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The Fatalità's Kiss - Episode 5
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Heathcliff: I-it’s a wizard…
Faust: He’s barely breathing. He’s very weak right now… No wonder we couldn’t sense any magic users around.
Rustica: « amorest viesse »
Rustica: Let’s wrap him up in this blanket of mine. I can only hope it’s wide enough to fit around his torso. It’s a large blanket by any measure, but for a man of his size……
Owen: Heine…
Mithra: Oh, ugh… He’s practically a husk.
Cain: So…… this guy is supposed to be Heine…
We excavated a giant of a man. He was easily over two metres tall.
His broad frame matched the vision we saw.
But the face that I glimpsed, hidden behind his long hair, had completely lost all colour. Even his lips were pallid.
Riquet: He’s in terrible shape. And he’s practically skin and bones…
Akira: Don’t tell me, he’s been buried here since the night of the Calamity, and no one even realised he was here…?
Owen: You’ve got to be kidding me.
Have you been here since that day, waiting and waiting, for a withered tree to bear fruit?
Murr: He must’ve been consumed by the idea, no? Fixated on that strange fruit that grows because of the moon.
He poured everything he had into this feeble tree, and then he clung to life in the hopes that his power could make it bear fruit.
Over and over again, time and time again, ever since this tree withered, up until his own magic was depleted.
Faust: … We cannot say for sure what has transpired. But one thing is for sure — wizards are those who are favoured by nature.
Wish as you might, death cannot claim us so easily.
Heathcliff: Sensei, shall we return to his manor?
Faust: Yes, let’s. If we are to hear more from Heine, we first require his recovery.
Mithra: What? Why are we going to help him?
Owen: He’s already helpless and on his last legs. He’s brought himself to death’s door. If we leave him be, he’ll die on his own terms.
Cain: His bride’s in the manor. She might be waiting for his return.
And — we’re not just going to leave behind someone who’s suffering before our very eyes.
Mithra & Owen: ………
[ Heine’s Manor ]
We returned to Heine’s manor. Faust and Heathcliff were good at healing magic, so they hurriedly set to work on treating Heine.
Riquet joined the two wizards in administering care to Heine because he wanted to help.
Faust: Heath. Be sure to apply your healing magic carefully and meticulously. Riquet, you take the other side.
Heathcliff: Alright.
Riquet: Understood.
Rustica: I’ll heat the blanket up with magic. It’ll help warm him up some…
Pecka-Pecka: Pekepeke…
The pecka-pecka appeared to be concerned over Heine’s wellbeing. They restlessly waddled around Faust and the others.
Cain: … On our way to the tree, we saw fissures in the ground.
I guess that’d prevent the pecka-pecka from reaching Heine.
Who would’ve thought that the wizard before us was the fearsome wizard from those cruel stories? Certainly you couldn’t have guessed from how he weakly laid there.
Mithra had been looking at Heine and his sorry state. His brows knitted and he remarked in scorn:
Mithra: What a disgrace.
What is this fruit? Is it so valuable that it is worth declining into this pitiful state?
Owen: Absolutely not. It’s a magical curio, and you can hardly ever harvest one. Besides for its scarcity, it’s not that special.
Even though it’s just a rare fruit, Heine poured his magic into the tree like a fool, and he finally burnt himself out on the night of the Calamity.
The Calamity must have broken the seal over this forest.
Murr: Yeah, even under normal circumstances, you’d exhaust both body and heart if you pushed your magic to the limits for such a terribly long time. Wizards are affected by the Calamity too, so that’d make it even worse.
And that’s not even considering that this last Calamity was a doozy.
Mithra: Still, the tree bore no fruit even after everything he did, right? In the end, he got nothing for his efforts.
Owen: Truly, an utter disgrace. He made a fool of himself.
Cain: … Hey, Owen. Actually, aren’t you somewhat close with Heine?
Owen: What? What makes you say that? I’m not close to anyone at all.
Cain: I mean, you know a whole lot about his bride, and also about the fruit.
It doesn’t seem like you’re telling us everything? You even came to this manor before.
Owen: You’re not wrong, but I’ve only been here once, and that was the only time we crossed paths.
I gave him the time of day, but nothing more… I barely interacted with him at all.
I simply bore witness to his folly.
[ Back in the past… ]
[ Heine’s Manor ]
???: Peke, peke…
???: He’s… Which group of you brought him back?
Return him where you found him. Food, this one is not.
Owen: …… (exhale) …?
(... Heine?)
(Right… I came back to life, and I felt so sluggish that I decided to take a nap. I must’ve been brought here while I was asleep.)
Heine: … I see you’ve regained consciousness. If you’re awake already, then hurry up and leave.
Owen: You brought me here though.
