Peace for the Cat (1)
The steps in front of the church entrance — by now, they might as well be my reserved seat.
Shifting a little deeper into the shade to escape the warm sunlight, I gazed peacefully out at the children romping freely around the garden.
"......"
The tin can had died a glorious death, leaving us quite a generous inheritance behind.
He was a demon, and an enemy — and yet somehow, I couldn't quite bring myself to hate the guy.
The moment the tin can's magic stone shattered, the children shot straight up to level 10.
For slaying a demon, it felt like a pathetically measly amount of experience — but given their current ages, it seemed like a rather fitting level in more ways than one.
"How about that? Ellie, Iris! Pretty amazing, right?!"
"Whoa... how did you do that...?"
"Amazing."
Standing dead center in the garden, Eisen hoisted a massive boulder high overhead with a single hand.
He was showing off his newfound strength to Ellie and Iris, utterly shameless about it.
Whether it was thanks to the skill that had manifested on instinct or the levels he'd gained, I couldn't say for certain — but Eisen's physical abilities had changed beyond all recognition.
"Levia!! You watching?!"
"Yes, I'm watching."
A boulder that would strain even a grown man to lift — and he'd raised it effortlessly with one hand.
Truly, they didn't make Messiahs for nothing.
"Sister, Sister!"
"Yes?"
"I'm amazing too!!"
Apparently feeling a little jealous of all the praise Eisen was getting, Iris sprang up from her spot this time and gave her wand a light flourish, elegantly unleashing a Fireball into the air.
Flaming spheres burst open in brilliant, exhilarating pops — like a midday fireworks display.
"A Fireball of this caliber would set anyone ablaze with a single hit, you know."
I murmured it softly to Iris, a gentle smile spreading across my entire face.
Iris, too, had shown a talent for magic every bit as remarkable as Eisen's.
Granted, the Fireball I was watching now was the full extent of the magic she could cast — but its sheer size and destructive power were far too terrifying to have come from an eight-year-old.
"Ahh!! Me too, me too...!!"
Specks of sacred light came drifting down like God's grace falling from the heavens.
That light spread slowly outward from Ellie's staff, giving off a beautiful sensation — as though the world itself were being healed.
"Ahh. When I receive Ellie's Heal, it feels so warm, like being wrapped in Lady Paelia's embrace."
But if there was one thing to lament, it was this:
to a vampire like me, those specks of sacred light felt like nothing short of poison.
All this time, I'd thought all I had to avoid was sunlight.
Who knew I was such an impious, wretched creature that I couldn't even properly receive Ellie's warm little Heal...
"Hehe, I think all my prayers to Lady Paelia every day have finally paid off!"
"Congratulations, Ellie. Truly."
"Thank you!!"
During the battle with the tin can, their skills hadn't been anywhere near this overwhelming.
Right up until then they'd been very small and precious, exactly as befit level 1 — but the instant they hit level 10, their abilities had begun improving by leaps and bounds.
Along with the level increase, some incomprehensible effect that came bundled with the Messiah title seemed to have had an enormous influence on the children.
And having witnessed that impossible spectacle in real time, right before my eyes, I couldn't help but be rather flustered.
"Khh..."
Seen this way, it might look like the tin can's entire legacy had been poured into the children alone — but.
I, too, had happened to inherit a piece of that legacy.
Namely, an active skill called Blood Mist.
To be precise, it wasn't so much a skill I'd obtained from the tin can as one derived from the effect of the greatsword he'd carried — Severance.
If I had to speculate, I'd say the blade, still embedded in my body, had slowly dissolved over time — and that dissolution had naturally transmuted into the skill now known as Blood Mist.
A skill that scatters mist made from my very own blood in every direction, indiscriminately, inducing hallucinations in anyone caught within it.
But given the sheer range involved, I doubted it was something to be used carelessly.
"Sister, I'm all ready to go."
Just then, as I stood staring blankly at my status window, lost in thought that wasn't really thought at all — Priscilla's voice rang out confidently from behind me.
"Ah, are you leaving now?"
"Yes. I caused you all sorts of trouble, and you looked after me so much. I owe you a great deal."
"Not at all. If anything, I should be thanking you."
Priscilla had come looking for me on an errand, only to be swept up in one commotion after another and put through every imaginable hardship.
