Chapter 43
The saintess felt a surge of human hatred. "Stop!"
Of course, telling someone to stop in this world didn't make them do it. If a single word could halt them, they never would have started in the first place.
"Don't come any closer, you mercenary soldier bastard!"
As I drew near, the brat screamed at me in terror. Mercenary soldier? The kid, who probably didn't even know what a hero was, had apparently decided that was me on his own.
I found it absurd, but I kept a stern expression and approached anyway. This child, who had only ever known adults fawning over him, seemed to realize for the first time that someone bigger than him could do whatever they wanted. I wasn't even emitting any killing intent, but just having this much larger opponent looming over him had the kid shaking in fear.
"What the hell are you doing? Grab this little shit."
The line spilled from the brat's mouth, straight out of some play I'd heard somewhere. But Charlie, having heard what happened to Juan, had no intention of stepping up, nor did the soldiers under him.
I looked down at the now tear-streaked kid and let out a chuckle. Realizing no one was on his side, the child's face began to tremble pitifully.
"H-Hero, sir. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I-I'll... scold him properly... please forgive him."
At that moment, Hazel slipped between me and the kid, pleading desperately. I gave her a bored look, but she gazed back with genuine anguish.
Strictly speaking, Hazel and the brat were no more than strangers. Yet here she was, standing protectively in front of him.
Funny. Let's see if that's sincere.
I began to slowly release a bit of killing intent toward her—just enough that a normal woman like the countess wife couldn't easily handle. It worked; her face paled, and her body shook like a leaf in the wind.
The brat, who had been so bold moments ago, was now cowering behind her, pissing himself under the pressure.
I felt a twinge of curiosity at Hazel's expression—fearful, yet unyielding. It didn't match the woman who had locked the gates and held firm while countless refugees died outside.
"Interesting."
I said that to Hazel, then slowly reached out and grabbed the kid's head. His underdeveloped skull fit perfectly in my palm.
"Let go! Let me go, you filthy commoner bastard!"
The kid flailed and screamed, but that wasn't going to make me release him. Hazel grabbed my arm to stop me, but her strength was useless against me.
"Listen up, brat."
"Y-You...!"
Tears streaming down his face, I spoke slowly to him.
"Don't think your fancy status will protect you forever. In this world, even if the commoners you look down on take your head, no one would bat an eye."
With that advice, I set the kid named Lloyd down on the ground. He scurried behind a pillar like a rat; I had no idea if he'd understood. But my words weren't just spoken out of spite.
The crown prince had ignored my request to punish Hazel, but that didn't mean her and the kid's lives would be smooth sailing. As the war with the demon king's army intensified, Butler territory—a borderland—saw endless refugees flooding in, crippling the finances. Eventually, the citizens, refugees, and even the Butler retainers needed someone to vent their frustrations on. Naturally, the targets were the territory's lord, Hazel, and the kid.
And that's when some bastard suddenly swallowed up Butler territory whole...
I remember now.
I glanced at Charlie, an old memory surfacing. Back then, this guy had inherited Butler territory and, with surprising competence, stabilized it—catching Aaron's eye and rising through the ranks.
I get the picture now.
There was no "surprising competence." Charlie was all ambition with no talent, in my eyes. If you assumed he'd orchestrated everything from the start, his quick stabilization of the rebellious territory made perfect sense.
"I have a condition."
Having grasped the situation, I told Hazel.
She looked startled, as if she hadn't expected me to bargain, and asked fearfully,
"A c-condition? What kind?"
"First, let the refugees inside the walls."
"Refugees?"
"Yeah, they're in the way."
Hazel's eyes naturally flicked to her administrator, Charlie. Following her gaze, I saw him panic, but the oblivious Hazel innocently replied to me,
"Yes, we'll do that."
"Good."
"Is... is that the only condition?"
I scratched my chin, eyeing her. I suspected the events from my first timeline weren't entirely her fault. But I wasn't forgiving the debt she owed me. Incompetence and ignorance were sins too.
"I'll tell you the other condition after this is done."
"..."
Hazel looked anxious but couldn't refuse. She didn't have the power—or the will—to reject my offer anyway.
**
"You heard what they did, Hero. Doesn't that bother you?"
As we stepped outside the castle, Marian said that to me. She clearly didn't like that I'd told Hazel to let the refugees in.
Of course, I didn't have warm feelings for the refugees either. Being weak didn't make them good, and they weren't much different from Butler territory's rotten lot. Not all of them, sure.
"Doesn't matter. They're still in the way, fact is fact."
Marian didn't like my decision but held her tongue. Instead, she focused on what lay ahead, asking another question.
"By the way, why bother seeking out the refugees specifically?"
I nodded slowly at her words. The reason Marian and I had left the castle was to rescue any remaining refugees outside and scout the demon king's army—or rather, the monsters' movements.
"Anyone who could flee already has, right?"
I chuckled at her question. Thinking she might actually get it, I explained patiently.
"The ones left are one of two types: those with enough wealth to live comfortably for a while after fleeing, or those with so little they don't even feel attached enough to bother."
"What does possessions have to do with it?"
"Most of the holdouts probably have something irreplaceable, like land they can't just pick up and move."
"No way—they're staying because of some stupid land? With monsters coming?"
Marian's face screamed disbelief. For someone who only cared about her own life and others' gazes, their mindset was incomprehensible. I just shrugged at her.
No need to explain what she'd see soon enough. I couldn't call a Raksha Street girl worldly, but her experience was still limited. Traveling with me, she'd learn soon enough how foolish and illogical humans could be.
"Humans go to war over scraps of dirt like that."
I muttered it like a soliloquy, and Marian fell deep into thought.
**
"We're not leaving the village."
"Are you insane? Monsters are coming any minute!"
It didn't take Marian long to realize. She yelled in frustration at the stubborn old village chief, but he wouldn't budge.
"If I die, I die. No plans to leave here."
Not just the chief—the villagers behind him nodded with grim resolve. Monster tracks were visible around the village, and they knew it. To me, it was weird they hadn't attacked yet, but the villagers took it as a morale boost.
Gripping crude weapons cobbled from farm tools, their faces said they were ready for a last stand. Marian couldn't hide her exasperation.
"You're seriously going to die!"
"If you're so worried, help us out."
"Huh?"
"You're the saintess, right? That's the hero. Help us—that's why you're here, isn't it?"
Marian looked sickened by the chief's nonsense, but the villagers nodded shamelessly.
"Even if we help, what changes? And you're not leaving! More monsters will keep coming—how do we stop them all?"
"Leave 'em be, Marian. They wanna die? Let 'em."
I cut off Marian, who had switched to casual speech without realizing, and said that. Lina had told me to take responsibility for the power she gave me, but whatever. I didn't think the goddess had granted me anything that grand to begin with.