"Actually, that blade had pierced through you." Azell gave her the unfiltered truth.

"Eh? B-but that doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't, but Samur actually made it possible. When you were stabbed, Samur asked me to take care of the Minotaur while he saved you. For some reason, the Minotaur was really fixated on Samur."

"Then?"

"I stopped the Minotaur while Samur cast a spell. The next thing I knew, Samur was standing behind the Minotaur. His own arms had been shattered and the Minotaur had a hole in his chest."

"Don't tell me…" Arteria's eyes widened. "Did he do Sacrificial Casting?"

"What's that?"

"It allows you to use spells in exchange for your lifeforce." Azell replied in Arteria's place.

"Oh no…" Noelle's soul trembled as she imagined that small child sacrificing his own life for her.

He had finally gotten a chance at redemption by joining their Guild, but he didn't hesitate to give it up for Noelle.

She couldn't even imagine the amount of courage it must have taken him to sacrifice his one chance at happiness for the person he had met only hours ago.

Now obviously, Noelle couldn't be far from the truth; Samur's actual thoughts differed from what she was imagining them to be.

For her, his actions were an act of supreme sacrifice which only those with the purest of heart could accomplish, but to Samur, it was just another life he would have to cut short.

There was no sense of sacrifice; he was just conducting another exchange, just like how one would exchange a coin for a candy.

That's how worthless his own life was to him.

However, there was no one here who could correct Noelle.

"A boy who know about sacrificial casting. Hmm." Arteria's eyes narrowed. "Isn't that too suspicious?"

"Yup." Vafferan nodded.

"You're still saying after listening to what happened?" Noelle's eyes widened in disbelief.

"It's possible that he did that to get on your good sides." Arteria replied.

"You!"

"Alright, calm down." Azell tried pacifying the feisty women. "It's too soon to say anything. However, Samur sacrificed himself for Noelle, and we practically had to force him to save his own life. These should lend him some credibility."

"I suppose." Arteria nodded, then frowned.

"However, if you want, you can keep an eye on him until you're satisfied."

"That's okay, but did you just say that you had to force him to save his own life?" Vafferan asked.

Arteria also had the same question, which meant she hadn't heard Azell wrong.

"Yes." Azell sighed. "Samur had absolutely no interest in living. It was Noelle's incessant crying that made him change my mind."

"I-I didn't cry that much!"

"Right." Azell chuckled and turned to the other two. "I think that after being treated as a cursed monster for his entire life, he now believes that his own life does not matter."

Azell had hit the mark in a way, but alas, he was still wrong.

"Mmm." Arteria slowly nodded, remembering how nonchalant Samur was when they were talking about treating him.

"That's sad." Vafferan's eyes also drooped.

After all, she knew what it was like to lose sight of oneself after being treated as a monster for their entire life.

"So I hope you'll give him the love and care that he was robbed of in his childhood. He deserves it."

"Absolutely." Noelle pumped her fists.

"We'll try our best." Arteria and Vafferan settled for that.

"Anyway, I'll go get the Shadowlord. You guys can handle the hunters."

"Are we really not going to ask about Samur's family?" Vafferan asked.

"We promised him, remember?" Noelle chided her.

"But don't you think we should pay them back for what they did to him?"

"Believe me when I say that I want to rip out their guts right this instant." Noelle snarled. "But I gave him my word."

The guilt of not respecting the choice of a boy on the verge of death was too heavy for her to bear.

"I understand. I'll cut their tongues out then."

Azell, not wanting to bear witness to the gruesome scene that was about to unfold, swiftly made his exit. Besides, he still had a job to do.

"So, what should we do?" Noelle asked.

She wasn't exactly an expert when it came to torturing people. Even before she joined the Guild, she had left this task to her comrades.

"We just have to do what the boy asked us to." Arteria smirked as she donned a pair of white gloves. "We'll make sure they only wish for death."

The hunters who had abandoned Samur and set a trap for him were about to fall down a burning hell.

And there was no saving them.

❄️ ❄️ ❄️

Inside the former throne room of the dungeon.

Azell was standing in front of the crystal floating in the air. The altar it was placed on had been destroyed by the Minotaur's AOE attack, but there was nary a scratch on the crystal imprisoning the Shadowlord.

He caressed the crystal and murmured to himself, "You can finally get a second chance, Clementine. You will no longer have any regrets."

But the moment he said so, Samur's words came back to him.

'The very act of choosing a life for yourself means choosing what kind of regrets you want to live with.'

Strangely enough, those words had resonated with him back then, and so he had decided to change his plans a bit.

He was going to make sure that even if the Shadowlord ended up regretting her way of life, she would still be able to accept and live with those regrets.

This time, if she wanted to live up to her name, she would be allowed to, even if that choice led to her downfall.

He will never make the same mistake as Chaobris.

When Azell came here before with Noelle and Samur, he had known that even with the medallion, he would have to face the Minotaur.

He thought he could handle it, but he failed miserably and almost let Noelle die.

Just thinking about what would have happened if Samur wasn't there made his very soul shudder.

He had wrongly believed that if Chaobris was able to defeat the Minotaur, then so could he.

Only now did he realise that it was fundamentally wrong to imitate Chaobris, the Demon Lord of Destruction.

After all, it was her who made Clementine's life a living hell.