In the silent forest, a thunderous cracking sound was heard. The body of a black-haired girl was thrown against a tree, creating a sea of vibrations along the trunk and shaking its roots. A cloud of dry leaves and branches danced in the air for a few seconds before finally falling, leaving behind two clear trails in the dirt that seemed to be made by her heels. The people in the scene didn't look twice— this kind of thing happened so often that it wasn't necessary to do so. If one heard a loud thumping sound, or a side of a cliff suddenly fell apart, it was clear who it was about. Crystal, as she was blatantly called by the community, was standing a few meters away from the pair of girls that couldn't stop hitting each other. She had been attentive to every time that Suu received a hit from Erina, thinking that the muscly girl's punches would be enough to make a human's ribcage explode out of the body. After all, she had been a victim of the girl's attacks, and she had needed to use a great deal of magic to heal herself afterwards. It was only natural that a human would die under those circumstances. However, Suu took those earth-shattering punches extremely well. Crystal had been healing Erina's hand instead every time she hit Suu. "Ughu...!" Erina held out her fist, her knuckles bleeding from the scrapes she had created. The rest of her body was barely visible from the cushioned fur coats and heavy pants she was using, but her hands, red from the cold, were bruised and dirty. "Ahh..." Suu fell down while holding her abdomen, completely out of breath. In the beginning, Crystal had been puzzled about their reason to constantly damage each other. She couldn't understand the strange routine that consisted of getting hit repeatedly, sometimes with a sword, until one of them couldn't keep going. It seemed idiotic and a strange form of training, she felt like giving them pointers to actual combat training before they seriously hurt themselves. However, after Suu had said "It's our way to express our love! An unyielding love will go through excruciating pain, even if it means that such pain must be dealt by the hands of your lover! Also, I'm kind of a big masochist so this works both ways for me, hahaha...." Whatever she had said afterwards, Crystal couldn't remember. However, she had been convinced as soon as they mentioned their love. "Uwah... Your punches just keep getting stronger..." Suu said between gasps. "At this rate we won't need siege weapons..." "And to think I'm getting stronger by hitting you... My heart doesn't hurt any less even tho we've been doing this for months..." Crystal got closer to Erina and held her right hand. The sound of wind chimes swept by like a breeze, which was actually the sound of the crystal girl praying to herself, summoning the little power she held from her link with the goddess Ladai-Saras. Erina's wounds slowly started to heal, and she sighed with relief. "You're so good with this, Crystal." "I am to admit my surprise of your body's acceptance to my prayer of healing. Usually, those with a faith different from the healer's will suffer from these spells instead." Crystal said, checking carefully each of the girl's fingers to be sure that she wasn't hurt anywhere else. "Well, I was taught by my family to despise the demons, so maybe that has something to do." Erina chuckled. "I also spent a lot of my time with a certain cleric that didn't believe in worshipping a single god or something like that. The dude got so mad every time you put the gods against each other that it was funny." "Such humans exist nowadays, I see." Crystal nodded. "Maybe that is the reason why my miracles work on you, indeed." As they were talking about faith, the ground began to tremble slightly. They turned around to see an orc carrying an entire trunk on his shoulder, smiling at them as he touched the back of his forearm as a greeting. "Djolk, did something happen?" Suu stood up and walked up to the other girls, looking up almost vertically towards the orc. "Just that Lord Thom was looking for his right and left hand. He might be powerful, but he seems desperate when you two are not around." He signaled towards the girls. "Seems like he wants to discuss some things. Oh and, uh, you okay there, miss Erina?" "Eh? Oh, the coats? I'm good. This winter's just a little colder than usual, that's all." She smiled at the orc and waved her hand. The orc nodded back. "If you need something fluffier just tell me. I can't hunt something good for ya." "Ah, thank you!" She answered with a beaming smile. "Then, see you around dude. Thanks for telling us." "Alright, back to work." The orc turned around and hauled the severed trunk as if it was a simple log, leaving trails of dirt behind as if plowing the ground with a hoe. The girls didn't waste any more time. Since they had been called by Thom, they quickly headed towards the treehouse with Crystal following them behind. As if he was waiting for them, the door was already open. Erina was already expecting something ridiculous to come out of this meeting. The crystal girl seemed to remain convinced that Thom was a man trying to accomplish his dream, so