モネ・クローネの過去、それは魔法至上主義社会ではありふれている、理不尽なものだ。
モネは幼い頃、トールと父の3人で暮らしていた。
父が騎士団に所属していたことから、家はそれなりに裕福だった。
ちなみに、母はトールを生んですぐに亡くなったため、モネの記憶にはほとんど残っていない。
モネは優しい父と可愛い弟の存在に恵まれ、母がいなくても充実した生活を送っていた。
いずれモネも、父と同じように騎士団に入り、人々を守る立派な騎士になると信じて疑わなかった。
幸い、モネは武術と身体強化の才能に恵まれていた。
男女差別の少ないこの社会において、騎士団となる夢は、そう難しいものではない。
モネは父に稽古をつけてもらい、豊かな才能があっても慢心せず、鍛錬を怠らなかった。
同年代の子供を圧倒し、年上であろうと、モネは軽々と勝利を収めるほどだ。
幸せな家庭と明るい未来、そんな彼女の生活が一変する事件が起きた。
国の機密事項を他国に流した疑いがかかり、父が騎士団を追い出された。
人望があり、誠実な人物として名の通っていた父が、そんなことするはずがない。
父も必死に捏造だと訴えたが、平民という低い身分もあり、父の主張は通らなかった。
加えて、父は騎士団を辞めさせられた後、他の職に就くことができなかった。
それも当然であり、国の情報を他国に流したのだから、むしろ、騎士団脱退だけで済んだ方が奇跡だ。
しかし、この事件をきっかけに、全ての歯車が狂い始めた。
モネの人生が確実に悪い方向に向かっていくことになる。
父は毎日街を駆け回り、職探しに奔走した。
しかし、どこも雇ってくれず、父は途方にくれ、ついに酒に溺れた。
生活は苦しくなる一方で、父は次第に乱暴になっていく。
トールはまだ幼く、モネは自分が家族を支えるしかないと考えた。
幸い、モネには才能があり、それを使って小金を稼ぐことは出来た。
無駄遣いしなければ、3人で生きていけるだけのお金だ。
まだ十にも満たぬ子供でも稼ぐ手段があるのは幸や不幸か、わからない。
ただ彼女は必死に毎日を生きていた。
そんなモネの努力をあざ笑うかのように、父は酒に溺れ、暴力を働き、酷いときには女を連れ込んでモネの前で快楽に溺れた。
昔の尊敬する父の姿は、もうどこにもなかった。
駄目でクズな人物に成り下がった父に対しても、モネは情を捨てきれずにいた。
そんな折、最悪の事件が起きる。
その日の父は虫の居所が悪く、モネが仕事から帰ると、幼いトールに暴力を奮っていた。
当時のトールは虚弱な体質と臆病な性格から、父に反抗できずにいた。
そんな父を、モネは止めに入る。
その頃のモネは、すでに大人を相手取っても負けないくらいの実力を備えていた。
しかし、それは普通の大人が相手の話だ。
仮にも、騎士団に所属していた父は、鍛錬を怠っているとは言え、モネが勝てる相手ではなかった。
すぐに倒され、手足を拘束される。
モネの上にいる覆いかぶさった父は酒乱で顔を赤くし、下卑た笑みを浮かべていた。
その醜い姿は、もはや父と呼べるものではなかった。
モネは生理的嫌悪感から声をあげようする。
しかし、父によって口を塞がれ、彼女はじたばたと暴れた。
父の吐く息は臭く、そして彼の瞳は色欲に溺れる狂気を宿していた。
それは間違っても、我が子に向けて良い表情ではない。
モネは全力で逃げようと手足に力を込めるが、元騎士団の父の手から逃れることはできなかった。
そんなとき、どんっ、と父の背中が揺れる。
「姉貴からどきやがれ、クソ野郎」
トールが父を殴ったのだ。
いつもなよなよしていて、モネに縋っていたトールではなく、暴力的な雰囲気を彼は纏っていた。
「おい、トール。てめぇ父に向かって、なんて口を聞きやがる」
奇しくも二人の口調は似通っており、父に似てしまったトールにモネは眉をひそめた。
「うっせーよ、クズ野郎。てめぇを父なんて思ったことなんかね―よ」
父はモネの体から離れ、トールに詰め寄った。
その後、素早く正確な一撃がトールの
トールは片膝をつき、痙攣し始め、激しく呼吸を繰り返す。
そんなトールに対し、父は追い打ちをかけるように蹴り上げた。
元騎士団の父が、身体強化を使って蹴り上げた一撃は、トールの意識を一瞬で刈り取った。
トールは後ろの壁にぶつかり、その衝撃で、机の上に置いてあったガラスコップが落下し、割れる。
父は倒れているトールに近づき、馬乗りになった。
そして、何度も、何度も、何度も、何度も、顔が変形してしまう、と危惧するほど殴った。
陰鬱な室内で、怒鳴り声と殴る音が響く。
悲惨な光景に、モネは目を背けることができず、呆然とトールが殴られる姿を見ていた。
モネは、これらが全て夢の中の出来事のように感じ始めていた。
(そうだ......これは夢だ。夢なら何やっても良いよね?)
