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ーーI crawled out of the wrecked carriage, I realized that I was starting to get thirsty…… so I went to the nearby lake to drink water.\nMy body wasn’t really that thirstyーー but for me, it’s been forever since I’ve had any water……\n
「u, uu……」\n
It was delicious enough to make me cry.\nThis was exactly what I need. While wiping my tears, I kept on gulping down water.\n
「-puhaa!」\n
I raised my face and looked up to the sky.\nA vast clear blue sky…… the freedom that I’ve wanted and longed for so much was now in my hands.\nI didn’t have to be controlled by anyone anymore.\nAs that realization finally set in―― I started crying once again.\n
＊＊＊＊＊\n
After I regaining my composure, I earnestly set out to resume my exploration with renewed vigor.\n
I didn’t know what time it was and had no way of telling but…… there should still be some time before the sun began to set.\n
「I have to find something before that……」\n
Cautiously, I started to advance, making sure that there wasn’t anything around me.\nI pushed my way through greenery that grew as high as a person. Even when I would almost stumble over tree roots, I made sure to keep going in a straight line so that I would be able to find my way back without getting lost……\n
「…………」\n
With a nervous gulp, I started to break in to an anxious sweat..\nFrom time to time I could hear rustling that sent shivers down my body, but when I turned to look at the direction of the sound there was nothing. It was probably just the wind……right?\n
and thenーー\n
「ーーh」\n
I saw them.\n
A pack of wolves were wandering around the area.\nThey haven’t found me but they were nearby…… and if I made even the slightest sound they would immediately know that I was there.\nI held my breath, and ,in total silence, I continued waiting for them to go away.\n
「…………」\n
………… \nFor a while now, I’ve been thinking that that looked delicious.\nAnd while I was keeping an eye on that, I was hit by a kind of hunger that I’ve never felt before…… in an instant my body started to feel heavy.\nI need to eat something soon……\n
「u,uu……」\n
The hunger was terrible.\n“It hurts. No more…… I don’t want to remember that anymore ……I don’t want it.”\n
The hunger transformed into an uncontrollable urge.\n
“In order to get rid of this hunger, I have to……”\n
Something hot welled up inside my chest.\n
That heat was getting on my nerves.\nI wanted to cool it down right away\n
“ーーwhat did I have to do?”\n
It was simple.\nThere is only way to stave off this kind of hunger.\n
“ーーI have to eat, that’s the only way”\n
「――！！」\n
I let myself get swept away by that uncontrollable urge and unleashed something from my body.\nA black particle made out of some unknown material…… in a flash, the particles flickered away towards the direction of a wolves.\n
And then…… the wolves began to writhe in agony.\nAnd my hunger became satiated.\n
What exactly was that “power”\nEven without words I could understand what it was.…… it was my desires, my earnest wishes, …… the crystallization of all my prayers.\n
The power that will let me satisfy all my cravings, my “power”,\n
「ー【Gluttony】」\n
Ahh, how filling.\nThe wolves’ life force became mine and flowed to me.\nThat life force was processed even further. dissolved, absorbed, becoming sustenance. It wasn’t anything special. \nIt was the very act called “living”\n
Like that, I continued on greedily devouring everything\n”There were no flavors to savor”\nBut my mind told me that it was ”delicious”.\nIf it could sate my hunger then wasn’t that enough?\n\n
「……Aha」\n
I laughed.\n
「Ahaha……」\n
I was allowed to indulge in laughter.\n
「Ahahahaーー」\n
To laugh, to cry, to eat, and to be happy…… I’ve been allowed to indulge in all those trivial things.\n
I was reborn\nThat’s right\nIn the real sense, I was reborn\n
My circumstances, my environment, even my parents, even my strength, even my body …… everything. I was reborn in everything.\n
「A name……」\n
Right, a name.\nI was “I”, but\nThat isn’t very “human-like” at all. That’s why I have to think of a new name.\n
I wonder what would be good, No matter what I name I go with, I have to be sure that I don’t regret it.\nThen, a name that I’d like, a name that’s solely for me, would be good.\n
Something I like…… Now that I think about it, I wonder what those flowers that I could see from our house was called.\n
They were beautiful flowers…… I shouldn’t have know, but for some reason I could remember the name clearly.\n
「 …… “Iris”」\n
They were Irises.\nWeren’t they also called …… Ayame? How did I know these things, I wonder? I don’t know..\nBut, that’s enough for now.\nIf I know what they were called, then I’m fine with leaving it at that.\n
「From now on, I amーーIris」 \n
I am an Iris.\nThis day, I’ve been born again as a little flower bud.\n\n