Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 49

People and youkai are essentially different.

　In particular, the mental structure of youkai is so different from that of human beings. For them, who live with bare instincts and desires, human beings are mere food. Just as people do not care for pigs who are only food for them, youkai do not show mercy to people. If they do, it is only because their minds are distorted in an unusual way. Like the fallen mother Goddess of the earth, who loves people and insects as if they were of equal value.

　In that sense, perhaps the hellish and horrifying underground den is normal by youkai's standard of value.

　"I'm not going to admit it, though..."

　The boy spits out as he catches a glimpse of the numerous cocoons of "preserved food" in the morgue from the shadow of the rocks.

　"So this is the source of the infection. They've done a good job..."

　At first, it could have been just an accident, but... this is youkai, after all. They were not what I expected, but they had set up a horrifying scheme, a trap.

　"I hope we make it there in one piece..."

　His partner, who had come here with him to investigate, was the first to leave. Reporting to the head family about the vicious trap hidden in the recent disturbance will be just as difficult as remaining in the area. There will be an onslaught of pursuers. All the boy can do is pray for his partner's safety.

　"Well. The question is what to do from here..."

　And the boy squints as if peering from the shadows of the den. In a way, the position of having no choice but to do only what is assigned to him is comforting. In this sense, he envied the position of his partner, who had left first.

　On the other hand, the boy had to make a choice. A critical choice, in which there was no room for failure, which even human lives were at stake.

　"A choice, huh? ...Haha, it's a fateful thing, isn't it? Of all the choices I have to make."

　The boy laughs scornfully. He knows very well how unsuitable, shameless, and cynical the choice he is forced to make is.

　"I didn't expect to witness this after my partner went... This is not a trap, is it?"

　The boy had witnessed the people he was supposed to check the safety of being taken away. Now that he has witnessed it, he cannot ignore it. Both as a duty and as a human being. Especially if one of them is a child...

　"I can't say the odds are good... but I don't know when the reinforcements will arrive, and I can't say I'll be safe until then."

　Then the boy puts on a sullen expression and mutters.

　"...Anyway, I don't want to have regrets."

　Because he would regret it later if he didn't do so... The young boy from the hidden group understood very well what. He knew it so well that it disgusted him.