Chapter 3. Damn Half-Breed
U-uugh, ugh!
A wheezing, airless sound leaked from the elder’s mouth.
“Will you confess?”
The mont Yohan asked, Gaf released the old man’s face.
“Y-you bastard Gaf! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Freed, the elder remained defiant.
“Answer us, please!”
“It’s a ploy! Gaf, don’t let the demon manipulate you!”
Yohan clicked his tongue.
“You grow angry because your feet are caught.”
Then he looked at Gaf.
“Isn’t that uglier than a demon?”
Gaf frowned.
“I’ll hear it directly from you. Speak.”
“That would be better. The elder plans to feign ignorance.”
The elder shouted, almost in a fit.
“Cover your ears! They are harmful whispers!”
Yohan dropped his smile. A low voice flowed from his mouth.
“Ilea is in the lord’s castle.”
At that mont, the elder slowly stiffened. Cold sweat ford on his forehead.
“This concerns all of you. Listen carefully.”
All eyes fell upon the blood-soaked demon.
“The missing maidens were offered to the lord as tribute, under the elder’s responsibility.”
It was a calm revelation.
The elder, flustered, could not open his mouth. That this blood-stained infant had uncovered his sha—how? It was incomprehensible.
“E-elder, is this true?”
“Please say sothing!”
“Elder!”
There was no reply.
Gaf took heavy steps forward.
“…Explain.”
The giant man looked down upon the old man. The difference of nearly two heads in height created overwhelming pressure.
“T-trickery.”
The elder’s voice was trembling.
“A demon’s trickery.”
Yohan shrugged.
“Search the elder’s house. You’ll find sothing.”
He added,
“You can also interrogate the n who often associate with the elder.”
It would be easy to find evidence. The elder was not a ticulous man. In the original story, it eventually ended with exposure.
Yohan had rely accelerated that timing.
“I will ask one last ti! Did you abduct my daughter?!”
Gaf’s roar echoed like a wild beast.
“I-I…”
Overwheld, the elder could say no more.
“Why can’t you speak?! Answer us!”
The elder bit his lip hard. Then he shouted.
“There was no other way!”
Gaf’s hand went to his waist.
“I took in those damn beggars out of pity! Gale! Tonya! Joad! Get in here….”
Before the elder could finish, a transparent arc traced a half-circle. A cold slicing sound followed. The elder’s head slumped powerlessly.
His body, now headless, slowly crumpled.
Gaf had cut him down with his sword.
The gathered farrs gasped in horror. Amid their screams, hurried footsteps echoed and faded.
They were likely the ones guarding the entrance. Gale, Tonya, and Joad, was it? Whoever they were, they were the elder’s henchn.
Yohan pointed toward the entrance.
“Gaf, chase them down and kill them.”
They were a risk. If they fled to a neighboring village and spread rumors about the demon, it would be troubleso for Yohan.
They needed to be cut off.
Yes, this was surely rational thinking…
Yet Yohan felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
He felt no resistance to murder. Even the decapitation he had just witnessed did not seem significant.
It was likely the recoil of possessing a half-demon.
Gaf looked down at Yohan.
“Damn it, just because they know who you are?”
It was an action devoid of humanity. Even Yohan was startled by his own words, yet his mind continued to think logically.
“If the Order finds out, I will die. So will you. We’re bound together now, Gaf.”
Gaf turned his head. His gaze t the trembling farrs.
“So you an to kill them too?”
So cried out desperately.
“G-Gaf, please spare . My elderly mother will be left alone.”
“I beg you. Didn’t my son follow you so well?”
“Don’t forget who built your house!”
Yohan spoke with an expressionless face.
“Other than those gathered here, is there anyone else who knows my identity?”
Gaf shook his head.
“These are all. The rest know nothing.”
Roughly ten people had gathered in the storehouse. They were either important figures who decided village matters or villagers who had witnessed the birth of the half-breed by chance.
It would be best to kill them all. Rationally, that was true. The chances of them sprouting into a crisis later were high.
Yet Yohan did not want to do that.
At his core, he was human. He could not let himself be consud by malice and lose ‘Kim Yohan’. He repeatedly reaffird his identity.
At the very least, he would not harm innocent people.
Yohan swept his gaze over the villagers.
“Taharan is a village that produced a half-breed. If discovered by the Order, you will lose your place to live. So of you will be burned at the stake under guilt by association.”
Wherever a demon was born, the area was wiped out under the guise of purification. The relatives of the half-breed would naturally be executed.
“Do you want to experience such a tragedy?”
The re thought was horrifying. So swallowed dry groans.
Yohan nodded.
“No one would. You aren’t foolish enough to dig your own graves.”
He paused briefly and observed their reactions. Worry was etched into every face.
“Don’t make such faces. We can cut it out today. It’s quite easy.”
The demon began to whisper.
“Now, when we leave, you will set fire to this storehouse. You can leave the elder’s corpse for his funeral. The evidence will be gone, and even the lingering mories will scatter with the smoke.”
A fire from the previous night would swallow today whole.
“When dawn cos, begin your routine as usual. Plow the fields and sow seeds, and then, suddenly,”
The demon wore a gentle smile.
“You will find your daughters nestled in your arms.”
The farrs were visibly flustered.
“D-daughters, you say.”
“Are you saying you will return them?!”
It would have been safer to bind them by contract, but it was impossible. Yohan had used up all his demonic energy on the deal with Gaf.
“I-I heard it too.”
“How could you know about my daughter…”
Ignoring those who could not let go of their lingering attachnts, Yohan looked at Gaf.
