Chapter 117

Suddenly, a torrential downpour soaked the earth.

The flames, staggered by the untimely rain, defiantly rose several times, but the sky simply poured endless streams of water.

Finally, the exhausted flames subsided as if erased.

It was a scene both majestic and terrifying.

With a chill piercing my chest, I let out a long breath.

“Elpinel…”

Milia closed her eyes and made the sign of the cross.

Even she, who wasn’t a priestess, sought the divine without hesitation, so bizarre was the sight.

Cold raindrops soaked my hair and streamed down.

Washing away the dirt from my armor and body.

The reddened water formed a puddle at my feet.

Honestly, I couldn’t even guess.

Whether this was truly a divine miracle or just a weather phenomenon.

I’d rather it be the latter.

If this was really the work of the gods, it would be incredibly unsettling.

The fact that beings who could wield such power were watching me.

Devout priests might offer prayers of gratitude… but not me.

It felt like everything I’d done so far was just a puppet show in their hands.

Even if they were gods, I thought they only granted priests some magical powers.

Brushing the rainwater from my face, I urged Milia on.

“Let’s go, Milia. At least we have less to worry about now.”

“Ah, uh…!”

Milia looked at me as if I had summoned a divine miracle.

It gave me goosebumps.

“…It’s common for rain to follow a big fire. Even on the plains.”

There was some truth to that.

Hot air rising with ash often forms rain clouds.

…Though it’s rare for it to pour down immediately.

—

It seemed Freide had also finished her battle, as the nearby chapel was quiet.

Relatively quiet, that is.

Compared to the earth-shaking rain, the pained groans and weak screams were barely audible.

The chapel’s main door was shattered, and two bodies lay in the front yard.

Well, one and a half, maybe.

One was relatively intact, but the other was more like chunks of flesh floating in a sea of blood.

Milia gasped softly.

Freide, what did you have to tear them apart like that for? So barbaric.

“Hashal, is that… Freide’s doing?”

“Freide must have had her reasons.”

Though it looked more like venting frustration.

“Even if they’re kobolds, tearing them apart like that is a bit gruesome.”

“Ah… yeah…”

Milia’s reaction was completely different from what I expected.

Her eyes were like she was looking at a mouse crushed under a carriage wheel.

As if she had erased the concept of a human corpse from her mind.

The mental training worked too well…

I only meant to reduce the aversion to killing, not to this extent.

Maybe I should have the priests give her some counseling later.

“…Let’s go in. Damien’s waiting.”

“Will Damien praise me? I fought hard too.”

Who knows? If he’s got any sense, he might.

—

“Ah, Milia and Hashal. Welcome.”

“Ughhh…”

“Save me… my leg… my leg…!”

Inside the chapel, floating limbs in a sea of blood.

Damien, sitting casually on a chair, greeted us nonchalantly.

“For me, it’s just routine, but Milia worked harder than I did.”

I leaned against the chapel entrance and pulled out a cigarette.

Thanks to the wooden case, the cigarettes inside were still dry.

“Really? Good job, Milia. Sit here and rest.”

“Thanks, Damien!”

Milia smiled brightly and sat next to Damien.

Kicking aside the man writhing at her feet.

“But Damien, why did you spare these kobolds?”

“Kobolds…? Ah, yeah. Freide said to leave them alive. To give the rescued women a chance for revenge.”

Damien, slightly flustered by Milia’s question, quickly came up with an answer.

He’s sharp in these situations… but why is he so clueless about women’s feelings?

“Is the village taken care of?”

“All the villagers are roasted. Except for the kids who might be innocent.”

The kids were already tossed into a carriage.

Even soaked in the rain, they showed no signs of waking up. Just shivering, pale and cold.

I didn’t want them to die.

I planned to leave their fate to the victims.

So, on the way here, I draped my shoulder armor over them like a blanket.

Boris’s fur silently kept them warm.

Seeing how useful he was only after becoming a fur coat, the saying “a good beastman is a dead beastman” came to mind.

He certainly became a good beastman.

“Is Freide downstairs?”

“Yeah. She told me to guard here. Said to wait together when you arrived.”

Damien nodded.

Not exactly a pleasant sight, after all.

“Alright. Then we’ll wait.”

She’ll come up soon.

I blew out cigarette smoke, watching the scenery outside.

The smoke scattered into pieces as it hit the rain.

“Since it’s raining, Damien, why don’t you wash off some of that blood?”

Damien, drenched in blood from his hair to his armor, nodded and stepped outside.

