Almost nothing is known about the Goddess of Death and Destruction, Aura.
The only book mentioning that ambiguous goddess is ăMemorandum of Augustoă. Also, a character, which might supposedly be that goddess, sporadically appears in the folklore of the demi-humans and the orally-handed-down legends of a portion of the elders; but there are no concrete details about her.
The sole common point among all races is only her being named as ăGoddess who is a mother and an elder sisteră.
But, even at the Holy Faithâs Ecumenical Council which was held in order to consolidate the doctrine which had diverted into many various interpretations due to local peculiarities after the Holy Faith succeeded in propagating over the whole continent, fierce disputes arose how they should handle the doctrineâs stance on Goddess Aura.
The Wise Man Jupidekus, who was the highest intellectual of the Holy Faith at that time and who obtained the title Godâs Scholar afterwards, proposed a daring hypothesis at the second Ecumenical Council.
It was about Goddess Auraâs involvement in the death of the God of Creation which was considered to be the biggest open issue in the Myth of Creation.
The God of Creation, who was supposed to be an almighty being, was an eternally immortal existence that didnât even know the concept of death. As such the God of Creation was tormented by infinite solitude.
Then, why was the God of Creation able to die?
The answer to that is for sure the existence of the Goddess Aura.
Goddess Aura was created by the God of Creation. She was a goddess who brought about death and destruction. By giving birth to that goddess, the God of Creation was able to die for the first time.
She has been created by the God of Creation just like the seven gods, and by granting death to the God of Creation, she gave birth to the other seven gods. Thatâs why sheâs called ăGoddess who is a mother and an elder sisteră by the seven gods.
Thatâs what Jupidekus advocated.
However, establishing in its doctrine that the God of Humans, who appeared last from the God of Creation after the impurities, namely the other six gods, had been removed, is the legitimate successor of the God of Creation, Jupidekus hypothesis was removed from the official documents in the Holy Faith as it had the potential to become a theory opposing the established framework. They reached the conclusion that they should hide the existence of Aura once again.
âItâs bad! Bad, bad!â (Mildas)
Unable to calm down, Priest Mildas restlessly wandered around the room like a beast that was locked up in a cage.
Those, who were chosen by god and blessed with their grace, are called ăDivine Childrenă.
Certain divine children can swim underwater like a fish after receiving the grace of being able to breath underwater. Yet other divine children received the grace of seeing in the dark night like a beast, and they are able to act just like at broad daylight even in starless nights.
The matter of receiving such a blessing after being chosen by a god isnât something that happens that often, but itâs also not like itâs something out of myths or legends.
Archduke Buglydarka is one of the three Archdukes and governs the Principality of Kashluka as authority of the empire. Archpriest Austravis who is one of the Holy Faithâs current three Archpriests. Holy Maiden Palfena of the Spamul Kingdom located in the west. All of them are people seizing the day as divine children who were blessed with the grace of the God of Humans.
Also, even in the fortress where Mildas was staying, a divine child existed.
However, as far as a divine child of Goddess Aura is concerned, the situation changes completely.
âGood grief, I never heard about something like Auraâs divine child! Just what the hell shall I do? How to handle it best?!â (Mildas)
Until now Auraâs divine children didnât manifest even once. Not only is that boyâs existence their first appearance in the history of this continent, but above all, itâs evidence proving the existence of Goddess Aura who was doubted to be actually real so far.
If that boyâs existence become publicly known, itâs clear the Holy City will erupt in an uproar as if a jar of oil has been thrown into a raging fire.
But only that much would still be great. If I bring along that divine child, even though the Holy Faith doesnât recognise Auraâs existence, itâs very likely that I will be secretly disposed of alongside the divine child. Having said that, Auraâs divine child is far too dangerous to be left alone.
âIn that case, currently when no one but me has realized that heâs Auraâs divine childâŚâ (Mildas)
Mildas gulped down his spit.
I finally obtained the foothold to success with the head of that old man. As that might spoil it, it will be best if I pretend that I didnât see or hear about something like Auraâs divine child.
âBut, then, how do I get rid of himâŚ?â (Mildas)
The problem is whether that boy has been blessed with any kind of grace. Itâs no problem if itâs a common blessing like always hitting a target with a thrown stone or having powerful strength. According to some there are even graces like cursing others.