“Let’s go and finish the rest.”
Gaf’s gaze flickered with suspicion.
A demon acting rciful? That must have been what he was thinking.
Yohan frowned slightly.
“Do you have ti to be standing around? They’ve likely gotten far by now.”
Gaf sheathed his sword and spoke.
“All three don’t know how to ride a horse.”
In this era, those with riding skills were extrely rare.
“You’re different. The Kandeya rcenaries must have been a cavalry unit.”
How much did this blood-soaked demon know? Gaf could not comprehend it.
“…Are you reading my past?”
“I read it once. Not now.”
“Not exactly comforting.”
“Don’t complain. It’s why you can find your daughter.”
Gaf narrowed his eyes.
“Ilea is not yet before my eyes.”
Yohan let out a short laugh.
“And yet you try to chat. Why so relaxed?”
Gaf glared at Yohan, then let out a short sigh.
In the end, his priority was his daughter.
Just as they were about to leave the storehouse, Yohan spoke.
“I almost forgot.”
He pointed to a pile of straw.
“Take that woman as well.”
A dazed woman was crouched in the corner.
Gaf scoffed.
“Even demons have filial piety?”
The hem of her skirt was stained black. Anyone could tell she was the half-breed’s mother.
“Think what you want, just hurry.”
“She wasn’t part of the deal.”
Yohan frowned.
“Don’t argue. It’s directly tied to my survival.”
Broadly speaking, it was true. The information he could gain through that woman would serve as the foundation for the future. If events followed the novel, Yohan would inevitably die.
He had to twist it sohow.
He needed to find the demon who had impregnated this woman. Through him, he would uncover the lineage of this body.
“…A convenient excuse.”
Gaf muttered in resignation, then walked over and hoisted the mother onto his back. She showed no reaction, having lost her spirit.
“Let’s go.”
Gaf moved without another word. Carrying the demon in one arm and the mother slung over the other, he left the storehouse.
***
Dawn was breaking. The sunrise beyond the hills scattered warm light.
It was ti for people to begin their daily routines.
The farr would sow seeds in the field, the blacksmith would hamr steel plates, and the hunter would check the traps he set the night before.
Yohan was different from them. He was wrapped in extre fatigue that made any routine impossible. Ever since he saw the sunrise, it had been like that.
Even opening his mouth felt impossible.
Clop, clop.
The uncomfortable ride induced dizziness.
‘Careless bastard. He should have tied it tighter.’
The scarf tied around Gaf’s neck swayed wildly. It was far too loose to protect a fragile baby.
Yohan looked up at Gaf.
“…”
Stop and tie it again! He wanted to shout, but no words ca out.
It lingered in his mouth like a babble.
Why was this happening? The mont he felt the strangeness, Gaf’s gaze changed.
“Cunning bastard. Like a rat.”
He kicked the horse’s side.
The large warhorse began to gallop through the reeds.
“Stop hiding and co out!”
They were searching for the three who had fled. The elder’s henchn. They had anticipated pursuit and hid their bodies in the reeds, but they could not evade the rcenary’s tracking skills.
They had left traces where the reeds had been disturbed.
Gaf shouted.
“Die like n while fighting!”
At the sa ti, the reeds ahead began to fall.
“Pathetic. Running until the end.”
They were running in a single line before spreading out like a fan.
By scattering, one of them might survive. That was likely their plan.
Gaf turned the horse to the right.
He intended to deal with that one first.
“Hyah!”
He chased and caught up in an instant.
“Gale! You worthless worm!”
The first runaway turned around. His eyes t Gaf’s atop the horse. The large man looked even more gigantic.
“G-Gaf! W-wait…”
Slice.
The man’s head flew into the air. Blood droplets splashed onto Gaf’s face.
Without stopping, Gaf aid for the next target.
The one running toward the center. He quickly caught up and cut him down in the sa way.
Finally, Gaf dismounted to face the one running to the left.
Step, step, step.
He walked over and asked.
“Tonya, why did you do it?”
The third runaway had already given up on fleeing.
Raising his sword, he replied.
“I needed money. I won’t make excuses.”
“Yes, that sounds like you.”
Tonya let out a shout and charged at Gaf, swinging his sword down vertically.
The montum was good, but it could not cut flesh.
The blade simply bounced off Gaf’s sword, powerless.
“Farewell.”
Gaf thrust his sword straight ahead. The massive blade pierced Tonya’s throat.
Splurt, blood gushed out.
Tonya convulsed. Gaf kicked the body away as he pulled the sword free.
The corpse collapsed.
Gaf shook the blood from his sword, then looked down at Yohan.
“There, I’ve silenced every mouth.”
There was no particular response.
“Is that enough?”
The demon remained silent.
Gaf frowned and examined Yohan carefully.
Sothing was strange. The red tattoos were gone. The white horn was nowhere to be seen. Even the demonic energy that surrounded him had vanished.
Where had the wicked hybrid gone? Only a soft, cooing baby remained.
Gaf doubted his own eyes.
“What the… ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped. So this was what it ant to be a half-demon? It was absurd.
As he looked for a long ti, an old mory surfaced.
The ti he had picked up the abandoned Ilea.
She had been so chubby and pretty.
Gaf imdiately shook off the thought.
To overlay his daughter onto a half-demon—what a grave mistake.
Gaf handed the scarf over to the mother.
“…Nurse him.”
Then he mounted the horse and began to walk slowly.
It was the beginning of a damnable journey with a half-demon.
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