The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

As summer ends, autumn begins.

The bleak autumn wind brought a touch of coolness, brushing against my face, and in a daze, it brought me back to that late winter in my memory.

Perhaps it was thanks to that sudden realization that...

He suddenly missed the sister by the sea, wondering where she was now and how she was doing...

……

As the ninth year drew to a close, taking advantage of the passing of the previous priestess, he had a big fight with his guardian, demonstrating the clear-cut love and hate, the compassion, and the stubborn rebellion that a young person should have.

Then, using the excuse of "experiencing the mortal world and severing ties with it," He naturally moved out of the Demon King's tower and went to the mortal world in the countryside.

……

His private tutor in the human world was his second teacher. He was a very nice person, knowledgeable, kind and generous, but he had a bit of a quirky, artsy auntie tendency. He hid it very well when they first met, but it was completely revealed the next day when he was naming him.

He went to the human world disguised as a child who had just disappeared from the world, so it is reasonable that he would be given a name by his private tutor.

Ultimately, due to Bai Ze's pretentious intellectualism, his secret obsession with Genji, and a simple intention to bless others, he acquired his third name.

He liked the name quite a bit, and used it for seven years afterward; it was called "Leng Quan Yue".

The many virtues He gained from the "Painting Heart" enabled Him to quickly thrive in the private schools of the human world.

She handles everything with ease, overcomes all challenges with grace, and is impeccable in her interactions with others. She even proactively helps Bai Ze with the numerous tasks at the private school...

He simply stood there, like a clear mirror.

Judging from the results alone, He did have a brief period of popularity in the human private school, but soon He was swept into the trash can.

The reason is simple: a mirror is an inanimate object, so it can naturally correct one's appearance; but if a living thing becomes a mirror, reflecting the ugly side of the person in front of it, it will not only fail to correct one's appearance and make one understand one's gains and losses, but it will also make the person in front of the mirror angry and upset, and even smash the mirror with their fist.

He lost to humanity once again, to something He had never truly understood before.

Fortunately, He met a perennial repeat student who was always at the bottom of his class, a white-haired, red-eyed phoenix. The two of them were birds of a feather and worked together in good harmony. They were so close that they could even wear the same pair of pants in public. This was one of His few sources of comfort in the human world.

Bai Ze praised him for being mature beyond his years.

The phoenix laughed at His pretentious and disgusting behavior.

The rest of the people unanimously praised him, an orphan who had fallen into poverty and was living under the roof of a private school, for his "strength," except for the honest and simple class monitor who did not participate.

He is praised for his strength, his decisiveness, his knowledge and reason, his sense of responsibility, his excellence, and his reliability (even more than a teacher)... Yet no one has ever come close to him because of these virtues.

Yes, that's really strange...

Apart from the immortal bird, who was also an immortal being, he made almost no friends at the private school.

He acknowledged that he had acted too forcefully and gone too far in some instances, but that it did not warrant so much criticism...

Something's not right, there must be some mistake...

He had already drawn the heart of His first friend: His words and actions, His decisiveness, His knowledge and reason, His sense of responsibility, His excellence, His reliability that surpassed even that of a teacher, His strength…

Even though He already possesses the same inner qualities as that sister, why can't He even make a single human friend?

That can't be right, there must be some mistake...

You shouldn't be unable to make friends...

Humans should really like people who are both perfect and powerful...

Since she can make friends with...

and many more……

Is it possible...

Could it be that she also...

During her first spring in the human world, the demon named Believer Hearn once again learned a great deal about human nature from humans.

He can distinguish between good and bad, and at this moment He is personally experiencing something that is undoubtedly bad.

Amidst a sea of ​​childish “badness,” He suddenly felt a profound sadness.

It wasn't because He hadn't made any new friends, nor because He was isolated by others, but because He was experiencing true empathy for the first time.

When He realized the true reason why He could not make friends, He felt deep sorrow for the original owner of the human heart that He had drawn in His heart.

Since coming to the countryside, perhaps because the area is predominantly female, or perhaps because of the fame of his opera performances, coupled with the child's innocent appearance, those alluring demon women have been very fond of holding and teasing him.

Looking back, didn't He grow up surrounded by women and cosmetics?

Although He had been embraced by different women many times, He always felt that compared to the sister who had given Him a hug on the beach, the hugs from these graceful female monsters were always missing something.

I feel like something's missing...

He had pondered this problem for four years without finding a solution, but on this day, he suddenly had an epiphany.

It turns out that what was missing wasn't the fragrance of a woman, but the pervasive stench of blood from the wound.

He remembered the wounds on her body that had been barely stitched up by silver threads, and also recalled the lingering stench of blood mixed in with the sea breeze.

It turns out that the older sister wasn't someone He met by chance; rather, she was forced to travel a long distance to that seaside under His command, despite being covered in wounds...

It turns out that the woman paid a price far more than just the heel of a high heel to catch that slippery little devil at the beach...

From then on, He gently plucked His first friend down from the high clouds, no longer treating her as some kind of divine being, no longer worshipping her "power," her "decisiveness," her "outstanding qualities," her "inexplicable sense of responsibility," or even praising her "strength"...

Because in His eyes, all the consequential virtues of that friend, even her "frankness," were permeated with a lingering bloodlust.

After respect, even aspirations vanished, leaving only deep guilt and longing.

In the fourth year of "Painting Heart", after experiencing the pain of separation from loved ones for the second time, and tasting the coldness and warmth of human relationships for the first time, and recalling the bloody memories in his olfactory memory, he had many insights and finally understood the woman's loneliness.

……

In the spring of the tenth year, at the New Year, because of his "good" behavior, he "received" a bewitching fox mask from the Demon King.

Not long after, on the very night that He suddenly realized His mistake, He shouted, "With this level of skill, you still want to trick me?" Standing on the boundless shore of the silvery sea, He threw the fox mask into the sea with all his might, like throwing a discus.

Whatever you get, rinse it in your own water first to ensure it's natural, non-toxic, and worry-free.

This was a habit He had long cultivated.

All that is seen is illusion, all that is heard is jest, all that is encountered is demonic, and all that is done is unjust.

He no longer trusted anyone on this land; He only trusted Himself and the silvery sea born from His own mind.

That was a change that even He Himself was not yet aware of.

That was the change that occurred after He began drawing the heart.

He gradually transformed from a demon who should have been selfless into an extremely self-centered demon.

At that time, He did not realize what kind of suffering the heart He had drawn would bring Him.

But what that fox mask brought Him soon cleared away and appeared before Him.

The vast demonic power, measured in millennia, instantly filled the still immature Sea of ​​Time.

The fox mask, having lost its spirit, was washed ashore by the waves.

Those who were washed ashore together

There's also a little fox that looks like it's from a traditional Chinese ink painting.

And a young girl who was exactly like his reflection.

……

Happy New Year, everyone.

Chapter 147 Painting the Heart (Part 2)

He has loved watching old movies since he was a child.

On one hand, it's because He truly likes it.

On the other hand, it is because He is still an inexperienced actor who needs to improve his acting skills and continue to learn, and the film allows Him to observe many personality models that are rare in the ordinary world.

Outside the village in the human world, there is a small general store run by a half-demon shopkeeper, where people often "buy goods".

Every now and then, he would go out and buy some videotapes or CDs, put them in his home computer, brew a cup of herbal tea, and enjoy them alone.

The flower tea is made by drying the flowers from their own garden; they have always been full of love for life.

He is a demon who knows how to manage his life.

He didn't stay at the private school for long. After obtaining the fox mask, he moved out. In a deserted alley in an old town, he took over a small shop that had long since closed down, dusted it off, and filled it with flowers from all over the world, thus creating a flower shop that was independent and secluded from the world.

A flower shop that lives in seclusion naturally doesn't make money, especially since it has never lacked money.

Within the Sea of ​​Time, all forms of nature, devoid of spirit and intelligence, can be fabricated, consuming only the time of a few dead individuals.

The money to buy the small shop was also made on the spot after he had asked about the price.

You can never expect tomorrow.

He learned the lines from a fatalistic and tragic film.

! /】

He learned this line from a lighthearted comedy he watched last week.

You are a child of the beach.

...This is a line from the inspiring documentary I watched the day before yesterday, about a father teaching his son to surf.

Although the word "father" was something that had no real meaning for Him,

But that didn't stop Him from standing on the shore last night wondering if He was truly a child of the beach...

……

Sometimes, He really does wonder if He is truly a child of the beach, or a child of the ocean...

Upon closer examination, everything He possesses seems to be inextricably linked to the sea.

On the beach outside, He met His first friend—a red-haired woman. He learned magic, witnessed mystery, experienced the sadness of leaving without saying goodbye for the first time, and even secretly stole her mental landscape, drawing a heart exactly like hers... And now, He even understands her loneliness.

Even in the countryside, He never stopped absorbing and learning mystical knowledge.

He tried to find traces of the sea of ​​mercury in the books, but to no avail.

That sea of ​​mercury did not exist anywhere on the earth's surface; it existed only before His eyes.

However, I still gained some knowledge that seemed to be related.

For example, the term "inherent barrier" was the only word He could find that was even remotely related to that ocean.

The great magic that erodes reality with mental landscapes has long since vanished in the tide of the decline of the divine age.

So that's how it is. Was that sea of ​​mercury a mystery that existed in His heart?

But why is it the "sea"?

But why is there a hint of bluish-green in the mercury-like color of the sea?

If it was born in His heart, and evolved from the landscape of His mind.

I see……

It is because He encountered the original owner of His heart at the seaside that He takes the form of the sea.

It is because the memories left to Him by the original master of the heart are [blue] that the mercury is permeated with a touch of blue sea color.

It turns out that it was because what He depicted was her heart.

It turned out to be the case.

As for the many malevolent powers of that silver sea, He believed that they had nothing to do with His strong, good, and upright sister, but were all due to His own nature, which was weak, evil, and cunning.

It is precisely because they have nothing that they refuse [ ].

It is precisely because there is a bottomless abyss-like emptiness in one's heart that one instinctively wants to find something to fill it and alleviate that emptiness, even if it is just a little bit.

There are so many things with owners in the world, and so few things without owners.

A moment of carelessness could lead to stepping into someone else's castle and destroying their happiness.

But the [blank] in his chest and the jailer's butcher's knife were already pressed against his spine.

He could even hear the hissing sound of the knife tip scraping against the fascia of his exposed spine.

After the decision is made, that moment will eventually come.