Vol 1 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2: Red Steel

Inside his head, Claugh Klom could vividly remember the memories of what his mother had told him back then

”You're different You're different from other children, a special child”

Incidentally, while his hed up blood

Bright red blood

A large amount of blood

His drug-filled mother's blood

But the reason hisabuse

She was always defending her drugs, pulling out the weeds and burning the that if they were poisonous and dangerous, that was all the more reason to take them

When the drugs wore off, she'd go h, as no older than five years old, but while under the influence of the drugs, she was calm

And today, she'd hit his

He'd watched motionlessly

As she did her drugs, herhim That was an ordinary day for him

Today's aht, the fact that right now, before his eyes, hisup blood wasn't due to the drugs

” You're special”

Claugh watched his mother who continued to murmur that He watched as more blood flew from her mouth Even as a child, he understood that the aht that that would remain as his most vivid memory

The red that was coughed out of his s

If you et?

” Special You're special”

Histhat With a vacant look on her face, she keptthat

Special, special, special, special

However, Claugh didn't knoas so special about hi was a bit more advanced than other children's, he could read and write father than other children—there were certainly those things, but he didn't think those made him special

At the very least, he didn't think they orth e of death

But his mother spoke

”You're special You're special”

With a blue face

While coughing up blood

She continued to mutter what could only be called a curse

A blue and red curse of blackness

Those three colours wrap theh

” So So you must live”

His mother said that

Claugh didn't say anything Sensing the aura of death fro

Histo die

His s and hit hi to die

His mother, whooing to die

In front of his h said,

” Don't die, Mom”

He cried deeply

But his mother said,

”Special You're a special child So, so you e”

Those kinds of words

And she laughed She suddenly laughed madly

”Ha haha hahaha!? Yes, that's it! You'll get revenge for ainst that man”

But her words stopped there

From behind, an arro and pierced her throat, as h

While dripping blood froh

”Ahahahahahahahaha!”

A arrow hit her right shoulder

”Ahahahahahahahaha!”

From behind, an arroards her stomach

”Ahahahahahahahaha It doesn't hurt, because of the drugs, it doesn't hurt Now, kill h will definitely”

An arrow pierced thevoice stopped Then, she looked down at Claugh with a self-deprecating and despairing face

”Got it? You're a special child So that I would give birth to you, this was done to my body and now I'll be killed I'll be killed aswith you It's all your fault My life was ruined because of you That's why you , and you'll”

Another arrow pierced her back She looked at that, and as she coughed up hed, and then spoke

” Get revenge against this rotten world”

It was definitely one

As he thought, it was a curse

In that h

Surely, a blue and black curse

Coughing up blood one last tih took one step back, looking down at the corpse His mother's corpse

Despite all his sadness, he didn't cry, for some reason

Is it because of the curse?

” Revenge”

Claugh muttered

Then he lifted his face

Right now, he was in a se, it was the house his poor s and trash In the kitchen, there was a mountain of dirty dishes

And over there, outside the broken

Where the arrows that'd broken the ere being fired from

Claugh looked over there

Outside the ere about ten or sotheir swords and firing arrows as they killed the fleeing villagers

” Thieves, huh?”

Or bandits?

He didn't think it was the ares to plunder them like thieves,

”The aro After all, the soldiers' training and efficiency, along with reater than bows”

Claugh recited the inforaze towards the large bookshelf in the living room

” You're a special child, after all”

Regarding those words that were ht of how his mother told him to read the books on that bookshelf

All these books that his poor mother didn't have the e couldn't afford

Why are these here in this house?

Claugh had asked his h-kun with a sharp e's people had donated them

But that was rather strange

The infor those books didn't impact his and his mother's daily life

Were the people of this village, living in poverty, idiots?

That, or they were ridiculously soft-hearted

””

Again, Claugh looked at the thieves outside the

And he res, told him each day

It was the story of her life up until then

Born into poverty, sold by her parents on her seventeenth birthday and placed in a prison where she was confined for several days, filled with drugs and then raped so that she could produce a child

But though she was experiive birth to a h

It's your fault

It's your fault that my life is a mess

And after I snuck out of the facility, they've surely been searching forfor you But I was thinking about selling you Like my parents did to me, like the world did to me, I would sell you and finally be happy

Each and every day she said, s sadly at the end

Claugh remembered that

And he'd thought about how much of what she said was the truth

But now, he understood the entire truth

Theroom

The refined drugs that could never have e like this

And the ers

””

