The Bride Of The Sacred Forest God
Chapter 6. The hatred of Aragaki-sama

The cold eyes that were staring at him and the voice that was so piercing with the heart-painful sentence were the things Reda received from Aragaki for the second time.

The girl only fell silent, as did the four servants. Those who had originally already received his physique and positive aura became turned looking at him coldly. Only Ryuunosuke cried while pleading with his master.

“Aragaki-sama, don't talk like that. Re–Reda-sama is a good person. Didn't..wasn't Reda-sama greeting you properly? Hiks.don't say such cruel things to her. Poor Reda-sama..”.

“Why should I feel sorry for a human being who once reneged on a promise he made to me?”

“Aragaki-sama..” Ryuunosuke calls his name while crying.

Knowing he was not well received made Reda realize that wherever he was, he would not be able to live.

But, he remembered what the poor little fox who was crying for him said.

[I...eventually I can meet the real ‘bride’ candidate! Ryuunosuke will try to protect Reda-sama! Ryuunosuke will fight as well for Aragaki-sama to become the Aragaki-sama he once was!]

Reda realizes that the crying little fox is trying to protect her and she has promised to fight alongside Ryuunosuke.

Gathering all his courage, Reda spoke.

“Ma–forgive me but don't make Ryuunosuke cry like that. Please don't say cruel to him because it will hurt the poor little fox.”

“...” everyone is surprised to hear his words

Not only surprised, Aragaki even looked quite surprised even though his face was still cold.

Ryuunosuke looked at Reda who was behind him.

“Hiks..Reda-sama”.

The four servants were quite impressed.

“He defends Ryuunosuke? That fishy stinky girl did it?”

“Seriously? He's defending demons? During this time, all ‘bride’ candidates never defended her and even cried for mercy on Aragaki-sama.”

“Nushi-sama may be surprised at this time.”

“I don't know what to say. Nagi, Ginko and Kuroto may also be surprised to hear it.”

Reda still extended her sentence.

“I've heard from Ryuunosuke. Candidate ‘bride’ should do everything ordered by Aragaki-sama and I came to fulfill that obligation”

“I who has been banished by my own village because it is considered the unlucky carrier girl is very grateful for still being given the opportunity to live and serve the Protective God of Kamakura Village. I'm so grateful.” Reda bowed in thanks

But, it seemed that it did not give the impression to Aragaki.

“I don't need a word from a human mouth. If you already know what the candidate ‘bride’ really is, you also must have known that your life is only 3 months here. It was a very long time for a dirty creature like you and your other people.”

“I realized it. 3 months is a very long time for me that is not desirable anywhere. I came because I promised Ryuunosuke.”

“Appointment?”

“I will make Aragaki-sama want to accept my presence a little. I will help Ryuunosuke to make Aragaki-sama want to become his former master”

Reda smiled. A very beautiful sweet smile, made the four servants quite moved and reacted.

The cold faces of Nagi, Ginko, Hakuren and Kuroto became slightly flushed looking at that smile.

Bak sees hope, Ryuunosuke also blushes and almost hugs Reda. If he did not immediately remember that he was in the presence of the highest, he would probably directly hug her while crying.

Too bad, as pretty as any smile Reda, it does not affect Aragaki.

“Man is just sweet on the lips. Don't make me laugh.”

Reda who heard that tried to endure her pain and fear. He answered back with all his remaining courage.

“I'm sorry to Aragaki-sama, but I didn't lie. I really thought that this place was another heaven for me. Therefore, the remaining 3 months I will use well. After that, I will leave everything to Dewa.”

“I didn't expect to marry Aragaki-sama, nor did I expect to live in this beautiful place any longer. I just hope to keep my promise to Ryuunosuke to make Aragaki-sama want to see me even if it is just a little.”

A word that begins to change the tone of Aragaki's speech.

“Promise says..”

“Ryuunosuke has already fought so far for the sake of Aragaki-sama and I understand very well with that struggle.”

“I will fight to keep my promise to him. Reda will serve Aragaki-sama well. Whatever Aragaki-sama ordered, Reda will do.”

It seems that Aragaki wants to end this sooner.

“So. You'll do whatever I tell you.”.

“True. Ryuunosuke has told me all the obligations I have to do here so–”

“Kill yourself in front of me now.”

A command that almost made everyone stare in shock at Aragaki's cold face. Not only that, everyone was even more surprised to see Aragaki throw a small knife in front of Reda just like that.

Her cold eyes and tail that turned slightly larger than before signified her anger.

