The Mist-Shrouded Mysterious Person

Tonight's dinner was Mekena soup.

Mekena are large beasts, mottled yellow and black, with 3 pairs of legs and 2 pairs of wings.

But they're gentle by nature, and around the country of Naganahate they're kept as livestock in place of cows.

Mekena soup is a traditional dish of this region, consisting of various root vegetables sliced thin for easy cooking and simmered in Mekena milk.

It's a favorite of most children, and Rana's son Ikeranjel was no exception: he loved the sweet, rich taste of this soup.

......Or so you'd think.

Ikeranjel cheerfully spooned the soup set in front of him into his mouth...... and then cocked his head.

“Hey, Mama...... today's soup doesn't taste very good......?”

That's what he said.

“Eh......?”

Rana heard her son's complaint from behind her as she ladled soup from the pot into her own bowl.

She hurriedly joined him at the table and lifted a spoonful of soup.

Her husband, Parirot, had not yet returned home, and the winter sky, which darkened so quickly, was already pitch black.

Naturally, the magic lamps in the room were lit, and bathed in their light, the fat from the Topopolock meat floating in the pale yellow soup sparkled brilliantly.

To look at, it was fine.

“......Oh, sorry. I think I forgot to put in the salt.”

“Whaaat?”

But as for the taste, there was a problem.

Having spotted the issue with one bite, Rana stood up in a panic, brought the seasonings from the kitchen, and sprinkled them into her and her son's soup.

“There! Now it's fine!”

“Ugh...... so sloooppy!”

Despite his complaining, Ikeranjel was smiling.

And while still smiling, he brought the soup to his mouth...... then lowered his eyebrows in confusion.

“Mama...... I think what you just sprinkled was sugar, not salt......?”

“Oh......?”

“Hey, Mama, what's wrong? Are you feeling sick or something?”

Somehow, she was acting more absent-minded than usual.

And looking closely, she was pale, too.

Seeing her like that, even her young son could tell his mother wasn't well.

“Of course not.”

“Mama told me that I shouldn't tell lies, right?”

“............”

Rana stopped pretending to smile and let out a sigh.

She felt pathetic, having her little boy worry about her like this.

“If there's something bothering you, tell me, okay? If it's something I can do, I'll do anything!”

“Nothing is bothering me. It's just...... there is something on my mind......”

“What? What?”

Seeing her son pester her for the story, looking less worried about his mother than bursting with curiosity, Rana regretted a little that she'd said anything.

But at this point, her son would never settle for ‘Actually, never mind.’

So Rana made up her mind and decided to ask Ikeranjel.

About the rumor of the cursed child spreading among the children.

◇ ◇ ◇

“The rumor of the cursed child? Of course I know about it!”

His mother Rana had asked about the rumor looking oddly anxious, and her son Ikeranjel answered with a blank look on his face.

Meanwhile, Rana's heart gave a great lurch, and she swallowed with a small gulp.

“Well, see, the first person to find that cursed child was, if I remember right...... Kappitetron from the dried-fish shop.”

“Um...... the roundish boy with short hair?”

“Yeah, yeah!”

And then, Ikeranjel began to recount the details of the rumor with a proud air.

“That day, after school, Kappi...... went home once, and then headed for the playground...... while munching on some Sakketoba.”

A Sakke is a medium-sized fish monster, and Toba refers to its dried form.

Sakke are known as fish that engage in fierce survival competition among their own kind from the moment they are born, and it is said that only one out of hundreds of thousands of siblings can claim the river they were born in as their territory.

The fry that lose the territorial struggle descend from the river to the sea, where they build up their strength.

A few years later, the Sakke, having grown large in both body and spirit, form groups and swim back up their home river.

To take revenge...... on the lord of the territory who drove them out.

Well, putting that aside.

“That's where Kappi...... met her. The...... cursed child, a girl.”

Ikeranjel lowered his voice and told the rumor with a serious face.

‘The cursed child, a “girl”.’

Hearing those words, Rana's heartbeat quickened.

“She...... was a cursed child, so of course she had black hair and black eyes.”

Her body trembled.

“Her skin was white as snow, and her eyes were slightly upturned.”

The cold sweat wouldn't stop.

“She was a total...... Dark Spiky Rock Man......”

“............Excuse me?”

Words she couldn't make sense of, suddenly popping out of her son's mouth.

In spite of herself, Rana let out a dumbfounded noise.

“Dark Spiky Rock Man......?”

“I mean, I don't know the details either!? But Kappi and the other guys who saw her always say she looked like that! They say there's no other way to describe how she's dressed! ......Anyway!”

Gohon! Clearing his throat, Ikeranjel hurriedly got the story back on track.

“She suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, stood in front of Kappi who was walking alone, pointed at the bag of Sakketoba, and said...... ‘That, please.’”

Ikeranjel spoke slowly, then quickly, using a small voice and then a loud one, varying the pace to make the story more exciting.

He'd probably gotten his knack for storytelling from her husband, Parirot.

“Kappi got scared of her creepy vibe and, all trembling, handed over the Sakketoba, bag and all. The cursed child nodded without changing her expression, gave Kappi some kind of pretty...... inedible churro in exchange, and then vanished, apparently.”

......An inedible churro?

If you couldn't eat it, wouldn't that make it not a churro?

