As the rare peaceful days passed in Esperra, Ashen spent most of them without his dear partner, since she had to frequently leave for Seravelle to help the Wrath Sin Lord implement the plan they had discussed.
Just like now. The day had not yet ended, and he was already forced to kiss her goodbye as he watched her leave.
Still, he was not merely idling away in her absence. He had another organization on this side that needed his care, after all.
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Seravelle Continent, Wrath Domain, a town under the Ashbastion's sphere of influence.
Lucia stood beside Cornelia behind a large hill. Hidden behind the same hill as well was a unit of Ashbastion soldiers.
But unlike the valiant Bloodwall army, these men wore stone-cold, almost lifeless expressions. Their emotionless faces were the result of deliberate training, since this particular unit's duty consisted of dirty tasks, confidential missions, or both.
And naturally, emotions were the last thing needed for such assignments.
Today, they were here for another dirty task of the highest secrecy.
And the importance of this task was great enough for the Sin Lord herself to supervise it.
"They are here," Cornelia whispered.
Lucia, still dressed in her office lady attire despite the unsuitable setting, lifted her head and looked over the horizon.
There, a small town stood. Citizens came and went through its streets, each trying their hardest to live honest lives under the protection of their Sin Lord and her courageous army.
But they did not know…
They would never know that this protection had already been quietly withdrawn, and that they had become sacrificial pieces in the execution of something far grander than their humble lives.
From the other side of town, a horde of Narkals crept out of the nearby forest.
Such a sight should have been impossible. The Bloodwall constantly patrolled these perimeters and would never allow such a large horde to pass unnoticed. Even if it had, the Ashbastion would have been informed at once, and the threat swiftly dealt with.
But what was even more absurd than the Narkals' presence was the inaction of the soldiers behind the hill.
Despite the ruthless creatures closing in and the town's warning bell echoing loudly, they did not move.
When the commoners began panicking and fleeing for their lives in the opposite direction, they still remained still.
Even when blood was spilled and the monsters reached their prey, tearing into them with savage hunger, the soldiers stood like motionless marionettes, utterly untouched by the suffering of their kin.
Why?
Because it was none other than the order of the woman standing at their front.
Cornelia stood there with clenched fists, nails digging into flesh until blood welled up, yet her expression remained remarkably placid.
"Go."
Only after more than half the populace had been culled did she give the order to advance.
Lucia watched the soldiers descend like vermin exterminators and paint the earth red, this time with Narkal blood.
Then she looked at the ignorant villagers kneeling in gratitude, thanking them profusely for saving their lives, never once realizing that the disaster had been made by the very people they were praising.
She waited until the spectacle naturally reached its end and the soldiers gathered the survivors in one place, then gestured to the woman who had already begun walking beside her with quiet indifference.
"Alright, it's your turn. Do your magic, you venomous snake."
Lucia barely acknowledged the insult and walked forward without ceremony. It could have been called disrespect to ignore one's own Sin Lord, but Lucia was no longer merely the war hero's recruiter.
She was his lover.
And at the moment, this lover was also Cornelia's ally, so she could afford this small disregard without consequences.
She climbed onto the hastily built platform.
"Fellow citizens!"
Heads turned toward her, giving her a clearer view of the despair and grievance carved into their faces.
"I'm sorry!"
Their expressions did not change.
"We were late!"
"We failed our duty as your protectors..."
A few faces twisted in anger, but that anger was quickly drowned by the simple fact that rage toward their saviors would accomplish nothing.
"I know that a mere apology will never soothe your pain, nor will it bring the dead back... but what I want to say is not only for the departed. It is for you!"
"Think of the children still beside you! Think of your younger siblings! Your frail parents! Your sons and daughters!"
"You cannot afford to fall into despair while they still rely on you..."
Some faces struggled. Others remained hollow, as though the words meant nothing to them. Those were the lone survivors, left with nothing but themselves.
But Lucia had a way to rouse even them.
"Even if you are the last survivor of your family, stubborn despair is not the answer!"
"Do you still dare cling to it after they sacrificed their lives for your sake?!"
She pointed toward the burning town in the distance.
"How many of your fathers held the beasts back, even for a moment, just so their children could escape? How many mothers acted as bait to push their wards out of danger?!"
"Even if you are a complete loner with no family or friends, if not for your neighbors and fellow townsmen serving as a human shield, feeding their corpses to the beasts to buy you one more second, would you still be alive?!"
"Even if their sacrifice was not intentional, it is still a fact!"
"You are alive because of it, so your lives no longer belong to you alone!"
"You shall live for them, too. And drowning in misery is not living."
Her voice softened at last.
"I know you have no home to return to anymore. Your houses are burned or ruined, your streets are filled with disease, and your belongings have been reduced to the clothes on your backs."
"But fear not. Our Sin Lord is not a monster. She will surely secure a passage to the inner domains for you..."
"So live. Live not only for yourselves, but also for your dead townsmen. And never let their memory disappear. Spread their stories. Speak of their deeds, even if they were only small things."
"It is the least you can do for the people who bought your lives with their own..."
When she stepped down from the platform, most of the townsmen had tears streaming down their faces, but their empty eyes had found something new to hold onto.
Lucia saw this and quietly shook her head. Unlike the Esperrians, fooling the relatively simple villagers of Seravelle into doing her bidding was as easy as taking candy from a baby.
"Good job." Cornelia allowed a small smile.
"It was nothing." Lucia shrugged. "I just never thought you would go this far, though. I'm sure the plan would have worked without such sacrifices."
"It would not have." Cornelia answered decisively.
"You have no idea how callous the Sin Lords can be. The original plan would have been swept under the rug."
"As long as there is no revolution of drastic scale, they would never take us seriously."
"...This is necessary."
Then she glanced sideways. "Though I do wonder what our hero would say if he knew you were involved in something this dirty."
Lucia's eyes sharpened as she glared at her Sin Lord for the first time, though it lasted less than an instant.
"...As long as Ashen's bottom line is not touched, he can be surprisingly cold. So do not worry yourself over me."
"And what is his bottom line?" Cornelia asked curiously.
"His family. Alice Sinclair. The Saintess."
Lucia looked at her with a faint smile.
"...And me."