Heine: I did not. These little ones did.
They think that anything they can lift and bring back is food.
Owen: Oh, is that why the table is covered with a buffet of carcasses? How bold of them to try to add my corpse to this table of dead flesh. Bolder still to think they can eat me.
By the way, that dolled up human corpse over there, the one that’s been propped up to sit on a chair? What’s up with that?
Heine: ………
Pecka-Pecka: Pekepeke!
Heine: … More food again?
Cease your efforts. Just stop it… No longer do I… hunger…
Here, I’ll give you all some sugar. Please, leave me be.
Pecka-Pecka: (excited clicking) Pekepeke! Pekepeke!
Owen: Hey, don’t ignore me. I’m not actually a dead dinner plate. Man, why do you guys even bring back this much food? Just so you can watch it rot?
Pecka-Pecka: Peke, peke.
Pekepeke!
Owen: ‘A wedding feast’? ‘For Heine and his bride’, huh…
A bride…… Here I was thinking to myself, what a weird corpse, done up in a white dress and a veil…
Haha, be serious with me now. No matter how you look at it, this young maiden’s more of a bribe than a bride.
Heine: … A bribe…
You’re right… It’s just as you say. Look here.
[ Heine lifts the hem of her dress. ]
Owen: At the wounds on her feet?
Heine: She was a living sacrifice. But the nearby village called her a bride and handed her over to me in hopes of currying my favour.
They had crippled her before she arrived. What a pathetic girl, unable to even walk by herself.
Her wounds were infected, and she grew sick and weak… She could no longer eat, and so, she died.
Heine: … Hey, Owen. Do you know what this is?
Owen: What’s that? A chunk of ice?
Heine: It’s the Heart of the Moon.
Once every few decades, this special fruit grows in this forest on the night of the Calamity.
But for some reason, today I found this fruit growing right where you died.
Tonight is the night of the full moon. Perhaps, it is as simple as the moon being stronger tonight…… Or perhaps, this is one of the many strange things to happen in this world.
Owen: (hums in thought)
Heine: The humans whisper tales about this fruit. That it is a fruit of fate.
That this ‘heart’, when shared by two, binds them together forever.
On her deathbed, she said that she wanted to eat this fruit.
Owen: Then, you're saying that you failed to make it in time? You mean, you actually planned on giving her a last meal?
Or maybe you just wanted to fatten her up a bit before you had yourself a nice little maiden feast. A bag of bones barely lines the stomach anyway.
Heine: ……… I suppose so. That… might’ve been it…
Owen: What’s wrong? You’re not being very clear about this.
Heine: … She’s a strange one. She’s the first human who looked at me without weeping or crying out.
She put on a courageous face and told me that she wanted me to eat her, but her voice still trembled.
Owen: (smiles) ………
Heine: Life is monotonous. There is nothing for me to do but to eat.
Yet, as I handled this fragile maiden so that she might not break, an entire day could pass by in the blink of an eye.
Eventually, she laughed, so innocently, saying that she wouldn’t mind being eaten if I was the one to do it…
Owen: Fufu, ahaha!
Heine: What are you laughing at?
Owen: I mean, it’s a funny story! You put in all that time and effort to care for her so that you could have yourself a nice meal, but she ended up growing attached to you.
I get you though. Fear and despair and horror make the best spices.
You wanted to earn an innocent maiden’s trust just so you could betray it. Your plan was so close to fruition, you were so close to sinking your teeth into her flesh… only for her to up and die before you could pull it off.
You ought to have taken a trick from my book and stowed her heart away somewhere.
Heine: What nonsense… Not everyone can replicate that stunt you pulled.
And — I refuse to turn her into a monster like you.
Owen: Wow, rude. By the way, if you’re not going to eat that, then I will.
Heine: Oi! This fruit is—
Owen: It’s fiiiine. She’s dead already.
… (bites into the fruit)
Mm, it’s good. Sweet and delicious. The nectar’s real juicy.
Heine: … That’s the last one. You two were rampaging so much that the tree withered.
Owen: Oh, my deepest condolences. Maybe you can try eating through the piles of food those little critters brought back?
If you fill your stomach, you’ll immediately forget all about this maiden and also the fruit.
Owen: Do you hear that? Your stomach’s growling. Aren’t you hungry?
Heine: … Leave at once.
Owen: What.
Heine: I must feed. Do not get in my way. If you refuse, then end me.
Now.
Owen: ………
Hmph… Booooring.
[ Owen vanishes. ]
Heine: … Urgh……
Ever since she died, I can’t bring myself to swallow even a mouthful of food… It doesn’t matter if it’s fruit, or meat, or grain… Why……
… Ever since you came here, human maiden, the world has been nothing but strange.
next episode →
Heathcliff: I-it’s a wizard…
Faust: He’s barely breathing. He’s very weak right now… No wonder we couldn’t sense any magic users around.