Judging by the bandits' behaviour, they were trained fighters

Outside the

One bandit noticed Claugh He made a face as if he'd found his prey And he pulled back his bow

From this distance, the chances that an arrow fired froh were low

But

As a sharp sound rang through the air, the arro straight towards Claugh

Claugh narrowed his eyes at that

As he thought, these people had been trained

As he thought, someone purposely sent this mountain of books to their house

As he thought, sos to his mother

There, the arrow reached Claugh's chest

However, Claugh easily caught it

—You're special After all, you're a special monster

He looked at the arrow that he grasped in his hand, before lifting his hand up and throwing it back

Before theon, the arrow pierced through his heart as he fell off his horse

But Claugh didn't care about that

Instead, looking down at his dead round, he spoke

” The fact that you were able to escape was part of the experiment, Mom”

Though he didn't know the purpose, there was no doubt that the experi

And Claugh was a part of it

Who the heck was it that wanted to do so with him?

He didn't know anything about that, though it would be fine if that was the only problem

The bigger probles each day with a crying face, without noticing anything, wishi+ng to be free

” It seems you were a pawn to the end,”

Claugh said to her corpse

””

Of course, there was no response

But he ignored that

”So, you said you wanted revenge?”

””

”You wanted revenge against this cruel world?”

””

Her corpse didn't answer

Without speaking, a curse was laid

On herself

On the world

On her son

Red, blue, and black

Claugh s down, he closed the open eyes of hisher messy hair, he prepared himself

And he spoke

”Revenge, huh? All right Since I still haven't found the reason of my existence, I'll make that s, for Moainst this damn world”

Claugh stood up Then, heading to the kitchen, he opened a cupboard Inside was a rusted knife After taking it out, he spoke

”Let's get revenge”

Claugh leapt out of the

Now that he was outside, he could see that there were seventeen bandits The village had been cohtered

Houses had been set on fire, and all the woh They called out to kill him

But ignoring that, Claugh looked around The bandits were only sacrificial pawns They weren't worth watching out for Thus, ignoring the bandits' attack, Claugh looked around restlessly

This

This—as happening to the village—was part of the experiment

” So soht?”

He searched for that

But a five-year-old child's ability to locate presences didn't a, surely they had to be stronger than these bandits to be observing Claugh

Maybe it was so him, then he wouldn't be able to find them

” Or else they wouldn't be watching, right?”

With that settled, it was time to decide his next move

If so, then it was necessary to kill all the bandits for thee Claugh's power For the sake of luring in the enemy, it was necessary to let them see his power

If there was nobody watching, then it was necessary to escape and then tail the bandits back to their headquarters

To the enemy's whereabouts—to the whereabouts of the ”that e upon

Nohich way

Claugh searched his surroundings for a presence

””

But he couldn't feel anything

Was there nobody watching?

”Where are they?”

But he couldn't feel any presences

In response, he took in a deep breath He let it out Again, he breathed in He had to deliver oxygen to his brain So that he could think clearly, he had to deliver lots of oxygen to his brain

Now, to judge the situation To judge it properly Should he kill all the bandits? Or should he escape for now?

””

There, a bandit swung his sword A sluggish gishly

Claugh readied his knife in response

”I've decided I'll kill them all”

But then he stopped his movements

That was because he heard a sound The sound of nuround

It was the sound of hooves The sound of horses galloping

At that, Claugh's thoughts again whirled around

”What's going on?”

At the saht fired from soiant hole was left in his chest Letting out a cry as his life ended, the man fell off his horse

Claugh understood Useable only by skilled spellcasters in the Roland aric attack, Kuuri

Claugh looked in the direction that the Kuuri was fired frouard of five men, dressed in Roland's military uniform, called out

”Are you all right!? We'll arrest the bandits, so you escape!”

The military had come to save them

The e that was attacked by bandits

And those five an to draw their next spells Kuuri, Izuchi, Kurenai, Misumi, and Homura

In an instant, they disposed of the bandits

Before long, they approached Claugh, scanning their surroundings At all of the dead villagers, and at the burning houses And with mournful expressions, one spoke

” Hoful If only we'd arrived earlier”

He descended froh's face He smiled kindly

” But at least there's one survivor Are you all right?”

