I take back my previous remarks.

Time has pa.s.sed much more quickly than I could imagine.

Fifteen years have pa.s.sed.

Fifteen years.

…Fifteen years!?

I stealthily stole a Child Rearing Diary (by: Alfred). I’ll just pretend that I’m unaware that it’s a stolen good and give it a read. ――Uwah!! Alfred’s handwriting is surprisingly messy. Even though he’s such a methodical kind of guy.

Raising a child: year one.

So I’m one year old.

[Sare has grown a tail.]

It was quite sudden, but after waking up from a nice sleep――it had popped up. The [tail].

You may think I’m just messing with you, but it’s the truth.

Even that stoic Alfred was quite surprised.

A tail with dark black fur.

It’s long and narrow but, even so, it’s quite fluffy. Because the fur is longer at the end the tip seems rounded.

It’s bushy-ness has a kind of [Bufa~] sort of feeling. ――Gitaigo banzai!

TN note: First one so far. I couldn’t think of an appropriate image to replace ‘Bufa~.’ It gives the impression of a blooming fluffiness? Right? So I’m not even going to try. Gitaigo are what you call words like bufa. They’re not proper onomatopoeia, but rather mimetic words, or sound effect words that stand in place of ideas. It doesn’t translate well.

Anyways, it feels really excellent to the touch, and even to this day Lilian has the habit of often treating it like her toy.

When brushed it tickles quite a bit so I wish she’d stop it.

Also, it’s painful when she squeezes it.

[Sare’s tail tends to show quite a bit of emotion. When Sare is particularly happy or excited his tail waves back and forth with a lot of energy; it is very easy to understand. ……I also want to touch it….]

Alfred-san, even though you always looked so serious you were thinking that sort of thing, huh?

In any case, I didn’t really have the intention of swinging it around so much. ――No matter how much I tried to hide my tail it was really easy to understand my thoughts, which was truly unacceptable.

Nowadays, for this reason and also because I don’t like being Lilian’s toy, I keep my tail hidden within my clothes. But when I go outside I take it out since I can use it in place of my hand to pick things up so it’s quite convenient.

[Ancient Majin seem to have had tails however, so perhaps this is the case of a resurfacing physical trait.]

Oh~ Majin’s used to have tails in the past, did they? This is the first I’ve heard of it.

Raising a child: year two.

Now I’m two.

[Sare’s [Gram Istoora] has manifested itself.]

――That’s not something I’d forget.

The room I used when I was first brought here had remained my room up until the point just before I turned two. That’s because, just before I turned two, I completely destroyed it.

The term ‘delinquent teenager’ doesn’t really work, perhaps I would be worthy of the term ‘delinquent toddler.’

If I calmly think back on that time it was really quite dangerous.

Because the [eye of destruction] is utilized with vague components like feelings and sensations that depend on the individual, when it first manifested itself I couldn’t control it and randomly fired. When my [eye of destruction] manifested and didn’t stop, Alfred took the first chance he could get to forcibly close my eyes.

Was it caused by my avoidance of the things I feared? Or was it a result of all the remnant malice I held within myself?

Keeping things at a distance may have been unexpectedly ineffective and tended to make things awkward.

After that incident I remember I would cling to Lilian incessantly and cry constantly.

Around that time Lilian became an existence that was somewhat like a mother or older sister, though it was more complicated than that. Her existence had become something that was difficult to describe with words; a fact that I acknowledged in my heart. But, as always, she was still a fan of raw meat.

How should I put it? That aspect is just a part of her devilish charm.

A devilishness that men would lose to instantly.

Raising a child: year five.

I’m five years old.

[He is about able to control the [eye of destruction]. He may only be five, but he is able to move about the castle quite easily and freely. I have begun to think that the windows of Sanctos Castle only exist in order to be destroyed by Sare. ――The repairs cannot keep up with him anymore….]

I sincerely apologize for my behavior at that time.

I have reflected.

I was at the peak of my desire to constantly keep progressing.

Raising a child: year eight.

Oh, I’m eight years old now.

[Around this time we are having Sare partic.i.p.ate in Majin training. Everyone thinks that Sare is quite cute. At the moment he has to really struggle at it, but he will just have to hang in there. It is the perfect chance for us to recover our defences.]

My cuteness was constantly brutalized.

――It’s a lie!! No, that’s not quite right, rather, you can’t call that sort of h.e.l.lish thing ‘training’!!

I have a lot of knowledge regarding death, but every time I was forced into the training camp that male Majins go through I thought things like [Am I going to die again…?]!!

When the joints of my arms and legs would noisily creak from the intense training I was going through  I felt a lot of anger towards both the male and female Majins.

