Chapter 25: A certain man's diary 1
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While hunting in the mountains, I found a girl being chased by a wolf.
I helped her without thinking.
She fainted, and I took her to my hideout.
◇ ◇ ◇
The girl wasn't injured, but her exhaustion was severe.
I thought I’d let her stay until she recovered her strength.
I served her wheat porridge, which she ate while crying.
However, her expression did not change.
Being able to cry without expression, what a dexterous child.
Even though she has black hair and black eyes, why did I help? She questioned me.
It was a spur of the moment decision, I didn’t have any real reason…
If she’s persecuted for her hair and eye color, she may have trouble trusting others.
Just like when I was young.
After she finished her wheat porridge, for some reason the child peeled back a board in the wall.
“Stop it,” I thought.
Then she pulled out some kind of white bug and tried to give it to me.
“Don’t want it,” I thought.
When I didn't touch it, the child roasted it with magic and started eating it.
Honestly, I recoiled a little.
◇ ◇ ◇
The girl, who seems to be named Emmy, got better in no time.
I thought I could use [intimidation] to get rid of her, but it didn't work at all.
Instead, I’ve gotten kind of attached to her.
Why is that.
But she cleaned around the house, so I thought, “Well, it’s fine.”
Emmy wanted to come with me on a hunt, so I took her.
We steadily built up to a decent speed, but Emmy followed along comfortably.
To be honest, I didn’t think such a little girl could keep up.
What is she?
During the hunt, she was overjoyed when I showed her [grasshopper] and [mantis].
Because of my former profession, I’m not used to people’s admiration, so I was sort of really embarrassed.
While I started dealing with the hunted deer, Emmy seemed to be trying to do [grasshopper] as well next to me.
I thought it felt pleasant, like a child imitating her father.
…No, maybe a grandfather and grandchild would be more accurate.
Either way, it’s not something I’m familiar with.
But surprisingly, Emmy’s imitation wasn’t just at the level of playing around.
She recreated my [grasshopper] and soared into the sky.
I was really shocked.
Maybe Emmy was shocked too; she fainted while she was falling, so I helped her.
That was dangerous.
I got a little angry.
◇ ◇ ◇
Since then, Emmy has been noisy, saying, "I want to be your disciple."
Even so, I can’t just say yes.
No matter how much she asks me to make her my disciple…
I’m not very good at speaking.
Teaching someone would be impossible.
There have been people before who asked me to teach them my skills, but in the end, none of them worked out.
My techniques were not taught to me by anyone.
All of them I devised in order to keep living during work.
Because I use them intuitively, I don’t know how to give instructions for them.
Besides, ultimately, my techniques were created for the sole purpose of killing.
I don't think that’s a good thing for such a young girl to learn.
Therefore, I have been ignoring Emmy's request.
However, Emmy didn't give up.
She doesn’t want to die, she wants to be strong, so please teach her, she tells me.
She wants to be taught by her kind and cool grandpa, she tells me.
Kind and cool grandpa…
Honestly, I never thought I would be called something like that.
From birth to death, I thought I would always live alone.
…I was at quite a loss, but in the end I succumbed to Emmy’s persistence and took her in as my disciple.
But, since it really is impossible for me to teach people, I decided to just show her my technique and let her practice on her own.
To start, I used [silverfish] and walked on the walls and ceiling.
Emmy was still expressionless, but I think she was astonished.
Emmy immediately put her foot on the wall and started her practice for [silverfish].
…It sounds weird coming from me, but how am I even able to walk on walls?
Sprinting as hard as I could away from pursuit one time, there was a castle wall in my way.
Next thing I knew, I’d done something.
That’s [silverfish].
Emmy was laid down, slapping the wall with her feet.
Can she really learn [silverfish] like that?
I'm not sure.
◇ ◇ ◇
It's been a month since then.
Emmy has completely mastered [silverfish].
I was rattled.
I was very rattled.
She’s a genius.
How did tapping her foot on the wall lead to her being able to walk on the wall or ceiling?
Right now Emmy is clinging to the ceiling, taking a nap there.
Why can she do that?
No, I can do it too, but…
At this point, she’s got enough practice with [silverfish], so I gave her the next task.
I wanted to pass onto this child every skill I possibly could already.
I was excited.
But that's not all.
I was fascinated by the talent of this child.
Not just techniques.
I thought I would train her however I could.
Recently, I’ve been poisoning Emmy every day.
When I was young, a colleague taught me how, by taking in poison little by little, you can gradually build a tolerance to it.
I don't understand the rationale.
But when I tried it, it was true, so now my resistance to poison is quite high.
Emmy’s body is still small, so she’ll start from a seriously tiny amount.
Occasionally, Emmy tries to open the cupboard where I store my poison, so I use [intimidation] to stop her.
I think it’s still dangerous to let that child touch any poison directly.
Being given poison every day, at first her face would color blue afterwards, but these days she seems to be fine.
Let's increase the concentration a little tomorrow.
By the way, the same colleague who recommended that I drink poison died not too long after he drank some of the poison that I was always drinking.
I wonder what his deal was?
