[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
Chapter 168 - Human Warmth (4)
Mom, I’m sorry.
Please forgive for continuing to write in this diary.
It’s your keepsake, and I couldn’t bear to throw it away.
I was a sli.
I don’t rember it clearly, but that’s what they said.
Now I’m a golem, a magical creation artificially brought into existence by my mother.
My mother was a dark mage.
She had black hair cut short, pale skin, and looked very much like . She was incredibly beautiful.
But death always seed to linger around her.
She said it was because of her dark magic. That cursed power was slowly eating away at her body.
Still, I loved my mom.
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was her. She was the one who gave life.
And since no one else existed in our stone house, she was my entire world.
I loved her.
But it didn’t seem like she felt the sa about .
“Can’t you do even this one thing right?!”
If I failed to cast a spell properly, she wouldn’t hesitate to hit .
Being a golem, I didn’t feel physical pain.
What worried more was whether her hand hurt from striking , and the fear that she might discard altogether.
At least, I realized, she wouldn’t destroy entirely.
Because part of my "father" was used in my creation.
That “father” was soone who had co before I was born and hadn’t returned since. Mom couldn’t get more of his hair.
As long as he didn’t return, I wouldn’t be discarded.
Knowing this, I worked hard to please my mother until that “father” ca back.
I read stacks of magic books day and night, trying to understand the attack spells she taught .
She told , over and over, that I needed to master attack magic to be of use to my father.
Fortunately, I was lucky to have a sharp mind.
There was no one to compare myself to in our isolated stone house, but since my mom said so, I believed it.
“It’s because your father is an extraordinary man.”
Whenever she ntioned him, she would smile.
It was the only ti she ever smiled.
Except once.
When I first called her “Mom” right after I was created, she had hugged tightly with a radiant smile.
When she hugged , I felt happy, unbelievably happy.
I was grateful that the first emotion I ever experienced was happiness.
But that was it.
After that, the smiles she wore weren’t for . They were always for him.
She no longer held my hand, patted my head, or hugged like she had when I was first born.
Even so, I loved her.
She was the only one who had ever been by my side since I opened my eyes.
# # # # #
One day, soldiers from the Demon King’s army ca.
They said they were here to take .
My mother refused, blocking their way.
Not because she didn’t want to part with .
She wanted my father to co for himself.
She planned to use to bring him back.
But the soldiers refused, so she killed them all.
After that, she went mad.
She could no longer control her bowels, ranting endlessly about overturning the world.
As I cleaned up after her, she grabbed and spat.
“We have to overturn the world! With even stronger magic!”
“I understand, Mom. I’ll do it.”
Not long after, more soldiers ca for .
I killed them all since my mother was too incoherent to act.
“Mom. It’s done.”
There was no response. When I turned, she was lying on the ground.
I touched her nose and felt no breath.
The dark magic had finally consud her completely.
Looking down at her lifeless body, I slowly leaned forward and embraced her.
But I didn’t feel that warmth from before.
Of course, she was dead.
The books said people beca cold when they died.
I used magic to burn her body and ground her bones, scattering them around the house.
My beloved mother was gone. What was I supposed to do now?
Should I go to my father?
But the mory of his expression that day stopped .
He wasn’t my father.
He was soone who had used my mother.
No sane mage would ally with the Demon King’s army, so he must have manipulated her, a dark mage, into his service.
This was the conclusion I reached after years of reading and analyzing.
Should I kill him?
But I didn’t even know where he was.
Then, sothing ca to mind.
My mother’s words, repeated like a final wish:
“We must overturn the world.”
So I decided to start with that.
It was her wish, after all.
And besides, I was already an enemy of the Demon King’s army. I couldn’t stay here any longer.
I opened a dinsional gate, throwing in my books and the ntos of my mother. Then, I stepped through.
# # # # #
My second ho was on the slope of a dormant volcano.
A place untouched by people, for fear of the volcano erupting again.
It was the perfect place to research destructive magic capable of overturning the world.
There, I built a house from gathered stones, much like the one before, and secluded myself to focus on my work.
Many years passed.
Around that ti, I beca interested in illusion magic.
A spell that could distort the senses and make the unreal seem real—a truly wondrous form of magic.
On particularly cold and dark days, I would use it to recreate my mother.
In my illusions, she was kind and affectionate, always holding close.
But I wasn’t skilled enough to replicate her warmth.
Human warmth—perhaps it was beyond . I could barely even rember it.
Many more years passed.
One day, strangers ca, saying the demons had risen and that a great war was brewing.
They said they needed my help to kill the Demon King.
For a mont, I considered killing them.
They were interrupting my research.
But they weren’t so easy to deal with.
Their priest’s barriers blocked my attack spells, and arrows rained down, making it hard to focus.
Two of them charged through my magic with sheer brute force.
One of them eventually broke through everything and entered my ho.
He was tall, strikingly handso—like my father.
But unlike my father, there was sothing different about him.
His eyes held a gentle light.
Without a word, he looked around my ho.
The low ceiling, crudely woven from branches.
The drafty walls, full of holes. The rough, volcanic stone floor littered with rubble.
The pile of books and scattered junk.
The filthy, tattered clothes I wore—the ones my mother had dressed in when I was born.
After taking it all in, the man finally spoke.
“How could…?”
Looking at the sword in his hand, I thought, He’s going to kill .
I had attacked them, so it was only natural.
Would I see my mother if I died?
I didn’t know. The books hadn’t said.
As a golem, death would probably just be the end.
I spread my arms and smiled bitterly.
I’m sorry, Mom. I couldn’t fulfill your wish.
But it couldn’t be helped. These people were too strong.
Yet the man didn’t kill .
“How could a child like you be in a place like this…?”
He dropped his sword and knelt, pulling into his arms.
“Co with us…”
I didn’t understand why he did it.
The books hadn’t taught anything about this.
But I didn’t ask for an explanation.
It was the first ti, besides my mother, that soone had held warmly like this.
Sothing I had longed for but thought I would never feel again.
Human warmth.
How could this happen to ?
It was a miracle.
Perhaps my mother had fallen for my father in the sa way.
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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