MPBAGS Chapter 6

I asked Kanna, the greatest victim, about Donau's punishment. Normally I would have reported to the police and let the law judge him, but this is an otherworld. Besides, Evangeline's a noble, so handling criminal punishment autonomously should be fine, right?

"Should I lock him up in a dungeon somewhere forever?"

Kanna and Henna looked at me. If you want, I'll make him eat prison food for life.

But Kanna shook her head. Could she be thinking that's too harsh a punishment? Are you an angel? No wonder you're close with Henna. You fool, worry about your own body first!

"How's your throat?"

Now that I looked, the wound on Kanna's throat was deeper than I thought. A red line was drawn long across her throat like thread.

Is there holy water left at home? If I treat her with that, will the scar disappear too? A wound of glory is fine to keep as a badge of honor, but being kidnapped isn't glory.

"It's great!"

Kanna answered filled with joy. Isn't her reaction a bit excessive? I was puzzled but soon understood.

Getting kidnapped but rescued by a villainess who even worries about you—you'd be moved. Kanna's also a maid at the Rohanson mansion. There are kids who collapse at the sight of me, so compared to that, this is nothing.

"Gasp."

But suddenly Henna turned deathly pale and covered her mouth. She's not reacting to me, is she? Henna's gaze was directed behind me. What was behind me again? Shit, Donau!

I urgently turned my head and a completely unexpected scene unfolded.

I thought Donau would be rushing at me with the knife, but the one who got stabbed was Donau.

"Did you see?"

"Yes. He stabbed his own throat."

Kanna confirmed the kill.

Donau committed suicide. Since all he had in his hand was the knife, he seemed to have stabbed his own throat with it. The throat, not the wrist—a vital point? Was paying for your crimes that unbearable?

Criminal bastards always run away like this with suicide to avoid punishment! This is the same even in otherworlds.

"Sorry. He ended up dead."

I should have let him taste justice's judgment...

"It's okay. This is enough for me."

Kanna's eyes sparkled. Her bright smile was as refreshing as if she'd already shaken it off. How magnanimous...

"Thank you for saving me."

Her manners were bright too.

Huh? No, it's not just her manners that are bright.

'Isn't it kind of bright around here?'

Whoa, crazy, crazy! There's a fire!

Fire had broken out behind Donau, making the surroundings bright with firelight. No wonder I could see so well despite the windows being blocked and no lights!

Thanks to that, the interior came into full view at a glance. I could see the summoning circle drawn in the center of the room clearly. Could this be, could this be. The one stolen from me?

Then this fire... Donau must have summoned a fire spirit. So that was a spirit summoning circle! Wow... How did he do it? He should have returned the paper or told me before leaving! Unscrupulous criminal bastard!

I hurriedly took Henna and Kanna and escaped the house. It was fortunate I'd kicked the door wide open. Thanks to that, smoke escaped out the door, making breathing less uncomfortable.

This bastard racked up one more crime before dying! If there were subtitles, it would have read (+arson). Theft, kidnapping, and now arson! A triple crown!

Fortunately, whether the neighboring houses used some fire-spread-prevention building materials, the fire didn't spread. What's with this otherworld quality! This needs to be reverse-imported.

Donau's house, burning alone vigorously, was quite a spectacle.

I felt like I might cry a little. My summoning circle... must have burned together with it, right?

Rusted walls and a moldy-smelling room, cold soup and a narrow hard bed, a window two hand-spans wide.

That was Kanna's entire world.

Her body had been poor since birth. It was a difficult birth, and her mother passed away while giving birth. If she had devoured her mother to be born, at least Kanna should have been healthy, but that wasn’t the case either. Kanna was always sick as if she'd die at any moment.

Father died from overwork trying to secure Kanna's treatment costs, and now her older sister Henna had inherited that position.

She'd devoured two family members' lives, but Kanna still couldn't become healthy. Now all she could do was lie in bed.

Forget moving her hands—even breathing was difficult. Henna hired a nurse, and to do so, increased her working hours. It was worrying enough that she might devour even her sister at this rate.

But there was nothing Kanna could do. She wished she could have told her sister I'm hopeless, so give up, but Kanna wanted to live. She wanted to continue this wretched breath.

Her sister called that hope.

"Kanna, do you see the people outside? Sister thinks someday you'll be able to walk around like those people too. Sister will make it happen. So let's not let go of hope."

From the moment she heard those words, the small window became special to Kanna too.

In the unchanging daily routine, the only thing that changed was the scenery outside the window. The sun rose, birds flew about, children ran around, the sunset came, everyone went home for dinner, and night arrived.

