Part Forty-Three — Answer My Questions

　A blade passed through all six of them before any single one registered that it had moved at all.

　Five fell in pieces, clean and silent.

　The sixth remained standing, frozen in place, staring down at a body that, a heartbeat ago, had been a colleague standing beside him.

　I turned the blade over in my hand, examining the edge with genuine appreciation.

「Damn, this thing is sharp,」 I said. 「I need to be careful, though. Wouldn't want to kill anyone by accident.」

<「You just did.」>

　Anti-Subconsciousness pointed it out with its usual complete lack of emotion.

「I was going to kill them anyway,」 I said. 「Doesn't count as an accident if it was already the plan.」

　The blade itself was Anti-Subconsciousness's making――shaped from my own anti-mana, its edges bleeding faint red and purple whenever the light caught them.

　The last church member watched those colors with the specific terror of someone finally understanding, far too late, exactly what he'd walked in on.

＊

　I crossed the distance and crouched in front of him, unhurried.

　My voice remained as pleasant as ever.

　The same tone I always used for exactly this kind of conversation.

「Answer my questions,」 I said, 「and I'll let you go. Sound good?」

　He nodded.

　Frantic.

　Desperate for anything that resembled a way out.

「Who sent you to the town nearby?」

「I don't know,」 he said, the words tumbling out far too quickly. 「Please don't kill――」

　I removed his head before he could finish the sentence.

<「You didn't let him finish.」>

「I don't want to listen to someone who has no idea what he's actually doing,」 I said, standing and wiping the blade clean. 「We already know what matters. Eastern Holy Church. That's enough for today.」

　I let out a slow breath.

「Alright. Time to head back, I think. Feels wrong, leaving Eris out there without knowing her way around yet.」

　I turned to go.

<「Are you not forgetting something?」>

「What's that?」

<「The wolf.」>

　I glanced back.

　Only then did I remember the wounded creature I'd nearly forgotten about.

「Oh. Right. The wolf.」

　I considered it for a moment.

「Should I eat it?」

<「No. It is still alive. Barely.」>

Great.

　I looked toward the battered Aetherfang.

Guess I just found another addition to the household.

A wolf, this time.

　――