her reaction was one more out of pure curiosity as she gazed at the door. Before Erina could enter the house, Suu pulled from her arm. Crystal seemed to pick up on their stop, so she stood still. "..." Suu frowned with an uncomfortable expression for a second. Had she picked up on something that Erina hadn't? Before she could ask, the other girl shook her head. "It's nothing... enter." With a somewhat worried expression, Erina was the first to move forward and enter the treehouse. Upon crossing the frame, worry turned into surprise. "As I thought..." Suu said under her breath. The bedrolls had been stacked up to make a cushioned bed in a corner of the room. Thom was standing right beside the makeshift bed, wet pieces of cloth and iron pots laying on the wooden floor around his feet. He was wearing a worried expression and a somber look decorated his eyes. Compared to how On top of the bed, a blonde woman laid with her eyes closed. Her clothes were in a sorry state and her aura was getting progressively weaker, like a dying flame swayed by the wind. Her breathing wasn't any better. It was weak to the point of near inexistence, pushing her chest up and down only slightly. It was unthinkable that such a woman could be found in that state. "Valta..." Erina said with her eyebrows clenched together, taking small steps towards the bed. "Where did you find her?" "The hobs brought her here." Thom took his fingers to his eyes and rubbed them in long circles. "It was black hobs who found her, luckily. The other ones wouldn't have taken the time to talk to me first. They would have killed her on the spot." "..." Erina didn't comment on that event. She was simply glad that Valta was alive, although she was confused as to why she was here. "How is she?" Suu butted into the conversation. "Weak." Thom raised his eyebrows. "An arm broken into three pieces, scorch marks on her shoulder and back, her forehead's swelling as if she was smashed by a rock, and one of her legs has a hole the size of a coin. I looked at the wounds on her neck and, I think she's been poisoned to some degree..." "..." Suu looked at the unconscious woman. Even in such a sorry state, she looked beautiful. Her hairs were in a messy disarray, covered with dirt and blood. Her skin was pale, almost blue, and her lips were dried and chapped. Her clothes were a mess, giving her the appearance of a beggar. She didn't look like her usual elegant self, but still, Suu was sure that she looked beautiful. That was simply because she didn't want to believe that Valta Lockhart could look otherwise. "Has she been treated?" "I thought about asking the shaman, but her place is far from here. I gave her first aid with nothing but pieces of cloth and cleaned her wounds, but I can't do anything else." The man backed away slowly, and took a seat on the diner table. "..." Erina touched the woman's scraped-up hand. "She's so cold... And to think I'd see the captain in this shape..." "Crystal, can you heal her?" Suu looked at the crystal girl. For some reason, she was hesitant to answer. "Does this human serve a god?" "She's very devoted to mother Periphia... I heard something about her being a cleric initiate." Erina was the one to answer. The crystal girl looked at Thom for confirmation, and the man simply nodded. "Then it would be best to administer regular medicine." Crystal shook her head. "If I were to use my healing miracles on this human, she would go through pain so unbearable that she would wake up just to kill herself. I advise against it. If it is about dwindling the effects of poison in her body, I can do that much without hurting her." There didn't seem to be objections against it. The girl kneeled in front of the bed and began her angelical chants. Even in a moment of such tension, the humans present closed their eyes and relaxed a little, enjoying the melodic rendition of the spell that came from the fallen angel's "mouth". After a while, the woman's body was only tainted by scattered remains of whatever poison they had used. Her body should have been able to suppress it on her own if she was stable. After Crystal went silent, the others opened their eyes. Thom let go of a small sigh. The crystal girl seemed to feel indecision clogging his mind, since she stood up and walked to his side. "Your appraisal was incorrect. This woman does not possess a link with the goddess Periphia. Quite the opposite, I feel the presence of an erratic soul tied to her aura, something that Periphia does not forgive. Whatever tie you thought this woman had with the goddess of fairies has probably been dissolved by her link with the undead, which the goddess finds abhorrent. I could heal her without causing pain, but the process will be slower since she does not share faith with me." "I see..." Thom scratched the back of his neck and laid back on his chair. "What's troubling you now? Just tell her to heal Valta." Erina walked up to the table with an annoyed expression. "I..." Thom remained silent. His clenched fists resting on the table seemed to be holding onto a remorseful idea. Erina's face turned to a disgusting grimace as she saw his hesitation once again. Was