“That's the end of Kappi's part. But there's more to this story, see?”

Leaving Rana's slowly tangling thoughts behind, Ikeranjel went on with his story.

“When Gougindatz, the neighborhood bully, heard this story from Kappi, he made fun of him. He was all, ‘You, quit being scared of some cursed child!’ And then Gougin grabbed a whole bunch of sweets and walked all over town. I guess he figured he'd lure out that cursed child and pick on her.”

Gougin was cocky and rough, through and through.

Rana also knew the boy well, as he often came up in family conversations in a bad way.

“And then, sure enough, the cursed child showed up in front of Gougin, too. She pointed at the bag of sweets and said, ‘That, please.’ But Gougin stuffed his face with the sweets right in front of her and laughed at her. He cussed her out, going, ‘Like I'd give any to a cursed child! Die! Get lost! Idiot!’”

Gougin would certainly say something like that.

He was the son of the richest man in town, and he'd grown full of himself, throwing his parents' weight around.

“And then, the very next moment! The cursed child's whole vibe changed, and she started giving off this...... super scary, horrible presence, apparently!”

“A horrible, presence......!?”

“Yeah...... and along with that, some kind of black haze apparently burst out of the cursed child's body......”

(Wouldn't that make her not human anymore, but some kind of monster!?)

“Anyway, just by being bathed in that presence, Gougin's legs gave out, and he couldn't stand up. He was carried home by his lackeys...... and apparently, once the tension snapped, he fainted? And since then, Gougin can't go to the toilet alone at night!”

Ikeranjel went on with a few more stories of children who'd run into the cursed child, and then his tale was done.

Having heard everything, Rana spoke.

“......Hey, Ike.”

“What?”

Rana looked straight at Ikeranjel with a serious face.

“I wanted to hear a rumor, not some silly ghost story......”

“No, this IS the rumor about the cursed child!”

Ikeranjel was indignant.

◇ ◇ ◇

Now, having finished listening to the rumor of the cursed child from her son, Rana felt a little relieved.

Why? Because the rumor was so far-fetched that she could tell it was surely something the children had made up.

Dressed strangely, with black haze spewing from her body?

As if such a mysterious person could exist.

Besides, if anyone that suspicious were around, the guards would come running and catch her before she ever got near the children.

And a cursed child drifting into this town from somewhere, in a season this cold? That just wasn't realistic.

It was just as Belasato had said.

This was nothing but a silly rumor.

It was the same sort of tale as someone claiming they'd seen a flying earthworm.

Rana let out a sigh of relief and took a spoonful of soup into her mouth.

“Hey, Mama...... why were you so worried about this rumor?”

Watching his mother, Ikeranjel tilted his head and asked.

“Hmm...... not really? I just thought it sounded a bit ominous, that's all? There's no deep meaning to it.”

As she said it, Rana spooned soup into her mouth, one spoonful after another.

She had a smile on her face, but she kept her eyes fixed on the table, never attempting to meet Ikeranjel's gaze.

Rana did it without even realizing, but to Ikeranjel, the way she was acting felt wrong.

He had never seen his mother act like this before.

And so, sharp as he was for his age, he realized.

His mother was hiding something.

“Hey, Mama...... are you anxious about something?”

At her son's question, Rana gave a single small start and stopped moving; then she slowly lifted her face and, with a troubled smile, finally looked at her son.

Her son had set his spoon down on his soup plate and was looking at Rana with drooping brows and his mouth turned down.

She had made him worry.

Rana felt ashamed of herself.

“Well, I heard that a cursed child might be in this town. It's natural to be anxious, right? But that's all. There's nothing for you to worry about, okay?”

Rana smiled and told Ikeranjel this gently, but he was not satisfied with those words alone.

As a man, he had to do something about whatever was troubling his beloved Mama.

A flame of justice began to burn in his heart.

So he thumped his chest and declared, full of confidence:

“Hey, Mama! If you're scared and anxious because of the cursed child, I'll defeat her for you! After all, I'm going to be an adventurer in the future!”

“STOP IT!!!”

Rana's response to that was a sudden scream.

A loud voice from his mother, the likes of which he had never heard.

A desperate, glaring expression on his mother's face, the likes of which he had never seen.

At that, Ikeranjel shrank back a little in spite of himself and caught his breath.

“Please. I'm begging you...... please don't do anything strange......”

Rana slowly stood up, approached Ikeranjel unsteadily...... and hugged him tightly.

“Cursed children are very ominous things...... if you get mixed up with them, misfortune comes to you......! Never, never, even if it's only a made-up rumor...... never get involved with one.”

Rana's voice, speaking quietly and slowly to Ikeranjel, was trembling.

Because he was being hugged tightly, Ikeranjel could not see his mother's face.

But there were surely tears in her eyes.

He knew that.

That was exactly why he couldn't forgive it.

The cursed child, who made his mother this anxious.

Hence, his mother's words never reached her son.

For some reason, his mother seemed to think the rumor of the cursed child was a made-up story, but it wasn't.

The cursed child was real.

Several of his friends had seen that cursed child.

Contrary to his mother's plea, Ikeranjel's resolve hardened.

He would be the one to take away his mother's fears.

He would defeat the cursed child.

In his young heart, the flame of justice continued to burn red.