Garo: The Animation (牙狼〈GARO〉-炎の刻印-)

Look! King Fernando himself!

Your Majesty!

Please, you have to save your strength, my dear.

I'm sure you'll be the picture of health, Majesty.

Once that witch is burned down to ashes.

Indeed.

I pray that the Lord not hearken me home to His side quite yet.

What of my wife?

And my young Alfonso here?

Uh?

Take him in, Esmeralda.

What follows is no easy thing to see.

Yes.

Come along, Alfonso.

Look at her.

Pregnant with some imp, no doubt!

God above!

Burning to death,

and she doesn't make a sound.

That proves she's a witch, right?

All those people that died of the plague,

those lives are on her head!

Death to the witch!

Burn for all eternity!

This is for my daughter, you monster!

-- -- What?

How can this be?

Mendosa, do you hear that?

Protect the king!

The man in that resplendent armor

was an ally of the witch?

A knight in thrall to the princes of Hell. He'd been

rotting away in our dungeon until he made his escape.

Why are you standing there? Give chase, you simpletons!

Every man who can ride, on a horse!

He won't get far with a babe in arms, Mendoza.

Take heart.

Would that you are right, your Majesty.

-- --

I fear the strain this has placed upon you.

We must get you safely abed now.

What are you waiting for?

Yes.

You have burned,

but the whelp within you did not share in your fate.

There will come the day when your kind are nothing

but a memory. I will send your foul confederacy

to the pit of the damned.

The witch hunts of Valiante.

While being burned at the stake for cursing King Fernando,

the witch Anna gave birth to a child.

It was taken by the demon that came to feast

upon the burning witch's soul.

Try though they might to overtake the rider,

the King's army pursued him in vain.

It was as though demon and child alike

had simply vanished from the world of man.

Once health had returned to the King,

he called for a witch hunt throughout his domain,

at Mendoza's urging.

For the crime of trying to assassinate Mendoza,

the warlock Guillermo was the first to fall.

He was by no means the last.

Don't let him escape!

There, in the alley!

After him!

Ah!

In a single year,

over a hundred witches and warlocks were killed.

When it came, death was a blessing.

The King's people

were twisted by such cruelty all around them.

Tongues whispered damning suspicions,

fingers pointed in the dark.

Under the auspices of the ongoing hunt,

Valiante sent armies to surrounding lands,

consolidating its power.

Even I know of that part, handsome.

This place was a holdout.

Valiante didn't conquer it until about a year ago.

Right.

Which brings this 17-year-old tale to an end.

How's that for pillow-talk, precious?

Terrible. What a pitiful ending.

You still haven't told me what happened to the demon knight,

or the witch's baby he ran off with.

Wouldn't Mendoza like to know.

He's hunted them to this very day.

Awful man.

You promised me a story that would pique my interest.

What a waste of time.

'Course it was. That was the official version.

What if the truth was far afield?

Go on.

What would happen, if you looked at the same tale

through the eyes of the condemned witch?

Oh, devil take the witch!

Who cares what she thought?

She bartered away her soul to Hell in trade for magic,

just like they all do. It's disgusting.

Well, say whatever you like,

but this next part of the story may leave you feelin' otherwise.

How'd you like me to tell you the God's honest truth

about witches? Far from being in league with demons,

it's a witch's job to seal 'em away.

Seal away? How so?

Shouldn't that be handled by a priest?

Priests can't do anything about 'em,

'cept piss themselves before they get torn apart.

I think our local cleric

would take issue with that statement.

Oh, he can squawk all he wants.

Fact is a fact.

Hm. I'm still not convinced, handsome.

Didn't the King get better after they executed that witch

who was said to have cursed him?

That means the hex died with the woman who placed it.

Maybe. Maybe it was just a coincidence,

or maybe the witch was framed.

By who?

A demon.

Or a human who's in league with 'em, at the very least.

Impossible.

If they were real, these demons of yours,

we'd be hearing about attacks damn near every day.

You know, this work's had me

warming beds in capitols and backwaters alike,

and I've never laid eyes on a single one

of these demons you speak of.

Oh?

Well I've got a demon I can introduce you to.

Easy now! The money comes first!

How mercenary of you. And here I thought my roguish charm

had already sealed the deal.

I'm not a charity, handsome.

I'll level with ya.

I'm a little light on coin right now. I--

Well, that's it, then.

Wait, don't go! I'll find some!

Hey! Germán! Your boy's here to get you!

He says to put on your pants and drag your worthless

hide downstairs already!

Really? I didn't peg you for the type.

Yeah! Too bad he didn't inherit my lust for life, though.

Just tell him his dear father is trying to do as the Lord

commanded us all: to love thy neighbor as thyself!

He says you'd better not show your face again!

He's worse than a wife, that one.

Damn it! Ah!

Wait! Beloved fruit of my loins!