Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy
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In the middle of a mountain, inside a cave that I had decided to be my final resting place.
My consciousness, which had been in a dream-like state as usual, suddenly woke up clearly.
The presence of someone familiar was approaching.
No, to be exact, the presence wasn’t entirely similar to that someone who was now… out of reach. However, the wavelength of the soul was extremely similar to hers.
A few days had passed since I last spoke to the leader of the humans who lived at the foot of the mountain.
I raised my neck, which had been stiff from sleeping for days.
The elderly Phantasmal Beast, known as Sirius the Celestial Wolf.
Hundreds of years ago, when the Sacred Daughter still walked this world as its protector… I stood by her side as a contracted familiar… but that was now a story of the distant past.
Despite all that, I couldn’t help but feel my heart racing at the thought of meeting her successor after hundreds of years.
Come to think of it… I thought she’d been quiet for the past few days, but it seemed that my alter ego… my daughter had disappeared before I knew it.
Sirius, the Celestial Wolf, was Phantasmal Beast whose power rivaled that of dragons.
Their ecosystem is a mystery to humans, but in reality, they rarely reproduce the same way other living beings do.
When they sense their coming demise, they create a “child”, which was an alter ego that they transfer most of their power and abilities into.
This is the way of life for Sirius, and how they lead to the next generation.
And just like before… the elderly Sirius, who had left behind a child, didn’t have much time left.
When I searched for my child’s reaction, she was in a place quite far away… at the base of the mountain, near the human settlement.
It seemed that she was going to the place of her successor.
Although I had never talked about the successor to her, she must have sensed her existence on her own and gone to see her with a clinging thought.
Please cure my mother’s body.
But alas, my body could no longer move as I want, and I now lived a life of sleeping for days, waking up occasionally, and then sleeping again.
Even the world’s most powerful healing power couldn’t restore this body, eroded by old age.
Nevertheless, I was grateful for my child’s concern.
The slightly swaying air inside the cave signaled another presence.
However, it did not belong to my long-awaited visitor.
I wonder if his timing could be any more worse, I thought.
I glanced at the person who rudely entered the cave, whose face was covered with a hood… Not just his timing, everything about him was just the worst… I let out a short snort and returned to my sleeping position.
“Never change, you damned mutt. Even when you’re so close to kicking the bucket, your skill in getting on people’s nerves is still unmatched.”
He didn’t seem offended, despite his complaints. He’d always been this arrogant and believed himself to be better than others. To be honest, I’d rather not have to deal with him if possible…
Oh, the irony… I spent months and years waiting for that familiar presence, only for this uninvited “guest” with a familiar face to show up first.
Standing before me was a single person.
At first glance, he seemed like a small, insignificant creature. However, anyone with even a modicum of intelligence would be able to tell that he is not what he seems.
“Hmph… I thought I smelled a familiar beastly odor, and to think that you’re still alive.”
“If we’re talking about smells, then it’s you whose smell has gone practically rotten.”
It’s a really putrid smell.
The smell of a serpent that destroys the world.
“I’ve always resented you.”
At those words, he sneered sarcastically and opened his mouth.
“I know, I know. You’d always been so close to her, but you never let your guard down around me even once.”
“That’s correct. In fact, I did acknowledge you, but only for your abilities… and the fact that you would never turn against her.”
“Huh? First time I’ve ever heard that.”
He sounded genuinely surprised.
But it’s the truth. I’ve resented this man more than anything else.
Because… she admired and trusted him more than anyone else, even more than me.
I was… jealous. I was a Phantasmal Beast, and he was just another human.
That… I could never admit it when I was still young, but now I understand myself well.
It was all because I acknowledged this man.
“But at the same time… I always felt that you were dangerous. Your gaze towards her was too obsessive. If she were gone, you would probably do something terrible. And, it seems that… I was not wrong.”
I spat it out for him to hear.
It’s not like I don’t understand his feelings.
Even I was furious at the world back then, wishing for it to be destroyed.
And yet… I just couldn’t accept his way of being.
He would trample on her last wish for his own obsession. That was the thing I could never forgive.
“…To think that you would stoop so low!”
I roared as I hurled my turbulent thoughts at him.
In response, the black snake wrapped around his neck hissed in intimidation.
However, when he stroke the snake’s head, it reluctantly returned to its original position and began to observe me with its eyes.
“So, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to stop me here and save the world?”
His mocking words caused me to sigh and let my anger dissipate.
“Just stop it. I’ve already retired and no longer want to involve myself with the human world. But… if you decide to keep doing things in your outrageous way, then this decrepit body of mine would have to get reckless.”
“Do you really think you can win against me like the old days?”
I fell silent.
It was frustrating, but he’s right. I could no longer stop him on my own.
My strength was now not even a fraction of what it once was.
My mystic eyes, which had the power of instant death, and my vocal cords, which had the power of calling death, had been passed onto my daughter, leaving me with almost nothing.
I was old and nearing the end of my life, and the man before me had abandoned his humanity, even ceased to be a living being altogether. There was no way I could fight him on equal terms.
But…
“You’re a clever little boy, but you are only concerned with yourself… You don’t understand that there are others who will fight to the death to protect what is important to them.”
That was the strength that this man once had, the strength that supported him.
“Irrelevant. What can a few desperate people possibly do against me?”
Both sides remained silent.
I thought that this centuries-old feud would finally come to an end here, but it seemed that he was just passing by. He really did have no intention of finishing off these old bones for good.
That’s why… I cursed under my breath at the sound of my child and her companions approaching from afar.
“Ah, I see… Those must be the people you’re talking about.”
He noticed them.
Had I not noticed the successor… had I not decided to summon her for a meeting, then this man wouldn’t have even been interested in her.
Now that he’d noticed, he wouldn’t miss that existence of a girl whose light had just begun to grow.
Even if I tried to jump at him with a hurry, the figure of a man laughing with a serpentine tone floated up into the air faster than my old body could move.
He flew away with three rag-like wings that shone black as if they represented nihility, having completely lost interest in me.
I could only watch the shadow that grew smaller and smaller while growling with resentment.
This new generation had such poor luck… On the contrary, she was the kind of girl who seemed to get through everything by luck.
Sighing, I whipped my sickly body and got up with a heavy heart.
I didn’t know what I could do, but I was going to rush to the side of that person who had a faintly nostalgic smell.
To prevent the hope that has finally sprouted from being plucked.
(Author’s Note)
Sirius doesn’t speak, because their voice calls upon death. The Sirius in this chapter communicates using telepathy.
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