Not Letting Go
I picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground and looked at Ritvel. He was slowly pushing himself upright.
He condensed mana at the point of impact to block it, huh.
I'd meant to break his ribs with that hit. Guess he hadn't climbed from mercenary all the way to bishop for nothing.
Ritvel spat a mix of blood and saliva onto the floor.
"I had a feeling from the moment you kidnapped the Saintess that you were a violent bastard. Charging the second you laid eyes on me."
"You threw the spear first. Compared to that, I'd say I went easy on you, don't you think?"
"That was only to protect Sena from you."
Who was protecting whom here? Knowing the original future, I couldn't help but snort.
Apparently this bastard still believed Sena knew nothing of his plans. If she had, he never would have spouted garbage like that.
"Funny. If I'd dodged, that spear would have gone straight for Sena."
"What kind of slander is that?"
"You made the spear out of a tree branch so it would shatter on impact. Probably so you could kill Sena without leaving a trace."
"I simply used it temporarily because I couldn't retrieve it mid-battle. Stop trying to drive a wedge between me and Sena."
Ritvel's brow knotted hard. He turned toward Sena.
"Come here, Sena. You no longer need to listen to that bastard."
"……."
"If you ran because I kept asking you to look into my future, I sincerely apologize. I will never make such requests again."
Ritvel held out his hand to her.
"Come. Let us go home. Back to your original home."
Sena stared fixedly at Ritvel's hand, then lifted her gaze to me. She still seemed unable to decide.
Keeping my eyes locked on Ritvel, I spoke quietly.
"If you want to go, then go. To the bastard who still spouts that nonsense without even knowing how you feel."
"……."
"Of course, if you do, I will kill him in the most painful way possible. He has to pay for toying with everyone all this time."
Sena's lips quivered as tears welled up. Watching her, Ritvel shouted.
"Sena! Why are you listening to him?! Get over here at once!"
"Shut up. What makes you think I'll just let her go?"
At my words Ritvel deliberately curled the corners of his mouth.
"You can't kill Sena anyway. If that had been your goal, you would have done it already."
"Haa…"
I let out a long sigh to settle my emotions.
"These bastards all talk like they don't care what happens to this kid's life."
"Sena! Hurry!"
Sena looked back and forth between us, torn deep in conflict. Unable to decide no matter how hard she tried, she squeezed her eyes shut and invoked her Stigma.
Before long, tears slid down the line of her jaw.
I had no idea what future she had seen. But she slowly opened her eyes and took a step.
"Sena, why…"
Ritvel's pupils shook. Sena was gently clutching the hem of my clothes.
She asked,
"If I do this… will the Bishop survive…?"
"Probably not. He's committed far too many crimes. Even if we hand him over to the Holy See, he won't escape the death penalty."
"Ah…"
"But one thing has changed. At least you won't have to take up a dagger yourself because of him."
In the previous life Sena had taken her own life to protect Ritvel.
Even now her choice was still for his sake, yet at least Sena would not die.
I looked at Ritvel, who was grinding his teeth.
"Do you still think this kid ran away because of your coercion?"
"If not that, then what? Crushed under the Saintess's sense of duty?"
"No. This kid isn't so weak that she'd run from something like that."
"Ha. What would the likes of you know…"
"At least more than you do."
I lightly rested a hand on Sena's head.
"This kid knew everything you did. And that you tried to kill her, too."
"…What?"
"More precisely, she saw that future."
Ritvel pondered a moment, then his eyes flew wide.
"Don't tell me… back then…?"
I nodded.
"That's why she ran. So she wouldn't die by your hand."
"…So running off with you was to snitch on me to the Holy See."
I could only marvel at how dense he was.
"Wow… this bastard is even more of a rock-head than I thought. Did his brain fossilize from sitting at a desk all day…?"
"What?"
"She ran to protect you. Because if you killed her, you'd be charged with murdering the Saintess."
"……."
"You know the future she saw when she obtained the Stigma of Prophecy, don't you?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"…To save me, she took her own life just like the future she saw that day."
"Now we're starting to communicate."
"That…"
Ritvel's tightly clenched fists trembled.
