Hero’s Downfall Report

119 – Bad Affair (2)

Yesterday, that is, four days since I came here. Upon hearing the news that Mary had regained consciousness, Cain entered her hospital room in one step.

Maria, who could hardly come to her senses, was sitting on her bed and looking out her window. As she approached, the quick-witted nurses made way for her.

“How are you? Are you okay?”

Maria slowly turned her head at the sound of her words. The moment our gazes become entangled. Cain felt it. She said something was wrong.

To put it bluntly, Maria is quite a beauty. She is so attractive that people passing by, whether men or women, turn their heads and give her a glance.

But what makes Maria truly Maria is her fiery personality.

Sometimes he is so rough that you might think he is a priest, and when he gets offended, he curses, and sometimes he jumps to conclusions and explodes with anger, but it was never because he had a bad temper.

Mary was good and upright. She has the ability to do the right thing, is angry at injustice and loves justice. And above all, she is always confident and has no qualms about showing off herself.

As a proud person, Mary always looked straight at Cain. It was different when she glared or squinted angrily or when Cain became frustrated with her thoughts.

She had never looked at me as obliquely as she did now, as if she were floating.

“Okay then. “I was always fine.”

Her face is clearly smiling, but her direction is not toward Cain, but toward the wall. As if she didn’t want to show her face.

The eyes are closed to the point of being cool, but the smile that the slightly parted lips give off is even sensual. This is the beauty of a snake with its prey in front of it. Elegant horror. The fascination of a predator. It grabs its prey with fear and excitement and eats it head first.

“… Maria?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Is this really okay?”

“Well… It’s not really okay. “You understand.” Maria pulled the covers over her. Because of this, small white bare feet were revealed.

“I just lay down and everything feels bad.”

She stretches, spreading her arms and puffing out her chest. As if he was trying to brag about her. Perhaps feeling Cain’s gaze, Maria hugged her blanket a little closer. She straightened her feet, deliberately exposing her peach bones.

“It seems like my body doesn’t listen well. It would be nice if someone could at least give me a massage… “

“… “I’ll call a nurse.”

“I hate nurses.” Maria frowned. “These are kids who are not very careful. It’s so rough that you can’t tell whether you’re dealing with patients or prisoners. “Can you do it for me?”

Maria gently twisted her body and sat down on the edge of her bed. She waves her legs leisurely, spreading and curling her toes. She spreads her shoulders lazily and tilts her head slightly to reveal her white neck.

“Who are you?”

“That’s strange, Cain. I’m Maria. “Are you sure you don’t know?”

“You are not Maria.” Cain stepped behind her. Half of her was instinctive, and half of her was experiential. Avoidance of things that are dangerous and sinister.

“Cain, what’s wrong… it’s me… It’s Maria… “

Mary’s feet touched her stone floor. She stands up, strengthening her legs as she does so. She takes a step or two in front of her, then oops and falls in front of her.

‘It’s a trap.’

Anyone could see that it was an extremely clumsy trap.

Her snickering laugh that clearly announced that she fell on purpose, her arms outstretched in advance to prevent her from hurting her knees. But no matter how prepared she is, Maria will get hurt if she touches her stone floor. Wasn’t she the body of someone who had been lying down for three days?

Cain ran quickly and grabbed Mary. Maria did not miss the opportunity. She clung to Cain’s chest, and she muttered something unintelligible to her.

The next moment, Cain’s body collapsed. Her legs seem to give out and break, and she suddenly falls to the floor and looks up at her Maria.

But her face as she looks down at Cain is filled with only her doubts.

“Why?”

“… What… ?”

Her pronunciation was unclear as even her tongue was loosened, but Cain managed to utter an answer. Maria, on the other hand, looked down and crossed her arms as if she really couldn’t understand.

“You knew. It’s a trick. “But why did you skip it even though you knew?”

“… “Because I can’t hurt you.” Cain continued speaking with difficulty. “Three days… I was just lying down for a while. If you fall, you might get seriously hurt… “

“It’s fun.” Maria snapped her fingers. She did as she lit the sacred fire, but the fire did not burn.

