The thought of showing up at my parents’ place scared me. I wrote them letters regularly, but I couldn’t imagine the faces they’d make when they saw me. Mother might cry… If I still had my wife and daughter by my side, maybe taking over my parents’ business would be a fun experience. And with that impossible dream on my mind, I cast a wistful gaze out the carriage’s window.
The carriage was full of moans, and the scenery outside was somewhat obscured by the carriage ahead of us. My only consolation was the chirping birds.
My life passed by too quickly, didn’t it…?
“Whoa!”
“What?!”
Thud!
The carriage shook hard and the horses neighed in complaint. Gildias wordlessly hopped outside the carriage. I thought to reach for my sword but then jolted with a start.
Right… My right hand’s already…
“What happened?” I shouted to Gildias.
“There’s a beast! A huge one!”
“What? A monster?!” someone shouted.
“Gildias, gather the guards!” I barked orders. “Stop all the carriages and gather anyone who can move! If it’s a beast monster, there should be more than one!”
…But even without my hand, I can still do something!
Gildias gathered people who could fight and headed for the front carriage. If it really was a monster, this was trouble! Monsters were much more dangerous than normal animals. It was said that long ago, an evil dragon tainted humans and animals with its wicked mana, and their descendants are monsters.
There is no power in the world capable of reversing this affliction, and slaying those monsters scatters a miasma called Kathra into the air. Anyone who comes in contact with Kathra also becomes polluted and turns into a monster. Worse yet, monsters attack other living creatures on sight… The only way to repel them is to weaken them and force them to flee.
“…Is that it?!”
“I-It’s huge!”
A black animal stood in front of the front carriage. It was bigger than we’d imagined and had three tails. All three of them seemed to swerve and waver on their own as it gazed at us silently, its eyes narrowed.
This… This isn’t a monster…
“What do we, vice-captain?! Should we have our mages attack—”
“No, that’s not a monster… Though it’s not a normal animal, either. If it was a monster, it’d have attacked by now.”
“Th-Then you’re saying that’s a…?”
“I dunno. It’s the first time I’m seeing anything like it, too… Couldn’t be a Mythical Beast, could it…?”
“A Mythical Beast…? It can’t be…”
Mythical Beasts… To the west was the demi-human continent, where races like the beastmen, elves, dwarves, kobolds, and lizardmen lived. But opposite of it, to the far east, was the mythical continent. There lived races of mythical creatures like dragons, pegasi, and griffins. It was their natural habitat, and only the bravest or most reckless of adventurers would brave that land.
Edesa Kura apparently had plans to capture territory in the mythical continent, but how would they fight off dragons?
But anyway, this creature looked fundamentally different from a normal wolf. It was that much larger, and there was a glint of intelligence to its eyes as it gazed at us, as if it was trying to decipher our next move.
Judging by the fact it wasn’t running…implied it wanted something.
“You guys stay where you are! There might be more of them, so stay vigilant!” I ordered the men.
“What are you going to do, vice-captain?” Gildias asked me.
“If it’s a Mythical, it should be able to understand human speech,” I replied.
“That’s too dangerous!”
“Just let me do it…!” I insisted, a hint of desperate urgency in my voice. “Listen, supporting Dir is gonna fall to you guys now, so… Please!”
“Vice-captain…?” Gildias looked at me, confused.
I took a step closer. Then another. Moving cautiously, as if trying to discern how close it would let me approach, I sheathed my sword to show I had no desire to fight. A Mythical should understand. They’re said to be even more intelligent than humans.
“Aaaah, I’m, uhh, I’m called Marcus,” I tried calling out to it. “A former knight. See, lost my arm… A washed-up old man who can’t do his job anymore. Uh… Could you tell me your name? I figure you’re a Mythical.”
All right… Is it gonna answer?
The beast wordlessly nudged its jaw to the right, its gaze fixed on me.
I-It answered! It really is a Mythical! A real Mythical! I just met a living legend…!
“Ah?!”
It then jumped a few feet ahead, and upon landing, fixed its gaze on me again. It then nudged its head in the same direction again and then sat down on the spot…
Is it signaling for me to follow it? This is unbelievable!
“…Gildias, it’s telling me to follow it. Keep an eye on the carriages, will you?”
“I’ll come with you, vice-captain! I can’t let you go alone!”
“No, that’s a Mythical. No doubt about it… It understands what we’re saying. If we provoke it too much, it might attack.”
“Ugh…”
The mythical creatures were the apex species of this world. Dragons were the clearest example, but mythical creatures were all more powerful than even the monsters. Challenging something like that to a battle when 90% of the people here were injured was effectively suicide. We’d probably lose before we even knew it.
I approached the creature, which broke into a light sprint once I crossed a certain distance, pausing after a while to let me catch up.
It’s definitely leading me somewhere. What is it trying to get me to do…? Does it want to eat me? But no, I’ve never heard of Mythicals eating other species…
“Mm?”
The black animal stopped under a large tree. Sitting beneath it was a small, cream-colored oval box. The animal nudged toward it with its nose and then turned to look at me…before taking a few steps back.
Is there something in there…?
I gingerly approached the box, picked it up, and peered inside.
Wh-Wh-What?!
“A-A baby?!”
✦ ✦ ✦
The animal howled in response.
“Ah!”
And with that howl, the animal disappeared into thin air. At that moment, I realized why they call these creatures mythical. The way they appear and disappear resembles the phantoms people whisper legends about. The only things left in the wake of its disappearance were the gentle breeze, the sound of fluttering wings, the baby sitting in the small box…
…And me, who’d lost my right arm and everything I held dear to me all at once.
For whatever reason, my knees buckled. Placing my hands on the box, I could see its contents clearly. A little baby—without a single strand of hair or any teeth—slept serenely inside it.
Did that Mythical lead me here so I’d take this baby? What was that beast… What is this baby?
“An abandoned baby…?”
I poked the baby’s cheeks gently out of curiosity. It was surprisingly soft, warm, and tender. I took the baby out of the box and held it in my arms, shivering. I touched the baby’s cheeks again. Then its fingers. It then gripped my finger tightly.
It gripped me…!
I was speechless. That was all the baby did, but what was it? This feeling? Something overflowed within me… Tears ran down my cheeks before I knew it. She wasn’t just warm… There was something strong about the baby. Teeming with life. It was like this little baby had everything I lost. Both its arms. A future. Potential…
But at the same time, it was just like me. We had one thing in common. Neither of us had a family. Of course, the fact a Mythical simply decided to save a human child was shocking by itself, but…
“Are you all alone…? That’s no good…”
Aaah, aaah, aaah…! Gods of De Marl! Did you send that beast as a messenger to me? Why would you leave this child with me? I can’t leave this helpless little life here to die, but I’ve never so much as held my own daughter before. I’m a terrible, good-for-nothing father…
Is this why you sent her to me? To someone like me…who has absolutely nothing to his name?! To me, when I was foolish enough to lose my family, my knight’s honor, even my own arm…!
You would grant me another chance…?
Would you be my family, you little angel?
Aah, Gods of De Marl, thank you…! Thank you for showing mercy on this pathetic man who had lost all hope… For bringing me this baby—teeming with life and hope…!