As a matter of fact the company commander has died due to the grace of the other divine child in this fortress. It has turned into a situation where Marchronius, who was his aide, had to hurriedly be instated as Proxy Supreme Commander of the fortress. Because that incident has become well-known within the the fortress the soldiers will likely refuse the killing of Auraâs divine child out of fear even if I ordered it.
A revelation flashed within Mildasâ mind.
âAh, right! He is a divine child! Wonât he be defeated by that other divine child in this fortress? If the two divine children clash against each other, both of them might perish if all goes well. And even in the worst case, I will be able to dispose either of the divine children!â (Mildas)
âââââ
âRu Ork! Fuano!â
Souma, who had his cheek slapped alongside a voice shouting in anger, opened his eyes faintly. Once he did so, the face of a man with a sloppily grown beard was in front of him at a distance where he could bite him.
His nausea and dizziness have calmed down somewhat, but the fatigue, as if gnawing at him, hasnât abated and he is in the troublesome situation where he canât even move a single finger. The spit of the man shouting nearby is covering his face, but he isnât able to wipe it off either.
The man, who talks in a language which Souma canât understand as usual, wears a metal helmet that covers his head down to the nape with nose and cheek guards attached. His torso is clad in an armour which had countless metal pieces sewn into a thick cloth as scales.
âBibulur! Di Aif seiha?â
Losing his temper due to Soumaâs sluggish response, the man called out to his comrade wearing the same attire standing in the back.
âDirou?â
âUbola rob seiha.â
The man nodded to the words of his comrade, grabbed Soumaâs right arm and made him get up forcibly. His comrade grabs the arm on the other side, and both of them drag Souma along towards some unknown place.
Souma with his hazy consciousness surveyed the surroundings by moving just his eyes while being dragged by the two.
It was a place similar to an old fortress in Western Europe.
The high walls, made out of piled-up stones, towered within the descending veil of darkness as the sun has already gone down while being illuminated by bonfires. Many soldiers, who wore the same uniforms as the men pulling him, are trembling due to the coldness as they surround the bonfires in an open square on the ground which was surrounded by the walls.
No matter where he looks, itâs a scene one wouldnât expect to exist in modern Japan at all.
Souma is pulled into the fortressâ basement while gathering the inquisitive stares of the soldiers in the square on himself.
The smell of sweat and excreta as well as a beast-like scent mixed together and resulted in an unbelievably bad stench hanging in the air. On the floor of the basement, which was brightened up by the torches held by the men, a great number of holes with a diameter of 4 â 5 meters had been dug out, and their openings were covered with lids possessing bars.
One of the men dragging Souma grasps the chain attached to the bars of one of the holes with both hands and pulls up the lid using his bodyâs weight by falling backwards.
The torchesâ light doesnât reach the inside of the hole, which had its lid moved away, shrouding it completely in a darkness as if was a bottomless hole. Once Souma looks down there, he experiences a hallucination of seemingly being sucked in there just like that.
In the next moment, the man thrust Soumaâs body into the hole all of a sudden.
Souma, who fell into the hole without having even the time to scream, crashes with his shoulder at the bottom of the hole after a short while of being suspended in mid air. He fell down unable to even apply ukemi , but because the holeâs bottom was blanketed with something like half-rotten straw, that served as cushioning and he fortunately didnât suffer any injuries.
âUh⌠uuh⌠aahâŚâ (Souma)
Nevertheless, the struck shoulder stings with an intense pain. Did the pain have a positive effect in reverse? The mist-like state which clung to Soumaâs mind, clears up a bit.
The darkness is dispelled a bit by the flickering light of the torches shining from above. Once Souma looked up, the men, who pushed him down, shouted something while hitting a bag they held with their hands.
Saying that, one of the man took out something round from within the bag and threw it at Souma.
When he looked at what dropped down close to him, it was something like bread with a size smaller than a fist.
And then, continuing after that, a small leather bag that seems have some liquid inside, and something like a thin staff fell down. Once he looked properly, the thin staff with a length of around 1 meter had a pointed metal put at the tip of one side. It seemed to be a simple spear.
âRu Hap! Ru Hap zoanlieu!â
Once they shout that, the men covered the hole with the barred lid again and left the basement.
