Interlude 5: And the God Laughed

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Author: 猫夜叉 (Nekoyasha)

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The second son of the Burn family, Maro Burn, was annoyed.

“What the hell… how long are they planning on making me wait…!?” he muttered to himself, frowning, his breathing rough.

“Just who do they think I am… I’m none other than Maro Burn-sama…”

The sound of him gritting his teeth echoed between the four stone walls.

It was a rather eerie room.

It was dark, damp, and smelled.

And even though the Sun was still rising outside, it felt like it was the middle of the night inside of the room.

He had been there for six hours.

That was how long he had been made to wait, sitting in a chair in the middle of that room, alone.

The only illumination was four candles, one in each of the corners of the room.

His hands, resting on his lap, balled into fists as he watched their flames flicker back and forth, desperately trying to hold himself back from screaming out in annoyance.

“Damn it… damn it…!”

Maro Burn was a person with a short temper. He also had a huge amount of pride, and just as little patience.

Even if the other party were a noble of higher standing than himself, he wouldn’t have hesitated to insult them if they made him wait for six hours straight.

However, just this day, he couldn’t afford to let that impulse take control of him.

And there was a good reason for that.

Maro was waiting for a supreme being, often called one of the hero gods.

With the prospect of a contract with such a god right in front of him, the option of just going home didn’t exist for him.

“……”

The cold sweat running down his back just made him all the more uncomfortable.

It was rather humid.

‘––Is it raining?’ he thought to himself, now even more annoyed, having become conscious of just how damp and humid the place was.

The sound of thunder shook the air.

He jolted up in surprise, clicked his tongue, then turned his gaze back to the flickering candleflames.

“……Huh?”

However, instead of the steadily flickering flames, there was now just a column of white smoke rising upwards.

“Hey…”

There was a candle in each corner of the room. The one Maro had been watching was the front-right one. He had been watching it for quite a while, and it had gone out without him noticing.

The flame of the candle had gone out. That was all. Yet, an indescribable unease filled Maro at the fact that something that had been there all that time had just disappeared. To put it more plainly, he was slightly scared.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead and turned towards the candle on the left to regain his peace of mind.

However––

“…Huh?”

––That one also went out.

He didn’t miss it this time.

He felt a chill run up his spine as he watched the white smoke rising upwards.

(This reminds me of a ghost story I heard once…)

“…Ridiculous,” he muttered to himself, but still couldn’t help but wonder.

Why had they gone out, how had they gone out, when the air in this room was completely still?

Of course, it might just have been the humidity.

However, he naturally found it rather weird that it had gone out the moment he had looked at it.

“……”

Maro understood the situation.

There were only two lights left in that dark, dark room.

He just had to turn around. That was all he needed to do to get rid of his unease.

“……Tch.”

However, he couldn’t.

(What do I do if they go out too?)

He knew that was a rather stupid thing to think, but he still stubbornly refused to turn around.

“…”

Maro watched as the four shadows wavered back and forth with the flickering of the candles.

That was the only thing that told him the two candles behind him were still alight.

Watching his own flickering shadow, Maro decided to himself.

“One more hour,” he murmured to himself.

Although, he was well aware of the fact that he’d just say the same thing once that hour had passed.

That was what was going through his mind, when––

“…Ugh.”

He covered his mouth with his hand to stop himself from vomiting at the sudden stench.

“What the hell… are you serious!?” he said, his tone impolite, unable to bear the stench of rotten blood and entrails, looking around for its source.

Then –– the two candles behind him went out with a whoosh.

Darkness engulfed him.

He lost his composure from the inexplicable phenomena that kept happening one after the other.

“What the hell! What am I supposed to do!” he shouted into the darkness of the room, his breathing rough.

He grasped around in the dark, trying to find the exit, but he couldn’t figure out where the door was.

His whole body was covered in cold sweat by the time he had a breakthrough.

“Come, o light! –– Sun Light!”

A bright light appeared on the palm of his hand.

He finally managed to regain a hold of his composure as he repeatedly breathed in and out, watching the light in his hand.

“…”

He had to make a choice.

In all honesty, he just wanted to leave the room, but––

He had already stayed there for a long time, of his own volition. His pride made the choice for him.

He walked back to the chair in the middle of the room, gave an unpleasant snort, and sat down.

The second son of the Burn family, Maro Burn, was a surprisingly thick-skinned person.