Chapter 25: A certain man's diary 1
<Previous
Next>
While hunting in the mountains, I found a girl being chased by a wolf.
I helped her without thinking.
She fainted, and I took her to my hideout.
◇ ◇ ◇
The girl wasn't injured, but her exhaustion was severe.
I thought I’d let her stay until she recovered her strength.
I served her wheat porridge, which she ate while crying.
However, her expression did not change.
Being able to cry without expression, what a dexterous child.
Even though she has black hair and black eyes, why did I help? She questioned me.
It was a spur of the moment decision, I didn’t have any real reason…
If she’s persecuted for her hair and eye color, she may have trouble trusting others.
Just like when I was young.
After she finished her wheat porridge, for some reason the child peeled back a board in the wall.
“Stop it,” I thought.
Then she pulled out some kind of white bug and tried to give it to me.
“Don’t want it,” I thought.
When I didn't touch it, the child roasted it with magic and started eating it.
Honestly, I recoiled a little.
◇ ◇ ◇
The girl, who seems to be named Emmy, got better in no time.
I thought I could use [intimidation] to get rid of her, but it didn't work at all.
Instead, I’ve gotten kind of attached to her.
Why is that.
But she cleaned around the house, so I thought, “Well, it’s fine.”
Emmy wanted to come with me on a hunt, so I took her.
We steadily built up to a decent speed, but Emmy followed along comfortably.
To be honest, I didn’t think such a little girl could keep up.
What is she?
During the hunt, she was overjoyed when I showed her [grasshopper] and [mantis].
Because of my former profession, I’m not used to people’s admiration, so I was sort of really embarrassed.
While I started dealing with the hunted deer, Emmy seemed to be trying to do [grasshopper] as well next to me.
I thought it felt pleasant, like a child imitating her father.
…No, maybe a grandfather and grandchild would be more accurate.
Either way, it’s not something I’m familiar with.
But surprisingly, Emmy’s imitation wasn’t just at the level of playing around.
She recreated my [grasshopper] and soared into the sky.
I was really shocked.
Maybe Emmy was shocked too; she fainted while she was falling, so I helped her.
That was dangerous.
I got a little angry.
◇ ◇ ◇
Since then, Emmy has been noisy, saying, "I want to be your disciple."
Even so, I can’t just say yes.
No matter how much she asks me to make her my disciple…
I’m not very good at speaking.
Teaching someone would be impossible.
There have been people before who asked me to teach them my skills, but in the end, none of them worked out.
My techniques were not taught to me by anyone.
All of them I devised in order to keep living during work.
Because I use them intuitively, I don’t know how to give instructions for them.
Besides, ultimately, my techniques were created for the sole purpose of killing.
I don't think that’s a good thing for such a young girl to learn.
Therefore, I have been ignoring Emmy's request.
However, Emmy didn't give up.
She doesn’t want to die, she wants to be strong, so please teach her, she tells me.
She wants to be taught by her kind and cool grandpa, she tells me.
Kind and cool grandpa…
Honestly, I never thought I would be called something like that.
From birth to death, I thought I would always live alone.
…I was at quite a loss, but in the end I succumbed to Emmy’s persistence and took her in as my disciple.
But, since it really is impossible for me to teach people, I decided to just show her my technique and let her practice on her own.
To start, I used [silverfish] and walked on the walls and ceiling.
Emmy was still expressionless, but I think she was astonished.
Emmy immediately put her foot on the wall and started her practice for [silverfish].
…It sounds weird coming from me, but how am I even able to walk on walls?
Sprinting as hard as I could away from pursuit one time, there was a castle wall in my way.
Next thing I knew, I’d done something.
That’s [silverfish].
Emmy was laid down, slapping the wall with her feet.
Can she really learn [silverfish] like that?
I'm not sure.
◇ ◇ ◇
It's been a month since then.
Emmy has completely mastered [silverfish].
I was rattled.
I was very rattled.
She’s a genius.
How did tapping her foot on the wall lead to her being able to walk on the wall or ceiling?
Right now Emmy is clinging to the ceiling, taking a nap there.
Why can she do that?
No, I can do it too, but…
At this point, she’s got enough practice with [silverfish], so I gave her the next task.
I wanted to pass onto this child every skill I possibly could already.
I was excited.
But that's not all.
I was fascinated by the talent of this child.
Not just techniques.
I thought I would train her however I could.
Recently, I’ve been poisoning Emmy every day.
When I was young, a colleague taught me how, by taking in poison little by little, you can gradually build a tolerance to it.
I don't understand the rationale.
But when I tried it, it was true, so now my resistance to poison is quite high.
Emmy’s body is still small, so she’ll start from a seriously tiny amount.
Occasionally, Emmy tries to open the cupboard where I store my poison, so I use [intimidation] to stop her.
I think it’s still dangerous to let that child touch any poison directly.
Being given poison every day, at first her face would color blue afterwards, but these days she seems to be fine.
Let's increase the concentration a little tomorrow.
By the way, the same colleague who recommended that I drink poison died not too long after he drank some of the poison that I was always drinking.
I wonder what his deal was?
