"Hmm. I get the gist of your story."
"Is that so?"
I spent a few hours talking with Sylph in Vanya.
We are now drinking water in the rest area.
"In short, you only worked in the medical department and had little involvement in military operations?"
"Yes, I'm not lying."
"No, I don't doubt that. Our country also restricts information given to the medical department.
I told Sylph about my past experiences to the best of my ability.
As I said, I was hardly involved in military operations, and the internal information I had was trivial.
The information I had probably wasn't of much value.
"Ah, I'm glad you had a talent for healing magic. It's good that you were a medic."
"…What do you mean?"
"I just meant that Austin wasted a valuable resource," she sneered.
However, Sylph listened to my story with great interest.
I'm not sure what it was that struck a chord with her, but I felt a little relieved that she seemed to be in a good mood.
"Very well, I believe the information you have just given me. I will release you from captivity due to the value of that information."
"Thank you."
"However, you'll still be under surveillance while living with the troops for a while. You should at least accept that much."
"Yes, I understand."
Sylph said with a smile that she is releasing me.
I guess she believed I wasn't a spy.
"Then go. Elijah, you keep an eye on Touri."
"Understood."
"Let her sleep in your squad's tent. Make sure she doesn't escape."
"Yes, ma'am."
Sylph ordered the female soldier who had entered Vanya with us.
Elijah is a tall woman with a slightly expressionless face.
"Touri, Elijah is the only medic in our company. Since you're both women, I'll leave the supervision to her for a while."
"Understood, Captain Sylph."
"Oh, Touri Lowe, I have no intention of letting you remain idle. In order to make sure there are no lies in your background, I plan to have you help our unit alongside Elijah."
"I see."
"In return, you'll receive minimum compensation. If you're truly a healer as you say, I won't let you waste your talents."
With that, Sylph Nova smiled and said:
"I'll make the most of you."
Leaving those words behind, she walked away.
***
"Tou-chan, where's Daddy? Where's Mommy?"
"…Maybe they're lost. I don't see them."
"Eh!"
After leaving Vanya, we went to Gomuji's house to sort out his belongings.
A day had passed since the bandits attacked Othello. The bodies that had been scattered throughout the village had been cleared away, with only the smeared bloodstains remaining.
"Gomuji…"
When we got home, it was already in a miserable state.
The safe at Gomuji's house was broken into, the artworks and food were taken, and the household items were ransacked.
"The bandits took most of Gomuji's possessions," a neighbor said.
"…Thank you"
According to the neighbors, all the assets stolen by the bandits were confiscated by the military.
The assets include the Gomuji family's fortune.
I didn't know how much of it was his property, so they refused to return it when I asked them.
"I'm going to look for Mommy and Daddy!"
"…"
After returning to Gomuji's house, Sedol was terribly confused and cried loudly.
Apparently, he believed that he would be able to meet his parents when he returned home.
…Because of the lie I told him.
"Tou-chan, you look too!"
"Alright…"
Sedol ran around the Gomuji mansion crying and screaming.
He cried and called out for his mother and father until his voice was hoarse.
And at this time, in the town square…
"…I think I know where your parents are. Come with me, Sedol."
"Really?!"
Many bodies were laid out for the farewell.
***
There was the option of not telling Sedol anything and instead misleading him into believing that his parents would come back someday, avoiding the town square altogether.
He would continue waiting for his parents who will never return and maintain peace of mind.
Perhaps, that was the correct choice.
"Daddy…"
I hesitated until the last moment.
But when I put myself in Sedol's position…
I thought denying him the last chance to see his parents' faces at the farewell ceremony was too cruel.
"Mommy…?"
Cremation was the common practice for the dead.
Gomouji and Kusha's bodies would only retain their current form until this afternoon.
Sedol will eventually find out that his parents are dead even if I don't bring him to the funeral today.
When that time came, how would he feel?
…I think he will live the rest of his life regretting not even being able to see his parents' faces one last time.
"Mommy's face is coming off."
"…"
Kusha's body had her head placed back in its original position and covered with a white cloth.
Lifting the cloth revealed her closed eyes with traces of bloody tears and lips that bore marks of being bitten hard.
"Daddy won't wake up."
