Monster Girl Encyclopedia Wiki

This wiki will close in two weeks (Wednesday November 24). Fandom is removing wikis on topics that contain large amounts of sex, nudity and/or fetish material. Even if the wiki itself is kept "clean", we are still unable to host it.


The two week's pause is so you can look for a new host and copy your content there.


I'm sorry for the bad news -- Sannse

READ MORE

Monster Girl Encyclopedia Wiki
Advertisement
Case 01: Wilmarina
Story Info
Title "One Who Seeks the Fallen Sword"
Author The Dullahan's Groom
Translator OtherSideofSky
Canon? No

The following is a story focused on the hero Wilmarina from the Fallen Maidens book.

For more information, please see the infobox on the right.


Chapter 1

—It was a beautiful flower garden, its surface entirely covered in white.

A world blanketed in pure white Dutch clover. I was sitting in the center of a beautiful flower garden untainted by any impurity. My gaze was turned to the bunch of clover I had plucked, and I was moving my small fingers with all my might. But they simply refused to move as I wished. They made loops of the unyielding stems and passed them through those, but they would not do so smoothly.

—Humph...

As my cheeks swelled with irritation, I quietly turned my eyes to the side. A boy of about my own age was sitting there. His flaming red hair was cropped short, and his fingers were moving with a smoothness mine could not match. As I watched, he passed one loop through another and held them up triumphantly.

"Done!"

"Ooh..."

—It was a beautifully woven crown of flowers.

He must have calculated even the angles at which the flowers protruded. With the flower petals facing outward, it was every bit as good as those his parents made. No, I doubt even many adults could make such a pretty garland; it was that beautiful.

—Compared to that, I...

Even making allowances for the garland in my hands being incomplete, it could never compare with his. The marks of my forceful bending were visible all over it, and the flowers stuck out at odd angles. There were more than a few places in which the flowers had gone limp, as if the moisture had leaked from their stems. That a portion of it was well done only made the whole appear all the more misshapen by comparison.

—...Why was there such a difference...?

His parents had taught us both at the same time, during pauses in their work, but he had improved steadily, while I had not improved at all. People said that he was good with his hands, but that didn't change my lack of progress. I had begun to suspect that I was clumsy.

—...But... to be unable to make even a single garland properly...

"Here."

"...Huh?"

He softly placed the garland in his own hands on my head, which I had lowered in shame. When I raised my head in surprise at that, my eyes met those in his sincere, smiling face. What in the world was that somehow triumphant smile for? While I pondered that, his lips began to move.

"Yup. I was right; you look like a princess when you wear something like this, Mary. It's really cute."

"Ah..."

His words, and my pet name, had the effect of a surprise attack. Reflexively, my chest throbbed and a heat kindled in my face. He, however, went back to plucking the Dutch clover around him without noticing my reaction at all. I felt relieved by that, and also a tiny bit jealous. I was thankful that he wasn't staring at my face, which had become bright red, but... couldn't he have paid a little more attention to me? I mean... this was certainly a pretty flower garden, but... he'd gone to the trouble of inviting me, and...—

—...Still... I was glad he'd called me cute...

Just the thought of that was enough to blow away my faint jealousy, and cause my cheeks to slacken. Of course, having been taken along by my father, as I had been and having had contact with the outside world, I had had the word "cute" directed at me any number of times. Most of those, however, had been empty compliments, or flattery meant for my father. There was hardly anyone who had genuinely thought me cute from the heart and put that feeling into words, as he had.

—But... even if someone other than him had said it...

There was practically nothing that could have made me happier than hearing that from him. His parents were the same in praising me without flattery, but they did not make my chest throb and my face redden so much as he did. Of course, gladness was gladness, but the feeling inside me now was a little different.

—...Could he be a genius at making my heart flutter...?

Right now, even just being next to him was enough to make my heart go pitter-patter. It wasn't enough to show on my face, but it had occasionally happened that I had failed, and been unable to maintain my composure in front of him. Each and every time, however, he would follow up my failure, and turn his usual smiling face to me.

