My Childhood Friend the Demon Knight Hates Me - Episode 37: Reiss Edition
37 Reiss Edition
Translator: Lioness
Editor: Arya
When I regained consciousness, I found a dead woman in front of me.
I had a vague recollection of being kidnapped by this blood-soaked woman and of what she did to me, but the conversation we had was bizarre and I couldn’t recall much about it.
My chest was throbbing, but there was no sign of injury on my reflection in the window of the hut. It seems, there is nothing to worry about with my body.
The only thing that seemed to be wrong with my body was the fearsome formation spreading out beneath my feet, and the ugly space I was in with the dead woman.
On that stance, I ran out of the hut.
I ran and ran throughout the forest. Eventually, I made my way to a place where there was light.
There, I was protected by a group of merchants who happened to be passing by, but I didn’t feel like going back to those who despised me, so I queued up an appropriate lie and was put in the carriage of the merchants who seemed to be on their way back to their own country.
In my own country, the Kingdom of Nafu, there was an orphanage who was run by the head of the merchants, a man I knew.
He said he was a trustworthy man, and I was going to be placed there.
“Is your name Reiss? … I think you had a hard time even though you are still a little kid. From now on, this is your house, so feel free at home.”
Uncle Alan laughed cheerfully, saying, “But you’ll help with the housework!”
The other orphanage guys were bigger than when I looked at my thin body and appearance, but I thought I was finally able to calm down and breathe a little.
It was then.
“This is the daughter of an old friend of mine. Isn’t she a clever girl? Suria, this is the new kid on the block, Reiss.”
“Nice to meet you, Reiss.”
—- where I met Suria.
•••
Suria was two years older than me, and despite her beautiful figure and manners that showed her good upbringing, she was an open-minded girl who spoke clearly.
She frequently visited the orphanage with her father, she was also well taken care of, and was loved like an older sister by the orphans.
Suria seemed to be curious about me, who was loved by other people, but she was always trying to take care of me.
“Hey, Reiss. It’s a beautiful day. Why don’t we go out and play sometime?”
“My fa
“Uncle Alan was worried since you don’t eat much food, but you know how delicious his food is. You should eat more!”
“Uncle Alan told me that you like to read books. Let’s read together.”
At first, to be honest, I found it annoying and troublesome.
I really thought it was annoying.
But when I saw that she didn’t give up, no matter how much I … tried to push her away, I knew that my emotions that had stopped me from freely moving were slowly being released.
I didn’t hate it when Suria called me by my name, ‘Reiss.’
In fact, every time she called me that, my name echoed with its own colour, which made me warm and itchy, and I was pathetically confused.
Thanks to Suria who was taking me outside, I learned that climbing a tree was harder than it seemed.
She rolled up her skirt and slid up to the top of a large tree. She was better at climbing trees than anyone else in the orphanage … and, unfortunately, better than I was.
I was proud to say, ‘It’s a lady’s thing’, but her mother said, “Be a lady!” She was mad at me. I was surprised to see the corners of her mouth slacken unconsciously as she sank it into a pout.
Also at the suggestion of Suria, I tasted Uncle Alan’s cooking, and it reminded me of my mother’s cooking from long ago, and for the first time after a long time, I remembered the taste of ‘deliciousness’.
At the previous times, it tasted the same no matter how much I ate. It was really strange.
I never liked the fact that some of the guys at the orphanage called her ‘Suu’ as a term of endearment, and that she responded to them, so after some struggle, I called her that myself.
“What’s wrong?” I was satisfied with myself, and what was more, when she turned around with her eyes wide open, while I let out a smile which I was able to show at least a little, and she happily hugged me.
I quickly pulled her away, but I thought to myself, “I’ll call her again that way.”
There was a time when Uncle Alan and Suria had secretly planned to celebrate my birthday.
My birthday hadn’t been celebrated in a long time, and if I hadn’t told them the exact day, they would have decided to celebrate the day I arrived at the orphanage.
When I went to the cafeteria, I was unexpectedly showered with bright red Ricola flowers.
“Reiss, happy birthday!”
I didn’t show it, but my heart jumped wildly when Suria congratulated me in a mischievous way.
The food was more sumptuous than usual and the room was decorated. I heard that Suria had called others to help out as well. By that time, my presence had been completely accepted by the people at the orphanage, thanks to Suria’s normal interactions with me.
She came to me and gave me a pendant in the shape of a Ricola flower on a gold chain. It looked a lot like the colour red in my eyes, and it also served as a talisman, so it was also a gift to protect yourself from Evil.
“…… Why is it a woman’s thing? Well, okay.”
While spitting out the words that were not so honest, I whispered, “Thanks … Suu,” and she loosened her cheeks.
She sat down beside me, “Hey, Reiss. Are you happy now?” as she asked.
“My dad taught me something wonderful. At a moment, when I feel ‘ Oh, I’m happy’, it seems that the key to living life happily is to say it out loud and express it into words. People’s words have power. I’m happy to celebrate your birthday now. Are you? Reiss, are you happy now? ”
When I saw her looking into my face with such expectation in her ashy pale blue eyes, I was choked up by its prettiness and I was speechless.
I wanted to touch —- Suria in front of me.
Yes, I felt it strongly.
But at the same time, I felt like I must not go any further.
I couldn’t move my mouth nor my fingertips, so I kept the pendant in my hand and looked down.
She placed her own hand over mine and smiled, “Your hand is warm, Reiss,” without prompting an answer.
I couldn’t say it at that time, but … I was certainly ‘happy’, I guess.
He wanted to protect her, he wanted to be the one who was able to protect Suria, so he asked me to teach him regarding swordsmanship and bodywork, and he willingly learned from me, Suria’s Uncle.
There was a time when Suria asked me why I did it, but I couldn’t reveal it, so I faked it.
(TL: In these two paragraphs, Uncle Alan was the one narrating.)
Uncle Alan often teased me about Suria, and I frequently felt frustrated because I wanted to rebel against him, but it didn’t work out.
I wore the pendant all the time that Suria had given to me.
Suria’s presence grew larger and larger inside my heart after I met her.
If I could, I would want to be by her side forever.
In addition to this, when my birthday was celebrated again after a long time, the mysterious alarm bells that I heard began to ring more and more violently inside my head each day.
I wondered why, I wondered why it was like that.
The more calm and gentle the days passed by…
The more I thought about Suria, the stronger I felt…
The more I thought about her, the more I was consumed by a quiet fear that I might recall something that I shouldn’t.
—- And then the moment of collapse that I had feared came easily.
“You do have your loved one, right? That woman is important. Thus, according to the contract — you must kill that woman right now. ”
The voice of the devil crawled directly into my brain and brought the sleeping Demon inside me back to life.
The next thing I knew, even if I didn’t want to, I was forced to understand was that Suria and I could never be together, ever.