Heat the Pig Liver V1 Anime SS – Hope and Prayer 《Ys’ Situation》

★Anime Special Short Story “Hope and Prayer 《Ys’ Situation》”

No matter what, never lose hope.  I lived my life believing such.

And I’ve conveyed those words to Mr. Nott countless times.

The first time I spoke to Mr. Nott was when he was six or seven years old.  It was around two years after I had come to Bapsas as a Yesma.

Mr. Nott is an orphan, and was raised by huntsmen.  Because they hunt while traveling, they don’t have a fixed home.  The lone village of Bapsas, located inside the Dark Forest, was a frequent stop for them.

Despite being 10 years old at the time, I still saw Mr. Nott as a small child.  The first words we exchanged were “Please enjoy.” and “Thanks.” when I handed him some rabbit soup.  If someone had told me then that this boy would become my first love, I wouldn’t have believed them.

I don’t know when my love began.  Ever since I gave him that soup, I started noticing the little boy among the huntsmen.  Naturally, I didn’t mean “noticing” in a romantic sense, but more of an “Oh, that boy is here.”  I started having casual chats with Mr. Nott whenever the huntsmen would stop by the village.

 

“What did you catch this morning?”

“Rabbit.”

“When will you be heading out?”

“Tomorrow… probably.”

 

Mr. Nott was not a man of many words.  But even so, he would answer any question I ask without an annoyed look.  Perhaps he was just bad at holding a conversation.

Maybe it was because I’m a Yesma, and Mr. Nott’s an orphan, but we didn’t have many others our age that we could talk openly with; so we chatted often and slowly got to know each other.

Although there were traces of his younger self, Mr. Nott grew up to become a very handsome boy.  That’s not to say this is why I did this, but I started playing pranks on him.  I would lightly pat his head, sit a little closer to him, or wear clothes that were just a little loose around the chest area…

Mr. Nott gradually stepped out from underneath the wings of the adults and acted on his own.  Perhaps it was arrogant of me to think this, but as he became more independent, I felt like he stayed at Bapsas more and more often.

Before I knew it, I felt myself drawn to Mr. Nott as a lonely maid.

I’m sure he didn’t think badly of me either.  Even if he was just joking, I remember being extremely happy when he said he would marry me.

But this was a relationship with an end in sight.

When a Yesma turns sixteen, she must depart for the royal capital.  Either she dies along the way, or she enters the capital and is never able to leave.  There was no way I was going to bring Mr. Nott, who was around thirteen years old, with me to such a dangerous journey.

When he found out about this, he became reckless.  I don’t know how hard he pushed himself, but there was a time when he was attacked by a bear and got seriously injured.

But no matter what, never lose hope.

I had decided, when Mr. Nott becomes a full-fledged man, we would surely go to the capital together.  And then the two of us would live happily together.  In order for that to happen, I needed time.

Martha-sama, whom I worked for, colluded with the others in the village to hide any Yesma that have left their employer in their monastery.

The law passed by the royal dynasty states that a Yesma must leave their residence once they reach the age of sixteen; however, there appeared to be no set deadline for when they must reach the royal capital.  Therefore, spending time at a monastery was, strictly speaking, not against the dynasty’s law.

Needless to say, this ploy was in the grey area and kept a secret.  It was likely only possible because this was a rural village in the southern part of the country, which was sympathetic to Yesmas.

I asked Martha-sama to let me hide at the monastery.

At first, she was reluctant.  According to the dynasty’s laws, the Yesma must leave their residence; and it was quite doubtful whether living in the monastery that Martha-sama was involved in actually counted as leaving.  If possible, everyone wanted to avoid piling on more risk to their already dangerous bridge of secrets that they were crossing.

In the end, Martha-sama relented and sheltered me.  She’s a kind person.

As a result, this happened.

I don’t know if it was my fault, but ever since I turned sixteen and entered the monastery, many hecklepons began gathering near me.  The black animals all swaying their bodies looked very disturbing.  I get why they’re rumored to be harbingers of misfortune.

One night, the monastery caught fire.

It was obvious at a glance that it was no ordinary fire.  The flames were a mixture of white and red, and they burned so bright that they seared my eyes.  The monastery was made of stones to begin with, so there wasn’t much to burn; however, the flames continued to burn, clinging to the walls.  I watched as a girl two years older than me was set ablaze, and the flames consumed her to the bones before my eyes.  Only her collar remained untouched.

I was lucky to be able to escape through desperate means.  But considering what happened afterwards, I would be lying if I said I never considered those girls who were set on fire might have had it better off. 

After escaping from the monastery, I was soon captured by Yesma hunters.  I couldn’t believe that these people whom I’ve only heard about were so close to my vicinity.  The days since then have been nothing but suffering.

Still, I never lost hope.

Even until my last moment, I dreamt of the moment when Mr. Nott would rescue me.