—Even just now... yes...

He had brought me to his secret place—this flower garden—and on the way I had come close to falling down more times than I could count. My attempt to dress stylishly, in heels, of all things—although of course they were only small ones for children—in response to his invitation was probably the cause. Still, although when I really came to think about it, he should never have brought me to such a romantic spot, he had supported me in my heels time and time again, and taken my hand so that my clothes would not become dirty.

—...Then, too... my heart had been pounding a lot...

I felt an exaltation just like I did after putting my all into a game of tag. And yet, it certainly wasn't an unpleasant feeling. That was... because I trusted that, as long as I was with him, everything would be alright, or else...—

"Mary?"

"...Huh?"

His voice abruptly called out to me, and when I raised my head in response, his worried-looking face entered my view. Why in the world would he make such an expression? After thinking for a few moments, I realized that my hands had been motionless for some time.

"Are you alright? Your hands aren't moving, but..."

"Oh... Y, yeah. I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."

—...I'd gone and done it again...

I replied in order to make him feel at ease, but as I did so I felt my heart slump just a little. It wasn't only once or twice that I had become lost in thought at his side like this. Perhaps just his nearness was enough to make me unconsciously let down my guard, but I didn't know how many times I had repeated this same sort of thing.

"...Sorry. You said you wanted to practice making garlands, Mary, so I thought this would be a good place, but..."

"N, no! I, I'm really enjoying myself!"

He must have thought that I was lost in thought because I was bored of the flower garden. His shoulders quietly slumped as he apologized. But it was a complete misunderstanding. I wasn't particularly bored, and neither did I dislike the flower garden. On the contrary, just knowing that he'd remembered my trivial confidences filled me with joy.

—Besides... as long as I was with him, I was sure that I'd enjoy myself... no matter where I was...

"Really? Well, that's alright then, but..."

"I, I'm fine! I was just worrying because... I'm no good at making garlands, and..."

—That shouldn't be a lie.

I had started out worrying about my failure to improve and my clumsiness in comparison to him. It was true that the topic had turned from there, and gone on to him himself, but that had been the original cause. Even I was unsure whether or not I was lying, but in order to keep him from feeling down, I would make my own clumsiness out to be the villain.

"Hmm... You're putting too much force into your shoulder, Mary."

"...I, I know that, but..."

Because I was clumsy, I put force into it whether I tried to or not. Clumsy me failed over and over by putting force into it, and then ended up putting force into it again anyway. I knew that I was trapped in that vicious cycle. Actually, the first stems I had braided were well done as they were. But the more I put together, the more my feelings of pressure and unease grew, and now it was growing difficult for me even to make a loop properly.

—In the moment that my shoulders slumped, his hands quietly stretched out to me...—

"Let me touch for a minute."

"Ah..."

At those hands covering my palms from above, my cheeks reddened. My heart also beat faster, and my whole body seemed to be growing hotter. And yet he, concentrating on my fingers, refused to notice. I suppose he was using my fingers to demonstrate, and trying to let me build up experience. And yet, I was hardly looking at my own fingertips.

—...Ah... His eyelashes are longer than I thought...

As he stared at my hands, his face and mine were quickly growing closer than they had been until now. Then we were so close that, if I could have summoned a little courage, I could have kissed him. When the distance between us was so little that a sigh from either of us could have crossed it, my breast beat so fast it seemed it might burst. I was turned towards his serious-gazed expression, and focusing so as not to miss even its faintest movements.

"There. That does it."

"Huh? ...Huh...? Oh..."

—Called back to reality by his words, I found a small garland of flowers completed in my hands. It must have been because he had begun helping me partway through making it. The garland, about the size of a finger ring, was the most prettily shaped I had ever made. In the moment I spent admiring his skill in being able to make this pretty a garland moving not his own, but another's fingers, he quietly withdrew from before me.

—Ah... He's going...

