I killed them.

I definitely did.

I killed humans.

Wasn't it better to try to reason with them and find a peaceful solution?

Definitely.

But was that option given to us?

Certainly not.

I knew they were serious when they sheathed their blades toward Syrius and me.

I understand that, which is why I did what I believed I had to; there isn't much difference between monsters and humans in that regard; the reasonable thing to do is to attack before they do.

Was it self-defense?

For me, definitely.

But certainly not for these people.

They had no need to introduce themselves.

The man in white was almost certainly the Archbishop of Medvedick, and the armored man was almost certainly Holy Paladin Dominik.

Neither Syrius nor I dared move, for we knew that the moment we did, we would be dead. There was an immense gap between mere clergymen and one of the fourteen.

"What is... this. Can someone explain to me what the meaning of all this,"

"Archbishop... I was about to summon you... It was them,... they suddenly attacked us. " The last remaining priest mumbled, trembling and pointing at both Syrius and I."

The man in white swept an exhausted look at the corpse on the snowy ground, and then suddenly went to where the last priest was, grabbed him by the neck, and held him high in the air.

"Not only did you mess up, but you also got the nerve to lie to me."

"I am sorry, Archbishop. It was us who tried to dispose of the butler so that he wouldn’t bother you when you were there, but the child suddenly attacked us."

They all threw a glance at me, but the man in white was particularly threatening.

"So you’re telling me that you got annihilated by a child, you six confirmed clergymen of the Church." The man in white said as he tightened his grip around the man’s neck.

The man began to convulse frantically, and greenish glimmers appeared throughout his veins. After a short time, the man in white finally let go of him. The man fell to the ground on all fours, coughing as if his life depended on it.

"I suppose that was all to be expected from a third-rate noble like you." He said, then reverted his gaze to us, but this time he seemed to notice Vicar Serana, who had fainted on the ground for unknown reasons, then returned his gaze to the man. "Which one ?"

"The Child. The butler is just a commoner. "

"And who is that person over there?"

"Serana, a vicar of the church, was accompanying the Faceless One to escape."

"Serena... A Vicar, you say? I think I’ve heard of her... I guess that explains how they were able to run away so fast from us," the man said, stepping in my direction.

Syrius, who was on my left, immediately rushed over in front of me.

The Archbishop didn’t seem to mind it, but he stopped a few steps toward us when he noticed that he had walked into a pool of blood.

"I guess we can’t let these poor souls here, worthless as they were, they might still have some use for humanity. But first..." The man declared, his hand pointing at us.

At first, I didn’t understand what he was doing, but soon I understood.

"Roots" emerged at a monstrous speed, spearing from the ground four meters away from me. But I was not their target; instead it was, "Syrius!"

The appearance of the roots was so sudden that even he had no time to react, which resulted in him being impaled in the stomach.

Thrown away in a whip-like motion by the roots, Syrus's body was lifted from the ground and was sent reeling a few meters away.

I immediately ran to where he flew to

"Syrius! Respond to me! "

"Gnah."

What came out of his mouth were not words, but a mouthful of fresh blood.

He was still alive, but blood was gushing out of them like water from a faucet,

I tried to plug six baby thumb-sized holes in his chest, but to no avail.

If I have my grandfather's magic, I can save him.

This is it!

I must take him to Grandfather Emilien. If I do, Syrus will be saved.

I need to get him out of here as soon as possible.

But I was painfully aware that these people would allow me to do so.

Speaking of whom, when I looked in their direction, they had retrieved the clergymen's corpses and Vicar Serana's unconscious body, which they had piled into a small mountain, before the blonde man accompanying them teleported the corpse with him, leaving only Vicar Serana's body behind.

Now, only Syrus, the white-clad man, the armored man, the last priest, and Vicar Serana remained.

"Now, that this is settled. Let us go back to our infamous Faceless One. " He said as he slowly approached us.

Knowing that he was preparing to deal with me, I immediately got away from Syrus.

I need to find a way to extract Syrius from this place.

I need to–

"Oh, what a villain toy you’re holding here. This is dangerous, you know. Better let it go, before you hurt anyone," he said while moving aside as if to show me something behind him.

