Chapter 9: Turning Point

TL Note:

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains depictions of attempted rape on a minor. Reader discretion is highly advised.

10 Years Old Arc: A Girl from an Inferior Race

Turning Point

My month-long paradise came to an end when Mr. Rüdiger and my father arrived at the villa one after the other.

My father chatted briefly with Mr. Rüdiger at lunch before taking me back to our apartment in Nygenburg.

After bowing deeply to Mr. Rüdiger, the owner of the villa, Mr. Weiss, who took care of the laundry and cleaning, and Aunt Bernold, who continued to provide delicious meals, I stood before Max.

Max stood there with his back straight and upright, as always. His eyes were a little watery, though.

This might be our last farewell, so I hugged Max tightly.

"Goodbye, Max... Thank you,... it was fun... Don't push yourself too hard.... don't bottle things up anymore...."

"...Celica."

Max put his arms around my back.

After hugging for a while, we reluctantly parted and I got into the passenger seat of the rental car where my father was waiting in the driver's seat.

As the car started moving, I turned around from the passenger seat and saw Max still watching me go.

★

["Celica! ...Thank goodness you're safe."]

["Mom... I'm sorry for making you worry."]

When I got home, my mother hugged me to greet me.

The warmth of her embrace made me realize how much she loved me.

Playing with Max at the luxurious villa was fun, but this apartment, with my loving parents, felt like the best place to live.

As we relaxed as a family, we decided to skip my school tomorrow because they thought I must be tired from the trip.

I slept soundly that night. It was the first time in a long time I'd been in my own bed.

The next day, after spending a relaxing day at home, I left the apartment in the evening after school to meet one more person who had been on my mind.

★

In a secluded corner of the usual park, far from the main area,

I sat behind a bush, waiting for Al.

I wondered if he'd forgotten about me, if he was alright. 

Had he been able to spend his time peacefully at school while I was away?

I wanted to talk about the fun time we had at the villa.

Oh, and I should tell him about Max too.

As I was thinking about what I wanted to ask Al and what I wanted to tell him, I heard footsteps approaching.

However, there were multiple sets of footsteps, and the voices I heard weren't Al's.

"Was there really a beetle here? Are you sure you weren't mistaken?"

"No, I said, there really was."

The voices circled around to the bush.

And when they spotted me sitting there, they were startled for a moment, then their eyes gleamed like hawks hunting their prey. 

"Hey, Celica's here!"

"It's hilarious that she's hiding in the bushes like this! It suits her as an animal!"

"Maybe she was hiding because the animal control was about to exterminate her?"

The four of them naturally coordinated their positions to surround me, and then, for some reason, they laughed heartily, looking up at the sky.

This is bad, I can't escape.

Ignoring my panic, one of them, who was mocking me, glanced at my left animal ear and reached out.

"You're trying to be cute and wearing accessories! How cheeky for an animal!"

In an instant, it was snatched away with brute force. It was something precious that Max had given me!

"Give it back!"

I stood up to try and retrieve the ear cuff, but the boy, laughing gleefully, raised his hand high to block me.

As I jumped to try and get the ear cuff that was so high up, I accidentally stepped hard on his foot.

"Ouch! That hurts! Why did an animal like you have to step on my foot?!"

"Ouch!"

The boy pushed me with great force.

I fell backward, landing on my bottom.

The boy who pushed me looked as if he'd had an idea, then grinned and looked down at me.

"If you want it so badly, I'll give it back."

He grabbed the closed ends of the clip-on ear cuff with his fingers and pulled outwards with all his might.

The metal, but not very thick, ear cuff snapped cleanly in half.

The boy threw the broken metal piece, which had been my ear cuff, at me.

"Here you go! I give it back!"

"Ah... ah..."

The moment my ear cuff was destroyed, I felt as if my memories of Max had been shattered as well.

My despairing expression seemed to amuse them, and the boys burst into laughter, but their laughter suddenly stopped unnaturally.

Their gaze focused on my lower body.

When I fell backward on my buttocks, my skirt flipped up, revealing my beastman underwear.

I thought I heard a gulp.

"..... Hey, this is a good opportunity, why don't we undress you and see what your beastman body is like?"

"That's a good idea! I agree!"

One of the boys silently grabbed both of my arms as I lay on the ground with my back against the bushes, hands on the ground, and dragged me to the ground in a field that was wider than before, but hidden from view by the bushes.

Then two other boys tried to pin me down, pinning my arms and legs to the ground from both the front and back.

What?!

What, what, what, what, what, what?!

Scary, scary, scary, scary, scary, scary!!

"No...! Stop!!"

I desperately thrashed my arms and legs in resistance as they tried to restrain me.

"Stop flailing around!!"

"Gah!!"

One of the boys slammed his fist into my stomach.

The pain in my stomach and the fear of being hit paralyzed me.

An unpleasant warmth spread through my lower abdomen.

"Hahahaha!! She's wet herself!!"

"Wetting herself without minding the place, she's an animal not only in appearance but also on the inside!!"

After confirming that I was motionless, they tightened their grip on my arms and legs, pinning me completely to the ground.

One hand reached out and tore the shoulder strap of my dress.