His quietly retreating figure was so lonely that my hand made to reach out to him of its own accord. But the tiny garland in my hands stopped it. It was only natural that that garland, our first collaboration and so well made as to be unique—at least in my personal experience—should be my treasure. I wanted to avoid losing or injuring it if I possibly could.

—Besides... he would never leave me.

"Oof."

Just as I had anticipated, he sat down softly beside me. He went on swiftly weaving the Dutch clovers he had picked just as he had been before. I admired the fluid movements of his fingers, which I could not bring myself to believe were made of the same stuff as my own, a "certain thought" suddenly popped into my mind.

"Hey... won't you make a ring for me?"

"Hm...? Sure, but... why?"

"It's a secret. If you make it for me, I might tell you."

"Huh...? What's that supposed to mean?"

—Although he sounded dissatisfied, his fingers moved skillfully.

He was so kind. I was sure he would make a ring for me as I had requested. As proof of that, the movements of his fingers, which until then had been trying to make something large, changed. As I watched the small, firm knitting movements produce a finger ring in the blink of an eye, I felt a smile come to my face.

"Here. It's finished."

"Eh heh heh... thanks."

As he turned to me and proffered the finished ring, his face quietly reddened. Even he, insensitive as he was, must have understood what it meant to give a girl a ring. At his embarrassed appearance, my chest began to throb again.

—...Was his heart fluttering too?

It would make me happy if it were so. No, a feeling of wanting it to be so reflexively gushed forth from within my breast. I didn't quite understand what that meant. And yet, I felt certain it wasn't such a bad thing.

—While I encouraged myself in this way, I held my "treasure" out to him in offering.

"Then, take this in return, okay?"

"Huh...?"

With a dumbfounded expression, he directed his gaze at the "treasure" in my hand—the ring we had just made together. Judging by his totally uncomprehending expression, it seemed that he did not yet understand what an exchange of rings meant. Then... I was in luck. I would get my way before any strange preconceptions got a hold of him.

"When someone gives you a ring, you have to give them one back."

"Is that... so?"

"Yes, it is."

—...Yeah. That shouldn't be a lie.

I had only deliberately concealed the information that "this only applies to wedding and engagement rings." Besides, I felt confident that, dull-witted as he was, he would probably never realize. I didn't even understand why I was doing such a thing myself, but I felt certain that it was not mistaken. I couldn't explain why, but I was convinced of that.

"Well, in that case..."

—So saying, he took the ring from my hand, and gently placed it on his finger.

Wearing it on the middle finger of his left hand, he quietly turned his palm to the sun. The ring that the two of us had made together took in the warm spring sunlight, and seemed to sparkle. Feeling somehow triumphant, I put his ring gently on my finger in imitation.

—Of course, it was the index finger of my right hand.

For some reason... Yes. For some reason, that ring fit perfectly on my index finger, as if it had always belonged there. Sensing a touch of destiny in that, I felt my cheeks break into a smile. As I, smiling in spite of myself, stuck out my hand, palm facing the sun, just as he was, my lips quietly parted.

"...Thank you so much, El."

"I don't know why you're thanking me, but... you're welcome."

He—Elt... no, El—flashed an embarrassed smile at my words. And the moment I felt strangely glad at his expression, which looked as if he was happy too, and I felt my chest grow warm—

—Fade to black.

Chapter 2

"...Ah... umm... hey,"

—In the middle of a beautifully paved road, illuminated by the noonday sun, I opened my mouth falteringly.

But try as I might the words would not come out beyond that point. No, I no longer even knew what I had been going to say. In my heart was the perhaps unreasonable but compulsive feeling that if I did not say something here, I would regret it, and nothing else.

"...Mary."

—As I stood paralyzed like that, El turned a troubled expression towards me.

I certainly hadn't wanted to make El troubled like that. It was true that I had spoken selfishly to him more than once, but that was because I knew El would accept it to the bitter end. I hadn't wanted to make him look like that... as if he didn't know what to do.

—And yet... I didn't know what I should do either, and...

