Chapter 86 - Dead Aim

With the carriage they used already turned into scraps of wood, upholstery, and metal, Saku deemed to make a small campfire out of any usable debris he could find.

"Haaah...so far, this is the most expensive campfire I've made in my life," he muttered softly and dejectedly as he tossed a piece of wood that was once part of the carriage's roof, into the fire.

"Yeah...we don't have much money left," Saki agreed.

Of course, they would feel extremely upset about it. In just one night they used and destroyed not only one, but two carriages, just to rescue the princess and the two monarchs. It cost them a lot of their savings, and they would have no choice but to borrow money from Pops...again.

Lerish, who overheard what they are saying, instantly felt regret in her heart. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she slowly approached the siblings and said: "Um...Mister Saku?"

Startled, Saku replied: "A-Ah, Your Highness! W-We never noticed you're there!"

"It's alright. By the way, do you need additional firewood? I gathered some just in case."

After placing the firewood on the ground, she joined the two as they warmed themselves by the fire.

"Your Highness, your clothes..."

"I'm alright. The wedding is already cancelled after all; I don't mind sitting on the dirt ground and dirtying my wedding dress as a result."

It's not her first time to sit on the cold, hard ground anyway. On that fateful day, while sitting beside that man...she learned how it feels to be 'down to earth'.

And for some reason, her heart hurt even more as she remembered that encounter.

"...Saku, Saki! Let's cook this meat already!"

Meanwhile, Aoi came back from somewhere while having a proud look on her face, with the king and queen of Narashel following behind her. The two royals carried a dead beast on their backs--the prize of ther nighttime hunt.

Witnessing the strange situation with their own eyes, Lerish instantly panicked and hurried towards her parents while the siblings ran towards Aoi.

"A-Aoi! What have you done?! You can't just ask them to carry t-that...that thing, you know?!"

"Ah, this? Don't fret about us, young girl," the king shrugged off Saki's worries. Truth be told, it's a great honor for us to help the Death Goddess while she's hunting."

"Y-Your Majesty..."

"Although it's my first time to partake in an activity such as this, I couldn't help but to feel thrilled when we finally found a beast hiding under the dark," the queen also spoke.

"...See? They're fine being commanded by me," Aoi said with a smug grin on her face.

Though still worried for her parents' safety, Lerish regained her calm demeanor as she took a small knife from a hidden strap on her thigh. "Father, Mother--let me skin this beast for you..."

A few minutes later, using skewers fashioned out of small twigs--Aoi, the Rainens, and the royal family--cooked and ate their beast meat together for the first time.

"Somehow this feels strange, isn't it? Just a while ago we were being chased by so many bandits...but now I'm eating skewered meat alongside these young people while out in the open. In just a short amount of time, we experienced so many twists and turns in our lives," the king remarked.

"That's right, Your Majesty," the queen replied. "We should give our thanks to these two people as well as to the Death Goddess, for without them we might be already harmed by that man..."

"A-Ah, you don't need to thank us, Your Majesty!" Saku and Saki waved their hands frantically. "We're just doing our duty as citizens of Narashel to protect the king and the royal family!"

"...Well, it just happened that big brother asked me to protect all of you from that guy. Just like what they said, you don't need to express your thanks to me--but you should still feel grateful nonetheless, okay?!"

The queen, intrigued by the young man's identity, asked: "O Death Goddess, about him...is he also a god just like you?"

"...Big brother is big brother."

"Ehh...?" The two royals looked at her in confusion. From her way of answering the question, she doesn't seem to be keen on talking with them, or they're encroaching already on some forbidden territory. Fearing that asking her more questions would annoy her, the two decided to continue on their meal in silence.

The meal ended quickly with Aoi eating half of the beast meat, but Lerish haven't touched her food as she just stared blankly at the dancing flames. Aoi noticed her strange behavior, and asked: "...Are you not hungry? If you don't want to eat that, you can give it to me instead."

"A-Ah, Death Goddess?!"

"...I have a name too, you know? Call me 'Aoi'."

With everyone except for the two of them already preparing to retire for the night, Aoi felt uncomfortable as she find sitting with anyone other than her brother awkward. Nonetheless she still sat beside Lerish, because of the meat she's still holding.