More hands reached out, one after another, and with a ripping sound, my dress was torn in places.

The boy leaned over me, his hand caressing my slightly swollen breasts, then licked my cheek with his tongue.

"Albert isn't here! He's not here!! So look at us! Look at me!!"

The boy said, grinning, but with a hint of desperation.

I heard the sound of a belt unbuckling from the side.

I no longer had the will to resist and just stared at the sky reflected behind the grinning boys.

'Why was I born into this world, Naraka?'

Tears flowed from misery and regret.

'If this is how it's going to be, I should have not been born, or been reincarnated....!'

Just as I was about to curse my birth for the first time since being born into this world,

"OFFICERS!! OVER HERE!!"

A loud voice that shook the air echoed.

"...!! Damn it! Run!!"

After freezing for a moment at the sound, the boys tightened their belts and ran away.

Max appeared from behind the bushes.

".... Get up... Here, put this on."

He helped me to my upper body and put his jacket on me. Max was now in just a shirt and looked a little cold.

... I was scared.

"I WAS.... SCARED...! I WAS SO.... SO SCARED!"

I didn't care that my underwear and thighs were covered in urine, and I hugged Max.

Max hugged me back without saying a word and gently stroked my back.

★

I wrapped Max's jacket around my upper body and something that was a dress around my lower body, and headed back to the apartment.

Along the way, I was subjected to curious, contemptuous, and lustful stares from the opposite sex we passed, as Max supported me with his arm around my shoulder.

I opened the front door with the key.

Entering the living room, I found my father, mother, and Mr. Rüdiger.

["Celica! Why are you dressed like that?!"]

My mother rushed over. She glared at Max and pushed him away by both shoulders with both arms.

Even though she was a woman, she had the strength of an adult. Max was sent flying backward.

I stood in front of my mother, who was about to press in further, with my arms outstretched.

The dress I had been holding to cover my lower body fell, revealing my miserable state in urine-stained underwear, but I didn't care.

I had to clear up my mother's unfounded misunderstanding about Max, who had saved me.

["Mom, that's not true! Max saved me!"]

At that, my mother seemed to calm down a little, stopped confronting Max, and hugged me tightly.

["Celica...! Celica...!"]

My mother's sobs echoed.

★

"Something like that..."

My father stumbled slightly backward.

My mother bowed deeply to Max and apologized, and after I changed into my new clothes, I told them everything that had happened.

How I was always bullied at school.

How Al had been helping me.

How I was waiting at our usual spot to meet Al when I ran into them and was almost gang-raped.

As my mother listened, she began to cry softly again, as if she herself were suffering.

My father and Mr. Rüdiger simply listened in silence.

...

Silence hung over the living room.

Until no one spoke, Max spoke.

"Dad, is there any way we could send Celica to our school?"

"The Bellandenburg Academy of Magic? But to attend..."

"Celica can use healing magic! She can manipulate mana, so she's more than qualified to attend. I'll take care of her living expenses and studies! So please..."

Max bowed his head deeply to Mr. Rüdiger.

Seeing this, my father suddenly spoke gently.

"Celica, what do you want to do? Of course, you don't have to answer if you can't decide for yourself."

"...I don't want.... to go to that school anymore. ...I'm going.... to Bellandenburg."

I couldn't bear to go to a place where those people were anymore.

Furthermore, many people saw me when I returned in a terrible state. I'm sure rumors are spreading.

Honestly, I didn't even want to walk the streets of Nygenburg anymore.

However, this is the Naraka world. 

If I stopped moving forward, it was clear that I would be deceived and exploited by others.

I had to gain even a little bit of strength to survive.

"I understand. I'll take care of the enrollment procedures for the magic academy."

"Thank you.... thank you so much."

My father quietly bowed his head to Mr. Rüdiger.

★

When my calm mother returned to the living room with tea, the small talk began.

The adults present were all chatting gently, trying to lighten the mood.

Max and Mr. Rüdiger, driven by their butler, Mr. Weiss, apparently on their way to return to Bellandenburg, the capital of Mittelland, the day after we departed for Nygenburg.

On the way, Max decided to stop in Nygenburg to see me one last time.

And apparently, Max searched the town alone for me when he found I wasn't home.

When I asked how he knew I was behind the bushes in the park, he explained that there was a detection spell on my ear cuff, and that he had become anxious and rushed to search for me when it broke.

..... It felt a little strange, like I was being treated like a pet, but it's true that I was saved because of it.

"Thank you so much."

For the first time, I bowed my head and thanked Max.

★

Rüdiger and Max exited through the front door.

It was getting late, so they decided to find lodging nearby for the four of them, including Mr. Weiss and Aunt Bernold.

They'll send me another messenger to take me to Bellandenburg.

As I stood at the front door to see them off, Max gave me a look filled with strong determination.

"From now on, I'll be the one to protect Celica."

TL Note:

Bellandenburg: In this novel, this place is the capital Mittelland. The City that has the best Magic Academy in the country. However, the name itself is most likely refer to the State of Brandenburg, a landlocked state in northeastern Germany. In reality, the capital Germany is supposed to be Berlin though.