The Healer in a Japanese-Style Game World: Mastering Healing to Save My Favorite Character in a Brutal World, Only to Find Everyone Around Me Becoming Obsessed - Chapter 18: Someone's Reminiscence

Chapter 18: Someone’s Reminiscence

Killing, stealing – devouring flesh and blood.

Using fangs, piercing with my tail, slashing life away with my claws.

…In the darkness of the night that I created.

In the cage that confines me, I hunted the lives I was supposed to protect.

I hated it, didn’t want to do it, had to protect this land inherited from that person―but my instincts, my tainted body wouldn’t stop.

―I love them, they are important to me, I have to protect everyone.

I threw a tantrum, saying I hated it, but I couldn’t stop anymore.

The pieces of flesh I spat out were trampled by my rushing body.

The drops of blood spilling from my mouth left traces―making me aware of my sin.

…I’m sorry, I’m sorry for being such a god. But…I can’t endure it.

Hideous and harmful―everything about me is so disgusting. My once-praised moonlit fur is soaked in blood, now emitting a dark aura, perhaps due to the miasma. 

I want to be free, but dying is the only thing I am not allowed to do.

My body aches, I hear voices blaming me―and at the same time, a voice whispering to devour more. To follow my instincts more, to destroy everything, sweetly tempting me.

I’m scared, help me.

Someone.

―Someone, please kill me.

Knowing no one would help, wanting to die…still.

Under the red moon, I howled into the void again today.

———

——

—

“Ugh―what was that―a dream?”

I woke up with a start and saw the same red moonlight.

A nightmare… or rather someone’s memories, a record of someone crying for help, confused my mind.

…I didn’t know how long I had slept, but I was drenched in sweat, and more than anything, I felt sick from the sensation of killing yokais as if I had experienced it myself.

Feeling a vague sense of unease, I got out of bed and was about to call out to Makami when I realized something.

“…Makami?”

No matter where I looked, she wasn’t there.

She wasn’t in the bed, and there was no sign of her in the room.

Worried, I went back to the reception on the first floor and asked the innkeeper about Makami’s whereabouts.

“…Makami, you mean the beastwoman with black hair, right?”

“Yes, she was gone when I woke up―do you know where she went?”

“If you’re talking about her… about thirty minutes ago, she said something about heading towards the mountains. She left a message saying not to worry if you woke up. I tried to stop her because the mountains are dangerous right now, but…”

“―Thank you.”

“If you’re going to look for her, take this lantern as it’s dark in the mountains.”

Hearing this, I decided to leave the inn and climb the mountain from the opposite side of the village.

I moved farther and farther away from the village, and as the houses became fewer, I reached the opposite fence―I jumped over it and found myself on the shrine path―after walking a little, I felt the miasma.

Even with my resistance to miasma, thanks to divine protection, I felt it as poison. As I proceeded, I saw a giant snake lying a bit further ahead.

“―These wounds, they’re not from Makami, right?”

I cautiously approached and noticed the abnormality of the corpse.

The body, emitting miasma, had numerous holes. Large holes as if something sharp had pierced it multiple times.

Such a brutal way of killing, definitely not Makami’s style, made me realize there was a dangerous entity around. And the familiarity of this killing method made me understand that the Moonlit Fox was indeed present.

If that’s the case, there’s no time to waste.

I know Makami is strong, but the opponent is a catastrophic end-game threat.

Though I was scared, I had to go. If something happened to Makami, Kagura would be sad, and I didn’t want my family to get hurt either.

“The blood trail leads that way…”

Following the trail of blood drops, I searched for Makami.

As I followed it, I noticed the numerous corpses, all killed crudely, with no sign of reason. Moreover, all the corpses emitted an abnormal amount of miasma, potentially giving birth to something new.

So, I continued forward, purifying them with my spiritual arts as I went.

Feeling a bit tired, I listened carefully and heard the sound of water.

Wondering if there was a river… as I moved forward, I sensed several presences, including the one I was looking for, Makami.

“…Master?”

“I was looking for you, Makami―wait, who are those kids?”

“Wild foxes… They called for me.”

There, by the river, was Makami bathing, surrounded by a group of wild foxes.

The white moonlit foxes gathered around her, watching me warily as I suddenly appeared.

“Who are you?”

“Human?”

“Go away!”

“We’re bathing now!”

As soon as they saw me, they stood in front of Makami to protect her, blocking my view.

In my worry, I hadn’t noticed it was inappropriate to see Makami naked. So, I looked away and asked her to get dressed.

“…I don’t mind.”

“But I do… Anyway, thank you for telling me, little ones.”

As I thanked them, the wild foxes gathered in the direction I had turned my face.

They quickly transformed into human form and looked at me curiously.

“Is he… a good human?”

“He looks kind of dull.”

“Is he really Makami’s master?”

“Play with us, play with us!”

The fox-eared children gathered around me all at once, chattering away.

They were children around eight to nine years old, dressed in ragged clothes, laughing innocently. Amidst them, one girl grabbed my hand and pulled me,

“Human, are you strong?”

“Sort of? I’m not sure, but I can fight a bit.”

“Then, please help Oboro-sama.”

“Oboro? You mean the Moonlit fox (Oboro Kitsune)?”

The only one I could think of by the name Oboro was that. 

I listened closely to understand what she meant.

“Oboro-sama is suffering. She’s protecting us all by herself, so please help.”

Just as she said that, I felt an overwhelming presence, and a sudden gust of wind blew through the area as it appeared.

“What the…?”

Appearing between Makami and me was a beautiful, moonlit nine-tailed fox.

Covered in blood, it glared at me with its silver, glowing eyes, clearly not in its right mind… The moment our eyes met, my vision was engulfed in darkness.