Kanna added herself to the ordinary scenery outside. Let's run and play together, go to work, and return home.

And from one day, a scene was added outside the window.

'You came again today?'

A cat started stopping by Kanna's window on its walks. The golden cat would always perch on the windowsill, watch Kanna, then leisurely disappear.

When I can walk, let's feed that cat. Since it has a collar, it must have an owner, so treats should work? The cat began naturally occupying a place in Kanna's future.

"Kanna! Kanna!"

And a miracle arrived.

"Are you okay? Does it not hurt anymore?"

"I'm... I'm fine."

Her voice came out completely hoarse. Her pronunciation was inaccurate and she even stammered. Yet at just that word "fine," her sister hugged Kanna while crying. Though her shoulder became damp with tears, Kanna embraced her sister back without complaint.

Her sister had entered the Rohanson County Estate seeking higher wages. There, the young lady she recently began serving, Evangeline Rohanson, heard Kanna's story and provided holy water.

Holy water was something a commoner would have to save for half a lifetime of work to buy perhaps one bottle. Kanna realized this holy water was the hope Henna had spoken of. Something some people give away easily as charitable alms—for this mere bottle of water, Father and sister sacrificed their lives!

"Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness."

But the moment she heard her sister's words, Kanna's anger melted away. When the person who ground up their life was this happy, what good would it do for Kanna to be angry?

Kanna's condition gradually improved. Moving her body made her appetite return, and eating well made her gain weight. The hope her sister spoke of arriving so suddenly was unfamiliar and bewildering, but she was gradually accepting it. And Kanna decided to do what she'd been dreaming of all along.

Kanna left the house. She walked aimlessly around the neighborhood and sat resting in front of the door.

She had no social skills, so she couldn't greet the children or speak to them. But listening to the warm sunlight and chattering voices, she could keenly feel that she belonged to the "outside the window."

'Come to think of it, I wonder if that cat isn't coming?'

Kanna had asked Henna to buy treats the cat might eat. She always carried them in her pocket but had never once encountered it. Had its walking route changed? Surely some bad person hadn't harmed it.

While worrying, she'd been spending time outside and her body quickly grew cold. Sister will come home late today, so I should go in now—she was about to stand up. At the edge of Kanna's vision, a golden tail flashed by.

'The cat?'

Kanna recalled Henna's warning not to wander around at night. It was still midday. She'd worry, so let me just check for a moment and go in. The moment she entered the alley, a man appeared.

And when she came to her senses, she was in an unfamiliar room.

Her mouth was gagged and her hands and feet were tied. How long had she been unconscious? The surroundings were dark. After a while, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could see around her.

She thought she was alone, but there was another person. A man sitting in a chair, absorbed in reading some paper. That man was undoubtedly the assailant who attacked Kanna. Kanna struggled furiously in anger. But a body that had just started recovering couldn't function properly.

"What, you woke up? I'm reading, so stop disturbing me, would you?"

When the man approached, a fishy smell wafted sharply. Kanna immediately recognized the smell's identity. She'd coughed up so much blood—it would be strange not to know. But Kanna had no wounds except for being tied up. The smell of blood was coming from the man.

"Wait quietly until night falls."

The man said while looking at the wall. Kanna also forcibly turned her body to look in the same direction. It wasn't a wall. It was just a window with plywood nailed over it. Kanna's mind grew hazy.

Just seeing a blocked window shocked her more than when she realized she'd been kidnapped. Of course—to Kanna, ‘the outside’ beyond the window was hope. There was no hope visible here at all.

So Kanna began struggling despite the man's words to stay quiet.

She called for her sister. She cried out to be saved. The man ignored every word. She looked for hope. She asked to be shown beyond the window. Night hadn't fallen yet. When does sister come home? If I'm not there when she returns, she'll worry.

Kanna couldn't do anything. It felt like she'd returned to being that helpless patient who could only lie in bed waiting for her sister before drinking the holy water.

The act of seeking hope soon became corrupted. Kanna now recited curses.

Finally the sun set completely, and the night Donau had so eagerly awaited arrived. The man lit a candle and picked up a knife. Die, die. Die. Without even knowing what words Kanna was spitting out, the man danced to Kanna's curses as accompaniment. Kanna stared at that scene without even blinking.

The man who finished dancing crouched in front of Kanna. Now she knew what the man was trying to do. Thanks to him reading that paper and reciting it aloud dozens of times. Angel of light?

'Me... as a sacrifice?'