The only thing I saw was the armored man raising his hand in the air and slowly lowering it.

Just like I didn't know what to expect when the man in white pointed at us, when the armoured man dawned his arm I got my answer almost instantly.

The villain toy he was referring to was one of the daggers I had requisitioned from the priest earlier, and my right hand was reflexively firmly tightened on it, or so I thought.

The dagger had vanished from my-no, to be exact, it was my right hand that had vanished.

From the elbow to the rest of my arm, everything was gone.

"Aaaah~"

A burning pain infiltrated my body via what was left of my right hand.

Though Aina allows its users to completely ignore a certain amount of input received, the amount of pain I received was beyond what I, enhanced or not, could withstand.

From the sheer pain, I fell on my knees, screeching and crying my guts out.

From the noise of his footsteps, I knew the man who was slowly approaching me.

As I looked up, I saw his cold golden eyes fixed on me, and there was no trace of such things as empathy in them.

He came up to me and squatted to be on my level.

"To think that the infamous "Faceless One" was all this time a child. I didn’t want to believe it, yet it all now makes sense. That was why we weren't able to pinpoint exactly where you were. You had your magic blocked through baptismal. "

"Nine years, nine long years, and I finally found you." He happily announced. He then grabbed my face with his free hand, which I finally noticed had several fingers missing. Those eyes,... That explains everything... You are an offspring of the Aubrechts, aren’t you? So that person was part of all of this? … Did he betray the Church? No, that wouldn’t make sense, I doubt that person would do that. So does that mean that his family was doing that behind his back? ... Maybe they didn’t even know anything about him being the faceless one. That would make sense. Then there must be another reason for them to hide you from us." He mumbled.

He doesn’t seem to know anything about me or my mother yet...

"What is it ?"

"What?!"

"The reason your family was hiding you?"

"…I don’t know."

"You don’t know, huh?"

Standing up, he lifted me to his level, grasping my collar, before leaving me to fall on my back against the ground.

The shock I received only worsened my already fiercely painful wound on my arm. "Come on, I know you're in pain, and I don't like repeating myself, so tell me why you were hidden by your family," he said, reaching for my face, "or maybe you need a little stimulus to talk."

I don’t know what it was, but the moment it made contact, I felt like being boiled alive from within,

I let out a scream, accompanied by cries, and with my body frantically convulsing.

He withdrew his hand, and with it, the inflicted pain immediately vanished away, but I already felt as though lava had been poured onto me and that each of my bones had been shattered to fine powder.

"Your answer?"

I don’t know if he was really expecting an answer from me or he was just taking pleasure in torturing me, but I no longer had the force left to respond to any of his questions.

He at least seems to have understood that.

Or at least I thought.

"That's fine, you can keep it to yourself; I'll ask Aubrecht and Edouard myself. So let us go ahead with my second question. Why were we, the fourteen, charged with personally hunting you down? Huh? What could you possibly have done? What’s so special about you? Tell me."

He said, reaching out his hand once again to me.

To that sight, to avoid feeling that again, I mustered all my strength to shout, "I don’t know! Dammit... I don’t know anything. "

He silently stared at me for a while before simply announcing,"... You see, I actually believe you. You don’t know, neither do I nor do we. "

"...Then~"

"But, you know what? That won't stop me from doing my duty. This is how the world works... Whatever your name is, people should do what they are meant to do. When you deviate from what you are supposed to do, you end up like those five idiots who died at your hands. Nine years ago, you veered off the path. I doubt it was your fault, but it is nonetheless my duty as an Archbishop to put things back in their rightful place. "

"So, if you have a final prayer, say it now or never... I see none then. "

With these words said, he stood up and slowly walked away, heading where the armored man, the last priest, and Vicar Serena were.

I tried to get up, only to finally fall helplessly to the ground.

The sight of the man in white slowly moving away should have been reassuring, but the sight of the armored man slowly raising his hand was the equivalent of a death sentence for me.

Is it really the end for me?

This can’t be.

I still haven’t accomplished anything yet.

