Am I truly blind?

SLAAASHHH!!! Just in one second of carelessness, the demihuman's attack quickly sliced through both of his eyes, though not much blood was spilt since the flame on the knife quickly burned his flesh and closed the wound almost instantaneously.

「<Poseidon's Wave>」The pain and confusion caused the grieving hero to inadvertently activate his Arte, materializing several columns of tsunami aiming at the Yves. With his eyes mutilated, Thomas could only hear the sounds of his waves crashing against the rows of trees before hitting the burning buildings inside the town, extinguishing the raging flames. The sound of his adopted son screaming in anger also caught his ears, though it soon became lower and lower as the waves carried him away into the far off distance. Whether it was because he feared him or not, Erik never came back to challenge the hero after the Arte attack. The wanted notices of the teenager were soon distributed to the surrounding towns, though the last time Thomas had heard news about the Yves, it was concerning him being spotted with the newly ascended Yonko, who called himself Ashura…

Illustration: Kibadios x Ryan.

This is supposed to take place during Chapter 10, when Kibadios first fucked Ryan. I had this made because I realized if this does not exist, there would be not reference of Ryan's face until early volume 2 during the bathroom sex scene. lol

It's a bit different from what I imagine the scene to be (I imagine Kibadios pins Ryan down and ravages him mercilessly) but I still like it cuz I really like the artist's style.

Artist: fatherlobin

Pixiv ID: 25474

https://imgur.com/chI7NgV

^follow or click on the comment to see the picture.