The Villain’s Ending

Sunset (28)

That day, the demons invaded, but we fended them off more easily than expected.

Although they were armed, they were somewhat clumsy, and their numbers weren't that great.

That's not to say there were no sacrifices.

Below the city walls, a not-so-pleasant scene unfolded.

If I were to borrow the words of the people here, I suppose it would be like hell, though I'm not sure if hell exists.

There was nothing there.

Everything was just completely jumbled together.

The wheel of a broken cart jutted towards the sky, and beside it, a small shoe, seemingly belonging to a child, was stuck in the mud.

The ground was squelching.

Puddles of rainwater, mixed with red and black, glowed with a murky light.

Flesh was scattered here and there, but it was a bit strange that not a single piece of internal organ was visible anywhere, though it seemed the demons, being disgusting beasts by nature, preferred organs over flesh.

To the point of devouring them diligently without picking and choosing.

It looked like paint had been poured onto a canvas and then indiscriminately stirred.

Tents were ripped to shreds, with only their skeletal frames remaining, flapping in the wind.

Amidst them, traces left by people were visible.

An overturned pot, scattered flour, broken wooden utensils.

Gazing at the place where someone's hands might have lingered while preparing dinner last night, I nibbled on a cookie from my pocket, one with a texture like lumps of flour.

Perhaps because I hadn't smelled blood for a while, a slight feeling of revulsion seemed to be rising.

Though I'll get used to this soon enough.

Each time the wind blew, torn pieces of cloth swayed, making faint sounds.

Apart from that, no other sound could be heard.

At least one thing I liked was that the cries of refugees were no longer heard around the city walls.

I don't particularly like noise.

As I was looking down from the city walls, thinking such thoughts, Kyle approached.

No footsteps were heard.

She was just suddenly standing beside me.

Kyle stood beside me on the city wall, her eyes somewhat hollow, looking down below.

Her face was pale, and her lips were tightly sealed.

"So, you left them there because they might be heretics?"

Her voice was hoarse.

Like someone who had been shouting for a long time.

"Yeah. Just in case."

I answered calmly.

My gaze was still directed downwards.

"...Is that why those people were eaten alive and died?"

Kyle asked once more.

A faint tremor was mixed in her voice.

"What can be done? They died because they deserved to die."

At those words, Kyle suddenly welled up, then grabbed me by the collar.

Her hand was cold and trembling violently.

"I lived in a village like that too?"

Her eyes were staring directly at me.

Eyes filled with a mixture of anger, sadness, and something incomprehensible.

"At least you didn't try to crawl in arbitrarily like these people. You just had a bit of bad lu-"

Before I could even finish speaking, an impact struck my cheek.

My head turned slightly.

It didn't hurt.

Kyle couldn't even hit hard.

Because it probably wasn't out of hatred for me.

It was merely a hand swung out, unable to control emotions.

Kyle gazed at me for a long time, her face flushed.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

But they didn't flow.

"...I won't say I'm sorry this time."

She let go of my collar, turned her back, and walked away.

Without a word.

She just slowly walked away along the city wall.

At least she didn't bring up the name topic today, so it was less awkward.

That so many humans were dying outside was less awkward than the task of naming Kyle.

It felt somewhat absurd even to myself, having thought it.

Because I, too, was one of those lives that weren't particularly precious.

To the point of being able to discard myself.

I descended from the city wall and entered the city.

In contrast to the silence outside, it was quite busy inside.

The sounds of wounded soldiers being moved, equipment being maintained, and commanders shouting were mixed together, creating a commotion.

I stood in front of the tent where Levina was.

Faint light seeped through the crack in the door.

Inside, only the sound of papers being turned and occasional soft sighs could be heard.

I opened the light canvas door and stepped inside.

Levina was sitting at a massive desk, buried under a mountain of stacked documents.

She seemed unaware of my entry, her gaze fixed on a report, quill in hand.

"The incoming supplies have been cut off a bit."

"...What kind of support?"

"Just, things like food and such."

"Why were they cut off?"

"I don't know, maybe they don't like you."

Levina sighed and continued.

"Take a few soldiers, set fire to their mansion, and if they still don't comply, just bring them here."

"What for?"

"Beheading a high-ranking person, the soldiers would love that."