With the torchesâ lights becoming distant, the holeâs bottom was once more plunged into darkness as Souma frantically endured his shoulder pain, but when that calmed down after a while, he checked his own situation.
The holeâs depth is approximately 3 meters. Even if I stand on my tiptoes and stretch my back to make myself taller, my hand wonât reach the bars. Even if it reached them for argumentâs sake, I probably wonât be able to make the lid move at all in my current state . Once he touches the wall with his hand, the sensation of ice-cold stone is transmitted to him. With this it doesnât seem like I will be able to do something like digging holes and climbing the wall by using those holes as footholds.
Soumaâs ears heard faint sounds.
Those are sounds like small metal pieces coming into contact with each other, and a growling as if a dog is using its throat to make threatening sounds.
Is there something in the darkness on the other side of the hole?
He tried to stand up right away, but as his weakened legs werenât even capable of that, he crawls alongside the wall. He grabbed the spear, which his hand touched by coincidence while on the move, and thrust it out in order to restrain the thing lurking in the darkness.
The thing in the darkness stirred.
Soumaâs nose smells a stench similar to that in a dog house.
There was a small growl of *grrr* and two small luminous points emerged in the darkness.
No, those are eyes . The turquoise shining two eyes glared at Souma.
âDi Hap arui? Genobanda hyurmuiha.â
Once again he can hear a low beastly growl alongside that incomprehensible language from within the darkness.
The spear he held wasnât that heavy, but his arms, which were affected by his physical fatigue, had problems to just prop it up. However, at the thought of a wild beast lurking in the darkness, he desperately mustered his strength and did no more than keeping thrusting out the spear.
At that moment, a gap in the clouds covering the sky opened up, and the light of the moon, which showed its face through that opening, flowed inside the hole with Souma in it through a small skylight hole inserted in the prison.
The pale moonlight lifts the darkness slightly.
What was lurking in the darkness previously isnât a wild beast as imagined by Souma, but on the other hand itâs not a human either.
It was a creature which was covered with hair all over and which wasnât either human nor beast.
âââââ
Souma had his breath taken away due to the creature becoming visible through the illumination of the pale moonlight.
Limbs that make one feel their wild sturdiness despite being smooth, long and flexible. Exposed, voluptuous breasts and in contrast to that, a tightly compressed waist.
However, all of that is covered by a layer of short, dark brown fur. Itâs not wearing a pelt though. Obviously itâs the creatures very own fur.
And then, rather than being that of a human, its face is closer to those of leopards and cats. Its spout doesnât protrude as much as the one of a leopard; it has a close-to-flat shape, like the mouth of a human, but its clear, large eyes and the small, protruding nose are completely like those of cats. Its ears arenât close to the top of the head but at a spot similar to the ears of humans. Even though the ears have grown pointed while being hairy, his out-of-place impression is ăThose arenât like the animal ears from mangasă.
That creature threatened Souma by baring its fangs.
Souma was surprised. That incomprehensible language gushed out of the creatureâs mouth.
Well, is that a human who had special make-up applied then?
Though he wonder about that, it doesnât seem to be something man-made at all once he looks at the exposed fangs.
Anyway, letâs move away a bit from the creature that I probably should call beastman , making sure to nuzzle his back against the wall while still thrusting out the spear, he moves by dragging himself onwards. At the moment when the beastman shifted its stance to match with Soumaâs movement, there was a sound of metal pieces clinking against each other.
Now that I look properly, iron rings are attached around the wrists of the beastmanâs hands. The chains extending from those rings are connected to the wall. Seeing the chainsâ length, I dare say that itâs unknown whether it can even stretch it hands to around the centre of the hole, but surely no further than that.
Just as he understood that he wonât get attacked if he stays close to the wall, he suddenly lost his strength starting from his shoulders alongside a big sigh. Once the spear drops out of Soumaâs hands, the beastman stops baring its fangs and starts sniffing with its nose twitching.
âItâs alright. I wonât do anything to you.â (Souma)
He held up both hands in the air to demonstrate that he has no intention to hurt it, but at the moment he does so, the beastman begins again to threaten him by baring its fangs.
It seems that an exchange of intentions is simply impossible.