モネは、ふらっと立ち上がる。
父とトールの争いで割れたガラスの破片を、右手で拾った。
そして、彼女は足音を立てずに、父の後ろに立つ。
モネが呟くと、眉を寄せた父が緩慢な動きで振り返った。
その一瞬、彼女の右手が動く。
モネは父の首元を正確に狙い、腕を振った。
直後、鮮血が飛び散る。
父の喉は、ガラスの破片によって裂け、夥しい量の血しぶきが吹き出した。
しばらくすると、父は死んだ。
「あはっ」
人の死は呆気ないものだと、モネは笑った。
肉親の命を奪った。
血に染め上げられたガラス破片、そこから反射するモネの瞳は、爛々と光っていた。
これがモネの初めての殺人。
人殺しは悪いことであり、親殺しは大罪の1つだ。
それは一般的には正しい考えである。
だからモネの行いは悪いことだ......なんて言う人がいれば、それは狭い尺度でしか物事を測れない人物だろう。
子を不幸にする親は親ではないのだから。
そうは言うものの罪は罪であり、彼女は裁かれるべき人間だった。
しかし、幸いにもトールが意識を失っており犯行を見たものがいなかったこと、当時〈人斬り〉が街に現れていたこと、そして元騎士団の男性をモネが殺せるはずがないという先入観、それらが重なり、モネは疑われずに済んだ。
もちろん、モネを怪しいと感じる者もいた。
黒帽子を被った奇妙な男だ。
彼はモネの犯行を追求せず、代わりに、と要求を出してきた。
「私のもとで働かないか?」
黒帽子の男の要求......というよりは脅迫。
モネには反対する選択肢は残されていなかった。
こうしてモネは回帰集団の一員となった。
黒帽子の男から王族派貴族の子供を殺すように命じられた。
もちろん、彼女に拒否権はない。
対象は、なんの罪もない自分と同い年の少女だった。
相手に不信がられず、子供同士ということで仲良くなるのは簡単で――殺すのも簡単だった。
モネにとって、油断しきった子供を殺すことなんて、造作も無いことだ。
しかし、少女を手にかけたときの感触は忘れがたく、それは父を殺したときよりも鮮明に記憶に残った。
少女を殺害した日、モネは顔が青白くなるまで吐いた。
それでも、トールに会うときはいつもの優しい姉を演じた。
(なぜ、あたしだけがこんなにつらい目に合うの......)
彼女の嘆きは、声にならず、誰にも届かない。
誰かに助けてほしかった。
でも、誰も救い出してはくれなかった。
黒帽子の男の援助で、セントラル学園に入り、カイザフを始めとする多くの友人に恵まれた。
友人らといる時間は幸せであり、それ以上に苦痛だった。
自分の本性は冷酷な殺人鬼だ、とモネは自嘲する。
学園時代は、醜い内面をさらけ出されるのが怖く、仮面を被って毎日を過ごしていた。
裏と表の二重生活を続ければ続けるほどに、モネの心は摩耗していく。
消えてなくなりたい......そう思う時が幾度もあった。
大勢の人を手にかけ、不幸な目に合わせてきたはずなのに、いざ自分の命を絶とうとすると手が震えた。
モネは社会の害悪でしかない己を憎み、偽りの平穏を享受していた。
だから、四大祭のあの日......オーウェンに助けにきて欲しくなかった。
見捨てて、見殺しにして欲しかった。
反吐が出るような正義感も、上辺だけの友情関係もいらない。
助けなんていらないから、殺してくれ、と心が叫んでいる。
黒帽子の男の思惑なんかどうでもよく、モネは今日死に場所を探しにやってきた。
モネの前にはトールがいる。
最後にトールを見たときは、自分と同じくらいの背だったのに、今は見上げるほどに成長している。
そのことをモネは嬉しく思い、同時に、悲しく感情が揺さぶられた。
しかし、冷酷な表情に徹していた。
彼女は内心で、弟に殺されるのもありかな、と考えていた。
Monet Krone's past, it's a commonly known and unreasonable one in a magical supremacist society.