Seems a scrap of human feeling still remained. Even if she had been an adoptive daughter taken in for his own ends, they had spent years together.
But I had underestimated his demonic nature far too much.
"If you knew that, you should have died sooner!"
Ritvel bellowed. Sena flinched as if seeing that ferocious face for the first time.
"B-Bishop…?"
"Why did you run away for no reason? With that frail body, how far could you possibly get?!"
Ritvel's eyes burned with pure malice.
"You should have died and repaid the grace I showed you by taking you in! You orphan brat who would have starved without me!"
"……."
"Yet you dragged it out and made the situation like this? You became the Saintess of Prophecy solely to fulfill the future you first saw!"
For a moment I felt as though I had stepped into hell. Standing before me was a piece of trash who had transcended the limits of humanity.
Sena's shoulders shook. Her expression looked ready to break into tears at any second.
Just as I opened my mouth—
"Y-You're the one who did wrong!"
Sena growled like a kitten.
"…What?"
"I worked hard in my own way to protect you! But you, to the very end…"
She furrowed her tear-filled eyes.
"Ha, so you spilled everything to the Inquisitor? Over something like that you chose that bastard you've only known a few days over me, who's been with you for years!"
"The Inquisitor at least never tried to kill me the way you did. He even tried to protect me when he himself was in danger."
"Shut up! Without being the Saintess you're a worthless brat!"
Ritvel huffed, face flushed crimson. Sena bit her lip hard, then looked up at me.
"Inquisitor…"
"What is it."
She clutched my clothes and pointed at Ritvel.
"Please scold him a bit. So he can't say mean things anymore."
It was truly astonishing.
Sena, who could even take her own life to protect Ritvel. Yet with only a few conversations she could turn her heart this far….
If that was a talent, it was an incredible one.
A talent for getting beaten up.
I pushed Sena behind me and grinned.
"That's what I'm best at."
I drove the sword into the ground. Then I lowered my stance and wrapped both fists in flame.
"Come at me. Looks like you need a good thrashing."
Finding the sight ridiculous, Ritvel sneered.
"Planning to face me without a sword? Getting too arrogant just because one attack landed?"
"None of your business."
"Whatever. Killing both of you would suit me just fine."
Ritvel wrapped blue mana around his spear. He tilted his upper body forward slightly, then kicked off the ground and shot forward like an arrow.
Cutting through the air, Ritvel closed in. The spear thrust as if to skewer my throat.
A fierce attack that bare hands could never stop. So I ripped the sword free from the earth.
"……!"
Ritvel panicked and broke his attack stance. My blade was already slipping past the spear's trajectory and reaching him.
But a man who had committed everything to a single thrust had no chance of properly defending against my sword.
Slash!
One of Ritvel's arms flew into the sky. I had meant to take both, but he had twisted his body just enough.
Hastily putting distance between us, he narrowed his eyes.
"You… using dirty tricks again…"
I tilted my head. I had never once claimed I would not use a sword.
I had merely stuck the blade in the ground and clenched my fists; he had arbitrarily decided I would not draw it.
"Is he an idiot…?"
There was no other explanation.
But since I am a kind man who can even accommodate a fool, I drove the sword back into the ground and gripped both flame-wrapped fists once more.
Ritvel ground his teeth.
"You think I'll fall for it again?"
"This time I really won't use the sword. Against a one-armed idiot, this is plenty."
I deliberately struck an even more ridiculous pose, then asked in complete seriousness.
"Ready to get beaten?"
"Sh—"
The moment his mouth opened I was already charging. I had never needed his opinion in the first place.
Ritvel thrust the spear to stop me. I twisted my body a fraction and struck the shaft with the back of my hand, letting it graze past.
Whoosh!
With a sharp cutting sound the spear whistled past my face, and I dug in even deeper.
His fully exposed abdomen filled my vision. I drove my fist into it.
Thud!
A hard sensation met my knuckles. He had condensed mana to defend the same way as before.
A sword would have carved through even that, but bare hands could not.
Still, fists had their own advantages. Even in the ultra-close range where a blade's movement was restricted, I could strike freely.
In other words, I could thrash him every which way.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
In an instant I slammed ten fists into his face and upper body.
