"I'm surprised to find a village here," remarked Elizabeth, eyes on the ford in front.
It was the only ford on the entire island. It was a natural harbour - except that it didn't have any facilities inside. If there weren't a few shabby boats by the beach, it'd be impossible to tell there was a village there. The ship moored there, and they went down on small boats.
The Valkyries and Troy's two mothers came to shore. The Valkyries had their swords drawn. Vyvyan and Elizabeth vigilantly scanned their surroundings upon arriving on shore. Although dawn had arrived, there were still small flames in the buildings around the village. The village was silent as though everybody in the village was dead.
Vyvyan examined the houses: "There's no mana on this island, but another power exists here. It's up on that slope. The kids are all there. However, I'm a little tense, since there's nobody in this village. Could they have had a conflict with the villagers here?"
Elizabeth indifferently responded, "Kill them, then. Then, we'll take my son home. It'd be amazing if there were dozens of people here. There are no more than a dozen of them who could fight. Could they defeat my Valkyrie squad here? Moreover, we're here. How could the villagers here be a threat to my son?"
Vyvyan nodded: "Uhm."
Vyvyan quickly headed toward the slope. On the way there, she said, "To be honest, this island concerns me. It's abnormal that this island has so little mana. The ocean has mana, albeit a minute amount. There is mana. Here, however, this land is comparable to a vortex. There's not even a trace of mana. I think creature absorbed all of the mana here, including my mana in my son's necklace."
Elizabeth frowned: "Does that have anything to do with us? Is there any other problem with this area, other than my son being here? We just need to pick up my son and leave, don't we? This land is neither yours nor mine. What's there for you to worry about? There's no need to worry about whatever it is. As long as we don't get attacked on the way back, who cares?"
Vyvyan nodded: "You have a point."
The two of them suddenly stopped when they reached the stone steps. They blankly looked below their feet. They didn't find a treasure or something. What they found was a corpse; or rather, a block of flesh. The victim wasn't simply killed. They were brutally killed. The murderer must've hated the victim to the very, because the victim was missing their limbs and head. The blood dripping off one of the arms on the grove to the side might just be hers.
You didn't read that wrong. There wasn't just one arm; there were another four arms neatly hung on the grove. On the tree to the left were heads. The headless and limbless bodies were messily left on the stone steps. All of them were dismembered. Their blood dyed the nearby groves, causing blood to run down the steps as if it was a creek.
"What…"
Elizabeth pressed her hand on an emotional Vyvyan and steadily explained, "Don't worry. It's probably Nier. Cutting off all four limbs and beheading them is something Valkyries do when exacting vengeance. You can tell they're villagers from their clothing. In other words, Nier has likely killed them all."
"Doesn't that mean my son is in danger?!"
"Let's hurry up there. Nier isn't among the corpses, which means my son is safe. Otherwise, Nier would've suicided here."
Despite saying that, Elizabeth went up the steps quickly. The two of them literally sprinted up the steps. They crossed the flowing blood and bodies lying all over the place to reach the red shrine at the top of the slope.
"Go and check Ying first. Go and check Ying first!"
I hung my arm down and desperately pointed to Ying, who was pinned to the ground and struggling to try and break free. Ying was completely incapable of breaking free, though.
"Just how much force did Nier thrust into her with?" I silently questioned.
I did say Nier was a demon once she lost control. She might've been docile my arms when she was by my side; nonetheless, that never reduced her strong bloody aura by any means. She tightly hugged my left arm and sobbed as though she was afraid that I'd vanish in an instant.
Lucia, afraid, stood to one side. She looked as if she wanted to come close but didn't dare to. I told her that it was fine, and I wasn't angry, but she wanted to cry as she beat herself up.
Nier tightened her grip on my arm. She fumed, "Why do you still want to help her?! Look at your wound. Those peasants went way overboard. She should've known what sort of people those scums were, yet she insisted on helping them! She hurt you, so why do you want to help her?!!"
I answered, "It wasn't Ying's fault. Ying just didn't want to hurt them. Plus, my wound isn't very serious. You're overreacting a little, Nier…"
"How am I overreacting?!!" Nier cut me off before I could finish. "They hurt my Prince. They hurt my husband. You think that they won't shoot a second arrow if you forgive them? Dear, if they could shoot one arrow, there's bound to be a second. I have to ensure nobody can fire a second arrow."
Tears indicating she felt wrong appeared in Nier's eyes. I smiled and kissed her on her lips. She responded grumpily, and then touched my face. I returned the favour: "Thank you, Nier."
"… Mm."
Nier still couldn't act coquettish. She clung to my arm and the corner of her mouth crept up into a smile. I didn't actually feel as though Nier committed an immoral act when she killed the villagers. I merely thought we wouldn't be able to continue interacting with Ying if Nier killed them. Ying wanted to protect them, yet we went and killed them after she rescued us.
We killed the people Ying was willing to sacrifice her sister to protect. Further, we instigated all of it. I originally wanted to help Ying break free of her restraints, but looking back on it, it seemed I destroyed her entire world. But nevertheless, they weren't educated and reasonable. I take that back. They were utterly unreasonable. I, personally, thought their deaths were for the betterment of everyone, for I wouldn't be able to protect Xia if they were alive.
Luckily, Xia would never find out what happened. She didn't know that the entire village died in front of her, because of her. Well, that wasn't entirely correct, as they didn't because of Xia, but because they were stupid. That's all.
Lucia stood next to Ying. She looked at the sword in Ying and panted: "Your Highness, I can't pull it out."
"How about I give you a hand?"
Just as I was about to tell Nier to give Lucia a hand, I heard a relaxed voice from behind. She desperately withheld her laughter. I was a grown man. I was sitting on the ground and, before I could turn around, I was picked up between two arms as if I was a cat…
"Son… Son… I'm so glad you're all right… I'm so glad you're all right!! Son! Son!"
I protested in my mind: "Let me down! Let me down! I'm not a cat! I don't want to be held this way! It's too embarrassing! It's too embarrassing!!"
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