He spoke in a warm tone

At that, Claugh looked as if he were about to cry Heface

” Mu, the village, my mother, everyone's been killed”

”I understand It's all right You did your best It's all right now We caht now”

Hugging Claugh, he said that The h looked as if he were about to cry No, he honestly did start crying

”… I… It was scary—it was really scary…”

While crying, he said that

If he didn't cry

If he didn't cry, then he

The military came to save them

They, who'd deserted the people in favour of being the nobles' dogs, cae that'd been attacked by bandits

And they were soldiers who could use Kuuri They were soldiers who could use ic at a skill level that ordinary soldiers couldn't handle

They were soldiers who usedweren't able to use

Aren't I lucky that these soldiers would coe!?

Thinking that, he felt like s sarcastically

Geez, doesn't this scenario have a giant hole in it?

In other words, that was hoas

These soldiers who'd coe froh—

” However, to survive in this situation—you’re a, aren’t you?”

” … I-I was going to die… I was going to die at any rate…”

In order to win over Claugh so that he would cooperate and take part in their experiment

”No, you really are a for brave children like you, you know”

” Brave?”

”That’s right Brave Before we ca to face the bandits alone, weren’t you?”

” Yeah”

”To go up alone against your ene for children like you”

”I'm brave?”

”That’s right That reminds me—why don’t you come with us? Won’t you come with us and work under our wise leader and serve this country?”

Regarding that,

”… M-Me, for this country…?”

While saying that, Claugh looked at the man's face And then at his neck And then at his carotid artery He gripped his knife tightly

I'll kill hiht

I'll kill all five people here

And again, he remembered his mother's words

—You're a special child, after all

Maybe so, Claugh thought

For the first ti with a user of the pride of Roland's offensive spells, Kuuri

That level?

”Then, then I… can become your ally…?”

”Yes, that’s right That’s our hope”

Maybe he could kill four of them and then torture the last one for inforood plan That was a ay of thinking Judging froh could single-handedly kill the bandits

No, rather, it see else?

”Do you want to become our ally?”

”Sure!”

”Good, well said You really are brave A special child”

Special

Special?

Born fro-addicted mother, a child of a special experiment

What were the drugs prescribed to his s to increase her child's physical capabilities? Or drugs to increase his intelligence? But that wasn't what he got frouys' skill level, he could be killed in an instant by them, it seemed?

Thinking about that, he gripped his knife But the men didn't seem to notice that

”Now then, will you come with us?”

With those words, it was the latter, Claugh thought

The latter

Claugh's worth wasn't that he was strong It wasn't that he was sh didn't yet knohat ability had been produced from the experiment

And to know, Claugh had to cooperate on his own intiative That hy he had to do this in a roundabout way

That hy these guys didn't know if Claugh was stronger than theh was particularly smart

Truly

They didn't know if he truly was a special child

This was a good situation, he thought

If they thought he eak, if they thought he was childish, then this situation was rather good

He would get revenge

Claugh smiled

With a childish face, he smiled

”I’ll go with you!”

S innocently, he said that

♦

After giving hiswith bottles of her beloved drugs—and picking one of the bandit's horses, he rode along with the vanguard to a strange location

It was a large estate, and spread across in front of it was atraining

Upon arriving, Claugh was led away by the h, the man spoke in a kind tone

”Well then, we’re here Starting from today, this is your home”

In response, Claugh looked up at the man

”Here is my home?”

”Yeah The Emirel Private Forces Do you have any questions?”

”Nope”

Claugh shook his head

However, he did actually have things he wanted to ask

In his late mother's house, thin books about the Emirel Private Forces had been left behind

This was a summary of ritten in them

Created under the will of the noble Count Echroid Eanization

Deathers superior children and allows theht up to serve this nation

Those who graduate froanization under the nah positions in Roland's arreat power, and reach high levels of authority

This power is for the sake of protecting this country

This power is for the sake of protecting the people of this country

Undefeated by the Special Institute 307, different froth, this excellent organization continues to produce power for the sake of eternal happiness

That is the Emirel Private Forces

Such things ritten

In all hundred or so pages in the book, words of nobility and superiority and excellence were used repeatedly

It was a book intended to brainwash foolish children into believing in the excellence of the Emirel Private Forces

It was like a paion

Claugh had read through it

However,

” There's nothing I wanna ask,”

He answered so He made a face as if he'd never read the books in his house A face like he'd never bothered to read those difficult books

TheHowever, within that expression, the colour of slight disappoint arose, before it immediately vanished

At that, a sht, the experi

(I see, it seeht)

That kind of expression

At that, Claugh smiled