Rustica: « amorest viesse »
Rustica: Let’s wrap him up in this blanket of mine. I can only hope it’s wide enough to fit around his torso. It’s a large blanket by any measure, but for a man of his size……
Owen: Heine…
Mithra: Oh, ugh… He’s practically a husk.
Cain: So…… this guy is supposed to be Heine…
We excavated a giant of a man. He was easily over two metres tall.
His broad frame matched the vision we saw.
But the face that I glimpsed, hidden behind his long hair, had completely lost all colour. Even his lips were pallid.
Riquet: He’s in terrible shape. And he’s practically skin and bones…
Akira: Don’t tell me, he’s been buried here since the night of the Calamity, and no one even realised he was here…?
Owen: You’ve got to be kidding me.
Have you been here since that day, waiting and waiting, for a withered tree to bear fruit?
Murr: He must’ve been consumed by the idea, no? Fixated on that strange fruit that grows because of the moon.
He poured everything he had into this feeble tree, and then he clung to life in the hopes that his power could make it bear fruit.
Over and over again, time and time again, ever since this tree withered, up until his own magic was depleted.
Faust: … We cannot say for sure what has transpired. But one thing is for sure — wizards are those who are favoured by nature.
Wish as you might, death cannot claim us so easily.
Heathcliff: Sensei, shall we return to his manor?
Faust: Yes, let’s. If we are to hear more from Heine, we first require his recovery.
Mithra: What? Why are we going to help him?
Owen: He’s already helpless and on his last legs. He’s brought himself to death’s door. If we leave him be, he’ll die on his own terms.
Cain: His bride’s in the manor. She might be waiting for his return.
And — we’re not just going to leave behind someone who’s suffering before our very eyes.
Mithra & Owen: ………
[ Heine’s Manor ]
We returned to Heine’s manor. Faust and Heathcliff were good at healing magic, so they hurriedly set to work on treating Heine.
Riquet joined the two wizards in administering care to Heine because he wanted to help.
Faust: Heath. Be sure to apply your healing magic carefully and meticulously. Riquet, you take the other side.
Heathcliff: Alright.
Riquet: Understood.
Rustica: I’ll heat the blanket up with magic. It’ll help warm him up some…
Pecka-Pecka: Pekepeke…
The pecka-pecka appeared to be concerned over Heine’s wellbeing. They restlessly waddled around Faust and the others.
Cain: … On our way to the tree, we saw fissures in the ground.
I guess that’d prevent the pecka-pecka from reaching Heine.
Who would’ve thought that the wizard before us was the fearsome wizard from those cruel stories? Certainly you couldn’t have guessed from how he weakly laid there.
Mithra had been looking at Heine and his sorry state. His brows knitted and he remarked in scorn:
Mithra: What a disgrace.
What is this fruit? Is it so valuable that it is worth declining into this pitiful state?
Owen: Absolutely not. It’s a magical curio, and you can hardly ever harvest one. Besides for its scarcity, it’s not that special.
Even though it’s just a rare fruit, Heine poured his magic into the tree like a fool, and he finally burnt himself out on the night of the Calamity.
The Calamity must have broken the seal over this forest.
Murr: Yeah, even under normal circumstances, you’d exhaust both body and heart if you pushed your magic to the limits for such a terribly long time. Wizards are affected by the Calamity too, so that’d make it even worse.
And that’s not even considering that this last Calamity was a doozy.
Mithra: Still, the tree bore no fruit even after everything he did, right? In the end, he got nothing for his efforts.
Owen: Truly, an utter disgrace. He made a fool of himself.
Cain: … Hey, Owen. Actually, aren’t you somewhat close with Heine?
Owen: What? What makes you say that? I’m not close to anyone at all.
Cain: I mean, you know a whole lot about his bride, and also about the fruit.
It doesn’t seem like you’re telling us everything? You even came to this manor before.
Owen: You’re not wrong, but I’ve only been here once, and that was the only time we crossed paths.
I gave him the time of day, but nothing more… I barely interacted with him at all.
I simply bore witness to his folly.
[ Back in the past… ]
[ Heine’s Manor ]
???: Peke, peke…
???: He’s… Which group of you brought him back?
Return him where you found him. Food, this one is not.
Owen: …… (exhale) …?
(... Heine?)
(Right… I came back to life, and I felt so sluggish that I decided to take a nap. I must’ve been brought here while I was asleep.)
Heine: … I see you’ve regained consciousness. If you’re awake already, then hurry up and leave.
Owen: You brought me here though.
