"I've finished changing, Lord Touka."
Seras appeared to have finished getting dressed.
Right now we were in a location some distance away from the Black Dragon Knights' corpses.
We were still inside the forest, though.
I turned around and spoke.
"Sorry about your original clothes."
Seras adjusted the finer details of her outfit as she replied.
"No, please don't worry. I have spares of those clothes anyway."
We had torn apart the clothes Seras had been wearing earlier.
We stained the torn scraps with blood.
The blood we used came from the knights' corpses.
Blood-soaked pieces of clothing.
We scattered some of them around.
We also left markers in the opposite direction from where we currently stood.
We made footprints using Seras's shoes and created a trail of blood leading deeper into the forest.
"The chance they see through it right away is high, but it should at least serve as a temporary distraction."
We wanted it to appear as though Seras had suffered serious injuries.
That was the objective.
"Seras Ashrain is wounded! With that amount of bleeding, she can't have gotten very far!"
We wanted them to think exactly that.
If the information that she was injured spread widely, it would be even better.
Anyone searching would focus on "a wounded person."
"Now then, about our next steps. I'm taking you with me to the Golden Demon Zone as originally planned."
Seras paused in the middle of her preparations to depart.
"Are you really sure about this?"
"Like I said before, the reason I saved you wasn't just because I needed an escort. As long as you're okay with it, I have no issues on my side."
Seras pressed the issue a little more stubbornly here.
She still seemed worried that trouble would reach me because of her.
"…"
Shibito and the others' deaths would eventually leak outside.
But would people really believe Seras did it all alone?
Anyone with a bit of imagination would probably consider the possibility of an accomplice.
The Shibito incident would reach the goddess's ears sooner or later.
There was even a chance it could lead back to me.
The investigation team might have already sent up some kind of report.
An anomaly occurred in the Ruined Ruins.
Sooner or later they would notice that Mimori Touka had survived.
At the very least, I had to build every action on that premise.
I wanted to avoid wishful thinking as much as possible.
Better safe than sorry.
I always wanted to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
"Hm?"
A distant howl?
A wolf, perhaps?
They were probably drawn to the corpses.
Makes sense.
To beasts, corpses are just food.
If the bodies get torn apart and mangled, the cause of death might become unclear.
I remembered the "incident" at the Mills Ruins.
Death by poison skill apparently looked bizarre to them.
But if the corpses were heavily damaged, it might not seem so strange anymore.
In other words, it could serve as cover for my status abnormality skills.
It would lower the odds of the goddess noticing.
I had wanted to leave that place as quickly as possible.
I hadn't had time to disguise the cause of death back then.
But now it looked like the beasts were doing the cover-up work for me.
Being in this forest might have been a stroke of luck.
I quickly explained the same thing to Seras again.
I had no intention of changing the plan.
At last Seras gave in.
"Understood. If that is what you say, Lord Touka, I will say nothing more on the matter. In exchange—please use this life of mine however you wish."
Seras placed her hand over her chest.
It was the pose of a knight taking an oath.
Perhaps she had always been the type suited to living with loyalty.
Seras finished preparing her luggage.
"Then let us hurry onward. It seems 'Blood-Slayer of Heroes' still remains among the Five Dragon Warriors. Rumors say he might one day surpass even 'humanity's strongest.' A bloodthirsty, belligerent personality. Apparently even the other Five Dragon Warriors had trouble dealing with him—"
Seras's expression turned puzzled.
"…Lord Touka, what's wrong?"
I touched my mouth.
"The dragon that one of the Five Dragon Warriors was riding—it was a different size from the other black dragons, right?"
"Huh? Y-yes…"
I pulled up the memory.
"Probably—but I think I already crushed him."
"Huh?"
"You remember how I said I shot down other black dragons on my way to where you were? Among them was an extremely aggressive dragon knight who attacked me the moment he saw me. His black dragon was bigger than the others. About the same size as the one the Five Dragon Warrior we just killed was riding. Even the armor looked different from the other dragon knights."
I never learned his name.
For a while I thought he was the vice commander.
Grim Ritter.
I think Shibito called him that.
He was the son of someone named Schweitz, wasn't he?
Now that I thought back, there might have been a resemblance.
To Schweitz's face.