Instead, the knife used to cut her wounds and the saw used to cut bones came to mind. Without even a sound, the knife swings over Cain’s eye, and the saw moves back and forth as if it could cut off her head at any moment.

“Cain. I’ll give you an easy problem, guess it. “Should I hurt you or not?”

“… “It won’t hurt you.”

“Oh my.”

Maria shook her head in pity.

“Wrong.”

The knife spun around once. It was sunk into Cain’s thigh. Still, Cain could not scream a single word. Her mouth and throat seemed to be held by something, and she could not breathe. Maria quietly bent her upper body.

“If it was a bit difficult, I’ll give you an easy problem.”

Maria removed the knife from her thigh with just a snap of her fingers. Her blood wells up and quickly soaks her floor. She feels as if she is being consumed by fire, but Cain, unable to breathe, can only open her mouth like a fish dragged out on land.

“Where’s the leash?”

Cain gasped as if he was about to say something. But since she couldn’t breathe in or out, she couldn’t speak.

Maria swirled her fingers, and then air rushed into her lungs as if a hole had been unclogged. She coughs violently, but Maria doesn’t seem to care about her situation.

“Tell me, where is the leash!”

The cool saw blade touches the corner of Cain’s mouth. Pointy, sharp. It feels like it’s going to move at any moment and tear her mouth apart.

‘Never hand it over.’

Maria’s instructions echo in my ears.

“Ask again, leash, where is it?”

The thick handle of the saw hits Cain in the face.

‘Never hand it over.’

Mary’s angry kicks cause Cain to be kicked wildly by her. Her invisible hands strangle her. Her pores are clogged again. I can’t spit it out or drink it. She can’t even make a sound.

She just opens her eyes, twists her body around in agony, and grits her teeth. Mary climbed on top of Cain. She grasps her sword tightly with both hands and holds it high.

“I ask for the last time. Leash, where is it!”

Her breathing eases again. Her tongue curls into her throat, touching the roof of her mouth and her uvula. Her stomach is pounding, and her vision is blurry and she can’t see clearly.

Cain did the only thing she could do.

For a moment, there was silence.

“Are you smiling?”

Cain laughed a little louder at Maria’s apparent embarrassment. Okay. Kill it. Torment me as much as I can. If I don’t open my mouth, the whereabouts of the leash will never be known.

“Ah. That’s what I think… “

Maria threw down her sword. She grabbed Cain’s neck as if she was going to rip it off. Unable to lift a finger, Cain felt the pain of her skin being torn.

Cain was dragged up by the collar. This is incomprehensible. What was visible below was clearly the body of Cain himself. Nevertheless, Cain was clearly ‘dragged upward.’

“I’m sure you’ve never had your soul torn apart. Bully me? Try killing me? Even if you are alive and breathing, you can harass me as much as you want. All you have to do is pull out the soul.”

Cain saw.

The stone floor was stained with blood, vines, and withered leaves.

The vines climbing the wall were as dense as blood vessels, but they were as dry as the hands of an old greedy man. The sun visible through the window is black, and the sky is reddish. An endless flock of crows flies like clouds.

Below that. A huge tree wriggles. To be exact, it is the shadow of a tree. The trees were dancing. No, can you call it a dance? Can the struggle of a person naked on a grill be called a dance? That tree. The suffering of that huge tree being eaten by pain…

Lightning struck. It is dry lightning in a sky without moisture. A flash of light flashes. The shade changes in an instant. In the twisted world, there was no Maria. A human-shaped shadow, a ghost, and blazing black smoke are holding onto Cain’s neck.

“… “

Cain’s lips trembled.

“Well, say it out loud! “Stop babbling!”

“… Here… “

“Here?”

“… Here… What you are looking at… world… ?”

“What… “

Lightning struck again. I saw a shadow writhing. For some reason, Cain read ‘perplexity’ in that meaninglessness.