You might forget when looking at a guy like Alfred, but a large number of the male Majins are pretty st.u.r.dy and surprisingly hearty.

Speaking of Alfred, that training was extreme.

In terms of those Alfred-like gentlemanly guys, when I asked: where are those men of valor who served proudly? I never thought of them. I’ll make sure to mention it so you don’t misunderstand: those gentlemanly guys are the Majin’s greatest warriors. When they strike like the “wind” there’s nothing remotely gentlemanly about them.

TN: The kanji for “gentlemen” contains the kanji 風 which, on its own, means “wind.” That is all.

Yes, those guys’ training was unbearably severe.

Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, their favorite phrase was: [Hahaha――right. Now, once more, ok~]. Incidentally, those guys also had fundamentally excellent bodies.

Their faces were always smiling, but it never reached their eyes.

[Watching Sare growing so quickly that you can hear his bones creak (meki meki) gives me the desire to pa.s.s down all of my techniques to him. But, I might be overdoing it a bit…]

See? I knew it!! Alfred’s training was way too intense!!

――My bones creaking (meki meki) was because your training nearly broke something.

Raising a child: year ten.

I’m ten now.

[Lilian is, as usual, closely attached to Sare. Going by my favorite Child Growth Reference Diary (Revised Edition), Sare should begin entering his rebellious phase. I wonder if he feels constrained?]

――I’m currently going through that phase.

The problem is that she keeps trying to follow me all the way into Sanctos Castle’s large public bath.

I really wish she’d hurry up and be more aware of the fact that she’s a woman.

Even if an older stranger happened upon such a refreshing female form they would have a hard time, please be more considerate of my youthful vigor.

――But, I can risk saying this much:

What a magnificent body!

Lilian’s devilishness knows no bounds.

The male libido is honest. In the presence of her devilish b.r.e.a.s.t.s one becomes compelled with the desire to touch them. In the presence of Lilian’s devilishness half of my reason flies away, and even though I still retain the ability to resist――

At one time, when my hand slowly inched towards Lilian’s chest, she graced me with a [smile] so pure, so completely without hostility, that I become ashamed.

Her innocent smile seems to tell me: [It’s fine].

Does she even understand the situation?

But I wonder if it would be easy for her to handle my vulgar libido with that level tolerance.

I wish I could ignore the pangs of guilt felt by my conscience that I can hardly bear.

But if I ignored them and went along with my impulses my self-respect would be no greater than a grain of wheat, easily crushed and blown away into nothing.

Dealing with one’s s.e.xual needs is necessary, but self-respect is no less important.

――That’s why I must temper my will to face this challenge.

Who said I had given up?

Raising a child: year twelve.

Twelve-years-old, huh?

[Though he his still growing, Sare’s body is nearly fully grown. As a result of his training he has matured well and I think he has become quite a master of martial arts. Lilian and the others keep complaining that “It’s boring now that we can’t dress him up anymore…” but, in the first place, Sare is not a doll you know? …..when I happened to see them dressing him up in women’s closing, I truly felt sympathetic…..]

Then why didn’t you help me out that time….!?

[Speaking of growth, around this time it usually begins to come to a halt. Once the body has matured to a certain point, Majins will, for the time being, stop maturing and retain a youthful appearance.]

The h.e.l.lish training with the male Majins, and the days of being dressed up like a doll by the female Majins; those were the customs of this period of my life.

As Alfred says in the second part, ever since I became twelve-years-old my physical appearance hasn’t matured at all.

On another note, Alfred once told me that, at 8-years-old, a Majin will normally appear the same age as a 17-year-old member of the Pure race.

TN: I may be wrong about this statement. If I’m wrong I will make sure to make a post regarding the change and amend it here a note at the bottom of the page.

The Majin race’s growth is fast, but once their body matures their aging is halted. They continue to appear in their prime for as long as they live.

It’s a convenient body, but you can never really know how old Majins really are, which is bound to cause other problems I’m sure.

By the way, in Alfred’s case it seems that he has definitely pa.s.sed 100-years in age.

Ordinarily, those of long-lived lineages forget their own age at some point, or so I’ve been told.

I promise myself that I’ll at least keep track until I’ve reached 100.

By the way, my spirit hasn’t changed from before; I can vaguely tell that I was tough and arrogant.

That final instance when I became defiant is a good example.

No matter what, my desire to show off will never die.

Raising a child: year fourteen.

I’m fourteen now.

