Chapter 127: Chapter 128: Aunty Loves Her Niece! (5)

“Hurry up, friend!”

The flower-head girl waved her hand back and forth. Cecily had no choice but to follow her through woods teeming with thorn bushes which tore her clothes to shreds and scratched at her everywhere.

“W-Wait!”

“Come on! Hurry!”

When Cecily finally caught up to her, the flower-head girl had a rabbit in her hand. It was the black-furred Night Rabbit.

“Night Rabbit?”

“Yeah! It’s delicious!”

The flower-head girl opened her mouth wide with an “Ahhh—”.Her shark-like fangs were starting to give her the creeps when the flower-head girl bit down into the rabbit’s neck.

━Kiiiieee—!

The rabbit thrashed wildly in pain.But with its throat torn by the girl, it could no longer stay alive.

Crack— Crunch—At the sight of the rabbit being eaten alive, Cecily let out a noise and made a disgusted face. Hearing that, the girl held out the rabbit she was eating to Cecily.

“Cecily, have some.”

“... Me?”

“I don’t usually share but Melody and Cecily are friends.”

Melody.The flower-head girl’s name was Melody.

“Come on, eat.”

“That… I’m, not really hungry.”

“…….”

At Cecily’s polite decline, Melody’s expression went cold.Blood dripping from her mouth.Eyes red like a rabbit’s.And as those eyes gazed at her, Cecily got chills down her spine.

“I-I’ll eat it!”

“Yeah, yeah!”

Cecily took the half-eaten rabbit.She wanted to throw up but as she brought it to her mouth a few times and pretended to eat, Melody asked in satisfaction, “Hihi, it’s good, right?”Cecily could only nod.

“Yeah, i-it’s good.”

“Great! Now I’ll show you Melody’s treasure!”

Swoosh—Melody grabbed Cecily’s wrist.Her grip was so strong that Cecily was dragged along like a balloon in her hand.Where they headed was the inside of some cave.It was full of animal bones and amongst them were sparkling objects like shards of glass and pebbles.

“See, Melody’s treasure. Aren’t they pretty?”

“... Treasure.”

“I took them from the grown-ups.”

“The grown-ups?”

“Melody doesn’t like grown-ups. Grown-ups can’t be friends with Melody. So I’m worried. Will Cecily become a grown-up, too? If Cecily grows up, you can’t be friends with Melody.”

“…….”

Cecily could recognize that this girl, Melody, wasn’t normal. There was a reason for her aunt, Astarosa, warning that many children died while gathering Childrakes.

“It’s okay! Melody knows how not to become a grown-up! Cecily doesn’t have to grow up forever. Do you see Melody’s flower?”

The Childrake, Melody, pointed at the flower growing from her forehead. It was a large, pink flower and it sat prettily on her head like a hat.

“Yes.”

“This flower was put into Melody’s head by the grown-ups a long time ago. The other kids got it, too. But they all broke and died, and only Melody lived. But I’m sure Cecily can do it!”

The flower.That seemed to be the problem.

“Where was it? The leftover seeds should be here somewhere. I don’t show this to anyone. Melody’s most precious treasure. A lot of bad grown-ups tried to take it away but Melody killed all of them.”

Rustle— Rustle—Melody dug through the pile of bones in search of something.Cecily didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if a flower got planted in her head. So she opened her mouth, thinking she had to get out of this situation no matter what.

“Grown-ups!”

“Grown-ups?”

Melody stopped moving her hands.She tilted her head.

“What about grown-ups?”

“Well… Why do you hate grown-ups?”

“The grown-ups hurt Melody. They put the flower in my head. But all the bad ones got punished. A black light came to this world and it went boom—! Then the grown-ups disappeared.”

“A black light?”

“Yeah! It was a really, really black light. It connected the sky to the ground. The sky became all black and the sun lost its light, too. A god must have heard Melody’s wish to get rid of all the bad grown-ups!”

A black light from the sky to the ground.A sun without light.Something almost crossed Cecily’s mind.

“Black light….”

