Chapter 25: Inhuman?

  I was too te.

  ?

  "If only you guys had come sooner!"

  ?

  The resentful voice of Kiriku echoed through my mind once again.

  His words may have been out of line, but they were true.

  ?

  In fact, if I had visited that vilge a little earlier, his brother probably wouldn't have had to die.

  ?

  "Rion-sama."

  ?

  Fricka grabbed my hand reproachfully. Perhaps my face was showing what I was thinking again.

  I replied with a slight shake of my head. And she gripped my hand a little tighter.

  ?

  "I know, I know it ... No matter how hard I try, I can't save everyone on my own."

  ?

  No matter how much power I have as a miko, in the end, I'm not much different from a regur human, except for the ability to make things. I'm not a superhero who can enter in the scene in a pinch to save everyone. Even if a tragedy occurs somewhere beyond my reach and eyes, there's obviously nothing I can do about it.

  Just as Uru said, it's even more impossible to predict the future, so the residents must protect themselves without relying on me, the miko. This is an obligation that goes without saying in this monster-infested world. Even if they die, it's because of their own ck of power, or bad luck.

  ?

  But even so.

  ?

  "As expected... It's hard to see someone die in front of me."

  ?

  Even if a resident is killed by monsters, I'm not responsible for it.

  But, I don't think I can make that kind of distinction.

  ?

  Although I never witnessed it even when I lived in Japan, every day someone somewhere dies from an accident or illness. When I heard about it on the news, my reaction was nothing more than a simple "I see.".

  After all, if a stranger dies, it doesn't have much of an impact on me.

  Having seen so many monster corpses, I'd developed a tolerance for gore.

  Or so I thought.

  But today was the first time I'd seen a human corpse.

  ?

  I never thought it would be so different from seeing a monster's――

  ?

  "Huh, what...?"

  ?

  "Rion-sama...? What's wrong?"

  ?

  I felt something was off.

  I heard Fricka calling out to me, but my head was so confused that it just slipped right through.

  ?

  Um, wait a second. What was I thinking now?

  Even though I was disturbed by the thumping, increasingly loud sound of my heartbeat, I slowly reeled in the thing that had only just occurred to me and was about to disappear from the bottom of my mind.

  ... It would have been easier to just let it go without finding out what it was, but I tried to pick even if means to burn myself.

  ?

  Umm... What was it again... Yes, that's right.

  "Monster corpses and human corpses are different"--

  ?

  --Ah.

  ?

  "Ah, ah, ahhh... Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!?"

  ?

  "?! Rion-sama?"

  ?

  "Monster corpses and human corpses are different" was it?

  ?

  That wasn't the case.

  To me, it looked like "there was no difference between a monster's corpse and a human's corpse."

  ?

  Of course, their biological structures are different, but that's not what I meant.

  ?

  In other words.

  ?

  The corpses looked like... Just materials... To me.

  ?

  "Bleagh!"

  ?

  My thought process was so ugly that I couldn't bear it anymore and spilled everything in my stomach.

  I threw up everything I had for dinner, threw up all the gastric juices, but no matter how much I threw up, the nausea wouldn't subside.

  I couldn't help but want to throw up - even though no matter how much I vomited, my ugliness wouldn't go away - I finally raised my hand to punch myself in the stomach -

  ?

  "Rion-sama, stop it!"

  ?

  Just as I was about to strike it with all my strength, I was grabbed by my arm and hugged from above.

  The power was so strong that it was hard to believe it was Fricka's, the pain and warmth made me regain some of my lost sanity.

  Even so, for a while I was overcome with the urge to make a mess of my own stomach, but because I was being held the whole time it couldn't be fulfilled, and the urge gradually faded away.

  ?

  Perhaps realizing that I have become more docile now that I have lost my strength, Fricka slowly pulls away from me, while still keeping my arm still.

  ?

  "Ah……"

  ?

  Now that we were apart, my heated head was instantly cooled by the sight that appeared in my field of vision.

  Fricka was now stained with my vomit. It was only natural since she was right in front of me. It was so sudden that there was no way to avoid it.

  I bowed my head in apologize... No, this was not the time for it, I had to wipe her quickly... And change her clothes... I thought, unable to even apologise, as I timidly handed her the towel.

  I thought she would compin, but that didn't happen. Fricka took the towel in silence and, rather than wiping herself with it, began to wipe me.

  ?

  "Wait, Fricka. First, you... Ugh."

  ?

  "I don't care and I won't listen."

  ?

  She replied in a sharp voice, but then started wiping my face - Ouch! it hurt a little - vigorously.

  I-Is she angry...?

  Of course she would be... Anyone would be angry if they suddenly threw filth on them...!

  But still, it was too uncomfortable to sit on like this. I took out another towel and tried to wipe Fricka while she was wiping me off. But then my towel was taken away. Ah, aaah...

  ?

  "Rion-sama, please don't worry about me."

  ?

  "N-no, but..."

  ?

  "Anyway... if you've calmed down, I'd like you to tell me why this happened."

  ?

  It was a reasonable request, but I was at a loss for words.

  ... No matter how you look at it, the content was the worst, and I felt a wail of anxiety that if she found out, she might dislike me.

  Not knowing what to do, I just kept looking around and fidgeting.

  ?

  "If you don't tell me... I'll punish you by stripping you naked and drag you to the bed."

  ?

  "What kind of logic is that!?"

  ?

  P-punishment... I admit I was completely in the wrong, that's not a good start for it!

  A mixture of my pathetic feelings and the pain of knowing that it would be terrible in its own way to continue this retionship while hiding my true nature meant that I had no choice but to confess.

  ... But first I need to change my clothes...

  ?

  ?

  ?

  I wiped myself down, changed my clothes, gargled in the sink, changed the sheets... I'd put the soiled items in my item box for the time being and either wash or dispose of them ter.

  She asked for tea, so I prepared some and we drank it together.

  A hope crossed my mind that they'd just let the rexed atmosphere carry them away and let the matter slide, but there was no way she'd let that happen.

  ?

  "Is it okay now?"

  ?

  "...... Yeah. Actually--"

  ?

  Taking deep breaths to avoid throwing up again, I carefully expined the reason for my sudden panic.

  ?

  "So you saw people as materials...?"

  ?

  My body stiffened as I listened to Fricka's ruminations. I felt like I was convict awaiting Its verdict.

  I held my breath and was determined to accept whatever was thrown at me, but... What was issued was not a verdict, but a question.

  ?

  "Rion-sama, you dismantle animals and turn them into materials, right?"

  ?

  "Uh, yeah? That's right."

  ?

  I answered honestly without being able to read her intentions.

  Fricka nodded in response to my answer, then... Asked me an unbelievable question.

  ?

  "So... It's okay to see animals as materials, but it's bad to see people as materials. What is the difference between these two?"

  ?

  "... What?"