Sacrifice or Seal

"Why did you allow it?"

Allow it... The word itself was almost laughable.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"I'm hardly Yena's superior or anything. I just told her to do whatever she wanted."

As in the past, many people took it for granted that I despised killing and made it my business to save people.

But while that assumption wasn't entirely wrong, it wasn't right either.

Ever since I gave up being the Saintess, the reason I save those dying innocent deaths has been thanks to one absolutely tenacious curse.

A way of thinking that took root in me long ago.

Save the innocent and the weak. Despise the kin of heaven.

That incurable disease, untreatable even by divine magic, lingers to this day — but there is exactly one thing that can neutralize it.

What price would it take to stop Yena?

I had no intention of forcing my rigid way of thinking onto anyone else.

I don't particularly care for those who demand powerless justice, or compensation without effort.

Above all, I value a fair price as much as I pity the weak — no less.

From what I'd gathered from the manager and the viewers, the reward promised to Yena for completing her quest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was a Mythic Grade item.

She'd been promised power on par with Celestials and Demons — there was nothing I could offer her that would exceed that.

No matter what treasures we pulled out of this dungeon, they would fall short of a Mythic Grade item.

And even if I did give her something, I'd be the one taking the loss — and that's something Lily simply can't tolerate.

So I arrived at a compromise.

"I'll do whatever I want to do, too."

Yena would kill the beastmen to obtain her Mythic Grade item.

And I would find the culprit and claim my reward before she finished them all off, ending the dungeon then and there.

A fair contest, wouldn't you say?

"Well then. Everyone's ready, I trust?"

"...You mean we're supposed to hide?"

"That's right."

Hoa still regarded me with doubtful eyes, while Cora nodded along beside him. Behind them, the people of each village stood poised to scatter at a moment's notice.

"Yes. All of you should split up and hide somewhere as inconspicuous as possible."

"If there's only one enemy, wouldn't it be better to fight together? However strong they are, alone you—"

I silently pointed a finger at myself.

Hoa looked at me and broke into a cold sweat.

"...You mean they're at your level."

"Not far off. And apparently she's grown even stronger since. Gathering together would only make you easier prey."

Yena is strong.

Even with her evaluation dragged down as far as it was, and even with the occasional glimpse of something rather foolish in her, her actual command of weapons and abilities was genuinely worthy of recognition.

Granted, against an assassin, a many-against-one fight would be smarter than scattering into individual duels — but from the start, being her "opponent" at all was impossible.

"Then let's go."

To catch the culprit.

"This was the original entrance. Up until a few months ago, anyway."

Cora, Hoa, and I arrived at a small lake. Little fish drifted lazily through the water — a scene of perfect tranquility, utterly at odds with the storm of blood currently sweeping the land.

"Blue-Ring's power resides in every single leaf, so if you walk across them to the cent—"

Tap.

I set my foot on the water's surface.

It was as if I hadn't stepped into a lake at all, but onto solid ground.

"...Yes?"

"Oh, no, nothing."

"...What a madman."

"We should hurry. Any later, and there may be no point in searching at all."

"...Can you not stop that butcher with your power?"

"It'd be meaningless. If I stopped her that way."

If I truly sympathized with the beastmen and wanted to save them at any cost, I would have charged straight at Yena and fought her at full power.

Or, even if it meant owing a debt, I would have blocked the quest's progression outright.

Judging by everything Yena had done so far, she was someone who would stop if I told her to.

But I'm not that generous a person.

"Saving you all is purely my whim. Though I suppose if I catch the culprit, I get something nice out of it too."

And this whim shifts with every passing moment — different from one instant to the next.

I'm not like this all the time, you know.

"...Tsundere? I am not worrying about anyone, thank you very much."

To say it once more: the only reason I save anyone is that this is simply how Lily Elbrit's mind is wired.

I don't pity them. I don't grieve for them.

I am neither righteous nor self-sacrificing.

"......"

I made a pointed effort to ignore the chat and pressed my hand against the lake's surface.

A stream of azure mana reached out from my palm, searching for the lingering echo of what had once been drawn there.

Fwah!

"Oh..."

"So it was true."

The mana conjured the passage leading to the high priest's dwelling back into being. Beyond a portal of blue light, roughly the size of a person, a dark cave yawned open.

"Is this the right one?"

"Yes! That's it."

"Let's go."

The three of us stepped through the portal.

"...?"

Saaaah...

Somewhere deep within Blue-Ring, where azure grass swayed in the wind, a woman sat in a long robe of pink cloth, her eyes closed, waiting for someone.

The rustle of leaves.

The chirring of insects.

Aaaaah...

Gahk...

"Dying, are they."

The sound of innocent lives slipping away.

The woman's pink fox ears twitched upright. A sound utterly different from the ones she had always heard had caught her ear —

The sound of an azure portal opening.

Blen had sealed off the spatial arts months ago. Surely he had...

Had something gone awry with his plan?

The fox-eared woman cracked her eyes open slightly. It had been a long time since she'd last seen such beautiful scenery.

But no sooner had she taken it in than she reached out and interfered with the spatial movement itself.

...Considerable, aren't you.

The instant she confirmed her interference in the spatial arts, the intruder defended against her — and then layered still more magic on top of the first spell.

Worse, they were even casting tracking magic, trying to trace the spell back to her.

How many spells could one weave in so short an instant?

Had the 'second' always been this skilled?

At this level, Blen, we could have used the second instead of the first after all.

With a faint trace of regret, she observed the situation through the 'eyes' she had granted to the first.

The girl was doing better than expected.

She had worried the girl might be swallowed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whole by Blue-Ring's divine authority — instead, she was wielding that very authority with a mastery as if it were her own.

"Well... not bad, I suppose."

At this pace, she could wrap things up before the second reached 'it'.

But the girl was already practically at her doorstep...

Hah. She let out a sigh.

"Blen. It would be nice if you handled your own affairs..."

Her body vanished from that place in an instant, leaving behind nothing but a fox emblem on the ground.

"What just happened?"

"Are we under attack?!"

A sudden jolt mid-transit threw the chat — and the beastmen — into confusion.

"...Someone tried to interfere. It's gone now."

The instant I detected the attempt to sever our spatial movement, I defended and raised the security framework of my magic.

Then I traced it back immediately, but...

Not magic... that was divine authority.

The tracking spell had vanished as if erased outright. If it had been mana-based magic, the traces of its erasure would have remained — but what just happened left nothing behind at all.

Yena had received Blue-Ring's authority from the high priest, so presumably it was a power of the same kind.

In any case, we had arrived.

A vast chamber screened by enormous leaves. Like a workshop, it was filled with any number of magical tools, supplies, and natural plants.

Cora pressed forward, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Papers crunched beneath her feet.

"The high priest couldn't possibly not be here..."

"There are signs of recent use. He probably slipped away when I made my interference."

I gathered up the scattered papers with a breath of wind.

Sheets covered in magical script. Even by a Grand Magus's standards, the spells inscribed there were of considerable difficulty — highly advanced magical engineering, certainly, but woven through with something that sat at a distance from magic proper: things related to shamanic sorcery.

No — quite frankly, they could simply be called curses.

I picked up and examined paper after paper beyond that. The forms differed, but every last one bore the same species of curse-magic.

"You know what this is? The high priest has done a great deal of research, but..."

"A little."

"What is it, then? He said he was searching for a way to heal Blue-Ring's body."

Hoa had not yet given up his faith in the priest.

The papers in my hand gathered together into a single place.

"Sacrifice — or sealing."

It's one of the two.