Astarte’s Knight

The 4th Story: Human and Ghoul

“Humans stepped inside.”
I carefully simplified and thought about Astarte’s words.

So there are humans in this world.

They said “Hell” so I believed there were only monsters.
This guy I met, that guy I met, all of them have in-human headdress-looking animal heads.
Only the old man and his daughter, Astarte, have appearances narrowly close to humans.
There are horns growing on their heads and their pupils are always red, so their appearance looks more demon-like than human.
Because of this I thought that this world definitely had no humans, but it seems like they’re perfectly here.

“Wh-, what should I do…”

Since earlier, Astarte would become extremely nervous.
It’s my first time seeing her make such an expression.

“Gah! Auah…! (What’s going on!)”

“Humans warred with us, the “Demon Race”, in the olden days.”

War…
Dangerous words were said all of a sudden.

“Normally Otou-sama would spread a “magic barrier” around this castle and bad humans would usually die just from intruding. But today, he went out because he had to take care of an unavoidable business.”

And then Astarte muttered with a sigh.

“Why did the intruders have to come today…”

Astarte trembled with a “furufuru” (*tremble*).
It seems she was taught that the living beings known as “humans” are very scary.
If it was me, I would be very scared of the guys here though…

“I’m different from everyone so I can’t fight…if a human finds me, I’ll be killed. You too and I too.”

“You understand that well don’t you, jou-chan.”

We were suddenly surprised by a voice coming from behind us.
Turning around, there was a giant man with a moustache.
The man grabbed Astarte’s arm and pulled her up into his gaze.

“Kyaa!”
“Your totally trembling. To think the daughter of the castle lord would be at such a low level. What is your parent thinking? Or rather I got in because he’s not here. Haha.”

“Re-,Release me!”
“I’m not releasing. Sorry, but your going to be sold off for a high price to a rich man after this. Come on, let’s go.”

Saying this, the man forcefully took her and went.
But, wait a moment.

“Gah…!”

I haven’t fallen low enough to overlook the abduction of a little girl!
Moving my body, I faced the man and struck his back with all my strength.
Strangely, my body became light after I became hostile towards that man.

But my fist didn’t reach that man.

“Oraa!”

From the side, another man struck.
From that force, I collapsed onto the ground.

“Ahhh…”

“So-something like a ghoul can’t oppose us mighty humans-!”

I looked at the guy who hit me.
A fat body with a pig-like face.
It was a pig human monster!

Ah, now that I look carefully, it’s a human.

“Haha! A small fry! A small fry!”

The man cut me many times with the tip of his huge battleaxe. Like he was tormenting me.

“Scaring me some time ago! What a demon race! You’re not that big of a deal! Hahaha!”
“Oi! Kill him quickly!! Stop playing around!!”

But it seems the pig man didn’t hear the man’s directions because he was excited.
He’s set on brandishing his weapon on me.

Ku…
Even though I won’t feel any amount of pain, it’s still dangerous at this rate.
In the first place why are they brandishing blades all of a sudden.
It’s a violation of the Firearm and Sword Control Law.
They must be crazy.

Thinking that, I prepared my fist.
Luckily, the opponent’s individual blows don’t have a great killing power.
I don’t have a sense of pain, so I can’t feel any pain.
Cut my flesh, and break my bones.
I will aim for one certain blow.

Perhaps planning to finish me off, the pig man entered a posture for a large swing for the first time.
This is it!
Taking in the calculations of my body’s slow movement, I unleashed my fist the moment the man would feel the most pain.
My body moved slightly keener than usual.
It went as planned.
Well, the timing was a bit early, but my fist entered the man’s face.

And then the man’s face was smashed 20 percent uglier, and his body blew off for “about 3 meters”.

“Buberashaaaaa!!”

…eh?

Doshaa. (*crash*)

The man I beat raised a loud sound, and lay on the floor.

“Idiot! It’s because you made light of a ghoul’s power!”

Faced the man convulsing with a “pikupiku” (*twitch*), the man who captured Astarte spat.
E~to…
When did I become superman?
Even though I moved like a rock up until now.

Whatever.
I faced the man who captured Astarte.
We stared at each other for a few seconds.

“…why aren’t you following your instincts to come rush at me?”
“…”
“You, do you have intelligence?”
“…”
“Fuun, I don’t care anyways.”

Saying this, the man threw Astarte behind him and rushed at me.

“Kyaa!”

Astarte rolled across the floor with a “gorogoro” (*rolling*).
But right now, I don’t have the room to turn and pay attention to her.
Judging based on his appearance, he’s far stronger than the man earlier.
I didn’t think of fighting him directly– but probably, I would be killed shortly if I did.

Which leaves only one thing to do.

“Die!”

The man’s thrust pierced into my flank deeply.
Or rather, it penetrated through.

“Gauuu…”

Thereupon I put power into my abdomen with all my strength.

“!”

It seems the man noticed something weird. In the fact that he couldn’t draw out the thrust sword.

“Ku-…”

The man released his sword, but it’s already too late. I used my whole body to embrace the man.

According to the man’s previous words, a ghoul is slow-footed, but it seems they have power.
Which means, if I stick to them and bring them into a contest of strength, no matter how much skill the opponent has–I’ll win!
It was the first moment the “Ghoul” self I despised up until now became my ally.

Bakigokibakibaki (*crack* *break* *crack*)
His bones made creaking noises.

“Guaahhhhh!!”

For a short while, the man struggled and tried to escape from me, but before long, his strength left him.
I confirmed that the man was incapable of combat, and I separated from him.