he really thinking of letting Valta die? No, Thom could also think that since she was no longer poisoned, someone like her could wake up anytime and treat her own wounds. If he wasn't planning on healing her, was he perhaps thinking of letting her to her own? She had been brought to him by fate so she could be saved, but he wanted to leave her to her own? When Erina thought about their time in the barracks, it made her even angrier. After giving that noblewoman the hope of a romance outside of arranged marriage, was he just gonna drop her like a bag of garbage? Erina's eyes lit up with rage. Her mouth twisted and her hand was about to land a sounding slap on Thom's face, when a second, darker possibility crossed her mind. Abandon her? Thom Arburson might be a liar and a hypocrite, and sometimes, he would annoy Erina simply by how bossy he was around them. She had many complaints about him, but that man, above all things, wasn't lazy. If there was one thing that Thom had been doing tirelessly just for the sake of it, it was working. Actively taking part in the sides of his not-so-functional schemes was something he could be praised for, was it a good or a bad thing. So, would Thom Arburson let a person simply die in front of him? If he thought there was a good reason to let that person die, would he just wait? To Erina, the answer was no. From that answer, she formed a new conjecture. "You were going to kill her." Erina covered her mouth. "..." Thom looked away and placed his hands together. "Fuck off." "Listen, I... I don't want to do that..." Thom stood up from the chair, his face grim and darkened. "But we don't know what she's here for... What if she's faking it? Maybe Miel sent her as a spy." "And you're gonna tell me she also broke her arm in three pieces by herself? And wounded her leg? In any normal situation that would require an amputation, why would a damn archer break an arm to convince you of anything?" "Maybe she did that to make it even more convincing. I know she can heal too, so she could have healed herself after she was done spying on us." "No!" Erina slammed her hand on the desk. "Didn't you hear crystal? Her divine link is cut, she can't use miracles, Thom!" "Maybe she's faking it!" "How?!" "What do I fucking know, I'm not a cleric! What I'm saying here is that if we mess up here, then everything we've worked so hard on is going to go to shit, and I don't want that to happen! If I have to choose between getting a single woman killed or getting every hob and orc in this damn forest killed, I would choose her any day!" "You...!" Erina took her palm back as if to land smack Thom across the face, but a hand quickly grabbed her. The girl turned back in surprise to see Suu holding her wrist with a calm and determined expression on her face. There was a slight hint of anger in Erina's eyes directed towards Suu, until she noticed how her body was positioned. She wasn't about to give the man a light tap on the cheek. With the way her body was twisted and the position of her arm, had she connected the hit, she would have killed him. "Hold it, love. He has a point." Suu said, stoic. "Valta is still a captain in Miel's army. We know that man isn't exactly mentally stable, so it's not out reason that he would do this." "I..." Erina showed pain on her face, although it wasn't coming from the lock on her wrist. Thom unsheathed his blade. The black-haired girl winced at his quick draw and his deep frown. It was clear that he wasn't willing to receive any other opinions on his decision, especially since Suu was on his side. For a short second, the image of Thom holding his blade beside his body with the intention to kill a friend made him look more like a leader than what he had ever been. Suu, surely the other hobgoblins too, would see it that way. However, for Erina, the man had dressed in the uniform of a coward. She wasn't too far from the truth. In reality, the man was scared. His eyes were looking smaller than ever as he gave the crude blade a glance, and lifted the weapon up to his chest's height. He gulped, and cemented his decision. With a somewhat trembling figure, he stammered towards the makeshift bed in which the blonde woman was resting, the three girls staring at him with different expectations. The wood seemed to creek louder than what it used to, until he finally stopped in front of the bed. His hands now slightly covered in sweat and his eyes trembling, he placed the scimitar above his head and inhaled to fill up his lungs. Erina gritted her teeth. Thom hesitated for a few seconds. He was holding his breath to avoid losing balance, but his mind was dizzy regardless of his efforts. Why was he feeling so afraid to kill this person? When he murdered Piston, when he killed dozens of guards, and even back then, at his own farm, when he killed a man and buried his corpse under the ricefields, the feeling had been completely different. One of liberation, and even, of anticipation. But fear— Thom had never been so terrified of sheathing his sword in somebody else's flesh. He bit on his cheek to remind himself of what he was doing, and then stared at Valta's paling face. He