“……”

Splish… splosh…

The sound of water droplets hitting the ground filled the room.

Looking for the origin of the sound, he looked up at the ceiling––

––and his eyes met another pair of eyes.

Two eyes, blacker than darkness itself, observing him from right above him.

“Uwaaaaa!” he screamed, falling over backwards chair and all and trying to crawl away backwards.

The shadow that had been stuck to the ceiling watching him looked like a huge, black crow.

However, what Maro was surprised by wasn’t it being a crow.

He thought he had seen a human arm in its beak a few moments before.

Maro realised. He realised that the sound of droplets hitting the ground had come from that.

[I kept you waiting.] came the horribly hoarse voice of a man.

The very same moment Maro heard that voice, the candles on the corners of the room relit themselves.

With a flap of its black wings, the crow landed on the floor.

Maro watched with a shudder as it slowly transformed.

“Do sit down,” came the calm and smart-sounding voice of the man suddenly standing in front of Maro. “What’s the matter? You were waiting for me, weren’t you?” he continued, his black eyes fixed on Maro.

Maro still hadn’t gotten a grasp on the situation yet, but he understood one thing:

––He couldn’t oppose him.

Obeying his instincts, he stood up, legs trembling, walked over to the chair with shaky steps, and sat down again.

“Sorry about that. I had some urgent business. A real pain,” he shook his head, muttering “Good grief” to himself.

Maro watched him, his brain in overdrive.

(So that was…)

Standing in front of him was a black-haired, grown-up looking man. He wore pointy, black shoes, and an all-black noble’s outfit that exuded an air of high status. He had a ring with a beautiful, red ruby inset in it on his right index finger, the gemstone glittering brilliantly in the candlelight.

No matter how one looked at him –– he looked human. And a high-ranking one at that. Or at least, that was how Maro had decided to evaluate him.

However, he couldn’t get the image of that grotesque form with a human arm in its beak out of his head.

(Did I see wrong…? No, but still…)

“…Don’t worry. You just saw wrong. This room’s pretty… dark, after all,” the man said, the corners of his mouth rising as he looked at Maro with suspiciously glittering eyes.

“…Ah, well… right, of course,” Maro said in a panic.

(Right. I must have imagined it. I was in a panic, after all.)

The memories blanched and bleached away.

Watching that with satisfaction, the man opened his mouth again.

“So then, let’s get down to business.”

“Business…?”

“Oho? Didn’t you want to make a contract with me?”

“…!”

That was when Maro realised.

That the man in front of him was whom he had been waiting all that time for––

“I-I’m terribly sorry!” he said, immediately standing up, going down on one knee, and bowing his head.

“Oh come now, I’m the one who should be apologising. Sorry for coming so late. Also, it was rather entertaining.”

The way he said it made Maro feel uneasy, but he waved the feeling away.

“N-n-not at all… I’m really sorry…”

“Let’s just both forget what happened. It’s for the best. ––Anyway, on to the contract ritual,” the man –– the god said, holding out his right hand to Maro.

Maro couldn’t help but gulp as he saw the beautiful white arm being held out towards him.

“T-then…”

Maro stretched out his hand.

–– However, all of a sudden, the god pulled his hand back.

“…Eh?”

Maro was surprised. He looked up at the god, wondering what exactly was going on.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I want to ask you something first,” said the god, his hand on his jaw.

“You see, I like collecting stray gods. I mean, they’re hated by humans, right? And it’s not like I just can’t leave my brethren unprotected. So? You know of any?”

“A stray god…?”

While Maro found the question strange, he still put what he knew into words.

“At the… at the school I go to, there is a former one.”

“…A former one? They made a contract with someone?”

“Yes. Our resident idiot.”

“……I see. And, what’s the god called?”

Feeling put under pressure by the ever quietening vice of the god, Maro gave him a clear answer.

“Athena. The goddess Athe––”

––A violent wind swept around the room, the god, in its terrifying form, at its center.

“Eh? Huh!?”

Maro couldn’t hide his shock at the sight of the god having changed, even as he was blown away by the wind.

And the god laughed, ignoring him.

“Fuhahahahaha! A coincidence? No way. So my hypothesis was correct after all…! That must be the reason Astaroth-sama is on the move as well!”

Maro watched the figure as it laughed in madness and glee.

“…Malphas-sama…?”

Malphas –– that was the name of one of the hero gods, now laughing full of madness.

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