Until then Ritvel's best effort was simply retracting the spear he had thrust.
A spear only shows its true strength when handled with both hands, and this bastard had somehow sold one arm off somewhere.
"Damn it…!"
He tried to back away and put distance between us.
But he could not escape my range.
Grab!
I seized the spear shaft firmly with one hand. He contorted his face trying to wrench it free, yet there was no chance I would let go easily.
With my free hand I slapped his face. Lacking an opposite arm, all he could do was twist his neck this way and that.
"Let go. Let go. You bastard."
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
"Not letting go? This is mine."
Under the one-sided beating Ritvel had no choice but to release the spear and retreat.
Face already swollen, he panted and pleaded.
"…Give it back."
Gripping my newly acquired weapon, I answered with solemn gravity.
"I never said I wouldn't use a spear."
"……."
I spun the spear stylishly with both hands, then settled into a stance. Ritvel ground his teeth and offered advice.
"…You're holding it backwards, you son of a bitch."
The spear tip pointed at my own body; the blunt end faced him.
"I held it this way on purpose."
Because I had decided not to kill him with my own hands. What Sena had asked of me was only to scold Ritvel.
So that mouth of his could never again spit venom.
Taat!
I sprang forward and swung the spear at him.
That's right. Not a thrust—I swung the spear like a club.
Thwack! Thwack!
Weaponless, he reinforced his bare body with mana to block.
But he could not completely offset the force, so more accurately it was like getting hit while trying to make it hurt as little as possible.
"W-Wait…"
Yeah, it still hurt.
But a beating like this was nothing. Compared to the agony of waiting to die from excessive bleeding after your abdomen has been sliced open.
And compared to the pain of being betrayed by the man you once followed like a real father.
Thwack! Thwack!
Unable to endure any longer, Ritvel abandoned defense entirely and spun around to flee.
I chased him all the way, indiscriminately thrashing the crown of his head and his shoulders.
In the end, unable to shake me off, Ritvel collapsed to the ground in pain and curled into a ball. I brought the spear down on the bastard who had become a bean bug.
"Guh, guh…!"
How many blows would it take for him to taste even a fraction of death's pain? Where did I need to strike to make him want to abandon life itself?
Was this really enough for him?
No. Still far from enough.
Flames erupted from the spear that held no holy power.
I brought the Wrath-laden spear down on Ritvel curled on the ground.
Grab—
Then a small life form suddenly latched onto me. The spear, heavy with Wrath, stopped dead in midair.
"I-Inquisitor…"
Sena buried her face in my clothes and sobbed.
"Please stop…"
Before I knew it, Ritvel had already passed out as a bloody mess.
Sena had decided to let go of him after seeing his true nature, yet for the orphan she once was, the Ritvel who had once reached out a hand still lingered in her mind.
Whoosh—
I extinguished the flames and tossed the spear aside.
If the person involved was satisfied, that was enough. I had achieved my goal; I had no intention of intervening further.
"Now Bishop Ritvel will be handed over to the Holy See. This will probably be the last time you see him."
"……."
"If you have any last words, go say them. He's already unconscious, though."
Sena wiped her tears and nodded. Then she stood firmly at Ritvel's head and gazed for a long moment at her unconscious adoptive father.
I did not know what she was thinking.
She might have been recalling peaceful days long past, wrestling with the chaos of the present, or imagining a future without Ritvel.
But whatever it was, she now had to decide for herself. I had merely given her the right to choose her own future.
At last she forced her mouth open.
"Goodbye."
Thwack!
Sena kicked Ritvel square in the face. His head whipped sideways as blood sprayed from his mouth.
That was the greatest courage she could muster in this moment.
Tadat!
She immediately spun around and scurried back to me. Then, just like before, she clung to me like a cicada.
"Inquisitor."
Sena buried her face and gently gripped the hem of my clothes. She squeezed the words out.
"Thank you."
I could hear water flowing in the stream nearby.
Looking down at her unable to raise her head, I thoroughly expelled the last dregs of emotion left at the bottom of my heart. Hot breath scattered on the wind.
Then one corner of my mouth softened.
"Sure."