Beside, because his body is still affected by physical weariness and a feeling of intoxication, though it became slightly better, it was troublesome for him to ponder about various issues. Entrusting his body to the wall, he gazed at the straw-like grass which vaguely covered the surface of the holeâs bottom. Thereupon the leather bag with water in it and the object similar to bread, which were dropped together at the same time, caught his eyes.
Right when he became conscious of the water and food, his body begins to complain about being hungry and thirsty.
Ignoring the beastman who threatened him each time Souma moves, he sluggishly extended a hand and picked up the bread and leather bag.
He tries to bite off a mouthful of the bread. The bread crust is damp and tough; it was completely like biting into leather. Its inside had a texture similar to eating dried wheat just like that. It reminds me of the flour dumplings in soup I created with everyone at the time of the outdoors activity in elementary school, where we kneaded the wheat flour, tore off pieces of the yet uncooked dough and boiled it in dashi soup. The breadâs texture here is similar to eating dumplings which hadnât been properly boiled .
Usually thatâs not something you would eat at all, I think. However âhunger is the best seasoningâ says it all. Once he mixed it with his saliva and chewed it thoroughly through several times, a faint sweetness unfolded in his mouth and after swallowing, it permeated his stomach like nectar.
And then, when had bitten the bread several times, he suddenly felt a gaze.
Once he raised his face, his eyes met with the beastman leaning against the wall on the opposite side. He ended up getting threatened with a snarl, but he ignored it as he knew that the other party canât come his way due to the chains.
However, when he bites into the bread once more, he feels the stare again.
This time, in order to be not noticed by the beastman, he doesnât lift his face and just looks at the beastman with upturned eyes.
He saw that the beastman was staring this way after all. However, its look was apparently slightly diverted from him and focussed on something else.
By some chance , stopping to gnaw at the bread, he placed it on his hand.
The beastmanâs stare follows downwards.
He brings the bread to his mouth.
The beastmanâs stare follows upwards.
When their eyes met, he was threatened once again.
However, with this he knew that the beastman was aiming for the bread.
But, Souma was troubled. The food he has now at hand is only this one half-eaten, small bread. In addition, even though heâs hungry, he doesnât know just when he will be able to get food next. On the contrary, he doesnât even know whether there will be a next time at all.
The correct decision at this point is probably to carefully ration out this bread to survive. In the first place, I have no obligation to rescue that beastman in front of me as we have no kind of connection either. Besides, since it has been locked up in this place, it might be a dangerous fellow. Something like sharing my important food with such fellow is what an idiot would do.
Persuading himself like that, Souma tried to bite into the bread, but his hand suddenly stopped.
ăListen, Souma. The gods are always watching. Make sure to not behave shamefully.ă
Those words, which popped up in Soumaâs mind, belonged to his grandfather who died at the beginning of this year.
Souma loved his grandfather who taught him about the old ways of playing, which had been most recently forgotten, such as taketonbo and spinning tops.
The favourite phrase of his grandfather, which he imparted on Souma, were those words.
However, because itâs an emergency right now, it canât be helped.
Souma gave such excuse to himself, but he once again remembered his grandfatherâs words.
ăLook, Souma! The Japanese are great after all! Japanese are a fine race.ă
Those were his grandfatherâs words at the time when he saw the news about the Great East Japan earthquake. While encountering an unprecedented great earthquake, the victims didnât plunder or rebel, but helped each other by sharing the little food they had. Seeing that in the news, his grandfather happily spoke about it while revealing tears of gratitude.
ăSouma, you too make sure to not behave shamefully.ă
Souma tightened his lips firmly.
And then, while holding out his right hand which held the half-eaten bread, he called out to the beastman.
âThis, do you want it?â (Souma)
The beastman incessantly blinked with its eyes, but it immediately roars while baring its fangs once again.
âRu Rugonas! Genobanda noiha!â
It looks like it hasnât understood my words after all.
Giving up, Souma tossed the half-eaten bread towards a place seemingly reachable for the beastmanâs hands. And, drinking only half of the water in the leather bag, he does the same with the rest.
After that, in order to cut off his lingering affection towards the food, Souma turned his back, curled up close to the wall and decided to sleep.
One couldnât say by any means that the sleeping comfort on the stinking grass was great, but even so he ended up falling asleep before long.
The next morning, when Souma woke up, the half-eaten bread was gone and the leather bag had also been crushed flat.