Episode 32: “The Memory of Blood”
The first memory of blood she’d ever seen belonged to her parents.
A massive arm sent their heads flying, dark red blood bursting from the severed stumps of their necks and spraying across Fiine’s face.
What had suddenly attacked the village was a horde of enormous monsters called black trolls.
So huge she couldn’t see their faces even craning her neck upward, jet-black all over, the ground shook violently with every single step they took.
When black trolls marched together in a group, it felt like an earthquake.
The roof was blown clean off. In an instant, both her parents’ heads were gone.
(…What… is this…?)
She couldn’t even make a sound. The sight was so far beyond reality that she found herself wondering if she was trapped in some terrible dream.
“…Ma… mama…?”
Of course, there was no answer.
She tried to stand, but her body only trembled, refusing to move. From outside came the screams of the villagers.
Just a little while ago, they’d all been laughing together over lunch as a family.
I splurged and put beef in the stew today, her mother had said.
But there hadn’t been a single piece of beef on her parents’ plates. Only Fiine’s own bowl had been generously filled with meat.
Not a wealthy life, but a calm and happy one.
For as long as she could remember, she’d never once felt any dissatisfaction with her family.
She’d believed, without question, that this life would simply go on forever.
And then, suddenly, unceremoniously, it had shattered.
The ground shook again. A massive troll’s foot loomed directly overhead.
(Ah — I’m going to get stepped on and die.)
Strangely, she felt no fear.
It was like being trapped in a dream, unable to understand what was even happening.
She closed her eyes.
Her mother and father had both been killed. If that was true, then it only seemed natural that she’d be crushed too.
—And yet, in the very next instant, Fiine was shoved violently aside.
“Don’t just space out!! You’re not even hurt, are you?!”
Her back slammed hard against the ground.
Lifting her face at the unfamiliar man’s voice, she saw a man in armor tracing a magic circle in the air.
“Die!!”
The instant he spoke those violent words, flame engulfed the black troll.
Screaming loud enough to nearly burst her eardrums, the black troll burned down to nothing but ash.
“Hey.”
The man who approached scooped Fiine up under one arm like a piece of luggage.
“The Magic Corps has arrived. Don’t worry. These things are huge, but their intelligence is low. We’ll wipe them out in no time.”
Don’t worry — but this wasn’t a situation where she could simply nod and say okay.
“…What is there left to worry about, at this point?”
If this wasn’t a bad dream, if this was reality —
Her parents killed right in front of her, her home destroyed — what more was there left to fear?
“You…”
The man had clear, jade-green eyes.
Reflected in them, Fiine’s own face had gone completely hollow of any emotion.
“I’m in the way, aren’t I. You can just leave me behind.”
—This was how Fiine Fellner first met the man who would become her adoptive father: Burkhardt von Achenbach.