Without wasting any other moment Cain finished the rogue on the spot with a single slash.
“If Alice’s secret got spread out we will soon have a holy crusade after us.” Cain put his sword back in its sheath.
The church and the people won’t stay silent about the existence of a devil, with the majority demanding that Alice be put down. The kingdom will then form a crusade for that job, eventually, they will discover that Sofia is a witch and she will be burned on a stake, Cain will be pursued as well for being versed in Cursed magic like necromancy and devil summoning. Taking Selena’s wild nature, she will most likely go on a rampage killing anyone on sight, so she will be put down like a wild monster.
Those punishments might be extended to those close to them, like the servants at their house and Alice’s family, other nobles will find it as an opportunity to dethrone Alice’s family from its ruling position in the name of harboring a devil.
Dragon fang might as well be questioned, but taking Amaterasu’s prophecy, they will stand against the kingdom to protect Cain and the girls resulting in their demise. Amaterasu herself won’t stay silent after how long she has gotten with whatever plan she had, the kingdom will most likely draw her wrath and receive tribulation, and most likely the sun will be blocked from shining on the kingdom.
Forgot the catastrophe and the destruction of Furberg city, this will throw the whole kingdom into chaos. If killing those four can prevent that mess, Cain wouldn’t hesitate.
Hearing his explanation, Sofia could only think of a single response. “You could have enslaved them!” She yelled at him, thinking she got a point.
Cain couldn’t take any more slaves, having Alice as one took all his ability. Sofia is also maxed after taking Gracie as one and saving her from death. Alice couldn’t take a slave as she is one, and Selena didn’t have any capability to take one in the first place. Spindle was a familiar and not a slave, he was closer to a pet.
“Even so, wasn’t there any other way? We could have talked things out!” Sofia was still not buying Cain’s reasoning, no matter what she didn’t want to accept killing just like that.
“I have already warned them to not look behind the wall.” Cain stated, “I intended to try and explain things to them after killing the Umber hulks but they didn’t listen!” Sofia didn’t know what was an Umber hulk as she was asleep.
“Even if they saw Alice, couldn’t you just try and find a peaceful way!” Sofia was starting to get on Cain’s nerves, he just kept telling himself that she doesn’t know better. Alice on the other hand stayed silent, she was in the center of all of this.
“Listen, you seem to be underestimating the humans’ fear of the unknown. Unless they have severe attachment or a black spot themselves, no one will accept a devil!” Cain’s voice was starting to get louder, “You could accept Alice because you’re a witch, Selena accepted her because she couldn’t care less about being a wild beast at heart, I could accept her because I’m more familiar with the dark side of the world!”
Cain took a deep breath before continuing, “Her family accepted her because they were so keen on protecting her due to how long she was sick, The dragon’s fang had a god’s prophecy. What does a random adventuring party that can’t even follow a simple favor from their life savor have to accept Alice? They will sell her at a moment’s notice if they had the chance!” Cain sat down, trying to calm himself down. Fighting among themselves was a bad idea.
‘Calm down, Calm down. Don’t get angry, Sofia is just too emotional now.’ Cain took another deep breath to calm himself down, ‘You have to be calm, getting angry will just make things worse.’
“Sorry…” Sofia suddenly apologized, her voice didn’t sound that sorry for him but he pretended it was. For Cain, it was better to let her cool down for a moment.
“No, that was a lie. I still can’t accept killing them like that, you even promised to let her go and then killed her!” Sofia said beside him, pushing her face into her knees.
“You don’t need to accept it, killing is bad, that’s the right way of thinking! But sometimes you have to kill to survive, sacrifice the minority for the good of the whole!” Cain stated, “Their four lives for our four lives, a fair trade. Their four lives for the whole Furberg city survival, not for saving the whole kingdom from Amaterasu’s wrath!” Cain patted her on the back, trying to connect to her.
“Leave me alone…” She said, Cain, could hear the shaking in her voice. He quickly remembered the bath’s old lady’s words.
Cain quickly pushed her toward his chest, hugging her tightly. “I told you to let me go!” She screamed, struggling to get out of his grip.
“It’s alright, let it all out.” Cain said in a gentle voice, “You’re not alone, no matter what happens, you will find me by your side.” He kept his grip tight no matter how much she punched him in the guts. “Don’t hold it back, vent everything on me!” Cain whispered to her.
Sofia started crying as she heard his words, blaming and punching him with all she got. Cain took all of that while still keeping her in a tight hug.
In the meantime, Alice just sat there watching while Selena and the animated healer joined forces to dig a big grave.
After some time, Sofia finally calmed down. A soft “Cain, I’m…” Escaped her mouth, she was the one hugging Cain this time. “Did you calm down?” Cain asked, brushing her hair with his fingers, it had turned messy from all the struggling.
“Yes…Sorry for being like this…” She was still slightly sobbing, but Cain could feel that her words were genuine this time. She did understand Cain’s reasoning yet her heart couldn’t accept it. Holing up and crying alone would just wear her down, Cain wanted her to rely on them, not just in fights but in venting her frustration as well.
“That extends to all three of you, if you felt sad and angry then feel free to come to me, I will listen and accept your feelings.” Cain looked at Alice and Selena, They were just as important to him, yet thinking about taking on Selena’s anger made his hair stand.
“Of course-nya!” Selena replied as she threw the fighter into the newly dug hole.
“You better do the same, It wouldn’t be fair we just rely on you!” Alice has coped with Cain killing her brother, she even helped him do it. The death of four strangers wasn’t going to faze her that much, especially when having 18 wisdom and being enslaved to Cain. She just wanted him to come crying to them the same way he expected them to come crying to him.
They all just stared at each other in silence for a moment, Selena was the first one to speak. “The three are in the hole!” hearing her words Cain stood up and walked to the big grave.
Cain wanted to loot them for money, potions, and other valuables as it will be a waste to leave them here but he wasn’t able to. Doing that will just cut deeper into Sofia’s heart and he wasn’t going to do that.
“Jump in!” Cain ordered the zombified healer, she instantly jumped to the grave, and he covered them with [Earth wall]
“Let’s sleep, we have a long day tomorrow!” Cain said as he returned to the camp with Selena.
‘I can’t do it in front of their eyes that is!’ Cain thought. They weren’t buried, they were just covered with an [Earth wall]. After the grave was sealed the zombified healer inside proceeded to strip herself and her friends from all their valuables, leaving them for Spindle to pick up later.
They had a decent amount of money and potions on them considering they were inside a cave. Cain couldn’t take their rations or equipment as the girls could easily pick up on that.
It was still Selena’s turn to guard so Cain went to sleep with Alice and Sofia. The two girls hugged him tightly as they drifted to the dream’s land.
On the next day, Cain had to introduce their new friend Spindle. He might look a bit ugly, but to Cain, he was ugly cute. The girls quickly accepted him as a pet instead of a friend which saddened Cain. Spindle on the other hand didn’t mind it as much, especially since what he considered an upper-rank devil was one of them.
“Spindle doesn’t mind…Spindle just hope the master don’t forget his promise!” Spindle said flapping his wings, he was talking about him teaching Alice how to be a devil.
“Of course, the best way to learn about being a devil is through one!” Cain said as he was about to explain the matter to Alice.