25 - A Tale From The Past (2)

Quela closed her book and immediately looked at the boy who was speechless. Quela was sure that this boy had the same thoughts as she did, "So does this story have a happy ending or not?"

That this story had a happy ending.

"Of course it has a happy ending!" The child, Eriu, answered confidently. Quela smiled at her guess, "Ho? Why is it a happy ending for you?"

"Because the girl managed to change her life story!" Eriu even showed his excitement as he gave his opinion, "Even though she gave up many times, the girl still chose to live her life."

"I am sure that even after the 9th life this girl is still doing something for her life."

Making a path for her life without anyone stopping her.

"...You're right, I myself think that the girl is someone with a strong will and therefore she will always be happy wherever and whenever it is." Quela stood up, walked to the table and poured lemongrass tea into the two empty glasses near the teapot.

Eriu suddenly remembered something from the story that confused him, "But what does that have to do with Chimera?" Quela walked over to the table in front of Eriu and set down a glass of cold lemongrass tea, "The two children the girl conceived are Chimera."

"One is the 9 o'clock tower."

"And the other is the executioner who freed the girl."

Eriu's mouth opened wide as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, he looked down at his hands before staring at the ceiling. He pulled out his fingers one by one as if trying to remember the girl's death.

"Um?" Seeing his confusion, Qullea helped him, "All the lives that the girl lived will continue, and the lives left behind will create hell there."

"That's why her children who were in her previous life turned into chimeras, and both of them are said to have a monstrous shape where both of their heads fall onto one body."

Eriu nodded his head in understanding before asking, "If they were in one body, how did one become the 9 o'clock tower and the other became the executioner?"

"Try to remember your question." Quela answered Eriu's question with a small hint.

?

Uhm...

"Ah!" Eriu nodded in understanding, but said nothing.

They must have killed each other and the executioner won in the end. It was likely that the soul of the sibling, who tried to survive, settled in a long abandoned tower.

If I remember correctly, the girl's friend was a priestess, and there was also a national religion there. This means that there are many religions, but they are ostracized.

For example, when the girl decided to become a priestess in the place where her friend used to be.

So it is not surprising that there is a clock tower that tells when it is time to pray and important hours like the New Year. In this way, many people in the kingdom will choose the main religion over other religions that aren't even formalized.

This reason could also lead to the death of a priestess.

That is, the executioner decides to meet his mother and try to understand her from her past life. Meanwhile, the 9 O'Clock Tower locked up her mother's soul and avenged her by trying to repeat and repeat until her mother became crazy like them.

Quella leaned back in the rocking chair and sipped some tea from her glass.

"It is said that they were the first Chimera to be seen in the world. Because their form was absurd to humans, they were finally called Chimera."

Eriu gripped the glass with both hands and looked at it for a while without drinking, "Why does Grandmother think that Chimera came from that story?" He remembered that there were many Chimera stories in this world and one of them was that those who had blood from two different races had evil thoughts, nothing good when it came to their brains.

That was what the game said about Chimera when describing one of the capture targets.

"This is because there is proof of this story."

"Proof?"

"Yes, the proof is in the northern continent, where everything is frozen and no one can touch it. It is said to be the place where one of the gods was born, but I myself am not sure of the truth of this legend."

Knock, knock.

After Quella had finished speaking, there was a knocking sound, Eriu, who was just staring at the tea in his hand, put it down on the table and stood up, rubbing his nose a few times before he said, "I'll open the door.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome!"

Eriu left the living room and within minutes the sound of fast footsteps could be heard. Quella stood up to greet the person, but there was Eriu again, with the same expression he had when he visited her house. Approaching Quella, Eriu quickly hid behind her.

Hm?

"Who's coming?" Quella asked, and Eriu played with his hands before he answered in a low voice, "...Eros." Quella chuckled. Almost everyone knew that Eriu, the child of the Grith family, strongly disliked Eros, the child his parents had brought with them.

But their relationship wasn't bad for more than four months before Eriu was suddenly seen nowhere near Eros, and because of that, a strange rumor spread that Eros was his half-brother. 

Quella herself didn't believe the rumors, but she probably knew where they came from.

Teenagers who were heartbroken by Eros' rejection.

Maybe they thought that by harassing Eros, Eros would come to them and not go near Eriu, who used to save Eros from those kids.

Knowing that Eriu would continue to hide here and keep Eros waiting, Quella called out, "Come in!"

Eriu raised his head to look at Quella with an expression that said he had been betrayed. Hearing this answer, Eros, who was standing in front of the door, went inside while taking off his shoes.

His sweet voice sounded from the front door in response to Quella's reply, "Excuse me."

The sound of footsteps getting closer and closer made Eriu swallow his saliva. Eriu held Quella's hand and tried to keep her from moving so that he could hide and not get caught.

The footsteps stopped and soon the child with his short, shiny golden hair came into view. Everyone would always make a mistake about this child, thinking he was a naive, innocent child who just wanted to be loved.

But everything people thought about him was wrong, because this child would rather sleep on the streets than listen to people about him. 

There have been cases where 15-year-olds have tried to get close to Eros and have brought their younger siblings with them. There was a teenager who asked Eros to be his fiancée, but Eros refused immediately, so his younger brother, who was young and easily fooled, threw stones and mud at Eros.