The world. This time. Go back. As if I was rewinding everything I had done so far. Backwards. Backwards. Backwards.

To the moment when Cain opened her door and entered after hearing the good news.

Maria, who could hardly come to her senses, was sitting on her bed and looking out her window. As she approached, the quick-witted nurses made way for her.

Cain said nothing. Maria still just looks out her window. Cain is Mary’s father. I remembered what Heinrich told me.

Witch. Maria’s mother was a witch.

* * * * *

As expected, she was Mary’s mother. She is a great witch who is usually asleep, but when her consciousness fades, she rises to the fore in place of her daughter’s soul.

“Elizabeth.”

Maria. No, Elizabeth offered to shake his hand. Cain held her hand carefully.

“I am Cain.”

“Why don’t you straighten your face?”

“I’m not in a happy mood.”

“What do you think the guy who threw a club at my daughter’s head as soon as we met would do that?”

Cain opened her mouth and said, “Ah.” Her movements at that time were quite strange. When Mary fainted due to Cain’s surprise attack, her mother Elizabeth took her place.

“She thought she would catch me sometime, and that happened today. Cain.”

“… “The back end is strong.”

“Because he apologized to my daughter, not to me.”

Cain dropped her slightly opened arms.

“I’m sorry about what happened back then. And.”

“And?”

“I would like to receive an apology for what happened now.”

“Really? Why?”

“I swung the club at your daughter, not at you.”

“Aren’t you being too petty for just playing around?”

Cain thought this was a ridiculous statement.

Not only was she so extreme that she could not be dismissed as a joke, but she was also unable to properly control her daughter’s body and had cast a ‘joke-level’ spell on her.

“Did you really think I was going to give you the leash?”

“Do you know what kind of thing that is?”

“I know that if everything is cut off, something very bad will happen to Maria. She also said that Maria should never give it away. “That is enough for me.”

“In the end, you’re saying you don’t know what it is.”

“I guess. Because I saw Mary cut her leash and drag Elizabeth away. However, when I swung the club and now, the leather strap has not even come off, but you are at the forefront of my consciousness.”

“That’s right.”

“What is the difference?”

Elizabeth did not say anything. She smiled and yawned softly, then lay down comfortably on the bed. Despite Cain’s urging, Elizabeth quickly fell asleep.

* * * * *

And today. Elizabeth is still busy playing pranks.

“Anyway, why did you ask that yesterday?”

Cain suppressed his anger as he looked at him with a bright smile. Even if her soul is someone else, it is Maria’s body sitting on the hospital bed.

“There was a time when I had to call you. What you showed me each time was similar to the scenery I saw. It’s desolate. A lonely landscape full of dead trees and vines. That’s why I asked. “Is this your world?”

“Okay. “That’s the world I belong to, and the world Maria is half of.”

“What about Maria?”

Instead of answering, ‘she’ looked up at Cain.

“What do you think?”

“Please.” Cain finally let out her sigh. “Can you postpone the prank?”

“You’ve probably seen it, but there’s nothing interesting over there. But there’s a lot of green here, a lot of living people walking around, and my daughter’s funny friend who reacts stiffly to the slightest touch. “Is there any reason why I should put up with pranks?”

“I understand the situation, but we can’t stay like this forever. There’s a lot to do… “

“Thank you for understanding. But I don’t really want to look into your situation. And I think I’m forgetting something, but I’m already dead. “There is no need to rush.”

She knew she was joking, but Cain felt like her eyes were going dark. There was nothing wrong with what she said. If a person is already dead, what is there to worry about in this world?

In the end, Cain gave up and stood up. Mary still had no idea where she was, and if her Elizabeth was uncooperative, she was determined to find another way.

As she was about to grab the doorknob of her hospital room, Elizabeth muttered.

“That child is sinking deep now.”

Cain took his hand off the doorknob and turned his body to Elizabeth. The powerful witch looked at him while lying on the bed in the monastery hospital room.