With only his killing intent not weakening, he glared at me while laying prostrate on the floor.

“Are you going to kill me? Do whatever you like. It’s this kind of world after all.”

And then using all his strength, the man breathed in with a “suu” (*breathe in*) and shouted.

“But don’t you forget monsters!! Humans will be the winners in the end!! Humanity won’t surrender!! Remember that!!”

It was a fierce shout.
Even more than the volume, it transmitted to the enemy a resolve of an absolute intention of never submitting even if one were to die.

I was reminded of the legend of a Heian period warrior monk, Musashibou Benkei.
Benkei, who worked like a young ox during his life, never fell on his knees even with countless wounds received, and died a noble death.
Well, that moustache is currently turned facing down on the ground, so he’s below Benkei.

Nevertheless…
U~mu…
It seems the tension rised by itself.

I didn’t talk on the scale of it’s “humans” or it’s “monsters” but…
It’s just a story of me repelling the enemy because strangers appeared in the house and tried kidnapping that house’s little girl but…
Why did it turn into a “Shingeki no K●●jin”-like story there.
I thought it was an incident on the scale of “Home Al●ne” at the very most.”
It’s not like I murdered anyone but…

“Uu…my head was hitt…it hurrts…”
「！」
“!”

I found something good there.
It was Astarte, who rolled on the floor after the man threw her behind him.

After thrown roughly by the moustache man, it seems her head hit the ground.
Furthermore, a new bump formed on top of the bump she got from her father.
I approached Astarte who’s shaking from pain with a “purupuru” (*quiver*), and in some way or other, explained what I wanted to say using hand gestures.

“Guaahh…”
“Eh? What?”
“Ahhh…”
“U-,un. I got it.”

Saying this, Astarte briskly walked towards the man’s original place with small steps.
Her appearance was of an ordinary girl appropriate for her age.
As expected, I’ll definitely do something if someone tried abducting this kid.

Different from the warm feelings wrapping me, the moustache man looked at the approaching Astarte, and shuddered.

“What? A brat like this jou-chan is going to kill me herself? Hell castles sure are something else!”

“You’re wrong.”
“Aah!?”

Pointing out the man’s misunderstanding, Astarte conveyed to the man the things I said.
“Please go back. While everyone hasn’t come yet. This child said this.”

Saying this, Astarte pointed behind her at me.
Hearing this, the moustache man was dumbfounded.

“…What was that?”
“Please go back. At this rate, “stronger children” will come from the upper floors, and they will overwhelm and kill you. So before that…”

“…In other words, your telling me to run away?”
“Yes.”
“…That’s what the blockhead pole over there told jou-chan?”
“Yes.”
“…!!!!”

The moustache man’s mood clearly worsened as the conversation with Astarte continued.
Soon a vein popped in his head, and he once again shouted with a fierce volume as if reaching the limits of his patience.

“Are you an idiot?! Ghoul’s don’t talk! Even if they could talk, and you tore them a mouth, they wouldn’t say something like that.”
“っ!”

“You bastards are scoundrels who want to cause severe trouble to the mighty humans! Don’t show me your cheap feelings of justice after all this time! Just kill me already!”

Being shouted at, Astarte took a step backwards with a start.
But as if feeling ashamed of that action, she moved forward once again, inhaled with all her might, faced the man, and returned a shout.

“I’m not lying!!”
“Haa!?”

Astarte’s small lungs spat out all her air in just one shout.
The girl inhaled in a large breath and once again shouted at the same volume.

“This child is super kind!”

She inhaled once again.
The next shout was longer.

“Even though it’s being bullied and hit by everyone, it never does anything back!
It never said a single complaint even though it’s left out from the other ghouls! Even now it went easy on you so it wouldn’t kill you! It’s a super kind kid!!”

Huh? I’m being thought of that way?…
But it’s true that the other demons would frequently make me into a sandbag and I acted separately from the other ghouls.

It seems like Astarte frequently came to my place because her feeling of pity became too great. I have some mixed feelings about this.

“So go back!”
“Don’t do…any more painful things to this child…”

Astarte had teary eyes.
But I believe these tears should be because of the fear from being yelled at by an adult man many times,
synergizing with the sense of security from being released from the fear of being kidnapped up until now.

It definitely wasn’t because she thought of me.
Because in these 18 years, I was never loved, not even by my parents.
There’s no way that such a little girl I got to know for one month would treasure me that much.
Something like me.

“…You’ll regret it.”

The moustache man heard Astarte’s shouts, and said this as he stood up tottering.
Though he shows such an exhausted appearance, it seems he still has the strength remaining to stand up.
Perhaps he still plans on attacking if he somehow finds a chance.
I honestly shuddered thinking that.

“Go back…”

Astarte said this as she forcefully wiped the edges of her eyes with her palm.
It was a very frail voice compared to her earlier shouts.

From there it was silent.
The moustache man carried the pig man and left the place at a quick pace.

“Astarte-sama!!”

At the exact time the presence of the two men disappeared, countless footstep sounds were heard from behind us with a “gayagaya”. (*clatter* *clatter*)
These should be the allies on the upper floors Astarte spoke of, right?

With this, I’m relieved.

Dobobobo…” (*drip*)
(TL: Unclear on this sfx. Assumed to be something like *drip*.)

I looked at my body discharging slime.
Haha, it’s looks just like human blood. Though I’m a ghoul.
For now, I’m relieved with this… right?

Dosha. (*thud*)

Believing Astarte is safe, I collapsed there with a foul sound.