I turned my back on the duke.
"Eve."
"Mm."
"The duke might beg for his life, but finish it quickly."
Eve did not answer right away.
I stopped counting the corpses and said,
"If you don't feel like it, I can—"
"No."
Eve spoke.
"Let me be the one to end it."
"Got it. When you're done, come back to me."
Eve gave a single nod and stepped in front of the duke.
She gripped a sword tightly in her hand.
I resumed counting the corpses.
"Nu, oh… gu, gigi… hi… hi, iii…"
The duke could no longer escape reality.
I could feel it from behind me.
His terror.
"Perhaps it is better that he cannot speak. There is no worry of being deceived by words… I am simple, after all."
Eve's voice was frozen.
It carried the coldness of ice.
"If he had only tried to trap me, I might still have found some room to forgive him. But… reaching out toward that child was a mistake."
"Gi, gu… gu, u, u…"
"I will no longer be fooled by tears."
"Gi, gi, gi, iii…!"
"Farewell."
A very small, short scream rang out.
The last word Eve spoke.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been directed at the duke.
But depending on how one looked at it, it might also have been words directed at her own past self, the one who had once been too soft.
△
A single set of footsteps stopped behind me.
"Touka."
"…Did you finish it?"
"Mm."
Eve looked surprisingly refreshed.
"Lord Touka."
Seras emerged from the woods, leading Liz by the hand.
She had already released her transformation.
The spirits' power required a price.
It was best not to use the transformation ability if possible.
Well, there was no need for it right now anyway.
Seras looked around.
"It looks like… it's over."
Liz was clutching the hem of Seras's clothes.
She kept close to Seras's waist.
I said,
"Liz, if you don't want to see the corpses—"
"I-I'm fine…"
"Really?"
"I saw a lot of them when I was traveling with my sister… the people who attacked us…"
So it was not her first time seeing corpses.
Even so, she was clearly trembling slightly.
Still, it was not necessarily a good thing to get used to.
"Seras, Eve and I still have something to do. Can you take Liz and start preparing to depart first?"
"Understood. In that case, I will retrieve the luggage we left behind and round up any horses still wandering around."
"Please do. Oh, and one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Thanks for the support with the bow and arrows."
Seras made a slightly uneasy face.
"That was also a decision I made on my own without instructions, but—"
"I told you before. I trust your own judgment."
Seras closed her eyes as if savoring the words.
She then placed a hand on her chest.
"Yes… thank you."
"You're already the vice-leader of this 'mercenary band.' When I can't give instructions, I leave the decisions to you. Eve and Liz, that's fine with you two, right?"
"Mm."
"Y-yes!"
Eve and Liz answered.
Seras smiled gently.
"Please continue to treat me well from now on, both of you."
"Also, Seras."
"Yes?"
"Before you start preparing to depart, can you bring that thing from the luggage? I think I'll need it later. Yeah… just leave it somewhere around here."
Seras immediately understood what I meant.
"Yes, understood."
After roughly deciding on the meeting point, Seras turned back toward the woods.
"Um, Seras-sama."
Liz stopped, looking hesitant.
"What is it, Liz?"
"P-please let me… help too."
Liz's voice was trembling.
"Earlier, Touka-sama included me as a member of the mercenary band as well…"
"Liz?"
Tears had gathered at the corners of Liz's eyes.
"I want to be useful for something too…"
It felt like Liz thought she was doing something wrong.
She seemed to believe that expressing her own will was bad.
It was probably the influence of her life with that mistress.
Those people denied it.
They denied children having their own will.
Do not have your own thoughts.
Just obey what you are told.
They suppressed them from above like that.
As a result, children lost confidence in their own ideas.
Everything they did started to feel wrong.
Gradually, even their emotions froze…
The emotional wounds Liz carried seemed deep.
"Eve."
"What?"
"You'll take your time healing the wounds that child suffered, right?"
"I bear some responsibility for that child's pain because I was insensitive… Of course I intend to."
I looked at the woods where Liz had disappeared.
"While we're traveling together, Seras and I will help too."
"Yeah… thank you, Touka."
△
"So, Touka, what exactly are we going to do?"
Corpses were scattered all around.
We had been counting them until just a moment ago.
Not a single one had been missed.
Total annihilation.
Even those who had been in the poisoned state were now silent corpses.
"..."
I should explain it to Eve as well.
I reached into my robe.
"Look at this, Eve."
"Is this… ice…?"
What I held between my fingertips was a small lump of ice.
Eve narrowed her eyes and examined it.
"Hm? It looks like an insect frozen in ice…"
"That's right. This is a living insect that I froze using the [Freeze] skill."