“Would you rather we weren’t negotiating with demons?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied slowly. “I’d never really thought of them as people you could talk to.”
To her, they’d been things she hunted to earn her keep—vermin, to put it bluntly. She’d never considered them as rational beings just like us. It was understandable that she’d have doubts about this.
“I should’ve gone alone, shouldn’t I...”
The first time I’d come across Cion in battle, she’d killed a pair of warwolf cubs right in front of me without any hesitation. She’d believed unquestioningly that they were evil—that her actions were right and just. Now, she’d learned that we could communicate with them. If that knowledge made her hand falter in the heat of battle, it could be the death of her.
“The world is full of things we’re better off not knowing...” I sighed.
“Oh... No, it’s fine, I think. I... I guess that’s just how things are.” Cion spoke calmly, but I could hear some doubt in her voice, along with a confusion verging on indignation. “They’re demons, but they were all nice and stuff,” she muttered. “It pisses me off.”
She’d probably never tried to have a conversation with one before... No, of course she hadn’t. Exchanging words with someone you were about to kill was empty and futile—I knew that better than her, didn’t I. As long as you thought of your opponent as nothing but a walking lump of meat, you could tell yourself that you were just chopping it up. No heartache, no hesitation; just finish the job.
All this time, I’d lied to myself and covered my eyes, taking the lives of others as the Gods bade me. If you didn’t need to spare a thought for your victims’ pasts, if you could remain ignorant and just carry out violence as you were commanded, then you could spend your days in perfect clarity—in the simple, easy world of kill or be killed.
“Did you know the demons were like that, Alicia?”
“No, I only found out recently myself. The Gods are quite mean-spirited, aren’t they?”
Once you’d learned the truth—once that awareness had crystallized in your mind—there was no going back. Your only choice was to fight. I guess I just wasn’t enough of an obedient lamb to turn a blind eye.
“Sorry for the delay,” I said eventually. “I’m all right now. Let’s hurry back to the others.”
“You sure? You don’t look so good...”
“Neither do you. And right now, I’m most worried about the mercenaries. I didn’t see any priests around during the battle; they must not have been able to get aid from the Church. If they’ve been fighting while retreating, then their provisions must be running low as well. We need to get moving.”
Unfortunately, we’d have to wait a bit longer for food and water. Those would be arriving with the saint, who’d planned to set out after us. Still, I could at least provide emergency treatment for the worst of their injuries.
“It’s not uncommon for people to pass out from their combat wounds and never get back up, is it?” I pressed.
Cion had spent long years on the battlefield. She ought to understand the power of healing orisons as well as anyone.
“Okay.” She nodded. “I have some guesses about where the boss and the others might’ve set up camp. We’ll move quick, but if you’re having trouble, just—”
Before she could even finish speaking, Cion’s arm shot out to grab my wrist and pull me up.
“Cion?!”
She gripped me tight against her chest. Her sword was already out, and with a loud screech of metal, it sent sparks flying through the darkness.
“Who—?!”
Someone kicked at us from behind, and the two of us lost our balance.
Bloodlust...?
I hadn’t felt a trace of it until they struck. Was my exhaustion taking its toll, or were they just that well practiced at concealing themselves? My body sprang into motion faster than my mind could keep up, but Cion was far faster still as she slashed at our black-cloaked attacker. With one flash of metal, then another, she lunged forward to strike at them, but the figure leaped back to dodge the blows. They dissolved into the darkness of the forest—and then, moments later, the foliage right next to Cion shook.
“Cion!”
With a grunt of shock, Cion reflexively ducked backward and twisted her head away as a silver gleam passed right in front of her eyes.
“Wha—?”
A huge sword as long as my entire body came swinging through the gloom, mowing down trees as it went. And there, wielding it, was a wolfman covered in black fur. Cion and I were flanked by the wolf and the cloaked attacker. Would we run, or would we fight? As my thoughts raced—
“Where the hell did you get that?!” Cion roared.
“Cion?!”
Before I could even react, Cion became a streak of shadow leaping at the wolfman—
“Gwuh—?!”
—and in the next instant, she doubled over as a kick from the wolf sent her flying. She crashed into a thick tree trunk and crumpled to the ground. I rushed in to shield her, but without even giving us a second glance, the wolfman squared off against the cloaked figure.
What on earth...?
The first one to move was the cloaked attacker. They quickly fled into the darkness, and the wolfman leaped through the foliage after them.
“Hold it—!” Cion was coughing up blood as she shouted after them.
“Just hold still,” I said. “I’ll get you moving again right away...”
“Dammit...” she fumed. “That... That sword—!”
“Not right now,” I urged her. “Just settle down.”
That wasn’t a demon.
Cion must have been too enraged to spot the differences, but our attacker just now had definitely been...
“A devil-touched...”
The forest was silent and still once again, and my voice quietly faded away to nothing.