“Uuu, the seeds aren’t here. I don’t know where I put them. The last time I saw them was 100 winters ago. No, was it 120? Sorry, Cecily. I can’t find the flower right now.”

“That’s okay.”

It was better without the flower.Of course, Cecily kept that to herself and then Melody spoke.

“Then what should we play now? Hm? Should we play ‘Kill the Night Rabbit’? Melody is really good at that! I can kill more than 10 a day!”

Killing rabbits—Cecily grimaced hearing that.Instead, she pulled out her slingshot.

Swish—She removed the elastic from it and tied it into a loop.Sifnoi had said, “A thief must have fine motor skills…!” so she often played Cat’s Cradle. Would this be a good distraction?

“How’s this? Look, Melody. It’s a butterfly.”

When she formed a butterfly out of the rubber band, Melody took interest.

“That’s cool! Another one! Make something else!”

“This is a star. This one’s a web. This is….”

Melody was delighted with Cecily’s skill.

“I’ve never seen something so fun!”

Was Cat’s Cradle really that fun?Of course, Cecily was just happy that she was able to distract this terrifying child. After a while of showing her different shapes—

“Melody is sleepy now. Cecily, I had lots of fun today. I hope tomorrow will be like today. I like Cecily.”

“…….”

“Nnaaaahm.”

Melody yawned.Then she slowly closed her eyes and she looked harmlessly asleep.

‘The slingshot… is useless now without the rubber. What should I do? I need to go find the adults. And I also need to take the Childrake….’

Childrake.Cecily now understood that it was referring to the ‘flower’ growing from her head. A flower grown from the heads of children.Hence, Childrake.

─Cecily Style Catwalk!

Sneak— Sneak—Cecily kept as quiet as possible and approached the sleeping Melody. As she reached towards the flower on Melody’s head, she suddenly became curious.

‘What will happen to Melody when I pull out this flower…?’

At the thought, she wasn’t able to move further.Then, in the pile of bones, something like a small leather pouch caught Cecily’s eyes.

It was a worn leather pouch.When she opened it, there were seeds about the size of her thumb inside.

‘This is…!’

Crunch—Getting excited, Cecily accidentally stepped on one of the bones on the ground. At the sound, Melody opened her eyes.

“Oh! Cecily! Those are the flower seeds! If you swallow one, you won’t become a grown-up just like Melody. If it doesn’t work, you die but… dying is better than becoming a grown-up. Cecily thinks so, too, right?”

Childrake seeds.With this in her hands, Cecily no longer had to stay with this dangerous child.

Fwoosh—!

“Ah, Cecily, where are you going! Are we playing hide-and-seek?”

Cecily ran for it as fast as she could.And after her was a red-eyed girl, chasing her with frightening speed.

“Cecily, you’re so good at running! I’ve never had a friend who was this good!”

What’s going to happen if she gets caught?Will a seed be forced into Cecily’s mouth?

‘I can’t get caught!’

She needed to find the adults quickly.Just as she thought that, Cecily’s body lifted into the air.To be exact, some man had lifted her up.

“… Hiiiik!”

Cecily thrashed.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Hiiik! Hiiiik!”

“Hey, stop struggling. It’s me.”

“Judas?”

“That’s right. I said I would help, right? More importantly, that kid over there with the flower….”

The man’s eyes narrowed.Melody, who had been chasing after Cecily, flinched in shock.

“G-Grown-up…!”

Tap— Tap— Tap—As Melody shook, more grown-ups appeared. They were scary-looking. And they had Cecily.

“L-Let go of Cecily!”

Cecily was inwardly sighing in relief but Melody seemed to think that she was caught by evil adults. Seeing this, Astarosa tilted her head in awe.

“Didn’t think there would be a Childrake that doesn’t run from adults. And the size of that flower. 500 years? No, a thousand? Amazing. It’s huge. With that…”

“If it won’t run from adults, then it should be fine to hunt it. They’re only troublesome because they hide, no? I can kill it for sure at this distance.”

Swoosh—Cariote reached for her waist.Shing—As she unsheathed her dagger, Melody raged even more, revealing her sharp fangs.