What was the point of all of this if it was just to end here?

I can't die here because I haven't repaid any of them.

There are still things that I must do.

I still haven’t left any trace of my passage yet.

There are so many things I want to do.

No, this is not about that, I just don’t want to die, I still want to live. Is that too much to ask?

The man in white reached out to the armored man and looked at me, clearly ready to give the signal to his cousins to put an end to me.

Someone, Please help me. I don’t want to die yet.

"Please, wait a minute, I think I might have answers to some of your earlier questions."

The voice didn’t come from me but from Syrius, who, behind me, managed to stand despite the gaping holes in his body.

"Oh, and what might it be?"

"I'd be happy to tell you, but first I'd like your armored friend to calm down a little bit; it's very intimidating to see him like this, and I'm afraid I won't be able to properly voice what I want to say if I'm this intimidated."

With just a glance from the man in white, the armored man downed his hand.

"So, it is done. Now tell me. "

"You see, I think it would be better if I showed you."

Syrius approached me slowly, his hands trying to gape over his multiple open wounds.

"You see, I’ve been this boy butler for a lot of years, so I know many things about him, some are pretty normal, some are pretty weird, yet at times I am surprised to discover things that were very unexpected from him: him killing two of your men was a good illustration of that."

"Well, you said earlier that one should do what he must do, that it is how things are. Well, I have my own version. Consider these the wise words of a dying butler: One should always strive to find their own happiness. A journey to find happiness. That's what life is all about. Happiness itself can take many forms, but as long as you strive to achieve it, that’s all that matters." He said, as he patted my shoulder and murmured weakly, ``Maa's men should be there in a minute. Just a little bit of patience, Young Lord. "

"Your point is?"

My point is that, Young Lord, your life, your itinerary might not flow as expected, but remember, as long as you continue the journey, it will all be fine. You see, dear Archbishop, I, Syrius, who once served in the very Church you serve, have a very different aftertaste of it. So-"

His shadow cast over me by the moonlit night, Syrus took several steps toward them.

"So…?"

"So, from a former-legionnaire to a very important representative of the Church, consider this a "Last Fuck you Given." Syrius announced in his usual sarcastic tone, murmuring a few words to me, before suddenly ripping the necklace, which I recognized to be the one Maa gave him the night before we went to the Ducal castle.

It was instantaneous, with no moment in between, with the thundering sound of a lightning strike. I, Syrius, and everyone and everything in the vicinity were engulfed in a gigantic explosion.

I thought myself dead for a moment, but then I realized that, despite being in the center of the blast, I was unharmed as I was surrounded by a green barrier, allowing me to witness the destructive might of that blast without fear of its heat or deafening eruption.

From how things were presented, we were in the midst of a massive explosion caused by the necklace Syrus was wearing.

Ronandt, I have no idea where your journey will take you, and I will never know, so may I ask you a question... Just one thing... look after yourself. " Along with those murmured words came a vision of Syrus's body scattering into nothingness in the midst of the explosion.

It was only then that I realized Syrus' necklace wasn't protecting him from the explosion like mine had.

It took me some time to register it as a fact, but it eventually did as the fire and smoke around me dispelled.

Syrius was dead.

He died protecting me.

Nothing was left of the surroundings but a massive incandescent crater with a radius of approximately 1 km.

Everything in the vicinity had been razed away by the explosion, with the exception of the Archbishop, his cousin, the last priest, and Vicar Serana, who were standing not far from where they were before the explosion. They were all unharmed, except for the Holy Paladin, who appeared to act as a shield for them.

Aaargh~

The fire that had engulfed Syrius wasn’t enough to swallow them whole, they survived.

They should’ve died, burned to ash, all of them.

Why? Why? Why ? Why?

Syrius died.

It's all their fault.

If only they had never come.

If only they had never existed, none of this would've happened.

Syrius would still be alive.

At that moment, I felt something shattering.

Something intangible and chaotic is surging from within me, drowning me whole.

My first reflex was to stop it from engulfing me whole, but I eventually gave in, for I recognized this feeling, one that I had forgotten.