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“…What a terrible smell. This is why I hate Orcus.”
“M-Master!!”

Descending with the wind that blew away the murky air was a clear silver hair. It wasn’t a mistake or an illusion; it was real. The real Master.

“Don’t come closer, stay back. I’ll… scold you…later…”
“…Master, is something wrong?”
“……What happened to your arm?”

When my master, eyes wide open, pointed it out, I remembered the abnormality in my arm.

The part where Ms. Mytia’s knife grazed had become a squishy, pus-filled mess. There was no pain anymore, probably because the nerves were already damaged. My grip strength was also considerably weakened.

“U-ugh… this is bad…”
“Hehe, hehehehehe. Hey, that arm is useless now, isn’t it? It’s inconvenient, it’s a hindrance, it’s defective, it’s imperfect! Why don’t you just throw away such a body?”

Ms. Mytia laughed softly while gripping a knife in her left hand, her eyes already devoid of sanity.

Her right arm, too, was twisted in the wrong direction, hanging like a broken puppet. Her palm was in even worse shape, with fingers pointing in all different directions and bones visible. Did I do all that?

“Let’s die, shall we? We don’t need these rotting bodies, let’s all become the same.”
“Silence.”

With a dry cracking sound, Ms. Mytia’s upper body bent backward significantly. It was one of Master’s air bullets, but she laughed off even that as if nothing had happened.

“Aha… Ahahaha!! How cruel, how terribly cruel!!”
“M-Ms. Mytia, please stop! Your arm, it’s seriously injured! Come on… come on!”
“Momo, return to the surface. I’ll put an end to this.”
“What are you planning to do!?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The time for a gentle conversation ended long ago.”

Master spoke calmly as always, but her gaze never left Ms. Mytia in front of her. Her eyes were colder than I had ever seen before, chillingly cold.

“…Alright, consider this your final notice. Do you have any intention of surrendering, for Momo’s sake?”

There was no answer to Master’s words. Instead, what was thrown back were countless knives.

“I see, what a pity. To think my last bit of conscience would be repaid with such garbage.”

With a disgusting tearing sound, knives were thrown with a force that ignored the limits of the body. However, all of them bent unnaturally before my master and embedded themselves in the walls and ground.

Having discarded her weapons, Ms. Mytia had no means to resist anymore.

“Master, wai———!”
“Fourth Severing.”

Before I could stop her, my master’s brief chant was followed by Ms. Mytia falling down.

――――――――…………
――――……
――…

Perhaps the pain nerves had long since rotted away and become numb. It was a common tactic used by Orcus’ followers to create soldiers.

There hadn’t been any sanity left in her from the beginning. Rather, it was impressive how well she had hidden it until now. This wasn’t an opponent I wanted to fight while protecting the injured Momo in such a confined space. The decision to eliminate her swiftly wasn’t wrong.

“…What’s with that face? The cultist has been eradicated, as you can see.”
“Why…”

Even so, Momo wasn’t convinced. Her goal, even at this point, was a peaceful resolution. To capture the cultist whose head had just been severed, to persuade her, and to have her judged under the correct law. That was the outcome Momo desired.

Oh, what a gentle and kind world she must have lived in, one that makes me want to retch.

“Why did I kill her? Sooner or later, it was inevitable. Orcus followers have no fate other than death.”
“Even so, this is…!”
“Then what’s your alternative? Why couldn’t it be executed? Or did you genuinely believe there was a way where no one would get hurt?”

If you look for “if only” scenarios, you can find countless ones, but none would lead to an ending that Momo would accept.

The woman named Mytia had been mad long before we came to this town. Even if we had prevented the specter incident, the fundamental problem wouldn’t have changed. She would have gone berserk like this, dragging others into it, and self-destructing while taking many lives along with her, all for her selfish delusions.

“…Even so, I can’t accept this.”
“I see, but remember that your reckless actions almost expanded the damage. If I hadn’t come, you would have been specter food by now.”
“…Yes, I’m sorry.”

Momo replied weakly and walked unsteadily toward the headless corpse. She knelt down and tried to hold its hand, but the moment she touched it, the flesh crumbled and decomposed, dissolving rapidly.

“The curse of Orcus. The bodies of its followers decay to nothing, not even bones are left. Don’t touch it any further; you never know what might happen.”
“…Are we not even allowed to mourn them?”
“For them, death is the way to receive true life. They probably don’t want to be mourned in the first place.”

Momo clenched her empty hand tightly, tears welling up in her eyes.

I didn’t understand. It had only been a day or two, yet she mourned someone who died by their own actions, disregarding even her own injured arm.

“It’s time to go back up. The stench might cling to us. Your arm also needs to be treated.”
“Hey, Lady Momo! Are you alright?!”

The voice of the golem echoed from above, indicating that the saints had managed to deal with the children somehow.

Her injury was severe enough that an ordinary doctor would give up, but perhaps the saint could do something about her arm. It’s annoying to be indebted to that saint, but there’s no other choice.

“Forget what happened today. It’ll be an unpleasant memory for you.”
“…No, I don’t want to forget.”
“Then at least use it as a lesson. Remember that this happened because you lacked power. For now, focus on thorough communication and learning magecraft.”
“Okay… I will!”

Leading the tearful Momo, I used the power of the wind to escape the foul-smelling cave.

Really, despite the circumstances, I’ve ended up with a troublesome and needy disciple.

――――――――…………
――――……
――…

“Oh no, this is impossible. I can’t heal this.”
““Whaaat?!””