Gomuji lay motionless, his eyes wide open frozen in the same expression he had when he died.
His body was chillingly cold and had become as hard as earth.
"…Why?"
I started to regret bringing him here.
Was it truly the best option to show such a scene to the still young Sedol?
A young child cannot comprehend death.
It is said that children begin to clearly understand and accept the concept of "death" around the age of seven.
Children younger than that, when faced with their parents' bodies, vaguely think that they will come back to life someday.
"Mommy and Daddy are dead, Sedol."
"Dead?"
The look in Sedol's eyes at that moment was neither sadness nor despair, but a blank stare.
It was the eyes of a child who truly "doesn't understand anything."
"How can I make Mommy and Daddy talk again?"
He was not grieving over his parents' bodies.
How to make his mother and father hold him again.
His mind was filled with questions about how to bring them back to life.
"You said they would wake up, Tou-chan."
"…"
…This was a mistake.
I never should have shown him the bodies of his parents in such a state.
Maybe I acted out of self-interest.
I didn't want to feel the guilt of Sedol blaming me in the future for not letting him see his parents' faces when they died.
"You said Daddy would wake up again."
I brought Sedol to the funeral just to make myself feel better.
And in doing so, I may have inflicted an unhealable wound on his young heart.
***
"Your parents will never wake up again."
At that moment, I heard a cold voice.
My knees were trembling, and I didn't know how to respond to Sedol.
Turning away from his blank stare, I stood there.
"Death means you'll never see them again"
"Huh?"
Elijah, the medic who had been silently following us for surveillance, interjected.
"I can't see them?"
"That's right. We're going to burn your mom and dad now."
"No!"
Elia spoke these words to Sedol with a stern expression.
"No! Don't set them on fire!"
"Step aside. You're in the way."
"Stop it! No! Don't burn them! …Ouch!"
Elijah pushed Sedol away with a fierce look on her face.
I was so stunned that I couldn't even say a word.
"Stop it! Stop it, stop it!"
"See, you can understand that if they're burned, they'll never wake up again."
She then carried the bodies of Gomuji and Kusha to the funeral pyre.
Kicking away Sedol, who was clinging to her knees.
"Wh-What are you doing, Elijah…"
"Don't interfere, Touri Lowe."
I tried to confront her, having snapped out of my stupor.
But her cold eyes stopped me in my tracks.
"You are this child's guardian. You are the only one he must not resent."
She said this and walked away.
"Nooooo!!!"
Soon, the villagers' bodies were covered in oil and cremated.
Sedol, firmly restrained by Elijah, cried out in anguish.
"Daddy, Mommy! They're burning, stop it!!"
A young child cannot comprehend death.
But they can understand "losing something."
Just like when they break a toy or lose a treasure.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
Sedol cried out in front of the blazing flames.
Seeing his parents' bodies turning black in the fire, he panicked and screamed.
"Daddyyy!! Mommyyyy!!"
The nauseating smell of burning flesh filled the village square.
Sedol desperately reached out, trying to jump into the arms of his parents, whose bodies were turning black.
Ah, I made a mistake.
I shouldn't have brought him here.
I should have deceived him until he was old enough to understand death.
I should never have brought four-year-old Sedol to such a cruel place─
"Your decision was not wrong, Touri Lowe."
"Huh?"
I couldn't stop my tears in front of the frantic Sedol and the deceased Gomuji couple.
My heart felt like it was about to burst as I realized my selfishness had scarred the heart of a young child.
As I was overwhelmed by regret and self-reproach…
"The more time passes, the more distorted the heart becomes. Delaying the problem will only lead to greater regret."
"…"
"You must support this child from now on. He is a precious child, isn't he?"
Elijah, whose arm was bleeding after being bitten by Sedol, smiled at me.
***
The village suffered 14 casualties in this battle.
The bandits shot any villagers who showed the slightest resistance.
Furthermore, they killed out of spite if someone had even slightly fancy decorations.
To them, it was a righteous act.
A total of 52 bandits were confirmed.
Most were surrounded and either shot or captured by the forces led by Sylph.
The captured bandits were to be interrogated and then executed.
"Ahh…. Ahhhhhhhh…."
At the cremation site where the victims were engulfed in flames…
The anguished cries of the grieving families echoed continuously.