Ryuunosuke hysterically heard it and immediately cried. He ran before the master and bowed to him. Tears that flowed continuously out of his eyes.

Ryuunosuke was shocked and begged like a madman for Aragaki to retract his words.

“Aragaki-sama, please don't do that! Reda-sama is a good person! Reda-sama may be the descendant of the damned humans, but Reda-sama is not them! Ryuunosuke please retract the order. Hiks..Ryuunosuke beg of you, Aragaki-sama.”

All those cries meant nothing to Aragaki this time. He stopped looking at his little servant and saw the girl in front of him return.

“Didn't my command be done? That is the first and last commandment for you. With that knife, kill yourself now.”

“Aragaki-sama!!” Ryuunosuke shouted and cried increasingly hysterically

The four servants stared anxiously at that.

“This is not good. The first time Ryuunosuke cried at this welcoming event. Doesn't that mean he likes the girl so much? Why do I feel like I want to defend the fox?”thought Nagi

Ginko seems to think so too.

“I'm not surprised to hear Nushi-sama's orders. But I was more surprised at Ryuunosuke who begged like that. It meant that he saw great potential in the girl. Isn't this very bad if left unchecked?”

“I have a bad feeling about this” murmured Hakuren

“Not only you, I also have a bad feeling about this. It feels like this has never happened for 200 years.” Kuroto answered slowly

Reda looked at the knife in front of her and picked it up. Ryuunosuke who saw that ran towards Reda while crying and holding her hand. He did it to stop Reda from opening the knife.

“Reda-sama, don't do it! Reda-sama cannot die! Don't do! Ryuunosuke please, Ryuunosuke please!”

Reda just smiled and said to the fox, “It's okay Ryuunosuke, don't cry.”

“Ryuunosuke runs again and begs Aragaki-sama.

“Aragaki-sama, please pull your words! Ryuunosuke please, Ryuunosuke please!”

“Do not ask for the impossible, Ryuunosuke. I've been patient with all this. I hate this tradition, but I'm not human. For the sake of keeping the promise I made with the girl's ancestor, I did the thing I hated the most, which was to accept humans in this sacred place of mine.”

“And now I'm sick of seeing it. You said you promised Ryuunosuke? Huh! Don't make me laugh at your stupid joke!!”

Reda was so shocked to hear Aragaki's scream. Ryuunosuke who was initially crying before him instantly fell silent and was so scared. She's trembling.

Aragaki showed her most frightening figure.  Emotionally, he said all his hatred to Reda.

“Never talk about an appointment in front of me! You who betrayed us first after we allowed you to build a village for your friends after the war. Then, you willingly burn down my forest and kill my precious friends!”

“You also killed my faithful servants and polluted my forest with the blood of your neighbors! After you promised to keep the sanctity of our abode, what did your ancestors do to that promise?!”

“You kidnapped and tortured all my precious little servants and threw their corpses back before me, do you know how sad we all are!! And after all that, with pride you say will exterminate all the demons that exist. You have been dreaming too long!”

“Low humans who don't know thank you. You guys can kill everyone I love the most, then I kill them too back then”

“I flatten your place into the land again, I kill your loved ones, I let them see the corpse of that person become the devil's meal of this place and I let you regret it all.”

“That's all human error. You are begging me to let you stay and you are also forgetting the place you were in. Now, there's no reason for me to forget that hatred.”

Reda. It was the content of hatred Aragaki felt towards his ancestors.

The God Protector of the forest, that's the story spread in his village. There was another story that he heard from the village and it was very different from the reality that Aragaki said.

**

Long ago, 200 years ago, when humans fought against other humans for the sake of expanding royal power, people fleeing war stopped in a vast forest in the east. Higashi no Mori, that's the name of the forest.

It is said that the sacred forest was inhabited by ‘who were not human’ and they always appeared to everyone. The protective god who ruled the place was a huge silver wolf demon named Aragaki.

By giving all the offerings and goods that are owned, humans are asking for protection.

The god allowed a little bit of his forest to be built home for the inhabitants. Growing up, they coexisted.

However, the war began to come and the forest began to disintegrate because of it. Protective gods along with other demons are considered to trigger the war so that the people of Kamakura fight the demons.

After their defeat, the residents gave the girl to be the candidate of ‘bride’ at the request of the ruler.

At least, that's the story Reda heard.

Who knows that it turns out, all of that was a mistake made by his own ancestors.

With a few beautiful bouquets and spices to sweeten, the villagers change the reality and put themselves as victims.

****