Chapter 294: The Person Alice Used to Be

But then, a violent blast shattered the morning silence.

Alice bolted upright, every trace of drowsiness vanishing instantly.

Her heart shot into overdrive, and her hand flew toward the gauntlets resting beside the bed.

And without wasting a second, she got up and ran out the door.

"What the hell is going on?!"

What Alice found upon stepping outside stopped her dead in her tracks.

The inquisitors were forcibly rounding up all the villagers in the center of the settlement.

And they weren’t exactly being gentle about it.

They shoved people, dragged them by the arms, struck them without a second thought whenever someone resisted or didn’t move fast enough.

Elders kneeling in the dust, women pleading, men held down by force.

These were the very same people who, just hours earlier, had welcomed them with open arms.

And now her own men were treating them like criminals.

But before she could do anything, hurried footsteps came rushing toward her.

Alice barely had time to react before the small brown-haired girl appeared in front of her.

It was the same girl who had healed her wound the day before, though now her face was streaked with tears and fear was plain in her eyes.

"Miss, please! You have to help us!" the little girl sobbed, clutching at her clothes with both hands. "They took my mom, and your men are hurting everyone! Please, tell them to stop! My mom hasn’t done anything wrong, I swear!"

Alice looked down at her, still trying to piece together what she was seeing.

"Calm down," she said, crouching by instinct to meet her at eye level. "Breathe, and tell me exactly what’s going on here. Who took your—"

"Well, well, well, Grand Inquisitor."

Alice turned her head at the sound of that voice and found the veteran approaching from one side. His stride was unhurried, a cold smile spreading across his face.

But what really caught Alice’s attention was what he had behind him.

A woman with green hair.

The man had her gripped firmly by the hair, dragging her along as he walked, forcing her to follow on her knees over the dirt.

"I see you’ve already caught one of those little abominations," the veteran said, casting a look of contempt toward the girl clinging to Alice. "Good work."

"Mom!" the little girl screamed at the sight of the woman, her voice breaking. "Mom! Let her go, please! You’re hurting her! Mom!"

The green-haired woman raised her head despite the pain, searching for her daughter with her eyes.

"My baby!" she cried, struggling weakly. "Don’t touch her! Please, do whatever you want with me, but don’t hurt my daughter! I’m begging you!"

Alice straightened up slowly, and the girl immediately took shelter behind her leg, clinging to her, trembling from head to toe.

"Let her go. Now," Alice ordered, tension plain in her voice. "And you’d better explain to me what’s going on here."

Her gaze swept over the veteran, then settled on the woman he had been dragging.

"Why are my men treating these people like criminals? Have you lost your mind?"

The veteran stopped in front of her and tilted his head, genuinely puzzled.

"Lost my mind?" he repeated, but then a look of understanding crossed his face. "Ah, I see... I suppose with all the commotion, no one found the moment to fill you in on what we discovered last night."

He clicked his tongue in irritation.

"My apologies for that, Grand Inquisitor... I should have made sure you knew before we got started."

Then he turned back and raised his voice over the clamor of the square.

"Rookie! Quit wasting time and bring that bastard over here already!"

"Fill me in on what?" Alice said, frowning at him.

The veteran fixed his eyes on her again, and all the false courtesy drained from his face, replaced by icy contempt.

"This village of heretics is harboring demi-humans, elves and beastmen, to be exact."

"...What?"

"And they’re not even bothering to hide how far this madness has gone anymore," the veteran went on, disgust creeping into his voice. "They’ve stopped seeing them as beasts. They marry them, have children with them... they’re corrupting human blood with those creatures. The whole village is rotten."

Alice felt her stomach tighten.

Now she understood it all.

The villagers’ kindness, their insistence that they leave the village as soon as possible, even the girl’s reaction when asked about her parents.

None of it had been an act of goodwill.

They had simply been desperate to keep their secret hidden.

The veteran then released the green-haired woman, tossing her to the ground without a shred of care.

The woman didn’t waste a second, the instant she was free, she ran to the girl.

"Mom!" the little girl threw herself into her arms.

"My baby!" the woman sobbed, pulling her close against her chest, checking her over with trembling hands. "Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

And it was then, seeing them wrapped in each other’s arms, that Alice noticed it clearly.

The woman had pointed ears.

She was an elf.

Before Alice could fully process what she was seeing, heavy footsteps approached.

It was the rookie, hauling something bulky over her shoulder, breathing a little hard from the effort.

"Sorry for the delay," she said, arriving beside them. "But this bastard fought like an animal... we even had to rough him up a good bit to get him to stop struggling."

And with total indifference, she let her burden drop to the ground in front of everyone.

It was the village chief.

The very same young, kind man who, the night before, had offered them shelter with a smile.

Now he was unrecognizable, his face bruised and swollen, his clothes torn and stained, barely conscious, moaning weakly on the ground.

"Honey!"

"Dad!"

The green-haired elf and the little girl ran to him, dropping to their knees at his side, wrapping their arms around him amid wrenching sobs.

The girl then pulled away from the embrace and turned back to Alice.

Her face streaked with tears, she ran to her and tugged at her clothes with both hands, with the desperation of someone clinging to their last and only hope.

"Miss, please!" she begged, looking up at her with eyes brimming with tears. "I know you’re not like them! Help us, please! Tell them to stop! We haven’t done anything wrong, I swear!"

Alice looked down at the little girl kneeling at her feet, pleading through her tears.

And she felt absolutely nothing.

Whatever doubt she might have harbored vanished the instant she understood the truth.

Before her eyes there was no longer a defenseless child, but an aberration.

An impure being whose very existence defied the natural order and which, like any other threat, had to be purged.

That was what the Inquisition had taught her from the very first day.

And without the slightest hesitation, she struck the girl away with a sharp backhand, sending her sprawling to the ground.

The little girl fell onto her back against the dirt, and looked up at her with her heart shattered, having trusted her only a moment before.

"Kill them all," Alice said coldly, turning her back on the family. "Every one of these traitors to humanity and their impure spawn are to be eliminated."

"As you command, Grand Inquisitor," the veteran replied with a servile bow.

"Thought you’d never ask," said the rookie, drawing her sword.

"And when you’re done, burn this village to the ground," Alice went on. "Don’t leave a single house standing, not a trace of this abomination... Let the fire take this whole place and everything it stands for."

The green-haired elf, holding her wounded husband and her daughter tightly, lifted her gaze to Alice’s back.

"Why are you doing this to us?" she asked, her voice utterly broken. "I’m begging you... tell me what we did."

The tears wouldn’t stop running down her face as she held her family close.

"We never hurt anyone... we just wanted to live in peace and raise our daughter away from the world’s hatred. Is that our crime? Loving each other? Existing? Is that why we deserve to die?"

Alice merely glanced back over her shoulder, giving her one last look laden with cold disdain.

"Finish them off already," she ordered, looking away. "And make it quick, we don’t have all day."