Even though it must have been the same for El... No. Rather, even though it must have been far harder on him than it was on me, I only made him troubled, and could do nothing. The moment that tears seemed about to come to my eyes at my own wretchedness, his hand gently brushed my head.

"It's alright."

"Ngh...!"

—Even I could tell that he was putting on a brave face.

After all, his family, which had always served mine, had been suddenly dismissed. It seemed an unbelievably poor way to treat servants who, far from committing any conspicuous errors, had steadily accumulated merit. Not to mention... normally, it was customary to mediate a servant's next place of employment after dismissing them. But my father, who had dismissed his parents, had merely given them notice that they were dismissed, without mediating their next place of work.

—That poor treatment, which might even be called abnormal, had given rise to nasty rumors, and...

Rumors that his parents had been embezzling our family funds and the like were the least of them. It was even whispered within the estate that El's father had committed adultery with mother. Of course, I gave no credence to such gossip. Still, the problem was that such rumors in and of themselves linked his to ill repute, so...—

"Father told me. He said we'll definitely pull through somehow. So, I'm sure everything will be fine."

"But still...!"

It was true that El's father was a fine person. I too respected him; he not only performed his work perfectly, but even taught me to play in his unoccupied time. Still, could he, who had continued as a servant for decades, go on living now that the path of a servant had been closed to him by infamy? That would probably be... very difficult.

"...I'm sorry."

"You've got nothing to apologize for, Mary. And besides, I'm sure the master has his reasons too."

—El smiled at me reassuringly.

He had been driven out of his home without even being told the reason why, and must also have been uneasy about his livelihood in a new world, but he was still concerned for me. I felt grateful to him, but on the other hand, I felt a strong pain in my chest. A feeling of powerlessness was slowly but steadily coiling itself around my heart, so that I wanted to bawl. I'm sure it must have been because faint tears were coming to El's eyes.

—Even he... can't be unaware of the rumors.

El respected his parents even more than I did. There was no way that their being spoken badly of could fail to hurt him. And that wasn't counting the fact that that El himself had come in for ridicule as a result of his parents' ill repute. He was the same age as me, and it must have been impossible for his heart to go uninjured by the gossip of rumor-mongering servants.

—If I had power, I would make sure he never had to make a face like this, but...

El had always protected me. No matter when, El had been standing in front of me and leading me onward. It was the first time he had shown me such a pained expression. He looked worn-out, somehow. I wanted to show him my appreciation, but I had nothing to give. The influence to make father reverse his decision; the power to make the servants' rumors stop; the magic to heal his heart... I possessed none of these.

"Besides... a happy face suits you better than looking like you're about to cry, Mary."

"Oo..."

—Those words finally broke down my self-control.

So far I had desperately avoided crying, but now my eyes grew moist, and tears fell from them in large drops. I wiped more than once at the corners of my eyes in an attempt to restrain them, but the tears flowing down my cheeks absolutely refused to stop. El saw the tears which would not stop although I scolded myself that he was the one who should be crying, and quietly withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Honestly... You're such a crybaby, Mary."

"But..."

—And like that, he used the handkerchief to gently wipe my tears away.

The gentle way he used his hands filled me with an incomparable feeling of relief. But at the same time... I also realized that it would leave me. The loneliness of knowing that the warmth I wanted always to be touched by would vanish caused me to resume my weeping.

"And anyway, it's not as though we'll never be able to see each other again."

"You're... probably right,... but..."

—But it would be difficult.

My family—the Norscrim family—was among the most distinguished in all of Lescatié. I didn't think I was anyone special, but those around me certainly disagreed. There must be those who opposed members of distinguished noble families spending their lives like commoners, who weren't even servants. Not to mention that, recently—ever since I'd come home from that flower garden—my free time had almost gone. It was not until today that I had been able to find time in my schedule, which had become even more overcrowded than usual, to meet with him. Under those circumstances, I had no confidence that I would be able to make an opportunity to see El again.