Eriu was still with him and he was the one who usually chased them away.

But this incident had happened many times, and many people ignored it, thinking it was just child's play, even after the Grith family told the village chief about it.

They were ignored.

The same incident happened again, the teenager had not given up on Eros accepting his proposal by bringing his brother and his brother's friends back to harass Eros. If it were a child who did such a thing, they would be forgiven immediately and these bullies could do what they wanted.

The stone hit Eros in the face and gave him a severe wound near his eye.

At that time, she, who was visiting Grith's house, happened to see the incident. That way, their parents couldn't ignore it when she scolded them about their children's behavior.

Of course, Eriu's parents were furious, so they took action and immediately dragged the culprits away and dumped them in the forest far from the village. In addition, the parents of the culprits were given orbs with which they could see what had happened to their children.

When they saw the orb called 'Orbital Eye' in front of their house, their mouths immediately dropped. They all knew that this orb was difficult to obtain and had a very high price.

Quella herself wanted to help them, but unfortunately, she was only considered an old person in this village. In other words, everyone just respected her for her knowledge of medicine.

5 days passed and the children were crying with hunger. Eros, ignoring their parents' excuses, saw the children for the first time when he saw the orb that one of the parents was carrying. 

She vividly remembered the boy laughing at the sight of them crying for help. His words were also extremely cruel when he saw the vision of the orb.

'It looks like a zombie snail.'

'What...?' 

'They never knew they were being used, and they never used the brains the world gave them properly themselves.'

'You should teach them to think before you bring them out into the world, if you don't want them to die out of nowhere.'

When the father of the teenager was about to hit Eros, he paused and bowed before Eros, apologizing several times, much to the surprise of everyone there, including Eriu's parents.

He said that he was a foolish creature and that his children would also be severely punished by him. The children were released and the teenager and his sibling were punished by their father. They had to prostrate themselves before Eros until he forgave them.

If Eros hadn't said anything, it would have meant that they shouldn't be at home. But luckily, Eros forgave them on the spot.

That was what made her so curious about Eros, compared to Eriu, who had unique stories she had never heard.

He was like one of the main characters in the urban legends that spread across the continent.

"Eriu!" Eros, seeing Eriu behind Quella, smiled happily before frowning again when he saw the dislike in Eriu's eyes. In a rude tone, Eriu shooed him away, "Go away!"

"Hic..." His eyes watered when he heard that, his voice was weak and Eriu looked down, "Still, you should go home, it'll be dark soon..."

" I don't want to."

"But..." Seeing that Eros didn't give up, Eriu frowned and pointed at him, "If you hadn't said that in the first place, I wouldn't be so angry!"

"You're the source of the problem -" Quella patted Eriu's shoulder and gave a fake cough, "Ekhem."

"What Eros said is true, it'll be dark soon, your parents must be worried.

"I'll accompany you home." Eriu looked a little reluctant but soon nodded and remained silent, "...um." Eros froze before trying to approach Eriu, who threatened him with a look.

"...Uhh..." Eros became moody. Seeing Eros looking down, Eriu tried to look at him before the killing intent instantly made him shiver.

!!!

His attention was taken and the silent Eriu did not realise that Quella was no longer nearby.

"Let's go." Quella looked back and called to Eriu. Eriu, having regained his senses, immediately went after Quella, followed by Eros.

Eriu looked at Eros several times, becoming more and more suspicious and on guard. With Quella accompanying them, their journey home was safe. When Quella saw someone with long white hair, she called out to him, "Good evening, Mr. Grith, How is your day?"

"Good, how about you, Madame?" Louise, who was wearing an overcoat, ran towards Eriu and Eros.

Quella nodded with a friendly smile, " Of course, it's good, especially when Eri and Eros comes to visit me. Every time they comes.I forgot that night has come..."

"And they had to return home." With her hands on each other shoulders, one of them has a somber look on his face, and the other has a lot of indifference.

With a relieved tone, Louise thanked them, "Thank you for bringing them home." 

"I'm really sorry for bothering you so much." 

"Eri, say something."

"...Thank you, grandma!"

"Hoho, you're welcome." Eriu turned his head, feeling dejavu at Quella's reply. Quella reached into her bag and handed Eriu a sweet, "Don't forget to make up with Eros."

Eriu didn't nod or answer. Louise coughed a few times to give Eriu the code. Eriu nodded very slowly.

"Yes..."

"Good, then I'll say goodbye first. I'm afraid to leave my house alone for too long."

With that, Quella went home and left the three of them there. Louise tapped Eriu on the shoulder and there he was, walking towards Eros with the candy Quella had given him.

Strange but true.

Eros, who had been gloomy, became cheerful again and hugged Eriu with a big smile. Eros took the candy and unwrapped it.

The candy was put directly into Eriu's mouth. 

"This is your first meal today, isn't it?" 

Eriu gasped at Eros' words. Louise did not understand the meaning and could only smile as he led them into the house.

He should have tasted the sweetness of the candy, but strangely a fishy taste enveloped his mouth. His heart pounded with fear.

It must be his murderous intent.

He must have realized that he was not the real one...

That's why he threatened him with his past.