detailed her wide eyes that had been covered in blood, and above them, a pair of messy eyebrows that seemed to have been drenched in sweat as she was running. Her nose was red and her ears devoid of any color, almost buried by the blonde mess of hairs that danced with the light breeze entering through the window. Her arm was broken, her shoulder scorched. And when his eyes rested on her lips, the image of her surprised, agape eyes came to mind, accompanied by the sweetened smell of coffee and the more bitter taste of it. Why couldn't he lower his arm? If his weapon could not pierce her chest, then how could his allies trust him to do it when it was necessary? How could he be respected by the rest if he backed away in the most crucial moment of decision? A failure— if he couldn't do something this simple, that's what he would be. His eyes trembled violently. Even the girls around him could now feel his hesitation. Suu had started to change her face into one of deep concern as she saw Thom's eyes turn into red pearls of veins, and her grip loosened on Erina's arm. The man began to breathe heavily, biting even harder on his cheek until his mouth began to fill up with blood. He pulled back a little further with his arms, his whole body twisting, and his eyes focused on Valta's chest, so easy to pierce, so easy to go through. He let go of a furious grunt with his teeth tightly clenched and put one leg forward, yanking his body and furiously stabbing down with all of his might into Valta's brittle body. Swooosh! A sudden gust of wind exploded from the edge of Thom's weapon, followed by the sound of the air suddenly ripping apart and the accumulated dust flying towards the walls from the floorboards. The wood creaked and the man's hair danced for a short second before the commotion finally settled down. Erina covered her mouth tas she observed the scene above the blankets, where she imagined a gruesome image. Trembling, she moved her head to the left to get a good glance of what had happened— And found Thom's blade hovering a centimeter above the woman's chest, his hands shaking as if he was incapable of holding the grip, and, much to her surprise, a trail of tears falling down his eyes towards his chin. "Th—" "Fuck!" He swung his sword back with enough force to make a hole through the wall, but the crystal girl easily caught it. Thom cleaned his face and pushed Erina out of the way, storming out of the treehouse and quickly going downstairs. The sound of the steps bending under his weight stopped, but then it was replaced by the one of him striking a punch on a nearby tree. Then, it all went silent. The girls were left inside the lonelier room, filled with conflicting emotions and a distorted atmosphere. Their eyes were set on Valta's body, who didn't have a new hole in her chest as they expected. For Erina, who had been shoved away, it was a hard reality to understand. "... So a man like him can love." Crystal muttered, breaking the deafening silence. "I have a newfound respect for Thom Arburson." "He's always been so predictable..." Suu uttered a few words with a warm smile, attracting Erina's complicated gaze. "I... I think I was too harsh on him. I was expecting him to actually do it..." "Don't worry." Suu sighed and grabbed Erina's arm as if trying to ease the pain on the part she had grabbed before. "You did what was right. He did so too. He gets hard to deal with when he's like this, so let's leave him alone for now." "..." The room fell silent again. Crystal walked towards the bed to check on Valta's injuries once more. Suu wouldn't admit that she had been scared for a moment, too, that he would have actually killed her, even if she perfectly understood his reasoning. However, her inflated preoccupation turned to an equally as large sense of relief. At least he's learned about that too. She sighed inside her head. Sacrificing people for your own good... "I always thought he was resentful." Erina's expression was somber as she spoke. "The murders, readily accepting assassination tasks against nobles, I thought he simply wanted to get rid of them. It seemed like such a well-intentioned but cruel idea, that I always wrote him off as a resentful guy with too much power on his hands. But... I've been getting a little closer to figure him out lately." "Hmm?" Suu smiled. "You'll get me jealous if you speak of him like that." "Thom... He never wanted a world without poor people, or a country without nobles. It was never resentment, was it? Thom Arburson... He's always just been full of ill, pure envy. It's not that he wants the world to be equally distributed... It's that he wants it... All for himself." She looked out through the window and then towards the girl beside her shoulder. Suu had a motherly grin on her lips as she let go of a small chuckle and turned her back towards Erina. "Yeah. You're right." Suu whispered. "I guess that's why I'm following him." "... Why?" "Because..." The woman closed her eyes and joined her hands behind her back, enjoying the cold breeze that filtered slowly from outside. "Maybe, from that world he wants to have... I'd be happy with taking just a little piece of it."