Kapitel 23: The Girl Favored by the Demon King
It has long since faded from memory when someone once told him that the color of the night sky was akin to that of glazed glass. At that time, Xiao Mu Yu had never seen such glass, so he did not question the assertion; yet, he understood that the resplendent Milky Way in the night sky was breathtakingly beautiful and pure. Thus, instinctively, he believed that glazed glass must possess a beauty and purity akin to that brilliant galaxy.
Later, he learned that glazed glass itself bore no inherent color; it was merely humanity that bestowed upon it a myriad of dazzling hues. However, the impression left on him in his youth had taken deep root in his heart. Even upon grasping the harsh reality, Xiao Mu Yu remained stubbornly enamored with the purity and beauty of glazed glass.
The moment the boy awakened in this foreign world, it seemed he had discovered a landscape worthy of a lifetime of remembrance. Before him stood a girl, as beautiful as the world's purest crystal, with cascading silver hair that flowed like snow, and skin that radiated a warm, sun-kissed hue, balanced delicately between health and pristine whiteness.
Under the gentle light filtering through the forest, her figure shimmered alluringly, exuding the essence of youth. Thus, the enchanting silhouette of the girl intruded upon the boy's vision.
Clad in what could only be described as tattered rags, the girl's attire was scarcely recognizable as clothing. The crude garment, fashioned from the pelts of unknown beasts, hugged her delicate curves, revealing her slender waist.
Yet, the girl, bending curiously to gaze at Xiao Mu Yu, seemed entirely oblivious to the fact that her youthful form, in its innocence, was fully exposed to his gaze due to her posture.
Xiao Mu Yu blinked, feeling a peculiar itch in his nose, and instinctively reached up to touch it, only to discover his fingers were damp.
"…" The girl, awkwardly meeting his gaze with a mix of curiosity and embarrassment, caused Xiao Mu Yu to instinctively shut his eyes, unable to bear the sight of her enticing form. "Um… excuse me, where am I?"
"Hmm…" The boy, with his eyes closed, could only hear a series of indecipherable tones from the girl. Though her voice was undeniably melodious, he could not comprehend her words.
"Uh, is there a language barrier?" Xiao Mu Yu pondered, feeling a twinge of frustration.
At that moment, he suddenly felt a soft, slippery object licking his face, causing him to freeze in place. "A tongue…?" A vivid image flashed in his mind—on a summer day in the forest, the silver-haired girl leaned down playfully over him, her tiny tongue teasingly licking his face.
However, when he opened his eyes, instead of the playful, charming silver-haired girl, he was met with a gaping maw—a massive leopard's head filled his vision, its sharp fangs glistening as a long tongue licked his face repeatedly.
"Ah!!!!"
A scream erupted, startling countless birds from the trees.
Thus began the fateful encounter between the boy and the girl.
In the heart of that summer forest, the wheel of destiny turned, leading to an uncertain future.
This was the realm of magical beasts, and the silver-haired girl was the daughter of the beast lord, albeit an adopted one.
Sixteen years prior, at the forest's edge, the beast lord discovered the girl, still in swaddling clothes. Having just lost her own offspring, the grieving裂纹魔豹 chose not to devour the abandoned child but instead took her to the depths of the Winter Embrace Forest to raise her.
Yet, the girl, nurtured by magical beasts, had never encountered a human. While she had heard from other beasts of human settlements beyond the forest, none dared to step outside due to the fear instilled by the legendary military god.
Thus, although the girl was filled with curiosity about the creatures known as "humans," she had never ventured beyond the forest's confines.
As one of the notorious three great domains of peril, the Winter Embrace Forest was a place that humans naturally avoided, and so, until that day, the girl had never laid eyes upon one.
When she stumbled upon Xiao Mu Yu, a being resembling herself, her curiosity was piqued, for it was the first time she had encountered a creature like her own.
Xiao Mu Yu should have felt fortunate, for had he been discovered by any beast in the forest instead of the girl, his fate would have been to become mere fertilizer in the cycle of digestion.
He temporarily settled in, as the girl's presence allowed him to maintain a fragile peace with the various ferocious beasts, a peace that was entirely one-sided, merely due to the girl's insistence that they refrain from devouring him.
The girl, unable to comprehend Xiao Mu Yu's language, required him to teach her the tongue of his world, which he devoted three months to accomplish.