[Since two years ago, the women have been introducing him to sorcery. From their perspective he has a long way to go, but from where I stand I feel he has learned plenty. I really wish that, during their practice in the nearby forest, he would refrain from blowing things apart… In any case, I guess I need to admit that he has become capable of defending himself. It feels as if the time since we picked up Sare has pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye. Since our numbers were declining we were losing sight of a purpose, and Sare’s arrival tugged at our heartstrings. ――He continues to be our guiding light.]

What straightforward words. ――I’m getting a little embarra.s.sed.

But it’s a nice, happy feeling.

But training in sorcery with the women was just like my training with the men: dreadful.

Deep down I wondered where the happy faces, that went [Kyaa Kyaa] or [Ufufufu] when they would dress me up like a doll, went.

My stock in female honesty may have fallen a bit.

TN: This is the nicest way I can write this line.

Sorcery is fueled by the Majin power (TN: Maryoku from here on.) stored in our bodies. Once learned, by running this power through the technique formulas, you can give rise to phenomena and transformations.

Here’s a general explanation of sorcery:

Because the Majin race inherently possesses Maryoku in their bodies, Maryoku is used to fuel techniques.

That’s why we call techniques that use Maryoku――[Sorcery].

The first step towards mastering sorcery is absolutely the most difficult.

It was the same in the past: sorcery originates from Maryoku, so the first barrier Majins faced was understanding how to sense the Maryoku that dwelled within them: the technique’s [fuel].

Lilian, with her usual level of arrogance, had the nerve to tell me “No meat until you can sense your Maryoku.”

Even though I told her from the outset that “I definitely don’t want something like raw meat”――

It was at this time that I had realized that the term [meat] and [meal] had the same meaning in Lilian’s unique vocabulary.

The other women proposed plans like [Wouldn’t it be faster if he was closer to death?], which were approved.

――Oi! Stop it! I’ve had more than enough close encounters with death…..!!

The result of nearly being starved to death was that my senses were heightened, which may have been what allowed me to get a grasp on the flow of my power.

Of course, I can only acknowledge that in hindsight. Ahh….

――Not that I want to…..!!

By the way, the food I broke my fast with was raw meat.

As long as it was edible, anything was fine.

It was amazingly delicious.

The later practice to invoke my Maryoku and weave the technique’s formula was another terrible trial.

Using the fear I had honed from facing death, I became so skillful in practicing its practical application that the women were really surprised.

Because of those feelings I advanced quickly, but to me I was just glad to be alive.

I had to be taught how to organize sorcery formulas. I was taught through lectures, of course, but there were also practical lessons where I had to reply while maintaining composure. These lessons were frightening enough to send shivers down my spine. It’s not something I’m proud of.

But, I mean, does a person who can stay focused while a dagger is being thrust at their throat actually exist…!?

If I tested below their standards, I was told [Around the castle, 300 times, one week, ok?]. That was it.

Female Majins can also show some pretty scary faces. Seeing those beautiful faces wearing such vicious smiles was super worrisome.

Anyways, the women are a big fan of the policy: [Kill before you can be killed]. As a result I get the feeling that they focused on teaching me attack techniques that were straight forward in nature. Rather, those were the only types I was taught.

[Kill with the fastest, shortest strike]. The women repeated these words nearly every day, to this day those words are burned into my mind.

Therefore, the practice for offensive techniques was held separate from the mult.i.tudes of practices on [prompt] invocation.

[The guy who dies while weaving the formula is the biggest idiot] was another one of their favorite phrases.

In any case,  it’s inevitable that the forest around the castle would be blown away as a result of that sort of training regiment.

As a result, to the Alfred who had to running around to clean up afterwards, I am truly very sorry. ――Really.

Also, there’s an upper limit to the amount of Maryoku you can store in your body, and every time you use sorcery it decreases. Just like physical exhaustion, if you rest a bit it’ll recover.

Just as there are various techniques that require different amounts of fuel, the recovery time needed also varies.

If you use it until you’re nearly empty, you’ll feel anemic.

If you exhaust all of it, there is no doubt that you’ll collapse where you stand.

That brings us to today: I’m fifteen.

I returned the Children Rearing Diary (By: Alfred) back to where I found it, and went outside Sanctos Castle.

Irudoe domain’s Sanctos Castle is surrounded by land covered by a ma.s.sive forest, and gives the impression of a place separated from the rest of the world.

Recently, it’s become a simple hobby of mine to take strolls through the forest.

Always staying inside the castle can get to be stuffy, so taking a stroll becomes an attractive diversion.

Alfred and the other men always happily give me their permission.

But Lilian and the women always try to pull me back inside out of worry.

I wear a sword on my left side, and a dagger at the small of my back and, while swinging my tail, I stride through the forest.

