Ch. 145 Can it really be redeemed?

Caught up!

——

They returned to the village.

The people were still gathered in the square.

Everything that had transpired in those few short hours haunted them like a nightmare.

Some sat dazed and blank-faced beside the corpses of their loved ones.

Others were wailing in grief.

No one could accept the reality of what had happened.

But their memories were crystal clear; the memory of having harmed someone for whatever reason would be like a brand, torturing them through the days and nights to come.

“…”

After subduing Cath Palug, the group, who had walked back, didn’t dare to step into the square again.

“That is the crime you committed.” Merlin gripped Cath Palug, who was now acting quite docile, and turned its face toward the village.

“Fou…”

“What did it say?” Artoria looked over with a cold expression.

Merlin scratched his cheek. “She said she’s sorry. Um, she didn’t actually mean to do it.”

“Fou…”

“She didn’t mean to?!” Kay flared up instantly, walking over with heavy, angry strides.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Merlin immediately pulled Cath Palug away. “Without the humanitys evil residing within her, she’s just an ordinary cat. This ‘humanitys evil’ is an incredibly abstract concept, but anything with consciousness—be it beast or human—will be affected by it.”

His implication was clear.

Cath Palug had also been under the control of the humanitys evil when she caused this tragedy.

It was like an addiction; after Cath Palug first drew power from the emotion of ‘Envy,’ things spiraled out of control.

“Before today, she was just feeding on smelly fish from the warehouse!” Merlin explained earnestly.

“You’re still protecting it!” Kay reached out, trying to grab Merlin’s clothes.

“Calm down. Cath Palug is already my Familiar. As long as she doesn’t die, the humanitys evil residing in her won’t manifest. If it were to manifest elsewhere, can you guarantee there would be strong individuals like us to contain the damage to a single village?”

“…” Kay fell silent.

In truth, he also understood that Merlin’s approach was meant to protect more people.

However, for any normal Soldier, such evil was hard to tolerate.

“Look,” Merlin held Cath Palug up again.

From start to finish, Merlin only held it by the scruff of its neck, causing Cath Palug to dangle and sway comically no matter how he moved.

“She doesn’t have human hands or feet. Letting her live as my Familiar to keep the humanitys evil in check is her best form of atonement. Of course, since she’s my Familiar, I’ll be very strict with her,” Merlin said with a grin.

“How about we try to get along from now on?”

“Tch…” Kay turned his head away in disdain.

Artoria also ignored Merlin’s words.

Mia shook her head and then walked toward the village.

“Miss Mia—”

“Wait for me here,” Mia replied.

She walked toward the village, her breathing a bit hurried.

Perhaps she was feeling a bit nervous?

She passed through the ruins she had created.

She passed through the crowd and went all the way up to the gallows in the center of the square, which was the highest point.

Not many people noticed her.

The people were still drowning in their grief.

Mia took a breath, planning her words.

Then, a golden light emanated from her body.

“Christians!” she shouted.

Mia certainly had no faith in God, but it was precisely because she didn’t believe in the divine that she could so calmly borrow the name of the Lord.

She held no prejudice against religion.

In this era, monotheistic religions like Catholicism represented civilization and progress.

And in a world where the supernatural truly existed…

The divine was, ironically, a material reality.

She raised her golden sword, and then, a holy golden radiance shone upon the people in the square. Everyone looked up.

“What you have experienced tonight, no one in this world can understand.”

Mia delivered her proclamation in a loud voice.

“But this was not your crime!”

“It was Satan from Hell and his most cruel, most despicable henchman who escaped from their prison and deluded you!”

The girl was draped in golden light. Some people fell to their knees before Mia, weeping bitterly.

“Lord, we have sinned!”

“However,” Mia shouted, ensuring her voice was heard by everyone.

“The Lord knows you were deluded. Aside from the Saints, no one on this earth can resist the delusions of Satan, so everything you did was involuntary!”

“Satan and his most cruel and base accomplice have been subdued and cast back into Hell! You have been freed from Satan’s delusion.”

“You are innocent!”

Mia’s staff struck the floor of the high platform, letting out an ethereal and lingering echo.

“The Lord forgives all the sins you committed today. This light is the proof!”

The Prayer of restoration covered the entire square, and the people saw the Erdtree crest in the air.

“Where the light shines, the wounds of the living shall be healed, and the souls of the dead shall ascend to Heaven!”

It was exactly as the girl had said.

The wounds of the living were being healed.

People looked at her in disbelief, their trembling lips unable to describe this magnificent miracle.

“However,” Mia spoke again, “the demons have been cast into Hell, and they shall never again have the chance to delude the world. After today, if you commit any more crimes, you will not be forgiven as you were today.”

The people were staring at her.

Mia paused.

She felt that this was as much as she could say.

If she delayed any longer, the soldiers from Bangor would likely arrive.

And so, before the eyes of the villagers, she turned into stardust and vanished.

In the eyes of those Christians, this scene naturally held another layer of meaning.

But that had nothing to do with Mia anymore.

She only wanted to comfort these poor people; whatever means she used were merely tools to achieve that goal.

If the people here believed in other gods, she would have borrowed the names of those gods instead.

This was the only thing she could do for the victims.

“Let’s go.” Mia returned to Artoria and the others.

She spoke in a somewhat somber tone.

“Yeah.” Merlin didn’t try to act clever at a time like this.

The soldiers from Bangor had already come ashore.

They would surely find the poor souls who had died unnatural deaths in the village, as well as the survivors gathered in the square.

And the part of the village that had been razed to the ground.

As well as a story about Satan and a Saint.

On the way to the pier, Merlin used magic to confuse a few soldiers they encountered.

Without drawing attention, they boarded the boat and returned to Bangor.

“Let’s leave tomorrow,” Merlin said, pulling the oars on the swaying boat.

They had been a bit too high-profile this time.

Those survivors had seen almost everyone in the party.

They had to leave before word spread; otherwise, they might be cornered by citizens wanting to catch a glimpse of them.

“Alright,” Artoria nodded.

A short while later, the small boat docked, and the group returned to the inn.

They didn’t say much to each other, and after washing off the smell of fish and smoke…

They fell into a peaceful sleep.

Early the next morning, as the sky was just beginning to lighten and the roosters were still crowing, Artoria woke everyone up.

Having slept for less than four hours, they hurriedly packed their bags and departed before the city could wake up.