Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 31

"Ggi... Gghiiiii!? Gghi... gi..."

A small, ugly scream came from the body, writhing on the floor like a drowning man in agony. It was clearly not a normal creature, as its head was cut in half and it did not die instantly.

This monster, which looked like an eel with no eyes and whose whole body was completely white, was spat out by the dying youkai as if it was his last desperate effort... It was probably the main body of that youkai, or his alter ego, or some kind of alter ego. Judging from the fact that it was moving toward Murasaki instead of escaping to the sewage, it might have the ability to be a parasite...

...either way, it's only a matter of time before it dies since its head was cracked open.

"M-mister... I retrieved it back..."

"Hmm? ...Ah, thank you."

Fearfully, the guide pulls out a dagger from the miserably suffering monster and offers it to me, who is roughly wounded and unable to move. The dagger is, to be sure, a gorilla-made dagger. I had thought that he might just take it because of its high price, but I was a little surprised to see him being so obedient. Though I don't want to be rude, so I won't show it in my face.

"I can't believe it spits out something like this at the last minute... At all, youkai are all creepy folks, aren't they..."

With a contemptuous look in his eyes, the guide takes a glance at the eel-like creature on the floor and then shifts his gaze as if he has lost interest in it. This may be partly because the youkai, who had spat out the eel-like creature, began to be chewed by the youkai sword with a loud sound of its body crunching and crunching while screaming.

The sight of the youkai sword mercilessly devouring the screaming youkai who desperately tried to escape was so vivid and shocking that in a sense it was inevitable that both the guide and Murasaki turned their attention in that direction.

"Gghi.... gi... it.... gurts..."

Thus, it was only I who could hear the tiny lamentations of the tiny life that lay at my feet. A miserable, pathetic existence, opening its mouth like a fish on land and twisting its body as if in search of something.

"Am... I... gead... ahain? Gghi... gi..."

The mortal eel was muttering a single word under its breath. There was a sense of deep despair, pain, lamentation, and loneliness. Rather than the words of youkai...

"Nwo... Ghii... gigi... Nwo... I want... two go... bwack... to... my family... Ghigi... gigi... gi..."

The creature, who had been sobbing, pleading, and whispering in a trembling voice, finally took a deep breath and... was silenced forever. Its flapping, looking-up head fell to the ground, and it never rose again.

"...."

I said nothing, just staring at the tiny corpse of youkai. Initially, when Murasaki was reborn, the youkai of hers had taken over her memories and personality almost completely from a descriptive point of view. So, even though the quality of this youkai material is far worse than hers, the memories will be retained to some extent if more than one person is used as material.

And what is worse, the most vivid memory for human beings is the suffering just before death, and such memories are more likely to be inherited to youkai...

"...it's really, really helpless."

"Hey? Did you say something?"

"Don't worry, I'm just talking to myself. Just... sentimentality."

I said as the guide beside me gave me a doubtful look. Yes, this is just a selfish, self-satisfied sentiment.

It's a little too late to say that this world is a cruel and hopeless place, and even the tragic fates of the "former humans" who died at my feet were not necessarily the worst in this cruel world.