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In order to prevent the scene from further descending into chaos, I not only did not lose my temper, I tried to steer the conversation back towards Umbra.

Unfortunately, I didn’t even manage to get a single word in before the villagers, having been emboldened by my inaction, started tossing more rocks in my directions. As they furiously reached for whatever throwables they could get their hands on, they continued admonishing us as if we were punching bags that couldn’t fight back.

“Protect the master!” Zurnalin and Reyage were the first to react by standing in front of me, magical barriers raised, followed closely by the Dark Elven Assassins forming a protective ring around me. Because I had given the order not to harm anyone, none of the Dark Elves dared to retaliate against the villagers, merely deflecting any incoming projectiles with gritted teeth.

Regine and Jill both took up positions around Ann who was still riding on Mo Ning. As of right now, only Neneth and Nicole were both exposed to the villager’s wrath. However, the both of them were strong in their own right and shouldn’t… or so I thought…

Neneth sent the majority of the rocks flying away with a swat of her door-like sword. However, even a blind chicken could find the corn if you threw enough of it. Finally, a stray rock managed to lightly land on Nicole’s shoulders. Simply because she had no intention of avoiding the rocks or even moving away.

Seeing her endure their unjust anger mutely like that, I finally lost it. My head began to go blank as an overwhelming surge of murderous intent washed over me. The sight of that single rock grazing Nicole continued playing over and over again in my collapsing psyche, as the word destroy started creeping in from the back of my head.

“Kill them.” Angered to the point I started to smile, I pointed at the foolishly daring villagers and yelled, “don’t leave a single one of them alive!”

“As you command, your holiness!” The Dark Elven Assassins acknowledged the command with a nod of their heads. Their soon-to-be bloody knives were now fully directed at the unsuspecting villagers.

With nothing to restrain them, the killing intent of a hundred ruthless, battle-hardened Assassins were laid bare for all to see. Against such a spine-chilling display, a weak-willed person would have fled already. While these villagers were still blinded by their hatred, it wasn’t like all of them had lost their wits completely. The moment that wave of killing intent crashed into them, they immediately stopped their provocative actions and fell to the ground in a terrified heap, having clearly understood what was soon to happen to them. As for those who were just senseless husks of hatred, they were still blissfully throwing their rocks.

Don’t worry… there’s no need to be afraid anymore…because that’s only for the living!

“No!” Stoic as a rock just moments ago, Nicole finally reacted and stepped forth between us and the villagers. Her arms spread out, she stared me right in the eyes. “Our enemies are those monsters, not the villagers!”

The Dark Elves all knew how much importance I placed on Nicole. When she yelled for us to stop, the Assassins promptly halted their attacks and turned towards me in unison. Had they even hesitated for a second back then, a villager would have died already. Perhaps we might have even had a falling out with Nicole because of that, something which I definitely did not want…

“…”

Even so, the moment I saw her in front of me, I felt something in me snap. The clawing feeling of being wronged yet unable to express it both chilled my heart and set it ablaze at the same time. “Anyone who dares to harm you all have to die!”

“…” Upon hearing that, Nicole was startled for a second. But she soon returned to calmly staring at me, shaking her head. “They have reason to hate us.”

A reason to hate us… That’s right. All because I killed almost a hundred of them. Regardless of why I did it, it was a fact that I gave the order. They did have a reason to hate me. I doubt I can absolve myself of Leeder and his companions’ deaths at this point…

“Tell me. What is going on with them?” Asked Nicole as she pointed at the dried up corpses of Leeder and the other survivors. “Did you do that?”

My expression grew solemn. Regardless of what others thought of me, at the very least, I did not want Nicole to misunderstand me.

“It wasn’t me.” I shook my head. “I did plant a parasite in them, but those were spiders, not Vampiric Leeches.”

She did not react to my explanation. Instead, she asked another question, “you’re a Dark Elf?”

I hesitated for a second, but finally decided to come clean in the end. “…I’m not a Dark Elf… but I do have some relations with them.”

Seems like Nicole has picked up on the fact that those black-haired Assassins are Dark Elves… Makes sense. After all, Dark Elves who had their appearance changed by a magical tool all end up with jet-black hair. A very distinct trait, especially given how all 103 of my companions have black hair. Then there’s that male-female ratio imbalance…

“I see.” She coldly nodded her head.