Today’s stroll is for the sake of looking for some food supplies.

Irudoe domain’s forest was a treasure trove of plants and animals.

I wanted to look for food supplies as a gesture of grat.i.tude for the constant care I receive.

With those thoughts on my mind――

“Ohh, found it.”

Food supply located.

A dog with white fur.

…..a dog?

It’s a little weird.

The dog’s body is about three times bigger than my own.

――A-according to the libraries reference books it’s a bit bigger than dogs normally are.

“No, it’s way too big.”

It’s front legs were five times taller than mine.

One could expect a strike from those legs to really hurt. ――Hurt enough to kill you I would think.

Those limbs seemed really agile.

――Those things could probably slice me in two…

I’ll admit that during my simple strolls a part of me considered the excitement of encountering an unknown animal, or experiencing a situation that would cause me to break out in a cold sweat. But those were just things I considered.

“Ah, it noticed me.”

From my spot in the shadow of the long gra.s.s, the giant dog noticed me. The beast turned its pupil towards where I was hiding.

As expected of a wild animal. What excellent senses.

It turned it’s stern glare in my direction with what I would suppose was a desire to attack――

“Eh, it’s running away?”

That fierce looking giant dog turned away from me.

Immediately after it saw me and seemed to look at me in a vicious manner it turned around, shaking, with its tail between its legs, and ran away in a panic.

――d.a.m.n it! Don’t run away! Where’s your pride as a wild animal?!

I immediately left my hiding spot and pulled myself onto the branch of a nearby tree.

Because there were so many old trees there were a lot of branches in my line of sight, but compared to the view from the ground it was a definite improvement.

Using those plentiful branches I was able to move from tree to tree and close the distance between me and the giant dog.

――If I were to use the [Gram Istoora] it would be over pretty quickly, but it wasn’t good to always rely on it.

There was always the danger of [tears of blood], especially if it became a habit in the future to just rapidly fire it as I pleased.

“――Alright!”

It’s still a little ways off, but if I give one last leap with all of my strength it should be enough. I push off the branch of a large tree and aim for the giant dog’s back.

While I’m in the air I unsheath the sword on my left hip, and once I land I aim a strike towards the giant dog’s head.

“Grr――! Grrrurrr――…..”

It died quickly.

It’s over just like that.

I jump off its back before it lands with a thud; the forest is silent.

“――――Sorry about this. But I need you to become our food.”

You’ve gotta eat to live.

As this was around my fifth life, my opinion regarding life and death could agree with this sort of simple statement, after all, how could you argue its validity?

――It’s fine.

It’s something I can understand and agree with.

――I agree with it. As long as it’s fine then I’m good.

I have no problem supporting those easy to understand, self-interested, self-justified words.

It’s easy to find fault with those kinds of selfish guys, but it doesn’t matter to me. If I didn’t cling to my own selfishness, there’s no guarantee that I wouldn’t have gone mad from that h.e.l.lish loop of reincarnation.

I don’t know how long I can rely this sort of argument, but the responsible party who would regret it would be me, so I’m not very concerned.

Anyways, I managed to kill it without suffering any injury. Next I took out my knife and began to disa.s.semble the d.a.m.n dog.

As you would expect, I can’t carry it all back.

Whatever I leave behind will be happily eaten by other animals, so it’s fine.

“――――Hm?”

While cutting into the body I felt a sudden [glance].

A vague sense that I’m being watched.

Centered on my back, a faint gaze seems to take me in.

The feelings I get from that gaze seems to indicate that, in the next moment, I’ll be a.s.saulted by some sort of disaster.

“――――”

I get the feeling that something is going to fly at me from behind.

That hazy glare focuses itself into a sharp needle and wants to bury itself in my back.

At least that’s what I thought, because I suddenly felt a [killing intent] from that needle-sharp gaze.

So, in reaction to what I was sensing, I turned around and focused my eyes on the area behind me.

As soon as I turned around, a [dagger] flew towards me from where I felt that gaze.

――There was no need to use the [eye of destruction].

I used my tail to grab the handle and throw the dagger back from whence it came.

There was a rustle in the overgrowth, and then the origin of the killing intent disappeared.

――Should I go after it? Or leave it be?

Hesitation ruled me for a short while.

I felt that I definitely shouldn’t completely ignore it, so――

“――If it’s only at that level, there’s no need to make a fuss,” was what I said at first, but――

“For the time being, let’s report it to Alfred,” was what I decided to do.

In light of this decision, I took hold of the meat I had harvested from the giant dog in one hand and made my way towards Sanctos Castle.