"Um...Miss Aoi..."

"...Actually, you don't need to hide it. Even without you telling me, I can sense the negative feelings piling up in your heart right now."

Lerish got surprised at her words. As expected of a goddess, she does seem to perceive more things than a mere human could.

"...You tried to end your life, you tried to run away--just to achieve the 'freedom' you're looking after for so long. Right now you managed to escape, but is it really the end? Are you just letting yourself waste away with all those clutter still inside your heart?!"

Like as sharp knife Aoi's words pierced right through her, then twisted the blade right afterwards. Lerish softly groaned from the pain, but decided not to hide it from Aoi.

Then, by some unexpected fashion, Aoi calmly asked her: "...Do you want to get rid of those negative feelings?"

"E-Eh...?"

"...Well, I'm not asking you to follow my advice, but because I'm sort of feeling generous today I just felt like helping you, alongside the protection I'm already giving to you and your family. That said, are you willing to listen to what I'm about to say?"

'An advice from the Death Goddess?' Lerish couldn't believe what she's hearing. The symbol of darkness and evil, casually offering her two cents to her? Should she feel worried for it?

After a few moments of contemplation, Lerish took a deep breath and said: "I am listening, Miss Aoi."

Aoi couldn't stop grinning maliciously from her response. This time, however, her intentions to help her are somewhat 'genuine'. Clearing her throat, she spoke:

"...If you want those feelings to go away, you have to stop them by the root: kill him. Kill that man."

"H-Huh?!"

Lerish instantly got taken aback by her advice. 'Kill someone? Is she insane? How could I do such thing...'

"...Deny all you want, but that's the truth. In this world, certain problems are caused by certain people, and they need to be removed as quick as possible. By pruning a diseased pod, you're saving the whole plant from completely dying. Isn't that a logical thing to do?"

'But you can't solve everything from just killing people!' Lerish's conscience protested vehemently at Aoi's logic. As the princess, she have to abide with what is considered morally right all the time, in order to be a good example for the citizens of Narashel.

All her life she haven't committed any immoral act, but...

"You want me...to go back there...and kill him with my own hands?"

"...It's your choice. You can stay here with your parents, or take action. Now, what option will you pick?"

Pressed with two options given to her, Lerish's face showed a pained expression as she answered:

"Understood. I'll prepare immediately."

Feeling extremely pleased, Aoi took out something from her sling bag, and gave it to Lerish. "...Here. Take this with you."

"Miss Aoi...?"

"...You can't just go there without a weapon, don't you think? Luckily I found this thing while we're hunting, and I believe even you can use it."

Lerish looked at the object in her hand. A slingshot? Though it's not her first time to see one, she never tried using such thing before.

"...Also, I'll give you my [blessing]," Aoi snapped her fingers, and all of a sudden, a dark blue magic circle appeared under Lerish's feet. "Anything you use as a projectile will have a deadly curse placed on it, so you'll have an easier time killing anyone that blocks your way. It only works for a limited time though, so you have to work fast."

"Miss Aoi's blessing..." Lerish shuddered at the little girl's capabilities. For her to receive a small fraction of her power, even temporarily, she felt immense gratitude for her help.

"...Go. I'll deal with your parents while you're away, shoo-shoo," Aoi waved her hands while telling her to leave.

"U-Uh, yes--I'll go ahead!" Lerish curtsied at her as a sign of respect. As she turned back, Aoi quickly grabbed her hand.

"...Those meat...are you still going to eat them?"

"W-What?" Realizing that she's still holding the skewers of meat in her hands, Lerish handed them over to Aoi and apologized.

"...Go away already."

"Y-Yes!" Lerish replied as she start moving.

After she left, Aoi quickly ate the meat off the skewers while alone sitting around the campfire. In retrospect, she sighed and said to herself:

"...I wonder, did I made a right decision to support that woman? Guu, I hope big brother won't punish me for this..."

-----

Under the cover of darkness, Lerish carefully prowled her way back to the interior of the city. While on the way, she used her knife to cut her wedding dress until it only reached below her knees and removed ornaments from her hair, revealing a young woman ready to go into action.

Arriving at a residential district, she noticed that all of the houses' lamps aren't lighted up, and no sign of human presence can be detected in the area.