When Monet was a child, she lived with Thor and her father.
Her father belonged to a knights order, so his family was reasonably wealthy.
Incidentally, Monet's mother died soon after Thor was born, so there is little left of her in Monet's memory.
Monet was blessed with a kind father and a lovely younger brother, and lived a full life without her mother.
He never doubted that Monet would eventually join the Order and become a fine knight who would protect people, just like his father.
Fortunately, Monet was blessed with a talent for martial arts and physical enhancement.
In this society where there is little gender discrimination, the dream of becoming a knight is not so difficult.
Monet was trained by her father, and even though she had a wealth of talent, she was not proud and did not neglect her training.
She overwhelms kids her own age, even older ones, and Monet is so light on her feet that she wins easily.
She has a happy family and a bright future, but then something happened that changed her life forever.
Father was kicked out of the Knights because he was suspected of leaking state secrets to other countries.
Father, who was well-liked and known as a man of integrity, would never have done such a thing.
Father also desperately pleaded that it was a fabrication, but due to his low status as a commoner, his argument was not accepted.
Additionally, my father was unable to find another job after he was forced to resign from the Order.
It is also natural, since he supposedly leaked the country's information to other countries, it is rather a miracle that he only had to withdraw from the knight order.
However, after this incident, all the things started to go haywire.
Monet's life took a turn for the worse.
Her father ran around the city every day looking for a job.
But no one would hire him, and her father was at his wits' end, finally drowning himself in alcohol.
Life gets harder and harder, and her father becomes increasingly violent.
Thor was still very young, and Monet felt that she had no choice but to support her family.
Fortunately, Monet had a talent and was able to use it to make a small fortune.
It's enough money for the three of them to live on if they don't waste it.
I don't know if it's fortunate or unfortunate that a child of less than ten still has the means to earn money.
She was just desperately trying to live each day to the fullest.
As if to mock Monet's efforts, her father indulged in drinking, violence, and on the worst occasions, brought in women and indulged in pleasure in front of Monet.
The father I used to look up to was nowhere to be found.
Even though her father has turned into a useless and trashy person, Monet can't give up her feelings for him.
Then, the worst case scenario happens.
Her father was a worm that day, and when Monet came home from work, he was violent with the young Thor.
At the time, Thor's frail constitution and timid nature prevented him from rebelling against his father.
Monet stops her father from doing so.
At that time, Monet was already capable of taking on adults and not losing.
But that's for a normal adult.
But her father, who belonged to the knight order, was not an opponent that Monet could beat, even if he was lacking in training.
She is immediately knocked down and her hands and feet are bound.
The shrouded father on top of Monet was red-faced with debauchery and had a lowly smile on his face.
His disfigurement was such that he could no longer be called a father.
Monet tries to speak out of physiological disgust.
But her mouth was sealed by her father, and she jerked and thrashed.
Her father's breath stank, and his eyes held a lustful madness.
That's not a good look to put on my child, by mistake.
Monet put all her strength into her arms and legs to escape as fast as she could, but she could not escape the hands of her father, a former knight.
Then, with a thud, my father's back shook.
'Get off my sister, you son of a bitch.'
Thor hit father.
He was not Thor, who was always languid and clinging to Monet, but he wore a violent air about him.
"Hey, Thor, how dare you speak to your father."
Oddly enough, their tones were very similar, and Monet raised an eyebrow at Thor, who had taken after his father.
"Shut up, you piece of shit, I never thought of you as a father."
He moved away from Monet's body and went after Thor.
Then a quick, precise blow slammed into Thor's dove-tailed midsection.
Thor drops to one knee and begins to convulse, breathing heavily.
Against such Thor, his father kicked up to catch up with him.
The blow that the father of the former knight order kicked up using his body enhancements reaped Thor's consciousness in an instant.
Thor hits the wall behind him, and the impact causes the glass cup on his desk to fall and break.
My father approached the fallen Thor and mounted him.
And he hit him again, and again, and again, and again, until she feared that his face would be deformed.
In the gloomy room, the sound of yelling and punching echoes.
Monet couldn't turn away from the tragic scene and watched in dismay as Thor was beaten.
