I press the blade against his neck.
Sylvia killed the bandits behind me so why am I struggling to kill the one leading the charge. He is the exact reason that the attacks here kept succeeding.
The reason people live in fear.
Blood drips onto the ground.
"Just kill me kid," He says with a calm tone.
He isn’t afraid of death? That is something I try not to imagine myself but he appears to be embracing it.
This decision means something.
Crossing the line between humans and dragons. I’ll just have to do it.
He was aiming to kill me during the fight... Obviously I wouldn’t be given a choice if this was reversed. Yeah. My decision is made.
Slice!!!
My blade cuts right across his throat and blood immediately begins to spill out onto the ground.
Thud!
He falls onto the floor, one hand gripping his throat... But it won’t keep him alive. I stand there looking down at him as blood continues to form around him.
After a bit of gurgling sounds, he goes completely silent.
I really did take the life of another human today.
A few moments pass by, then I wipe my blade off. Sylvia begins to approach me from behind as well.
Turn.
"The problem is dealt with," I say quietly.
"We did what we had to do Kain," Sylvia assures me.
I look around at the bodies on the ground, each one dead. All of these lives lost for a life they chose to live.
Terrorizing people doesn’t feel like a good way to live your life... So why did they have to choose it? I’ll never understand.
As a slayer, I don’t think it’ll ever be my job to understand what the other people do in the world. My job at the end of the day is slaying dragons.
That is the important part.
~Saving lives does come along with that job.
Exactly what I’m doing. That is why I won’t let people die if I can avoid it.
More footsteps approach as the sounds of doors close ahead. A bunch of the people have come out from the buildings.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
They all begin clapping and cheering for us upon realizing the bandits are all dead.
"We just gave these people a reason to finally leave their homes," Sylvia says with a bit of a positive tone.
"That we did," I reply quietly.
"Don’t let the deaths weigh you down. We should be happy to give these people freedom again," Sylvia says.
"I guess that is a way to look at it," I reply.
We help clean up the bodies of the bandits before the people give us some gifts to show their appreciation. I tried to decline a few times but they kept insisting.
Sylvia enjoyed it all but I couldn’t understand how she functioned with the deaths of those men.
~War is full of casualties, especially ones we don’t always see.
Yeah. These deaths probably happen all the time and I’m just the one experiencing it for once. I’ll just have to keep pushing forward instead of overthinking it all.
A few hours pass by.
The rest of the celebration is finally over so we decide to head back to Aerithel to collect on the quest. It is a peaceful walk with no problems.
"Are you okay?" Sylvia asks with a bit of worry in her voice.
I look down to see the blood still dripping down my side but the wound is mostly sealed.
"Yeah. I just haven’t killed another human before," I answer.
"It doesn’t happen all the time but sometimes people are evil, regardless of what they are," Sylvia speaks with a calm tone.
"I wonder why people walk such a path," I reply.
"Some don’t have a choice while others believe that it is worth the lives they sacrifice," Sylvia says while we walk.
There’s a chance I could’ve walked a path very similar to the people we killed today. I think a lot of the interactions I had with people changed that perspective.
It is why I’m fighting against dragons instead of humans.
Other monsters exist throughout the world as well but they will only be a problem I deal with when I encounter them.
Step. Step. Step.
I look up to see we are back at the gates to Aerithel, the guards don’t hesitate to open up the gates this time. Probably remember us from the last time.
"Welcome back," The guard says with a casual tone.
He probably notices the damage from the fights we had with the bandits, or maybe it is just me who got hurt.
The gates slowly open and after a few moments they gesture for us to enter.
I waste no time entering the kingdom.
"At least we don’t have to go through the question process again," Sylvia says with relief in her voice.
"That is definitely nice," I reply in agreement.
"Hopefully those assholes at the shining emerald will back off after this," Sylvia says.
"If not, I’ll make them back off," I reply with a serious tone.
I don’t have it in me to hold back when it comes to people who just want problems. They won’t die but it will be a terrible situation for them.
~You would hurt them?
If need be. There is no reason for them to be giving us problems when we are doing the right thing.
"How will they know we took care of the slayer?" Sylvia asks with a curious tone.
I pull out a necklace that he was wearing.
"Can’t anyone just say it is from the slayer?" Sylvia questions.
"No. This one doesn’t look like an ordinary necklace, plus it has some initials on it," I answer with confidence.
After that we finally make it back over to the Shining Emerald again. The same people stand outside from before but they don’t even look our direction.
I’d like to keep it that way in all honesty.
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