"It's alright. I'm sure we'll manage somehow. We'll be able to see each other again."

—And yet, El's words were melting my chest.

Like magic words, they dissolved the unease within me, and brought forth a baseless self-confidence. If he said so... I was sure we'd be able to meet again. No. I would make sure of it, at any cost. The moment I decided that in my heart, I heard a voice calling El in my hears.

"...Sorry. I have to go now."

"...Alright."

I wanted to cling to El's retreating figure. I wanted to cry and scream "don't go!" But even if I cried and screamed, father's decision wouldn't change. On the contrary, my doing so would likely make more trouble for El and his parents. So... all that I... powerless child that I was... could do was to believe in his words when he told me that we could meet again.

"Oh... your handkerchief... I need to clean it for you..."

"It's fine; it's just tears."

"But..."

—Even so, it had certainly gotten dirty.

I felt happy that he was willing to take the handkerchief soaked with my tears, but on the other hand a little embarrassed. And... to tell the truth, I wanted the pretext of "returning the thing I was looking after for him." So that I would never forget him... No, so that I would always be thinking of him.

—But there was no way he would let me keep it for him when we didn't know when we would be able to see each other again.

My thoughts wavered in the gap between my feelings and my rational judgment. Should I keep it or not? As I was vacillating between the two, the events of the flower garden came to my mind. Those events, in which I had exchanged something of my own, gave me an idea, and I put a hand into my right pocket.

"Then... here. Exchange it for this."

"Huh...?"

—I withdrew a frilly handkerchief from my pocket.

That elegant, embroidered handkerchief was one father had bought for me. It must have been quite valuable in and of itself, and yet I wanted his simple handkerchief more. Even just a promise would be fine. I wanted to feel that I was still tied to El.

"I'll lend you that, El... until I return your handkerchief. So... an exchange."

—El looked dumbfounded by my words.

He stayed like that for a few seconds, and then he showed an indescribable expression. Still with that glad, embarrassed expression on his face, El's shoulders slumped. Judging by that movement, which I recognized... he must have thought my willfulness had shown itself. And yet... I was incomparably more serious than usual.

"...I guess so. Let's... make an exchange, then."

"...Right!"

Had my intention gotten across, or was it just because it wasn't a bad proposal for him, either? El accepted my handkerchief, and handed me his own in exchange. Holding that in both hands, as if to embrace it, I turned back to face him. He was facing towards me again, too. But... there were no longer any words to be exchanged between us, who no longer had anything to do. Only silence ruled that place.

"Well... until next time... okay?"

"...Okay."

As we exchanged these brief words, El was already walking off to where his parents were. While he allowed his steps to falter and looked as if he were about to turn back several times, he did not stop. I continued to watch his back, wanting him to turn back... wanting him to stop.

—El, who had been waiting before the gate just like that, merged...

His parents, noticing me, quietly bowed their heads. But I was the one who needed to do that. I was the one who needed to make a heartfelt apology to that family, who had been driven out by my father's whim. As if charmed by those feelings, I bowed my head very deeply.

—By the time I raised my head, El and his parents had already gone out the gate.

The family's backs slowly receded as they walked down the road paved so that carriages could pass easily along it. Even if I had tried to pursue them, the iron grill of the gate would have prevented me. I felt as though my heart would be crushed by that gate, which seemed to insist that we would live in different worlds from now on. But the person who would have protected me from that feeling was no longer at my side. El, who had guided and protected me was... no longer at my side.

—The moment I thought that, something warm spilled from my eyes.

"... Huh...? How strange..."

I muttered at the tears brimming from my eyes in large drops. But... it should be fine. After all, he had told me we would be able to meet again. I could rely on that promise. The handkerchief in my hand was the proof of that. El had never broken a promise, so... he would definitely keep this one.

—Still... in spite of that... for some reason...

"They won't stop. Now that El's gone... the tears... the tears... won't stop..."

—Fade to black.

Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Chapter 2

Chapter 5

Chapter 2


Advertisement