Chapter 121 – Knight of Madness
“With our situation, we ended up having another child... Let’s name her Aien.”
Under the leaking roof of a shabby house, a worried middle-aged man and a woman in her late twenties held a peacefully sleeping baby in their arms.
“Go. I’m going to live my own life, so you live yours. Don’t follow me.”
In a dark back alley where even the loud honking of cars sounded distant, a child was abandoned by parents wearing indifferent expressions.
The unusual child born in an ordinary village was named Aien.
Yes.
That was me.
That child was abandoned by an irresponsible mother who did not even know who the father was, and she began a new life alone in a back alley.
Yes.
That was me too....
“I’m telling you! This time it’s real! If this works—if it succeeds! We can go back! We can go back again!”
“I can’t remember the last time I saw you this confident. Still, you’re frightening the child, so please lower your voice.”
My father had lost his territory several years ago, and the shock seemed to have driven him half-mad.
My mother was kind, but she lived trapped in the past.
Crash!
“Eek! W-Who’s there...?! Who’s there?!”
Late at night, while I was curled up trying to sleep on the freezing floor of the house where I had been taken in, a loud noise—probably a rat running past—woke me up.
I screamed in surprise.
What came flying at me was a lighter thrown by the woman who had picked me up, along with her irritated voice.
“For fuck’s sake! Shut up! Just go the fuck to sleep!”
“...I’m sorry... I’m sorry....”
When I trembled and whimpered with tears in my eyes, the woman apparently found even that sound annoying.
She got up and beat me until I became quiet.
Not long afterward, she sold me.
She had probably picked me up with the intention of selling me from the very beginning.
“You crazy old bastard! Have you finally lost your mind?! I told you, if you have money to waste on crap like this, buy the kid some proper clothes!”
My eldest sister, who had returned home after a long time, threw the expensive goods Father had bought onto the floor and shouted at him.
She lived away from home as an adventurer and only visited occasionally.
Whenever she did, she always fought with Father like this.
“You insolent brat! How dare you speak to your father that way?!”
“Ah, seriously! You—Mother, say something too!”
“I’m sure he has his reasons.”
Whenever my eldest sister complained to Mother, who always sat quietly beside them, Mother would answer while staring sadly at a past that would never return.
“What...? Don’t you feel sorry for the youngest at all?! I know I’m not really your daughter, but she is!”
“....”
“You brat! How dare you say something like that?! Get out right now!”
“I was leaving even if you didn’t tell me to!”
Father sometimes returned to his senses.
However, whenever money came into his hands, he spent almost all of it on what he called “maintaining dignity.”
My eldest sister, who at least visited once in a while, looked at me with pity, but she never took me away.
Mother remained indifferent toward me and always told me to take care of myself.
I thought Mother hated me.
“From now on, I’m your father. Serve me properly.”
“....”
The man who bought me had taken in many children besides me.
Of course, he had not done so out of kindness.
Children like us, already abandoned and with no one searching for us, were simply convenient tools.
“What the hell is wrong with these damn kids? Why can’t any of them understand what I’m saying the first time? Hey, Manager Kim. Educate the kid.”
To that man, I was merely a tool.
A tool for making money.
So when his tool refused to obey, naturally, he became angry.
“...Yes....”
“Good. Fucking hell, the kids haven’t been bringing in enough lately. Gather everyone.”
The man’s “education” was nothing more than an excuse to vent his anger.
Whenever a certain amount of money failed to enter his pocket, it was as if he suffered some kind of allergic reaction.
He would suddenly erupt into violence.
The man who had ordered me to call him Father took many things from me.
My health.
My time.
My dignity.
“Ah, fuck... It’s because of that bastard...!”
Those who called themselves my brothers and sisters gave me many things too.
The day before yesterday, they gave me a dark blue bruise on my left arm.
Yesterday, they stuck a needle into my right thigh.
Today, they broke my ankle and told me to go beg for money.
My family used me.
“...My child.”
Mother slowly approached me while I was swinging my sword early in the morning.
“Do you like the sword?”
“...Yes....”
I did not like swords.
Still, I continued swinging one.
Because it was the only way I knew to escape from this place.
I did not know any other way.
And aside from this, I did not know how else to make Mother stop and look at me, even for a moment.
“You... you fucking...! I took you in and raised you!”
The man spouted nonsense.
Despite already being stabbed several times, he still seemed incapable of understanding his situation.
“Fuck you! Die! Die! Just fucking die!”
I swung the knife.
Because this was the only way I knew to escape from this place.
I did not know any other way.
And besides this, there was nothing else I was allowed to choose freely.
“Mother... do you know anything about swordsmanship?”
Early one morning, after finishing a poor breakfast, I approached Mother while she sat quietly on the bed reading a book.
I carefully asked her.
“I do not know much... but yes... I will teach you.”
“I’ll do my best...!”
For the first time, Mother smiled at me.
That slightly lonely smile—
Looking back now, it had contained both hope and worry for me.
But I had been too young to understand.
I swung my sword every single day without fail.
Eating, sleeping, reading, studying—I planned every moment of my day and followed that schedule obsessively.
From around that time, Mother slowly began helping me with my swordsmanship.
“Catch that bitch!!! That little thief!”
I grabbed the basket full of money belonging to a beggar sitting inside the subway and ran.
