Chapter 127: Mental Illness

「Mental illness…? 」

I muttered the words that Dorage-chan had said.

What did that mean…?

「I don’t know the details, but it seems like this boy has no will to live. Because of that, his body functions are declining, as if pulled by his mind. It’s not a physical illness, so I can’t cure him. 」

In other words, the fact that this boy was in this state had to do with something else.

Hearing this fact, I looked at the boy’s face, which resembled Shin’s, and then turned to face the Manticore standing behind him.

「…It seems it will be difficult, Manticore. 」

The Manticore didn’t respond to my words.

But I continued to ask more questions regardless.

「The monster I had cultivated won’t be of any use in saving this child. There’s probably only one way if you want to save him. Tell me everything you know about him. Where you met, why you’re living here, and why he ended up in this state. Tell me everything, without holding anything back. 」

That would be the only way to save this child, so I asked the Manticore.

After a moment of silence, the Manticore began to speak quietly.

「…We found that child a few years ago, by chance, me and my wife. 」

And so the Manticore told me the story of its first encounter with the boy.

—

It seemed the Manticore’s wife was the first to find the child.

She found the boy collapsed in the desert, exhausted after walking aimlessly alone.

His wife was also a Manticore, but at the time, their child fell ill and died.

This was probably the reason why Manticore’s wife rescued the child.

The boy was saved by monsters, and they began living together, but at first, he was wary, as expected.

Or rather, even before he was saved, he had an attitude that showed he couldn’t trust others for some reason.

Nevertheless, the Manticore’s wife fed the boy many times, waiting patiently for him to take a bite.

After a few days had passed, and the boy began to eat the food offered to him, the tension between them began to ease.

After that, the boy gradually began to show a smile and attitude appropriate to a child his age, and he would often play on Manticore’s back or fall asleep hugging it.

It was as if the boy had lost his mother and was reunited with her.

And that his wife, the female Manticore, felt the same.

She met the boy just as she had lost her newborn child and was beginning to lose her purpose in life.

Even though they were different species, she couldn’t leave the child alone, without parents and facing death.

The female Manticore raised the boy with care, pouring out her feelings for the child it had lost, and the Manticore herself was also saved.

However, this relationship only lasted a few years.

About a month ago, the Manticore’s wife died of an unknown weakness.

It was unclear whether it was the same disease that had taken their baby.

But that wasn’t the point. What was important was that the boy’s mother, the female Manticore, who had been supporting him, had passed away.

After that, the boy’s body grew weaker day by day, following in his mother’s footsteps, and eventually fell ill.

Having seen the condition of his children and his wife up until then, it was only natural for the Manticore to assume that the boy had also fallen ill with the same illness.

And so, he had heard rumors about me, a monster cultivator, and was waiting for me to arrive in his desert territory.

Although he didn’t go into detail about where he heard the information about me.

—

「…I see. So that’s what happened. 」

I nodded obediently after understanding most of the situation.

A certain certainty filled me.

If I combined what I’d heard from Shin with what the Manticore had said earlier, this boy was probably Shin’s real younger brother.

He was one of the legitimate heirs to the throne, with royal blood.

However, a few years ago, this boy and his mother were nearly assassinated, and he fell from the terrace into a lake directly below. There, he narrowly escaped death.

Probably after that, the boy realized he was being targeted and fled the palace alone into the desert.

He was still very young, and on top of that, he had seen his mother getting killed right before his eyes.

It was probably instinctive for him to be confused and try to run far away.

And just as he was running out of strength, he was saved by the Manticore.

After that, the boy probably lived here but the Manticore that had been raising him as a mother had died.

For the boy, it was like losing his mother a second time.

He had lost the ability to trust anyone, and his days were filled with fear, but the female monster reached out to him.

It was undoubtedly the boy’s mother.

The boy lost his will to live since his mother died again in front of his eyes.

In an environment where he had been raised by monsters, it wouldn’t be surprising if the boy’s mental structure had remained the same as when he was found.

That’s why the boy probably decided to die of his own volition.

To go to heaven where his two mothers were waiting.

There was no greater stress for a child than the death of his beloved mother.

「…If that’s the case, this could be a really troublesome cause. 」

I muttered gravely.

Because, as Dorage-chan said earlier, this was a breakdown caused entirely by the boy’s mind.

If that was the case, then we had to give hope to this boy, a meaning to live, in order to restore him back to normal.

I could cure any incurable disease now. But there was one thing I couldn’t cure. And that was mental illness.

It was ironic that I had created a monster from Mandragora, which could be harvested without any problems as a medicine, yet the one disease it couldn’t cure was right in front of me.

But what should I do?

I wanted to cure this child.

More than anything, if this child was Shin’s younger brother, then I must somehow cure him for Shin’s sake…

「…That’s it! 」

There it was. A hope for the child to live. Or perhaps someone who could be that reason.

The child’s mother was certainly dead.

The monster who became his second mother was also dead.

But there was one person who was still this boy’s blood relative. His older sister, Shin, still remembered the existence of her younger brother and spoke of him fondly.

「Manticore. I have a favor to ask of you. Could you please hand this child over to me? 」

The Manticore remained silent in response to my request.

「Of course, I’m not just asking you to hand him over. This child has an older sister. A relative who still cherishes his existence in her heart. If the child meets her, he will be reunited with his lost family, and that may give him hope to live. So please, please hand the child over to me. If you do that, I can save this child! 」

So I told the Manticore, convinced that this was the best thing to do.

But the answer I got from Manticore was unexpected.

「…No. 」

「What? 」

「I’m not giving this child away. I can’t give him to you. 」

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One more chapter! Enjoy today’s festivities!