"Seems like...my letter did work, after all."

Before the wedding ceremony, Lerish ordered her attendant to send the letter to the guard headquarters, to inform them of a potential terror attack from a large horde of bandits. She asked them to issue a warning to the residents, advising them to seek shelter in their respective bas.e.m.e.nts, until the situation is clear.

Exaggeration it might be, it's better than having innocent people get harmed because of her.

"The grand hall is not far away from here. If I take this road--"

At that moment she heard footsteps. In panic, she hurriedly went hiding in a dark corner, and waited.

"Those people...are they bandits?"

The glowing jewels on their weapons are a dead giveaway to her question. While the residents are hiding, the bandits invade each house in the neighborhood, and loot any valuable thing they could find.

Lerish, who spent her life trying to help the people of Narashel, felt offended by their actions. Taking out a small stone from her pocket, she placed it on the elastic band, and set her eyes on the aim.

"I don't want to kill anybody, but..."

Releasing her hand on the rubber, the small stone instantly flew in a straight path towards one of the bandits. The bandits, rejoicing with the large amount of loot they found, stood obliviously in front of her until one of them had his head blown up.

"W-What's going on?!"

"Huh? What in the--?!"

While everyone is still confused, another bandit's head exploded into bits, causing them to scramble in panic.

"Are there guards nearby?"

"Quick! Hide--GAH?!"

Plokk! Plokk! Plokk!!!

One after another, Lerish shot small stones at the bandits with immense concentration, as if trained to do so. She kept on shooting at them, until there's nothing but silence.

In less than a minute she has shot six stones from a distance of about 60 meters--and all of them are headshots. This is her first time using a slingshot, and her hands trembled after pulling off such a feat.

"This...is this the Death Goddess' blessing?"

Discounting her own abilities, she pressed on towards the grand hall. As she walked along the main road, she shot every lantern she could find in order to conceal her movements. A few minutes later, she arrived at the palace gates, and immediately--became horrified by the sight before her.

"N-No...no..."

At the gates, several wounded and dead guards and knights scattered around the area, all while being surrounded by the triumphant bandits. In order to escape detection, she hid behind a tree, and witnessed them brutally execute one guard after another.

"T-These people..."

While watching the gruesome activity at the gates, her hands unconsciously reached for the slingshot and pulled not one, but two stones. Aiming for the executioner's head, Lerish waited for the moment he's about to raise his sword.

"...I'll make them pay."

Splokk--!!! The executioner's head and torso instantly turned into lumps of flesh, splaying blood around his comrades.

"B-Bwehh...?!" The wounded knight who's about to be executed gaped his mouth in confusion as he got covered in brain matter. He looked around, and saw someone hiding at a distance.

"An attack!!!"

"Use them as cover! Hurry!!!"

Alerted, all the reasoning bandits dragged the survivors and used them as human shields as they try to leave the place. However, it didn't stop her from shooting at them.

"Guh--"

"GAAAH!!!"

"WAAAAHHH--"

With them standing in front of the palace walls, Lerish ricocheted all her shots around their human defenses, hitting all her targets from behind. One of them tried to fire back at her using fireballs, but he got caught in the flame instead after she hit the jewel on his bow.

With all the enemies dead, she rushed towards the survivors and said: "Forgive me from coming too late!"

"Y-Your Highness?!" all of them exclaimed in shock. They couldn't believe that their savior was actually the princess herself.

"Had I arrived sooner, they would've..."

"You don't need to worry about us, Your Highness," they all said to her. "It's our duty to protect everyone, and we're all prepared to die because of it."

"Everyone..." Lerish couldn't help but to sob for a moment. Wiping her tears with her hands, she asked them: "The grand hall...how's the situation over there?"

"Not good," one of them replied. "T-That man...he's fighting alone against the groom."

"Ren?!" she panicked.

Pulling herself together, she hurried towards the grand hall, and saw the damage already caused to it.

At the same time--

BOOOOMMMMMM--!!!!!

"--?!"

Standing by the large hole on the wall, she saw the world around her turn upside down.

In front of her, Ren's almost lifeless body flew in an arc to her direction, then fell into silence. His entire left arm was blown apart by the explosion, and there's blood all around him.

Ren's blood. So much blood.