Everything afterward had flowed along as ordinarily as a dream, but something about the situation had shifted, and the moment dawn broke, Priscilla had begun preparing to return to her village at once.
"I'll take the fact that you're a demon to my grave... so please don't worry too much about it..."
Priscilla whispered those words softly to me, then beamed, her face lit up with a purely innocent smile.
"...Yes. Thank you."
She hadn't really said much of anything, and yet her promise to carry my secret to the grave was genuinely appreciated.
But separate from that, there was something else quietly nagging at me.
"Heave-ho!!"
That something was the enormous sack slung over Priscilla's shoulder.
Inside it lay the corpse of the male demon, packed in whole.
"I'm sorry again for misunderstanding you. I'll always remember that there are kind demons like you, Sister!"
Even though the corpse had long gone cold and stiff and had to weigh an absolute ton, Priscilla showed not a hint of strain — she looked remarkably at ease.
For all her delicate, doe-like appearance, she seemed to possess tremendous strength.
"You don't really need to remember that. I'm just an oddball, that's all."
"Aw, but it's good to keep in mind anyway. You never know!"
"...Well, if you insist, do as you like."
Even as I traded idle chit-chat with Priscilla, my eyes remained locked firmly on the sack hanging from her shoulder.
I bore no particular grudge against that demon.
It was just that I'd failed to claim the skill he'd possessed — Spoken Word — and the regret over it burned something fierce.
"And thank you so much for letting me have this demon's corpse. I'll make good use of it, I promise!"
"...It's not as if I had any use for the thing."
"Still, it's incredibly valuable — the kind of thing people rarely give up to one another. I'm so glad I came here alone!"
Having never once set foot in a proper town, I hadn't known this — but apparently, bringing a demon's corpse to the guild counted as a rather major accomplishment.
Which was probably why Priscilla's face had been split in a perpetual grin ever since she started getting ready to head back.
"Oh, Miss! Already leaving?"
"Aww... stay a little longer..."
"You're leaving too soon..."
The children, having belatedly noticed Priscilla, came scrambling over and began voicing their disappointment one by one, their faces clouding over.
"Don't worry! I'll come visit whenever I have time!"
"Really?!"
"Of course! I'm only heading back early today because I have to deliver this demon's corpse to the guild."
In that brief span of time, the children and Priscilla had grown close beyond recognition.
Just what on earth had gone on at the church while I was snoring away in the forest?
"I'll be off now!! It won't be long before I come back to play, so you'd better welcome me properly when I do!!"
And with that, Priscilla bid me and the children farewell in a bright, lively voice and marched energetically away from the church.
Her steps looked wonderfully light, and the happiness and pride radiating from her confident silhouette made even me, watching from a distance, smile without quite meaning to.
"Now then, everyone inside, please."
Farewells should always be brief and simple.
Our relationship was an ambiguous one — we'd known each other barely a single day — but as long as the children liked her, I would always welcome her kindly.
"Yeah!!"
"Yes!"
"Yes."
At my quiet word, the children who'd been seeing Priscilla off filed inside without a word of protest.
Only after confirming that not a single one was left outside did I, too, make my slow way into the church.
"But Levia, we already had morning service."
"Why are we gathering again?"
"Is there still something left...?"
There I stood, blankly at the pulpit, while the children sat side by side on the wooden pews.
"Why? Because we have to clean up, that's why."
Indeed.
The inside of the church was, at present, an absolute disaster.
Aside from the wooden pews the children were sitting on, there wasn't a single thing left intact — the interior had been smashed to pitiful pieces.
Such was the chaotic space in which we had held our morning service.
"Ugh... I don't wanna..."
"We have to do it even if we don't wanna."
The children's timid groans drifted faintly through the air, but there was nothing to be done about it.
The man responsible for reducing this place to rubble had already departed this world, after all.
And Priscilla, whom I'd hoped to cheaply exploit for the labor, had just left for her village as well.
Frankly speaking, the one feeling the most bothered — and with the most work to do — out of all of us wasn't the children. It was me.
How much help could a handful of little ones possibly be, anyway...
"Anyone caught slacking off will find lunch becoming a very difficult proposition. I suggest everyone move diligently."