By the time I finished my cigarette, I heard Freide’s footsteps coming up.

—

“Sudden rain. Not a bad thing, though. The fire could’ve been a problem if it didn’t go out.”

Freide muttered as she came up, only now noticing the weather outside.

Her signature fur coat was off, leaving only her black uniform.

Maybe she gave it to the women downstairs.

“True. Lucky us.”

I tossed the cigarette outside and stepped into the chapel.

“Not the words of someone who caused the trouble. What were you thinking, starting such a big fire?”

“Who knows…”

“I was about to do something cute, but the mood just wasn’t right.”

Freide let out a deep sigh.

I tried to ignore her sigh as I dried my damp hair.

“Anyway, since you’re here, help me out. There are about twenty people downstairs.”

Freide explained the situation in the basement.

She tried to soften the details, probably out of concern for Milia, but it was still horrifying enough.

So, basically, there are only two sane people left. Maybe three if you count the woman who’s drugged up.

And even they can’t function properly without someone to take care of them.

What about the kids? They probably weren’t captured but born in that breeding pit. We can’t leave the judgment to the women down there.

“First, we’ll show them to the two sane ones and sort them out, then hand them over to the priests. The Church Order will take care of them in their orphanage or something.”

Freide offered a simple solution.

“The priests?”

“Since the village burned down so badly, the Empire will send investigators soon. I plan to ask them to call in the Church Order. As for the costs of treatment, rehabilitation, and education… if Paleon offers a donation, that should cover it.”

She spoke as if it was only natural to take responsibility for the people she saved. Even though it’s not a small sum.

Well, she’s a good person at heart, just a bit extreme in her ways.

“Anyway, we need to clean up downstairs, so come with me. You’re the only one I can trust with this.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Damien and Milia, just tidy up the upper level. We need to lay the women down, so bring some blankets too.”

The two nodded.

—

We moved the eight captive women upstairs.

The women from the breeding pit refused to leave, so we left them there for now. Forcing them out would just cause chaos.

We’ll have to leave them in the basement for the time being. We can clean it up tomorrow.

Grace, one of the women who saw the chapel, turned pale and looked away, clutching the girl in her arms.

Well, it’s a pretty gruesome sight for an ordinary woman.

On the other hand, Belita, the adventurer, cursed and spat, her eyes filled with venom.

Freide handed each of them a dagger.

“A dagger? What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Don’t you want revenge? That’s why I kept them alive. They can’t move their limbs, but their mouths still work.”

Belita immediately understood and smiled with glee, biting the dagger’s handle. Grace, after some hesitation, also clenched the dagger in her trembling lips.

There were fifteen men still alive, none with intact limbs. Freide and I dragged those maggots in front of the women.

The men’s eyes widened when they recognized the women. They squirmed, sensing their impending doom, each reacting differently.

Some begged for forgiveness, some moaned weakly, and others hurled vile insults.

When one of them insulted Grace’s daughter, her trembling eyes filled with cold hatred.

She brought the dagger down. The sharp blade began to tear the men apart.

Freide and I held down the screaming men as Grace and Belita worked on them.

It took a while.

—

After the job was done, Freide and I cleaned up the bodies. They looked more like split-open fish gills than human corpses.

The women kept going, fueled by the potions Freide handed them. Belita took care of four, Grace six.

Surprisingly, Grace was more passionate. Her hatred ran deep.

Freide and I handled the remaining five. Any longer, and they would’ve bled out.

The women didn’t complain about our methods. Ours were just more extreme.

As for the kids, one of the men had “initiated” a girl last year, around the same age as Grace’s daughter.

He had cleverly hidden among the other three. His head ended up like tomato stew.

The other three were sent to the orphanage, as Freide suggested.

—

Three days later, the investigation team arrived.

We had been busy. Cleaning the breeding pit and taking care of the women left us no time to rest.

Thankfully, the village hall hadn’t burned down completely. We managed to put the eight women to bed there and gather supplies.

Freide explained the situation to the knights and priestesses and requested the Church Order’s support. She handed the women over, warning them to take good care of them in Paleon’s name.

The knight nodded, sweating profusely. The sight of the shattered and burned village must have been shocking. Looks like they won’t try anything funny.

I wanted to stay longer, but we couldn’t delay any further with the dungeon situation looming.

“Thank you… thank you so much…! How can we ever repay this kindness…?”

Grace tearfully expressed her gratitude.

“Thanks.”

Belita also bowed her head in thanks.

Leaving them behind, we boarded the carriage and headed back into the forest.

It had been a long five days.