Chapter 22. Can’t Save Everyone
“Why’d you buy so many things? Was it possible to get things delivered inside the train as well? How strange~”
Necro, who had just come back from work with an exhausted face, began to rummage through the delivery boxes.
“Protein pack, latex gloves, raincoat, rubber boots, umbrellas… What the hell? Are you on a crazy shopping spree or what? I’m not gonna count this towards traveling expenses, you know?”
The saint, who hid her own delivery box under her seat, stiffened up. This kid, was she seriously trying to pass this off as travel expense?
…Maybe I can do it as well?
“Can you actually count this off as traveling expenses? I bought this with my own money.”
Necro shouted at me in anger.
“You think we’re on a picnic?! Hell no. Hey! What did you order? Give it, give it. Damn, it’s been awhile since I felt myself get angry like this.”
Necro quickly snatched away the box in the saint’s hands.
“What’s this? Manicure? Lipstick? You two idiots really get along well, don’t you? Don’t even think about getting your grubby hands on our budget, ok?”
The saint rubbed her two hands together like a fly towards Necro.
“I told you, this isn’t a picnic? Get your shit together. You think I’m your mom or something? Do I really have to check on you for everything? There is a war going on here you know.”
Necro clicked his tongue and threw the delivery box at the saint.
“I’m gonna forgive you just this once, alright?”
“Understood!”
The saint dug through her box while making a strange “kikikiki” sound. Feels like she’s getting less and less human the more I get to know her.
“Oh, that idiot.”
Necro thudded down on the chair opposite to me.
“Who in the world would take her like this? Hey, Jin, you want her? I’ll give you a discount.”
“Do you take refunds?”
The saint threw the delivery box at us.
“Hey! Stop it, stop it. Are you a god of violence or what?”
Necro frowned as he blocked a sock to his face.
“That smell! Holy crap! What? Hey? Where are you going?”
“Secret!”
Probably going to apply some makeup. The saint passed both of us and headed straight for the bathroom. Having both of us sit in the room like this was quite awkward. There wasn’t much to talk about, after all. Necro realized this as well, and leaned back a little.
“What was that thing you ordered earlier?”
“Protein?”
“That and the other things. It’s not for me and Morto, is it? It’s not like you’re going to need protein anyway. Planning on testing something?”
Sharp question.
“Don’t worry about it. I might not even end up needing it.”
“I don’t get it. Are you planning on killing the Warrior with those? I’m telling you this now, but allergies or poison won’t work on him?”
“I know. You can’t kill him.”
We looked at each other in the eye and fell into deep thought. We were both experts when it came to death. I had knowledge on how to kill people, and Necro was a scholar of death itself. On expertise, Necro was probably more advanced than I was. He probably tried to find ways to defeat Memento Mori. And he failed. I didn’t make light of this fact.
“Well, that’s that.”
Necro was the first one to end the silence.
“Looks like we’re almost here. Get ready.”
I thought I smelled something close to cow dung. Now that I looked at it, I could begin to see farms lined up outside. There were hills filled with green grass with numerous cows dotted across them. At the horizon, I could see giant mountains and majestic cliffs. I modified the position of my eyes to look at the mountains.
A volcano with a height of 5,150m, Volcorre.
At this height, one should be able to see some snow lined up at the top, but I could only see tiny bits of white among all the brown. Near the crater, the air was shimmering from all the heat. Inside, crimson-black lava was writhing inside like a living being. The Warrior probably wouldn’t die from this.
[This station is Boiser, Boiser station. For those of you wishing to visit Volez, please get off here. Please make sure you don’t leave anything behind as you get off. For elders and those with higher blood pressure, please be careful of the extreme change in temperature. This station is Boiser, Boiser station.]
Kii-
The train began to steadily slow down.
*
“Hot!”
The saint fanned her face with her hands as soon as she got off. She said she was fixing her makeup, but nothing really changed. The color of her lips changed a little, maybe? She changed into a one-piece dress during the trip. She really looks like a kid like this. She’s supposed to be a high schooler, but she looks more like a middle school student. Her height is short to begin with, but her other aspects are…
“Ora!”
I got kicked.
“…Why?”
“I felt something dangerous from you.”
I rubbed my butt.
“Can you stop hitting my butt already? Hit other places already.”
Unhealthy to be hit in only one place all the time. The saint narrowed her eyes.
“Please don’t say anything that can result in misunderstandings.”
How would this create misunderstandings?
“Wow, it’s hot.”
Necro almost tore off the necktie off of himself.
“It feels like it gets hotter every time I come here. Should I have bought something cool for myself?”
Should be hotter in Volez. Thank god I can’t feel any temperatures with this body.
Necro pointed at the waiting room nearby.
“Let’s rest there for a bit. We can move after we get permission. The commanders should sort out all the soldiers for us.”
“Permission?”
Necro sent me a telepathy to answer my question.
[They installed a bomb on the bridge. They’ll blow it up after we pass.] “Ah.”
Volez was a plot of land right below a volcano. The town that surrounded the volcano like a donut was quite an interesting sight. The problem was, the land around the town uplifted and subsided several times, creating a cliff around the town. Thanks to this, the town became an island. To reach the island, one needed to go halfway down a cliff, then take a bridge to town. The first phase of this plan was to keep the Warrior tied down within the town. This was a pretty good place for us in that regard. I followed the saint into the waiting room, and looked over the people inside. There were quite a lot of people. No one seemed suspicious though.
“Won’t we get found out like this?”
“What?”
I sent Necro a telepathy.