Monet was beginning to feel as if all this was happening in a dream.
(Yes ...... this is a dream...if it's a dream you can do whatever you want right?)
Monet gets to her feet in a huff.
She picked up the shards of glass that had been broken in the fight between her father and Thor with his right hand.
Then she stands behind her father, without making a sound of footsteps.
Monet murmured, and her father, his eyebrows raised, turned with a slow movement.
In that instant, her right hand moves.
Monet aimed precisely at her father's neck and swung her arm.
Immediately after, fresh blood splatters.
His throat was ripped open by a shard of glass, and a great deal of blood sprayed out.
Slowly, he died.
Ha-ha."
Monet laughed at the stupefying nature of human death.
She took the life of an immediate family member.
The shards of glass stained with blood, Monet's eyes reflected from them, glowing brightly.
This is Monet's first murder.
Murder is bad, and parricide is one of the deadliest sins.
That is generally the right idea.
So if someone says that Monet's actions are bad ......, that would be someone who can only measure things on a narrow scale.
A parent who makes a child unhappy is not a parent.
That being said, a sin is a sin and she was a person to be judged.
Fortunately, however, Thor was unconscious and no one saw her commit the crime, the fact that "manslayers" were appearing in the city at the time, and the preconceived notion that Monet could not have killed a former member of the Order.
Of course, there were those who found Monet suspicious.
He's a strange man with a black hat.
He didn't pursue Monet's crime, but instead, he made a demand.
"Would you like to work for me?"
The man in the black hat's demand ...... is more of a threat.
Monet was left with no option but to object.
Thus, Monet became a member of the regression group.
The Man in the Black Hat has ordered her to kill the children of a royalist nobleman.
Of course, she can't veto it.
The subject was an innocent girl of the same age as herself.
It was easy to get along with them because they couldn't be suspicious of others and they were children - and it was easy to kill them.
For Monet, killing an unwary child is no small feat.
But the feeling of having the girl die in her hands was unforgettable, and it remained in her memory more vividly than when she had killed her father.
The day she murdered the girl, Monet threw up until his face turned pale.
Still, she played her usual kind sister when she met Thor.
(Why is it that I'm the only one going through so much pain? ......)
Her lamentations are unvoiced and reach no one.
I wanted someone to help me.
But no one was going to rescue me.
With the help of the man in the black hat, she joined Central Academy and made many friends, including Kaisaf.
The time I spent with my friends was both happy and more than a little painful.
Her true nature is that of a ruthless killer, Monet scoffs to herself.
During her school days, she was afraid of exposing her ugly inner self, so she spent her days wearing a mask.
The more she continues her double life of back and front, the more worn out Monet's mind becomes.
There were many times when I wanted ...... to die and disappear.
She must have put her hands on a lot of people and made them unhappy, but when it came time to take her own life, her hands shook.
Monet hates herself for being nothing more than a blight on society, and enjoys a false sense of peace.
That's why I didn't want ...... Owen to come to my rescue that day on the Four festivals.
I wanted you to abandon me and leave me to die.
I don't want a repugnant sense of justice or a superficial friendship relationship.
I don't need help, my heart is screaming for you to kill me.
It doesn't matter what the man in the black hat thinks, Monet came here today to find a place to die.
Thor is in front of Monet.
The last time I saw Thor, he was about as tall as I am, and now he's grown to the point where I can look up to him.
This made Monet happy and emotional at the same time.
However, he kept a ruthless expression on his face.
Inwardly, she wondered if her brother would kill her.
Reincarnated as the Son of a Vicious Lord! ~When I Was Having Fun Learning Magic, I Had to Get Rid of My Stigma~!
悪徳領主の息子に転生！？～楽しく魔法を学んでいたら、汚名を返上してました～
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/reincarnated-as-the-son-of-a-vicious-lord-when-i-was-having-fun-learning-magic-i-had-to-get-rid-of-my-stigma/
Adventure Fantasy Romance School Life Shounen
Academy Adapted to Manga Age Progression Battle Competition Character Growth Cheats Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Depictions of Cruelty Elemental Magic Fat to Fit Female Master Friendship Harem-seeking Protagonist Harsh Training Hated Protagonist Late Romance Loyal Subordinates Male Protagonist Modern Knowledge Naive Protagonist Nobles Reincarnated in Another World Saints Strength-based Social Hierarchy Sword And Magic Underestimated Protagonist
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n6812gh/
米津