With this money, I could barely afford breakfast today.
“Fuck off! Unless you want to die!”
“You! You parentless bitch!”
“Good guess!”
Not a single day passed without me causing trouble.
I stole food.
I stole clothes.
Even the way I spoke came from copying the strange, rough mannerisms of washed-up old men.
And slowly, people began gathering around me.
“Aien de Eustria.”
One day, while I was swinging my sword like always, I suddenly felt something riding along the blade.
Something I had never felt before.
Father saw it.
His eyes lit up, and he spoke seriously.
“Yes, Father.”
“Go to the training institute. Go there... and become a knight!”
Father asked whether I would enter the training institute.
He told me it would make my mental power even stronger.
Of course, I understood the meaning hidden behind his words.
Become stronger.
Become a knight.
And revive our fallen family.
Even then, I believed that if I succeeded, my parents would finally pay attention to me.
I believed that was the only way I could earn their love.
“What do you want, old man?”
While I was stuffing my mouth with a lunch box stolen from a convenience store, an old man wearing an expensive suit approached me.
“You must be very hungry. Here. Drink this too. What if you get sick from eating so quickly?”
The old man handed me something to drink.
Then he extended his hand and asked if I wanted to come with him.
It happened in a place where the corpses of those who had called me their boss lay scattered around me.
They had tried to take what belonged to me.
And that was when my telekinesis first awakened.
I knew the old man intended to use me.
But still...
I thought that might be fine.
“Wow~! Working hard again today, huh? Looking good!”
Happy, a child younger than me—something rare even at the training institute—spoke cheerfully.
His refreshing face looked completely free of worry.
“...This is the only thing I know how to do.”
“Really? Still, take it easy sometimes~! Hahaha! One moment of enlightenment is more important than swinging a sword a hundred times!”
“...Maybe for you.”
Every day at the training institute was difficult.
I thought I had swung my sword more than anyone else.
But there were people here who had trained even more than I had.
Naturally, there were also geniuses overflowing with talent.
Still, I liked it.
Meals came regularly.
My clothes were clean and neat.
That alone made me happy.
“This is where all of you will live from now on.”
Surrounded by cold white walls, I saw several children wearing the same white clothes as me.
“Try to get along with one another.”
Life in the laboratory was not bad.
They performed experiments on us every single day, but meals came regularly.
No one treated me carelessly.
And my clothes were always kept clean.
For the first time in my life.
“What business do you have here?”
“Ah, well, um... You see... I have mental power....”
Then one day, a strange man knocked on the training institute’s door.
His eyes were sharp, and he dressed like some kind of barbarian.
Yet despite his appearance, the way he acted was strangely timid.
He was a very strange man.
For some reason, I could not stop looking at him.
“Hi! I’m In Manha! Nice to meet you!”
“Fuck off. Unless you want to die.”
“Why do you always eat alone?”
“Fuck off.”
“Food tastes better when you eat together!”
Then one day, I met a strange kid.
Like me, he was an experimental subject.
But he was always cheerful, and his emotions were almost absurdly intense.
When all the other children avoided me, he alone stayed beside me, constantly chattering away.
“I-Instructor! Happy... something’s wrong with the other kids!”
On our way back from a deployment mission, something familiar enough by then, every child from the training institute who had gone on the mission with me began showing strange symptoms.
“...This is... Madness! Impossible...!”
“Huh?! Why?!”
“...Mister?”
Madness.
The man was a person of Madness.
Now that I thought about it, he had been muttering strange things even while we rode the carriage toward the mission.
But...
He saved the village.
I had always been told Madness was absolute evil.
Yet compared to what I had heard, he seemed strangely clumsy.
Very human.
“Huh? Chairman, um... what happened to B-2018?”
The one who usually talked endlessly was nowhere to be seen today.
I approached the Chairman, who was checking experiment results, and carefully asked him.
“It died, so we disposed of it separately.”
“Ah....”
“Ah, forgive me. You were close with that one, weren’t you? I suppose I lacked consideration.”
“...It’s okay....”
Dead.
I did not feel sad.
At least, that was what I thought.
Among all the experimental subjects, I was the only one who had survived for this long.
The Chairman called me a person with potential.
“Ugh! Uweeegh....”
While discussing our next schedule, Mister tried a new menu item at a café and started gagging.
I walked behind him and rubbed his back.
With a face that looked like he was about to die, he actually vomited everything out.
“Aah! Why did you actually throw up?!”
“Y-You...! You... Ugh!!!”
“Hohoho. My goodness.”
As I traveled to different places with Mister, I slowly began learning what kind of person he was.
If this was Madness...
Then maybe Madness was not that much of a problem.
Who in the world could look at Mister and call him absolute evil?
Anyone who spent even one day with him would understand.
He was simply...
a little stupid.
“Congratulations, A-1074.”
The Chairman had finally succeeded in drawing out the absolute limit of my supernatural ability.
He smiled brightly and embraced me.
“It is a little unfortunate that you alone survived until the final experiment.”
The day every other experimental subject died—
The Chairman extended his hand toward me, the sole survivor.
By then, even if I did not want to understand what kind of person he was, I could no longer avoid it.
“Mister! I told you to stop wandering off!”
Whenever he became bored, Mister constantly wandered down random paths.
What was over here?
What was over there?