Once they were able to communicate with some success, Xiao Mu Yu gleaned more information about this world.
It was called the Valoran continent, a name vaguely familiar yet entirely new to him; however, this was of little consequence to the boy, for the girl asked him, "Well, Mu Yu, you said 'Xiao Mu Yu' is your name, but do you know mine?"
The girl, raised by magical beasts, had no name. Clearly, the beasts were not inclined to bestow names, as for higher-tier beasts, those possessing enough wisdom to reach the seventh tier were exceedingly rare.
Typically, they were the sole representatives of their species, and thus, they referred to one another by their species names. This custom had persisted through countless generations, and not a single beast realized that this human girl required a name.
To be honest, Xiao Mu Yu found himself at a loss; as a science student, he had always felt his literary skills were lacking, which was precisely why he had chosen the sciences. He believed that naming—such an elegant endeavor—should not fall to someone who dealt primarily with mathematics and physics.
In the end, he settled on, "Xiao Xue, you shall be called Xiao Xue."
With his meager artistic sensibilities, he could only devise such a name, yet he felt it suited the girl perfectly, for her purity reminded him of the pristine snowflakes that danced in the winter air, untouched by the grime of the world.
In Xiao Mu Yu's memory, that was the happiest time of his life—far removed from the world's superficiality, he lived joyfully alongside the innocent girl in the ancient forest, accompanied by magical beasts, under the watchful gaze of the moon, with the sun nurturing them.
In those moments, he hoped that such blissful days would continue indefinitely…
Continuously…
…
With a cold awakening, the dilapidated ceiling came into view, reflecting the lifeless chill in Xiao Mu Yu's eyes.
Sitting up gently in bed, he turned slightly to glance out the window; the morning light streamed through the broken panes into the lowly tenement, revealing a rare clear day outside.
The heavy snow that had dominated the sky for days finally relented, if only temporarily.
(Ha ha ha… good morning, human boy.)
In the recesses of his consciousness, sinister whispers chuckled softly.
(You seem to have had a delightful dream, ha ha ha…)
"Can you invade my dreams?" The man, with his long hair obscuring his face, kept his head slightly bowed, making it difficult to discern his expression. Yet, his voice, cold as the biting winds of winter, sent shivers down one's spine.
(I cannot fully invade, but we share a tenuous mental link, so, heh heh heh… I can at least sense your emotions, ha ha ha… I felt that delightful mood throughout the night. Ah… it truly brings back memories… I recall you have been estranged from such feelings for years, haven't you? What's this? Are you reminiscing about your lovely little wife? Ha ha ha…)
(But it is rather cruel, isn't it? What was that saying? Hmm… yes, it goes like this: ah—dreams are beautiful, yet reality is harsh. I'm quite curious, now that you've recalled such beauty in your dreams, how do you reconcile the stark contrast between the cruel reality and the lovely dream upon waking? )
"…" Ignoring the demon's incessant prattle, Xiao Mu Yu apathetically donned his clothing, draping a tattered gray cloak over his form, and gently pushed open the door to his room.
Then.
A foul stench.
A wave of rancidity assaulted him.
This cramped tenement had not welcomed its male occupant back for five days. Ever since Xiao Mu Yu had paid the lecherous middle-aged man for his stay, the man had not reappeared.
Perhaps he was now eagerly squashed at some gambling table, his bloodshot eyes wide with excitement, having gone days without sleep, waiting for the dealer to begin.
And what of the mistress of this small abode?
In a shadowy corner, where light dared not venture, the once-burning hearth had long extinguished, having gone days without fuel. Now, it was filled only with cold and silence.
The emaciated woman lay helplessly, her contorted body sprawled on the ground, a small, grotesque bloom of dark red blood blossoming beneath her, devoid of any beauty. This blood had long since dried and congealed, its dark hue repulsive to behold.
Despite the harsh winter, resilient parasites had begun to decompose her body, filling the room with a stench reminiscent of rotten eggs, nauseating to the senses.
Yet, the indifferent man paid no heed to the foul odor, striding directly toward the crooked, dilapidated door, not sparing even a fleeting glance at the pitiful woman's corpse.
In that dark corner, the woman who had known only solitude in life now lay in death, quietly abandoned by the world, accompanied solely by coldness and silence.
The wind and snow had ceased.
But could the world truly become warmer?
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein