High School DxD - Volume 21 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3.1

Determination

Going back in time, approximately two weeks before the revival of Trihexa— .

Vali Lucifer travelled alone to a certain European country . He arrived at a small town at the foot of a mountain which was far from the city . Vali went up to a mountain some distance away from the small town, and used high-precision binoculars to look at a certain place . The target that he was looking at — was just an ordinary person . What he saw through the binoculars was a middle-aged woman farming in the garden . At around forty years of age, it was a beautiful woman with black hair . After Vali was taken in by Azazel, he sought to raise his own strength whilst looking for the two people who were related to him by blood . One of them was the sofu [1] that he abhorred, and the other one was— . Vali intently watched every action that the woman made . What he was looking at was — his own haha[2] .  Not long ago, the Grigori had obtained some information through their connections with the Norse faction .

—Your haha has been found .

After Vali was sheltered by the Grigori, Vali’s chichi [3] had immediately erased his haha’s memories and discarded her . Only now, after many twists and turns, she had begun her second life in a small rural town, far from the city . …Vali recalled the times when he lived together with his haha . That was when he was subjected to the abuse of his own sofu and chichi . Haha had always come forth to protect him . However, haha only had the body of a human; she had given birth to him due to his chichi’s frivolity, his sofu was also the son of the Maou, hence various elements overlapped, and his haha was always powerless .

One time, after being abused, haha had wrapped bandages over his own wounds…it was discovered in the end, and it became haha’s turn to be violently abused . The look of haha’s crying face was deeply rooted in his memory . His young mind never went to seek his haha’s help again . If he did, haha would be beaten again . If he was going to allow haha to cry, he would bear it himself instead . Fortunately, he was born with the power of Lucifer and the Hakuryuukou, so he was sturdier than ordinary children . Haha’s happiness would come about from breaking off the relationship to himself, that was one thing that Vali understood since he was very young . But, he could clearly remember the gentleness that haha had shown him . Behind the backs of chichi and Rizevim, she cooked pasta for him . In order to prevent them from finding out, she put in very little salt and pepper, so the flavour was quite bland . Even so, Vali thought that eating haha’s homemade pasta was more delicious than anything else . He felt deep in his heart that this simple food was incredibly delicious . He didn’t speak much with haha, very little actually . But, if they were ever able to meet each other again, there was one thing that he had to tell her at the very least . It definitely wasn’t something like loving her, familial love, or wanting to live together . All that he wanted to tell her was that he had grown up splendidly into an adult .

In fact, he clearly understood one thing while he was strengthening himself . At the same time that he became stronger, to an ordinary person like haha, Vali Lucifer was an extremely abnormal existence . If he made contact with haha — aside from Rizevim, there would be many people who would target haha . Rather, it was really surprising that she had not been found by Rizevim so far . …Perhaps Rizevim was too immersed in the dream of another world, and the existence of an ordinary human woman was negligible in his eyes .

Suddenly, Vali saw something that he couldn’t believe .

—A young boy and girl ran towards haha .

…It was a boy and girl that looked very similar to himself . He immediately understood .

—They were his own otouto [4] and imouto [5] .

Haha had probably gotten married to a human male . And she had established a family . She had finally obtained an ordinary family .

—Sorry, this is all I can do for you .

The memory resurfaced again . With the bland pasta that he obsessed about, haha apologised to him . …At that time, mother was extremely sad . But, looking at her through the binoculars today…she was very, very happy . Very joyful . Just seeing that, Vali felt warmth in his heart . For a moment, he and the boy overlapped with each other . He imagined the scene of himself laughing while talking to haha— . …If he was born into an ordinary family, would he laugh like that while living together with haha…? …Vali quietly put down the binoculars which were in his hand .

—Return .

Vali didn’t meet haha face to face . He decided to leave that place . He couldn’t meet with haha . He couldn’t meet with his otouto and imouto . He was an abnormal existence . If he met them, he would simply ruin their current happy lives . Step by step, without any indecisiveness or hesitation, Vali left the small town . Vali had a grand aim, he wanted to become stronger than anyone else, he wanted to become the [True White Dragon God Emperor [6]] .  Stronger than the sofu who abused him, his chichi, and anyone else . He would develop the ability that he was born with to the utmost limits . But, he now had another new goal .

—Protect the safety of that haha and her children . Allow them to live safe and sound until their peaceful eternal slumber . No, not only them, there were also their children, and their grandchildren that he needed to protect with his all . Compared to Hyoudou Issei who sought to rescue many people, he would not say such grand words . He wasn’t that type of person . But, just one small family was fine; Vali vowed in his heart that he would definitely protect them— .

[1] Sofu: Grandfather .
[2] Haha: Mother .
[3] Chichi: Father .
[4] Otouto: Younger brother .
[5] Imouto: Younger sister .
[6] Pronounced as: shin naru hakuryuushin ou .

(Part 1 of 1) (26/5)