“Let’s do an experiment.”
On our way to Dal Canto, Eric popped up with an idea. We all looked up at him from our spots around the campfire.
“An experiment?”
“Yep, with Lucia.”
“Me?” For some reason, I was the subject.
While I was surprised at being singled out, Eric excitedly continued with his idea, “So Soap makes monsters calm down, right? We’ve always killed them anyway, though, since we didn’t know how long it lasted. But Shiro was completely fine while Lucia wasn’t here. So the effect must last a pretty long time.”
“That’s right! I’ve always thought it was horrible how we’ve been slaughtering them! Shiro’s this cute, so maybe other monsters could turn out like him too.” Miss Maria was the one to latch on to Eric’s idea.
“Kyawa!” Shiro, still sitting on her shoulder, flapped his wings and squeaked happily, wagging his tail.
The Canalis brothers spoke up against it, “But we don’t know if the effect would last forever. So we can’t leave them...”
“Are you saying that while knowing how many people have been killed by monsters in the last few years, kid?”
As knights who had experience in slaying monsters, they didn’t want to leave the monsters alone. Glancing towards Sir Celes, I saw that he was looking at Eric with an expression I couldn’t quite place.
“But we’ve cleansed two of the Cristallo Sacro so far. The reason monsters had been so active in the first place was because the trees were afflicted with miasma, right? That’s the whole reason we were sent to purify them. With two cleansed, the monsters have to be calming down. We’ve been encountering less of them, too.”
Now that he mentioned it, we had barely seen any monsters since leaving Foristarn. Even the ones we did see didn’t attack us. They didn’t seem interested. Just like normal animals.
“On the way from Arldat to Kyriest, we fought monsters 51 times. From Kyriest to Foristarn, 27 times. And from Foristarn to here, we’ve only fought 13 times. They’re clearly dropping. And that’s not all. The groups have been smaller, too. It might be the distance, too, but don’t you think that it’s thanks to us purifying the trees?” Eric puffed his chest out proudly.
Amazing... Did he really count them all? I’m surprised. I wasn’t the only one who was surprised, because Miss Maria leaned slightly away from Eric, giving him a look.
“What, you counted them? Really!?” she exclaimed.
“Of course I did. Also, just so you know, this is the fifth time you’ve been grossed out by my research.”
After giving Miss Maria a look back, he glared at the Commander and His Highness.
“So? Can we? I know we can’t prove if it’ll last forever, but we know that they won’t go back to normal any time soon. If we can purify the last tree before then, we can stop the useless slaughter. We won’t have to feel bad about fighting them anymore! They’re just like weird-looking animals when they’re not fighting. I know it’s safer to kill them, but killing something that doesn’t fight back... It’s just a massacre!” Eric shouted, his fiery red hair swaying.
It was true that slaughtering calm monsters left a bad taste in your mouth. I agreed with Miss Maria as well, that we should leave them alone. If they wouldn’t attack humans, they wouldn’t do much damage.
The prince listened to Eric’s plea and turned to ask the Commander, who had also been silent, “It’s true that Shiro seems to be different from other monsters now. What do you think, Fernando?”
“Your Highness, thinking of the damage they’ve done so far, I cannot permit it. But, I also understand what Eric is saying.”
“Then...!”
“Eric, Shiro is different from other monsters, because he was purified before he was born. Don’t you think that he’s fundamentally different from other monsters? How many days has it been since the last time Soap was used on him? We aren’t headed straight for the last Cristallo Sacro in Maynard. We’re headed towards the capital of Dal Canto, Fatna. We’ll be headed towards the tree after we have an audience with their King. At the very least, we have to make sure that the lengths of time that Shiro was without Soap and how long it will take to purify the last tree match up, or I cannot give you permission.”
“So you mean we’ll have to keep slaughtering them until we get to Fatna!?”
“Celestino and Lucia were separated from us for about half of a month. And going at the speed we’re at now, it won’t take that long to get from Fatna to Maynard.”
In contrast to Eric’s rage, the Commander was very calm. The only reason he couldn’t agree was because the chance wasn’t zero.
“We can’t be sure that they won’t attack humans. Since we can’t be sure, we can’t let them live, even if they don’t fight back. You should understand that best as a researcher, shouldn’t you?”
Hearing Commander Agliardi’s cruel decision, Eric spun around to point at Shiro, who was happily holding his tail on Miss Maria’s lap. “But it’s so hard... Shiro’s so cute. Monsters might be cute too, once they get used to you. They won’t fight. They might even be helpful. Why can’t we think like that?”
“Kyawa! Kyuu!”
Shiro must have thought he was being praised, because he let go of his tail and flapped his wings happily. But Miss Maria held his wings still with a grimace. She must have accidentally been hit by them.
“Shiro, that hurts. Don’t hit me like that! Fer, I agree with Eri-kun. If you’re worried about them going wild, all you need to do is train them. Death is the end. You might learn some new things if you don’t kill them. Please?”
After watching both of them argue vehemently for it, I spoke up, “I... I’m against it, too! I don’t want us to have to kill them anymore. Isn’t it alright if we just calm them down? If we need my Soap, I’ll use it as much as you want! So please, stop the senseless killing...!”
I’d stayed quiet before because I wasn’t sure if I should say anything, but I was against slaughtering the monsters, too! I thought back to our journey so far. The feeling of watching monsters be cut down, without them fighting back... Even though I tried to tell myself it had to be done, it still hurt.
If all I need to do to stop it is use my powers, then I’ll do it. So...I want to let them live. I shook off the memories of sprays of blue blood, and the moment that the light left their eyes. I’d never felt as bad as I did then. Monsters were our enemies. If not for them, my father wouldn’t have died. But, even so, I didn’t want to see them slaughtered anymore!
“Commander, Your Highness.” Sir Celes, who had also stayed silent, finally spoke up. “I’d like to ask, too. Please, let us leave them alone.”
He bowed his head and stood still. Seeing that, the rest of us followed his example.
“You all really... Ah, Fernando. We’ve lost. Let’s leave the monsters be.”
“Your Highness!”
“I said before, didn’t I? Shiro is our companion. If we can make other monsters as docile as Shiro, there’s no need for us to go out of our way to kill them. But Maria, in return, I’d like you to purify the last Cristallo Sacro as soon as possible. And Lucia, you need to keep praying that your magic’s effect lasts.”