“Don’t hurt Cecily! Cecily! I’ll save you! From the grown-ups!”

“... Does it think that we kidnapped Cecily?”

Cariote immediately understood the situation.While she thought about how to use this to hunt the Childrake, Cecily was struggling with the stinging in her heart.Friend.To think that Melody, who was afraid of adults, was facing them because she considered Cecily a friend.

‘But I was lying….’

Cecily couldn’t tell what was right.But, she at least knew what she was supposed to do right now.

Swoosh—Cecily hooked the rubber band she kept onto the slingshot. Then she aimed for Melody’s forehead. Though she still hesitated, this time she didn’t miss.

Shhhhk— Thwack—!

The metal marble flew cruelly and accurately hit Melody’s forehead.Melody stumbled.

“Khhhk! Cecily, what are you doing? We’re friends.”

“Why would I be your friend! I don’t make friends with monsters like you!”

Thwack—Another marble struck Melody’s head perfectly.Melody staggered heavily, then finally seemed to realize what was happening and looked at Cecily, sorrowful.

“… Cecily, we’re friends….”

“Go away! Leave, you monster!”

“…….”

Whether it was from the pain of being struck or some other reason, Melody spilled tears from her red eyes.Then finally, she ran off into the grass.

Fss—Watching this, Cariote clicked her tongue.

“Lost it. Cecily, that last threat was unnecessary.”

“…….”

“But you got your target, this time. I’ll give you a point.”

Ruffle— Ruffle— Ruffle— Ruffle— Ruffle—Cariote stroked Cecily’s head messily. Since she had been worried, she now seemed to be happy for her daughter’s significant growth

“Cecily, you are now a full-fledged hunter of Iscariote.”

Cecily was acknowledged as a hunter by Cariote.However.Even though she had been awarded a point, she wasn’t happy.She was feeling rather sad and glum, for some reason.

“Good job.”

Ruffle— Ruffle— Ruffle— Ruffle— Ruffle—But the headstrokes were making her feel a bit better. The mom that Cecily remembered would stroke her head and it felt just like that.Of course, Cecily couldn’t admit that so she growled.

“You’re messing up my hair…!”

“It’s fine. I will fix it.”

Cariote skillfully fixed up Cecily’s hair. She was feeling content, quite proud of Cecily’s successful first hunt.Astarosa saw this and sneered, “What’s this? You were so harsh earlier. I guess even a cold-hearted demon hunter can dote on her own child,” but Cariote didn’t pay attention.

“Isn’t it natural that a mother should dote on her daughter?”

Just then, Judas spoke.

“So what now. Did we fail since the Childrake ran away? They don’t reappear for years once they go into hiding, no?”

Fail.Hearing that, Cecily showed the pouch she was clutching.

“We didn’t fail. Here, they’re Childrake seeds.”

Seeds.Astarosa was shocked.

“Childrake seeds? Even I’ve never seen them. That’s an amazing find. With these, we might be able to grow Childrakes.”

While the adults were engaged, Cecily sat atop the man’s shoulders and looked out into the dark forest. The forest into which Melody vanished.They won’t be coming back here, she supposed.

“Cariote, tear the scroll. Let’s open the gate and go.”

It was time to go home.Pondering on the many things that had happened, Cecily was starting to feel tired when—

─Fuck!

An undignified curse sounded.It shook through the barren woods.Hearing it, Cariote clicked her tongue.

“Did you hear that? The Childrake must be quite angry with you, Cecily.”

Angry….Of course she would be.Cecily yelled at Melody and shot marbles at her.She even stole the seeds that Melody considered her most precious treasure.Of course she was angry.

But Cecily knew.This curse wasn’t an expression of anger.It meant that you want to be friends!

“Fuck!”

Cecily also yelled towards the forest.The sadness and hurting in her heart melted away.

And then, Judas spoke.

“Fuck.”

To which Cecily hissed like a cat that suddenly got wet.

“Don’t curse…!”

“Hey, why only /genesisforsaken