Heine: I did not. These little ones did.
They think that anything they can lift and bring back is food.
Owen: Oh, is that why the table is covered with a buffet of carcasses? How bold of them to try to add my corpse to this table of dead flesh. Bolder still to think they can eat me.
By the way, that dolled up human corpse over there, the one that’s been propped up to sit on a chair? What’s up with that?
Heine: ………
Pecka-Pecka: Pekepeke!
Heine: … More food again?
Cease your efforts. Just stop it… No longer do I… hunger…
Here, I’ll give you all some sugar. Please, leave me be.
Pecka-Pecka: (excited clicking) Pekepeke! Pekepeke!
Owen: Hey, don’t ignore me. I’m not actually a dead dinner plate. Man, why do you guys even bring back this much food? Just so you can watch it rot?
Pecka-Pecka: Peke, peke.
Pekepeke!
Owen: ‘A wedding feast’? ‘For Heine and his bride’, huh…
A bride…… Here I was thinking to myself, what a weird corpse, done up in a white dress and a veil…
Haha, be serious with me now. No matter how you look at it, this young maiden’s more of a bribe than a bride.
Heine: … A bribe…
You’re right… It’s just as you say. Look here.
[ Heine lifts the hem of her dress. ]
Owen: At the wounds on her feet?
Heine: She was a living sacrifice. But the nearby village called her a bride and handed her over to me in hopes of currying my favour.
They had crippled her before she arrived. What a pathetic girl, unable to even walk by herself.
Her wounds were infected, and she grew sick and weak… She could no longer eat, and so, she died.
Heine: … Hey, Owen. Do you know what this is?
Owen: What’s that? A chunk of ice?
Heine: It’s the Heart of the Moon.
Once every few decades, this special fruit grows in this forest on the night of the Calamity.
But for some reason, today I found this fruit growing right where you died.
Tonight is the night of the full moon. Perhaps, it is as simple as the moon being stronger tonight…… Or perhaps, this is one of the many strange things to happen in this world.
Owen: (hums in thought)
Heine: The humans whisper tales about this fruit. That it is a fruit of fate.
That this ‘heart’, when shared by two, binds them together forever.
On her deathbed, she said that she wanted to eat this fruit.
Owen: Then, you're saying that you failed to make it in time? You mean, you actually planned on giving her a last meal?
Or maybe you just wanted to fatten her up a bit before you had yourself a nice little maiden feast. A bag of bones barely lines the stomach anyway.
Heine: ……… I suppose so. That… might’ve been it…
Owen: What’s wrong? You’re not being very clear about this.
Heine: … She’s a strange one. She’s the first human who looked at me without weeping or crying out.
She put on a courageous face and told me that she wanted me to eat her, but her voice still trembled.
Owen: (smiles) ………
Heine: Life is monotonous. There is nothing for me to do but to eat.
Yet, as I handled this fragile maiden so that she might not break, an entire day could pass by in the blink of an eye.
Eventually, she laughed, so innocently, saying that she wouldn’t mind being eaten if I was the one to do it…
Owen: Fufu, ahaha!
Heine: What are you laughing at?
Owen: I mean, it’s a funny story! You put in all that time and effort to care for her so that you could have yourself a nice meal, but she ended up growing attached to you.
I get you though. Fear and despair and horror make the best spices.
You wanted to earn an innocent maiden’s trust just so you could betray it. Your plan was so close to fruition, you were so close to sinking your teeth into her flesh… only for her to up and die before you could pull it off.
You ought to have taken a trick from my book and stowed her heart away somewhere.
Heine: What nonsense… Not everyone can replicate that stunt you pulled.
And — I refuse to turn her into a monster like you.
Owen: Wow, rude. By the way, if you’re not going to eat that, then I will.
Heine: Oi! This fruit is—
Owen: It’s fiiiine. She’s dead already.
… (bites into the fruit)
Mm, it’s good. Sweet and delicious. The nectar’s real juicy.
Heine: … That’s the last one. You two were rampaging so much that the tree withered.
Owen: Oh, my deepest condolences. Maybe you can try eating through the piles of food those little critters brought back?
If you fill your stomach, you’ll immediately forget all about this maiden and also the fruit.
Owen: Do you hear that? Your stomach’s growling. Aren’t you hungry?
Heine: … Leave at once.
Owen: What.
Heine: I must feed. Do not get in my way. If you refuse, then end me.
Now.
Owen: ………
Hmph… Booooring.
[ Owen vanishes. ]
Heine: … Urgh……
Ever since she died, I can’t bring myself to swallow even a mouthful of food… It doesn’t matter if it’s fruit, or meat, or grain… Why……
… Ever since you came here, human maiden, the world has been nothing but strange.
next episode →