Everyone knew that the Dark Elves worshipped the Spider Queen Lolthe. Even though I never told her that Lolthe was my godmother, just based on how I was interacting with these Dark Elves, she could tell I wasn’t lying. That was because the Witches of the Dark Elves all chose the spider as their parasite of choice, for obvious reasons…

Seeing as Nicole was dead set against me killing off the villagers, I could only swallow my indignation and try to explain myself to the villagers.

“I have already taken out the parasitic spiders living in Leeder last night. As for those Vampiric Leeches… they should have been placed in them after I removed the spiders. My spiders will instinctively seek out any other parasites within their host bodies so I’m sure there has to be a traitor amongst your ranks who planted the leeches afterwards…”

“And who is to say you can’t plant leeches as well?”

“Our village has a traitor?! You’re just trying to shirk your responsibility!”

“A bloodthirsty Devil like yourself has already slain dozens before coming to our villager, what more Leeder and the others?”

“Justice! Justice!”

“Get out of our village, Devil!”

“Go to hell, you murderer!”

I didn’t even get to finish explaining before those villagers quickly forgot how they almost died a few seconds back… Do they really think I won’t kill them? Have they never heard of the phrase, do not seek Death, lest he comes knocking on your door?

In all honesty, I was beginning to wonder if I had been too hasty back then. At the very least, maybe I shouldn’t have killed those bandits. However, the moment these villagers started acting up again, any shred of guilt within me disappeared. Instead, there was now a growing part of me that felt that they weren’t even worth saving.

In a lot ways, my current situation was similar to what I encountered in Plateau Villager, the difference being that I was now facing Undead instead of bandits.

Is it really impossible to get along with Humans? But I truly wish to be Human…

“Enough!” Neneth finally broke her silence with a yell. She slammed her sword loudly against the floor, and as the dust settled on that mini-explosion, a sizable hole was left in its wake. A number of rocks ended up flying towards the villagers, striking those at the forefront.

“Neneth believes that Sister Mo Na is a good person!”

Neneth… oh my sweet, innocent Neneth… innocent to the point of almost being stupid… well, I guess that’s why she’s cute… Who would have thought that the first person to stand up for me in this spiralling mess would be the girl whom I had always written off as being naive… I’m really touched, to be honest…

“Little lady, do you think murdering someone can be forgiven so easily?” Perhaps it was because she had confirmed we won’t kill her, that aunty who labelled me a harlot not too long ago was now up to no good again. Her giant flatbread of a face first sneered at Neneth. “The person you’re trying to protect is a murderer. She killed a hundred of our villagers, and based on how she’s acting, she’s probably used to killing as well. Who knows how many have died at her hands. Perhaps thousands? Are you sure you want to cover for such a fiend?”

Neneth was at a loss for words. In the first place, she wasn’t a proficient orator to begin with. Up against a battle-hardened aunty like flatbread face, it was only natural that she would lose spectacularly. She could only repeat that same assertion that her sister Mo Na was a good person. However, such words meant nothing to the villagers.

Cornered, her opponent sought to finish her off right there and then. Seeing that, I wished for nothing more than to throw a giant fireball at that aunty’s face. But I was too late, a wave of sword energy swept across her feet, missing her toes by a mere centimeter!

“To think we have to protect people like you… How sad…”

Nicole glared icily at that aunty, then having left those words behind, turned around and walked out of the village.

Who was Nicole feeling sad for? In all likelihood, for herself…

“Wait for me, sister Nicole!”

On the verge of tears not too long ago, the innocent and pure girl that she was quickly recovered and chased after Nicole the moment she realised Nicole was off to face Umbra.

Nicole… so this is the decision you’ve come to… for a bunch of people like them…

“Nicole!”

“…” Hearing me call out to her, Nicole stopped for a moment. Her back remained faced towards me, but her long hair was currently blowing behind her in the wind. Even after all these years, she was still that beautiful, back faced to me or not…

“There’s no need to care about these people. Come with me instead.”

I tried to persuade her once more. However, her hesitation barely lasted a second before she shook her head and continued forward… do you really have to go that far for them…