"...You know you're also a high-ranking person, right?"

"A high-ranking person who's with them on the front lines, who feeds them.

Even a dog knows its owner, so surely humans would know?"

Levina, perhaps feeling awkward after saying that, unnecessarily put her finger to her hair and twirled it.

"Outside, I suppose everyone's dead, then."

She heard the sound of people coming in, lifted her head, and spoke.

Her face was exhausted from fatigue.

Dark shadows lay beneath her eyes.

"Yeah, everyone's dead."

"It'll be quieter now, then. And they'll consume less food."

"If you say that to Kyle, you'll get slapped."

"Did you get slapped?"

"Yeah."

"Should big sister comfort you?"

She said, teasing calmly, without taking her eyes off the report.

"What comfort?"

"Just, this and that. They say the longer you're on the battlefield, the more you want to release those kinds of things."

Saying so, Levina put down the documents she was holding and slowly began to approach me.

Then, looking at me with a somewhat pitiful expression, she leaned in to kiss me.

Though when I pushed her away with my finger, she chuckled and just walked off.

"Who said that?"

"I read it in a book."

"....That, the one on the bookshelf?"

"...You read it too?"

While I was idly chatting nonsense with Levina to clear my head, a sudden shout came from outside the tent.

Levina frowned, but I stood up as if accustomed to it.

Coming out of the tent, I saw a disheveled woman in the square, screaming with a knife in her hand.

She seemed to be looking for her child, who was probably moved to the capital's orphanage.

Since this human was an adult, she would have been left here.

"You said I could see her the next day! Where's my babyyy!"

The woman shrieked.

Kyle was approaching that woman.

She was slowly approaching, telling her to calm down, as the child would have gone to a safer place than here.

Stupid Kyle was doing something stupid again, so I moved towards her as fast as possible.

The woman's eyes flashed, glaring at Kyle.

As she was about to thrust the knife at Kyle, who was holding nothing, I went behind her and kicked her in the back of the knee.

I then stepped directly on the fallen woman's neck.

Gurgle.

She writhed for a moment, making that sound, then simply stopped moving.

Kyle pushed me away and tried to heal the woman lying on the ground, but with her neck broken, there was no way she could be alive.

"I could have dodged it! And even if I got grazed, I-I could just heal it! Wha- why are you doing this!?"

Kyle shouted.

"This is better than you getting hurt."

"...You seem like a changed person, Lavin. You weren't like this at the Academy."

"Really?"

I looked at Kyle's glistening eyes.

My cheek and ears were itching.

"I don't know."

I answered that way.

My eyes remained fixed on the corpse sprawled on the ground.

"Everyone seems to have changed. You, Seraphina, the Saintess, even Jena."

"Everyone's the same. It's your perspective that's changed."

When I nudged the corpse's head, a few soldiers ambled over and began carrying the body away.

"I'm the same too. What's with all this fuss, after you even became friends with a scumbag trash like me?"

At my words, Kyle bit her lower lip, looked at me, then at my face, my body, my feet, and my hands, and then left without saying a word.

At least her face didn't look angry or disgusted.

It just looked complicated.

I thought if everyone just came here, we could all get along and do anything.

Come to think of it, I wasn't there.

The me who pushed away all the pitiful people crowding in and told them to live outside wasn't there, and I wouldn't have dismissed opposing opinions about them being potential heretics, holding hands with Estelle.

Of course, if I hadn't done that, things would have gone completely to hell behind the scenes, but these people don't know that.

Nor do I want them to know.

It's enough if they just farm and bring a reasonable amount of food.

Anyway, I was planning to make up with Kyle and, while I was at it, beat up the local lord and parade him around, but somehow I felt a sense of disconnect and it was... uncomfortable.

So, I headed to a nearby lord's mansion with someone who, despite being an uneducated low-life, would probably enjoy beating up high-ranking people.

"...Did you fight with Brother Kyle, and that's why you're taking me?"

"Yeah."

"Why? I can't even fight well."

"For a heretic, you do."

"...Well, I've repented now, so please stop saying that. If the Saintess hears, she might actually burn me to death, you know."

Even as Lineta said that, she hummed a tune and followed beside me, seeming excited about going to torment a high-ranking person.

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