Chapter 152- a Father And Mother (Part 5)
For some reason that teddy bear was the first Rin noticed when he took the turn. It just felt odd to see that plushy thrown on the ground even tho it had always been cradled in Sorophi's hands as if it was the most precious, important possession she had. He was grown accustomed to the fact that Silika was Sorophi's most liked thing in the whole world and he never questioned that.
However, now, right in front of him, that same teddy bear was on the ground, thrown as if it was nothing of any worth for the little girl. In its place was a book that could only arouse Rin's curiosity.
Taking a few seconds to scan all of that, he finally shifted his gaze toward the little girl's face. Sorophi looked oddly expressive, not to the point of being very apparent, but still visible nonetheless.
Examining her face, Rin could only describe it as one thing… Perturbed. She wasn't frowning so hard to call it fear yet wasn't so calm to call it neutral either. It was as if the little girl saw something that she didn't comprehend yet certainly didn't like.
However, that alone was more than enough to send Rin into confusion. Sorophi was a monster, an individual with enough strength to destroy cities and cities and pulverize whole domains if she wanted. So, what kind of thing can make her react like that?
Rin could only dread the answer to that no matter what it was.
'Is it related to her parents.' Rin suspected as he shook that uneasiness and started approaching Sorophi.
He didn't want to alert the girl so he took careful steps as he tried to calm his aura as much as possible. He wanted to make sure she doesn't snap and do something catastrophic. The little girl was not as stable as many would assume.
"Mmm, Sorophi?" He called for her name in a quiet tone.
The little girl, who was looking down didn't answer. So, without any hesitation, he spoke again.
"Sorophi, is everything alright?"
The girl, predictably, didn't say anything. Her mouth was pursed shut as if something was stopping her from speaking or she simply didn't bother to utter a single word.
"What is that book?" He changed the question, trying to lure her into speaking.
"Mmm…" Making a small grunt, the girl finally reacted to his words and looked at the book in her hands.
"Why… is this in my hand?" She asked a question that was clearly not directed at Rin but toward herself.
She didn't seem to have noticed the presence of this book in her hand the whole time she was staring absentmindedly at the ground as if she froze in time for a few seconds. This made Rin frown even harder than before as not only this odd behavior was out of nowhere, the girl herself didn't seem to be that aware of it either.
"Do you not remember why you picked up that book?"
"No, Sorophi didn't… I didn't… I don't remember." She tried to form some kind of coherent explanation but all she ended up with is incomprehensible gibberish ended with a vague answer.
Knitting his eyebrows, Rin finally focused on the book that was most likely the reason for this bizarre situation.
The book didn't look that old even compared to other books that were preserved perfectly. With a small appraisal, Rin could feel that the mana used to keep it intact from the assaults of time is still quite fresh, barely over 15 years old if he had to give a rough number.
On the cover, there was no title or perhaps it was scratched off by someone. Other than that, there wasn't much to appreciate about the book, even the color of the book cover was a bland brown mixed with a darker shade of brown around the corners to add some kind of aesthetic to it.
"Where did you find that book, Sorophi?" Rin asked.
"Mmm, there…" She said and pointed at a particular shelve a few meters away from her. Looking there, Rin could only wonder how she was able to notice it.
If Sorophi was acting normal, that book would never catch her attention as not only was it put in a very hidden corner, drowned by the sea of the rather more alluring books but it was also quite pushed deeper into the shelf as if the one who put it there didn't want anyone to notice it.
However, for her to pick that one in particular, it had to have something special about it.
"Mm, can I perhaps see the book, Sorophi?"
The moment Rin said that the little girl guarded the book in her arms and turned around as if she was trying to hide it from Rin. That defensive possession could only raise Rin's suspicion more and more.
"It's ok, Sorophi. I will give it back to you quickly. Here, trust me." He smiled a little bit and approached her slowly until the distance between them was less than a meter.
The girl's guard seemed to be quickly defused as she looked at the book and then at Rin before she nodded and handed it to him.
The book was not that thick, barely 100 pages long. However, the moment he made contact with it, Rin felt a weird sensation run through his whole body. It wasn't a bad feeling by any means but it was still quite bizarre. As if the book was calling for him to return it back to Sorophi. The call wasn't strong but it still made him wonder how or why it was doing so.
'What is this?' Rin wondered as he tried to open the book. But, then he remembered that he can just comprehend the whole book with his system. As he was about to do that, his hand suddenly stopped.
'Maybe… I should just read it normally.' He had this gut feeling that doing what he can with his system was off. The young man didn't know why but he decided otherwise.
Sighing, he opened the book and read the first few words written. Just a few words, not even a full phrase, and his eyes were already widened to the extreme.
He never expected to see something like this, not this direct, not this straightforward.
'Hello, my name is Somi Clearsky. This is a small diary I will start today… Hmm, let's see, it's the XXth of the 9th month, year XXXX.' He read.
'Somi Clearsky? Is this perhaps… Emilia's sister?' He frowned as he squinted his eyes. They had the same last name so it was safe for Rin to assume that she was indeed his master's deceased sister.
Somi Clearsky, the person who Rin was investigating, and Sorophi's mother. She was extremely mysterious and her death was even more of a mystery. Yet, somehow, with any bare searching, he found her diary that from the date written, which was started a few months before her supposed death.
Shaking his head, he tried to continue reading.
'I have started writing this diary to keep it as a memorial for me. This is my first time doing such a thing so I hope I will be able to write it properly.'
From the tone and the form of the book, it wasn't even a diary but more of a conversation Somi was having with herself. She didn't even seem bothered to keep it strictly related to what she wanted to keep as a memory.
'The other reason for this diary is the fact that today, I adopted a small girl. I found her in an extremely poor state in one of the orphanages in the slums of one of the cities I was visiting. She looked so pitiful. But, even though there were many people like her in that area of the city, I felt something weird in her eyes that I had never seen in someone else before. Her eyes carried an extremely strong will to live. Way stronger than anything I have ever seen before. I could swear that even if I left her there to die, she would never do so. She's only one year old yet carried such a desire to survive, I found myself quickly picking her up.'
Talking about a little girl, Rin knew that it was Sorophi she was talking about which verified the fact that Sorophi was indeed not Somi's biological daughter.
"The fact that she was thrown away at such a young age. This world never ceases to amaze me with how cruel it is." Rin murmured to himself. He felt numb to such inhuman acts as he already saw them plenty of times before in his two lives.
Humans are only humans in the name alone.
(A//N: I just started my newest book 'Supreme Warlock'. As much as I love Shadow Monarch, I have put a lot of effort into writing Supreme Warlock. I hope you would give it a try and support it if you like the book :) )
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