"That guy was almost certainly 'Blood-Slayer of Heroes.' So we don't have to worry about the Five Dragon Warriors anymore."
That's right.
I managed to take him down.
Compared to Soul Eater, he was an easier opponent.
Even if he really was 'Blood-Slayer of Heroes.'
In the end, 'humanity's strongest' was the one and only greatest obstacle to descend upon me.
That one—I had no choice but to set a trap for.
I had no choice but to ambush him.
Seras went slack.
"So you… you easily took down even 'Blood-Slayer of Heroes'…"
"Seems like it."
We finished preparations and started walking through the forest.
We didn't use any light.
It would only serve as a marker announcing that people were here.
Still, visibility was fine.
Eyes accustomed to darkness.
Moonlight.
Compared to the Ruined Ruins, this was far better.
"Pii♪ Pii♪ Piii〜♪"
Pigi-maru was in an unusually good mood.
Earlier he had happily reunited with Seras.
He was probably thrilled that we had linked up with her.
The sight was somehow heartwarming.
"By the way, about that Holy King—the reality seems to have differed quite a bit from what you thought—"
I asked Seras as we walked.
"Back when you were in Neah, did you never feel anything off about the king? You can detect lies, right?"
"I did occasionally sense that the king was telling some kind of lie. But the princess herself told lies on a daily basis as well."
Seras's face took on a nostalgic look.
"The princess told me once… 'I sometimes lie to Seras, but among those lies are gentle ones. Not every falsehood comes from malice.'"
I see.
A wise princess.
Seras's power couldn't read the content of the lie.
It could only judge true or false.
Like a lie detector.
In that case, all you had to do was lay down a preemptive defense.
A "gentle lie" defense.
My lies are told for your sake.
If so, even if she noticed the lying, it wouldn't be a problem.
Whether the princess of Neah was truly a good person, I didn't know.
From what I'd heard, she sounded like one.
And the Holy King's feelings toward Seras didn't exactly seem malicious either.
It made sense that Seras hadn't noticed the truth.
"Speaking of the princess, is it really okay to leave her behind?"
Seras nodded.
A little sadly.
"As I am now, I should not be viewed favorably by the goddess of Alion. There is also the matter of the Black Dragon Knights this time. If I were to make contact, it would only bring harm to the princess."
"Yeah, probably."
"I am a fugitive who abandoned my country. It is better if people think of me that way. That way, the people in Neah—and the princess—should be safer."
"Did the princess understand all of that too?"
"Yes."
Seras opened the front of her clothes slightly.
She drew out a jeweled necklace from her chest.
"This was given to me by the princess. In Neah they probably believe I stole it."
It looked like a necklace.
"She told me to sell it for traveling money. But I could never bring myself to part with it."
"So that's why you needed to earn money on the road."
"Yes. I know it was foolish. Of course, I made sure it couldn't be traced back to the royal family."
Seras smiled.
But her voice carried the hint that she might start crying at any moment.
"I simply could not let go of what the princess gave me."
"You really loved her, huh."
"Yes."
Seras tucked the necklace back against her chest.
Her expression was filled with quiet emotion.
It might have been foolish.
But I had no intention of blaming her.
Because of it, after all, I met Seras.
"Speaking of traveling money, did you manage to get those three hundred gold coins?"
"…No."
"My plan is to ignore that marquis. I don't want to leave unnecessary traces."
I didn't think that marquis would come chasing after the person who wiped out the Black Dragon Knights anyway.
"Yes, I agree that would be best. Still… I'm sorry I couldn't contribute any funds."
"It's fine. I've got plenty of gold and silver coins myself. And look."
I pulled a small pouch from my pocket and tossed it to Seras.
"—Huh? What is this?"
"Open it."
"…!? No way. Are these… all azure dragonstones!?"
"Pretty much."
"Just who are you, really…?"
"Like I told Shibito."
"You said you were an avenger, didn't you?"
Seras's voice took on a strong, serious tone.
"Meeting the Forbidden Witch is necessary for that revenge, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
My journey with Seras was only temporary.
She wasn't a companion all the way to the end of my revenge.
That was why I hadn't thought there was any need to explain.
Seras stopped walking.
"Who are you taking revenge on?"
I stopped too.
I turned around and spoke the name of the one I would take revenge on.
"The goddess Vysis."