[Volez is being controlled by the military right now.] [Yeah?] [Towns nearby must make trade deals with Volez. Wouldn’t it be pretty weird if Volez just stopped communicating all of a sudden? For example, there must be a restaurant of sorts inside the town. If ingredients for the day don’t arrive…] [Ah! I had been wondering what you were curious about. You’re really looking down on the power of a nation. But… Good question. I thought you would just skim over it. How sharp.]
Necro clapped lightly.
[It’s not in the report, is it? There’s no choice really. These guys are unofficial. Can’t have any records of them. Forbidden by international law to have these guys around as well. In any case, there’s a branch in the government that handles this kind of stuff.]
An information department?
[This would call for… Protocol number three. So a tiny bit of brainwashing is involved.]
A government that effectively makes use of wizards and ability users… I assumed they would be quite powerful, but not to this degree.
[I suppose rebellions would be nigh impossible with a group like this.] […You think?]
What does he mean? Before I could ask Necro the question, though, I had to turn to see someone staring this way. To be more specific, someone staring at the saint.
“Eh? Dear, look. That… Isn’t that the bitch?”
An old woman frowned as an old man pointed at the saint.
“Where? I can’t really see… Ah! You’re right! That little bitch! That bitch who killed my son!”
Everyone in the room looked this way in an instant. Mutters began to rise from the crowd. I could make out words like ‘bitch’ and ‘traitor’ from the crowd.
“Ah… I should’ve used magic…”
Necro facepalmed in annoyance.
“What did you come here for this time?!”
The old man stomped his way over to the saint and swung his cane at her. It shouldn’t hurt much for her, but…
“It’s dangerous.”
I blocked the cane and looked at the saint’s face. Her usual bright demeanor was completely gone, and her eyes were devoid of any light. She was like a corpse.
“Let go! Let go, you bastard! Let go already!”
The old man did all he could to try and get the cane out, but it refused to budge from my hands. Only after the old man decided to back off, did I decide to let go.
Clang.
When the cane dropped on the ground, the saint flinched. She had been looking at the floor like a criminal since a while back.
“It’s the saint…”
“It really is her.”
The mutters were getting louder now.
“Piece of shit.”
“Hate her.”
“Because of her, my son was…!”
When a middle-aged woman shouted in anger, the rest of the crowd went up in an uproar.
“That witch made the war last longer!” “I won’t forgive her!” “Why couldn’t you save my son?” “Whore!” “The solder you saved killed my child!” “Go back to the whorehouse you came from!” “Bitch!”
There was only anger and hate in the area now. The crowd glared at the saint. Anger infected the crowd like a plague and frowns began to spread. It almost felt like they wanted to rip her to pieces the first chance they got. The only thing keeping them from actually doing that was me and Necro. I walked towards the saint.
“How annoying.”
The saint gripped her clothing tightly. She probably saved just about everyone she came across, be it ally or enemy. Because she couldn’t dare see someone die in front of her.
In the middle of the battlefield-
The saint heals a wounded soldier. By sacrificing her body. By taking on the pain for the soldier.
The soldier would thank the saint, and go out to kill the enemy. She couldn’t stand by just watching that happen. She couldn’t bear to see someone die, even if that person was an enemy. The miracles the saint performed for someone was ultimately a misfortune for another man.
In the situation where someone must die, the only thing the saint did was to extend the time of the war.
In the end, no one was saved. Not even her. The anger of the people that had lost its target got directed at her. Look. This is the result of your actions. People aren’t worth saving.
Clack.
An apple rolled on the floor. It was aimed at the saint, but it ended up hitting my back instead. Instead of turning back myself, I modified my eye to look into the crowd. One of the children clicked his tongue in disappointment.
Thump.
This time, a bag hit my hips.
“Bring back my son…”
The woman’s hands were shaking. Rather than fear, she was filled with anger. Tears were welling up in the woman’s eyes. The people’s faces stiffened once they saw this and began to throw various objects our way.
“Disappear from our town.”
“Go to hell!”
“You in front of the saint, move!”
All sorts of things began to beat my head and my back. I wasn’t really planning on being a meat shield, but… I suppose it can’t really be helped, considering my position right now. It doesn’t hurt that much anyway.
“Ehei! Stop it!”
Necro tried to stop the people, but they didn’t show any signs of stopping.
“If you keep doing this…!”
Someone began to throw sharp objects like pens and knives, which began to stick into my back.
Shatter!
The people stopped when glass shattered on the floor. Perhaps Necro’s threats worked a little bit. Is it over? I turned back with a sigh to look at the people.
…They were all worthless.
I almost lost self-control, which caused the crowd to tremble a little bit. One of the teens who tried to throw something stiffened.
“Damn, didn’t you hear what I said?”
Necro stepped out before me. His body was writhed in black smoke. It was easy to tell that this was corrupt mana just by the looks of it. They could probably tell as well around now. That they’d die if they kept this up. Chaos ensued. People ran out of the room like frenzied rabbits. Necro really is quite helpful at times. I looked at the saint, who seemed to be close to fainting, and flicked her in the face.
Flick!
Her head bent back with a loud snap.
“What are you doing!?”
The saint frowned as she rubbed her wound. So she came back. I blew away the blue flame on my finger.
“…Well, I don’t think I’d get a chance to take my revenge later.”
I flinched a little when the saint raised her hand. Was she going to hit me again? Hm? Why wasn’t she hitting me? The saint brushed off the glass shards on her head quietly. She seemed like she was ready to cry, which made me quite confused.