Mommy is amazing! She waved her stick once, and no one could fight anymore. They were crying instead. No one was even trying to run away. Can I do that when I grow older? I want to! When Mommy swings her stick, no one can block her! Um, the hunter person from before blocked her, but he lost, so he wasn’t that important. Right now, Mommy is smacking the people in green. With every hit, the person goes flying, but somehow, their interspacial rings end up in Mommy’s hands once they’re gone. She’s so cool!

Once all the people in green were hit away, Mommy stopped hitting people. She’s taking off that person’s clothes instead. Um? I can’t see what’s happening next! “Auntie Ilya, why are you covering my eyes?”

“I’m preserving your innocence,” Auntie Ilya said. “Your mom will blame me if you see a naked person, but it’s completely fine if you’re exposed to slaughter. Before you ask why, it’s because it’s a societal thing, okay?”

I was going to ask why, but Auntie Ilya already gave me the answer. Mommy was right! Auntie Ilya does know everything…. “When can I look again? I want to see Mommy at work!”

“Maybe when it’s all over,” Auntie Ilya said. There was a splashing sound. What was that?

“Ack! Sister Ilya!” Oh, that was Mommy’s voice. “Why did your corpse splash me with cold water? …Did Lucia use her Despairing Blade again? It affected us from all the way over here?”

“Yeah. Here, take this bucket of water and splash Mrs. Feathers for me, won’t you?”

“Alright.” There was a clanking sound with a few swishes of water. “Wait a second. Your corpse puppet was already holding onto this bucket of water, why—”

Splash!

“Gah! That’s cold!”

Bang!

I heard Mrs. Feathers shout, and then I think I heard Mommy flying into a wall. Did Mrs. Feathers hit Mommy? Um, I think she did. Someone’s groaning in pain, probably Mommy. “Are you okay, Mommy?”

“Y-yes.” Mommy took in a deep breath. “Sister Ilya.”

“What’s up?”

“I’ll get you back for this.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Auntie Ilya said.

There was another splashing sound, and Ri stopped sobbing. “Ah!? W-what happened?”

Um, Ri said something about someone killing her clan and life not being fair. Did she find out who slaughtered her family? That’s great! She’s one step closer to achieving her goal, but it sounds very tough. She said they were very strong, and she probably can’t beat them by herself. When I get strong enough, I’ll help her out; that way, she won’t have to feel as bad.

“Yah! W-what are you doing!?”

Ri’s shouting even more? “What’s happening? Ri! Are you okay?”

“Something stinky and sticky is covering my eyes! I, I think it’s a dead … body….”

Thump.

Ri faints a lot. I can’t see, but I can tell by the sound. She’s already done it a few times. Maybe she’s not eating enough. Um, Mommy always says I have to eat a lot to keep up my strength. Is the orphanage not taking care of Ri? I think she said she only gets to eat one grain of rice a month. That’s way too little. I’ll have to take Ri into Mommy’s kitchen more. She’ll fill herself up in no time. Ri was right though; these hands covering my eyes stink. “Is Mommy done yet?”

“She’s finishing up pretty nicely,” Auntie Ilya said. “I think it’s safe to let you watch now. Most of them are tied together, and it’s hard to see things when there’s just a giant lump of bodies. How do you feel, by the way? Normal? A bit stronger? More awake?”

Um? “W-what do you mean?” How come Auntie Ilya seems like she’s conducting one of her tests on me. She’s asking weird questions! She never asks how I am; she just knows by looking, and she’s looking at me like she’s looking inside of my head instead of into my eyes. “I feel normal, totally normal.” Um, Mommy says totally means even more than completely. I think I’m using it right.

“Quite a few people have died,” Auntie Ilya said. She was still staring at my head. “You don’t feel any different?”

Does she want me to feel different? Um, I think people dying should make me sad. Ri said she was sad because her family was dead. I don’t feel sad though…. Am I broken? Maybe there’s something wrong with me, and Auntie Ilya is looking for it! “I don’t feel any different. Is that normal?”

“Eh, everyone’s different,” Auntie Ilya said. She stared at me for a bit longer before shrugging and turning away. She was looking at the wall again. Wow, Mommy caught a lot of people. That should be a good thing, so how come Auntie Ilya looks so upset?

Bang!

Um!? Auntie Ilya moved something, and the ground exploded!

“Sister Ilya! Did you hit the detonation button!? Didn’t you say you weren’t going to blow everything up!?”

“Calm down,” Auntie Ilya said. “You always overreact about the tiniest things. A formation master always leaves behind a way to detonate their formations. It prevents other people from stealing the resources spent on creating them, and it also prevents them from copying the design. It also coincidentally wakes people up from their despair if they’re about to be taken down without a fight.”

Auntie Ilya’s right. Those people are waking up! “Someone was trying to steal your formation, so you had to explode it?”

“That’s right. You’re so smart.” Auntie Ilya patted my head. “Here’s a cookie.”

“Sister Ilya! Why are you making things harder for Lucia? Didn’t you want to capture everyone?” Mommy always questions Auntie Ilya. I don’t know why. I think Mommy would be much happier if she accepted Auntie Ilya being right about everything. It must be tough being wrong all the time. I was wrong a few times, and I always felt a little dumb after. I should’ve known bird eggs didn’t grow on trees, but Auntie Ilya had to correct me when I said they did.